Saturday, August 21, 2010

Multitasking. OR Reasons I need a clone

So I don't know why I thought I was talented enough to transition into mommy, wife, housekeeper, church secretary AND college student smoothly.  This past week has been craziness. 

I'm exhausted.

Yesterday I thought Okay, I've made it to the weekend.  I can rest.  WRONG.  The laundry had to be caught up, house cleaned, et cetera.  Then this morning I had the bright idea of taking down the girls' cribs and going on a hunt for new beds.  That took almost all day (we just finished putting the new beds together about an hour ago).  So now I've used up an entire day off.  A day I was supposed to rest

Tomorrow is church, and it's also my children church team's Sunday to teach.  On top of that, I promised my sister and cousin I'd go to the movies with them after lunch.  We're going to see Vampires Suck, which I really want to watch, but I'm just so tired at this exact moment that I'd honestly prefer staying home and napping.  

I even planned on doing a Face Punch post for today, but didn't have the energy to be annoyed with anyone.

Aside from all of that nonsense, I feel like I didn't see my girls hardly at all this week.  I'm working longer hours since I went from three days to two, and of course school takes a good eight hours a day.  (Before school I was working a mere 12-14 hours a week, and the rest of the time I was stay-at-home mom.)  I also had a get-together with an old friend Thursday night which lasted from six until almost midnight.  No wonder I miss my kids. 

I know after a few weeks I'll adjust and be fine.  It's the initial changing that's the problem.  I'm a creature of habit.  Give me boring repetition - I'm happy with it.  

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like this...

Friday, August 20, 2010

Fantabulous Friday

Wow. What a week.  New work schedule, started back at school, my youngest busted her teeth, my oldest hurt her foot, and on top of all that I stayed out entirely too late last night catching up with an old friend.  Sheesh.  I need a vacation.  Good thing it's

FANTABULOUS FRIDAY

Woo.  Hoo.  Although I suspect my brain cells are hiding somewhere deep in the recesses of my skull from shock, I'm going to attempt to find some inspiration for y'all.  Don't expect too much out of me today, though. 

I'm going to share the most fantabulous places that I've never been - but someday dream/pray/hope to see.

The Great Barrier Reef
Although I'm terrified of snorkeling and all things that involve going into the ocean - thanks, Spielberg - I think I'd be brave enough to risk a shark encounter to see this beautiful Australian wonder. 

The Louvre
Yeah, yeah, it'd be cool to see the rest of Paris too, but frankly I'm more interested in what's inside this place:  an art lover's dream come true.

New York City
Times Square.  BROADWAY.  Madison Square Garden. Central Park.  The Statue of Liberty.  This is one of my more realistic locations, so I know I will go soon.  Very, very soon (got that hubs?  SOON!). 

Ireland
Blame it on my heritage.  I really have no specific reason for wanting to go, but I always have.  Maybe it has something to do with Colin Farrell's sexy self...

Venice, Italy
Of course it's beautiful, but I mostly just want to ride a gondola. 

Hawaii
Who wouldn't want to be on that beach with a cool drink at this very moment?  I'd go right now. 

There are also a few more places in the U.S. that I'd really like to visit:  The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.  (I went to D.C. with my family when I was 18 months old, but obviously I don't remember it.) 

Where would you like to go/What do you want to see?

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

First day of school review and blog lovin'

Had my first day of school today.  (I was so excited/anxious that I woke up at 4:30am and could not go back to sleep.) I know first impressions aren't always accurate or necessarily a good indicator as far as professors go, but my initial opinions were good.  I'm taking six classes - all lecture classes.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm wondering what was I thinking?!, but I'm not going to panic.  Just yet. 

Of course, with my new super-busy schedule (school MWF and work T/Th) I will have a huge chunk of my blogging time cut out, which makes Jess a sad girl. 

So imagine my great delight when I got home to catch up on my bloggin pals' new posts for the day and discovered I've been given another blog award - by not one, but TWO of my blogging pals!

was given to me by both the wonderful Meg at O is Me and Amy at Life's Journey with a Smile.  THEN my pal at Jumble Mash gave me some Blog Lovin' today in her post, which is always awesome.  Nothing like some good blog lovin'! 

Thank you so much ladies!  I really enjoy reading your blogs and hope everyone will wander over and take a peek, because they'll love reading them too!

Note:  Since I just did the whole award/7 things about me/give the award away thing last week, I'm going to ask for a bye on this one.  However, in the next month or so I will be making another award and giving it out!

This day has just been a fantabulously awesome day! However, now I have to go read two chapters of my Psychology textbook and two chapters of a novel about Philosophy for Friday's classes. 

Cheers!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Back to School

Yessirree, I am going back to school tomorrow.  I know I've talked about this incessantly the past few weeks, and I apologize.  It'll be over soon, I promise. I've got my stuff all ready to go, my morning schedule all figured out (because I am having to completely change it up since I won't be able to sleep until 8 every morning anymore.  Sigh).  I haven't picked out my wardrobe for tomorrow yet, but I'm thinking casual.  Jeans, cute shirt and flip flops, maybe.  Don't want to overdo it and act like that creepy chick who has pocket protectors and a highlighter in ever color available (I only bought yellow, thank you).

Because I've been in education mode for months days, it's worn off into my subconscious. I'm dreaming about school-related movies, probably because I've wanted to watch nothing but school-related movies.  Last night I watched Dazed & Confused, followed by Porky's.  Starting to think maybe it's a sickness.  Or an addiction of some sort....

It wouldn't be right to keep my current affection for the institution of higher learning all to myself, so today I'm going to share with you my top 15 favorite college-based movies.

Editor's Note:  I originally thought about including high school movies in this list, but it would take forever to rank them, and there'd be way more than 15. 

15. Sorority Boys
This film is probably not on most people's favorites list, but it cracks me up.  I think maybe it's due to a lingering crush on Barry Watson from his 7th Heaven days.... 

It also has Heather Matarazzo, who I love.

 
14.  Sidney White
One of my guilty pleasures.  I think Amanda Bynes is just adorable in general, and she's super-cute in this film as well.  Modern-day Snow White, only at college and with sororities, dorks and an evil blonde girl. 

13. Back to School
I was a kid the first time I saw this, and it was shortly after "Ladybugs" came out, so I thought Rodney Dangerfield was pretty cool (hey, I was too young to appreciate him on his own). 

12. Dead Man On Campus
Zack Morris returns, but as an older, much hotter dark-haired version who parties.  Hard.  Tom Everett Scott is great as the serious student who gets mixed up in roomate suicide scheme. 

11.  Rudy
Poor kid who just wants to go to Notre Dame more than anything in the whole world.  It takes him practically forever to finally get grades good enough to get in, then he's so tiny that the football guys just beat the hell out of him for two years before he gets the chance to play ball for what, 9 seconds?  I just love Sean Astin.  He's like Scrappy Doo.

10.  American Pie 2
I know the majority of this film is over summer break at the beach, but it starts the last day of college...so there.

This is my most favorite installment of the American Pie movies.

9.   The House Bunny
I'm a huge Girls Next Door fan.  I also like Anna Faris.  I knew from the previews that I'd love this movie.  Pretty funny.  Not to mention Colin Hanks plays do-gooder love interest.  He's so adorable.

8.  Road Trip
Can't stand Tom Green.  LOVE Breckin Meyer and Seann William Scott.  Hilarious movie.

7.  Son-in-Law
One of my all-time faves.  I think I'm probaby outnumbered against the people who hate Pauly Shore, but I can't help myself.  This movie is great.

6. Revenge of the Nerds
I didn't see this one until I hit my twenties.  Don't know how I went so long without watching it, because I love it.   I'm a sucker for nerds.

5. Animal House
No explanation needed.

4. Accepted
First time I saw Justin Long in a film, and loved his character.  Jonah Hill is also hilarious.  Not to mention funnyman Lewis Black as a professor is awesomeness.

3.  Legally Blonde
Reese Witherspoon is one of the cutest chicks Hollywood has ever found.  Great movie.  Also, Luke Wilson is in it. Cutie!

2. Van Wilder

Ryan Reynolds - one of my addendum freebies.  YUM.  One of the best National Lampoon movies ever made (next to Christmas Vacation and Animal House, of course).

1. Old School
I think I love this film so much because the idea of partying with Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson is just crazy.  How fantabulous would that be?!  Plus, Will Ferrell doing that ribbon gymnastics routine is hilarious. 


Since I feel like it would be a disgrace to have a school post without mentioning my favorite high school films, I'm obligated to include them.  I'll just give a quick list because otherwise you'd be here all day.  In no particular order, my top 30 favorite high school movies:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Dazed & Confused
Can't Buy Me Love
Breakfast Club
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Grease
Clueless
Porky's
Bring it On
Better Off Dead
Never Been Kissed
Weird Science
Teen Wolf
Hiding Out
Varsity Blues
Say Anything
Hairspray
The Hot Chick
Scream
Just One of the Guys
10 Things I Hate About You
Mean Girls
Cry-baby
Superbad
John Tucker Must Die
Once Bitten
The Faculty
American Pie
Carrie
Juno

Do you have any idea how many high school films there are?  It's ridiculous.  It was REALLY hard to only pick 30!

Stepford Wife

We had a massive storm come through, and it was like the Wizard of Oz weather (only without the tornadoes and flying houses).  For a second I thought maybe there was a hurricane and everyone forgot to tell me.  We lost power, and I'm just chillin on the couch in the dark, sweating my a$$ off because it's August in Louisiana. 

Anyhoo, my mind's wandering, and somehow I go from thinking about the movie I was in the middle of when the power cut off (Porkys, by the way) to Katie Holmes.  Don't ask me how, because I have no clue...

I've always liked Katie.  Even when she was a moody, sullen teen on Dawson's Creek I still thought she was cute and semi-likable.  Later she grew up and seemed like a well-put-together, kind and fun adult.  Then one day out of the blue I see a magazine cover of her making out with Tom Cruise.  Hello, TomKat.
I was like WHAT?! It just seemed so odd to me, for a number of reasons:

First:  She's like three feet taller than him.  And the chick is always wearing heels, so make it three and a half feet taller.

Second:  He's old enough to be her dad (or even possibly a great uncle).  Creepy. 

Third:  I know he's Tom Cruise, but she's still out of his league.  I mean really, the dude's a weirdo. 

Don't get me wrong.  I used to like Tom.  Back when he was in Risky Business, Top Gun, A Few Good Men, he was cool.  I even thought he was slightly good-looking.  Then he started getting strange.  Made some weird movies, began with the whole scientology promotional tour, etc.  Something was awry, so to speak. 

So all of a sudden cutesy Katie Holmes is smitten kitten with creepy old Tom Cruise.  And they're making out. Everywhere.  Like the king and queen of Hollywood PDA.

Literally, it was getting ridiculous.  It was almost like they were trying to prove to everyone that they were actually a couple.  Which lead me to believe that maybe this was some sort of a scheme.

Soon after Katie is interviewed in a magazine and is asked about Tom.  She says something about how when she was a kid she had posters of him on her walls and she had the biggest crush on him and now she's dating him and how awesome is that....  All I could think was eww.

Then Tom goes on Oprah and is just SO SUPER EXCITED because he's found the love of his life and he wants to tell everyone about how he's brainwashed romanced Katie and he just LOVES HER SO MUCH.

Can we say crazy and a little bit uncomfortable?  I bet Oprah was thinking what the hell is this dude doing?  Is he going to jump on me?  Where's security?

Before we can even stop talking about that whole fiasco, news breaks that they're engaged.  After only dating for a few weeks. 

Curiouser and curiouser....

Then - SURPRISE - we find out Katie is pregnant.  Aha, says I.  Still, eww.

So the world waits patiently for the blessed event, and when it comes......nothing.  No pictures, no interviews, nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  A month goes by, and people start to wonder:  was it made up?  A publicity stunt?  Is there a baby at all?  Or is it just really ugly?  Speculation runs amok as paparazzi tries uselessly to catch a shot of the mysterious Suri Cruise.  Months later, Vanity Fair releases the first ever pictures of quite possibly the cutest baby ever born in the history of the world.


The kid's adorable.  It's really almost surreal how cute the child is.  Suri is obviously Tom and Katie's baby, because she is so stinkin' precious and looks like both of them.  So that ends the debates about the validity of Katie's pregnancy, blah blah blah.

Seven months later, TomKat takes the walk down the aisle in Italy.
The hoopla over their wedding is comical.  I've never seen so much media coverage for a celebrity wedding.  Ever.  They release a hundred pictures to magazines, and she's stunning and he's a charming little old midget man and they're just so sweet.....  so everyone says.  Still, it doesn't really make sense to me.

As time goes on, the gorgeous family is photographed everywhere, doing everything.  Taking Suri for ice cream, playing in the park, shopping, taking walks, et cetera.  Every event Tom and Katie go out to, they're hugging or kissing or he has that weird wrist grip on her that he does all the time.

It's like he pulls her everywhere.  Or maybe he's just afraid if he lets go she'll make a break for it...

As the pictures progress, that smile on Katie's face seems to get more and more fake (kind of like Joan River's face). The media starts debating whether or not Katie is really happy with Tom, or has he brainwashed her, is  he forcing her into Scientology....  interviews with her "friends" reveal that Katie is depressed and unhappy.   I lean more towards brainwashed.  Not in the sense that she's not capable of making her own decisions, but more that she got suckered into this whole thing, had a baby, and now she's stuck with him - whether due to morals or faith or reputation, whatever. 

It just seems like every time they're in public, it's all for show.  On her part, at least.  He's just the dork who won the wife lottery. 

My wish is that I could hang out with Katie, just for a few hours, and really have a conversation with her.  Like the conversations celebrities have on Dateline or 60 Minutes where they break down and sob hysterically into the camera about their childhood and all of their problems.  I'd like to know if Katie is really in love with Tom and happy, or if it's all for show. 

Either way, they do make quite a nice Stepford family.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Movie Delight Monday

Well folks, today is my last day of summer.  I work tomorrow, and then I will officially be a college sophomore come Wednesday.  I will not freak out I will not freak out I will not freak out.

In celebration of my delayed return to school,  I've decided to cover a film that focuses on the grandness of childhood and why sometimes it's easier to stay a kid and refuse the whole grownup thing.  

I know most of you will not have seen this one.  I won't even be surprised if you've never heard of it, either.  99% of my friends who have seen it only watched because I bugged them about it until they caved.  Now it's one of their favorites, of course. 

Released in 1991, one of the best stupid comedies ever made (in my opinion):

 It stars one of my favorite late 80s/early 90s actresses, Phoebe Cates.  Guys remember her mostly for the pool/bathroom scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  I also loved her in Shag (another of my all-time favorite films). 

Also starring as Fred is British comedian Rick Mayall, who I have never seen in any other film or television show.  Ever. However, after checking out his bio on IMDB I've learned that he's done quite a bit of work in the UK.

The story begins with a little girl in her bed at night, with mother reading a story about a princess.   After a moment the girl asks her mother how she knows they lived happily ever after.  Her mother responds, "Because she was a good little girl.  If she had been naughty, the prince would have run away."  The little girl replies, "What a pile of sh#@." 

Fast-forward to present day, and Lizzie is all grown up.  She has the perfect husband (played by Tim Matheson), a great job, the perfect life.  Suddenly it all falls apart, and she goes home to stay with her mother (Marsha Mason, who really scared me as a kid.  Think Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest).  Lizzie's emotional state causes her childhood imaginary friend, Fred, to reappear.  

 Flashbacks show us various shenanigans young Lizzie (played by the adorable Ashley Peldon) got into with Fred, such as playing "burglars" and robbing her own house, making mud pies on the dining room table and cutting her hair.

Fred caused so much trouble for Lizzie that her mother got rid of him by taping shut the jack-in-the-box that Fred lives in.  The disagreement about Fred between her parents was also the last straw on their failed marriage, prompting Lizzie's dad to leave them. 

As Lizzie tries to get her life back, Fred interferes and causes problems at every turn.  People start to think Lizzie's crazy because she can see Fred and have conversations with him, but obviously no one else can see him.

Enter childhood friend Mickey Bunce (played by Ron Eldard), who seems amused by Lizzie's bizarre behavior.  They start to get closer - much to the dismay of a jealous Fred - and Lizzie's world just gets even more dysfunctional. 

Fred's antics lead to a houseboat disaster, a mall assault and a boardroom freak-out by Lizzie's best friend Janie (Carrie Fisher). Eventually Lizzie starts to get her old life back, only to realize it might not be what she really wants. 

This film is basically just a fun glimpse at what life with an imaginary friend would be like.  I never had imaginary friends (probably because I had siblings and about a dozen cousins) so I think if I had one, I'd want it to be someone like Fred!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Face Punch

Happy Sunday everyone! I trust the weekend has been a wonderful and happy one for you all.  If not, don't worry - another one will come around again in five days. 

I'm in one heckuva great mood today, mostly because I start back at school on Wednesday.  Excited doesn't even begin to cover it. College sophomore at 26.  Man, I'm old.  Still, age can't rain on my parade!  Got my backpack, binders, paper, pens, highlighters.  I even bought some of those little colored tabs for important notes.  I'm like the professional student.  Don't be jealous - all items can be found at your local superstore. 

Anyhoo, sometimes even when it's a great day, people still need a good knock in the head.  Because let's face it, idiots are running rampant throughout this world.  An overabundance of stupidity, if you will.

In order to deal with the activities of so many morons, we have things like Face Punch.  Makes us feel as if we're taking back control.... one snide comment at a time. 

Today is mostly just venting frustration about things I'm SICK TO DEATH of hearing about.  Same stories over and over. And over.  Again.  So here we go...

Everyone and everything having to do with "The Hills"

Speidi.  That other Montag girl.  The Audrina-catfight-with-every-other-chick-on-the-show incidents.  I could really care less what you spoiled rich kids (with no idea about real life or responsibilities or work) are up to on a day-to-day basis.  "Did you see what happened last night on The Hills?"  No, I don't know and I DON'T CARE.  Go away.  I also don't care to see them on the cover of celebrity magazines.  I want to read about real celebrities.  You know, the ones who are famous for actually doing stuff.   (I had the same pet peeve about Paris Hilton.)

I think someone told me "The Hills" ended, so that's good.  Hopefully there are no more spinoffs. 


The (now single) dude who let his girlfriend get hit by a foul ball

What. A. Loser.   Even the announcer said, "Chivalry is dead."  Haha.

Okay, so I know dude didn't have a glove, but couldn't he man up and at least attempt to catch the ball instead of cowering away like a little girl and letting his obviously not athletically-inclined gf get drilled?

They were interviewed on one of those morning shows afterwards and it was quite obvious the girl had already dropped this dork like a bad habit.  I don't blame her. 

Dude, you get a face punch just for needing to grow a pair. 


Brett Favre

First, dude was too old to play for the NFL about seven years ago. 
Second, the whole "I'm retiring.....no wait, maybe not.......you know what?  Yeah I am........Well, maybe next year...."  crap is getting annoying, dude.  Either retire or don't.  If you retire, you'll be able to keep some of your dignity.  If not, you'll need hip replacement soon and just continue to make more of a mockery out of a career that used to be legendary.  At first it was slightly interesting, but now it's just sad. 





That's all I've got for today, because in addition to my already great day, my bestie Mo is coming to visit me tonight. 

YAY! 

And when we get together this is us:
except we don't actually chest bump, because I'm a chick.  Ow.
Hope y'all have a great rest of the day!

Buh-bye.