Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Megan and I decided to take the older two kiddos, James and Aubrey, to the movies last night. It didn't take but a nano second for them to decide to see the newest Harry Potter flick...



I just have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with it! They left in a lot of the good stuff and changed little... and the ended this one at a good stopping point.

I've always, in theory, liked the bad guys... So Voldemort totally tickles my fancy, as well as Lucius Malfoy, so on and so forth. Anywhoozer, I totally feel I cannot wait for Part 2, but wait I must.

We had so much fun... we laughed and played and talked. A lot of really good quality time with the eldest niece and nephew. At a certain part in the movie, Aubrey jumped literally two feet into the air. She didn't scream out, which would have made it even more funny. We giggled SO hard, I was about 3 seconds from having to walk out and get myself under control. And what made it even worse was when she leaned over and whispered to me, "I think I peed a little." THEN, she has to tell me a few seconds later that, "If something like that happened again, I think I'll pee for real." She's too funny!

James asked us what our favorite and scariest parts were, mine were (favorite), without giving away the movie for those who haven't seen it yet, when Ron came back to Harry and Hermione and Ron tells Hermione the reason for his return and the scariest for me was when Harry and Ron opened the locket Horcrux...kinda creepy.

Definitely a 5 star movie, waiting to make a count on the awards this things pulls in!

Well, I Declare!

Okay, after I watched this movie (finally), there are a few things I feel I MUST declare!

* I declare that "P.S. I Love You" is a GREAT, heart-wrenching, heart-felt, heart-heeling movie! It is my new fave!

* I declare that I now MUST read the book!



* I declare that Hilary Swank, on a scale of 1 to 10, gave a 12+ performance in this movie! It is, by far, the best thing I have seen her in, so far...



* I feel that I now MUST declare that Gerard Butler is a "cutie patootie." Which is kinda weird, because I've never thought so before. Sure he's tall, dark and handome, has an accent and is totally rugged in appearance...okay, I guess he's always been a "cutie patootie." Never Mind! ;)



* I MUST now declare that all who read, MUST now watch this movie. Even if you've seen it before... please, watch it again. Take my word for it, ITS AWESOME!! A very bitter/sweet, happy/sad movie. I normally HHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTEEEEE these kinds of movies, but this one has something special.

The Cookie Carnival

I know this sounds silly, but I like to find meanings in silly things...

I absolutely LOVE the old Disney Silly Symphony cartoons!! I find the animation interesting and there is always lots of music (more than words most of the time)!

This particular cartoon is a bit special to me... I quick synopsis - There is a carnival in town, a town made of candies and treats. A gingerbread man hobo comes into town and finds a lonely gingerbread woman. She's a bit plain and even on the side of ugly. He finds her crying because she's not taking part in the parade, where the other girls are being judged to be the Queen.

Then something amazing happens - He begins to change her view of herself. He makes her see how special, beautiful and wonderful she is.

The coolest thing, to me, is that he does this deed with no obvious gains for himself. He simply wants HER to realize that she has just as good a chance...and not just a chance...a CERTAINTY that she IS the Cookie Queen. Too "sweet"!!!

He quickly gets her to the parade and barely makes it. And when the judges see her, she's immediately named Queen!

But who is going to be the King? "A King! A King! The Queen must have a King" they sing.

On the other hand, something that bums me, is that now, all of a sudden, now that she's beautiful and confident, she has all kinds of suitors lined up to be her King.

With a bit of silliness and a bit of trial, the gingerbread man hobo stumbles (literally) into King's clothing and its a perfect match the towns people see! And he's officially named King.



I feel that all I need is a gingerbread man hobo to make me realize who I am...as far as... in comparison to other girls. (I have a lot of confidence and esteem issues, can you tell?)

And for this "hobo" building me up into the person who I know I am and helping other's to realize it too, he will, in turn be made a King, my King.

Our Primary Colors

Our Primary colors are one, two, three. Red, Yellow, and Blue. Each one has a message for you and me. Each has a symbol true!

Red is for COURAGE to do what is right,



Yellow for SERVICE from morning til night.



Blue is for TRUTH in our thought and our deed.



We will be HAPPY when this is our creed.

One of my faves!

This is the sweetest song ever! Totally adds to my Cinderella Complex!

John Quale aka Prince Poppycock

So, this is the infamous new crush... John A. Quale. Recognize him?







How about now...??







Yeah! I have a problem with men that can sing really well! Its my curse...

Thanks to my niece who is also enamored by this man in makeup, we now share a "love" of John aka Prince Poppycock.

One of her favorite performances from the Double P is his "Mirror Song" (called so by Claire) on Americas Got Talent. Claire Bear can quote the WHOLE scene from YouTube word-for-word. Too darn cute if you ask me!!

Chili-ng Service

I officially dislike The Chili's Resaurant Chain...



After picking Megan up from Sarah in Silsbee and was STARVING... okay, not starving, but pretty on the hungry side so, since Chili's was conviently located right there in the corner of the Wal-Mart parking lot, we head in that direction.

We go in, its about 2:30pm on a Friday, and we are immediately seated. "Hhmmmm..." I'm thinking to myself, "this is out of the ordinary. Maybe, just maybe, this will be a good visit."

Our waitress comes up pretty quick, we place our drink order and ask for a few moments to look over the menu, which they're updated and CLEANED! Everytime I've gone and wanted something, I get a "Sorry, that's not on our menu any longer." Uummmmm, I'm looking right at it, it is on your menu. Or the menu is covered in crusty nastiness which is beyond me seeing as how the menus are picked up before the food arrives at the table.

The waitress comes back and right as we're going to tell her what we want, she goes, "I'll be right back..." Ooooookay... She does, eventually, come back and (by then Megan's glass of lemonade is empty and at the edge of the table), quickly order, before she runs off again.

We order the 2 for $20 deal. To share and appeteezer and then the two full meals. I've always understood, correct me if I'm wrong, that the appeteezer is just that...a dish that's supposed to tease your appetite, get you ready for the meal.

Oooohhhh... and Megan's drink still hasn't been filled. I even share a bit of mine with her. The other waitress, who is cleaning a table next to us, asks if we need anything and we tell her the drink needs to be filled. She hollers, yes hollers to our waitress, who is talking to a couple with a baby across the non-smoking section, and tells her we need a refill.

Our waitress proceeds to fill waters and teas and even a coffee and a beer and we still have no refills, I'm out by this time too. Its been 25 minutes since we ordered and our appeteezer has not arrived, either... (which is only a half order of Texas Style Cheese Fries).

The manager ends up coming by and filling it for us... thanks man! I hope you "spoke" with your waitress. Just saying...

Our appeteezer arrives... a whole 35 minutes after we placed our order. Now get this, one couple has come in after us...only ONE...they got their food before us...they got their ticket before us...they left 15 minutes before we did.

Not three minutes after we got this small plate that "if we touch it, it wiiiiill buuuuurrrn." (Much sarcasm from the waitress)

Megan needs another refill...forget it...

The food was good and I'm mean just a simple good.

Megan needs a to-go back, she asks for "one" and the waitress looks in my direction, "Do you need one, too?" Sweet pea, if you'll take 1/2 a second and look at my plate, you'll see that I have, literally, two to three bites left. No. I do not need a to-go box. Thanks for asking, though. Nice to see you're taking care of us.

Needless to say, she received no tip! And I will not be going back to Chili's in the future!