Hey! The Year 2020 has sure been a ride and half so far, hasn’t it? As July warps up my kiddo will be turning 18 months and growing. In just a blink of an eye she’s gone from teenie tiny babe to a walking, talking, spinning in circles, cool cool (sayin’ cool cool), hungry, grubbin’ little toddler. It’s what parents all say, but yeah poof time zips fast and the kiddo is growing like woosh. I’m happy.

It’s kinda awesome right now that I can be with my kid all the time, catch all the milestones and watch her as the growing up adventure unfolds. My Guy Dave (MGD) and I sure are lucky and happy parents. Yup, yup.

COOL COOL KIDDO!

This current life in quarantine is quite the reality check and not always fun. We have not been going out except to buy groceries or pick up food. I realized that’s really been our MO. We go on walks, and walk around the park and let kiddo do some running, that’s nice stuff. We’re lucky that we have a nice place for her to run around, play in the dirt and those kind of things. There’s drives here and there, but their aimless drives (or not so when it’s to the shopping stops) and the germaphobe in me is at the forefront worrying about germs and other germies.

But I’m lucky to have what I have, so I just have to remember that and be thankful each day. It’s not easy watching the rest of the world going through all it’s going through. It makes me mad and sad all at the same time. I don’t bring up politics or deep emotions here often, if ever, but the world has a lot of hurt and it’s being recognized. I try and do my part to help make things better and encourage others to do so. Just taking it a day at a time as I go along. I’ll still be optimistic for the future. As always, Black Lives Matter!

Giving my kiddo my attention is what’s keeping me sane and happy and I love seeing her happy, having fun, learning new things and I’m learning along with her. I say she spoils me as much as I spoil her. Yup. Another bright side is Kiddo has her grandparents around to hang out with and have more fun with. Talk about awesome bonus there. It’s fun seeing the three of them play together. Yup.

This year I’m way behind in my movie watching, and though it may sound like a complaint, it’s really, really not. It’s just frustrating when the only thing I had wanted for my birthday this year was to go to a movie theater and enjoy a movie, I was going to go by myself too. (Something I’ve always loved to do, watch a movie solo.) But then, my birthday being in March, the end of March, it didn’t happen. It never even got close to happening. But so it goes…Life happens. Pandemic life began.

When I do watch movies it’s bits at a time, between kiddo sleeps, or during our meal times. I’ll take what I can get to watch a movie. Yup, Yup.

So far I’ve seen 12 flicks! We did even get to rent a few flick from good old VIDÉOTHÈQUE  in South Pasadena at the start of Stay At Home days…(Help your favorite businesses!)

MOVIES WATCHED!!!

1. TROOP ZERO (2019) – 3/3/20 – Amazon
2. THE SIGN OF ZORRO (1958) – 3/14/20 – DISNEY+
3. HELLBENDERS (1967) – 3/17/20 – DVD
4. KNIVES OUT (2019) – 3/21/208* – BluRay
5. JOJO RABBIT (2019) – 3/21/20* – BluRay
6. COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2018) – 3/26/20 – BluRay
7. A TOWN LIKE ALICE (1981) TV MINI-SERIES – 3/30/20 – DVD
8. ONWARD (2020) – 4/5/20 – DISNEY +
9. FAST COLOR (2018) – 5/13/20 – HULU*
10. NATIONAL TREASURE (2004) – 6/28/20 – DISNEY+
11. THE LOVEBIRDS (2020) – 7/11/20 – Netflix
12. PALM SPRINGS (2020) – 7/15/20 – HULU*

The * movies are my favorites so far and they got a 5 rating, so they’re grrrrrreat! PALM SPRINGS really was perfection in my book. It was so exciting when we got to finish that one all in one day. It’s the kind of movie I really needed right now. I recommend it, yup.

PALM SPRINGS – Perfection!

And yes, I really only saw NATIONAL TREASURE for the first time this year. MGD has long been a fan and now I must admit I enjoyed the heist, treasure hunt adventure. Yup.

Reading and audio books have been my main go to entertainment as of late. I can always relax with books and have gotten through a few more at night listening to audio books.

BOOKS!!!

  1. On What Grounds – Cleo Coyle
  2. The Face In The Frost – John Bellairs
  3. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
  4. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards – Lillian Jackson Braun (audiobook)
  5. The Case of The Velvet Claw – Erle Stanley Gardner (audiobook)
  6. The Ghost and Mrs. Mcclure – Alice Kimberly
  7. The Case of The Sulky Girl – Erle Stanley Gardner (audiobook)
  8. The Case of The Lucky Legs – Erle Stanley Gardner
  9. Sonnets – Shakespeare – read by Sir John Gielgud (audiobook)
  10. Beowulf (audiobook)
  11. The Demu Trilogy – F.M Busby
  12. The Canterville Ghost – Oscar Wilde (audiobook)
  13. Elevation – Stephen King (audiobook)
  14. PET – Akwaeke Emezi (audiobook)
  15. The Case of The Howling Dog – Erle Stanley Gardner (audiobook)
  16. The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo (audiobook)
  17. Miss Fisher Cocaine Blues – Kerry Greenwood (audiobook)

I was really happy I got to finish another Nevil Shute novel since I discovered him last year. A Town Like Alice was a wonderful story and I got to watch the mini-series done in Australia (mentioned on my movie list). There’s another version of the movie out there, but I’ve got to track it down. MGD also got me a copy of Shute’s ON THE BEACH but I’m working my nerve up to read that one. I did watch the movie last year! Woah, so good, so sad, and heavy.

The Perry Mason books by Erle Stanley Gardner are a ton of fun. They’re not all set in a courtroom and Perry is cooler than cool. After listening to those I just didn’t quite feel I could dive into the new Perry show, it’s just not the same vibe, but maybe one day I’ll check it out. After those first books though, I do think that Raymond Burr fit the Perry Mason vibe pretty well when that show got started.

The Demu Trilogy was really out to be a good book when I first dove in, I was really excited by this future/space one man against aliens adventure and was telling my dad all about it along the way. I was hooked, but then…then as I got to the third part, everything and every kind of sink got thrown in, I’m not sure I’m satisfied after all. Ugh.

So rambles, rambling, rambling. I’ve finally got a chance to type type here and just share some things I’ve been enjoying. Maybe next I can sit down and do some crafting junk, but my current favorite crafting hobbies aren’t very kiddo friendly (felting/cross stitch needles!) YIKES! So that stuff stays on the back burner a while longer. Yup.

I just hope all out there are doing as well as they can be! Thanks for reading if you’ve come this far. Please, stay good, stay healthy, and be happy. Yup. Find your happy place and stay a while. Yup.

Hasta la pasta party peeps. I’m going to dive into my latest book while kiddo still sleeps. Yup Yup Yup! 😀

Finally I have found some time to share my movie list from 2019, I just barely had a chance to type it up, it’s taken me three days or nights to do so! I’ve got some favorites I’ll jot down at the bottom and discoveries that will be shared in full detail elsewhere soon as I can get that written too.

Mommy brain and mommy days sure keep me on my toes and don’t really give me much of a chance to write. But I just spoil myself with baby time, truth be told, so I put my rambling time on the back burner. But, it sure does feel nice to ramble now…type, type, yup yup yup.

In 2019 I got to see 74 movies, that’s between new and re-sees, 56 new movies and 18 re-sees. It’s quality, not quantity, right? I sure did spoil myself with my years of many more movies watched, but as I said I spoil myself with baby raising time now. Near the end of the year the movie watching really fell off, my guy Dave and I did a lot more TV watching, the short format is easier with baby around and she’s not getting the screen time. She’ll have plenty of movies in her future, I’m sure. Yup.

Below is my list of movies seen! I’ll was happy I did get a chance to watch my all time favorite DARKMAN once as a great re-see! So yay!

NEW MOVIES: 

  1. HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951) | 1/6/19 | TCM Noir Alley
  2. FREE FIRE (2016) | 1/9/19 | Kanopy
  3. HELL FEST (2018) | 1/10/19 | DVD
  4. SUMMER OF ‘84 (2018) | 1/12/19 | Kanopy
  5. NIGHT OF FEAR (1972) | 1/14/19 | Kanopy
  6. THE MAD ROOM (1969) | 1/20/19 | Amazon
  7. MOON 44 (1990) | 1/20/19 | Amazon | (maybe re-see) 
  8. WEREWOLF (1956) | 1/26/19 | Svengoolie/MeTV
  9. INCREDIBLES 2 (2019) | 2/10/19 | Netflix
  10.  HAPPY DEATH DAY (2017) | 2/13/19 | Amazon Rental
  11.  LADY ICE (1973) | 2/17/19 | Amazon
  12.  DRIVING FORCE (1989) | 2/18/19 | Amazon
  13.  THAT’LL BE THE DAY (1975) | 2/22/19 | Kanopy
  14. FORCE FOUR (1975) | 2/24/19 | Amazon
  15. HARRY AND WALTER GO TO NEW YORK (1978) | 3/8/19 | DVD
  16.  RETURN ENGAGEMENT (1990) a.k.a. HONG KONG CORRUPTOR | 3/9/19 | DVD
  17. SHOOT DOWN THE SUN (1978) | 3/18/19 | Kanopy
  18. AGATHA & THE TRUTH OF MURDER (2019) | 3/24/19 | Netflix
  19. THE QUAKE (2018) | 3/27/19 | Google Rental
  20. AQUAMAN (2018) | 3/28/19 | Google Rental
  21. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (2018) | 3/29/10
  22. BORDER (2018) | 4/19/19 | Blu-Ray
  23. SOMEONE GREAT (2019) | 4/25/19 | Netflix
  24. JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE FATAL 5 (2019) | 4/25/19 | Google Rental
  25. IF BEAL STREET COULD TALK (2018) | 4/27/19 | HULU
  26. LUCKY LOGAN (2017) | 5/1/19 | Kanopy
  27. LAW OF THE LAWLESS (1964) | 5/4/19 | HULU
  28. THE PREDATOR (2018) | 5/4/19 | HBO GO or SHOWTIME
  29. SUSPIRIA (2018) | 5/16/19 | Amazon
  30. BLACK SPURS (1965) | 5/18/19 | HULU
  31. HAPPY DEAD DAY 2U (2019) | 5/18/19 | Rental
  32. PROJECT KILL (1976) | 5/22/19 | HULU
  33. OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY (1991) | 5/26/19 | STARZ
  34. DEADWOOD (2019) | 5/31/19 | HBO
  35. ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE (2019) | 6/5/19 | Netflix
  36. THE JIGSAW MAN (1983) | 6/7/19 | Amazon
  37. BULLWHIP (1958) | 6/9/19 | Amazon
  38. CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019) | 6/13/19 | Rental
  39. L’iceberg (2005) | 7/6/19 | DVD
  40. AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019) | 7/25/19 | AMC Monterey Park
  41. SHAZAM (2019) | 7/31/19 | Rental
  42. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (2019) | ?? | Rental
  43. THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME (2019) | 8/3/19
  44. INVADER ZIM MOVIE (2019) | 8/17/19 | Netflix
  45. COLD PURSUIT (2019) | 8/24/19 | DVD
  46. UP THE RIVER (1930) | 8/29/19 | DVD
  47. ON THE BEACH (1959) | 9/2/19 | DVD
  48. IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE (2014) | 9/2/19 | DVD
  49. ISN’T IT ROMANTIC (2019) | 9/8/19 | Blu-Ray
  50. GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019) | 9/29/19 | DVD Redbox
  51. SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME (2019) | 10/13/19 | DVD
  52. DOLEMITE IS MY NAME (2019) | 10/27/19 | Netflix
  53. FRYE FRAUD (2019) | 10/15/19 | HULU
  54. POWER OF GREYSKULL: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE | ? | YouTube
  55. ANNA & THE APOCALYPSE (2017) | 12/2/19 | Rental
  56. JOHN WICK 3: PARABELLUM (2019) | 12/31/19 | Plex

RE-SEE MOVIES:

  1. THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004) | 1/5/19 | CABLE TV
  2. THE MUMMY (1999) | 1/5/19 | Netflix
  3. DARKMAN (1990) | 1/12/19 | Cinemax
  4. CLUE (1985) | 1/16/19 | Kanopy 
  5. WILD IN THE STREETS (1968) | 1/23/19 | TCM 
  6. BUBBA HO-TEP (2002) | 3/15/19 | Amazon
  7. THE MATRIX (1999) | 3/16/19 | Amazon 
  8. HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1 (1981) | 4/21/19 | Archive.org 
  9. I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND (1978)  | 4/22/19 | Blu-Ray 
  10. ROMANCING THE STONE (1984) | 5/12/19 | HBO 
  11. TAPEHEADS (1988) | 5/17/19 | Amazon
  12. SERIAL MOM (1994) | 5/26/19 | STARZ 
  13. SHAKES THE CLOWNS (1991) | 7/6/19 | Blu-Ray (watched 2 times, second time w/ Commentary) 
  14. THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI: ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION (1984) | 8/11/19 | Blu-Ray
  15. VISITANTS (1986) | 8/19/19 | Stream 
  16. THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) | 8/31/19 | Netflix 
  17. THE GATE (1987) | 9/28/19 | Stream 
  18. LOTR: FELLOWSHIP | 12/25/10 | Blu-Ray

My favorite movie of new movies was DOLEMITE IS MY NAME. It was just a refreshing happy blast from beginning to end. We did a re-watch of DEADWOOD series (My Guy Dave watched the 2nd-3rd seasons for the first time) and I loved the DEADWOOD movie.

Two of favorite discovery films, oldies but new to me were L’iceberg and ON THE BEACH. A bonus about ON THE BEACH was that it introduced me to the author Nevil Shute and though I haven’t read ON THE BEACH yet, I did read two of his other books; BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP and THE RAINBOW AND THE ROSE and they were both special reads, thanks again Library. (I did read 19 books, that’s a mix of mostly books and then graphic novels.) List below!

ON THE BEACH, tough watch, but so good!

BOOK READING LIST:

  1. THE TIME MACHINE – H.G. Wells – 1/15/19
  2. RELISH: MY LIFE IN THE KITCHEN – Lucy Kinsley (GRAPHIC NOVEL) – 1/25/19
  3. THE HOLLOW HILLS – Mary Stewart – 1/29/19
  4. KID GLOVES – Lucy Kinsley (GRAPHIC NOVEL)  – 3/10/19
  5. MILLENNIAL WOMEN (Shorts/Novella) –  4/13/19 
  6. WAR OF THE WORLDS – H.G. Wells – 5/14/19
  7. NO NIGHT WITHOUT STARS – Andrew Norton – 6/29/19
  8. THE WARLOCK IN SPITE OF HIMSELF – Christopher Stasheff – 7/17/19
  9. THE ROSE OF I.O. – Wesley Chu – 8/5/19
  10. UNDEAD GIRL GANG – Lily Anderson – 8/22/19
  11. SILVER SCREEN FIEND – Patton Oswalt – 8/29/19
  12. BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP – Nevil Shute – 9/21/19
  13. THE RAINBOW & THE ROSE – Nevil Shute – 10/6/19
  14. MY BROTHER’S HUSBAND (VOL.1)  – Gengoroh Tagame (GRAPHIC NOVEL) – 10/20/19
  15. DISPLACEMENT: A TRAVELOGUE – Lucy Kinsley (GRAPHIC NOVEL) – 10/24/19
  16. THE CRYING CHILD – Barbra Michaels – 10/24/19
  17. OSCAR WILDE STORIES FOR CHILDREN – Oscar Wilde – 10/29/19
  18. PUNKY BREWSTER – Joelle Sellner (GRAPHIC NOVEL) – 10/31/19
  19. MISTER MIRACLE – Tim King (GRAPHIC NOVEL) 10/31/19

Yea, list round up, tally ho! And just to think back at a year ago, I was pushing out the baby that’s turning 1 on January 31st! Time sure zips and it’s been a blast through this roller coaster year. I’m lucky I’ve got what I got, yup yup yup.

I have watched a bunch of TV this year, and no movie yet, but I will soon enough…movies rule! Yup!