Thankful

I have a lot to be thankful for, so here's a quick list before I jet off to see August Rush (can't wait!):

- my family (more specifically, my siblings, parents, niece, and nephews)
- the fact that I don't have twins - after spending four days with them, I am wiped! Yet somehow, my sister raises them beautifully and without complaint
- my job
- my students
- my two paraprofessionals (assistants), who are amazing people and great paras
- Boston Market (seriously, I go there once a week!)
- Netflix - it seriously rocks

I'm sure I'll add some more later, there is so much to be thankful for in this life. I hope everyone had a healthy and happy Thanksgiving!

Fool-Proof Cooking

The following is a recipe for turkey, dictated to me by one of my students. This is exactly how he described how to cook a turkey.

Needless to say, I typed it up and had him give it to several teachers he knows as a Thanksgiving treat. I also sent a copy home with his mother, and asked her to save me a seat at their Thanksgiving table. This was just to good to pass up.

(comments in italics are added by me)

So enjoy Turkey a la Rickie!

How to Make a Turkey:
A Thanksgiving Recipe

1. Bring water to a boil in a pie pot. Not just any pot, a pie pot. So head out to your favorite cookware store, and be sure to specify a pie pot. (Don't mind the confused stares, they just don't know what they're talking about.)

2. Add salt to the water. Now most people add salt before the water boils, but in this recipe, add it after the boil. It may make the difference between a poor turkey and a great turkey!

3. Boil the turkey for 2 minutes. Forget this 4 hours crap, now you can do it in only two minutes!!

4. Poke the turkey at 9:00. Perhaps the most crucial step, this must be done at exactly 9:00. Don't mess this one up!

5. Add the stuffing. Mix the stuffing around with apples. In this special recipe, you can stuff the turkey after it's cooked!

6. When the smoke detector goes off, the turkey is ready! No more thermometers, sticking it with forks, or anything! Just walk away, and the smoke detector will tell you it's ready! It couldn't be easier!

Enjoy this delicious recipe! Happy Thanksgiving!

November Movies

The Hollywood Holiday movie season has officially begun. This is the time of the year when they start to release the big movies for the holiday season. This is also around the time when the summer blockbusters come out on DVD. As a result, Bella becomes just a little bit poorer. Although, now that I do some fact-checking before releasing The List to the public, I see now that many movies have been pushed back, including The Kite Runner (love Marc Forster, can't wait for this one) and Charlie Bartlett (all the way back to February, no less). So perhaps I won't be quite as poor as I originally thought. Although the DVD list is still a little disheartening.

November 13 - Gilmore Girls Season 7 DVD - This is the final DVD in the collection. It makes me sad that the show ended the way they did, with the producers getting screwed over and leaving. Season 7 started a little shaky, but ended on a high note and went out with a bang. I miss this show, even though I think it's time had come. I will relive the glory through all seven season, which I will own soon!

November 13 - Ocean's 13 DVD - I may wait to purchase this until the price goes down, but it is still worth a note. It was much better than the mush of Ocean's 12.

November 20 - Hairspray DVD - I loved this movie! As a huge musical afficianado, I either love or hate the movie versions. This one was almost perfect. I've been waiting for the DVD for months, so I'm pretty psyched.

November 21 - August Rush - This is a movie that kept getting pushed back, and I'm thrilled that it is finally coming. I'm a sucker for movies all about the power of music (Mr. Holland's Opus being the supreme example) and the cast is phenomenal. This is a must-see for me.

November 21 - Enchanted - I may or may not see this in the theaters, depends on if anyone wants to go with me. It's definitely a cool concept.

November 27 - Waitress DVD - I loved this movie. Nathan Fillion is my hero, even if he plays a nerdy doctor here. Keri Russell is beautiful and charming in this. It's not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. It's Keri's big month, with the Waitress DVD and August Rush all coming out. Good for her.

I did pretty well for myself in October. I saw Dan in Real Life and Across the Universe in the theaters, as well as Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D. I also purchased the final season of Veronica Mars and cried as I watched potentially the last new Veronica Mars material ever to be written in the season 4 pitch. I haven't bought Spider-Man 3 yet, but that will come.

Hopefully now I've broken my writing drought and will have time to write more frequently.

I wanted to write

There have been so many things I’ve wanted to write, so many things I’ve wanted to share. I saw a lot of good movies, read a LOT of books, and wanted to share so much.

But there’s never enough time. I plan things in my head, what will I write in my blog? I’ll start it like this, with this sentence. I’ll conclude with this. I’ll add this funny anecdote.

But there’s never enough time.

And now here I am, staring at a blank screen, with nothing to say.

I wanted to write about books, how I have been a reading spree. I can’t even keep them updated in my side list. I read all His Dark Materials (yay Golden Compass!) again, a whole bunch of Lemony Snicket (I’m at The End), and a bunch of other good things.

I wanted to write about friends, how I feel like I have made a few new ones this year, and I feel like I’m in a good place right now.

I wanted to write about movies, and how Dan in Real Life is my new Little Miss Sunshine.

I wanted to write about T.V., and how much I love Chuck and miss Veronica. And how Joss Whedon has a NEW SHOW coming out (whoo hoo!). And about this crazy strike that's happening.

But most especially, I wanted to write about my family. It's been on my mind a lot lately. I even started several drafts.

I started to write about what my family means to me. I started to write about my brother’s gig, and how proud I am of him. I started to write about my niece and nephews and how they are getting so big and old and getting to be real people. I started to write about my siblings, and how they doing all these amazing things; running marathons, raising kids. But it all sounded so fake and phony, and didn’t express the wonderfulness of my family, and how proud I am to be one of them.

I wanted to write so much.

So this is what I came up with.

Maybe next time I won't wait so long to write.