Friday Film Quotes

Time for another round of movie quotes! I guess last week was a bit tough, so I’ll try to give you some easier ones this week. Here are last week’s answers:

  1. Twenty three dollars and seven cents. Sign here. The Blues Brothers
  2. He’s smarter than I am. Three years old, and he can already read the funny papers. The Godfather
  3. He’s a southpaw. I don’t want you messing with southpaws. They do everything backwards. Rocky
  4. You still remember, Admiral. I cannot help but be touched. I, of course, remember you. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  5. I’m willing to forget this little incident. And I want you to think real hard about it. And maybe someday you’ll understand what the hell I’m talking about. Stripes
  6. And now, here are the headlines. Here they come right now. Pope actually found to be Jewish. Liberace is Anastasia and Ethel Merman jams Russian radar. Good Morning, Vietnam
  7. I don’t have a set price or anything, but I have been getting ten dollars. Deuce Bigalow
  8. Captain, when I joined the police force, I thought I was going to be Serpico. But instead, I’m like… Fish from Barney Miller. So I Married An Axe Murderer
  9. Dorks. They look like a couple of dorks. Pulp Fiction
  10. I will not speak to you ’til you put your head on straight. Death Becomes Her
  11. We don’t have beer. Just tequila. The Three Amigos
  12. Yes, he’s in the intensive care ward at Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad
  13. Don’t make me steamroll you. Steamroller! Strange Brew
  14. You know, this was not in the brochure… City Slickers
  15. It’s amazing how fast you get used to such a big place. I tell you, when we first came up here I thought it was kinda scary. The Shining
  16. All I know is the soldiers are quite happy shooting the people who say the people are not happy. Zorro, The Gay Blade
  17. “And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.” Benefits of a classical education. Die Hard
  18. Hey, Kid park my car, get my bags… and put on some weight will ya? Caddyshack
  19. I felt he used too many onions, but it was still a very good sauce. Goodfellas
  20. It angers a lot of people, just the sight of it. Ah, I’ll tell you a story about that on the way to school. Uncle Buck

And now, for this week’s quotes! Those playing along on Facebook, remember one guess per person!

Have fun!

  1. Hey, Fella! What a turkey! Hey, Fella, you’re a turkey, you know that?!
  2. Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?
  3. Rabbi, you seem to be on the side of good. Will you come and share with us some of your wisdom, some of your council, and perhaps… some of your wine?
  4. What kind of stupid name is that?!
  5. God no, it smells like, like a used diaper… filled with… Indian food. Oh, excuse me.
  6. The thing about trains… it doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on.
  7. I feel like I’m watching a Cher video.
  8. At this very moment those pictures are on their way to Washington where the FBI has experts in this type of identification. If you turn yourselves in now, you may escape a Federal charge.
  9. You know, it just occurred to me that we really haven’t had a successful test of this equipment.
  10. He’s a pedantic, pontificating, pretentious bastard, a belligerent old fart, a worthless steaming pile of cow dung, figuratively speaking.
  11. Sir, if you get the wrong wire, you’ll cut the engine feeds, and the plane will crash.
  12. Behold, my magic wand and free your golden orbs right now.
  13. You should’ve been here for the Zeronian migration in 1968.
  14. I have a shell fragment the size of a fist in my head. Pork Chop Hill, 1953.
  15. So who’s your client, Mr. Detective-to-the-Stars? Chilly Willy? Or Screwy Squirrel?
  16. Don’t you know your right flank from your left flank?
  17. We’re not really violent people. This is our first gun.
  18. You’ve got me? Who’s got you?
  19. Ask your friends in the neighborhood about me. They’ll tell you I know how to return a favor.
  20. Don’t be jealous that I’ve been chatting online with babes… all day. Besides, we both know that I’m training to be a cage fighter.

Wednesday Worries and Thoughts

Covid-19

Am I the only one that starts to freak out if I get one of the symptoms related to Covid-19?!! Monday, I got one of the symptoms (I will refrain from saying which one, but I visited the bathroom often), and my first thought was “Please don’t let this be Covid!” I called in to work on Tuesday, and around the time we normally punch in, a co-worker texted me with one word: “Covid??” I told her I was freaking out about it, and she told me when she had a cough recently, she was doing the same thing! Needless to say, I didn’t have a fever, I was able to taste and smell coffee, and have recovered.

Recently, a co-worker from another lab, a former co-worker, and a co-worker from one of the radio stations I work at were all diagnosed with Covid. One of them works from home, so how she got it is anybody’s guess. My neighbor (who had asked earlier in the week if he could borrow my lawnmower – but never did) texted this morning to say he just got a positive Covid test. I hope he keeps it down at his house!

Looks like this is gonna be around for a while longer ….

Classes

Over the past few months, I have been reviewing an entire year of Bible classes that I took years ago. I am finally in the finally weeks of the last semester of that year. Once I finish reviewing those, I will enter the first semester of the second year, which is where I left off. I am beyond excited to continue these classes. I have found the time in God’s Word to be exactly what I needed. Reviewing the classes is taking time, and I am glad that I chose to review instead of jumping right back into the classes where I left off. There was so much information that I had forgotten, yet so much information that I remembered.

I’ve also found myself watching live streams of church services on Sundays when the baby naps. I am lucky to have met many pastors through Bible conferences, and other believers through mutual friends on Facebook. Many of their messages have been applicable to my daily life and have been helpful to me. It’s been a while, but I am glad to see some growth in my spiritual life.

9 Months!

Ella turned 9 months old on Tuesday. It’s hard to put into words just how much we adore her. With each new day, it seems she’s doing something new! She’s got 6 teeth, crawling, standing, and will be walking in no time. It’s already a challenge keeping up with her! LOL. If you look at her and pucker up like you are going to kiss her, she will lean in and give you a kiss. It’s my new favorite thing that she does!!

Every year, we head to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth and get a new ornament for the Christmas tree. We got one when we got engaged, we got one when we got married, we got one last year when we were expecting, and this year it was “Baby’s First Christmas.” I think that we’ll be putting up the tree this weekend. I can’t wait to tell her the story of her first visit to the store.

Incidentally, for those of you who don’t live in Michigan, this week was a great example of how we experience more than one season in a short time. We had great weather last week and right up to Tuesday (it was almost 80!). This morning, it was about 45 degrees and windy (which made it feel a whole lot colder). You’ll notice Ella wearing her warm sweats this morning in the picture below!

She was a bit tired as we walked through the store. We knew exactly what we needed, so we were in and out. The place was a zoo! We were thinking, “Who goes to Frankenmuth at 10am on a Wednesday?!” Obviously, a lot of people! Anyway, we had to document her first visit there…

Veteran’s Day

Lastly, I wanted to say thank you to all of my readers who have served in the armed forces! Whenever I am out anywhere and see someone wearing a hat that says “Veteran” or a branch of the military, I always say “Thank you.” I know that the freedoms we love in this country came at a cost. I thank every man and woman who have proudly wore the uniform and served out country. I am especially grateful to my dad (on the left) who served in the army , and my Uncle Tom (on the right) who served in the navy. They both served during the Vietnam War.

Thanks for reading!

Weekend Wrap Up

Michigan weather has been just beautiful the past week or so. It looks like we’ll have one more nice day and the temps will drop. Saturday, while the baby was napping and my son was doing homework, I went out and cleaned up the leaves from the driveway. Later that afternoon, my kids and I got to get out and take a walk around the neighborhood. He enjoys pushing his sister in the stroller. It is a good time for us to just catch up.

I decided to take advantage of the weather and get the Christmas lights up. The more I thought about what I wrote in a recent blog, the more I was convinced that putting up the lights early would bring about some happiness in a year that has really sucked. My son and I strung all the lights out on the side porch. The nice temps made it easy to do and with him helping, it only took me half the time.

I got some of the decorations up out front, but I have a few bad strands that I need to check fuses on before I string them up. I am thinking of adding the strands of white LED lights that I had strung along the fence for our 4th of July party. I usually only put the lights along the rails on the porch, so it should be pretty easy.

After I dropped my son off and the baby woke up from her nap, we spent most of the day outside. We took our stroll through the neighborhood and walked a bit longer than normal. I had to laugh because when we got back home, she totally kicked her foot up like she was relaxing!

After our walk, we played in the leaves (until she tried to start eating them), played on the slide, sat on the trampoline, and then just sat in the grass. She was standing next to me in on the back lawn and I looked up and saw our shadows. For some reason, looking at them it hit me how fast she is growing up. I can’t believe she will be 9 months old tomorrow! The shadow was a reminder to enjoy every little moment like this…

Heavenly Jeopardy?

I have never read a bad thing about Alex Trebek. Every interview I watched of him, he always seemed like a wonderful man. With his passing, there has been an outpouring of wonderful tributes to him by celebrities all over the country. A friend pointed out that Trebek and the great Sean Connery passed away within a week of each other.

One of my favorite sketches on SNL was Celebrity Jeopardy. Will Ferrell played Alex Trebek and Darrell Hammond played Sean Connery. In the sketch, Connery has this unreal hatred for Trebek and always made countless jabs about Trebek’s mother. It was always a treat to see Norm MacDonald playing Burt Reynolds in these sketches.

I always waited to see how Connery would take a category and make it dirty – for example:

Real Category: Let It Snow. Connery asks for: Le Tits Now

Real Category: The Pen Is Mighter Connery asks about: The Penis Mightier

I truly hope that SNL doesn’t miss the opportunity to do some kind of tribute to Connery and Trebek this week. I can see a Heavenly round of Celebrity Jeopardy with Ferrell, Hammond, and MacDonald being very funny!

Same Old Lions

Sunday, I got to see bits and pieces of the Detroit Lions game. It was awful, as usual. I saw this on Facebook today, and had to share. I know that this is totally supposed to be more of a political jab, and I am not posting it to be political, I just thing it is pretty funny!

The Election

It was certainly great to hear that voter turnout was so good. Whether your candidate won or lost, if you voted, you did your part! Over the past couple decades, we’ve seen a lot of division. We’ve seen a lot of lost trust in the system and the government. With every election, I hope and pray that the elected officials will do something to bring us together. I may have posted this picture before, but I thought it was one of the most powerful that I had seen this year:

In 2016, after the election, I wrote something on Facebook. It came up in my Facebook Memories today. It is worth sharing:

Maybe we are family. Maybe we went to high school together. Maybe I went to college with you. Maybe we worked together. Maybe we bowled together. Maybe you and I like the same movies or music. Maybe we met at a conference.

However we met, however we know each other, you are here because you are my friend. You and I are Americans. We are citizens of the greatest country in the world. One of the great things about being an American is that we have the freedoms to believe what we want and vote for who we want. We don’t always have to agree. I say this because no matter where you stand as a Republican, Democrat, or Independent…..as a Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran nondenominationalist or Dispensationalist….. heterosexual or homosexual …..male or female…..employed or unemployed….union or nonunion…..I don’t care!!! You are my friend and I am glad you are my friend. You have the right and the freedom to believe what you want and voice your opinion. Knowing that we may not agree is ok with me. There are other things we have in common that led us to be friends. I haven’t deleted any friend or family member because of their vote, because of their faith, because of their sexual preference, or because of their job or financial status. Thank you for being my friend.

Life would be pretty boring if we were all the same! A quote from Andy Hargreaves came across my timeline today and I want to share: “If we were all on the same page, no one’s reading the whole book”!

So what if your candidate lost? So what? One of the first thing I learned as a kid was there are winners and losers in games and elections. So what do we do now? You take the words of a pastor friend of mine who reminded me that “The guy you voted for may not have won, but you should still pray for him.”

So that’s what I am going to do. Here are the Bible verses to back that up:

I Timothy 2: 1-3

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

God Bless America!

Friday Film Quotes

Time for another round of Friday Film Quotes! Here are the answers from last week:

  1. It’s not often you see a guy that green have the blues that bad. The Muppet Movie
  2. Do you mind if we dance with your dates? Animal House
  3. I want him found. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast – now! Shawshank Redemption
  4. SEDA-GIVE? Young Frankenstien
  5. And Jack Benny is secretary of the treasury. Back to the Future
  6. I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  7. Gummi bear? It’s been in my pocket; they’re real warm and soft. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  8. Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than on any place on the face of the earth? My Cousin Vinny
  9. That’s a good-looking piece! and cunningly disguised so it won’t look like a racing car, you know. The cops would never give that a second glance! Cannonball Run
  10. Hey Mr. Donut Man, who’s trying to kill ya? I don’t know but they better not! Wayne’s World
  11. Gimme some sugar, baby. Army of Darkness
  12. You’ve been mostly-dead all day. The Princess Bride
  13. Where does he get those wonderful toys? Batman (1989)
  14. Dad, you’re going to have to use the machine gun. Get it ready! Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
  15. Any fool who would paint his truck like this would show up at a minister’s funeral dressed in feathers. Smokey and the Bandit
  16. My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives. Blazing Saddles
  17. There’s one big difference between you and me, George. I do this job because I’ve been trained to do it. You do it because you LOVE it. Patton
  18. You don’t need to see his identification. Star Wars: Epidode 4 – A New Hope
  19. I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anything like this since the Anita Bryant concert. Airplane!
  20. I saw two big fat naked bikers, in the woods off seventeen having sex. Happy Gilmore

And now for this weeks quotes. I was challenged to pick some obscure ones this time. Good Luck!

  1. Twenty three dollars and seven cents. Sign here.
  2. He’s smarter than I am. Three years old, and he can already read the funny papers.
  3. He’s a southpaw. I don’t want you messing with southpaws. They do everything backwards.
  4. You still remember, Admiral. I cannot help but be touched. I, of course, remember you.
  5. I’m willing to forget this little incident. And I want you to think real hard about it. And maybe someday you’ll understand what the hell I’m talking about.
  6. And now, here are the headlines. Here they come right now. Pope actually found to be Jewish. Liberace is Anastasia and Ethel Merman jams Russian radar.
  7. I don’t have a set price or anything, but I have been getting ten dollars.
  8. Captain, when I joined the police force, I thought I was going to be Serpico. But instead, I’m like… Fish from Barney Miller.
  9. Dorks. They look like a couple of dorks.
  10. I will not speak to you ’til you put your head on straight.
  11. We don’t have beer. Just tequila.
  12. Yes, he’s in the intensive care ward at Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle.
  13. Don’t make me steamroll you. Steamroller!
  14. You know, this was not in the brochure…
  15. It’s amazing how fast you get used to such a big place. I tell you, when we first came up here I thought it was kinda scary.
  16. All I know is the soldiers are quite happy shooting the people who say the people are not happy.
  17. “And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.” Benefits of a classical education.
  18. Hey, Kid park my car, get my bags… and put on some weight will ya?
  19. I felt he used too many onions, but it was still a very good sauce.
  20. It angers a lot of people, just the sight of it. Ah, I’ll tell you a story about that on the way to school.

Cuckoo for Cuckoo Clocks

Sonny, the Cuckoo Bird

If I am being completely honest with you, I have no idea what brought up the topic of today’s blog! It certainly didn’t come about because of a Cocoa Puffs commercial! I guess it was just one of those random memories that popped into my head earlier today.

Every Sunday, my brother, my father, and I went to my grandparents house for dinner. For as long as I can remember, she had a cuckoo clock on the wall. Before blogging I meant to ask my brother if he had a picture with the clock in it, but never got around to it. I remember it being quite a simple clock. It wasn’t too big, but wasn’t real small either.

Apparently, a cuckoo clock can come in all sizes. Notice the huge one next to this guy in a picture I found online –

I was amazed at some of the detail in some of those clocks! They are truly amazing!! Below are pictures of clocks which are closest to how I remember her clock looking.

Three things about the above pictures stand out. First, I remember grandma’s clock had Roman numerals on the face. While searching for images, the ones with real numbers looked odd to me. Second, I remember the weights attached to the chains. Every morning, my grandpa would walk over and pull the weights back up to the bottom of the cuckoo clock. As the clock works throughout the day, the weights move down toward the floor and you have to pull them back up with the “winding chains.” Finally, I remember the pendulum. In the pictures I found, the all seem to be leaves. I don’t recall if grandma’s was a leaf or not. I do remember it clicking or ticking as it swung back and forth.

As kids, I remember my brother and I waiting for the top of every hour. It was then, that the cuckoo bird would come out “cuckoo” the number of what time it was and retreat back in the door. After that, the clock would play a musical song. I don’t know what the name of the song was, but I can hum most of it from memory with about 85% accuracy. It may sound stupid, but I actually watched clips of cuckoo clock songs on YouTube hoping one of them might be the one from grandma’s clock! no such luck!

Frankenmuth is very close to where I live. The town is often referred to as Little Barvaria. If you are German, you need to visit there. It is just amazing. There is a clock company in Frankenmuth that sells cuckoo clocks. I may have to drive up there and stroll through to see if I can find one that plays the same song as grandma’s.

In Frankenmuth, Michigan

Here are just some of the cuckoo clocks in store….

Frankenmuth Clock Company – Cuckoo Clocks

Years later, my grandma moved in with my folks because of the onset of Alzheimer’s and dementia. My folks built a dormer on their house for her. In the main living area of the dormer, grandma had yet another cuckoo clock. The one on the wall there was white and a lot smaller than the one I remember. I don’t even really recall what happened to the original one, but I wish I had it.

By the way, a real cuckoo bird looks nothing like the Cocoa Puffs, cuckoo….

We Need A Little Happy…

Let’s face it, 2020 has kinda been a crappy year. As it draws to a close, many of us will be glad to see it go! Sure, there have been high points, but the bad has outweighed the good throughout most of the year. Covid-19, quarantine, the election, political ads (on TV, radio, and via text message), politics in general, loss of income, unemployment, businesses closing, to mask or not to mask, hate everywhere, and the list goes on and on.

The things we experienced this year have messed with the mental health of all of us. Depression and anxiety diagnoses have skyrocketed. We are going bananas being cooped up in our homes. We miss the interaction with friends and family. We miss being able to go and fellowship with our church friends. Our children are lacking personal interaction with friends. This year has left so many of us scarred for life!

I don’t know about you, but I am physically exhausted by it. I “snoozed” so many friends who were posting countless political things on Facebook. I had to. Come on, how many times has someone’s post on Facebook about an issue changed your mind or your belief about something? I understand that everyone has a right to their opinion, and I am entitled to mine. The wonderful thing about our country is that you and I can share different opinions and still be friends!

What amazes me is how there are some people who just can’t be happy unless they are voicing their disgust about something. Those things don’t even have to be “hot topic” things, like what I mentioned a few paragraphs ago. Here’s an example:

A friend of mine posted the following on Facebook:

“What the hell is the matter with people? I can’t believe that people are already putting up Christmas decorations! Trees are lit and in front windows, lights are strung along the gutters, and the blow up Santa’s are sitting on lawns! Radio is already playing Christmas music!! Stop the madness, people!!”

My response to this is simply this: why is this such a big deal to you? Is it hurting you? How does a blow up Santa on the lawn of someone who doesn’t even live in your neighborhood affect your life? It seems like you were just looking for the next thing to complain about, and this was it.

2020 has so many things to look back on in disgust, so I welcome anything that would bring happiness! We could use a little happiness. We could use something to brighten our world. We need happy songs. There’s a song that says “give the world a smile each day.” Maybe if we spent a little more time smiling at one another, there wouldn’t be so much hatred in the world.

You know what? I’m not going to live my life like Debbie Downer (or whatever that SNL character was called). It’s pretty easy to find things to bitch and complain about (pardon my French), but it’s just as easy to find things to rejoice in. If you can’t find happiness – find a way to spread it! Be nice. Be kind. Smile.

To those who are already spreading joy with holiday lights – bravo! Thank you for making me smile!

To those who are walking around grumpy, angry, and looking for something to complain about…. take some advice from Bobby McFerrin:

Looking Ahead To Tomorrow

I posted this on Facebook earlier, but I felt it was worth sharing on my blog:

“You know what I’m going to do the day after Election Day if my candidate loses?

  • Go to work
  • Be happy
  • Live my life
  • Love others

If he wins? The same.”

I also saw this, which is also worth reposting:

“After the elections are over, your neighbors will still be your neighbors. Trump won’t be there to ring up your groceries, your neighbors will. Biden won’t be there to fix your car or help you out with yard work, your neighbors will. Both Trump and Biden will still be in their wealthy political world, and the rest of us will be in ours. They’ll both be doing their thing, while you and I live together, work together, learn together, shop together, eat together, worship together, and pump our gas next to one another. We the people are what makes the country great. We are the ones who choose to be decent, loving, caring, and compassionate human beings. Vote for whomever, BUT ALWAYS CHOOSE KINDNESS” – Source unknown.

We are quick to blame the politicians for the divisions in this country, but is that really true? What is the media’s hand in this? I saw yet another great post this week:

“The greatest weapon is not a gun or a bomb. It is control of information. To control the world’s information is to manipulate all the minds that consume it.”

Let that sink in a minute….

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press and author of books like “Tuesdays With Morrie,” penned the following article this week and it makes one think. It sure made me think. Give it a read.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/mitch-albom/2020/11/01/mitch-albom-2020-presidential-election/6102179002/

No matter what happens when the votes are tallied – let’s try to be nice to each other. It starts with you and me. We can disagree on religion, politics, and other things and still be friends.

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.” – Abraham Lincoln