School has started, the season has started, and life is just very hectic once Fall arrives. I know for some families it can be difficult to come together as a family and spend good quality time together. In our house we do something called Bed-A-Palooza, this is where we bring all the mattresses into the living room, put on our jammies and spend the night just hanging out and watching movies. We watch movies, jump on the beds, eat popcorn, eat way too many Red Vines, tell stories, talk about our week, and eventually we pass out.

This week's movie pick was free thanks to Pure Flix and their 30-day trial (I had to set my account up online to receive the 30-day trial when I tried to do it from my Roku it didn't work, once registered online it worked fine on the Roku). Pure Flix is like Netflix, except it's all wholesome programming. Family-friendly movies and TV shows. I tried it out before family night and was pleasantly surprised to see a warning before the movie that the content might not be acceptable for some little people. We here are pretty liberal with what we let the children watch. But, they have a different understanding than most kids since they have seen their Dad making movies their whole life. Still, when I'm unsure I end up watching a movie before the kids to make sure it is safe for the kids to view, then if it is okay I'm really bored when I go to watch it with the kids because I've seen it already. Only certain movies are meant to be watched again, again.

What are your families favorite movies? Here we love Wizard of Oz, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.  These are movies worth watching over and over. But, Pure Flix gave us an opportunity to watch some new things, like Finding Normal.

Fun Facts:
Finding Normal is directed by the director of one of my favorite documentaries Brian Herzlinger (I hope I spelled Brain right). The documentary is My Date With Drew, it's great. My husband has had the opportunity to work with Mr. Herzlinger a couple of times. The second time I asked him to please get my copy of My Date With Drew signed, and he did! Being married to the Art Department has some perks.

Where The Red Fern Grows was filmed on property owned by my family. The preacher in the funeral scene is actually my Great Grandpa. So, when I miss him more than usually I can just turn on Where The Red Fern Grows and hear his voice again. It's something very special to me.

So, who is up for Bed-A-Palooza?

Fences Make Good Neighbors.

Just kidding, people make good neighbors. Duh!

So, a month ago a lot of things in my house broke all at once. I had a mini breakdown of epic proportions. The dishwasher, my car and then the kid's ears, ALL BEFORE NOON!

The kid's ears righted themselves with rest thankfully. The dishwasher ended up being covered by the home warranty, it took about 2 weeks to fix but we didn't have to buy a new one!

I was quoted over $600 to fix my car. This made me cry, like a lot, a lot, a lot! I didn't have $600 to fix my car, and I honestly didn't want to put more money into a car I had just spent $1200 on the month before. But, I love that car, it's an old Buick. My insurance is cheap, it's a land yacht so I feel safer cruising around town in it.  Since my husband was between shows we decided to just let it sit until we saved up the money to have it fixed. So, there she sat in the driveway collecting dust and bird poop.

Then for some reason, my husband asked our neighbor who is always working on cars if he could help us, he said yes! Just to order the part. Well, the fuel pump for my land yacht was $200 from the auto supply shops, we didn't have that. Back to just waiting. Then the neighbor called us and asked when we were going to fix the car. We explained we didn't have the part yet because we were low on funds. He said to check eBay, eBay is not what I think of when I think auto parts.

FIFTY-NINE BUCKS! That's how much I paid for a fuel pump on eBay. It took 6 days to get the part after I ordered it when the fuel pump came in we all went to the driveway to fix the land yacht. We took apart the trunk and removed the back seat. I'm short enough I fit perfectly in my truck in a squatting position. Which made replacing the fuel pump even easier.  I FIXED MY CAR for under 10% of what a mechanic quoted me. Do you know how Super Hero like that made me feel?

I'm going to bake so much stuff for my neighbor. I have my car back because he's awesome.

Robert Frost said fences make good neighbors, but I'm pretty sure it's people that make good neighbors and I happen to have the best. 

Beware of Hulu's new Roku app update

It is the worst.

Just check #huluupdate on twitter.
I think it beats out the New Coke in worst
business ideas ever.

It's a flashing rainbow mess of large text, that triggered a migraine for me:/

Even worse, my carefully curated list of shows I must watch is gone. This list has taken me years to perfect. With one update Hulu has flushed it down a virtual toilet. I don't even know how to watch the shows I am paying for anymore.

Bring back the old Coke, I mean Hulu.

What Happened To Monday

I woke up way too early this Saturday, and since I have no car and the kids were still snoozing I decided to watch a movie. I'll admit I only picked What Happened to Monday because the woman on the cover looked a lot like Kat Von D, and I wanted to see how bad it would be with her in it. Turns out it was not her, it's Noomi Rapace. She only looks like KVD on the cover art. In the film, she looks nothing like KVD. I had to google Noomi, I didn't recognize her, I also didn't really recognize anything on her IMDB. But, anyhow back to the movie.

This is the cover art on my laptop Netflix,
it looked even more like KVD on my big TV.

What Happened to Monday is a dystopian thriller set in the future, 2073. A future in which the human race has decimated their food supply and is grossly overpopulated. A scientist comes up with a new way to create food, this Frankenstein food has some not so great side effects; birth defects, and multiple births. Nicolette Cayman a political figure played by Glenn Close creates the one child rule to ensure the safety of our future. The second child born is called a sibling (crazy unique I know). Siblings are sent to a cryogenic lab and frozen, to be thawed out sometime in the future when everything has been "fixed".

What Happened to Monday from 2053 -2073, it was bleak and gray, with no flying cars. The creators took a play from Minority Report  and used hand controlled screens. Mirrors in the future will scan you and tell you how terrible you look in medical terms. Noomi plays the Settman Siblings. The Settman siblings are septuplets whose mother died during their birth, and their estranged Grandfather ends up raising them, in secret of course because of the one child rule. Grandpa names the septuplets after the days of the week since there are seven of them.

Grandpa raises Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in an old apartment. When they are around 10 he creates an identity for them Karen Settman. Since they are identical in every way the siblings each play Karen on their namesake day. They have special bracelets that track and record their day (everyone in this future has them). They have an end of day meetings to review what Karen did that day so that the next sibling isn't lost on their day to be Karen.

All seems fine and dandy until something happens to Monday, then shit hits the fans and gets crazy! Noomi Rapace is as talented as she is buff (and holy hell this lady is ripped). The effects needed to pull off one woman playing 7 characters is equally impressive. It was pretty seamless and my suspension of disbelief was not interrupted by any flubs, or apparent CGI or green screen. It was done really, really well.

There was so much action in this film, and the Settman siblings' ability to think on their toes in a crisis situation will make you want to be their best friend in case of an apocalypse. If you can't have them maybe make friends with Rapace because she looks like someone one that would totally come in handy.

Finding out what happened to Monday wasn't predictable either, there is a WTF moment, and it was grand.

What Happened to Monday is currently streaming on Netflix.

Noomi Rapace played the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which I never read, but after seeing What Happened to Monday I think I will. 

Apparently I live in an alternate Universe where Monday comes on Friday.

The good news is I'm still alive and breathing, and so are my people. We're all currently fully intact.

The bad news is my dishwasher, car and oldest kids ears are all not working properly.

It was like the worst game of Dominos ever, the dishwasher took a crap, then suddenly the car wouldn't start, then the school called. All BEFORE NOON!

I took my dishwasher apart if you've never done that, you should just to clean all the things. I put it back together and ran it on rinse, it still refused to drain. Now I have vinegar and baking soda trying to eat the clog out. Google said that would fix it. I hope Google is right on this one.

While my house fills with the stench of vinegar I'm waiting for a mobile mechanic to show up and look at my not running car. I hope it is something cheap and easy. If not I'm selling that beast and getting a basket for my bicycle.

My son's ears will be a wait and see thing. He is allergic to basically everything in the environment and has not yet mastered blowing his nose. So he gets a fluid build up in his ears, and then infections. I am hoping this is just a fluid build up and it will drain and take care of itself with rest. But, I still had to walk over to the school and get him.

But, you know even with all the crap raining down on me, it's FRIDAY! I know things could be worse, and I'm grateful they're not.  I already had a good cry and freak out, and I'm sure when the mechanic gives me the news I will have another good cry and freak out. Then again another if the dishwasher won't drain.

I'd hoped to go hiking tomorrow, but with the luck, I'm having I should just maybe just stay home. 

I tried out DirecTV's new streaming service DirecTV NOW

We have been cable free for over 5 years, I love the money we save but I do miss cable TV. I miss watching live. I do not miss the bill!

This past weekend (8/5) I was playing with the Roku remote app on my phone and some how I stumbled upon DirecTV Now.  I had no idea what it was but decided to give it a look.  It promised 60+ Live channels for $35 a month (Live A Little package) and no contract (they have three other plans, we went with the smallest). That's right NO CONTRACT! They have premium channel add ons. I added HBO because GOT for only $5 a month. I was paying $15 a month on Amazon Prime for HBO, saved $10! I don't know about you but I like saving money.

The best part was they offered a 7-day trial, which is good because maneuvering inside the app on the ROKU was confusing to us. Maybe it's because we've been without cable for five years, I don't know. On day 2 of the trial, I canceled my order. Then on Day 3 once I had figured everything out I was trying to reorder, but I had to wait until my trial was over to reorder.

It won't let me stream on my HP Chromebook. It states "It looks like you're not using the right browser. Don't sweat it, you can stream on Google Chrome 50+, Safari 9+ or Internet Explorer 11+ (on Windows 8 and up). My Chromebook says I am using version 60 something, so that isn't rad.  I also can't use it on my old Roku 2 XD. So, before you get it you may want to check and see if your equipment is compatible. Also, I can't even open my account on the HP Chromebook, I have to use my phone, and that is a pain in the butt.

As I am typing this I cannot get into my account at all. But, it is playing fine on my Roku. I'm still highly annoyed. Took a 2-hour break and managed to get back into my account, I can't renew my order until the billing cycle has ended. Which won't be until August 11th, which is when I will probably post this blog (at which point, these last two sentences will no longer matter, OH WELL).

The real test for me was Sunday for Game of Thrones, if we can't watch GOT on Sunday I will be sad, but I will wait. We will see in a few hours.

Sunday came and went, I watch GOT, not live as I wanted because I was at Target, but as soon as I got home on ON DEMAND. YES!!!  HOLY MOTHER OF DRAGONS BATMAN! That episode was nuts.

On Monday, I sat down fully prepared to watch Midnight, Texas. I went to the guide and flipped through the menu looking for NBC, which I had previously seen on their channels offered. NO NBC! So, I didn't get to watch my show live and tweet along with everyone. I had to wait until Tuesday when it aired on Hulu. That's a bummer. Hello, DirecTV NOW, please remedy this NBC problem for me (I tweeted out to @DirecTVNowhelp, so I'll update when I know why I can't get NBC).
*UPDATE*
NBC is not available in my area :( I asked why and there was no further communication.  To see if it is available in your area click here.

I got a notice that CBS will also soon be available on Direct TV NOW, but I am wondering if it will be regional, and if here in Arizona maybe it is not available. They might be expecting we can pick it up on antennae, and I actually cannot, so I guess we will keep Hulu for awhile.

In the email about CBS, it also said that you could use certain channels streaming now apps, so that's kind of awesome.

After my trial ended I went ahead and purchased another month. With tax, it was $40 something, which is not too bad. Especially since the trial got my husband and I totally hooked on Tyler Henry. 

Cluster Headaches AKA Suicide Headaches: I NEED OXYGEN STAT

I'm in the middle of a cycle, which makes me feel sorry for myself and wish I could find a hole to hide in until it's over. But, I'm a Mom we don't get to do that, gotta push on the best we can.

What's a cluster headache? It's a headache, think a migraine on steroids,  on one side of your head, usually near the eye. My eye usually swells, some people's do not. It can last from 15 minutes upwards to three hours. The kicker, they come in cycles! Lasting for weeks, months, sometimes even a year! I am lucky because my cycles usually last around 3 weeks. For awhile I thought I knew my triggers, now I think it's just bad luck. Because, I quit all the things I thought were triggering them, and yet they still come around.

Nothing really helps me, except oxygen. But, my insurance is being a real PIA about getting an oxygen tank. I'm currently debating driving 4 towns over to a place that I know has an oxygen bar. Just to avoid the hassle of going to the doctor. I know I need a neurologist, but my current insurance is quite honestly shit.  I've already warned my husband when the next one hits, he may be driving me to the Oxygen Bar. He's all too willing, he understands how painful these are for me.

This condition affects like .1% of the population or some minuscule amount like that, but because of the beauty of the internet, it seems like there are so many. Which isn't reassuring because you know they suck a lot, but there is still that comradery of "I get you". So, that is nice. I mean I guess, lol.  The doctor said more men are affected than women and a quick internet search says men are 4 times more likely to suffer, so I guess I could say I'm in a super selective club. I sure hope we get special lapel pins or a Member's Only jacket.

I've been getting these since I was around 18 and I have finally been able to narrow down some symptoms. But, I'm too forgetful to remember that's what they are when they're happening. UGH. DAMN ME! One of my eyes gets intensely blood shot the day before a cycle begins, usually, my left because that's the side they always happen on. Then my left nostril randomly runs, and I wake up really early the morning before on fire (which I always think is some sort of early menopause sign).

When they hit I feel like that little guy from Space Balls is in my eyeball. He's trying to burst out, while some invisible entity is squeezing the left side of my head trying to hold him in. The simultaneous crushing and bursting feeling are indescribable. I can't liken it to any other pain, I've had two c-sections and those were walks in the park. I'd take 5 of those over a cluster headache any day.  I have kidney stones too, and those are bad, but not as bad as my cluster headaches.




Then there is the day after, you just feel exhausted. It's almost like a hangover without any of the night before fun. Mine also leaves me with a mild all over headache the next day. Wah, wah, poor me, right?

I can not take very many medications because I am very allergic to most pharmaceuticals, so my go to when they happen is to place a frozen Waldo's Warmer (buy them here) over my face, and breath the ice cold air in the 4-7-9 pattern (this is good for so many things), until I pass out. I am crying the whole time, but it works. Writing it out sounds terrible, but I suppose I am just used to it.

So, now that this cycle has started I probably will not hit my goal to blog every day, because I am just exhausted, and anxious waiting for the next headache to hit me.

If you suffer from these, I want you to know you're a bad ass, and you're not alone (and you need to contact me so we can work on those lapel pins).