Jett Travolta

My heart goes out to the Travoltas. How sad to lose your 16 year old son, I can't even imagine.

Mizashed Potatoes

Genius.

*@!&%$! Stupid Commenting systems...

Okay, so the other day I was suddenly like, ooh I should get all FANCY and figure out how to put commentluv on my blogger blog.

And I went through all these steps at some website called jskit. And it worked. For like, 2 seconds. Then it sucked.

I couldn't figure out how to make it look how I wanted, it did it for a few, but then changed back.

I messed and messed and couldn't get it to look the way I wanted, nor could I figure out how to make it e-mail me comments. It said that all comments would be e-mailed to me, but they weren't. Which I figured out on Friday when I checked and there were like 12 comments that hadn't been e-mailed to me. BOO!

So I messed with it. Couldn't figure it out. Decided screw it. Reverted to my old template without this fanciness. It said that all comments would be backed up on blogger so I wouldn't lose anything if I had to uninstall it.

BUT OF COURSE NOT! So, to the 12 people who left the last 12 comments on my post about the books I've read this year, the awards I gave out earlier this week, or my New Years Resolutions... they unfortunately got DELETED.

I am sad. And I am not trying to get FANCY again anytime soon.

Australia

Short Review:

I LOVED IT!

I LOVED Hugh Jackman's Australian Cowboy.

I LOVED Nicole Kidman's stiff maternalness, and proper lady falling in love.

I LOVED the beautiful story, the mixing of Aboriginal legends mixed with a true Western.

I LOVED the scenes with the horses, the beauty of Australia.

I LOVED the love story between unlikely mates.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED Brandon Walters, the little boy who captures your heart from almost the first moment of the movie.

I LOVED the narration, even though at first I wasn't so sure about it.

I LOVED Hugh Jackman's gut reaction to seeing his presumed-dead love alive again, one of those moments that will stick in my mind for years and give Jackman a huge boost in credit from me.

I LOVED IT!

I think everyone should see it. It's a true Western. It's a movie that reminds us why sometimes it's super awesome to have really villainous villains, almost sillily uptight and out of normal situation ladies, and a real man of a man hero to save the day. It's long, but you'll never notice. I would watch it again in a heartbeat.

Haiku Friday: I did it!

Guess what? I made a
goal earlier this year, a
big one, I thought then.

There were a few times
I wasn't sure I would make
it, thought I'd failed it

But I got back up
on that horse, and started to
read again, for fun

And guess what happened?
I made it! I managed to
read fifty whole books!

Well, there WERE definitely a couple of times when I was not sure that I was going to make it - but then I'd pick up something that would totally rivet me and I'd just read and read until it was done! Here's the final list - books I've read in 2008, with the most recently read at the bottom of the list. My goal was to read 50 books this year, and I made it!

• Non-fiction books are in blue.
• My favorites are in bold.
• Books I read for book club are in italics

1. Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of Growing Up Groovy and Clueless by Susan Jane Gilman
2. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
3. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (re-read)
4. The Lost World by Michael Crichton(re-read)
5. Life Laughs by Jenny McCarthy
6. The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club by Christy Yorke
7. The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
8. The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards
9. A Star Is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood's Biggest Movies by Janet Hirshenson & Jane Jenkins
10. Alosha by Christopher Pike
11. A Real Boy : A True Story of Autism, Early Intervention, and Recovery by Christina Adams
12. Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
13. The Shaktra by Christopher Pike
14. The Yanti by Christopher Pike
15. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nifenegger
16. Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella
17. Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs
18. Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain (didn't finish)
19. The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout
20. The Harlequin by Laurell K Hamilton
21. My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
22. Blood Noir by Laurell K Hamilton
23. Marked by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
24. Rockabye by Rebecca Woolf (author of the blog Girls Gone Child)
25. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
26. A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
27. Betrayed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
28. Chosen by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
29. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
30. Accidentally Dead by Dakota Cassidy
31. Letters to a Bullied Girl by Olivia Gardner with Emily & Sarah Buder
32. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
33. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
34. Untamed by P.C. & Kristin Cast
35. The Host by Stephanie Meyer
36. The Beach by Alex Garland
37. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
38. The Kid by Dan Savage
39. A Lick of Frost by Laurell K Hamilton
40. Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K Hamilton
41. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
42. The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
43. The Elephant in the Playroom: Ordinary Parents Write Intimately and Honestly About the Extraordinary Highs and Heartbreaking Lows of Raising Kids with Special Needs by Denise Brodey
44. Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year by Esme Codell
45. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events book 11)
46. The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events book 12)
47. The End by Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events book 13)
48. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
49. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
50. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (I'm not sure when I started this or if it was even this year, but I just finished it)
    

If Everyone Else Jumped Off a Bridge, I Would Too

Apparently. Okay, so I decided to put up a post to commemorate the New Year with my favorite posts that I wrote in 2008. Everyone else is doing it. So here they are... in order from oldest to most recent.

June

I Am Haunted

A Perfect Moment

Prosthetic Scrotums & Other Things That Annoyed Me This Week

July

My Journey of Faith Series

September

A Moment of Failure

October

The Stepmom

November

My Future, My Hope

December

I'm Tired

You Are My Peace

What were your favorite posts written in 2008?

Hopes, Wishes & Resolutions for the New Year

Thirteen Hopes, Wishes & Resolutions for 2009!

1. Resolution: Okay, so my Dad got me a subscription to "The Economist" for Christmas. I admit that I have not read this magazine. So, my first resolution is to actually read every issue of this magazine that I get this year, and to become more knowledgeable about current events and the world in general.

2. Resolution: Well, while we're at it... read every issue of Entertainment Weekly, which I also have a subscription to.

3. Hope: I can't wait to see Obama take office, and I hope that he'll be successful in starting the transformation that this country so desperately needs.

4. Hope: I hope that Justin will get to work in a job that he really enjoys and that won't cause him the amount of stress that his work is currently causing him.

5. Wish: I wish for a less stressful year for everyone I know, I wish them good health and prosperity.

6. Resolution: I will get more exercise, I will use the gym membership my Mom got me at least 3 times a week.

7. Resolution: I will arrange for my Mom to watch Sam at least twice a month, on regular days, so that Justin and I can have scheduled date nights to look forward to and spend time nurturing our relationship and not just our family.

8. Hope: I hope to join the Kulshan Chorus so I can sing with my Mom.

9. Wish: I wish for some resolution to our housing situation, to figure out where we're going to be a little bit more long term than just six months, and to head towards settling down.

10. Hope: I hope that I will be able to find a job so that we'll be able to actually pay our bills!

11. Wish: I wish for happy and healthy pregnancies to continue for my friends Amy & Jamie!

12. Resolution: To sign Sam up for a class with me, maybe a music class where we can sing and dance.

13. Resolution: I'm going to renew my goal and up it by 2 - read 52 books in 2009!

What are your wishes and hopes for the New Year?

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