Love hurts, and so does watching this movie

So I'm having a love/hate relationship with the movie, The Heartbreak Kid. I had no interest in it when it was in theaters. I remember the previews, and I remember thinking that this particular Ben Stiller movie was not worth my time or attention. Of course, on Netflix, every movie looks cooler than it actually is, so when I saw it on the web site recently, I added it to my queue. But as I was flipping through my extensive HBO channel lineup, I found the movie, and good news, it started only five minutes before I landed on it. Right now, I'm about an hour into it, and I'm feeling the burn. But you know, I need to watch it to the end just so I know what happens, whether I pay for it later with a diminished faith in humanity, or not.

And cupcakes love me

I once was told that when there's nothing to write, don't write anything. Sunday's are a bit of a drag because, even though it's a weekend day, not enough has happened to warrant a decent post. And so then, here I am, sitting with the computer, waiting for inspiration to strike. Actually, I've been sitting here with the computer for about 90 minutes. That says something to me.

La, la, la ... I love cupcakes.

And the space shuttle jumped over the moon

I've got a couple things for you tonight:
1.) You didn't really think this entire space shuttle mission would go by without me posting something about it, did you? I mean, you all know about, and love me for, my misguided desire to be an astronaut at some point in my life. That hasn't changed. So here's a time-lapsed photo of the space shuttle Endeavour as it took off from Florida last night. You know, there used to be a NASA channel on my cable lineup, but when I went looking for it yesterday, I was irritated to not find it. And I couldn't find the launch on CNN either. It was nowhere to be seen on any news station. I find that very disappointing! I wanted to watch the damn launch and I couldn't! But at least there are pictures, right?
And 2.) where the hell was all this righteous activism before the election? What on earth kept all these people from being loud and proud about their beliefs in allowing gay marriage before it was banned? Who knew that simply voting wasn't going to do anything? Who knew that all the additional voters could possibly change the outcome of this particular proposition? Oh, you bet I wanted to be there marching with all those other people. You bet I'm enraged that the proposition passed. But what can all these demonstrations do? The best that can be done is to just put making gay marriage legal on the next ballot, right? Someone enlighten me if something else can be done about this.
3.) I ironed Brian's scrubs for next week tonight. I'm bugged as hell about this. Apparently, his office staff picks on him pretty regularly about how wrinkled his scrubs are everyday. While I happily said that they could piss off when he initially told me about it, it's become a fly in my ointment, so to speak, every time he puts on a fresh pair in the morning. I've figured out a couple things that make them more wrinkled -- bib Velcro sticking to pants strings and twisting them in the dryer was a main problem -- but in the end, they're 100 percent cotton scrubs that just can't be wrinkle-free without being ironed. And I hate ironing. I tried the wrinkle releaser that Katy suggested, and it just didn't do enough for the thickness of the cotton. I refuse to take the scrubs to the dry cleaners. And I hate ironing. So now I'm at an impasse. What to do about the scrubs? I'm thinking that my initial reaction of, "piss off," may be my best bet.

Yes, I made an error

Okay, I also want to post a small Editor's Note in regards to the headline in my post from yesterday, "Ugh, but where's Dr. Ross and Nurse Hathaway?" It's grammatically incorrect. The phrasing should be, "Ugh, but where are Dr. Ross and Nurse Hathaway?" Duh, says the editor, there are two of them! Pluralize properly! I could have just fixed it, and those of you who noticed could have realized my error and smirked at me, or not; and those of you who didn't notice would be none the wiser, or not. But what fun would that be?

He sounds so Grinchy when he says it, too

And Christmas has begun in the house. Not so far as decorations and all that, because ... hello ... there's still that fun holiday with the turkey and all the food, but the preparations for the Santa holiday have officially begun. I have a list. I have created a list of who I'm buying for this year, and have wrangled a budget number out of my economy-conscious spouse. I'll choose to not account for the gifts that I've already bought, since they aren't part of the set budget (gifts purchased before a budget is established are as good as not being bought at all). I hate budgeting, on any level, but am already chafing something crazy over a Christmas budget. It just doesn't sound very ... festive. And by all accounts, I enjoy being festive. But, I consider this one to be a challenge, and am actually relishing the thrill of the hunt. I'll figure out the cost factor, then go searching for what I need. Fun? Not so much, but it's better than the constant attitude I've gotten over the last couple months that "Christmas is canceled."

Reservations for five

You know, if I or my husband ever were elected as president, I would totally have my mom move into the White House with us. What a fantastic thing to have happen with the Obamas. (It is Michelle Obama's mother who kept the kids to their normal schedules and enforced family rules during the campaign. She was, by all accounts, an incredibly stabilizing force in the family throughout those two years.) I find myself wondering how many other in-laws lived in the White House, too. It's actually not confirmed that Marian Robinson will live in the White House, but only that she's agreed to move to Washington with the Obamas. I can't imagine that she wouldn't be closer if she could be, as they say, down the hall. And hello? Life in the White House? That must rock ... you know, when you aren't in charge of the country and all that business. But yeah, my mom would totally be forced into living there with us.

Ugh, but where's Dr. Ross and Nurse Hathaway?

ITEM!: I just downloaded the new version of Mozilla's Firefox, because it's finally available for the Mac. Interesting side note: I had to completely remove the last version of the software from my hard drive before the new version would load properly. During that time, I had a moment of irrational abject terror when thinking that maybe I wouldn't ever be able to get Firefox back on my computer, and I would forever have to blog in Safari, which sucks for blogging. Anyway, I got the new version, mocked myself for my fleeting fear, and am now happily living in a well-managed blogger paradise.
ITEM!: I'm pulling together my Christmas list ... of gifts to buy and ideas for my side of the family. If I didn't have a fresh manicure right now, I would have broken out the legal pad and started work on the official "Christmas List 2008" tonight. What's awesome is that I've already got a few ideas percolating. What sucks is that all I've got to deal with money-wise is a credit card that I'd really rather avoid.
ITEM!: I watched tonight's very special episode of ER, featuring the return of Anthony Edwards as the show's beloved Dr. Mark Greene. I'll admit that it was nice seeing him in his scrubs and on the show, though it was not enough to get me hooked into watching the program for the rest of its final season. What else was on (at the very beginning) was a very nice and touching tribute to the show's creator, Michael Crichton, by Eriq LaSalle, who played Dr. Peter Benton. So we've got Benton and Greene on the show on the same night. While the stunt itself did exactly what it was supposed to do -- it got me watching the show -- I think the it may have backfired on them. All tonight's episode did was show me how awesome the show used to be, and how much I loved all those other characters, and how okay I am with not watching it anymore.

Lately, I'm more of a lip gloss girl

So how's this for totally random and absolutely fantastic? I got this article off the Yahoo! home page tonight.

The Lipstick Indicator
In this economy that's in the red, there may be one bright spot that comes in shades of pink, brown, and taupe: the lipstick index.
It's a financial indicator that's as true as that colorfast shade that stays on you, and doesn't get on your man. In bad times, lipstick sales soar while other sales sour. The term "Leading Lipstick Indicator" was coined by Leonard Lauder, chairman of makeup company Estée Lauder, after he noticed the trend during tough economic times.
And what is indicated right now? All lips are pointing upwards. After all, women don't need to think twice about plunking down eight bucks for a drugstore lipstick while passing on $800 Jimmy Choos.
History can be our guide here. As a Harvard professor explains: "The decade of the Great Depression, cosmetic sales increased 25 percent." After the downturn following Sept. 11, lipstick sales doubled.
Looks like we're on track for a similar lip-color craze with this latest economic funk. The New York Times notes that in the last few months, lipstick sales have shot up 40 percent, and even put out a list of favorites ranging in price from the budget-conscious $1.99 to the more pricey but still affordable $55. Preferred colors for this new economy? Red is out. Neutrals are in.

Well. There you have it. It'll all be okay; just put on some lipstick.

Best Starbucks visit ever

So I totally have to tell you about my trip to Starbucks last week!
Katy and I took a road trip to Tucson, and on the way back to Phoenix, decided to cruise through the Starbucks along the freeway. I'll do my best to re-create the visit.
Barista: "Welcome to Starbucks. How are you this evening?"
Me: "Fine, thank you. How are you?"
Barista: "I'm excellent! What can I get you tonight?"
Me: "Excellent? That makes my 'fine' sound boring. I'm fabulous! I'm fantastic!"
Barista: "You sound like you would be willing to play this game we've been playing with our customers tonight. I didn't start with it because the last, like, eight customers didn't participate at all."
Me: "Okay! Bring it!"
Barista: "Okay, pretend like I just turned on my mike and you just arrived at the speaker. Ready?"
What followed was a fantastic game show host voiceover, with musical singing accompaniment from the other employees, offering me prizes behind each door, the first door containing "our wonderful hot espresso drinks," the second held "the very popular frappuccino line of drinks," and the third hid "my personal favorite, the iced drinks." I played along, asking door #1 what fruit it would be (a Granny Smith apple), and finally selecting that door because we wanted hot drinks.
By the time we drove around to the window, all the employees had assembled there, and had one final challenge for us. Because we played along, and with such enjoyment, they would give us one of our drinks free ... if we would sing part of a song for them. Well, little did they all know, but because we were on a road trip, I happened to have my iPod plugged in and resting on my lap at that very moment. Katy and I happily agreed to the challenge.
Me: "So ... I'm thinking disco."
Katy: "That sounds good."
Me: "How about some I Will Survive?"
Katy: "Gloria Gaynor is always an excellent choice!"
So, we started up the song, I turned it up loud enough for the Starbucks peeps to hear well through the window, and we sang along at top volume, and with attitude and arm dancing even! And they also sang along with us! And we sang through the entire first verse and the first chorus! It was ... awesome!
The baristas were so pleased with our serenade, and with our willingness to roll with all of their craziness that night, that they actually gave us both our coffees for free! And those coffees "were made with love," they told us, too! Hands down, the best, most entertaining visit to a Starbucks ever!

Capt. Jack Chihuahua. That's funny

I'm feeling kinda bruised and battered, from the inside, tonight. And because I seem to tell you all everything, I'll go ahead and spill this one, too: I had an IUD (intra-uterine device) installed/inserted this afternoon. It hurt a bit more than I thought it would, and I'm still feeling it a bit more than I thought I would, but relief is soon coming. I took one of my "Shingles" pain pills a few minutes ago, and I'm waiting for it to kick in.
My appointment was at 12:30; I arrived at 12:25; I was in the car and heading to lunch at 12:52. It didn't take long at all, and having chatted with a friend who also has one, I now understand why. My doctor didn't put a heating pad on my lower torso for 20 minutes to help warm me up and loosen my areas; my doctor didn't invite me to stay on the table for another 20 minutes after insertion to cuddle with the heating pad and rest; and my doctor didn't braid my hair or massage my feet while I rested (actually, that last one is a lie, my friend's doc didn't do that either, he just might as well have. Clearly, the expect us to be super tough at this office; no pampering there!).
After leaving the office, I went for lunch, but eventually made it quick because I was starting to cramp pretty badly. So, I thought a walk around the mall would help a bit. That, too, was a poor decision, as my body was cramping even more. So I came home, rested for a few more minutes while the babysitter took Sydney out for a walk around the complex, and dosed myself with Advil. Tonight, having gotten past all the major cramping (I think), and bleeding (sorry for saying that, but it's the truth), I'll be bedding down in cozy warm pajamas, with my constant sleeping partner, Oliver, and removing myself from the day, with the comforting feeling of generic Vicodin rolling through my veins.

A new era begins ... let's see what happens now

Honestly, I'm kinda disappointed. I thought this would be some tight-ass race where I would be stuck sitting in front of the television for hours upon hours, watching and waiting, and freaking out over every state's returns. Instead, it was basically an Obama landslide, and the only fun I had was in waiting to see if McCain would carry his own home state of Arizona (it was really unsure for a while). And truthfully, I am loving the fact that it was the 55 electoral votes in California that gave Obama the victory. See! My vote counted! Awesome!
I'm also totally digging the fact that the "swing states," got so caught up in their own importance that they took too much time to count their ballots and ultimately didn't matter to the winner of the election. Look at Florida, Indiana, Missouri and North Carolina: They were all, "Hey, look at us, all big and important to the next president. We're going to take our time so the national spotlight is trained firmly on our wonderfulness and then we'll be the ones to decide whether it'll be McCain or Obama." [Editor's note: Add in a significant amount of high-school girl sarcasm and attitude in that quote, and you'll hear it as it is in my head.] I am so excited that, except for Florida, they're still, as I write this, firmly in the gray, yellow, white or whatever color on the big map graphic that isn't blue or red. Who needs them? This is my vindication for every time the electoral college decided on a president before California's votes were counted.
Of course, we did still spend the entire night in front of the television. We watched NBC's coverage for a few simple reasons: I can't stand Katie Couric or Charles Gibson; I totally dig Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw (a bit also because of how funny they both are whenever they visit The Daily Show); and I just feel like NBC is less flimsy with their knowledge, intelligence and pandering. But watching the national NBC news team means that I also was subjected to the local NBC news team, which I do not like at all. Among Arizona's news, I prefer ABC. But I couldn't skip back and forth, so I stuck with NBC. Except for the hour of the coverage by The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. At times very funny and very irritating, that program kept our attention and was a nice break from the serious coverage, but still, we probably would have been better served watching NBC and recording Comedy Central for later.
And hello, fantastic victory speech! I'm ready to help make change!

I voted; have you?

At the Children's Museum this morning, I saw no less than five or six "I voted," stickers on various moms and dads. I love it that people are standing in line for hours, and bringing books, and drinking coffee, and texting everyone they know, and knowing that their vote is important enough for them to do all this. What a great election day!
Let's see what happens next!

Twinkie, Twinkie, Twinkie, Twinkie, Twinkie

Are you ready? Have you voted? Is it time to finally get the numbers together and figure out who will be the next president? I am so ready to have this whole thing done! Of course, I'm terrified of the outcome, should it go quite red, but it'll be an interesting several hours until the end result is reported. Brian would rather be home all day to watch with me, though we all know it'll be about the time he would normally get home when all the real information will start to be shown. So, he's to work, and Syd and I are off on a fun morning adventure before returning home to watch the results come in. No doubt, tomorrow night's blog post will be either excited or totally and completely bummed out, but we'll just save that for tomorrow. I just hope that you have voted, or will get out there and vote. It's so important.

Oh, and how's this for good news the day before the election: Twinkies have joined the ranks of the 100-calorie snack foods, with a new three-cake packaging that, when consumed, equals only 100 calories. Should this be allowed? Too late, my dears, it's done! (Hostess also has introduced a 100-calorie strawberry cupcake that I'm sure I will just absolutely have to try the next time I'm in Target or the grocery store.) An actual Twinkie, according to the article I read, is only 150 calories, but the public and the 100-calorie segment of the company apparently cried out for a 100-calorie version of the nation's favorite snack cake. Did you know that 500 million Twinkies are sold each year? If it smells like a Twinkie, looks like a little Twinkie, and tastes enough like a Twinkie, it must be a Twinkie. Go on, say it ... "Twinkie." If you say it enough times, it starts to really sound funny.

Even he seems to be saying, "I'm, like, bleck"

So I'm starting to get amped up about this Tuesday. This election is going to be ... and it doesn't matter who you all voted for ... crazy with a capital "C." I don't know about you, but I'm going to be glued to my television all day watching election results coming in. Of course, little to nothing of any import will be reported until polls actually start closing on the East Coast, but still, listening to all the pundits will be an interesting exercise for the day. I'm debating which news channel to watch. It won't be Fox, duh, but should it be CNN or MSNBC? I can't stand Wolf Blitzer, but I love Anderson Cooper. I don't know too many of the MSNBC people, except the ones who've moved over from actual NBC, so can't comment on them. But the fun is that there will be no shortage of random charts, graphics and wild predictions no matter what channel I may be watching. This is going to be an insane couple days, my readers, and I'm getting ready for them. Awesome.

It's flip flops for a few days for me

And so November begins:
1.) I chose the firefighter outfit for my avatar because I liked it. Sadly, there is no burning building background available, so I had to go with my second choice for a random, somewhat related background. An erupting volcano, I think, could be a suitable background for me as a firefighter. My first choice, in a completely ironic and self-deprecating way, was a background of a kitchen.
2.) My heels are so sore. It was my brilliant idea to take Sydney to the Arizona State Fair this morning. It actually was a brilliant idea, with only a few slight setbacks: I made a poor decision on shoe selection, and I paid for it quickly, with skin peeling off my heels before we even made it through the Fair; Sydney was freaked by the rides, the noise, the smells and the people, and insisted on being carried throughout the whole place; and it's November, and it was still too warm to roll through the place without sweating. The messed up thing about it? Brian was totally on board with the whole adventure, and cooperative and everything! Talk about a wasted opportunity!
3.) I just watched 27 Dresses on HBO. I'd seen it once before, with Mom, and totally dug it. This time, I liked it just as much, if you must know, and I'm happy to have spent two hours sitting on my butt watching it again!
4.) My obsession with Facebook continues. I changed my status three times today.
5.) I took down all my Halloween decorations and replaced them with the Thanksgiving turkeys for the upcoming month. I'll tell you, I'm a bit disappointed with my Thanksgiving decor this year. I actually tossed out four turkeys, and some other assorted pieces. I need to replenish the supply. I will head to Hallmark tomorrow, I think. Or maybe Monday. Target didn't have much the last time I was there, having skipped Thanksgiving entirely and moved on to Christmas already, but I guess I could stop there again. Oh! Maybe Michaels will have something! Idea!
6.) I ended up moving around some plants this afternoon, too. I've got a couple unhappy spaths that need someplace new to live in the apartment. I've switched some to different rooms, so we'll see how they do in new light exposures.
Damn. That sounded so random and boring. I must stop blogging right now.