Get rich AND hot!

I know a way you can get rich AND get a hot body at the same time...



My friend Tiburon is about to launch the 5th session of her own personal Biggest Loser competition. Just like on the show, you start by taking your weight. Then you weigh in every week (on your own scale at home--honor system) and send your weekly weight to Tiburon, the Meister of the whole thing. She keeps track (and she's the only one who ever knows your weight). At the end of 3 months, whoever has lost the biggest PERCENTAGE of weight, wins the cash. Oh yeah. The cash. Everyone who wants to compete puts $25 into the pot. Last time the pot was about $1350 dollars. I think this time it's already looking to be about $1600. So basically, you can lose some weight and make some money at the same time. Win-win, right? If you're interested in joining or want to see more details on how the competition works, click here.

I joined the competition twice. And although I didn't win any money, I did lose 18 lbs the first time and 11 lbs the second time. And looking good feels even better than having a full wallet does. So if you need a little extra motivation to get you slimmed down before the holiday season (start AHEAD of the game, you know?), give the Biggest Loser a try.

15 Again

There were a lot of things I liked about being 15. Ok...maybe not a lot. A few things. Like....um....well... there has to be something! Oh, I know. Ryan Ringold. Watching Ryan Ringold in the halls at school was awesome. He was a junior and I was a lowly freshman. I new freshman to boot. So he didn't even know I existed. But just watching him was good enough for me. But I digress. My point to this post is not to talk about the things I did like when I was 15 (which are, evidently, very few), but rather the things I did not like. Top of the list: growing my bangs out. That was a rough hair year. Fortunately I'll never make that mistake again. Second on the list: zits. I think it's an inevitable part of being a teenager that you're going to get zits. Mine weren't horrible or anything. I didn't have acne. But I did get my fair share of red splotches now and then. But I also thought I'd left that horrible stage behind when my teenage years were over and my nice 20-something skin came in. So can someone please tell me why I'm suddenly revisiting my teens? Everyone has to deal with zits in their teens. And everyone has to deal with wrinkles in their 30's. BUT NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM AT THE SAME TIME! You're supposed to have left the zit stage far behind by the time you get to the wrinkles stage. Yet here I am, experiencing some sort of cruel trick of nature right now that is making me deal with crows feet next to my eyes and pimples on my chin. As Mindi would say, WHISKEY.TANGO.FOXTROT??? It's completely unfair. I could deal with it, I guess, if I still got experience the teenage thrill of a quickly beating heart every time Ryan Ringold's gorgeous body brushed mine in the hall. But no. I have to deal with brushing up against dirty diapers and grubby syrup hands instead. Again, doesn't it seem like I'm getting majorly gyped? If this doesn't end soon, I'm going to have to pay Jessica Simpson a visit and see just what all the hoopla is about with the whole Proactive miracle. Unless anyone has any other suggestions for me? Like maybe a time machine? I could do a much better job growing out my bangs with the knowledge I have now. And I might even be able to get Ryan to look at me. It just MIGHT be worth it. So get back to me soon if you have any leads on a good time machine.

Make-up Day

Today is going to be a blogging make-up day. I've skipped out on my blogging responsibilities (and every other responsibility remotely related to me) completely over the last 2 1/2 days while I read New Moon. My kids haven't had clean clothes for a couple of days...or maybe any clothes. I'm not sure. I wasn't paying that much attention. I think they're still in the house, though. That's good, right? They had frozen pizza bagels for lunch and Little Caesar's Pizza for dinner. And they would have gotten cold pizza for breakfast I bet if I hadn't finished the book last night. Don't look so horrified; they love pizza! And tomato sauce is totally good for you.

My husband might not forgive me quite so easily. He has had to watch 12 consecutive taped episodes of "How It's Made" to keep him busy while I read for the last two evenings. But that show has made him a lot smarter, so really he should thank me. There are a few other responsibilities I've neglected...nothing that some new lingerie won't fix, though!

Anyway, thanks for hanging in there. I promise to wait a few days before I start reading Eclipse. Maybe until Labor Day weekend so Daddy will be home to pick up my slack. Lots and lots of slack. The kids might even get real meals if he's around. Sounds like a date.

No Distractions, Please

Sorry. Can't talk.
Reading New Moon.
Need I say more?

Art Deco Delight

Delysia LaFosse, pronounced like "delicious": A character with that name could not live in any other time but the Art Deco period. It's the name of the lead character in the movie I just watched on DVD last night, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. It stars Frances McDormand as an out of work governess who mistakenly gets a job working as a social secretary for Delysia, a social climbing entertainer played by Amy Adams (Enchanted). It's a delightful, charming comedy-romance. It's even better than your usual romantic comedy because of the beautiful sets, clothes, and music from the mid 1930's. It's also very well-acted and well-directed. Frances's English accent is dead on (and that's key for me. I despise poorly-done accents. They just ruin a movie with distraction).

I checked this movie out the other day when I was at Blockbuster and couldn't find anything else. I like Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, so I didn't figure it could be too bad. Big K rolled his eyes when I showed him my selection and said he'd find something else to do the night I watched it. But last night when I put it on, the laptop on his lap gradually found its way to the couch next to him and then the floor. Ya, he loved it. He couldn't help it! It was just that cute of a movie. So if you missed it in the theater, and you are looking for something you could describe using the words "darling," "sweet," "charming" and "funny," this is your movie.

Big Girl

My first little baby, Daphne, started her first day of preschool today. Oh my gosh, how is that possible??? It seriously blows my mind that my tiny 5 1/2 lb baby is old enough (though still barely big enough) to be going to "school." When we went for the orientation meeting last week, the teacher asked me if there were any separation anxieties they needed to know about. "No, I told them. "She loves new experiences and new people. When we take her somewhere new, she runs in and never looks back." Today when I took her in, she threw her "packpack" at me and started to run off to join the other kids. Probably seeing the rejected look on my face, Teacher Sherilyn took her hand and said, "Daphne do you want to say goodbye to Mommy?" "NOPE!" Daphne shouted, and ran off. Ya, that's my little independent girl.

Daphne in her "heart pirate" clothes, which I had a hard time convincing her to wear because she "didn't want to be a pirate today."


Daphne wanted to show off her cow packpack.


And here she is, running away from me without looking back, just like I thought she would.

The Right Friends

In this life, you have to choose the right friends. You can't be friends with everyone. So how to you choose? This is a topic I've thought about a lot. And I've pretty much narrowed it down to one important factor: Free stuff. Yes, you heard me. A good friend is one who gives you free stuff. You can see their devotion to you when stuff shows up on your doorstep, unsolicited. You can judge their character and their knowledge of your taste by what they send, and you can be sure you're not running with the poor crowd when gifts are given liberally. It's a failproof plan!

Case in point:




THIS beautiful silver T showed up on my doorstep today from B. Spears (who currently resides in Southern Utah, it appears.) I think that might not be the true sender, but no matter. Whoever she is, she ROCKS. And she should clearly be considered a very good friend. She gets an A+ on all accounts: A) I love silver B) I needed something new for my mantle (read piano top) and C) the T stands for Terrific, which is so true of me. So you can see how awesome this gift really is. Notice how classy it looks against the dust on top of my mantle (paino top). A good friend Brittney, or whoever, is indeed. Kisses, Girlfriend.

The Best Food that Ever Passed Your Lips

I really do love food. I'd rather spend my money on good food than clothes or jewelry or music (who spends money on music anymore anyway?) or just about anything else. So I have become kind of a food snob, especially where baked goods are concerned. If you read my post about cheesecake, you'll know how seriously I take my dessert. So I am very lucky to have been born into a family with an expert baker: My sister Jennie. She wasn't blogging then, or you'd probably have heard about her winning "Best Baker in Utah" at the Utah state fair a couple of years ago. This prize is given to the baker who wins the most blue ribbons. She entered 8 baking contests, won the blue ribbon in 5, a couple of other ribbons, and only one of her cookies didn't place at all. Well, my favorite of her winning recipes is her Pecan Honey Pots. They are made of just about every lovely and delicious (and totally bad for you so you know it's good) ingredient. If you like to bake and can appreciate the difference between a blue ribbon cookie and a Chips Ahoy, give this recipe a try. I swear, you never put something more delicious into your mouth in your life. The crust is a buttery, slightly flaky shortbread--kind of like the bottom of lemon bars. The top is like a rich, carmely, buttery pecan pie only with more honey flavor. If you've ever tasted Baklava, you'll have an inkling of the flavor. It's not a difficult recipe, but it takes a little time. So start several hours before you need it to allow time for cooling and set-up.

Pecan Honey Pots
Preheat Oven to 350. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and spray with Pam.

Base:
2 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar
4 TBS cornstarch
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, slightly softened

Process flour and powdered sugar in a food processor for 20 seconds. Cut butter into chunks and add to processor. Process until dough comes together, about 30 seconds. Pat dough into prepared pan. Bake in center of oven until golden, 20-25 minutes. Remove and place in refrigerator to cool completely.

Meanwhile...

Topping:
12 TBS butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar, packed lightly
1 cup honey
2 1/2 cups (12 oz) chopped pecans (you can buy them whole and smash them in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin to 1/4" pieces.)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla

Combine butter, brown sugar and honey in a medium sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils. Continue boiling for 5 minutes WITHOUT stirring.
While honey is boiling, put nuts in a medium sized, heat proof, bowl. Add cream and vanilla and stir well. Add boiled honey mixture to nuts and stir well. Pour topping evenly over cooled base. Bake in center of oven until the entire surface is bubbling, about 20-25 minutes. Cool at least one hour. Remove from pan and cut into diamonds shapes.

Enjoy the glory and praise that will be heaped on you by everyone who tries this amazing confection.

Pretty in Pink

Been taking the Olympics too seriously? This should help....



And this...



(And he's from Utah.-- Hey, turns out he's Tiburon's daughter's gymnastics coach!)



.(Chelsea, this one is for you...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzCTSUQwIIY&feature=related)

Beat Up

I used to worry that someone would call child protective services on me and accuse me of beating up my kids if they ever looked at the number and frequency of bruises and scratches all over them. Here are pictures of both of their heads from yesterday, for example:




Neither one was inflicted by me. One was the fault of gravity (Beck biting it going down the porch steps, head first) and the other was the fault of inertia (the big heavy door to the play area at Carl's Jr. hitting Daphne in the head when she was doddling going through it).

But if that isn't proof enough, just take a look at my own body. I'm always covered in bruises myself. It's partially a predisposition in my family towards bruising, especially on the lower half of the body. My legs, hips, and bum are always covered in bruises. It's also a propensity towards klutziness I guess. Because you've got to bump yourself to get a bruise. Evidently I do it a lot. Here is my latest doozie:



The sad thing about this one, and I'm not sure how well the picture shows it, is that it is HUGE, very swollen like a goose egg, with a big scratch in the middle of the bruise, AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I DID IT. How do you get a huge swollen scratched bruise on your calf and have no idea how you did it??? You'd think something like that would register in your mind. But I guess it happens to me so much that I don't even pay attention anymore. I laid in bed last night for 20 minutes trying to think of how I did it. Trying to think of when I first noticed the pain and what in my house is that exact height on my leg. I came up with several pieces of furniture that height, but I had no memory of running into any of them. Bizarre.

So anyway, I"m pretty sure if anyone ever calls child protective services on me, my own array of bruises will convince them that I'm not a child abuser. Good luck to my husband, though!

My Best Olympic Event

You Are Table Tennis

You're a quick thinker and even quicker to act. You can anticipate an opponent's move and countermove easily. You tend to win quickly, so quickly that your rival doesn't realize that the game's over.

What Olympic Sport Are You?

That's pretty true of me. Have you seen me play triple solitaire? I'm like lightning. Pa-pow!

SWAT Signals

While looking for pictures of a SWAT team to use for my last post, I found this diagram of SWAT hand signals. I was going to post it for myself and everyone else who's ever wished they knew what they were signing about in war movies or police movies when they do those hand movements. (Wait, I'm the only one?? Um... Guess I'm a nerd. Moving on....) But then I realized these were the New and Improved SWAT signals. Even better. Take a look here. You'll be glad you did.


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Polygamy + S.W.A.T. = Good Gossip

I was about to tell this great story about a polygamy raid right here in my small town, in fact only a few houses down from me. And I thought I'd see if the story made the news so I could find some handy pictures and quotes to go with it. So I googled my town's name + the word "swat" and what was the 6th thing listed? One of my very own posts! NOT about polygamy, though. Just totally random that I had written a post months ago that used the word "swat" in it, and it came up. I'm kind of freaking out here.

I'm going to try to get a grip and move on to my story though. Ok, so there is a lady in my ward, I'll call her Betty. And Betty is kind of a nice, homely, middle aged single lady. She decided to start dating over the internet. And she met a great guy. And the guy lived in Florida. So she finally decided to go down there and either meet or marry him. I'm not sure about that part of the story. What I do know is that she came back to Utah with the guy AND TWO OTHER WIVES. So they all moved into her house a few doors down from me. Nice. But it gets better. Or worse, I guess. But the story gets better. So the guy turned out to be a nutjob. He wasn't even a religious polygamist. Not FLDS. No sect. Just your average slimeball who used some sort of religious justification to prey on a bunch of lonley women. Anyhow, one night he decided to hold Betty captive, put a gun to her head, and tell her he was going to kill her. Later that night, Betty managed to escape and run to the neighbor's house for help. So the SWAT team was called in to arrest the guy. Which they did. And now it's just Betty. Oh, and the two other wives.

Cool, huh? Now you can see why pictures would have been helpful to come up on google instead of my own post about Josh's birthday party.

Family Pics

In case you want to see my latest digital scrapbook pages, here are the links.

March

April

May


I'm still a few months behind, but I'm closing the gap. Hopefully I'll finish June, July, and August before September. One can dream.

If you'd like to peruse the website on your own, go to here.

My love costs money

I totally forgot to do a shout out to Mindi for her awesome Brada purse. I mean Prada purse. It does say Prada on it, right? So it must be for real. Here's a link if you want to try to win this awesome purse and the accompanying iTunes gift card. Wait, why am I helping YOU win? What's wrong with me? Oh I know. I get an extra entry for putting a shout out to her blog here. But you don't. Just me. Cause I'm Mindi's favorite. She told me so at our private BFF sleepover party the other day.

I'm not sure on the actual value of that purse, but I'd say my love costs about $15.99? That's a bargain, Mindi. I'd say you should take it. Just a suggestion.

Ice Age: The Melt Down

I know there is a lot of talk lately about global warming. And I happen to know from first hand experience that it is true. I'll give you some proof:

The Boise River. We floated the Boise River the other day. In case you haven't done it before, let me give you the run-down: You get in a raft with a slow leak in it. This part is not necessary, but it makes the experience a lot more exciting. Then you get an active 3 year old and strap her into a life jacket (to maximize her irrition) and put her inside the 6 foot long 3 1/2 foot wide raft for several hours. Then you get only one paddle to stear with--this also makes the trip more interesting--a few bottles of water, some granola bars, and a ziplock bag with your brand new cell phone in it (oh, and incidentally a minute hole too small to see), and launch into the river just above downtown Boise. Things will be slow and calm at first. You'll appreciate the flora and fauna for a few minutes--long enough to lull you into a false sense of warmth and security. But then the first small rapids will come into view. Under normal circumstances, you needn't panic. But because you have a 3 year old with you who has watched too much Dora and Diego rescue shows, she will see the upcoming rapids and start screaming WATERFALL!!! and trying to jump ship. This is the point at which you'll be able to validate global warming. Because as your under-inflated raft hits hits the deep groove in the water caused by giant submerged bolders, it will fold in half, causing the person in front (you, most likely) to launch backwards into the back of the boat and large amounts of frigid water to fill the bottom of the boat, about 6 inches deep. But don't worry. It'll only feel cold for a few seconds. After that you'll lose feeling in your feet entirely. Soon even that won't matter because you'll start to notice a large throbbing lump on the back of your head. You'll wonder how you got it for a moment. Then you'll remember feeling pain for a split second as you were flying through the air back at the rapids. And while you are trying to figure out where that pain came from, your husband will confess that he whacked you with the paddle. Why did he whack you with the paddle? Because he held the paddle over his head in a manly, triumphant pose as you were going over the rapids. Only the deflated raft caused him to lurch forward at the exact same moment you were being catapulted backwards. Head, meet Paddle. All this will soon be a thing of the past, however, as another set of small rapids approaches, and you have to quickly dump all your good water from your water bottles in order to bail out the water at the bottom of the boat so as not to sink when you hit the first big swell. Naturally, your 3-year old will want to abandon ship again, and you'll have to tie her to your waist to keep her on board. But your quick bailing will have paid off, and you will not sink. Your 3 year old will stay on board, and, aside from being thirsty for the next couple of hours, you won't notice much. Particularly from the waist down. Occasionally your three year old will comment on the various bugs and debris in the icy water you're stewing in, and your husband will continuously stear you directly into the trees and bushes hanging off the shore at the river's edge. But all this won't bother you much as the subzero temperatures will have cooled your blood enough to send you into a numb stupor. And the best news of all is that there will barely be any air to drain from the raft when you finally drag it to shore a few hours later. Bonus! Oh, and the cell phone you brought with you in case there was an emergency with the baby you left at the neighbor's house? Don't worry. It'll dry out in a few days and most of the buttons will continue to function.

Anyway, I think it's clear from this story that the polar ice caps are indeed melting and they are flowing directly into the Boise River. So don't let those crazy radicals try to convince you otherwise. I've been there and felt the proof. And I have a phone that won't dial 2 or 8 to prove it.

Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut...

I love doing all this self-exploration. I feel like I really know myself now.

You Are A Peanut

You are popular, even with people who tend to have picky taste. Kids love you, as do dogs. From rednecks to snobs, most people have a place for you in their hearts. As popular as you are, there are some people who can't be near you. Don't take it too personally. There's just a few people you rub the wrong way.

What Nut Are You?

I'm a Classic

You Belong in 1957

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Thanks, Mindi.

I'm Not An Addict...

I just really really really really really want a Coke and I can't stop thinking about it. It's been 26 hours since I had one. But I can quit if I want to. Seriously. I'm not addicted. I just like them.


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Homonymns

How many different names can you think of for this kind of truck?

(One entry per person, per day please.)

Planes, Trains, and Cliffordmobiles

In one fabulous day of our trip, Daphne got to ride this:



this:



this:


this:


and this:



Don't say I never take you anywhere, Girl.



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Metropolis

When we were in downtown Portland last week on our vacation, we got to see all kinds of cool things. That's what I love about downtowns, especially big ones. There is so much diversity. We saw homeless people, homeless people with dogs, and one homeless lady with a pet raven. We saw people doing all kinds of cool street tricks: a guy dressed all in gold, including his hands and face painted gold, who stood as still as a statue but then moved occasionally like a robot. He held out candy to kids and made my 3 year old cry when he tried to give her smarties instead of the sucker in his other hand. We saw a guy playing several instruments at once, strapped all over his body. But my favorite was this guying playing buckets and vodka bottles.



I also loved this little homeless girl playing the violin. This poor, teenage runaway trying to earn her bread by playing her heart out to the downtown crowds.



Wait, what is that on her arm? Is that a pair of jeans, carefully cut into rags and pinned on with safety pins???

Dang! That little "street urchin" probably lives in a posh suburb and got dropped off downtown by her lawyer/doctor parents in a BMW. And I just threw $5 in her case! I'm such a sucker.

For Your Listening Enjoyment...

This is what I get to listen to every day. Ever hear of WD-40???

My Little Velociraptor

Do you remember the scene in Jurassic Park where they show the dinosaur scientists the raptors' enclosure? The tour guide talks about how clever the raptors are, how they systematically test the perimiter to see if the electric fence is still on and if there is a weakness. And then later in the movie, the power goes down for only a few seconds and the raptors manage to get out in that short amount of time. Well, Beck is like that. I have every cupboard and drawer in my kitchen carefully rigged, buckled, taped, rubber banded, fastened and locked tight so that he can't get into them. But the second I forget to fasten any of them, this happens...



You would think after trying the cupboards 100 times a day and finding them always locked, he'd give up. But evidently he keeps checking them systematically, waiting for a weakness. Clearly my perimeter needs an upgrade. Maybe a high voltage electric fence? Na. Entertaining as that might be, the Lucky Charms just aren't worth it.

My Nervous Breakdown

Yesterday I had a bit of a nervous breakdown. Just a little one. I'm fine today. Just so you know, it's mostly other people's stuff, not mine. But it's all people I am close to and love, and some of it may come back to me indirectly because that's what happens when you are family and a friend. Plus, you know how sometimes worrying about everyone else can just get to you? (All names will be left out to preserve the privacy of those involved.) Here's what I was dealing with.

1) Someone's daughter keeps having seizures and they can't figure out what's wrong.
2) Someone got her hair cut quite short and died very dark brown and is having an identity crises every time she looks in the mirror (Ok, this one is me).
3) Someone lost their house to foreclosure and will have to find a new place to live immediately.
4) Someone fell off the wagon and is back to using drugs and stealing from family members.
5) Someone lives in another state and can't get their house in Utah to sell.
6) That same someone can't find a job in the other state.
7) Someone else has a job but isn't working for half what they're worth and can't support the whole family on that paycheck.
8) Someone is in debt for a very large amount of money because of a stupid real estate investment and may have to declare bankrupcy if it doesn't turn out right.
9) Someone can't seem to get pregnant no matter what and desperately wants a baby
10) Someone else is hooked on pain pills and has abandoned her children.
11) Someone had some medication problems that made them want to kill themselves this week.
12) Someone may have to support several other someones financially in the very near future because of above problems.
13) Someone has a cold and can't breathe. (Ya, this one is also me)

SEE? Minor nervous breakdown.

Coasting Through Life

I've always been a roller coaster lover. I rode my first lopptiloop as soon as I was tall enough to get let on. It was at Carowinds in the Carolinas. I think it was called the white lightning or the blue streak. The ride doesn't even exist anymore, it was that long ago. But it was AWESOME. Even as a tiny little girl, I loved the thrill of a fast roller coaster. My family went to King's Island in Cinncinati, Ohio, when I was little too. And I tried to ride The Beast with my dad (at the time it was the fastest roller coaster in the country), but I was too small and they made me wait for him on the platform while he rode. I cried the whole time, not because I was alone but because I didn't get to go on it. To this day, I love a fast coaster. They're a little harder on me than they were when I was little. The rickety wooden ones sometimes give me a headache. And I get a lot more scared looking at them than I did as a kid. But there is nothing like the thrill I get from a fast corkscrew or a big drop.

I stole this video clip from my friend Tiburon of a ride called the Aftershock from the Silverwood Theme park in northern Idaho. It looks SO fun! I have GOT to ride this some day. Check it out...



What do you think? Are you a roller coaster lover or does watching this clip make you want to throw up?

The Immoral Edward

I was looking online today for trailers for the Twilight movie, and found this gem. I'm pretty sure it's homemade. Why? There are a few irregularities. Like why is Edward wearing a Hogwarts uniform? And why is Bella's house set in a big corn field? I stressed about that one until I realized that isn't Bella's house. It's the house from The Messengers, another movie Kristen Stewart was in. And even though the person who made this video clearly used spell check, nothing beats having a person who speaks English, well, proof your subtitles before you put something on the web. Take a look. And read the text carefully....



If you didn't catch them, here are a few issues..

1)The text changes from Capitializing Each Word (:35) to not capitalizing each word (:38)

2)The highlighted circle at 1:17 to show who Edward is, in case you are completely clueless and won't figure it out during the 4 minutes of this preview.

3) 1:26 "His intelligent and amusing personality [arguable] seems to distinguish directly into her soul." Hmmmmm..they've been using the same translator as my Chinese Sign posts.

4) "In an indefinite time..." (1:37) Again, I'm not sure they know what that word means.

5) And then at 2:21, the best of all....wait for it....Edward is not immortal. He's IMMORAL! And all this time I thought he was such a good guy and took it so slow with Bella.

6) 2:49 "Their mortal vampire enemies." Do you think they intended this oxymoron? Yeah, me neither.


And almost as good, maybe better, than all the errors in this clip itself is the commentary left on youtube about the clip. For example, and I quote:

"You spelled immortal wrong, with completely tainted the meaning of that exclusive sentence."

And

"duuh. does any1 read descriptions anymore?? guess ur comment proved that psh"

And my favorite,

"Guess what everyone!!! Edward is now immoral!!! Woo, your such an idiot, how the hell can you spell immortal wrong!" I guess the same way YOU spell "you're" wrong and end a question with an exclamation point.


This is what happens when you give a 12 year old a Mac for Christmas. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

High School Musical

I guess I wouldn't have been so blindsided if I had seen the musical Mamma Mia! before attending the movie. But I hadn't. I didn't know anything about it. I only knew what the previews showed: a cute chick flick with an Abba soundtrack. Ha...Ha...HA! Not even close. What I got was a crazy, high-school-calibre, Pierce-Brosnan-singing, cheesy-dancing, ridiculous-situations-loving Bollywood film--only minus the swarthy mustaches and sari changes--where the songs only vaguely had anything to do with the "plot" (I use this term loosely). I'm not saying I completely hated this movie. I give it one and a half stars because it did have Abba songs in it and incredible Greek Isles scenery. but I think it's now clear that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. When it was finished, my lovely sister in law Nicki's comment was, "Well. That was....entertaining." And mine was "Interesting." So let's just say, if you like Bollywood (see examples here and here), you'll love this movie. Or if you already saw the live musical and know what you're doing, you'll probably like it. But if you're not in one of these two categories, or you have a greater percentage of testosterone in your body than estrogen, stay away. Or that percentage might just get reversed.

Testosterone meets Red Bull

What could be more entertaining than watching a bunch of men, hopped up on large amounts of caffeine and sugar, launching heavy, unflightworthy contraptions off a ledge into the water? Not much. Welcome to Flugtag. Red Bull's slogan, "Red Bull gives you WINGS!" has inspired a major national event to pit brains and courage against gravity and stupidity. Because Red Bull doesn't always give you wings. Not when your wings are paper mache and your flying contraption is aluminum and wood filled with 440 lbs of testosterone-poisoned men. Such a joy to watch. And we happened to be in Portland last week, so we thought we'd attend the event. See that white L shape in the picture above? That's the ledge. See that water? That's about 20 feet below the ledge. See that white dot on the far left of the picture? No? Well that's me trying (unsuccessfullly) to get anywhere near the ledge so I could watch the hilarity up close.

You can see some footage of the event (not mine) below. When you watch the opening clips (starting 1:12 mins into Jimmi Hendrix Wannabe's guitar solo), you'll wonder, like I did, if that was really Red Bull they were drinking before the competition.

I Held Out As Long As I Could...

Heaven help me. I just started Twilight.





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Share Your Thoughts

How very sad. I just heard today about a home from Extreme Home Makeover (ABC) that is going into foreclosure. The family took out a $450,000 loan with the house as collateral in order to start a construction business, they said. It failed. And now the house is going on the auction block. 1800 people donated time, materials, and funds for the house and the family, including a scholarship fund for the kids and about $200,000 to pay for property taxes and home expenses. (You can read more about it here. ) I bet those people feel like their work was in vain. What are your thoughts on the matter? Should the family be criticized for losing the house on a business venture? Or should they feel free to try to improve their lives with the house as collateral?