M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 35

Happy Halloween!!!

Just me, slowly going crazy as I get the last SEVEN people at school to give to United Way, fill out paperwork for a grant (that I’ve known about for months), turn in a blog and FINISH THESE DANGED REVISIONS! All before NaNo starts at midnight!

Getting Ready for Halloween–Scary Movies

I love love love scary movies at Halloween. Since I have a credit for Amazon Instant Video, I think we’ll rent The Raven for Halloween.

I also have Stephen King’s IT on the TiVo. I wouldn’t ordinarily want to watch it (clowns, you know), but he wrote about it in 11/22/63.

I have Love at First Bite on DVD, and Silver Bullet.

We love The Frighteners, with Michael J. Fox and directed by Peter Jackson.

I love the old Abbott and Costello monster movies.

And of course The Mummy.

Do you watch scary movies? What one do you plan to watch on Halloween?

Getting Ready for Halloween–Scary TV Shows

Usually in October I eat up all the horror movies on AMC and all the other channels that show them all month. But this year I didn’t see any. Why? Because there are so many scary TV shows! I’m looking at my list of shows to be watched and most are scary/creepy.

The first is American Horror Story. We’ve only seen the first episode of this season. It’s more twisted than scary right now.

The next is 666 Park Avenue. I’m on the third episode and again, more suspenseful than scary.

Supernatural, of course.

Grimm.

Walking Dead is the very best, the one we watch the minute it comes on.

What scary shows do you like?

Goals for the Third Week of Crazy (Halloween and NaNoWriMo)

This week is the week of wrapping things up. I’m the coordinator for United Way, so I’ve been coordinating the penny drive and the contributions from the staff. For the past 4 years we’ve had 100% participation. I’m better than 60% right now, but….people are losing their forms and I’m having to track them down and, well…

So, this week:

1) Get the last of the forms, and fill out paperwork.

2) Take last of the pennies from the penny drive to the bank

3) Finish pregnant heroine revisions

4) Go to dentist (BEFORE Halloween!)

5) Start NaNoWriMo!

6) Turn in a guest blog. I don’t know why I bother, I never get the traffic.

7) Get the kids ready for the Veteran’s Day program.

8) Enjoy Halloween!

Crazy, see? One more week like this….

Going to a Country Concert

Thursday night I went to see Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean. I LOVE Jason Aldean’s music. He’s like my muse. I listened to his albums almost every day last year on the way to school. So when tickets went on sale in May, I bought them as soon as I could.

We got to the arena to find women outnumbered men probably four to one. Almost all wore cowboy boots and/or rhinestones. And it seemed like EVERYONE wanted a shirt–lines were ten deep. Two Whataburgers cost double of what we would have paid outside of the arena.

I asked my husband as we sat at in the arena during the first act Thursday night if he ever thought he’d take me to a country concert. He looked at the girl singing a cover of Katy Perry and said he still didn’t think he had.

I ran to the bathroom after the first act (I don’t remember her name, but she only sang six songs) and stood in line for my t-shirt. I missed the first three Luke Bryan songs waiting because two women wanted to touch every shirt, apparently. I actually didn’t know any Luke Bryan songs, but BOY, did the girls in the crowd LOVE him. My ears rang for hours, not because of the music, but because of the screams. He did put on a good show, very energetic, all over the stage. He pulled a local guy up on stage during his “Shake It for Me” song, which was fun.

I realized I haven’t been to an arena concert since Josh was in 6th grade, when we went to go see Foo Fighters. And they are a FUN (if expensive) place to people-watch.

The woman in front of me was about 10 years younger than me, there with her husband, who sat the whole time. She was a Luke Bryan fan, because she knew the words and left halfway through Jason’s Aldean show.

There were two couples to our left. Apparently the guys were friends because they’d fist-bump a LOT, though they sat boy-girl-boy-girl. The one who was maybe a few years younger than us danced a lot, but the one who was a few years older just stood. Again, Luke Bryan fans. They enjoyed Jason, but not as much as Luke.

There were two men beside us who left to go get beer a LOT, and were gone for a long time. I think they were trying to pick up girls. I just thought it was odd that they spent all the money to be there and were hardly in their seats. (Though you could hear the music even in the bathroom!) They knew every word to Jason’s songs, though.

Finally Jason came on and I stopped watching people. He put on a really good show, but only played 2 songs from his new album and 2 from my favorite album, Wide Open. He also played 4 songs I didn’t know at all. His set was way more rock than I expected, and I wondered if he alters his set list based on his audience. (San Antonio is definitely more rock than anything else.)

He played for an hour and a half, which I thought was great. I didn’t pay attention to how long Luke played. About an hour, maybe. Afterwards, I asked Fred, who didn’t know either singer’s music, who he preferred, and he liked Luke’s set better, but he really liked that Jason brought his whole band forward for recognition at the end of the set.

So it was an awesome night, lots of fun. I just wish I hadn’t had to work a 12 hour day the next day, lol!

My Ten Favorite Fictional Heroines

I like my heroines strong and a little sassy. I don’t like them too strong, too kick-ass, too cut-off from their emotions. I prefer for them to be pretty self-aware. I like them to be able to take initiative. Some of my favorites from books are:

1) Claire from Deborah Smith’s A Place to Call Home

2) Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice

3) Fiona from Nora Roberts’s The Search

4) Trixie Belden

5) Kit from The Witch of Blackbird Pond

6) Heroine from Shannon Stacey’s Slow Summer Kisses

7) Jax in Trish Miburn’s White Witch

8) Verity in Susanna Kearsley’s The Shadowy Horses

9) Tara Jean from Molly O’Keefe’s Can’t Buy Me Love

10) Alicia from Robyn Carr’s Forbidden Falls

I had Evie from the first Mummy movie there, too, but couldn’t really think of any other movie hero I liked as much. Maybe Mila Kunis’s character from Friends with Benefits.

What characteristics do you like in your heroines? Who are some of your favorite? Who wants to mend my black skirt so I can wear it today?

Goals for the Second Week of Crazy

My husband had THREE gigs this weekend, all in New Braunfels, so I’m expecting a lazy day, except we have a prayer service to attend tonight. One of our teachers had a baby prematurely and lost her. It’s almost unbearable to think about. But we want to go support her.

This week is the carnival. I’m sure, if you’ve read this blog in the past, you know how MUCH I hate the carnival, even before I burned my hand 2 years ago. All the teachers do, and so we’re wondering why we still have it. Anyway, that’s this week, so I’ll be stressing about that all week. Not to mention it means I can’t practice with my choir for the Vet Day show, and we have 2 weeks.

However, I’m also going to a concert this week that I’ve been looking forward to since May, so yay! I haven’t been to a concert since last year, and before that, well, let’s not ask.

So:

1) Grocery trip

2) Prayer service

3) breakfast duty

4) CONCERT!

5) Carnival

6) finish revisions on pregnant heroine story

7) Cook more

8) Exercise more!

The TV Season So Far

Already, my TiVo is ready for the fall hiatus. I am ridiculously behind on most shows. I don’t usually turn the TV on until I’m making dinner so I can watch the news, but lately, to catch up, I’ve been turning it on and watching a couple of shows while I catch up on social media. I know, this means I have WAY too many shows.

I’m caught up on Hart of Dixie, Hawaii 5-0, How I Met Your Mother, Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time and Haven.

I’m at least one episode behind on 666 Park Avenue (2 episodes), Revenge, Castle (2 episodes!), The New Normal, Nashville, Grey’s, Vampire Diaries, Beauty and the Beast, Project Runway, Big Bang Theory, Raising Hope, Fringe, Revolution and Supernatural. (To be fair, I had parent night last night and didn’t sit down until after 8, then went to bed at 10, so I missed ALL my Thursday shows.)

I’m LOVING Hawaii 5-0, with McGarrett’s mom, and with Katherine being a regular on the show. I like her character.

I’m enjoying Hart of Dixie, which I was going to ax because of the love triangle, but I’m liking it now.

Walking Dead was awesomely GROSS!

Revenge is good. So is Nashville. And Vampire Diaries. And Once Upon a Time, though Snow is getting on my nerves.

I’m watching Beauty and the Beast because I like Kristen Kreuk, but I’m not sure I love their take on the fairy tale.

Supernatural is better than I’d hoped, though I’m thinking it’s time to wind it down.

Revolution is growing on me.

We already dropped Vegas, Jason O’Mara notwithstanding.

What are you watching? Are you caught up?

Six Songs

Stole this idea from Jaunty Quills.

1.) What was the first song you ever bought?

The first one I remember buying is Because the Night by Patti Smith. I remember because it was a 45 with a picture, and she was wearing an undershirt and no bra. I was sure Mom wouldn’t let me buy that, so I took a plain old record sleeve and swapped it out before I bought it.

2.) What song always gets you dancing?

So many! Lately it’s “It Ain’t What You Do” by Bananarama. Some commercial is playing it and I find myself singing it to myself and dancing around

Also, “Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire.

3.) What song takes you back to your childhood?

There was ALWAYS music in the house. We had a record player in the den and my mom had tons of records. I guess anything by Glen Campbell, in particular, though we listened to everything–Disney, Anne Murray, those KTEL records.

[image error]

4.) What is your perfect love song?

The one we played at our wedding is “I Believe in You and Me,” by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. Still love that song. Also, “In Your Eyes.”

5.) What song would you want at your funeral?

I know it’s about suicide, but “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day.

[image error]

6.)Time for the encore, one last song that makes you, you.

This is a hard question because music has been SO MUCH a part of my life, and my tastes have changed (though clearly I’m stuck in the past a LOT.) My mom listened to all kinds of music, and I was the first MTV generation. I married a musician, my son is a musician, I’m a music teacher. I have Glee, country, songs from Grey’s Anatomy, Arcade Fire, and songs from the 80s and 90s on my phone.

Maybe this one:

What songs define you?

Goals for the First Week of Crazy

So this week I have 2 days of inservice, the cleaning lady coming, a new dryer being delivered, a late night at school…and this week isn’t even as nuts as the next week!

1) Work on revisions on pregnant heroine story.

2) Do massive loads of laundry once we get the dryer.

3) Big grocery trip since we didn’t go last weekend.

4) Make a path in the garage so the delivery guys can deliver the dryer and get rid of the old one. And I mean old, it’s about 22 years old.

5) 2 days of inservice on autism

6) Parent night

7) Possibly a day of inservice on Saturday. I need 12 hours a year, outside of school time, but not sure I want to give up 8 hours on a Saturday.

8) Work on outline for NaNoWriMo book

9) Do a NaNoWriMo blog

I’m ready for an assistant!