Helen Mirren Rocks My World

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Last night after my hair appointment and weekly book-buying extravaganza, we debated the options for dinner, finally ending up at Highlands of Arlington, where we were going to pick a restaurant until I said, “Let’s see what’s playing at Studio Movie Grill.” It was just after six, and there was a showing of National Treasure 2 at seven, so we decided to stick around, since it was a movie we both wanted to see.

We sat and read for about half an hour, until they opened the auditorium for us, and honestly, it was nice to spend some time together that didn’t involve one or more devices attached to fiber optic cables. We spend so many of our waking hours plugged in that being unplugged, awake, and out in public feels like a date, or a treat.

As for the movie, well, I would have happily skipped the Goofy trailer at the beginning, as I hate animation, and am not a particular fan of Disney characters, and I would have preferred previews for other films, but the feature was entertaining enough to keep me interested for the duration. Yes, it moves a bit slower than the first. Yes, some of the plot twists are preposterous and there were plot holes deeper than the grand canyon, but it’s fiction, and it’s fun, and the whole point of such movies is that you are supposed to suspend disbelief.

Nicholas Cage is showing his age a bit, but I still find him likable in parts like this. Helen Mirren, as Ben Gates mother rocked my world. I know she can do drama (The Queen) and darker comedy (Calendar Girls), and of course I’ve watched her in various PBS offerings forever, but she was pure delight in this adventure comedy, playing just the right notes, and doing a credible American accent.

If you haven’t seen this movie, and want something fun and lighthearted, I recommend it.
Goes well with a burger and a beer.

Today I

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It may be 2:23 in the morning, but it’s still Friday night til I go to bed.

Today, I:
– wrote a thousand word article about health spending accounts for work, and didn’t even go batty from citing IRS codes.
– ate half of a mandarin chicken salad from Wendy’s, and then couldn’t eat any more, while watching the season two episode of Angel called “Darla.”
– wrote a 700+-word piece of flash-fiction and submitted it to the current writing contest at TheNovelette. I can’t post it anywhere public, but if you really want to read it, I’ll email the word doc.
– whined a lot about my head and ear hurting, took a long nap in the afternoon, and had a medicinal cinnamon dolce latte.
– spent a pleasant hour playing “fetch” with Fuzzy and Miss Cleo, who told us very clearly she wanted to play with the Special Toy in the Closet.
– watched the movie “Suburban Girl,” with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin. It was quirky, and charming, but not stellar.
– cuddled Zorro dog for twenty minutes, then accused him of smelling like an animal and threatened to bathe him.
– posted the new prompts for Cafe Writing.

So, what did YOU do today?

I Never…

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CajunVegan tagged me to tell you seven weird things about me, but I’ve done this meme so many times, that I’m taking a leaf from her, and offering seven things I’ve never done. Get cozy in one of those comfy home theater chairs and dig into the popcorn. Here we go:

  1. I’ve never gone swimming with sharks… but it’s something I really want to do. There’s a company based in San Diego that does five day cruises to Isla Guadalupe, just across the border in Mexico, with cage diving for photography purposes. It costs several thousand dollars, but the beer is free, and the white sharks are plentiful.
  2. I’ve never ridden a roller coaster that goes upside down… and I never will. I like the old wooden coasters a lot, and the modern corkscrews are great fun, but I don’t do loops. When I was nine my mother dated a guy who designed coasters, and he explained the construction of the loop and it terrified me.
  3. I’ve never lived on a boat… and I don’t really want to, for long, but there’s a B&B in Oakland and San Francisco that lets you overnight on a docked sailboat. And when we were considering a move to Portland several years ago, there was a docked houseboat that I quite liked.
  4. I’ve never made a perfect hamburger… It’s a knack I just don’t have. Gourmet food I can cook. Diner food, I can’t. This is especially ironic since my cousins owned a diner in New Jersey.
  5. I’ve never been to Italy… and it’s still on my list. I have family in Naples and Caserta I’ve never met. Somehow, I feel a stronger connection with France, even though I’ve not got a lick of French blood.
  6. I’ve never been swimming in fresh water… Swimming pools don’t count as fresh water. Swimming pools contain pool water which is chemically unlike anything found in nature. Lakes and rivers do. I’ve never been in one higher than my knees. I learned to swim in the ocean, however. I’m all about the salt water.
  7. I’ve never learned to ski… even though I lived in Colorado for seven years, in the mountains, not far from Loveland and Vail. I have, however, watched the Porsche rallies on the Georgetown reservoir, ice skated on same reservoir using a snow shovel as a sail, ice skated in an outdoor rink in Vail, and actually walked to school when there were more than two feet of snow on the ground, only to be greeted by a handwritten note, “No school. Buses can’t get through.” (This is why I refuse to ever live in a place with serious winter again. Ever.)

According to CajunVegan, I’m supposed to tag people. I don’t like tagging people. If this meme speaks to you, do it. If not, write something else.

Creature Feature

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We don’t often see geckos in January, but the little creatures must know instinctively what I have to go to Weather.com to find out: that it was cool, but not cold, and rainy all day, and as such it’s a lovely night for traipsing across the brick walls of my house in search of…whatever it is small reptiles and amphibians go in search of.

Thankfully, Miss Cleo didn’t see the gecko on the wall when I took her outside for “last call,” just a few moments ago, or she’d still be out there barking at it. Miss Cleo thinks geckos are a personal affront to her, encroaching upon her territory as they do. Miss Cleo is wrong, but you can’t always reason with a cocker/poodle/chi/staffy/thing. She saw a rodent climbing the fence and raced after it, but came back almost immediately, probably because it’s late and we’re all tired from weird sleep patterns.

I’m writing insurance content all this week, and it has me both bored silly and having odd connections. For example, a piece on term life insurance and death benefits made me remember the last few chapters of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

I think I will try to sleep now.

I Should Be Sleeping…

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…but after doing so nearly all weekend I’m not tired.

I had a lovely quiet evening in which I read A Lick of Frost, by Laurell K. Hamilton. Finished it about 20 minutes ago, in tears. Will be posting the review on Bibliotica today or Tuesday.

Meanwhile, y’all should go there anyway, and read the interview with Julia Holden.

Bed of Roses?

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If only it were as easy to redecorate a real home as it is to do so in The Sims, I would be able to feed my constant redecorating urges so much more simply. And cheaply.

One of my urges involves my bedroom. Fuzzy and I bought a bookshelf headboard several years ago, and even though I’m sick of it, he refuses to budge. My fantasy bed is a sleigh bed. Failing that, one of those adjustable beds that make using bed for things other than sleeping (I’ve been known to work from bed for a week at a time, most recently when we had a cold spell and Zorro was sick, and I just didn’t want to leave the warmth of flannel sheets and flannel pajamas.) so much more comfortable would be great.

I’m told you can even use them with clunky bookshelf headboards.

Yay, Books

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I’ve been complaining for days (well, a day and a half) that I have nothing to read. That’s never precisely true. There is always something in the house I haven’t read, but there was nothing that sat up and begged “READ ME!” So we ventured forth this evening even though we were both crabby, for a brief trip to the grocery store for soda for Fuzzy, to dinner (Genghis Grill in Highlands of Arlington) and then to Barnes and Nobel (this despite the fact that Borders is in the same parking lot as Genghis Grill).

I wasn’t certain what I wanted, but I moved through the magazine section without more than one or two longing looks at magazines advertising Wilmington real estate, and other coastal living type scenarios, and into the actual book section (coffee was on the list of must-haves, but would wait til we were about to go.)

I ended up with six books, all of which will eventually be reviewed at Bibliotica, including the latest offering from Laurell K. Hamilton, A Lick of Frost.

Armed with faerie porn, a nonfat cinnamon dolce latte and a single sugar cookie with cheery red sprinkles, I am now curled up on the bed, and you won’t hear me complain that I have nothing to read for at least a week.

No, really.

Laundry Day

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The problem with having all the laundry done is that I really don’t have space for everything. Take my underwear drawer for example. While I’m not a fan of lacy lingerie, I do like pretty underwear. It’s cotton, but it’s in fabulous colors, even the bras. When it’s all clean, however, the drawer is full to the brim.

Right now, even though not all the the laundry is clean (I’m still doing laundry) about the only thing my underwear drawer doesn’t hold is bustiers, not because they won’t fit, but because I haven’t had one in years.

How, you may wonder, can one have pink hair, and not own a bustier?
It’s a good question.

I shall have to work on an answer.

Alternatively, a shopping trip could work.

Fuzzy keeps reminding me that I said I had to get rid of one thing in order to add one thing. The problem with that is that I got rid of hanging things and added folding things, last time.

Well, it was a good thought.