The Phantom Moon

Late Night Crafting Take One

I've been MIA lately and I do apologize.  The holidays, homeschool, life and Holiday craft shows have been taking their toll and using up almost every last ounce of free time I have these days.  Not to mention the fact that we've already started taking turns passing colds around in the Phantom Moon Villetta.  Oy vey!  Things are finally slowing down again and before they race to warp speed again, I thought I'd quickly check in.

I have a lot of new collections and items that I'll be adding to my online shop that I can't wait to share in the next couple of days.  Many of these have made their debut in the Holiday craft shows I've attended and I'm so glad with the enthusiasm they've been met with!  It's so awesome to create something that people get excited for, ya know?  Most of my creating has been during the wee hours of the night and if you know me, you know that sleep is my number one enemy.  If I'm too still in one place that is quiet, warm and comfortable, chances are I'll fall asleep.  So to keep me from face planting into the tabletop during my late night sewing sessions, I usually employ my secret weapon .... Netflix!  I've caught up on movies, tv shows and countless documentaries to last me a lifetime.  Then again, I mostly heard them rather than actually watched them but they, it's better than nothing right?  So here's a breakdown if you're interested:

Movies I'd completely recommend:

Brave: I went into this thinking I wouldn't like the film, that the daughter would be a total brat and I'd never watch this with my own daughter.  Though I still think I won't watch this with my daughter, it's not a matter of never but a matter of when ... it's a great movie but for her age (5), I think she's a wee bit young to get the Mother / Daughter story that is as beautiful as the film itself.  Of course I cried in the end (who doesn't with these movies?) and when my baby is older, I plan on watching this with her and crossing my finger she gets the struggle and why her Mother is so hard on her ... a Mom can dream, right?

First Position
Snow White and the Huntsman
October Baby
The Avengers
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

The Secret World of Arietty (Studio Ghibli rocks!)
The September Issue
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
The Walking Dead: Season 3 (I can't wait for February!)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - re-watching Seasons 5-7

Downton Abbey
Love Actually

Movies that were a bit ... meh:

Prometheus - I went into this not knowing it was essentially the prequel to the Alien franchise.  So throughout almost the whole movie I kept thinking, "seriously?  This is so like Aliens!  Do these people think this knockofff is something people will buy?".  And the ending got here and it clicked and I realized what I fool I'd been.  But hey, Michael Fassenbender was in it and he's total eye candy which was okay.
Underworld: Awakening
The Darkest Hour

The Muppets
The Big Year
Vegucated
Red Dawn

Movies that sucked big time:

Silent House

American Reunion - the really should have stopped at American Pie ...

The Lorax
The Woman in Black
The Skin I Live In

So that's my list, folks.  And yes, I've made some iffy decisions but variety is the spice of life, right?  Ah well, my queue is now filled with Christmas movies so that should be interesting ...

Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey

For the last week or so, I've been catching up on some Netflix movies as I work on some illustrations for a new project is in the works.  I "watch" things I can mostly listen to and don't require me to actually watch 100% to get whats going on.  Kinda of like a live book on tape.  I added the movie "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey" to the Instant queue and thought nothing of it as I set it up to play.  And of course you know what happened ... I was hooked!

I totally got immersed in Kevin Clash's story (aka the heart and soul of Elmo!) and the world of puppets, Muppets and Sesame Street friends.  Kevin comes across as one of the most real people I've seen who have come into fame and not let it get to their head.  He's seriously one of the guys you'd love to have as your friend and enjoy his company and bounce ideas off of.  His story is like a dream come true to any puppeteer.  It's awe inspiring to see how much talent and drive Kevin has.

He was also friends with another great that I admire, the one and only Jim Henson.  My Mom loved Jim, especially his favorite Muppet Kermit the frog, and we were all sad to see him pass ...  

Suffice to say it includes some behind the scenes footage of Jim, Muppet movies and Sesame Street which was a totally joy to watch for a fan like me.  And it also included some footage of Jim Henson's Memorial service which had me blubbering like a baby as I watched it, but try as I might I couldn't stop and had to Youtube it to share it with my family and friends (sorry for making you cry, Mom!).

 

Kevin makes it a point to connect with as many fans as possible, especially children who are genuinely interested in puppeteering, or in puppets / muppets in general.  He also meets with children from the Make a Wish foundation who ask to meet with Elmo.  It touched my heart to see how much it affected and meant to Kevin to have kids to ask to meet with him for their wish ... another tear jerker moment!

I honestly loved this movie - even though I totally didn't get any work done since I paying attention to this movie completely, lol.  

If you haven't seen it and are a Muppet / Elmo / Henson fan, I would sugget you check it out at your earliest convenience.  And don't forget to keep the tissues handy ... :)

Candle Fire

I must have been a good little girl because this Christmas, my present under the tree was a Kindle Fire (or Candle Fire if you ask my 4 year old).  We're no strangers to handheld devices in my family (Sister has a Nook, Brother has an iPad and BIL has a Kindle) and I was pretty excited to have one of my own.  Luckily my hubby was able to get a great deal which made it even sweeter.

I am happy to say that the Kindle Fire has not been far from my side since Christmas and I've added over 200 books and documents already!  Okay, so most of them were free on Amazon but I also added recipes that I'd collected over the years and have used it several times in the kitchen already.

Now, the Kindle Fire isn't just a pretty kitchen assistant and librarian.  The Fi-yah is also an excellent device for playing games!  I can't even tell you how many apps we've downloaded so far but here are my favorites in no particular order:

Angry Birds (of course) 

Where's My Water

Fruit Ninja

Stupid Zombies

And speaking of apps, I would totally suggest the Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner app if you like to cook and have the Kindle Fire.  

It's great for finding recipes on the fly and you can save your "favorites", email or share them on facebook or twitter.  It also lets you find recipes based on Dish type, Ingredients and time or "spin it" and find a new recipe you might love.  Pretty neat, right?

I would recommend the Kindle Fire for anyone who loves reading books on the go, cooking and using electronic copies of recipes and people who love playing device based games.  Amazon, great job!  I'm totally in love with my Fire :)