The Captive and Visiting the Grandkids

Another visit come and gone, 14 hours on the Greyhound Bus there and another 14 hours home.  It's a long trip, but worth every uncomfortable minute.

Whilst I was visiting the grandkids (and their mum and dad of course), I was invited to spend the evening with their day care provider, a delightful lady named Anna, and have dinner with her family.  After dinner we took in this movie, see what you think of it.

This is a Canadian thriller, directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Mireille Enos and Ryan Reynolds.  You may remember Mireille from "The Killing", a series of three distinct stories which revolved around a single murder.

The captive is essentially an abduction thriller, set over time span of eight years. Mireille Enos and Ryan Reynolds play the parents, whose daughter is kidnapped one day outside of coffee shop. The agonising search for leads on the identity of the kidnapper is set over a period of 8 years. Scott Speedman and Rosario Dawson provide strong support as the lead police officers assigned to the case. The audience is already aware of the identity of the kidnapper which allows us to empathise more with the parents and police officers involved.

There are frequent time shifts within the movie, centring around events just after the abduction, six years after the incident and finally eight years, leading to the film’s climax. Some reviewers have criticized this, as there was no indication, the audience is left to work out what has happened.

The main conflict which fleshes out the middle part of the movie are the themes of guilt, the distraught mother blames her husband for the abduction and in turn he blames him self.  I enjoyed this movie, they can't all be terrific but I think it was worth the price of entry.

As usual, I had a great time visiting and as usual, it went by way too fast.  Each time I try to stay a little longer.  Rhys is now in school full-time, in SK and seems to love it, Katherine still has a way to go before she starts JK.  Unfortunately both Niki and I came down with terrible colds (or was it flu) which put a little bit of a dampner on things, especially as my other son who lives in Toronto came to visit for a few days so I had to make an effort to at least go out with him a few times.  I'm still not over it two weeks later.

Just one little project to show you this time, gosh, I have been lazy, LOL  This is a rather unique shaped shelf.  Someone is going to love it for their knick-knacks.  I did it in grey and shabbied it.

It was another busy day at my little shop, The Church Street Boutique and this time I decided to give away one of my hand-crafted pendant necklaces with each purchase.  Everyone was delighted but some were reluctant to accept as they were already getting some great deals, but that's what we are all about, great deals and making people happy.

Not much to blog about this time taking into account my trip and my cold.

Here are a couple of photos of the darlings, they are always a joy to see.....

Rhys's first day at SK

Sweet Katherine

Rhys drying off

Katherine, finding Daddy amusing

And that's it for now my friends.  I hope you are all healthy and life is treating you well.  Until next time, take care....

Hugs, 

Greyhound, Grandkids and Gadabout!!!

I'm beginning to get quite excited.  In just a few days I will be embarking on the Greyhound bus on my way to visit my darling grandkids and their parents.  It's about six months since my last Gadabout and can't wait to see the changes in the little darlings.  Of course I have Skyped with them but it's not the same as being in the same room with them, cuddling and kissing them and I aim to get me lots of that kind of loving.

Do you want to see what I have been up to since my last post?  Of course you do, LOL

I wish I had taken a photo of the before for this item - that's one of my weaknesses, I forget to do it and then once I have started to refinish, it's too late.  You will have to imagine how this looked just plain wood coloured.  It's much nicer shabby chic'd.....

A dear friend and neighbour needed to have her patio tables painted so I gave them a few coats of off-white paint and another couple of coats of varnish.  They look so nice now outside her patio doors with her flowers sitting on them....

I found these two chairs at one of the Thrift Stores and they were pretty ugly......

and with some inspiration and lots of hard work, I turned them into something very pretty and they are now in my Boutique waiting for their forever home.

I changed this flower basket from this...

into this.....

My biggest project was working on two end tables.  Actually, they were quite beautiful in their original state but there would be a better chance of them selling if I shabby chic'd them.  Not everyone likes the idea of painting good wooden furniture but it seems to be the trend these days.....

This is what they looked like before I transformed them....

and finally, into this....

I hope you like them.

A little black shelf I did....

and finally, a family sign, measuring just over two feet.

A box which could be used for so many things, shabby chic'd with a French decal...

and a shelf which could go with it...

That's about it for this post.  As usual, I will finish off with a couple of photos of my darling grandkids.  Did I say that I was excited at going to visit them soon?  I will get lots of new photos when I'm there.

Little Katherine (Kat)

and Rhys, who will be turning five when I'm there.

(being silly)

Well my friends, 'til the next time.... be healthy, happy and take good care of each other.

Hugs, 

Movie with the girls!!

Went to the movies with two lovely ladies, Carol and Claudette, so we were the three 'C's', LOL.  We all pretty well enjoyed it, but it was nothing like the biblical story we all grew up on, apart from the Ark!!

"As a young boy, Noah witnessed his father, Lamech, being killed by the young king Tubal-Cain, who wanted to seize Lamech's land.

Many years later, Noah is living with his wife Naameh and his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After seeing a flower grow instantly from the ground and being haunted by vivid dreams, Noah decides to travel with his family to visit his grandfather, Methuselah.

On the way, they come upon a group of people recently killed. They adopt the lone survivor, a girl named Ila, who was wounded in the attack and has become barren. Noah and his family are chased by Tubal-Cain's men, but are able to seek refuge with fallen angels known as the Watchers. The Watchers had been forced by the Creator to remain on earth as stone golems for disobeying the Creator and helping humans after they had been banished from Garden of Eden. Humans had attempted to enslave and kill the Watchers, but Methuselah helped them escape and was befriended by them.

Noah receives a seed passed down from Eden from Methuselah. He plants the seed and an entire forest grows from it within seconds. Noah announces that all the wood will be used to build an ark, and Noah's family and the Watchers begin construction.

Eight years later, as the Ark nears completion, animals start to walk into the ark and are put to sleep by incense that Noah prepares. Noah goes to a nearby settlement to find wives for his three sons but finds that the surrounding lands have been running short on food and the humans, led by Tubal-Cain, have become savage and cannibalistic. He becomes convinced that the Creator wishes for the human race to end and abandons his effort. Back at the camp, Methuselah blesses Ila, and her barrenness is cured.

Ham decides to go to the camp himself and find a wife. He encounters a frightened young girl named Na'el. She is willing to go with him as the flood begins, but on their way back Na'el's foot gets caught in an animal trap just as Tubal-Cain's horde marches on the Ark. Noah forces Ham to save himself and leave Na'el behind to be trampled to death.

All of Noah's family gets in the Ark except for Methuselah, who chooses to die in the flood. As the Ark is launched, the Watchers sacrifice themselves to protect it from the oncoming horde, allowing them to ascend into Heaven. As the flood drowns the remaining soldiers, Tubal-Cain manages to stow away on the Ark. The king is found by Ham and befriends him, playing on anger toward Noah for allowing Na'el to die.

Ila discovers that she is pregnant, and soon after the rains stop. Naameh, Shem, and Ila inform Noah of this, but the patriarch says that if the child is a girl he will kill her to satisfy the Creator's wish to destroy humanity. Noah asks for the Creator's counsel but finds no answer. He resolves to follow his plan, despite Naameh's unsuccessful attempts to dissuade him.

Months pass, and Ila and Shem build a small raft to escape Noah, but Noah burns it just as they prepare to leave. Ila goes into labor and gives birth to twin girls.

Meanwhile, Tubal-Cain is able to convince Ham to help kill Noah. Noah is lured by Ham to the aft of the ark on false pretenses, where he is attacked by Tubal-Cain, Ham, and Shem. As they fight, the Ark hits a mountain, injuring both Noah and Tubal-Cain. As Tubal-Cain is about to deliver a killing blow to Noah, a repentant Ham attacks and kills Tubal-Cain. Noah searches the ark for Ila and the twins and finds them, but decides to spare their lives.

As the family departs the Ark, Ham decides to leave them, still angry at Noah. Noah explains that he didn't kill his grandchildren because he had nothing in his heart but love for them. Noah blesses the family as the beginning of a new human race. They watch as the Creator sends a rainbow from the sky, covering all of the Earth, signaling his promise to never destroy mankind with a flood again."

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Having said that, go out for the evening and see it.  Be warned though, if you are a Biblical scholar, you probably will not agree with quite a large chunk of it - just don't forget..... it's entertainment!!

A couple of pics of my darling grandkids from the Fall.....

Katherine and her best friend Savannah at Anna's house...

And my buddy Rhys and his little sis Katherine.....

I hope he will always be her protector!!!  Can't wait to see them, couple more weeks and I'll be on the Greyhound bus on my way.

So, my friends, take care and I'll talk to you again soon.

Hugs, 

Sorry, I misled you!!

I guess I was hoping that the next time I posted the weather would be well on the way to warming up.  I'm waiting for the snow to disappear so that I can hop on the Greyhound bus and go and visit my darling grandchildren, and their parents of course.

I haven't had too many projects on the go since my last visit with you - I actually I can't remember exactly what I have been doing, LOL.  This is the desk and chair that I mentioned that I was going to refinish - I ended up painting it in an off-white.  I'm not sure if I am going to be taking this over to my Boutique or not and for the time being, it is in my apartment with my television sitting on it.  I rather like my tv up higher than it was.

It looks a little messy in that corner at the moment and one of these days I will tidy it up, especially if I decide to keep the desk.  I have to admit that if I could get the desk to my Boutique without any trouble, then it would be there by now, but it really is a little too large for me to carry it on top of my shopping cart, which I usually use to transport the larger items I work on, too much snow on the sidewalks for me to lug it over there!!

Now, the chair is a different matter....

I upholstered the chair with a lovely deep turquoise vinyl, easy to keep clean especially if children are going to be using it.  Since taking these photos, I decided to shabby up the chair but I didn't take a photo of it.

I did another magazine rack, shabby chic of course, LOL

My sweet son Phil did something very special for me, he ordered and had mailed to me a coffee mug with a photo of my sweet grandchildren.  What a delightful surprise that was..

He has a really kind and generous heart.  Thank you so much Phil.  I will treasure it.

I picked up an armful of vintage, musical dolls to put into my 

Boutique for sale.  So far I haven't sold one, just waiting for the right person to come along...

The last thing I did was to make/assemble two pictures using some of the turquoise vinyl and two 3D plastic cutouts which I painted and put in a lovely painted black frame.  I think they are rather cute, but I would, wouldn't I?

Well that's it for my creative ability this time, not too impressive but the pickings have been slim on my thrifting expeditions.  As always, I will end with a couple of photos of my darling grandkids sent to me by the wonderful day care provider they have.  Her name is Anna and she has become my friend and I enjoy visiting with her also when I go to visit the family - thanks Anna....

Sweet little Kat and darling big brother Rhys...

Take good care of yourselves, hope it warms up soon.

Hugs,