Early last evening I was finally able to find and locate a source for a Christmas movie that I have sought since last Christmas season. It was so unexpected that I indulged in two cans of the strong (8% alcohol) beer that I keep in stock.
The movie was On Strike for Christmas.
There was no special reason that I wanted to find and watch the movie ─ it just happened to be the next in the list of Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies that I began working my way through last Fall, a process that I had begun with the very first Christmas movie each of those entities had produced.
I got as far as this 2010 movie, and then found myself stuck. Nowhere could I locate a free online source.
Several months ago I downloaded the Stremio 'app' into our Android TV Box, but even it kept failing to find a source that actually played, although once I thought that it had. At the time, I was not prepared to sit and watch a full movie ─ I was just feeling the 'app' out. It seemed to find a source that actually began to play, if I am remembering correctly; but I had to kill the feed and await a more opportune occasion.
And I was never again able to get a working source in Stremio until early last evening.
When the connection was made and the movie began to actually play, I was almost jubilant. I was dreading having to soon continue my march through Christmas movies and have to leave this one unseen.
The movie was nothing special in that it never affected me emotionally ─ something I seek from Christmas movies. But it was chock full of the trappings of Christmas ─ snow, decorations and lights galore from start to finish, and even some Christmas music.
I knew the lead was actress Daphne Zuniga, someone I was fairly familiar with for many years ─ probably originally because of her regular role in Melrose Place, a series I rarely ever watched, oddly enough. However, there doesn't seem to be any other series she was regularly in that goes back far enough to have inspired the familiarity.
I was never a fan of hers, but I have to admit that it was nice seeing the more mature Daphne Zuniga of 2010 displaying her years, yet still looking very attractive. And I see that she will be turning 58 in just five days!
I did not know that Julia Duffy was featured in the movie ─ she played Daphne's character's mother. Julia's formerly blonde hair is now white, but I thought that she and Daphne looked approximately the same age ─ Julia seemed to me rather miscast to be so much Daphne's elder.
I now see that I was right about that ─ Julia turned 69 late this past June. So she is just roughly 11⅔ years older than Daphne, if I have performed my math correctly.
It was thanks to Julia's role in Newhart that I came to be a fan. I was very much envious of the Peter Scolari character for his romantic relationship with hot little Julia in that series.
Gosh, I just now found out that Julia had a real-life son who committed suicide last year, four months shy of having his 20th birthday. He jumped from a bridge, a suicide method I'm unsure I could turn to. I think that I would need to be both deeply emotional, and determined to cause myself great duress in the process of dying ─ but in such a way that I could not back out of the act once I engaged it.
But getting back to On Strike for Christmas, I also recognized the actor playing Daphne's husband, but his name (David Sutcliffe) isn't really familiar to me, if at all. And I see that Daphne is 6⅓ years older than the actor. But for purposes of the characters that they played, the spread is easily believable ─ she's a fine looking woman.
Someone else I recognized but could not place was actress Alisen Down ─ she played one of Daphne's character's casual friends in the movie. I recognized her, but could not recall from where. I just knew that for some reason, the sight of her set off some alarm bells.
I see now that it was because of her extremely villainous ongoing role in the T.V. series 12 Monkeys.
Anyway, my wife arrived home late into On Strike for Christmas, but she was immediately embroiled in communication with her two sons, and quickly enough she had the eldest involved in an online application of some sort for her.
When my movie ended, I killed time in the darkened living room just listening to the stereo, and watching for the arrival home of my younger brother. That was not to occur until after 9 p.m., at which point I hustled myself upstairs and used the bathroom, then quickly got to bed.
I was fully clothed, and only covered up with a blanket. I left my wife's bedside lamp on, and covered my eyes with a bandana blindfold.
As I expected, fairly early into the midnight hour following some sleep, I became curious on the time, and chose then to rise. My wife was still up, but she soon enough readied herself for bed. As yet, we had not said a word to one another since she first came home, and that was not to change.
It had been my hope to get around to working on the first post at my new website MyRetirementDream, but I got too involved in other online involvements and eventually had to return to bed around 4:30 a.m. with the draft post untouched.
Note that it had begun raining overnight, and that was to essentially mark our weather throughout today.
My actual morning began barely after 8 a.m., at which time I finally got at that website post for awhile. My wife rose around 9 a.m., and actually extended me a good morning as she passed by this room where I keep my computer, so I warmly responded in kind. She was on her way downstairs to the kitchen to perform some cooking for us all before she left us around 10:30 a.m. on her rather long drive to the Thai restaurant that employs her.
She generally spends her weekends somewhere in Vancouver, so I do not expect to be seeing her before at least Sunday afternoon or evening, and maybe not even until Monday ─ such is our sorry marriage. However, it seems to be exactly what God wants for me. Or so I must conclude in light of all of my unanswered pleas and prayers.
My older maternal half-sister Phyllis phoned me late this morning after my wife had gone, and said that she was on her way here to bring me a USB cable for the laser printer she had loaned me back in (I think) the Spring. In all this time, I have been unable to use it.
She arrived midway through the noon hour, and held up my brother from heading off to play pool with Russ, one of his drinking buddies. They were supposed to rendezvous around 1 p.m., but Phyllis never left us until possibly as much as 1:10 p.m.
Oh, well ─ we do not often see the gal. He clearly appreciated that.
It is already after 7 p.m., and I have a little exercising to get out of the way prior to having myself a bath. Since I must be all set to get to bed early if my brother fails to arrive home by 8:30 p.m., I must bring this post to a close and get those two obstacles to my early bedtime out of the way.
I also need to have a little supper, so it ought to be apparent that I am quite pressed here for time.
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