a year of happy

there's nothing like a good line from a movie

Don't you love
a memorable line from a favorite movie?

You know the kind I mean...
the lines that are repeated
over and over again
because they are so good.

Today we need some good movie lines.

Lines to make us smile.
LInes to make us laugh out loud.

And lines that we'll enjoy
because we all saw the movie
and we all know exactly
what we mean!

Here are just a few...
can you name the movies
they belong to?

• "No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."
  .
  
• "The King's stinking son fired me, and thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?"
  .
• "Honey, time marches on and eventually you realize it is marchin' across your face."
  .
• Well, yes mate. See, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you need to watch out for, because you never know when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.

What is your
favorite movie line?

a saying for every occasion

"D's" Grandma Brown
is legendary for her
traditional sayings
that have been passed down
through the generations.

Her daughters remember them all
and they use them too.
It seems like for every occasion,
there's an old adage to go with it!





For instance, if a couple got married
who didn't seem well-matched,
Grandma Brown might say,
"She probably
married him
to get rid of him!"
Or:
"There's a Jack for every Jill."
Or even:
"She jumped over
all of the daisies
and landed in a cow pie!"

She had sayings
to go with housework too.
When her children were playing
when there was work to be done,
she'd say,
"This and better might do,
but this and worse will never do."

And if one of her children
tried to take a short-cut on chores,
and had to come back to do it again?
"Lazy people always
have to work the hardest."

For today's list,
I'm going to give you
a whole slew of
Grandma Brown's sayings.

We'll call it:

List 7: Grandma Brown's
Sayings for Every Occasion

• A stitch in time saves nine.
  .
  
• That's the pot calling the kettle black.
  .
  
• Pretty is as pretty does.
  .
  
• What doesn't fatten helps to fill.
  .
  
• There is no disgrace in honest labor.
  .
  
• Birds of a feather flock together.
  .
  
• There is no use crying over spilled milk.
  .
• No use closing the barn door after the horse is out.
  .
  
• Kids and fools should never see anything until it is finished.
  .
  
• It's not what you want that makes you fat, its what you get.
  .
  
• Waste not; want not.
  .
  

I'm sure you've heard
some old sayings
that aren't on my list.
Please share--
I'm sure Grandma Brown
probably said it
at one time or another!

nature outtakes

Last week,
I spent an afternoon
wandering around with my camera.

I got back to my computer
to look at my photos more closely,
and had a good laugh
when I saw these shots.

I thought it would be fun
to share them with you.





These birds had somehow
found their way
into the airport....
and were watching
the planes take off and land
as if they were
right where they belonged!



 


This little guy
was playing tag
with his friend
until he realized
I was watching.
Then he scrambled
to a high branch
and kept his eye on me
until I finally left.


_________



Then I spied some geese
wandering around a
small grassy area.

Really, no room to fly....

Wait for it....

wait for it....





Nope--he made it!

But from the look of things,
I thought it was going to be
a head-on collision with the tree!



Then there was one of his buddies,
who had had just about enough.





He was angrily honking
at that other goose,
who just stood there
and took it all in.
Never even got flustered.





(I always thought
geese were such
graceful creatures....)



If you want to get
a closer look
at any of these shots,
click on the photos.
They really are better close up!


Do you have any photos
that will give us
a good laugh today?
Leave a link in the comments!

family outtakes

 






















































I have no words.
Care to give it a try?

noses

There's a story behind everything.

I always wonder
about the story behind photos--
especially old family photos.

Last week,
I showed you this photo.
But I didn't tell you the story.

These two lovely ladies
are my great-aunt,
Ethel Naomi Heninger,
and my grandmother,
Hazel Heninger. 

I think this photo
is so pretty
of the two of them.

But Ethel didn't think so.

Whenever she saw
this photograph,
she would turn it face down,
then she would sniff
and say, "Noses."



Do you have
old family photographs
with a story
just waiting to be told?

remembering 1979

 

Today I sat down
and listened to some music
with my 17 year old son
who will graduate
from high school
in a couple of months.

We listened to his IPod
and he played the guitar
along with some of his favorite bands.

Believe me,
I really enjoyed the moment.
Times like that
with a teenager can be rare!

It also made me think about
what life was like
the year I graduated from high school.
That was way back in 1979.





So for today's Wednesday list,
I'm going to tell you
some of the things I was doing
the year I graduated from high school.


List 4: What I was doing in 1979

• I was listening to the BeeGees on my Walkman cassette tape player.
  .
• I was cheering at basketball games in my red quilted corduroy jumper with the pep band playing Hawaii 5-0 and Sweet Caroline.
  .
• I was reading "Gone with the Wind" for the seventh time.
  .
• I was singing along with The Commodores to "Three Times a Lady."
  .
• I was so excited that we got a microwave.
  .
• I was also excited that our town got its first McDonald's.
  .
• I was wearing cowl neck sweaters, Saddleback jeans, mood rings, Gunne Sax dresses, Love's Lemon Fresh perfume, and a battery-powered t-shirt that lit up and said "Boogie".
  .
• I was exercising in a pair of long rubber pants that promised to make you sweat off ALL the extra weight!
  .
• I was watching Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Dallas. 
  .
• I put smiley face stickers on everything.
  ..
• I was sleeping on a waterbed.
  .
• My best friend and I were trying to raise sea monkeys.
  ..
• And...I was making sure my hair was puffy enough, had enough hairspray, and was exactly the same on both sides.

...

What were you doing
the year you graduated
from high school? 

.

.

5 times on the road to hana

 

I'm not famous for much.

But I'm famous
(in circles that matter)
for all the places
throughout the world
that I've thrown up.

In fact, I've become
something
of a family joke.
And people are
just a tiny bit nervous
to travel with me.

So in a totally happy,
positive, and optimistic
sort of way,

for this week's Wednesday list,
I'm listing
all the places
in this whole wide world
(at least the ones
I can remember)
that I've thrown up.


We'll call it
List 3:

Five Times on the Road to Hana
and all the other places
in this world
where I've lost my lunch.

1. Utah (Behind a dumpster. Pregnant and I forgot my bowl.)
2. Utah (Coming down the canyon from Sundance. Again, pregnant.)
3. Utah (At work. Yes, again, 9 month morning sickness.)
4. Utah (every house I've lived in, every pregnancy.)
5. Utah (okay...there's a list a mile long of all the places in this state.)
6. Idaho (Rexburg, the last time I ate Bit o Honey candy bars.)
7. Idaho (Boise. I think.)
8. Idaho (In the hall at Lincoln Elementary. So embarrassing.)
9. California (Somewhere between LA and San Diego, with Huey Lewis playing in the background...)
10. Washington (Expo '74, at the World's Fair, in a motor home. Poor family.)
11. Hawaii (Maui, that twisty, turny, winding road to Hana. 5 times to be exact. Do they have a t-shirt for that?)
12. Mexico (Cancun. A whole vacation's worth. See that pretty picture up there? That's about all I saw of Cancun. Throwing up with a beautiful view.)
13. Taiwan (Hsinchu--after eating some weird fish thingy.)
14. Taiwan (Hualien--after eating at a traditional Taiwanese wedding.)

There could be more...
oh I'm sure there is.
But that gives me:

• three countries
• two islands
• and five states.
  
  

And just for the record,
I've made it
through two Central American trips
without throwing up!
Dare I try
for a third?!

___________________________

What are you famous for?

some mighty deep thoughts on procrastination

 

One of my many lists
is titled something like this:

The things I've been
procrastinating
and need to get done NOW!

Since procrastination
has been on my mind,
I decided to share
a few deep thoughts
on the topic
by people who really know
what they're talking about.

"Never put off
until tomorrow
what you can do
the day after tomorrow."
Mark Twain


"A man who procrastinates
in his choosing
will inevitably
have his choice
made for him by circumstance."
Hunter S. Thompson

"If it weren't for the last minute,
nothing would get done."
Rita Mae Brown

"Time is an
equal opportunity employer.
Each human being
has exactly the same
number of hours and
minutes every day.
Rich people
can't buy more hours.
Scientists can't invent new minutes.
And you can't save time
to spend it on another day.
Even so, time is amazingly
fair and forgiving.
No matter how much time
you've wasted in the past,
you still have an entire tomorrow."
Denis Waitley


"The era of procrastination,
of half-measures,
of soothing and baffling expedients,
of delays
is coming to its close.
In its place
we are entering
a period of consequences."
Winston Churchill


"If you choose
to not deal with an issue,
then you give up
your right of control
over the issue
and it will select
the path of least resistance."
Susan Del Gatto


"If you want to make
an easy job seem mighty hard,
just keep putting off doing it."
Olin Miller


"PROCRASTINATION
means you know
what you need to do
and you don't do it.
If you don't know what to do,
you aren't procrastinating.
You're thinking. "
Lynn Lively

"Time you enjoy wasting,
was not wasted."
John Lennon


"Why wait,
procrastinate now...."
Ellen DeGeneres


"Procrastination.
I'll find a quote for it later."
Jarrod Blundy


_____________________________


What are your thoughts
about procrastination?

Is it something
you battle too?

How do you conquer?

facebook: a teenager's virtual playground

I sat down with
my seventeen-year-old son
the other night
to make this week's
Wednesday list.

He has been telling me
about all the groups
on Facebook
that teenagers love.

These groups have
hundreds and thousands of fans.
And the biggest reason is
that they are so hilarious!

"A" helped me
make a list of these groups
so that I could share them with you.


List 2: Facebook Groups that Crack Me Up

1. I redo high fives if they weren't good enough the first time.
   2,597,383 fans
   .
2. Walking the wrong way on escalators.
   939,925 fans
   .
3. Flipping the pillow over to get the cold side.
   3,415,345 fans
   .
4. I hate that Sunday night "school the next day" feeling.
   1,474,034 fans
   .
5. My room is not messy, it's just an obstacle course designed to keep me fit.
   41,951 fans
   .
6. I wish music played during epic moments of my life and not just in movies.
   2,195,231 fans
   .
7. Don't complain about grading 150 essays over the weekend, you assigned it.
   16,535 fans
   .
8. Trying not to answer your parents with sarcasm when they ask dumb questions.
   5,190 fans
   .
9. It's funny how sitting boy girl boy girl used to be a punishment.
   697 fans
   .
10. I eat too many chips at Mexican restaurants and get full before my food comes.
    13,292 fans
    
    
    
    Are you making a list today?
    
    Leave a link
    in the comments
    so we can check it out!
    
    
    
    
    

speaking of kids

.
Don't you just love little kids?

.


.
They let you take
their picture
anytime you want.

They are so uninhibited
and full of smiles 
and laughter.

Then they grow up,
and become very uncooperative
when you try
to get a good shot.
.



.
I say,
take advantage
while they're young.
Take advantage
while they're young...

.



.

________________

Speaking of cute kids,
this is one of my
favorite videos.
Check it out!
I think you'll love it!

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