Insanity runs in my family.... It practically gallops!

I love movies. I watch more movies than anyone I know of. I average about six a week. I also have movie Friday. I go to what ever is opening that Friday while my kids are in school. We have an AMC Cinema. The nice thing about them is that you get 5$ movies on the weekends before noon. They also have a free V.I.P. card. I get anything from free popcorn and candy to a night out at the movies for two! I haven't been able to enjoy movie Friday as much since we've been trying to save money. Never fear! I have Netflix! I have developed a system that allows me to turn my 3 at a time movies into 6 a week. It takes coordination and determination and sometimes doesn't happen. :)

Now, I watch ALL sorts of movies. Any genre, black & white, and rating is usually only up to PG-13. I do watch some that are R. Not many. I think some are very noteworthy. I am completely aware of the naughtiness that it is too. Since this can be a hotbed of a topic among people I will just let it be.

One of my movies I watched last week included a gem called "Arsenic and Old Lace". This is a really funny black comedy made in 1944 and directed by Frank Capra and staring Cary Grant...(swoon) It was originally a stage production.



The basic plot is Mortimer Bruster (Cary Grant) , a seemingly confirmed bachelor, is secretly getting married at city hall to his sweetheart. After getting hitched he heads over to his dear old aunties house to tell them the good news. We soon learn that old Martha and Abby have a very serious secret. They do a "kind" service to lonely old men that come to stay at their boarding house. They poison them and bury them in the cellar! Now, it's a public service mind you. They are doing it out of the utmost respect for the poor and unloved gentlemen. Oh, not to forget Teddy. He is, I believe, Mortimer's brother. He believes he is Teddy Roosevelt. This is a little snippet of line from the movie about that:

Reverend Harper: Have you ever tried to persuade him that he wasn't Teddy Roosevelt?
Abby Brewster: Oh, no.
Martha Brewster: Oh, he's so happy being Teddy Roosevelt.
Abby Brewster: Oh... Do you remember, Martha, once, a long time ago, we thought if he'd be George Washington, it might be a change for him, and we suggested it.
Martha Brewster: And do you know what happened? He just stayed under his bed for days and wouldn't be anybody.

Well, good old Teddy is in charge of digging the graves for the poor fellows. He of course believes them to be yellow fever victims. All of this is going on and no one suspects a thing. That is until Mortimer comes by and accidentally discovers a body! Trying to get down to why they would have a body in the house, they have this funny interchange:

Mortimer Brewster: Look, Aunt Martha, men don't just get into window seats and die!
Abby Brewster: We know, dear. He died first.
Mortimer Brewster: Wait a minute! Stop all this. Now, look, darling, how did he die?
Abby Brewster: Oh, Mortimer, don't be so inquisitive. The gentleman died because he drank some wine with poison in it.
Mortimer Brewster: How did the poison get in the wine?
Martha Brewster: Well, we put it in wine, because it's less noticeable. When it's in tea, it has a distinct odor.
Mortimer Brewster: You mean, you... You put it in the wine!
Abby Brewster: Yes. And I put Mr. Hoskins in the window seat, because Reverend Harper was coming.
Mortimer Brewster: Now, look at me, darling. You mean, you mean you knew what you'd done and you didn't want the Reverend Harper to see the body?
Abby Brewster: Well, not at tea. That wouldn't have been very nice.
Mortimer Brewster: Oh, it's first-degree.
Abby Brewster: Now, Mortimer, you know all about it and just forget about it. I do think that Aunt Martha and I have the right to our own little secrets.


So now he is saddled with what to do about this predicament and what to do with his new wife. Of course hilarity ensues and we even get a surprise guest. Mortimer's mad man brother Johnathan has come back, and he has something of his own he needs to hide.

It's a twisted and crazy movie with some of the best lines I've ever heard. I think finding a dark comedy from the 40's is a rare and great find. The actors are really wonderful and great to watch. Cary Grant delivers a stellar performance. I don't think he got enough credit for his comedic abilities. I suggest you pick it up and watch it if any part of this has appealed to you. I think I will leave you with one last quote from the movie. It happens when Mortimer is at his wits end with his aunts, he just can't seem to communicate to them that what they have done was wrong. Grant drops this line with great comedic timing and prowess.


"Look, you can't do things like that. Now I don't know how I can explain this to you, but it's not only against the law. It's wrong! It's not a nice thing to do. People wouldn't understand. He wouldn't understand. What I mean is, well, this is developing into a very bad habit."



I hope you enjoyed my first movie review. I will list the other movies and give them a grade rating. I think I will only review the ones that are really noteworthy.

Go Tell It On The Mountain!

That gas is under 2 bucks!!!

Fall Colors

I know that I am not alone when I say that I love Fall. The cooler weather, the warmer comforting food, holidays, pumpkin edibles, and of course the colors. I feel really lucky to live in a place with loads of trees that turn from green to Technicolor.

I think people have an impression of Spokane as being ugly, industrial, and cement covered. I had that opinion too, but that's because I had really only been up and down devision and that is a really ugly and looooong street. If you go to the outer edges of Spokane it really is quite pretty. I especially like where we live and the South Hill. Our area is all pine trees, but the South Hill is lot's of little neighborhoods with tree-lined streets and parks. One of the parks is the Japanese Gardens in Manito park. I love to photograph it every year. The colors are amazing, and sometimes hard to believe. One of the trees is so bright red, I just stare at it for a good 5 minutes before moving on....hey, you would too if you saw it! Anyway, I didn't get many pictures of the girls in them this year (not being very cooperative) but I did get some great stunners. So, I am mostly making this post a picture post. I hope you enjoy my pictures of this beautiful treasure in Spokane. Man I sound sappy don't I... ; c P

DeCoursey's Halloween Treat!

Oh, Halloween, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways....

It's a lot, trust me. We take Halloween very seriously in our home. Jeff takes it off from work every year. We get our yard really spooky, get some really good candy, make the girls whatever costume they desire, and plan out the most strategic trick or treating route you've ever seen!

I don't know where my fondness for this holiday came from, all I know is it was always there. I love the surreal and I enjoy the macabre. I thrive on theatrics, so why wouldn't I love Halloween? I count myself lucky that I married a man with the same fondness for the holiday. Here is his costume. He loves the reaction he gets from it. Now don't go thinking that he runs after little children trying to terrify them. He would never do that...he just has to walk by and that does the job. All in good spirit, I promise. Abbey and Lindsay like to pretend that he is their own personal monster that they have beaten into submission and made into a guide for their night of fun. They will say, "Where to now monster!". Jeff will simply raise his hand in a direction and the girls will follow, they love it. (he has two different shrouds, he could only find the lightweight one this year, hence the clothes underneath showing. Really, I think it was only because of the flash.)

I make their costumes most years. My mom is a great seamstress and she does the ones that are just to complicated for me. I am just learning how to sew. Most times it's not even with a pattern. I just wing it. Usually because I become frustrated with the pattern and I think to myself, "I can do better on my own!". If I can buy it, I do. The girls and I can never seem to find just the right one, and I end up having to make it to suit their specifications. This year I made Abbey's witch costume all by myself! I am so proud! I used a pattern and everything. Lindsay's princess costume was made by my mom a couple of years ago as a Christmas present. It usually serves as her party dress, but she decided that it would be acceptable as Halloween attire.










We went to the Tri-Cities this year for Halloween. My mom really wanted us to go. She pointed out that if we move away, she wont be able to see the girls, and she wants to spend as much time with them as possible until we leave. So sure. Why not? They missed a day of school, we packed up the pumpkins and we had a great weekend with the old family. I even helped hand out candy from my parents garage.















Our pumpkins turned out really great. Jeff did a perfect Charlie Brown face. Mine was very sly and the girls did happy faces (kind of boring, but they have room for improvement.)



















The nice thing about maybe moving to Vegas, costume wise, they will be able to wear what ever they want. If Lindsay wants to be a fairy, she wont have to wear a bunch of layers underneath. I always wanted that when I was a kid. I felt awful having to put a coat on over my really cool costume. I refused the year I dressed up as Jem. I froze, but I looked TRULY OUTRAGEOUS!



I have developed a layering system under my girls costumes. They have never been cold and they have never needed to wear a coat.

Well thanks for reading. I need to go take some more dayquil and get something to eat. Stupid flu.

A new post. Overdue....really overdue.

My sister in law Lisa has loved to tease me that on her sidebar everyone else is updating their blog. So, some people are anywhere from one hour to maybe 2days....I think I was going on something like 11 months. (sheepish grin) Although not completely my fault. My husband started the blog with all intentions of having me take it over. I was totally not interested. I mean, who has time for all of that? I've seen how obsessed and stressed my mom and other family members have gotten to be over it, blah : P no thanks.

Then, my dear sweet mother, asked me if I would please read hers and leave a comment once in a while. So, being the loving and devoted daughter that I am, I decide to fill her request. It didn't end there. I would look on the side bar...."oh, Mike (uncle) has posted something. Maybe just a peek." That's not the end. I then started to look at Lisa's, then Jan's, then all of my Mathews cousins (most of which don't know this because I am a chronic lurker!) I was even looking at people I had never met just because they were on that tempting little sidebar. I started doing it everyday! I would check out my usual blogs of interest like clockwork. So with many months passing, and with many proddings, I have decided to do a little upkeep on the ol'blog....after swearing never to do it. My resolve is usually strong. A person is able to change their mind without appearing flakey right? RIGHT?!? (Sigh)

Another side reason: Jeff has been forced into a new job opportunity. Which means we are most likely moving. Which also means that if I had a blog like everyone else in the computer world I would be able to keep in touch.

I hope I will be able to make some friends and keep some through this process. I know that we are also supposed to be keeping journals of our lives to pass on to future generations, and this may just be my only shot at that. (I've tried the writing in the journal thing, I really have!)

Ok, so thanks for reading (if you made it this far ::smile::) and you can expect things like family updates, random thoughts, crafty stuff I did, photos I took, and movie reviews...man I watch A LOT of movies. So please come back and visit again.

p.s. That is a picture of ma babies. I took that picture on the 4th. I will write of them very often, and pictures, with their faces showing.

Winter Pictures

We went out this week to take some winter photos of the girls. It has been snowing here a bit. The constant freezing temperatures has been causing the fog to freeze on the pine needles. It looks so beautiful up close, but you can't see it well in the pictures.




The girls love the snow and love to sled in our slopped front yard. I'll try to get a picture of it the next time they're out.

Thinking about the blog again

It has been forever (since June according to the last date stamp) since I thought about making this blog a reality. There has been an awful lot of life going on between then and now. I will try to always keep posts brief for this. In that vein, I will keep this post to just the items I have photos of currently.

Halloween was great. It is a major holiday for the DeCoursey Project. I always take the day off as a vacation day so that Heidi and I can have enough time to make all of the necessary preparations. After much back and forth, the girls had decided what they wanted to be. Abbey was a vampire and Lindsay was an asian princess. Heidi made Lindsay's kimono costume and her mom helped with Abbey's because we didn't have the right sewing tools for the fabrics chosen. They were great. I was a goblin like last year.

Trick-or-Treating this year was so much better than last year. No freezing temps, no whining, and all of the houses in the neighborhood were built so it was plentiful. Actually, the girls did so well that it borders on obscene. The pictures don't show the depth of those piles well. We weighed their candy bags on our house scale. Abbey's was 7 pounds and Lindsay's was 8 pounds.


We started an hour late and didn't get to all of the houses and they still pulled off a bigger haul than I had ever done as a kid. I have to admit, I'm a little impressed by those two.


Disney on Ice came to Spokane the week after Thanksgiving. The great part of being in the hospitality industry is getting insider stuff with fun things. We got 4 tickets in the 6th row on our show night. Instead of paying the $52.50 each for the tickets, they only cost me $7.50 each. It is good to know people.

Before the show, the producers for the show go out into the audience to pick out 4 girls at random to be in the actual show. they get to be on a boat out with the skaters during the Ariel number. Abbey and Lindsay were picked and were very excited. What they didn't know was that my co-worker's son is part of the production and I had arranged the selection to be a little less "random".

They moved us rink side and got an unparalleled view of the show. The picture didn't turn out well though because of the spotlights.



Just a quick final note, I will add a link to Heidi's brother, Donald's blog. He and his wife are using it to communicate out on Elizabeth's progress.