Who's That Girl?

Last night DH and I went to see the movie The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest at our local theatre. It was phenomenal!!!!

If you are not familiar with this movie, it's the last of a trilogy and based on the books by Stieg Larsson. The weird thing is Stieg Larsson passed away 'before' his books were published so he never got a chance to see what a success they were.

The first is called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo -

Who is this girl? Her name is Lisbeth Salander and she's played by Noomi Rapace. I'm not used to foreign films but I have to say that these were a delight to watch and even though they had sub-titles, it didn't bother me at all or distract from the acting.

The second is called The Girl Who Played With Fire -

By this point you've become one of Noomi's biggest fans. She plays the part of the heroine so well. Foreign films are so much more graphic than Hollywood films so I'm giving you a head's up. I have to say that it does add to the realism and draws the watcher in that much more.

The third and final is called The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest -

Now you absolutely love Lisbeth's character and you're part of the cheering squad. You even get to feel a little smug :o) That's all I'm going to say...

How do the books compare to the films? To be honest, the first and third were VERY well done. For me, the only thing missing in the first film was the depth of the relationship between the characters. In the third film, there were a few parts missing and changed around but if you didn't read the book beforehand, it wouldn't be something you would question or wonder about. As for the second movie, DH and I were quite disappointed :o( It was the shortest of the three and there was a lot left out.

If you're looking for a good read, I highly recommend this trilogy! It's been quite awhile since I've read a book in which I didn't want to put down.

Would you believe that when we arrived home at 10pm, there was a mosquito on our front door? I don't think the rest of his blood sucker friends told him it was supposed to be winter here ;o)

D Is For...

DEBORAH! Deborah, you are the winner of my giveaway! Please email me your mailing address so that I can get your package off to you :o)

P is for...Popcorn. My little monster went in on Tuesday and was spayed. It was a good thing too because she was coming into heat. No wonder I was dealing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She's been really good since she came home. We've been keeping her in my stitching room where it's really quiet. I hope this will be the solution to her bitchy attitude because it's no fun dealing with her angry alter-ego. LOL!

S is for...stitching. I've been working at it but not as much as I would like to. I'd say that I am about halfway done but this is crazy! It's only ornament size but it seems to be taking forever :o( My in-laws were here over the weekend and since they've left, I've been SO tired. I hope this feeling goes away soon. I miss my stitching.

M is for...movies. Tonight DH and I went to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo at our local theatre. If you're not familiar with this movie, it's a must see! Just a warning, it's a foreign movie, with sub-titles, and it's very graphic. If you're not up for the movie, I highly recommend reading the book! It's by Stieg Larsson and the first in a three part series. I'm almost done reading the second book - The Girl Who Played With Fire and I can't wait to see the movie.

A Twilight Groupie

I never thought I would succumb to the whole 'Twilight Frenzy' but thanks to my good friend K (maybe not so much anymore!); I am utterly and literally in love with these movies! Yes, I have become a Twilight Groupie :o)

I'm an avid movie lover to begin with and while I do like some Fantasy subjects, I was never really into the whole vampire thing. Okay, I did watch The Lost Boys when I was younger and still love the movie today but that would have been the exception...until now.

I continually avoided the whole Twilight hype until K said she would lend me her two Twilight movies. I still believed that I was immune. She said once I saw them I would never be the same. "Yah, right!" I thought. Well K, I have to hang my head in defeat because you were correct ;o)

I will go on record here and say that the first two movies were awesome and I have watched both of them twice! I love the chemistry between the characters of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It completely draws you in. I've been on the edge of my seat waiting for Bella to convert and it's been driving me nuts! I'm not sure if the third movie is still showing at the theatre in the 'little city' so if not, that means I'll have to wait until it comes out on DVD :o(

I've overheard the whole Team Jacob/Edward thing and never understood what it was all about but now I do :o) To be honest, I do like Jacob but I think I'm going to be a Team Edward member. Yes, I know they are vampires and they feed off of animals BUT humans also consume animals so there's not much of a difference in my eyes. I don't like the vampires that are killing the humans. I've really come to love the Cullen family.

This has created a whole new monster because now I want to read all four books! There's only four right? I haven't really heard how close the movies are to their corresponding books but my interest is peaked. Plus I want to know the whole story. Now! I'm not one who likes to wait. I've seen the movie trailers for Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and I want more. Now!

My name is Cathey and I'm a Twilight addict.

A Labour Of...Love?

ROFL! That's what it was 'supposed' to be but it seems that the sewing machine had other ideas >:o( It never fails...I have a project I want to finish, I know how I'm going to finish it and it's going to be straightforward...but it never is. Argh! Something that should have taken an evening to put together took Saturday AND Sunday morning.

So, after a lot of screaming, swearing and pulling more thread than I ever thought possible, here is the result of my work -

Truthfully, I am VERY happy with my results, even with all the frustrations ;o) Don't you just love the fabric?

I made Dogs Leave Paw Prints by Lizzie Kate into a pillow cover and this will be my thank you gift for our neighbours :o) It measures 14 x 14 and is a nice size. I love stitching pillow covers because there's no hole to sew together when you're done. All you do it slip it over your pillow and voila! This is what I plan on doing with mine when I get it stitched up but I may put off sewing for a little bit...

Last night, DH and I went out to dinner and a movie with friends of ours and had a great time :o) I 'finally' have a friend here! Yay! LOL! T is in the same line of work as DH so they have a lot in common. I finally got to know T's wife, K, in December after she changed jobs and got a more regular working schedule. They're great people and we have a lot of fun together.

We decided on Chinese food at a restaurant that DH and I hadn't been to yet. It was pretty good! I had the orange beef. Yum! Afterwards, we went to see From Paris With Love. I got my orange slushy and somehow two ECEs made their way into my jacket pocket ;o) Thanks K! LOL! It was a pretty good movie. Definitely action packed but it does have its comedic moments. John Travolta has been coming out with some funky looks lately and this one tops the list. He's got some great one liners too.

I want to thank those that have offered to donate to the breast cancer auction that is hosted by the Attic Needlework shop. I'm very touched that you want to help and we now have eleven people (including myself) that are officially signed up. If you are interested and have not heard back from me or received an invitation to the Blog I set up, please email me and I'll get you hooked up :o) More information will be posted soon so stayed tuned!

Julie & Julia

DH and I went to see this movie on Friday afternoon :o) We'd been waiting for this to come out. DH was the one that brought the movie to my attention, so for his birthday at the end of July, I bought him the book. He seems to be enjoying it because every once in awhile, I'll hear him chuckling. Unfortunately he didn't get to finish the book before he saw the movie but he was okay with that.

They did an excellent job of paralleling the lives of the two main characters. Check out Julie's real Blog! I learned a lot about Julia Child too. There were many things I never knew about her. I didn't even know that she was married! And what can I say; Meryl Streep did a brilliant job of capturing Julia. DH says there is so much more in the book and you get to know the characters a lot better. I'm next in line to read it ;o)

There's something fun about going to a movie on a weekday afternoon. Not only were there very few people there but we were in one of those awesome theatres with the comfortable seats. To top that off, I even got my slushie!!!! Do you know how long I've waited to have one of those???? Pure bliss...

Did I happen to mention that Stanley Tucci acts as Julia Child's husband in the movie? Stanley Tucci. Tucci :o)

Pickles Prevails

I want to thank everyone for all their good wishes. Pickles and I really appreciated it. It was nice to know that you were all thinking of us yesterday :o)

Again, Pickles was an angel. I dropped him off at 11 am and then occupied myself for a few hours while I waited for him to be released. When I finally got back (I got lost...twice), he was ready to go and the results were good :o) Dr. C had grinded away a number of sharp points on a right sided molar and there were no lesions on his tongue or cheeks. Pickles was a little groggy having just come out of sedation but he was happy to see his mom. Not so happy for the car ride home though. LOL!

Over the past 24 hours, we've been keeping really good tabs on him and I'd say the problem has been fixed! Being an older bunny, I think it's taking him extra time to 'bounce' back from the stress but he's been eating and drinking, pooping and peeing, and those are all good signs :o) He demands his carrot in the morning so the Old Man is back. LOL! Today I tortured him with a photo session. I hope you will enjoy -

Since I'm still waiting for that much needed GAST thread (I'm hoping it will be here before the weekend Nancy!), I figured I had to start something new ;o) Here's a picture...can you guess what it is?

Tonight, DH and I went to see a movie at the local 'theatre'. Remember, we're in a SMALL town ;o) DH wanted to get there early to make sure we got our seats but he didn't have to worry because we ended up being the first ones there. To top that off, there were no more than twenty people. When DH went to get the popcorn, I told him I'd go find us some seats and joked that he might not be able to find me. He didn't find that amusing. LOL!

On Wednesday nights, this theatre plays "not so mainstream" films and tonight it was One Week -

If you're not familiar with this movie, I highly recommend you find it and rent it. Ben (played by Joshua Jackson) is confronted with his mortality and instead of doing 'the right thing', he buys a vintage motorcycle and travels west across Canada. During this road trip, he meets some interesting people and situations that help him with his inner quest. The movie was filmed in Canada and shows some beautiful parts of our country. I guarantee this film will make you think.

Feeling Halloweenie

I don't know what it is lately but I've been in the Halloween mood. Maybe it's that autumn smell in the air or the coloured leaves swirling around on the ground. Maybe it's all the cool costumes in the stores or the fact that I'm stitching two Halloween pieces. Maybe it's watching the flocks of Canada geese flying south or all the piles of pumpkins in front of the grocery stores. Whatever it is, it's really got me going :o)

I never used to like Halloween because that's when my grandfather passed away. I was in Grade 4 and I can remember my parents coming and picking me up at school. We were having our class Halloween party and I was dressed up in my costume. This was my first experience with loss so as we drove to Moncton, I watched the Trick or Treaters going from house to house and I couldn't understand why I had to give that up :o(

I'm not really one for dressing up and going to Halloween parties anyway but in the past few years, I've found that I have been enjoying everything that leads up to the day. I love strolling the isles in the stores and looking at all the different decorations. As you can probably guess, I'm a sucker for pumpkins ;o) I was in Wal-Mart the other day and came across Halloween costumes for dogs. Well, didn't I find the hot dog costume I've always wanted to get for Brie -

If money wasn't tight right now, I would have bought it just to tick off a certain DH ;o)

One sure sign that I'm in the Halloween mood is when I break out the horror movies! I know a lot of people are not huge fans of such a movie genre but I love them :o) Okay, let me put it this way, I love them if 1) its daylight or 2) there's someone else with me. I do have a wimpy side. LOL! Yesterday I broke out Halloween H2O. Did you know that the mask that Michael Myers wears is actually the face of William Shatner, only painted white? That's scary enough right there!!!!

To answer Suzanne's question, and there may be others that are wondering, yes, we do celebrate Halloween here in Canada and it is on October 31. So what's up with my counter then? No, it's not incorrect. I can count, up to 31 anyway ;oP On October 21, I will be celebrating Pumpkin Day!

Yes, it's an actual day and hey, since I'm known as Pumpkin I figure I might as well take over that day as my own :oD So, on October 21, I highly suggest you stop by my Blog for some Pumpkin Day party fun!

The 80's Are Back?

ACK! Say it isn't so! Apparently it is :oP

I caught a little bit of The View one day and they were featuring new clothing designs based on those of the 80's but modernized for 2008. I didn't even think that was remotely possible. If you're my generation you'll no doubt remember the HUGE sweaters, leggings, wearing underwear as outerwear, neon, leather bomer jackets...shall I go on? I look at pictures taken back then and I just want to barf up wads of shoulder pads :oP

What was even worse were the hairstyles back then! The bigger the better :oD I wouldn't say that I ran with the popular crowd in HS but I knew a lot of people and they knew me. If they didn't, they knew me by my hair -

Okay, okay, are you done laughing now ;o) LOL! Yes, I had BIG hair. HUGE! I used so much hairspray that I'm sure I would have gone up in flames if someone came near me with a lit match.

I was in the library last week and I found myself reminiscing back to the music of my generation. I actually picked up a CD by Chilliwack! I wonder what happened to them. They've been "gone, gone, gone so long". Other bands have continued on and a good example of this would be Bon Jovi. They just keep getting better and better with age ;o) I saw Billy Idol on television recently. I used to love him! I'm sad to say that he's pretty much lost that Idol snarl :o( If I remember correctly, Loverboy tried to make a comeback. The only thing I can remember of them was their album jacket cover...a tight ass in red leather pants. LOL!

But who could ever forget Michael Jackson's release, Thriller. He was somewhat normal back then. I said somewhat ;o) I remember it was a huge thing when the video came out. I was sitting with my parents as we watched it debut on television. No one had ever spent that much money on a music video before and just watching Michael Jackson dance was mesmerising. The Guinness Book of World Records states that as of 2007, Thriller had sold 65 mil-lion copies! Wow!

The 80s produced some awesome movies I do have to admit. Of course we all know Return of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back :o) What about Flashdance and Footloose? Come on, I know you danced around the house trying to imitate all those moves. LOL! How could I forget Dirty Dancing! "No one puts Baby in a corner." Baby also showed up as the cranky sister in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I have to say, that movie is a classic! The release of Top Gun started a whole new fad and girls were swooning over Tom Cruise. Me personally, I would have called GHOSTBUSTERS!

I have to say that there were two underdogs that I really liked. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was an instant hit with me. Hey, he's a 'rabbit'! I used to have a Roger that sat in the passenger seat and drove around with me in my car :o) And then there was Freddie... Nightmare on Elm Street became the new horror movie of the time. Did you know that Johnny Depp starred in the first one? You might have to go back and check that out now ;o)

Every decade has its own lingo and the 80s were no exception. Thanks to The Valley Girl we were going around saying things like "Totally", "Fer Shur", "Awesome", "Party Hardy" and the infamous "Gag me with a spoon" ;o) At that time, you could at least guess what most of these things meant. If you listen to teens today, you almost need a whole new dictionary to be able to figure out what they're talking about. Maybe that's just a sign of me getting older :oS

I think the 80s will always have a spot in my heart, for it was the time that I was introduced to Frogger and Pac Man, Duran Duran, DOS, hair scrunchies and cassette tapes. If we managed to survive all of that, we proved that we are a strong generation that can accept almost anything ;o)

The Bucket List

I'm sure most of you have either seen the trailer or the movie itself. If not, let me give you a quick explanation :o) The Bucket List is about two older gentlemen who write out a list of things that they want to do before they "kick the bucket", i.e. die. Some of the stuff is outlandish but hey, it is a movie after all. LOL!

I think we've all, at some point in our lives, kept hopes and dreams of some things that we'd like to do someday but how many of us have actually written these down on paper? After confronting my own possible mortality back in 2000 with my breast cancer (things were a little more complicated and frightening at the time with other unknowns that I have never written about), I decided that to get back into life, I would start to make small goals for myself and slowly work up to bigger ones. Thus, this was the beginning of my Bucket List :o)

As I stated, things started out small. My first goal was to stitch this pink ribbon piece before my surgery -

And I did :o) In case you're wondering what's written on the plaque, it's a quote by my DH and it reads "In honour of the spirit that all women possess when overcoming obstacles."

Not only did my Bucket List contain things that I wanted to do in my lifetime but it also contained the things that I had already managed to achieve, like marry my soul mate :o) As each goal was met, it would get transferred to this second part of the list. After a few years, I began to see this side grow and that does wonders for someone's soul.

So far I have managed to meet the smaller and more achievable goals for this time in my life but there are still many things on my list that have yet to be done. One of them was to see the Eagles in concert. I grew up with their music playing on the radio and I guess those tunes never escaped my head because I became a huge, HUGE fan. I have all their tapes/CDs, whatever you want to call them now. LOL!

Back in 1994 they were in Toronto for a concert and for some reason I couldn't make it :o( I thought for sure they'd never come together again. But then the news hit earlier this year that they were going to be the featured band to play in Moncton. I just about died! I probably would have walked over hot coals to get there but deep down I knew the reality of going to such a thing. A whole day venue, outside, with no chairs would not bode well with my Fibro :o( DH was more than willing to get me there but unfortunately I had to think of my health first.

Then something miraculous happened this week. I went to the mailbox and there was a bubbled envelope addressed to me from Moncton. As soon as I got in the house I ripped it open. At first I was a little confused as to the contents but once I pulled it all out, this is what I saw -

There ARE such things as Fairy Godmothers and I now have my very own!!!! To say that I was over the hill with happiness would be an understatement ;o) If this is as close as I could get to that concert, then that's good enough for me and I have Lori-Ann to thank for that! This is such a huge RAOK that I'm not sure I could ever repay but I will certainly try. You have provided me with a taste of the concert but in the comfort of my own home and what could be better. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the very bottom of my heart :o)

Picnic In The Park

What a nice weekend! I didn't know how it was going to shape up going into it but I definitely feel that DH and I made the most of it :o)

On Saturday, we packed up a small picnic and along with my camera, we headed into town. Since DH and I haven't been there in a long time, we decided on Wilmont Park as our destination. The weather was perfect but a certain someone kept complaining that it was "too cold". LOL! Buy hey, he complained about carrying our wicker picnic basket too ;o)

We found a nice spot in the shade, under a tree. I was like a kid in a candy store with all the flowers to photograph! Here are just a few that I took -

Afterwards, we walked a small loop to burn off our lunch. We walked past The Old Government House -

Then we cut through in behind and came back along the walking trail where I found these adorable Forget-Me-Knots -

When we got to the sidewalk, I happened to glance down and saw this in the cement -

The maple leaf must have fallen into the wet cement and made an impression. It was a very cool photo opportunity :o) DH and I had a laugh though because we know people in the vehicles passing by were wondering what the heck I was bending down to take a picture of. LOL!

Before we hit the grocery store, we ventured over to Green Village, a local nursery. DH was looking for a tomato plant but I was in heaven again with all the flowers :o) Pansies are my absolute favourite outdoor flower and there were plenty of those -

They also have a butterfly house! I've been in it before but this time there weren't as many butterflies and my camera was starting to give out :o( Here's one of the better pictures -

On our way out, we decided to treat ourselves to some ice cream :o) No word of a lie, our smalls were like squishing two baseballs one on top of the other. It was a lot of ice cream :oS DH and I are curious how many scoops are in a large. Yikes!

Yesterday, after a relaxing afternoon, we thought it might be fun to take in a movie. We don't go to the movies a lot, for a number of reasons, but there are just some movies that you want to see on the big screen. This time it was Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. And yes, I did have my slushy :o)

I won't ruin the movie for those who have not seen it but I will say that it was a good laugh. Harrison Ford is definitely starting to show his age. I was pleased with some of the surprises BUT I'm still up in the air about what I think about the ending. That's all I'm going to say about that ;o)

Since I'm going to my death tomorrow (yes, a little overdramatic, lol), you might not hear from me for a few days. I do have to go for my dental surgery tomorrow morning :o( All I can say about that is that I hope to goodness that the calming drugs work and work GOOD! Wish me luck, or maybe you should wish the dentist luck ;o)

Here Comes Santa Claus

Yes, only one more week until Christmas Eve. It's hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner! Literally! Are you ready? I'm getting there. There are a few items that I am quite worried about even though it was said that they would be guaranteed for December 25. Basically it's out of my hands at this point. Maybe Santa is going to drop them down the chimney ;o) I have one more thing left to do on my list and that should be easy to complete this week. Maybe I should just bite my words now... At least the Christmas cards were completed and mailed out on Friday! Whew!

On Friday night, my parents along with my Gram, arrived for supper and a good old fashion slide show :o) DH did a wonderful job with the Shepherd's Pie. It has now become one of my favorite dishes after cooking a roast. Supper was topped off with a yummy lemon meringue pie from Mom :o) Afterwards, we all settled in to watch some slides. Talk about being taken back in time! Whoa! It was quite amusing to see all the old cars and clothing of the early seventies but it was my baby pictures that were quite a hit with DH. I didn't know I had so many bad facial expressions! LOL! One important note - the invention of Huggies should be on the top 10 list of best inventions!!!!

Brie has been a total brat this past week! I have no doubt that she knows Santa is coming. The dog is just too smart. I keep telling her Santa will not come if her behavior continues but my warnings have been falling on deaf ears. She put on a good show for Mom, Dad and Gram. She just LOVES her grandparents and great grandparent but this is the perfect time to act up. I had better not tell her that she's spending Christmas with all her cousins because we'd never get her to settle down then!

The rest of the weekend was spent watching Christmas shows and finishing up gifts :o) I finally got to see It's A Wonderful Life! DH and I stayed up late Saturday night so we could watch it. Yes, I am paying for it now but it was such a good movie that I had to see how it ended! No wonder it's so popular. I just can't figure out why I never saw it before now. Today DH and I watched Christmas Vacation, Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Small One. If you have never seen The Small One I highly recommend it. It's such a wonderful story. Just ask Katie ;o)

On Saturday night DH and I also went through our DVD collection. It's insane! We narrowed down the ones we wanted to keep and even that is a HUGE pile. We took the ones we didn't want into Blockbuster Video and they gave us a $115 credit! Woohoo! Now we have some new movies to watch. I got Over The Hedge, An Unfinished Life, March Of The Penguins and Flight Plan. DH picked up Beowulf & Grendel.

Gathering Eggs has been gathering dust. My stitching was put on hold this past week and I really miss it :o( I laced up two projects this weekend but I find it so hard on my back. Thankfully there are no more in the near future. These two projects will be dropped off at the framers tomorrow. I also made one of my Blankets In A Bag -

This is going to my aunt from my parents this year :o)

DH was also busy today and surprised me with Mr. Cedar Snowman -

Isn't he cute???? We saw these a few weekends ago when we were down at the ocean visiting DH's parents. They were on some of the shops in St. George but we couldn't find out where they were being sold. DH had brought home some cedar clippings from a tree that had blown over so he tried his hand at making one of our own. I think he did a fantastic job! I'm so happy with my snowman :o)

Girl's Night Out!

YES! After about a month of planning, I finally got a night out with the girls :o) I can't even remember the last time I went out with "people" besides DH. It was almost too weird! LOL! To be brutally honest, I don't get out much at all so this was a wonderful and much needed treat. DH was a little jealous I think but in reality I don't think he wanted to stay home with Stinky Brie ;o)

Since a wonderful friend of ours could not join us, we devised a replacement for the evening and thus the birth of Flat Shannon -

Hey, we didn't want her to miss out on all the fun! Plus, Katie and Faith Ann were traveling together so it was only fair that Flat Shannon travel with me :o)

We began the evening by dinning out at an awesome restaurant called Seasons that specializes in Mandarin cuisine. As always, I was not disappointed and I wish I could go back for more right now! We each ordered an appetizer before the main meal and we were all surprised at Flat Shannon's appetite.

She sure didn't have to worry about over eating with that slim figure of hers ;o) We tried to get Flat Shannon to pay our bills but it was a no go as she didn't bring her wallet. Typical!

After reading our fortune cookies, we headed over to Stitch Night.

The stitching group welcomed Flat Shannon with open arms. They were all curious about the newcomer to the group ;o) Katie unloaded a pile of Christmas ornaments that she just happened to "whip" up. I swear that girl has too much energy! Faith Ann brought her Christmas Village by Victoria Sampler and I can't wait to see her progress with this project. The fabric she chose is GORGEOUS! I'm so in love but I've got too much on my plate to even contemplate that but usually those are the famous last words. LOL! Flat Shannon put a few stitches in but she didn't get too far with her project.

Shortly after 9pm (did I mention we were going to the late, late show?) we headed up the hill to the movie theaters. Flat Shannon finally got her Starbucks while we shopped around Chapters, waiting for the movie to start.

Somehow, Flat Shannon was able to get in for free. Maybe they mistook her for a child because of her size ;o)

We then loaded up with popcorn and I was able to get my Coke slushie fix. Ahhhhh! Goooood slushie!

Okay, I have to ask this...when did Jude Law get so scrumptious???? Holy Moly! I wish someone would have put a warning label on The Holiday because WOW! That's right, WOW! What a wonderfully romantic movie and I really want to see it again. I'm SO in love with the little English cottage and town. I wish there were places like that here. They look to be so quaint and quiet.

The movie got out at 12:15am and it was a foggy drive home. Luckily I had my co-pilot and Sarah's Sweet Delights to keep me awake :o)

Myself, Flat Shannon, Katie & Faith Ann

We hope you had a great night Shannon!