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I am a movie fan,  plus, I am very cheap, uh, I mean frugal. Finding a way to legally see movies for free is the best of both worlds.

The Internet Movie Data Base is a great source of movie information that I have visited frequently for around ten or so years. Recently, I noticed that a “Watch it” link started appearing on some of the movies’ pages. Then, I found a list of ALL the available movies (and TV shows) that can be watched on line. They link to various sites online that have movies available. It’s a one-stop shopping of legal places to watch movies for free.

You won’t find blockbusters that are still making money in DVD rentals, but you will probably find something you like on this list: Full-Length Movies

There is more than just movies available:

IMDB's main video page:

• Full-Length Movies
• Full-Length TV Episodes
• Trailers
• Clips
• Indie Films and Shorts

(The IMDB links to movies that are available on Hulu, so I didn’t mention it separately)

Happy watching…

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In a brief but pointed statement Thursday, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos  apologized for removing copies of e-books from customers' Kindles last week, a move that angered consumers and forced Amazon to defend what appeared to be arbitrary and controlling behavior.

 

Amazon's targets were the books Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell, two novels about the horrors of repressive societies. ...

...Although they were offered refunds, several were upset just the same. "I liken it to a Barnes & Noble clerk coming to my house when I'm not home, taking a book I bought from them from my bookshelf and leaving cash in its place," one customer wrote on Amazon's Web site.

I haven't seen this for decades, but I just came across it. I just thought I would share it here for no apparent reason:

Edited to add:

Thanks go to Jen for finding a copy online to another great Warner Brothers cartoon: What's Opera Doc? Thanks bunches Jen!

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I was just at my YouTube page, and I noticed a video in my favorites I had forgotten all abut. Take a look at this (It’s one minute and 15 seconds long):

“No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted”…

I decided a very long time ago, that I wanted a man to like me for who I was, and not what color I painted my hair and face. I have gone through my entire adult life with my God given, factory issued, hair, face and body. I figured, I wanted to attract a man without false advertising.

I wanted a man who would love me for who I am on the inside, rather than what I could change my outside to look like. I didn’t want a husband to wake up with my real self and go screaming down the street. I wanted a man who felt, like me, that how a person looks is irrelevant to their quality as a person.

So here I am. I am a woman over fifty. I have a lot of streaks of gray hair, and I have creases around my eyes and mouth. And I have a hubby who I knows loves me just for who I am.

I am an ordinary looking girl. Nobody is going to turn their head to look at me after I walk by. But, I am confident that the man I love chose to marry me based upon the real things that matter, the person I am on the inside, not outside.

By the same token, my hubby is secure in the feeling that my love for him has not decreased as the number of hairs on his head have decreased. In fact, my love for him has grown since our marriage as much as his tummy has grown since our marriage. (tee hee. Are you reading this sweetie?)

Jesting aside, the things we love about each other will never change, just the packaging, and that doesn’t matter to us. (Although we do tease each other harmlessly.)

My hubby calls me his “Beautiful Bride”. Thank you, God, for giving me just the right man I wanted.

(I don’t know what “Category” to place this blog in. I decided to put it in “My Faith”, since it was God who gave me my wonderful hubby)

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Warning- Rant Alert:

I very rarely post about serious issues. I usually use my blog for posting happy things, but I’m steamed, and I’m going to have a public rant:

I hate the idea of socialized medicine. I don’t really want my healthcare dictated by the same people who brought us the US Postal Service. Have you ever been in line at the post office? Yikes.

Here is my opinion folks: Medical Insurance is a scam. Now wait a minute while I explain. Insurance companies, like casino owners and stock brokers are gamblers. Insurance is all about the company betting that they will not have to pay out. The insurance company bets that your house will not burn down, that your car will not get in a wreck, and that you will stay moderately healthy.

The house always wins, remember. The medical insurance company makes money because most of us stay well, and do not get major illnesses. Most people just need regular, preventative medicine. Most people pay out thousands of dollars every year on medical insurance, and “lose” the bet  by staying well. If they make money by betting I stay well, how does that help me?

There is something very interesting I learned twelve years ago after I could not afford to have medical insurance anymore….

Not having health insurance is saving me money. I ask for, and get, a cash discount for all of my medical expenses, including hospital, eyeglasses, dental, and my regular doctor. Plus, my doctor prescribes the most cost efficient medicine when we need some. Not only that, but without insurance, you can talk to the doctor and just get what you NEED.

Medical offices do NOT like to deal with insurance companies. They very gladly give a cash discount because they are only treating you, not having to do a mess of administrative paper work. The prices are higher just because insurance is such a pain for the providers. Because of that, they do not mind passing some of the savings to those paying CASH.

(We pay cash for everything. We do not have credit cards. If we want to buy something, and we can’t pay cash, we do not buy it. We give up luxuries in order to save money for emergencies. We live like this because it is cheaper. We do not want to pay interest on purchases. No credit cards equals no interest. If you can’t afford to buy something NOW, how can you afford to pay for it later, PLUS interest? OK, I’ll get off my soapbox….Paying cash just saves money all the way around….)

Back to my rant: My hubby smashed his hand at work some time back, and opened a finger up really bad. Obviously it needed stitches, so we went to the emergency clinic. The doctor wanted an x-ray, but we asked if we really needed it. He looked at the finger, and felt it, and said, no x-ray was needed. In addition to not having to pay for the x-rays, we were given a discount for paying cash. If we had insurance, we would not have questioned getting the x-ray, and would have been charged full price.

For the last two years, I’ve been treated for a lung disease. I’ve paid cash the whole way, getting cash discounts from everybody I’ve seen. I even get a cash discount for the oxygen tanks I have to use when I go out, and the oxygen concentrator at the house. I have negotiated every stage of my treatment, not getting anything that was not necessary.

When you compare the cost of medical care between the insured and the not insured (those paying cash), you are not comparing apples to apples, but apples to oranges. As a person who negotiates each financial step of my medical care, I am actually getting a better financial deal than I used to what I had insurance. All the money I save my not paying insurance premiums I can actually use to pay my doctor and hospital bills. What a concept....

When the newscasters talk about the “uninsured” they are assuming that people who do not have insurance are not paying their bills, and are a drain on the country. That is very dishonest. Now that I know how the system works, I do not want health insurance. I especially do not want to be FORCED to pay for it by the government’s socialized medicine program. That should be my choice, no one else’s.

The concept of national health care is being sold to us like it’s going to help all the people who cannot afford health care. In reality, the taxes of people who cannot afford health care are going to be raised up so that the government can mismanage the money for another badly run system. Private businesses know how to make money. The US government can NOT run things properly.

For instance, I have paid into the social security system for a very long time. If I had been able to put that money in my OWN retirement plan, I’d have a lot better future to look forward to. The US government mismanages money so badly, that people older than me might not receive the social security benefits that they paid for all of their working life.

Please, Washington DC, don’t ask for more money from me until you show you can be responsible with it….

(That said, I am very happy that I was born in a country where you can complain about the government and not get punished…..)

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I come from a long line of worrywarts. I am third generation, at the very least. My mother and grandmother passed this affliction down to me. I sometimes get wrapped up in trying to micromanage all aspects of my life, my hubby’s life, my mother’s life, etc, because I’m worried about what MIGHT happen. (As if worrying will stop a bad thing from happening.) Every now and then, Jesus jabs me in the side and reminds me to read about when he said “Do Not Worry”.

I know you think I’m nuts, but when I’m praying, Bible passages will jump into my head. Now, I don’t know for sure if Jesus is giving them to me, or if I am doing it subconsciously. But, how I figure it is “When in Doubt, Thank God”. So, when I get a Bible passage jump into my head during a prayer, whether it is my subconscious or Jesus’ recommendation to help answer my problems, I read it.

Today, just before I starting writing this blog entry, it happened again. I was praying, then reading the Bible, and this verse jumped into my head. Apparently, I am really hard-headed and need to read this many more times to make it a part of me. Every time I read it, it is like I am reading it for the first time. So, for the gazillionth time, I’m going to read this again. And I thought while I was at it, I would share it with you.

This is part of what Jesus said during his “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 6:25-34:

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NIV)

So, hopefully, for the next few days, I will remember to “Seek first His Kingdom” instead of worrying…. Wish me luck…

By the way, I’ve copied the text above from BibleGateway.com. It has the whole Bible, many different versions of it, online. It is very, very handy and has lots of neat stuff like searches that help a bunch.

Incidentally, I use the “New International Version” (NIV) translation of the Bible. I didn’t start to read the Bible until I was in my early forties. (see my website, X-Evolutionist.com, for my testimony) Since I was not brought up reading all the thee’s and thou’s, the King James Version of the Bible made no sense to me. So, my boyfriend, who is now my hubby, gave me a copy of the New International Version of the Bible. It is a newer translation, made in 1973, in modern English.

The NIV was translated from the earliest manuscripts possible, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, which had not been found yet when the King James Bible was translated in 1611. Plus, there is no need to call God thee and thou. These pronouns were used for everybody in 1611 England, and there is nothing disrespectful towards God in using modern pronouns. (In my humble opinion)

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I have always had a fondness for Walter Cronkite, like as for a grandpa. Some of my earliest memories are sitting in front of the TV in the mid 1950s and seeing that friendly face sitting at his desk, explaining things in his friendly way.

Goodbye Mr. Cronkite. I will miss you.

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First, some background: For the past nine years I have had my cockatiel, Penny, as my constant companion. When I first adopted her, I did not know how old she was. I have since learned that she is pretty old. I found that out when the vet who diagnosed her cancerous tumor deciphered her leg band. Every day I have had her since her tumor was removed I have thought of as a bonus day.

Since she is old and has had cancer, I wake up every day and check to see if she has lived though the night. Actually, I have given that job to my hubby. He checks my birds first thing in the morning and tells me “Everybody’s OK!”. (When Pipsqueak, my dearly departed lovebird, died, I found him myself. It was difficult for me to handle. So, my hubby has that job now)

Besides worrying that Penny will die, there’s something else happening… After nine years of living with Jonah, my male cockatiel, Penny has grown interested in him. Oh, she would mate with him several times a year, but was never affectionate with him, as she has been with me.

Well, now, rather than wanting to spend all day with me on my shoulder, Penny has been wanting to stay home in her house with Jonah. It is fun to see her and Jonah preen each other, (maintain each others feathers) especially on the top of their heads where they can’t reach. Penny used to have me be her chief head scratcher, and I miss her constant companionship during the day.

By the way, I don’t expect anybody to read all my ramblings, I just use my space as a type of diary sometimes. You are of course welcome to read my diary if you wish…..

So, here I have been, missing the constant companionship of my cockatiel, Penny, and being afraid I will lose her. She has been my only bird who was bonded to me. Long ago, Rufus, my parrot in my banner, switched over to loving my hubby, and seeing me as a rival for his attention.

So, her has been X, worrying about losing Penny, while already losing her to Jonah, the new love in her live….

…So, I initiated a long talk with my hubby… My hubby, who thinks we have enough pets already, listened to me patiently as I told him my concerns… I told him that it easier to lose a pet when we have more pets who love us, as he realized recently when Lily, his little girl dog, died… Well, I have grown accustomed to having a bird with me all the time, and that is something that my two dogs don’t really take the place of. When Penny dies, that will leave a big hole in my heart.

Besides my concerns about Penny, I’ve really been missing my lovebird, Pipsqueak. He was a silly, naughty and fun critter to have around. A lovebird is unlike all other birds. They are the clowns of the bird world, more so that other parrots. They are just plain fun to be around, and very cute besides…

So, I told my hubby I was thinking about getting another lovebird, a young one who I could bond to me.

Here’s something else that has concerned me, for many years I have taken in the needy pets, old, injured, abused, etc. The really hard part about taking in special needs pets is that there is always somebody dying.

I have become too old to deal with that any more. I’m just not strong enough to do it any more with birds. The next time we get a dog, we will still adopt a (young) homeless dog, but my days of taking in old birds are over.

So, in talking with my hubby about all the things I have discussed in this very long post, he agreed that we would find a young lovebird for my birthday. (it’s in the summer, that’s all the details I give in cyberspace) My hubby told me that lovebirds are “Eye Candy”.

To me, they are the most colorful and attractive parrots in the world. To date, I have taken in the old and homely, knowing that the young and pretty would get homes. Now, it’s my one time to be selfish, and get a young, pretty bird, who hopefully will have a long life with me.

So, now we have a peach-faced lovebird named Candy, short for “Eye Candy”. She is between eight months and a year old. She has been living in my favorite pet shop most of that time. She was hand-raised as a baby, meaning that the breeder spent time with the birds to get them used to being with people.

(The pictures above are of peach-faced lovebirds in the wild. They are not Candy, but Candy looks exactly the same.)

Lovebirds are great biters (as Pipsqueak was) so one who is used to humans is nice for a change. She already stood on my finger, for a few seconds, when I spent a few minutes with her at the pet shop. It didn’t take me long to decide she was the one for me.

Once I got her home, I wanted to show her what the rest of the world looks like, outside of the cage in the pet shop where she had lived all her life. Well, now she is one spoiled little birdie! She just thinks she can run off to whatever room she wants.

For some reason, whenever she runs out of the living room, she runs to the dining room where the bunnies stay when it is too hot outside. The bunnies prefer living outside. When the door is open, they will run outside even when it is hot or there is snow on the ground.

God wired up bunnies to survive in all temperatures, but my hubby and I would rather have them inside during extreme weather. I don’t know why a little bitty bird would want to visit with great big bunnies.

So anyway, as I said, I now am in the proud possession of a spoiled lovebird. Once she is more used to me, and minds a little bit more, I’m going to try to teach her some tricks. While searching for information on the web about lovebirds, I found the video below. Candy is the same kind of bird as in the video, and she looks exactly the same:

As you can see in the video, lovebirds are teeny, small enough to fit in a toilet paper tube…

If anybody made it this far down, Click Here.

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