Half a Century - my turn

In the wee hours of the morning on my birthday every year, my phone rings. I answer and my mother begins to serenade me with the birthday song. Every year. I guess there is no one more likely to remember my big day since it was her big day first, huh? Well, thank you for the wake up call again this year, Mamacita!

I am the last of the Beeson 5 to celebrate a birthday this year. Ron, Mandi and Beckie had their birthdays in January, jb celebrated in February and now it's my turn. In the interest of playing fair since I did share pictures of them, I will now share some photos of myself over the last 50 years. 

4 months old - mouth open - I had a lot to say even then!

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4-ish I remember this day because I was helping my dad wash the car - that's his shadow. Later I almost died because I almost drank from a Coca Cola bottle that had gasoline in it - he used the gas to get the tar spots off the car, I guess. It was pretty traumatic!

1st grade - 6 yrs old

7 or so with sister, Ginger and our dog, Cinnamon

Did I ever tell you about the time I fell /ran down a very steep hill, lost my
footing and cracked my head on a big rock at the bottom of the hill?

8 1/2 - I really was this excited to have a new baby sister!

Easter 1972 - a bouffant hairdo at 10 years old - my mom couldn't help herself.
For this, I will never forgive her!

I'm skipping the rest of the awkward, ugly years (because it's my birthday and I can do what I want) and move forward to the not quite hideous years...

20 years old - my engagement photo

30 years old and wondering where the fire extinguisher  is!

40 years old

So here I am staring 50 in the face...so far, so good, I guess. I will make the best of it and have a great time at my party. If you're not doing anything, fly on over to Las Vegas and join me and my crazy family for the celebration! Here is a preview of some of what I will be wearing...

Oh and by the way...this is my 200th post for this blog! Ta da!

Easters past - just a few more pictures

2012 - No Easter outfits or baskets - just some posies from my garden

I meant to post these yesterday, but the day got away from me. Here are a few more photos of Easter - it turns out that I haven't scanned most of the Easter photos. I didn't go digital until 2005.

Here we are in 1991 - do you detect a theme here? Pretty obnoxious, i know, but it seemed like a cute idea at the time!

1992 - my angels - L to R - Mandy, Jenny, Becky

1994 - Not our best year - Jenn broke her arm a few days before Easter and Mandy was recovering from chicken pox.
 Becky and Jenny came down with chicken pox a few days later. This was our last Easter in Texas before we moved to Arizona.

Now I have skipped a few years (mainly because I have to hunt down the photos and then scan them). So I fast forwarded to 2007 and a couple pictures of the Wild Thing years.

2007 - Viliamu at 4 months

2009 - Viliamu at 2 1/2

That's all for now - now I have to hunt down photos for my birthday blog!

Easters Past

Mom and Me - 1963 - like the bonnet?

Woke up this morning and realized it was Easter. This year were no Easter baskets to fill or eggs to hide. I am cooking a ham and making some deviled eggs and a few other goodies. I thought I would share a few photos from Easters past. Where did the time go?

Me and jb when she was Jenny - 1986

The next 3 photos are from 1989 - I loved Jenny's dress

with her BFF, Aunti Lisa

with her daddy - one of my favorite photos ever

with our very dear cousins, Leah & Derek

1988 - with our Twinkies - that's confetti in our hair, not dandruff!

our twinsies 1989 - Becky in yellow and Mandy in pink

The Beeson 5 circa 1989

I have more Easter photos to share, but it's time to get the ham in the oven - I shall return!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Ron and I finally watched this movie last night. I don't know what took us so long to see it, except that maybe we were afraid that it would be too sad given the subject matter. Although there aren't many films that deal with 9/11, we have pretty much avoided them. It's been over 10 years, but it still hurts to think about it.

This movie was nominated for Best Picture this year but did not win. Had I been allowed to vote, I definitely would have ranked it higher than "The Artist." It took me about 15 minutes to get over being put off by the young star of the film. He was very odd, but was supposed to be. It was hinted at in the film that he might have Asberger's Syndrome or some other mild form of autism. Thomas Horn is the young actor that played Oskar Schell. By the end of the movie, he had me in the palm of his hand. Tom Hanks is the father who dies in one of the towers. He is present in the movie in a series of flashbacks that show what a close and important relationship Oskar had with his father. Tom Hanks is my favorite actor and I wish he'd had more scenes, but for the purpose of the film, it was enough. Sandra Bullock played Oskar's mother and she was equally wonderful. My favorite scenes were of Oskar and his new friend "the renter." Max Von Sydow did not speak one word in the entire film but his presence in it was absolutely crucial.

I'm glad that we didn't see this film when it was in the theaters. It would have spoiled it for me to have other people around me crunching their popcorn and unwrapping their candy. As it was I had to tune out Ron's snoring. Yes, we watched it on pay per view in the comfort of our home movie theater (also known as my California King!). In Ron's defense, he was very tired after a long week at work and couldn't keep his eyes open. He woke up in time to find me wiping my eyes and sniffling. Do see this movie. I recommend it enthusiastically.

Ali in Wonderland

I saw Ali Wentworth on a show promoting her book. Ali is a comedic actress, is friends with people like Oprah and is married to political journalist, George Stephanopoulos (I have a big crush on him). She shared a few of the stories that she has written about, so I thought, what the heck! I could use a good laugh – I’ll buy that book and read it. So, I did. Besides, Ali seems like the kind of person that it would fun to have as a friend.

Ali is a hoot! That much is clear just from the picture on the book jacket. She did have some funny stories to tell, but was also brutally honest about some difficult times in her life. I do applaud her for that. It was obvious after reading the first page that she wrote the book herself – no ghost writer. I found it difficult to follow her at times. She didn’t share her stories in chronological order – she bounced around from college stories back to her childhood and back again. I mostly appreciated the later chapters in which she shared stories about her courtship with George, their wedding and having children.

Ali Wentworth is irreverent, honest, crass and funny. There were a couple times that I startled Ron by laughing out loud as I read it. Still, this book is no great masterpiece. Reading it didn’t change my life. If Ali wasn’t a minor celebrity of sorts, I'm not sure that she would have gotten it published. If you are still interested in reading it, don’t buy it. You can have my copy.

The Hunger Games

There has been great anticipation for this movie - probably not as much as there was for the final Harry Potter movie or the upcoming final chapter of the Twilight series. Still, when I went to Fandango online to find out the available times, it appeared that it wouldn't matter when we went. There were 36 times available to see The Hunger Games at our favorite theater. I was surprised that when we got to the theater, there were no lines. Granted, it was raining so maybe people bought their tickets online. By the time the movie started, the theater was probably 80% full.

The downside of going to see a movie based on a series of young adult books, is that you end up having to watch the movie with a bunch of young adults. This generally means that there will be talking throughout the movie and inappropriate laughter at sensitive moments. Oh well...whatcha gonna do?

I read this book series last year and definitely had my opinions when they announced who would be playing Katniss, Peeta and Gale. Once photos started being released of the actors in character, I relaxed. Now having seen the movie, I congratulate the actors on a job well done. Jennifer Lawrence is a wonderful Katniss perfectly capturing the strength and vulnerability of the character. Josh Hutcherson is very convincing as Peeta Mellark. Liam Hemsworth doesn't get too much screen time as Gale Hawthorne, but that was fine with me - he looked too pretty and well groomed to play Gale. I remember that people were upset that Woody Harrelson was cast as Haymitch - but I thought he was quite good and I liked his portrayal.

The running time for this movie was 2 hours and 22 minutes. It went by in a flash for me. The pace of the film was good - there were no lulls. I was concerned how the brutality of the story would be played out onscreen - it could have been quite gory, but it was handled well. It was scary and disturbing that these teens were put in the position of "kill or be killed." The books were much more brutal than the movie portrayed - maybe it was sanitized a little too much.

All in all I think this was a good adaptation of the book, but I truly recommend that you read it before seeing the movie. There is just too much that the movie couldn't focus on. The books are almost always better than the movie, aren't they? Be that as it may, I am looking forward to the sequel - Catching Fire. I've got time to re-read the series before the it comes out next year in November.

An Invitation I'd Sooner Decline - revised

Look what came in the mail today....

...and you wonder why I'm obsessing about turning 50?!

So, I actually opened the envelope to see what AARP was selling. American Association for Retired Persons. I am not retired, nor hope to be so in the foreseeable future, but for the low price of $16 I get -

• 12 month membership in AARP (which means what?)
• 12 month membership for my spouse or partner (Ron will be thrilled!)
• Award-winning AARP The Magazine - World's largest circulation magazine (a friend tells me there are interesting articles in it)
• Access to exclusive products: health insurance, dental coverage, eye care, pharmacy. (I have all this, but I think it would be great for people that don't already have it)
• 10 issues of the AARP Bulletin Newspaper (more stuff that I won't have time to read)
• Access to discounts on hotels, car rentals, cruises, home security, cell phone service, and more. (add discounts for restaurants and movies and I would overnight my check!)
• Representation in Washington and all 50 states. Fighting age discrimination, protecting pension rights, Social Security, Medicare. (Hmmmmm....)

I am not against any of this for people...I am against the idea that someone outside my family and friends KNOW that I am almost 50. How do they KNOW?

I hope my friend Harriet won't mind me adding what she had to say on the matter..."Funny how folks react. It's been 10 years since I got my letter and card and it has been just fine. Being young at mind and heart has no number. So much of society focuses on the youth it feels great to be recognized as a more mature adult (remember how we couldn't wait to grow up). The worry of getting older contributes to stress (don't we have enough)? I say enjoy the discounts and offers available to members. We deserve something for that right of passage."

Well said, Harriet. I need to quit being so sensitive. Shut up and grow up, huh?