On One Hand: My Five Favorite Classic Stars

It's National Classic Movie Day again, and Rick has another question for us bloggers: Which five stars are your favorite? Eeeep. That's even tougher than last year's challenge. Anyone who's an old film lover knows there's so much to like about the Golden Age. Me, I always enjoy watching the repartee between Katharine Hepburn and …

Get Me To the (House) On Time

Time to go home. Well, sort of... I have to say, I've never done a review like this before. One of my favorite blogs is Hooked On Houses, but it's the kind of thing where I look but don't touch. Part of this is because I live in an apartment, so I have no skin in …

Under the Big Top

As many of you have probably heard by now, Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus will be ending their 146-year run and heading for the history books. A very few folks have been presumptuously gloating, but I won't name names here. More often than not, though, a lot of people feel rather melancholy over the …

Happy Blog-a-virsary, Baby

Taking Up Room is now a year old. Can you believe it? A whole year. When I started this blog, I had no idea what I was doing or where it would go. I just thought it would be a great writing outlet, and it is. I feel as though I've improved as a writer …

A Way of Escape

The concept of escapism is something I've dipped my little toe into already on this blog, but when Ruth and Kristina announced their Things I Learned From the Movies blogathon, I decided to go a bit deeper--namely, the point at which I got what escapism means. I have grown up on old movies, mainly because of my parents. …

“Is Good. We Do Not Have To Go To the Bank.”

Today my son started fourth grade (yipe), and you know what that means: Time to study state history. In our case, that of course is California, which I love, and I'm excited because we've got a ton of history right in our own backyard. Our curriculum looks fairly awesome, too. Besides a Friday class at our …

In Memoriam

As you know, Harper Lee died yesterday. Wow, I don't know where to begin here. What can I say that doesn't seem like plagiarism? I feel like paraphrasing Reverend Sykes after Atticus lost the Robinson case: "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Ms. Lee's passing." Harper Lee was a woman who famously shunned the spotlight after …

What’s Delicious?

Hi, everyone! Hope you had a great Christmas. Mine was quiet and simple by design, since my son has to keep his leg up for now. My in-laws came over. We had chicken crepes Florentine and shrimp with cocktail sauce. Did the usual Christmas-y stuff. Lots of delicious food. Too much, really. Not a bad …

Tangled Web, Tangled Life

Simply put, life is in a kind of crazy limbo right now. My husband's been at home on disability since May (he's recovering from a work injury--a bone spur). My son will be having tendon transfer surgery at Shriner's a week from today (his second--he's got bilateral clubfoot). These issues aren't life-threatening, but it's still …

Hello, My Name Is…

You all know the drill. We introduce ourselves, awkwardly shake hands, and make small talk. So yeah, here we go. My name is Rebecca Deniston, and I live in Placer County, California with my husband and small son. I have a B.A. in English from CSU Sacramento, with an emphasis on drama and film. My …