CUTE KITTIES GETTING READY FOR THEIR NAP

PUBLIC OUTRAGE OVER ALLEGED MORMON PROXY-BAPTISM OF ANNE FRANK: MY VIEW ON BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD

Yahoo has a story about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and how Holocaust victim Anne Frank was recently proxy-baptised by Mormons. Of course there are nasty, ignorant comments like you wouldn't believe on the accompanying message board for that story. As a Mormon, I just wrote something up off the top of my head and posted it there (which got thumbs down, figures). Anyway, here it is for anyone who is interested:

I'm a convert to the Mormon church and I know there is alot of stuff out there about Mormons that are taken out of context, etc. I read all this over 30 years ago when I was first investigating the church. All I could find back then were anti-Mormon books (in Christian book stores of all places!). But I took the time to learn the truth. I admit I was surprise when I first learned of baptism for the dead. I grew up Episcopalian and we sure never talked about that. But I was even more surprised when I learned that this is mentioned in the BIBLE! (look at 1 Cor. 15:29 .... "Else what shall they do which ar baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?") It truly is scriptural, but mainstream churches just overlook it or don't understand it. In any case, the LDS church is the restored church on earth, we have the fulness of the gospel with the Priesthood and additional scripture and latter-day revelation that helps shed light on the more difficult to understand passages in the Bible. We do practice baptism for the dead, as a means to help those who have died without knowledge of the gospel to accept or reject it in the afterlife. That is the key: they are free to accept or reject this. It is just an ordinance we perform for them here. But we are not FORCING anyone to become a "Mormon". How could we?? That would be just crazy, of course. It's not like we have any "magical powers" to turn spirits into "Mormons." Also, I don't know why people get so upset over this; if they really think that Mormons are crazy and that we aren't even Christians and our church is a sham, they wouldn't even care! But alot of them DO care, because they know there just might some truth to our church. Anyway, I just wanted to make it clear that in the spirit world they are free to accept or reject this, and that is an ordinance performed here on Earth for anyone who hasn't heard the gospel. People really shouldn't get so uptight about this.

CINDYBIN THE CRIMINAL, OR “MY FIRST SPEEDING TICKET”

So I’m at a four-way stop listening to NPR on the radio when I notice a squad car behind me with its light on. I cross the intersection and swerve to the side to let him pass, but he stays behind me and runs the siren briefly. I’m like, “What?? Does he want ME to pull over? What did I do?”

I’ve never been pulled over in my life and was quite apprehensive. Luckily there was a bank parking lot coming up so I drove there and waited, rolled my window down and wondered what the heck this was all about. Was my tail light out? Did he want to ask me if I’d witnessed an accident or even a murder a few miles back? What was he going to say? It seemed like I waited there forever even though it was probably just a minute.

Finally he got out of his car and walked up. “Are you in a hurry this morning, ma’am?” I said that I was not. “Do you have any idea how fast you were going?” I said that I usually go only a few miles above the speed limit, that it must have been about 57 or 58, which surely they don’t arrest people for in a 55 mph zone! If I ever go much past 60 I definitely take my foot off the accelerator!

“I clocked you going 59 mph in a 45 mph zone,” he sternly informed me.

“What???” I said, flabbergasted. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know I was doing that! I always slow down for those curves! I’m a careful driver!”

“Did you just not see the sign? It says 45 miles per hour.”

“I don’t know!” I said. “I thought I did! I thought I slowed down! I can’t believe I would have gone that fast if it said the speed limit was 45! I don’t know how that could have happened! I’ve never been pulled over before! I’m sorry!”

He was fairly nice and I thought maybe he’d just give me a warning, especially since I’d never had a ticket, but then he asked to see my driver’s license. No problem.

Then he asked for proof of insurance. That was a problem.

I frantically opened the glove box and pulled out a pile of papers, maps, receipts and expired insurance cards. (Tip: clean out your glove box.)

“I’m sorry I can’t find it,” I said, “This has never happened to me before! You’re scaring me to death!”

“I’m scaring you to death?” he said, surprised.

“Well not you, but …”

“I know, just the situation,” he replied. Noticing how much my hands were shaking, he added, “I can see you’re discombobulated.”

I kept digging through the pile, and pulled out several cards. One expired two years ago. Another expired three or so years ago. “Will this do?” I asked, holding it up.

“No ma’am, I need an up-to-date card.”

“Well we DO pay our insurance!” I said, still rifling through papers. “We’ve lived in the area for years! My husband was Scout master!” Seriously, I said that. I was grasping for straws, trying to prove we were nice people, not criminals. I don’t know why I cared so much what he thought of me. It was just the situation, I guess. “And I was on my way to visit my grandchildren!” I added.

“Okay…” He said, sort of smiling. I think. I was too flabbergasted to look at him much. I’d been face-to-face with police officers in years past, but it was to interview them for various newspaper articles I was working on!

Couldn’t he see how nice I was? My mind was racing and I almost started to tell him about how I stand up against marijuana and alcohol on the internet. That would show him how moral and upstanding I was! But then I caught myself and realized he wouldn’t care. He had pulled me over for speeding, not for driving under the influence. (And besides, how did I know he didn’t drink beer and smoke pot or think nothing was wrong with it? After what I’ve seen online, it wouldn’t surprise me. But that’s another rant.)

Finally I looked in the zippered owner’s manual thing and there was the current one in the little slot on the inside front cover. Whew! Somebody HAD put the new card in a convenient place after all! So he took it and my license back to his squad car and spent quite a long time entering information, came back and explained all about what forms to send in and that I had the option of taking a safe driver course and how I’d get my license back when this was settled but for now I was “driving on a ticket” which meant I had to keep the yellow copy in my purse as proof that I have a license. He had my license! Wah!!! I felt so naked!

Then he asked if I had any questions and I said no. “Okay, and ma’am, please be more careful”, he advised, walking away. “Okay,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Why did I say thank you? He just gave me a ticket!!” I thought as I drove off. I continued on my merry way on the 55 mph highway, going no faster than 57 mph or so, while everyone passed me. Finally I arrived at my destination, greeted by beaming faces, sticky fingers, dirty diapers and spit up. It was heaven, especially compared to the situation I’d just been in. I told my son and daughter-in-law what happened, and was comforted in the fact that they had each gotten speeding tickets, and in their 20’s even.

“Yeah, that makes it worse!” I said. “At least I went all the way until I was in my 50’s before I got my first ticket.”

“That’s true,” my son noted. “And we still have a whole lifetime of crime ahead of us!”

I stayed all day with the kids and drove home late afternoon, as cautious a driver you’d ever hope to see. I told hubby about it later that evening. (He, too, had been issued a speeding ticket years ago, on one of our family vacations.) I mentioned to my husband the trouble I had finding the current insurance card. He explained that he kept some old cards just in case we didn’t have a current card for some reason—that at least it would be better than nothing. But it’s not. I may as well have given the cop an Arby’s coupon.

I also told him that I wasn’t upset so much at the ticket—not the money or anything—just the whole situation. I’d never even had a detention before! The closest thing was when I was in 7th grade and I couldn’t find my science homework. The teacher had this weird practice of making any students who didn’t have it put their heads down on their desk the whole class period, and then come in after school. I was horrified as I slumped over my desk! Then I came in after school like I was supposed to, and the teacher told me I didn’t have to stay, that he knew there must be an explanation for my missing homework, bless his heart. (I came to find out the next day that I had accidentally turned my science homework in with my health paper!)

I also told my husband I was upset about the ticket because I couldn’t believe that I had gone so fast without knowing it. I thought I was a careful driver!

“Were you distracted in any way? Did you have the radio on?” he asked.

“Well I never use my cell phone,” I said. “And I barely even take my eyes off the road. But I usually have the radio on—geez, I can drive and listen to the radio at the same time!”

“Apparently you can’t”, he quipped. Har har.

I went to bed that night and kept seeing that cop’s face in my sleep, woke up in the middle of the night and went over the dialogue between us several times. I just felt so creeped out. To him it was a routine traffic stop, but to me it was a big deal. I know that for many others it wouldn’t be so overwhelming, and it really shouldn’t have been for me, either. It wasn’t like he was going to send me to prison. Oh well, at least I didn’t cry.

In any case, I hope this little blog has offered a bit of advice and support for any first time traffic offenders who may need it. I want you to realize it’s not the end of the world if you ever DO get stopped, and that it can happen to the best of us.

And I’ve learned my lesson: watch for speed limit signs and be paranoid and go super slow especially around curves, have a neatly-organized glove box, and drive in complete silence. Hopefully I can go another 50-plus years without a ticket or die, whichever comes first.

Gotta Love Get Smart

Max: “What exactly do we know about these murders, Chief?”

Chief: “I’ll give you the facts. Each of the victims was a CONTROL agent. Each victim was killed by someone with incredible strength. Each victim received a banana in the mail the morning he was murdered. And each victim was discovered with an empty banana peel on his chest.”

Max: “If there was only a pattern to these crimes.”

EMAIL PASSWORDS

Okay, who is trying to hack into my email? I've received notices from Yahoo and my stats here on Blogger show that someone is using search engine terms to determine answers to the "secret questions" Yahoo asks for passwords. I've reported this to Yahoo so I suggest you stop.

The following is a rerun of a blog about Claudine Longet from my old Yahoo Pulse site that they discontinued. I substituted the picture I did have with a picture of the new vintage album my daughter-in-law got me for Christmas. Pretty cool, huh? Ever since posting that blog about the Andy Williams Christmas specials, I sure get a lot of hits from people looking for information about him. He comes up in my "search engine terms" stats alot. Although today I got one that said, "teen self control and bowling week." What??? How did they find my blog from that?? Oh well, lol. Anyway, here's the article--I hope you enjoy it. More blogs to come!

HAVE YOU HEARD OF CLAUDINE LONGET?

Well have you? Heard of Claudine Longet, that is. I asked several people this question recently, and to my surprise, virtually everyone said no. If you don't know who she is, then have you at least heard of Andy Williams? You know, the legendary singer--"Moon River", hit variety show in the 60's, etc. Well Claudine Longet was Andy's wife in the 60's. A beautiful, slender, brunette actress and singer, she recorded five albums for A&M Records, and appeared many times on her husband's show and specials. The couple had three children before they divorced in the 70's. I used to watch them all the time in my youth. I think we all thought they were the ideal family. So much for that.

Anyway, I always liked her voice, and thanks to YouTube have been able to hear more of her many songs. She has the sweetest voice--real soft and little-girl sounding, with that cute French accent giving her a distinctive style you can't miss. When you hear her sing, you know it couldn't be anybody but Claudine. And she sings well!

There's much more to Claudine Longet (pronounced the French way, like "bouquet") than I have written here; you can look her up on Wikipedia to find out more, including the brouhaha in the 70's where she was charged with the fatal shooting of her lover, an Olympic skier. She never performed after that, and ended up marrying her defense attorney. They reside in Colorado.

One thing I noticed on the Wiki entry is where it talked about Claudine and Andy's friendship with Robert and Ethel Kennedy. It said that in 1968, after Kennedy's victory speech, they were all to meet at a trendy local disco. It was shortly after midnight when Andy and Claudine "got out of bed and began getting dressed", and then heard that Kennedy had been shot. I thought sheesh, how could they think of going out so late? Midnight is sleepy time! How could anybody get OUT of bed at that hour, and go to a disco of all places? Here they were parents of young children, and planning to dance the night away till all hours?

Anyway, here is a link to a Claudine Longet tribute.

CUTE BECKY REBORN BABY DOLL

Here's Becky in her new little outfit I just bought today. It was marked down to $3 and I couldn't resist! It's so cute! I love the matching bib.

Happy Valentine's Day!

CINDYBIN'S VIDEO PICKS OF THE WEEK: JUAN AND NORMA OF PASION DE GAVILANES

Here is another "rerun" of one of my older posts from my old Yahoo blog that seems to have been discontinued. I thought this would be nice eye candy for a dreary winter day. Juan and Norma are my favorite couple! I wrote this blog several years ago after the series ended.

I still have numerous blogs I'd like to publish--some old, some never-before-seen! It's just hard to find time or energy to write them. (I'm still working on one blog that I started two years ago!) But I do hope to publish some more things soon. Meanwhile, enjoy reading all about the adventures of Juan and Norma!

JUAN AND NORMA OF PASION DE GAVILANES

Ah, the romantic couples we know and love: Romeo and Juliet…Aladdin and Jasmine…Luke and Laura…The mere mention of characters like these could ignite sparks of passion. But none of them holds a candle to Juan and Norma—at least not in my book. Sigh…This couple from “Pasion de Gavilanes” is just so good together. Young and gorgeous, their story is a precious one, and they have chemistry like you wouldn’t believe. Although there is nothing between them in real life, you’d never know it the way they interact. I could watch them forever.

You may remember my blog from September 9, 2008 entitled “Latin Lover” where I told of how I discovered a few Latin telenovelas, or long miniseries (like a soap opera only with a beginning and an end, and English captions). I first started watching “La Traicion” in the evening last year, a period piece set in the late 1800’s, starring Latin actors Mario Cimarro and Danna Garcia. I was absolutely mesmerized by this leading couple and the romantic, action-packed story. It was like nothing I had seen before.

Then before La Traicion had even ended, Telemundo reran “Pasion de Gavilanes” during the day, where Mario and Danna had first been paired together as a couple five years ago in a totally different, modern setting. This novella was so popular at the time that they showed it twice a day. I had never heard of it until last year, though, and then only through an Internet message board. I missed the first few weeks when they began reruns, but once I started watching, I was hooked. I do have a problem with the violence, drinking, and scantily-clad bar women, but for the most part it is totally compelling and enormous fun to watch. As one message-board poster commented after seeing it the second time, “It was another great ride.”

Mario was only in his early 30’s here, and played the lead character, Juan, the oldest of three brothers. What a guy. A face I can’t take my eyes off of (of which there are very few). Tall, dark and handsome, long dark hair, deep brown eyes—a sort of moody, rugged cowboy type with a short temper, who turns into a teddy bear with the woman he loves. I’m so in love with Juan—except that he drinks, I’m old enough to be his mother, and he is a fictional character. But other than those pesky little obstacles—oh my, my… drool… (Stop it, Cindy! You should be ashamed of yourself!). What’s more, he is a fantastic actor, easily expressing an intense range of emotion from anger to tenderness, shedding real tears at the drop of a hat. He plays his role so well that if I didn’t know better I’d think Juan was a real person. I am so spoiled after watching Mario, no other actor will do. I love Norma equally—in a different way, of course. Danna, the actress, was about 25 years old then, and I enjoy Norma’s every scene, with or without Juan. She is so gorgeous—a beautiful, sweet face, and real petite, only 5’1”, shorter than me, and weighs probably 95 pounds. Juan is always picking her up, sweeping her off her feet. It’s so cute! Together they make an amazing couple, just superb. You’d think they were meant for each other. All they have to do is LOOK at each other and the sparks fly.

Besides the actors, the story is downright compelling. It’s a bit hokey in parts, but I think it is meant to be that way. You can’t take all of it seriously. By far my favorite part is the Juan and Norma romance, but the show revolves around many others as well. Basically Pasion de Gavilanes is about three brothers who unexpectedly fall in love with three sisters. There is so much more to it than that, though!

I’m just going to rattle this off the top of my head, but the story begins with the three good brothers who lost their parents years ago and live together in humble but honest surroundings. Juan, who runs a bakery out of his home, kind of took over as the father figure, trying to keep his siblings in line. Their younger sister, Libia, is having an affair with a married, middle-aged wealthy ranch owner. She finds herself pregnant, and when the ranch owner dies in a sudden accident, Libia finds his family and goes to their hacienda to confront the widow, Gabriela. Gabriela refuses to believe her and sends the poor girl away heartbroken. Libia is so distraught that she kills herself by jumping off a bridge. The boys are devastated and make a pact on their sister’s grave vowing revenge against this Gabriela woman and her family, whoever they are. They don’t know how or when, but they’re determined to do something.

The brothers end up getting jobs as construction workers on Gabriela’s estate. It turns out that Gabriela’s longtime main housekeeper also has a vendetta against Gabriela (it’s a long story) and she takes sympathy on the boys and helps them secure this position so they can keep a close watch on Gabriela without raising suspicion and somehow put her in her place. What the boys don’t know, however, is that Gabriela has three beautiful daughters!

Let the fun begin!!!

One of the daughters, Norma, is married to Fernando, a real jerk of a man who she doesn’t love and has never even slept with (I think her mother, who adores Fernando, had forced the arrangement). Actually the brothers are hired to build a house for Norma and Fernando, at the request of Gabriela. They do their work out in the vast yard at her ranch, where everyone can watch them, including the girls and the maids who stand on their balconies and ogle these good-looking hunks as they dig holes, pound bricks, take off their shirts and pour water on themselves to cool off (a rather comical scene!).

Gabriela, Norma and Fernando are away on vacation at the time the housekeeper hires the brothers. When they return, Gabriela storms outside to reprimand Juan for working shirtless. She is so nasty to him, ordering him to cover up because they are a decent family and don’t run a nude beach! Juan is seething. He knows she had contributed to his beloved sister’s death, and now this woman is proving to be so horrible that he sees red. Gabriela turns to walk away and Juan starts to silently follow her, pickaxe in hand, killer look on his face. What is he going to do??? His brothers attempt to pull him back. The tension is mounting. Just then Norma comes out to ask her mother something, and her eyes meet Juan’s. It is love at first site. They both stand motionless, gazing at each other, until finally Gabriela, not noticing the instant connection, orders her daughter into the house. A very memorable scene.

Going over construction plans the next day, Juan and Norma continue discreetly gazing at each other, while Fernando remains oblivious (the beginning of episode 8 shows this; just type in “pdg 8-1” at YouTube, it’s worth the view). They can’t stop thinking about one another, and Norma is losing sleep. She tries to control her feelings. How could she, a rich society girl, a married woman, let herself fall for a lowly construction worker? She finds herself standing on her balcony watching Juan work. When he catches her eye, she looks away. She goes back and forth with her emotions, even being rather curt with Juan, yet she can’t deny how she feels. Juan cannot fight his attraction to Norma, either. How could this happen? If he fell for her, their revenge plans would be foiled! Worse yet, what if she discovered why they were really there in the first place? She would be mortified and he couldn’t bear to lose her!

But love and lust take over, and soon they have their first kiss. Still Norma is conflicted. In fact, she slaps him! When she sees how he reacts, however, she softens. She knows he couldn’t hurt her. Soon they are stealing kisses around corners and walls, and finally a hotel room. The above photo shows Juan and Norma after the housekeeper stumbled upon them. They stopped immediately and Norma ran off, terrified of being caught. The housekeeper never wanted the boys to get involved with the daughters, because she loved those girls and didn’t want them to get hurt. This was not part of the plan! But by this time it was too late. Everybody was falling for each other.

Are you hooked yet? If not, keep watching. It takes awhile for one set of siblings to get together, and they also don’t all have the right partners at first, but the wheels are in motion. The youngest sister elopes with one of the brothers, and Norma becomes pregnant by Juan and moves in with a friend, planning to marry Juan after she divorces Fernando. This is all MUCH to the chagrin of Gabriela and Fernando, of course.

THEN, through extenuating circumstances the girls discover the brothers’ huge secret—that they had originally planned to take revenge against Gabriela and her family. This of course frightens the girls because how can they be sure the boys are who they say they are? What if they are killers? What if they never loved them in the first place? What if they are only after their money? How could they be so dishonest? Can they ever forgive them???

These events lay the foundation for the story, but there is still SO MUCH MORE that follows, which you will have to watch and find out yourself. There are other characters and interconnected storylines as well, like the sleazy bar owner and his scantily-clad singer who also loves one of the brothers. There is also the evil Dinora who has the hots for Juan and will do anything to get him, including lying, kidnapping and murder. And then of course there’s the housekeeper’s daughter that she gave up for adoption but doesn’t want anybody to know about, and could this pretty young lady who looks exactly like Libia possibly be related to the brothers? Not to mention the crazy old lady who dies and leaves one of the brothers her fortune so that they all become multi-millionaires. And what about the evil maid and butler? Where do they get off being so mean?? And can the bar-owner’s inept henchmen finally carry off a simple kidnapping?? And will Juan, Gabriela, Fernando and Dinora EVER get out of the swamp alive??? Oh my gosh the suspense is killing me!!! Oh wait, I already know what happens. But that hasn’t stopped me from watching certain parts over and over, especially Juan and Norma. I also love the interaction between Norma and her sisters. I never had sisters so I’m intrigued by this relationship and think it would be so fun to have women like these to hang around and bond with. The links I’m giving you here include a variety of Juan and Norma scenes as well as a montage with just the sisters.

Also, you can buy the DVD of Pasion de Gavilanes, but as with all telenovela DVD sets, it is highly edited. The original show ran close to 200 hours but the DVD has only 13 chapters. They leave out so much good stuff! Take the clip below from early in the series, for instance, where Norma wanted to cool it with Juan until she figured out what to do about Fernando; none of it was included in the DVD. If it wasn’t crucial to the storyline, it was omitted. But the DVD set is well worth it to get the major story, captions, and good, clear footage. The behind the scenes and extras are fun, too. You can watch most 188 episodes on YouTube but you won’t get captions and in most cases it isn’t very good quality. Hopefully someday they’ll rerun the whole show.

There are SO many good links out there, but here are a few of my favorites:

Norma and her sisters montage

Norma sees her husband off to work and catches Juan's eye

Talking to Norma's mother about getting married

Juan and Norma montage

Talking at the fence with their baby

Talking outside at the hacienda

STRANGE POSITIONS

Those crazy cats and their strange sleeping positions. Here they are in the middle of the bed instead of their designated fur-covered kitty quilt. Bowler looks like he's got his brother in some kind of neck grip and doesn't even care. Yawn...