Sunday Samplings: Pets, Glorious Pets!

For another sampling I thought I would talk about all the wonderful pets I had as a kid. My mother has always been a cat-lover so we grew up with cats all the time. The first cat I remember was Siamy. He was part Siamese. He was very sweet from what I remember and my love of kitties was assured! We added five more to our home over the years: Star, Trixie, Bo Jangles, Snow White, and Princess. Star died very young due to cancer. I was so sad. But it helped me to love and miss and cope. Bo Jangles was catnapped, Snowy and Trixie found other homes (not my choice), and Princess hung on til after my mission. I was with Princess the longest and still feel that pain of her passing. She was a great and loving companion.

I knew from the start I would have to have cats in my own home! We have added Frodo and Wolfgang! Sweetest kitties in the whole world.

I also had two birds, a few fish, three rabbits, gerbiles, and even a turtle at one point! But through these pets I realized that I would never have any of these in my home. They're just not very interactive and they're smelly (rodents) and the rest just aren't that loving...so cats it is and one day we will add a dog or two when we have a big enough for them!

I love animals and find them all fascinating even when I'd rather not actually have one as a pet! They are beautiful creations and am very grateful to have two wonderful kitties in my home!

Everything Austen Challenge Update

I've just been going like crazy on my list! I'm actually just going to keep going on everything Austen until the deadline. I want to see how many I can get in in the next five months.

Watched From My List:

1. Pride and Prejudice (2005)
2. Sense and Sensibility (Emma Thompson)
3. Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow)
4. Persuasion (newer version)
5. Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-day Comedy
6. Sense and Sensibility (2007)

I still have P&P (1995) to watch!

Read From My List:

1. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

I still have Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict (in progress), Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Intimations of Austen, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre.

Watched Not On My List:

1. Lost in Austen
2. Persuasion (1995)

Read Not On My List:

1. Jane Austen For Dummies

There are quite a few more movies in the works that I'm going to be watching and I really want to reread Austen's original novels and finally read Mansfield Park. I also am looking forward to some fan-fiction that I've read reviews on from fellow Austen Challengers! It looks like a great last half of the year!

Everything Austen Challenge: Movie Review: Sense & Sensibility (2007)

Sense & Sensibility (2007), Grade: A

I love this version! I thought it was another great adaptation. This one is a bit longer than the Emma Thompson version so they were able to flesh out the characters a lot better. Though, I did miss Mr. Palmer in this one. Hugh Laurie was sooo wonderful.

I thought the actresses were well suited for the parts, you know, being younger than their previous counterparts! I'm wondering why they always feel that Marianne needs to be blond since she's supposed to be darker in the novel? The fencing duel between Willoughby and Colonel Brandon was very divine as well!

Both adaptations are spectacular! Give this one a try as well!

Boog and His Hats!

I decided to get him a hat last week and went into Old Navy to see what they had! I ended up getting him two, one is a baseball cap and the other is a fisher's hat! They were too cute and I couldn't pass it up.

Here he is doin his gangsta signs!


Just too adorable!

Saturday our friends Sarah and Matt came over for hamburgers and games! Sarah had a lot of fun playing with and holding Gabe!

Here's Boog playing over Archie's knee!

Then Archie decided to stand him up looking out the window! He's got really strong legs and balance! He'll be walking before crawling.

And thus he says neener, neener!

He's just getting sooo big now. He goes in for his six-month checkup next week!

Everything Austen Challenge: Book Review: Jane Austen For Dummies

Jane Austen For Dummies by Joan Klingel Ray, PhD, Grade: A

I loved this reference book! The author did such a great job on explaining the things of Austen.

Here are the sections:

Part I: Getting to Know Jane Austen, Lady and Novelist

This part introduces Jane Austen and the era she lived/history of what was going on at that time in her world, and authors that inspired Austen in her writing.

Part II: Austen Observes Ladies and Gentleman

We learn all about dancing, courtship, and the business of marrying (along with some other tidbits). I loved this section! There's been so many things I haven't understood about her books and now I do!

Part III: Living Life in Jane's World

This section talks about women's limited roles and rights during her time, what being a gentleman entailed for men, home life, manners, and religion. This section really gets to the heart of the thoughts and ideas of her characters, the roles they played and why.

Part IV: Enjoying Austen and Her Influence Today

This section talks about reading her books with new insight. She also mentions the various adaptations of her novels to the stage, screen, and television and talks of authors who've been inspired by Austen.

Part V:The Part of Tens

She gives bounteous lists of places to visit, Jane Austen books to read, and her favorite Austen literary characters!

She packs so much information and yet makes it very readable and enjoyable. Plus she repeats many things so you don't forget what you've learned! This is one I will be putting on my to-buy list for quick reference as I reread all of her novels again!!!

Everything Austen Challenge: Movie Review: Persuasion (1995)

Persuasion (Ciaran Hinds), Grade: A-

It had been quite some time since I saw this so I was excited to view it again for the challenge, even though it's not technically on my list! I also viewed the newest BBC version as well and so I wanted to compare them, to see which one I liked best.

Well, I love them both! They both have different things that I liked.

I really like Ciaran Hinds's portrayal of Frederick better; I think he's just an overall better actor, even though he's isn't quite as handsome as Penny-Jones.

But I enjoyed Anthony Stewart Head as Sir Eliot a lot better than the other guy's portrayal! He just seemed to be more immature and childish.

The two ladies who portray Anne's sister: just awesome! The 1995 version has the Miss Bates actress from the Emma version of 1997 so she was just fun to watch in this kind of role!

The 2007 version I thought had a bit more suspense when it came to Frederick being married/engaged or not. The Crofts start to tell Anne about their brother getting married, but fail to mention that it's not Frederick, and it goes on for quite a few minutes before Anne finally realizes he's still single. Also at the end with the letter from Frederick the 2007 version builds up more suspense as she runs around everywhere looking for him in the rain!

I also enjoyed both endings...the 1995 version shows Anne getting ready to board the ship her new husband captains...she's like Mrs. Croft, she loves the sea and home is where her hubby is! But the 2007 version also is nice since they show more of their relationship at the end, which I always like!

It has been awhile since I've read Persuasion so I'm not sure which movie does a more faithful portrayal, but they're both great watches and am putting the 1995 version on my DVD buy list!

Sunday Samplings: The First Memories

My friend Autumn has an awesome Sunday tradition for her blog; it's called Journal Jar Sunday. She puts up topics about her past so we can all get to know her better. The entries are fun and informative and just a dang great idea! So I'm plagiarizing her idea (though, see, I'm giving her credit for the idea!) and calling it Sunday Samplings.

My first topic: My first memories:

I think the earliest memory I have was being in my crib and waking up with my butt in the air and being grumpy and starting to cry since no one was around.

Another early memory is when I was just barely potty-trained and so I was slowly learning how to "hold" my bodily functions until a toilet was available. Well, in my home at that time we only had one bathroom and my dad enjoyed using it often since he could read for at least a half hour with no disruption! Well...I needed to use it and I banged and banged and told him I needed to. But he just told me to wait and he'd be out...time goes on...well, I couldn't hold it anymore and I vaguely remember pooping right there on the spot in front of the bathroom door. But the story doesn't end there...since my dad took so long to get out my poop hardened and my unsuspecting sister came along and saw it lying there. She thought that it looked like a cinnamon roll!!! And she picked it up and actually put it in the fridge!

I think this memory has been a bit helped in the reconstruction part for me because I do vaguely remember pooping, but the rest was filled in by my siblings! It's always a great topic when we get together! Oh, the memories!