A Day of Rest..Finally

Bugsy demonstrates how to relax

I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas. We did, but I'm staying home today. Not getting out of my jammies either. Our last two days seemed to be all about rushing from one place to another.

Even though it was extremely hectic, we ended up having a really good time with family and friends. Dad and I actually had fun doing his last-minute shopping, we were quite speedy and successful! Mr. MoonCat and I were able to visit with our dear family friends and eat way too much good food. Mom was feeling a little better and we had dinner with her in her hospital room. The food was pretty dang good, even her diabetic meal was appealing. She enjoyed unwrapping her presents and is anxious to get home and get sewing as I bought her a new bobbin winder among other things.

After we left Mom, we had to take care of the horses & critters at the ranch. Dad was going to be late so we didn't want him to worry about rushing home. We ended up really rushing ourselves as we had made a date with my best friend & her someday (soon I hope) hubby to see Avatar in 3D. The two of them hadn't seen it yet, but their kids had and of course, loved it. We don't spend near enough time with these two so we jump at the chance when we are all able to be in the same place at once.

I'm really glad I got to see this film at the theater instead of just waiting for the DVD like we do on a fairly regular basis. It is one that is definitely meant to be seen BIG. The 3D version was great also, but to be honest, it hurt my eyes at a couple of points. Usually when everything was going by at full speed. The 3D did really make the spectacular scenery POP. We caught several things that we missed when we saw it the first time. We did get to sit in the middle of the theater even though we got there a bit late. It seems other people were running even more behind than we were.

I'm really happy that our friends saw it with us. We were all yakking about it afterwards and they both got the same messages we did when we first saw it (see my first post HERE ). It was funny that Greg said the very same thing I did about the majority of the people in there would probably miss the points. I've really enjoyed the replies and some of the discussion that this has brought about. The biggest deal is that is a movie very well worth seeing at the theater with the ecological theme being icing on the cake for me.

Now on to New Year's.........................

Merry Christmas

Nothing really exciting to share today, I just wanted to get in my Christmas tidings to all of my beloved readers before we get swamped tomorrow. I hope you all have lovely memory-making with your families and dear ones. Cherish the time together.

We have a really busy schedule ahead of us as Hubby & I are going to my other Mom & Pop's house (my best friend's parents) for an early Christmas lunch/dinner on Christmas Eve. That is after I meet Dad for breakfast and help him do his shopping. He cracks me up because he always Bah-Humbugs until the night before and then suddenly wants to get gifts. I should be more prepared for his un-Scrooging by now, but oh well... Then on actual Christmas Eve, Dad is going with us to hang out with Mom at the hospital for a bit. She's feeling a bit better, but still can't come home. Please keep her in your prayers. We all appreciate the warm thoughts.

Christmas Day is still up in the air. We're invited with Dad to our friend's house for what will be a fun and yummy dinner. I just don't like the idea of Mom sitting there by herself at the hospital too long on this particular holiday so I may just send Dad and the Hubby and go hang with Mom. We can watch A Christmas Story over and over again. (Love that movie!) Fortunately, the food at the hospital is pretty tasty so we won't be deprived anyway. I will probably have to sneak her one of my cookies in anyway, but we won't mention that to Nursey-poo...

Well, I'd love to leave you with photos of our lovely decorated home, but #1 - it's not really decorated, and #2 - I have no clue where my camera is! I did decorate Mom's hospital room though, so I hope that counts?

Merry Christmas my lovelies and I will be back in a few days, fatter & probably not much wiser!

Avatar - A Movie Review

Mr. MoonCat and I had lunch with Mom at the hospital and just hung out with her for a few hours on Monday. She may be coming home in the next couple of days, but we'll have to wait and see. The doctors are never around when we are, it seems to me..

So after our visit, we decided to go check out the late matinee and see Avatar. We go to the movies quite a bit and we'd been seeing trailers for this flick for months. It definitely had our interest piqued. We are both fans of Science Fiction/Fantasy films and this one received a lot of hype well before it was released. (Since you haven't ever viewed a "movie review" from me, you know I have some strong feelings about it.)

What an awesome movie! It had a great storyline, action, drama, romance, fantabulous graphics, good actors, etc. Brand new film -making technology was created for this film, in fact they delayed making it for several years because the processes and equipment in use couldn't do what creator James Cameron had envisioned for his beautiful new world and exotic creatures.

We hit on many emotions throughout this 3 hour visual treat. I laughed, sniffled, cried, cringed, became angered, sighed, rooted on heroes, booed villains, oohed and ahhed over strange animals (that's a real shocker, huh?) and was thoroughly entertained. I didn't even realize how long the film really was until I turned my cell phone back on when it was over. When the hubby and I talk about a movie we've just seen all the way home (45 min drive), you know we were impressed one way or another.


I'm not going to get into plot here or tell you how the story goes because you can read about that HERE at the official site, or better yet, GO SEE THE MOVIE. I do want to talk about the fact that there is a very strong theme and message. It is not preachy by any means and I'm really sorry to say that way too many people won't get it. You could club them over the head with it and they still wouldn't get it. We did, and I think many of the people in the theater with us felt it too. The place was almost full and they were standing & clapping at the end of the movie. I had to come home and get online right away to read more about it (and of course to find out if there are any sequels in the offing - as in TWO..woo hoo!)

I think it'll be easier to use director/writer James Cameron's words to explain his intent when writing this movie. At a convention earlier this year, he told fans that he wanted to make people think about how they react with their environment and with other people. He wanted to make a point about how humans are trashing this world and possibly condemning ourselves to a very scary future.

"I have an absolute reverence for men who have a sense of duty, courage, but I’m also a child of the ’60s. There’s a part of me who wants to put a daisy in the end of the gun barrel. I believe in peace through superior firepower, but on the other hand I abhor the abuse of power and creeping imperialism disguised as patriotism. Some of these things you can’t raise without being called unpatriotic, but I think it’s very patriotic to question a system that needs to be corralled, or it becomes Rome."
—James Cameron

We are definitely planning on going to see it again, this time in either the IMAX or 3D version that they are also showing it in. I haven't gone twice to see a film at the show since Top Gun came out and the Marine pilot I was dating took me to see it THREE times! (TMI I'm sure, but it does get my point across.) We loved this movie and highly recommend it to everyone.

(And so the FCC doesn't give me any grief, I didn't do this review for ANY kind of compensation. The photos ARE from the 20th Century Fox site. We BOUGHT our own tickets and this review is MY OPINION that I wanted to share with my friends. Thank you very much!)

One World One Heart 2010

I can't believe it's been almost a year! This event is what got my blogging career kick started. I found out about this awesome blogging extravaganza and knew I had to be a part of it. You can read my post about the 2009 event here.

I have made a couple of very dear friends because of 2009's OWOH (One World One Heart). Meeting them through this wonderful blogfest was such a gift. We have stayed in touch all year long and are building our friendships that were started in January. A couple of these fabulous women have been such great inspiration and support to me this year, I couldn't be more thankful for them. I am hoping that at some point I will get to actually meet them in the the real world. That connection is exactly why OWOH came into being. It was created to bring bloggers together who may not have found each other by any other method.

OWOH is the brainchild of Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian. She held her first event in 2007 with about 85 or so bloggers participating. By the end of the event in January 2009, 911 bloggers were riding the Gypsy Caravan! It was such a blast going blog-hopping, basically all over the world. Lisa noted that 28 countries were represented in the 2009 event. It is such a treat to "meet" and learn about bloggers from all walks of life with so many diverse opinions, styles, and life stories. Each blog hosts a giveaway and encourages visitors to spend some time nosing around the site and then leave a comment/entry. While the giveaways aren't the purpose behind the event, it is a blast to check out all of the goodies that the generous bloggers give away as a sort of "door prize" just for visiting their blog.

This coming year's (2010) event will start on January 25th and run until February 15th. This gives participants plenty of time to spend many hours visiting fabulous blogs, entering drawings, and meeting lovely new people while at the same time reacquainting themselves with old friends. I can't wait, it'll be so much fun to travel thru blogland again!

The reason that I am posting about this international event so early is that I want to help get the word out there to other bloggers that may not be familiar with OWOH and might be interested in participating. You can click on either of the photos in this post, the button on my sidebar, or just click HERE to get more information. It's very easy to join in on the magic carpet ride and well worth the trip.

On January 25th, be sure to check back here for the giveaway post and get ready for a fantastic journey.

Sunday Selections

“What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson