Low Battery

Soooo.... How are you? Me, I'm fine. Yeah... Have I mentioned that my brother-in-law sucks? No? Well he does. Let me elaborate.

Yesterday when hubby started up the car to come home he noticed the battery light on. He called his brother who used to be a mechanic to get some advice yesterday evening after dinner and a quick trip to the grocery store. Bro-in-law said he would need to replace the battery, so go to Auto Zone they only cost about $30. Since it was after 8 pm hubby planned to do it today. OK, in retrospect he probably SHOULD have done it yesterday but he didn't get paid until TODAY, hence him planning to do it today. This morning the car wouldn't start so hubby calls his brother who lives less than 5 miles from us to get a jump. His brother says "Dude, I'm not sure when I can make it over, G (his son) is still sleeping and V (his wife) is getting ready to leave for work." Hubby says fine and gets off - pissed now. He calls his father who lives about 20 minutes from us and asks him to come over and give him a jump - not a problem. I know I could have called my sister who lives 45 minutes (in light traffic and an hour or more in rush hour) from me and she would have come right over (but I hesitate to do that since her SUV would use $40 in gas to get here). What a selfish ASS my bro-in-law is.

ps Hubby was especially pissed that the battery was dead because it SAYS it's a 6 year battery and out car is only about 2 years old.

Catching Up and Such

Yesterday was not all that busy but D came over so I spent from 2 pm until nearly 6 pm bs-ing with her. It's always nice to do that. Here is what has been occurring at my domicile....

Wednesday's Dinner Guest

Most of Wednesday was a nice peaceful day. After naps I decided to drag out the paints and let the little people do some painting. I know what your thinking, the same thing I am thinking at this very moment... "What the hell was I thinking?!?!?" Knowing full well that hubby was going to bring a friend home for dinner I still spread the tarp on the table, prepared paint trays for the kids, got the paint brushes, etc. I also got out supplies for ME to do some painting myself. I painted Super Girl's chair (I haven't finished yet). Of course before the end of painting Cabbage Patch had painted her face and most of her exposed skin. I ended the painting a little after 4 pm so I could clean up and get dinner started. I sent Hubby an e-mail asking when he would be arriving with his friend, but by 5 pm hadn't gotten an answer back and started dinner. Part way through browning the cutlets Super Girl yells "Mommy, she's got ink!" So I'm thinking that Cabbage Patch is doing the usual and drawing n her arms and legs with a pen. I go into the living room and what do I see? I see my two year old with a bottle of India Ink that she has poured MOST of the contents on herself and my quilt! Now before I go on, let me explain where the ink came from. Back in college 12 years ago, I took an art class to fulfill my elective slot. At one point my jackass of a teacher had us spend our hard earned minimum wage checks on India Ink and special bamboo brushes for a project - ONE project - and not even a major thing, just A day in class fooling with this shit that smells like... Well shit. Anyway, months ago my darling children were rummaging through my room and came across my art box from college - I put it away in a secure location (or so I thought...), Wednesday Cabbage Patch quietly entered my bedroom and managed to find the art box. Anyway... I see my two year old with the ink all over. I can feel my blood pressure rise immediately. Great... Now I have to scrub my toddler before everything in my house is smudged black on top of making dinner for a guest and making sure that the house is clean enough for a visitor - and I have NO idea WHEN hubby and guest are supposed to arrive. Grrr.... Why did I ever stop having my Valium and Vodka Martini lunches? So after briefly considering bundling up child and quilt and stuffing into washing machine I march both of the little people into the bathroom and start hosing and scrubbing. Sparkling clean children in less than 10 minutes! Back to the kitchen, luckily the cutlet didn't burn - back to making dinner. I discover I don't have one of the ingredients I thought I did for this dinner so I had to make something different. Go back to the living room where I discover Super Girl with a pair of scissors and some paper making snow on my carpet. Dejavu of the head exploding feeling from the other day as I threaten little people to pick up paper and blocks and SIT ON THE COUCH - they watch Spirited Away yet again as I vacuum. By the time hubby and Guest arrive, house is clean, kids are sparkling and dinner is almost done - just have to make the pasta - everything is deceptively calm.

Dinner went great, kids even ATE the food and I got to bed by midnight.

MOVIE REVIEW
Jason VS Freddy




I finally got to see this movie. As a fan of the old horror and slasher movies I was really looking forward to this movie. I went with a couple of friends as hubby HATES horror movies and refused to go with me. The movie was very reminiscent of the old Nightmare On Elm Street movies more than the Friday 13th movies, which was what I was hoping as I like Freddy more than Jason. The movie had all of the ‘horror/slasher’ movie elements – group of teens sitting around drinking on a rainy night, slutty girl fucking her jackass boyfriend (first victims), door/window left open, prude girl (survivor), bumbling police force either trying to cover something up or convinced the teens are somehow at fault, over bearing father who has a ‘secret’ and psycho sicko maniac serial killer (actually 2 this time!). No big surprises in the movie – come on how many movies have there been before this? It’s not like there are ANY secrets either Jason or Freddy have at all. One of the best things in the movie was the clips from past movies that they incorporated in, my favorites being the little girls singing Freddy’s rhyme and a quick flash from one of Freddy’s first kills. I also enjoyed when Freddy was messing with Jason’s mind – that was great. My only complaint – not enough fighting between Freddy and Jason. Not going to tell the ending – not that it’s a huge surprise but it would render seeing the movie pointless if you knew the ending. I laughed, I cried, I even jumped in my seat once – I liked it. For a slasher movie it was good, not great but good.

My favorite scene – when Jason kills the jackass boyfriend’s best friend and his dad. I almost laughed out loud

MOVIE REVIEW

Spirited Away



Last week we rented and watched 'Spirited Away'. This is a Japanese movie that Disney bought and translated into English. Part of the conditions of the sale was that Disney not change any of the content or cut any of the movie. Miyazaki is who actually made the movie. He's made several movies and has a huge following in Japan, I can understand why, his movie is a master piece.

About the movie - this is kind of an odd movie to anyone who doesn't watch much Jap anime - and I don't, but I did find the movie intriguing enough to turn away from the computer and watch it. When hubby put the movie on I was sitting at the computer not very interested at some point I turned around and was enchanted by the art work. The animation is beautiful and very detailed. I sat there starring at the screen trying to absorb everything. By the time the movie ended I was wishing there was another 5 or 10 minutes left and had the feeling that I had somehow missed quite a bit in the movie. The next day the little people wanted to watch the movie again and I had no problem saying yes to that. This time I watched the movie from the very beginning, and again at the end I had that feeling of having missed something - not something essential to understanding the movie, but something else. There are a lot of things that happen in the movie or some of the characters in the movie that you get the feeling are symbolic of something else and yes you get the distinct impression that the story is not just about a 10 year old girl who winds up in the spirit world but there is a much deeper meaning to all of this. Hubby and I discussed the movie and the symbolism and speculated on the things we didn't quite understand for well over an hour. I enjoyed the movie and the art work - the simplicity and yet detailed beauty were delightful.

All total I've watched the movie 5 times. After the last time there was still that nagging feeling that maybe 5 or 10 more minutes were missing from the ending. I went online and searched out information on Miyazaki and Spirited Away. I found an interview with Miyazaki where he explains what the movie is about and suddenly it all made sense. My inability to grasp everything was not from me being dense it was from my lack of knowledge about Japan and Japanese culture.

Read more about the movie here: Spirited Away

'Spirited Away' is well worth watching (it's won several awards) - not your typical animated movie.

If It's Not One Thing, It's Another...

I mean that litterally... If it's not one thing (spilled on my floor), it's another (thing spilled on my floor). *sigh* Let me start from the begining. First I was born.... no, no.. I guess that's to far back... OK, let's see... first I had Super Girl... then I had Cabbage Patch.. I guess that's about where it started... but today, today started at 7:00 am with the little people wanting breakfast. This is about 30 minutes early for them. I was tired. My evil psychotic cat was opening my door and waking me at 3 am. I got out of bed to get a drink of water and discovered that the air pump attached to the fish tank had fallen off the counter and was no longer pumping air into the fish tank. I reattached it and checked the fish, they were all clustered on one side of the tank near the bottom. All were alive but they looked rather sluggish. Hmmm... I stayed up for a bit to make sure they were going to make it. Anyway... back to 7 am. I gave the kids the last two slices of cheese cake for breakfast (hey it was fast and they liked it). Everything was going well today, both of the little people were good.

As the day progressed to evening I had the thought that I would do my yoga tape before getting things out for the kids to paint with. My motivation was that the little people were being good. Part way though the tape Super Girl goes to potty in my bathroom, when she returns I can smell nail polish. She had wanted to paint her nails earlier this morning. I told her to have a seat on the couch for a time out while I finished my yoga tape. *sigh* within 5 minutes Super Girl is yelling from my bedroom doorway "Mamma, she got the nail polish!" I stop the tape and go to my bathroom. Cabbage Patch had snuck into the bathroom and got the bottle of nail polish that Super Girl had been messing with. It was ALL OVER THE FLOOR and ALL OVER HER HANDS AND FEET. Great, great, just what I wanted to do... clean paint off my bathroom floor and my toddler. Good thing I buy nail polish remover in the big bottles. I got it all of the toddler, and got most of it off the floor. But red nail polish is not very forgiving so where the majority of the nail polish was pooling it's still pink. Allright... 30 minutes later - I tell both kids to sit on the couch for time outs and put the yoga tape back on (what the hell was I thinking?). 10 minutes from the end of the tape Super Girl has gone into the kitchen and I hear her messing with the loaf of bread. I tell her to stop that I will make dinner soon. No answer. I tell her again to stop messing in the kitchen and come back to the couch. she mumbles something about wanting a snack. I tell her no I'm going to make dinner soon. she starts to whine and comes into the room with a piece of bread. We have an exchange that ends with her being sent to her room and I go into the kitchen. I see her stool near the counter. I see the jar of peanut butter on the stool. I see the bread on the stool and next to it a large pool of syrup that is dripping on the floor. Cabbage Patch is crouched in front of the stool with a syrup sopped pieced of bread looking innocently at me. I have the sudden feeling that my head is going to explode and I walk slowly to the foot of the stairs so I can call for Super Girl to come down. I make her clean the syrup. And now.. I'm wishing their father wasn't out tonight so I could go for a long walk by my self. Hmmmm... that yoga tape was supposed to relax me but for some reason I feel even more stressed than when I put the tape in! *sigh* why, why, why didn't I buy that bottle of wine on Friday?