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Top 200 Movies , adjusted for inflation

Sadly there are some on there I wish I hadn’t seen and some that I haven’t that I still wouldn’t mind seeing….

Top 200 Movies, Worldwide Box Office (Adjusted for Inflation)

1. () Gone with the Wind (1939)
2. (x) Titanic (1997)
3. (x) Star Wars (1977)
4. (x) Bambi (1942)
5. (x) E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
6. (x) Jurassic Park (1993)
7. (x) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
8. (x) Jaws (1975)
9. (x) Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
10. (x) Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
11. (x) Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
12. (x) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
13. (x) The Lion King (1994)
14. (x) Independence Day (1996)
15. (x) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

A Breath of Fresh Mid-Winter Air

Saturday morning we woke up and enjoyed the already warming weather.
Mike went for an early morning walk. The whole family (kitties included) enjoyed sitting on the porch and enjoying bright mid-morning light pouring in.
We even let the kitties outside and Spike quickly zeroed in on a small patch of grass near the garage he could eat.

After gymnastics Adam, Amy, and I headed over to the Village Peddler to look at kids’ bikes. I had gotten it in my head that it was important to get Adam a 2 wheel bike (with training wheels) to enjoy the warm weather. Adam picked out a blue Trek bike (20” frame). He was so excited he tried to ride around in the store. As soon as we got home we got ready to go on a bike ride. I pulled my bike down and put some air in the tires.

Christmas Garden Zombies and Yoda

In Dave Barry’s annual Christmas Naughty list this year is a link to a delightful catalog company called Toscano. www.designtoscano.com

The item in question in Mr Barry’s naughty list was the garden zombie.
In a strange way I kind of want. Except that it would only be funny for the few weeks leading up to Halloween and the rest of the year it would be something else to clutter my newly cleaned and organized tool shed.

And now as seasonally festive as I’m feeling with the snow and the delightful lights on our house, I’m already looking forward to next spring and having gardening angst. The stupid garden zombie has awakened my absurd and misplaced gardening angst.

Silly Quiz

My Liberal Identity:

Autumn Mix

The calendar says summer, but upper Midwestern weather screams FALL! 4 days ago I stopped wearing sandals. It was a depressing decision to wear socks again.

I’ll admit it… I love crisp air and wrapping up in quilts and feeling warm and cozy. I love fresh apples and apple cider at farmers market.
I love crunchy leaves, Halloween, Corn Mazes, Pumpkin patches, Autumn harvest festivals, Oktoberfest, and Thanksgiving.

My life, my brain is full of soundtracks. Pick almost any song in my MP3 collection and I’ll probably be able to remember the first time the song stuck with me. That song is forever cemented in my subconscious and associated with a season, an event, a person, a place, a mood.

Reading Meme

So we’ve been tagged with a reading meme. I choose to tag Ms. No H to pass along this reading meme. the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you started and never finished and underline the ones you had to read for school.
If you want all the details, read Mike’s post below.

All I have to say is I’m terribly embarrassed by the ones I picked up and started, but never read.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice

My Weekend in a Nutshell

Friday: Worked til 5:30, picked up Adam, biked home, worked until 11:30pm. Then played Wii Sports until after midnight. Hurt shoulder (pathetic, I know) playing Tennis, Baseball and Bowling.

Saturday: Planned on sleeping in, taking it easy and doing more work. Maybe improving Wii baseball and tennis games.

Saturday, actual:
Up at 8:00 a.m. Cleaned dining room and part of kitchen, cleaned living room.
Did more work.
Drove in Amy’s van (thank you, Amy!) to Chicago with Adam, his best friend from daycare, friend’s older brother, and their mother to the Allstate Arena in Rosemont to see The Wiggles!

Car ride down: minimal drama, going pretty well. Thinking that this will be pretty easy.

Fresh Garden Produce

Last night I had a craving. I wanted nachos. I had red onions, cheese and tortilla chips. I needed more. I braved the ferocious man-eating mosquitoes and headed to my garden where I plucked 2 red, ripe, delicious Roma tomatoes and a fresh jalapeño.
I chopped up the veggies and scattered them on a bed of chips, covered with freshly shredded cheese. Pop in microwave for 1 minute et voila! Tasty nachos.
The tomatoes were sweet and delicious, the jalapeño hot, but not too hot.

Tonight I thought my dinner was missing something. So, once again, I braved the mosquitoes and plucked 2 more red, ripe tomatoes from the garden.
I chopped the roma up in slices, drizzled olive oil over them and lightly peppered them.

Western Vacation

Our vacation out west photos are now up here.

I may try and turn some of the shots I took into panoramas. If that’s successful, those photos will go up there as well.

Back from Vacation

In 7 days:
Badlands
Black Hills (incl. Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse)
Eastern Montana
Beartooth Pass (a road climbing up to 11,000 feet – a scenicly terrifying way to get into Yellowstone)
Yellowstone
Sleeping outside under the stars (no tent, long story)
More Yellowstone
Eastern bits of Idaho (incl. Victor, ID which is on the west side of the Tetons)
Jackson Hole, WY
Grand Tetons Park
Yet more Yellowstone
Return to Eastern Montana
Back through South Dakota and terrifying but brilliant storms.
Home.

I love mountains and the west. I haven’t been out west since 99 and really forgot how much I love the fresh smell of pine forests. I even enjoyed our second night of camping that actually involved sleeping in a tent.