WALL.E... The Big Lie on the Big Screen...

The California environmental lobby (i.e Hollywood) hasn't noticed a few things... like: garbage containment, recycling efforts, water and air quality have improved A LOT in just the last 20 years. There have also been some technological advances that make it possible for us to grow enormous amounts of food with less land and less soil erosion. But, whatever.. sell the kiddos down the doom and gloom path and bore me to absolute madness on the way. Please don't throw rotten tomatoes at me, but it would be impossible for me to tell you how I loathed this film. Can I get my $5.50 back?

Flawless...

This is a really fun show about a diamond heist. Don't miss. :)

A Bit of Humbug...

Our town is really great in a bazillion ways. I love the fireworks on the 4th of July, for example. But, the parade... I stayed home this year in protest. C and c went. The jet fly-over was great.. The high school marching band is awesome... the floats were lovely... both of them... :( Our parade is usually a bunch of guys in their trucks with signs advertising their local businesses. I have less difficulty with the commercialism at Christmas (at least then, it may be helpful in that you need a gift for someone..) Where C was standing, the populace of our town could only make a weak applause for the truckload of Veterans, you know those people who've served our country in foreign lands and lost their friends and sometime their limbs defending OUR freedom. I'm so glad I wasn't there. I would have said something I think. It's not THAT hot people, you can stand up and cheer. C and c came home a bit disgusted.

I think reading the Paul Revere book was a great way to celebrate the approaching Independence Day, but it made me wonder how many people really know what we are celebrating.. me included. My guess is that my cousin Mike, who is on his way back to Iraq for a third time, who has seen the devastation of tyrant rule and the ensuing poverty and hopelessness has some idea what a gift liberty really is.

The Girl in the Cafe...

This film was fairly well written and acted. Bill Nighy plays a work worn and lonely man who is highly placed in the British government. His work involves trying to solve third-world poverty. He meets a girl in a cafe, Gina played by Kelly Macdonald who is also a lonely care-worn sort of person. They try to become friends and companions and a romance ensues which is stressed by her honest expression of HIS opinions to his bosses.

The political part is quite naive and very Hollywood. Just hand out tons of money and that will solve Africa. How many billions of dollars have just been stolen by the corrupt governments of that continent... will we ever know? It is a far more complicated problem than it's made to seem in the film. Still, the idea of being the generation that rises to the occasion and solves the problems of extreme poverty is inspiring to contemplate.

There is a love scene with nudity... so not for kids.

Hannah Anderson Sale...

Janice mentioned the Hannah Anderson sale... If you happen to have a 10-12 month old daughter.. this little dress is only available in that size. Isn't it sweet!

Carefree with Fred & Ginger...

A really fun show as far as dancing and costuming. But, poor Ginger gets a shiner in the end.. and that bugs. Still, these two are magic to watch.

Lessons of the past week...

This is a photo of the flowers that my darling nieces and nephews chose for their father's casket. Everything they did to honor their father was so appropriate and graceful. C gave a beautiful talk and sang beautifully with his other brothers. c sang with all the cousins and sounded lovely too. My nieces and nephews (the children of the deceased) all spoke and one niece sang. How did they do that? They were so brave.

I learned a lot this week. 1. It is so important for adult children to make arrangements to honor a beloved parent and even younger children can benefit a lot from feeling included. 2. There are some things in life, maybe many things that don't have a "do over" button. Do those things right and have no regrets. 3. People grieve in different ways. 4. We never know how long we have. Make sure the people you love know you love them. 5. When you speak with a person, you never know if it's going to be for the very last time.

We spoke with C's brother on a Sunday, the following Tuesday he was in a coma from which he never regained consciousness. Thursday he was gone. I'm so glad that conversation on Sunday will always be a pleasant memory.

Thank you so much for all your kind words. So many people told us that they would remember us in their prayers and that has given us a peace nothing else can. I hope you'll forgive me for sharing just those few thoughts... It will help me move on to happier subjects from now on. Wrap your arms around those you love.. and may they all be well.

Paul Revere's Ride...

Were Hollywood to make this book into a film, I'm afraid that the public would find it somewhat marvel comicesque. It is difficult to fathom the personal tragedy, the wisdom, the character, the honor, the efforts, the intelligence, the courage and the faith of this one man.

Captured in the middle of his midnight ride, Revere faced his captors with courage and defiance. Knowing the truth to be his best weapon, he informed the British Officers that he had alarmed the countryside, that the Minutemen were gathering and headed their way. Threatened and with a pistol to his head to tell the truth, Revere responded with spirit, "I call myself a man of truth, and you have stopped me on the highway, and made me a prisoner I knew not by what right. I will tell the truth, for I am not afraid." Eventually, the truth frightens the officers who take Revere's horse, but set him free. During the night, in addition to warning the countryside, he rescues John Hancock and Samuel Adams twice, saves the secret papers of the revolution and is witness to the first shots fired on Lexington Green.

Paul Revere was one of many midnight riders, although he may have been the most effective of them. However, it is interesting to me to learn of another patriot who using his own unique talents and abilities helped to found this nation and gifted to the world a new definition of liberty.

Where ever we are, may we remember the liberties that we enjoy and spread them throughout the world to those who are oppressed.

"Each year, that old memory is carefully renewed. On the 19th day of every April, at the same hour when the messenger of alarm arrived in 1775, the town's great bell is made to ring again in the night. The people of the town awaken suddenly in their beds, and listen, and remember. It is an ancient tradition in the town that the ringers should include the children, so that the rising generation will remember too. The bell itself was made by Paul Revere. Still it carries his message across the countryside."

I hope that one day tyrants will not be tolerated, and like Paul Revere, all the people of the world will carry a standard of Liberty, one that guarantees freedom for every living soul and thus ensures peace in every nation and heart.

Happy Independence Day!

Sorry...

Sorry to be gone so long. C's brother suffered a medical trauma on Tuesday and passed away Thursday... so I won't be checking in much for the next week.

Jessica, I'm sorry. I will get your package in the mail when things settle and I will have an extra giveaway since I missed one.. once I get back.

Thanks for understanding.

Love Boxes...

New Love Boxes.. in..

THe LoVe BoxES ShoP

Loves Enduring Promise...

A bit sappy, but pretty good.

Input please..

I have been having some difficulty making a final decision on this design for some reason. I guess that I appreciate various stages of simplicity or complexity, or I just don't groove on this one.. still not sure. If you have an opinion, I'd love to hear it.



These boxes will all be found in..
ThE LOve BOXes SHoP
later today..

Giveaway...

Don't forget there is a Giveaway going on down there below all my long windedness... It ends Midnight EST tonight.. so there is still time.

From the Earth to the Moon...

From the Earth to the Moon is one of the most inspiring programs I've ever seen. It takes you from John F. Kennedy's 1961 moon speech at Rice Stadium through the entire efforts of the Apollo program.
Well written and visually stunning, it does more justice to the subject than one could hope. I believe there are 12 hour long episodes. Some are better than others and they are all quite a different take from one another, but I think it's the 10th one that was by far my favorite. Titled, Galileo Was Right, it tells the story of the Apollo 15 Astronauts, who are pilots and must become geologists also to fill the scientific objectives of their mission. They struggle through hours of classroom instruction that holds little interest and appeal to them until Jack Schmitt brings in an old college professor by the name of Lee Silver who is both a world class geologist and a gifted teacher.
Hopefully we all know what a gifted teacher can do for a student. Lee Silver not only takes these pilots and turns them into geologists, but he truly opens another universe for them to see and because of that, they are able to bring the environment of the moon and it's geological story home to earth.
Don't skip ahead to see this one, it's better to see them in order. That's All There IS.. episode #7, is a little PG-13.. just to let you know.

Being a Grouch...

I like good service, but was dissapointed not to receive it recently. This is the complaint letter that C urged me NOT to send.. and I thought it was so good...

Dear ...........,

Looking for the perfect Father's Day gift on June 9th, I was thrilled to see that ........... had From the Earth to the Moon in stock believing that by paying ........... $10 over the Amazon.com price and the additional expedited shipping I would be able to receive it for Father's Day. Sadly, I still have not received it. If you cannot complete delivery by Tuesday, June 24th 5PM local time, I will expect the order to be cancelled and a full refund issued. After all people, the actual trip to the moon & back only took 6 days.

Best Wishes,Tiffany

"The Apollo 11 astronauts were launched July 16th 1969 at 08:32:00 am EST from Kennedy Space Centre. They reached the Moon when they performed a Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre July 19th 12:21:50 pm EST. It took them 3 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes... to fly to the Moon. " Wikipedia

Flyboys...

I don't know how I missed this one when it originally came out in 2006? Weird.. because it's right up my ally.

"The film follows the enlistment, training and combat experiences of a group of young Americans who volunteer to become fighter pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille, the 124th air squadron formed by the French in 1916. The squadron consisted entirely of American volunteers who wanted to fly and fight in World War I during the main years of the conflict, 1914-1917, before the United States later joined the war against the Central Powers." Wikipedia

C thought it was OK, but I love planes and found the dog fight scenes fascinating. These pilots, like those we have now, learned to take these machines to the very limits of their capacity. I'm sure that most of it was done with computer animation, but it was amazing to watch.

NM Lovely Iron Bench...

Mom... this is so you... or maybe it's so me.. I can't decide.

Giveaway Friday...

The drawing today is for a Love Boxes Angel Doll

& a favorite book Better Than Beauty: A Guide to Charm

written in 1938

.. and a little flower pin and a few other surprises...

To see more LOVE BOXES...Visit

THe LoVE BoXEs SHoP
Enter your name just once one the comments below and I will draw a name Monday Midnight EST. Spread the word. :)

Congratulations to Jessica of Lost Button Studios!

Good Manners Thursday...

Looking your best. AAAAaah! People who paint all day wear clothes that can be spilled on and not cried over and sadly I have found that once comfortable in these clothes.. they go out... IN PUBLIC! .. much to the dismay of certain of my more fashionable relatives. (Sorry Rob.)
As I was reading in Better Than Beauty: A Guide to Charm this morning in order to find a fun post for Good Manners Thursday.. I had to laugh at the section Accessories Speak Volumes. I wonder, what does my black plastic hair clippy say about me. I seldom remember to wear anything else in the way of an accessory. I even forget to put my wedding ring on much of the time. My Gold Toe ankle socks aren't too fetching, but they sure are comf! Remember, this is from 1938, but still...
"Go to your bureau or dressing table and take out every purse and belt, every scarf and pair of gloves. Go to you closet and take out every hat and every pair of shoes. Look them over, Are they accessories that lift an ordinary costume into the realm of smartness, or are they detractors and hangers-on that do more harm that good?
Don't buy your accessories helter-skelter. 'That's a sweet purse'... 'this belts a bargain'... 'pretty gloves, aren't they?' That's not the way to decide!
When you add up the cost of all the extras that go to make up even a simple costume, you may be staggered by the total. That's why each part should be selected with an eye to its fitness not only for this one ensemble, but for many others, too."
I need serious help in the shopping department. :)
Be sure to come back tomorrow.. A copy of Better Than Beauty: A Guide to Charm will be part of the Friday Giveaway!

Pretty Tree...

I'm sorry about this photo, but I just wanted to show you a tree that I don't have, but covet. This is a Blireiana Plum tree. It has deep red leaves and these beautiful lavender blossoms. It smells like heaven, but not really like anything I can describe.. it's subtle. I think there is a variety of this tree that gets really twisty interesting branches as well. I love this tree.. they are difficult to come by in Utah.. but possible I understand and they do well here.