So, the funny thing is, after I wrote that blog, I looked up Molly Ringwald cause I thought it was weird that I would remember her being in that movie when she wasn't. It turns out there was yet another teen-ish pregnancy movie in 1988 with almost the same exact themes! So I can't really remember which one I actually saw. Guess I'll have to rent em both! Todd will be psyched!!!


For Keeps (1988) Long-term high school couple marries thinking they can handle a life together after diligent Ringwald gets pregnant. Truthful teen trials like sex, marriage, parenthood, and family acceptance are underscored, but the repercussions of the story are obvious and insincere. Good intentions though.
Molly Ringwald, Randall Batinkoff, Kenneth Mars, Miriam Flynn, Conchata Ferrell, Sharon Brown, Renee Estevez, John Zarchen, Michelle Downy, Pauly Shore, D: John G. Avildsen. Running Time: 98 minutes and rated PG-13 for some language and sexual situations.


She's Having A Baby (1988) Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their parents) expect from them. Do they want babies? Their parents certainly want them to. Is married life all that there is? Things certainly aren't helped by Jake's friend Davis, who always seems to turn up just in time to put a spanner in the works.
Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Bladwin, John Ashton. Running Time: 106 minutes and rated PG-13 for some language and sexual situations.


Also, I just want to add one more baby movie to my list. Not really a pregnancy movie but still fits the bill! And is too funny!!



Raising Arizona (1987) Recidivist hold-up man H.I. McDonnough and police woman Edwina marry, only to discover they are unable to conceive a child. Desperate for a baby, the pair decide to kidnap one of the quintuplets of furniture tycoon Nathan Arizona. The McDonnoughs try to keep their crime secret, while friends, co-workers and a feral bounty hunter look to use Nathan Jr. for their own purposes.
Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman, Frances McDormand. Running Time: 94 minutes and rated PG-13 for some language and violence.

Fave Babe Movies

The other night we saw the movie Juno. I have to say it was one of the best pregnancy movies I've ever seen! Of course, I might be slightly partial to such movies right now... But hey! It was really good.

I became inspired to make a list similar to my 'Fave Christmas Movies' post.

If you can think of some more, let me know!

1.) Knocked Up
We saw this at the beginning of last summer on our anniversary. Seemed innocent enough. It's just a movie, right? Little did I know I was *actually* pregnant at the time.... Ha ha, it's so easy to laugh at Katherine Heigl going through those labor pains! Until you realize someday that's going to be you. So due to the crazy timing of the movie and my love for all things Grey's Anatomy, this one ranks number 1.

2.) Juno
I know I just saw it so it's fresh in my mind, but this movie definitely struck a chord. The angst and awkwardness of high school, the great Indie soundtrack, the huge sigh of relief that I'm not a teenage mom. Yeah.

3.) She's Having a Baby
I think I need to watch this one again, because it might be really bad. (Ever watch 'Footloose' again after high school??) But I remember seeing it with my best friend and she cried all the way through it. Now I am not a crier at movies, but it had to have been moving for her to cry about it, right? Plus I remember talking about it a lot afterwards. Altho in my memory, the lead role was played by Molly Ringwald. I really need to watch this again.

4.) Fifteen and Pregnant (Lifetime TV movie)
Think bad after-school special with Kirsten Dunst thrown in and you've got this movie. I really thought it was something rarely witnessed by others since I happened to catch it on Lifetime TV on a random Friday night or something a few months ago, but I mentioned it to my friend and she was like, Oh yeah, I've seen that. So maybe it's better-known than I thought.. But it was good, in an after-school-special-y way, and again made me glad I wasn't a teenage mom.

.......................

And that's it! I honestly can't think of any others.... The only things that come to mind are Three Men and a Baby or that Arnold Schwarzneger one where he becomes pregnant which doesn't count and I haven't actually seen!

Fave Christmas Movies

So, I was all prepared to elaborate on my last post about the shootings at that mall in Omaha. For those outside of Colorado, you may or may not have heard that literally a day or two after that shooting, there was yet another shooting in Colorado Springs at two different churches. Again, by some lone, disgruntled Angry White Male. I had collected some comments that people wrote on the Denver Post right after it that I was going to use for my next article.

But then, I realized all of that was just plain depressing. And who really wants to focus on such negativity when we are supposed to be in a time of reflective peacefulness (a.k.a. Christmas). Right? And maybe I was just joining in the media frenzy of focusing on these types of events which in reality just brings more attention to them.

Who knows.

In any case, inspired by my friend Dave, I decided to instead write about my Favorite Christmas Movies of All Time.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

2. The Sound of Music

3. A Charlie Brown Christmas


4. The Polar Express

5. Miracle on 34th Street

6. Elf

7. How The Grinch Stole Christmas"

8. It's a Wonderful Life

9. Frosty The Snowman

10. Christmas Vacation


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And to further put you in the Christmas spirit (as if the movies weren't enough!) - here is a link to some streaming semi- modern Christmas songs (no cheesy church music!) for your enjoyment...... :)

Main KBCO link to audio player

Or try this.

I am listening to it right now as I am working from home!

Happy almost- Christmas!
xoxo

Questioning my species once again

It's sad but true. As I said in my post about Virginia Tech, that was not the first of those types of shootings and certainly will not be the last.

The Omaha mall shootings just reaffirmed my belief that nothing is ever going to change in this country.

One difference being that apparently this guy *stole* the gun he used to kill all those people out Christmas shopping that day, but what difference does that really make? The gun was around, someone had it because hell yes, it's our constitutional freedom, and he could easily get it.

The media focus seems to be completely on how the shooter was this "mentally troubled" youth. It was the health system. Yes, that's right, that's what caused him to crack. The health system let him down.

From the Washington Post's "Mall Killer Had History of Mental Woes":
The state intervened after the family's health-care program refused to continue paying for the shooter's treatment at Piney Ridge, Landry said. But the health department terminated its care in August 2006 after Hawkins failed to comply with a community service requirement and a court declared him "nonamenable to further services," he said.
Landry said the department acted properly in closing the shooter's case, which did not represent "a failure of the system to provide . . . appropriate services." He said he did not think the state could have done anything more and that "all appropriate services were provided when needed for as long as needed."
He added: "It would be nice to have had a crystal ball. . . . Certainly, if we had known this was going to happen . . . we would have stopped it."

Could they have really stopped it? Really? Isn't that what they said about the Virigina Tech shooter: "if only we had known..." But there is no way you can know. This guy wasn't much different than your average joe, as was the Viriginia Tech guy.

OK so he was fired from McDonalds?? and broke up with his girlfriend?? Who doesn't go through something like that? And since when are those reasons to go and shoot up a mall?? No one could have possibly known.

Ultimately, it's just another case of some loser thinking that because his life is so pitiful, he can somehow justify taking the lives of others to make up for his sad and dejected life.

I can't help but feel like if he weren't so easily able to track down a gun, maybe he would've gone to that mall and thrown rocks at people. Or something equally stupid. Maybe.

I'm sure some people will say, oh, but even if we had gun control laws, people like this guy would still be able to track down a gun and use it. He would find a way. Maybe so, maybe not. But it might help to make it just that much harder. And just that many more people's lives might be around. And they might be here to thank us. Maybe.

T-day

Just a little thanksgiving update from the K-funk homestead... My parents were here for the week, and on actual T-day we had my cousin & her new baby over too, along with my aunt from Virginia!

As you can see, I got some practice holding a baby!

Little Alayna Lenora was born on November 16th, 3:30am -- 3 weeks early at 6 lbs, 6 oz! After a 2-hr labor!!

Somehow I don't think our baby will be that small or my labor that short.....
But! one can dream.....

Hope everyone had a fab thanksgiving!!!!

Why I can't get any work done these days...

...Among other things......

My true induction into PreggersHood

My true induction into preggershood happened last night, right before my very eyes.

I signed up for a Pre-natal swim class, which basically means a bunch of big round-bellied women float around in warm water and talk about their pregnancies in glorious detail. I get to hear all kinds of stories about what happens as you get further along, what kinds of symptoms to expect, which activities become less enjoyable (and more!), and pretty much Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Being Pregnant!

It's awesome!

I never need to open "What to Expect When You're Expecting" ever again!

And if that wasn't enough, my true induction came at the end of the class, as everyone filtered into the showers.

Now I was never one of those girls who could strut around in the locker room wearing only What God Gave Her after gym class, starting from about age 13 on. I was always amazed by the girls who felt no shame, proud of their nakedness, as I sat there trying not to remove one single article of clothing without first pulling something else on at the same time.

Yet somehow last night it was different.

Here we were, all grown women, all going through the same thing. All scared, anxious, excited, empowered. Pregnancy had brought us together as if it were the most normal thing in the world, and I lost all my usual inhibitions and just went with it. Surprising even myself! Without getting too Vox Feminista on you, let me just say it was a bonding experience of the best kind.

And while we were all the same, we were also different in a way that was completely reassuring. For those of you who have never been pregnant, seeing your body change before your eyes can be super scary. But seeing other people going through it in their own ways along with you reminds you that it is not just scary, but normal and exciting and unique all at the same time.

Viva La Belly!

You knew it would happen....................