Twenty Years Already?

I am one of those goofy people that loves the movie, “The Princess Bride.” My Dad sent me a link to this cute article about it’s twentieth anniversary. It is one of those movies that doesn’t try to prove itself, and tells a story that is fun and G-rated. Oh, I guess there is that one line when Inigo Montoya finally corners the six fingered man… I have always thought that the raunchy comedies are sort of the easy way out. It’s always harder to make the clean jokes funny.

One memory that came back to me as I read through this article was of my Dad doing career day. When I was in sixth grade we had parents come in and tell about various careers. Mine came in to talk about making movies. (He worked on several movies the most memorable to me being, “Mr. Krueger’s Christmas” and “Windwalker.”) I remember being so proud of how cool my Dad was for knowing about how movies are made, and remember him using the scene from this movie where Fezzick is climbing the the rope up a cliff as an example of what a blue screen can do. Anyway, I highly recommend this movie, and will gladly sit with anyone and rattle off great quotes. 😉

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAfMLPqUkeU

It Works 100% of the Time

Or so the claim goes. Have you seen the email circulating about curing a persistent cough by rubbing Vapo Rub on your feet and covering them with socks? I have tried this with Hannah, who has had a cough for a few weeks now, and it seems to help. She asks0 for the feet cream when she gets going on a real coughing fit. You can read more about it at snopes.com. Has anyone else had luck with this home remedy?

Gotta Love Josh

Last night was the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The opening act was one of my favorites, Josh Groban. Rob took me to one of his concerts a few years ago as a Christmas present, and it was so much fun. He’s got such an interesting mix of fans from teens to Grandmas and it was great! I love his performance of this song. It seems so sincere, not just for show. Enjoy!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFq2JhPce5I

How It Should Have Ended

Ok, here’s a random post with a couple of funny videos. Credit goes to our friend, Heather from One Woman’s World, for first tipping us off to these. I thought they were really fun and had to post a couple of my favorites. There are more videos (and better resolution) at their website, HowItShouldHaveEnded.com. It’s amazing what you can do with a lot of talent and a lot of time on your hands. Enjoy!

Willy Wonka
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsE0UOz1uw4

Superman
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavK0mnE3wI

True Princesses

The other day Hannah was all dressed up in her purple princess outfit and just couldn’t wait to “play princess” with Sabrina. She grabbed a dress from the dress-ups and as she ran upstairs said, “I gonna play sisess wif Beena.” She ran into Sabrina’s room, where she was still enjoying an unusually long nap, all excited and started jumping up and down yelling, “wake up Beena, tine a play sisess!” When Sabrina finished waking up we got her dressed and they posed for these pictures.

The whole princess obsession has reminded me of one of my favorite stories about a feisty princess that isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. It’s The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Amazon summarizes it like this:

“Elizabeth, a beautiful princess, lives in a castle and wears fancy clothes. Just when she is about to marry Prince Ronald, a dragon smashes her castle, burns her clothes with his fiery breath, and prince-naps her dear Ronald. Undaunted and presumably unclad, she dons a large paper bag and sets off to find the dragon and her cherished prince. Once she’s tracked down the rascally reptile, she flatters him into performing all sorts of dragonly stunts that eventually exhaust him, allowing her to rescue Prince Ronald. But what does Prince Not-So-Charming say when he sees her? “You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess.” In any case, let’s just say that Princess Elizabeth and Prince Ronald do not, under any circumstances, live happily ever after.”

My favorite part of the story is where Elizabeth tells Prince Ronald that he is a bum, and then happily runs off into the sunset. I like that the princess is smart and strong and won’t allow herself to settle for a loser of a prince… I know it’s a bit of a stretch using this as my Sunday Thought, but I always enjoy an empowering children’s story!

Matt, Rescue Ranger

Hunter got this CD, Another Long Semester by Aaron Durr for his birthday from Nana & Papa. Aaron is a talented friend of my brother Matt from high school. His song Matt, Matt Rescue Ranger is our favorite. Hannah even asked to listen to it the other day. Matt says this song is not about him, but to us it is! The CD is very clever in both the music and lyrics; and I think he does all of the instruments and vocals himself. We always have fun listening to it. It’s very catchy, go to his homepage and click on “listen” at the top. I think he has great promise and wouldn’t be surprised to hear him on the radio soon!