Hello Kitty (Cricut) Card

One of my friend's cat passed away rather unexpectectly (she became ill on Sunday, went to vet Monday and by Wednesday, she was in heaven). When Thatcher passed away, the cards I received meant a lot to me - to know that people acknowledged the beautiful life that was here but had left me (for the time being).

I was thinking about a card I wanted to make for my friend and found an appropriate image on my Hello Kitty Cricut cartridge (kitty face with tears) but then saw this image with a heart and thought that would be better. To show the love she had for her kitty.

I cut a white shadow, black sillouette (which included the eyes), light pink heart and dark pink bow (which also cut the nose). I put everything on a blue background, which is darker in this picture then in real life. I almost went with a baby blue but decided to use the bright blue since it was a bit more cheerful. All images were cut at 4-inches.

Pirates of the Caribbean - Vintage Footage

Anyone who knows me well, knows I have a love for all things Disney - especially their theme parks. I have not been lucky enough (yet) to go to Disneyland but thanks to You Tube, I can get a glimpse into the park. I especially enjoying seeing early footage of the park, the way that Walt designed it and envisioned it.

Here, we see a video from 1967 of the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride. From what I can tell, this was probably broadcasted on the Wonderful World of Disney (I loved Sunday nights when I was a kid and looked forward to the Wonderful World of Disney every week - I miss that show)
I love this video for several reasons:
1) It shows the ride as it was originally designed ~ pirates chasing women and all and no Jack Sparrow - I love Jack don't get me wrong and he seems to fit in the ride now, but I'm sentimental at heart and love to see things as they were originally intended.

2) POTC is in the top 2 of my fave rides (along with Haunted Mansion)

3) It has clear audio. (If you've ridden the POTC, you can't always hear clearly what is being said because other pirates are talking ahead of you and behind you for other guest so you have lots of things going on at once).

4) I see my favorite pirate (the one on the bridge near the end). I was totally facinated by this pirate the first time I saw him because of the detail on him, it amazed me that the bottom of his feet were dirty (even though you can't see that in this film). Even my 13 year old self was impressed by the details that were put into these pirates!

5) Love the dog in a couple of scenes - especially the jail scene and was thrilled, thrilled I tell you, when they included that scene in the POTC movie.

6) It just makes me happy to watch it.

Enjoy and drink up, me 'earties - yo ho!

Cedric Diggory vs. Edward Cullen

I was noticing that my blog gets several hits a day and most of them seem looking at my book review of Twilight. This got me to thinking... in a battle between Cedric Diggory and Edward Cullen, who would win?

Part of me thinks Edward, after all, he is a vampire and could certainly suck the life out of Cedric (literally) but... then again, Cedric is an excellent wizard. He could use his wand and do all kinds of things to Edward. I don't know if the Avada Kedavra curse works on vampires. It seems like it would. But then again, it is an unforgivable curse and Cedric is too good of a guy to use that (unless he absolutely HAD to).

Edward is the most romantic of the two, I believe but Cedric is so courageous. After all, he did get picked to be in the tri-wizard championship and that is just not something that happens everyday.

If I to choose which one to be with, I would probably pick Cedric. First, I like his looks a bit better (more clean cut and tanned - although I do like the sparkle effect that Edward can do). Also, he has some really cool friends (all of those in the Gryffindor house). Plus, if the dishes needed washing, laundry needed to be done or the house needed cleaning - one swoop of his wand and all would be done. I wouldn't be afraid of accidentally cutting myself while shaving my legs (of course with Edward, that would be a bit risky).

Yes, I think I would choose Cedric.

.

Leave a comment and let me know who you would choose and why.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

So. . . about 2 months ago, something about Harry Potter came up at work and one of my co-workers said "J and I are going to the midnight showing when the new movie comes out, wanna go?" You know I jumped right in on that!

I have never gone to see a HP movie the night it came out or gone to buy a book at midnight so I thought it would be fun. Plus these 2 particular co-workers are a lot of fun so I thought "why not!"

I knew the theater would be busy but I was not prepared to have to search for a parking space - it wasn't busy - it was PACKED. I loved spotting the characters - there were several Tonks (with various hair colors of course but bright pink seemed to be the most popular choice). There of course were a few Harrys and a Hermonie or two. The best though, was a guy dressed like Mad Eye Moody - his costume was spot on, right down to the magical eye ! Awesome !

J brought 3 friends with her so there were 6 of us all together and luckily we all got to sit together. There were tons of previews and I love previews so was fine with that. One was for a new Tim Burton flick and I could tell from the moment it flashed on the screen, it was a Burton film. While I normally LOVE his movies, this one did not look appealing to me at all. Too bad. But several others looked really good. But I digress. . .

Now onto the movie review. I though it was a great interpretation of the book. The scene where Harry viewed through the pensive to when Dumbledore convinced Slughorn to come back to Hogwarts, looked exactly like I envisioned it. The scene where Harry & Dumbledore go to the cave also looked very much how I thought it would (although when the Inferi came out of the water, my mind flashed to LOTR's Gollum)

But there were a few scenes that I thought weren't up to the book. The big climatic scene on the tower should have had a bit more "ump" in my opionion. There wasn't enough of a battle and I wish that would have lasted a bit longer and been a bit more intense. When Snape revealed who the "Half-Blood Prince" was - it didn't seem so shocking (probably because I KNEW who it was) but they didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure out who it was in the movie, like they did in the book. Also, there was an attack on the Weasley home that I didn't remember being in the book (but it has been a while since I read it and I really want to re-read it now).

I also missed some of the background magical things you usually see going on - no ghost floating around, a few pictures on the walls but more often than not, they weren't even moving. In one scene, Harry was following a sneaky Malfoy (who obviously was up to something) and he watched him go up the Hogwarts giant staircase, which failed to move! I also missed that I only saw a glimpse of some of Harry's friends, such a Neville and Hagrid - each who only had about 1 line in the whole movie. At least good old Luna was in a couple of scenes. Luna is my favorite of Harry's friends (outside of Ron and Hermonie of course) but I love her! She was only in a couple of scenes but she stole them of course.

Speaking of scene stealing, even though he spent most of the movie sneaking around and didn't have a lot of lines, I thought Tom Felton was wonderful - he is just a perfect Draco Malfoy and his acting was incredible in the few scenes he was in. I really hope we see him in more after the Harry Potter series are finished.

The humor in this movie was great - especially the scenes with Ron and Lavender Brown - too funny!

Now one more thing I MUST mention is the knitting in this movie. There are some great knit items (Hey, what can I say, when you knit and crochet, you NOTICE stuff like this in movies and on TV, you can't help it, you just do). First of all, right near the beginning, Dumbledore stumbles upon a magazine at Slughorne's house and ask if he can keep it because as he puts it "I have a fondness for the knitting patterns" - I loved that line!! Secondly, amoung the knitted clothing in the movie, I fell in love with Hermoine's Cabled Hat (pictured above). Luckily, thanks to Ravelry, I found a pattern on JL Yarnworks blog. (FYI - notice the great scarf she is wearing in the picture above too, which is also on JL Yarnworks blog)

I must admit, I have spent my brief knitting career avoiding double pointed needles, but I think I am going to have to learn to knit with them now just so I can make this awesome hat !

So all and all, I would give this movie 5 stars !!! Well worth seeing. Now I want to re-read the book and go see it again.

For your knitting enjoyment pleasure - check out the cool Quidditch sweaters !

Interested in more HP Knit projects? Check out some Harry Potter Knitting Patterns

Sad Day - Loss of Michael & Farrah

Just a few days ago, legendary Ed McMahon passed away. He lived a good long life though and was 86. News of his passing was sad but not completely unexpected, given his age and known health problems.

Then about noon, a co-worker delivers the sad news that the beautiful Farrah Fawcett had finally lost her cancer battle. Again, very sad. Farrah had such a spark about her and she really fought this terrible disease as hard as she could. She deserves so much respect for that. What a brave battle and from what I hear, she didn't complain and fuss "why me" - she just fought as hard as she could, but sadly the cancer was stronger than she was.

Then somewhere between 5:30 - 6:00 (EST), my friend Lynn calls me up and asks "have you heard the news" - uh, no what news? Then she proceeds to tell me that Michael Jackson has died - TMZ confirmed it but no one else had. WHAT?!?! She said it was cardiac arrest. I can't believe it and don't put much faith in TMZ or other gossip type magazines/shows but seriously think they would be 100% sure about something like that before they release it but you never know. I go online and wait until I hear that CNN has confirmed it, then I know it is true. I am stunned. Literally stunned. Michael wasn't ill (as far as I knew), he was only 50 years old.

Michael's death overshadowed Farrah's. All that I saw on TV that night was about Michael. He was the King of Pop. I am sorry Farrah didn't get the media coverage she deserved. With her though, we all knew it was coming it was a matter of when. But with Michael, it was so out of the blue and such a shock! We still don't know all the details yet but it is so odd that his doctor, who had given him a shot of demoral, before 9-1-1 was called is now missing. He even left his car at MJ's home. No one has apparently seen him since Michael died. How bizarre.

I had a hair cut like Farrah's (though of course it never looked as great as her's) and I listened to Michael and the Jackson 5 my whole life. Ever since I knew what music was, I knew who Michael was. I grew up listening to the Jacksons (and the Osmonds of course).

The Osmonds and the Jacksons had quite a bit in common. Their mother's have the same birthday, each family has 9 children, Michael is the 7th child, Donny is the 7th child. Many of the Osmonds had such nice things to say about Michael's passing.

From Alan:

I was shocked to hear that Michael Jackson passed away so quickly! We will miss him. My condolences go out to Michael and to his family!

. . .

Our prayers are with them. We will see him again, someday!

Read the entire entry on Alan's Blog

From Merrill:

My thoughts and prayers are with Michael's family, friends and inparticular his three young children who were his world.

My heart also goes out to my dear friend, Jermaine Jackson, as he bravely broke the sad news of the sudden passing of his brother Michael. I can't begin to imagine what he must have been going through. Michael was a gentle spirit and an amazing talent who will be sorely missed worldwide.

From Jay:

As is the rest of the world, I am greatly saddened by the passing of Michael Jackson. My prayers are with the Jackson family during this most difficult time.

. . .
Michael was a tremendous talent. He will be missed, but leaves an unforgettable legacy of music for the world to enjoy forever.

Read the entire entry on Jay's Blog

From Donny:

Message 1:I can't begin to express how sad I feel today. Not one but two friends, Michael and Farrah left us. My prayers go out to their families.

Message 2: It's still very difficult for me to accept that my friend MJ has passed away. I will really miss him.

From Marie:

My heart aches for Michael's children and family, Farrah's loved ones, and my prayers are for all of us today.

From Jimmy:

I had the privilege of knowing Michael and working with him on some of his tours. He was a good friend, an amazing talent and will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and especially his kids at this sad time.

It is still sinking in that 3 legends are gone but as Alan said in a TV interview, I am sure there is some great entertainment upstairs.

One day I will be there to enjoy it all too. Thank you, Lord, for the lives of these people, the ways they entertained us and God, rest their souls and give their families comfort and peace during this difficult time.

Knitch - Knit a Chicken for Charity

You have got to see all these cute and clever chickens knitted by the patrons of Knitch. These knitters are so smart and talented. They are all using Susan B. Anderson's chicken pattern and the winner gets 12 - $25 gift cards (1 a month for a year!!) - I just thought a cute idea for one but I am a slow knitter and would probably finish it sometime in 2010 so guess I will sit this one out. Now if they ever have a crochet contest...I might consider it.

Check them out !!

Once the contest is over - they are all donated to a local children's hospital - how awesome is that?

Opie

I am very sad today. Our beloved Opie is now in Heaven. I already miss him. But I know now that he is happy and he is healthy - no more shots, no more fluid bag treatments. He feels good again. I know Thatcher met him at the gates and they are together now. I know that one day Sheree and I will be with them again, along with Gizmo, Minnie, Bandit, Sox and Fuzzy. I know we will all be together again in Heaven and we will get to hold them and play with them forever. Until then, I will miss you Opie, with all my heart. I love you.