worst movie ever

Olivia brought over Knocked Up last night. She had had a very sad day so we wanted to chill out and watch a ridiculously silly movie. This movie was just ... ridiculous? It was obviously written by a guy because the whole time I was not laughing and I was thinking, Girls don't say things like that! The crappiest moment of the movie (and there were plenty of crappy moments) would have to be some guy plopping down in a hospital wheelchair and making fun of Stephen Hawkings.

But Katherine Heigl is very pretty.

dang it!

I have a farmer tan.

on my doggy, digging, decorating and dancers

I have to report that Mabel is fitting in to our family perfectly. She is such a perfect little puppy! She sleeps for like 20 hours of the day, I swear! And when she is awake, sometimes she is a bit of a spaz, trying to bite our pantlegs and rolling around on her back a lot. But since she sleeps so much and even sleeps almost through the night (she only goes out once a night to pee) I cannot complain. It's crazy to me that she will just get more mellow as she gets older!

The weather has been beautiful here. Jonny bought a hammock this week so he is outside right now, napping in the sun. I have been grubbing in the dirt today. The side of our yard along our driveway is just a horrible place. There are more rocks than dirt. No grass. It is very ugly. It looks like a quarry. And it slopes down so steeply from the driveway that any soil gets washed away. We don't know what to do there. I mean, we have plenty of ideas of things we could do there, but they all cost a lot of money. So in the meantime, I was out there today raking up the larger rocks and after a few hours, made a teeny tiny dent in the rocks. Sigh.

It was a bit chaotic in our yard this morning. I babysit Sam Davenport on Friday mornings. So Blue, the Lion and Sam were all playing (loudly) on the swingset while Mabel chased them around and played in the grass.

The kids are doing really great with Mabel. Lion seems a little bit afraid of her when she nips at his feet, but we are trying to teach him to stand still and call for us when she does that or she will chase him around. It's a slow process.

I found another blog that I love. It's about a woman who also has a dog named Mabel! It's called Mabel's House. Her house is so cute, I just want to go visit her and curl up on her chair

and read a book and look around at all of her pretty, pretty things.

I'm thinking Mabel must be a common pet name, because there is yet another blogger I have a crush on, Nicole from Making it Lovely, and she has a cat named Mabel. Either Mabel is a popular pet name or this is just proof that if I did ever get to meet these girls we would totally be bffs.

And speaking of bffs, my very own bff, Andrea, is coming to visit in a couple weeks! So I am super excited. And redoing the guest room for her.




Which Jonny is not too thrilled about but as long as he doesn't have to lift a paintbrush he usually doesn't mind what I do. Now if I could just figure out how to hang curtains by myself he would be very happy. I am forever asking him to switch out curtain rods and it is quite a tedious project. From the looks of it.

This is Andrea's headshot from the Merce Cunningham site. Isn't she pretty? She is coming to visit after the company performs in DC. So if you are in DC the last weekend of March, you should check them out!

introducing Mabel

testing testing

So I finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday, after Jonathan practically drove me there himself. He kicked me out of bed Tuesday night at 4 in the morning because I was snoring so effing loud I kept him up all night. Turns out I have a sinus infection. Nice.

But the freaky thing is, I had some blood work done last month just because. And it turns out I have very high cholesterol. Which disturbs me on many levels. One. Because I had my cholesterol checked when I was in college and it was really high then but the doctor told me it was most likely due to the "college diet" of fast food and not to worry about it. So I am thoroughly pissed with myself for not bothering to have it rechecked in the past 15 years. Two. I don't think I eat foods that are high in cholesterol. I don't eat a lot of animal products, as I have already admitted on this blog, and I don't tend to eat a lot of fast food. Three. WTF? Four. If I cannot bring my cholesterol down in three months by changing my diet and (sigh) exercising, I will have to go on medication.

So that's that. If I sound very calm, do not be fooled. If you know me at all, though, you know I am not calm! I am quite a hypochondriac and now I have proof that, yes, something is mos' def wrong with me. Great.

The Lion is feeling a lot better. He is much more cheerful again, although he still has his leonine violent moodswings that end with him on the floor kicking and screaming. He can walk down the garage steps now if he is holding my hand in a deathgrip. It makes me so excited for him and so horribly depressed that he is growing up so fast. He still likes to be carried around just as much as he likes walking, though. Which is fine with me. Even if I am running around, trying to get all three of us out the door on time and juggling my hot coffee, purse, sunglasses and keys, Blue's backpack, a sippy cup of water and three jackets of varying sizes, I cannot refuse him when he reaches his fat little arms up to me and asks, "Can I hold you?" He always says it like that and I love it so much that I cannot bear to correct him.

Blue had "Donuts with Dad" at preschool this week. And Jonathan had a meeting, of course, so he had to bow out. I didn't think I should go in his place since I am still a snotty mess and more obviously, not a father figure, so my dad was the hero of the day. He came to her preschool and got the grand tour and was introduced to her teachers and to Sister. I called him later to see if he had a good time (and to thank him again for going) and he reported that he had a most excellent time. The kids serenaded the dads and he ate a donut and went home with a little picture of Blue for his fridge and a tie she painted. Thanks, Dad!

Tomorrow we are dropping the kids off at Jonathan's parents and driving down to Charlotte, NC, to spend the night with his sister, Mary and her husband, Trevor. First thing in the morning we are going to go pick up our new puppy and I am so excited! Most of the time. Some of the time I am wondering if Jonny and I are crazy.

I bought this CD yesterday to listen to in the car on our trip:

Can you believe it?

In 2 days, I will be holding my very own puppy!

a few reviews for you

I am taking a break from wandering around feeling miserable, coughing and blowing my nose indiscriminately to actually blog. And not just more fantasy room decorating but an actual post.

First review. I went to see The Other Boleyn Girl Saturday night with Katherine, Barbra, Diana and Sam. I was not sure if I would like the movie at all. I read the book forever ago and really enjoyed it. If you haven't read it, read it. For God's sake.

I am a bit of a fanatic about Henry and his wives so I wasn't sure I would like this movie. I thought the casting of Natalie Portman as the bewitching Anne Boleyn was brilliant. And that Scarlett Johannson was a perfect choice for Mary Boleyn as she is described in the novel. But the previews seemed to hint that the movie was not going to follow the novel very faithfully. That there was an excessive amount of rivalry and jealousy between the sisters that I didn't find in the book.


I am surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. It did veer from the book quite a bit, but the book itself is a fictitious account so the discrepancies didn't bother me as much as I thought they would. All in all, I thought it was a pretty neat interpretation of the story of Henry and Anne. Just like the book is a neat interpretation. They just happen to be different interpretations. And I felt like the parts of the story that veered from historical truth (like the character of Mrs. Boleyn being such a feminist) helped set the scene for the average viewer who may be unfamiliar with the whole story as well as with the general period in history.

The fact that my new favorite actor, who looks spookily exactly like my dear Jonny played George Boleyn made the movie that much better. I think he is an actor to watch, people. I think he is going to be big. B. I. G. Memorize this face, people:


I'm just sayin.'

Second review.
Jonny and I rented this from Netflix and I finally watched it. Only like eight years after it came out. Man, I loved this movie! Awesome. We are renting Ocean's 12 next but I don't see how it could come close to the awesomeness that is Ocean's 11.

Third and final review.


I just read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox for the new bookgroup that Cindy is starting this month. And when I say I just read it, I mean I bought the book today and read it all afternoon while the kids napped. It was amazing. I couldn't put it down. I don't know when I have enjoyed a new author so much. I can't wait to discuss it at book group. If you have not read it yet, read it. And join our new book group and come talk about it with me. Seriously. Good. Book.