Entertainment

My aunt sent me this in an e-mail and, of course, I had to pass it along. There’s some great advice here, guys. The cool thing is, the title could just as easily read, “How to Have Less Stress in Your Life,” “How to Enjoy Life More,” “How to Make People Want to Be Around You,” etc.

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Try everything twice. On Madams tombstone (of Whelan’s and Madam) she
said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice… loved it both times!

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. (Keep this in mind if you are one of those
grouches)

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with him/her.

6. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love. Whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity.

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second chance.

These 11 admonishings should be written down and lived out!

Fingers, toes, eyes, legs, arms, and lips crossed that this link works.  This is amazing! 

You may wonder, at first, what this video would have to do with Self Help - but somewhere between, “How could anyone have this much imagination?” and  “What kind of brain is able to produce something like this?,” it’ll hit you.  The human mind is a complex and amazing thing.  We’re filled with so many possibilties and so much potential.  (How could we not be, God made us?!?!) 

Today think about your own possibilities and potential.  What might be lying dormant inside of you?  There are unrealized dreams and untapped acts of brilliance just lying there waiting for us to get our gumption up, stroke our confidence like we stroke our cat, and make our move.  This video has inspired me to step all of my games up and try to play at another level.

The ingenuity and imagination that went into making this “Animator vs Animation” video has inspired me and I hope it’ll have the same effect on you.

Animator vs. Animation

Our youngest (and chubbiest) cat, Alexa, and I were innocently plowing through my e-mail this morning.  Amongst the CNN news alerts telling me what the world’s doing wrong and my health newsletters telling me what I’m doing wrong, there was an e-mail from my aunt.  She forwarded me an e-mail sent to her that included what I like to refer to as “Real Life Idiot Moments.”  Not Real Life Idiots, because quite frankly, none of us are immune to these moments!  Maybe that’s part of the reason why they’re so funny….we laugh out of relief that it wasn’t us. 

At any rate, they’re reprinted below.  I hope they make you smile and maybe even laugh out loud like your’s truly.  After picturing the airport worker “nodding knowingly” like Barney Fife, I spewed Iced Green Tea all over Alexa.  She didn’t appreciate it any more on her outside than my daughters do when I put it on their insides.

BTW, I’ve removed the names of the places and replaced them with #####.  I wouldn’t want to imply that everyone at any certain place is capable of such DUH moments.  That’s just not cool.

Real Life Idiot Moment 1 

We had to have the garage door repaired. The ##### repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a “large” enough motor on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one ##### made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and said, “Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.” I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4. He said, “NO, it’s not.” Four is larger than two..” We haven’t used ##### repair since.

Real Life Idiot Moment 2

My daughter and I went through the #####’s take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter. She said, “you gave me too much money.” I said, “Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back.” She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said We’re sorry but they could not do that kind of thing.” The clerk then proceeded to give me back$1 and 75 cents in change. Do not confuse the clerks at #####’s.

Real Life Idiot Moment 3

I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: “Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don’t think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.”  From Kingman , KS 

Real Life Idiot Moment 4

My daughter went to a local ##### and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for “minimal lettuce.” He said he was sorry, but they only had iceburg lettuce. From Kansas City

Real Life Idiot Moment 5

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, “Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?” To which I replied, “If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?” He smiled knowingly and nodded, “That’s why we ask.” Happened in Birmingham , Ala.

Real Life Idiot Moment 6 

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told that the keys had been accidentally locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As I watched from the passenger’s side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered it was open. “Hey,” I announced to the technician, “It’s open!” “I know,” answered the young man, “I already got that side.”

I love what was written at the bottom of the e-mail:  STAY ALERT! They walk among us… and the scary part is that they VOTE and REPRODUCE and our enemies know it!!!

Emily, Stephany (daughters 1 and 3) and I went to see Juno last night. I expected it to be good - but I had no idea just how good. I loved every single minute of this delightful movie, from the adorable opening sequence to the closing credits.  

As I’ve said before, I have a total fascination with words - whether they’re on a cereal box, shampoo bottle, Scrabble board, e-mail message, CNN.com, or in a Dean Koontz novel….. I’m right there delighting in their song and dance.  So, this movie, with it’s amazingly brilliant and witty dialogue had me on the edge of my seat.  My ears haven’t been that happy since the last time I listened to my favorite Motown CD. 

Ellen Page (Juno) is one of the reasons I’m so in love with this movie.  The 20ish year old Canadian is simply amazing, all 5′1″ of her.  She’s a breath of fresh air in Hollywood - a town that was long, long, lonnnnggg overdue for freshness of any kind.  Ellen Page is the next Keira Knightley and watching her career sholud be pretty exciting.

Michael Cera, who plays her friend Bleeker is also adorable.  The entire movie is perfectly cast with flawless performances by J.K. Simmons as Juno’s dad (he was also Buffalo Bill Cody in Hidalgo), Olivia Thirlby, Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner (who reminds me a great deal of one of my favorite actresses on the planet, Julia Roberts) and Jason Bateman.

I think the language and suggestions are a little past the film’s PG-13 rating.  In fact, as we were leaving, I double-checked the poster to make sure I hadn’t been seeing things - yep, PG-13.  Another woman exiting in front of me did the same thing.  I’m not uptight about language or things like that…but, 13?  That seems a little young for a movie like this.  But that’s just my opinion.  Then again, with the language used on MySpace, in IMs, in school, and on TV - there probably isn’t anything in this movie that’s exactly new to most 13 year olds.  Now I’m getting depressed.

At any rate, if you’re looking for a very enjoyable movie - you won’t go wrong with Juno.  Even the music is incredible!  I can’t wait for the soundtrack, the songs were as delicious as the dialogue.

The following were taken from an e-mail I recieved recently.  Just reading them made me smile - and since that’s a good thing, I wanted to put them in front of your lovely eyes in the hopes that it’d bring a big ole smile to your face to.

I know, I know, Life is serious business. You can’t go through it laughing, goofing off, and singing all the time. Even though I give it as good a try as can be given.  Life is a serious ride.  But who’s to say we can’t have a little fun along the way?! The following are suggestions that will bring a little fun to your ride and to those you who are riding along with you.  If they don’t commit you.

With that very much in mind…

• At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
•  Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don’t Disguise Your Voice.
•  Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.
• Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
•  In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks , Write ‘ For Smuggling Diamonds’.
• Finish All Your sentences with ‘In Accordance With The Prophecy’.
• As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
• Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
• Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is ‘To Go’.
• Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can’t Attend Their Party Because You’re Not In the Mood.
• Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.
• When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream ‘I Won! I Won!’
• When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling ‘Run For Your Lives! They’re Loose!’
• Tell Your Children Over Dinner, ‘Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.’

Finally, the surest way to add a little more fun to your life is to add it to someone else’s.  Send this link (or do the copy/paste dance with the suggestions above) to all the people you’d like to see smile.  As my e-mail said, smiles are more than just fun…..they’re therapy.

P.S. You really do have lovely eyes, in accordance with the prophecy.

A show that has achieved Can’t Miss in my world is The Biggest Loser.  I’m a sucker for success stories of any kind.  I love to see individuals, through passion and sheer determination, knock down obstacles that stand between them and their castle in the sky.  I admit, I cry along with them when their heart breaks and I cry for them when they put the heart back together.

Human triumph - what a rush!

I’ve gotten inspired to really amp up my family’s diet with healthy foods and cut out those that are unhealthy to the point of dangerous.  If we started looking at things like fried foods and fast food burgers as “dangerous” instead of just “fattening,” I think we’d all do a better job of avoiding them.

A few small steps we’ve made:

1. If we’re going to be out running around (very, very often) and we’re certain a drive thru is in our future, we’ve started taking our own drinks, as in water or tea. This way, we won’t be tempted by the soft drinks.  After all, there’s only room in the drink holder for the drinks that are already there.
2. We’ve switched from red meat sandwiches to either fish or chicken - and always grilled instead of fried.  McD’s has an amazing grilled chicken sandwich.
3. When possible, we choose Subway over the others.  A vegetarian subway with the sweet onion sauce is as good as anything you could get anywhere.
4. Fries are totally off limits. When we get hit by fry cravings, we have a baked potato, instead.  Perfect? No, but better than fries.

The health factor isn’t the only thing you can take away from The Biggest Loser. There’s an amazingly inspiring undercurrent to each show.  People who are up against seemingly impossible odds fight and then fight some more to get past those odds.  These are classic examples of individuals who are up against the biggest and most able-bodied enemy we’ll ever face - ourselves.

Something that one of the ladies said on the first episode this season has stuck with me.  She said that she was through whining and complaining about what she didn’t like about herself and was, now, ready to do something about it. You go, girl…then keep on going!

Whether it’s a weight-y matter we’re up against, money matters, or something else - we have two choices: 

• A.  We can continue to let it sit in the driver’s seat, yielding total control of the steering wheel, even though we HATE where it keeps taking us….while we ball up in the backseat in a fetal position, crying.  Or..
• B.  We can say, “Screw this!” as we climb over the seat and take the wheel.  The minute we do that, our own personal, evil “matter” has no choice but to retreat to the backseat. 

Just like there’s only room enough for one drink in a drink holder, there’s only room enough in our life’s driver seat for one driver.  It’s either us or it isn’t.  Oh so much can be accomplished on the good side of a “Screw this!” moment.

I’ll see you there!

Jacob,  age 92, and Rebecca, age 89, living in Florida, are all excited
about  their decision to get married. They go for a stroll to discuss the  
wedding, and on the way they pass a drugstore. Jacob suggests they  go in.

Jacob addresses the man behind the counter: “Are you the  owner?”

The pharmacist answers, “Yes.”

Jacob: “We’re about  to get married. Do you sell heart medication?”

Pharmacist: “Of  course we do.”

Jacob: “How! about medicine for  circulation?”

Pharmacist: “All kinds.”

Jacob: “Medicine  for rheumatism and scoliosis?”

Pharmacist:  ”Definitely.”

Jacob: “How about Viagra?”

Pharmacist: “Of course.”

Jacob:  ”Medicine for memory problems, arthritis, jaundice?”

Pharmacist:  ”Yes, a large variety. The works.”

Jacob: “What about vitamins,  sleeping pills, Geritol, antidotes
for Parkinson’s  disease?”

Pharmacist: “Absolutely.”

Jacob: “You sell  wheelchairs and walkers?”

Pharmacist: “All speeds and  sizes.”

Jacob: “We’d like to use this store as our Bridal  Registry.“  

I’ve never been able to get videos to behave properly on this theme - I’m not sure if it’s my wordpress causing me problems or the theme, but whichever I get a red x each time I try.

But there’s a great video I want you to see.  Soooo, I’m going to link you to another one of my blogs where I can play videos all day if I so desired.

Here’s the link - check it out, it’s one of the best videos I’ve ever seen.  And, uh, yeah, I’ve seen billions. 

http://www.thementalfitnesscenter.com/blog/the-strength-in-numbers/

 Have I got a colorful person for you to meet today!  You may already be somewhat familiar with her, or at least with her work…or maybe I should say play. How about work-play? Ding ding ding, that’s it.

I’m talking about SARK, the author and writer who encourages us to all be more succulent, juicy people.  Not only is she a wonderful writer and not only is she brilliantly artistic, she’s a cat lover.  That pretty much makes her “my kind of people.”

I first became familiar with her work after I lost my mother in 2006.  My mom had an unusual love of books and, like SARK, read one each day.  When Steph (daughter #3 a.k.a. “the baby”) and I were sorting through mom’s hundreds of books, I brought a lot of them home with us and took the rest to the Salvation Army.  One of the ones I adopted was a small book which was so colorful and…. well, happy….that I knew I had to have it.  You know when you go to pick out a puppy, you want the one that runs to you, wagging its tail, wanting to play?  That’s the attitude this little book had, and at that (lowest) point in my life - that’s just what I needed.  Living Juicy came home with me, already named and housebroken.

I sat it on my desk, instead of filing it away on bookshelves like I did the other books.  “The one with the wagging tail” would be the first one I’d read, as soon as the mood to read returned.  After a few weeks, I took the little book to the bathtub with me and I soaked in both the bubbles and the SARKisms.

I found the inside of the book to be so much fun, I didn’t want to step outside of it again.  So, I never did entirely.

Some may think of SARK as over the top - something I’m sure she’d take as a compliment.  To me, she’ll always be the first author I read after losing my mom.  It struck me, then and now, as a sign that it’s okay for life to go on - and it’s more than okay to smile again.

Millions of fans have their own personal reasons for loving SARK’s work - whether it’s a personal story or simply a matter of, “She slaps a smile on my day.”  If you’ve never read her work, do yourself a favor and have at it!  I’m fairly certain you’ll find your own reason to love her….and maybe even join her over the top.  The view?  Amazing.

Below is a link to a great profile on SARK by a writer, Chris Colin, who’s also a fan of her Juicy living.  

On the Job:  Go Ahead and Try to Hate SARK

Within the article is a link to SARK’s website - you’ll pretty much want to check that out, too.

At The Movies Tin Sign
Buy at AllPosters.com

Three of my favorite young people (two daughters and a boyfriend….Brittany’s, not mine) and I saw Hairspray last night.  I was expecting it to be good - after all, if John Travolta and Queen Latifah are on board - it has to be a fun ride.  What I wasn’t expecting was for it to be great. 

I’d read review after review saying things like, “I smiled through the whole movie…” and I kept thinking, No one smiles through a whole movie - unless it’s my husband and there’s a lot of kicking, shoving, punching, and throwing bodies going on.  Yet, I lost track of the number of times I caught myself smiling ear to ear.

The entire cast is simply perfect - I don’t know when I’ve seen a better job of casting.  John Travolta (Edna) is adorably hilarious as a larger than life mother, Queen Latifah proves that she’s one of the most gifted singers we’ve ever had, and Niki Blonsky (Tracey), Zac Efron (Link), Amanda Bynes (Penny), Elijah Kelly (Seaweed), and James Marsden (Corny) are each mesmerizing.

It’s a wonderfully fun feel great movie and we all know there aren’t nearly enough of those. I’m hoping that it’s such a runaway hit that Hollyood starts shelling them out like they once did Spaghetti westerns.

Go see Hairspray only if you want a toe tapping, fun, feel good, spirit-lifting evening full of smiles.  I honestly didn’t want it to end.