Tunes: BarlowGirl's Hallelujah Light Has Come

My sister sings in an ensemble at her church. This past Christmas during their Living Christmas Tree presentation, her ensemble did the verses for this song, Hallelujah Light Has Come. I have had this song running through my head lately. It's very beautiful. It has a haunting melody. These are the lyrics:

Hallelujah (Light Has Come!)



Hmmm my Baby
Heaven sent you to me
All the world’s been praying
Who will Save?

But who am I
That here tonight
I hold the one
Who'll Bring us life


Hallelujah,
We've been found
A child is born
To save us now, Jesus


Hallelujah light has come
A Savior who will set us free
A Promise for those who believe


Do you hear the Angels
Sing for you my baby
Men and kings have come to
Bow to you

But here in my arms
So close to me
The son of God
Now all can see


Hallelujah We've been found
A child is born to save us now
Jesus Halleluiah light has come
A savior set us free


So praise to God on high
He has heard our cry

TV: Pride & Prejudice

I love the 1995 BBC miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice. It stars Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Julia Swahala, Alison Steadman, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Anna Chancellor, and many others. It is based on the book as closely as possible. You could almost use the book for the script of the mini-series. If you have never watched it, you should watch it. It's very funny and delightful. It's classic!

TV: Shrek 2

Shrek 2 is very funny. Shrek & Fiona are invited to her parents' castle for a wedding reception. When they see Fiona in her new form, they are surprised. Her father had special plans that went bad and he has to try to fix it. Starring Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Antonio Banderas and Jennifer Saunders.

TV: Shrek

Shrek is a ogre whose space is overtaken by some fairytale creatures. He goes with Donkey to save Princess Fiona from the fire-breathing dragon's castle for Lord Farquaad so he can get his privacy back at the swamp. Very funny movie. Stars Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, and John Lithgow. Animated.

TV: Shark Tale

If you want a good movie, pick up Shark Tale. This is such a cute movie. It's animated. It has lots of gorgeous colors in it! It stars the voices of Will Smith, Jack Black, Renee Zellweger, Robert DeNiro, and many other big name stars. The gist of the movie is that Oscar thinks he needs to live in a penthouse and make a lot of money to be "somebody". He learns through some sharks that it's important to accept people as they are and to be happy with who you are.

Projects & Tomes: Black Water & Three Weddings and a Bar Mitzvah

I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately. I've been very busy this week. I did finish reading two books last week. One was Linda Hall's Dark Water. It's a mystery, and it was good, but I've had other things going on that made it take a back seat on my priority list and so it took me a long time to read it. But it is a good mystery because it has a big twist at the end.

The other book that I finished reading last weekend was the final installment in the 86 Bloomberg series by Melody Carlson. It is called Three Weddings and a Bar Mitzvah.  I loved this series. It's about three girls who rent rooms in this house. The owner's granddaughter also lives in the house and she is using their rent to keep from having to work. But, that's how they get together in the first book. Read the whole series. It's worth it.

I watched a few animated movies this week, but I will try to post those tomorrow or first of next week.

I really wanted to tell you about my four new projects. First of all, I've been working on a cookbook for my mother and her siblings. So far, the main thing that I've done is type my mom's share of the recipes and formatted them. But, I finally convinced her to let me get Creative Memories' Memory Manager and Storybook Creator!

www.creativememories.com

These two programs are awesome! The Memory Manager pulls your photos into folders (without creating extra copies of the actual photo) and allows you to label them and journal them. You can tag them with as many categories as you like. You can also modify your pictures with MM. You can crop, rotate, change to black-and-white or sepia, or you can do a color wash. You can actually "clone" over something that you don't want in the picture. For example, if there is a guy standing in front of wallpaper and someone's hand is in the picture, you can clone/copy the wallpaper over the hand. It's so cool. You can also do the color-tinting. This is one of my favorite features. This is where a photo is black-and-white or sepia, but one thing in the picture is colored. It makes a very artistic photo!

Anyway, my first project is pulling in all of the pictures on our computer and tagging them in the right categories. We have digital pictures that go back to 2005. This doesn't include the few that I've scanned in, nor the rest that need to be scanned in for backup.

My second project, of course, is using Storybook Creator to do my cookbook. I already did about 7 pages, but until I get the recipes and stories from my aunts and uncle, I won't know how many pages to put in each section or what order I'm going to put them in and since I want the facing pages to either match or coordinate, that's kind of a crucial thing.

My third project is a family tree. I found this free software online - MyHeritage Family Tree Builder. (Of course the premium version isn't free.) I have been working on a family tree. It's so neat to see how everyone is connected and the really cool thing is that I can click on any person in the tree and run a report on that person and it will show all the people they are related to and how. So, if I want to, when a cousin gets married, if I know the spouse's family, I can include them.

My fourth project is a new afghan that I'm crocheting. I haven't spent a lot of time on it this week, but I did get a small start on it. I think I'm on the fourth or fifth row. It's going to be perfect for me. It's my two favorite colors: green and purple. It's Red Heart's Sage Mary. I'm doing a Mamie Shell pattern. It's easy and the pattern I've done the most. The main part of the afghan is repeating 10 double-crochets and then doing a shell (2 dc-2 chains-2 dc) and then repeating 'til the end of the row.

Well, tomorrow, I'm going to scrapbook with my friend Lou and some other ladies, so I better call it a night.

TV: The First Wives Club

The First Wives Club is a funny movie. It's about three women whose husbands all left them for a younger woman. These women were friends in college and their fourth friend committed suicide because her husband left her for a younger woman. So, they re-bond and decide they are going to work together to stick it to their ex-husbands. But then they realize they were thinking too small. They decide to build a crisis/help center for women and they name it after their friend Cynthia Swann Griffen. It has a lot of top stars: Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Maggie Smith, Phillip Bosco, Dan Hedaya, Stephen Collins, Victor Garber, Dina Waters, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Rob Reiner.

TV: Faith Like Potatoes

Faith Like Potatoes is an excellent movie. It's based on the true story of Angus Buchan. He is a Scottish man who has lived his whole life in Africa. He was a farmer in Zambia but after a bad crop during a time with there were violent wars all around, he decides to move to another area.  He moves to the Zulu area. He farms. He has a violent temper. His wife convinces him to go to a pancake breakfast at a local church and then one of the members there invites him to come to church the next day to hear some of the local farmers speak. He goes and while he's listening, he remembers that he was once at a revival and he knows he needs to get saved, so he does. Then he wants to do God's will and God tells him he needs to share his story and then he needs to organize a prayer meeting for all the local farmers to pray against the violence and the drought. He shares the verse, 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (NIV version) There is one sad part at the end of the movie where a family member dies.

TV: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

I watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It stars Kate Hudson as Andie Anderson, Matthew McConaughey as Benjamin Barry, Kathryn Hahn as Michelle, Annie Parisse as Jeannie, Adam Goldberg as Tony, Thomas Lennon as Thayer, Michael Michele as Judy Spears, Shalom Harlow as Judy Green, Robert Klein as Phillip Warren and Bebe Neuwirth as Lana. Andie is the How-To girl at Composure magazine. Michelle and Jeannie are her co-workers and best friends. Michelle has just broken up with a guy after 10 days and doesn't know what she's doing wrong because everything starts out right but then ends up with her being dumped. But when she's telling Jeannie and Andie about the guy they're surprised she lasted as long as she did because she does things that are horrible to a guy like calling and telling him everything you ate that day, using baby talk, putting feminine products in his bathroom, etc. So, during the staff meeting when Lana asks who will use Michelle's pain to write an article, instead of letting someone else do it, Andie volunteers to do a reverse how-to article on how to lose a guy instead of keep a guy. Meanwhile across town, Phillip Warren's advertising agency just got a tip that the DeLauer's who control 70% of the diamond industry are shopping for new advertisers and Benjamin Barry wants the account because he was the first person that got the tip. But, while he is great with athletic gear and beer, Phillip feels that the girls, the Judys, Spears and Green, sell luxury better. Benjamin makes a bet that getting someone to buy a diamond is as easy as getting a woman to fall in love with you. He says he can get any available, straight, single woman to fall in love with him in 10 days. Spears says she will pick someone from the restaurant and she picks Andie. What Benjamin doesn't know is that Spears and Green met with Lana to talk about advertising in Composure just that morning and she introduced Andie and told them how she was going to go on a date with a guy and then flip the switch and drive him away. She thinks they'll win the bet. It's a very funny movie.

TV: The Women

The Women is a re-make of a 1939 movie. I haven't seen the old version but hope to someday. The Women has an all female cast! Plus, most of the people working behind the scenes are women. It stars some incredible women: Meg Ryan as Mary Haines, Eva Mendez as Crystal Lewis - the other woman, Debra Messing as Edie, Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman as Mary's maid, Candice Bergen as Mary's mother, Ana Gasteyer as Crystal's coworker and roommate, Carrie Fisher as a gossip writer, Annette Bening as Sylvia, Jada Pinkett Smith as an author, and India Ennenga plays the daughter, Molly Haines. These ladies are high society ladies. Mary Haines is having a big luncheon and she tells Sylvia not to be late as she usually is. Sylvia goes to Saks 5th Avenue to get a manicure and the manicurist is running her mouth about her friend, Crystal Allen, who works behind the perfume counter and is having an affair with some man who is always in the newspaper in the business section...what is his name...I can never remember his name...oh yeah...Haines...Steven Haines. Of course, Sylvia knows this is Mary's husband so she has to decide if she should tell her or not and how to tell her. Mary kicks Steven out of the house and after a little self-meditation and whatnot, she decides that she wants to live for herself....she has always wanted to design her own clothes so she starts a small collection. It's really cool. It's a pretty good movie.

TV: Trading Places

I love the movie Trading Places. It stars Dan Akroyd as Louis and Eddie Murphy as Billy Ray Valentine. It also stars Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Denholm Elliott, Philip Bosco, Bill Cobbs  and James Belushi. Ameche and Bellamy play the Duke Brothers. They work on wall street with commodities trading. One bets the other that the environment plays a big part on how you live. He says that a person who grew up on the streets would act right if given the chance to live in high society and that if a high society person found themselves with no money, no friends, no home, no job, etc., that they would take to crime. Louis is engaged to the Dukes' niece. He works for them, so they decide to trade places between him and this low-life Billy Ray Valentine. The results are hilarious. There is a little nudity and bad language in this movie.

TV: American Flyers

I watched American Flyers. This is one of Kevin Costner's earlier films. He has a cheesy mustache in this film. He looks really funny. The story is good, but a little sad. Kevin's character Marcus finds out that he has an aneurysm like his dad died of. There is nothing they can do for an aneurysm so once something happens to it, it's only a matter of time.  Marcus has a younger brother David who still lives at home. He goes home to check on him because he's worried that he might also have an aneurysm. Marcus is mad at his mom because he doesn't feel like she was "there" for his dad in his final days. She was in the apartment but she escaped to her room because she just couldn't watch her husband die, and Marcus is mad at her because his dad was calling for his wife. So, he can't spend more than a minute with his mom before he starts arguing with her. But, she is also worried about David. He is having some random dizzy spells and has lost a lot of weight. Marcus takes him home with him. He is a sports doctor and he takes David to his clinic and gives him a tour and then threatens him with a torture test (treadmill) and then gives him an MRI. He gets a clean bill of health. Marcus doesn't tell his mom or David that he has an aneurysm. David and Marcus love to ride their bikes. They practice riding all the time and they go to contest called Hell of the West. There is a little bit of nudity and a little bit of bad language in this movie. The story is very good. There are some very strong emotional parts. There is sadness, danger, patriotism, anger, excitement, love, and a little humor. David is played by David Grant.

TV: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton

Rosalee Futch (Kate Bosworth) and her best friend Cathy Feeley (Gennifer Goodwin) work at the Piggly Wiggly. Their best guy friend, Pete Monash (Topher Grace) is the assistant manager. He frequently gets store awards like employee of the month. Tad gets in the tabloids because of his bad boy photos and his agents, Richard Levy the Driven (Nathan Lane) and Richard Levy the Shameless (Sean Hayes) set up the Win-a-Date contest. The girls find out that Tad Hamilton (Josh Duhamel) is raising money for a children's charity by selecting one girl to go on a date with him. Rosalee wins and after meeting her, Tad realizes that his priorities are badly out of whack, and he moves to West Virginia for a while so her good morals can rub off on him. Pete, secretly madly in love with Rosalee, is very jealous. Meanwhile, Angelica (Kathryn Hahn), the bartender at their local hangout has a huge crush on Pete that everyone except Pete sees. Gary Cole, Stephen Tobolowsky, Octavia Spencer and Amy Smart are also in the movie.

TV: The Holiday

The Holiday is one of my "new" favorite movies! It stars Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black and John Krasinski, Kathryn Hahn, and a cameo by Dustin Hoffman. Winslet's Iris Simpkins has been in love with a colleague but finds out he is now engaged to another colleague. She lives in a cottage in Surrey, England. Amanda Woods (Diaz) is a movie-trailer maker who lives in Los Angeles. Her boyfriend cheated on her, so she threw him out. She decides that she wants to take a vacation. She finds Iris's home listed on a home-exchange. She and Iris switch homes/vehicles/friends for two weeks. Iris befriends Amanda's elderly neighbor who used to be a screen writer. She also falls in love with Miles (Black) who works with Amanda's ex-boyfriend. Iris and Miles eat at a sushi restaurant. Meanwhile, in Surrey, Iris's brother, Graham (Law), shows up at his sister's house, and meets and falls in love with Amanda. I love this movie. I think Iris's cottage is really cute. Amanda's mansion is incredible. The music is pretty and the guys that the girls fall for are sweet. A great movie all over!

TV: Rumor Has It

I just watched Rumor Has It. This is a really funny movie. Jennifer Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger. Her mother's mother, Katharine Richelieu is played by Shirley MacLaine. Her fiance, Jeff Daly, is played by Mark Ruffalo. Kevin Costner plays Beau Burroughs. Kathy Bates plays Aunt Mitsy, who is just a good friend of Sarah's mom. Sarah's mom died when she was 9. Sarah comes home for her sister's wedding. At the wedding, she finds out that her mom ran off for a few days right before her wedding. Jeff wonders if she ever did the math and realized that her mom and dad's anniversary was less than 9 months before she was born. So then she asks her mother's mother (who hates to be called "grandma") if her mom had had a fling while she was in Cabo.  Sarah decides that maybe Aunt Mitsy can give her some info. She finds out that aside from her dad, the only person her mother ever liked was Beau Burroughs. Then Aunt Mitsy shows her Beau's picture in the yearbook and she also sees the picture of another guy, Charles Webb. She knows that name sounds familiar. Aunt Mitsy says he was the celebrity of their class because he wrote a book that became a movie and she starts describing the movie and all of a sudden she and Sarah simultaneouly realize that the book and movie are about Sarah's mother and grandmother. So, Sarah goes in search of Beau Burroughs to see if maybe he is her dad. The whole movie is really funny. Well worth watching!

TV: He's Just Not That Into You

I watched He's Just Not That Into You. It has a lot of big stars in it: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Bradley Cooper, Gennifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, Busy Phillips, and Jennifer Connelly. Mary (Barrymore) handled the magazine advertisement for Conor's real estate business. Conor loves Anna (Johansson) but she meets Ben and isn't as into Conor as Conor is into her. Gigi (Goodwin) goes out with Conor who never calls her back. So she goes to a bar where he hangs out. His roommate, Alex works at the bar. Kelli Ann (Phillips) is a bartender/hostess at the bar with Alex. She has a crush on him, but he's not into her. He decides he wants to be her friend so he gives her advice on who to date and what it means when guys say certain things. Gigi's sister, Janine (Connelly) is married to Ben (Cooper). She is mad at him because he has been smoking behind her back and her dad died of lung cancer so she's upset about that. Ben meets Anna (Johansson) at the store and is instantly attracted to her. He tells her "I can't do this" because he's married but he keeps finding reasons to see her. He's good friends with Neil (Affleck) who doesn't believe in marriage. He's been living with Beth (Aniston) for 7 years but even though he's more committed to her than any of these guys who are already married, he doesn't want to get married. Beth finds out that her sister is getting married, so she realizes she really wants to be married. She works with Gigi & Janine.

Overall, this isn't a great movie. Yes, it has a lot of big names in it, but there are so many relationships that is can be hard to follow and being a Christian, I don't think these are good relationships, either. 

TV: Last Chance Harvey

Another movie I watched this week was Last Chance Harvey. It stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Dustin as Harvey misses his flight home from his daughter's wedding and so he goes to the airport lounge. Thompson's Kate does PR for the airport interviewing people as they come and go from their flights. She had tried to interview Harvey when he heads for his plane but he was in a hurry and blew her off. Now, he sees her on break in the lounge and he apologizes for being rude. They talk and end up spending time together.  Very cute movie. Hoffman and Thompson both also co-starred in Stranger Than Fiction, another of my favorite movies. I'll tell you about it soon. Kathy Baker is also in this movie. Richard Schiff plays Harvey's boss. He was also in I Am Sam as the prosecuting attorney.

TV: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Another old movie I watched this week was the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. This is a drama about how this generation of girls bonded and helped each other through rough times and how it affected their offspring. It stars Sandra Bullock, Maggie Smith, Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd, James Garner, and many others. It's a very good dramatic movie.

TV: Somewhere in Time

Another movie I watched this week was Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. It starts in 1972 where Reeve's character, Richard Collier, is in college and he's just finished opening night of a new play he wrote. An old lady walks to him, hands him a beautiful pocket watch and says, "Come back to me." She goes home and dies that night. Eight years later, he's having writer's block, and feels he has to go away for a few days. He drives until he comes to the hotel (filmed on the beautiful Mackinac Island, Michigan) that he never had the chance to visit that is near his old college. He decides to stay there for the night. He goes down to supper and has time to kill before they open, so he's looking at the Hall of History when he sees this photograph of a beautiful lady that so mesmerizes him, he has to find out who she is. Unfortunately the name plate is missing. He finds out her name was Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour) and she acted in a play at the hotel's theater. The next day, Richard goes to the library and does research on Elise McKenna. He finds out that the old lady that gave him the watch in 1972 was Elise McKenna. He goes to the home of the lady that took care of her and wrote her biography and asks for more information about her. While he is looking at all her stuff, he sees a book written by one of his professors. He's told she read the book over and over. He looks at the title and it is called "Bid Time Return". He realizes he should go back in time and find Elise McKenna. I won't tell you anymore. But, I love this movie. It is so romantic. The music is awesome too! Rachmaninoff and John Barry and Barry Williams. If you have never seen this movie, you need to watch it. It is definitely a classic.

TV: P.S. I Love You

Another movie I watched this week is P. S. I Love You. It stars Gerard Butler, Hilary Swank, Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick Jr. and Kathy Bates. Gerard plays Jerry Kennedy who dies of a brain tumor but he isn't ready to say goodbye, so he writes Holly (Swank), his wife, several letters to be delivered after he's gone. It's a sad drama but it is kind of cool too, because she travels to Ireland and the countryside is beautiful and she also gets to start her own company designing shoes.

TV: Mean Girls & Shallow Hal

I have been watching some of my older movies lately. Yesterday, I re-watched Mamma Mia because the music has been going through my head all week. After watching that I remembered that Amanda Seyfried, who plays Sophie, the girl who is getting married in Mamma Mia, was also in Mean Girls. So, I decided to watch Mean Girls. It's a cute movie about this girl who has been homeschooled for 16 years (Lindsay Lohan) who comes to the states and goes to school. She has trouble making any friends the first day. The second day, the Plastics, a clicque of 3 of the most popular girls at school, invite her to eat lunch with them, and trouble starts brewing as she because "mean" like them. It's a cute movie for teen girls and has a happy ending. Amanda Seyfried is the "stupid" girl in the Plastics and their leader is played by another favorite actress, Rachel McAdams.

I also watched Shallow Hal this week. This is a comedy. Jack Black plays Hal, who is very shallow, until he gets trapped in the elevator with Tony Robbins one day.  Since they are stuck for a long time, Tony and Hal talk and Tony realizes that Hal is brainwashed into believing that only outer beauty is important. He reconditions Hal to see people's true "heart" beauty, so even ladies who are less than physically attractive but who have a beautiful heart look like models to him.  His friend Mauricio, played by Jason Alexander is disgusted by this because he has his own deformity that makes him only like physically perfect girls. Very cute, funny movie!

Happy Birthday, Julie!

We didn't do a Sunday lunch birthday party for Julie this year, because the week prior was Easter. So, I told Jules that we needed to have lunch together one day this week. I thought she might meet her husband or her mom for lunch on her actual birthday (Wednesday, April 7), but she didn't.  She had corn and green beans left over from Sunday's Easter lunch and I had some roast beef left over from the weekend. She warmed some rolls, and some leftover English peas. I also brought some vanilla ice cream, and a Texas cinnamon roll with a candle and lighter. I figured she needed a birthday "cake'.

Her daughter, Alaina, said my name "Tracy" a few times, but she also calls me "Kiki" which is what she calls her aunt. Aunt Kiki (Kristin) and Julie are my double first cousins. We're really more like sisters. We do favor each other some, so I can understand why she would call me that, but even when we've just told her that I'm not Kiki, she calls me Kiki. I think she does it on purpose to be funny.  She is a funny little girl. I love her. Alaina had fun opening her mother's presents too. She pulled everything out of the gift bags and barely let Julie read the card before she'd grab for something else.

Tomes: Hidden Places and Eve's Daughters by Lynn Austin

 

I just finished reading Hidden Places by Lynn Austin last night! Excellent book! This is only the second book of hers that I have read. But, both books, I have really enjoyed. The other book of hers that I have read is Eve's Daughters. It was also very good. We have several more of her books in the church library so I will definitely have to read some more of Lynn Austin!

TV: A Cinderella Story & Mamma Mia!

Ok, so last night, I watched A Cinderella Story. This is a really funny movie. It's fun for the whole family. It's a "Cinderella" story with Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray. The step-sisters are hilarious with each other and the step-mom is ridiculously funny. Hilary did a music video with her sister Hailey of the song "Our Lips Are Sealed".  It's just a really cute, funny movie! Click here to see it on IMDB (Internet Movie Database)!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356470/

I also watched Mamma Mia. This is a cute story, too, about a girl who is getting married, and she knows her father is one of three possible men and she invites all three of them to her wedding. It's based on a famous Broadway musical. The music is really good. Four of my favorite songs are Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Take a Chance on Me, and I Have a Dream. There are several other songs that I know I've heard before (outside of this movie). I like this movie. It's scenery is beautiful. The only thing I don't like about this movie is that one of the possible fathers comes out of the closet.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795421/

TV: Paul Blart: Mall Cop

I watched a good movie last night. Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Kevin James plays a security officer at a mall. He is a stocky man who sort of "marches to the beat of his own drum" so to say. Anyhow, a group of criminals try to take over the mall at closing time on Black Friday and it's up to Paul Blart to save the day. There are some really funny scenes and some interesting twists and turns. But, it is a very good movie. There is one bad scene in the movie where he drinks what he thinks is a pitcher of lemonade only to find out that it is a pitcher of Margaritas. He doesn't usually drink and he has a bad reaction to the Margaritas.  It is a good scene in that it shows how out of character you become when you drink! Don't drink alcoholic beverages.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1114740/