Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your holiday, everyone! Eat, drink, and above all, be merry!

Lots of love to you and yours,
Bev

Because, when it comes right down to it,

I am a 14 year old girl at heart.

*sigh*

I was bitten last Sunday by the worst kind of venomous creature: the Twilight phenomenon.


To the detriment of most other things, including housework, television, computer time, and even any kind of mothering beyond the absolute necessities, I read the entire Twilight series in one week. Four books. Sunday to Sunday. That's 2,379 pages, according to Wiki Answers. Sheesh.

As many of you know, I'm a bit of a manic-depressive kind of reader. I go for months without reading much of anything beyond Entertainment Weekly, then I find a couple of good novels and read fanatically for a couple of weeks, then go back to my "dormant" phase. I'm not one of those readers who can read a chapter, feel satisfied, and put it down for a day or two until I feel like reading again. Nope. I get obsessive and MUST know how it will end. I find myself pulling it out at stop lights, at lunch time at work, and while cooking dinner. It's kind of a problem.

Anyway, now I can't get my head out of the soapy, melodramatic world of Edward (swoon!) and Bella. Dude. I am officially immature. I couldn't feel more than mild annoyance over Bella's "frail", relatively helpless demeanor, or Edward being a bit of a control freak, or Jacob and Edward both having those "Bella is mine!" thoughts. I couldn't even get annoyed that the author uses the same stupid words over and over and over again to describe the characters and events. I don't get it - I don't usually go for sappy love stories. I've never even watched soap operas! I guess maybe it was the supernatural aspect that hooked me, because I've never met a supernatural thriller kind of thing that I didn't like.

And so, even though the movie is getting so-so (at best) reviews, and even though I heard it described as "a 1 hour and 45 minute Abercrombie and Fitch ad", I will go see the movie. I will go by myself if I cannot convince someone to put their dignity aside and come with me to a movie about teenage vampire love. Worse yet, I'm eagerly looking forward to it!

Ok, a small part of the reason I picked it up was because of an article in EW about the author, Stephenie Meyer. What appeals to me about her story is that she never set out to be a writer - she just had a vivid dream one night and then sat down and started doing it. Writing. After her three young sons were in bed, she wrote a novel. Then, she joined a small writer's group and got feedback, and then she Googled how to get published. And now she's a superstar with multiple book deals, a killer agent, a finished motion picture, and potentially another in the works....

Why can't I do that?? Where is the discipline I need to sit for hours, letting the imagination I've always prided myself on spill out into something people might actually want to read? Where is my drive to do something I enjoy rather than something that pays the bills?

Anyway, enough of me whining! Loved the books, despite their frothiness and "no mental heavy lifting" status. Loved 'em! Can't wait to see the film, no matter how mindless it may be. Oh, and Robert Pattinson is totally dreamy as Edward. Meow!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling...wine

On Friday night I caught up with some friends, both old and new, to have a little vino and good conversation. What a delightful surprise to meet new people that I like so well! I was starting to feel like I would never make any new friends, when all of a sudden this year I've had a "friend renaissance," as my pal Lisa calls it. :) It's so nice to find like-minded moms who I can hang out with, drink good wine with, and feel like I've known them for years within a few short hours.

I think we've agreed to do this on the regulah. Mala - you need to come next time. Oh, and the Vina Alamosa was a big hit, so thanks for the recommendation!

Walls!

I am working on my boss right now, but he has limited vision. Another advisor is getting rid of an office workstation which includes half cube walls. I have worked what little magic I have and secured a long "L" shaped cube wall that stands about 4.5 feet tall - just tall enough that my extremely irritating (and extremely short) coworker could not see over top when seated at her desk. Muuauuaahaaahaaa!

I have been looking forward to this day for as long as I can remember. I am the only person in this entire office who has to share work space with another person, and the most annoying person here, at that. While this short little divider would not shut her up, it would definitely make her *feel* further away from me. That's all I need!

Besides (and this is the angle I'm using on Boss), as it is now, her desk is an eyesore with hanging phone cables, computer stuff, and tons of paperwork.... The new half wall would look sleek and would provide our office with a more polished look, for sure. I want it!!!

If only I could see the look on her face when she comes in tomorrow and sees that I've penned her in! D'oh!

Edited to add: Ok, the Boss agreed, and the great wall is up... but it's much shorter than I'd hoped! Blast!

I must be crazy

We've been talking about getting a puppy.

Apparently I do not have enough dog hair on my clothes, carpet, and in my food!

Apparently I feel like house-training a puppy in the dead of winter... again!

Apparently I want to cough up more dough for obedience training.

Apparently 40 lbs of dog food per month is just not enough - I must buy MORE!

Apparently I want to worry about those tiny little teeth chewing anything in sight.

But puppy breath/grunts/bellies/barks/fur/tiny collars....

Apparently, I am ready.

I have been looking online at shelters, but haven't found the one just yet. We would really love a Bernese Mountain Dog - I've always loved that breed - but they're just too expensive. I just can't justify spending more on a dog than I did on my first car! Of course, that car was a piece of shite, but that's neither here nor there....

I've been corresponding with a woman who has a litter of Bernese Mtn dog/German Shepherd pups. I talked her down $250 in the price and plan to get her down another $100 before I'm through. :) We are talking about an "accident" litter, after all, and she has 5 rambunctious puppies running around her house right now. Something tells me she'll take whatever I'll give her to be rid of one before Christmas.

If we decide we want one, that is. The jury is out. I'm solidly on the fence. But I kinda want one.

Chili Binge '08

Why is it that I struggle & starve for two weeks to lose 5 measely pounds, and then I take one weekend "off" and eat a little too much chili (such delicious chili)... and I gain it all back in two days?

Stupid, stupid! (slapping forehead)

I have once again banished tortilla chips and anything scoopable (salsa, guacamole, chili, tabouli, hummus) from my shopping cart. Many of my favorite foods can only be transported to my mouth using chips, apparently, and as the slogan goes: I cannot eat just one. Oh, and that reminds me - salsa is evil. It is one of those fat-free, "healthy" snacks, yet it can only be eaten with crispy chips of some sort. I know they make those baked things, but c'mon. Those things are like little bits of dried wallpaper and you know it. The best kind of tortilla chips are bubbly and crunchy and deeeeeeelicous.

Which is why I must never eat them.

By the way, some dingbat in a Weight Watchers meeting from eons ago actually suggested that we use carrots to eat salsa. Carrots! Carrots. I mean, really.

So, here's hoping it's water retention from all those salty chips and firey homemade chili I ate this weekend. In the meantime, back on the old calorie restricting wagon. I hate that damn wagon.

Oom-pa! Octoberfest (in November)!

Our local ski hill has an annual Octoberfest party & ski swap. We went last weekend with our hilarious friend Jill and her two cutie pie daughters, Andra & Evette. We had a blast!! Great music, great beer, and great friends... is there anything better than that? I think not. We missed her other half, Ric, but he was off doing manly things in the woods. :)

Anyway, here are some pics:






I have some videos, but blogger is crapping out on me and won't let me upload them. I'll have to get to them later. Trust me, you won't want to miss seeing Jim do the chicken dance or Jill caw like a giant bird. Good times. :)

From the Vault

Perhaps one of the more embarrassing photos in my collection, but what the heck? I obviously have no shame.



Age: 11 years old
Location: My bedroom in Peacham, Vermont
Hairdo: One part Flock of Seagulls, one part Duran Duran, one part awesome.
Wall art courtesy of Scholastic Book Order forms and a street vendor in NYC.

Why the M. Night hate?

Last night, for the first time in years, I had a nightmare. I'm usually such a deep sleeper that I don't even remember my dreams, and since having my second son a year ago it has been worse than ever because I am constantly sleep-deprived. When I lay my head down at night, it's curtains until his sonorous cry beckons me from the next room, which is usually way earlier than any human should be awakened.... :-/

But last night I found myself in one of those half-awake dreams where you are aware that you're dreaming, but can't seem to stop the dream from proceeding. Wierder still was the dream's content, which had me and my family starring in a movie that we watched several weeks ago. Now, let it be known, DH and I are in that minority of movie viewers who think that M. Night Shyamalan's movies are totally under-rated. Well, except for Lady In The Water. That one really did kinda suck. But aside from that one, we have appreciated all of his other offerings and legitimately got the chills from each one in turn. I mean, c'mon! Who can watch the basement scene in Signs without freaking out just a little bit?? What am I - made of stone?


The Happening was no different, but I don't know why I had such a delayed reaction to it! The critics said it was no good because we never find out what the happening is. Well, folks, some of us have imagination and can draw our own conclusions. Some of us also have similar opinions about the whole "humans effing up the planet and the planet reacting in its own inexplicable way" as Night, apparently, because we totally "got" it. And what the planet did to the humans totally freaked me right the fuck out, as evidenced by my dream some 3 weeks later.

Now, this movie didn't scare me as badly as The Descent, or even the somewhat craptastic Cabin Fever. Those two are on a whole 'nother level, IMO. However, there was something about this one - maybe the fact that there is no resolution, no cure, no epiphany, that really got to me.

Plus, I just really, really like Zooey Deschanel. She makes any movie awesome. :)

So, my point is (if I have one... not sure) that people need to cut my man M. Night some slack. Not every movie is gonna be The Sixth Sense, but they're all good in their own right. It's not like he's Zach Braff and has already peaked with his first movie. D'oh!

Suhhhh-lacker!

Sorry I've slacked off this week! I guess I just had a very boring week and couldn't think of anything to say.... But I assure you that I'm feeling much more verbose this week already. :)

In the meantime, here's something fun from The Kids In The Hall:

"My Pen" (I say this aaall the time at work. No one ever gets it.)

Just don't run off with it. :)

and a classic Kids sketch:
"These are the Daves I know"


Man, I miss KITH. Oh, and thanks to the wonder of YouTube, my 5 year-old is now absent-mindedly singing, "These are the Daves I know I know. These are the Daves I know...." It's the circle of life. Awesome.