Selfies with Sadie

It doesn't get to happen often, but last night Sadie was curled up in my lap and I decided to play around with my phone. 

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to my crazy youngest child!  We love you so much!

Rating the Queen Songs from Bohemian Rhapsody

I have a confession...I LOVE movies about bands/singers, their lives, and how they came to fame.  I remember a few years ago when Jersey Boys came out ---I couldn't get enough.  I am currently loving Bohemian Rhapsody, which is a far superior movie to Jersey Boys.  And I cannot wait for Rocketman (the Elton John movie) to come out this summer. I'm sure I will be just as obsessed. 

In honor of Bohemian Rhapsody being released digitally today (and YES, I bought mine on Amazon Prime and have already curled up on the couch and watched it on my 60 inch television), I am going to rank the 18 songs that are included in the movie.  

This is strictly my opinion. If I am being honest, half of these songs I never heard until the movie came out. Some, like Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Under Pressure, I had heard but had no idea that Queen sang them. 

18). Who Wants to Live Forever - this song fits in perfectly with its spot in the movie and the tone and speed of the song adds to the poignancy of the the scene in which he finds out he has aids.  It's just not a song that I feel like listening to outside of the movie.

17). Love of My Life - A brilliant song which is beautifully sung just, again, I have no interest in listening to it outside the movie.

16). Now I'm Here - I love the use of this in the movie though

15). Under Pressure - always attributed this song to David Bowie.  Queen collaborated with Bowie to write it, but Queen recorded it and it was included in their album Hot Space. 

14). Crazy Little Thing Called Love - I confess I always thought this was a song by Elvis Presley, which makes sense since Mercury wrote it as a tribute to Elvis.  But the fact that Elvis died in 1977 and the song wasn't written until 1979 means that Elvis never actually sang the song. 

13). Seven Seas of Rhye - Recorded for their second album and I believe was their first (semi) hit record. 

12). Keep Yourself Alive - A catchy tune that never really caught on. 

11). Somebody to Love - It made a great opening song for the movie 

10). I Want to Break Free - the "dressed in drag" video really adds to the greatness of this song!

9). Another One Bites the Dust - probably my third favorite song BEFORE the movie

8). Killer Queen - Their first big, big hit record. 

7). Hammer to Fall - Once again, I had heard this song before but did not associate it with Queen. 

6). Don't Stop Me - I had never heard this song before the movie, but its fast pace, great lyrics, and phenomenal singing by Mercury makes this a song I like listening to again and again. Supposedly this song details Mercury's self confessed insatiable sexual appetite and the fact that he references both man and woman in the song, I believe reveals where his feelings were at that time in his life.

5). Fat Bottomed Girls - Just a great song and perfectly fit in the movie while highlighting their tour of America. 

4). Radio Ga Ga - Another song I had never heard before seeing the movie, but after seeing the movie, I just could not get this song out of my mind. 

3). We Will Rock You - Who doesn't love this song? And probably one of the most recognized songs in the world.

2). We Are the Champions - Again, who doesn't love this song? And the fact that it was released back to back with We Will Rock You means it is probably equally popular. 

1). Bohemian Rhapsody - was there any doubt...a true masterpiece --------that was shredded by the critics. 

Magic Friday Night

Magic lead in every stat except 3 pointers.  THAT' is obviously the only stat that matters. 

46 three point attempts!  That's an average of one attempt every 2 minutes.  Sickening!!!!!! 

Final score I believe was 117-115

Friday night we headed over to the Amway Center for the first of our 5 or 6 game package (I can't remember which). We were very pleasantly surprised with our 14 row seats!

I have such mixed emotions about these games. I absolutely love spending this time with my boys and it creates such special memories but, on the other hand, I absolutely hate what the game of basketball has become and can barely stand watching games where the only thing going on is one three-point shot being thrown up after another.  The only game action is three players standing behind the 3 point line waiting for a teammate to drive the lane and kick the ball out to them so they can chuck it up. 

By Doug Robinson from the Desert News

This is the way of the basketball world. Thirty-four percent — more than one-third — of all shots taken during the 2017-18 season were from beyond the 3-point line — an average of 58 3-point attempts per game. Ten years ago, it was 22 percent (36 shots per game); 20 years ago it was 17 percent (26 shots per); 30 years ago, 7 percent (13 shots per).

And 

For the first five seasons after the 3-point shot was introduced to the NBA in 1979, there was an average of fewer than five 3-point attempts per game. It was 16 years before it reached double digits. By the end of next season it will be more than 60 per game.

Almost half — 48 percent — of the Rockets’ shots this season were 3-point attempts. The Cavs and Celtics were just under 40 percent.

I saw another article which stated that in the year 2011-2012, Ryan Anderson led the NBA (and led by a lot) in three point attempts with 422.  Compare that with the past three to four years where the leaders (Stephen Curry and James Harden) put up anywhere between 722 and 886 attempts.  In my opinion..it's out of control.  

Now, let's also compare this with other sports.  A TD in football is worth 6 points ---whether it from 1 yard away or 99 yards away. A goal in hockey is worth 1 point --- whether it is from 1 foot away or 200 feet away.  So---why should basketball be different?  Again, my opinion...it's absurd. 

All this to say, the Nets were shooting terrible the first 1.5 quarter from 3 point range and the Magic had worked its way to a 20 point lead.  Then the Nets got in a 3 point groove and it was all over from there. The Magic lost by 2. 

Looking forward to other games - hopefully these next games will be better than just a 3 point showcase. I can hope right? 

**Side note...my good camera starting working again so I am excited about that - just not sure how long it will last**

Old Friends

The great thing about living in Orlando (and basically 10-15 minutes from the theme parks) is when visiting friends contact you at the last minute to tell you that they're in town, you can leave after work and meet up with them for a few hours!  

This is exactly what happened last week Tuesday.  In the middle of my morning I got a Facebook message from an old school friend.  We were best friends all through Elementary, High School, and College before getting married, having families, and drifting our separate ways.  

The message said they were going to be spending the day at Universal Studios so after work I was allowed to skip our weekly staff meeting and spent a couple hours in the park with them. 

😁

Winter Break and the Prospect of Heading Back

This break could most accurately be summed up in one word --- movies.  

Now I should mention that I am not a huge movie person. I like them ---not love them.  Honestly, the prospect of getting dressed and fighting Orlando traffic to go to a movie theater is sometimes not as appealing to me as popping my TV on and selecting Amazon Prime with my remote. 

BUT---last spring my son talked me into buying MoviePass and gosh darn it, I'm going to squeeze every last dime (and more) out of that thing. It's been a roller coaster ride with MoviePass but I don't regret buying it - I definitely got my $100.00 worth even if they've changed the parameters of the system a half dozen times.  

 I've seen Bohemian Rhapsody, Mary Queen of Scots, Favourite, Bohemian Rhapsody again, and then last night C.J., Zack, and I went to see the Spiderman movie. Plus we went over to C.J.'s twice to watch movies - You Better Watch Out and Don't Breathe. 

And just like that - we are headed back to school on Monday. I loved the break but I am more than ready. I feel so unproductive and useless when I just sit around day after day living a life of leisure.  I was not meant to live that way. 

I cannot wait to jump head first into this academic push that will lead us to the FSA and a new and improved school grade.  It's going to require commitment, solidarity, hard work, and communication but I know we are capable of accomplishing it. 

So one more day to rest and then we jump in with reckless abandon!!!

Starting the Year Off....

So my one and only reader - my son - is upset that I never update this blog anymore and so, for him, I am going to try to make an effort to post a couple times a month. 

So let's start with what we've been up to recently....

On the first Friday of December (7th), C.J. and I walked across the street to Sea World to see the Christmas lights. 

Because I STILL don't have an acceptable camera, I could not get pictures of the actual lights but I took the following pictures from Google.

Cannot believe this has been the 4th year doing this.

Friday the 14th of December we headed to City Walk to see Bohemian Rhapsody and then finished off the evening with a milkshake from Toothsome's. 

From Google

This was one of the coldest Decembers I can remember and certainly the coldest since we moved here four years ago.  There were days Ollie didn't even want to wake up in the morning but instead stayed buried under his blanket. 

And - just because he's so darn cute. Especially with that curly hair on his ear.  And he's begging for pizza here. 

Our 3rd through 5th graders did some testing right before break and my most of the students showed great growth but my students absolutely rocked it!!!  While we are looking for a 5 point growth this time of the year, my Reading student's averaged an 11.3 point growth and my Math student's averaged a 9.6 point growth.  

It's nice to get recognition once in a while. 

For Christmas, we went to my parent's house for a couple days. We had a great time, great food, and made great memories with family. I had a nice dress on that day but had already changed into comfy clothes for the drive home. 

Then I spent the next three days putting in time at Universal Studios.  

Unfortunately, Sadie was sick when we left and I was not aware of it.  Her food was on the counter (which is where we have to keep it because otherwise Ollie would eat it all) and she was too sick and weak to jump up and get at it. So she was in pretty bad shape when we got home.  I have tremendous guilt over it. She was so weak and malnourished (on top of having a cold) she didn't move for three or four days. We had to bring her food to her and syringe feed her water. 

This was her a couple days ago when she still not feeling well. Her eyes were watering and difficult to keep open.  

Today, she has been a pretty spunky monkey and for that, I am grateful. 

Finally, yesterday C.J., Zack, and I went to Volcano Bay for a couple hours. We had so much fun. 

I'm not usually big on water parks but I love Volcano Bay.  I love that the water is heated. That makes it so much more enjoyable.  

I guess that brings us up to date!