If you have ever had an instructor teach this stretch, my way with supporting foot on the wall, please let me know, I am the only one I have ever seen do it

I mentioned a Piriformis Stretch last week.

To be honest, I have done that stretch in a lot of classes over the years. But I have never heard a name for it. I have just been queued for the moves.

This is a move that is used AFTER exercise to stretch butt and hip. REALLY EFFECTIVE.

Here I am in the traditional form.

And here I am, the way I do it, foot of the supporting leg on the wall. So, I have turned it into a supported pose.

And as I settle into the stretch, I slide that foot further down the wall, oh so gradually. Adds a whole new level to the stretch. I apply very gentle pressure with both hands.

Last week I discovered I don't have to wait for my new school year calendars

I use a desk blotter size calendar.

It is mounted on the front of my refrigerator.

It is a SCHOOL YEAR (July - Aug), not a traditional Jan - Dec calendar.

Last week I realized I had notes all over the last page of my current calendar, with late summer and fall dates.

I really wanted next year's calendar, but they are not yet available.

While digging through the stacks at Office Depot, I found this one -

It is a generic calendar. No dates written. It works for any month/year combination. It has the huge daily squares I love. It is desk blotter size. 

When I showed it to my husband, he said I would have to be SUPER careful to get the right numbers plugged in on all those months. True. Because of that I am actually writing in pencil.

My calendar does not have a crease on it, like the picture above, that is actually the front page which I dug out of the recycling bin, to take the picture, so you would have all the identifying information.

I don't know if these have always been available, or are new.

I am going back and buying several more, for future years, just in case. 

Because I love the idea of having the next years calendar as early as I wish, every year. And because I have a lot of Office Depot credit from turning in printer cartridges.

Do you know if any stations put Olympic footage together by sport and rerun it after the Olympics?

I have HOURS of ice skating recorded.

It is more hours than necessary because there are other events included in the same footage.

I don't know if I have it all.

My recorder is nearly full of just Olympics which is creating problems for me.

Youngest does not have time to watch recorded Olympics right now.

I would be very happy if there are olympic "collection" reruns, so youngest and I could watch only ice skating - the dancing, the individual, the team, the couples competitions later.

Do any of you happen to know if there are any event specific reruns that show after the close of the games?

Photo Albums CURRENT

I made a photo album label and went back in my archives and added it to old posts on this topic. So if you click on "Photo Album" at the bottom of this post, all the other/past posts will appear below this one. There are a lot of photo album related posts. It has been a continuing topic over the years.



I originally started with Century Photo. (I am not putting in a link because I do not want someone to half read this post and end up at their site.) For years, they had a quality product. Those are our old beloved albums. We have a lot of them.

Our albums are in four colors. Each kid has their own set and my husband and I have our shared set. Each owner has a different color for ease of identification. So I have prints made in sets of 4 and one picture goes in each album. Each kid has a full set of family pictures. There are also individual pictures in their albums. For example, middle has a lot of college pictures that are not in any of the other three albums.

I placed a last/final order several years ago with Century Photo and never received my stuff. Long story short - they declared bankruptcy, didn't fill a lot of orders. I filed complaint with state of California. They had lots of complaints but were not able to do anything. When they reopened, their products were made over seas and not of the same quality. I no longer order from them.

So, needing albums and having lost my supplier, I bought albums at Hobby Lobby and am NOT happy with them. The page holes, which fit into the three rings, break/split/crack EASILY. I don't think I have had one page (of my original album pages) ever split/break. And I have had at least a dozen of the Hobby Lobby ones break already. Those albums have been rejected.

The original manufacturing company (of my beloved albums) now Archival Photo Pages (made in the USA) was none too happy with Century Photo either. They decided to continue to make my beloved albums and to sell them directly to the public. They called me (as a previous customer of Century Photo) to let me know what had happened. To be honest, I waited a while to see if they got up and running. And then I placed an order with them.

Sarah your question on Sunday was most welcome because it made me open the shipping box and check out the quality of the product. (I ordered in November, thinking middle and I would work on photo albums over holidays, but I was not up to it post surgery at that time).

My husband and I think it is exactly the same (high) quality product that we used to order. The pages and albums look identical.

So, I am on their email list and will continue to order from them as we fill pages/albums.

NOTE: when you are on their site, the slip covers (holds two albums from what I can tell of the pictures) are sold separately. So $5.97 buys ONE album only.

Mehndi pictures

My books - black history month

Added later -

Race / Ethnicity	Number	Percentage of U.S. population
Americans	308,745,538	100.0 %
White	223,553,265	72.4 %
African American	38,929,319	12.6 %
Asian American	14,674,252	4.8 %
Native Americans or Alaska Native	2,932,248	0.9 %
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander	540,013	0.2 %
Some other race	19,107,368	6.2 %
Two or more races	9,009,073	2.9 %

From Wiki






February is Black History month in the United States and Canada.

It is observed in October for the United Kingdom.

In 2012, I just happened to read several books with this theme ( Uncle Tom's Cabin, Cry, the Beloved Country, The Tales of Huckleberry Finn, and Out of Africa).  I commented it felt like it was a personal Black History month, except those books were stretched out over a couple months, not just February.

Last year, in February, I read Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neal Hurston.

I gathered other books from my various reading lists, with this theme, and kept them here, together for future February reads:
Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright.
The Jungle (1906) by Upton Sinclair.
The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker
Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison.

Go Red Day is next week (fighting heart disease in women)

The WEAR RED DAY is 2/1/13.

Here is the GO RED website.

There are tabs across the top of their home page which include events, stories, and educational information.

These are posts, from a variety of bloggers, from 2010:

Here is Barbara and her personal perspective.

This is Lynn's Number's post . I loved it.

Here is BK guest posting on Mizfit .

Here is Sandrelle's post from 2010.

Helen, thinking she was having a heart attack, when it was a panic attack is here. I had this exact same thing happen to me. And we both had it checked out to be sure it wasn't actually a heart attack.

Heart Disease in Women: Understand symptoms and risk factors (Mayo Clinic).

Definition and symptoms of Heart Attacks (Mayo Clinic).

Should you take a daily aspirin? - from the Mayo clinic. (I use their web site as a lay person looking up easy to understand medical information. This was all collected and set to post long before we went to Mayo in December of 2011. I have always loved their website.).

2013 information on daily aspirin vision risks.

If you happen by any other posts/links on this topic, please feel free to live me a note in comments. I like these types of theme collections.

New type of flexible inserts which work in narrow boots and heels

I have not yet tried these, but middle has a couple pair and loves them.

Yes, it is out of focus, but thought you would like to see the reverse side.

One pair (of inserts from top pictures) lives in the black pair of heels (above). Those can easily be taken out of the black shoes and put in another pair of heels. 

She has a second set of these same inserts which live in her cowboy boots. The inserts have been attached to the bottom/inside of the boots so they do not slide around as she shoves her foot in and out. If you have ever had a pair of properly fitted cowboy boots, you know shove is the right word. It takes effort to get foot in and out.

I am pretty sure I have told the story of these boots. 

I have seen this store advertised for years. It is quite a bit of a drive for us. 

Last fall as I was scheduling my surgery, I suggested to middle that she might like a pair of really great cowboy boots for Christmas. She did. We bought them in October. 

Then I told the other two (kids) that they could have the same amount of money to buy what they wanted for Christmas. 

Oldest bought a pair of shoes and a really great pair of pants and I think had $ left over (which he kept). 

Youngest special ordered a power drill (which was actually more than the boots, so that was part of her birthday present too). 

All were happy. I did no wrapping.  

Wouldn't you love to be a child with autism whose teacher who sometimes wears cowboy boots? 

More college prep

I probably wrote this long ago.

When oldest was 3-4, we shopped high schools.

Literally.

We went to school fairs. We went on high school tours (with a 3-4 year old). (Oldest wasn't helping us choose, he was just along for the ride.)

When we decided on the right high school, we worked backwards thru the feeder schools.

So we picked kindergarten based on the right high school.





For us, that turned out to be Catholic/Private school system.

Oldest ended up also going to a Catholic under graduate college. Youngest probably will too.

Oldest's grad school (5 year doctorate program) is public. Middle's undergrad is public too.

Even though our kids were/are all in private high school, where almost all the kids go on to some level of higher education, the guidance department is not independently proactive when it comes to college, in my opinion.

The families need to take action, show interest, make college visits, plan themselves. The guidance department does not get the kids into college. The parents/student get the child in college.

Colleges visit our high school on a regular basis. A service comes in and is available to give families an idea of what level of college financing might be available (based on income/circumstances). Guidance is very good with meeting with the kids each year for high school class planning.

But they do not look at every single high school class a student should take.

So things like oldest's need to take high school calculus to make it through college calculus does not happen through guidance. It happens through the parents/student.

Another class similar to the calculus situation is anatomy/physiology. If a kid thinks they are possibly going into any form of health in college, they need to take anatomy/ physiology in high school. Some college programs use anatomy/physiology as their weed-out class. Kids are required to take it first semester freshman year, one chance to pass, must pass with a high grade, will flunk out of the entire program based on that one class.






Youngest and I had a very good college admission meeting yesterday. Very good.

This is the same school where middle and oldest took college classes while in high school.

Youngest is a sophomore in high school. She is planning classes for junior and senior year right now. She will also take college classes senior year. She wants to pick college classes that will count for high school and also for her four year college in the future. In order to have all that work, yes, have to figure it out sophomore year.

The college advisor yesterday made me realize that much of what we expect from high school guidance actually is available in the college admissions offices.

Yesterday's darling woman took the time to talk to youngest about the three colleges youngest is considering at this point.

The darling woman showed youngest where/how to find the course requirements at all three schools online and suggested youngest figure out 4-6 classes common to all three schools.

(All of these lists were specifically talking about freshman year for computer science majors, for youngest. The lists were very different.)

In other words, she taught youngest how to think about it.

Then (as the next step) she suggested that we talk to each of the three schools to see if credits transfer between the local school and their school. She said that the registrar is often the right department for those questions or the specific department (if the child knows their major).

For one college (this will be the one I will refer to for the rest of this post) the woman had printed out all the information to show youngest the level of math and science required in this field.

It was a major list. That did not intimidate youngest. Youngest thought two things - she was excited to see many of the classes listed and she realized she was going to pass her doctorate bound brother in level of math classes. We do not have sibling rivalry, but we do have healthily competitive kids. GPA comparisons are common between youngest and oldest (who are 8 years apart).

In looking at this list, yesterday, we realized youngest needs to take physics in high school. It was worth the appointment just to hear that one word - physics - because we might have missed it.

Only three science classes are required for high school graduation - biology and chemistry and one elective.

Youngest took honors biology her freshman year, is in honors chemistry now, is planning to take AP Chemistry (advanced placement) as a junior. We were thinking that was all the science she needed. Wrong.

She is now picking up a fourth science class senior year, one credit above what she needs, because she will be taking a lot of physics if she is in computer science at that one college she is considering.

Discrete math was also on the list for that same college. Middle and oldest both took discrete in high school. Youngest would have to drop calculus to take discrete. Oldest said she would be able to handle a college level discrete class without discrete in high school. That it was more important to take two years of high school calculus (she will have three levels of college calculus at this same college).

So yes, great meeting yesterday. The local college admissions woman knew youngest would be at her school for four classes and then moving on to a four year college. She talked to youngest about how to make sure youngest was taking what she needed in high school to prepare for college. How to take the right four classes at the local college. And how to ask the right questions at future colleges.

What I realized in all these high school/college discussions this week at our house and at the meeting yesterday is the information we (as parents) desire from the high school guidance offices is available from the college admissions offices. But one has to be talking to the colleges by sophomore (high school) year in order to implement the information.

If you are new to reading me, by the end of the summer after youngest's freshman year, she had done six college visits. Of those six, she had a real interest in three. Those six were carefully chosen. It does not surprise me that she would love the three she loved.

We are going back to one of the three (the one with the specific class list I referenced above) over youngest's spring break. We are going back to the other two (they are fairly close to each other) first thing this summer. At all three college (2nd) visits we are meeting with computer science people (we did general tours the first time). We are looking at class requirements. That will give us enough time to change her high school classes for junior and senior year.

She is pretty sure she wants to be in math/science field, but not anything in the health care field at this point. Probably in computer sciences. She was considering law at one point, but has now dropped that thought.

When I call to schedule visits, yes, sometimes I get a slight "she is too young" reaction. Not always, but sometimes. I explain, very simply why she is not too young. I firmly believe initial visits need to be done by sophomore year to be sure they are taking the right classes junior and senior year.

College Prep

With each kid, we learn a little more.

We are on the third kid.

The year before middle started high school, the oldest sat down with her and mapped out classes for four years of high school.  That class plan changed very little over her high school years. She also took one college class per semester her junior and senior high school years (at a local college). She knew where she was going to college and that she would be duel early childhood ed (ece) and early special ed (espce) major. So, we were able to coordinate between the two colleges to be sure the local college classes counted toward her long term college requirements.

Youngest is a sophomore. She and I sketched a four year plan for high school classes when she was in 8th grade. She made several adjustments to that plan last year, looking forward to her next three years. Earlier this week, we adjusted that plan again, looking to her junior and senior years. We also have a call into the same local college where middle and oldest took classes (while in high school) to talk about possible classes for her senior year. It looks as if she will be half days 3 classes at high school and 2-3 college classes each semester her senior year. The college classes count toward her high school credits, so planning is required to make sure all high school requirements are met.

We have learned to really plan ahead, looking at college as they are in high school.

An example of learning the hard way -
Oldest did not take calculus in high school and it bit him in the butt. It was difficult for him to do well jumping into required calculus class at the college level. He ended up using a tutor for the entire semester. He knew it was going to be tough, so he hired the tutor before the class even started. He also attended all study tables organized by the calculus class teaching assistant. He passed with an -A. He didn't retain much. But he passed with a good grade. The skills from calculus do not apply to his current doctorate work. So that class was simply all about doing what he had to do for his GPA.

Middle did not need calculus as ece/espce major.

Youngest might need calculus at college level. We don't know. We are prepping as if calc will be required at college. So we talked to the high school math department head (summer before her freshman year) to make sure of which math classes she needs each of the four years. Youngest rechecked with that same teacher (who she happens to have for honors adv algebra this year) to see which level of calculus she should take junior and senior year. If you have not been around high school in a while, there are several levels for many classes. So for example her teacher suggested pre-calculus/trig (honors) her junior year and then depending on how she does will determine what level (there are two levels of AP) of AP (advanced placement) calc/trig she takes her senior year. There is also a college level calc/trig available to her senior year, but we suspect that might be too stressful. We think it might be better to take two years of high school calc and then take it in college (if required).


When we looked at high school classes when youngest was in 8th grade, she was not sure what she might want to study in college. She also did not know what college she might attend. Now she thinks she is interested in some type of computer degree. And she probably will attend one of three catholic colleges.  So we reworked her high school class plan to allow her to take computer classes offered there.

When we meet with the local college, we are asking what computer classes might be available there.

Oldest took English comp, business, psychology, and maybe a history class at college, two per semester, his senior year in high school, while going half days to high school. I think all these just counted toward his electives at college. He did not know his major in advance.

Middle took psychology, eng comp, speech, and one other class, one per semester, her junior and senior year in high school. She went to high school full time her junior year but had one study hall. She went half days her senior year. At the Christmas break her sophomore year in college, she was a junior (class credit wise). She takes 17-18 hours, easily, deans list each semester, at college.

Yes, college classes are offered at high school (now). But I think being in an actual college classroom, with a college professor, prepares the kids for college better than a college class at high school. It is just not the same.

Even if the college credits (earned while in high school) did not count toward their college (not all credits transfer to every college), the experience of doing the college level work is really valuable to their long term success.

Youngest has talked to oldest repeatedly about high school class choices, local college class choices, potential future (4 year) colleges.

My husband and I both went to college and each earned a BA. But we were not smart about it. We would have done many things differently if we had known. And this is not hindsight speaking. This is the fact that we did not have guidance at the time. We certainly did not have parents or older siblings planning with us. I have no older siblings. Husband has one of his three older sibs who actually could have been a mentor, but wasn't. All four parents were no help at all.

There are a lot of things we could have planned better for oldest, but for the first kid, we did not do too badly. He is in a doctorate program (and doing well, knock on wood) after all. But yes, we know and he knows there are smarter choices we could have made.

And as I said, even though he is far away on the east coast, he is very involved with the girls.

He was coordinating with middle's new car all fall. He told me she needed a Garmin and which one to get too (he was right, and actually I went and got it without arguing, I trust his judgement).

He is coordinating with high school/college planning with youngest all these four years too.

I think that is important for the girls (he is a wealth of information, if something happened to my husband and I, they would be used to counting on/coordinating with oldest already) and also important for his growth as a man (men should love, honor, serve the women in their lives). 

Jen's Gwynnie Bee (clothing rental service) information

I apologize if this is a repeat. I thought I had already posted on this topic, but when I searched, I could not find it.

Jen belongs to a clothing rental service called Gwynnie Bee.

She has written about Gwynnie Bee several times. 

That link will pull up all her Gwynnie Bee posts with the most recent on top. Scroll down to read her previous Gwynnie Bee posts.  I would suggest reading all her posts. She and I also chatted in the comments attached to those posts.

Jen chooses which outfits interest her, and they send a set number to her. If the items do not fit or she does not like them, she returns them and they send her a different thing from her list immediately.

I plugged in my information (email, etc) on Gwynnie Bee and that got me free access to their site. It was very interesting. They are geared toward dress up and work clothes. They supply mostly larger sizes. There are lots of clothing/style pictures from their customers and their plus size models.

I can see this working for a lot of women - People steadily losing weight who want a variety of clothes without investing in sizes that will only fit for a short time. Women wanting to try a wide variety of styles to see what works on their body and with the rest of the clothes in their closet. Women who do not have access to larger sizes in their area. Working women who need a larger wardrobe. Women who need special occasion dresses. My understanding is these rental clothes can also be purchased (at a discount because they are used).

When I was pregnant with my oldest, and working, I belonged to a maternity rental clothing service. It was locally owned. I think I had 5 work outfits at a time. They did all laundry. If my belly outgrew something, I could trade it in at any time. Otherwise I traded clothes every other week (if I remember correctly). They had a wide variety of choices. It worked great for me. When business casual became more common, maybe 20 years ago, the local maternity clothing rental place went out of business.

David Tennant is a beloved person at our house

I have three BIG time Dr Who fans.  My niece is too.

They among the many who were really sad when David stepped away from his version of The Doctor.

I have watched the Matt Smith version of The Doctor. I have not yet worked my way through David's. So, I can't compare.

But I think they got used to, and appreciated, Matt Smith.

Earlier this year oldest and I both watched David Tennant starring in Broadchurch on BBC. It is a crime drama. We enjoyed it very much. I watched first, in a marathon session, on line. Oldest watched, shortly thereafter, upon my recommendation, also on line.

The story of the black skirts

The style is called a skater skirt.

They are A-line.

Think the style an ice skater would wear.

Middle and I bought this same black, knit skater skirt at JC Penney's last fall.

She wears it with black leggings.

Then she can layer fun tops and jackets or sweaters on this very neutral bottom half.

She looks very slim, arty, put together in these clothes.

Some people throw on a pair of jeans, she puts on leggings and a skirt.

We realized a week or two ago that this particular skirt was not going to make it long term, it gets way too much wear.

I looked on line and it was sold out in black, medium.

Oldest and I went back to our Penney's and could not find a size medium for her.

I called other JC Penney's to have them check. (They do not ship from the store to a customer. I called four where we had friends close by who would go pick up and then mail to us.) No luck at those four either.

I sent notes to Ellen, Laura, Brenda (bloggers who live within several hundred miles of me, so their Penney's probably carry the same stock). All three very kindly looked at their Penney's, to no avail. Between all of us, we could find every size except mediums.

Running errands with my husband on Monday, we drove back by Penney's. And the thought - RETURNS flicked through my brain. We stopped, we looked through the same rack oldest and I had checked the week before, low and behold, one size medium. From the way it was on the hanger, I am positive it was a return. Then my husband looked through racks of other style black skirts in adjacent racks and found another medium which had been mis-stocked. So TWO additional mediums of this beloved skirt. And the price had dropped to $7.99 (I thought the original $15 was a deal).

I am still on the look out for these skirts.

If I found a couple more, I would buy them.

Movies (we saw these in 2014)

I did not write any of these reviews. These are mostly from Rotten Tomatoes.


BABETTE'S FEAST (1987)
(Subtitles or dubbed, can't remember, it is very different, but we enjoyed it))
The Danish/French Babette's Feast is based on a story by Isak Dinesen, also the source of the very different Out of Africa (1985). Stephane Audran plays Babette, a 19th century Parisian political refugee who seeks shelter in a rough Danish coastal town. Philippa (Bodil Kjer) and Martina (Birgitte Federspiel), the elderly daughters of the town's long-dead minister, take Babette in. As revealed in flashback, Philippa and Martina were once beautiful young women (played by Hanne Stensgaard and Vibeke Hastrup), who'd forsaken their chances at romance and fame, taking hollow refuge in religion. Babette holds a secret that may very well allow the older ladies to have a second chance at life. This is one of the great movies about food, but there are way too many surprises in Babette's Feast to allow us to reveal anything else at this point (except that Ingmar Bergman "regulars" Bibi Andersson and Jarl Kulle have significant cameo roles).. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi



BELLE (2013)
(Fabulous movie)
BELLE is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode). Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle's lineage affords her certain privileges, yet her status prevents her from the traditions of noble social standing. While her cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) chases suitors for marriage, Belle is left on the sidelines wondering if she will ever find love. After meeting an idealistic young vicar's son bent on changing society, he and Belle help shape Lord Mansfield's role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England. (c) Fox Searchlight


BIG NIGHT (1996)
(Off beat, but we enjoyed it)
In this witty drama, a pair of brothers debate integrity versus compromise as they try to succeed in the restaurant business. Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) have journeyed from Italy to New Jersey in the mid-1950s, determined to make a killing with an authentic Italian restaurant, The Paradise. But their food is a bit too authentic; Primo may prepare a superb risotto, but most of his customers are wondering why they can't get a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. Secondo tries to convince his brother not to berate the customers for requesting more "American" dishes, but Primo stands firm. Meanwhile, Pascal (Ian Holm), another local restaurateur, is doing great business with "Italian style" food the brothers wouldn't bother to spit on. Despite Primo's refusal to change his recipes to cater to lowbrow tastes, Secondo goes to Pascal begging for advice. With The Paradise on its last legs, Pascal offers to help -- Louis Prima, the famous Italian-American bandleader, is coming to town, and Pascal is to arrange a banquet in his honor. He'll stage the banquet at The Paradise in the hopes that Prima and his entourage (and hopefully the accompanying press) will fall in love with the authentic food and sing the praises of the foundering restaurant as he tours the country. The preparations for the big night and the behind-the-scenes family drama that ensues is highlighted by a strong supporting cast of Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini, and Allison Janney. Stanley Tucci, who plays Secondo, co-directed with Campbell Scott, who has a small but memorable role as a car salesman. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi


BOYHOOD (2014)
(One of our all time favorite movies)
Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater's BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia
Arquette as Mason's parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, BOYHOOD charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay's Yellow to Arcade Fire's Deep Blue. BOYHOOD is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. It's impossible to watch Mason and his family without thinking about our own journey. (c) Sundance Film Fest


CHEF (2014)
(Again a different kind of movie but we really loved it, my husband was hungry for Cuban sandwiches for many months after this film)
Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner (Dustin Hoffman), he is left to figure out what's next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara), his friend (John Leguizamo) and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen -- and zest for life and love. (c) Open Road


COHERENCE (2014)
(At our house we call this the Schrödinger's cat movie, very good)
On the night of an astronomical anomaly, eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of reality bending events. Part cerebral sci-fi and part relationship drama, COHERENCE is a tightly focused, intimately shot film whose tension intensely ratchets up as its numerous complex mysteries unfold. (c) Oscilloscope


DELICATESSEN (1991)
(Very strange movie, but we enjoyed it)
A post-apocalyptic future becomes the setting for pitch black humor in this visually intricate French comedy. The action takes place within a single apartment complex, which is owned by the same man that operates the downstairs butcher shop. It's a particularly popular place to live, thanks to the butcher's uncanny ability to find excellent cuts of meat despite the horrible living conditions outside. The newest building superintendent, a former circus clown, thinks he has found an ideal living situation. All that changes, however, when he discovers the true source of the butcher's meat, and that he may be the next main course. This dark tale is played out in a brilliantly designed, glorious surreal alternate world reminiscent of the works of director Terry Gilliam, who co-presented the film's American release. Like Gilliam, co-directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro hail from an animation background, and have a fondness for extravagant visuals, absurdist plot twists, and a sense of humor that combines sharp satire with broad slapstick and gross-out imagery. This mixture may displease the weak of stomach, but those attuned to the film's sensibility will be delighted by the obvious technical virtuosity and wicked sense of humor. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi



EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994)
(Might be subtitles or dubbed, very different but we really liked it)
Director Ang Lee's follow-up to his surprise box-office hit The Wedding Banquet is another look at ethnic and sexual conflicts in a Chinese family, with meals as a centerpiece of the film. Master chef Chu (Sihung Lung) is a long-time widower who lovingly cooks large Sunday dinners for his three daughters, who view the meals as too traditional. Secretly, however, successful airline executive Jia-Chien (Chien-Lien Wu) loves traditional cooking and would like to be a chef like her father, if women were permitted to do so. Her older sister Jia-Jen (Kuei-Mei Yang) is unmarried and cynical about men, but she becomes attracted to a volleyball coach and eventually pursues him vigorously. The youngest daughter, Jia-Ning (Yu-Wen Wang), is a college student who becomes pregnant from her frequent sexual escapades. As the film progresses, the personal relationships between the daughters and their significant others change unexpectedly. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi


FINDING VIVIAN MAIER (2013)
(Might bother you, untreated mental illness, but I really enjoyed it)
Who is Vivian Maier? Now considered one of the 20th century's greatest street photographers, Vivian Maier was a mysterious nanny who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that went unseen during her lifetime. Since buying her work by chance at auction, amateur historian John Maloof has crusaded to put this prolific photographer in the history books. Maier's strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never-before-seen photographs, films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her. (c) IFC


GOD HELP THE GIRL(2014)
(Middle loved this. Her boy was just glad she liked it. My husband said it was better then he thought it was going to be. I enjoyed it, but it did drag in a couple spots. Emily Browning is a GREAT SINGER, we all agreed.)
In God Help the Girl, writer/director Stuart Murdoch creates a poignant coming-of-age story that doubles as a sublime indie-pop musical from one of indie pop's biggest songwriters. The project began as a suite of songs, written while Murdoch was between records and tours as lead singer of Belle & Sebastian. He nurtured it for nearly a decade into a fully formed film, set in the bohemian fantasia of Glasgow's West End, which is populated by mods, rockers, and emo kids who have no qualms about breaking into song and dance. (c) Amplify





THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)
(Funky little film, we loved it)
Recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop ofa suddenly and dramatically changing Continent. (c) Fox Searchlight


A HAPPY EVENT (2011)
(Might be subtitles, it might bother some, topic is post partum, we loved it, look for the Star Trek reference).
Having kids is not quite A Happy Event (Un heureux evenement) for one French mother in Remi Bezancon’s amusing, feel-good portrayal of the modern day baby blues. Starring the gorgeous and charismatic Louise Bourgoin (The Girl from Monaco), this polished, well-performed dramedy also seems a tad too slick and cute – newborns notwithstanding – to provide a convincing account of what can go wrong both before and after the bunny leaves the oven. Strong local returns should outweigh overseas action, though Hollywood could seek adoption rights.  Adapted from bestselling author Eliette Abecassis’ 2005 autobiographical novel, this third feature from writer-director Bezancon (The First Day of the Rest of Your Life) is a highly stylized affair backed by an attractive cast (including six credited babies) and plenty of tongue-in-cheek narration, yet never feels believable enough in its depiction of a young couple’s unraveling following the birth of their first child. When PhD candidate Barbara (Bourgoin) meets the handsome and juvenile Nicolas (Pio Marmai) at the video store where he works, their romance ignites with an exchange of DVD boxes – In the Mood for Love, Catch Me if You Can – cleverly transformed into pickup lines. Things move quickly enough that they decide, more for the worse than for the better (as the flashback structure portends) to have a child, and what once seemed like the perfect little love story begins to fall apart as the due date nears.


A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964)
Original Beatles movie


IDA (2013)
(Middle and I loved it, might be subtitles or dubbed)
From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love) comes IDA, a moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, discovers a dark family secret dating from the terrible years of the Nazi occupation. 18-year old Anna (stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naïve, innocent Anna soon finds herself in the presence of her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), a worldly and cynical Communist Party insider, who shocks her with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism. In this beautifully directed film, Pawlikowski returns to his native Poland for the first time in his career to confront some of the more contentious issues in the history of his birthplace. Powerfully written and eloquently shot, IDA is a masterly evocation of a time, a dilemma, and a defining historical moment; IDA is also personal, intimate, and human. The weight of history is everywhere, but the scale falls within the scope of a young woman learning about the secrets of her own past. This intersection of the personal with momentous historic events makes for what is surely one of the most powerful and affecting films of the year.


LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE (1992)
(Weird, weird, weird one, subtitles or dubbed)
Based on the best-selling novel by Laura Esquival, this internationally popular romantic fable from Mexico centers on a young woman who discovers that her cooking has magical effects. The tale's heroine, Tita, is the youngest of three daughters in a traditional Mexican family. Bound by tradition to remain unmarried while caring for her aging mother, Tita nevertheless falls in love with a handsome young man named Pedro. Pedro returns her affection, but he cannot overcome her family's disapproval, and he instead marries Tita's elder sister. The lovestruck young woman is brutally disappointed, and her sadness has such force that it infects her cooking: all who eat it her feel her heartbreak with the same intensity. This newly discovered power continues to manifest itself after the wedding, as Tita and Pedro, overcome by their denied love, embark on a secret affair. Director Alfonso Arau, Esquival's husband at the time, presents the acts of love and cooking with the same glossy, sensual sheen. Indeed, despite occasional digressions into a magical realist tone, the film often takes on the gloss of Hollywood romance. This combination of traditional melodrama and exotic fairy tale proved extremely popular with audiences, particularly in the United States, where it became one of the highest grossing foreign language films at the time. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi


LOVESHIP HATESHIP (2013)
(Unusual movie, middle and I loved it)
Johanna Parry (Kristen Wiig) is a profoundly shy, unadorned woman who is hired by Mr. McCauley (Nick Nolte) as a housekeeper and a primary caregiver to his granddaughter Sabitha (Hailee Steinfeld). Despite her outgoing nature, Sabitha carries wounds from the death of her mother years before, complicated by the circumstances of that death for which her grandfather still blames her father, Ken (Guy Pearce), a hapless recovering drug addict with a certain ragged charm. In an act of mean-spirited rebellion, Sabitha uses technology to foster a pseudo-relationship between Johanna and her father, never dreaming of the potential harm to either party. Sabitha doesn't understand that Johanna is not a demure cut-out, but rather a woman for whom the phrase "still waters run deep" could have been coined. The young girl's interference provokes Johanna to indulge in something long missing from her life: the dream of a future and a home of her own. (c) IFC


MOOD INDIGO (2013)
(My husband said it is like Monty Python remade LOVE STORY, so yes, quite a strange little movie, subtitles I think)
Eminently inventive Michel Gondry finds inspiration from French novelist Boris Vian's cult novel to provide the foundation for this visionary and romantic love story starring Audrey Tautou (Amélie, Coco Before Chanel) and Romain Duris (The Beat My Heart Skipped). Set in a charmingly surreal Paris, Duris plays wealthy bachelor Colin, whose hobbies include developing his pianocktail (a cocktail-making piano) and devouring otherworldly dishes prepared by his trusty chef Nicolas (Omar Sy, The Untouchables). When Colin learns that his best friend Chick (Gad Elmaleh, The Valet), a fellow acolyte of the philosopher Jean-Sol Partre, has a new American girlfriend, our lonely hero attends a friend's party in hopes of falling in love himself. He soon meets Chloé (Audrey Tautou) and, before they know it, they're dancing to Duke Ellington and plunging headfirst into a romance that Gondry rapturously depicts as only he can. Their whirlwind courtship is tested when an unusual illness plagues Chloe; a flower begins to grow in her lungs. To save her, Colin discovers the only cure is to surround Chloe with a never-ending supply of fresh flowers. MOOD INDIGO was nominated for three 2014 César Awards: Étienne Charry (Best Original Music), Florence Fontaine (Best Costume) and Stéphane Rozenbaum (Best Production Design). --(c) Drafthouse


WHAT'S COOKING (2000)
(This is one of those compilation movies, following several story lines, we liked it)
Kenyan-born, London-educated Indian filmmaker Gurinder Chadha follows up on her debut hit Bhaji on the Beach (1994) with this gentle look at multiculturalism in Los Angeles. The film details the lives of four ethnically diverse families -- black, Latino, Jewish, and Asian -- during one frantic Thanksgiving. The film opens with Ronald (Dennis Haysbert), an African-American who works as a spin doctor for the Republican politico; he and his wife Audrey (Alfre Woodard) are in the midst of preparing for their white dinner guests. Meanwhile, at the Latino household, young Anthony Avila (Douglas Spain) invites his womanizing father for Thanksgiving dinner, unbeknownst to his schoolteacher mother Elisabeth (Mercedes Ruehl). At the same time, the Seeling family is confronted with their daughter Rachel's (Kyra Sedwick) lesbianism, when she brings home her lover Carla (Julianna Margulies). Finally, Vietnamese immigrant Trinh Nguyen (Joan Chen) struggles to understand her Americanized children after she discovers condoms in her eldest daughter's jacket and a gun in her son's room. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Painted letters and a bonus collage

Middle (who is in college and turning 20 shortly) is VERY good at sending pictures to me, without my even asking, as she works on projects throughout the year.




This is how it started -

To be honest, she sent me a picture at this point, asking for ideas. This happened to be for a guy, so she was asking for masculine ideas. I looked back through my archives, using my labels (below this post), and responded stripes always are a good idea for guys.





This is how it finished -

Middle was in a secret santa exchange (RA's in her dorm). The rule was that it could not cost any $, had to be made with free/on hand things.

The letters middle normally paints are wood. This one was cut from a piece of cardboard -

This is what middle's secret santa gave her -

These are other letters middle made for another xmas exchange -

This set is for a family -