Damn You Hallmark Christmas Movies

Let me start by saying this is not another “fell down the hole” with Hallmark Christmas movies. Oh no, this is about the bones I want to pick with these movies.

I am a tried-and-true Christmas freak. I have three Christmas trees (one specifically for my Peanuts ornaments and one for Santas) and a ton of tchotchke’s that adorn my house. Although I’m not as crazy as some of my dear friends (“ahem” Mary) I do it up right for the holidays. And, aside from Peanuts, I’m crazy about Heat Miser/Snow Miser pieces and I have 6 hippos on my tree that sing “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” (for your listening pleasure  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjPm0o04lGE). A lover of Christmas I am.

Every year I foray into Hallmark Movies (I’ve got three different Hallmark channels so it’s kind of hard not to).  I like many of the older ones – Most Wonderful Time of the Year for example – and I’m partial to Danica McKellar, Alicia Witt and Candace Cameron Bure, on occasion. But many of the movies vex me over two simple things: they make snow look enjoyable; and the ones set in small towns are too picture perfect, too friendly (I know suspension of disbelief and all so bear with me).

Let’s talk snow. As a person who grew up mostly in Colorado, went to high school in Pennsylvania and college in New York (Buffalo, no less), snow is not fun or magical, especially lake effect snow. I actually consider snow a swear word when used in my presence. But everyone in those movies makes it appear as if it’s not cold, miserable, and often dirty. No, it actually is white and bright throughout the entire movie and no one ever really looks cold. The way it snows in these movies almost makes me miss that kind of weather. Then I come to my senses, realizing it is the one of the biggest lies Hallmark tells us and that the only time I want to see snow is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then gone on the 26th. Of course, living in the South Carolina the chances are slim to none that’ll happen, but it’s a trade-off I’m not mad about. Zero months of never-ending cold, blowing winds and SNOW! 

Now how about these perfect towns with perfect people that go out of their way to help the stranger in town, or how everyone comes together to make the (insert big event here) happen after some catastrophe. There is the Santa-esque character and the Grinch whose heart melts by the end. And of course, the love story that gets off track due to a misunderstanding of sorts but resolves itself by the end, usually thanks to the ever so helpful towns people (this usually happens around the 1 hour forty-minute mark). 

I would like to know if any of my brilliant readers live in such a town. I love my small city, but if I found this kind of perfection (snow that isn’t cold or flawless people) I might consider relocating to a Hallmark town.

I say most of this with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, because I am a sucker for the cheesy love story. And it’s the holidays. And we sometimes need a little cheese to help us through.

On a serious note: Hallmark’s diversity in race and LBGTQ+ characters, while improving, is still problematic, I hope that they continue to expand their stories for these communities. 

Emily Bugg and Billy Lewis

Like so many couples in 2020, Emily and Billy were planning a big ceremony for their upcoming wedding. But the world fell apart this year and coronavirus restrictions made large gatherings impossible. They opted to have a simple ceremony at Chicago’s city hall canceling all of the plans they had already put into place.

They could have asked for their deposits back, but they decided to use the money for a different purpose. 

Emily is an outreach worker for an organization called Thresholds, which provides services and resources for people with severe mental illness and substance use disorders. On Thanksgiving each year, they hold a communal dinner for their clients, that was also canceled for 2020. 

That’s how two canceled events collided in the best possible way. Emily and Billy, working with their wedding caterer, Big Delicious Planet, turned their $5000 deposit into 200 boxed meals that were delivered to their clients with the usual Thanksgiving staples of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and green beans. This generous act allowed their clients to continue to enjoy the holiday even if the communal meal had to be canceled.

As for their venue deposit? They are working with Salvage One to repurpose the deposit for a future event for the Epilepsy Foundation.

This is a great example of what My Lemons My Lemonade is about, and I tip a glass in their honor.

What Did I Expect From A Book Called Battleground?

After I finished Jim Butcher’s Peace Talks last week, I debated between reading the follow-up next or switching to the new Rick Riordan book. However, I’d been deprived of Harry Dresden for far too long and plowed on ahead with Battleground and I have not been disappointed. 

With just under a hundred pages left (and a separate short story bonus, yeah!), I have laughed and I have cried. Like a full-on heart wrenching, made the dog worry cry from which I have recovered because the not so unexpected death happens early on.

Last night as I continued my adventure, I thought how long has this battle gone on? In the story line I’d guess about 6 to 8 hours. In page length? From the first attack on page 7 until the final clean up on page 348. Seriously 341 pages (out of 402) of constant battle with few breaks in the action. And the whole time my brain is trying to translate the words into imagery in my head. As a result of the constant assaults and counter attacks and mass amounts of characters moving in and around the story, I know that I missed moments of the “movie” while trying to keep up with the action. 

Because that’s what this book feels like, a fast paced, high energy action film with few breaks to catch up and to many moving parts to try to watch at once.  I felt like my brain was on a swivel just trying to see it all happen. 

This is the one of the few times a book has created that sensation for me. While many books are 3 dimensional in my head, most do not have so much going on that I lose track of the action. But this one certainly asked me to reread certain passages so that I wouldn’t miss any part (and I still lost track of some of the secondary characters, thinking they were dead until they reappeared – yikes!). 

And all the while I am right there beside them, wielding magic and magical weapons, avoiding crossfire, fighting for mankind. Because the story is that good and the writing is that strong. 

In the end that is all that you can ask of the writer.

NOTE: The holiday season is upon us and if you are looking to encourage young readers many bookstores and publishers provide opportunities to either donate a book or donate money to their charities to provide books to underprivileged children. Please consider giving to this wonderful cause.

Gilmore Girls Rabbit Hole

My apologies for the delay, I was not in the right head space to write yesterday. This post might help explain why.

I wanted to start this post off with a nod to the international crowd that have found my site. WordPress is great about telling you what countries have clicked on your site so I thought I would say hello to our readers from the following countries: Mexico, Panama, China, Finland. Germany and the US.  While some countries have only visited once, I am glad for the company. I hope those who continue to follow from outside the US find some entertainment from my ramblings and will consider dropping a hello in the comment section.

Now on to the main post 😊.

The Monday before Thanksgiving, I received some good, yet stressful news. I have been in the process of selling my house since February of last year. In October I changed realtors and it made a world of difference – lo and behold an offer came in! But that now means that I have to find a house, find boarding for my horse, pack, the list goes on… All of this and Christmas shopping to boot.

As a result of this news, albeit good, my anxiety started to kick into 3rd gear. 

So, to manage my stress, I fell down the Gilmore Girls (GG) rabbit hole this past weekend and I didn’t struggle too hard to get out. I mean how can you not love the Gilmore Girls? It started with season one episode one and culminated with the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. And naturally binge watching led to googling random facts about the show, which then led to google sending me stories about different takes on GG, like the best and worst characters, when Lorelei wasn’t a good friend and so on. By the final curtain of the Spring episode of a Year in the Life, I was just about to call it quits when I started to wonder if and when GG jumped the shark and what did the fans think (personally for me the whole Luke’s daughter thing was a bad moment in time for the show), which led to more googling and more stories sent my way. All of this just to avoid thinking about moving and Christmas Shopping. World-class procrastination my friends! And a necessary distraction from my anxiety.

Now to be transparent, I did not watch every episode during the marathon – I actually got up and participated in life activities like eating, showering, taking care of the animals. I also went to town to shop locally on Saturday, but nothing was inspiring me. Or I was still in Christmas shopping avoidance mode. I not really sure which.

I write all of this to say that I needed this marathon because it allowed me to breath and take care of my mental health.  We all have times when we need to decompress and regroup. And to not feel guilty.

So, whatever activity you choose to reset your mental health, don’t let anyone stop you because you’re needs matter too.  Good luck this holiday season and don’t forget to breath!

Land Conservation

This week I want to honor the American Prairie Reserve, a non-profit based in Montana, that is working to preserve the grasslands eco-system and wildlife of the great plains. In in August of 2019, they acquired 14,000 acres in northern Montana’s Great Plains towards that goal. The objective is to eventually purchase 5,000 square miles (3.2 million acres) in Montana, creating the single largest wildlife reserve in the lower 48 states. 

I also want to acknowledge Dick and Jillian Jardine of New Zealand, who donated their 2,200-acre property to the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust so that the property will not be developed into housing or other building types. Instead, a multi-functional area for pastoral farming, conservation, public access, and landscape protection will be created.

Land conservation is important for many reasons, so it is exciting to see individuals and organizations recognize the need and actively participate in the solution.

Problem One with Book Series – Endings

Reading Update: Last week I had just finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes then jumped right into Jim Butcher’s Peace Talks. 2014 was the last year this series had a novel, but we were treated with a collection of stories in 2018. Still, I hadn’t realized how much I had missed these characters! So much so that I raced through Peace Talks and started Battleground immediately (I’m already a quarter of the way in and loving it!). 

It’s funny how attached we become to the characters of our favorite series, how invested in their stories we become, as if they are our friends coming over to regale us with their latest tales. And when the series ends the strange sadness and loss you feel when you know you might not hear from them again.

I say might, because two of my favorite authors put me through such torture only to resurrect my friends at a later date. I’m not complaining mind you; I could just do without the loss and grieving in the first place. And now I will have to grieve twice for the same characters as one of the aforementioned authors just announced the ending of her series again! Fortunately, I love her other books and will read her for as long as she writes, but I will miss Melanie, Jack and all the other characters of the series.

On the other hand, Jim Butcher gets props in my book for not ending the Dresden series but for taking a break instead and then giving me more!

These are the real-world problems of book worms. We love, we lose, we start a new series, so are the days of our lives 😆😆😆.

In other news: The National Book Awards were awarded on November 18. The following titles are the winners in their respective categories.

Fiction – Interior Chinatown, author Charles Yu

Non-Fiction – The Dead Are Arising: The Live of Malcom X, authors Tamara Payne, Les Payne

Young People’s Literature – King And The Dragonflies, author Kacen Callender 

Translated Literature – Tokyo Useno Station: A Novel, author Miri Yu

Poetry – DMZ Colony, author Don Mee Choi

The list of finalists in each category can be found here https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2020/?cat=poetry

Getting Past the UGH of Investing

This past month I have done something that is truly terrifying to me – learned (and still learning) to manage my retirement investments.  DUN DUN DUH!!!!!

Now to some of you this probably sounds silly, but I am not good with all the stuff (for lack of a better word) around investing. I always joke with people that my exposure to investing came from the classic movie Trading Places (Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd). To this day I still don’t understand futures and how you buy and sell something you don’t own. 

In my former marriage, my financial duties were to manage the day-to-day finances. When it came to our investments, I would go to the annual meetings with the investment advisor and would soon check out because he would go on and on about this company and that fund and the funds under the umbrella of the bigger funds and down the rabbit hole it went. I need broad strokes not the minutia that I was inundated with – UGH! 

After the divorce, my portion of the retirement accounts resided with the previous advisor (chosen by my ex). This year I finally decided to make a change and asked a good friend for advice. He led me to my new advisor/company, and I couldn’t be happier!

There were 2 reasons for making the change:

a. My ex chose the previous advisor and that energy need to change, and

b. The advisor started telling me that I needed to find a job and not go through my savings.

Telling me how to manage my personal finances and commenting on my need to get a job when you don’t know my situation or plans pissed me off! I did not ask for that opinion so stay in your lane asshole.

That sealed his fate.

Now I have a new advisor at Schwab who understands how I need the broad strokes and to keep in mind that he needs to “dumb-down” the information at times. He is infinitely patient, thank goodness, because investing can be very confusing. If you want contact information, I am more than happy to recommend him, just drop me a note. (Correction – see edit at bottom of page)

The real point is that you should find an investment broker that is willing to meet you at your level to help guide you in your investing. When you say “dumb it down” or whatever your favorite phrase is, they do it with kindness and patience.

I also strongly suggest working with a reputable company that, most importantly, is a fiduciary (a trustee that must act in the best interests of the beneficiary – you). I have recently learned how important this is when investing. And have your own investments, based off your own preferences, in the event of a life change. This way you know you have money working for you.

I know how easy it is to abdicate this responsibility to your partner but trust me you want to have more involvement. Don’t wait like I did (cautionary tale for one? 🙋‍♀️). 

I’m pretty damn proud that I finally took an active role in my investing and I look forward to growing a wonderful retirement plan for myself.

EDIT: My financial advisor gave me permission to give out his information. Click here to find out more about Zak Irizarry https://client.schwab.com/public/consultant?fc=zak.irizarry