Winter's Bone....Movie review

17 year old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) struggles with losing the family home and having to provide for her mentally ill mother and two younger siblings when her father apparently skips bail and is nowhere to be found. Jennifer Lawrence gives a candid tough as nails performance that has you rooting for her character from the start. Believing Jessop Dolly dead and left with no kin except her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) she does her best to unravel the mystery surrounding his disappearance. John Hawkes is both chilling and believable as a man who could snap at any time. Ree tells him "I was always afraid of you" and he says "that's cause you're a smart girl". This film is gritty and unapologetic. I hadn't heard of this movie prior to its Oscar nomination for Best Picture. I can say although it didn't win, it deserved the nomination. The cinematography was outstanding and the characters were frighteningly authentic. So on the Heart Chart...

Winter's Bone gets 5 out of 5 Hearts ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Best & Worst

Best: My illness is mostly gone. Yay! Had a fun day at the zoo with my sweet Cheri. Princess Raven Waves won her court case. Double Yay. Her son Julian won his first mma fight. Scary..Yay! Scary cause I wish he wasn't fighting but yay cause at least he won. Finally got our taxes filed. Enjoying our new bakeware. Making lots of fun baked things. smiles. Getting lots of laundry done so everything will be fresh and clean again by end of day. Love fresh and clean. smiles. Getting some more financial matters wrapped up for good. WooooHooooo! Worst: Our tax lady passed away so there were unscheduled delays in our tax preparations. We will miss her, but I am sure her son will do a bang up job. He is very cute and looks so much like her and seems to have her kind heart. RIP Taoma Michaud. Our son Jeremy lost his keys so we are again having the locks changed. sighs... I have a lingering cough and congestion from my illness that's really pissing me off. I mean come on!!!!!!! It's been a fucking month already!!!!!!!!! Funniest: When I got smacked right in the face by my own boobie when I was trying to get out of bed. Wow, talk about a cartoon moment. Noelle said the look on my face was priceless. Watching a female Orangutan school some parents in dealing with their obnoxious children. It was something we should have been videoing for sure. She took a switch and stuck it through the fence and was smacking at them. Loved it. I will never understand why people allow their kids to taunt the zoo animals. Of course the switch couldn't quite reach the people but it was the point of it! Go Orangutan!!!! What I learned: A new analagy from my youngest son Jeremy that made me laugh... "It's like your knee deep in zombie shit and out of ammo". LOL That Orangutans are very smart and are able to use tools like we do. To be careful when exiting the bed lest your own boobie will smack you right upside your head!!!!

Valentines Stoneware 2011

Unfortunately this Valentines Day I was very under the weather.

So we decided to celebrate well after the holiday when we were

both feeling up to it. We chose an untraditional gift for each other

this year... via The Food Network store and courtesy of Rachael Ray.

Some lovely stoneware for baking our favorite casseroles and lasagnas.

Yummmm. These beautiful dishes are a perfect addition to our rainbow

themed kitchen and we are having a blast cooking with them already.

WoooooooooooooHoooooooooooooooo

Knights Of The South Bronx movie review

This was such a feel good movie from start to finish. Ted Danson is a standout as Richard Mason an elementary school teacher who returns to teaching after being fired from his corporate job when they discover he's a whistle blower. As he begins to connect with these inter city students by teaching them the game of Chess as well as mathematics he rediscovers his passion. Strong suppporting performances include Malcolm David Kelley who plays Jimmy a young boy struggling to avoid being forced into the local gang while his father is away in prison. Clifton Powell doesn't get much screen time but he makes the most of it as Jimmy's father Cokey, a hard knocks type offering his son some much needed advice and direction as well as love during a prison visit. The exchange was riveting. Keke Palmer delivers a believable rendition as Kenya a young girl trying to make it despite her mothers drug addiction and shattered home life. A delightful cherry on top is Antonio Ortiz who plays Dawson a kindergartner who follows his big sister to Mr. Mason's class and also learns to play chess and enters the competition, and wins. The best part comes at the end when you learn that this is based on a true story and most of the real kids earned scholarships from their winnings and got to go to college, and the program still exists today. Awesome! So on the Heart Chart... Knights Of The South Bronx gets five out of five hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Best & Worst

Best: Finally got some long over due blood work out of the way this morning. 4 years over due in fact. Whew! I have the best wife in the world. Worst: Unfortunately said blood work put us out to the tune of $360.00. OMG!!! It's a problem when a cash patient can't get a discount. Maybe if all citizens could get the negotiated rates that the insurance companies do we wouldn't have a healthcare crisis or the need for insurance. We might just be able to afford to go to the doctor? The lady at Quest Diagnostics wasn't very nice to me. She had my arm in an uncomfortable position and she didn't explain clearly about all the documents she was asking me to sign. Entering day 6 of head and throat infection and though the light is now peeking through the clouds I am exhausted from the lack of sleep this last week. sighs.. beautiful wife is exhausted too... from listening to me hack all night long (see best wife in the world above). All of our L girls have gotten this except my sweet Cheri...keeping fingers crossed beautiful wife doesn't get it too. :( Funniest: Mine and Noelle's head butting (three stooges) moment whan she was trying to comfort me. pretty funny. What I learned: That when chicken soup goes in...phlem comes right out. Voila!! Like magic...better than medicine. LOL That I really like the pink grapefruit flavor of Airborne. Yumm.

Wedge Salad & Cindy Sighting

This is a rare occurance here at the L House...

A Cindy sighting...and she's cooking which is

an even rarer occurance...and she's dressed up

while cooking... well you get the picture. We were

all so excited. Miss Cindy can cook by the way...she

just doesn't do it that often. WooooHoooooo

Our fantastic wedge salads made the day. Some cucumber

salad accompanies here, just couldn't get enough salad. lol

Yummmmm

Best & Worst

Best: Cooked up a storm yesterday. Made so many yummy things and my orange cupcakes debuted to rave reviews. Just need to find a better frosting I think. Something more complimentary. My Sweet Cheri started building me a gardening bench. I don't really garden, lol, but she does and it will look exceedingly charming in the back yard when she gets it finished and painted. Got some Angus top sirloin steaks yesterday at Albertsons for 50% off. WooooHooo! I just finished Melissa Gilberts book Prairie Tale: A memoir, and I have to say I wasn't disappointed at all. Very interesting and candid. It was humorous, entertaining, and informative. Loved it. I have started a series of poems based on a childhood friend and our adventures together and they are being well received. Yay Worst: STOP the presses!!!! There is no worst this week. smiles. Funniest: My mistaking the garbage can for the hamper and almost throwing out a perfectly good pair of underwear. LOL What I learned: That Facebook is a great way to catch up with old friends. That you can alter cupcake recipes without ruining them. That my best friend in the whole world has always got my back.

Best and Worst

Best: Our trip to Alcatraz island with our good friends Dee & Erika. We had a blast. It was a long drive, but so worth it. So much fun. Cross another thing off of our bucket list. smiles. Even saw some ghosties in the photos afterward. Wooohahaha. Having dinner with our son Joshua and his girlfriend Tiffani and learning about his plans for his future first hand. Very proud of him. Reading a new book Atheist Manifesto and finding some validation for many of my long held beliefs. Knowing that all but one of my sons are not sheep! Yay! Getting 4 blu-rays at Best Buy with my reward zone credits for only $6.00. You can't beat that with a stick! WoooHooo Worst: Making our deposit late at the bank and not having access to our funds for 4 days....ugh!!!! Really?....really?...I mean come on!!!!!! Funniest: Well it wasn't funny at the time, but falling flat on my face while entering the super market in front of all the little kids selling stuff for the YMCA. So embarrassing. sighs... That's leaving some bruises! What I learned: A slew of new vocabulary words...lol Just when I was feeling smart..? It's never too late to broaden your horizons. smiles.

A much needed getaway....

Another trip to Casitas, our favorite campground so far. Unfortunately this time we got caught in a rainstorm on this last minute outing. But our luck held out and the tent trailer weathered just fine. We had a great time and enjoyed some much needed relaxation and peace. The weather was nice, even the rain. The landscape beautiful and refreshed as were we. smiles. We have always loved our time here. Nature never lets you down. winks.

Best and Worst

Best: Our holiday potluck lasagna dinner with the L girls. Very low key and relaxing, no pressure or ugliness that the holidays sometimes bring. Yay! Sunday brunch after Christmas with our good friends Erika and Dee. Always a treat. smiles. Planned an overnight adventure with Dee and Erika that we are very much looking forward to...more on that later. It's almost 2011 and I know it's going to be a great year. Worst: Our TV broke on Christmas day, and we had to exchange it the day after Christmas and stand in line. Wow Who would have thought, but hey shit happens. Clean up after the holiday dinner...lol...never the fun part, but everyone pitched in so it wasn't that bad. Holier than thou people who use Facebook as a pulpit to spew their bullshit... sorry just had to get that off my chest...lol. Funniest: Sharing with Lianne at our holiday dinner all of our L House antics. What I learned: Margerine (formerly known as oleo) was an experiment gone wrong...and was an ugly shade of grey before they realized it's potential and added a bit of food color.