The Hunger Games & Happy 17th Birthday to Caleb

Today my family and I went to see The Hunger Games. It was my 14th "new" movie of the year. I had never been more excited to watch a movie since I was 10 years old and wanted to watch Star Wars. We even bought advance tickets to watch the movie.

Before I continue...I want to wish Caleb, my son, a Happy 17th Birthday! I remember the day he was born. He had a very fuzzy head and the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen on a baby. I had a baby boy. Even though he is all grown up, I still love that kid! I know he is smarter than me and can't wait to see what he can do for the world. I am very proud to call him my son! Happy Birthday Caleb. I love you.

Now, back to the Hunger games review. The movie was worth the wait. It was fantastic. I'm trying to figure out just where to rank it in my top 100 movies of all-time. The movie was very moving and I either cried or came close to crying several times. My heart broke when Katniss volunteered to take her sister's place at the Reaping (seen in the trailers, so no spoiler here) and my heart pounded as the Hunger Games started. I was on the edge of my seat almost the entire movie. The acting was great. Jennifer Lawrence should get another Academy Award nomination for best Actress. Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci should all get Supporting Actor nominations as well. The musical score was great. The cinematography was great. The costumes and art designs were great. All of which means the directing was also great. This movie better at least have several Academy Award nominations coming to it.

If you have read the books, you will notice several differences; however, I think the director and screenwriters stayed very true to the books; much like in the Harry Potter series and unlike the movies Eragon and the Percy Jackson movie. I can't wait for the other two books to be turned into movies as well.

Spending Some Time With My Bride: First Bed and Breakfast of 2012

Jamie and I finally worked in some time alone this year, thanks to Groupon. We stayed a night at the Hattie Mae Inn in Ft. Worth. As part of the deal from Groupon, we got the Romance Package (which included a bottle of wine and some chocolate covered strawberries) and one night in the Oriental Oasis Room, all for a very reasonable price. (It would have been cool if it was snowing as it is in the picture.)

When we arrived at our B&B we were greeted by the owner's cat, Fred, who walked us to the front door.  After checking in and getting a brief tour, we left the Inn to purchase advance tickets to watch The Hunger Games, which we plan on watching as a family on Caleb;s birthday (the 24th). We used two free tickets from Rave Cinemas, that I won by entering a contest sponsored by the Coffee News.

After that we tried to find an On the Border restaurant to eat at, but road construction in the area made it difficult to find. We ended up eating a place called Buttons. It was a little pricey; however, the food was very delicious. After Buttons, we went back to the Inn and enjoyed our chocolate covered strawberries and a glass of the wine.

Our delicious breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon and some little fried pancakes. Juice and coffee of course came with the meal. While eating our breakfast we talked to Trish, the lady who made breakfast and cleans the Inn, who told us about the "ghost" stories the Inn has and showed us the bullet hole in the side of the house, where the original owner of the home was shot and killed during a robbery. We did not experience any ghostly activities during our stay.

We had a great time!

New Movies of 2012

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, Jamie (my beautiful bride) and I are trying to keep up the number of movies we have seen for the first time ever, during 2012. It can be on DVD, TV or at the Theaters. So far I have seen 13 new movies this year. They are:

1. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows -- Which I blogged about here.
2. A Hard Days Night 
3. Help! -- Both Beatles movies I blogged about here
4. Super 8 -- Which I blogged about here.
5. The Smurfs -- Which I blogged about here. (One of the dumbest movies I have ever seen.)
6. Red Riding Hood -- a very interesting take on the fairy tale. I enjoyed it.
7. The Help -- One of the best movies I have ever seen. Currently #23 of my Favorite 100 movies ever.
8. Cowboys and Aliens -- Good but not great! I did like the way the intertwined the classic Western with Science Fiction. Still could have been better.
9. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse -- good movie
10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes -- good movie; I like how it set up the "original" Planet of the Apes movie.
11. Batman: Year One -- very dark reboot of the Batman animated series. Detective Gordon is a real bad-ass in the movie. Loved it. Not for younger kids though.
12. Get Low -- really good movie, just didn't make my top 100.
13. Source Code -- Very interesting movie. One of those "makes you wonder" movies.

Upcoming movies I plan to see soon: The Lincoln Lawyer, and (Steven Speilberg's first movie) Duel are both on their way from Netflix. We are going to buy advance tickets to see The Hunger Games tomorrow. My family also really wants to watch Dr. Suess's The Lorax, so I have a feeling we might try to work that into the budget very soon as well.

Happy 4th Birthday Girl Kitty

Happy 4th Birthday to our "Girl Kitty!" Ramey-Jem is her official name (at least on her tags). She was originally called Ramey by her previous owner, who had to give her up because she was moving. We (mainly me) added the Jem to her name after Jem Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. We already had a cat named Scout, (also from to Kill a Mockingbird), so we just completed the set.

As we all know however, we hardly ever call cats by their real names and shortly after we got Ramey-Jem we started to call her "Boo-Boo Kitty" which eventually led to just calling her "Girl Kitty."

While trying to figure out how old our new kitty was, we knew the previous owner told us that Ramey's shots were due in September, which was two months before Scout's shots were due. So we figured Ramey-Jem was born sometime in March. So we (my daughter Rachel) got 31 little pieces of paper numbered 1-31 and set them out in front of the cat "to let girl kitty tell us when her birthday is." After sniffing around on the pieces of paper, Ramey-Jem picked the 7th, by biting it and carrying it off; so March 7th became "Girl Kitty's" birthday.

She is queen of the house. One meow, lets us know she needs something and if we don't respond right away, we get a loud chorus of meow's that lets us know she wants something "NOW." She's a diva I tell ya! She does reward us with a very loud purr, that melts your heart, when we do something she likes. We love her!

Who Would Jesus Vote For?

Who Would Jesus Vote For? This is a very well written article by Larry Alex Taunton published by in the Faith/Religion Section of CNN's webpage. Just thought I would share it with you, (if you click the link to read it). 

By the way, the image used, "How Would Jesus Vote", is an image used by the Church of God, who in no way sponsored, or are affiliated with, the article written above. 

Mouse in the House

We have a mouse in the house! If there is one, then there are others!

Shortly after I left for work this morning, I got a phone call from my wife, Jamie. She had seen a mouse in the kitchen. Our two watchful kitties saw it as well. While the cats kept an eye on the mouse, who was hiding under the dishwasher, my wife woke up our kids to give them a heads up about the mouse in the house. My daughter Rachel, who is also scared of mice, decided she was going to stay in her room all day and asked Jamie if she could make her a lunch so she wouldn't have to get out of her bedroom until I got home. My son Caleb was worried at all; he was just annoyed Jamie woke him up early. As my wife was about to make my daughter as sandwich, the mouse decided to make a mad dash from under our dishwasher towards the stove. Scout, our boy kitty, caught the mouse and proudly brought it to my wife, who screamed, startling the cat, who promptly dropped the mouse. The mouse then ran under our couch.

Needless to say the screaming got the kids up in a hurry. Caleb trying to help the kitties got a bucket to try and trap the mouse. At that point Rachel came up with the idea to spend the day doing their homeschooling from a local Starbucks and I could pick them up after my sub assignment was over. Caleb would have preferred to stay home, but he didn't want Rachel to be at Starbucks by herself. As they started to get ready, the mouse decided to make a run from the couch back into the kitchen. Our vigilant cats chased it down and Scout once again caught the mouse and started bringing it to Jamie. Of course she screamed again and the cat dropped the mouse and the mouse got away again. The kids quickly got dressed, packed up their laptops to do schoolwork and brought some books to take with them to Starbucks where they planned to spend the day. Jamie even gave them some money to eat the the Panda Express next door to Starbucks.

How do I know this story? While sitting at school I started getting text messages telling me what was going on. I called during a passing period between classes and got filled in on the rest of the story. (I hope I'm telling it correctly.) I called the kids at Starbucks during a break and told them I can come visit them during the conference/lunch period I had between 10:00 and 1:30. We decided that the kids would come back home to do their school work if; 1) I set some traps to catch the mice and 2) they could still eat at Panda Express for lunch. I agreed. So at 10:00 I left school to get the kids. I got them some lunch at Panda Express and took them home. We had 4 mouse traps at the house already; so I set the traps and went back to school.

Shortly after getting back to school I ate my lunch and got ready for the next class. As the next class started, the students were called to a special assembly over scheduling for next year and I was told I could go home if I wanted to. Since my daughter Rachel was already nervous about being in the house with the mouse, I decided I would go on home to help her feel better about the situation.

So traps are set, cats are on the prowl and hopefully we can eliminate our mouse problem very soon!