Matted Spam

A Little Late

2009-02-18T07:14:00.003-07:00

Yep, I'm finally posting my January books & movies, much to all your delight, I'm sure. We'll start with the books:

1. Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich This was a fun book; 99% of her books are. There were parts where I laughed out loud as per usual and had to explain my mirth to Collin.

2. Dead Time - Stephen White I really liked this book - I liked how he introduced Meredeth as a real character this time instead of a peripheral one. It was fun to see how they misperceived each other and both knew they were in the right when neither one really was. And the mystery was really good, too.

3. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer I finally broke down and decided to see what all the hub-bub was about. With Jordyn spending 3 days in the hospital, there was no better time to sit and read a book while watching her sleep. About a quarter of the way through the book, I realized I was hooked, no matter that the writing sometimes reminded me of my own attempts to write stories. But I'm a sucker for romance, especially between two people who shouldn't be together! Book of the Month.

4. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer Yes, I liked the first book well enough to get the 2nd book. I finished this one in the hospital as well, waiting for Dad's surgery to be over. It left me jonesin' for the 3rd one.

And now the movies....

1. High School Musical 3 My mom started watching the HSM movies first and kept telling Jordyn & I we needed to watch them - so we borrowed her 2 HSM dvd's and we liked them well enough to want to see #3. I loved #3. Yes, I know I'm too old for them but I really really liked it - I liked the music and the dancing...I'm a sap at heart.

2. Smothered Collin picked up this documentary on the Smothers Brothers and their fight with the censors. It was very interesting; they were ahead of their time on war protesting.

3. Lars & The Real Girl This was a sweet sad movie that moved too slow for me.

4. Fred Claus The kids' mom bought this movie and let us watch it - we were iffy about it.

5. The Apartment I picked this dvd up at my mom's store for $3. I love Jack Lemmon. LOVE HIM!!! He was adorable in this movie and I really liked Shirley MacLaine as well. It dragged on a bit but overall it was enjoyable.

6. Strange Wilderness I so wanted to see this after the preview with the shark and his overbite. But that was the best part about the whole movie. Basically I didn't like it much.

7. Burn After Reading The commercials for this movie made it look way funnier than it actually was. Didn't care for this one even though I loved the cast.

8. Who the @!#* is Jackson Pollack Collin picked this documentary out of the Insta-Watch on Netflix and it was very interesting. About a trucker who picks up a painting for some ridiculously low price in a thrift store and now people are thinking it's an unknown Pollack piece.

9. Helvetica Another Insta-Watch documentary from Netflix all about the font Helvetica. More interesting than it sounds, trust me.

10. Harold & Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay I liked this one, even despite the crudeness that pops up. Neil Patrick Harris makes everything better!!

11. Fool's Gold I was disappointed in this one - it was cute but I lost interest after a while. Am I getting harder to please?

12. High School Musical 3 Yet I'll go see this one twice at the $1 theatre! This was for my birthday with my Mom. Jordyn was supposed to join us but this was the night she started to feel sick. The sick that landed her in the hospital for three days.

13. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day I wanted to see this at first just because Lee Pace was in it. Then I decided the story looked good. I ended up loving it. I want to buy it. It was so fun and sweet and amusing....Movie of the Month.

14. In Bruges Colin Farrell - - I hadn't seen him in a movie for so long and he was fabulous. This was a good movie but it depressed me.

15. Hamlet 2 So we watched this afterwards. Silly piled upon silly but it made me laugh.

16. Zach & Miri Make A Porno Seth Rogen is too cute. And this was a fuun flick.

17. Little Shop Of Horrors I hadn't seen this one in years and this is now Jordyn's fave movie ever so we watched it with her.

TV 1 & TV 2. How I Met Your Mother Seasons 2 & 3 I love Neil Patrick Harris. He's legen-wait for it-dary.

Holy Moly!!!

2009-02-09T12:38:00.003-07:00

It's very windy here today - gusts are blowing up to 70mph! And of course this was the day that Shanon & I had decided to go run around. We did our shopping and were on our way home...I turned onto a small side street, Rio Vista, as a less-populated route to Constitution Ave. There were 3 vehicles in front me, including an older model white truck directly ahead of me.

We were driving down the road when suddenly a gust of wind hit. A big tree in the backyard of a house started swaying and I thought, "that tree's gonna break. That tree is breaking! That tree broke and hit the guy in front of me!!!" Sure enough, what looked like half the tree broke under the force of the gale and shattered on top of the cab and the road. I slammed on my brakes and just sat in the road for a minute. The truck pulled onto the side road and stopped. I pulled around the tree debris and parked behind the truck before Shanon & I jumped out to see if he was okay.

Turned out it was a young kid in his work truck. He was fine, a little freaked out (way less freaked than Shanon & I were!) and thankful to us for stopping. The tree had completely shattered his windshield and there was a large chunk of tree sticking out of the bottom left corner of the windshield. He tried to pull it out but it was stuck good. Luckily he had a cell phone with a camera on him and he was able to get pics of the damage. Thank God he wasn't hurt; him or anyone else!

Wind can be so dangerous!!!

And the nomination goes to.....

2009-01-22T08:52:00.003-07:00

Today is a day I look forward to every year with excitement & hope: the Oscar nominations. This year I'm a tad disappointed, though...maybe because I didn't see a lot of movies in the last 12 months (except The Dark Knight which I saw 4 times) I don't have an emotional interest in who wins. So without further ado, the nominations (My picks in red):

Best Actor
Brad Pitt -The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Sean Penn for Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon

Best Actress
Meryl Streep - Doubt.
Anne Hathaway- Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P. Henson - Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

All right. You'll notice that there were a couple categories I didn't pick in and that's because I didn't see any of the movies so I can't. Even though I didn't see The Reader or The Visitor, I'm choosing Kate Winslet and Richard Jenkins because I really like them. As for Heath Ledger - I've been saying since the day I saw The Dark Knight that if he didn't get the Oscar, there was something wrong. And not just because he died (*coughDEREKcough*) but because he did a phenomenal job as The Joker. He was believable as being crazy and evil and someone who just wanted to watch the world burn. DEREK!! Watch this clip, ok?

But if he can't win, my second choice is Robert Downey Jr.

The Time Has Come

2009-01-20T10:13:00.002-07:00

For me to be a better American. My first step was to watch Obama's inauguration. I've never in my life watched a presidential inauguration before; this was pretty cool as politics go. Barack Obama is a very good speaker, very passionate and he's easy to listen to. He has a good message and I hope he keeps his promises for change.

On a lighter note: I noticed as Aretha Franklin, one of the most awesome voices in history, was making her way to the mic to sing My Country Tis of Thee, someone hollered out: "Sing good." Well, duh.

My Homework Assignment

2009-01-12T08:33:00.004-07:00

Collin gave me the assignment of writing about the play we saw yesterday afternoon. So here I go:

We were lucky enough to see The Color Purple yesterday at the Temple Buell Theatre in Denver. Our tickets were a generous Christmas gift from Ray & MaryBeth, my uncle & aunt. To be honest, I didn't know that The Color Purple had been turned into a musical; sadly, my Broadway contact is in the hoosegow so I don't know much about Broadway musicals these days. But I love musicals so we willingly piled in the car yesterday to go to Denver.

It was a sold out audience - the place was packed! The lead was played by an understudy but you would never have known - she was amazing. Hell, everyone in that play was amazing. My favorite character was Sofia; she had a voice that was as big as her bosom and trust me, that was a crazy big bosom!! Her song "Hell No" was so cool I came right home and bought it on iTunes. Shug Avery was a close second for fave character; I loved her costumes, especially the dress she wore for her "Push the Button" song.

The rest of the songs were great....the songwriters/composers are all well-known musicians: Brenda Russell, Stephen Bray & Allee Willis. It was an enjoyable, powerful show. I would go back and see it again.

Getting out of the parking garage was the worst part of the day; like I mentioned earlier, the show was sold out so there was a ton of cars all leaving at the same time. We were edged out of the parking space waiting for a break - a guy in a minivan was obviously not planning on letting us out...he pulled up and blocked us, not even looking at us. No problem, we'll go out behind him. While we were waiting, the lady next to us got into her van. She edged out of her space as well. When the line started to move, the guy in the minivan let her go in front of him!! I was pissed!! So was Collin but I was pissed off enough to lean over and honk Collin's horn. The ass in the minivan jumped but still wouldn't look at us. There's etiquette in parking garages and this guy, plus the "lady" next to us, didn't get it.

BUT! Like I said, that was the only bad part of the day. After the play we hit Los Delicias IV in Parker - the best mexican food anywhere!!! So, thanks Ray & MB! Awesome Christmas gift!!!

This post is brought to you by the letter "D"

2009-01-08T21:44:00.004-07:00

This is a game I found on Kathleen's blog - she assigned me the letter D and what I get to do is list 10 things I love that start with that letter. If you want to play, leave me a comment and I'll assign you a letter. Then you can keep the chain going! Have fun!

Daddy -

He's the best dad anyone could ever ask for. And I'm not just saying that cuz he's my dad. Any of you would be lucky to have him.

Dr. Horrible -

Collin sent me the link to this online show by Joss Whedon of Firefly & Angel fame and I was immediately hooked. I love Nathan Fillion and here he's at his cheesiest as Captain Hammer. Neil Patrick Harris was a pleasant comedic surprise as Dr. Horrible - I had never seen him anything other than Doogie Howser and Harold & Kumar; now I can't get enough of him. I had Collin rip the audio to the show to put on my iPod, we bought the CD & the DVD...needless to say I know every line to this awesomely funny show - I drive people crazy by randomly screaming out "Freeze ray! Tell your friends!"

Dexter -

We got started watching this TV show because of Michael C Hall; he was my favorite character in Six Feet Under and we wanted to see more of him. We purchased the first season and loved it. Then I read the first two Dexter books. Then we watched the 2nd season and the first 3 episodes of the 3rd season. Yes, he's a serial killer but he's a good serial killer. Trust me.

Duran Duran -

When I heard "Wild Boys" in junior high it was over. John Taylor was the sexiest thing that 13 year old me had ever seen. Soon my room was covered in posters of these boys. Even my mom liked them! And now, years and years later, they're still making good music and putting on the best concerts that Mom & I have ever gone to!! And they're stlll yummy!

Dark Knight -

For just ever, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was my favorite movie. It took over 2 decades to find something that overtook it and it surprises me just as much as it, I'm sure, surprises you. The Dark Knight is freaking awesome. Everything about it rocks. Heath Ledger's Joker is the ultimate villain. No one will ever match it. Batman's motorcycle dealie and his wall-turn....makes my heart go pitter-patter!

Dean Winchester -

Speaking of making my heart go pitter-patter....Supernatural's bad boy. I love this show, I love Dean Winchester, I love his car:

and I love everything about the show and Dean. Dean Dean Dean. And when he lip syncs Eye of the Tiger - HIGH-larious! Could I be more shallow? Probably....

Dog -

Carson Palmer Knight-Burton. He's a goofy dog but I love him to pieces!

Deelybobs & Doohickeys -

I love deelybobs, doohickeys, anything shiny & fun to stick on cards or scrapbooking pages. Or hang around the house. They make me happy.

Denver Broncos -

My team! I bleed orange & blue, I make the Thunder, I reside in Broncos Country!!!!

Derek -

He's a pretty good brother. I'm lucky to have him.

Year end books & movies

2009-01-08T08:35:00.004-07:00

Yeah, I skipped like July-Nov on here. If you're interested, the lists can be found here.
BOOKS:

50. Book of the Dead - Patricia Cornwell I used to read everything this woman put out with great glee. Then I read one a few years ago that didn't impress me and I stopped reading her. When I saw this book at the library, the title caught my interest and I realized I couldn't remember why I didn't like the last one I had read. Well, now I remember. THIS BOOK SUCKED. All this build up and depressing stuff happening at every turn and then suddenly this serial killer who had been brilliant about not being caught suddenly turned idiotic and within 2 pages he was caught, imprisoned and the book was over, leaving some very important plot lines untouched. Hated it! Hated it. Yes, I hated it. And I don't say that much about a book.

51. The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman Ahh, this book was better. Alice Hoffman is a great writer and comes up with the most intriguing plots. This book was chock full of sympathetic characters and stories that made me laugh and cry.

And that was it. I actually started The Plantaganet Prelude by Jean Plaidy and Body Movers by Stephanie Bond but had to take them back to the library. See, most of my reading (99%) was done at work while I was on my breaks and lunch. Now I don't have work so the books just sat on the counter. I feel great shame.

MOVIES

119. Bolt - This movie was freaking adorable! It made me want a new hamster. It also worried me that kids watching Rhino throwing himself around fearlessly in his ball would think it's cool to toss hamsters about willy-nilly and the bunny-wunny death rate would rise sharply. But I haven't heard any bad news so I'm hoping it didn't happen. And this movie is great - GO SEE IT!

120. The Frighteners - An older movie that I had never seen but when Collin saw that Chi McBride, my fave character in Pushing Daisies, was in it he said I had to see it. So I did. And I really really liked it.

121. License To Wed - I did not enjoy this movie. The humor seemed forced. The only thing I liked was John Krasinski. He's a cutie.

122. Ghost Town - From a movie starring a guy from The Office, I move to one with the guy who started and starred in the original British Office; Ricky Gervais. He's hilarious - I love him! This movie was a departure from the kind of roles I'm used to seeing his play but he did it well and the movie was fun and moved along well. Plus Greg Kinnear is in it. :D

123. Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog - We got it on DVD and had to watch it. I gave up halfway through trying to NOT say every line with the movie.

124. Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog - We made my family watch it on Christmas Eve. They were lukewarm in their reception of it although my Mom enjoyed NPH's singing and Derek snorted with the line "The hammer is my penis." That was expected.

125. A Christmas Story - Of course.

126. Wanted - I bought Collin the special edition 2 disc copy of this movie for Christmas so we checked it out again. Great movie.

127. The Dark Knight - I got this for Christmas as it was just as good the 4th time.

128. The Man Who Sued God - A Billy Connoly movie that was unexpected and fun and good.

129. High School Musical 2 - Jordyn & I watched this one cuz we knew we were going to see HSM3 at the $1 theatre soon. My least fave of the 3 but I really like the song "I Don't Dance."

130. Iron Man - How Collin & I spent our New Year's Eve after Game Night. This was a good movie and Robert Downey Jr looked gooooood. Yep.

TV SHOWS:

TV18. Dexter Season 2 - I saw a Flair on (sssh) Facebook once with a pic of Dexter that said SKILF. That's about it. When Michael C Hall puts on his "killing clothes" - oh, my!! But yumminess aside, this is a great series. Well written and acted and you never know what's gonna happen!

TV19. How I Met Your Mother Season 1 - After seeing Dr. Horrible and deciding NPH was the shit, I begged Collin to get me this for Christmas. And he did. And we loved it. Barney Stinson is my new hero. He's, dare I say it....Legen - wait for it - DARY! We watched the whole season within 2 or 3 days. And then he bought me Season 2 for my birthday which isn 't for 17 days and forced me to open it so we could start that one. Great series!

It's hard to pick between Dr. Horrible and The Dark Knight for movie of the year so I'm declaring it a tie!! Whee!

Health Warning

2009-01-07T08:56:00.002-07:00

So yeah. This is a warning: if you're crying, don't do it lying on your side. I did this last night and you know what happened?

A tear fell from the one eye directly down in my other eye, almost blinding me! Needless to say it was funny enough to remove the blues!

Music Experiment

2008-12-27T23:52:00.002-07:00

For the last 3 months that I was at work I kept track of ever single song that got stuck in my head. And for how long it was there. I realized one night that ever since the dictator outlawed headphones, weird songs would take up residence in my brain so I thought it would be interesting to see which songs popped up - which one popped up more than others and which ones stayed for the longest time. And now here are the results:

In terms of how many times a song appeared in what I called Heather's Jukebox, the winners are:

1 time - Hey Jude - The Beatles
Cars That Go Boom - L'Trimm
It Makes My Heart Break - Your Vegas
Stickwitu - Pussycat Dolls
Outta My Head - Ashlee Simpson
Bumblebee - Aqua
More Than Words - Extreme
Time of the Season - The Zombies
All I Gotta Do - The Beatles
The Fool On the Hill - The Beatles
A Day In the Life - The Beatles
You Can't Do That - The Beatles
Maxwell's Silver Hammer - The Beatles
Don't Let Me Down - The Beatles
Coming Home - Cinderella
Toxic - Britney Spears
Mercy - Duffy
I Am the Walrus - The Beatles
Besame Mucho - The Beatles
Paralyzer - Finger Eleven
Sugar Shack - Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs
I Dream of Jeannie Theme
Bad Horse Chorus- Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon & Zack Whedon
Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car - Billy Ocean
Wedding Bell Blues - The Fifth Dimension
L-O-V-E - Ashlee Simpson
It's My Life - The Animals
Sometimes - No Doubt
Campbell's Soup Jingle
Excuse Me Mr. - No Doubt
Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
Hey Baby - No Doubt
Fluorescent - Gwen Stefani
Down With the Sickness - Disturbed
Save Room - John Legend
Wonderful Life - Gwen Stefani
Something To Talk About - Bonnie Raitt
Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel
All Summer Long - Beach Boys
Single Ladies - Beyonce
Harper Valley PTA - Jeanne C. Riley
My Eyes - Neil Patrick Harris & Felicia Day
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Video Girl - Jonas Brothers
For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder
Wuthering Heights - Pat Benatar
Ruby Tuesday - Rolling Stones
I'm Your Puppet - James & Bobby Purify
Play My Music - Jonas Brothers
Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
New Friend - No Doubt
Hold Me Tight - The Beatles
What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani
I'm Looking Through You - The Beatles
Boom Boom - The Animals
The Night Before - The Beatles
Kiwi - Maroon 5
Hope Of Deliverance - Paul McCartney
No Reply - The Beatles
7 Things - Miley Cyrus
Boom - P.O.D.
Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday - Stevie Wonder
White Room - Cream
Crossfire - Kasey Chambers
Band on the Run - Wings
Nowhere Man - The Beatles
Do You Want To Know A Secret - The Beatles
Girl - The Beatles
Listen What the Man Said - Wings
Real Love - The Beatles
This Kiss - Faith Hill
China Grove - The Doobie Brothers
Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
He's A Rebel - The Crystals
Can't You See That She's Mine - Dave Clark 5
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Smooth - Santana & Rob Thomas

2 times - U Want Me 2 - Sarah McLachlan
Hi Hi Hi - Wings
Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani f/ Eve
This Never Happened Before - Paul McCartney
Pon de Replay - Rihanna
Crushcrushcrush - Paramore
Creepy Doll - Jonathan Colton
Kiss You Off - Scissor Sisters
Happiness Is A Warm Gun - The Beatles
Burnin' Up - Jonas Brothers
Got To Get You Into My Life - The Beatles
I've Just Seen A Face - The Beatles
Want You Back - Jackson Five
Baby It's Cold Outside - Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark
S.O.S. - Rihanna
Low - Flo-Rida
So They Say - Dr. Horrible Cast
With A Little Luck - Wings
I Me Mine - The Beatles
Black Horse And the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
This Love - Maroon 5
Wind It Up - Gwen Stefani

3 times - Honey Pie - The Beatles
So What - Pink
Slipping - Neil Patrick Harris
Love Child - The Supremes
Please Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna
Break You - Marion Raven
Little of Your Time- Maroon 5
Love Song - Sara Barielles
Lovebug - Jonas Brothers
Ever Present Past - Paul McCartney
Over You - Daughtry
Falling Into You - Sebastian Bach

4 times - Blackbird - The Beatles
Freeze Ray - Neil Patrick Harris
Brand New Day - Neil Patrick Harris

5 times - Tell Me Once Again - Da Buzz
   Boyfriend - Ashlee Simpson

6 times - A Man's Gotta Do - Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion & Felicia Day
   Tuned Up - Jade Valerie

7 times - Australia - Jonas Brothers

12 times - Viva La Vida - Coldplay

So - if you read the whole list, you can tell what I spent a lot of time listening to in the car. LOL

And by time - - I added up all the times that the songs spent in my brain -- here are the results:

hr min
00:05 - White Room - Cream
00:07 - Time of the Season - The Zombies
00:08 - Excuse Me Mr. - No Doubt
00:09 - Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday - Stevie Wonder
00:10 - Kiwi - Maroon 5
00:12 - L-O-V-E - Ashlee Simpson
   All I Gotta Do - The Beatles
00:13 - I'm Looking Through You - The Beatles
   Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car - Billy Ocean
00:15 - Girl - The Beatles
   Boom Boom - The Animals
   Creepy Doll - Jonathan Colton
   Maxwell's Silver Hammer - The Beatles
00:16 - Cars That Go Boom - L'Trimm
00:18 - Don't Let Me Down - The Beatles
00:19 - New Friend - No Doubt
00:23 - Band on the Run - Wings
   Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
00:24 - Sugar Shack - Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs
   I Dream of Jeannie Theme
00:25 - Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
   Video Girl - Jonas Brothers
00:26 - Wuthering Heights - Pat Benatar
00:27 - Something To Talk About - Bonnie Raitt
00:28 - Ruby Tuesday - Rolling Stones
00:30 - Campbell's Soup Jingle
00:32 - Hope of Deliverance - Paul McCartney
00:35 - He's A Rebel - The Crystals
   Boom - P.O.D.
00:36 - I Am the Walrus - The Beatles
00:40 - Hey Jude - The Beatles
   A Day In the Life - The Beatles
   What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani
   Do You Want To Know A Secret - The Beatles
00:42 - Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
   Harper Valley PTA - Jeanne C Riley
00:43 - Stickwitu - Pussycat Dolls
00:45 - Single Ladies - Beyonce
00:46 - More Than Words - Extreme
   What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
00:47 - Bad Horse Chorus - Joss, Jed & Zach Whedon
00:49 - All Summer Long - Beach Boys
00:51 - It's My Life - The Animals

01:00 - Can't You See That She's Mine- Dave Clark 5
   Wedding Bell Blues - Fifth Dimension
   Real Love - The Beatles
   Only The Lonely - Roy Orbison
01:04 - Toxic - Britney Spears
   This Kiss - Faith Hill
01:05 - Mercy - Duffy
01:11 - Coming Home - Cinderella
01:14 - Listen What the Man Said - Wings
01:15 - Slipping - Neil Patrick Harris
01:16 - Nowhere Man - The Beatles
01:20 - Wonderful Life - Gwen Stefani
01:22 - No Reply - The Beatles
01:27 - Break You - Marion Raven
01:28 - My Eyes - Neil Patrick Harris & Felicia Day
   Hold Me Tight - The Beatles
01:29 - Paralyzer - Finger Eleven
   Please Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna
01:35 - This Never Happened Before - Paul McCartney
01:37 - Got To Get You Into My Life - The Beatles
01:38 - Love Child - The Supremes
   Down With the Sickness - Disturbed
01:39 - Rich Girl -Gwen Stefani f/ Eve
01:50 - Bumblebee - Aqua
01:54 - Pon de Replay - Rihanna

02:00 - U Want Me 2 - Sarah McLachlan
02:01 - Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
   Wind It Up - Gwen Stefani
02:10 - Kiss You Off - Scissor Sisters
02:12 - You Can't Do That - The Beatles
02:13 - The Night Before - The Beatles
02:19 - Burnin' Up - Jonas Brothers
02:20 - Smooth - Santana & Rob Thomas
02:21 - Crossfire - Kasey Chambers
02:27 - Hi Hi Hi - Wings
02:28 - Outta My Head - Ashlee Simpson
02:30 - I'm Your Puppet - James & Bobby Purify
02:43 - Little Of Your Time - Maroon 5
02:47 - It Makes My Heart Break - Your Vegas
02:50 - Baby It's Cold Outside - Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark
02:52 - Over You - Daughtry
02:56 - Hey Baby - No Doubt
02:57 - So What - Pink

03:08 - I Me Mine - The Beatles
03:10 - I've Just Seen A Face - The Beatles
03:16 - So They Say - Dr. Horrible Cast
03:17 - 7 Things - Miley Cyrus
   China Grove - Doobie Brothers
03:20 - The Fool On the Hill - The Beatles
   Besame Mucho - The Beatles
03:28 - For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder
03:29 - Play My Music - Jonas Brothers
03:30 - Blackbird - The Beatles
03:50 - Crushcrushcrush - Paramore
03:59 - So What - Pink

04:01 - Sometimes - No Doubt
04:03 - Lovebug - Jonas Brothers
04:05 - Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
   This Love - Maroon 5
04:14 - Honey Pie - The Beatles
04:15 - Happiness Is A Warm Gun - The Beatles
04:32 - Ever Present Past - Paul McCartney
04:45 - Black Horse & The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
04:47 - Love Song - Sara Barielles

06:23 - With A Little Luck - Wings
06:39 - Tuned Up - Jade Valerie

07:00 - Fluorescent - Gwen Stefani
07:11 - Low - Flo-Rida
07:12 - Tell Me Once Again - Da Buzz
07:16 - Boyfriend - Ashlee Simpson
07:28 - Falling Into You - Sebastian Bach

08:54 - A Man's Gotta Do - Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion & Felicia Day

10:18 - S.O.S. - Rihanna
10:50 - Freeze Ray - Neil Patrick Harris
10:52 - Australia - Jonas Brothers

11:10 - Brand New Day - Neil Patrick Harris

26:20 - Viva La Vida - Coldplay

Whew!!!

So THIS is Christmas?

2008-12-12T07:29:00.001-07:00

For the first time EVER - I decided I wanted to decorate outside for Christmas, more than just a wreath on the door. My first thought was lights on the bushes but during the fall the maintenance crew here in the townhome community we live in removed all the dead and dying bushes - that included both of ours - and can't replace them until Spring. So! I went to my mom's store (Big Lots!) to get something nifty for the bare patch in our front yard. I bought the Item of the Day - a large blow-up snow globe with a rotating tree surrounded by penguins holding snowballs. It was ADORABLE!! There were lights inside so I could leave it on at night until we went to bed.

Collin set it up for me on Sunday afternoon. Tuesday night at 7:15, 3 teenagers ran through the complex and thought, "Hey! Let's ruin Christmas cuz we're fucking IDIOTS!!!" One of them took a knife and sliced open the snow globe, ruining my first ever outdoor decoration. Colliin saw & heard them through the living room window but by the time he got outside, they were gone, running through the playground and jumping the fence.

3 days the penguins survived. This isn't right. What is this world coming to when you can't feel safe in expressing your Christmas spirit for fear it will be stabbed or stolen? I know 2 people from work who have had all or part of their nativity scenes stolen...it's a sad state the world is in when Christmas is no longer sacred! Santa will poop in their stockings for sure!!

Pippi & The Chef plus many more....

2008-11-12T08:56:00.003-07:00

Once again, I'm behind but this is Collin & I at the Farnes' Halloween party last month:

Collin stuck a wire hanger through my braids to make them stick straight out - - it made walking through doorways interesting! LOL

And here's Max with Grandpa:

My Mom's best friend Rita and my Grandma at Grandma's 81st birthday party:

...and Mom & Rita...

and last but not least, my puppy Carson sitting pretty....

New Generation....

2008-09-29T08:01:00.004-06:00

I can't feel my toes. (At least I couldn't a month ago when I wrote this!!)

The reason for this is a combination of some kick-a$$ shoes that I wore to the Skid Row/Firehouse show on Friday night (Aug 15th) and the fact that a giant security guard wearing some serious cowboy boots stepped on me twice in his rush to stop a fight in the crowd.

But my toes were a small price to pay for the night that Christina & I had.

Christina runs the "For Davee G Fans" site on MySpace and does a fabulous job "representing the home team" as Davee Gara, the man himself, told her in an email. DG is the most personable, sweet rock star that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He's the drummer for Skid Row, the latest and greatest in a long line of bashers. I hope he stays with the group forever - he's an amazing player.

But! The point of my story is this: We got to the Grizzly Rose Friday amid a crazy rain storm that still hadn't abated as I wrote this. Davee wandered into the back parking lot to smoke and Christina hollered at him. He came right over and talked with her, texting the tour manager right there to put her and her "plus one" (that would be ME!) on the guest list. He also said that if the place didn't allow cameras to talk to Chip (the aforementioned tour manager) and he would hook us up with photo passes.

Throughout the afternoon, DG came back to the car 3 times just to chat with Christina, introducing us to his drum tech Richie, who was really cool!

The show started at 8 with a local band whom I completely blocked out while watching the men's volleyball tourney on the big screen TV. Christina & I were about 3 rows back for Firehouse who still sound amazing! While waiting for Firehouse to come out, DG and Richie came out, saw us and Davee ran over to make sure we got in all right and if we were doing okay!

By the time Firehouse was done we had made our way to the front row. There was a space of about 3 feet seperating the stage and the cowboy rope that held us back - the perfect place to stand! There was a couple next to Christina who were in their 40's, I'd say; the quintessential rock couple. He was tall with long curly black hair and she was skinny and wasted with crimped blonde hair. During Firehouse, she and her man were all over each other. Then she drunkly turned and planted a monster kiss on this 60 year old dude behind her. When she was done with him, she moved in on the young girl next to her. If that wasn't fun enough to watch, before Skid Row got out, she went down on her man in front of everyone! Crazy, I tell you...

Anyway!

Skid Row finally hit the stage, opening with Makin' A Mess, one of my favorites oldies to sing along with. They still put on a great show; very energetic and raw. Johnny Solinger's voice in practically unmatchable! Davee made eye contact and pointed out Christina a few times during the show and afterwards when everyone was clamoring for a drumstick from him, he looked at Christina and showed her the stick. She nodded enthusiastically and held out her hands. He tried his best from his position on the stage to throw it to her but it went too low and bounced off her fingertips, causing a frenzy of bodies stretching over the rope to get it. Now DG threw that at MY friend and I wasn't about to let anyone else get their grubby mitts on it. I leaned over farther than I ever thought possible and snagged it away from everyone's greedy fingers. My uterus was sore for about an hour after that but she got what was hers so it was worth it!

Here's how close we were:

We went out back after the show where it was still raining. I quickly took off the evil shoes of toe-pinching death and slipped into my comfy tan flats. By this point, I didn't care that tan and black didn't match. All I cared about was getting the feeling back in my toes. At the back door they had metal barriers set up and a handful of us waited behind those to see the boys. Davee came out first and headed straight for Christina, wrapping her in a huge hug and asking if she got the drumstick. "I tried to angle it but it was too low. I'm sorry, baby," he laughed. He posed for a picture with her the ran back inside. He came out 3 more times that night and every time it was a beeline for Christina first. He was amazing!

Christina got her picture with DG & Rachel Bolan & Scotti Hill while I got mine with Scotti, Snake and Brett Pirozzi, Kreep's lead singer and Snake's guitar tech. Brett was so cool - he came around the barriers to say hi to Christina & I and give us hugs. He's a giant teddy bear of a man! Scotti was super cool, making sure he made his way back to me when our first picture attempt was thwarted by the batteries dying. He hugged me tight, smushed his head against mine and then afterwards when I thanked him he grabbed my hands and squeezed while he smiled. SO sweet!

Christina & her man, Davee G!!

Rachel Bolan & Christina

Christina with my man Scotti....

Me & Snake Sabo - aww!

The always cool Brett Pirozzi of Kreep & me

My favorite picture ever - me & Scotti Fucking Hill!!

One more note - while we were waiting for the guys to come out, one of their roadies sidled up to me and whispered, "The party's at 50th & I-25." "Okay," I replied and he nodded and walked away. Nothing else was said about it by anyone and he didn't tell anyone else. We weren't sure quite what to make of that invite so we, being tired giddy girls, simply went home.

Yeah. It was FUN! :D

Conversation While Watching The Broncos vs Cardinals

2008-08-30T17:30:00.002-06:00

Me: Who in the world are we gonna cut? Both these punters look great!

Collin: I guess that's when you give them a gun with one bullet and go from there.

Me: Hey!!

Collin: What? We can't have the loser going to another team now, can we?

June Books and Movies

2008-07-25T06:29:00.000-06:00

20. Feather In The Wind - Madeline Baker I hadn't read one of her books in maybe a decade and then one day I happened to see the title and read the back and hey!! Whaddya know, I'd never read this one and it had a time travel theme which will ALWAYS suck me into a book so....no matter how cheesy it was, it was still good.

21. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde Online book...still haven't completed it due to the fact that the internet was yet another victim of the new supervisor's regime. But what I read I really liked - well written and creepy. I plan on buying an actualy copy to finish it.

22. The Street of Five Moons - Elizabeth Peters Ahh, Elizabeth Peters. One of my absolute favorite authors. Vicki Peters mysteries are always fun and this was no exception.

23. Death Walked In - Carolyn Hart I love the Death On Demand series and this one was just as good as the rest. A quick-paced fun mystery that I pretty much had figured out from the beginning. Those are the best kind! :D

24. Other People's Love Letters - Bill Shapiro This was a cool book that Collin picked up for me in Vegas - it's a collection of 150 love letters ranging from the sweet to the sad and everything in between. The best part was at the end it gave me some closure on some of the letters - did these people get together, get married, divorced...it was awesome! BOTM.

25. A Lifetime of Secrets - Frank Warren So this was a cool book....this is like the 3rd one of these where people send in anonymous postcards and tell secrets that they can't tell anyone else. It's like being a voyeur into other people's lives and it's totally interesting! Here's some examples....

26. Odd Hours - Dean Koontz The latest in Koontz's Odd Thomas series. I love Odd but this book left a bit to be desired. For the first half of the book I had no clue what was happening then all of a sudden it became clear and just like that it was solved and over. It was weird. Not my favorite book by him.

27. Goodnight Nobody - Jennifer Weiner From the woman who brought us In Her Shoes comes this quirky little mystery novel. I enjoyed it - the heroine was different....she was normal. Kind of. But Weiner's great with dialogue and that's always a plus for me!!

...and now we move on to flicks...

74. Fever Pitch I borrowed this from Christina and it was cute. Not cute enough that I would watch it again but I liked the ending. Jimmy Fallon is an odd choice for a romantic lead in my book...but Drew Barrymore is always a good addition to any cast.

75. Young Frankenstein The kids had never seen this classic so we set them down to watch it. They loved it. And why wouldn't they?

76. The Fricso Kid While watching YF I ascertained that Collin had never seen this movie so he stopped by Entertainmart the next day and picked it up. You know what? Turns out that it didn't really stand the test of time. I didn't even finish watching it. Everything that made me laugh as a kid I merely chuckled at. But Jordyn enjoyed it.

77. The Bank Job Saw this at the $1 theatre. This was good but I wish Jason Statham had had more of a chance to kick some ass. That's why I go see him in a movie. :D But seriously, this was interesting and based on a true story. Definitely worth checking out!

78. Dan In Real Life I love Steve Carrel and I love Dane Cook and I love Dianne Weist but this movie rated a mere "Not bad. Kinda cute" in my book. It moved a little slow and all the funny parts were shown in the preview.

79. Jim Gaffigan - Beyond The Pale Collin sat me down one day and had me watch this comedy routine. I promptly fell asleep but only because I was dead tired. I heard most of his act in my dreams! But when I woke up, he replayed it for me and this guy was really funny!! It's a "Watch it now" option on Netflix if you're set up for that.

80. Imaginationland Ahh, South Park. I love that show. I bought this little gem and laughed my head off. If it wasn't for Cartman (who killed me by dressing as the pope!), Butters would so be my fave character!!

81. Kung Fu Panda Ska-doosh. MOTM I don't think there was a time where I wasn't smiling, chuckling or laughing while watching this movie. It was awesome. I loved all the characters, especially the bad guy. It was just a big ball of fun!

TV9. Supernatural Season 1 Oh my. If you like spooky, hot guys and hotter cars, then WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!

TV10. South Park Season 6 Don't ask me how or why we started with 6. We just did.

Vegas Pt 2

2008-07-10T15:15:00.003-06:00

Here we are at the Rio and the Penn & Teller Theater. This was what I was most excited about seeing while we were here.

So the show was awesome, of course. We were in the 7th row and it was just so cool to see Penn & Teller up close doing their act. If you ever go see them, make sure you go early for the Mike Jones Jazz Duo during the seating - you can't miss them!! Very cool and a nice surprise. After the show we got to meet Teller. He was very patient with the tons of people asking for autographs and pictures.

I was all bummed cuz I really had wanted to meet Penn Jillette, He's just so stinking cool. But as we turned the corner, THERE HE WAS!! I jumped in for a pic, too excited to wait to find someone to take a pic of both Collin & I. Oops.

He's so tall....I felt so tiny next to him!!

We found this poster and were hoping to buy it but it wasn't for sale anywhere. We had to be content with this picture:

And back to The Paris. Midnight is a perfect picture taking time in Vegas.

The fountain in front of the Paris...

...the beautiful Eiffel Tower. Collin did an awesome job with this shot...

...and the cool balloon all lit up!

And the nighttime view fromour 16th floor window!

Part 3 coming soon where I take you on a tour of our hotel room!! YAY!!

Vegas Baby!! PT. 1

2008-07-04T23:56:00.007-06:00

Okey dokey, here's the more in depth account of our Vegas Vacation! We drove through Utah which is so boring there's actually signs that say "Fatigued Drivers Pull Off At NExt Exit - NO FATIGUED DRIVERS!!" Well, if your state wasn't so boring, maybe we wouldn't get tired! There were some pretty parts though and this was the first cool scenery we saw:

Utah is not only boring but perverted. They're the Beehive State so all their road signs have beehives on them but they made them look like boobs:

Ahh, finally, after 11 hours on the road, there's the first sign of Sin City:

And then we're greeted with the craziest billboard ever:

Seriously, how did they get away with that??

We made it to The Paris and had a room on the 16th floor. We had a decent view - in this shot you can see The Bellagio between the buildings - through that hole we could see the dancing fountains.

And there's the other side with the Colosseum from Caesars.

Here's my artsy attempt - Collin in the mirror in our room:

Oh yeah - see the phone? Stupid expensive phone - Thursday when we got back there was a message from my Mom asking us to call her back. So I did. Dad was on the phone so it went directly to the message dealy and I called back 4 times only to hear the bells of the message. I hung up every time and every time we were charged $10 a call!!! GACK!!

The first night we went to the Rio to see Penn & Teller - Collin snapped a couple pics on our way out:

The balloon which is so very very cool....

....and the even cooler Arc de Triumphe.

On to Penn & Teller which will be Part 2! I hope you all had a fabulous & safe 4th of July!!!

What happens in Vegas....

2008-06-23T11:32:00.002-06:00

Ahh, it's good to be home.

We drove to Las Vegas - - we left on Wednesday morning at 4 and got into Vegas at 2:30 their time. Not bad. It was 111 degrees when we pulled in. Bleck. Thank God for air conditioning!

We stayed at The Paris which was cool. The inside there was made to look like Parisian streets - very pretty. Our room was big - Collin took pics & I'll get them posted soon! The first show was Penn & Teller that night at the Rio. They were amazing!! After the show we got to meet them and get pics with them!! Yay!!

The next day was Mac King in the afternoon at Harrah's. He's very funny! And a great magician. We got to meet him afterwards as well. That night at Mandalay Bay was Mamma Mia which I loved! The performers were great and of course I adored the music!!

The last night was Cirque du Soleil's "O" - definitely my favorite thing about the trip! It was at the Bellagio which is a gorgeous hotel. We were front row and were in what they termed "wet seats." Yeah, we got wet! At least twice they kicked water straight at us! But the show was the coolest thing I've ever seen!

We walked everywhere the first 2 days. Then I ended up with a blister on my little toe that covered the entire bottom of it. So, we took cabs Friday. That was much nicer than dealing with the heat, the people and the porn card dealers. I'll write in a little more detail when I get the pics up.

Oh! And one more thing.

As of yesterday at about 1:30 pm, Collin & I are officially engaged!!!!! I'll post a pic of the ring as well. :D Hope you all had a fine weekend!!!

All right, Dad

2008-06-03T21:01:00.005-06:00

A post not about books or movies....

A few months ago, I started messing around with the search feature on MySpace. I realized that if people sign up using their real name, it's pretty easy to find people so I started culling through all the people I've worked with or gone to school with. I found a lot of them but only a few I decided to request to be friends with.

Out of the few, only 2 never replied. Everyone else got back in touch with me but only for maybe a week and then I never heard anything else. Except for one.

Darcie. She was my friend in elementary and junior high - we walked to school together every morning and she always shared Fireballs with me. She was fun to hang out and talk about boys with. Sadly, she moved to Woodland Park shortly after high school started and I lost contact with her until just recently.

We've been emailing ever since and it seems we still have a lot in common. She's a dealer in Vegas and since Collin & I are going there on vacation in 3 weeks, we're going to hook up, hopefully, for lunch or something. I'm very excited! Yay for MySpace!!

Speaking of Vegas - - - yeah, Collin & I are going the middle of this month and we're staying at The Paris. We've got tickets to see O, Mamma Mia, Mac King and Penn & Teller. And I heard the Titanic exhibit is a fixed attraction at the Tropicana. Whoo-hoo!! We're taking my pretty new VUE on her first road trip - thank God I have air conditioning! :D

Let's see....what else....Max is the BEST BABY EVER...he's so cute and he laughs and smiles all the time. There's a ton of pics of him over in my pics section on my MySpace if you wanna see him.

Work is going a little better - I survived my trek to the dungeon and am now firmly ensconsed back on my normal floor. Even the boss is being nice to me - - hopefully that lasts!!

Hope you all have a great week!!

May Books & Flicks

2008-06-02T16:33:00.002-06:00

14. I Heard That Song Before - Mary Higgins Clark I've always enjoyed her books - she's not called the Queen of Suspense for nothing - and this one was no exception although she kinda fell into the trap of the likes of Agatha Christie by not revealing any clues to the motive til the very end. That annoyed me - I always like having a chance to figure it out myself.

15. Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay The second book in the Dexter chronicles...I think I've gotten too used to the formula where all the main characters get out unscathed at the end of the book. This one had a disturbing ending although it was still good and brought up the question: Can you get a prosthetic tongue?? I love the way Jeff Lindsay writes; the sarcasm and rapier wit amuse me to no end. I've heard incredibly bad things about the third and latest book in the Dexter series so I don't know if I'll give it a chance. Maybe I'll go to the library.

16. The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie Another online read at work...this one centered around Tuppence and Tommy and was an incredibly fun read. I loved all the characters and kinda sorta had it figured out but not completely. What amused me was one character, Julius, was American and talked like a Texan but he was from New York. I figured dear old Agatha must have only come in contact with Texans! And another thing - the name Jane Finn was constantly brought up as being "odd" and "a crazy name" yet one character is named Tuppence and another James Peel Edgerton. Go figure!

17. Curtain - Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot & Arthur Hastings team up yet again in this mystery...***SPOILER ALERT!!!*** If you've never read this book and plan on it, skip the blank part. If you'd like to see the spoiler, highlight the blank part. Okay, I know that everyone has to die. But seriously, Hercule Poirot??? Why not let him solve his last murder and walk off into the sunset still alive! He's timeless, he shouldn't have died. :P The book, however, was very good. The mystery was well plotted and after the evidence came to light it was like, "DUH!! Of course!!"

18. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum I can't count how many times I've seen the movie and yet I've never read the book. This was another at-work, online read and an easy one at that. I never realized how much liberty the movie took over the book - everything I thought I knew was wrong! It was still entertaining and at some point I'll read the other Oz books as well.

19. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte The cool thing about this online book deal is reading the classics that I always told myself I'd get to. So far it's awesome and I'm loving it but sadly I got moved to the other floor at work, aka The Dungeon, and they don't have internet access down there so I haven't gotten the chance to finish it. :'( I'll let you know in the June book list how it was - - if I get to it!! **UPDATE** I just finished it - - it definitely wasn't what I was expecting but you really get to know these characters...Heathcliff was nasty because he couldn't be with his true love and in turn ruined everyone's life around him. Not that Catherine was a prize but...just a lesson that pride can ruin everything. It was an excellent book though although I had a tough time following Joseph'd manner of speaking.

20. The MacGregors: Alan & Grant - Nora Roberts These books are always fun & easy reads. Two stories about the legendary MacGregor family smushed into one book - - the stories are usually alwasy the same: boy meets girl, one of them (or both) doesn't have time for a relationship but how long can you deny true love??? For our heroes and heroines, about 150 pages!

MOVIES:

57. Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium This was a cute movie that I'll probably buy when it gets cheap enough. The plot was a tinch weak but it was cute and cute overrides weak most of the time.

58. Frank & Cindy Ever heard of the 80's band OXO? Or their one-hit wonder "Whirly Girl?" Well, this film was made by the stepson of one of OXO's members, Frank. Frank married Cindy, the filmmaker's mother, who is 20 years older then him...she thought she was marrying a rock star and his music career stalled. This movie shows their life together - sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sad but it's always entertaining.

59. Hostage Bruce Willis doing what he does best - - playing a cop in turmoil. Ben Foster plays the bad guy and he does a first-rate job of oozing creepiness. He was the best part of this movie.

60. Indiscreet ahh, Cary Grant. This was another cute vs weak plot flick where cute wins out!

61. Shortbus I posted about this movie earlier...odd, lots of nudity and sex but a great film and a great message!!

62. The Orphange I was very excited to be scared by this movie. Guillermo Del Toro usually does a great job of that but this one wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. It had it's moments and the end disturbed me greatly but it wasn't his best effort.

63. The McCartney Years 3 discs of nothing but Paul McCartney. Can it get any better?

64. 27 Dresses Yeah, it's a chick flick but I loved it!!!

65. The Darjeeling Limited If Adrian Brody hadn't been in this to keep me occupied, I'd have been bored stiff. Enh.

66. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull heeheeheehee!! I've been waiting YEARS for this movie. YEARS!!!! And guess what? I FREAKING LOVED IT! Yeah, the plot is a bit iffy but it's Indy. Indy trumps all.

67. Raiders Of The Lost Ark I HAD to watch this after seeing IJ & KCS.

68. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull Yep. Again. The same day in fact - Collin and the kids needed to see it. Just as fun the 2nd time.

69. Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom My favoritest movie EVER. Just as good the 120th time as the 1st. :D

70. Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade Sadly, I don't know every line of this one so I need to watch it like 19 more times.

71. Sex And The City I loved the show and the movie didn't disappoint. It was 2 1/2 hours long so it was like a marathon of SATC! Yay!!

72. Paris, Je T'Aime This was a clever little flick with a ton of 5 minute shorts all about love set in Paris. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be but it was okay.

73. Return To House On Haunted Hill This movie could have been waaaay scarier but nothing seems scary anymore.

TV7. Heroes Season 1 I love this show - - it's on a night I work so I'd never been able to catch it and we got TIVO too late to start recording it. Finally, Netflix Instant Watching let us do so and it rocked. "FLYING MAN!" My fave line from my fave character.

TV8. Heroes Season 2 This ended with my 2nd fave charcter being shot and seeing as how Season 3 just ended....ARGH!! I need to know if he dies or does he get saved by Claire's blood???

BOTM goes to The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie.
MOTM of course goes to Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Catching up with pop culture

2008-05-11T05:15:00.002-06:00

So Collin & I started watching Season 1 of Heroes Friday night - and we're totally hooked!!! I love it -- at first I was hard pressed to pick a favorite character but now I know my fave is Hiro, the little Japanese man with the round face. He's so adorable and naive and persistent. I adore him!

We also watched a flick called Shortbus. If you're into different kinds of movies and aren't freaked out by a lot of nudity, sex and talking about sex, watch this movie!! It was done by John Cameron Mitchell, the guy who did Hedwig and the Angry Inch...after watching the extras with him talking, I've decided I'd like to be friend with him. :D

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

A Bit of Sunshine

2008-05-07T03:41:00.002-06:00

Sometimes something happens that restores your faith in - - maybe I won't go so far as to say "humanity" but at least you know that people are on your side and it makes you smile.

Or laugh out loud for an hour.

We have here at work a thing called "PASSDOWN." What is that, you ask? Well, it's where throughout the night, all of us dedicated operators keep track of everything we've run on our machines and around 4am or so, I collect it all, type it up in a nifty, easy-to-read format and send it to the supervisors, specialists, engineers, operators and other people in charge. I've been doing it for 9 1/2 out of my 10 years here.

Well, Monday night the new supe decided that passdown was being sent too early and Heaven forbid in the hour or so between the time I sent it and he presented it to his big bosses that something had changed. Like a lot ending or a system going down to maintenance. So he told me not to even start working on it until 6:30 am! We HAVE to leave by 7 because we're not allowed ANY overtime so I had to call him and enlighten him to the fact that it takes me anywhere from 30-40 minutes to type the thing up, not to mention the end of the night is my busiest time what with catching up on all the summaries, getting the numbers in the book and readying for the next shift. So he graciously extended my time to 6am.

Wow. Thanks a heap, White Man.

So what I did was I got together with the other two best-known dissenters in our group and we decided to write a novel - the littlest thing that happened while we were working, we were going to write it in the passdown. It took me an hour to write - I added colors and a brand new format and everything. And guess what?

He thought it was the coolest thing since New England lost the Super Bowl.

So tonight, Big Mike, one of my rebel buddies, sent me his passdown (at 2:03 am, mind you! 4 whole hours EARLIER than Hitler said to give it to me)...this is what it said:

SUBJECT: BLOCK BUSTER

ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION
Hot off the press. Another gripping best seller!!!!. Destined to be a classic !!!! By that (WELL ???) known author HEATHER KNIGHT. ((((( PASS DOWN 2 ))))) This thrilling epic takes over where ( PASS DOWN 1 ) left off. Read about the joys and the tragedies that befell the infamous B SHIFT. (ALSO KNOWN AS KNIGHT SHIFT )Was the system up or down ??? Did it make yield ????? Did she check every third wafer ??????? These are just some of the questions you will have answered when you read (((((((( PASS DOWN 2 )))))))). Now at selected terminals near you.

I loved it! That is the shit right there! :D I loved how he called it KNIGHT SHIFT! heheh. It was just what I needed to turn my yucky week up a little.

March & April combined

2008-05-03T14:23:00.000-06:00

Once again I read no books in the month of March. None. Nada. Zip! I blame work - we weren't sure if the new supervisor was going to take away books and since I was the one caught with the headphones that 2nd day of his regime, I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one caught with the book. So....on to March's movies....

35. Run Fat Boy Run - I loved this movie!! So incredibly funny! Simon Pegg is too good to be missed and I adore Hank Azaria!

36. Run Fat Boy Run - Yeah yeah, loved it so much I saw it twice.

37. The Other Boleyn Girl - I honestly don't know why they even bothered to link this with the book - they changed everything. They said it was for dramatic purposes but what about the actual events wasn't dramatic?? Natalie Portman was awesome as Anne Boleyn though and I bawled like a baby when she was beheaded. And any movie is worth it with Jim Sturgess in it!

38. No Country For Old Men - So - - after all the hype, it wasn't what I expected. It was good, Javier Bardem definitely deserved the Oscar - he was scary - but the ending annoyed me.

39. Evan Almighty - I had heard bad things about this movie but Shanon said she liked it so we gave it a shot and it was cute. The monkey cracked me up and I'm not usually amused by monkeys.

40. Chuck Jones - Extremes & In Betweens - This was a documentary on the man who created Bugs and Friends....it was very interesting and lots of fun!!

41. Shoot 'Em Up - This is a fun fun fun movie with a weak plot and lots of action. But Clive Owen is freaking COOL!!! And Paul Giamatti as the bad guy? Aw, hell yeah!

42. Boy Eats Girl - I don't usually enjoy zombie movies because I don't like seeing people get eaten. But this one was cute and low on the flesh eatin's so...worth watching.

43. Enchanted - Finally!! And worth the wait - this was really cute and fun!

44. 30 Days Of Night - Enh. Ending sucked. No pun intended.

45. War - Jason Statham and Jet Li in a movie together? Fighting each other? How much yummier can you get? The plot - who cares? It was Jason Statham and Jet Li fighting each other....

MOTM goes to Run Fat Boy Run

TV4. Six Feet Under Season 4

TV5. Six Feet Under Season 5

And now we move on to April....

47. Jungle Book - The original Disney cartoon....Jordyn had never seen it and she loved it. I hadn't seen this in years and loved it just as much, especially when I saw George Sanders was the voice of Sher Khan. :D

48. Stardust - There seemed to be a lot of competition between this movie and Enchanted...I loved this movie and liked it more than Enchanted. This was an almost perfect movie for the romantic in me.

49. Drillbit Taylor - Cute movie...there's a cameo in this movie that made me scream out loud in the theatre!

50. Cloverfield - I didn't expect to like this movie but I did. Might not watch it again but I enjoyed it.

51. National Treasure: Book of Secrets - I loved the first movie and this one was just as fun. The little sidekick kills me!! And I love that Helen Mirren was Nicholas Cage's mother!!!

52. Juno - Saw this at the $1 movie with Christina - Just as much fun the 2nd time around.

53. Star Wars - The first one...it was on Spike before work and I had nothing better to do.

54. Juno - Collin bought this the day after it came out so we made Justin watch it. Still great after 3 viewings.

55. Wild Hogs - This was a cute little movie. Nothing deep or serious, just cute.

56. The Mist - I read the Stephen King short story a long long time ago so I don't remember much about it - but this was a decent movie with a disturbing ending.

The MOTM goes to Stardust. Hands down.

TV6. Dexter Season 1

Hallelujah, I started reading again! Saints be praised.

7. Strangers in Death - JD Robb It's always a good day when you read an Eve Dallas book. And this one was cool cuz I fugured it out and I usually don't.

8. Please Don't Eat The Daisies - Jean Kerr Did you ever see this movie with Doris Day and David Niven? Well, the book is just as good...cute, funny and fuzzy.

9. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay Ooo, I love me some Dexter Morgan! It helps that Michael C Hall plays him on Showtime but he's still so cool in the book! This book was scary, funny and cool all wrapped into one!

10. Dry Ice - Stephen White His books are always good for thrills and this one was no exception. He brought back some old characters that caused some serious chills!!

11. Dead of Night

Eternity In Death - JD Robb

Amy And The Earl's Amazing Adventure - Mary Blayney

Timeless - Ruth Ryan Langdon

On The Fringe - Mary Kay McCormas

This was one of those 4 story books where the big author gathers 3 smaller authors and gets you to read their stuff. The JD Robb story was good (not one of her best though) and the other 3 were as well. The problem with short stories is that everything has to happen so fast!

12. The Mysterious Affair At Styles - Agatha Christie I started reading this online at work and it was soooo good - I love Poirot. I didn't figure the mystery out - I usually don't with hers - but it was clever and delicious as always.

13. The Man Who Was Thursday - GK Chesterton Another online book but I haven't finished it yet. So far it's excellent....

BOTM goes to Darkly Dreaming Dexter.

Please Forgive Me

2008-04-28T00:11:00.004-06:00

But Collin said I should document this in case I need dates and such...so yeah, yet another story about the infamous new supervisor!!

We have a program that collects our data and shoots it to our computers but tonight it's down so 2 engrs and the IS guy said the info is out there, it's just stuck somewhere but it was okay to continue doing what we were doing. Okay. So during the passdown the supe asked me about it and I explained everything and he said, "How do you know if everything is going okay?" I said we could see everything on the screens....at this point I'm thinking that's a legit question...but then after my answer he said, "Very good, that's right!" like he was a preschool teacher!! Pissed me off!! I asked if that was a test and he said yes. So I told him I'd like to talk to him after the meeting since he didn't want me saying nasty stuff in front of everyone.

When we were done with the meeting, he came up all hot-eyed and asked what my problem was and I said, "I'm 37 years old, I do not need to be talked to like I'm 12!" He told me to "settle down" and that I obviously didn't realize who I was talking to. I told him I DID know who I was talking to but that didn't give him the right to speak down to me like I was a child in front of everyone. He kept saying that was my perception and that I was way too defensive, blah blah blah. I just told him out of all the supervisors this shift has gone through, he's the only one I've ever clashed with. He kept trying to tell me that was because I'd never had an actual supervisor before. He just doesn't listen when I tell him we HAVE had supervisors here all night before!!!! THEN, oh, this one really got me....he starts talking about how he has 2 sisters and 4 daughters and he gives them all the same opportunities as everyone else and he understands why I would think he was talking down to me because I was a woman. Well, I had NEVER thought that until he said it - - you should have seen his face when I told him that had never crossed my mind. I told him I got upset because he was speaking down to us as a whole.

He finally said, "I didn't mean for it to come out that way," speaking about the talking down thing. But neither of us ever apologized. I think my days here are numbered. He thinks I'm too defensive and I think he treats us like children.

There was more - much more - but I'm drained and I can't type this anymore. At least the argument is documented somewhat. I hope you all had a fine weekend!!

Tired yet?

2008-04-14T06:04:00.003-06:00

I 've got the movie list for March almost done - it's not like it's long or anything but I've just been lazy. Today I am here to regale you with one more work-related story.

I'm sorry but that's all that seems to be going on lately.

We had a meeting tonight to discuss this new policy called 5S - I threw away the packet so I can't remember what the 5 S's stand for...Sort, Straighten, Shine, Something, Somthing....Shine is the one that gets me - - all I hear in my head is a soccer mom telling her little soccer star to "SHINE!" Ugh. So anyway, the sup is yammering on about this policy and I'm zoning for the most part but then he says, with the sneer in his voice that all of us in my area have become accustomed to, "You've never had a supervisor, so..." and my face crinkled up into a WTF look.

He saw it.

"I mean a supervisor that's been here all night with you."

"We've had them," I said. "At least three of them."

He kind of ignored me and went on with his spiel. After the meeting he told me he wanted me to train one of his people on my machines and the attitude came spilling out, mostly out of fear that I would be training my replacement. "We need to talk," he finally said. "Come to the office."

So to the office I went. He said I was "resistant." Well, hell yeah, I'm resistant! He's changing everything that's been the norm for 10 years and he thinks I'm gonna welcome it with open arms?? I told him how I felt and why I said what I did in the meeting. We have a reputation here at work (the 8 people in my area) for being non-protocoled slackers. Everyone else always thought that because we didn't wear the bunny suit or because we were allowed to read on the floor that we never did any work. This couldn't be farther from the truth and of all people now, the new sup should know that! So that's why I jumped in when I did. He actually apologized and said he didn't realize how he had come across. Shocker!

We talked for 45 minutes and I had a chance to tell him my thoughts and feelings on all these changes. He was as receptive as he could be. By the time I left I had agreed, with his promise that I wasn't training my replacement, to train a very sweet girl from downstairs. The only bad thing is that he said when I'm done training her, I have to go downstairs to train. Crap.

I really really hate change. Bet you couldn't tell that, huh?

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!

More With the Workins....

2008-03-31T04:55:00.003-06:00

So we're now into our third week with the new fella as our supervisor. Changes are occurring left and right and all we can do is try & keep up. The sup has, lately, been kinda sucking up to me after our little disagreement about the new schedule. But that doesn't make me like him any more. Especially after tonight.

One of my co-workers lost his grandmother on Friday so he's taking Mon & Tues off as bereavement days. The sup didn't seem to have a problem with it but today told my co-worker that he needed a copy of his grandmother's obituary for his file. WTF????

That grated on me all night.

Later on, 3 of us went to the area we merged with for a tour. They have to wear different gear than us, most notably face masks which on Tues we will be required to wear all the time as well. I'm really really claustrophobic so I didn't know how I would react to wearing the mask. As we were suiting up tonight I looked at my friend who was with me and told her if I fainted she would have to catch me. The sup asked what I said and I told him, "I'm really claustrophobic so if I faint, we'll know there's a problem." He replied, "If the mask kills you I'll come to your funeral."

"Cool. I'll make sure you get a copy of my obituary." He didn't get it. But I got my dig in and I hope he gets it while he's driving home and congratulating himself on being Master of the Universe.

Triple Dog BAH!

2008-03-24T15:45:00.002-06:00

We had yet another "shake up" at work. It started a month ago when we had a meeting with the "big guys" who informed us that our area would be merging with the area downstairs and the supervisor from downstairs would become ours as well.

Now...we've worked for years without an actual supervisor on our shift so we weren't thrilled to hear there would be somebody there all the time. The new guy came up the next week to introduce himself, talk to us, blah blah blah. At first he sounded like a nice guy but he's one of these fellows that likes to talk and the more he talks, the more he gives away about himself.

Like the fact that he's a stickler for rules and rules are NOT made to be broken, bent or circumvented in any way, shape or form. As one who does NOT follow the rules, this is unacceptable to me. :)

Next thing he did was took away our music. Then said he was going to change the spec so we couldn't have a book. Then last night he told us that starting on April 1, we are expected to conform to the downstairs rules. i.e., wear a cap and face mask at all times, take breaks and lunches when he schedules us, only 1 person a day on vacation and no flexibility in the time you punch in and out.

This last one is causing me the most difficulty and he knows it cuz I didn't pull any punches talking to him. I clock in at 6:10 and leave at 6:15 so I can get home to be with Jordyn so Collin can leave at 7 to get Justin to school. If I can't leave work until 7 then that means either Justin will be late to school 3 days a week or Jordyn will have to be alone for half an hour. I don't like either option but this new supervisor could care less.

He said if we had a compelling reason then we could bend the hours. Guess what the only compelling reason is? If you're going to school. Kids apparently are NOT a compelling enough reason. I asked if he would write a note that Justin could take to school along with mine saying why he had to be late and his answer? "That's your problem."

So THEN I asked if all 4 shifts were following this 7-7 rule and he said it was up to the supervisor to keep his shifts in line. So basically he's being a fucktard on a power trip.

He's a stealer of happiness, that man.

February Movies

2008-03-06T17:45:00.003-07:00

I had a first ever last month - - I didn't read anything.

Well, to be honest, I was reading a book - The Children of Henry VIII which I counted on January's list cuz I started it in Jan. But suddenly at work I started having to do stuff that wasn't conducive to reading and I was reduced to reading only on my break. So a book that should have taken me a night to read is taking me over a month! GAH!

But - I was able to watch movies at work. So my number of those are huge!

7. Big Fat Liar - This was on TV when I was in Jct and Jordyn and I stayed up to watch it. I'd seen it twice before - I love Paul Giamatti. He's so adorable, even as a clown!

8. The Road To Bali - My first Road movie with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby - Collin put it on my iPod. LOVED it! Bing Crosby was sooo cute!

9. Bend It Like Beckham - another iPod movie. It was okay...I just wanted to see what the hype over this one was all about and I wasn't that impressed.

10. Murder By Death - iPod. Favorite comedy of ALL TIME!! "Clues? Clues? I need no clues from you , I find my own clues you demented lollipop!"

11. Across The Universe - Blu-Ray. Our first Blu-Ray movie ever and it was awesome seeing it in that format.

12. Becoming Jane - This was cute but typical of all Jane Austen movies, the only difference being that it was about Jane herself. Joe Anderson from ATU was in it, that's the major reason I watched it. I was rewarded by seeing his naked butt yet again! LOL

13. Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Love Cate Blanchett as Liz I. I know that there was so much going on during those times but these movies tend to pick one thing and ignore other major players that were around then. This one focused on her relationship as it were with Sir Walter Raleigh. Robert Dudley, who died somewhere during that span of time, was never even mentioned and that bothered me. Nor was the Earl of Essex mentioned....

14. Waitress - LOVE THIS MOVIE!! Love Keri Russell, ADORE the crap out of Nathan Fillion! I will be watching this one multiple times.

15. Elizabeth I - The HBO miniseries and MOTM. Helen Mirren was the queen and did an amazing job. During the first part it was about her trying to find a husband and how she was "betrayed" by Dudley marrying one of her cousins without the court's permission. The second part focused on the same era that the Cate movie focused on and nothing was mentioned about Raleigh. But this was an awesome, awesome movie. Very well done and very graphic - you actually see Mary Queen of Scots's head come flying off when she's beheaded!

16. The US vs. John Lennon - A documentary about how the FBI was trying to deport John Lennon. Very entertaining and a lot of great footage and interviews!

17. Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix - This movie doesn't have enough Ron in it.

18. White Christmas - I had never seen this classic and ended up adoring it! Danny Kaye - - so cute!!

19. The Beatles From Liverpool To San Francisco - Interview footage showing their journey to America and their rise.

20. Monster Makers - An incredibly cheesy Hallmark Halloween movie that I bought for Adam Baldwin. It wasn't bad and I might watch it again just for him.

21. Serenity (Collector's Edition) - JAYNE!!!!! The extras were fun! Never get tired of this movie!

22. The Italian Job - The remake with Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton. I really liked it - fun and fast and pretty pretty men.

23. Free Jimmy - An odd animated movie Collin found with the voice of Simon Pegg.

24. Mr. Brooks - Mom hadn't seen this so she came over to watch it. She liked it and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

25. Good Luck Chuck - Yep, a Dane Cook double shot! This was actually cute and had some good lines! Lots of sex, too!

26. Night Watch - A Russian vampire movie that we watched last year and really liked. We just recently got Daywatch so we had to refresh our memories.

27. Fuck - A documentary on the word fuck. Funny, informative and fun.

28. The Prestige - This was good - - it was half set in Colo Spgs (at least it said it was - - you never really saw the town) and I figured out half the secret. The other half I did NOT see coming!!

29. Hairspray - Watched the remake again. It's just too cute!

30. The Thirst - A vampire movie with Adam Baldwin and Jeremy Sisto that was chock full of blood and boobies! Don't know that I would watch this one again.

31. The Goonies - Going over a year without watching this movie is just wrong.

32. Can't Hardly Wait - I adore this movie. And now that I've started watching Six Feet Under, it's hard to see the 4 people in this movie as anything but their SFU characters.

33. The Grass Is Greener - Cary Grant with glasses - does it get any better?

34. The Bourne Ultimatum - The best of the three. At least I thought so.

TV3. Six Feet Under (Season 3)

Arrested!!

2008-02-17T00:07:00.002-07:00

You know how you see people get arrested all the time on TV or in the movies but, for me anyway, very rarely in real life. Well, that has all changed!

A couple weeks ago I went to Subway with Collin & Jordyn...we walked in and there were two younger girls in the front, one on her cell phone talking very forcefully. I asked the other girl if she was in line and she bluntly told me no. Pretty soon the lady in front of us turned and said, "you just missed all the excitement." Apparently some drunk guy had been in there cussing up a storm, saying things that no one in the store would even repeat. So the lone girl working there went and asked him to leave. He got in her face, cussing her out and screaming that he was going to come back and kill everyone! Well.....

The girls were on the phone to the police who showed up a short time later. Good thing, too, cuz the freak came back while we were there but thank God he didn't come inside. He saw the cops and went across the street where the police approached him. Just then a big ass cit bus got in my way so I didn't get to see the actual takedown but when the bus moved the guy was on the ground and the cops each had a knee in his back, cuffing him.

It was crazy!! But pretty cool.

Anybody Hungry?

2008-02-17T00:03:00.003-07:00

The scene is Thursday afternoon at my parents' house.

Dad: Have you decided what to do with your hamster yet?

Me: We're waiting for it to warm up so we can bury him.

Dad: And in the meantime he's sitting in your freezer.

Mom: Eeyew!!

Me: He's contained! He's in a bag in a box in two bags in a box in a bag!

Dad: You should just toss him in the dumpster!

Me: I'm not tossing him in the dumpster!!!

Dad: Why not?

Me: *sigh* Because....

Mom: Why don't you just turn your oven to 400 and cremate him?

Me: MOM!!

Dad: KAREN!!!

Mom: What?

Dad: Jeeze...the smell alone....

Mom: Well, it was just a thought.....

In Loving Memory

2008-02-13T02:07:00.002-07:00

Our hamster Sam passed away yesterday. He was 2 1/2 years old and according to a website I found, that translates into 80 human years old. Sam will be missed.

Prayers for Richie

2008-02-11T02:42:00.000-07:00

Last night Florida Panther Richard Zednik had his neck cut by a skate while playing the Buffalo Sabres. Word is that he's in stable condition and will be fine but it was scary to see. I saw the video on AOL Sports and it scared the bejeezus out of me. My prayers go to Richie and his family for a speedy recovery!

Starting off slow

2008-02-05T02:55:00.001-07:00

Before I get to January's books & movies to bore Dad, I'd like to say Hell Yeah!!!! to Eli Manning and the New York Giants for showing the Patriots up and proving to the world what losers Brady & his crybaby coach are.

Okay, on to business. Books:

1. Anthology - The Beatles This is a huge book - not just long but the size of my torso! I think I gained some muscle from lugging it around for a week! But size matters aside, this was a fascinating read...the story of the Beatles told in their own words. And the pictures are amazing!

2. Man In Black - Johnny Cash I looked for this book for a year and finally found it at the library and was so disappointed in it. He skimmed stories and seemed to gloss things over with religion. Not what I was expecting.

3. The Darkest Evening of the Year - Dean Koontz This was a good story and it made me CRY!! The story itself is heartwarming enough to make me tear up but the fact that Koontz's golden retriever Trixie passed away and at the end of the book was a picture of her, well...I was a bawling baby after that! But seriously, this is an excellent read, just like 95% of his stuff!

4. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory This movie comes out soon so I figured I better read the book. I'd only had it for 3 years! It was good and laced with enough historical fact to make it interesting. Afterwards, though, I needed the true story...

5. The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Alison Weir I started this book about 2 years ago and never got past Anne Boleyn. So this time I read the whole thing and loved it! This is my BOTM...Alison Weir writes history with such flair that it's never boring. You really feel like you know these people that lived 500 years ago. I cried when Anne Boleyn was beheaded and I felt the horror when 17 year old Katherine Howard faced the same fate. I felt betrayed right along with Katherine of Aragon and marveled at her pride.

6. The Children of Henry VIII - Alison Weir Basically the sequel to the Wives book...it's not near as big as the previous book but you get to know Mary, Elizabeth, Edward and even Jane Grey in this one.

And on to the movies....it really was a slow movie month....

1. The Cat From Outer Space I remembered loving this movie when I was little...it sure didn't hold up throughout the years. Even Jordyn was bored with it. In fact, we didn't even finish it!

2. Safety Last!

3. An Eastern Westerner > 2,3 & 4 were all silent movies staring Harold Lloyd. They were all incredibly funny.

4. Ask Father

5. Grease I got this for my birthday and immediately popped it into the DVD player. LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!

6. Juno Hands down the MOTM! This was absolutely wonderful - very well made and funny as hell. Then it turns around and makes you cry. Do not miss this movie!!

And something new: I'll list the TV shows we watch when we finish a whole season:

TV1. Six Feet Under (Season 1) I had always wanted to see this show and the first season was on sale at Best Buy for $20 so Collin picked it up and we were hooked right away. I love everyone in this show, even Brenda and her psycho brother!

TV2. Six Feet Under (Season 2) This season was just as good but left us with one hell of a cliffhanger. Thank God Season 3 was right there and ready to pop in!!

My new hero

2008-01-28T23:47:00.001-07:00

**Side note: The spooky whisper will be played on this Wednesday's episode of the Half Hour Power Hour! Go to Derek's site to hear it!**

When the Oscar nominations were released, they also put out the reactions of the stars up for the prestigious award. When I read Daniel Day-Lewis's reaction, I thought it was very classy: "You put me shoulder to shoulder with a group of fine actors. I'm proud to be in their company and to have the broader recognition for the film is a lovely thing."

As if my estimation of him couldn't get any higher, he dedicated his SAG award to Heath Ledger, even though he had never met him: While accepting his award as outstanding male actor in a leading role – for There Will Be Blood – Daniel Day-Lewis gave a moving tribute to Heath Ledger, who was also honored in the annual "In Memoriam" montage. Recalling several of Ledger's most iconic roles, Day-Lewis called the late actor an inspiration and "unique," before dedicating the trophy to Ledger. "Of course, in Brokeback Mountain he was unique," Day-Lewis said. "He was perfect. And that scene in the trailer at the end of the film is as moving as anything I have ever seen." Asked backstage why he'd decided to dedicate the award to Ledger, he said, "I suppose that's all I've been thinking about for the last few days. I never met him. I thought he was beautiful. I just have a very strong feeling that I would have liked him very much as a man. ...I admired him very much."

What a classy guy. I didn't have a fave in the Best Actor category but now I really hope he wins.

Birthday Recap

2008-01-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

Yep. My birthday was yesterday. I'm officially *almost* old. :D Collin got me The Beatles Anthology DVD's, Grease DVD and the new Scissor Sisters DVD aaaaand an iPod Nano which I'm completely head over heels in love with! I got a ton of clothes from Mom & Dad not to mention lunch & dinner yesterday and Derek & Squatchy got me a cool Broncos hoodie and 3:10 To Yuma on DVD!! Shanon got me a Harajuku Lovers purse & make up bag & yummy goodies! Thank you to everyone!!

Conversation in a new VUE

Thursday morning Collin & I were going to breakfast with Mom & Dad....

Dad: Hey! Do you know who the ugliest guy in rock 'n roll is?

Me: Bob Dylan?

Dad: No! Steely Dan!

Me: Really?

Dad: Yeah, he was on TV the other night playing the piano and he stood up and...I don't know if it was Steely or Dan but he was UGLY!!!!

Okay, like, gag me with a pitchfork, totally!

Yesterday, Mom & I went to Wendy's for lunch after shopping. Sitting across the restaurant was an older fellow who wasn't eating. At one point, I happened to glance around and I saw him scratching the inside of his ear vigorously with his little finger then...THEN!....he pulled it out, popped it into his mouth and sucked the wax off. BLEARGH!

Looking for something good to see at the theatre?

Go see Juno.

Seriously.

Sad Again

2008-01-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

What the hell? Heath Ledger dead? He was only 28 - that's way too young! And his poor daughter...it's looking right now like maybe an accidental overdose on sleeping pills in my opinion. And what's weird is he died and was found the same was as Brian Epstein all those years ago....
And now whenever Christina or I say "You saying I'm not a pretty guy?" it'll make me sad.
Geeze.

Cross Streets

2008-01-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

***Collin has the spooky whisper voice thing pulled off the tape and it should be posted here very soon!!!***

Jordyn's birthday is coming up on Friday and this year she's having a Skate City birthday party. Of course she's beside herself with excitement. Her job today was to call her great grandma and her aunt to invite them.

Me: Did you call great grandma & Pam?

Jordyn: Yeah but I had forgotten why I had called so I was just talking then I went "Oh, yeah...." and great grandma said "Yes?" And I said I didn't remember.

Me: So you never invited them to the party?

Jordyn: No...I forgot why I had called.

Me: *sigh* Call them back and tell them about the party.

So off she goes, phone in hand, to the basement.

Me: Did you call them?

Jordyn: I left a voice message.

Me: What did you say?

Jordyn: I just told them it was at Skate City on Academy & Beauregard.

Me: Academy & WHAT?

Jordyn: Academy & Beauregard.

Me: It's Academy & Constitution.

Jordyn: I thought it was Beauregard.

Me: It's Academy BOULEVARD, not Beauregard.

Jordyn: Ohhhh.....

Goof.

Been There, Surveyed That....

2008-01-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

But it was so fun and I have new tunes so - -

RULES:
1. Put your MP3 player/ ipod/ itunes on shuffle.
2. For each heading, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

OPENING CREDITS:
Come And Get It - Badfinger

BEING BORN:
Teach Me How To Shimmy - The Coasters

FIRST BREATH:
Run Red Run - The Coasters

FIRST BIRTHDAY:
Baby Loves The Life - Dana Fuchs

LEARNING TO WALK:
Rip Her To Shreds - Blondie

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - Andrew Sisters

FIRST CRUSH:
Hey You - No Doubt

FIRST DATE:
Around The World - Aqua (Really! I'm not that kind of girl!)

FALLING IN LOVE:
Something - The Beatles (Aww!)

BREAKING UP:
Next Time, This Time - Jim Croce (Aww again!)

HIGH SCHOOL:
Besame Mucho - The Beatles (ha! I doubt THAT!)

BACK TOGETHER:
We Owe - Dance Hall Crashers

LIFE'S AMBITION:
Hear Me Lord - George Harrison

GETTING A JOB:
Cuba LIbre - Aqua

COLLEGE:
World Go Round - No Doubt

GETTING SICK:
Goodbye To The Circus - Aqua

GETTING MARRIED:
Ex-Girlfriend - No Doubt (That's funny!!)

HAVING KIDS:
Helter Skelter - Dana Fuchs

TRAVELING OVERSEAS:
Calling You - Aqua

50TH B-DAY:
What Is Life - George Harrison

FAMILY REUNION:
Last Laugh - Dance Hall Crashers (That's right! Cuz that's what I'll have! ha! Haha!)

HAVING GRANDKIDS:
Halloween - Aqua

DEATH:
Marry Me - No Doubt (Well, this is certainly in the wrong place!)

FUNERAL SONG:
Bumble Bees - Aqua (Yep! Cuz that's what'll kill me!!)

END CREDITS:
Good Guys - Aqua

Something Seriously Creepy

2008-01-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

So!

Wednesday night was the big election meeting here for the homeowner's assoc. board. It was different than any other meeting I've been to....for one there was a bunch of people there as opposed to the handful that usually show up. It started 30 min later than normal and the first 45 minutes was taken up with vote counting and a fire safety presentation.

After the votes were in and the 3 winners announced (everyone I voted for won. Yay!) the new board retired to the back room to vote on officers; president, vice pres, treasurer, secretary and asst treas. Luckily they like me and I was able to stay on as secretary.

But the point here is this: I have a tape recorder that I use to tape the meetings so I don't miss anything. It sits in front of me and is pretty good at picking up sound. However, the farther away you are, the harder it is to hear. If you're whispering, there's a good chance that unless you're standing smack-dab next to me, it's not going to pick it up.

Except yesterday while I was working on the minutes, I got to the point where the new board left to vote. There were pieces of conversations as the members filed by me...Chris asking about the gavel, Jim saying something to either Frank or my dad and their answer of "Whatever, Jim." It was after hearing that that I heard something else.

Whispers.

Intrigued, I rewound. Sure enough, someone had whispered something. Now I'm a tinch freaked out because I don't recall anyone standing that close to the recorder. I rewound it 5 more times and thought I understood what "he" was saying but just to be sure, I popped on the headphones. There's a unintelligible whisper at first followed by "I know what you dream."

I swear to God! "I know what you dream."

I was covered in chills. And sufficiently freaked out!

I told Jordyn about it when she got home and she said, "Well, what are your dreams?" I told her I didn't even remember and she answered, "Well, at least HE knows!"

When Collin came home I let him listen to it and he agreed. The whisper is saying "I know what you dream." But why? And who is it?

Too creepy....

Mom-isms

2008-01-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

My mom, as you know if you read this little blog, has an interesting way of putting things. Like Christmas Eve when her brother asked her what the last movie she had seen in the theatre was. Turns out, since Sweeny Todd was happening the next day, the last movie she had seen had been with me - 3:10 To Yuma. Ray hadn't heard of it and asked what it was about. Mom's description was this: "There's this train...and at 3:10, it goes to Yuma!" You have to imagine her saying this, sweeping her arm forward like a train taking off...it makes it all the more funny!

The next week, Collin & I were riding with my parents in Dad's new VUE up to Denver to have dinner with Ray & Mary Beth. We were listening to XM Radio, the 60's station at my request, and Running Bear by Johnny Preston came on. Dad asked what song was playing and Mom told him, "You know that song where the two little indians swim together then DIE!"

At the Year's End

2008-01-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the books & movies from December, I have a little story to tell.

Yesterday I went out shopping for Jordyn's birthday. When I got back the mail had come - there was a package with my name on it sitting on the chair by the front door. Since my birthday is 3 weeks away, I couldn't imagine why I had a package. Then I looked at the return address: it was from Kathleen! What could she be sending me??? I excitedly ripped into the box to find the coolest pair of Bronco-orange sunglasses and suddenly I remembered.

A while back I posted about how I ran over my shades with my car and Kathleen said if she found another pair of these awesome glasses she had, she would send them to me. I had completely forgotten about the offer but she didn't! It was a great surprise and Kathleen proved again just how sweet she is! Thanks!!!!

And now onto the books and movies! I did pretty well with reading considering I was off of work for 11 days! It was hard to read at home with the kids home on vacation, Collin off of work for a week and baby showers and Christmas festivities going on.

48. The Adversary - Julian May The last book in the Pliocene Exile series. It was good but it didn't really answer some of my questions like who was it that Mercy thought Aiken looked like? I know that doesn't sound important but to me it really was!!

49. Dead Days of Summer - Carolyn Hart Another fun Death on Demand mystery.

50. The Beatles Come To America - Martin Goldsmith This was a tiny book about The Beatles and their effect on the American people after the assassination of JFK. It took maybe a couple hours to read and while there were cute pictures, I didn't learn anything new.

51. Ticket To Ride - Larry Kane This was a cool book. Larry Kane was the only reporter to tag along with The Beatles for each one of their American tour dates. He had some great stories to tell and it came with a CD of some of the interveiws he conducted. This is the book that is responsible for my falling for John Lennon.

52. Magical Mystery Tours - Tony Bramwell w/Rosemary Kingsland I started off a little iffy about this book...Tony Bramwell struck me as a bit of a braggart: "I knew The Beatles before they were The Beatles and I worked with them on everything, blah blah blah." The one thing that got me was when he said he never had to pay for a single Beatles album, they were all given to him. Well bully for you! But after a while, I got used to his way of telling a story and was able to enjoy the book told by the promotions director-type fella for The Beatles.

53. Louie Louie - Dave Marsh This was a fun book. It was all about the history of the song Louie Louie, made famous by The Kingsmen. It went through all the versions ever recorded, which is a phenomenally high number, the life of Richard Berry (who wrote the song and recorded it first) and how Louie Louie influenced a ton of songs! I wish this one had come with a CD!

54. The Twylight Tower - Karen Harper I picked this up on a whim at the library and ended up loving it and wanting to read more. Karen Harper writes mysteries and the main detective is Queen Elizabeth I. She's very accurate in her historical background and characters which makes her stories all the more enjoyable!

55. Maria Callas: A Musical Biography - Robert Levine One of two opera singers I know. I figured what the heck, why not read about someone I know absolutely nothing about and ended up fascinated. Maria Callas led an interesting and sometimes sad life and thank God there were 2 cds included so I could hear the songs that were being talked about. That woman could sing!! And she was so pretty...I want to be an opera singer now. Haha! I think this is my BOTM.

56. John Lennon - Bruce W. Conord I went on a John Lennon freak-out the last time I went to the library and I grabbed whatever book about him I saw. The girl who checked me out asked if I was doing a paper on him! What I didn't bother to look at was what I was grabbing. This book turned out to be a young adult book and written very thinly. I enjoyed the pictures, though.

I did better with the movies this month than last month due to the fact that all my TV shows were on reruns or just not on because of Christmas specials.

161. Copying Beethoven I was excited to see this when I saw the preview and then later when I saw that Joe Anderson was in it I was REALLY excited to see it. I loved the music but it was so blatently un-historical I more than likely will never watch it again.

162. Mr. & Mrs. Smith Collin bought the unrated version of this movie so we watched to see what was unrated about it. Turns out it was only the special features. But it's still an awesome movie.

163. Win A Date With Tad Hamilton! Christina & I had plans to go shopping but then her niece got sick so I went to her house and we watched movies. I picked this one because I had only seen it when it first came out and remembered it being really cute. Turns out Ginnifer Goodwin is in it and now I can't see her as anyone but Vivian Libretto Cash in Walk The Line. But the movie is cute and has a sweet message. And I love Topher Grace!

164. A Hard Days Night The second movie I watched with Christina. You can't go wrong with this Beatles fun-fest! "Hey mister! Can we have our ball back?"

165. The Simpsons Movie Collin bought this so of course we had to watch it again.

166. A Bugs Life I picked this movie to watch one night when nothing was on. I adore this movie - it's so funny no matter how many times I see it.

167. Shrek This was on TV and I hadn't watched it in years!

168. Miss Congeniality Once again, on TV. Love this movie!

169. Futurama: Bender's Big Score This one had it's moments where I laughed my fool head off ("Your tail was wagging") and other moments where I was totally annoyed. Overall I liked it though.

170. A Christmas Story What's Christmas without this movie?

171. Sweeny Todd The MOTM. Oh my God, I loved this movie!!! It was so dark and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter were amazing! Yeah, there was a lot of blood but it's The Demon Barber - - you gotta have blood!!

172. Hairspray Christina brought over the original movie for me to watch and I loved it just as much as the remake.

173. Snakes On A Plane Yep. We watched it. Just to get it out of the way and you know what? Yeah, it's cheesy and goofy in spots but it wasn't near as bad as I was expecting.

174. Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen I owe Collin a zombie movie for this one. It was okay.

175. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Funny funny funny!! If I hadn't seen Sweeny Todd, this would have been my MOTM. Judd Apatow & his crew make some funny-ass movies!!!

So that's it. My final tally is 56 books (which I feel shame about - it should have been much higher) and 175 movies which doesn't surprise me. This year I'll have to try for 200!! :D The Book of the Year goes to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Movie of the Year honors belong to Across The Universe.

I hope you all have a fantastic 2008!!

Alert

2007-12-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

I hate the Patriots.
I hate Tom Brady.
That is all.

*************

So on Saturday, Collin & I went to the theatre to see Walk Hard (which is so funny I laughed til I cried) and we were the first people there. Shortly afterwards another couple came and sat way in the back. Shortly after that a group of three people (a mother and her two kids who were in their 20's) came in and although there were oodles of open seats they sat directly behind us.

They got settled then the man got up to go get snacks and whacked the back of my chair so hard it made my teeth rattle. I didn't say anything - accidents can happen. But then he came back and kicked it again. Then one more time as he was handing out popcorn and soda. I finally turned around and said, "Seriously, are you done kicking my seat now?" He ignored me but his sister and mom looked right at me. Undeterred, I said louder, "If you kick my seat again, I'll have to go get someone." And his reply?

"Get over yourself."

WTF??? Get over myself? I'm supposed to let this asshole kick the back of my head and seat whenever he feels like it?? Shocked beyond rational thinking capability I shot back "Fuck you." His mother went ballistic! "You said a bad word at my son! You said a bad word at my son!"

Oh, my God!

"Look, I got whacked in the back of the head 4 times (slight exaggeration) by him and I just wanna make sure it's not gonna happen again."

"I had to get through," he snarled at me.

"But you didn't have to hit the back of my head every time!"

"How does it feel to be a bitch?" Oh, good Christ! So now because I don't want to be whacked, I'm a bitch.

"Feels fine, thank you, fucker." That set his mother off all over again.

"We have to move, we have to move away from this nasty disgusting girl."

Oh, my God! Guess how far they moved? 2 seats. It was stupid! Yet during the movie when Dewey Cox said, "What the fuck did he just say?" they laughed. And laughed. So apparently it's not nasty & disgusting unless it's directed at her dickless son.

That's my rant for the week. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and a prosperous 2008! And don't forget to check out the Top Men of 2007 that Christina & I put together!

Shameless, oh so shameless

2007-12-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

There's a Top Men of 2007 post on that other blog of mine, if'n you're interested!!!

Who will be #1?

You gotta go there to find out!

Conversation on a phone

2007-12-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

****Merry Christmas to you & yours!!!!****

Mom: Did you buy the stuff for the punch yet?

Me: No, I'm gonna get it tomorrow.

Mom: Did you know that at Safeway they have Sprite on sale 5 for a $1?

Me: A dollar?

Mom: Yeah! 5 for a $1!

Me: A dollar??

Mom: Yeah...oh. Um...maybe 5 for $5?

Me: Geeze! I was gonna say, I'm gonna buy me a buttload of Sprite....

Conversation in a gymnasium

2007-12-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

We were at Jordyn's school play last night, waiting for it to begin and kids were walking the crowd, distributing candy canes. My mom gave me hers, saying she didn't like candy canes.

Me: You don't like candy canes???

Mom: Not really, no.

Me: How can you not like candy canes??

Mom: They're just uninteresting.

The Perils of Sleepwalking

2007-12-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what timing will do - one minute later or earlier and I wouldn't have a blog post.

Anyway...I was at work tonight and I had to go out to go the bathroom. I opened the doors into the hall and turned right towards the restrooms. I saw Terry, a co-worker, walking towards me, on my side of the hall. My first thought was that he'd see me and move.

He got closer and I noticed two things:

1) He wasn't moving.
2) His eyes were closed.

I reached out my hand to keep us from colliding and yelled, "AHHH!" His eyes popped open and he reached out for me, grabbing my hand to steady himself as he juked to the left real fast.

"Oh my God, I was alseep," he laughed. I don't know just how asleep he really was but seeing as how we on the night shift sometimes don't get enough sleep during the day, it's very plausible that Terry really was asleep on his feet and moving by instinct back to the floor.

That was my laugh for the night, maybe the week!

The Perils of Not Being Okay

2007-12-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

**Disclaimer: If you don't have a sense of humor when it comes to death, read no further.**

So last week I had gone upstairs to change clothes while my friend Christina checked her email. As I was coming back down, I was making "in pain" noises because my calves were sore.

Christina: Are you okay?

Me: Yeah, my legs just hurt.

Christina: You know who's NOT okay? Evel Kenievel. He's dead.

Just the unexpected way she broke the news made me laugh and to this day I'm still giggling over it. Maybe I'm horrible but it was funny....

On a side note, it's snowing like crazy here. Finally. Last week it was 70 degrees. About time it looked & felt like Christmas.

November Ends...

2007-12-03T07:05:00.000-07:00

Man did I pick up the pace on reading!!!! I'm so proud of myself!

BOOKS

37. The Cold Moon - Jeffrey Deaver I started this in the hospital when Dad was getting his surgery. I love Jeffrey Deaver and I really love the Lincoln/Amelia books! This ended open, though - it could have another book with the same characters he introduced in this one!

38. The Nonborn King - Julian May 3rd in the Pilocene Exile series. So far this was the best of the bunch even though Julian May still described stuff I couldn't care less about! I wanna know what's happening with Aiken & Felice & Mercy....get to the good stuff woman!!

39. Creation In Death - JD Robb I bought this the day after it came out and read it in one day. I love this series!!! And this had a great ending!

40. You Suck - Christopher Moore This guy is soooooo hilarious - I laugh out loud when I read his stuff. Unfortunately this was a sequel to Blood Sucking Fiends which I have not read so I know how the other one ends. It's okay, though...I'll read it just for the humor!

41. Shadow And Silk - Ann Maxwell Ann Maxwell is really Elizabeth Lowell in disguise. But her books are just as good. I love how she mixes a real plot with steamy romance! Always fun!

42. Dead Wrong - JA Jance The continuing saga a girl sheriff Joanna Brady - I always enjoy these books. And this one, she catches a killer while she's 9 months pregnant!

43. Girl Singer - Rosemary Clooney w/ Joan Barthel Autobiography time!! This was an interesting read...I knew nothing about Rosemary Clooney except her songs and that George is her nephew. I didn't know she was married to big time actor Jose Ferrer and that her son is Miguel Ferrer, the guy on Crossing Jordan who I've always thought was attractive. I didn't know anything so this was fun, not knowing what was coming up!

44. Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now - Barry Miles I liked this one but I had a few problems with it. My main one was that Barry Miles, the author, talked about himself and his Indica Bookstore & Art Gallery waaaaay too much! I picked this book up to learn about Paul McCartney, not Barry Miles. And he insisted on giving everyone a biographical background. I now know more about Marianne Faithful and Mary Hopkin than I ever planned to. The book was 600-some pages and could easily have been half that! And then came the one page about Badfinger and how Paul wrote Come & Get It for them and they wanted to change it and he said no, do it my way. Miles wrote that it went to number one in the U.S. because of Paul's insistence and guess what? That's a lie! Badfinger NEVER had a #1 hit in America. So if he lied about that, what else wasn't true in this book???

45. The Tianic Disaster - Dave Bryceson My BOTM. This is a book I grabbed on a whim at the library. It focused on the Titanic disaster by reprinting the original newspaper articles from the British newpaper The Daily Sketch. It was so cool seeing the coverage and the pictures. I cried my eyes out through all the witness reports, though. I loved it so much I refused to take it back to the library and Collin had to agree to buy it for me for Christmas!!

46. Post Cards Fron The Boys - Ringo Starr A short book with a collection of 51 postcards sent to Ringo through the years from Paul, John & George. Very enjoyable and fun to look at!

47. April Fool Dead - Carolyn Hart Part of the Death on Demand series that I like so very very much. Max & Annie Darling are 2 of my favorite literary sleuths!

Movie-wise I was a total slacker because of TIVO. I'm hooked on Chuck, Samantha Who?, Pushing Daisies and Women's Murder Club. That cuts in on a lot of movie time.

MOVIES

153. Across The Universe Had to see it again - Collin & Justin hadn't seen it!

154. All The King's Men I wanted to see this really bad and I ended up liking it but I probably wouldn't watch it again. It was based on the novel which was loosely based on Huey Long and his death so many years ago. Sean Penn is an amazing actor and his campaign speeches will get you fired up! :D

155. Ratatouille This was SO stinking cute! I love that little rat! The short at the beginning, though, called Taken, is absolutely hysterical. My fave Pixar short so far!

156. Fun With Dick & Jane This was the original with Jane Fonda and George Segal. I had never seen it and Collin said I would like it...and I did. It was funny and you found yourself rooting for these upper-class criminals!

157. Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story Had to be seen. If just for the Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom references!

158. Help! I LOVE THIS MOVIE! Yeah it's cheesey and yeah it's all over the place but it focuses on Ringo and the other Beatles are stupid cute so what's not to love?

159. The Odd Couple Another original...Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau are two of my favorites and they were so adorable in this movie. I would watch this one again.

160. Keeping Mum Just edging out the competition for MOTM is this little British gem. I saw the preview months before...maybe even last year and wanted to see it then forgot about it until I was mucking about with our Netflix queue. Rowan Atkinson plays a straight non-Bean role and is great. Maggie Smith (another of my faves) plays a murderer just released from a mental ward and she becomes Atikinson's family's housekeeper. It's so funny!! Dark funny but FUNNY!

Another conversation in the Aura

2007-11-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Midnight At The Oasis by Maria Muldaur was playing and the line "send your camels to bed" came up.

Collin: Send your camel to bed....

Me: Wha?

Collin: Send your camel to bed....it's after midnight, send them to bed!

Me: Those poor camels, up til all hours...forced to work...

Collin: Oh, no, they're up partying. SEND your camels to bed, not LET them go to bed.

Me: Oh, gotcha

Collin: Yep, them camels, partying til all hours, shaking their humps....their humps...their lovely camel lumps....

Whoa!

2007-11-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kevin Dubrow, lead singer for the 1980s heavy metal band Quiet Riot that scored a hit with "Cum on Feel the Noize," was found dead in a Las Vegas home. He was 52. The cause was not immediately known.
A neighbor summoned police and paramedics Sunday to the house where he was pronounced dead, police and coroner's officials said.
There was no forced entry, and no suspicious circumstances were reported, police Officer Jose Montoya said Monday.
Quiet Riot was perhaps best known for its 1983 cover of "Cum on Feel the Noize." The song, featuring Dubrow's powerful, gravelly voice, appeared on the band's album "Metal Health" — which was the first by a metal band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
DuBrow recorded his first solo album in 2004, "In for the Kill," and the band's last studio CD, "Rehab," came out in October 2006.
"I can't even find words to say," Quiet Riot drummer Frank Banali wrote on his Web site. "Please respect my privacy as I mourn the passing and honor the memory of my dearest friend Kevin DuBrow."
Determination of the cause of death was pending an autopsy and toxicology results, Clark County coroner's spokeswoman Samantha Charles said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This is so sad - Kevin DuBrow was never a favorite of mine but I did just see him in concert a few months ago. He sounded good and he looked good...and I was too scared to ask for a picture with him. Now I'll never have the chance. My condolences to his family, friends and bandmates.

Conversation at the Hospital

2007-11-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

This took place while we were sitting in the pre-op area on Halloween, waiting for Dad to be taken for surgery. Somehow we got on the subject of being claustrophobic, which I am.

Me: When we were at the Bronco/Packer game I started to freak out when we left because the crush of people was so great. I honestly couldn't breathe.

Dad: Wuss!

Me: I'm not a wuss....it was scary.

Mom: You know what would be really scary? Being trapped in a chimney. (Dad & I look at her with confused eyes.) I mean, think about it, who would ever think to look for you in a chimney? Do you know how many people die by being trapped in chimneys?

Drama Queen Much?

2007-11-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

Few things upset me as much as a sunglasses tragedy.

I have uber-sensitive eyes and have to have my shades or I get nasty little headaches. Sadly, I have the worst luck with sunglasses. I'm constantly losing them, breaking them, scratching them but I've never had a shades death quite like this one:

Saturday when I got to work I parked with my car facing South. This is odd for me - 99.9% of the time my car will be facing North but that night I came in down a different row and parked the other way. On my first break I went to Albertsons. As I was pulling into my parking spot, facing the normal way, I saw something on the ground. Just as I was wondering what it was I heard the crunch of my tire hit it.

My thoughts flew a mile a minute: What was that? It looked like sunglasses. They looked like MY sunglasses. They couldn't be mine, I didn't even wear them tonight. But I was parked there, all backwards. They could have fallen out when I got my keys out. Oh, crap, don't be my sunglasses....

Sure enough, they were my shades, laying there in a heap of twisted plastic. I was so sad - I loved those sunglasses. They were big and shady and worked well as a makeshift hair pusher-backer. *sigh* So I scooped up the remains and unceremoniously threw them away.

Bummer.

Helter Skelter

2007-11-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Finally! Time for the end-of-month round up on my books and movies! :-)

BOOKS:

29. I Walked The Line - Vivian Cash w/ Ann Sharpsteen This was an interesting book, finally hearing Johnny Cash's first wife's side of the story. The middle of the book was all letters that she received from him while he was overseas in the Air Force and that got a tad tedious reading the same thing over & over again (how much he loved her, missed her, blah blah blah) but despite that it was a good read.

30. Wonderful Tonight - Pattie Boyd w/ Penny Junior This was SO interesting - you'd think that life being a wife of George Harrison & Eric Clapton would be romantic but it sure wasn't! Some of the stories she tells, especially about Clapton were unreal! I felt a lot of sympathy for Pattie Boyd when I was finished with the book.

31. Velvet Angel - Jude Deveraux I was biding my time until I could go buy Eric Clapton's book so I grabbed the fourth book in the Velvet Series to read...as always it was fun and romantic.

32. Serenity - Keith R.A. DeCandido The book of the movie - this was a fun read...I knew all the dialogue so I said a lot of it out loud but it was cool to get insight into the characters.

33. Clapton - The Autobiography - Eric Clapton At the end of this book I realized that I could never be friends with Eric Clapton...he's too into Eric but I guess that's why he is who he is. After reading Pattie Boyd's bio, I wanted to hear his side of things and to give him credit, he owned up to the crappy things he did. This was a good book, a cool insight into the music biz, especially in the 60's.

34. Wallis & Edward: Letters 1931-1937 - Michael Bloch The story of Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII always fascinated me. Their letters to each other show that they truly loved one another and what was done to them by the royal family was so sad...

35. The Heroin Diaries - Nikki Sixx w/ Ian Gittins The BOTM. Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue telling it like it is in the world of sex, drugs & rock and roll. This is an emotional book and Nikki tells it well...it's his diary for a year when he was at the height of his heroin addiction. It's pretty graphic and scary at times.

36. The Quickie - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge When I started this I wondered "Where can they go with this story?" but man what a ride! There's some big twists that you don't see coming and it kept me completely entertained while waiting to hear about Dad's surgery.

MOVIES

We got Tivo last month and that really made the movie-watching suffer.

142. Music & Lyrics I had wanted to see this pretty bad since it came out and I finally just broke down and bought it. This was such a cute movie!! It's one I'll probably know all the lines to at some point! "Pop face!"

143. Zodiac This was a long movie. But it was good. I love Mark Ruffalo and he wasn't disappointing. It's one of those movies that's when it's done makes me run upstairs and check out the real story on Wikipedia.

144. Ghosts of the Abyss We watched this at the IMAX before going to see the Titanic exhibit. The other 3 felt they didn't need to have watched it; I, on the other hand, loved it and would watch it again.

145. Fracture I saw this movie when it was in the theatre and wanted Collin to see it. It was just as good the 2nd time around and it was fun seeing Collin try and piece the puzzle together.

146. Blade Runner I had never seen this "classic" before so Collin popped it in for me. I didn't like it so much.

147. Across the Universe As stated in an earlier post, this is my new favorite movie. And the MOTM.

148. Michael Clayton Collin & I went to see this with Mom & Dad and while it was good, it moved very slowly. Tilda Swinton is excellent, however, at conveying some serious fear!

149. Sands of Oblivion The crap you watch when you like an actor. This was a made-for-TV movie from the Sci-Fi Channel and it was BAD! Adam Baldwin was the reason I made Collin Tivo it and even he couldn't help it be any better.

150. Hollywoodland This was good and sad. Ben Affleck did a really good job of playing George Reeves and Adrien Brody....always a good reason to watch a movie. :)

151. Balls of Fury Saw this at the $1 theatre...it wasn't as funny as I had hoped although Christopher Walken never fails to make me laugh. "I bid you toodles."

152. Fido I'll bet this was Collin's MOTM. :D This was an excellent movie even if it was about zombies. It was set in the 50's and it was bright and colorful and not chock full of people being eaten. I will definitely watch this one again.

Busy Girl

2007-11-02T07:40:00.000-06:00

I don't seem to post much anymore and I apologize. I'll be doing my end-of-month book & movie roundup next week...I left the book list at work and I've been off since Monday.

Monday night Mom & I went to the Broncos/Packers game at Mile High. We lost in overtime which in itself sucked but what was really bad was how many stinking Packer Fans (Or Facker Pans, as Mom called them) there were strewn about the stadium. Everywhere you looked there were Cheeseheads. Now I'm a Facker Pan, I love Brett Favre but the Broncos are where it's at and damn it, Mile High is OUR HOUSE! Now I understand completely Derek's rant last week on the Pod about the Steeler fans. Mom said the invasion of the Cheeseheads was worse. The guy who sat directly in front of me wore a Packers cap with a styrofoam deer wearing a cheesehead on his head - I couldn't see anything and thank God he was nice enough to realize that and remove it during plays but still! And then, the worst thing for me was after we lost, walking down the the tunnel the Facker Pans all started their "Go Pack go!" cheer, befouling my stadium!!!!!! I was incensed! Oh! And the real worst part? It was like 60-some degrees so even though I brought my awesome Broncos scarf that Kathleen made me, it was too warm to wear it! :( Although I have been wearing it around town!

And then....Wednesday Dad had a gastric bypass done. Everything went smoothly, "boring" as the doctor said, and he's in the hospital for 3-4 days so Mom & I have been there quite a bit this week. While we were waiting for news we got to talking to a lady who was sitting next to us and it turned out she was waiting for a friend who was having brain surgery! He had been in surgery since 6am and at 1:30pm the dr came out and said they were half done but everything was going well. After the dr left that poor woman burst into tears and made Mom and I cry, too! I felt so bad for her and I hope her friend's surgery went well. Dad's all laid up in a huge private room and doing well...he's got his giant crossword puzzle book so he's good and I'm on my way to see him now.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

BAH Boston

2007-10-29T03:23:00.001-06:00

Whatever.

Stupid Red Sox.

I still love the Rockies. They had a tremendous season!

Insert whine here

2007-10-25T16:06:00.000-06:00

So for like four years I've had a bad tooth. Waves of pain would come and go...I would combat it with Listerine and all would be good for a few months. Collin's been bugging me to get it looked at but I have a phobia about dentists...I'm positive they'll kill me. Needless to say I've just been living with this bad tooth.

It's the next to last tooth on the right side...it's been falling apart slowly. It ain't pretty.

SO! About three weeks ago my tooth was hurting and Collin decided it was time and made an appointment for me with his dentist, Dr. Webb. He said everyone there was super nice, very cool and definitely did not have murder in the hearts or their dentist drills. He said the appointment would be for x-rays and cleaning only and that they would just let me know what needed to be done with my bad tooth. I could handle that.

Dana, the dental assistant (she was sooooo sweet) started looking around and taking x-rays. She was aghast when she saw my back tooth and said it would need to come out. She brought Dr. Webb in and he looked at it and said, "It needs to come out. Wanna do it now?"

???????

They were serious. Suddenly I was getting numbing shots and shuffled over to another room to get the tooth yanked. OH MY GOD! I was shaking from head to toe, I couldn't control it. Dr. Webb started probing around, "becoming one with my tooth" he said with a smile. It was decided that the tooth was so far gone there was nothing to grab a hold of in the middle so he had to split the tooth and pull it out in two pieces.

Out came the drill.

During the extraction of the first half I felt pain so they gave me 2 more shots -- that made 6 all together. The 2nd half came out without a hitch and when the Dr said "all done" I replied, "Seriously?" So it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and now I have nothing else to worry about. I just took a vicadin and I'm feeling no pain.

But a big thank you and sloppy kiss to Collin for sticking with me while I was scared to death!

Hey Jude

2007-10-23T16:45:00.000-06:00

I can't wait for my end-of-month roundup to talk about this movie. Last week I saw Across The Universe and I do believe it is now my new favorite movie. It was amazing - visually, musically, story-wise - it was simply brilliant.

Director Julie Taymor used Beatles tunes to tell the story of Jude & Lucy and it was masterfully done. With the exception of Evan Rachel Wood (and the 3 cameos which I won't ruin the suprise of) I wasn't familiar with any of the actors but ended up loving them all. They all sing the songs in the movie and they're all great. Dana Fuchs, who plays Sadie, is my new musical hero. She's unbelievable...she sounds like Janis Joplin reincarnated. I highly recommend following the link to her site and watching her live video of Helter Skelter - she'll blow you away!

And GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!! Seriously.

Aw, hell yeah,baby!

2007-10-16T00:36:00.000-06:00

ROCKIES WIN! ROCKIES WIN!

Whoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Famous Faces

2007-10-11T17:33:00.000-06:00

Shanon sent me a link today where you can upload a picture of yourself and see what famous person you resemble. I ended up resembling Maura Tierney, which is a nice compliment....

I did Collin's just for fun and he was Jack Osbourne - ha!

So try it out and let me know who you resemble!!

You can be blase about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic!

2007-10-08T05:17:00.000-06:00

Saturday, Collin, Derek, Heather and I went to Denver to see the Museum of Nature & Science's exhibit of the Titanic artifacts. I was so excited to go and to see who I would "be." What they do as you're entering the exhibit is present you with a "boarding pass" of an actual passenger. At the end, you get to see if you lived or died. My friend Christina & her sister went up a couple months ago and got to be Molly Brown and Madeline Astor. Just by looking at the names, they knew they survived.

My name was Mrs. Edith Peacock and I was traveling with my two small children, Treatseall and Alfred. My husband had arrived in America earlier but I had become ill and was unable to travel with him, hence our passage on Titanic. We were 3rd class passengers, steerage. I knew I was doomed.

Heather's passenger, also a 3rd class traveler, was a Swedish woman, Alma Palsson, and she had 4 children. They were going to America to join her husband in Chicago.

Collin was a 2nd class gentleman, Edgar Andrew, an 18 year old from Buenos Aires who was traveling to attend his brother's wedding in New Jersey.

Derek was a 1st class gentleman, a renowned tennis player going to attend Harvard. A Richard Williams II. Because of this little fact, Derek spoke in a "Harvard accent" most of the time.

The tour of the artifacts was cool...they had things like money (including a bill printed in Colorado Springs! Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures.), bottles, glasses, china, etc. They had a large piece of the hull and a piece of the ship that we were allowed to touch. That was exciting for me! I've touched the Titanic!!!

I was hoping for more artifacts, pictures and stories, but what I saw was great. At the end of the tour was a list of all passengers separated into the deceased and the survivors. Derek was the only one out of us four who lived. He said, "Of course I survived. I had a tee time I simply could not miss." If you follow the link about his guy, you'll find some interesting facts about Mr. Williams, including how he was threatened by a steward for "damaging White Star Line property" while trying to save a trapped passenger. This gave rise to the scene in the movie where Rose & Jack are reprimanded after breaking through a door.

All in all it was money well spent and I would go again. And I was very proud of myself for not breaking into movie lines at every turn!

Holy Holliday!

2007-10-02T00:22:00.000-06:00

Can you believe that Rockies game? Holy cow! Now that was exciting! I'm not usually a big baseball fan but I always root for the home team and that was a great way to end that game! Now I haven't seen the highlights - I'm at work and had to follow the game on ESPN.com but I'm told there's a little controversy over whether or not Holliday actually touched the plate. I'll watch SportsCenter in the morning.

Anyway, on to the end of month festivities: Books & Movies! Once again, my reading was sparse.

27. The Golden Torc - Julian May This is the 2nd book in the Pliocene Exile series and it's very good. I've got two more to read after this one.

28. Mysteries of the Unexplained - Time/Life I love books like this and that's why this is the BOTM. Despite being published in 1982, it still had some great stories about ghosts, UFO's, disappearances, zombies, etc. Very entertaining reading.

However I stayed on par with my movie watching:

125. To Catch A Thief Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in a stylish thriller. This was a fun one.

126. Titanic I was working through the shutdown at work which meant I was the only one on my floor so I brought Jordyn's portable DVD player and some movies to keep me occupied. This was the first one - Collin had just bought the special edition for me with the alternate ending and all the special features. I can never get enough of this movie.

127. Because I Said So 2nd movie of the shutdown. Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore...I had heard bad things about this one but ended up really enjoying it.

128. The Patriot Movie #1 of Day 2 of the shutdown. I hadn't seen this movie since it came out and had forgotten how good it was. Jason Isaacs as the bad guy is too wonderful...he's got great bad guy eyes! And Adam Baldwin as the traitor...I was so disappointed in him! :)

129. Driving Lessons Movie #2 of Day 2. Third time I'd watched this one and I enjoyed it just as much.

130. Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire I was still in my HP obsession phase and decided that this one might be my favorite. At least until HP & OOP comes out on DVD.

131. Hot Fuzz Dad was bored and asked to watch this. Who am I to say no?

132. After The Thin Man I loved this movie. William Powell and Myrna Loy were too stinking cute! I love their expressions and the dialogue...and all the drinking! And Jimmy Stewart was so young and SO good looking!

133. Cellular We had had this one from Netflix for a while and finally got around to watching it. It ended up being very good - we were tense throughout and rooting for Chris Evans. Jason Statham as the bad guy helps too!

134. Transporter 2 After seeing Jason Statham in Cellular, Collin decided I needed to see this one with him as the good guy. It's a "suspension of belief" movie but a lot of fun and a lot of action. The crazy chick with the guns and great shoes was awesome.

135. 3:10 To Yuma My MOTM. Mom and I went to the theatre to see this remake with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale and loved it. Can you get any cooler than Christian Bale?

136. An American Haunting This one was disappointing. It didn't scare me at all and I figured out the secret at the very beginning.

137. Next of Kin Lord, the movies you watch because you like an actor. Adam Baldwin was the bad guy in the cheese-packed Patrick Swayze vehicle. It was so incredibly cheesy I would have turned it off if AB hadn't been in it. Liam Neeson as a hillbilly is some weird casting....

138. A Chorus Line I love Terrance Mann, I can't say it enough. I loved him as Rum Tum Tugger in Cats and as Javare in Les Miserables but as Larry, the stage manager in this movie, he's adorable!! I loved this one so much I plan on watching it again this weekend!

139. Unaccompanied Minors Jordyn talked us into watching this and we went in hesitant. She's steered us wrong before (Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties) but this one was great. Very cute, good dialogue, three of the Kids In The Hall (including Kevin McDonald of Tallest fame) playing the "guards in the hall," and a good message. We're actually going to buy this one.

140. Crank If not for the Christian Bale western, this movie would have been tops last month. This was a fun ride, watching Jason Statham try to stay alive. Dwight Yoakum was a surpise cast member but he was awesome and Amy Smart, never one of my faves, was entertaining.

141. Clue Madeline Kahn was a genius in anything she did and as Mrs White, she didn't fail. Her line "I hated her so much that flames...flames...from the side of my face...." has always been a staple of mine. Maybe the movie isn't great but I love the cast - Tim Curry and Michael McKean especially. And the end line "I'm going home and sleep with my wife" always make me smile.

Go Rockies!!!

Happy Creepy Anniversary

2007-09-30T00:05:00.000-06:00

On October 3rd of 2005, I posted the following right after it happened:

Sunday morning Prescilla & I went on our usual 5:30am jaunt around the lake. At this time of year it's quite dark and when we run into other walkers or joggers it's usually a shock because we don't see them coming. Yesterday morning was no exception; we ran into (not literally!!) a kid who looked to be about 20-21 walking towards us with crazy curly fly-away blonde hair, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his denim jacket and a petulant look on his face. He was really staring both of us down. I usually don't get freaked out if we meet anyone in the dark - just say "good morning" and be on my way - but this kid freaked us both out. We kept looking over our shoulders after he passed. There was just something wrong about the vibe he emitted. After our little creepy run-in, we rounded the bend by the tennis courts. Suddenly I felt a blast of warm air like I was in front of a space heater. Then it was gone. A few steps later, the sensation returned. "Do you feel that warm air?" Prescilla asked. "Yeah," I answered in relief, glad it wasn't just me going crazy. It was a huge difference from the normal temperature and it lasted for about 2 minutes. Then it went away. I decided that it was from the jets of the alien spacecraft that dropped off that kid as it landed. Prescilla just laughed at me. But then on the east side of the lake we saw something green glowing on the waters surface. There was no one around doing any early fishing, just this odd green blob glowing on the lake. I told her that was residue from when the alien morphed into the human kid we had passed. She didn't take to that idea very well. But it makes sense to me! Maybe the pulsing and rippling that's happening in my temple right now is some sort of alien mind control.....

So, tonight, just a few days away from being the exact anniversary of that weird happening, a co-worker of mine, Scott, went walking with me around the neighborhood. It was about 11:45pm and we're walking towards the lake and we feel a blast of warm air. He wondered aloud where that came from and I proceeded to tell him the above story. Then the lake came into view and damned if there wasn't a glowing green glob floating by the rocks.

"Oh my God, look," I cried, pointing it out. We stopped and peered down at it then I noticed there were two more over by the dock.

"Wanna go see what they are," he asked. I agreed then he said, as we're walking towards the lake, "You realize that we're like the typical stupid white people in the horror movies who go looking at what they shouldn't."

Well, we got down there and we're still not quite sure what they were. They were shaped like pellets and they glowed a bright green color...it almost looked like they had little skeletons inside them but it might have been my over-active imagination. They were bobbing along in the water and at first we thought they may have been lures for night fishing but there was no one around and they weren't attached to a line or anything.

It was just plain weird.

Funny Stuff

2007-09-25T08:20:00.000-06:00

This picture cracks me up!

I'd be crying too if I had to look at Mathieu Schnieder. :)

LOL

2007-09-20T17:41:00.000-06:00

This was the first Calvin & Hobbes cartoon I ever read and it still makes me laugh out loud.

Enjoy!

Metal Mania

2007-09-18T15:22:00.000-06:00

So...last weekend, Christina & I traveled down to Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico for Metal Mania at the Sky City Casino/Hotel. The mania consisted of Quiet Riot and Skid Row. It was a 6 hour drive, give or take 30 minutes and as we pulled into the parking lot, who do we see but Dave Gara, Skid Row's latest (and in my opinion, BEST) drummer. He was friendly and talkative and took the time to take a picture with Christina. When she reached out to shake his hand, he grabbed her and said, "Give me a hug!"

Now this hotel/casino was pretty small and it was awesome to sit in the lobby and watch these rock stars saunter by. The concert was great and loud - we were in the front row right by the speakers so we were incredibly deaf by the end. But! Our position meant great pictures! We'll start with Quiet Riot:

New guitarist Alex Grossi on the left and original lead singer Kevin DuBrow on the right. That man can still sing - I was never a big Quiet Riot fan but he really impressed me! Now I know you're looking at his suit and saying, is that velvet leopard print? Well.....

Yes, it is! How 80's is he still? And sometimes I felt like I was watching Rod Stewart...it's the hair.

One good story from the QR show - in the front row center was a huge man and when the show started and everyone was throwing metal horns around, this guy started flipping the band off with both fingers. He continued it throughout the first 3 songs and finally security told him to knock it off. He replied, 'It's called free speech!' Whatever...he kept doing it so at the end of the 4th or 5th song, drummer Frankie Banali got out from behind his kit with a $20 in his hand, grabbed the mic and told the guy "Here's your ticket money back, get the fuck outta here!" It was great - but this guy was so big (easily 6'5", 250) that it took 4 guards to drag him off!!

Now! On to the reason for our trip: Skid Row!!!!

Bassist Rachel Bolan - he was on the opposite side of the stage as I was, hence the crookedness.

Snake Sabo - my favorite. He was right in front of me so I got a lot of shots of him throughout the night. This is my best shot of him, I think....

Johnny Solinger on lead vocals. A MySpace friend told me this was my "money shot."

But this is what I consider my best shot. Scotti Hill on lead guitars...on fire!!!

So that's the show...afterwards in the hotel we got to talk to all of the band members with the exception of Kevin DuBrow (he walked by us numerous times but looked so untouchable that I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him) and Snake & Scotti (they just never came down). But all the other guys, including Snake's guitar tech Brett who moonlights as the singer for Kreep, were awesome and took time to talk to us and take pictures. If you wanna see more, go to my MySpace and click on "pics" under my picture.

Meet Annaclaire

2007-09-13T07:03:00.000-06:00

On September 1st, my friend Shanon gave birth to a baby girl named Annaclaire Jeanmarie. She weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz and she's absolutely beautiful.

Here she is with her big sister Elena:

And getting to know her Daddy, Chad:

See how pretty she is? Congratulations to Shanon, Chad & Elena on the perfect new addition to their family!

And Another...and another....

2007-09-11T22:07:00.000-06:00

Yet something else I snagged from Kathleen's always fun site:

The One Thing

1. If you could recommend only one book for others to read, what would it be and why? Yikes! I don't usually read deep, profound books. I always read for my amusement but what amuses me varies so I go through phases like romance, mystery, history, biography, etc etc etc. But! I suppose if I had to recommend one it would have to be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone just to get others obsessed with HP like I am!

2. What is your one favorite song? Why? New Generation by Skid Row. This song oozes power and flippin' cool guitar riffs. Plus Johnny's voice is incredible.

3. What is the one thing that is the biggest time saver in your life? Microwave Oven. Seriously. I don't cook and this little gadget has kept me fed over the years.

4. What is one gadget you couldn't live without and why? iPod. I'm at a loss when I don't have music going and at work before Collin gave me his I was going nutters!

5. If you could recommend one film for others to see, what would it be and why? The Grass Is Greener with Cary Grant and Robert Mitchum. One of the cutest and romantic films ever made. It's always good for a laugh when you're feeling down and don't have that Care Bear book handy!!

6. What is the one cure or preventative measure you believe in and for what ailment? Swishing Listerine over toothaches. It works and I don't question it!

7. What is the best advice you've ever received and from whom? One day I was down - seriously depressed - and my friend Christina said "You bring everyone else down when you're down." I've always remembered that and so now, even if I feel down, I keep a smile on my face and that alone usually helps improve my mood.

8. If you could introduce the entire world to just one band/musical artist, who would it be and why? Badfinger. I love them and everyone else should, too! Their music is up and fun and genius...

9. If you could convince others you meet or know of one thing, what would it be? That Pete Ham was the best musician to ever live.

10. What do you believe is one of the greatest ways of wasting money and how do you combat it? Wasting money, for me, is easiest on movies and music. I combat it by going to the library and checking out what I want to hear or see and that way, if it's good enough for me to watch or listen to again, I know it's worth the money.

Stolen Fun

2007-09-06T06:44:00.000-06:00

Found this over on Kathleen's site and it looked fun. The idea is to answer the pre-colon words/phrases using one word.

Yourself: Blonde
Your partner: Cute
Your hair: Blonde
Your mother: Funny
Your father: Genius
Your favorite item: Pets
Your dream last night: Weird
Your favorite drink: Jazz
Your dream car: Mustang
Dream home: Now
The room you are in: Maverick
Your fear: bees
What you are great at: writing
Where you want to be in 10 years: married
Who you hung out with last night: Collin
You're not: Smart
One of your wish list items: Books
The last thing you did: Talked
You are wearing: Capris
Your favorite weather: Gloomy
Your favorite book: Mummy
Last thing you ate: Chocolate
Your life: There
Your mood: Anxious
Your best friend: Cool
What are you thinking about right now: Titanic
Your car: Ion
What are you doing at the moment: Watching
Relationship status: FUN!
What is on your t.v: Nada
When is the last time you laughed: Today

August Ends...

2007-09-01T22:24:00.001-06:00

And a new list begins. Here's my books for August - again very slim:

25. Anchored In Love - John Carter Cash: This was a good book chronicling the life of June Carter Cash written by her son with Johnny Cash. It was interesting but too short.

26. The Many-Colored Land - Julian May: Collin's so excited that I started this series and I am, too, now that I started it. It's a sci-fi series and it's wonderful!! It's my Book Of The Month, as well.

And the movies....

105. Almost Famous - I had only seen this once and Christina picked it to watch one day. I had forgotten just how much I loved this one! Jason Lee as a rockstar is too cute!

106. Pan's Labyrinth - A great film by Guillermo Del Toro - very dark, very beautiful.

107. Hot Fuzz - Made Justin watch this one...Just as good the 2nd time as it was the first!

108. Driving Lessons - This is a cute little coming-of-age movie starring Rupert Grint who plays Ron in the Harry Potter movies. It was nice to see him not being Ron for once and he did a good job. It co-starred Laura Linney as his religious-nut mom and Julie Walters who plays his mom in the HP films.

109. 40-Year Old Virgin - Had to watch this one again...too funny!

110. Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone - I started watching all the movies over once I saw the lastest one. Funny how young the kids were...

111. The Simpson's Movie - The Movie of the Month hands down. This film was hilarious!!! I couldn't stop laughing - they can get away with so much more in a movie than they can on TV and what they did was awesome! Not enough Mr. Burns for my taste but Homer made up for it.

112. Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets - I love the flying car sequence.

113. Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban - Mmm...Gary Oldman....

114. Walk The Line - Dad was laid up after his ankle surgery so I took this movie over for him to watch...he loved it. Of course.

115. Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire - Yeah, this is a good one...I love the ball sequence with Jarvis Cocker playing and then there's Ron's "tuxedo."

116. Mean Girls - I almost didn't want to ever see this but Christina said I should and I agree with her taste in movies 99% of the time so I watched it and I loved it. I'm not the biggest Lindsay Lohan fan but she was good and I love Rachel McAdams as the lead bitch. "I know, right?"

117. Driving Lessons - Christina needed to see it. That's a good enough reason to watch it again, right?

118. Hot Fuzz - Now we had to make Christina watch it. 3rd time was just as good!!!

119. Employee Of The Month - Hey Derek - I LOVE DANE COOK! This is a funny movie despite the fact that Andy Dick is in it. Jessica Simpson isn't even annoying!!

120. Snatch - It had been years since I watched this - I had forgotten how hilarious this is! Brad Pitt - genius!

121. Live Free Or Die Hard - This was a fun movie. I really like Bruce Willis and taking out a helicoptor with a car? AWESOME!

122. Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 - At World's End - Mom hadn't seen this yet and was dying to see it and who am I to say no to Captain Jack??

123. The Simpson's Movie - Christina wanted to see it so we went. There were so many lines I wanted to remember and can't so I'll have to see it at least 10 more times!! Ha!

123 1/2. Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix - It's numbered as a 1/2 because after The Simpson's I dragged Christina into the theatre next door to see about 30 minutes of it - yeah, we snuck in. But I wanted to see Ron and Bellatrix and the fight in the Dept Of Mysteries. :D

124. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie - Funny little movie - weird in spots like the show...I like Frylock's voice...

Oh Holy Jesus!

2007-08-29T03:50:00.000-06:00

Prescilla & I left for our walk Sunday night at 11:30 and we went out the back doors like we always do...As I was opening the door I thought I saw something scurry to hide behind it and I thought it was a mouse so when I walked out I looked and there was a spider as big as my hamster! I'm not joking! There is no hyberpole whatsoever in that statement!! I screamed and jumped down all the steps (there's about 5 steps) before Prescilla even knew what was going on! When she saw it she freaked out and ran down.

When we came back, she was shining her flashlight around and she didn't see it so she opened the door and the thing had been hiding underneath the door and it scurried out and I screamed "Thereitis, thereitis, thereisis!!!!" and I've never seen her move so fast! She shut the door on me so I yelled at her to open the left door and I jumped in! Then we looked at it through the glass....it's HUGE!!!! I swear the body is the size of Sam (my hamster) and it has these long-ass legs and it's wood brown...yuck!!!!!

Then there was another spider just inside the doors with a quarter-sized body! When she pointed that out I pretty much ran down the hall screaming. Afterwards for about an hour I felt things crawling on me and I was seeing things out of the corner of my eye which I was sure were armies of giant spiders!!! I tried to look up guides for spiders so I could identify it but I couldn't handle all of them so I had to quit.

It was AWFUL!

History Time

2007-08-26T20:53:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure if I've ever really talked about my fascination with the Romanov family on here before. If you know me well, you know that the whole story has captivated me since I was small and I have numerous books on the Romanovs and Rasputin. If you didn't know, well...now you do. :)

So! A little back story - in the early hours of July 17, 1918, the last Tsar, Nicholas, and his family were shot down by the Bolsheviks in a horrid way. In 1976, the remains of all but the heir Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria, the 3rd daughter, were recovered. It wasn't until 1991 that these remains were excavated and reburied in a St Petersburg cathedral.

But last month, Sergei Plotnikov, a 46-year-old builder who was part of a team from an amateur history group who spent free summer weekends looking for the lost Romanovs, stumbled across a small hollow covered with nettles in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Excavation revealed bones, a dress fragment, bullets of different calibers and pieces of Japanese ceramic bottles that were used to carry the sulphuric acid poured over the Romanov corpses*.

It was determined that the bones belong to a 10-13 year old boy and an 18-23 year old woman which fit the ages that Alexei & Maria were when they were murdered. So far the remains have not been buried with their family because the Russian Orthadox Church apparently wants to be "extra sure" these are the Romanov children.

This find pleases me and I have no doubt it's Alexei & Maria. Now the pretenders** can stop pretending at let these poor tortured souls have some peace.

* = the bones discovered (both the most recent and the others) showed evidence that after their corpses were thrown into the ground, the Bolsheviks poured acid on them and burned them. A most undignified ending for a diginified family.

** = Many women over the years have claimed to be both Grand Duchess Anastasia and Grand Duchess Maria, saying that they somehow survived the bloodshed of July 17th. Also Alexei Poutziato, Joseph Veres, Heino Temmet, Michael Goleniewski and Vassili Filatov have all claimed to be Tsarevich Alexei. Now these people have no leg to stand on.

Up on Current Events

2007-08-21T21:34:00.000-06:00

I was sitting in the break room today with Prescilla and she was telling me a story about some poor dog whom police had found with a knife stuck through his head, just above his eye. They took him to a vet and emergency surgery was performed; the dog was lucky cuz the knife hadn't speared his brain or anything and now he's fine and looking for a home. Prescilla said, "Who would ever do something like that to a poor little dog?" My answer?

"Michael Vick."

I'm not going to go into a whole rant about him except to say he's a sick, twisted man who deserves what he gets and I hope the NFL bans him from ever playing again.

Conversation in an Aura

2007-08-20T07:19:00.000-06:00

On the radio: Tom Petty's Runnin' Down A Dream

TP: I put the pedal down to make some time...(Collin picked that time to really speed up.)

Me: Just cuz Tom Petty told you to go fast doesn't mean you have to.

Collin: I always do whatever Tom Pettey says.

Me: Oh yeah?

Collin: Yeah...I don't go 'round there no more...

Whew-ee!

2007-08-13T08:26:00.001-06:00

So I found out last night that there won't be layoffs at all in the Colorado Springs plant so my job is safe for now!! yay!

I know I usually save movie reviews for my end-of-month dealies but Friday night Collin, the kids & I saw The Simpsons Movie and I laughed my ass off! My face was tired from laughing after the first 30 minutes, it was that funny! I loved it and can't wait to see it again! If you feel like laughing and The Simpsons is your kind of humor, GO SEE IT!!

Hope you all had fine weekends!!

Omigod

2007-08-08T20:42:00.000-06:00

OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod
OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod
OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod
OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod

***okay deep breath***

Rumors run rampant throughout my workplace but this one has scared the shit out of me! Apparently 300 layoffs are happening next Wednesday morning (globally, not just our plant) and my area is slated to get "hit hard." I'm soooo freaked out. I start looking at my co-workers wondering if they would go before me and what can I do that they can't?

The truth is that anyone can do what I do, including train people and type up the passdown. That worries me - I'm not irreplacable although I'd like to be. One shiny star in this mucky sky is that I am the only buddy trainer who is certified to certain machines so...maybe I'll be okay.

Knocking on wood and pointing like Fred as I type this, I have never been laid off or fired from a job and I surely do not want to start now. My initial panic has subsided but there is an undercurrent of stress that is permeating everything I do this weekend....

Pray for me!!

A Month Of Harry

2007-08-06T06:11:00.000-06:00

It's that time again: Harry Potter Mania Month! With the new movie and book out, I was immersed in HP Land and happy as a clam to be there. Sadly, once again, my reading suffered but the movies more than made up for it:

BOOKS:
21. The Firefly Companion Volume 2: I got so heavy into the Firefly series again and decided I needed a companion book. I found one but it was Vol. 2 - I bought it anyway and enjoyed the hell out of it! It contains the complete scripts for the later episodes which was fun to read!

22. The Firefly Companion Volume 1: Yes, I read them out of order...but it was still shiny fun!

23. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Of COURSE this is the BOTM! I loved this book even though I spent the last part of it in tears! I'm planning on re-reading the whole series soon!

24. The Serenity Visual Guide - The script to the movie. Yay!!

MOVIES:

87. Serenity - I had to watch this again after reading the script!

88. Serenity - I am not obsessed!

89. The One - I love Jet Li and what could be better than cool cars, cool music and multiple Jet Li's???

90. Monty Python & The Holy Grail - Hadn't seen this one in a while - always funny!

91. Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde - This was a horrible rendition of the book...there was really no reason to call this movie Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde...bad bad bad. The only reason I watched it (and forced Collin to) was Adam Baldwin.

92. Full Metal Jacket - Great movie - I loved Animal Mother!!

93. Slither - This is a fun, if gross, movie with Nathan Fillion.

94. The Illusionist - Ooo! I loved this movie! LOVED IT!!!

95. Arsenic & Old Lace - Collin had never seen this one and I had...about 5 times. I was pleased to see how well he enjoyed it.

96. Ghost Rider - Not a bad movie. Great effects.

97. Evil Eyes - Yet another Adam Baldwin flick where he was the only good thing about it.

98. Hairspray - LOVED IT!! So fun and colorful and the music was great!

99. Premonition - So disappointed in this movie. I was really looking forward to it and ended up miffed at the end.

100. Hot Fuzz - Damn funny movie from the guys that did Shaun Of The Dead. Seriously funny.

101. Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix - My MOTM. I had already heard from Kathleen that they hadn't followed the book so I went only to enjoy it as a movie and ended up loving it. The effects are great and I love all the actors - Imelda Staunton and Helena Bonham-Carter especially!!

102. Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix (IMAX) - Two days in a row. Enjoyed it just as much the 2nd time around except we were in the 2nd row and the fight scene in the Dept of Mysteries was in 3-D which made me sick.

103. The Prince & Me - An okay movie that I popped in to while away the time.

104. Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire - It took Collin and I 2 hours of driving around town to track this DVD down. But it was worth it!

Conversation at Fargo's Pizza Palace

2007-07-28T23:06:00.000-06:00

Here's the conversation that happened at the bar while we were waiting for our cake. Keep in mind I worked at this place for ten years and dealt with shit like this on a regular basis:

Bartender: Hi!

Old Man: Do you have Dr. Pepper?

B: We have Mr Pibb

OM: Do you have Dr Pepper?

B: No, we have Mr Pibb.

OM: (after a pause) Do you have Dr Pepper?

B: (still very calm and polite): No, we have Mr Pibb which is pretty much the same-

OM: Don't be a smartass and answer my question! Do you have Dr Pepper?

B: No, sir but we do have Mr Pibb.

And the guy just walked away pissed! I was shocked! The old guy was such a dick!!! What do you think?

Conversation in a Vue Part 3

2007-07-20T16:03:00.000-06:00

Scene: At the stoplight at Powers & Constitution. A truck pulls up next to us and...

Dad: Why the hell would you wear a leather coat when it's 80-frickin' degrees outside?

Mom: He thinks he looks cool.

Dad: Well he doesn't look cool!

Me: He's actually really creepy looking.

Dad: You're right, he's creepy. Karen, I dare you to roll down your window and tell him he's a creepy looking guy. I'll give you $5.

Mom: I'll just start out with 'I'm getting $5 to tell you that you're a creepy looking guy. I'll give you $2.50!'

Exploding Death!

2007-07-20T15:55:00.000-06:00

Yes, I have been lax in my posting duties. It seems to be going around work places that they need to keep us bloggers from blogging. So just like Derek, when I get home I don't think about posting. But - here I am! And I'm back with a bang. Literally. If you're squeamish about death and/or exploding body parts, please to not read any farther.

So last week a guy that works where I do passed away. I didn't know him, had never met him - he worked the day shift in another area. The area where he worked happened to be the same area where my ex-supervisor Nancy works and this story comes from her.

She went to lunch last week with her boss, leaving Billy alone in his area at his desk. When they returned, Billy was gone but there was "red stuff" all over his desk, the floor and in the trash can. Nancy said it looked like he had been eating salsa and puked. She took it upon herself to clean it up since he was gone.

Tunrs out it wasn't salsa infused puke. Billy's liver exploded and he puked up blood and pieces of his liver. He drove himself home where his wife took him to the hospital but he didn't make it. He was only 45 with children and grandchildren (1 due in Oct) - it's a very sad story but also a pretty horrible one. As Nancy put it, "I didn't know I was cleaning up death."

The Month of Movies

2007-07-03T07:31:00.000-06:00

I suck lately at reading...3 books in the month of June...

18. Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett This is, by default, the BOTM. It was really good and funny but without all the regular Discworld characters I like to read about, although I did enjoy the ones he introduced in this book.

19. The 6th Target - James Patterson & Maxine Paetro I was so excited to read this book and was sadly disappointed. They threw too many plotlines at me at once and some of the ways they were resolved didn't seem to have a rhyme or reason to it. The ending was good, though.

20. Jingo - Terry Pratchett I'm not even finished with this one yet but I'm loving it!

So on to the movies. Get comfy cuz this list is loooongggg.....

63. All About Eve Classic! I love this movie, everything about it.

64. Waiting For Guffman This was funny in spots but not that group's funniest effort.

65. The Producers One of the MOTM - Zero Mostel & Gene Wilder are brilliantly hilarious! I never stopped laughing...

66. Shaun of the Dead 5th time I've seen that movie. One of the few zombie movies I actually enjoy.

67. While You Were Sleeping I can't count how many times I've seen this one. A great one to watch when you're in a mushy mood.

68. Rocketman One of Collin's picks. Cheesy but cute. I'd watch it again.

69. 12 Monkeys I fricking LOVE this movie. Brad Pitt is a total genius in this film. I want to learn his hand movements and use them on people while I'm talking! :)

70. Blazing Saddles Another classic. Justin had never seen this movie so we cultured him. he liked it.

71. Stir Crazy I had never seen this one, surprisingly. Yes, we had a Gene Wilder weekend. :)

72. The Producers (remake) Don't bother, unless you've never seen the original. I really like Matthew Broderick but Collin & I both agree he was way over the top in his performance.

73. Pirates of the Caribbean 3 My 2nd MOTM. I really liked this. I had heard bad things about it but really...how can you go wrong with multiple Jack Sparrows? :) And I loved the ending after the credits...

74. The Rundown My choice. Collin had never seen it and I liked this one. So did he.

75. The Haunting This movie had so much potential; great cast, scary house...but it really sucked. I write better dialogue in my cheesy stories I write for fun.

76. Knocked Up MOTM #3. Funny, funny, funny! Seth Rogen - he's a funny motherfucker. Leslie Mann - incredibly hilarious. Martin Starr is a plus in ANYTHING! Go see this movie!!! **Disclaimer** But only if you like crude humor.

77. Mr. Brooks The 4th MOTM. Ooo....I loved this movie. Kevin Costner has never been one of my faves but he was sooooo good...and William Hurt was totally my favorite character in the movie, followed closely by Dane Cook...he did an awesome job in a dramatic role. Go see this one, too!!!

78. Shrek The Third Weak. I was disappointed.

79. Strangers With Candy It had it's moments (Sarah Jessica Parker, the locker scene...) but the TV show is better.

80. Knocked Up See? Fricking funny! I saw it twice within a week!!!!

81. Waking Up Dead If you watch this movie, get ready to hear "fuck" A LOT!! It's a documentary on Phil Varone, the ex-Saigon Kick and Skid Row drummer. Interesting...

82. 1408 And here we have the 5th MOTM. Scary as hell, this movie. John Cusack is great and the scares are genuine. Makes you think, too.

83. Serenity My latest obsession. Collin & I got Christina hooked on Firefly so we rewatched the series then watched the movie. In fact, I'm watching it right now! :)

84. The Madness Of King George This was a good movie - sad, funny, heartwarming...

85. Breakdown An oldie but a goody with Kurt Russell.

86. Orange County This was a cute movie - Jack Black isn't featured enough, though.

So there you go. I told you I watched a buttload of movies! Hope you all have a great 4th of July!

Funny Story Time

2007-06-26T02:49:00.001-06:00

At least I think it's a funny story.

I was in the break room tonight at work, eating my popcorn and reading my book, when two co-workers, Chris & Monique, came in to eat. Monique's father, Pedro, is our custodian and he was also with them. Pretty soon I hear Pedro call my name and he starts to tell me this story:

"Last night I was walking up the sidewalk in front of the security building and all of a sudden here comes this little bunny rabbit, running like a bat out of hell, straight towards me! I just stopped because this little guy is running fast and I don't know what he's gonna do. At the last second, though, he swerved off to the side and just kept running like his life depended on it! But I was scared!"

"You were scared by a little bunny rabbit," Monique asked as we laughed.

"Yeah! I didn't know what he was gonna do and if he had run into me, he'd-a knocked himself out!"

Vacation Story Numero Uno

2007-06-23T21:15:00.000-06:00

It was first agreed that Collin would tell this story but he decided to allow me the privilege. So sit back, get comfy and ready yourself for: "The Tale Of The Pigs!"

Two weeks ago it was decided by my cousin Mark that he wanted to buy 2 pigs. I don't know why he thought this would be a good idea but he did indeed purchase two pigs, one male and one female. He built a pen out at my Grandma's house and housed the pigs there. When Collin & I arrived last Saturday at Grandma's house, she pointed the pigs out to us and said that two days after Mark had placed them in the pen, they had somehow managed to escape but Mark's dad, my Uncle Rex, was able to get them back into the pen by charming them with feed.

The next morning I was sitting on the couch talking to Grandma and Collin was gazing out the side window. "The pigs are gone," he said calmly. "What," I asked. Once again, very calmly, he said, "The pigs are gone." I got up and looked out the window; damned if he wasn't right! The side of the pen was open and the pigs were gone. He said he had seen them crossing the street and going into the neighbor's yard so he went outside to see if he could herd them back over.

I stayed inside talking to Grandma but fifteen minutes later there was no sign of Collin or the pigs so I went out to find him. He was still across the street and waved me over to help him. The across the street neighbors have a little farm with horses, chickens, goats, llamas and dogs. They were all freaking out about their unexpected visitors. Collin had chased them into the barn but they got out and were now terrorizing the dogs, who were thankfully behind a fence.

We went to herd them in the right direction but they took off towards the horse field. Luckily the horses were also behind a fence but they were quite interested in the pigs and were hanging their heads over the fence to watch as they ran away from us. The pigs finally slipped through a barbed wire fence into a running circle for the horses. Since it was empty we decided to leave them there and wait for Mark to retrieve his pigs.

Once back in Grandma's kitchen, however, we saw that the pigs had left the running circle and climbed into the field where the horses were. The pigs were running as fast as their piggy legs would carry them, followed closely by all the horses! We went back over to save the pigs and found them out of the field and in a mud hole. I asked Collin how you called to pigs and he just said, "Here, piggy, piggy, piggy!" That reminded me of the dream I had a while back where I was making a sow jump up and down by yelling "Pigga pigga pigga!" I tried that but to no avail.

We finally left the pigs in a pile of horse manure and let Mark deal with them. He ended up having to put them in a trailer, tying their legs to the inside of the trailer while he fixed the pen. So the pigs are fine and we have a weird little vacation story to tell!

God I Slack!

2007-06-20T23:33:00.000-06:00

It's just too hot to do anything. I blame the Sun.

Here's a list of unexpected things that popped up on our vacation. Some of these will be posted about later.

-Pigs
-Mustached Men in the Middle of Highway 9
-Slow bicyclists
-Collin screaming at slow bicyclists
-Giant watermelon Margaritas

If there's anything else I'll post about it later. I have been watching a slew of movies, though! Yay me! Hope you all are having a fine week!

If your life was a movie

2007-06-10T08:09:00.000-06:00

This was a survey on MySpace and I thought it was fun! Here goes:

F YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...
7. When you're finished tag some other people to do it!

Opening Credits:
This Love - Maroon 5

Waking Up:
All Things Considered - Yankee Grey

First Day at School:
Hideaway - Berlin

Falling in Love:
I'm Your Boogie Man - Rob Zombie

Fight Song:
Talk Dirty To Me - Poison

Breaking Up:
Disease - Skid Row

Prom:
That Thing You Do - The Wonders

Mental Breakdown:
Artificial Sweetener - No Doubt

Driving:
Keep Pushin' - REO Speedwagon

Flashback:
Sweetest Goodbye - Maroon 5

Getting Back Together:
Let Me Be The One - Def Leppard

Wedding:
The Way That You Love Me - Paula Abdul

Birth of Child:
Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt

Final Battle:
Bad Reputation - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Death Scene:
Octopus's Garden - The Beatles

Funeral Song:
Bluebird - Wings

End Credits:
Never Dance - Linda Eder

Interesting what songs come up. I'm not going to tag anyone - you want it, you got it!!

Slowly Getting Back

2007-06-03T21:15:00.000-06:00

I'm getting a little better at reading at work - I don't know why I'm so easily distracted these days...

13. The Stupidest Angel - Christopher Moore. This would have been the BOTM but something better came along. This is a funny, funny book that had me laughing out loud more times than I can count. "Screaming like a bunny in a blender" was my favorite line.

14. Innocent In Death - J.D. Robb. You can never go wrong with any book by J.D. Robb!

15. Brother Odd - Dean Koontz. I love the character of Odd Thomas. And very rarely can you not enjoy a Koontz book.

16. All About "All About Eve" - Sam Staggs. Book of the Month. Maybe Book of the Year. This book is the definitive bible about the classic movie All About Eve. It was wonderfully written and chock-full of andecdotes about the cast and people involved in making it.

17. Sole Survivor - Dean Koontz. I lent this book to a girl I work with and she gave it back the night I finished the previous book and I hadn't read it in years so I thought, why not cry my eyes out again?

Once again, I did much better with the movies:

54. Fracture - Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling were so good in this! I really enjoyed this one!
55. Spiderman 3 - Ooo, I liked this. I loved Topher Grace as Venom!!
56. Home Fries - Damn cute movie. I like Luke Wilson better than Owen!
57. Muriel's Wedding - I was disappointed in this one. I expect better from Toni Collette.
58. Lilo & Stitch 2 - This made me CRY!!!!
59. Hercules - "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle it. Have a nice day." Some of my favorite lines are from this Disney movie.
60. Stranger Than Fiction - I adore Emma Thompson. This was a cute cute movie!
61. American Dreamz - I really liked this one. A lot! I'm glad I bought it.
62. Monkey Business - All right, so I'm cheating. I had said a couple months ago that the MOTM had to be one I'd never seen before but none of them were as good as this classic. You can't go wrong with Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe!!

Hope you all had a great weekend and a spectacular Monday!

Time To Laugh

2007-05-28T21:48:00.000-06:00

In a conversation with my Dad the other day he mentioned that somewhere, someone had made a list of the funniest films ever and that Animal House topped the list. We were both shocked - we could come up with funnier movies than that off the top of our head. Not that that movie wasn't funny but best comedy of ALL TIME? Questionable. I found this list of AFI's Top 100 comedies and decided to share it with you. My comments are in red italics.

1. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) I love Marilyn Monroe, I love Jack Lemmon, I love this movie but #1? I'm not so sure...
2. TOOTSIE (1982) Cute movie but not worthy of #2.
3. DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964) I tried to watch this last year and fell asleep. I might have just been tired. I'll have to give it another try.
4. ANNIE HALL (1977) I haven't seen this since I was 6. I need to see it aagin.
5. DUCK SOUP (1933) Never seen
6. BLAZING SADDLES (1974) This movie has some of the best lines ever! "Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!" is my favorite.
7. M*A*S*H (1970) Funny, this movie depressed me. Maybe I need to see it again.
8. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) I started to watch this one night but I was sick and fell asleep. I love Claudette Colbert's name. :)
9. THE GRADUATE (1967) Go ahead and holler in indignation - I've never seen this.
10. AIRPLANE! (1980) Funny funny funny.
11. THE PRODUCERS (1968) Collin has this movie but I've never watched it.
12. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935) Never seen it.
13. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) OMG! I adore this movie! This was the one that Dad thought should be #1.
14. BRINGING UP BABY (1938) I love this movie! Cary Grant is SO adorable and I love tha madcap-ness with Katherine Hepburn.
15. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) Look at that! Cary & Katherine together again! You can't go wrong!
16. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) Never seen it.
17. THE ODD COUPLE (1968) Why have I never seen this movie? Jack Lemmon & Walter Mattheau are so CUTE!
18. THE GENERAL (1927) Never seen it.
19. HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) It's in the Netflix queue.
20. THE APARTMENT (1960) Never seen it.
21. A FISH CALLED WANDA (1988) K-k-k-Ken is c-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me....great movie.
22. ADAM'S RIB (1949) Never seen it
23. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY… (1989) You're right, you're right...I know you're right. That's one of my most used movie quotes. This is a great movie!
24. BORN YESTERDAY (1950) Never seen it.
25. THE GOLD RUSH (1925) Never seen it.
26. BEING THERE (1979) Never seen it.
27. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998) I saw this once and I guess I didn't get the guy humor. It was okay. I probably need to see it again.
28. GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) I can recite you almost every line from this movie. This should be higher than 28.
29. THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984) Classic and I'm surprised it's as low as this.
30. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944) The first Cary Grant movie I ever saw. I love this movie SO much!
31. RAISING ARIZONA (1987) Mom & Dad took me to see this movie during my I-broke-my-thumb-they're-kicking-me-out-of-gym-class crisis and I laughed my fool head off and felt much better afterwards. John Goodman is a genius.
32. THE THIN MAN (1934) For just the look that passes between William Powell and Myrna Loy when she walks in on him comforting a stricken young lady makes this movie!
33. MODERN TIMES (1936) Never seen it.
34. GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) Cute movie but #33? Too far up.
35. HARVEY (1950) Never seen it.
36. NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE (1978) For all my talk about it earlier, I'm surprised on this list it's #36. Maybe top 15.
37. THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940) Never seen it.
38. CITY LIGHTS (1931) Never seen it.
39. SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (1941) Never seen it.
40. IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1963) EXCUSE ME?? #40?? Who the hell made this list???? It's #2 in my book! Non stop laughter, Spencer Tracy, (one of the cutest old men ever), Ethel Merman and the line "Except for you, lady! I hope you fall off a cliff and DIE!"
41. MOONSTRUCK (1987) Maybe I need to see this again. It's been since 87 that I watched it.
42. BIG (1988) Classic. Love Tom Hanks!
43. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) #43? How about Top 10? If only for Harrison Ford!
44. MY MAN GODFREY (1936) Never seen it.
45. HAROLD AND MAUDE (1972) Collin made me watch this movie last year and I adored it.
46. MANHATTAN (1979) Never seen it.
47. SHAMPOO (1975) Neevr seen it.
48. A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964) Never seen it.
49. TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942) Derek loves this movie - at least he did when we were younger. I've only seen it once.
50. CAT BALLOU (1965) Now we're talking. One of my favorite movies EVER! "You are scared and confused" is another line I say a lot. Should be higher on the list!!!
51. THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955) "Never, ever, put sugar in a martini." This movie is hilarious! And not even for Marilyn's lines, which are great but the Tom Ewell character is so funny!
52. NINOTCHKA (1939) Never seen it.
53. ARTHUR (1981) Haven't seen it in YEARS!
54. THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK (1944) Never seen it.
55. THE LADY EVE (1941) Never seen it.
56. ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) Never seen it.
57. DINER (1982) Never seen it.
58. IT'S A GIFT (1934) Never seen it.
59. A DAY AT THE RACES (1937) Never seen it.
60. TOPPER (1937) Never seen it.
61. WHAT'S UP, DOC? (1972) Never seen it.
62. SHERLOCK, JR. (1924) Never seen it.
63. BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984) I love this movie. Love this movie.
64. BROADCAST NEWS (1987) Saw it when it first came out and don't remember a thing about it!
65. HORSE FEATHERS (1932) Never seen it.
66. TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN (1969) Never seen it.
67. MRS. DOUBTFIRE (1993) A cute movie.
68. THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937) Never seen it.
69. BANANAS (1971) Never seen it.
70. MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936) Never seen it.
71. CADDYSHACK (1980) Another classic - love Chevy Chase.
72. MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948) Aww, Cary Grant. So cute...
73. MONKEY BUSINESS (1931) I just moved this movie up to #2 in our Netfkix queue because Collin has never seen this one! This is the movie where I realized I liked Ginger Rogers and looooved Cary Grant.
74. 9 TO 5 (1980) One of my very favorite movies.
75. SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933) Never seen it.
76. VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982) Never seen it.
77. THE PALM BEACH STORY (1942) Never seen it.
78. ROAD TO MOROCCO (1942) Caught the end on AMC once - looked cute.
79. THE FRESHMAN (1925) Never seen it.
80. SLEEPER (1973) Never seen it.
81. THE NAVIGATOR (1924) Never seen it.
82. PRIVATE BENJAMIN (1980) I always liked Goldie Hawn - I like this movie.
83. FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950) I love the Steve Martin remake but the original with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor is sooooo cute!!!
84. LOST IN AMERICA (1985) Neve seen it.
85. DINNER AT EIGHT (1933) Never seen it.
86. CITY SLICKERS (1991) I really like this movie.
87. FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982) A classic - I love Judge Reinhold.
88. BEETLEJUICE (1988) This one's good.
89. THE JERK (1979) Finally saw it last year for the first time. I"m way behind the curve in some movies. So funny!
90. WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942) Never seen it.
91. THE HEARTBREAK KID (1972) Never seen it.
92. BALL OF FIRE (1941) Never seen it.
93. FARGO (1996) Great movie.
94. AUNTIE MAME (1958) Never seen it.
95. SILVER STREAK (1976) If I saw this it was 20 years ago and I don't remember a thing.
96. SONS OF THE DESERT (1933) Never seen it.
97. BULL DURHAM (1988) I used to really like this movie but it's been years and years since I saw it.
98. THE COURT JESTER (1956) Never seen it.
99. THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (1963) They play this all the time on AMC - a really cute movie.
100. GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM (1987) Guess what - I've never seen this movie!

So there you go - the AFI top 100 comedies of all time. What makes this list so wrong is my favorite comedy ever isn't even on the list: Murder By Death. Funniest movie EVER!!! So many classic lines..."Oh, Dickie...that's old news," "HowOdd BensonMum," "If his condition does not change, this man is dead," and "Cow on wall talk again." So do yourself a favor and go rent (or actually buy it. You won't be sorry.) Murder By Death. Let me know what you think of it.

I Need Help

2007-05-28T19:19:00.000-06:00

Next month will be Collin's & my 3rd anniversary. Each year we've done something fun, gone somewhere we normally wouldn't go. This year we can't think of anything. We thought maybe the Hot Springs in Glenwood but that's more expensive than we counted on. So what I need from you is suggestions on what to do, where to go. They will be deeply appreciated!

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Turning Into My Mother

2007-05-21T01:33:00.000-06:00

Thursday I went to QDoba with Collin on his lunch break. While we were eating, we heard the guy sitting behind us start to tell a story. He said, "So I wake up and I'm buck-ass naked. So I get up and go into the other room and there's my girlfriend and another guy sleeping in the same bed but they've got clothes on..." We stopped listening about there because we were looking at each other and laughing.

Now, like some couples, we sit next to each other when we go out to eat and not across from each other so neither of us saw what the guy talking looked like. About five minutes later the group behind us gets up to leave. They all look like landscapers, kinda dirty and grungy from working outside. One is older so I'm thinking it wasn't him who woke up sans clothing. But the other two guys are younger, mid-20's to early 30's and I'm looking at them, trying to decide which one had been talking when Collin says, "Which one do you think woke up naked?"

"I was just trying to figure that out...oh, never mind." The taller of the two started talking and we realized from his voice it was him. I had been right, even though I hadn't gotten the chance to voice my opinion. But I keep talking. "I figured it was him cuz the other guy was too short."

"Too short to be naked?"

So there you go. And no, dogs don't bark at me.

Nothing Is Going Around

2007-05-16T03:41:00.000-06:00

I seem to have caught Derek's Nothing Disease so here's a music dealie quiz type thing for you! Enjoy!

MOST PLAYED SONG IN ITUNES: In my personal little folder it would be New Generation by Skid Row, The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani and Jackson by Johnny Cash and June Carter.

MOST PLAYED CD: Right now it's a toss up between Gwen's Sweet Escape and Skid Row's Thickskin.

10 SONGS YOU CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF:
1) New Generation - Skid Row
2) The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
3) Jackson - Johnny Cash & June Carter
4) Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man - Johnny Cash & June Carter
5) Mouth Of Voodoo - Skid Row
6) I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters
7) SOS - Rhianna
8) Black Horse And A Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
9) Call Me When You're Sober - Evanescence
10) Another Dick In The System - Skid Row

LAST CD YOU BOUGHT: June Carter Cash - Early June

LAST CONCERT: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

LAST SONG YOU HEARD: Armegeddon It - Def Leppard

FIRST SONG ON YOUR iPOD: Wonka's Welcome Song - Danny Elfman

LAST SONG ON YOUR iPOD: A Day In The Life - The Beatles

TEN CD'S YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
1) Thickskin - Skid Row
2) Revolutions Per Minute - Skid Row
3) Love.Angel.Music.Baby - Gwen Stefani
4) The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
5) Walk The Line Soundtrack
6) Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
7) Astronaut - Duran Duran
8) Ass - Badfinger
9) The Best of Jim Croce
10) Red White & Crue - Motley Crue

NEXT CD YOU WANT TO BUY: The new Maroon 5

Happy Wednesday!

April Showers...blah blah blah

2007-05-10T02:26:00.000-06:00

I am so sucking at reading this year. Too many other things going on to catch my interest. Here's the list of books for April:

9. Highland Velvet - Jude Deveraux
10. Cash - The Autobiography - Johnny Cash with Patrick Carr
11. Velvet Song - Jude Deveraux
12. Born In Death - J.D. Robb

Book Of The Month - Cash - The Autobiography. After watching Walk The Line 3 times in one month, I wanted to hear his words telling the story. Sadly, this was his 2nd autobiography and more than once he said, "I covered this in Man In Black so I'll only hit the high points." Argh! So now I have to go find Man In Black.

And for the flicks:

42. Walk The Line
43. The Talented Mr. Ripley
44. The Seven Year Itch
45. Walk The Line
46. Quiz Show
47. Happy Feet
48. Walk The Line
49. My Bodyguard
50. Great Balls Of Fire
51. The Wedding Date
52. Blades Of Glory
53. Dracula (Keanu Reeves version)

Movie of the Month - Blades of Glory. Funniest freakin' movie I've seen in a while. I love Will Ferrell and Jon Heder...they never fail to make me laugh.

Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In...Unless You're A Capricorn

2007-05-08T06:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was messing around online and started to take an astrology based quiz. The first thing it asked for was my sign. I had to choose it from a drop down menu and next to the sign names were the birthdates that make up those signs. As I clicked on Aquarius I noticed that the dates that emcompass the water bearer were January 20-February 18. "Wait a minute," I said to myself. "That can't be right! This is just a stupid little quiz site - they have to be wrong."

The problem here was that for 3 years now I've been telling Jordyn that she's an Aquarius, just like her Dad and I. She was always very happy that we had the same sign. But her birthday is January 18 and if this site was correct then she wasn't an Aquarius!! So I headed over to the trusted Wikipedia site and looked. Sure enough - Jan 20 was the first Aquariun date.

When she got home, I told her I had some bad news for her, that she wasn't an Aquarius. "You missed being one by 2 days," I said.

"WHAT??? I can't be an Aquarius for TWO DAYS???" Like it was a punishment; like her father said when I told him: "You left the water running...your punishment is to be a Capricorn for two days!" (get it? Water? Aquarius? Enh, never mind...)

"No, you missed being an Aquarius by two days. You're actually a Capricorn."

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" You'd think her world had come crashing down around her. No longer could she claim to be our Aquarian sister...she was a lone Capricorn now. But I'm sure she'll handle it well once she adjusts.

House of Cards

2007-05-06T22:35:00.000-06:00

So...is there a correct way to organize cards?

I'm talking about when you're playing something like Spades, Oh Heck! or Uno Hearts. We had a game night at Mom & Dad's house Saturday night and one of the games we played was Uno Hearts. One of the cards requires players to swap hands and this is how the debate began.

I put my cards in the following order: by color then by number, lowest to highest going from left to right. And all right side up. Mom & Collin put their cards highest to lowest from left to right and sometimes they're upside down! I was told I was doing it backwards when I think I'm right! If I remember correctly, Squatchy was the only one to agree with me.

And speaking of cards...Collin & I went to Olive Garden tonight for dinner and for dessert I ordered a frozen tiramasu which is made with Amaretto and Kaluha and I GOT CARDED!! Holy hot shit - I'm 36 years old and i got carded! So cool!!

Discovery

2007-05-01T21:47:00.000-06:00

My dog is afraid of thunder.

Apparently, many dogs are and mine is no exception. I was sleeping today (since I worked last night and tonight) and we had a thunderstorm roll in. The thunder woke me up and as I was laying there, trying to get back to sleep, I heard Carson whine. I rolled over and looked...there he was on the bedroom floor. "What are you doing down there? Come here." He jumped right up on the bed and plastered his fuzzy body to mine. He never left my side, even after I fell asleep again.

When I got up for good, he was still stuck to my side. I asked Jordyn to take him downstairs and see if he needed to go outside but he wouldn't leave me. I had to go downstairs halfway until he went down then I doubled back to get ready for work. When I turned around, though, there he was, looking at me with the big puppy dog eyes. He never left my side until I took him outside.

It was kinda cool, though, that I'm the one he wants to comfort him! Aww!

Another Fun-Filled Conversation

2007-04-29T00:30:00.000-06:00

Jordyn called me tonight at work to let me know she had lost another tooth. We talked about that for a while then she said she wasn't sure she had anything else to tell me.

Jordyn: Do you have anything to tell me?

Me: I can't think of anything.

J: Well, why don't you ever tell me any of the things you tell Dad?

Me: I didn't think you'd be interested in what was going on here at work.

J: Try me. Tell me something.

Me: Okay, I'm the only one here tonight who has work.

J: You're kidding!! What about your boss?

Me: We don't have a boss. Well, we do but he only works days.

J: Wow! That's sweet!! I would be all, 'I've got no boss, I'm gonna lay down, take a nap and read a book!'

Already she's got the right kind of work ethic. Ha!

And here's my shameless plug: new post on that other blog of mine!!

There's Only 2 "S"'s In Dessert, Not 3!

2007-04-23T00:58:00.000-06:00

Derek & Collin both might post about this but since I paid, I figure I better do it first!

Last month was my parents' 38th anniversary. Sadly, they were both sick so I told them that when they were better Collin & I would take them out to dinner. Saturday night turned out to be the time. The place they chose was Brooklyn's, an out-of-the-way Italian diner that serves the most wonderful food. Derek & Heather joined us that night.

Our waiter was new and it took a while for our order to be taken. While we were waiting, he brought over this plate of cut up pastry. I can't remember the name of it - Squatchy was the only one who could after he told us what it was - but it was delicious! It was like a cinnamon roll infused with a little bit of Heaven. We all decided that was what we wanted for dessert.

When it was time to order dessert, Mom & Derek changed their minds to cannoli's. I was just going to share the cinnamon thing with Collin but he talked me into my own and Dad wanted one, too. So we ordered three. Now the waiter's job is to look out for his customers but this guy was new. What he neglected to tell us was each of these desserts was the size of a 10" pizza! No joke! He brought the first one and said, "Two more of these coming up."

Oh, my God! Dad was laughing his head off and all I could think of was "How much is this going to cost me?" We finished off a whole one and took the rest home for snackies later during game playing, which is another story that I'll let Derek tell. Now I know to always ASK how big a dessert is before we order!

Almost There

2007-04-19T16:39:00.000-06:00

It's that time again - the time where my roots and my gray start peeking out and something MUST be done! So Shanon came over today to help me out. She started with bleach blonde coloring and then accented it with Ruby Red. Looks pretty darn awesome - thanks Shanon.

The best part was: Elena was sitting at the kitchen counter and Shanon asked her if I looked beautiful. She had my hair partially colored and it was all over the place. Elena was very diplomatic in her answer. "She's almost beautiful."

Me: Almost, huh?

Elena: Yeah. You're getting there.

Thanks, 'Lena!

The Facts Of Life According To A 7 Year Old

2007-04-16T21:07:00.000-06:00

I was sitting at work today talking to Prescilla when she mentioned that tonight was the Country Music Awards. She said that one of the performers would be Tim McGraw. Well, Jorydn looooves Tim McGraw - she calls him her "second marrier" behind her number one man, Keith Urban. So I ran to the phone and let her know her man would be on. Here's the end of the conversation:

Me: I'll see you in the morning.

Jordyn: I'll...duh! Of course I'll see you in the morning! I was thinking you'd be coming home tonight but you're at work so of course I'll see you in the morning!

Me: Right. I'll be there when you get up.

Jordyn: It must suck to work overnight.

Me: Not really. I actually like it.

Jordyn: Yeah, but staying up all night...it gets harder as you get older.

Me: You think so, huh?

Jordyn: Oh, yeah! When I was 3 I could stay up all night and now I can hardly make it to 1am! I try and I'm all, 'I'm just gonna rest my eyes' and ZZZZZZ!"

It's Almost Summer!!

2007-04-16T08:18:00.000-06:00

Know how I know? I saw the herons at the lake this morning for the first time this year! They only come around when the weather starts to warm up! I'm so excited that they're back!

Been Caught Stealing

2007-04-11T02:18:00.000-06:00

I found this at Kathleen's site; it looked like fun so I took it.

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? Honestly, I don't care. As long as I have the book! If it's Victoria Holt or Phyllis Whitney, though, it's all of them! I have to have every copy - hardback, paperback, different covers...it's tough being a collector! :-)

Amazon or brick and mortar? I don't care as long as I get the book I'm looking for.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? See above.

Bookmark or dogear? Bookmark, bookmark, bookmark!!! Dogears are so rude!

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? Right now everything is a random jumble because of the move but when I get the books all sorted it will be this way: all hardbacks together, alphabetized by author then by release date. Then the paperbacks done the same way. Collin calls me Monica (from "Friends")...I have no idea why!

Keep, throw away, or sell? If you saw my house you wouldn't ask me this question. I keep everything!!!!

Keep dustjacket or toss it? What? People toss the dustjackets?

Read with dustjacket or remove it? Remove it usually. I tend to tear them if I leave them on.

Short story or novel? Either.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? I like them both but Harry Potter is my choice.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I stop when I have to so that would be wherever I am.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Both.

Buy or Borrow? Usually buy but I'll borrow if someone has something I really want to read. If I like it I'll buy it at some point.

New or used? Both, I'm not picky, but have a tendency to buy used more often, just because it's cheaper.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? Recommendation or browsing.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Tidy ending, please. I hate having to sit around thinking about what could possibly happen.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? ANY time I can get a minute.

Stand-alone or series? Both.

Favorite series? There are so many!!! Harry Potter, J.D Robb's Eve Dallas series, Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody series, Jackie Collins' Lucky series...

Favorite children's book? The Secret Garden

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? The Wit'ch War series by the man who's name I can never remember...James Clemens, I think. Excellent set of books!

Favorite books read last year? Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and all the J.D. Robb Eve Dallas books.

Favorite books of all time? The Road To Paradise Island by Victoria Holt, The Golden Unicorn by Phyllis A. Whitney, Tick Tock by Dean Koontz, Remembrance by Jude Deveraux.

Least favorite book you finished last year? Murder At The Washington Post by Margaret Truman

What are you reading right now? Highland Velvet by Jude Deveraux

What are you reading next? The next 2 books in the Velvet series.

Getting A Leg Up

2007-04-08T21:18:00.000-06:00

This past week I went to Grand Junction with Christina to visit my Grandma. It was so nice over there - high 70's and sun! Here we have temps in the high 20's and snow. Bleck! I want to go back!

While we were there, my Uncle Rex came over. Just recently he lost both legs to a staph infection and now gets around on prosthetic legs. He runs a lawn care company with his sons and when he's working on things like fertilizing, he uses a 4-wheeler rather than walking. So Rex was telling us a story that day of what happened that afternoon:

He was fertilizing and ran out so he drove the 4-wheeler over to the truck that was parked on the street to refill. When he went to go, the 4-wheeler wouldn't start so he got off and tinkered with it, finally getting it going. Somehow, though, his hand slipped off the brake and the 4-wheeler took off, running over his foot and popping his left leg completely off and the right one half out. The one leg was rolling down the street while the 4-wheeler was zipping around under it's own power. Rex figured it would hit a tree before it hit a car but somehow it missed every tree and hit a car, causing the fertilizer bag to pop out and explode all over the street.

A woman who had seen this came running over: "Oh my God!! Do you need an ambulance??" She was probably horrified when she saw his leg come off! She helped him get up and retireve his errant leg so he could get them on again. By this time a police officer had shown up and dealt with the damage (which was minimal) to the car. He told Rex that he could give him a ticket for reckless driving but since he wasn't on the vehicle and there was hardly any damge to the car that he would let it go.

I figure we can look forward to many more of these types of stories from my uncle in the future.

Oh, The Fun We Have At IHOP

2007-04-06T01:28:00.000-06:00

Wednesday morning Prescilla went on our usual jaunt to IHOP. This week we were placed in the same area as a group of 3 people, one large man with a booming voice and 2 women. You couldn't help but hear the guy but at first it didn't matter. Pretty soon, though...and keep in mind, I'm talking BOOMING voice - you could have heard outside on the patio!

Man: She went to bed and I stayed up watching TV. Pretty soon she's at the top of the stairs yelling, "You coming to bed any mother fuckin' time soon?

Me: Oh, boy... (Prescilla's eyes just widened)

Man: And she keeps going, "God damn it son of a bitch...."

Me: All he hasn't said is shit...

Man: And then the next day I find out she went through my shit...

Me: Oh! There it is!

Man: ...So I made her leave and she got pissed at me for not letting her back in. Hell, all I wanted was a piece of ass...

Me: Did he just say 'All I wanted was a piece of ass?'

Prescilla: Yep.

And it kept up in a steady stream of cuss words - it was crazy!! People from across the restuarant were getting up to see who this man was. Why can't we be allowed to just enjoy our chicken tenders in peace?