Since this is Christmas vacation week for a lot of us, I decided to pick my hottie of the week from the various Christmas gifties DH and I have received. We watched Superman Returns in the theater this summer with our kidlets and really loved the movie.

Therefore when it came out to DVD, naturally it was on DH’s Christmas list, and lo and behold, his mom bought it for him. So we all sat down to watch it this week (as DH’s mom and hubby hadn’t seen it yet) and relived the wonders of Brandon Routh “channeling” Christopher Reeve. Now, I don’t know how this man did it, but if you close your eyes, you’ll be damned if that isn’t Chris Reeve on screen. Mr. Routh did a fantastic job portraying Superman, and his facial expressions alone are priceless. (Like the one he gives the bad guy *right* after he shoots him in the eye. Classic!)

In fact, I actually posted a review of this movie on this very blog. You can read the review here:

http://beckasbabble.blogspot.com/2006/07/superman-returns.html

As you can tell, I loved the movie. I love Superman. I love Kevin Spacey. I love old-skool Christopher Reeve. And now, I love Brandon Routh.

Congratulations, Brandon Routh. You are Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka

Okay, okay, so I said there wouldn’t be an update until after the first. What can I say? I’m a creature of habit. Anyhow, I thought you might like to know what I got for Christmas this year, and maybe share a bit of what you got as well.

Music:

Kutless: Live from Portland CD/DVD combo (I was THERE, baby!)
Chris Tomlin: See the Morning
Twila Paris: House of Worship
Corvus Corax: Venus Vina Musica

Books:

Lord of Desire
Lord of Temptation
Lord of Seduction ~ all by Paula Quinn (yay!)
Devil in Winter ~ Lisa Kleypas

DVD’s:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ~ Hey, I liked this movie, so get over it.

Kitchen Items:

Wooden spoons
Tupperware
New dishtowels
Brand new set of dishes; service for 16 (praise God)
Brand new dinnerware utensils
Under the cabinet SONY radio/CD player (awesome)

Computer:

Mousepad
Drawing pad ~ One of those cool pads and pens where you can draw into the computer instead of using the hated mouse.

Art:

Painting of the prostitute washing Jesus’ feet with her hair. Very awesome. If you don’t know the story, blow the dust off your Bible.

Beautiful wreaths hand-made from my sister and her mother-in-law with pretty fake flowers; one large wreath, two small ones.

I believe that is all I got, aside from stocking candy. Was Santa good to you this year?

~~Becka

Merry Christmas, everyone! I’m going on vacation next week, so there will be no more blog posts until after the first of the year, so have a good one, y’all, and I’ll see you on the flip side!

~~Becka

Before y’all lynch me for my pick this week, lemme explain my choice. I’m not one who usually jumps on a “HE’S HOT” bandwagon simply because others find a man hot. I find a man hot on his own merit. With that said, I remember when I saw Titanic on opening night at Mann’s Chinese Theater back in ‘97. Geebus, has it been almost a DECADE?!?! **sobs**

Anyway, LOVED the movie, and I don’t really care if you didn’t. (It’s my blog, I’ll post what I wanna. hehe) DH and I saw Titanic in the theater 8 times. We own it on DVD now and we frequently watch it. I’ve lost count how many times. But we don’t watch it because I’m an avid Leo fan. We don’t watch it because DH loves the Kate Winslet eye candy (although he’s freely admitted that’s a lovely perk to the movie lol). But I remember the fervor over Leo (I say as if I actually know the guy well enough to “call” him Leo ) with teenage girls. I remember being in the theater and watching them all go ga ga over him. Literally. This one girl jumped in her seat whenever he was on screen.

Calm down, Beavis.

While I thought Leo was attractive, he never actually made it to my OHMYGAWDIMUSTWATCHEVERYMOVIETHISMANHASEVERMADE list. He always had this “baby” face, like the guy you had a crush on in high school. I’ve always enjoyed men who have more character to their face–not “wrinkles” per se, but just more of a mature look, I guess. Then, one evening when I went out with my friend to watch a movie, we saw a preview for the movie Blood Diamond, Leo’s new one. I sat up, stared at the screen and said to myself, “Oh. My. Gawd!”

IS THAT LEO???

Holy cow, the man has grown up is all I can say! He now has that “look” I find sexy in a man, the mature look. Leo is one month younger than me, so I guess that means I’m getting older too. **sobs** But heck, he’s got it goin’ on now. Whoop whoop! And I’ll *definately* be there to watch his new movie.

Congratulations, Leonardo Dicaprio. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka

Finally, I am done with Christmas shopping. What a nightmare! We spent waaay too much money this year on this jolly ol’ holiday, lemme tell ya. Whew! Lemme say that again.

WHEW!!!

I’m almost done wrapping the last of the loot, and it’s all sitting patiently underneath our be-decked tree in the living room. Yup, we have all our gifties out way before Christmas morning. Pretty much when we buy them and wrap them is when they go under the tree.

“But Becka,” you say, “how do you keep your children from terrorizing the presents?”

My answer: “We tell them not to.” *grins*

Seriously, I have good kids, and they understand that opening presents is for Christmas morning only. They also know Santa is only a fun story. While believing in Santa might be part of the “wonder” of Christmas, my husband and I have chosen to focus the point and “wonder” of Christmas away from Santa and the promise of gifties to the true meaning, the birth of the Son of God.

That’s not to say my kids don’t have fun “pretending” Santa is real, and they would never be “mean” and tell a kid who believed in him that Santa wasn’t real. It was merely a decision DH and I had when we began having kids that we wouldn’t “lie” to them. I remember how disappointed I was when I found out the truth that Santa wasn’t real. We didn’t want to disappoint our own kids in the same way.

So while they enjoy movies about Santa and seeing him in stores and on TV, they know it’s just a “fun” story, like the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy.

Right now, my kids are enthralled with “God stories”. They ate The Nativity Story for breakfast. LOL My seven-year-old has been pleading with us to let her watch The Passion of the Christ, but that won’t be for another few years yet. That movie, while very poignant and powerful, is just a little too violent/scary/gory for a child her age.

But now that we have all the gifties under the tree, holiday music playing, and festive cookies all around, the countdown to Grandma begins!! Six more days!! I think the kids are more excited to see Grandma than Christmas morning, to be honest. LOL

~~Becka

First of all, if you know what kind of card that is AND played the game, then you’re an Uber Geek (echo echo) LOL. I have done both. But this post isn’t about “Magic: The Gathering”. It’s about the Wrath of God.

For whatever reason, God is pissed at the Pacific Northwest.

Yesterday, we were POUNDED with Noah-worthy rain, as well as gusts of wind up to 100 miles per hour. Yup, we in Oregon and Washington experienced our own “hurricane” if you will. The skies are blue in patches today, but man, we lost our power for a good 6 hours, and some folks are still without power. Lemme tell ya, when you lose electricity for that long, you devolve. I’m serious, folks. DH and I were a hairsbreadth away from flingin’ poo. LOL

In fact, here’s a funny video about what truly happens when you lose your Internet. How we managed in the days before the ‘Net is beyond me.

Whilst listening to Dave Matthews, I decided to do a new feature on my blog, since sometimes I don’t have anything to blog about. On those days, I’ll be doing Becka’s Hottie of the Week. And this week’s hottie… You guessed it, Dave Matthews.

Now, this man isn’t a “hunk” in the traditional sense of the word, but there’s just something about this guy that is very attractive, at least to me. Maybe it’s his passion on stage when he’s singing, or maybe it’s the quiet way that he talks. But if you’ve seen the movies Because of Winn-Dixie and the remake of Where the Red Fern Grows, you’ve gotta agree with me.

Whatever “it” is, Dave Matthews has it. Oh, and his music is great, too! One of my favorite DVD concerts is Dave’s concert in Central Park he gave for FREE after 9/11. We frequently listen to it during parties and get-togethers.

Dave Matthews, congratulations. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the week.

~~Becka

I was tagged to do this by Diana Craver.

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Paperboy er, girl
2. Sandwich artist at Subway
3. Dairy Queen/Orange Julius store in the food court
4. Office job setting up field reps to copy medical records for lawyers

Four Places I’ve lived:
1. Carson City, Nevada
2. Anaheim, California
3. Redondo Beach, California
4. Portland, Oregon

Four favorite foods:
1. Ravioli
2. Pad Thai
3. Tamales (homemade)
4. Chicken Alfredo

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Princess Bride
2. Prince of Egypt
3. Labyrinth
4. Ever After

Four TV shows I enjoy:
1. Avatar: The Last Airbender (obvious)
2. Prison Break
3. Heroes
4. House

Four places I’ve traveled:
1. Lake Horne, Victoria Island, British Columbia, Canada
2. Atlanta, Georgia
3. Las Vegas, Nevada
4. Chicago, Illinois

Four places I’d like to visit:
1. Hawaii
2. Israel
3. All of Europe
4. Australia

Four websites I go to (almost) daily:
1. Gmail
2. MSNBC
3. my Yahoo groups
4. MySpace

Four people I’m tagging to do this too:
1. Donica Covey
2. Jenna Leigh
3. Beth Williamson
4. Melissa Schroeder

If you are a loyal Browncoat, then become a part of the community trying to get the currently non-existent 2nd season of Firefly made and out there to the masses! At this point, it would appear as if they want to do a pay-per-view thing or perhaps pay-per-download of the show rather than putting it back on networks. This website I’m about to show you has a slogan that says “Seeking Independence from the Network Alliance”.

I don’t care, as long as a season 2 gets made. And there is also talk about going straight to DVD. How much would that rule? Click on the pic to do your part in the rebellion!

Stay Shiny!

~~Becka

You might have seen this before, but what’s worth watching once is worth watching twice. LOL This video really hits home with me. **snort** I want that jacket he’s wearing….

~~Becka