You guys want to see a dead body?

Nick and I live on a farm (actually it is a sheep farm) in Northern Franklin County KY. It takes us about 18 to 20 minutes to get to work, church, ect. This, with the exception of an occasional hay wagon or tobacco trailer, really isn’t too bad when you think about it. This picture is the view behind our house after a good hard rain. We both work for the State Library and so it is fitting for us to listen to sound recordings on our morning drive. Despite having so much in common, Nick and I differ somewhat on our choice of reading material so we must compromise. That is to say HE must compromise. He is more of a doctrinal, spiritual formation kind of reader and I like…well…fiction not to put too fine a point on it. Since he works in circulation, he gets to make the choices, a lot of times it is a book he has already read but thinks I would like. Needless to say, I have read things recently that I probably wouldn’t have picked up otherwise.

The problem with the library is that there are never enough copies of a book to go around. We have been reading the Stephen Fry Harry Potter series and have just finished Goblet of Fire and returned it when we realize that Order of the Phoenix is still checked out. Devastation and depression follow with a lot of pouting (I’m not really good on patience) so to console me Nick picks up The Body by Stephen King

Until I married Nick, you couldn’t pay me to read a Stephen King novel. My sister, Casy, reads King’s novels and loves them but she and I have very different personalities. She contemplated become a vet at one time, and doesn’t seem to mind if the walls bleed. I, however, couldn’t walk into our living room on Christmas morning because there was some really large blow up animal looking over the back of our sofa and instead of turning on the light to see what it was…I ran to get Casy. Did I mention that Casy is 4 years YOUNGER than me? I AM A CHICKEN…I know it and it is high time for the rest of the world to know it too. So being a chicken means that I don’t read Stephen King novels, and didn’t have any idea what they were about except that they were nightmares-for-a-week-because-something-is-under-your-bed scary.

As my husband and I really began to know each other (favorite movies, books, authors, likes, dislikes…) I mentioned that some of my favorite movies are Stand By Me (mostly because Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix are so great in it) and The Shawshank Redemption. He looked at me like I had grown a third head and said “but….you hate Stephen King” Now it was my turn…”what on earth does that crazy horror-monger have to do with this current conversation?” It was then that he tossed me an old, battered, well loved copy of Different Season. “Read it.” He said “I think you will like it.” It took me a week to get up the courage to read it, but once I did…WOW! I can’t believe what I had been missing.

Stephen King is such a gifted story teller that I began to understand why he was a best selling author. He is so articulate and descriptive (that is sometimes the problem) that you get the sense that you know that character or have known that person at one time in your life. I guess it just goes to show that you REALLY can’t judge a book by it’s cover…or it's author in this case.

And when it's all said and done there will be a little piece of immortality with Jackson's good looks and my sense of style, I hope.

I had a chance on Monday to see Taken. (thank Heavens for Netflix.) This was a movie that Nick and I wanted to see in the theater and never got the chance. So, when my sister, Casy, called and invited us over for pizza and movie, I thought “Great, I really want to see this movie.” However, I will need to watch it again, because I had a little bit of a distraction and just kinda saw it, but didn’t really watch it. The distraction I am speaking of is in the picture to the left. This is my beautiful niece Emily! (this picture is me, E and Nicky at a baseball game last weekend).

Emmy is 10 months old today and quite a handful. She is the only daughter of my sister Casy and her husband Hank, and the most beautiful baby in the world if I do say so myself. Now E has an affinity for cell phones (she has already tried to reprogram her mother’s blackberry) and if you leave it lying around she will find it. Her mother warned us when we got there not to leave anything on the floor, on the table…well let’s just say if you like it don’t set it down. Not as soon as I walked through the door I put my purse down and Emmy, knowing that cell phones can be found in purses, started looking for it. She crawled over to the bag, sat down beside it and put her hand inside feeling around. She never took her eyes off the room because, since her parents haven’t provided her with a look out yet, she has to be her own sentry. She never found the cell phone pocket and was soon thwarted in her task. Later on however, Aunt Carly is silly and takes the phone out and leaves it on the end table beside the sofa she is sitting on….JACK POT!!!

Emily is a resourceful little thing and having seen the Blackjack unguarded she makes her move. She crawls over to the table and pulls up on it. Never taking her eyes off Aunt Carly, she inches her little hand closer to the phones location. When I catch her, she jerks her hand back and grins up at me (showing all six of her teeth) as if to say “I no did it!” This is a fun little game we are playing until the movie gets too interesting for me to pay close attention to my sweet niece. As soon as my attention is turned back to the movie, her chubby little hand starts toward the device again this time…SUCCESS!!! She plops down on the floor and proceeds to try and text her friend Asher (the keys are locked so until she becomes a code cracker the phone bill is safe…at least for the next month or so). Finding that he is not answering her she decides to try a new technique… she licks it.

So, guys and dolls, this is why the only thing I know about Taken is that Liam Neeson beats up A LOT of people in really cool ways to save his daughter from slave traders. Now I know why people have kids…they are so much more interesting.

That's What I Love about High School Girls...

So ladies and germs, here it is, the whole reason for this blog: MOVIE REVIEWS

Last week I saw the movie Ghost of Girlfriends Past. Yes, sports fans, I actually paid for an overpriced ticket and watched ANOTHER Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy. What can I say; I love 'im.

This movie is a re imagining of a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. However, it could have been called Wooderson goes to a Wedding and saved everyone the trouble. On the eve of his brother's nuptials, Connor Mead does and says everything wrong (or right, depending on your perspective of marriage!) and single-handedly destroys the wedding. As in Dickens, he is visited by 3 ghosts to help him see the error of his ways. Insanity ensues.

I didn't really have high hopes for this fluff, so to say I was pleasantly surprised isn't saying much. The banter is witty, the 80's musical montages were enjoyable and Jennifer Garner is always lovely. I just have a couple of problems.

Who are these women that he hooks up with?!?!? These emotional wrecks that "fall in love" with a sleaze bag after a drink and a one night stand, do they exist? Because if they do, line 'em up! I would like to smack each one in turn for giving sane rational women a BAD name. The lines that Connor spouts...eeck!! Do they really work? I don't care what he looks like, THEY make my skin crawl. I totally get why Jenny loves him. She KNOWS him. But these other women... HELLO, really?!?! I love my husband but it took knowing him for close to 5 years and dating him for 2 for me to fall in love (real love). I guess I'm not that easy.

Also, I get it... this is a remake of A Christmas Carol. PLEASE stop beating me over the head with it. If the line doesn't fit... don't use it. No matter how clever you think you are being, it's just dumb. Case in point, after all is said and done Connor wakes up, pokes his head out the window to sees a young man shoveling the side walk and asks "Hey, you there, boy. What day is it? Is it Christmas? Have I missed it?" Did that make sense to you? Me neither.

Like I said, it was cute and likable, thanks to Jennifer Garner, but when is Matt really gonna grow up, and would we like him if he did?

There was abuse in my family, but it was mostly musical in nature.

Just a little something about myself, for those who may not know. I was raised in a small town that thinks it is a big town pretending to be a small town. Growing up, my father was a professional musician and my mother was a housewife. Now that is not to say that my father was just a professional musician, it just sounds cooler than what he got paid the "big bucks" for (videographer for the Governor's Office).

Around this time of year I really start to miss my childhood. Now is the time in Frankfort that we let our crazies out of their pens and take them all downtown. Some call it Holmes Street Mardi Gras, some call it redneck round-up, officially it is called Capitol Expo. It is also the kick off to summer. Now I say all this to say that my father's band was kinda a staple at Expo every year. They were called the Bald Knob String Band, and they had a following! In this picture, my daddy is the fiddle player. They wrote and performed songs specifically about Franklin County and they were hysterical. As previously stated, Expo was the kick off. My summers were spent traveling to the far corners of the state of KY to various festivals and other redneck round ups to see my dad play. As you can tell, I'm pretty proud of my dad.

Now I was the oldest of three girls (altogether now, "Poor Daddy") so it was my job to be the unofficial roadie. This was a job that I could really get behind. I got to take the instruments from the van (mini-van, that is) and carry them BACKSTAGE. I know, right!?!?! How cool was I?!?!?
Have you ever seen the movie A Mighty Wind? Yeah well, I knew those people. They were all backstage at my da's concerts.

Sadly, my dad doesn't play much anymore. I really miss that life. Now had I been even the least bit intelligent I would have learned to play an instrument that paid, and it wouldn't have had to end. But, that is a tale for another time. Some kids miss the summer camps, some kids miss the summer vacations.... I miss my job as a roadie with a string band. Draw your own conclusions.

Today is a good day to die....

This will be my first attempt at blogging. I never really thought that I had much to say in the way of importance, but my husband thinks that I might enjoy sharing my feelings. (I think it is because he doesn't want to be the only one in the family with a blog) So, in light of today's Hollywood tragedy, I thought (probably like David) "Today is just as good a day as any I suppose!"

Now don't get me wrong, I like David. It is very sad when someone decides to take his own life. That being said he was 72 years old, found hanging naked in a Bangkok hotel closet. He kinda died the way he lived his life, definitely on his own terms. However, one can't help but wonder....72 years old, DUDE YOU WERE ALMOST THERE ALREADY!!! You were Caine for crying out loud....aren't you supposed to be zen or something? Aren't you supposed to understand more about life than the average guy? But then again...maybe he was the one who wanted to kill Bill.

Those are just my thoughts, I never said I was kind.