Who Sings It Better?

I've never been lucky enough to see the musical The Phanton Of The Opera on stage; but through it's phenomenal soundtrack I've learned all about the story.

Our match-up today will be two versions of the infamous song, The Phantom Of The Opera.

First up, the version by Sarah Brightman and the most famous man to play the Phantom, Michael Crawford.

I heard that a few years ago someone made a movie based on the play The Phantom Of The Opera.  I never saw it, but found this clip one day on YouTube.  Emma Rossum (an actress I've never heard of), and Gerard Butler play the lead parts.  Here is their version of The Phantom Of The Opera.   

So, which do I prefer?  Really....really?  I think we know the answer to this!!

Who sings it better?

Ten On Tuesday

10 Reasons Why Valentine's Day Is A Stupid Holiday

Yes, my blog might be decorated for Valentine's day, but it's not one of my faves.  It's not really a holiday either since the mail still comes and most people have to work.  (However, this year the school district I work for has the day off....awesome!)  Anyway.....

 1.  All the good restaurants are booked way in advance

 2.  Buying cards is one of the most boring, long processes on the planet

 3.  Yet another reason to eat chocolate and get fat

 4.  I HATE those little heart candies, they taste horrible and have the dumbest sayings on them!

 5.  If you have children in school, you have to buy valentines for all their classmates and usually write the message yourself!  If you have no money, this is even more of a pain in the butt!

 6.  There’s always that girl in the office or at school who gets flowers from her boyfriend/husband, making the rest of the women envious

 7.  What is this day celebrating?  Love?  Shouldn’t we celebrate love every day?  Do people even know how this holiday started?  I doubt many people know what kind of torture St. Valentine went through.  Click here to read the story.

 8.  There’s too much pressure to do something or buy something for this day 

 9.  It sucks if you don't have the money to do or buy something for the one you love

10.  It's so cliche to get engaged or married on Valentine's day!!

Musicals Monday

Another popular musical from my youth is Grease, starring John Travola and Olivia Newton-John.  I knew the words to every song, and loved watching all the dancing.

What I didn't realize until I was much older, was how dirty the movie actually is!!  There are sexually innuendo's throughout, and to this day I catch a new one every time I see it.

A perfect example of this is in the song, Summer Nights.  Sandy is sweet and innocent, talking about how wonderful a guy Danny is, and how sweet he is, while all his friends want to know was how far he got with her!! 

Dirty or not, it's a great song!

"Too Much Money"...what money?

Usually tax season is the most wonderful time of the year.  The government gives us back some of the money that they took from us throughout the previous year, and it often comes at a time when it's needed the most.  It's a time to "get ahead" on bills, or to simply put some money away for a "rainy" day. 

This year it looks like tax season is not going to do much for us, which really bums me out, makes me sad, and stresses me out.  We've looked at different ways to file that will give us the most money back, and at one point it looked like we'd be getting quite a bit back....it was read wrong; if we file that way we would OWE, not RECEIVE, so that way was thrown out.  After going through them last night, it looks like we will hardly get any money back at all. 

I don't do my own taxes.  I don't understand the process, the termonology, any of it.  I've been lucky enough to have people around me who understand it and do it for me.  When I asked Nick why we would hardly be getting any money back he told me that we are making too much money and are apparently in a higher tax bracket which means we don't get as much back.  I heard this phrase earlier in the week when I was asking about child care assistance for Brandon.  We make too much money.  I've heard this so much throughout the week that I think I'm going to throw up with disgust if I hear it again.

Where is this "too much money" that we make?  Last time I looked we struggle to pay the bills just like a lot of people in this country.  We aren't swimming in extra money.  We don't have cable, or all the latest technology gadgets like iphones, ipads, or ipods.  We don't spend money frivolously because we don't have it to spend.  There are weeks when we can barely buy a little food and gas to get us through each week.  So someone, please tell me, WHERE IS THIS "TOO MUCH MONEY"?

I believe there is more money out there for us to receive; that we're missing something, somewhere.  So we're going to take our tax information to someone (who doesn't charge much) and have them look at it for a second opinion.  I've never done this before, but the return amount is SO RIDICULOUS that I just refuse to believe that's all we will get back.

Star Wars Saturday

I found a great clip on YouTube titled, "How The Empire Strikes Back Should Have Ended".  It's part of a series of videos made from How It Should Have Ended (HISHE).  I thought this was hilarious.  Hope you enjoy it.  Be sure to watch the entire clip....you think it's over and then more keeps happening!