Somebody's dog just ran into our house

Stella greeted us when we came home and the puppy saw her and just bolted from across the street right into our house and up the stairs. I managed to grab him and hand him back to his owner waiting at the door. I guess he'd gotten loose an hour ago and they hadn't managed to nab him. I heard a great many 'hurrays!' as I closed the door. Dang, that dog was cute. I mean, REALLY cute.

I can't even tell you how many times this has happened. So many different dogs have come running through our doors unbidden and some of the little boogers are repeat offenders. Does this happen to anyone else? This guy in our neighborhood has two basset hounds and those guys have gotten in and immediately started in on Stella's food bowl. Excuse me? Manners? One morning I was still in my PJs and I'd just let Stella out. I keep the door ever so slightly ajar otherwise I'll forget she's out there. So I start to make the coffee and I hear all this jangling and basset hound man yelling for his dogs. CRAP! Knowing what was coming, I ran over to the door just in time to push the dog backwards by the snout and slam the door in his face. I really didn't want to greet their owner in my pajamas.

Again, does this happen to anyone else?

Take a gander at THIS post

Okay, this post won't be anything special--I just said that to keep up on my resolution. (Lauren, mark me down for today.) It's a good resolution. I'm big on easy to keep resolutions--like last year's decision to only drink beer out of a glass because swigging from the bottle made me feel trashy. I've forgotten a few times, but overall I've done pretty well. No need to complicate life with hard to keep promises to one's self--make it easy enough and there's just no way you can NOT feel accomplished.

Another one of my important goals is soooooooo close to being realized. I've now seen every Alan Rickman movie except Judas Kiss. (Well, Nobel Son too but that doesn't count since it hasn't been released on DVD yet.) This week I finally saw Rasputin because a very friendly YouTuber told me a website where I could download it. I was surprised by how emotional I felt at the end when the royal family got wacked. Shootin' fish in a barrel. That was harsh, man, really harsh. Rasputin's death on the other hand was great fun. Three guys conspire to kill him. They put pure cyanide on these little cakes and the doctor guy says one will kill him instantly. The dude eats 3 and he's fine. Crap. Okay, put this packet of poison in his wine. Nada. It was funny to see the royal guy keep running in and out of the room to tell the other men it wasn't working. Finally he just shoots him. Rasputin's declared dead and two of the men leave to get a bag to put him in. Meanwhile, the man who would not die wakes up and chokes the royal guy enough that he can escape. He manages to get out into the courtyard before the three men catch up to him. Crap! Shoot him! Shoot him! One shot, he's still going. Two, he's slowing down. Three, he's climbing the gete. He manages to climb half way up before they manage to shoot him in the heart. But he still manages to get out a few whispered last words when he falls to the ground. I'm a little hazy on the history of Rasputin's death, but I have a feeling that's not exaaaaaaactly how it happened. Perhaps a few little liberties were taken? (Okay, I've checked with Wikipedia, O great corrupted source of knowledge, and the legend continues! He didn't die after being shot the fourth time, they had to club him to death. Either somebody's lying or Rasputin was a zombie. Cool.)

Judas Kiss will be an epic accomplishment if I ever do see it--it seems impossible to get a hold of. I looked into buying it even though I know it's a crap film, but if it's on DVD it seems to be just region 2. So it looks like I'll be putting that on the back burner for now. But who could resist a movie with both Rickman and Emma Thompson as cops doing painfully bad imitations of New Orleans' accents. The clips that I've seen are quite amusing.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Bottle Shock , a movie about California finally breaking into the wine market and showing up the French. It's like Rocky--with wine instead of boxing.
Bill Pullman: Why don't I like you?
Alan Rickman: Because you think I'm an asshole. And I'm not really, I'm just British and, well, you're not.

Okay, enough movie drivel.

I was going to write a lengthy diatribe against guilt and church and children (mine). But I didn't eat breakfast and I'm REALLY hungry. So I've cut that part out and it will be the next post. Oh, what wonderful things to look forward to.

'Til then.

Waiting for coffee to brew

Because I do drink coffee, sir.

And it's almost ready and I really have nothing to say so I'll just put two quotes from some friends--

Pam (we're coming over for lunch and she's just learned we're vegetarians)--"Oh no! They don't eat meat and we don't eat vegetables!"

Jon--I find Tilda Swinton attractive. Does that make me gay?

Okay, that's it. And, Sam, I'm sorry I posted again. I really think you should devote yourself to more meaningful blogs and just let this one go--I haven't said anything meaningful in AGES, you won't be missing anything.

"I don't drink coffee, sir."

"I don't drink hot liquids of any kind--that's the devil's temperature."

A few media thoughts

1. I think Deadwood is the best television show I've ever seen. I was disappointed by the final episode, however. It seemed like they were planning on a 4th season and it didn't end the way I wanted it too. Alas. But the characters were great and the dialogue was AMAZING! It is like Shakespeare, Anne. Shakespeare with every swearword known to man.

2. Saw Once last night--Wow. I know Brad already did a nice review of this one and I have nothing to add other than--Wow. It was just such a lovely film.

3. I do have to take umbrage with another of Brad's recommended movies, however--The Host. I noticed that both Mandy and Ben K. thought it was really good too. What am I not getting here? It was a very cool monster--liked the way it moved under the bridges, etc. But the comedic moments were too stupid in contrast with the rest of the movie, and it was just frustrating the way everybody screwed up in their attempts to rescue the girl--I know the family members weren't professional monster hunters or anything so they should be forgiven but it was really annoying nonetheless. And what was with the demonizing of Americans? There is no virus but the Americans say there is and now we're going to bust into your country and fumigate it? And it was an American who told the Korean guy to flush all the chemicals in the first place. I mean, other than that itty-bitty war thing, what did we ever do to Korea? GAWSH, let it go! I just found the whole movie really irritating and by the end I wanted to pull my hair out whenever they screamed, moaned, cried that girl's name. Hyun-seo! Hyun-seo! That was half the movie's dialogue right there. I am not a person with high movie standards (notice Resident Evil in our Netflix queue) but The Host was like nails on a blackboard to me.

4. Anne, I saw you got After the Wedding--I'm curious to hear what you think of it.


I think I had more to say but I forget. Whatever.

Bizarre armpit story below--Read at your own risk

On Tuesday I kept getting weird wiffs of maple syrup. It was driving me crazy until I realized it was coming from me. Yeah, syrup body odor--and showering did no good. I hadn't eaten anything strange lately so my paranoid mind naturally turned toward my own mortal peril. But I addressed the Google gods and found reassurance. I thought it probably wasn't MSUD--Maple Syrup Urine Disease--a life threatening genetic disorder typically diagnosed in infancy. While I may be incredibly young and vibrant, I am not an infant. (And talk about salt in the wounds--your kid has a very dangerous disorder with all sorts of potential nasties waiting in the wings and you're given the added indignity of a label that includes the words 'maple syrup.')

With the threat of disease ruled out, I returned to my original thoughts about something I ate. The only thing out of the ordinary that I've eaten lately (Monday) was an Indian potato thing over at Anita's. But it was just oil, potatoes, methi and the usual spices--all things I've eaten before without smelling like a pancake. I kept up my googling and discovered that the ingestion of fenugreek could be the answer. I don't know fenugreek from a hole in the head so I googled that too and discovered that HEY! methi is fenugreek. Mystery solved.

So it's Thursday and I still smell strongly of syrup, but at least I don't have any horrible disorder. I think I'm off pancakes for a while though--I'm sick of that smell.

I have to imagine

that if I were ever to get high on hallucinogens, this is the bizarre vision that would float through my brain.



I'm gonna go drink some coffee and clear my head.

Moira's blog is once again open for business

I put the link to the side. And if you can't remember the ID or password, you can e-mail me.

Bored and need to post

This is now my favorite picture of me and Ben. Thanks, Mandy.


Go Obama! That's hard to say . . . Go 'bama! Go 'bama!

Ben just got two new KT Tunstall cds and now I have to share the stereo. : ( Don't get me wrong, KT is one of my favorite musical artists but Ben doesn't usually listen to music when he's not studying with headphones on and I like control and I want my stereo back.

I am hungry for toast.

I drank an entire bottle of wine New Years Eve with absolutely no side effects. This is either a really good or really bad thing.

Deadwood is a great show! Why do shows like these have to end so quickly when shows like ER go on for thirty years?

When will Grey's Anatomy end? Caught about 3 minutes of it last night and they were basically at the same place as season 2. I'm baffled as to why I watched that show now--I really blame some sort of estrogen explosion esp. since it coincided with me listening to James Blunt.

My kids love the Addams Family. This is great since Ben HATES that show and now I feel some small revenge for his getting them into baseball and football. My dad made a random dvd purchase of the first seasons and gave them to me. I haven't watched this show since I was in 6th grade when it was on channel 8 which got really sucky reception and always ran ads for Talita's Mexican Restaurant and Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard. Classy.

Gonna go eat that toast now.

Better late than never

Well, maybe not in this case. Never might have been just fine for this post. *sigh* No you are not going blind--the theme of this year's Christmas pictures was Dark and Out of Focus. Unfortunately, using the flash usually yielded photos of bleached and startled people. And if these are the ones I'm putting up, imagine the ones I considered unworthy. Alas, alas.

Evie soakin' up the love. Ann and Barry were delightful as always, making us all wish we were Irish and had mountains of our own to hike.












Barry taking a picture from the banister. I hope his turned out better than mine.




It's Christmas and I just got a wand--life is good.
















































Cool reflecty backpacks!










It occurred to me that one day my children will be too big to sit on people.































Inspecting the wand with Grandpa. No serious flaws were found.


















































Checking out the unicorn purse with newly christened Gran-Ann.



















Evie's attempt at being regal comes off more like zombie.













Well that's all folks.