Ten on Tuesday

10 Countries You'd Like to Visit

I assume I am listing ones I've not visited yet...

1. Australia- such a long flight, I'd have to stay a month
2. Greece- sounds romantic and fun
3. Netherlands- sounds clean and picturesque, and we've got to try those brownies
4. Russia- I'd love to see Moscow, the architecture, go to the ballet
5. Italy- my mother's favorite place, I'd take a few weeks and visit all the regions
6. Egypt- my dad's favorite vacation, I'd love to see the pyramids
7. Switzerland- my aunt lived there for several years, said the people are really great, good skiing
8. The U.K.- I've been to England, but I would like to go back and see Scotland and Ireland
9. China- just Hong Kong, just once
10. Japan- again, the architecture and also the culture

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Almost back to normal

The house is almost as it was before everything started breaking and falling apart. Yay! Today the wallpaper person is redoing the wallpaper around the flooded window. We've primed the walls in there as well, so there is just one coat of paint remaining before the kitchen is finished.

Julie and the kids are back from their annual month-long New England visit with their family. Their second story addition should be complete in a few weeks. They're also replacing all their appliances in the kitchen, as well as the countertops. Fun!

As for the wacky weather, we may actually see some sun today!

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Man vs. Wild not so wild after all

From the Chicago Sun-Times (and other sources):

Man Vs. Wild Could be Wilder

We figured the camera crew was staying in a hotel or at least a tent, with food and other emergency supplies, because they never say that the crew are without those things. We did assume the host was actually doing the things depicted. Very disappointing.

Oh well, there weren't too many more new environments for him to be dropped in anyway...

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ABBA

I just watched a really good show about ABBA on the Ovation channel. They ended it with an appearance that Bjorn, Benny and Frida did together at a London production of Mamma Mia. (Agnetha wasn't there.) Frida said they've been offered $1 billion to sing together again as a group, and they refused it. They want to be remembered as they were.

I don't know whether that's admirable or crazy.

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... Video- Adult... Wallpaper...

My child and her friend and my husband have all been around the house today.

I was calling wallpaper people this morning, and left the Yellow Pages out all day on the counter, with the phone sitting on top of it. As I was putting it away just now, I noticed the full page ad on the facing page- for an adult video and toy store.

My family would have called me out on it, had they noticed.

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Saturday Six

1. Think about your best friend in high school: how long has it been since you’ve seen her?
I saw Cathy in early June. She came up from Houston with her boyfriend.

2. Think of the last time you saw more than one of your high school classmates together at the same time: how did you happen to run into each other?
That would be about 6 years ago, when Kathy A. and I were at Doug W.'s when he lived by Zilker Park. Doug had emailed me through Classmates.com (or reunion.com?) and we eventually met up.

3. How many of your teachers do you think you would love to visit in person after all the years since you graduated, just to talk about having them as a teacher and catch up: one or two, three to five, five to ten, or more than ten?
3-5

4. Take the quiz: Could you pass high school?
You passed High School with a B.

5. What was the best lunch food your high school served?
Hamburgers

6. Did you participate in any extra-curricular activities in high school, like sports, band, etc? If so, how many?
I was on the newspaper staff.

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Are we sick of the Hollywood chicks yet?

I've now had my fill of the Lindsay Lohans and Britney Spears-es-es of the world. I don't even feel sorry for them anymore. They're just really pathetic. And all that drunk driving without a license out there is going to kill someone eventually.

... moving on...

Anderson Cooper has been praised for his YouTube CNN debate moderating. I didn't watch, but I hear he pressed the candidates for REAL answers! Go AC! I hope he does the same with the Republicans.

Turns out the cheer team missed Grand Champion by one point in Padre. Argh. What can you do.

DD and her friends saw Chuck and Larry. They declared it "TMI, but funny." There's the review for the middle school set. Oh, and Lance Bass is evidently in there somewhere.

I have finished watching Season 3 of "Entourage" on DVD. It was great! DH watched this season, and he actually likes the show. Now if he could just get "The Office."

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Hairspray

DH and I saw the original cast of Hairspray on Broadway back when it opened. We've been huge fans since, and DD is even in on the excitement. Yesterday we saw the movie. I give it an A+.

John Waters' cameo cracked me up from the opening scene. (Cue DH whispering, "Who is John Waters?" Oy.) I was able to refrain from singing along during the movie (well, most of the time). One of my favorite moments came during a song I always skip on the CD- "Timeless to Me." It was the simple realization that I was watching John Travolta in drag, singing and dancing with Christopher Walken. Who would have ever imagined such a thing? lol.

I am disappointed that they omitted two of the very best songs from the musical- "Momma I'm a Big Girl Now" and "The Big Dollhouse." Oh well, I suppose they can't fit everything in. The singing was amazing, perhaps even better than the original cast.

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Ahhhhh

Finally some peace and quiet after all the hammering of the roof replacement! Yay!

We're down to one last thing before we're done with these crazy breakdowns of house items. We're going to rip down the sheet rock around our previously leaking (more like storming) window, juuuuuust to make sure we don't get into one of those horrible mold situations. Then we'll get the wallpaper up again, and the new paint.

Victoria Beckham seems to be creating her own American publicity machine. This show about her is cracking me up. Well, at least now we've actually seen her smile!

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Family history

I've been exchanging emails with my grandpa for the past few days. He's been telling me about his parents' families. It's all very interesting. Most of his family were/are in the El Campo area.

I've always thought all my family lines went to Germany by about only 1-3 generations back, but Grandpa told me that his grandmother (my great-great-grandma) on his dad's side was part American Indian! Wow! That's pretty cool. He also notes that she was a rotund woman who chewed tobacco. Ahahahaa.

An interesting factoid associated with the Indian ancestry- Grandpa has a type of glaucoma that only American Indians and Eskimos get. Hmm!

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Roof

Anyone ever had their roof replaced?

It's very loud.

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Back from the Beach

I love the beach. Whee! We hit Padre Island at the south and north ends. The infamous flying fish were out yesterday when it turned overcast in Corpus Christi. It was okay, except for the occasional one touching your leg or hand as it swam past. Ickadoo.

The cheer team got 2nd place, as did DD's stunt group. That was alright with everyone, because we were having a great time anyway. This is not my favorite event company, so I was just happy to get out of the South Padre Island convention center without having had to stand all day for lack of seating. :)

I wasn't as behind on my websites and email as I'd feared I would be after four days away, thank goodness! I even got the Foundation up to speed this afternoon.

I caught "The Singing Bee" on DVR. Joey was great! Did he dump the "Dancing with the Stars" tour to do this show? It's pretty fun to play along. And the whole "Bye Bye Bye" bit cracked me up. Very cute.

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Lady Bird Johnson

I realized Mrs. Johnson's death was big news when they were interviewing Walter Cronkite on the local Austin news yesterday. I think of her as a local figure, but you know what? She was First Lady as well. Hmm! Remind me to smack myself in the forehead.

I actually have a Lady Bird Johnson story:

When I was pregnant way back in the day, I locked my keys in the car while I was getting my mail. My car was running, too. Embarrassing, yes? Well, I ventured over to a neighbor's house- one I didn't know at all, but he was the closest to my running car- and asked to use the phone. He was so sweet, and after I used the phone to call someone, we had some iced tea and chatted while I waited for help (or for my car to run out of gas). Turned out he was a secret service agent on the team that took care of Lady Bird Johnson. Very interesting!

We live a stone's throw from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and I can report that there are media out the wazoo here. Between them and the movie crew, it's quite busy!

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Movies

Let's see... I've seen Knocked Up and License to Wed recently.

Funny, both of them have actors from "The Office" in them. Especially License to Wed. Every time another actor from there showed up, the audience went into a random smattering of laughter. And BJ Novak as a gynecologist? Ahahahaa. Well, hellooooo.

License to Wed was slightly disappointing, because I expected more constant Robin Williams craziness. It was fine though.

Knocked Up really cracked me up most of the time, but it did have one slow period before the birth scene. The fact that a movie with 15-year-old boy humor amuses me is kind of sad, but it's true. There was definitely a Justin Long role in the little gang of underachievers/webmasters.

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Window

The window has been repaired! Yay. Just in time for this weekend's rain. I spent this morning peeling my brand new wallpaper off the still-wet wallboard. Painful, I tell ya'. There's a little mold, so I think wall guys will have to come out and replace the surrounding wall. The wallpaper people will have to return as well.

I think a significant part of my bathroom remodel budget just went out the window. Ha.

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Obscene Interiors

LOL.

This is for Laura's entertainment during her silent week:

Obscene Interiors

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Lights, Camera...

It's that time again! The annual filming of Richard Linklater's "12 Year" movie a few doors down from us. I think there are 6 or 7 more years remaining.

The crew does an awesome job of minimizing the effects to the neighborhood by parking way down the street near the main road, except for only the really necessary trucks and such near our house.

Is Ethan Hawke here? We never know. He was last year, but not the year before. There are two trailers (Patricia Arquette is the other lead), but who knows. I don't hang around, unless I happen to be outside when they're filming on the street.

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Free credit reports and stuff

Here is the official website for getting those free annual credit reports. Don't be fooled by others that want to charge you for various things.

In other news... Let's run down the list of things that have broken on us in the last month or so:
1. Roof leak and damage due to hail- replacing roof next week
2. Refrigerator froze up- replaced
3. DH's computer dead- replaced
4. Torrential window leak and collateral damage- fixing tomorrow
5. DH's car battery dead- replaced

Yikes! lol. I know the car battery seems like a little thing, but it was that last comical straw that made us roll our eyes and wonder when the air conditioner is going to go.

Laura has a nodule on her vocal cords, and cannot speak for the next week. No whispering either. Yucko! I wonder if she'll be able to do it.

Watched Last King of Scotland last night. Disturbing and gross. It was pretty good, but I don't like that they sort of dropped the whole story of the guy and his colleague's wife.

I loved Ali Wentworth on The View today. Is she hilarious or what?! And she made a Clooney joke, which I always appreciate.

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Annoy-A-Tron

Ahahaha!! This is awesome.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/

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Raining... in my house

So.

The caulking around the outside of our house windows, etc. needs replacing. We've been talking about having someone come out and do it, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'd noticed a little water-damaged area in the sill of the kitchen window before, but when it started raining for the millionth day in a row, water started pouring into the kitchen from the top of that window. I mean pouring, folks. It was splashing so hard onto the window and sill that you could stand two feet away and get soaked. I couldn't believe it.

We looked today, and that particular window was installed flush with the brick, then finished out with a frame of wood with caulk. No flashing or anything. So now that the caulk is caput, we have a nice big opening for water to cascade into the kitchen.

Did I mention it destroyed my brand new wallpaper? Argh.

Now it's raining again, and we duct-taped up some plastic to try to avoid the torrent into the house. We'll see how it holds! Cross your fingers! Monday, we call someone to fix it.

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Stop the Presses

I'm sewing.

Yep. Sewing.

I've completed four curtain panels for my kitchen, and have two valances remaining. They look pretty good. The only problem I had was figuring out how to get the bobbin inserted correctly into my machine (which I've obviously never used).

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Ten on... Thursday

10 Favorite Computer Programs/Games
(an archived Ten on Tuesday)

1. Accuchef - cookbook, shopping list, menu planner
2. Calendarscope - calendar with color-coded events
3. KeePass - free password keeper
4. Dreamweaver - web design, my most used program
5. iTunes - a necessary evil
6. Picasa-Google's free photo editing/storage, includes searching for photos by color
7. Paint Shop Pro - image editing software
8. Spider Solitaire- on difficult level!
9. Chuzzles - Popcap game
10. AdAware - free spyware cleaner

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Aww

Dave Thomas' very entertaining "Bottlecaps and Wingnuts" blog over at Austin 360 has turned into a witty chronicling of his stay-at-home dad experience. It's so sweet! Oh he still does his regular thing, too. We just get to see lots of cutie baby pics along with the bar reviews.

Happy 4th everyone! Forget about the rain and shoot fireworks anyway!

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Mom stuff

I'm so busy trying to keep up with DD's social schedule that she almost got away from me without my having a clue where she was going yesterday. lol.

The Summer Nationals team got their brand new uniforms for the 2007-08 season. The uniforms didn't look too cool to me on the hanger at the gym, but they turned out to be really nice. Super-neato material, which should be fairly cool, and a little color. We've been gray and black, but now there's a little red thrown in. I have to admit, they look awesome!

Competition is coming up quick. Along with the team competing, DD is doing a stunt group competition for the first time. She is hoping to win a jacket. Big prizes! No whammies!

The AISD fine arts calendar (a.k.a. The Band Calendar) is not out yet, so I am biting my nails about coordinating Band and Cheer again for one more year. Hopefully the dates will fall together well.

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Ahhhhh!!! My eye!!!!

So I was about to wash my hair this morning. A millisecond after I snapped the shampoo bottle cap closed, I felt the *plink* of a drop of shampoo which had launched across the shower and smacked onto my eyeball.

OW.

After 10 minutes of outright bawling from pain (thank goodness the family wasn't home) and letting the shower wash over my eye, I finally came to a point where I could finish what I came in to do, though I had to do it all with my eyes closed.

It took about an hour for my eye to lose the screaming red and return to a normal color. The insides of the lids are still burning a bit, 12 hours later.

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Regional terms

I was on this lady's website this morning for about two seconds, when I figured out she is from the upper midwest. Her little terms for things gave her away.

Rummage sale. Not a garage sale? People in Wisconsin have garages, right? Hehe.

She brings a "dish-to-pass" to a dinner party. Here it's just a dish... maybe a "covered dish", although noting that it must be covered is as strange as noting that it will be passed.

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Saturday Six

1. How seriously have you considered a purchase of the new iPhone?
Never considered it.

2. Have you ever camped out to purchase something?
Concert tickets. More times than I can count.

3. What is the most important piece of jewelry you have ever purchased?
My husband's wedding ring.

4. Take the quiz: What gem stone are you?
Your Gemstone is Orange Sapphire
Courageous, optimistic, and successful. Your confidence helps you handle the ups and downs of life.

5. What is your birthstone?
Diamond.

6. Are you more likely to own an article of jewelry with the quiz result, your birthstone, or neither?
My birthstone. It's a conveniently popular selection!

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