Cinema Sunday: Good Sick Day Movies

Ugh! I've been fighting a summer cold/bronchitis for the past few days, and it can be misery, since we're already in triple digit weather here in California's Central Valley.  Yesterday, I didn't listen to my body's urgings to lie down and take it easy. Instead, I pruned the wild rose bushes, weeded the garden, did two loads of laundry, baked a cake, cleaned house, went to the library and went grocery shopping. So, today, I'm really dragging. Big surprise!

 

Since the forecast says it will be 101 degrees today, I'm spending the day on the sofa watching old movies. As I'm sure you've guessed, I'm a big fan of mystery and suspense films. To me, these are the perfect movies for a sick day spent on the sofa. I don't need heavy drama that makes me cry; I have enough snot right now, thank you very much (sorry, I know, TMI). And I really don't need a big-laugh comedy. Every time I laugh, I sort of laugh and cough at the same time, and I sound like I've smoked a pack a day for 50 years. And then I choke and gag and scare the hell out of the dog, who is, of course, on the sofa, snoozing next to me. So, laughing is out.

 

Soooo, mystery and suspense movies are perfect for today. I thought I would share some of my favorite sick day suspense films. None of them are too long. The plots are interesting enough to hold your attention, but not so intricate and involved that you would be forced into any deep and heavy thinking - that just makes your headache worse. These movies all play on TCM on occasion, so if you see them on the TV schedule, set your DVR and enjoy.

 

1. "The Blue Gardenia" (1953). Anne Baxter plays Norah, a young woman who wakes up after a night of drinking with a womanizer, and realizes that she may have killed him. Norah tries to remember the details of that night, eventually teaming with a newspaper man to solve the mystery. Raymond Burr plays the womanizer quite well; he played the villian in most of his films. Quite hard to believe if one only knows him from TV's "Perry Mason" and "Ironside". An underrated actor, in my opinion.
 

2. "A Kiss Before Dying" (1956): Robert Wagner is deliciously evil as a college student plotting to kill his pregnant girlfriend (Joanne Woodward in one of her first film roles). I love Wagner as a villian.

 

3. "Midnight Lace" (1960): Doris Day is being terrorized by an unknown caller who tells her that he will kill her. I love Day's wardrobe in the film, the eerie foggy London locale, and, of course, Myrna Loy (one of my favorite actresses), who plays Day's aunt.

 

4. "Northern Pursuit" (1943): Canadian mounties pretend to be Nazi sympathizers in order to learn Nazi plans for invading North America. It's a fairly typical World War II propaganda film, but pretty enjoyable all the same.

 

5. "Stage Fright" (1950): Jane Wyman plays a young actress desperately trying to shield a man from a murder accusation.  I had to include something by Hitchcock, and even though it's not one of his best films, it's still a pretty good movie. Mediocre Hitchcock is better than 3/4 of the crap movies made today. I love Michael Wilding (Elizabeth Taylor's 2nd husband) as the police inspector and Marlena Dietrich is her usual over-the-top self. 
 

 

6. "The Spiral Staircase" (1945): Dorothy McGuire plays the mute companion to an ill and elderly Ethel Barrymore. Young disabled women in town are being murdered and McGuire, Barrymore, and the doctor who loves McGuire (the handsome Kent Smith) fear that McGuire may be next. I first saw this movie when I was a teenager, home alone, on a stormy day much like the storm in the film. I spent the rest of the day looking over my shoulder and jumping in fright at every little noise. Needless to say, a VERY affective film.

 

7. "The Mad Miss Manton" (1938): This is very funny, and I shouldn't be watching it when I'm sick (that coughing and gagging thing), but I had to include it anyway, because it's so much fun, and because it stars my favorite, Barbara Stanwyck. When the murdered body discovered by beautiful, madcap socialite Melsa Manton disappears, the police and a reporter (played by Henry Fonda) label her a prankster until she proves them wrong.

8. "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" (1947): Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck. LOVE them! Is Bogart trying to kill his wife, played by Stanwyck? Did he kill his first wife? Watch the movie and find out!

9. "The Stranger" (1946): Loretta Young plays Mary Longstreet, in love with Prof. Charles Rankin (Orson Welles), who may or may not be an escaped Nazi named Franz Kindler. Edward G. Robinson is determined to find Kindler. Robinson's only clue? Kindler's fascination with antique clocks. Directed by Welles.

10. "Laura" (1944): Dana Andrews plays Detective Mark McPherson, who is investigating the killing of Laura, found dead on her apartment floor before the movie even starts. McPherson gets to know Laura by interviewing the murder suspects, who all seemed to love her. He finds himself falling in love with her too, as he gazes at the striking portrait of Laura that hangs on her apartment wall. Then one night, halfway through the case, something bizarre happens that changes his entire investigation. Gene Tierney is gorgeous as the late Laura.

Of course there are many others that are great for sick days, but these were just a few that I thought of off the top of my head. Leave a comment with your favorites!!

 

Hello Again!

If you've been wondering if I would ever post again, here I am. I'm sorry it has been so long between postings this year, but I've been pretty busy working on accomplishing all the stuff I said I want to accomplish, back in this post in January.

To start with, I finally accomplished something I've been working on for the past 18 months: I have finally found a full time job! I'm doing data entry/customer service in a billing department, Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm. No more working weekends, no more weird hours, no more working holidays, no more minimum wage, no more tired achy feet! I've been at the job for five weeks, so I'm finally starting to get out of the New Job Stupid Stage (I HATE feeling stupid at a job!). I just received my first paycheck this past Friday. Unfortunately, since I had to wait so long for it, I had to use it to catch up on bills, but now that I'm finally getting regular, full time checks, the finances will improve dramatically. Which means I won't have to get a roommate to pay the summer bills. Yay!

 

The only downside is that the job is temporary, for 12-15 months. I'm hoping that they will either extend the contract, or will hire me permanently, as this is a very large, international company, with a great reputation as an employer. But, we'll see what happens. I'm continuing to job hunt, but with a 17% unemployment rate in this area, I'm certainly grateful to have this job for the time being.

 

Tallulah is doing well with her training, but it is an ongoing process. Sweet T. is so sweet and loving, but she definitely has a mind of her own. I know she knows the commands; she just doesn't WANT to do them, and thinks that if she just looks cute enough, that she won't have to obey. Okay, I'll admit that on occasion, that ploy works, but most of the time, I expect her to toe the line. So, training continues. Her trainer has suggested getting her certified as a therapy dog, so we can make visits to nursing homes, physical rehab centers, etc. That training will start in early fall.

 

My Sweetheart!

 

The garden is doing pretty well, at least those plants that have not burned in the heat. One thing that I really do hate about the Central Valley is that summer weather starts in April and doesn't let up until October. Gardening is hell in the summer heat, even at 7:00 a.m. So, I'm enjoying my garden in those brief moments when I venture outside from the sweet air conditioning.

 

These were the wild roses in April:

 

 

The wild roses now:

 

They've gotten pretty scraggly, so I've got to prune soon.

 

A couple of gladiolus have bloomed:

 

 

More roses:

 

 

Since I've accomplished (or am in the process of doing so) three of the things on January's list, I can start working on the other two: Growing and improving this blog (and my photography skills), and plainting the inside of my house.

 

I bought a new camera a couple of months ago (Tallulah chewed up my old one!) and I'm still in the process of figuring out how to use all the bells and whistles it has. Also, because there is a lot of down time on this job, but I'm not allowed to read at my desk, I can handwrite blog posts during slow days. So, I practice with the camera on nights and weekends, and write blog posts between phone calls/duties during the day.

 

So, I'm hoping you'll see a lot more posts from me, and maybe something a little more interesting than me whining about life, since I'll now have the money to actually have a real life, with, gasp, mini vacations, more thrift store expeditions, a little bit of antiquing, and some excursions into exploring some neighboring cities.

 

As for painting the walls, that may wait. I'm toying with the idea of looking for a job/house closer to OC when this job is over, depending, of course, on whether they do decide to hire me permanently, and whether the real estate market has better recovered here. After 18 months, I've come to realize that this area isn't ultimately where I want to spend the rest of my life. I miss my sister, who is my best friend, more than I ever imagined. I miss my friends, and really struggle to make new ones here. This doesn't feel any more like home than it did when I moved 18 months ago. I wish it had worked out as this is one of the few places in CA where I can afford a 1/4 acre, 1800 square foot single family home, but still be within a few hours of family in Orange and LA Counties. But, so far, it just doesn't seem to be working, for a variety of reasons, far too many to list. Sometimes, you've got to try stuff to figure out whether or not it's going to work. And speaking as someone who has spent much of her life afraid to try new things, I'm proud of myself that I did step out into the unknown to try.

 

So, the goal to paint is put on hold until I get a better idea as to when I may sell. But I've got a new goal now of downsizing my collections and stuff in anticipation of living in a smaller home (condo, perhaps). Hello china sale!!! Believe me, that is a monster of a goal, as the family members who helped me move can attest.

 

Soooo, I'm back to blogging more regularly. I've already written a couple more posts, so you should see something from me in a day or two. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Leave a comment if you get a chance. I love reading them.

Blooming

I am so embarassed that I've neglected my blog (and reading yours) for more than a month.  In my defense, I have been working a lot of hours, and anyone who has worked part time retail knows that if you can get extra hours, you take them, because you never know when hours will get cut.  So, I've been working a lot, which has helped pay the property tax bill, and has kept Tallulah and I fed.  Also, it has allowed me to indulge my current passion: gardening.

Last year's garden was a huge disappointment, mainly my fault. I was pretty lonely and depressed last year, what with money troubles, a job that sucks, a demoralizing job hunt, a problem roommate, and a lot of difficulties acclimating to all the changes that I had made.  So, I didn't plant all of my seeds or bulbs, and really didn't take very good care of what I did plant.  Last year was also a bit of an experiment in gardening. I'm pretty much a novice gardener, and the climate here is not what I am normally accustomed to, so what I did do was pretty much trial and error. I figured out what works, and what ultimately turns out to be a waste of time and money.

 

This year, life is easier. I think the worst is over, and once again, I'm looking forward to the future. My new attitude is apparent in my garden, because, well, I've gone hog wild.  In the past couple of months, I've planted 14 rose bushes, bougainvillea, three hydrangea bushes, 250 gladiolus, ranunculus, jasmine, more amaryllis, gardenia, larkspur, sweet alyssum, California poppy, four o'clock's, nasturtium, wildflowers, stocks, freesia, bleeding heart, lily of the valley, hosta, lavender, hollyhock and zinnia. Still to be planted this week: zucchini, bell pepper, cherry tomato, green onion and carrot; also foxglove, peony, carnation, dianthus, lupine, johnny jump up, and sweet pea. Whew!

 

Most everything is either just recently planted, or the seedlings are still too tiny to photograph, but I do have a few things that I either planted early, or bought plants (as opposed to seeds or bulbs) from Lowe's:

This is just one of the six sections in this planter, filled with gladiolus.  I can't wait for them to bloom. I've planted mixed colors with no discernible pattern, either to the colors, or to arrangement. 

 

 

 A couple of the amaryllis have bloomed already. Still waiting for the other four:

I don't know what this ground cover is (my friend-neighbor-gardener transplanted a bunch of these from his own garden), but I love the periwinkle colored flowers:

My little bougainvillea looks kind of sad right now.

The flowers look pretty though. And it will get big soon enough. In full bloom, it will be gorgeous!

These are wild roses in my backyard. I debated with myself over taking them out, but I decided to give them another year. I gave them rose food when I planted the other rose bushes in January.

Right now, the wild roses have about 200-300 buds on them. Only one has bloomed.

All of the rose bushes I planted have buds on them, even though every bush is still a foot tall or less.

It sounds silly, but ever since I read the Nancy Drew mystery The Password at Larkspur Lane, I've wanted to grow larkspur. I've gotten my wish.

These freesia smell heavenly, as do the dianthus and the lavender.

Ranunculus and alyssum under the Charlie Brown tree.

I know I probably sound like a dork, being so excited about this, but, in case you haven't noticed, I just adore flowers, and have always wanted to be able to scatter bouquets of fresh cut flowers around my house. I am so looking forward to everything being in bloom, hopefully most everything at once, so I can share pictures of the entire outside.  So, I'm crossing my fingers that everything grows and that this Moose doesn't dig everything up:

She is awfully sweet, and the training classes I've been taking her to are doing a lot of good, but Good Lord, she can be destructive when she digs!

I hope everyone is having a great week.  Hours at work have been cut (See! What did I tell you?), so I'm back to blogging more often.  Hope to read some of the posts that I've missed on your blogs, and am working on a couple of posts for this week.

Thanks for your visit. Feel free to leave a comment; I love reading them!!

My Graduate

Tallulah graduated from obedience school last week.

She was so proud. So was I.

I signed her up for another set of classes because, well, she needs it:

 

For the first time in my life, I can honestly say, "The dog ate my homework."

And yet, I can't imagine my life without my Sweet Big Doofus.

Thanks for your visit. I hope you leave a comment because I love reading them.

Laura

"It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong." Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

I told you in my last post not to hold your breath waiting for a new post from me : )

I'm really getting bad about posting regularly. I promised myself that that was one of things I was going to work on this year, but life just seems to get away from me. And, well, I really struggle to try to find something interesting to write about.  What I really want to do is vent (actually, more like a rant) about my job: about the customers who are so stinking crabby, and the managers who speak to us peons like we're idiots; about the 18 year old co-workers who think that I'm old and useless at 51; about how frustrating it is to have to work a job for which I am grossly overqualified, both in terms of experience and in education; about working for minimum wage; about irregular work hours and not having enough hours; about my feet and back and knees that are just KILLING me!!

 

I could also vent about how hard it is to make friends in this town.  It's an odd place; everyone is friendly on the outside, but they don't want to be your friend. The natives are clannish and, come hell or high water, they're not going to let you in to their clique. The only people here who are becoming my friends are not native to the area. 

 

And I could vent about finances (or lack thereof), although, the relatively mild winter climate here in California makes my winter bills quite low (can't say the same for the summer bills, though).

 

I could go on and on, but I won't.  What I will talk about is one of the things (actually a person) from which a derive a great deal of comfort in the hard times. 

 

One of my heroes is Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I'm not talking about the Laura in the "Little House on the Prairie" TV show.  My apologies to all the fans of the show, but that wasn't Laura. And, I'm sorry, but Michael Landon was definitely not Pa!  I know it was a fictionalized version of the Ingalls' life, but once you know the real story, the TV show is a disappointment (at least it was for me). 

 

I'm talking about the real Laura Ingalls Wilder.

 

 

I first read her books when I was a child and loved them, although, the books that described the hard times weren't my favorites. I wanted all sweetness and light, like most children, so my favorite stories about Laura were the ones about the good times.

 

 

But now, I love the stories about the hard times.  About the long hard winter when the Ingalls nearly starved; about Mary going blind; about the grasshoppers and the failed crops; about the blizzards and the prairie heat; about the financial woes; about the oftentimes grueling work.  When I read Laura's Little House books, I read about a family who faced life's challenges with dignity and grace, and an awful lot of hard work.  It gives me great comfort to know that tough times can not only be faced head on, but can be overcome as well.  There are great lessons to be learned from Laura's writings: that there is no great loss without some small gain; that all good things come from some sort of sacrifice; that family and friends are more important than wealth and things; that hard work is good for us; and (although it is sometimes hard for me to hear this) that adversity is good for us.

 

 

In spite of all their hard times, in spite of all the loss and pain and struggle and tremendous disappointment, the Ingalls still believed, all through their lives, that God is good. 

 

"Suffering passes, while love is eternal. That's a gift that you have received from God. Don't waste it."  Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

So, if you've never read the Little House books as a child, pick one up.  If you read them as a child, but haven't picked one up since, read them again, with fresh eyes.  You will read about a remarkable family and a particularly remarkable girl, who grew into a great lady.

 

 

That great lady not only wrote children's books, but also wrote articles for Missouri farm papers and national magazines.  Those articles are collected in this volume:

 

 

This is a good read, as well:

 

 

 

And, by the way, if you ever get the  opportunity to visit Laura and Almanzo's home in Mansfield, Missouri, do it! I've been twice, and it was wonderful! Pa's violin is in the museum, and their houses (there are two on the property) are just darling.  The farmhouse was left pretty much the same as it was when Laura died in 1957, so you get a fairly good idea how Laura and Almanzo lived.  You can visit the website here.

 

Thanks so much for your visit.  I hope you leave a comment; I love reading them.  

Ladies and (a few) Gentlemen

This is a house of mostly girls.  There's me and Tallulah, of course, but also these girls:

And these:

And there are a couple of guys thrown in:

These two are my favorites:

I just noticed that my fingers and camera appear in the mirror. Sheesh!

Most of them have been thrifted, a few came from Tuesday Mornings, of all places, a few others from antique stores here and there.  I love them posed in front of the 1940's mirror I thrifted a month or so ago.

I pair them with my collection of airbrush pictures from the 40's and 50's.

My collection started with these:

They hung in my grandparent's house for as long as I could remember.  Now, I hunt others down at antique and thrift stores, but it's hard to find them in both good condition and at affordable prices. 

This one is one of my favorites:

I saw it at an antique store in Orange County, fell in love with it, but it was priced at $75, and that was a bit steep for me.  Fast forward six months, and I found the same one for $25 at an antique store in Kentucky, when I was travelling with my sister and brother-in-law.  Of course, I snatched it up, begged my bro-in-law to pack it in his suitcase amidst his clothing, and prayed that it wouldn't break on the plane trip back. It arrived safe and sound (thanks, Mark!).

 

These are my latest find:

 

I love the pink background, with the daisy border.

 

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted, and almost that amount of time since I've even read anyone's blog.  I've spent that time doing some thrifting, and working on craft and decorating projects that I've been putting off for months.  Hopefully, I'll be self disciplined enough to get a post up this weekend, but I wouldn't hold your breath on that : )  I'm not famous for self-discipline.

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Thank you for your visit, and thanks, in advance, for your comments. I love reading them.