Movie Reviews!

I am going to start something new on the blog because I feel inspired by a movie I saw recently. I have seen one movie in the theater in about the past 3 years, but I do see a lot of movies on Netflix. If you need some movie ideas for the weekend, here are my thoughts on some that I've seen lately (if you even care what I think)!

Iron Jawed Angels...Totally worth It!
This is a fabulous movie to watch with the women in your life. I watched it election week, which was very appropriate. It's amazing how far we've come.

Here's Netflix's synopsis: "From 1912 to 1920, a group of fiery young suffragettes led by Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor) band together to wheedle the United States into adapting a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. Along the way, they incur the wrath of President Woodrow Wilson (Bob Gunton) and anger other suffragette leaders (Anjelica Huston and Lois Smith). Directed by Katja von Garnier. "


Made of Honor... Watch if you're bored.
This is basically a newer version of My Best Friend's Wedding, except not as good. Sorry "McDreamy," you're not as fun to watch as Julia Roberts. I never wanted the main character to succeed. Many lame attempts to be funny.

Synopsis: "Happy-go-lucky playboy Tom (Patrick Dempsey) finally decides to propose to his best friend, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), when she returns from a trip. But when she gets home, she announces that she's engaged … and asks Tom to be in the wedding. Can Tom work his way back into her heart before it's too late? Directed by Paul Weiland, this whimsical comedy also features Sydney Pollack and Kadeem Hardison."


Martian Child ... Worth it!
This is a very sweet movie about a widower that adopts a little boy that thinks he is a martian. Adorable little boy, very touching story. John & Joan Cusak play brother and sister in this movie, which is sort of neat.

Synopsis: "In this film based on a David Gerrold novel, John Cusack stars as a recently widowed science-fiction writer who adopts a 6-year-old boy to quell his loneliness. The catch? The kid (Bobby Coleman) claims to be from Mars. At first, the new dad doesn't pay much attention to the boy's story, but when an odd series of events occurs, he begins to believe his son may be telling the truth in this film co-starring Amanda Peet and Joan Cusack."


Lars and the Real Girl ...Surprisingly worth it!
This is an odd movie about a young man that orders a life-sized doll and believes she is his girlfriend. Much less disturbing than it sounds. This is actually a very heartwarming movie. I would recommend it.

Synopsis: "Ryan Gosling plays the title character in this oddball comedy about a delusional young man who buys a life-size doll over the Internet -- and then falls in love with her. When the besotted young man starts telling people that the doll is his girlfriend, his brother and sister-in-law decide it's time to intervene in this film co-starring Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Kelli Garner and Paul Schneider."

Freecycling is Fun!

Are you familiar with Freecycling? If not, you should be!
A couple weekends ago (when it was still warm out!), Josh and I worked on cleaning up our garage. In the process, we found a bunch of random things that we no longer needed or wanted, but were still in good shape. We took leftover building materials to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore just down the street, brought our scrap metal to the recycling place, brought a couple bags of clothes to the Dakota Boy's & Girl's Ranch, but we had some other things left that we put on Freecyle.org. Freecyle is an online community where people post items they are looking for, and post items that they are giving away for free.
We posted items like never used trim pieces, a bag of insulation, rollerblades, a fax machine, etc. And guess what? All the items are spoken for! It's awesome to be able to give things away that we don't need anymore to people that do need them. It's also amazing all the cool things you can get for free! Freecycle is a fabulous tool... it's good for us, and it's good for the environment.
Next time you find items you no longer need, check out your local Freecyle group to see if someone else might need it!

Vote today!

If you haven't heard it enough yet, here is one more reminder to get out there and VOTE today! Polls are open until 8pm, so make sure to get there before then!

The Red

Last weekend's rain has swelled the Red River of the North to levels that have never before been recorded in this area this late into the fall.  Last night we took the dogs on a walk and a little photo safari to take a couple pics of the river before the sun went down.  Here's one to share with you all.   Notice the trees... they are not typically growing in the middle of the river!

Flu Shot Time!

It's that time of year again... time to go get your flu shot! This is a friendly reminder to all of my blog readers. I will be getting my flu shot at the Flu Shot Blitz at MeritCare. If you live in Fargo/Moorhead, you can check out the schedule here.

I know some of you out there are not planning to get a flu shot based on concerns about mercury in the vaccine. (Flu shots contain a mercury-based preservative called thimersal). Guess what? You can opt for a preservative-free (a.k.a. mercury-free!) flu shot.

Want to know something else? The flu shot does NOT give you the flu. That's a total myth. You may feel some side effects like a fever or aches, but it's not the flu.

If you want to learn more, check out the Center for Disease Control website.


P.S. I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV. :)

Sick Puppy

Today Asher got a trip to the vet for an ear infection.  He then recovered on the couch for the rest of the morning.  He looks very comfortable there, doesn't he?

Basement Update

Here are a couple of updates from our basement for those of you who haven't been up to visit in the past month...

Roofing Weekend #2

The roof was finished this weekend... hallelujah! The rain held off for the whole three days and didn't start to fall until after the last shingle was in place. We had lots of good help this weekend... we couldn't have done it without: Josh (task master!), Eric, Mark, Tom, Lynn, Brian, Brad and Nick. Thanks for the help!!!







I however, barely stepped foot on the roof. I was chained to the computer. This is what I saw all weekend:


Not too bad though... look at that gorgeous screen! ;)

Friday Sparkles and Scrapes

Scrapes:
Chaos in my life
Messy desk at work
Too much to do!

Sparkles:
Seeing Chicago (the musical) last night with my mom
Hanging out with my little brother this week
Lots of help from family
Not staying at work all day!

Roofing weekend #1

This weekend we had great plans to roof our house... but mother nature had other plans. Friday and Sunday were beautiful, but it rained on and off all day Saturday. So... we'll be having another roofing weekend. We did get the garage roof done, so at least we're one step closer. (I say "we" loosely... I never got on the roof once this weekend.)

Closet Love

This weekend Josh and I (mostly Josh) installed a closet organization system in our new bedroom closet. And, I am thrilled at how it turned out. I'm still rounding up clothes from various places in the house to put away neatly in the beautiful new space. I love this! I want everyone to be able to experience the joy a closet organizer brings to your life. :)

Hot lights

Last week we got some new studio lights... here are some pics of Josh trying them out in the office doing a photo shoot for a website he's working on.

More basement updates

Here are a few more updates from the basement this weekend... we worked day and night on this thing. More pictures to come soon!

Weekend Project

This weekend we did a last minute project and switched the office and the spare bedroom... so now we have a better functioning and more organized office and a better layout for the spare bedroom. While Josh was working hard on the basement, I was changing our dull white bedroom into a green working oasis. :)

Here are just a couple of pictures...

Updates

Tom's RAD Birthday

Here are some pics from Tom's Rad 18th Birthday.



P.S. This kid loves the eighties. The world is your oyster Tommy!

P.P.S. Don't mind the red eyes... no time for fixing now.

Basement update

Sorry, no pictures because I'm too lazy to go back downstairs to take them. But, the good news is that our bathroom now has a ceiling! Woo hoo! I really enjoy ceilings. They are too often taken for granted.

Kari & Mark Engagement Shoot at Como

Yesterday I did an enagagement session with my super cooper cool cousin Kari and her fiance Mark. My mom came with too for fun and to help me hold all my junk since Josh was at the Golfaroo. Here are some pics that didn't make it into the FMS blog, but are fun anyway.

That's hot.

Kari's cat O'Malley... my mom liked him.
Masks in the zoo gift shop.
Awesome water lilies outside the zoo visitor center. We also witnessed a girl fall into a giant mud puddle next to these.

Butterfly house
Uhh... what?

Birthday Presents

Yesterday I got the last piece of my birthday presents from Josh: this fantastically cool camera strap from My Funky Camera. I will be shooting photos in style now! :) On Friday he also gave me the book Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano. I am so excited to read it!

Storm Clouds

Here are some very ominous storm clouds that came through Fargo last night... you get to see a lot of sky when you live in the flattest place on earth. Luckily they looked a lot scarier than they were.

AOPX

Art on the Plains X is coming up this fall, and guess what? Last has been chosen to be in this yearly show at the Plains Art Museum of all the best regional art! Oh how I am going to miss my painting. We are excited though to own a piece displayed in a museum. I hope we at least get invited to the opening reception/party in exchange for giving up a prized possession for the entire winter!

Crazy Gardener

Tonight I made a quick stop at Holland's Landscape Center just down the street on my way home from work. I was tired of the way my garden was looking... mystery plants growing over the plants I intentionally put there. So, I bought a couple coneflowers and gayfeathers. I've been waiting all season for my purple gayfeather to bloom... but the rabbits like to snack on that plant, so it has been struggling.
I also have a record-breaking sized daylily... I've never seen one this huge before. And it was taking over. So, when Josh got home I had some tasks for him. I had him dig out the daylily, the wild geranium, and the pink flowered mystery plant. Mystery plant met an untimely death. The daylily was divided into three, and relocated. And the wild geranium was divided and relocated.
Last but not least, I now had prime space open for my beautiful new prairie flowers. I put them in and now I am finally very happy with this section of the garden. It now looks like I have been meaning for it to look.
So when I finally finished my gardening adventures for the night (at 9:30) I quick took a picture. Just in case the rabbits ate my garden overnight, at least I had proof of my hard work.

Fun picture

I'm not really sure what is going on in this picture, but I think it's funny.

New office pet?

On Thursday evening Josh and I went to the Street Fair, and on our way out of my work, we saw this guy hanging out on the church lawn. The following morning as I came to work, he was still there! I should have coaxed him inside for some morning entertainment. Josh said turkey sounded delicious.

Fourth of July at the Cabin

Josh and I spent our fourth of July at the cabin. Asher had his first boat ride, and he now seems to really like boat rides. Josh did some excellent fly fishing and we all had fun on the boat. My favorite parts include going to Granny's (yum!) and going to Zorbaz on Ottertail! It was a gorgeous weekend!