Les Miserables: The Boomer's Choice Award

     Christmas Day, after the family had gone, the dishes were washed, and the gift boxes and trash taken out, Rex and I decided to go to the movies. We wanted to see something funny and entertaining so we chose THIS IS 40. It was funny and entertaining, but it disturbed both of us as well. The air was blue with foul language. The f... and d... words spewed forth throughout the movie. The Director, Judd Apatow, cast his wife and two young daughters in the film. I was so surprised at some of the lines he had the women and girls in his life saying. There were parts of the film that were very funny without being over the top vulgar. The entire film could have been done that way and would have reached a much wider audience. It leaves me wondering who the audience is Hollywood is trying to reach. It certainly isn’t us baby boomers. We’ve been around long enough to have heard every foul word there is, learned about every depraved thing in the world, and we truly don’t want to be slapped in the face with it any longer. We know that life is a lot better if you keep it clean.

     Yesterday I went to see Les Miserables with my sister-in-law and Patty, our friend from Finland. What a difference! Yes, there was depravity, prostitution, sex, violence, but most of it was left to our imaginations. There was no foul language in the film. The message that came across was hopeful and restored faith in mankind. Love truly conquers all and it is through loving that people are able to change. The theater was packed with baby boomers and the showings have sold out every day since the movie opened on Christmas Day.

     Les Miserables is the number 1 movie this week on Fandango. Django Unchained is number 2. This is 40 isn’t on there, but Parental Guidance is. I haven’t seen that yet, but I plan to unless I read reviews saying is it vulgar and full of foul language.

     I expect Django Unchained will be an over the top movie. It’s a Quentin Tarantino movie. You know what you’re going to get with him.

     When I go see a movie that I think is going to be a funny family comedy, I don’t want little girls and wives cursing every other word.

     And what’s wrong with Hollywood? Have they just written us boomers off? Don’t they understand we’re the ones with money to spend and more free time to spend it on things like movies? I’ve learned recently that I really enjoy stealing away a couple of hours mid-day to take myself to a movie. Why not give me more choices? HOLLYWOOD, WAKE UP!

BANG BANG, YOU'RE DEAD

     Well, there’s been another shooting. 4 people are dead in Pennsylvania. Guns. Hot topic. And, a very controversial one.

     I grew up in Iowa. All of my farmer relatives, and my dad who grew up on a farm, were hunters. I remember growing up around guns. I didn’t think much about them. They hung on walls, they were propped against the corner inside the closets we hid in while playing hide and seek, and if you were rich enough, you had a gun cabinet to lock them in. They were either rifles or shotguns. If we behaved, sometimes an older relative would take us out to a field for a bit of target practice. They would line up bottles or cans on fence posts and we would try to shoot them off. Rifles were kind of fun to use. Shotguns not much fun for a young girl, but it was a lot of fun for the older relative that let you shoot it and watched when it kicked you in the shoulder and knocked you on your butt.

     All I knew about guns was if I touched one when I wasn’t supposed to I’d be in a wealth of hurt. I never touched them. I also knew these guns were used to shoot animals. I hated that. I loved animals and I wouldn’t eat any wild animal that got shot. Hunting was a relaxing recreation for my male relatives. They’d tramp through the woods for hours and then come home with something they’d shot and dressed out there, and the women would fry it up. Nothing was wasted. One year my dad “got a deer” and we had venison all winter. I didn’t eat any of it. I wasn’t eating Bambi.

     One time Dad and Uncle Howard took me and my cousin Deanna squirrel hunting with them. That didn’t last long because we spent the whole time making noise so the squirrels could run away.

     Anyway, the point of this whole thing is as a child I didn’t make a connection to guns and violence, not like children do now. I don’t have a problem with hunters using guns in sport. I realize the military and the police need guns.

     There’s absolutely no reason that I can think of where Joe Q Citizen needs an automatic weapon. Why does Joe need an assault rifle? Can someone please tell me? If you want to arm yourself in your home, wouldn’t a shotgun do the trick? Come on now. Can’t we meet somewhere in the middle?

The Last of the Pioneer Women/surviving loss

It’s only 6 days until Christmas and so far I’ve managed to get through the season without slipping into a depression. The holiday season usually makes me melancholy. I made a big effort this year to shake things up. I knew it could be difficult due to all the losses I and those close to me have sustained this year. It started off with losing Mom in February and went on from there.

     Today I’ve been thinking about the women I inherited my strength from and I’ve concluded that I’m the last of these Pioneer women. This makes me a bit sad. I’m the last one to remember the old stories of the trials and tribulations those that came before me endured. The losses they sustained were numerous and crushing, but they never let things keep them down for long. These losses included a husband who died in my grandmother’s arms, the death of her oldest child, and the death of her sister who was just a young teenager. My grandmother, Grace Shupe Arnold Kimzey, was ill most of her life with ulcerative colitis, which I inherited from her. Unfortunately in the time she lived, her UC was not able to be cured and she suffered with it until she died of leukemia at 56 years of age. Even though she was sick, she never stopped working and taking care of those she loved. Her mother, Elmira Sargent Shupe, suffered the loss of her daughter, Mary, to a ruptured appendix when she was just a young teenager. Mary’s picture hangs in my dining room.

     Great-granmother Elmira cared for my mother, Kathryn Kimzey Judkins, when she was just a little girl. Grandma Grace had been placed in a TB sanitarium because the doctors at the time thought she had TB of the bowel. Mom lived with her grandmother for almost 2 years. She missed her mother, her father, and her three brothers terribly. In her final years of life, Mom lost every one of her generation. She was the last one left alive. But she didn’t let it get her down. She kept moving forward until it was her turn to go. She always found new things to do, new friends, and she was always helping someone.

     I heard all the stories of homes that burned down, babies being placed in an old wooden blanket chest to sleep since there was nowhere else to put them, and I heard a lot about the Great Depression. Still, they survived. Perhaps they didn’t prosper greatly, but they enjoyed their lives.

     I learned a lot about life from these women. One of Grandma’s phrases was, “This, too, shall pass away.” Whenever something terrible happens, I remember that. It will pass. The pain will lessen. You can go on. You can enjoy the holiday season even though you’ve sustained a loss. I know I don’t ever want my loved ones to mourn for me so much that they aren’t able to go on, and I also know my Mom, Dad, and everyone else I’ve lost would want the same for me.

     Peace be with you all during this holiday season.

Ulcerative Colitis Sucks Big Time II

Two years ago I posted about my most recent visit with the GI doctor for a follow-up regarding my Ulcerative Colitis. Since then, things have improved. I started seeing a nutritionist who changed my diest and put me on a variety of supplements. I discovered, with her help, that though I'm not allergic to gluten, I do have a gluten intolerance. I've made dietary changes and my life is much more manageable now.

I'd like to tell you all that even though Ulcerative Colitis Sucks Big Time, it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Keep searching. Keep looking for answers. I now know that I will have many quality years ahead of me. Check into alternative therapies. It cant's hurt, and hopefully it will help.

PS: My most recent sigmoidoscopy showed a lot of improvement with the dietary and supplemental changes I've made.

CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS

When we toured the Arboretum in Fullerton I pointed out the prickly pear cactus to our Finnish friends and explained that people eat them and they are said to be quite tasty. Our friends were eager to try cactus, Nopalitos, but we haven’t found them on the menu at any Mexican restaurants we’ve visited so I’ve decided to cook them on Sunday. I watched a You Tube video, then printed out a recipe from the internet, so I’m good to go. Today I went to the local Northgate Market to buy the cactus paddles. I hope it isn’t too difficult to get the stickers off. That should be an adventure. The woman on You Tube made it look easy. We’ll see.

     This got me thinking about how much my Christmas meals have changed over the years. I grew up in Iowa on farm food. Christmas dinner was always ham, scalloped potatoes and corn, homemade rolls, maybe something green, cranberries, then lots of yummy pies. We moved to California and the tradition continued for as long as my mom and dad lived in Southern California. When they moved, so did my Christmas meals.

     My husband Rex’s mom was from Costa Rica and his dad from Michigan. Their Christmas meals were a combination of both. Mom made Costa Rican tamales every year. I grew to love them. They are different from Mexican tamales and are not spicy. The corn meal is whiter and softened with the addition of mashed potatoes. The meat and vegetables are placed on top of the corn meal and it’s all wrapped with banana leaves. I made them a couple of years, again going to Northgate Market for the supplies. I thought they were pretty good but the truth came out. No one really liked Costa Rican tamales as much as Mexican tamales. So now I just order Mexican tamales from one of the local markets.

     I’m having a birthday dinner here Sunday. What are we eating? Tacos, refried beans, rice, chips and salsa and of course guacamole. Christmas Eve we’re going to brother Bill’s house. Tacos again. Then Christmas breakfast we’re having tamales and chili rellenos.

     So, that’s the Christmas tradition now at the Pratt household. No more farm food. We have that on Thanksgiving.  

I would be perfectly happy eating Mexican food every day of the week. I do look forward to my California Christmas breakfast every year. Cheers!

Art4Healing

My friend Kathy (KAS) Sartori wrote on her blog:

I’m a DreamTraveler.  I believe, to be happy, we have to recreate ourselves, maybe not every day but two or three times a year and many times in a decade.  That’s what makes life an adventure.  www.dreamtravelerkas.blogspot.com.

                I agree completely with KAS. Once you stop recreating yourself and your life, you stop living. I also believe we only have a short lifetime to pack it all in and I don’t intend on wasting a minute of it.

     I’ve been searching for something to add meaning to my life. It has to meet a lot of criteria. I want to be able to give back to the community but while doing so I need to be doing something I really enjoy. So far I’ve done a lot of different volunteer activities that didn’t quite fit. I was involved in a doing craft activities with unwed mothers in a residential facility. I did that for several years but tired of thinking up crafts, buying supplies, then going to the facility only to find out the girls were busy with other programs, or the staff had forgotten it was our night to come, or...a myriad of other excuses. I tried the Boys and Girls Club but was just a babysitter among a bunch of chaos and I’m too old for that. I took an art class and started painting, which I love. Then I took two Reiki classes and enjoyed that but couldn’t figure out a way to use it in a volunteer setting to help others. I really loved the spiritual aspect of Reiki and can use it in my nursing job, so it wasn’t a total loss.

     My friend Erin kept telling me about Art 4 Healing. She said I would be great at it and I finally decided to give it a try by taking a class myself. I’VE FOUND IT! This is what I’m meant to do. It’s been a journey but I haven’t given up.

     Saturday morning I drove to Laguna Niguel to attend the workshop PAINTING FOR YOUR SOUL. The picture here is one of the projects I completed. It’s called REST FOR MY SOUL. I love how it turned out. We did a total of 4 projects in three hours. It felt so peaceful while I was there and therapeutic for many reasons.

     I’ve decided I’m going to take the intensive workshop in July and become a Certified Art4Healing facilitator. That way I’ll be able to hold my own workshops and assist others in working through their issues. This is perfect for me. I can incorporate all my interests and talents into one. I love teaching, nursing, helping others, and I love art. I can’t wait.

     So, I now have the direction I’m going to go in next. In the words of my oldest son, “Good times!”