I'm a lover

I'm a big lover of books.

I'm also a big lover of movies.

I'm a big lover of books that are turned into movies...some of the time.

I'm always curious to see if the movie either follows the book, or goes way off track.

So, for Truth Thursday, which I'm bringing back today, on Thursday, after many, many months, I'll give you my run-down on some of my favorite books that were turned into movies.

You know I love my lists.

1.  Possession by A.S. Byatt.

I actually watched the movie first.  It was a good movie. 

I loved it from the start.  A little bit of mystery, a little scandal, sucked me right in.  I'm reading the book now because I haven't been to the library for a week and my current stash of books from my own "library" have been read so many times, they are old to me right now...so I'm reading this.  It's ok.  A lot of things in the book as far as poetry, etc. were left out of the movie, and that's a good thing.  I'm skipping over lots of that in the book.  The storyline in the movie does follow the book pretty well, so I'd recommend this. 

2.  I'm embarrassed by my number 2 choice.  I am only sharing it, because the books were so much better than the movies, and because my book club read every one of the series, and we've went together to see every movie.

Please don't judge me.  The books were easy to read, and I liked how the author, a Mormon, advocated no premarital sex.  That was good.  Then we went to see the movies.

What a bad idea.  What terrible acting!  Now, the group of us just goes to get a good laugh at the "constipated" expressions on some of the actors who are trying to look so serious!  I would stick with just the books.

3.  The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

Great book.  One of the first of his I ever read.  Great story.  Sad, romantic.  All around good. 

Then there was the movie.

It was a GREAT movie.  Great actors.  Great following the storyline of the book.  I would totally recommend both.

4.  The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

I read the book first, and I liked it, but it was so hard to follow with all the jumping around/time traveling.  It made it a little hard to read, not because of the length, but because of the having to concentrate so hard to stay on track.  I did like it, though, but I was glad when the movie came out.

It was another Rachel McAdams movie.  I like her.  The movie was a little easier to understand than the book, which I liked.  It made it more real.  It was sad, and romantic, and perplexing.  I would probably watch it again.  I would recommend the movie over the book.

5.  Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.

This is a THICK book.  No joke, you won't be able to hold it with one hand while you drink your coffee and eat your breakfast.  (not that I've tried that or anything....)  It, however, was a wonderful book.  I really liked it.  There are parts to pass over a little, but overall, it's a great story.

Then, I saw that Netflix had the series, and I decided to watch it.

Wow.  It was GREAT too.  Good storyline, good actors, great drama.  I would recommend both.

Last on my list.  (I promise...I mean, are you really taking my opinions to heart?)

6.  The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

I read this series in 4th grade people.  That's 28 years ago.  And they have stuck with me since then.  I remember reading them.  I even remember where the librarian had them placed in the library.  I gravitated towards them.  At the time, they were a little "scandalous."  (Maybe that was just my 4th grade imagination.)  They were a little science-fictiony, and a little fantastic.  I LOVED reading them. 

When my kids came of age, I tried to get them to read them.  They didn't feel quite so strongly as I did about them.  Evan is starting to read them now.  He got interested because we started watching the movies as a family.

They are all (all 4 of them) excellent movies.  With a great moral to them.  The lion represents God/Jesus.  Our kids have asked so many questions after we've watched these together.  I think Disney did a great job with them all.  I would recommend both the books and the movie.

Well, now that I'm done with my little list...I hope you've found something to take away from it.  Maybe you can get one at the library this weekend and enjoy some time with it.

Have a relaxing weekend!

Truth Thursday...It's come to this...

I can feel it in the air.

The crispness, the rustle of the leaves in the trees, the corn fields drying up all around us, it's time to get the fall decorations out.

Usually, Grace is the first one to tell me she's ready. But this year she hasn't. I'm not sure why.

We're already several weeks late getting them out. Usually when the last day of August hits, up they come from the basement.

Not this year. Volleyball and school have kept us busy. Today marks a little over a month since we started school.

I just haven't felt the desire to lug it all up from the basement yet. And the weather until recently has been too hot for fall.

However, it's time. Maybe this weekend.

So, I started collecting some pictures from Pinterest. If for any reason you're interested in seeing what I've got "pinned," you can click here.

These are my favorites in no particular order.

You just can't have fall decorating without bittersweet. I've got a spot along the road I go to each year. The kids think I'm nuts, but it's free!

For Mother's Day Brent made me a wagon similar to this, and so I might try something like this on my porch.

I figured, if the kids can paint pumpkins like they do every year, why can't I do the same?

Then I'd like to frame some of these for my shelves...

And lastly, these were just beautiful, and I couldn't help but pin them.
So, I'll drag my tired old body to the basement, and see what I can do with what I've got.

Truth Thursday: I have a problem

I have a problem, (and NO, BRENT, it's not that I'm too short...we'll discuss that later.)
/div>

It's that I feel the need to be organized most all the time.

There's nothing wrong with that, right?

I just like things in their place.

I'll admit in the late 90's, when I was first married....I jumped on the Tupperware organizing bandwagon.

I had parties to support my habit.
My cupboards now show proof of that. They might be outdated, and the labels on the containers might have changed, oh, say about 50 times, but I spent too much money to just throw them out.

And sure, arranging books by color might be a tad over the edge...

but it sure looks pretty.

I know if I wasn't organized, we'd all be flying by the seat of our pants like my wonderful husband loves to do. (sorry babe, we both know it's true!)
Now, I've completed some organizing projects that at the time seemed a great idea.

But they didn't really catch on, and no one really used them.

But others, they work pretty well if I do say so myself.

It's not like I come up with these ideas all by myself, either. Websites like tipjunkie and iheartorganizing rock.

It makes me feel "put together" to be organized. Some of my favorite stores have the best organizing things...IKEA...The Container Store, etc. They make my heart go pitter patter.

My daughter once caught me swooning over a very cute binder in a store. She didn't think I was cool at all. I thought I had just hit the jackpot!

Can't please everyone, can you?

I'll stay just the way I am thank you very much.

I just wanted to be honest.

So far this week...and it's not over yet...

In tribute to one of my all time favorite bloggy sistas who has a totally swanky wardrobe, adorable kiddos, and a house to die for...this one is for you. Her latest post...It's only Thursday, cracked me up. Flowerpatchfarmgirl, this one is for you! As well as for Truth Thursday, which I haven't done in ages...

So far this week...

1. I reminded my children to brush their teeth 8 times. How much longer must this go on?

2. Twice I fell asleep while reading my book before bed. (My days are EXHAUSTING!)

3. Ripped out all but 3 of my tomato plants because I am SO SICK of red tomatoes staring me down from the kitchen counter. I get it, you can't can yourselves...

4. Found out 6th grade volleyball practice starts tomorrow. 9 days into school, and it begins...

5. Found myself laughing out loud too many times to count.

6. Felt like a rock star today when one of the Kindergarten classes I help saw me in the hall and yelled, "Look who it is! (pointing at me.)

7. Decided the motto Keep Calm and Carry On really does apply to motherhood or dealing with Kindergartners, or even husbands for that matter.

8. Came to the realization brown and gray, as painfully drab as they are, really are the colors that look the best on me. (does this mean I'm drab too?)

9. Noticed that I really could, and do often get sucked into other people's blogs, pinterest.com, and etsy. I could easily lose WHOLE hours doing it.

and
10. Admitted to myself...just the other day, while constructing a car out of posterboard, I CAN use my graphic design background to help with crafts at school.

That was my week in a nutshell. It's not for everyone, but it'll do!

Truth Thursday....A night off.

We had a baseball AND softball game cancelled tonight due to rain. (3 inches in 2 days.) I have to say...I was RELIEVED! (but I feel like we're living in Seattle or something...don't get me wrong, I've always wanted to visit...but I once heard the quote, "It rains 9 months out of the year in Seattle!")

So, because of the cancellations, I have a night off, and since it's raining, I have a good reason to cuddle up and check on my to-do list for summer, (Our last day of school is tomorrow!) (dancin' a little jig right now.) and read some of my favorite magazines.

My creative juices have been flowing lately, with no where to go and no time to do it in. I plan on hittin' up my craft/decorating binder for some ideas.
It's time to change stuff up again. Evan needs a room redo. His has been neglected for so long now, and at the age of 10, it's time to "teen" it up a bit.



I saw this on pinterest.com and liked the pendant valances above the window.



I thought if I couldn't find any pendants anywhere for a reasonable price, I would take some of his old t-shirts and make my own.



He's also very much into baseball, so I thought I'd somehow put his favorite (same as his b-day and what's on his uniform this year) #12 up on the wall.

(courtesy pottery barn teen mag.)



I also have some picture frames to paint, Living Room curtains to sew, tissue flowers to construct for Grace's room



an outdoor chair from a 50% off Goodwill sale to transform, and much, much more.



I also might need to reconstruct some damage that was done to my garden last night at 2am. (Not from a storm or anything...but from some cows... this only happens in the country...)

You see, our amish neighbor's cows got out again...and traveled down the road to our house and proceeded to wake our dog, and cause her to have a barking frenzy. They also cut 2 of our new trees in half, stomped through our newly planted corn, ate a lot of our onions, trampled some of my strawberries, tender watermelon, peppers, and tomatoes. Since it's so wet, and our garden is so soggy, their hoof impressions are totally obvious!



If I would've had all my faculties at 2am, I would've went out and scared them off only to save my garden and trees.



Makes me mad. Really mad.



So, as Memorial Day approaches, my wheels are spinnin' and I have much to do. I can't wait.



Really.



Stacey at asortoffairytale (link to her post in my sidebar) and I have something cooked up, and we're planning to show you soon, so keep watchin'.

Truth Thursday...Where has the time gone?

You'd think with a snow day on Monday and two two-hour delays this week I would've had no problem getting things done.

Well, that might be the case, but it's not. Sure, we may have had later mornings, but our nights have been just as crazy as always.

This week was my carpool week for Istep prep after school, I got groceries while the kids and Brent were at Church on Wed. nite, we had the school book fair tonight at school where I helped run a cashier's table for the night, and laundry, dishes, and other household chores just accumulated like always.

It's getting harder and harder to have a job and get everything I need to get done, done.

So, I only have random pictures for tonight. It's about all I can handle before I crash on the couch and watch "The Mentalist" and read a few magazines.

Oh, kitchen sink, I've seen TOO much of you lately!

Evan's treasured night time pal. Think he needs a good scrubbin'!

Yes, both of my kids still use night lights. Is this a bad thing?

Part of the dessert for teacher snack tomorrow. Yes, I ALSO had to do that tonight.

Evan and his friends at the book fair tonight. It was a carnival theme, and this was the photo booth!

Grace and Jillian ham it up!

So, you see, I haven't been working on any projects this week. I HAVE been working on my project to-do/wish list though. I hope to be showing you some things in the near future. Keep watchin'.