Taken

I have recently been able to preview the movie Taken, which comes out in theaters January 30th. It stars Liam Neeson as Bryan, a retired Government Spy.

His daughter,Kim, wants to go to Paris and he is completely against it. After a while, he softens and allows her to go. Once there, she and her friend were taken by the Albanian mafia/criminal organization. Given his knowledge from his line of work, he knows that he only has 96 hours to find Kim, before she could disappear forever. The rest of the movie he spends searching for her and coming up with some pretty interesting ways to get people to talk.

I am leaving out a ton of details on purpose, as to not spoil the movie for anyone that may want to see it. It does have lots of violence (wouldn't you kick butt if your child was taken), sexual content (but not in the regular couple kind of way), and drug references. I do not recommend taking children to this movie.

This movie held my attention the whole time. I thought it would be one of those movies that is good but I would want to fall asleep in 3/4 of the way through (as I sometimes do...especially if I'm watching a movie at home). It was not that way for me. I stared at the screen the whole time, not even eating any snacks or drinking anything. It was one of those movies that I didn't want to end instead of one to where I'm looking at the time, wishing it had been more than 5 or 10 minutes longer than the last time I checked.

Liam Neeson did an excellent job and I hope he wins an award for this movie. If you have a chance to go to the movies, skip the chick flick and go see this movie. In my opinion, it was GREAT!

What The???? Again!!!!!!

I love my husband dearly but, the man needs help! I'm always threatening him that I'm going to put him in a home (and not ours)! I'm always finding things in strange places! He put the Miracle Whip away in the cabinet next to the bread. I think it says refrigerate after opening somewhere on it. The other thing...is that he didn't even put the bread in the right spot! The bread goes in a different cabinet, right next to the loaf that hasn't been opened yet! So if he didn't know where it went, all he had to do is find the other loaf!

I have found lunch meat in the cabinet, peanut butter in the fridge, butter in the cabinet, and my pots and pans always have a new home after he puts the dishes away! Does he seriously have mental problems or does he not pay attention? I think it's both. He is bi-polar so he's on meds and he does take pills to help him sleep. He did eat sandwiches after he took his meds. So which is it? Sometimes he drives me crazy with all his forgetfulness.

I've tried everything I can think of to help him, short of leaving little post-it notes all around the house, which, by the way, he would ignore! Should I be frustrated, sympathetic, or just treat every day as a seek and find day? I give up! I've had to throw food away because he put it in the cabinet instead of the fridge, and it sat there all night and the majority of the next day.

This is not all he does! He always "forgets" to do things I ask him to do. His tools (big tool boxes), will sit in the house for weeks. I ask him to put them away and he says he'll do it, but he won't. He says "I forgot"! I'm starting to think he has Alzheimer's, mad cow, or it's just plain defiance! It's so frustrating. I will even hide them from him! Nothing works! OK, he will put things away once I get mad and blow up at him! When I tell him that he put the Miracle Whip in the cabinet, he'll probably laugh and say, 'At least I put it away'! Arrrrrrg!

In his defense, I will have to say that he doesn't ruin food everyday. It happens about once a month!

Great Big Kiss: WW

Amber's pet snake, Milfrid! A Joy to have around..... NOT! Yes, that is Milfrid's tongue sticking out! Yes, she spells his name M-I-L-F-R-I-D, not M-I-L-F-R-E-D! The child is strange!

The Rescue!

Eric's friend, Dennis, who is almost like my own child because we have let him live with us on and off for about the last 6 years, decided to go to New Mexico last weekend. His mom has a house there, though she is not there too often due to reasons I won't mention at this time. He followed his dad there so they could get some of their things, and then they were going to come back to Phoenix on Monday. Well Monday came and went and Dennis was supposed to show up for work at 9 AM on Tuesday but, never made it. We started to get worried because it's not like him to not show up when he says. His cell phone is broken and there is no house phone so we had no way to call him to see if he was OK.
Eric, his friend Steven, and Steven's 2 roommates decided to take a road trip to see if Dennis was alright. They left my house about 8:30 PM, in Eric's car, and set out on their journey. I was on the computer for several hours, as time gets away from me, and at about 12:30 thought that I'd better get to bed since I have to be at work at 7:00 AM. Just as I was about to go to bed, I get a call about 12:45. "Mom, my car overheated. Where are you? I'm almost in Wilcox. Is anything around you? No, just freeway and dirt. We stopped at Wal-Mart a ways back and bought anti-freeze. I put it in my car and drove about 3 miles and it overheated again. Oh, there's no radiator cap. Let me talk to dad and I'll call you back". After talking with my husband, we decided that we would both take the day off work and go rescue these kids. Chuck loaded up the car with a bunch of tools, jugs of water and a light that clips onto the battery...sort of like jumper cables. I loaded up drinking water and other random things I thought we might need. On our way, we stopped at a 24 hour Auto Zone and bought a radiator cap. We headed out, I was driving because Chuck has to take meds to help him sleep, and occasionally Eric would call me to see how far we were but we didn't talk long as his battery was about to die. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get to them. Eric told me he exited at mile marker 303, then got back on the freeway, and drove about 3 more miles. NOT! He drove 9 more miles.
Here is a picture of Eric's stranded car and Chuck talking with the boys on the side of the car.














He tried so hard to figure out where the car was leaking water from. He checked all the hoses and saw nothing. He looked at the radiator and also saw nothing. It was very cold out (well, I thought so anyway) and I had drank water and soda... so, of course, I was trying to hurry them up so we could find the next rest stop. Chuck finally felt sorry for me and said that we could find the rest stop and then come back. So that's what we did. As it turns out, the rest stop was only about 1 1/2 miles away, Thank God!

Chuck ended up driving the car to the rest stop long enough for it to cool down and for us to figure out our next move. The kids were starving so we decided to drive back to the last town and find a place to eat. We all walked in to Denny's looking like something the cat dragged in at 6:30 AM. We ate and Chuck had to take his millionth cup of coffee to go (OK, I exaggerated a bit). I had to call home to make sure the other kids were up for school. Then off we went to get the car.

We decided to take it to the town of Benson, where Denny's is. There it sits at a motel until this weekend when Chuck and I will make another trip to retrieve it. We will be borrowing my mom's truck and renting a tow dolly.

Now we had to get everyone home with 5 seats in my car and 6 people. The only thing we could do was to have someone sit on a lap. The 2 room mates were dating so she sat on his lap. I felt sorry for them but it was better than being stranded. We were all extreamly tired...well, except Chuck and all his coffee in him, plus he was the only one that had any sleep before we left. I just had to take pictures of the kids sleeping and all cramped in the back seat. Do you think this looks comfy? The first picture looks like Eric's straw is about to go up his nose! Sitting next to him is Steven, then the other 2 with the girl being the one in the green (sorry, I can't remember their names).




Her head was on the back of my headrest. She is wearing the hood to the jacket so you can't see her face. The boy is just behind her. You can see his hat and Steven is resting his head on the boys shoulder.

We all got home safe and very tired. I think the poor kid's legs went numb!

As for Dennis, he was at his mom's house. I actually got a hold of him while the kids were on their way. His dad's Explorer broke down and Dennis was waiting for him to get it fixed.

I had a talk with Dennis so he now knows that he can call me collect from a pay phone if plans change!

January In AZ

This was taken with my 1.3 mp cell phone camera so the quality isn't that good, not to mention I was in my car and my husband was driving. This is around Casa Grande, AZ.

Out with the old, In with the new!

This past weekend my husband and I (mostly Chuck) replaced our water heater! I didn't know how bad the old one was until we pulled it out! Take a look at this! So gross! The top picture is of the lower heating element. It is so rusted that it is almost unrecognizable.
The lower picture is of the bottom of the water heater...again, all rusted out. I also took a picture of the upper heating element pulled out. It was too blurry and I got sidetracked so I didn't get a chance to take another one. It looked like something that has been on the bottom of the ocean for 100 years.

Since the spigot was all messed up, we were unable to drain it before we took it out. A 50 gallon water heater is very heavy, especially when full of water. It took Chuck, Eric, me, and a dolly to get it out the door that was, thankfully, right next to it. Then we pushed it over and let the water drain in the yard.

Next, was to install the new one. After our ritual of going to The Home Depot to get some things we needed ($45 later), the installation began. Chuck had to do some re-wiring because the new water heater is much shorter than the old one (it's still 50 gallons, just fatter). He put on the new pipes and wires. He then decide to have Rachael turn on the kitchen hot water before he finished attaching the top part of the copper pipe (don't ask why...I don't think he even knows). Water sprayed everywhere!!!! Caught us both off guard but we thought it was funny. Please keep in mind that this is the first water heater he has ever replaced in his life. He is not a plumber! Overall, he did a great job. We now have steaming hot water and I don't have to adjust my water temp in the shower every 2 minutes!

So here is the finished work. I am very greatful that Chuck can fix things.

What A Shame

I am a Young and the Restless junkie! I have watched it for about 24 years now. I stopped watching it on TV for a couple of reasons. I like to watch it at a more convenient time for me and watching it on cbs.com cuts out a lot of commercials!

On the page that you watch it, towards the bottom, there is a place where viewers can leave comments. Most people leave it anonymously but some log in and their user name shows up. We all act like we have no lives and talk about the show/characters as if they are real. There is at least one, maybe more, person(s) that can't ever say anything about the show. All they do is say racist comments/jokes and they make a bunch of people mad! It drives me crazy every time I see one of their posts! I have reported it several times but nothing is done. I don't think they have people reviewing the comments. I wish you had to log in to leave any comment so that way it can be traced back to who is doing it. There is another section (Fans/Forums) that you do have to be logged in to leave any comment so why doesn't one have to be logged in at the other area?

I don't want to read or hear about anything racist! We all don't have a choice as to what skin color we are born with or what country we are born in. Pretty much everything else, we have a choice on and that includes how nice or mean you can be to someone!

I, on the other hand, am prejudice against people who do bad things like steal from hard working people that may have worked a ton of overtime just to afford something they needed, or people who kill (I don't mean in self defense) and have no remorse about it, like a lot of gang members. I don't care what your skin color is, if you do things like that, I have no respect for you. It's all about actions!

So when people act like that, all I think is... What A Shame!

It's My Birthday! And Other Things!

Yes, today is the day! It was a pretty nice day for the most part. My mom came by and took me out for Mexican food at Garcia's! I love Mexican food! We had a nice day together. My friends and family gave me cards, text messages, emails, ecards, and phone calls! That was nice of everyone. I normally work on my Birthday but I got it off this year, not because it was my Birthday, but because my schedule worked out that way!

The down side was when I had my daily headache! It is gone now. The nap I took may have helped, along with all the Ibuprofen, LOL! I get headaches everyday, there are a few reasons why I think they happen. I have a tooth that needs a root canal and it causes pain that shoots up into my head. I can't afford to get it fixed. Even with dental insurance, it's still a few hundred dollars because I need a crown too! Also another reason may be that I need glasses! I've been putting that off for a couple of years but I think I need to break down and get some. I don't look good in them and I will want contacts instead.

The other thing I did today was purchase a new water heater! Our house was built in 1976 and we still had the original one! The last 2 months, our showers have had to be quick. The hot water only lasts for about one shower. About a week ago, Chuck looked at our water heater and thought that it just needed a new heating element. It did because one of them was just hanging down, broken. After trying to drain the water out so he could take out the element, he discovered 2 more problems. The first one being that the water spigot would not drain any water out. He took it off only to find the other problem. There was so much sediment that when he shoved a wire hanger in it, it felt almost like he was shoving it in to sand. Eeewww! Gross! He put everything back until we could get a new water heater. Today was the day because I had the time (and I really want a shower that I don't have to adjust the temp every 2 minutes). So guess what we will be doing this weekend!

I have so many other projects to do in my house! We had a leak in my roof and water was coming in through my ceiling. Chuck fixed the leak over the summer but now we have to fix the drywall and along with that, take down more popcorn off the ceiling. Not a hard job, as we have done it before, but very messy! Along with that come texturing the ceiling and painting, I will be ripping out some carpet this month, long story but it's mostly because of cats, I'd like to take off all the shower tiles and redo them (I think the greenboard needs replaced too) in both bathrooms (it gets moldy easy), and then a few other things. Oh the joys responsibilities of being a home owner!

"Old" Approaching

My 38th birthday is tomorrow and I'm getting the "Old" jokes! My friends, co-workers, and children all have made some sort of remark. I don't really mind because either they are already there or will be soon! My husband doesn't say anything, that's because he is the "old" one, LOL! He will be 40 on the 17th.

My son, Eric, makes comments year round. "Mom, back in the Stone Age, did they have.......?" or he makes jokes about all there was when I was little were rocks. He thinks he is so funny! I had my son when I was 17 and all of his friends parents are older than me except Steven's mom. I went to school with her since 6th grade, all through high school (although we were never friends). She is less than a year younger than me (maybe 6-8 months) but Steven is about a year and a half younger than Eric. So does that make me old? I'm sure my mom won't say I'm old because that makes her "older". My sister is old (almost 44), but not me, LOL!!!

I'm really only joking about all the above. Some days I feel old and others I do not. At what age do we become old? When I was little, I used to think 21 was old. Then when I turned 21, I found out that I was wrong. It was 35. Wrong again! Now I just know it's way off.

My husband tells me that age is just a state of mind. I actually believe that because he acts like a kid, a lot! I call him my 5th kid or my oldest kid! He will agree with me (sometimes). I won't take him to Toys R Us anymore!!! I can't seem to get him out of there, LOL!

At what age do you think we turn old?

Photo Radar

Here in AZ we have photo radar cameras. There are 2 cameras per "speed trap". One is set to take a picture of your face and the other is set to take a picture of your license plate. Then the courts run your plate and send you a ticket along with a picture of your face and license plate. I've seen pictures of people and it is very clear. There is no doubt about who is driving.

There is some problems that have come with this:

1. Stolen plates

A. The courts have you provide the police report number, so they have that all worked out.

2. Selling the vehicle

A. They want you to provide the information of the person the vehicle was sold to.

3. Loaning your vehicle out to a friend or family member

A. They also want the information of the person driving

Several years ago, when this started getting popular, all you had to do was take the picture into court and say "That's not me" then they would throw it out. Now they have wised up to that (probably losing too much money) and they send you the picture along with a ticket and a place to identify the driver. The information they are asking is the person's name, address, DL #, expiration, state of DL, and DOB. Then it says "I declare under penalty of perjury that the information provided herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge". Then there is a place to sign your name, print and date. However there is nowhere to make any comments.

I'm sure you can tell, by the details given, I have received one of these lovely things in the mail. No, it wasn't me driving. Chuck loaned his car (which is in my name) to a friend of ours and he got his picture taken on the freeway doing 75 in a 65. The camera is set to start taking pictures at 10 mph over the speed limit and that's exactly what he was doing. 1 mph less and I would not be blogging about this.....yet, LOL!

So here's the problem. The friend that was driving, "Andrew", doesn't want the ticket, I guess. I know his first and last name but that's it! I know his last known address but he has recently moved to Prescott. Now I have no idea what it is. I also don't typically ask friends for their DL# before they borrow our car. Has it come down to that, asking your friends for their DL#? Do we need to keep them in our address book, or should we just make a photo copy of their license before they drive our car?

Andrew has Pre-paid Legal and called them about the situation. According to Andrew, they say that Chuck and I are under no obligation to pay for it. Andrew wants us to hold off on it and wait and see what comes of it, then we'll deal with it then. I say NO WAY! I will give him up no matter what! We had another friend that got one and he ignored it and a process server showed up at his door and handed him the ticket! The courts will not let it go. I personally don't want to be held accountable for a violation I did not commit! I do not want a warrent out for my arrest for not cooperating and/or paying for something I didn't do.

We are going to tell him that we want his information and then the courts can send him the ticket and then he can deal with his Pre-paid Legal service after he gets the ticket. I won't say that I don't know who it is. The pictures are clear, however his picture was taken at night and the bottom half of his face was dark, but I still know who it is. During the daylight hours, it's perfect.

OK, he happened to call us while I was typing this. He still doesn't want us to do anything yet. I gave him the website so he can see it and the lawyer can look at it too. He will be down on Monday and call the lawyer...again! I told him I will hold off on doing anything until then, since the information doesn't have to be in until the 27th. I also felt that he should at least have the right to view the ticket that he's being accused of. I also let him know that I will not "Take one for the team" so to speak! Chuck feels that if he wants to take on "The Man", he shouldn't do it at his friends expense. He should wait until he is the only one involved.

Once everything is figured out, I will post an update.

If you are interested in what this is all about and how it works, go to:

www.azdps.gov/photoenforcement

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe New Year celebration!
I was boring and was on my computer at the time the New Year came! I did not drink because I had to work New Years Day! My husband was also on the computer in my bedroom, I was on my laptop sitting on my bed and my youngest son was laying on my bed watching 'Merry Christmas Drake and Josh'. OK...I was sort of watching it too! I can't help it, I like that show! I guess we had some great family bonding since we were in the same room and all, LOL! My oldest son and his friend were home, Rachael spent the night at her friend's house and Amber went to her boyfriend's mom's friends house. I spoke with Kevin's mom before she went and made it clear that if she drank anything, I will be more than happy to pick Amber up. She assured me that she doesn't take any chances, especially when she has kids with her. Amber came home safe about 2:00 AM. I still haven't seen Rachael yet. Since she graduated High School (and has her own car), we don't see each other much. She goes to a Community College and works part-time. The rest of the time she is with her friends or boyfriend and I am at work a lot!

Since I am still new to this blogging, I haven't had time to put pictures on here but I will soon! Don't know of what yet. I hate getting pictures taken of me! I need to lose some weight first! That will be happening soon since the Holidays are over now! I will post when I start and if I actually lose any or not (hopefully this will keep me motivated). I've done it before and was feeling pretty good but, I started having major foot pain and some other issues so I had to quit going on my nightly walks. Hopefully it won't happen again! I really like my walks because it's peaceful and helps me think more clear!