Sleeping Beauty, Bronchitis, and Disney Magic

So, my little five year old Sammy and I have been sick in bed (literally) for the past few days with bronchitis. It has . . . not been fun. At all. But at least one good thing has come of it. Sleeping Beauty. I shall explain.


You know how us as humans tend to fixate on things? For example, I've been fixated on Robert Downey Jr. for the longest time now, my sister in law has been fixated on Stargate (the AMAZING TV series), etc. Well, Sammy has been fixating on Sleeping Beauty. She has probably watched this movie 20 times this weekend alone. We're working on the fourth time through just today, and it's not even dinnertime yet. We've also watched special features, and done the Sleeping Beauty Castle virtual tour three times in a row.

Well, while the two of us are sitting in bed, sniffling and hacking and dabbing at watery eyes and trying to breathe past the enormous invisible elephants on our chests, I've been having Sleeping Beauty related epiphanies left and right. Seriously. I can't even Facebook them all, otherwise people would start questioning my Nyquil intake. (For the record, none. I don't do medicine I have to drink, and gel capsules make me gag just at the sight of them. See, my throat is seizing just thinking about them. *Gag*) So, in order to share these priceless epiphanies with the world, hello pretty blog! Hold onto your hats, people. It's about to get Disney all up in here.

First off, a rant. I know, odd thing to start with, but we're going with it anyway. And I promise, this all ties in at the end, bear with me. It's been a big trend recently to redo classic fairytales into these big, grand, live action adventures. Snow White has been done twice, Hansel and Gretel inherited Jeremy Renner and some witches, Alice in Wonderland got the Tim Burton treatment a few years ago, Red Riding Hood grew up and fell in love with a werewolf. Now, on my part, I've pretty much been a big fan of these. Mirror Mirror: wacky, but I loved it. Julia Roberts was GENIUS. Alice in Wonderland is a favorite, Johnny Depp has yet to find a role he can't do. Red Riding Hood appealed in the most bizarre way, since I'm not a big fan of the creepy things.


However . . . It all fell apart when we put the hot factor of Chris Hemsworth, the acting prowess of Charlize Theron, and the fantastic story of Snow White, with . . . Kristen Stewart. We gave a girl with as much expression as a brick wall the role of the fairest in the land. No. As of yet, not even the lure of Chris Hemsworth's muscles and Charlize Theron as the wicked queen have convinced me to sit through two hours of snooze on the part of director-screwing, Stony-Faced Stewart. I can't do it.

Which brings me to one of the next live-action fairytale interpretations set to hit the scenes, rumored to give us the backstory of one of the most famous villains in history, Maleficent (see, told you this would tie in). I'm stoked for this. As stoked as I was for Snow White and the Huntsman before I found out about that the fairest of them all was really going to be the least expressive of them all. I mean, come on! This is going to be awesome. The actresses they are picking to play these evil queens is genius. Julia Roberts, Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie, these women are top of the totem pole. Watching them apply their own particular talents to such huge, fantastic characters is or is going to be AMAZING.


And while we're waiting anxiously for the summer of 2014 to find out what the good goshdang happened to muck up Maleficent's life, I have a theory: She and King Stefan have a history. I'm not sure what kind, but there has to be something going on there. Why else would Maleficent just randomly show up at the royal baby shower and be uber-pissed about not having been invited? It's a baby shower, not like you're missing much, just oohing and ahhing over this season's cutest in haute for baby.

Unless . . . it's your ex's baby with his wife he left you for. In that case, I can see being a bit miffed. Especially when the other woman has the gall to actually talk to you when you crash the party, putting on the innocent act and asking if you're not offended. If that's the case, they kinda asked for it. Yeah people, this is where my brain goes. I have a good time.

So, Maleficent is pissed, plants an evil curse on (her ex's?) baby, and disappears in a cloud of green smoke, leaving everyone's favorite good fairy, Merryweather, to unsnarl this mess. I have one question . . .

WHAT WAS MERRYWEATHER GOING TO GIVE THE PRINCESS BEFORE ALL THAT HAPPENED?! Seriously, this has been bothering me for years. The kid already has beauty and song, which seems like a pretty good deal to me, so what could the third gift have been that would have been equal to those gifts already given? Mysterious. But, as before, I have a theory. I would bet that Merryweather, being the adorable thing she is, was either going to give Aurora the gift of happiness or love. Because those are the kinds of things the spunky, cheeky fairy would value. And yet, despite this happy theory I have formed, I'm still going to drive myself nuts every time I see this movie. Which will probably be another two or three times before bedtime, if the day continues as it has been.


Since we're on the topic of Merryweather, that brings me nicely to my next thing. I have decided that dressing up as one of the fairies for Halloween would be totally awesome! I totally have the body type for it, short and round. And I could totally make that hat, I have some pretty mad hat skills (ask me about my Mad Hatter top hat). And, since my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are as big of Disney fans as I am, we could totally do a trio of all three!

Then my daughter threw in her two cents, and I was surprised. Sammy wants to be the green fairy, Fauna, Grandma can be Merryweather, sister-in-law can be Flora, our dog can be the dragon Maleficent, I can be Sleeping Beauty, and Daddy can be the prince. Of course I was delighted to be the princess in this scenario, so I graciously accepted. The temptation to do a dress that is splattered pink and blue is irresistible. If I am being Princess Aurora this Halloween, I am so doing that.

Ok peeps, a couple of quick tidbits of trivia will wrap this thing up, so here we go (I'm a BIG trivia fan, deal with it). The voice of Maleficent = Same woman who voiced the stepmother, Lady Tremaine, in Cinderella! The sound of the dragon snapping its jaws = Castanets! And this last one is my favorite: when Maleficent is taunting Prince Phillip in the prison in the Forbidden Mountain fortress, and his subsequent daring escape, all of that was originally meant to go to Prince Ferdinand in Snow White. The reason it didn't? When Snow White was being done, Walt Disney didn't think his animators could do a convincing enough human male (look at that picture, he had a point), so it was scrapped and put in Sleeping Beauty years later instead! Cool, huh?! Told ya, trivia nerd over here. I love this stuff.


You wanna know the best thing about this movie, and even all Disney movies in general, especially the classics? That they never stop being as awesome as the were the first time you saw them. I still get that thrill of romance when Prince Phillip starts dancing with Briar Rose, waltzing through the forest. I still laugh in delight as Flora and Merryweather bicker back and forth while the fairies are all preparing for the birthday party. I still feel that deep sense of foreboding and fear as Maleficent appears in the fireplace and lures Aurora away up the tower to the tune of that creepy music. It's magic. Disney magic. And even when I'm old and gray, looking far more like a Fairy Godmother than a princess, I will still see with wondering eyes everything that those movies have to offer.


P.S. Have you ever noticed that the horses in Disney movie are the most hysterical, outrageous creatures! The attitude! It's fabulous!

Still Sick, But The End Is In Sight!

I am thoroughly sick of being sick. It has now been 8 days since I first got a sore throat, and today is the first day since that I do not have to take 1200 miligrams of ibuprofen (they gave me 800 after I had my daughter) just to keep from bawling at the pain. And I do not cry easily. I have had stuffy noses before, we're talking massive amounts of . . . well, I guess I can say snot here, it's my blog after all. I have thought for years that inventing a snot vacuum would be a fabulous idea, that whoever inventing this fabulous machine would become a millionaire. I would buy one. I've also thought of inventing an air conditioned wig. I would shave my head in the summer and wear my AC wig. Ok, so I might not, but I have long, thick hair and sometimes I am sorely, sorely tempted.

Anyway, snot vacuums. This week has been no exception to my normal sicknesses as far as snot output, and in the short time of one week, I have personally gone through 4 boxes (big boxes, not the little square ones) of tissues. And I get the more expensive ones, with the lotion on them. Because when you're wiping and blowing your nose every other minute, you are not going to want to do it with a tissue that could qualify as sandpaper by day 5 of this routine. Four boxes! Needless to say, I have to buy more tissues now. As well as chicken noodle soup, because that was one of the very few things I could eat without making my throat feel like I was ingesting acid. Although I think if I have to eat anymore chicken noodle soup anytime in the near future I may prefer to starve. I'm making dinner tonight, and it's tuna noodle casserole, and I can't wait! Something solid and tasty and not chicken! *Happy Dance*

I'm also downloading Sims 2 on my laptop right now. So, with Sims, I love to create the characters and build the house, but after that I completely lose interest. I really don't care about having them "live". I get so bored. My husband kinda gets a kick out of that part, though, so I build, he plays. I'm in one of those moods right now, and since I've been watching NCIS, I'm going to make NCIS team, and the house they're in is going to be the NCIS building! I'm going to do the teamroom, autopsy, the director's office, MTAC, Abby's lab, and everything! How possessed am I? I think I'm going to do a Stargate team as well, but figuring out a way to do a Stargate could get tricky. Maybe I'll do a wall mosaic. Yeah, I'm possessed.

I can (sort of) smell the casserole and I'm starving!!! Ooh, I think my daughter may finally be getting to the princess stage. Up til now she has LOVED all the cartoons and movies with the animals. One Hundred and One Dalmatians was a HUGE favorite for months, also Aristocats, Monsters Inc., Bambi more recently, just all the animal ones. Well, these past few weeks we've been watching the princess ones, Cinderella, Snow White, Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and she's been enjoying them! It's kinda fun, especially since I am a Disney kid through and through, so I'm enjoying it too! Perhaps not over and over and over how she likes to watch them, but still. It's been fun.

Ok, Sims is almost done downloading and dinner is almost done cooking, therefore I am done blogging! Have a lovely day!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Disney Princesses

Ah, it's been such an interesting day. I think we'll start right now and go backwards, seeing as how this day has been more interesting than entire weeks are sometimes.

I just finished looking through lots of different kinds of pictures and fan art of the Disney princesses with my husband, and it was hilarious! Just google Disney princess and do images, there's all sorts of fun stuff. The princesses arguing, wearing each other's clothes, stealing each other's clothes, with their kids, all sorts of hilarious and cool stuff. Like the comic strip above.

Earlier this evening my best friend and I made chocolate covered strawberries. And I have a new contender for my Top Three Foods That Are Almost Better Than Sex. Garlic bread is one of them. Chocolate cake/brownies is another. Seafood. And Italian food. I know, that's like forty thousand options, but I can be a particular sort of person when I want to.

Back to the strawberries, they were absolutely delightful. A life-changing experience. I don't like that chocolate they keep in the baking aisle that you're supposed to use for candy and stuff like that, so I got two humongous Sympony bars instead. I'm a sucker for Hershey's, I admit it. Anyway, so this was our first time making any kind of chocolate dipped anything, and it took a bit of tweaking to make them all pretty, but we really didn't care. They were perfection! If I could have melted into the floor with tastebud pleasure, I would have.

Before that she did her nails and mine while we watched a movie. I did my daughter's nails. She's two and thinks that it's almost the coolest thing in the world. Besides the new shoes she got today. She's got the most interesting feet. They're adorable, but they're wider than most shoes that fit the length of her foot. So her toes are always way away from the end of the shoe while she's out-growing them width-wise.

Aside from re-outfitting my daughter's feet, I went to work today and was very tired. I was up late last night finising the book I was reading and had to get up early. Stupid, yes. Ill-planned, yes. Did I enjoy it anyway? Yes.

It is now 2:48 in the morning, and I need to consider going to bed. Although I can sleep in as late as I want tomorrow, in theory, if darling child allows it. So until next time, and whatever I next find the need to write about, see ya!