November 1, 2013 by Stephanie

Friday Filter-Movie “Hocus Pocus”

I have one Halloween tradition: watch either Harry Potter in its entirety or Hocus Pocus. Some years I have done both.

To be honest, I just haven’t had the time this year to invest all the time to Harry Potter. Plus Tom wasn’t really up for it. Maybe this will be November’s challenge with my upcoming free time.

So I just subjected Tom to about an hour and a half of a moviecation.

He had never seen Hocus Pocus!

Travesty.

So we watched it as we waited for trick or treaters this year.

This is my kind of scary movie. Totally predictable and cheesy.

When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with Bette Midler. I am not really sure where that started, but this movie probably helped with that matter. I did several book reports on her through middle school and high school. Not your typical 8th grade read, but I just thought she was the bomb.com.

This movie is about a kid who reawakened three witches from 300 years ago in Salem. They basically suck the life out of children to stay young. So the whole movie is about them chasing each other around to end the madness.

I love Dani. She is a no-nonsense kid who loves her older brother. She is adorably cute through the whole thing.

Her brother on the other hand; I wanted to punch him most of the movie. He was just a dumb love sick idiot. But you could tell he loved his sister as he valiantly sacrificed his life at the end, so I have to give him credit for that.

My favorite parts are seeing the Sanderson sisters react to the 90s culture and new age inventions like roads and candy bars.

Hocus Pocus

It is a silly film that is all about Halloween traditions and tales. It is very cheesy and for me a must every October. I was looking up critiques of it this year and found that when it first came out, the ratings were awful for it. It was doomed to vanish like the Sanderson sisters did in the movie. However, people like me watch it every year and it has become a mainstay on certain channels every fall. On several sites I read that this movie has reached “cult status.” It’s funny how the DVD and cable market can change what used to be controlled only in the theater.

Is there a movie or show you have to watch to get into the Halloween spirit?

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.

October 31, 2013 by Stephanie

Happy Halloween! (And Grace Adoption Day)

Happy Halloween everyone!

This is the most excited I have been about Halloween in years. It was never a big thing growing up, besides waiting for the candy weeks later that my dad would get on sale from the Russell Stover outlet store.

Why am I excited now?

One: we got to dress up at work, which is really just an excuse for me to wear jeans today…

People were pointing at me all day saying, “I found Waldo!”

Two: the daycare at APSU comes around to the offices and does trick or treating during the day. Adorable. Plus our office gets really into decorating the office (for really anything) so we spent an afternoon ~~not working~~ jazzing up the office with Halloween stuff. Crafting at work what!

Three: since I have lived on campus for the last 10 years, I have never had real trick or treaters at my home as a grown up. I have been talking about passing out candy for months! I told Tom that we could go to a party only after we passed out candy. Seriously so excited for this event. We are supposed to have a terrible storm today, so they actually post-poned trick or treating until tomorrow night. Did you know they did that? We have a bowl ready if there are any troopers who do decide to come tonight. We may have gone a little overboard on the candy. We bought 6 giant bags since we know there are so many neighborhood kids. We didn’t want to be the “only two pieces per kid” people. And of course we picked out candy that we like just in case they don’t come.

This is two bags….

Four, it’s Happy Grace Adoption day! We got Grace exactly two years ago! Look how little she was! (Seriously Grace, you need to get this whole anxiety thing under control. We aren’t abandoning you..)

This was at the shelter the day we picked her up and the hour drive home.

Five, it’s an excuse to humiliate our dogs with costumes. Need I say more?

Oh the shame!

Recently, they have started literally making out like people. It is really sweet and weird at the same time.

The only way to get them to sit still for pictures is to bribe them.

They look more like jet packs or wings than buns, but they were cheap. And with these two rascals, we didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money on something that they could potentially ruin in seconds. They are still cute and fun to watch them react to them and each other.

I am linking up for Howl-o-ween at A day in A Joyful Life!

Anyone have any fun Halloween traditions to share? Do you dress your pets up?

October 28, 2013 by Stephanie

Talks with Tom #11

Recently when we were home, we chauffeured our 4 year old niece around.

Tom-Ava K, what kind of music do you like?

Ava-My Little Pony, My Little Pony (singing this to us)

Tom-How about Bob Marley?

Ava-Oh, I have never been there before.

She and Uncle Tom have a great relationship!

We were home for her birthday. It was a pretty “roaring” party.

As you can tell, she had a dinosaur themed birthday party. She knows all the dinosaurs names and categories. Did I mention that she is four?

Even though the trip was short, it was fun to be there to help celebrate her day.

My sister-in-law is so creative and did a great job with the theme! I loved taking pictures of the whole day!

Birthday Girl!

Family photo with Longneck

October 27, 2013 by Stephanie

That Day My Husband Had Surgery

Last Friday, Tom had minor surgery to remove a fatty tumor from his hip. The thing was huge and disgusting to think it was inside his body. It was about as long as my hand and about a quarter width around. Gross. I will spare you the pictures Tom has.

Anyway, it was an outpatient surgery, so he was free to drive home afterwards. But you think most people try to take it easy when they just got cut open.

I came home that afternoon to Tom rebuilding his bumper…

When Tom gets a project in mind, he has a hard time not finishing it right then.

He welded on his own design of brackets, which saved us a little bit of money in trying to find a professional welder.

He got the winch from a buddy of his who is getting rid of their Jeep. Score saving another bit of cash instead of buying this brand new!

Off road dream car

So determined

not feeling the surgery at all

putting off dinner plans

living out his dream

my husband the mechanic

making sure everything is secure

You can imagine what I was thinking when I came home to this.

We are officially ready with our end of the world vehicle.

Gotta love it.

This is also my 100th post on the blog! Craziness!

October 25, 2013 by Stephanie

Friday Filter-More TV Premieres

Thought we were done? I told you I am obsessed. But don’t worry, we still find time to do other things.

I believe this is the last one for awhile. And looking back my shows are all over the place theme-wise…

Hart of Dixie

This show is a gem. I love it’s light-hearted stories and silly drama. It is about a NY doctor who was transplanted to a small town in the deep south. Some of the things that she experiences are things I went through when I moved to SC, so it is pretty funny to watch. Although until I moved to SC, this Missourian never really thought of myself as a Northerner. My dad turned me onto this show, sweet huh? He says that he sees a lot of me in Dr. Hart, which is probably true. Except, I could never pull off her heels on a daily basis. There is a continuing love triangle between her, George and Wade. I think she should be with Wade, but I see a lot of Tom in him, so it makes sense why I like him more. There is a lot of hilarity in the small town of Bluebell. Small town traditions at its finest. My favorites are the antics of the Belles, which is the women’s social society, which were shook up in the first couple episodes when Lemon and AnnaBelle up and quit. The disgrace! This guide says that my personality matches that of North Carolina, so it seems only natural that I would love a show about the South.

The Biggest Loser

This show is a feel good reality show. These are people looking for a second chance to become healthier and more active. I become a sap and feel really connected to the people on the show. To me, it is really inspiring. For the past few years, I have moved my schedule around to watch this as I train so I can watch this show as I run on the treadmill. For someone who was not a runner a few years ago, this show was really inspiring to do something about my own inactivity. It was like the trainers were ~~yelling at~~ pushing me through the screen, and it was a huge motivator to keep going with my running. It is only the second week, so there is not a lot of drama yet and they seem to be working well together. There are some seasons that I feel that the contestants are super selfish and overly dramatic in a bad way. I haven’t seen that yet this time around. I love seeing what creative ways the trainers get the contestants moving. It has really showed me how to be creative with my own workouts and the important thing is your life style. I do like that they focus on changing the lifestyle, and it is not just about dieting. They seem to do a lot about educating about healthy foods and exercising so these people can go back home and succeed without the trainers. It’s just a feel good show that I love to watch!

Pretty Little Liars

I started watching this show last Christmas when Tom was deployed. It was exactly what I needed as a distraction. It is ridiculous and awesome. I usually have no idea what is going on, and they keep me guessing every episode. Just when I think I know who A is, my hypothesis is proven wrong. They are making you believe that Ezra is A right now, but I just can’t believe it. I still think there is someone else controlling the game. And big shocker this week on the Halloween episode, Allie is really alive! WHAT? How does this happen? In all seriousness, how does she look that good and not disheveled after a couple years in hiding? This show is silly and totally not realistic, but that is why I love it. It will suck you in with the mystery and how things are overlapped. The intricacies of the details are numerous, and often times I have to play an episode over again so I can see an important piece of the puzzle. You have to come back each week because you have to figure out A! I think this was just a Halloween special instead of a premiere, so we’ll have to wait a bit for another episode.

Awkward.

I really liked the first season this show. It was perfectly awkward. The last season, I wasn’t so keen on. As like many MTV things, there is now a lot of focus on teen sex. It still has some pretty good moments, but I am not as invested as the first season. I will probably come back just for Tamara. I love her quick witty remarks, and spastic abbreviations for everything. The first episode made me really disappointed in Jenna. I thought she was better than what they have made her. So we’ll see how this affair goes. This is a good show that just gets your mind off of things. Its so random and awkward in its teenage angst. And who doesn’t love watching awkwardness when it’s not you in it? I think we can all relate.

The Walking Dead

Ahhhh! This show makes me have a heart attack or puke almost every episode, and yet I am addicted. I have only watched the first episode, so some of my question may be answered once I get through this week’s episode. In the first episode, they came back after 6 months from the huge chaos that the Governor let out. It was nice for them to ease back into the storyline to show how they have progressed over the last 6 months. (They never show how they get through the winter in this show.) There really wasn’t anything crazy until the last 15 minutes, which I am ok with because I watched it by myself this time…ahhh! This show scares the daylights out of me. I have had so many zombie and ambush nightmares in the last month. I really want them to stay in this life that they have made for themselves at the prison, but with the last 5 minutes I know this won’t happen. So is the zombie stuff like a real disease now-airborne or passing through food? I think there was something between Violet the pig and Patrick. That will mess things up fast. This show is pretty raw, and besides the zombie action, I appreciate the realness of the emotion. It really pays homage to the spectrum that we as humans can possess on the emotional/compassionate scale. It has sparked some interesting conversations. It is fascinating to see how morals evolve through the season, or stay the same for some. It brings up a great debate on whether character and what moral fiber will last at the end of the world as we know it. I love these debates, and I love this show, as long as I can fast forward through the scary parts or Tom tells me when it is a jumpy moment…

So that is all of them, I think. I hope you enjoyed it.

Send good thoughts our way today! Tom is having minor outpatient surgery today, so positive thoughts in our direction is welcomed.