You'll Be a Song I'll Sing

Wonderful day so far. Slept in, saw a good movie (Lorna's Silence), had lunch at Katzinger's Deli and then stopped at Pistacia Vera for some goodies to take home.

Wrote just over the minimum yesterday so I'm starting at over 13k. I want to be to at least 15K before the weekend is over. If I get more than that I will be really happy.

It's a pretty fall day today. The sun is out and only a light jacket is required. We have the french doors and some of the windows open. Now I'm off to write - no more procrastinating.

Edited to update my total word count is now 15292!

Sammy got a Peanut Butter flavored Frosty Paws today.  He loved it.  In fact, he loved it so much, he wanted to eat the paper cup it came in.  Instead, husband and I crumpled it up and played Keep Away with Sammy.  It was a solid 15 - 20 minutes of play.  I think we all loved it.  Sammy would run back and forth between us and while he would try to grab the cup in the air or on the ground, he was very well behaved.  No biting and no getting ouf of control.

Saw Where the Wild Things Are this afternoon.  Had fish and chips at Old Bag of Nails.  Dinner was from Smackie's Traveling Smoker stand.  They ran out of brisket so we had a pulled chicken and a pulled pork sandwich.  Yummy.

Wrote 1074 words today.  Total Word Count is 8293.

Usually when I leave work early I catch a matinee movie.  Today I think I shall gather items at North Market for yummy goodness and work on my blog and writing this afternoon.

Dental appointment on Tuesday.
Talk to dog trainer on Tuesday.
The Male Animal on Wednesay.
Jackie Brown and Fast Times at Ridgemont High on Thursday.
Pecha Kucha and 45365 on Friday (as well as probably need to work late).
Watch the grandparents on Saturday.
I'm already looking forward to Sunday.  :)

Another short story rejection came in on Saturday.  The interesting thing about personalized rejections is what sticks out as good or bad to the editor. 

My 20th high school reunion is this weekend and it's been weighing on my mind.  Many of us live in the same area but I've only come across one person by accident.  My city can seem so small and yet so big at the same time.

This is just the summer of high school I guess... Big Brother breaks people into high school cliques and now John Hughes has passed away.

The last movie I saw was Angel Face starring Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum. 

The last movie I saw in the theater was Away We Go starring Jim Krasinksi and Maya Rudolph.

The relationships couldn't be more different if I had tried to pick them out on my own.

Last night we were watching Chapter 4 of Part 1 of The Kingdom.  I think I was asleep most of the time.  So I went to bed about 10:45 and was asleep by 11.  Not sure why I was so tired last night.

Supposed to see Melvin and Howard tonight.  I saw it once a long time ago on VHS or DVD so should be better on the screen.

At the end of April I went to see the eye doctor.  My eyesight doesn't change much so I now have about 4 pairs of eyeglasses (including a pair of sunglasses) I can use interchangably.  My doctor asked if I wanted to go back to contacts and I said, "While they're nice for special occasions, I'd really rather sleep in each morning than fight with putting them in."  She wasn't sure what I meant at first and then she told me I have high elasticity around my eyes and that's why I didn't have any wrinkles yet.  Yay Mary Kay!  :)

Yesterday I watched three movies (Catch and Release, Then She Found Me and Stardust).  Stardust was probably my favorite of the three.

I've been trying to go to bed around the same time but yesterday I went to bed around midnight.  We woke up at 10:15am.  Mostly Sammy has been sleeping under the bed but last night he started on his bed.  Since eating the hamburger buns he's being doing the reverse sneeze thing at odd times.  I woke up during the night to him doing it and told him it was okay - he walked over to me, let me pet him for a little bit and he stopped doing it. 

I thought I would go to Details for lunch but I really don't want to get dressed nicely, put on makeup, etc today.  I may stop by the post office to mail out a return to Land's End that's been on my to do list for the last month.  :)

Friday I called into work because I had a huge lump in my throat.  Didn't feel great at all.  I slept most of the morning and made myself get out of bed at 1:30pm.  A few hours later I discovered the hose to our ice maker came out and water was all over the counter between the stove and the refrigerator.  And of course water ended up in the basement.  I had no idea how to fix it.  Hubby came home early from work.  As it turns out, the hose won't stay so we either have to get it fixed or not have ice from the machine.

Saturday watched Tin Man and the last two episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season Three.  The reveal of four (possibly five) more cylons was exciting to say the least.  I remember in the first season there was a blood test to determine if a person was a cylon or not.  Wonder if some of them got missed or had a different type of chemical makeup.

Hubby came in from the morning walk to say our garage had been tagged.  Makes me want to knock some skulls together.  I want to help hubby clean it but I know he'll refuse the help.

Friday morning Sammy had a bad start.  We were about half done with our morning walk and he heard the garbage and recycling trucks.  He refused to walk further and  ended up popping out of his collar and leash.  Sammy took off at full speed down the sidewalk.  I walked after him and then called to him.  Luckily he looked at me and then sat down when I told him too.  I called him to me and (what a shocker!) he came.  I put his collar back on and then carried him down the street.  When I set him down again his little legs were going as fast as they could.  When I was making breakfast he was trembling.  Poor little guy. 

I know Sammy is hardwired to listen to his instincts.  That's why he barks and I can't get him to be quiet.  So I was really surprised he came running back to me when I called him.

I was planning on making hamburger buns today.  Now I'm not so certain I feel like doing anything at all.

Read Devil in a Blue Dress and Kitty Goes to Washington this weekend.

The wind and rain picked up for my drive home from work last night.  There were a few street lights out.  The abandoned Christmas Tree across the street blew to our front lawn before returning to its original spot.  Power faded out a few times but did eventually cut off for a minute or two before coming back on.

I actually went to the library for the author reading but their power was out.  So I stayed home and watched Two Lovers instead.

Ironically, I saw a movie tonight about a geological expedition in the Antarctica.  Coincidentally, the Byrd Polar Research Center is located on the campus of The Ohio State University.  We had about 3 - 5 inches of snow today.  One person used skis to get to the movie.  And about half the audience had been to Antarctica so the weather didn't phase them.  lol

Hubby was nice enough to put together a list for me of the movies I've seen this year. He reconstructed it with the help of his own list and updates I'd posted in my LJ under the movies tag. There was only one movie I could think of that wasn't on the list. What a good job he did! *applause* As repayment I'm making a list of my 10 Best Movies Seen in 2008

Looking over the list it was difficult to choose the 10 movies I enjoyed the most. I saw about 125 movies, 72 shorts and 4 installations. For the list I did not include the shorts or installations. The most surprising thing is that most of the movies were released in the last few years. Maybe in a few months I'll regret one or two of these choices but tonight this is how the list stands. They are listed in the order I viewed them:

Under The Same Moon
Snow Angels
Iron Man
My Blueberry Nights
The Duchess of Langeais
After The Wedding
Hancock
Let The Right One In
Rachel Getting Married
Jean de Florette

The last few days I've seen White Woman, The Good German and The Tracey Fragments.

Last month my mother found a microwave peanut brittle recipe in the newspaper that she cut out and gave to me. I made it and it was horrible! The timing was off and the sugar and corn syrup burned. I happened to find another recipe which I made and it turned out great. So onward with my plans to provide peanut brittle to all of my non-diabetic co-workers. I plan on making my chewy cherry cookies for the diabetic ones (there are three of them). And if I'm feeling ambitious I can make doggy treats too.

I'm driving myself crazy.  I bought a baby gift for my best friend in October.  Right before we left for vacation I opened up the package and put it away somewhere.  The plan was to put a gift package together and send everything out at once.  And now I can't find it.  I remember saying to my husband, "I thought it was a rabbit and it's a bear" and setting it with the wineglass area in the kitchen. 

Yesterday we went and saw two movies yesterday... The Changeling and Rachel Getting Married.  Neither movie was what I expected it to be and both were better than my expectations.  :)

Guillaume Depardieu died.  Hubby sent me an email that I read shortly before I left work yesterday.  It makes me so sad.

We'd seen him last in Rivette's Don't Touch The Axe.  I'd joked Depardieu did such a good job he was going to be typecast.  Honestly... with the prosthetic leg he could claim he was born to portray any French injured war hero on screen.  His life was tempestuous but it seemed like things were coming together. 

I have a touch of melancholy right now.  I'm overwhelmed with my writing assignments/exercises for the writing conference, putting together instructions for my mom while we're on vacation, and putting out of my mind the things that need to get done before winter sets in (cleaning the gutters, lawn aeration - though probably too late for that, cleaning out garage, weatherizing lawn furniture to name a few).  Tomorrow I have a weigh-in and I barely did any exercise this week.

Yesterday I walked to the post office carrying a 5 lb book, went to the grocery store and pet food store where I came back with over 5 lbs of stuff in my backpack.  Crossing the street to Giant Eagle there was another woman with me.  She had a one shoulder backpack slightly larger than a school bag.  In Grandview, walking to the grocery store with a backpack would be out of place.  It's not that it's a hoity-toity neighborhood, but that most people drive everywhere unless it's to go out to eat.  Back then I'd walk to Giant Eagle and carry the stuff back in their plastic bags.  On the return trip home I stopped at Patty Cake Bakery where I bought two traditional tollhouse chocolate chip cookies as a sweet treat for husband and me.  It was a 1.2 mile walk.

The afternoon was pretty.  After resting up a bit and cooling down we had our cookies with a glass of milk.  Patty Cake is a vegan bakery and their stuff is good.  I forgot the cookies would have walnuts so I ate around mine.  I've never understand the appeal of milk and cookies until yesterday.  The sweetness is cut through with the milk.

We've been watching a lot of The Office (American version) to catch up to the next season.  Also, we've watched the first day of the World Series of Poker.  I was surprised by Chuck Liddell.  It may have been his first time playing poker in a casino but he was really cute; he was just having the best time and having so much fun.  I just wanted to pinch his cheeks.

Sammy finally performed stomach surgery on his platypus and found the woobie inside (it's a rectangular piece of woolie material velcroed shut with a squeaker inside).  He carries the woobie around in his mouth then pushes it against my leg or stomach to make it squeak.

Saw Ghostown yesterday.  It had a slow start but Tea Leoni and Ricky Gervais have good comic chemistry together.

I came to two conclusions recently that I'll share...

1. I couldn't recall what I did at all on Sunday even though I tried and tried to remember.  Later I realized that I spent about 6 hours traveling to my parents' house, spending the day with my mom and driving back.  I think that means if the day isn't something I planned for myself then it didn't happen.  I wonder if that's my way to getting a do-over on a weekend day?
2. The spam filter on my site has been a blessing.  It's been installed for a few weeks now and I had no idea how much time was being chipped away by having to moderate those posts.  The limericks were pretty funny, though.

I've managed to knock down a few more movies off my viewing list. Alpha Dog was first. The DVD didn't want to work but it was on one of the HD channels so I DVR'd it. It was odd that the parental roles were so small. Some were protrayed as caring and others were really selfish. It's a bit surprising that with all those kids knowing what had happened that no one spoke up.

One movie I had no interest in seeing initially was The Kite Runner. The book was so good I didn't feel the need to see the movie. But my sister-in-law's mom insisted that it was good. She was right! I saw it yesterday. I am pretty sure the ending in America was tacked on for the movie. It was a little cheesy but it worked since it brought some of the earlier ideas full circle.

The security alarm is all fixed.

Five minutes before I walked out the door for work this morning, Sammy ran downstairs and returned promptly. The good news is that he had diarrhea on his towel by the front door (easily cleanable) but the bad news is that he also had it in five areas of the tv room. The only room in the house with carpet!

I went for a 1 mile walk the other day with Sammy. It wore him out.

Yesterday wasn't very interesting. I woke up super early so I could call the alarm people. I'm still fighting with them over the problems we've been having. They think because I have a digital phone line that I'm not as important as their customers with analog phone lines. :(

I took a morning nap since I was up so early. Later I went to the $2 movies to see Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It was superdark when I went into the theater and I couldn't see a thing! I walked in while John Hurt's character was telling the story of The Golden Army to a young Hellboy. Eventually I found my way to a seat. Three times during the movie the screen went funny where the film wasn't quite in the right place on the screen. The last time, of course, was during an exciting fight scene so there was their heads at the bottom of the screen, a huge black line in the middle, and their torsos at the top. I waited until the credits were nearly over before leaving. There was a group of 5 women trying to get in to the movie theater. They couldn't see a thing either! It was good knowing it wasn't just me.

I ran some errands (picked up dry cleaning and yummy things at the store I normally don't buy), ate dinner and read. I've borrowed most of the Twilight series from someone at work and I've been trying to get them back to her as soon as possible. I also watched Old Joy. Since hubby hasn't been home I've been staying up until midnight or 1am but I really should be going to bed earlier.

Tonight after work I dropped some things off at the Grandview Library, went to Hallmark, got Raising Canes for dinner, operated heavy machinery, took Sammy for a short walk, ate dinner and sat down at the computer. The plan was to work on a bunch of outstanding blog posts and then watch a movie. Instead, I found an acceptance in The Shine Journal for a flash fiction piece on the Twinklings page. Now I can't concentrate on the things I was going to work on but I don't mind. *big grin*