Mrs. Henderson Presents

Last night we watched the newly-released DVD of "Mrs. Henderson Presents." This is a fun movie and we recommend it. However, keep in mind it is R-rated. No fair letting kids watch it. It's not particularly offensive to an adult audience, but definitely only for adults.

Based on a true story, it stars Judi Dench (one of my favorite actresses) as a 70-year-old widow with time and money on her hands in 1938 England. She decides to buy an old theater and open a theatrical show similar to some in Paris. It turns out to be quite creative considering English mores and standards of the times.

Bo Hoskins, another great actor, takes the job of production manager. The two of them are usually at odds and vying for who has the last word in decision-making. Yet they respect one another and the show goes on quite successfully, even into wartime.

Because the theater is below ground level, it turns out to be the only one open after the Nazis begin bombing London. It gave hubby and me pause for thought re our own times and the new film "Flight 93" and whether it is the right story for today.

Both Dench and Hoskins were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances. Dame Dench is so outstanding an actress that she should be nominated -- and win -- in every movie in which she acts. (Because what's the point of nominating her for Best Actress if she's not in the movie. -- There I said it before you could! )

Enjoy the movie!

No - Nada - Non - Nein - etc

No - Nada - Non - Nein - etc.

I don't mean to be overly negative, but . . .

Rosie O'Donnell on The View (ABC) --- no, no, no, no! I'll be taking it off of my DVR list and won't watch it anymore. Some other much better choices were Patricia Heaton and Soledad O'Brien. Even Connie Chung, another runner-up that I'm not especially fond of, would be better than ROD.

USA national anthem in Spanish? --- no, no, no, no! -- It's not anything like the real words. Plus, is there an English or Arabic translation of the Marsailles in France? I don't think so!

Hispanic Rallies in cities around the U.S. Sunday and Monday --- (1.) Why do those who have entered the U.S. illegally believe that they have the right to protest? Every one of the protesters should be asked to present their citizenship papers or American birth certificates. Any who cannot should be arrested on the spot and deported ASAP.
(2) If they're going to protest that they want to become American citizens or forgiven for their illegal entry, why are they carrying flags of their former countries? At the very least, they should be carrying American flags. Duh!
(3.) Why are their posters and signs in Spanish? Because they haven't learned the language of their adopted country; and apparently they don't plan to.
(4) If they want to live here and receive the benefits of being Americans, they should read and write the language. The Polish, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc., etc. immigrants before them did so. How do the Hispanics figure they don't need to????

That's my venting for the day. Do I feel better? Not really.

Todays Painting

Check out Don Ripper's blog. He shares his artwork and it's beautiful!

Todays Painting

Tomorrow's garage sale

Preparing for Tomorrow's Garage Sale -- Talk about a love/hate relationship, IMHO garage sales are one of life's most difficult and demanding projects. I know that contradicts what some say about how great it is to clean out your closet and that maybe it brings you some extra money, etc., etc.

BUT --- it's a LOT of WORK!

I usually try to avoid holding them by donating items throughout the year to AMVETS. However, it looks like we'll be moving near the end of next month and it is imperative that we CLEAR THE DECKS of as much JUNK as possible! And quite frankly, we can use the present CASH instead of the deduction on next year's income tax.

For the last two weeks we've been parking my car outdoors so that little by little we can put the goods in the garage until tomorrow. Even so, a lot needs to be gathered up today.

Some of the things I don't like are
1.) sitting around all day waiting for customers to trickle in
2.) bickering with people who want stuff for nothing
3.) collecting the goods and setting up the tables
4.) pricing everything

Some of the things I do like are
1.) chatting with people, especially neighbors, who stop by
2.) being outside and feeling warm and maybe getting a bit of a tan; in fact I'll even settle for a little sunburn!
3.) okay, I admit -- I hope we make enough not only to pay for the newspaper ad ($24.95) and our lunch, but maybe to have some fun later on.
4.) clearing out the stuff we're not using and haven't used for years!

If you have any ideas for how you've had successful garage sales, please let me know!

Hooray! This afternoon I put my 1040 in the mail.

Whew! Whew! Whew!

I'm so grateful it's complete, finished, done.

The review from the TurboTax tax professional came on Sunday as promised; no real errors, just some recommendations and things to be alert to.

See this little guy jumping for joy? That's me. (Why can't they show a girl jumping for joy????)

Now -- on with the rest of my life.

Talking about movies with strangers

The last few times that I've returned my rental from Blockbuster, I happen to have either dropped it off or entered the store at the same time as someone else returning theirs.

It just seems like fun to me to ask the person, "How did you like it/them?" Then, depending upon their reply, we chat about whether I've seen it, too; or, if I haven't seen it, I ask them to tell me something about it. And if it's something I wouldn't want to watch, I say so: "That is NOT on my list."

So far, I've met with folks happy to talk and share what they thought about one or more of their returned DVD's or video's.

This morning as I returned "Narnia." another woman arrived at the door at the same time. It turns out we were both returning "Narnia." I said, "Isn't it neat to have watched that during the week before Easter! Great timing." She kind of looked at me and gently said, "It was an interesting movie." There wasn't any real conflict in her voice or demeanor; but I gather the DVD held no religious message for her.

I know there's a bit of debate about whether it's a metaphorical and religious fantasy story; or, whether it's just a good fantasy story period. I hadn't read the book, and hadn't even kept up too closely with the debate when the movie was first released. So I was open to whatever the movie presented.

I thought it told a fun story; it took me a while before I "caught on" to the Christian metaphor (or is it allegory) thing. The special effects, acting, etc. were superb IMHO. My hubby's quiet snoring at the beginning clued me in to its slow start. But he was wide awake when various chase scenes began! LOL

Anyway, this occurence with the woman at the Blockbuster store was very civilized. But I guess I shouldn't have blurted out my viewpoint quite so fast.

What do you think?

Progress Report on My Tax Return

On Tuesday night I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. Wednesday morning working on our taxes. I felt as if I were drowning in the paperwork. I was prepared to do an all-nighter again last night. But - Hooray! I finished at 10:15 p.m.

But here's the thing --- I finished, checked and double checked using Turbo Tax. But, there's more!

Another of its nifty features is that, for the low price of $49.95, you can email it to an experienced tax preparer who will give it his or her once-over. You can include any questions you want the person to particularly notice, pay attention to, or whatever. TurboTax promises to have the form back to you with recommendations, etc. within a designated time. Previously, when I've finished in February or March, I got results in 2 days. But last night, Wednesday, the promise is for Sunday, 4 days hence. That's the difference between early, and almost at the deadline; and why I felt under such pressure yesterday to get it done.

On Sunday I expect to get it back, make any needed changes, and still have time to mail it promptly on Monday, the 17th.

I haven't quite figured out whether a person can file electronically when you owe money. The last 2 years I received a refund and so there was no money involved; and the IRS deposited the money directly to our bank account.

So here's the summary:

Step One -- fill out the return. FINISHED!
Step Two -- request and wait for an expert's appraisal. IN PROCESS . . .
Step Three -- receive expert's review and make changes if necesssary. PENDING . . .
Step Four -- mail the return to the IRS. PENDING . . .

Waiting now . . . . . . Today I wasn't literally on the beach, as the photo suggests; but at least I relaxed a bit and can now breathe easier.

Time to do the taxes!

No, not "time to make the donuts." It's time to do the taxes! I can't believe I've left it 'til nearly the last minute. I'm using Turbo Tax which I've used the last two years. It's very easy - most of the time, especially because we use Quicken and QuickBooks.

In Turbo Tax, you can import the past year's tax info right from Q and QB. Except that for some reason, this year it's not working as easily as it did last year. I think the problem, as usual, is that something has changed either with the way Turbo Tax retrieves or with the way I entered my info.

For example, in Quicken, I call my income "Nan's Income;" and I have it designated as Schedule C Gross Receipts, etc. But I think Turbo Tax must be looking for just the word "Income," because instead of retrieving all of my income, it only imported $75.00. That is definitely not the right answer!

I've promised myself that I will work on it today until it's done. Period. No excuses. No more procrastination because one of the things I like about Turbo Tax is that after I've completed the return, I can email it to a professional preparer who will double-check everything before I send it to the IRS. (Yes, there's a small fee; but it's much less than the last time we asked H & R Block to do it and they charged us $500.00!) But sometimes this double-check takes 48 hours. So you can see that in order to definitely submit it by April 17th (extended this year because the 15th falls on a Saturday) I must have finished no later than tomorrow.

Gosh, I really don't like it when I mess up like this!

Lonely in here

It's so lonely here. I keep posting but get no comments.

Is anyone there????

Nan

Coconut dessert
I love coconut meat! That is, as long as it comes sweetened and in its own bag labeled "Baker's." I've tried the real thing right out of the bewhiskered nut. It's quite dull plus very difficult to cut or shred. Maybe I should just 'fess up and say I love sugar.

The Atkins way of eating (diet) means lots of protein and very little to no carbohydrates. I tried it a few years ago and loved it because it includes all the foods I love like butter, eggs, cream, meats, etc. I lost weight while eating my favorite foods and their ingredients. And I never felt hungry.

So here's one of my best discoveries. One of the Atkins recipes includes heavy cream, cream cheese, sweetener and flavoring. Mix it all together and you have a delicious and filling sweet dessert.

But another simpler one is to make whipped cream using heavy cream, sweetener and flavoring. Using this instead of ice cream, we made little mini-sundaes adding a very small amount of homemade chocolate sauce (chocolate squares, chips, sweetener and vanilla melted in the microwave).


The other day I bought a package of Baker's coconut. It suddenly occurred to me that what I love most about coconut cake is the frosting -- sweet and filled with coconut. So, I simply made the above whipped cream, spooned out about 1/4 cup into a small bowl, and added a tablespoon, or was it 2, of the shredded coconut.

My oh my! It was so good. I had to ignore the calories and sugar in the coconut of course. But other than that --- it is now my favorite dessert. Hmm mmm good!

New Rooster in Town

On Monday, I heard a rooster crowing. As the sound moved around, I knew he was exploring the neighborhood. A few years ago we had a visiting rooster. He roamed from neighborhood to neighborhood. He even made the news on TV and the local newspaper. Eventually the animal control people took it away - or whatever . . .

Rooster crowing isn't as charming as children's books make it seem. For one thing, they don't crow just in the morning and then shut up, the way an alarm clock does. They crow ALL DAY LONG; and the noise penetrates even through closed windows. While it's not as annoying as, say, a police siren, its constancy becomes quite distracting.

When I heard it crowing again yesterday morning, I grabbed my trusty camera and found him in the yard of one of my "back door" neighbors. Apparently the neighbor captured it somehow. There it stood, at the end of a twine leash crowing his cock-a-doodle-do over and over. Unfortunately, the water dish is quite small and . . . empty.

Someone told me about cock-fighting, which is illegal in Florida. Occasionally there are news reports of places, and people who promote it, who are discovered and arrested.

For a stray rooster to be caught and promoted for such a thing is abhorrent to me. In fact, maybe the one in our neighborhood is an escapee. I doubt it, though, because he's so beautiful.

Do you think I should call the animal control people? Talk to my neighbor? Just leave it alone?

Jill Carroll

The after-effect for Jill Carroll

Apparently the aftermath of a traumatic situation can be difficult, sometimes more than the event itself. Sometimes simply the culture shock for people coming back to the U. S. after living for months or years in different countries, can be challenging, even though everything was positive. It doesn't matter whether it's a developed country or not, the differences in people's attitudes, the pace of life, even the grocery stores, can be startling.

For example, I've known missionaries who, a year after returning will suddenly have a week or so of living and sleeping as if in a different time zone. At 7:00 p.m. they suddenly want to get up. At 7:00 a.m. they want dinner, not breakfast. This is just a small example and obviously not a traumatic one. But we can imagine the effect on someone who has had an experience like Jill Carroll did.

Now that we know a little more about her release and that the initial video recorded at the Islamic Party headquarters was a condition of her freedom, it's understandable that her statements were made under duress.

Today I saw news video of her disembarking from the military plane that brought her to Germany. Wow - what a difference, mainly because she was wearing western clothing: jeans, sweater, and sneakers! How wonderful!

BTW, if you go to http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/carroll_update.html, The Christian Science Monitor has updates about Jill throughout these 80+ days of her captivity. After you click on, you can scroll down to where there's a link called:"Photo Gallery: Reactions to Jill's Release." The very first photo is a beautiful one of her taken by the Monitor's correspondent in Baghdad, Scott Peterson. Compared to so many we've seen lately, this one shows her as happy and beautiful.

Tomorrow, late in the morning she'll arrive in Boston. Hooray!!

My prayers now are along the lines of Psalm 40, verse 2: He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
I love thinking, knowing, affirming that God will establish her "goings" as she moves forward from her captivity.