Of bills and bears

I've been catching up on movie watching since I finished and filed my taxes and am now waiting for the money to be deposited in my account. Money is also on my mind, but in the sense of paying bills and remembering annual dues that have to be paid. Dues seems like such a small amount of money until they all hit at once. If I don't get to them immediately, I put them on my mental To Do list and promptly forget about them until they nag me over and over, which does no good unless I actually have access to money at the same time they're nagging. It's not a good example to set to be a board member and the newsletter editor who reminds people to pay their dues when I forgot mine. At least mine are paid now so I can safely nag others.

For the first time in years, there is real milk in my fridge right now. I usually buy almond milk but this time I splurged and got real milk. Very strange indeed, but I wanted to make real hot cocoa with real milk, but it's organic milk. I don't like hormones and antibiotics in my meat or eggs and I know that if the hormones and antibiotics are being injected into the living cow it's going to show up in the milk, cheese, and butter, so I buy organic. I have enough hormones circulating in my system so I don't need external help and I don't want to confuse my menopausal status now. It's just too hard to go through all those hot flashes again just when things are settling down, although some hot flashes would be good right now since it's so cold. People who have lived here a lot longer than I have say they thing this winter has been the coldest they can remember. I don't disagree. It has been quite frosty, although there hasn't been much snow down here in my little west side neighborhood. However, there has been quite a bit of snow in the higher elevations and that means good snow pack and lots of melt water coming in the spring -- if it ever gets here.

I received another story to edit for another anthology and I have ignored it for two whole days. I guess I'd better go over it, dispute or accept the editing changes, and send it back so I can check something else off my To Do list. I have been very productive this week, although not as productive as I should have been. Still, I finished and submitted my taxes, paid my dues, worked like a dog, bought groceries and put them away, forced myself to read the current review book and finally made a blog post, so I'm not doing too badly. I also watched a couple of movies: Sweeney Todd, which has a very interesting literary history, and The Golden Compass. I wonder why Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig figure so prominently on the movie poster since they have very little screen time.

Did you catch how thick Nicole looked? Was she pregnant when the movie was filmed? I know they're setting things up for the sequel, but I cannot find anything that shows when or if the sequel will be made. They sort of have to go through with it since they went to all the trouble to set it up, but the movie is no Harry Potter. I haven't read the books but the movie was interesting and fast-paced. Lyra is quite a handful and a very determined little girl, a real firecracker. I enjoyed the movie but feel it should have been either longer or more involved than it was. It felt like it skimmed the surface, although there was plenty of action and lots of explanation and the special effects were magical. I especially liked Ian McKellen as the armored bear Iorek Byrnison. I immediately recognized his voice and style. Should be interesting to see what -- if anything -- happens next. I definitely want to read the book so I understand all the hullabaloo about how much the Magisterium was toned down. Should be very interesting.

That is all. Disperse.