Home Sweet Home

This is the beautiful Christmas table runner that Laura M gave me as my Secret Santa. How perfect is this for me? It's country and the colors are wonderful. Thanks again Laura... you did very well!

Andy and I were scheduled to work from 9:00am - 5:00pm today but we were told we could leave at 1:00pm and this made everybody very happy. Now I don't have to be back at work until Tuesday the 29th. Yay!

We stopped and did some last minute food shopping and then when Andy and I got home we were talking about what we wanted to do with the rest of the day. We checked the movie listings and decided to try to make it to the 3:20pm showing of Avatar 3D. Thankfully when we got there it had not yet sold out so we settled in our seats for the next 3+ hours.

What can I say about this movie? Honestly the only words that come to mind are beautiful and stunning. I don't care how long the movie is at the end I was wishing for it to continue. The graphics in this movie are like none I have ever seen before. Of course the 3D effects help bring everything to life right before you but it is more than just that. I was glad to see that not only did they focus on the look of the film but I also quite enjoyed the story which was a nice surprise.

I can not recommend this movie enough. I strongly suggest the 3D version as it is not gimmicky as in 'here let me reach for something off camera so that my hand can come out at the audience'. The 3D is there to bring the beautiful things around the characters out to the audience so that they can experience them also. Although if you can not catch it in 3D I am sure the 2D version is just as beautiful.

High: 39°
Low: 38°
Forecast: Increasing Clouds
Sunrise: 8:26 AM
Sunset: 3:55 PM

After work today I had the pleasure of taking £77.00 to the local movie theater to buy 11 tickets to see New Moon on November 20th at 7:00pm.

There are 11 of us girls from work all going out that night for some yummy food and then to watch some even yummier men in New Moon!

This is going to be a great night out... and yes I will be wearing my Twilight hoodie!

High: 54°
Low: 49°
Forecast: A couple of Showers
Sunrise: 7:49 AM
Sunset: 6:00 PM

This unexpected light almost made us late for work today! It stayed on red f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Thankfully they were done with the work by the time we made our way home so the light has now been removed.

Andy, James, Tracey and I were all going to go see The Final Destination in 3D tonight but when we got to the movie theater the 9pm and 11pm showings were both already sold out. We ended up seeing Funny People instead and it was a very good movie. There was some pretty strong language in it but since it is about stand up comedians this is understandable. All in all I am glad we saw it... Monday is a Bank Holiday so we have a three day weekend ahead of us. Yay!

High: 55°
Low: 48°
Forecast: Rain
Sunrise: 6:13 AM
Sunset: 8:09 PM

I would like to say that Rooney is trying to keep his dignity here by covering up his private bits but to be honest he is not that bothered usually.

We find him sitting like this all of the time... it is rather funny looking!

Andy and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie today and both enjoyed it. I know that for the length of the film they have to cut out a lot information that can be found in the book version but honestly in my opinion they cut out a pretty important part of this movie. For those that have not see it... stop reading now. For those that have.. keep reading.

The whole point of Draco using the sister vanishing cabinets to connect Hogwarts and Borgin and Burkes is so that the other Death Eaters could enter the castle and in doing this a huge fight breaks out between them and the Aurors and students. However in the move the Death Eaters enter and they don't do anything! After Draco fails to kill Dumbledor and Snape steps in to do the deed they all just leave!

So in the movie version... what is the point of bringing the Death Eaters into Hogwarts? They enter, they find Draco and Dumbledor up in the astronomy tower and leave.

To be honest it is ridiculous! Add another 15 minutes to the movie and keep the battle in, it plays a huge part in the story. Why would Draco have to keep practising with the cabinets by getting it just right so that they could be used? If no fight was going to break out just skip that whole bit cause there is no need for Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters to enter.

Also in the book Dumbledor puts a spell on Harry to make him immobilised so that Harry could not stop what was about to happen. Dumbledor knew that Snape would step in and kill him, he knew it was going to happen. In the movie Dumbledor just tells Harry to stay down and not step in. If it was not for the spell I do believe Harry would have stepped in so by not doing it in the movie it goes against everything I think Harry is and stands for. If he could move he would have went up and tried to take them all on, the spell would have been required.

Anyway... these are just my thoughts fresh after watching the movie. Andy and I ended up selling almost all of our books when we moved over just because there were so many of them and they took up so much weight and space in the tiny shipment we were allowed. I am now in the process of buying a new Harry Potter box set so that I can reread all of them again.

High: 59°
Low: 51°
Forecast: Cloudy and Late Rain
Sunrise: 5:04 AM
Sunset: 9:28 PM

So this is the same field that I took a picture of back on Day 235, what have they done with the sheep?

Was shocked to come over the hill to see a giant circus tent instead of the cute little sheep... hopefully they will be back soon!

Andy and I went to go see Bruno tonight, thought it was very funny but in my opinion not as funny as Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Well worth a watch but of course as with other Sacha Baron Cohen movies you must watch at your own risk.

High: 62°
Low: 50°
Forecast: Sunny
Sunrise: 4:54 AM
Sunset: 9:37 PM

Yes it is sunny. No it does not happen every day. Yes you are allowed to wear shorts. No you are not allowed to walk around with your shirt off.

What is with these people? I have spent 3 1/2 years in Texas and even in 105° weather over the summer people did not walk around with their shirt off.

Andy and I went to the movie theatre to see 'Year One' today and honestly we had to have passed at least 10 guys that were walking around with their shirt off.

Are they really this warm that they need to undress? Or is it that they think they are so sexy that they need to walk around shirtless? Either way this is unacceptable to me. If you are at a water park or beach, then go for it. Walking down the road? Put your shirt on!

High: 70°
Low: 56°
Forecast: Sunny with Late Showers Possible
Sunrise: 4:43 AM
Sunset: 9:43 PM

We went to see two movies today, The Hangover and Terminator Salvation. Both were very enjoyable and I was quite surprised at how much I liked Terminator. The Hangover was quite funny also!

After they were over we ran by Tesco to pick up a few groceries for the week and then off we were back home to relax until Monday. I have some Sims 3 to catch up on!

I took this picture as we were driving home from Tesco. Andy takes this back road into Westhoughton and it is the tiniest road ever. I get scared when cars go passed on the other side.

High: 63°
Low: 50°
Forecast: Partly Cloudy
Sunrise: 4:41 AM
Sunset: 9:40 PM

Having lived for 3 years and 9 months (not that I was counting) in Texas, Cinco De Mayo was a huge celebration! Here in the UK... yep you guessed it... nothing. Not even the people at work knew what I was talking about. Well for those of you not in the know here is a little background on the Mexican celebration that has actually become a larger celebration in the US then in Mexico.

A bit of a cheat today (Andy took the picture) but I could hardly take it myself... I was too busy DRIVING!

Check me out! Sitting on the right side of the car and driving on the left. Woo Hoo!

We started out the day by going to see two movies. First The Damned United and then the new Fast and Furious movie. Today is a Bank Holiday and lets just say that I think every single person in the Bolton area decided to go to the cinema.

After the second movie Andy drove us to a nearby Industrial Park because we knew everybody would be gone and it would give me a lot of side roads and parking lots to practice in.

We did the switch and I do have to say it felt really weird being on that side of the car. Since I have been a passenger for six months it felt a bit weird being behind the wheel. Also, it has been something like 10 years since I have driven a stick. Andy reminded me what to do... and... off we went.

I didn't stall once! Look at me go...

After about 10 minutes of driving back and forth, parking and reversing I asked if he thought I was ready to go on a main road and he said if I felt comfortable to go for it.

So off we went.

I was driving along and then remembered we were coming up to a pretty major roundabout and it was too late to turn around. I ended up making it thru unscathed but I am not going to lie... I thought it would be a while until I had to go thru one of those but I guess it is like a band-aid (plaster), just rip it off.

The only sad moment came when I was driving around 35 in a 40 and a car passed me... then a second one. It was in that second car that we noticed that when it passed, there was a little kid in the back seat holding up his hand to his forehead making the 'L' for loser sign.

I wasn't going that slow!

Since I already have my US License and can use it here for 12 months without getting a UK one I don't even have to drive with an L plate so I know the L had to be for loser and not learner.

Oh well... loser or not this was a big success for me today! YAY!

Andy and I went to the cinema after work and the GPS always has us go the back way into Bolton. It is a nice little drive because it takes us up toward Winter Hill but in two places there are these little... things... Can't even really explain them and I have no idea why they are there but here is a picture.

It makes the road so tiny. It really makes me laugh because I think of all of the huge trucks and SUVs in the States and there is no way they can make it thru this tiny space. Andy hates going thru them because he thinks he is going to run into one of them.

We went to go see Knowing and it was actually pretty good. Not that I thought it was going to be bad... the ending was a little odd but overall I liked it.

Andy and I went to go see this movie tonight. This photo is from the movie magazine that I picked up on our way out.

I have not cried as much in a movie in a long... long time. In fact I haven't cried that much over anything in a long... long time.

Great movie but if you watch it make sure to take some tissues. Thankfully I have always some in my purse. Andy was even on the verge of letting out a few tears.

Oh and of course... Owen Wilson was his same cute self!

I just always get nervous when cute little animal movies come out because I know there will be a spike in people buying puppies. Then when they realize how much work it is to have a dog they have to turn them over to somebody else or take them to the pound... or God forbid they just dump them. Hopefully they will think about the lifelong commitment long and hard before jumping anything anything! Pets are for life!

We finally found the time to go see Twilight tonight... and I finally got to wear my Twilight hoodie. I have had it for about a month now but I have been saving it to wear to the movie.

Having read all four books in the Twilight series I tried to go into this movie with an open heart. I say this because anybody that has ever read a book and then they make a movie from that book, it is just never as good. Understandably a book can go into much more detail as a movie only usually has at max 2 hours to tell the story but I absolutely hate when things are made up and added into a movie. I know bits and pieces have to be left out for time cutting but I have never understood why the person writing the adapted screenplay makes up things to add in and why the author allows it.

I would have to say that 'Harry Potter' (in my opinion) is one of the best books to the big screen changes I have seen. Yes they must leave out a ton in order to fit it into a movie format but they hardly add anything in that did not happen in the books.

One of the worst that I can think of is 'The Firm'. If you have never read the book and watched the movie it is good on it's own right but for those of you (like me) that have read the book and then watched the movie ... it was a disgrace. They changed everything and made up new story lines when it was not needed as the book was perfect.

With all of this being said, what did I think of Twilight? It was... okay. I do believe again that if I had not read the books that it would have been much better. Unfortunately Stephanie Meyer did allow them to 'make up' things that did not happen in the book and to me the ending was utterly ridiculous. I serious sat there at the end and shook my head in disbelief.

I do not want to go into too much detail as I know a few of you are reading these books and a few of you may not have gone to see the movie yet.

In short.
Do I regret watching the movie? No. Do I hope they do a better job with the next book 'New Moon'? Yes. Did I love Robert Pattinson in the role of Edward Cullen? Yes, but this could be because of my love of the fictional character is so great that I would have loved anybody in the part.

My suggestion... read the books!

This is looking down on our train stop in Westhoughton. It wasn't a 'white out' but it defiantly snowed some last night.

We again went into Bolton and watched two movies, this time they were Burn After Reading and The House Bunny. Both were pretty funny and made for good day! Brad Pitt was SO funny in Burn After Reading, I suggest this movie to anybody just because of how funny he was.

After the movies were over we went and walked around Bolton and ended up getting something to eat at Weatherspoons. I had fish and chips and Andy had cottage pie and chips, yummy!

After that Andy went on his way by train to the Reebok Stadium and I made my way back to Westhoughton. No there was no fight this time on the train but there was a very rude man next to me. It was a crowded train so I had to stand but this man next to me was using the arm bar to rest up against. This meant that me and the others around him had no where to hold on to. So when the train jumped I made a good effort to fall into him pretty hard. He was like 'It's okay no harm done'. Ha.

Andy and I are going to Blackpool tomorrow, it's only about an hour by train. We made a reservation in a cute little hotel just off the Promenade. We have a lot planned and so far it looks like there is only about a 20% chance of rain but honestly that means nothing... It could mean no rain it could mean rain all day but we'll have fun either way. Blackpool is right on the coast so I know the cold wind is going to be brutal. I plan on wearing plenty of layers, my lesson has been learned (read about my previous lesson here). We plan on going up in the Blackpool Tower, watching the Blackpool Circus, visiting the Louis Tussaud's Waxworks and of course a tour of the Illuminations which is the main reason for our visit. They get turned off this Sunday Nov 02 so we wanted to go before it was too late this year.

Our little hotel has Wi-Fi in the lobby so if we get in at a reasonable hour tomorrow night I will post day 30 but if not then I will catch up when we are back home on Friday night.

Andy and I went to the cinema today and we decided to go see two movies back to back!

We took the train into Bolton and right outside the train station is a small bus station. I had previously planned out our trip online and knew the bus we needed and that it should be at that interchange about 10 minutes after we get off the train... we waited... and waited... and waited... but it never came. So we decided to just grab a taxi. The cinema is right at 2.3 miles away from the train station. We got in the taxi and it automatically started out at £2.00 and by the time we got to the theatre it was £6.00! Wow that was expensive, we will not be doing that again.

The first movie was Eagle Eye and it started at 12:15pm, well it actually started at around 12:35 after the commercials and previews. I hate that they show commericals before movies now but I have to say I love previews and I hate when I miss them. To be honest I did feel a little 'twinge' like I had to use the bathroom when the previews started, Andy told me to go and I told him no I can hold it I don't want to miss the previews. Boy did that pay off.... They not only showed a short preview for the new Star Trek movie that will be coming out in 2009 I also got to see the Twilight preview!!! When I saw Twilight come on I litterly gasped and threw my hands out in front of me. I am SO glad I did not go to the bathroom. I thought Eagle Eye was very good and when it was over we had about 10 minutes to use the bathroom and stretch our legs.

The second movie was The Rocker and it started at 2:45pm. This movie was on Screen #15 and at first we could not find it so we had to ask the little ticket guy. He pointed us in the right direction and after some weaving in and out of hallways we opened the doors to the Holy Land! Yes folks you read that right... Screen #15 was the best movie experience I have ever had... We walked in and the seats were fancy recliners. You had a full row in front of you clear to put your legs and there was a foot rest in front of every seat to put your legs up on. This was being in the First Class section of movie watching. After every two seats there was a little side table for you to put your purse or drink. I would have taken a picture of this room but was afraid they would try to take my camera if I was caught with it since it can also be used as a video camera. But the next time I see a movie in this wonderful room I will find a way to sneak a photo!

The Rocker was very funny! It ended at around 4:40pm and instead of taking the bus back to the train station we decided to walk. There is a large craft store that I had found out about the other day and it is just about 1/2 way between the cinema and the station. So off we walked..

We found the craft store no problem but it appears I am going to need to find a cheaper place to buy my craft items, probably online! When I need some DMC Floss for cross stitch it is nice to know where I can go over and buy some but for my large purchase items like cross stitch charts and even yarn will need to be purchased somewhere else. The prices were outrageous! So needless to say nothing was purchased and we continued our walk to the train station. It didn't even feel like we walked 2.3 miles once we arrived, although it was pretty cold out.

While we were on the train back to Westhoughton I heard a woman's voice getting louder and I could hear her saying something about money being stolen and I thought she was on her mobile phone because I never heard anyone talking back to her. Well... just before our stop I saw up ahead of us this woman sitting up in her seat. Then all of a sudden she started hitting at this older man behind her. The older man was trying to hold her off and kept saying 'I never took your 70 pounds you never gave it to me'! Then a man sitting on the other side of the train got up and was pulling them off of each other saying 'break it up you two' and then the train came to our stop. The older man kept saying he never took anything and got off at our stop. He ran up to the street before I could see which way he went but the girl stayed on the train. It happened all too fast but trust me if I could have gotten a picture of this event it would have been the photo for the day! Andy just laughed and said that wouldn't have made the situation any better but I think it would have been worth it to get a picture. : )

I need to get a handle on the above situation.

There is just too much coinage in this country, lets count it out together:
1 pence, 2 pence, 5 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence, 1 pound & 2 pound

Seriously.

It's not that it is going to be terribly hard to get used to the new money but when I am in line and there are people behind me.. I feel all eyes are on me as I try to count out the change so I end up just grabbing a 5 or 10 pound note to pay where of course in turn I get change back. *ugh*

All of the above change is currently in my wallet and this was after I used four pound coins and four 10 pence coins!

We did go to the movies/pictures/cinema (your pick) tonight and it was a lot of fun if not an adventure. : ) We got bus #1 from Westhoughton to the main Bolton bus station and then bus #2 from the main Bolton bus station to the movie theatre. When we were on bus #2 we stood up when we wanted to get off and the bus driver asked where we were going. We told him Cineworld and he told us to have a seat that there was a closer stop he could drop us... so... we sat and he drove and drove and drove... finally Andy stood back up and here is what was said:

Bus Driver: Oh Shit yeah the stop was back there, sit down and I'll take you back.

Andy: That's okay we can get off here and walk.

Bus Driver: No seriously, sit down mate. What time is your movie?

Andy: 4:00pm

Bus Driver: No worries I'll get you there in plenty of time.

So we rode the bus around the entire route and back on ourselves but this time the bus driver did let us know when to get off and we made it to the movie just in time. We sat down in our seats at exactly 4:00pm. Then we sat thru 35 minutes of commercials and previews and the movie itself started promptly at 4:35pm. I will have to remember this for future outings to the theatre.

It was raining when the movie ended but I had thought ahead and had one of my wonderful umbrellas. However I did learn a very important lesson tonight, something that I will not forget...