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Friday Filter: Movies Recently

I am still trying to take advantage of our cable package especially since going to the movies is something of the past and far future right now. We have been able to get through quite a few since George has been born.

There isn’t much else you can do during 8 feedings a day…

Plus it’s nice to have a pantry of snacks and being able to pause to go to the bathroom.

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Enjoy my quick thoughts.

1. Zero Dark Thirty– This film is based on the missions to find Osama Bin Laden after the attacks on September 11th. It is a harrowing depiction of the man hunt and is not for the faint of heart. We really enjoyed the movie and felt that they did a good job with what is known about the events. I believe this was also a breakout role for Jessica Chastain. She did justice to the main character. Definitely a must watch!

2. The Normal Heart– This was a made for TV movie. It was so good. I laughed and I cried. I felt anger and disappointment. This movie is a play adaptation starring Mark Ruffalo (love him) who is a playing a gay activist in the early 1980s. It tells the story of the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis specifically in New York. Ruffalo’s character starts an advocacy group to try to get better medical care and attention to this issue. It shows how quickly things escalated with the disease and spread, and how so many were trying to understand why no one (in power positions) cared about all those that were dying. This was an era where being gay was widely viewed as a sickness in itself. This was a heart-wrenching movie. One because it shows how far we have come as far as acceptance and advocacy goes, but also saddening to see some of the issues that are still around today as if nothing changed. Another must watch! (There are a lot of big name actors in this too! Julia Roberts, Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons…)

3. The Internship– This was a kitchy comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. The two friends lost their jobs and embark on a journey to be the new interns at Google. The whole film follows their antics to keep up in the Google world. It had some funny moments, but it was not the best movie. I felt like they were trying to use the mojo of Wedding Crashers, but they missed the mark. I love them both and I am glad I watched it, but I won’t watch it again.

4. American Hustle– This movie got so much hype last year. It had a high billed cast:  Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, and Christian Bale. It was about two con artist who were used by the FBI to run a sting operation to bring corrupt politicians down. As I said, this movie got a lot of hype and award nods. The acting was good, and the design was good. However, I just couldn’t get into it. I just don’t see what was so great about the movie. So I am probably alone on not appreciating this movie…

5. Monsters University– This movie was adorable. It is the prequel to Monsters Inc. It tells the story of how Mike and Sulley met in college. It is unbelievable what they can do with computer animation now. UNREAL. You don’t have to be a kid to watch this. Great fun watch.

6. Veronica Mars- I loved the TV show Veronica Mars. I was so excited to hear that they were making a movie from the Kickstarter campaign. Who doesn’t love a little Kristen Bell action? Anyway, this movie is set a few years after the series finale. Veronica comes back to her hometown to help her old beau free his name. It was just as good as the series-quippy mystery solvers. Just delightful. I also loved the cameo appearance of Dax (Bell’s husband).

7. Brave– This is another Pixar film that was cute. I enjoyed the turn that the main character isn’t so much a damsel in distress as many movies were as I was growing up. Merida defies family traditions, but in doing so she enacted a curse on her mother. The movie follows Merida’s transformation and realization about family love. I am kind of excited having a kid just for the sake of having a reason to watch kids movies again.

8. Frozen– I know I am way behind the Frozen craze, but I finally got there. Another cute kid’s movie. While I think it was good, there is still a lot of room for growth to beat out Beauty and the Beast. Also I watched it with my niece who knows all the words. ALL THE WORDS. The movie is about two sisters who had grown apart due to ice magic and how they come back to each other. Olaf, the snowman really steals the show. I am really glad that I watched this before Once Upon A Time came on so I knew the plot line.

9. The Heat– Um talk about a dynamic duo Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCartney! This comedy was about an FBI agent who is working with a local police officer to bring down a drug lord. They are both stuck in their ways but they are forced to work together by their higher ups. They were a great pairing. I may be biased though because Sandra is my favorite actress so there is rarely something of hers that I don’t like. I loved it for pure comedic relief.

10. Lee Daniels’ The Butler-This film is a historical drama. It follows a White House butler through several administrations. Throughout it you see how segregation changes and the impact and evolution of the civil rights movement. I really enjoyed this movie. It was smart and fascinating to watch. I enjoyed the historical context, and the screenplay was great. There are a lot of big name people in this one too. I highly recommend this one!

11. Argo– This was Ben Affleck’s breakout film into directing. He really hit the mark on this one. This film is about the rescue mission of six diplomats during the Iran hostage crises in 1979-1981. The CIA mission was to use a fake film to be a guise to get these ix people out of Tehran under the radar during a time when people were being captured for knowing an American. This was a really good film, and rightly so since it won Best Picture at the Oscars. It did raise some similarities for me to what is going on in Iraq now as far as the direst. I think we often live under a rock as Americans and have no idea how bad things are in other nations. This is also another high recommend!

Friday Filters offer a review that are my own opinions. I was not contacted by anyone associated with these works or compensated for my review. My review has not been influenced by anything other than my love for entertainment and art.

Have you seen any of these movies? Do you share my views or did you feel something different?

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Party Like It’s 1985

Today something is occurring that hasn’t occurred in 29 years.

My beloved Royals are in the Playoffs.

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The Royals have not been to the playoffs since 1985, which is the longest playoff drought in the MLB. Not exactly the greatest title to hold…

When they went the last time, I was 4 months old. So I have never fully experienced a Royals post season. Although I am sure I gurgled and cooed as any loyal fan would.

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My dad always says that I was their good luck charm since their 1985 World Series win was the year I was born. Tom was also born that year too. So we are convinced that we produced the miracle child in George to help the Royals once again. Nothing like putting the pressure on our kid from the day he was born. They did win the night he was born just saying…

Baseball is the sport of superstitions. You can thank us later Royals fans for procreating. This little bundle of goodness got us to the post season right?

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It has not been easy being a Royals fan over the past 29 years. There have been many ups and downs (unfortunately a lot of downs) over the years.

But we made it, and it is so sweet to be here.

It may be hard to be a Kansas City fan, but we are not fair weather fans. We have believed and hoped for this since we clinched that World Series title in 1985. We have waited patiently…ok maybe not so patiently. But we have still flocked to buy hot dogs and get into the royal spirit to support America’s favorite past time in the 816 area code.

So to all the cynics and other teams who didn’t see us coming, we are going to enjoy today. We are going to #beroyal and #takethecrown how we do.

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And who doesn’t love a good underdog story and sporting events that are not predictable? And this season, game to game, was anything but predictable. This season has just been fun to watch! In all honestly though, there were some games that I had to watch through my fingers because it was too intense to see. We were ever hopeful.

Through it all, Kansas City fans have always come out for our boys in blue. (We also come out for our boys in red. During Monday Night Football last night, Kansas City made Arrowhead the loudest stadium in the World! Get it Chiefs!)

Let’s Celebrate Kansas City.

No matter what the end result is today, this has been a fantastic season to witness. I have enjoyed watching/reading through every game. (KY/TN don’t seem to be fans of KC so we haven’t been able to watch every game live.)

One day at a time. Enjoy every win, and move past every loss.

(Rest assured though, I would love a win today.)

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George says, “Don’t worry. Party like it’s 1985 Mom.”

I do as the infant says.

So here’s to hoping for the best today! Soak it up while we can! Can we get a Blue October?

I wish I could be in Kansas City today to take part in all the festivities that are going on in my hometown, but we will be watching and cheering anxiously from KY.

We believe! Come on Royals! Take those A’s!

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Do you love baseball? Who are you rooting for in the post season?

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George-1 month

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Weight: Two weeks ago he was 5 lbs and 15 oz at the doctor, which is officially one oz over his birth weight! I weighed him on our scale here at home today, and it says he is a little over 7lbs.

Health:  He is still spitting up after he eats, and now it looks like cottage cheese coming out his nose. Other than that, he seems super healthy! I know his lungs work just fine…

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Diet:  We have successfully moved to breastfeeding 24/7. We may do a bottle of breastmilk once every few days so Tom can get in on the feeding action. I am happy not to be doing as many dishes with just the breastfeeding. Although, I feel that I am a human cow, and my life has been diminished to being a fast food drive through for George. Seriously, it dictates everything-what I wear, when and where we can go out, our schedule in general… I am pretty proud of myself for being his sole source of food for a month!

Clothes:  He is is still in newborn clothes and diapers. He is starting to fill them out a little more, but some of the clothes still are pretty big. Grandma and Auntie Em brought him some premie clothes which he was only able to wear once before he outgrew them. Go figure. He has a few less wrinkles, and seems to be getting longer.

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Sleeping:  We have been on a struggle bus for the last week. We have a Jekyll and Hyde baby. He is so good during the day, but as soon as night hits this kid does NOT want to sleep. He will sleep for half hour spurts and then scream the rest of the time. We have a few theories why this is happening. Reasonable explanations are that all newborns go through a transition period in the first month or so to being more active during the day than night. While babies are in utero, apparently they like the night time more and once on the outside it takes them time to adjust to not being nocturnal. We also think he might be colicky, which is basically just not feeling comfortable and crying it out ALL THE TIME. Explanations specific to George are that he hates his crib and laying flat on his back. We also think that he hates the upstairs. Yes you read that right. We have had him downstairs for most of the day in his rock and play bassinet since that is where we are. We have the SAME rock and play bassinet upstairs and he hates it. He also cannot lay in his actual crib for more than 10 minutes before he wails no matter the time of day. So we are convinced there is some aura upstairs that turns him into a different baby. This really only started in the last week, which has amounted to several nights of me ending up “sleeping” downstairs at 3am so he can be in his downstairs bassinet. We are trying to keep him awake more during the day to hopefully encourage him to sleep more at night. I have also been trying to get him to take one of his day naps in his crib to get him acclimated to it. I can’t sleep downstairs forever. Hopefully we are going in the right direction. Some nights are good, and some nights are still pretty bad. Needless to say the Whiteners have been getting very little sleep…

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Likes:  He LOVES being in the stroller and going on walks. He can be crying his little eyes out, and I will put him in the stroller and Wammo he is perfectly calm. Sometimes I will put him in it and move the stroller just around the kitchen to satisfy him. He also loves being cuddled.

Dislikes:  His crib, being naked, diaper changes, baths, the hours between 11pm-5am

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Milestones:  He got circumcised two weeks ago since he wasn’t able to when he was born thanks to his NICU stay. Because of the circumcision, we weren’t able to give him a bath until this week. So he endured that yesterday. (Hot mess)

Quirks:  His grunts resemble the noise of goats or sheep. His cries also sound like a CD scratching. He still makes the best faces. I try to show a lot of them on my Instagram account. You’re welcome.

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Worst moment of the month: For George probably the circumcision, for parents the lack of sleep

Best moment of the month: Outside of the whole being born thing…meeting his cousin Ava and other members of our famjam.

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Happy Birthday George! Glad we were able to keep you alive so far!

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Crochet Tie and Hat

In my quest to expand my crochet skills thanks to my 35 before 35 list, I knew I wanted to make something for George.

I saw lots of cute things on Pinterest.

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I need this baby in my life…

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Cute right? Well some of the things I found either didn’t have patterns, the pattern wasn’t free, or the pattern included things such as buttons or I couldn’t understand the stitches. Problems.

I finally settled on this pattern for the tie. Then I used this video for the hat (which is way to big for G right now since I made it before he was born.)

I used yarn that I had left over from other projects, and it didn’t need very much for either.

This is my first successful attempt at a hat!

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It will be fun to take these pictures again in a few months to see how he has grown. That tie looks huge on him now!

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This last one is possibly one of my favorites shots of him.

For the first time ever, I am feeling a crochet drought. I just am not feeling inspired to do anything. We’ll see how long that lasts. I do have projects in mind, just no gumption to do them right now.

Everything has it’s season I guess.

Have you done any projects lately? Any crochet ideas to share?

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Friday Filter: A Year in the Blue

I was given access to this documentary as compensation for my review. All the thoughts are my own.

I was contacted by Passion River Films to take a look at a new documentary they have available.

“A Year in the Blue” is a film following a few cadets during their first year at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.

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When I was told documentary, I was pretty much sold. When I saw that it was related to the military, I definitely knew I would find it interesting.

This film portrays the difficulties and triumphs of entering the Air Force Academy. It runs you briefly through the obstacles that each person must face to enter among the ranks in this particular branch.

They show you pieces of basic, when they choose their majors, how invested they are in their studies, and why being part of the Air Force is important to them. You witnessed struggles they faced as they were tested. You were able to experience the emotional toll that occurred throughout the process. You saw how pride and passion carried them through it all.

I liked being able to see glimpses of traditions at the school from the Ring Dance to the sporting events. I found this interesting to see on the film after hearing some of these events from my friend, Janelle’s, perspective of watching her husband go through these very things.

What I liked most about the film was the interview structure. They would show group interaction, but then they would interview individuals so you got to actually hear their emotions and see their reactions first hand. They also interviewed alumni, which I thought was a pretty neat way to show continuity and longevity of the lessons learned and the take away from the program. Most of you know that I love a good personal story!

Since most of my “military” experience is with the Army, I enjoyed learning more about the Air Force. They do things WAY different than the Army. I think what I found to be most intriguing about the film was being able to compare it to what I have seen in the Army and how vastly different the experiences are, but ultimately that these men and women are in it for the same reasons that Army folk are.

I really do appreciate all that our Armed Forces do, no matter what their training and experiences look like. Each branch has their own way of doing things, but they all give a lot of themselves and their families as a sacrifice to our nation.

I would highly recommend this film. It is an easy watch and gives you some great insight!

If you would like to view the film, it is now available for public viewing. There are a few ways you can get a hold of it. You can purchase the documentary on the public website at www.passionriver.com and various retail stores like Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or CD Universe.

Have you ever visited the Air Force Academy in Colorado?