Strictly Ballroom

Way back when, I wrote a post about my favorite movies.

My two best friends from college are visiting this weekend and they went downstairs to check out the movie selection to watch a "chick flick" while the boys watch a manly movie (after all the kiddos are asleep of course). P came up laughing holding Strictly Ballroom! Oh my gosh, I had forgotten about that one!

One of my dear friends from High School dragged me to see this movie at the Loring Theater (also found here) in Hingham (my hometown), thinking it was Swing Kids. I kept telling her I thought she had the wrong movie and when it started we both looked at each other wide eyed and said "what is this"? But after watching the entire thing we were in love! So I of course had to subject P to the torture while we were in college. How J missed out on this torture, I do not know. But we took care of that tonight!

If you are in the mood for a seriously cheesy movie, this is the one for you!



Now of course we are watching The Wedding Singer. :-)

My Vacation - A Reading List

One of my favorite things to do on a vacation up at "The Lake" is to read. The boys are happily occupied with other people and there are no requirements for me to clean, make dinner, etc. I just read and sit in the sun and take a dip in the pool or lake once in awhile. So here is a summary of what I read this week.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

• I actually have been "reading" this one all summer. It has been stashed away in my pool bag so I was getting through it bit by bit at our short stints at the community pool. In a nutshell, Greg Mortenson saw a need for schools in the rural of most rural parts of Pakistan. He struggled and struggled but found a way to meet that need. He strongly believes that the best way to fight terrorism is through education. One of the Taliban's greatest recruiting tools is the large schools they set up in countries such as Pakistan. To give another option for education to the Pakistani people is to fight terrorism. This is a well written and intriguing book. I was ready to donate all my cash to the CAI, if only had some extra!

Finger Licken Fifteen by Janet Evonovich

• I have read this entire series of Stephanie Plum series. She is a bounty hunter in New Jersey who can't seem to do anything right. She always looses a car to some kind of fire, there are relationship issues and a whole host of wacky characters. If you are looking for a funny mystery series, I recommend this one.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

• Another light hearted mystery series. Hannah is a cookie bakery owner but in every book she happens upon a dead body and helps solve the murder. The books all include recipes of food mentioned during the story. I have yet to try one but I have been intrigued to do so. :-)
  

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

• I really enjoyed his first book, the Kite Runner and I equally enjoyed this book as well. It was different from the first but equally well written. There were many moments when I cried. It gives you a real heart for the people of Afghanistan and the turbulence they have been experiencing over the past 30+ years.
  

The Shack by William Paul Young

• This is not a book I would have picked up on my own. Blunoz's mom sent it to him and I still was not interested in it. But I have a new position on our church's council and I received an email saying I needed to read it by the next meeting. So I went out and picked up another copy. The premise of this book is intriguing. A man experiences a parent's worst nightmare but in the end meets God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a very personal way. I am not sure what to write about this book. I do agree with the overall ending theme of the book that God is not responsible for the bad things in our lives but he always uses them for some sort of good, though we might not ever know what the good is. At some points I thought of the old poem of Footprints in the Sand as we often have a hard time seeing that God is with us, but He is alwaysALWAYS with us.

Me, Myself and Bob: A True Story about Dreams, God and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer

• Do you know who Phil Vischer is? He is the creator of Veggie Tales! I love Veggie Tales and I remember when we were living in San Diego that Veggie Tales went bankrupt but then the videos kept coming. Well, now I know why. But I digress... I highly, highly recommend this book. Phil is FUNNY! Phil is Honest! Phil had a dream to be the "Christian Walt Disney" and God apparently had other ideas. If you are looking for God in your life, I recommend this one over The Shack (ok, so I prefer happy uplifting stories). Phil you need to write more adult books (though keep writing the kid stuff too)!
  

So there you have it, my vacation in a nutshell.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for the gorgeous weather that God provided for us on Saturday for Blunoz's Wetting Down and all of our wonderful friends and family.

I was having heart palpitations all week over the thought of 75+ people in my house but the Lord provided a beautiful day. At the end of the night I was sure that someone who had RSVPed had not actually shown up. So we went through the list and, yes indeed, everyone who said they were coming came! I swear there was only about 40 people here. :-)

As scary as the thought of 75 people in my house was, we were truly honored that everyone wanted to come share in this accomplishment with us. When throwing a party, the rule of thumb is that about 1/4th of the people you invite are not going to be able to make it. In the case of this party, I think maybe only 1/16th or 1/20th of the people we invited were unable to come.

It is hard to believe that Blunoz has reached the rank of Commander. When we met, he was a Liuetenant, junior grade (an O-2) and now he is a Commander (an O-5). I wonder where the years have gone and I wonder what the years ahead of us will hold. But I know that no matter what the Lord has in store for us, we will be surrounded by people that love and support us. Thank you our friends and family (even to those who were only merely here in spirit)!

So I guess, in a nutshell, I am thankful for where we have been and where we will go!

Thankful Thursday (A Day Late)

Hmm, I missed Thankful Thursday last week! How rude of me and even though I wrote this yesterday, I am a day late in posting! :-)

Blunoz is pinning on Commander this weekend so the in-laws have flown in for the big event (ans my mom arrived yesterday) and we spent Wednesday getting the house ready for a HUGE Wetting Down party (umm around 70 people to be exact).

So what am I thankful for?

I am thankful for my in-laws. Yes, you heard me right. My in-laws. I was feeling pretty nauseous over the entire thing but since their arrival I have been feeling better. My MIL is actually an event planner, so while that does add some stress because she thinks of things I would have never thought of, it is good to know someone is taking care of those little details.

I am not only grateful for the help they are providing (I was sitting here listening to my FIL vacuum the main stairway) but I am also thankful for the role they play in our lives and our children's lives. I love that they are so involved in our lives and visit often. With Blunoz's schedule, it is not easy (next to impossible) for us to go visit them. This is their second trip out here since we arrived back in NoVa and a third is planned for October (they live in Oregon, so it is a long trip for them). I always had such a close relationship with my grandparents, I am glad that my boys will have the same thing.
And yes, I knew when my mom arrivds she would also be very helpful (can we say "dusted house") and I will be thankful that she is here as well. I know that YB is looking forward to a good game of Garbage with Grammy!

New Computer

My wonderful husband met me at the allergist on Friday and took the boys and my fried computer to Best Buy while I endured round two of my allergy testing at yet another allergist. This was at least my 4th round of testing since I graduated college, but I digress...

So Blunoz and the boys went off to Best Buy to visit the Geek Squad. There they discovered that my mother board was fried. UGH! Thankfully the Geeks were able to recover my hard drive and transfer it to an external hard drive.
While the boys played Webkinz on the display computers, Blunoz perused the computers and decided on two, a Toshiba and a Dell. I had three criteria, built in webcam so we can skype with our friends around the world; a screen that was 15" or greater and lots of hard drive space for pictures. After I sat through my itchy shots I went over to meet them. The decision... The TOSHIBA. The price was slightly less than the dell and it has some kind of feature that makes CD labels for you (still need to figure that one out).

Toshiba - Satellite Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology - Black Onyx

I am still getting used to Window's Vista and the different layout of the keyboard. But I am excited to have the number pad again. That was one thing I missed when I switched from a desk top to a laptop.

The best news is that as Blunoz was wandering around the store in his uniform a store associate told him that they have a military discount, 10% off! Wahoo!

So I am back up and running!

Spilt Coffee

Coffee and laptops apparently don't mix.

Yesterday as I was looking at the Wegman's Catering site in preperation for Blunoz's promotion next weekend and I choked as I was having some coffee. Next thing I know, I have the blue screen of death.

The computer had been vacuumed out with a wet/dry vac and has been laying upside down on some rice since yesterday. Fingers crossed that I will be back on my own computer soon (I am typing this on Blunoz's computer now). Otherwise we may be using the pay raise to buy me a new computer!

Air1

I used to listen to Air1 in Hawaii. They are KLove's harder counterpart. Yes, sometimes I am a rocker girl.

I discovered something new on YouTube today.
Air1 Live performances!!!

As much as I enjoy listening to WGTS here in the DC area (no KLove frequency), I have the same complaint Blunoz had about KLove. They play the same songs OVER and OVER again. I guess I just liked the songs on KLove better and Blunoz likes the songs on WGTS better. :-) I sure do miss hearing Jars of Clay though.