So This is Christmas...

This week is crunch time. I'll be cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, and questioning why I always wait until the last minute. I vowed that through it all I'm going to try my hardest to remember that this is the most wonderful time of the year.

My tree is decorated, but the rest of my home's interior is a little less than merry. I did make sure to put out my new nutcrackers.

Aren't they adorable?

I'm still not done baking, but by the time the week is over, we'll be hip-deep in cookies. I wouldn't want to deprive my technicians and my husband of their cookie intake. Unfortunately, I can't keep my grubby little fingers from dipping into the chocolatey, nutty, sugary, nuggets of sin, but that's a problem to deal with later on.

This year, I'm taking everything in stride. Whatever gets done, gets done, and whatever doesn't get done, doesn't need to get done. 

It's been 12 months  since Mom's health scares began. Last year at this time she was in an induced coma and when we weren't working or sleeping, we spent all our time at the hospital. I didn't do gifts or decorate--heck I didn't do Christmas. 

This isn't my favorite holiday. I'm more of a stuff-my-face-with-candy-and-cackle-like-the-witch-I-am kind of girl. I'm usually cranky and stressed out, but this year is different This year Mom is home and doing well, my oldest grandson still believes in the magic of Santa and my youngest grandson is old enough to appreciate the wonders of the season. Everyone is healthy and happy. What more could I ask for?

All is calm, all is bright, and even though we're having a freak warm spell in New Jersey, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Fun at The Faire

I've always wanted to go to a Renaissance Faire. 

Last year, I attended one that was run by the County 4H Club. It was cute, but it was small and left me wondering if my expectations of a Ren Faire were a little too high. 

Then, my kid attended a faire in Pennsylvania with some friends. She was confident I would love this faire. The Pennsylvania Rennaisance Faire is open from the first weekend in August through October. Every weekend has a different theme. 

My expectations were a bit low after my initial Ren Faire encounter, but we chose to go for the Pyrate Invasion.

Of course, we dressed the part.

I was immediately impressed.

The Sirens

The King and I. 

(I was all aflutter!)

Music everywhere! 

I can't resist men in kilts. This is Tartanic. Visit their website and have a listen.

So much food!

Scotch Eggs.

Crabcake sandwich and pita chips with crab dip.

Steak on a Stake

Chicken on a Stake

And beer.

So many vendors!

Pirates with attitude.

Great characters and storyline!

Rene, our favorite French Court Jester

There was jousting!

Beautiful grounds!

And of course, the Pirate Auction!

I even learned all the words to 'Hoist the Colours' so I could sing along.

Yeah, the kid was right. I had a blast.

Let's Play Catch-Up

I'm back! Is anyone still here? 

Photo Credit

Yes, I know, it's been awhile. I'm sorry for the absence, and I'm so grateful for all of you who stuck around.

Since my last post--has it really been almost 7 months??--my mother has had a shoulder replacement, a heart attack, internal bleeding, an induced coma, a triple bypass, and a heart valve replacement. We finally got her body all squared away, but she developed severe vertigo. When she finally got home after 7 months of hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, she took a tumble in the bathroom. She broke her arm (the same arm that she had the shoulder replacement.) When my family does something, we go all out. Needless to say, our lives and emotions have been on a roller-coaster ride from hell. If you've ever been a caregiver, you'll know what I mean. 

Mom is now doing physical therapy to get stronger, move that shoulder and arm, and to keep her balance. Life is slowly getting back into some sort of rhythm. It's one of those crazy rhythms that constantly changes and it's kind of hard to dance to, but we keep moving.

I've been writing, though! And have been actively seeking an agent for my first book, THE CLOVER KEY. Yes, I know I said I said I was putting it away, but I dusted it off and re-read it and realized I love the story too much to keep it in a virtual drawer. 

I've written a New Adult novel, and in between constantly revising it, I entered it into #pg70pit and #pitchwars. I'm a glutton for punishment, but I did get some feedback on my pg 70 and am still stalking mentors waiting for the results on my pitch. So, yeah, I've been spending way too much time on Twitter.

I recently joined Tumblr because my daughter told me I should, but I honestly have no idea what to do on there. So far, I have one follower--my daughter. You can also follow me if you'd like, and I'll follow you, but it may take me awhile to figure it all out and do anything interesting. I'm naturally a late bloomer.

I wanted to tell you all about my adventures during the past 7 months in this one post, but I've decided to break it up a little. That way, I can amuse you with many more tales.  

So tell me, what have you been up to?

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100 Years, 100 Films, 100 Nights I Won't Write.

Recently, I stumbled across one of those time-sucking Facebook quizzes that asked a few irrelevant questions and then calculated how many more cats you should own. Or something like that. Anyway, one of the questions asked whether or not you watched every movie on the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies. I had watched almost more than half of them, but most of them I'd seen more than 20 years ago. I thought it would be fun to watch them in order, starting with #100.

My daughter, Amanda, was on board with me and suggested we should write something about each movie. We entered the movies on my Netflix queue.
I rustled up an unused journal, (We have a few in my house.) and decorated the cover.

After watching the movie, we take turns jotting our thoughts into the journal--keeping the year of production in mind, we write a paragraph or two about how the movie made us feel, what we thought about the story, the acting, or the cinematography. Of course we each use different color pens, because that's how we roll.

So far, life has gotten in the way, along with SYTYCD and the new Starz Outlander series, so we've only watched 2-1/2 movies. I'm hoping to set aside 2 nights a week to catch up, which means that will be 100 nights that I'm not writing. But hey, I need to look at it as quality time with my daughter, right? We'll see how that goes...

Here's the 10th Anniversary list of AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies:

#	MOVIE	YEAR
1	CITIZEN KANE	1941
2	THE GODFATHER	1972
3	CASABLANCA	1942
4	RAGING BULL	1980
5	SINGIN' IN THE RAIN	1952
6	GONE WITH THE WIND	1939
7	LAWRENCE OF ARABIA	1962
8	SCHINDLER'S LIST	1993
9	VERTIGO	1958
10	THE WIZARD OF OZ	1939
11	CITY LIGHTS	1931
12	THE SEARCHERS	1956
13	STAR WARS	1977
14	PSYCHO	1960
15	2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY	1968
16	SUNSET BLVD.	1950
17	THE GRADUATE	1967
18	THE GENERAL	1927
19	ON THE WATERFRONT	1954
20	IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE	1946
21	CHINATOWN	1974
22	SOME LIKE IT HOT	1959
23	THE GRAPES OF WRATH	1940
24	E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL	1982
25	TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD	1962
26	MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON	1939
27	HIGH NOON	1952
28	ALL ABOUT EVE	1950
29	DOUBLE INDEMNITY	1944
30	APOCALYPSE NOW	1979
31	THE MALTESE FALCON	1941
32	THE GODFATHER PART II	1974
33	ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST	1975
34	SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS	1937
35	ANNIE HALL	1977
36	THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI	1957
37	THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES	1946
38	THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE	1948
39	DR. STRANGELOVE	1964
40	THE SOUND OF MUSIC	1965
41	KING KONG	1933
42	BONNIE AND CLYDE	1967
43	MIDNIGHT COWBOY	1969
44	THE PHILADELPHIA STORY	1940
45	SHANE	1953
46	IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT	1934
47	A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE	1951
48	REAR WINDOW	1954
49	INTOLERANCE	1916
50	THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING	2001
51	WEST SIDE STORY	1961
52	TAXI DRIVER	1976
53	THE DEER HUNTER	1978
54	M*A*S*H	1970
55	NORTH BY NORTHWEST	1959
56	JAWS	1975
57	ROCKY	1976
58	THE GOLD RUSH	1925
59	NASHVILLE	1975
60	DUCK SOUP	1933
61	SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS	1941
62	AMERICAN GRAFFITI	1973
63	CABARET	1972
64	NETWORK	1976
65	THE AFRICAN QUEEN	1951
66	RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK	1981
67	WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?	1966
68	UNFORGIVEN	1992
69	TOOTSIE	1982
70	A CLOCKWORK ORANGE	1971
71	SAVING PRIVATE RYAN	1998
72	THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION	1994
73	BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID	1969
74	THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS	1991
75	IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT	1967
76	FORREST GUMP	1994
77	ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN	1976
78	MODERN TIMES	1936
79	THE WILD BUNCH	1969
80	THE APARTMENT	1960
81	SPARTACUS	1960
82	SUNRISE	1927
83	TITANIC	1997
84	EASY RIDER	1969
85	A NIGHT AT THE OPERA	1935
86	PLATOON	1986
87	12 ANGRY MEN	1957
88	BRINGING UP BABY	1938
89	THE SIXTH SENSE	1999
90	SWING TIME	1936
91	SOPHIE'S CHOICE	1982
92	GOODFELLAS	1990
93	THE FRENCH CONNECTION	1971
94	PULP FICTION	1994
95	THE LAST PICTURE SHOW	1971
96	DO THE RIGHT THING	1989
97	BLADE RUNNER	1982
98	YANKEE DOODLE DANDY	1942
99	TOY STORY	1995
100	BEN-HUR	1959

How many have you seen?