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Television Time

Posted on October 12, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I have noticed recently that I am not watching as much television as I used to. For some reason, many of the old shows that I loved for years are not keeping my interest. I guess it is true that tastes change and sometimes storylines just are not ones you want to follow. This happened years ago with ER. I stopped watching ER around the time NHL was born (2007) and missed the last few seasons. Then, Desperate Housewives got too strange for my taste a season or two before it went off the air. Private Practice was a show that I adored, and then it went down a dark path that I just had no patience for.

Now enter Grey’s Anatomy. I had been a faithful fan from the start. Then, there was the end of the season blood bath two years ago. I could not get myself to watch it. The world is full of enough of these real life events that I did not want go down that road with a show. I skipped that episode, but started back up at the end of last year. Then, the last episode of the season happened in the spring. Rather than a psycho gunman going throughout the hospital shooting people, the bloodbath involved a medic copter crashing. Put a fork in me, I was done.

These days, I prefer reading. Books on the Kindle platform allow me to read on the go, while picking the kids up and beyond. Of course, I do have a few shows that I still adore. Two of those are Once Upon a Time and Parenthood. Very different, but enjoyed for multiple reasons.

So my question to you this week:

Have you ever quit a television show that you adored? I would love to know which one and why. Oh and while you are at it, what shows are on your must watch these days?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #224

Categories:
Aloha Friday books me moments television

Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2012

Posted on October 8, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Breast cancer is something that has hit close to home for me. I have watched friends and family members fight this disease. In addition to this, I have watched as a friend has turned the loss of her mother from breast cancer into a crusade to teach others about the importance of early detection.

This year, I experienced my first mammogram. Although I am “only” 35, my doctor felt that with a family history it was a good time to get a baseline to use for the future. I wrote The Importance of a First Mammogram to share my experience with others. To remind people that the temporary discomfort (if you have any) is well worth it.

If you are not familiar one of the first lines of defense (beside self breast exams), this is the machine that people often talk about. It seems a lot less daunting than I expected. It really is hard to believe that that has saved so many women and men (they have breasts and can get cancer there too).

I am less into buying pink products that promise to give money to foundation to help breast cancer. I prefer to donate to the American Cancer Society which helps breast cancer and other cancers that friends and members of my family have been faced with. Since it is breast cancer awareness month, I wanted to share their campaign for their Making Strides Walk.

Please take this time to think about yourself. Remember to do breast self exams. Schedule it on your calendar or in your smart phone. Talk to your doctor if something is not right. Go for your baseline or routine mammogram and stop making excuses. Early detection is key not only with breast cancer, but all cancer so be selfish and take care of YOU.

It's Me

Categories:
health awareness looking back me moments PSA real world news

Steel Magnolias 23 Years Later

Posted on October 5, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Twenty three years ago, a group of women that we probably never pictured together burst onto the movie screen and created a classic film. Enter Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts who brought us Steel Magnolias. It was a movie that taught us about true friendship, motherhood, challenges, and more. All of these years later, the movie still holds up.

Lifetime Original Movies has remade Steel Magnolias and it will be premiering this Sunday.

Once again an amazing cast of strong women are playing the characters that we have known for over two decades. The actresses include Queen Latifa, Jill Scott, Alfre Woodard, Adepero Oduye, Phylicia Rashad, and Condola Rashad.

As a Lifetime Mom affiliate, I had the opportunity to get a screener of the movie. The story is the same, the lines practically identical, the acting very powerful. Some items are a little more updated (there is a mention of Facebook), but honestly the only real difference is that it is set in our current time and now there is an all African American group of actors. Since I adored the original, I wanted to see this new version. Would it live up to my expectations or would I hate it? Could I get past recalling Shirley MacLaine playing Ouiser?

Truth be told, I am not entirely sure what I think of the movie. The acting is strong, and the story is identical and scripted words the same. I guess I wish a few inaccuracies had been corrected from the first movie to this new one. Still, I did enjoy seeing new actors showing their interpretation of a classic role. Once again, these beautiful actors (inside and out) show the strength, courage, and compassion needed when being a lifelong friend. Yes, I admit it…I found myself crying with this movie even though I knew all along what was going to happen.

So my question to you this week:

Are you a fan of movie remakes? Let me know why you do or do not like them. I would also love to know if you plan on watching the Lifetime version of Steel Magnolias.

Disclosure: I am a Lifetime Mom affiliate. As a part of this, I was offered a screener DVD of "Steel Magnolias" to view. No compensation was given and the opinions expressed are my own.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #223

Categories:
Aloha Friday looking back me moments Movies television

Learning with ABC Ducks

Posted on September 27, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I am a certified reading teacher. My youngest son just started kindergarten and I have to say, I am not entirely sure if he knows all of his letters. He will joke around when you try to ask, or change the subject. As an educator, I knew it was not wise to push him, even if he said he really wanted to learn to read. Now that he is in school, JSL will quickly learn to do this with the guidance of his teachers. Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t try to help things out at home.

Over the summer, I bought and used countless flashcards, games, writing books, and more. I have a feeling JSL knows a lot more than he is sharing with me. He is shy and gets embarrassed if he gets something wrong. Thanks to this, I tried to think of something a little different that would connect with what he likes. JSL loves Ducks. Over time, he has expressed interest in expanding his rubber duck collection. At the end of the summer, he had some new additions from the summer reading program at the library.

I wanted to get the boys a little something special for going back to school. I knew that JSL would love some additional ducks since they are not too easy to find locally. While looking online, I found a Set of 26 ~ ABC’s Rubber Duckies on Amazon. After a while, we decided to order them for JSL. They arrived this week and I have to say, they are really cute. Let me introduce you to the new members of the duck family.

Group 1 of the ducks includes an astronaut, baby, cat, dog, and elephant.

Group 2 of the ducks includes a farmer, green, hockey player, ice cream, and joker.

Group 3 of the ducks includes a king, lamb, monkey, nurse, and orange.

Group 4 of the ducks includes a pirate, queen, reindeer, Santa, and tennis player.

Group 5 of the ducks includes a unicorn, Valentine, walrus, x-ray, yak, and zebra.

Thank goodness JSL has a great container for his entire collection. Now I just need to come up with some ABC duck games to use as enrichment activities to work on his letter recognition and sounds.

If you have any ideas I would love you to leave them in the comments below – thank you in advance!

Disclosure: One link within this post is an Amazon Affiliate link for the ABC Ducks that we purchased. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to buy them through that link.

Categories:
Educational jsl me moments photos school

Special Knitting Requests

Posted on September 22, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

A few weeks ago, we were out at a craft store looking for a gift for someone. At one point, NHL looked at me and asked to let him pick out some yarn for a project. You had a specific item in mind. One of your stuffed friends wanted a blanket like I had made myself. It was impossible for me to say no. We went to the yarn section and you picked out something extremely bright. It was called Crayon and I think I know why. I quickly knit up a small blanket for on your bed.

Once you saw that your brother had a blanket for someone, you also wanted one JSL. I realized this when we were at the craft store getting supplies for the Kermit cupcakes. Since we were there, you selected the yarn that you liked. There seemed to be a theme going here with your colors. Yours was actually called Psychedelic. I really loved the way it stripes and turned out. When I finished yours the other night, I left it by your pillow for you to find in the morning.

It was a lot of fun seeing both of your faces when I let you select the yarn and then again when I was finished with the items. I guess it really is hard for me to say no to something like this. Of course, now I recall hearing the two of you mention new scarves for the winter. Hmmmm…

Love,