Karebear Central

I like Nicolas Cage.  I like that he changed his last name to prove himself as an actor.  This movie, Ghost Rider, did nothing to prove himself as an actor.  He usually has quite amusing characters with some sort of depth to them (minus his character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High). 

The movie is based on a Marvel comic.   I had never heard of this comic.  Basic story is Nicolas’ character, Johnny,  as a boy made a deal with the devil (played by Peter Fonda) to save his father’s life from cancer in exchange for Johnny’s soul.  The devil kept his word as only the devil could do and told Johnny he’d be back for payment some day.  Fast forward about 15 years, and the devil comes to Johnny for help to kill his son (played by Wes Bentley).  His son is trying to take over Hell, the world, whatever.  Well Johnny is now the Ghost Rider, the only one who can defeat the devil son.  He is the Devil bounty hunter on earth.  Since the Devil fell, he had no power on earth. 

The movie had a great cast: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Peter Fonda, Wes Bentley, and Sam Elliot.  ( I love his voice)   The movie did not really have much character development, not a lot suspense, and wasn’t really that funny.  The one thing that was done great on this movie was the special effects.  They were almost seamless and somewhat realistic looking. 

I would recommend watching this if it was TV, but not running out and renting it.  It wasn’t horrible, just not too exciting.    123 minutes and rated PG-13. 

I’ve only owned a house for about a year and half now.  I am just wondering if I will ever be done decorating or adding stuff to the house.  Just last week, I finally bought picture frames to hang on the wall for our wedding pictures (in June we will be married 2 years)  Of course the pictures are waiting anxiously on the floor for the man of the house to hang them.  We are looking in expanding the kitchen into our office area because our kitchen is tiny.  I am thinking of maybe looking at bathroom vanities.  We are also thinking our switching our rooms around a bit.  All this while cleaning up and putting stuff in its right place.  Or right place for now.  But will it ever end?  Will I ever think one day, I’m done? 

My mother has a comment she says when she sees bad drivers “Did they get their license out of a CrackerJack box?”  I have a feeling the drivers in Wisconsin these last few weeks have.  I have never seen so many cars in the ditches off the highway.  I understand the first snow, people forget how to drive each year in snow.  Its snowed a lot now.  I really don’t understand how they end up in the ditch either, turned the wrong way.  

Its weird when you get to an age when you worry about your parents.  This last week, my parents flew to Las Vegas because my mother loves it there.  I think, if it were possible, she would live there.  I heard on the news that one of the more famous Vegas hotels, The Monte Carlo, was on fire.  I started to worry about where my parents were.  I knew they were flying home that day, but I couldn’t find the sheet that said what time.  My mother hadn’t called to let me know she was home.  So I called their house and they were home.  But I did chastise her for not calling and leaving a message she was home.  She would have yelled at me if the tables were turned! 

I have been hearing from a lot of people how good this movie is.  I think I need to change who I listen to for good movies.  This movie would probably be better for guys than girls.  The movie was slow moving in most parts and not so funny.  Not for young kids or people who didn’t like 40 year old Virgin. 

The story is about 2 best friends in their last few weeks as seniors.  They get the job of bringing beer to a party to impress the girls they like. Their friend Fogle, gets a fake id as “McLovin” and hilarity ensues.  I did like McLovin’s storyline with the cops.  They are what made the movie so amusing. 

I doubt I will watch the movie for a long time.  Its just one of those that you know you should watch because everyone is talking about it, but not something to buy. 

Last weekend or so, my friend and I to target to spend one of my gift cards.  While there, we looked for a calendar because we hadn’t bought new ones.  They didn’t carry any anymore, it was too late.  Its only a couple of weeks into January!  I told her maybe we would have to get some custom printed calendars.  I have been thinking about that for Christmas presents one of these years.  Its been years since my sister and I last did one. 

On Sunday, prior to the Packer game, I went to Perkins restaurant with my parents and witnessed a few really nice gestures.  Bart Starr, a famous former Packer quarterback(i think), was there with his family.  People asked as he was leaving to have their picture taken with him.  He had his group wait for him while he made a lot of people happy.  I was just happy to have seen someone famous.  (I was surprised because he didn’t have a coat on—it was like 2 degrees!)

The next gesture that really made me feel good was a little girl gave my mom a 20% coupon.  They were leaving and she handed it my mom.  I thought that was a great thing to teach a little kid.  It is making me think of how I want to pay it forward. 

I remember the weekend after my best friend and I returned home after spring break.  We had just driven home from college and didn’t feel like going home just yet.  So we decided to go (guess where) Perkins.  It was a pretty dead night, I think a Thursday, so there was only a couple of other people.  My friend and I were minding our business when the a couple of older guys (27-30 year olds) approached our table.  They sat down and talked to us for about an hour.  When we decided to leave, they took the check and paid.  We refused, but they said told us in couple of years to do the same for someone else.  We haven’t yet, so I guess we need to start hanging out at Perkins!

My husband’s not home right now, he went to a friend’s to watch the Packer’s lose.( I only know because he called to tell me they lost.  I did not watch, I did not jinx them)  Is it strange that I saw a bug walking on the wall, and instead of killing it, I caught it in a cup for my husband to kill? 

Isn’t it nice to look at a recipe and have almost 85% of the ingredients in the house already.  I saw the recipe for savory chicken rolls and told Andy I needed to have it. 

Ingredients: 4 boneless chicken halves,   4 slices (about 1 ounce each), 4 sticks Havarti cheese, 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons butter, divided, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 package (8 oz) mushrooms, cut in half, 1/4 white wine or chicken stock, 1/4 cup chopped green onions   (makes 4 servings)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Lightly coat 11 X7-inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Place each chicken breast half between 2 pieces of plastic wrap.  Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound chicken until flattened to about a 1/4 inch thickness.

Place 1 ham slice on each breast half.  Place 1 cheese stick on top of each ham slice.  Roll up chicken, enclosing ham and cheese.  Secure with toothpicks.  Combine flour and salt in a shallow dish.  Coat each chicken roll with flour mixture. 

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and oil over medium high heat in a skillet; add chicken rolls.  Cook until browned on all sides, 4 to  5 minutes. 

Remove chicken and place in prepared baking dish.  Add remaining butter and mushrooms to skillet.  Cook until mushrooms begin to brown.  Stir in wine, scraping to remove brown bits from skillet.  Pour over chicken.  Sprinkle with green onions. 

Bake until chicken is no longer pink and is at temperature 180 degrees F. (about 25 minutes)

We used the white wine not the chicken stock.  We were kind of surprised that you could use either or.  They really are not substitutes for one another.  But this was a nice meal that we add some vegetables and noodles with so we are starting to get our 5 vegetables and fruits a day.  It was a little labor intensive, but something we plan to try again. 

Last night, Andy and I sat down to watch a movie last night.  Of course, since its a supposed scary movie, I made Andy get up to turn down the home theater sconces“Dark Water” with Jennifer Connolly.  Don’t.  For Andy, he said it reminded him of “The Ring” or “The Grudge”.  It was very slow moving and not very scary.  I jumped maybe once.  Plus, I woke up this morning and totally forgot that we watched this movie.  It kept on seeming like it was done and kept on adding more scenes.  I would say unless you want to punish yourself, don’t watch this movie.