Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Ten on Tuesday - 10 favorite horror movies

1. Poltergeist - My favorite horror film ever
2. Halloween - I love how this film was shot
3. Alien - I don't know if it's more horror or sci-fi, but it scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it nonetheless
4. The Omen - Well written, directed, and acted
5. IT - I know it's kinda cheesy, but I still love watching this made-for-TV movie
6. In the Mouth of Madness - Seriously fucked up Lovecraft-based flick
7. The Haunting of Hill House (original) - Based on the book by Shirley Jackson, the original version was ever so much scarier than the remake with all it's fancy special effects.
8. Jaws - Again, scared the crap out of me.
9. The Exorcist - Possession really freaks me out
10. The Birds - based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier, this Hitchcock film terrifies me every time I watch it.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Some more movie reviews and my near heart attack

This past week, I finally got to check out 2 movies I've been dying to see: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Ironman. I gotta say, I loved them both!

I'm a big Indiana Jones fan (and a Harrison Ford fan and a Shia LaBeouf fan and a Cate Blanchett fan), so I don't think there was a chance I wouldn't like the movie. Sure, the ending isn't exactly how I would have written it, but I loved it all the same. There were great action sequences, funny lines, and that general "This is an Indiana Jones movie!" feel to it. On top of that, I had been waiting to see the small section in the beginning where they're racing through downtown New Haven because I wanted to see how it was transformed from the Yale area in 2007 to the Yale area 50 years earlier. It looked just gorgeous!

We started watching Ironman Saturday night, and 20 or so minutes in, our power went out due to a wind storm. Nooooo! The power didn't turn on for a couple of hours, so we ended up going to bed early and finished watching last night. Holy crap was that a phenomenal comic book movie. It was so well done. And it made me even happier to see that Jon Favreau directed it once I got to the end credits simply because I think he's wonderful. Robert Downey Jr. was a pleasant surprise, and I really hope to see more of him on the big screen again. The only person I didn't really like in the film was Gwyneth Paltrow, and I'm usually a big fan of hers. Eh.

And speaking of the power outtage Saturday night, I ended up nearly having a heart attack along with it. Earlier in the evening, Ellie and I were in the living room watching Dora while Harry was in our bedroom putting his PJs on. I thought I heard one of the dining room chairs being pulled back, and I assumed it was Harry. He suddenly calls out, still from the bedroom, "Did you make that noise?" Um, nope, wasn't me, thought it was you. Hmmmm. A few minutes later, we hear it again, only this time it sounds more like a dog growling. Weird since we have no dog. I chalk it up to the wind storm possibly pushing our patio furniture or the recycling bin against the house or something. Harry swears it came from the dining room. We wait but don't hear it again.

So the power goes out around 9pm, and we're scrambling around for flashlights and candles. Once we got flashlights in our hands and a candle lit, placing it on the dining room table, I realize the laptop is still plugged in. Before the power comes back on and possibly shorts it out, I go to unplug it and shut it down. As I'm opening the screen, I suddenly hear a very large dog growling to the right of me, right by my ear! I nearly scream, jump out of my skin, and have a massive coronary, all at the same time. As I turn my head, ready to see a Hellhound sitting next to me ready to strike, my brain clicks back on, and I realize it's the wind forcing itself against our picture window. Like blowing on a blade of grass between your fingers, the wind was pushing itself against and finally through the smallest of fissures between the window and the pane where there is a plastic molding that snaps it all into place. Holy geez.

Monday, October 20, 2008

In a good mood

After my stressful weekend (stress that I bring on myself, I might add), I'm having a stellar day today so far.

Right now, I'm grooving to the new Amanda Palmer album. Her voice is so funky. She reminds me of Niko, the chick that cut a record with the Velvet Underground in the 60s. Not so much in style as in just having a really low voice. Ben Folds rocks on this album. Ben Folds simply rocks in general. I wish I had gotten the book that came with the CD. It's filled with all-things-Gaiman... pics, words, etc.

I also finally managed to buy some new clothes. Since having Ellie, I've had an extremely difficult time buying clothes. I thought my body shape was weird before. Nothing prepared me for mommy-tummy-after-c-section. Yuck.

So here are a few things I picked up and am super excited about wearing:


This lovely pin-striped vest. I got a white button-down shirt to go underneath it; the shirt shown here looks terrible IMO. I was a big fan of the vest back in the 90s, so I've been secretly (not anymore!) happy to see it making a comeback. I love wearing men's style clothing.

I also got this sweater:


It is so freakin' comfortable that I want to live in it.

And lastly, I got this cute little cardigan:



Yay for new clothes!

Even the blemish that popped up on my face this morning can't get me down. And that's saying a lot.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Bands/Artists that Remind You of High School

Ooooh, a topic after my own heart.

1. Nirvana - The beginning of Seattle Sound. Oh, how I love it.
2. Pearl Jam - Eddie Vedder was a music god to me in my high school days.
3. Stone Temple Pilots - I was (and still am) so attracted to Scott Weiland.
4. Pink Floyd - I wasn't a Floyd fan as of yet, but my little sister was. She played "Comfortably Numb" over and over again every night for years. YEARS!
5. The Smashing Pumpkins - Reminds me of a High School ex
6. The Violent Femmes - Remind me of an old high school friend (and the movie Reality Bites)
7. Led Zeppelin - I think I listened to "Stairway..." one too many times
8. Hootie and the Blowfish - God how I hated this band. Every freakin' radio station played Hootie
9. NineInchNails - When The Downward Spiral came out, everyone was all over it.
10. The Gin Blossoms - "Hey Jealousy" followed me everywhere I went.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Batman and scarecrows and pumpkins, oh my!

We got to go see the movie Friday night (and only $4 a ticket!). Harry loved it, me, not so much. It was too long, the Batman voice had me cringing every time he was on screen (sorry Cathy and Jenni!), and... I didn't much care for Ledger's portrayal of The Joker. I know, I know, I'm in the minority on that one.

I think the idea of The Joker they wanted to put forth in the movie was a good one, but I don't think Ledger was the right choice for it. I'm not sure if they intended the character to be older or if it was Ledger's spin on it, acting like an old man through most of the movie, but it didn't feel right. His use of a Nixon-like voice in the beginning baffled me, as did him falling into a Jim Carrey-like deal during the fundraiser scene. The lip-licking, a la Bartie Crouch Jr from Harry Potter, and ticks were an interesting addition to promote the psychopath/sociopath, but again, I didn't much care for the way they were executed.

I LOVED Maggie Gyllenhaal in the movie. I just love Maggie period. Harry's quite smitten with her, too. She's just so darned likable, and she's a hottie.

Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart did a stellar job, too. The movie would have been a total bust for me if it wasn't for them.

Oh, well.
***

On Saturday, I pulled out Ellie's Blue (from Blue's Clues) costume to make sure it fit. It, um, didn't. The bottom half fit just fine, but her torso is so unbelievably long that the neck of the jumper only came up to her armpits. She needed at least another 5 inches of material in order for it to fit. Luckily the store I bought it at allowed me to return it, and we found a super cute Super Girl costume instead. I think the super hero theme is going to be ongoing at our house. Now to think of some more female ones for the years to come.
***

We also went shopping for Hallowe'en decorations since this is the first time we have the opportunity to decorate (my sister always confiscated that right). We got some scarecrows, a bale of hay, and some pumpkins to adorn our front lawn. It's pretty cute.
***

Yesterday, we met up with Kim and Niko at the pumpkin patch so the kids could run around like crazy people and terrorize the gourds awaiting picking. They had lots of fun, Ellie picked out a few pumpkins, we got our apple cider and apple doughnuts that I've been craving since the leaves started to change, and Ellie didn't pitch one fit the whole time. That made it one of the best days ever.

Naturally, I was in a cranky-ass mood most of the day, so nothing's ever perfect. Leave it to me to let every little thing Harry did (wrong) get to me. I hate when that happens. Here's hoping today is a better day.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Rock on, Ellie, rock on

Ellie and I were driving to the store this morning, and we were listening to Guns N Roses's You Could Be Mine. I was singing along while Ellie was playing with her mini-MagnaDoodle in the back seat, and I occasionally sneeked a peek at her in my extra rearview mirror (man, I love that thing). Suddenly, Ellie threw her MagnaDoodle aside at the final breakdown of the song and started to play some serious air drums. She played until the end of the song. Dude, my kid rocks.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Da na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na... BATMAN!

Not only did my mom email me this morning and ask if I'd like for her to make us dinner tomorrow night (salmon loaf and baked mac and cheese - yes please!), but she also offered to babysit so Harry and I could go out for a few hours. Score!

I immediately checked to see which movies are playing, and wouldn't you know it, a community theatre a couple of towns over is showing The Dark Knight. Yes! The last time Harry and I attempted to go see it, it was sold out. And then we never got another babysitter. We thought we'd have to wait until DVD, which sucks cuz movies like that are always better on the big screen. So I'm a happy girl.

I'm also in a good mood because I get tomorrow off of work, and I get to spend the whole day with Ellie. That always makes me grin like a fool. I'm not sure what we're gonna do, but I'm just happy to be able to get the extra time with her.

***

Oh, and I just finished Brisingr. And, well, it was OK. Just OK. There's entirely too much description, way too much gore (and I'm a die-hard Stephen King fan), and the freakin' trilogy has now become a quadrilogy. Huh? There was supposed to be 3 books to the Inheritance series, and I get near the end of this one, thinking "hey, there's only a few pages left, the villain really still hasn't shown himself, and he's certainly going to rush this last bit". Then I read a few more pages to be hit with a "to be continued in book 4". Not even the last installment, just book 4, which leaves it all open to interpretation. Damn.

I just got sick of all the characters whining and describing every friggin' twig and leaf in the forest over and over again. It's called overkill, Mr. Paolini. Sorry, dude, but you're starting to lose me.

I felt the same way when reading David Edding's The Belgariad series. It just dragged for pages on end. Just get on with it, man.

So that's my review. If you've already read the first two, read it. And then wait another few years for the next installment. And hope it's the last.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

New Happenings with Ellie

Ellie's got a few new favorite pasttimes.

The first is counting. She's definitely my kid. She LOVES to count. She counts everything... whether it's the flowers on the page of a book or her tub letters or the number of apple pieces she has for dessert. Right now, she can count up to eight, and then she repeats seven and eight over and over again thereafter unless you say "nine" and then she'll say "ten". That pesky nine!

We've been working on ABCs, too, and we're making progress. We sing the song in the bath, we do the ABC books before dinner, pretty much whenever and wherever. So far, she's good on A, B, C, G, H, J, P, T, W, X, Y, and Z. She sings them at the right parts of the song, now she just has to get all the letters in between. She can also recognize some letters, namely A, Q, T, W, and Y. I know, random.

She's also gotten really good at body parts. I can ask her where anything is, and she'll repeat it and point to that part. This past week, she's even initiated the game, so now she says and points to the body part, and I repeat. She loves it. Elbow has been her favorite 2 weeks strong.

Lastly, she's started to memorize her books. Again, she's so my kid. That was actually how I started "reading". I'd memorize the books, and then recite them as if I were reading them. My mom thought she had a 2-year-old genius on her hands until she realized I could tell her the story without the book in front of me. It did help me learn to read though because I started recognizing the words that way. I'm hoping Ellie will pick it up like that, too.

Her favorite is her Winnie the Pooh and friends Super Sleuth's counting book. She's enthralled with it. She's started yelling out parts of the story as she turns the page, so excited that she knows what's going to happen. She memorized how many bugs or flowers or whatever are on each page, and she counts them out sometimes without even looking at them. We even got it on video, which is so cool because we've been bad with video lately.

Of course now everytime someone comes by to visit, Harry pulls the book out and hopes Ellie will "perform" for our guests. LOL. He's just so proud of her, but I keep telling him she's not a circus act. She eventually goes and gets the book anyway, so there's no need to push it. He just gets really excited.

Oh, and she's learned a new phrase. "Let go". Yeah. If I try and take something away, she cries, "let go!" Sigh. I'm sure "gimme!" is not too far behind.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Home Improvement Weekend

Harry and I decided to tackle yet another home improvement this weekend... the kitchen. Among a gazillion other things we want to do, the 3 top items on the list were to take down the ugly backsplash wall that used to be behind the stove, paint all the walls in Bavarian Creme high gloss like the other rooms we've already painted, and to redo the kitchen floor. Mission accomplished.

Harry took the faux wall down and sanded down the sheetrock behind it while Ellie and I were out of the house shopping. It made it a lot easier for him us not being there because he didn't have to sand by hand. He took out the electric sander and kicked up all sorts of nasty dust instead. Unfortunately, he didn't actually cover the dining room furniture or the counters, so I ended up having to clean everything after:(

After patching up the wall where it needed it, Harry taped off the room, which always takes forever and a day but is worth it because of the finished product. To my surprise and delight, he started taping right into the hallway, meaning we could also paint that, too. I had been secretly hoping he'd be cool with getting all that done, too, because it so terribly needed it.

When Ellie went down for her nap, we started painting. I do the roller while harry cuts. That's always how we paint because I suck at cutting and I can't reach the ceiling really, even when I'm on a stool. It ended up only taking us an hour to paint everything. That's got to be some kind of record. And it was the best paint job we've ever done.

On Sunday, Harry decided he was up for doing the kitchen floor. Here's a before:


And here's an after:



I LOVE my new kitchen floor. Love it. It goes so well with all my red kitchen gadgets. And it actually makes the kitchen brighter. Ellie was all over it, too. She ran up to the threshold between the dining room and kitchen and just stared at it, not sure if she wanted to actually step on. Then she bounded onto it and did a little jig. Then she started racing back and forth from the threshold to the window and back. It's got the Ellie stamp of approval.

Last on the major improvement list for the kitchen is new countertops. We really want to go with granite, but out budget doesnt' like that so much. I'm still weighing my options. Anyone have any other recommendations? I'm all ears.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Pimpin' my other blog

A few of us have decided to take on this challenge to post a picture every day for the next year, hence the name of my blog 365. There are links to all those participating on my blog, so please check everyone else out as well. I'm not that great of a photographer, but my friends rock at it. You'll be amazed these women aren't professional photographers. Yeah, they're that good.

This is an extra special challenge for me because I don't post pics of Ellie on the net, therefore I have to find other things to take pictures of. Shooting photos around Ellie for past photo challenges has always been hard for me, and telling me I have to take 365 pictures NOT of Ellie is torture. I'm gonna give it my best though.
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