Moviestar Boyfriends

Moviestar Boyfriends is a term my sister uses. It means the movie star you fantasize about..Do you have one or two?


Here is a new one - Mark Strong - with an old one - Gerard Butler. This photo is from the movie Rocknrolla. The latest Guy Ritchie film. It's a great film, if you like Ritchie's style.

Review from about.com:
When a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, millions of dollars are up for grabs, and all of London's criminal underworld wants in on the action. Everyone from a dangerous crime lord to a sexy accountant, a corrupt politician and down-on-their-luck petty thieves conspire, collude and collide with one another in an effort to get rich quick.

Mark Strong was Hani Salaam in Body of Lies, Mr. Knightly in Emma (one version with Kate Beckinsale), Nick in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and Septimus in Stardust.

March is craft month!!

In the midst of starting to pack up some things from my closet, I found a bag of Lion Brand Homespun yarn. There was not enough of anything to make a garment. So I thought, I don't want to take it with me to Sicily. So I decided to knit the yarn up into a small blanket.

I started with needles size 10 1/2. I cast on 48 stitches and went to work.

This is my first strip.

Then I started my 2 other strips which I will sew together to make the blanket when they are as long as the first.

Making Bread My Way

My bread recipe:

5-5 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

First you add the yeast, sugar and water to the mixing bowl. Let it sit until it looks like this. This what it looks like when the yeast is working!

Meanwhile, put 3 cups of flour and the salt in another bowl. Have your oil handy.

Add the flour salt and oil into the yeast mixture and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. It will look like this.

Gradually add the rest of the flour until the dough is not sticky anymore. Sometimes you will use it all, sometimes you will not depending on the humidity. Kneed the dough for about 8 minutes while adding the flour.

It should resemble this when it is done.

Then put it in a greased bowl so it can rise. May take an hour or so. Cover with a cloth.

When it has risen it doubles in size.

Form the dough into whatever shape you like. Put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Let it rise again. Cover with a cloth.

Preheat the oven at 450 F with a dish of water inside the oven.

When it has risen, slide it in the oven for 13 minutes. Then lower the temp to 375F for another 12 minutes.

When it has finished baking it will look like this!

Put on a wire rack to cool!

Then enjoy!

Barbie Ban

From Metro News - Voice of West Virginia

Barbie Dolls send the wrong message to young girls in West Virginia and a member of the House of Delegates believes they should no longer be sold in the Mountain State.

Jeff Eldridge (D-Lincoln) is the lone sponsor of a bill introduced Tuesday that says "Barbie" and other dolls that influence girls to be beautiful should be banned."I think we send not a very good message to our younger children in school that if you're beautiful you don't have to be smart," Eldridge said.

The one-page bill likely won't get much consideration according to Eldridge, but he wants to send a message. "Let's concentrate on our education for our kids," he said. Eldridge says several people have come to him in recent months talking about the pressure put on young girls. The delegate says it's time to change the message. "Girls are impressionable when they're young," he said. "Let's be smart. I think if we give that message I think our kids would accept that faster than 'I'm beautiful I don't have to be smart.'"

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Barbie Doll.

What utter BS! Like a doll really makes youngs girls want to be really thin with big boobs! It didn't to me. How about you?
What about these supermodels or ultra thin actresses OR these diet commercials telling you that you need to be thin to live a good life. If these girls have pressure maybe it is coming from their parents or their teachers. Do people forget that they need to build children up? Do people forget that children need encouragement, not negativity?

Movie: Miracle at St.Anna

Yesterday I watched this movie. I don't care for WWII movies but this was really good.

It starts with an older man, Hector (Laz Alonzo) that works in the post office. A man comes to his window and he shoots him, dead. What??

A reporter (Joseph Gordon Levitt) comes to a policeman (John Turturro) who is investigating the murder. The policeman sends him with some other policemen that are going to look through Hector's apartment. They find the head of a statue. The head is from an Italian village. It is very valuableand has been missing since WWII. The reporter goes to Hector and asks him about the head. Then we get the story told through a flashback. 4 black soldiers cross a river in Tuscany, surrounded by Germans, find a child, and meet up with some Italians and what happens after. I won't give it away.

All Done and here's the sun!

No more snow, blue skies acomin'!

Little P at work with the snow shovel. You can see bare spots due to the winds whipping the snow around. I think it will be quite windy for the rest of the day. But some of the snow is melting.

About an hour after my first post, the King had to go out to feed the birds. He cleared a path on the deck. It was snowed over in no time. I think we got about 5 inches or so in a few hours.

Snow Snow Snow

Well, here it is. March is in like a lion! When I got up this morning at 6:50 am, there was hardly any snow on the ground.

You cannot see the road in the front of our house. No trucks have been around to clear since they closed the public schools this morning.

Look at the pile on our little table! All this in a little over 2 hours!

You can actually see the snow falling in this photo!
It is like 65 in Sicily! Wish we were there!