Time Flies When You're Having . . . Fun?

Dear Friends,

I gasp in shock as I realize that not two, not four, but SEVEN weeks have passed since I last posted here on my little blog!!  *gasp*   How could I leave you all for so long?  I am sure that all sorts of things have happened in everyone's lives in the past seven weeks and now I'm terribly behind on reading blogs as well as posting ...... the upside of the scenario being that I love to read your blogs, anyhow, so I will have fun "catching up" over the next week or more!

In my life, much has happened in the past seven weeks.  For one, I had spring break. Well, a semblance of a break, at least.  They call it spring "break" in the graduate world, but what they truly should call it is something along the lines of spring break-your-neck-working-on-all-you-haven't-done-yet-week!!!!  Yes, I am serious.  However, I did manage to enjoy myself and have a bit of R&R for a few days in there, as I recall.......we had a couple we are good friends with down to visit and stay with us on the last few days of my break.  And the highlight was, we all got to see The Hunger Games newly released in theaters that weekend!!  That was fun!!  I enjoyed the movie.  Typically I am not a fan of movies made from the books I had loved (such as the entire Hunger Games trilogy), however, I felt the movie was mostly on target with the book so I didn't despise it!!  LOL  I still love the books best, though.  I'm a diehard bookie.  :-)

Far as classes go, I have just on presentation left in the next week and two class meets, then spring semester is over!  Of course I signed my happy self up for summer classes, so I literally start those only eight days after spring semester is complete!!  What did I do?  haha  It is hard even for me to realize that I have already completed a full year of my Masters!  How exciting is that?  Very, I say!  It flew by!  Time flies when you're having . . . . fun?!?

I am still in physical therapy.  Wow, talk about wearing a person out!  Of course I speak from only one person's perspective, but honestly, it has been a rough road!  And it's not over yet.  Been pretty painful but I'm hanging in there, hoping for good results and improvement!  I have seen a little change in a positive direction, which helps to encourage me and keep me motivated.

I have read a few interesting books in the last two months.  A biography of Steve Jobs (if you have read anything about him, you'd understand when I say he was a highly creative and inventive genius but sorely lacked in the social skills/interpersonal relationship department! Quite the character!) was a long, long read but interesting overall . . . . then there was "Confessions of a Shopaholic" that was a light, very amusing read I took with me for our short vacation to Florida (also very enjoyable and much-needed respite!).  I read the first two books in the Ada's House series of Amish novels by Cindy Woodsmall, also very good.  Well I should say I read the second book in the last eight weeks, that's the truth of it.  Now I'm starting the second Shopaholic book in my "spare" time (does that exist?!?) and enjoy it as a welcome relief from otherwise serious and often very research-focused reading found in my graduate studies.  I mean, don't get me wrong, typically I actually find the majority of my required school reading fascinating, and at least educational . . . . but it does not remotely resemble "fun" reading!  :-)

So, dear friends, what is up in your world?  I know I can have at least a partial answer to that question by reading all of your blogs, which will take me a while to catch up on . . . . but just the same, I thought perhaps you'd like to stop in a leave a wee comment for me?  I'd love that!!  I always get so excited when I see that someone has taken the time to read my rambling posts and leave a word or two!  Comment on anything above, if you wish!  What have you read and loved or despised?  Seen any interesting films?  Done anything interesting in school?  Physical therapy?  ;-)  Well I suppose that last one isn't as common, which is a good thing!

Have a lovely day!!

p.s. do you like this new template for my blog? I rather like this one, it looks like a watercolor painting!  Let me know your thoughts. . . . .  :-)

My weekend . . . In an Acorn

Oh, wait, that's supposed to be, in a nutshell, right?  ;-)  Couldn't help myself, I love originality!

So, friends, how was your weekend?  If you did anything absolutely splendiforous, out of the ordinary or even mundane but somehow engaging, I'd love to hear about it!  I always appreciate comments!  The exchange is fun, right?

Here's my weekend, in a acorn nutshell. . . .

• Friday afternoon I called up my man at work and asked him, "Hey, do you want to go on a date with me tonight?" And I really meant, can I get you from work 20 min early so you and I can go see the afternoon matinee opening of "Green Lantern"?? Which of course I asked him in detail.   He was T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D to accept.  Might I say, it makes my day when I am able to make his?  So, we trotted on over the local theater and thoroughly enjoyed our 4:30pm showing of "Green Lantern" as a nice move date-night!  Let me tell you, that was a smart idea, that one.  Going at 4:30 to the opening of a new movie rocks the house, because you totally avoid the massive crowds yet have all the thrill of going to the movie the first night it's in theaters!  And I might also add, the movie was a lot of fun.  Thrills and chills and (very) few frills, it was a neat superhero/comic book film!  And my husband?  He loved it!  :-) 
• Saturday was an amazing day for us.  I hadn't slept well the night before, so I actually felt like I was in a bit of a daze all day long, which wasn't the best of times but it also wasn't the worst of times (Sorry Charles Dickens!).  Other than feeling a tad groggy, I had a day at home with my husband that I would consider enjoyable . . . simply because we were allowed to just "be."  There were no pressing engagements, no babysitting gigs (mind you, I can always appreciate the income I garnish when babysitting, so I'm happy to do so!), no appointments, no must-do-home-improvement projects. . . . just time to "be" and "be together."  I did ask that we go to Hastings in the afternoon, which my husband kindly obliged as he also enjoys Hastings and he likes to make his wife's day!  So we went and leisurely perused the shelves upon shelves of books -- all in all I might have looked over about 12 shelves out of 50ish?  But it was fun and I did come home with two treasures for a great price, as they were gently used.  One was a novel by Lynn Austin, the author of the book "Hidden Places" that was made into a Hallmark movie a few years ago.  I had watched a few minutes of the movie and really liked it, then I found the movie for $5 at Sam's Club and snatched it up.  Still have to sit down and watch it through with my husband, of course!  But, this book I purchased by her looks to be excellent with a unique story line.  I will have to tell you the title later, should you ask, because at the moment I cannot recall!  I also picked up a nice edition of "Robinson Crusoe," an edition released by Focus on the Family I believe.  So, having never read this wonderful classic, I am greatly anticipating getting to sit down and read it out of my own copy in the near future!  
• While at Hasting's, we made use of a coupon we got for $4 off any two newly released movies.  That's a nice coupon!  After looking over any and all movies that applied, we chose 1) the movie we'd come for in the first place, "True Grit" and 2) "Red Riding Hood" from the producers of the Twilight films, apparently.  We watched the latter, first.  It was an interesting twist on the usual fairy tale of Red Riding Hood and honestly, I liked it a lot!  Beautiful landscapes for one, a twisted plot, and good movie effects.  Then we watched "True Grit" last night.  Let me tell you, that really is a good movie! Especially if you enjoy Westerns/frontier stories, as I always have.  I am not a fan of EVERY Western out there, but I always enjoyed a few of them, especially the older films with Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne!  I thought Jeff Bridges gave a bully performance as Rooster Cogburn.  And the little girl, the main character, was hysterical to me.  She's so sharp-witted and what a fast tongue!  :-)  I enjoyed the movie and it seemed my husband did, as well!  
• Okay, so, this post is actually growing lengthy, much longer than I thought it would be!  I will end by saying we also had a lovely time at church yesterday morning, and savored bowls of my delicious homemade beef and vegetable stew with a side of homemade cornbread for supper, the perfect meal on any day but most definitely on the night we watched a frontier movie!  I love me some homemade beef and vegetable stew, especially because I make it in my slow cooker which is the BEST appliance known to man for cooking in this summer heat!  

• One final note . . . . have you seen "True Grit"?  Or "Red Riding Hood"?  I would love to hear your thoughts on either/both!  

Have a Marvelous Monday you all!