I’ve been sitting here on the couch, quite comfy, trying to convince myself to get up and get the camera. Then I could upload the photos I took of the last 3 days that we spent in Boston. I could talk about our mini-break and the places we went and the food we ate. Or I could just sit here and be lazy and not upload any pictures and talk about how we went to the movies again yesterday.

You can see by the lack of photo that the lazy blogger in me won out.

So yesterday we went to see Doubt. It was very different from Valkyrie, certainly, and it was very very good. Meryl Streep delivers a fabulous performance as a rigid and self-righteous nun. Amy Adams is fantastic as a confused but hopeful young nun. And Philip Seymour Hoffman does a terrific job portraying a priest who clearly loves his parish. The storyline itself is quite simple but the themes and emotions and conflicts are quite complex. I smell Oscar nominations.

Don’t have any doubts (get it? doubts? I crack myself up) and go see Doubt.

Just so you know, I have been knitting. In fact, I’ve got 4 finished things that you haven’t seen yet. However, the weather, the light, the availability of a photographer, and various other things have been conspiring against me and I just haven’t gotten these things photographed. I’m really hoping to get them all done by the end of this week and maybe next week it can be all knitting all the time over here.

In the meantime, you get more “stuff I’ve done on vacation” from me. Yesterday we went to see Valkyrie. We both liked it very much. It’s funny because right before it started Dale leaned over and said, “I can’t believe you agreed to see a war movie with me.” And that’s true, I’m usually not a big fan of war movies. But Valkyrie is so much more than a war movie. Sure, it’s military in nature, and there are some fight scenes, but it’s more about values and principals than war. It’s a movie about heroes who were willing to give up everything for their principals. And even though you know going in that they failed, well, it still managed to be tension filled and suspenseful. I found myself routing for the men trying to rid Germany of Hitler – even though I knew that wasn’t how it all turned out. And it made me reevaluate what I think of Germany and WWII and Hitler’s regime. I didn’t really know there were people who recognized that he was crazy. People who knew that he didn’t really want what was best for Germany. People who were willing to risk everything to stop him. It seems weird to say the movie filled me with hope but in a strange way that’s exactly what it did.

The bottom line is that I’d recommend it and I’d love to hear what you think of it if you’ve seen it.

The end.

Christmas was great. We had a small gathering at our home on Christmas Eve and then spent most of Christmas day hanging around in our comfy clothes. We did head to Dale’s brother’s for a late afternoon gathering and that gave us the chance to see the rest of the family. It was all just right!

The big gift at our house was a Wii and we’ve all been having lots of fun with it. Mario Kart is very addicting and Dale, Hannah and I have had some 3 way races that have left us in tears we were laughing so hard. We also have Guitar Hero. Oh wait, I have a picture of that one.

Cute, isn’t he? But let me just say, I now know why he’s the singer in his band.

Hey, looky here, an Eye Candy Friday post of actual candy. I’ve always thought ribbon candy looked better than it tasted. It sure is pretty and fun to photograph, too.

Have a great weekend!

Merry Christmas from all of us at Carole Knits!

Ten on Tuesday is 10 New Years Resolutions. I’m not a big fan of resolutions but I am a big fan of having something to blog about so I’ll get behind this topic. Here’s a quick and dirty list:

1. Lose weight. Really, is there any other resolution?
2. Exercise more. See number one.
3. Eat smaller portions. Again, see number one. And I’m trying to be realistic with this one. I know I’m not about to give up my favorite comfort foods but maybe I can give up eating such huge amounts of them.
4. Laugh more. One of the reasons I married Dale is because he makes me laugh. I need to capitalize on this.
5. Yell less. Because, you know, yelling is just really very unbecoming. It does get results, though. Which leads me to number six.
6. Learn to get results without yelling. This resolution may be harder than number one, given my family’s history of only reacting I get mad.
7. Plan meals so that we eat out less.
8. Enjoy life. That’s kind of the secret to happiness, right?
9. Keep doing the good things. There’s lots of things I’m good at, no need to change everything.
10. Breathe in, breathe out, move on. One of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs and a really smart way to approach life.

As you may have heard, we’ve had some snow. It started on Friday at 2pm and didn’t stop until sometime early Sunday morning. Then it started again, turned to heavy rain, then turned back to snow. It’s a real mess out there and today is supposed to be very cold (it’s 13 ° right now!) so there’s not much possibility of melting. Looks like we may indeed have a white Christmas.

This weather hasn’t slowed down Christmas preparations around here, in case you’re wondering. And neither did the stomach plague that Dale and Hannah both caught from me. Hannah started Thursday night and Dale started Friday afternoon but by Saturday they were both feeling better. Or at least better enough to shovel and do some Christmas shopping!

Speaking of Christmas shopping – it’s done. The wrapping is under control, the cooking making is almost finished as I’ve just got the peanut butter balls left to do today, and that only leaves the shopping and cooking for our Christmas Eve buffet. There’s not a lot of time for knitting these days but at least I’m getting all the other stuff done.

Enjoy your Monday!

We’re getting a major snow storm today. Hannah has no school, Dale has a half day, and I am on vacation for the next two weeks. I’ll be holed up in the house today baking cookies and watching the snow come down.

Looks like we’ll be having a white Christmas!

I think. I’m mostly better but things are still stiff and sore. I’m done with the throwing up and slept really well last night and that helped immeasurably. I read all of your comments and thank you so much for them. Let me just say that yesterday (and the night before) was about the longest day of my life. I didn’t watch tv. I didn’t go on the computer to read email or blogs. I didn’t knit. Did you hear that? I didn’t knit. I just alternated between the couch, the bathroom, and the bed. I sure hope I don’t get something like this again ever.

So, you want to know about the psychic medium thing, right? Her name is Maureen Hancock and I thought she was very good. It was my first time going to something like this so I had no expectations or ideas about what it would be like. She basically worked the room, seeing and hearing everyone’s dead relations. She explained that some came through louder than others – sometimes they had a special message to give or guilt to resolve – and that even though everyone might not actually “hear” from someone that everyone did actually have someone there.

As skeptical as it all sounds, it was very believable. The names she came up with, the facts that she knew, the messages she gave, I just don’t see how she could have done any of that by making it up. My sister-in-law did get a message (or Postcard from Heaven, as Maureen calls them) from her recently passed boyfriend. At that same time we heard from her mom, Ruthie, and my mom and dad. My mom wanted me to know that she knows how much I miss her and that she’s okay. The psychic also “knew” that my mom died of cancer, that she died at home, and that I was with her when she died. All of that is pretty generic but when I put that together with all of the other things I heard that night and the expressions on the faces of the people she had messages for, well, it comes together and I believe.

I cried a bit during the reading and then a bit more when I got home and told Dale about it but it was actually very comforting. I’m not sure what I think about the idea of heaven but I do believe that energy doesn’t go away. And now I guess I believe that the energy of others can be with us and around us. I’m still sorting a lot of that out but it’s interesting to ponder it.

Do you think I’m crazy? Do you have beliefs you want to share? Discuss, please.

No, I was not abducted by the psychic medium. I have a nasty stomach bug. Started last night around midnight and I’ve spent most of my time since then hugging the porcelain throne. I can barely sit up straight to post this. Not good.

I’ll leave the comments open but just know that I won’t be responding this time.

Ugh.