Marla's Movie Musings

I went to see the movie "Gravity" today with a group of people I work with...I'd heard a lot of generic good things about the film, but really had little idea what to expect or what it was about. Here's the run-down:

1) This movie is basically "Castaway" in space. If you liked Castaway, you'll love this film. And you'll also know how it ends. :p

2) I had a very hard time separating Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as celebrities from their characters. They are so well-known that it was hard not to see THEM on the screen--which of course makes the plot a whole lot more far fetched. To be fair, I had this same problem with Tom Cruise in "Oblivion". Its probably just me.

3) Okay, seriously--there were LOTS of shots of Sandra Bullock's incredibly toned, skinny legs. But here's the deal: she had been in space for a week and half!! DOES ANYBODY REALLY SHAVE THEIR LEGS IN SPACE???

Rating: B

Christmas Card

Had to share this here, for my memories! This will be our Christmas card this year! I don't usually do Christmas cards--but really, who can resist sending this out?? Happy Wednesday!!

Garden dreaming

I am garden dreaming this morning...already. :)

My first garden was on our new property this year. I was discouraged at the time that I had to let it die off, and thought it was an experiment gone sadly wrong. I vowed never to garden again! But since then (time and thought), I have realized that every garden is an experiment! Some things will go well every year, and some will not--the point is to learn and adjust! I'm reading the book "No Time on My Hands" again (second time, first time was maybe 6 or 7 years ago?), and Grace Snyder had many gardens just ruined by the Nebraska/Wyoming hailstorms or by her husband's horses, or etc., and that was their grocery store!! So of course it never occurred to her to "give up"! Ha!

My pumpkins and tomatoes did very well. I just planted too many tomatoes, and my garden was in a place with no shade. While this may sound fantastic to Nor-Cal folks :) , in the desert, this was a mistake. It took a lot of watering to keep them from wilting. My tomatoes next to my son's cabin did much better, thanks in part to the shade. My potatoes were a total bust. This time, I am trying potato towers. :)  My poor, poor peppers never did take off. We had one plant produce two beautiful peppers--only to come home on day and find the rabbits had helped themselves. Heartbreaking, I tell you!!! However, I have since learned that I planted my peppers too close to my tomatoes--peppers are apparently selfish plants, and like their space. So they will be my container-gardening experiment this spring. I am going to try cucumbers, and also melons and watermelons...I think vine fruits do well in our desert, surprisingly!! I am composting through the winter (and I have no idea what I'm doing...)--I'll post some pictures of my little compost bin later. I am thinking of how to fence off my area, whether or not to do raised beds, how to level the ground, how much ground I want...I didn't realize how much work it would take to maintain our garden, especially in our summer heat in the full sun. One reason I am making adjustments. It needs to be something I can manage in the early morning through the summer. The place I'm considering now has a watering system built in it. Oooh, I also just read that you can make your beds out of bricks?? That would satisfy my aversion to power tools and asking my Handsome Husband for help. (Call it pride. Go ahead. I dare you.)

101 Gardening Tips

Garden Dreaming. :)

A Good Read

This Matt Walsh guy has been popping up a lot on my facebook feed. I think I like him. A lot. This article NAILS it. Truly.

http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/10/15/easy-no-kids-today-do-not-have-it-easy/

Watching to see the doors God is opening for our family. We'll see! :)

Gem and MIneral Show

We took the kids to the Gem and Mineral show in Trona, which is a nearby town. (Like, the ONLY "nearby" town.) We had a lot of fun exploring and looking at different rocks and minerals found in our desert. It was a spur of the moment thing; next year, we'll plan a little better, with some spending money for rocks (Mallory has a great rock collection) and a trip out to the mud to dig for pink halite. We had a good family day this year, and hiked around the Pinnacles for a bit as well. Dad kept teasing the kids that he had lost the car on the way back...and I fell for it too a little bit, can't lie about that one! He's a good trickster! Plus, hiking around in circles in the desert for an hour, everything starts to look the same. There's a reason we still have miles and miles of unclaimed land out here! The girls spend their recycling and egg money on geodes, which they cut at the show for them--it was a neat experience!

Down Time

Dear Santa

http://www.amazon.com/The-Illustrated-Encyclopedia-Country-Living/dp/1616084677/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1381586646&sr=8-5

Don't you hate it when you find a book you REALLY REALLY WANT two months before Christmas??