Random Thoughts

So, I am finally back in C-town. It is cold, rainy and dreary! Can I winter someplace sunny and warm??? Sorry updates have been scarce, but things have been hoppin lately. Jarrod and his team are Region 4 Champions and remain undefeated. He was named defensive player of the week at last week’s game against Lee with his biggest play a sack for a 12 yard loss. As for Juliana’s photos, I will get those up as soon as we reinstall our scanner. Lastly, Veronica Mars has been looking up lately. I still have concerns, but there are still signs of magic and I highly recommend it.

On another TV note, why do people always ask Dr. Phil questions they should and often do already know the answers to? I caught the end of ask Dr. Phil if this is normal day when I turned on the TV to check the news. This lady wanted to know if it was normal for her daughter to be raised by a nudist. She said her fiance was most comfortable in the nude and so was her small daughter, and they often hung out around the house naked. She prefers being fully clothed, but doesn’t mind the tasteful display of nudity her other family members partake in. Her concern is her daughter is so comfortable in the nude she will go to school and take her clothes off in front of others. She is also concerned her daughter will start to notice the difference in genitalia. Her question for Dr. Phil was, is this affecting her daughter? And should she stop this behavior in an effort to better socialize her daughter? Um, yeah. And I can’ t believe she had to wait for Dr. Phil to answer her to figure it out. I’ve got a better idea, why doesn’t someone ask Dr. Phil why there is a market for “Celtic Tiger” Michael Flatley’s new Irish phenomenon? Really? There is something that truly baffles me.

OK, so Aimee has been has been giving me a hard time about not writing, so I’ve finally resolved myself to do so. I was inspired by something I saw at Cracker Barrel the other night. Seriously, how cool is Cracker Barrel? I mean, shopping while you wait for your food? SO COOL. Anyway, I was looking around at some of the toys and stuffed animals, and there staring me right in the face was a stuffed toy opossum!!! EW…Are you kidding me? It’s like, “Here, have this nice, sweet, cute, cuddly—roadkill?!” Gross! So disgusting! That creeps me out now; it would have scarred me for life as a child! EEEEEEEWWWWWWW…
Anyway, my beautiful little niece was born Thursday, Oct. 6. She is so precious; just like her mommy, my beautiful baby sister. My husband is so smitten! We both have “baby fever,” but are only just now getting ready to celebrate our first anniversary. We are praying for a child when the time is right; and only God knows when that will be. So, in the meantime, we spoil everyone else’s children and send them home with their parents to take care of the dirty work! HA!

Regarding tonight’s episode of Veronica Mars, I think I puked a little in my mouth. I don’t care how great Charisma Carpenter was on Buffy; she makes me sick here. Although I continue to love Logan in his speaking roles, especially outside Duncan’s hotel room, I have definitely seen enough of his depressing sordid affair with the shedevil. As for Veronica, I was beginning to hope she was back this week, what with lines like “You’re a macchiato”, but no such luck. She was as pathetic and whiny as last week, and seriously in need of reconnecting with her snarky past. Please tell me why there was practically no sex in the entire last season, and now I need blinders to shield my eyes from the disgusting naked romps between whores and disturbed teenagers and used to be brothers and sisters who apparently have no problems letting bygones be bygones. Why Veronica, WHY???? Logan, I get; I don’t like it, but I get it. VD will simply never make sense. I thought I would be ok with the two of them. I even had hope they would break up over Duncan’s stupidity, but for her to give up her true virginity to him. UGH. I guess storyline wise it makes her ready for a LoVe replay later in the year. It gives her a little gross factor to complement Logan’s need for a decontamination shower. She was clearly a little jealous when she saw Logan coming out of Kendall’s room, but still. As it turns out my favorite character is Beaver. I liked him last year and I thought his nickname was seriously funny. Now, I can’t wait for him to bust his wicked stepmother and see the look on Veronica’s face. I seriously hope it makes her a tad angry, incredibly snarky, and hopefully a little jealous. Make that a LOT jealous. Lastly, why is Wallace the only one who actually attends school? At least he picked up some of Veronica’s skills of deduction. Last year we were treated to such great snarky times at Neptune High. Afterall, this is a show about a teenage detective, right? The fun part of the show was watching her balance her “super sleuth powers” with her ostracized high school persona. Now it seems something is missing. I am not sure whom to blame, but I sincerely hope the problem corrects itself post haste. Honestly though, I didn’t see the dead guy with Veronica’s name on his hand coming. I do have to say I am surprised to find myself two episodes into the season and not caring about any of the storylines. I am getting perilously close to switching my commitment to watching VM and taping Lost.

I just have to note my spell checker suggested I change Duncan’s to Dunce’s and Kendall to Kennel. How appropriate are those changes? I’m just sayin’! I am seriously calling them that from now on. Tricia, I so hope they had UPN in your hospital room tonight. Can’t wait to see you and the baby tomorrow!!!

Speaking of babies…is anyone else creeped out by the TomKat baby? It is bad enough Jennifer Garner procreated with Satan and is having his spawn, but this? Can you say pact with the devil? I thought he couldn’t even have kids? I used to feel kinda sorry for him; now, I think I feel a little more puke coming on…

Ok, so I am a terrible friend, an unhappy wife and a stressed out daughter. Basically if you want to express your current displeasure with me, take a number and line up over there! I know I haven’t even taken the time to review last week’s premiere of Veronica Mars. In my defense, I really wanted to watch it at least twice before issuing a final verdict. I guess I will start with that and move forward from there. The show was good, but not great. As an avid fan I was a little disappointed. I know the episode was designed to make new viewers feel as included as the rest of us and set up the new season long mystery, but I can’t help wishing we had gotten to see a bit more of what happened over the summer not just some glossed over hurried flashback highlights. Perhaps over the course of the season we will get little tidbits in flashback that help fill in some more of the gaps. I even have hope we might get a wonderful episode the caliber of “Trip to the Dentist” that reveals all that happened to Logan on the bridge. Until then, I will continue to be an avid fan in search of answers and eagerly awaiting each installment Rob Thomas and UPN has to offer. Just a reminder, you have until tomorrow to preorder your glarkware “Backup” t-shirt from Television Without Pity. Also, be sure to check out Couch Baron’s new recaps for season 2 of VM.

I did manage to see Serenity on Saturday. Excellent movie although somewhat predictable. The Pretender guys should take note. This is the way to give fans what they want and appeal to a wider audience. Those of you who didn’t take my advice and see it over the weekend are missing out and should reconsider when making your plans for this weekend.

Gabrielle and I went to my high school alma mater for the homecoming game on Friday as Jarrod and his team had a bye week. The game was somewhat pathetic as usual and I only saw people I didn’t want to know with the exception of Fr. Michael’s sister, Denise. It just further proves my point that you can never go home again. I will say it was fun to look around and see how things had changed since I was there. And in defense of homecoming, I didn’t exactly hang out with the crowd that frequented the games back in the day, so it is no surprise my friends weren’t there now. Gab and I bailed the fourth quarter massacre in favor of bowling, as I have bit off all my fingernails and thus have no qualms partaking in an old school pastime. I always have fun when Gabrielle is around, especially when I win!! We’re back in P-ville rooting for the Lions this Friday for the biggest game of the season to date.

Sorry, distraction, Conan O’Brien is off the hook! He was running around making faces because the TelePrompTer was down. Now he is back with the script. It is a joke about celebrity survey responses. One of the alleged questions was to name the scariest person you have ever seen. Michael Jackson’s response was “the white lady who lives in my mirror”. Now Freddie Prinze Jr. is bemoaning his physique. He is using the old adage that he had to quit drinking, but he hated to because he was so good at it and he’s not a quitter. Even given the tired humor, I am going to lift the ban and watch his new comedy next Wednesday on ABC mostly because it doesn’t conflict with VM and because I love Brian Austin Green. So hot! Ever since he made that made for TV classic with Sharon Lawrence, I have been a changed woman.

In other exciting news, Tricia’s baby is coming on Thursday. I can’t wait to meet baby Juliana! I will post news and/or photos as soon as there is any. Now I am off to watch my tape of My Name is Earl since my mother prefers watching Commander in Chief to juvenile bathroom humor as she calls it. Have I mentioned she is crazy? Remind me to tell you some of her latest zingers next time.

So, to catch you all up, Keane was awesome. Our seats were unbelievable! My photography skills were on vacation, but I will attach a few shots anyway. My biggest surprise was how lame the crowd was. I know the Ryman is the church of Country Music and all, but I have seen more excitement at Easter Sunday services than in that place. They run a tight ship. And to think Emily’s dad warned her not to inhale (so much funnier if you knew him, but still)! Tom Chaplin finally got folks off their collective asses or bums as it were, but it still felt more like curtain call at Mamma Mia than an actual rock concert.

Note the elderly in pigtails. Please tell me if I ever look that pathetic…

At least I eased Emily in to it; we had seriously considered going to the rescheduled Green Day concert in Dayton the week before. Perhaps there, her father’s advice would have been handy. Regardless, a good time was had by all even if we had to forego dinner because there was nowhere open for dinner after the concert. Speaking of which, we managed to find a Logan’s Roadhouse for lunch (thank you, Jesus and I mean that literally). The food was great and we narrowly avoided our first fight of the trip, as I am extra bitchy when I am hungry and/or tired.

I made it back in time for Jarrod’s game, but both Emily and Carol bailed on me. Slackers!!! The Lions won against their biggest rivals and I got the best surprise of all. I got to escort Jarrod and a teammate of his to Tuscaloosa for a game day tour, sideline pass and tickets to the Alabama vs. Arkansas game. I even managed to avoid sunburn, amazing considering how pale I am and the 11:15 kickoff. Other than the unbearable heat, we had a great time. Our hostess was very sweet and personable and hot, but not in the slutty kind of way. Afterwards, we met up with another player and his family who were tailgating (if you can call it that). I call it rec-ing out in an air conditioned church hall watching tv, but to each his own. They invited us to a restaurant with them. Mind you it sounded like a stupid idea to me, but the boys and I were very hungry and tired, so we agreed. This would come back to bite us on the ass later. Not only did it take 2 restaurants and an extraordinarily long wait time for our food (almost 2 and a half hours), Jarrod also managed to merit a “talking to” and I was in doo doo for letting him “con me” into not coming straight home. Who knew I was still so gullible at 30? Wait, I was never the gullible one, that was his mother, I am the conniver. Perhaps Jarrod and I have more in common than I thought. At any rate, my advice, if someone offers to take you to Hooters after a football game, just say no. The food and in this case the view were definitely not worth it. Plus, you know it is bad when teenage boys are asking if they can get a discount if the girls will put some clothes on. There are so many funny stories I could tell; the boys had me laughing all the way home. Honestly I am too tired to tell them, and something tells me the humor would be lost in translation.

At any rate I made it to Dylan’s first birthday party. He really raked up. The only downside, it turns out Haley had the chicken pox, so now everyone was exposed. Talk about ruining your kid’s rep. He is so off the party circuit-at one no less. Now I have to wait until he gets better so I can take him on a play date.

Through nerves, stupidity, tiredness and hunger or at least some combination of those, I managed to bite off all my fingernails. I am so mad at myself. They hurt so fucking bad, and they look bad and what’s worse, I keep needing them to do things. I have forgotten all my little tricks for how to function without them. Mostly I just wish they didn’t sting so much.

Gabby called tonight. She needs help with her paper on The Taming of the Shrew. Minor in things like Shakespeare and people think you know things! I promised to help her but not until after Veronica Mars! BTW my soundtrack arrived in the mail today. So much for Amazon’s two week delay. I can’t wait to listen to it, but mean old Taine won’t mail it to me! He did fix my problem with the folks at XM, so now I am back to loving them again.

My craptastic car is on the fritz again. Josh stopped by today and I had him look at it and check my tires. I have to have it taken in for service on Thursday. Who knows what that will cost. Now I am stuck borrowing my mom’s Buick to go to Auburn for our VM viewing party. Emilie are you coming up here or what? Just give in, you know you want to. If not, talk to me when you get done with the season 1 DVD. I can’t wait for you to see them all. I am on a mission to convert the world. Now if only religion translated so easily! Well, that just about does it for my updates and opinions, at least until I see the big premiere. I do have one more favor to ask, go see Serenity this weekend. They really need big box office numbers and I promise you won’t be sorry, even you Matty. Just go, ok? Trust me.

It is finally here!!!!

Sorry I am so behind on posts, but I will try and update tonight. Don’t forget to watch Veronica Mars. I can hardly wait. Look out Auburn here I come!

Yesterday we had lunch with my own personal BFF, Matt. It was fun; I miss him! I am still trying to find a way to incorporate him into my family officially. Though I am sure there is plenty I could bitch about not the least of which is XM radio, Emily and I are headed out early in the morning for the Keane concert in Nashville tomorrow night. I swear this is turning out to be the best week ever! Yesterday, we attended the book signing I mentioned earlier. It was awesome. At first it felt a little like purgatory, a sea of old people babbling about Mother Angelica, lots of misinformation and speculation and even more crazy talk. Harmless, but not exactly fun when you are seriously bringing down the median age in the joint. We got there early, but I got the last 3 copies of the book. I was seriously worrying I might cause a stampede if anyone caught on that I had extras. The whole city is out of the book and the distributor is out as well. Crazy. Anyway, Emily and I were relatively impatiently awaiting Raymond’s arrival and seriously wishing we could bolt, but promises to the elderly and one’s mother must not be broken. Thus we stayed on. Raymond finally showed, on time, but it always seems like forever when you are early. He made up for it and put an end to our feelings of purgatory when we saw who he brought with him, Jim Caviezel. That’s right people, the Catholic trifecta, Mother Angelica, Raymond Arroyo, and Jesus…er…Jimmy. Emily had the hots for the blue eyed doll he brought with him (he looked more like an agent than a body guard although it doesn’t take much brawn to protect one from the elderly). Emily went for the camera; I went for the phone. There is no better way to cheer up a sick mother than to tell her you are this close to a man she refers to as if he is her 5th son. I told her I had to go and she shouted back, “make sure you get him to sign my book”. Um, mom, I am not in the habit of harassing celebrities; that is your territory, but I will try. After all, my niece, Sr. Therese did give him a tour of the Shrine and I did personally interview Mother Angelica when I was in high school-take that Raymond Arroyo! Plus my brother has worked for EWTN for years, but he already met Caviezel, and did he score an autograph for our poor mother? I think not. Ok, so in case you haven’t figured it out already he was there to sign books and greet Ray’s crowd. Lucky for me. An added bonus at religious book signings populated by the elderly, people are friendly and mostly generous and you are so the hottest one there, not that it matters cause no one is looking, but Jim totally winked at me. I guess he could have had something in his eye; I mean it wasn’t the flirty type of wink, it was more like the “I feel your purgatory pain” kind of wink, but I loved it, and they totally sang to Emily. Tres cool. I made Emily burn the rest of her roll of film so I could add a few shots here before we left.

Perhaps these will help ease our mother’s collective pain as neither of us bugged them to be photographed in cutesy poses with us (mostly for fear of the people behind us in line who were serious about meeting Jesus). Just be happy we took the shots at all; we got a little hyper and it started to affect our brain function. They don’t let us out of the home much without supervision. Well, I have to get up ridiculously early tomorrow, so tootles for now. Updates on Keane to follow and photos if they let us!

P.S. per Weezie’s request I am also posting a couple of photos of me as well.

As you can clearly see, this was the most boring Saturday ever. And my 15 year old niece is so not hotter than me. Seriously, this will go down as one of the best days ever-as all days spent with two of my favorite people should be. Good times!!!

Just got of the phone with Weezie. We had to catch up after the last episode of Veronica Mars aired. From what I hear the finale sealed the deal for Emilie Cooper. I told you you should trust me. Would I go out on a limb this much for mediocre crap? I think not. I am still patiently waiting a response to my offer to spend the weekend catching her up on all the episodes. I suppose you could always just buy the DVD on October 11th in fact you should get it regardless of your answer to my offer. Anyway, welcome to the club; I will be providing membership cards for converts soon. Gabby, I’m coming for you!!!! And yes Matt, I have gone bonkers for Veronica Mars, but truthfully I think you could have made a case earlier.

As for my day with Emily, we went mall hopping and loot gathering in Strongsville and Middleburg Heights. Sadly we never quite made it to the religious goods store that was originally the purpose of the trip. Guess we got too caught up looking at all the clothes Logan would wear! LOL. I did take her for her first ever trip to Red Lobster. Verdict: Joe’s Crab Shack kicks their ass. Quite handily I might add. For dinner, she had her first ever trip to a Thai restaurant. I have been hooked since my first real boyfriend’s mom cooked it for me. She was awesome; what an amazing cook.

Anyway, I knew that picture of Angelina Jolie was scary, but apparently several of you are quite disturbed by it. I have received many requests to have it removed or at least decreased in size. I am tempted, but for now it stays. I promise to reconsider my decision tomorrow and/or after I receive a comment from Emilie. In an effort to make it up to those of you adversely affected I offer:

Also, check out Rob Thomas’ latest e-mail to VM fans.

On the agenda for tomorrow, Emily finally gets to see what all the buzz about Napoleon Dynamite is about now that it is pretty much over. And we get my film back from Walmart, 5 rolls, of which I have almost no idea what is on them. If there are any good ones, I will post them here especially the ones from my day with Carol and Gab!

P.S. Did anyone catch Supernatural with Jensen Ackles? Off the hook…Guess I can watch My Name is Earl after all.

It is official; Emily is a full fledged Veronica Mars addict! She’s got it bad, as do I. Quite obviously. We finished watching the last 5 episodes today. 16 days until the real torture begins. I just read Kristen from E! online got her copy of the season 2 premiere today. So jealous I can hardly stand it! BTW have you checked out the new teaser? I don’t care to be spoiled any more; I just want the new season to start post haste! There is not much else to report from here as 22 hours of TV viewing (although not entirely continuous) does put your brain into a bit of a stupor, no matter how unbearably attractive Logan has become. I have truly become weary worn of these fictitious loves. Reality is just never as appealing. Ah well, in honor of the upcoming premiere, I have been lurking around the internet in search of delightful images from season 1 and I will post a few of them here along with my daily ramblings in an effort to quell the insatiable desire for all things Veronica Mars amongst my readers until we make it to the summer finish line. Today was rather boring otherwise and I am feeling rather crappy, so I will avoid the anger I am tempted to spew and bid you adieu for this evening. Perhaps tomorrow I will feel more like sharing. Until then, I will leave you with an image near and dear to my heart…

Props to something-happens.com for the image. Super cool site, lots of images and a great source for all of the hopeless LoVe shippers out there. Keep up the great work guys!

P.S. Did I tell you I won a kick ass MyFi XM radio with a year’s worth of free service? It is tres cool. I can’t wait to try it out on my next road trip. I can even take it jogging with me. If I ever take up jogging that is. I love free stuff!!! Normally, I can’t even win a free Coke, so right now I rock! Literally and figuratively. I know Gab, let’s never say that again. But “I am kewl”. Well, sort of.