My Saturday

What a wonderful day my Saturday was. Fantastic!

I did have to get up early though, but I didn't mind much. Well, too much!

Carolyn picked me up at 9am and I made her take me to Crestwood Library where I had some DVDs and books to drop off. They kill you with late fees for the DVDs and I have a trip to Nashville to save for so I didn't want to fund the library in any way!

After that we went up to City Limits for breakfast. We made it up there safely despite Carolyn's crazy driving! I'm joking (sort of!)! :^) I had pancakes and Carolyn had eggs benedict. Yummy!

I found it funny that they put the strawberries in a jug. Why?

Good food, good chat. Fantabulous!

I found this sign rather amusing. I wish that they had expanded on it because I am interested to know what their definition of 'proper attire' is. I am fairly positive that I was dressed in 'proper attire' but one can never be too sure! The sign doesn't beat out this one though:This one was at Six Flags New England. I'm not sure that it would help the family atmosphere terribly by removing clothing but whatever!

After City Limits we headed over to Michaels. Now, where to start with Michaels?? I think the word is WOWZA! Or maybe WOAH, NELLY! Or maybe SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALADOCIOUS! (I spelled it right, I checked!) Michaels is a craft store and it is phenomenal. We spent forever in there! I think we mostly looked at the beads and things like that but I couldn't believe how much stuff there was in there. We tried on these hats:Special, right? Bet Carolyn was hoping that this pics wouldn't make an appearance, especially since it took me until Wednesday to blog about it, but here it is. It is a horrible picture of me but I wanted to put it up here because when I took the bug hat off I said, 'He's pretty cute.' I was talking about the bug hat. What I didn't see was that there was an old man to my right who thought I was talking about him. Haha! Serves me right for calling the bug hat a 'he'. Anyway, I found it funny. Maybe you had to be there. Or maybe just be me.

We spent a couple of hours in Michaels. I ended up buying some beads etc.

After Michaels it was time to head home. Such a fun morning! I really enjoyed myself!

But I did take a nap when I got home. I was wiped. Then I took a walk (when I got the pics for the last post) which incorporated the library. I wanted to get some more DVDs. I was thrilled to find that the 3 DVDs that I had on hold had all arrived. They were the new versions of Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion.

I watched Mansfield Park first. It really is good but I prefer the detail of the book. Mr Crawford's true character didn't really come across to me in this version. What I did like about it was that I didn't feel so uncomfortable about Fanny's marrying Edmund at the end. In the book it just seemed totally wrong. Just a little bit of trivia, the girl who plays the young Fanny has played younger versions of Billie Piper three times. I thought that was interesting.

Then I watched Sense & Sensibility. This was the one that I was most concerned about. I LOVE the film. I love the book too. I wasn't sure how they could improve it/make it different. Actually, I was really pleased with the outcome. The two particular improvements were Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars and David Morrissey as Colonal Brandon. Dan Stevens brings across Edward's awkwardness whilst still being charming and not wooden at all. I love Hugh Grant but he was like a robot in that role. It is really the same with David Morrissey. Alan Rickman was just so mechanical and unnatural (which seems to be his style. He is the same when he is Snape and was the same in Love Actually). David Morrissey actually brings Brandon to life and you can see why Marianne would marry him in the end (although that was a conscious effort by those making the series). One thing that I didn't like was that they included the scene where Willoughby comes to explain himself and apologise which is also in the book. I don't want to feel any kind of pity towards Willoughby. I also didn't like the Steele girls. It just seemed like such a forced humour and I didn't appreciate it. They didn't quite pull it off like Fanny in North and South.

I watched Persuasion last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't know the story. I haven't read the book yet (I am getting to it but am still working my way through Emma). Can't complain about Rupert Penry-Jones at all. He might rival Richard Armitage as John Thornton. Is it bad that that is all I have to say on this one?

I know that you will all be thrilled to hear (if you actually managed to get through all of my ramblings) that the Siamese strawberry had not yet been eaten so I got some pics of the other side. In fact, I STILL don't think it has been eaten.

I Have Proof

Spring looks to be on its way. Tentatively, for sure, but it is just around the corner.
I took a walk yesterday and here are some of the pictures that I took.
So, whether it be buds on a tree..... Or plants sprouting under the protection of the bushes.... Or just going it alone out in the open.....Or new grass (which is apparently moss - sometimes it pays to have a Mum who knows about things like this!)....... Or teeny, tiny flowers......
Or flowers nearly here......
It looks like Spring has almost sprung. I hope it sticks around.

These photos cheer me up no end because I woke up feeling HORRIBLE this morning and didn't make it to church.
But I did find a Siamese strawberry (or is that strawberries?)I didn't take a photo of the non conjoined side which was silly. It has probably been eaten by now.

The Answer

Well, here is what you were all waiting for! I know that this question has been burning in your minds all week and I made you sweat it!

What?

You didn't care?

Oh well, humour me, people!

So, the big reveal (remember, humour me!)! What is this photo of?

It was NOT a pile of leaves, obviously I think, otherwise I would probably not have asked the question. That was Alex, Julianna and Michella's guesses but then they are only between the ages of 14 and 6 so what could I expect!

It was in fact.......Tree Bark! Pretty cool/weird/a little creepy. I don't remember seeing tree bark like that before! My Mum guessed correctly. She knew she was correct when she made the comment because she asked me on the phone if she was. I told her she had better leave a comment 'or else.' So, finally there is a comment from one of my parents on my blog. The other one had better get himself into gear! And he had better get his own blogger name and not share somebody else's like he does with Facebook!

Anyway, she got it right. Well done!

Here are a few other pics from my wee walk.

Maybe you can't see it (cos I can't really see it and I know it is there!) but there was some kind of heron (or other bird with very long legs) by the reeds.

Mary and Sal (the girls' grandparents, Vinny's mum and dad) live just across the river from where I was standing. They used to ice skate here in the wintertime when their children were small.

Some of the wildlife:

I LOVE the macro feature on my camera. I mean, I am actually in love with it. Really. It is amazing.I enjoyed my little walk in the park. It is funny to think that this was just two days before the Snow Day!

A Taster

I have some pictures to post from last Saturday when I walked through the park. They obviously were taken before the snow fell but you'll have to wait before you get to see them. No particular reason. I just don't feel like putting them up today. So here is a little taster of what is to come:
Can you guess what this picture is of?

Snow Day

The day I dread. Snow Day. The unexpected day off school.

The girls LOVE Snow Days, especially when they have tests that day in school. It just delays the inevitable but they seem to like it.

I attack small children because they enjoy Snow Days so much.

*disclaimer: no small children were hurt when posing for this picture (and yes, it is one of the most unflattering picture of me EVER*

But a Snow Day means that children can do lots of fun things with snow. Such as lay in it.....

and laying in it some more.......and if they are done laying in it, they can do cartwheels and the such.......

or kick the snow.......
This didn't end well. Check out Alex's flying boot!

All of this joy is being experienced whilst the nanny watches on......

... with very cold feet...

..... real happy!...... especially when snow blows into her eyes.
But then, she realised that she could take pictures whilst aiming her camera at a window....

Like these ones which were taken through the car window.....

... see?

But no one can complain about the Brownies and the Hot Chocolate that concluded the fun in the snow.

Actually, I say most of what I just wrote in jest. I had a really fun day today. We played board games in the morning and baked the Brownies. In the afternoon we were joined by Keira from next door and Lynne, Claire and Kelly from down the block. The girls had an absolute blast outside and mostly occupied themselves by selling and buying snow blocks from each other. Keira is quite the entrepreneur selling something that belongs to nobody at extortionate prices. I was a little cold but had fun taking lots of photos because we hardly took any snow photos this year.

Please note my "Harry Potter" hat that I finished knitting whilst waiting for Daniel Radcliffe!

Welcome, March!

A Tale of Two Movies

This morning the girls, Robbin and I went to see the Jonas Brothers 'Concert Experience'. I had been all enthusiastic about going, especially because we were using it as a fundraiser for the 8th grade. 8th grade fundraisers are about all we think about in this house right now. I love them, especially when I win a Peyton Manning signed football. Not too shabby! Anyway, that is beside the point. I WAS excited about going but this morning I really didn't want to wake up. I'd had a busy week (compounded by the fact that I didn't go to bed until late every night - well, late being 10.30-11pm - I need a LOT of sleep!) and was sorely tempted to not go this morning. It was a special school showing of the movie and so it started at 10am. We were there at 9.30am. Too early for a Saturday.

Well, I've got to tell you, the movie was awesome. The girls and their friends LOVED it. Alex especially because she had actually been at the concert that they filmed for the movie. She saw herself 5 times today. I didn't see her once but she knew where she was sitting. They'll just have to get the DVD when it comes out and use freeze frame.

The tickets, surprisingly, hadn't sold well for the movie - our showing of it anyway - so there were lots of empty seats. We used that to our advantage...... cheering, dancing, you know making it into a concert atmosphere. I must admit that that was the adults more than the kids though.

So, I spent my morning screaming like a tween and dancing in the aisles of a movie theater. I am ever the classy lady, I'm sure you'll all agree.

My afternoon was very chilled in comparison. I watched the end of Tess of the D'Urbervilles which I had started last night. This wasn't the new version but the 1998 one. I loved it. I didn't know the story at all. So tragic but so good! I did keep getting weirded out by the actor who played Angel, Oliver Milburn.I kept thinking that I was watching Mathew Tait or one of his brothers acting. It was so strange.

I borrowed Elizabethtown from the library today and started watching it but I got annoyed that Orlando Bloom's American accent kept sounding English. Not good. Either one or the other please, not both at the same time!