Lovely, just lovely

Mommy: Ashlyn, why did you cut a hole in the ottoman?
Ashlyn: I wanted to see what was inside it.
Mommy: But this is furniture honey. We don't cut holes in furniture.
Ashlyn: But Mommy, its really old and ugly.

Nice.

Guest Blogger

After giving my husband a hard time regarding his Oscar picks, I thought I would give him a guest spot on this blog.

First - a brief background. My cousin Scott (same Oscar picks cousin) does movie reviews throughout the year. He also does an end-of-the-year "Best/Worst" picks of all the bazillion movies he has seen.

To be funny (and a bit of a smart alek), Chris decided to send out his own version of this "Best/Worst" review. Check it out!
___________________________________________________

Now for my 1st Annual Silver Blueberry Awards of the Best and Worst list of Oscar nominated movies I have watched.

Please keep in mind that these are strictly my own views. I'm not an expert. Really (as you are about to see)!

Also, keep in mind that these are picked from only the movies I've seen (with possibly a personal viewing record of less than 5 hours.) (Side note: Scott, you watch that many hours on a cold, wintry day. Of course, you don't seem to have many of those in the desert. Scratch that. You watch that many hours on a hot, boiling summer day.)

I apologize in advance that this list is small, but it is to the point and covers some of the best and worst movies of the year.

Now for my top three list of best and worst movies of the year:

Chris’ Best 3 Movies of 2007

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - This one is full of pirates, fighting, pirate ships and all the piraty things pirates do.

2. Surf’s Up - Dude. This was the big cohoona of penguin surfing movies this year. You need to hang ten and goofy-foot on over to the movie rental store for this one.

1. Ratatouille - Funny movie about a rat that cooks. A great replacement for a non-cooking spouse. And not only that, the rat talks too. A must see to believe.

Chris' Worst 3 Movies of 2007

3. Ratatouille - A rat under your hat controlling your arms is really hard to imagine.

2. Surf’s Up - Do they expect us to believe that a chicken could surf as well as a penguin? First place! Seriously?

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - I wish pirates would speak clearly. I was constantly asking for clarification. Wear a hearing aide instead of an eye patch to watch this movie.

I hope you enjoyed reading my review. Please no comments as I am extremely busy preparing for next year. If Pixar made more movies...
___________________________________________________

I love my husband!

Oscar Night at the Riggs Household

First off - I must give you a quick description of my husband's feelings toward movies.

He's not a fan.

Not just of certain genres, or certain actors, or certain directors - he's just not a fan of movies in general. He says he doesn't like to sit and watch something for that long.

hmmmm....let's think about that statement for a moment...

Last time I checked, a televised football game still lasts at least 3 hours and a basketball game lasts at least 2. Interesting...

Another bit of history...my cousin (Scott) has put out an Oscar Picks pool every year for as long as I can remember. He's a talented actor/writer and is very interested in all thing theatrical. I always participate and now my hubby participates. Are you seeing the irony yet?

Keep reading. It gets better.

It is RARE that I ever see many of the movies nominated for the Oscars. In fact, this year I only saw 3 of the movies and two of them were animated. Pitiful. The other movie starred one rather handsome man that the girls refer to as "Mommy's Friend". Let's take a quick moment to appreciate him, shall we?

Hubby saw the same three movies. Of course, he's not pining over Johnny Depp like I do, but he did somewhat enjoy Pirates III.

As we were watching the Oscars last night, my movie-despising husband begins to get irritated.

Was he upset because Anna won't go to sleep? Was he irritated about having to go back to work on Monday? Were his undies in a twist?

No.

His Oscar picks were wrong.

Are you kidding me?!?

I mean - he was seriously HACKED OFF because the picks he made in Scott's pool were wrong.

This is when he told me the most disturbing part of this tragic story.

HE RESEARCHED HIS PICKS!!!!!

He literally took the time to check out websites regarding what all the "pros" thought about how the Oscars would turn out. He analyzed all the information (probably making some sort of intricate spreadsheet knowing him) and based his picks on thoroughly scrutinized data. This is a man who could happily go through the rest of his life without watching another movie.

I am BESIDE MYSELF at this point. The whole situation is hysterical and he can not figure out why I am so amused.

The best part?

While they were showing little snippets for the best animated dog in a tutu award (no clue what it was really for), a clip came on for Peter the Wolf. This is when my husband said, "That won't win. It has SO been done before."

I almost peed my pants.

Taking the easy way out

I haven't posted here in a while, so I'm "cheating" and sending you to a site where I just posted an entry. I'm sure I'll have some more interesting stories to post soon, so stay tuned. Til then...

...check this out.

Split Ends

Thank Heaven!

I was able to get my haircut Monday!

Fellow POTATO mom and officer (as well as professional hairdresser) - Jana Davis - mistakenly told me how cute my hair would be stacked in the back at our last meeting. Ah - her fatal mistake - she NEVER should have shown interest in my hair as I quickly jumped at the opportunity to have her cut my hair. I had already heard she had cut other POTATO mom's hair and that they were VERY happy with the results.

You see, I go through these tragic hair phases (think Sweeney Todd meets Cybil) where I think I want to grow it out and then lose my mind in the process and command some poor hairdresser to shave my head. Usually, the hairdresser talks me out of the Sinead O'Conner look and we proceed with a short cut instead.

So Jana agreed to cut my hair. I really like it and hope I can schedule another time with Jana to get it highlighted. I'm thinking we can throw in some pink and blue streaks for fun -Yoohoo!

I didn't do a great job taking this picture, but you at least get the idea of how the cut looks. Feel free to let me know what you think of the new "do" in the comments.

Be Mine

I had to remove that OBNOXIOUS music that I stuck to the previous slide show. Mercy - that was like torture after a while. Sorry about that.

Anyway, there isn't any music attached to this slide show. This show is from Valentine's Day. The girls had a "Fairy Tale Tea Party" at school which was - well - interesting. I'll explain more later, but just keep in mind that Anna hates ANYTHING "Princessy". This caused quite a predicament in figuring out her outfit. You'll soon see how we compromised.

Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day.

What the...

I really will give a rundown of this past week at some point, but you know things are bad when you start receiving mail like this:

Yep - that's an AARP membership letter. What the heck!!!!! (I can tell you my initial response wasn't quite as sensored.) Last time I checked I'm still 35 - NOT 50!!!! And 35 is old enough - thank you very much! Geez! I'm also definitely NOT retired. If this is retirement, then someone send me back to work!!! I guess I had better start paying attention to those funeral insurance commercials, buy me one of those chairs that will mechanically take me up and down the stairs, and see if I can get an acting job on the next "Clapper" commercial. Mercy!

Thankfully - after my horrendous day yesterday - may husband came home with dinner and these.

I'm normally not a flower kind of girl, but these were exactly what I needed. Way to go honey. I love you!

also known as

Know the name of these things?

Sucker - A.K.A. Shelley

Why, OH WHY, did I EVER agree to be a Room Mom!!!!????!!!!

More to this story as soon as I get my children to come down from their sugar high (Pre-K Valentine's Day Tea Party - no, really - and read as much sarcasm into this entire post as you can possible imagine).

Pics from the Party!

Finally! The pics from the girls' party at Pump It Up have been downloaded into a slide show. I even added a little music to livin' things up. I still have pics to download from the mini-party on the Saturday after their birthday and will try to get that done today (we'll see).

Enjoy these in the meantime...

James Taylor can always bring a tear to my eye...

It has taken me a while, but I finally figured out how to do this. I literally cried when I realized my new Photoshop Elements gives me the ability to make my own slideshow with my own music - just the way I want it.

I still have party photos to post, but this has been my priority lately.

Enjoy.

It is a blur...literally

See this picture...



That is what the girls' party was like on Wednesday night at Pump It Up - a BIG BLUR. I have MANY more pictures to post (we took 197!), but I'm still editing those. I promise to only post the good ones - if I can find any that aren't a blur. Those critters were running back and forth so much, we were barely able to get any decent pictures. It was like watching a movie in fast forward motion.