You're the Best Friends Anybody Ever Had: Margie

 The crazy month of April we celebrate the person who has known me the longest. Literally, she had known me the longest. She was there for my first everything. My first breath, blink, cry, kick, and I don't really want to know what else. She is beautiful, kind, supportive, blunt (when I need her to be), and just wonderfully awesome. 

Meet my lovely mom, Margie.

I know that there are a lot of people who say that their mom is their best friend and they they tell their mom almost everything. My mom really is! Her and I go to do so many fun things together. She is a very big reason that I got into classic movies, theatre, and music. We have different tastes when it comes to these but she is at the root of all of them. My first dvd hat I got for my movie collection was for my birthday and it was Grease. The first theatre tickets I got she got for my birthday which was The Wizard of Oz. I mean when I wanted to by the Collectors Edition of the 70th Anniversary of the movie The Wizard of Oz she told me that I should and that shouldn't worry that I was spending the money on it cause I loved it.

Mom and I also love going out and seeing new things. If it's related to movie stuff it's even better because we both get to nerd out. We went to Atlanta a few years back and we went to the place that Margret Mitchell lived with the wrote Gone with the Wind we got to see some movie props and got to see a lot of fun pictures. We love going to some new places to eat or just hang out and chill. We watch a ton of movies on TCM.  

Mom is also one of the biggest supporters. When I started doing these challenges in 2016 I told NO ONE. I didn't want to tell people how many movies I was watching or anything like that. I didn't want people to think I was weird. Now, I also didn't lie. When mom asked what my plans were or what I had done that day I told her I saw a movie. She caught on that I was watching a lot of them and then asked me about it. When I got to my 100th movie she bought a cookie cake so that my family and I could celebrate that I watched 100 in a year. She always asks what I am doing and where am I going and who with, even though I don't live with her anymore. I feel like that I have seen her more in the last three years not living with her than I did the last three years that I did! 

However, I think one of my favorite adventures is one that we (usually) do every year and that is seeing Brad Paisley in Concert! That is a tradition that we stared in 2014 when I got tickets for her for mothers day! She was so excited! We love Brad Paisley! When we went to see him we loved it so much that mom ready my mind and suggested that we do it every year. We didn't get the chance to do it in 2020 cause well... it was 2020. I am hoping that maybe we might be able to do it this year but we will see if he tours near us and if we can go. There are lots of things in the air right now with stuff so I am hoping that by 2022 we will be for sure back to seeing him in person! Those trips we always have fun on.

My mom is also super funny. She loves to make sarcastic comments to people and watching her do it to my other friends is always fun! In March mom dislocated her finger while we were cleaning the church and I had to run her to the emergency room. We got there and into a room really fast, which was amazing. I actually got to go in with her and we ended up laughing so hard and making jokes about what she had done the stuff came in to check to make sure we were ok. I guess we were being too loud laughing. It's always a great time with her. 

I am so happy that God gave me such an amazing mom. I don't know where I would be or who I would be without her. She is amazing woman who I hope I can grow up to be like one day. I am praying that someday soon we will be able to go out and do fun adventure again! I know that not everyone has a great relationship with their mom but I love that God gave us a great one. I know that we annoy each other sometimes however I don't think I would trade her for anything in the world. Love you!

You're the Best Friends Anybody Ever Had: The Women

 

It's a man's world but what is a man's world without a woman by his side? Well, that answer differs for each of the lovely women in The Women. Mary finds out the hard way that her husband is taking up with another woman. Instead of getting angry and going off she decides to play it cool and goes with her mother on an extended trip to figure out what she is going to do. However, her "friends", including her cousin Sylvia, are both rutting for her marriage to succeed just as much as they are fueling the fire for it to fail. Upon her return home, Mary runs into the other woman, Crystal, at a clothes fitting and Mary confronts her. Why Crystal states that she is not going to give up Mary's husband Mary files for a divorce. She packs her bag and goes to Reno to make the divorce final. However, she she meets three ladies on the train that are heading to the Reno for the same reason. They quickly become become friends and all stay at the same ranch while they are waiting for their divorces to be final. The plot thickens with Sylvia shows up and announces that she is also getting a divorce and her husband is seeing another woman and is going to marry her. All divorces become finale, Mary's husband marries Crystal right after, and they all part ways and start new lives. However, two years later they are having dinner together and talking about all of the wonderful changes in their lives. That night Mary finds out that her husband is not that happy in his marriage and that Crystal is cheating on him with another man. Mary comes up with a brilliant plan to get her man back while getting revenge on Crystal all at the same time. 

If you have never seen this movie you are missing out. Don't watch the newer one that came out in the early 2000s its simply trash and doesn't compare in how expertly written the original is! I love this movie because the whole cast is all women. There is not a single man in any of the frames. The movie is witty, and funny, and has a phenomenal cast! My mom is actually the person that picked out this movie for me to watch this month. I am not sure if I should be scared that my mom picked this for friendships because they are all horrible to each other. However, when you get to the point when Marry meets the women on the train we see that true friends can me formed in a matter of minutes and can be more supportive of you even if you haven't known them as long as your other friends! 

Now before anyone starts to worry I am not saying that about my friends. I love all of my friends and all of our relationships with each other is different and unique in their own way! I also hope that we are not all secretly horrible to each other behind our backs. Anyways, lefts talk about this month theme: Good Conversations.

I really hope that my friends were not disappointed in the way I presented this months theme. I really was at a loss on how to present it, and I was so busy this month that I didn't have much time to do it any fancier. However, I chose to challenge them by asking some weird questions to new people or people they already know! I am not sure if they are going to do that but it's funny to think that they will none the less. 

We also had a bonus gift this month the was inspired by Angela. Her unique suggestion was No excuses for themselves. So, the best way I have found over the years to make no excuses for myself is to make a To-Do list. I love lists and so I sent each of them a one blank page to do list to write some of their goals down on and try and get them achieved. If you write something down it's more likely to get done. 

I know that, to me, it wasn't up to par with what I have been doing these last few months, and to top it off I forgot to mail the puzzle pieces! So, I am hoping that my friends still enjoyed this month theme! I will be more prepared next month! 

Looking in My Own Backyard: April

 I am barley getting this under the wire here today. I am half freaked because tomorrow we will be 1/3 of the way through the year. I can not even begin to think of how fast time is flying. We haven't even gotten to the most busy time of the year yet, summer, and I am already drowning in commitments, plans, running around, projects, blog posts, and laundry! I am trying to get caught up so this part of next month will go much more smoothly. 

I have been so busy that going thought the thousands of thing that I have to look at on my family tree that I was finally able to sit and loot for one story of my dad's side of the family. I found this one gem of a story. However, we are going to talk about the The Swiss Family Robinson first. 

The Robinson family has decided to start a new life in a new country just as war is starting to break in their homeland. However, things take a turn when the boat they are sailing on is being followed by pirates. They are trapped in the rooms below as the other passengers and crew make the escape off the boat to safety. No crew means no one is there to steer the ship. They crash just off the shore of a deserted island. They now have to not only learn to survive what is on the island, but also save themselves of the pirates that might come back to get them. 

This fun movie about family is one that I will remember fondly I think. I really love all of the wildlife that was used and how they had the smallest member of the family be the one to capture elephants and tigers and what not. I also really loved how they all worked together in order keep each other safe and to have fun in the situation that they are put into. They know that it's not a long term solution to all of their problems, but they were able to do what they needed to do and find the fun in it as well. They communicated well and heard all of the ideas, even from the littlest of them to come up with great plans, and blueprints for everything. They all were free to discover their roles and how they can best contribute to building and protecting their home. They did fight and have moments of jealousy among them but they all find that they love each other more than they envy each other. It's for sure they will have great stories to tell each other as they grow older.

Speaking of stories boy do I have one for this month. I have mentioned before that my dad's side of the family is full of crazy stories, and murder mysteries, and all sorts of stuff like that. When I found this story I would have said that is a lie, however, knowing what I know about dad's side this doesn't seem that far fetched at all. 

This is the story of my 3x great Grandma Mary Presley Blankenship.

Now, I don't have a picture of her, which is sad because after reading this story I would love to know what has looked like. This is not a very long story, but here it is. At some point in her adult life Mary were in the Knox Creek Area in Virginia. She was in the woods and was being chased by a panther. Yes, a panther. No other context. Nothing as to if she provoked the panther, or that that something might have been wrong with the panther. She was just being chased by a panther. She was also near her ex husband's house, with his new wife. The story goes that she was running and she stripped off articles of clothing as she was running in order to slow down the panther. What I call my dad to let him know of this story, he laughed and said "that's those Blankenships for you". Him and I agreeded that that wasn't too far out of the way of normal for our family. 

Like I said now  along story but an interesting one none the less. I am really hoping that I will be able to dig into more of my tree here soon. I know that there are more interesting stories but I really need to make the time to search for them. 

Wish me luck in the next month.... It's going to be a wild month! 

Upside the Cyclone: April

 I am not sure if at this point that I have mentioned it but I have been getting my plot twists from the people that I have asked to help me, but God keeps laughing and sending me more plot twists. April was really supposed to be a very chill month. It was supposed to be nothing too crazy or overly done. However, that is not what happened. Work has been super busy and I had so many last minute things happen to me that I can't believe that we are already at the end of the month. So, guess who is playing catch up again!

Let's go ahead and talk about the movie of the month, Now You See Me.

Four different magicians, who all specialize in different section of magic, are brought together by a mysterious society in order to be recruited. They must work as a team to follow a set of instructions to pull of a master plan of revenge. However, they don't know who they are working for or why they want the revenge in the first place. 

I have seen this movie so many times because it's one of the few that I own on digital. So, I am able to watch it anywhere I want to really. Since I have it on digital, I do watch it all the time. I like it because it's entertaining, I already know what is going to happen, and it's good background noise when I am doing something. However, I have watched it so many times I am in the point of where I have found lots of plot holes and want to know that answers to said plot holes. It's still a fun movie. I really do like the second on as well and there have been rumors that there is going to the a third. I really hope that there is cause I would be just as great. 

Let's get to my "planned" plot twists from my own mom, Margie! I will say that that she didn't do what I thought she was going to do. I really thought that at this point I would have had a lot more embarrassing stories to share this year but I really don't have that many. Mom didn't do anything to embarrass me either. Here is what she did do.

Plot twist one was very early in the start of the month. She didn't waste any time and just went right in!

Plot twist too was super sweet, and one that keep on giving. I am still waiting for my second letter, but I will probably write a review on that once the whole thing is done. 

Plot twist three was actually one that mom said that was on her as well. We have been looking for a vanity from the 30s for me for a long time. However, nothing stuck. We could have get to it fast enough or they were asking way to much money. This one was a plot twist on myself too. After I got that vanity mom said that the person selling this was also selling a full size bed frame and a dresser and a really good price. I got in contact with them and they sold it to me and now I have the whole matching set!

I love my mom and I am very glad of the fun stuff I get to do because of her plot twists. I am excited to see what is happening next month. I already know I am busy.... I am a bit worried if I am going to ever get rest ever again.

Looking in my Own Backyard: March

I think that we have all been told before that we choose our family. We are brought into this world with the blood of hundreds or thousands or people all through history. However, in this thing that we call life the family we choose goes into a crisis you are there to help them. It's been two week into the month and I have spent a good portion of my time helping out some chosen family. We had a death my chosen family, an we all have been doing so much that we can in order to help them out. Now, I finally have a few moments to myself to play catchup on the other wonderful people to make up me. 

As ever is the tradition.... we will be talking about a movie first. 

 

When you think of a magical land far, far away you think about people fly, casting spells, creatures of all different kinds. However, they wind up all similar to you and me. They have cell phones, and electricity, and normal jobs. They have lost all known knowledge of once being magical. However, two elves have found a little bit of magic just waiting for them. On Ian's 16th birthday his mom gives him and his brother, Barkley, a present from their dad. Their dad has passed away from an illness before Ian was born so he never got to know his father. They father found an ancient spell, relic, and stone to bring him back for one more day so that they can all meet. However, when the spell goes wrong Ian and Barkley have to go on an epic quest in order to find all of the items needed in order to bring their dad back for just one day. 

I fell in love with this movie the first time that I saw it. I have watched a few times before I watched it for this challenge. I was love about this movie is that we learn that the older brother, Barkley, really stepped up after their dad died to be a father figure in his little brother's life. Now, we know that Barkley is not much older than Ian so he was still a kid dealing with the loss of his dad too, however, they have a great relationship growing up. I love that this movie shows that we are stronger than we sometimes think that we are. 

I will say that I don't do the research ever single day on family history. It's really been like a few hours every few weeks and poking around. However, that stuff I have found and how far I can go back is something that is truly amazing! I am finding out some of the coolest stories, and insights into people who I share my existence with. We are actually back on my mom's side of the family. 

This is a quick and amazing story of Annie Donahue.

Annie Donahue was born in about 1816 in Ireland and is my three times great grandmother. Her story amazing story is a little short so I had to do some research about a historical event that she lived through. She was born in Ireland but made her way to New Brunswick, Canada when she was young. In 1825 there was a massive forest fire that was started by a combination of unusually hot weather and some settlers starting a campfire. The fire started on October 7 and in less than three hours is destroyed the city of New Castle. The city had 1000 people and 260 buildings and the fire only left 12 buildings standing and took the lives of 160 people. That was just in New Castle alone. The fires covered almost 6,178 square miles and is one of the biggest fires in North American history. Annie survived the fire by standing in the Miramichi River all night long. She was about 10 years old when all of this took place. I am proud to say that she survived and went on to be a Midwife and was known around the area as a fine person. 

I don't recall ever learning about the 1825 Miramichi Fire when I was in school. That is something that is really awesome about learning about my family is that I got to learn more about history too. How my family has either played a role in it or has survived it. I will say that I never would have thought that an amazing story such as thing would come of it either. How would I have ever thought I would see a picture of people I never knew existed. I would be shocked if in New Brunswick there isn't some sort of marker stating that this event in history happened. I would love to go and see it and step in the river near there. That is also that I something that I love about this too is that these places where my ancestors walked are still around. Maybe not the exact buildings or things like that but the  river is still there and so is the forest. I would love to visit all of these places one day just so I can see what they have become myself. 

The Tom Hanks Hustle: News of the World

 I don't think that i have ever been more happy to write about a movie. The last six months of my life I have been waiting for things to happen. In the time that it has taken me to wait I have had to adjust to what was going on. I am no different than everyone else in the world because the whole world has had to adjust. The reason that I am so happy to be writing about News of the World is because my beloved Regal Movie Theaters has finally re-opened their doors after a six month closure! I have also been waiting for this movie to come out. I know that it did come out at Christmas but I was not willing on paying the money that the streaming services wanted me to pay because I could see it in the theater for cheaper. However, I am very honored that the first movie that I got to see on my welcome back trip to the movies was a Tom Hanks film. 

Captain Kidd is a news man, but not in your tradition sense. He travels from city to city reading the stories in Newspapers from all over the country, and even the world. He gathers his stories and travels to different parts of Texas in order spread the word and make a living. While heading to the next city if finds a wagon that has been turned over and the driver murdered. When he is just about to bury the driver and move on he spots a 10 year old girl. While trying to figure out why she is there he discovers that she has been living with the Kiowa tribe for most of her life. That she was taken by them when she was very young and had been raised by them. The paperwork the driver was carrying says that he was trying to get her to her Aunt and Uncle. Kidd takes her to the nearest town and finds that someone who can help is not going to be back for another three months. He decides that he will be the one who will reunite her with her family as he travels with the News of the World.

In all of my knowledge of movies, and all of the interests that I have, I am constantly shocked by westerns. I am not sure why but I feel like when someone wants to watch one I always have dread because I don't think they are going to be that good. I think that they are going to drag on, or just be a lot of shooting of guns, and that's it. However, I am always proven wrong when it comes to them. There is always something interesting, or some drama. It's never what I think that it's going to be. This movie was no exception.

What I loved about this movie is that you get the always amazing Tom Hanks on another journey of self discovery in his character. You would think that a many with so many hats would find it hard to come connected with another character. However, he does it well. There is this pain that you notice from the second he is on the screen that he hides and shows at just the right time. There is the self doubt, and the anger. The heartache and even the joy that shines ever so slightly though is done really well. Mr. Hanks is not one of those actors that is stuck in one role. He known for many different roles, and has many favorites among fans. However, not many actors can suspend you belief and separate himself from every other character that he has played. I know him as the voice of Woody. I was very young when that movie came out. Then I knew him from A League of Their Own and thought that I could never take him seriously after that. Mr. Hanks is just like a western.... he shocks me every time. 

There is this story that I heard several years ago about the film Meet Me in St. Louis, about how Judy Garland was the star of the movie but everyone came out talking about Margaret O'Brien. Ms. O'Brien basically stole the whole show from Ms. Garland even though the whole show was perfectly matched with Ms. Garland (whole other story that I won't talk about right now). I will be more shocked if this movie does not have the over whelming mention on Ms. Helena Zengel. Ms. Zengel plays that 10 year old in this movie. I will say that I have never had a child surprise me with such a well done performance! I think what really impressed me about her performance the most was how well she had to use her facial expression and her body language in the film. She wasn't silent, but she hardly spoke any English in film either. Her character was raised by the Kiowa tribe and spoke their tongue. Due to the language barrier between her character and Mr. Hanks' she really did have to use a lot a skills that most child actors don't have. She has been in about 10 different TV shows or movies at this point. I think that this is really just the beginning for her. 

Over all I will be watching this movie again. It was well written, well cast, and very well executed. It was thrilling, sad, and joyous all at the same time. It's a movie that I will be recommending. I look forward to more Tom Hanks film and I now will also be looking forward to more Helena Zengel movies as well.