First of many Santa pics this month!

I gave myself today to get my house, head and affairs in order before the insanity of December descends on my life. This strategy, while valid, did not play out the way I wanted. I'm not sure what I expected, or how I thought this plan would solidify, but here I am, ready as I'll ever be for December.
All the traveling stuff from last weekend is put away. All the random things are put where they should be put. All the little things that are bugging me are re-organized. Jeez, I even figured out the travel mug/plastic cup/extra mugs cabinet and shelves. As I look around, I'm pretty happy with the state of my pre-Christmas home. Tomorrow, bring it on.
I just noticed that there is Christmas decor in the background of my favorite local newscast. I guess I'm really ready for it all if I'm immediately envious of other people that have it done already. Like my mom. Mom has all her Christmas decor up already. She did it in November. This is an egregious wrinkle in Owens Girls Holiday Protocol, but since she's Mom, I'll let it go.
I'm interested to see how long the decorating will take me tomorrow. It has, over the last few years, taken me close to six hours or so to get it done. This year, as we are in a new place and I get to find new spots to put stuff, the decorating, I fear, will take quite a bit more time than six hours. I expect a good day's worth of time to take care of it.

Could I ramble anymore? Ridiculous. I'm preoccupied.

All the yummy you can eat

It's sad to me that there is only a select few people in my life who can appreciate the wonderfulness of my lunch today. Picture it: Pancho's, a delicious, yet kinda sketchy, but family-friendly Mexican buffet restaurant in the suburban Phoenix city of Mesa.
I was a freshman in college the first time I went there. I had been "kidnapped" by my boyfriend, Brian, and our friends/random dorm roommates, Herb and Julian, was thrown into the back seat of my car, and driven to this place to do little more than watch three college boys load up on an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet. Little did I know when we drove up to the restaurant, that I was about to eat some of the best cheap Mexican food in town. And oh my goodness, if you should have seen Mom, Grandma and Auntie Donna's faces the first time I took them there! The restaurant itself does its food no favors by being a bit dark and dinghy.
Anyway, Brian, Sydney and I had an errand in Mesa this morning, and on driving through town, we passed Pancho's' "new" location (I have no idea how long they've been there, but since it's a different location since the last time I'd been there ... who knows how long ago ... it's new to me). Upon finishing our errand, I noticed that the time had struck noon, and that I could therefore make Brian stop for lunch somewhere.
Pancho's looked nice outside and inside, was roomier than the last location, and lighter and cleaner. I am so excited to tell you that the food itself was just as good as it was when we were in college! I ate a lot. So did Brian. Rice, chimichangas, enchiladas, tamales, taquitos, flautas, tacos, and the dessert, sopapillas, gave us big tummies, but also satisfied ones. My Auntie Donna would have loved to have been with us today, and that breaks my heart. And Mom has put Pancho's back on her list of restaurants to visit when next she comes out for a visit.
Best part: still cheap. A hundred years ago, the buffet was five dollars and change. Brian and I had a bet on how much the buffet would be today. I won: $7.50 for all the food you can eat.

"New Moon" and "Star Trek" were good

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!
My weekend, so far, has been lovely. We had a perfectly yummy Thanksgiving feast, and even better left-overs last night for dinner. I make no secret that I prefer a turkey sandwich to the slices of turkey usually offered on the big night, so the left-over nights are usually my favorite meals. Thankfully, we were offered plenty of turkey to bring home from Brian's parents' house. Now, I just need to get some more mayonnaise for my house.
I imagine you're wondering about Movie Mission: Thanksgiving '09. I declare it, so far, rather successful. I did get to see both Star Trek and New Moon, on Thursday and Friday, respectively. Happily, I can report that I thoroughly enjoyed both films. In fact, I can't wait to watch them both again. I can watch Star Trek tomorrow if I want, but New Moon will have to wait a few months until the DVD comes out.
All in all, a successful holiday. Tomorrow, I'll take down the turkeys and return my home to normal for a few days before the Christmas settles in.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
All my love to my followers.
Your support, love, encouragement and inspiration is what I am thankful for.
You rock!!



p.s. I am not cooking today, but the avatar sure looks good in a kitchen, right?

Full of hope, I tell you!

I've got a plan for the weekend. We'll call it Movie Mission: Thanksgiving '09. I'm looking at four days, and three movies I'd like to see. One is in the theater (The Twilight Saga: New Moon), and two are DVDs (Star Trek and The Proposal). I'm full of hope that I'll catch all of them.
We're bringing the DVDs with us to Brian's parents' house for the weekend, and also, Sydney's grandma and grandpa don't know it yet, but they'll be babysitting her for a couple hours while I drag Brian to the Twilight movie. (He's already seen it, but I'm short on movie partners, so he's going to have to sit through it again.) So really, it's a valid plan. I think it's got some real potential to be an actual goal. And maybe even an accomplishment!

Turkeys can be heroes, too

I think that, as this is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I'll wear the turkey outfit today. I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a turkey tomorrow!!

I'm watching last week's Heroes on the DVR right now. That show is a weird little thing for me. It's definitely gone downhill since the first season, though I can't help but watch it. The story lines this season are either ridiculous or overwhelming. (And I honestly can't believe that Hiro has a brain tumor. He used to be such a fun character! Now, he's all sad, and hurting, and incapable of using his power, and not having a good time. It's disappointing.) We record every episode, and they hang out on the DVR for a while. I'll say that Brian is the more faithful watcher. I watch them when I get to them. They sometimes sit for weeks before I get to them. So, I'm keeping up with the show. And again, I'm sad that it's going in weird places. But I'm inexplicably drawn to see how this hot mess of a show is going to end.

No songs for Thanksgiving?

She's gone for a week, and all of a sudden, there are a ton of posts in one night.
Appreciate the Thanksgiving avatars.
There will be three: tonight, tomorrow and Thursday.
Look! She's holding a turkey leg!!

Donny's got the crazy, and the trophy

Donny Osmond takes home the mirrorball trophy!
What a great finish to this season's Dancing with the Stars!
I missed quite a bit of the first half of the show, but ... ... ... Wait. What? Why, you ask? ... Because apparently, when the DVR is full up of Gossip Girl and The Good Wife and runs out of space, it just stops recording entirely. What the hell??!! (Thus, no recording of last night's competition show. And, it just dawned on me that the DVR also didn't record Castle last night! Argh!! Now, I'm even more pissy!!) ...
Anyway ...
I'll admit to this being the first time I've watched the DWTS finale and preferred the more popular contestant over the more competent contestant. Yes, Mya had the chops and talent to walk away with this show, but she lacked the accessibility to the audience, and humility, to get the votes she needed to win tonight. Donny had the fan base (like me), that's for certain, and they voted for their favorite, rather than the better dancer. I voted thrice for Donny myself, because I wanted to see him win, yes, but also, because I wanted to see Kym Johnson (his pro partner) win, too. She's been on the show since the first season, and only made it into the finals once before. She deserved the win as much as anyone.
This evening's finale also opens up quite a bit of time on my Monday and Tuesday nights. I always get this weird feeling of emptiness the night and day and week after DWTS ends. What do I do now?

A quick recap of the last few days

Okay, it's been a long week. I wonder if I can go through it, day by day, in random bullet points (so it isn't too crazy on you reading through it).
Thursday, November 19: Sydney and I drove out to Anaheim to meet Mom at Disneyland for a two-day adventure in Mickey Mouse awesomeness. The drive was cool, as going to Anaheim takes about two hours less than the drive to Mom's house. At the park, we rode the Finding Nemo submarines; met, hugged and had our picture taken with Tinkerbell; watched the holiday parade; and saw some fireworks. Sydney and I slept in bunk beds. She was far more comfortable than I.
Friday, November 20: Perhaps the best day at Disneyland ever, if not, it was certainly the best in a very long time. Lines were minimal, people were minimal, and we loved every minute of it. We were there at 8 a.m., and left the park at about 3 p.m. We got on the road about 4 p.m. Long day! Plenty of traffic on the way home, too. Yummy pizza for dinner!
Saturday, November 21: Lunch with Daddy! (My first experiment with Facebook used as a peer pressure tool.) Chillin' in the afternoon. Some shopping. Tasty Mexican food for dinner.
Sunday, November 22: Doughnuts for breakfast and a visit to Build-a-Bear with Lizzy to get a Christmas doll for Sydney. Having invited myself and my entourage to Lydia's birthday party, we all made our way down to the "Un-Birthday-est" party for Lydia (Alice) who turned six. And it was wonderful! I love the best how Andrea (Cheshire Cat), Ryan (Mad Hatter), Chris (Queen of Hearts), Ody (White Rabbit), and Ryan's parents (Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum) dressed up in the proper attire to fit in the theme. I had a lovely visit with Jeannine, too, and got to cuddle a bit with Eli. Dinner with Lisa, a requirement for every trip back to Cali, was delicious, as was the conversation.
Monday, November 23: The drive home yesterday felt so much longer than it has in a while. The time change does me no favors, as no matter how early (or late) I leave Mom's house, it'll be one hour later than it should be when I get back home. I was tired last night!!

Next week, big Finals show!

Also, Joanna Krupa was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars last night. I missed the actual show, but caught up on the coverage this morning. Apparently, Krupa and Derek Hough didn't seem too surprised by their elimination, which leads me to believe that no one is ever really surprised to go home (excepting the Sabrina Bryan incident). Again though, I'll say that either Krupa or Mya leaving last night would have been okay with me. So long as Kelly Osbourne makes it into the finals ... which she has. Dare I dream that she wins, too? Go Kelly!

p.s. This is the first Finals in five seasons in which neither a Hough (Julianne or Derek), nor Mark Ballas, is competing. How exciting to have new blood in the BIG show!

The elusive Eggo

Via CNN ~
Leggo Your Eggo: There's a Waffle Shortage
Kellogg is rationing its Eggo products due to flooding and equipment problems at two bakeries. The shortfall could last through mid-2010
Better hoard your Eggos!
Grocery stores will be experiencing a shortage of the waffles until mid-2010 due to problems at two bakeries, a Kellogg's spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Flooding at an Atlanta bakery during heavy rains in October forced Kellogg, which makes Eggo products, to shut down production temporarily, said company spokesman Kris Charles. Plus, equipment at Kellogg's largest waffle facility, based in Rossville, Tenn., needs extensive repairs.
"We are working around the clock to restore Eggo store inventories to normal levels as quickly as possible," Charles said in an e-mail. Remaining inventory will be rationed to stores across the country "based on historical percentage of business."
Production figures are confidential, Charles said, but Charles added that all lines are operational except for several lines at the Rossville plant.
Chad, a grocery manager at King Soopers in Denver who declined to give his last name, said his store is "seeing some shortage, but not much." A Kroger in Jackson, Miss., was also experiencing shortages, according to a manager in the frozen foods sections.
At Fairway in New York City, Eggos were in full supply, however, according to a manager at the Red Hook location.
The production problems will also affect other Eggo products, including pancakes, syrup and other breakfast food. To alert customers, Kellogg has placed a warning to customers on top of its Eggo Web site and placed notices in some grocery stores.

My Albertson's is one of those stores that has no Eggo products right now, and hasn't for several weeks. There was a time in my life when this wouldn't affect me at all, and I couldn't care less. But right now, I have a baby who likes only the Eggo blueberry waffles. Only the Eggo blueberry waffles. Regular Eggo waffles? No. Blueberry Albertson's waffles? No. Eggo blueberry pancakes? No.
ONLY Eggo blueberry waffles.
Mom just bought two boxes of Eggo blueberry waffles for us, because her store had plenty. (Of course, in California! They have everything there!) So beginning next week, we'll have the elusive waffles in our freezer again. And then we'll be able to get back to life as usual.

Seacrest snubbed again!

I'm going to roll this entire post based on, 1.) a single sentence on the Yahoo! homepage, and 2.) my general dislike for personality Ryan Seacrest. I did not watch the footage of this, not did I do any more research other than read this single sentence.
Yahoo! homepage sentence: Robert Pattinson awkwardly leaves an interview when Ryan Seacrest asks him about costar Kristen Stewart.
Kimmie's random tangent: I am completely and utterly bugged by Ryan Seacrest. I remember that I thoroughly enjoyed the moment I learned about Angelina Jolie snubbing him on some award show's red carpet entry. So, the fact that he got dissed by Robert Pattinson, an actor with some talent but a huge following, for asking a tabloid question is awesome. The fervor around these Twilight actors is huge, and the interest in any off-screen relationships between Pattinson and Stewart is, apparently, news. So, I can see why Seacrest would ask about this. He's only one of the thousands of reporters, if he can be called that, to ask about it. Why Pattinson chose to turn on him on this night is intriguing, since he and Stewart have played coy with everyone else.
But the circumstances behind this are not as interesting to me. It's the act itself. I derive irrational enjoyment from Seacrest being left hanging by a celebrity that he probably thought would be a "buddy" to him, and would give him some kind of scoop because he's "Ryan Seacrest," and because he's on American Idol.

Autumn can be so pretty

I remember back when one's television life was dealt with via VCR (that's Video Cassette Recorder, for all you whippersnappers). Whenever we would go on vacation, I would spend a good 30 minutes or so setting up my VCR to record all my favorite shows. I'd have to scroll through the days, the dates, the times and the length of the shows, ensuring that each show was recorded properly. And back then, I certainly had to be sure to have the days right, because there was no show menu to refer to when setting it up. And then, of course, sometimes I'd have to choose between a show or two because each video tape could only record six or eight hours of television. And definitely, the VCR could only record one show at a time: no double recordings for that little machine. You know that it wouldn't always work exactly how I wanted all the time, too. Inevitably, something would get timed wrong, or I'd have the day wrong, or something equally irritating and my fault.
You won't believe what brought this into my brain.
I saw a commercial with Megan Mullally, the actress who played Karen in Will & Grace, on TV tonight. I thought about the first time I saw her, in the first episode of Will & Grace, and how I loved that show. And then I thought about how I watched that episode on a video tape because I was gone the night it premiered. And then I thought about what a production is was to tape a television show all those years ago ... before the wonderfulness that is DVR.

My Dancing with the Stars voting (5 votes allowed):
Kelly Osbourne ~ 2 votes. I'd love to see her in the finals next week, and I think she deserves to be there. She's just so cute!
Mya ~ 1 vote. She's a fantastic dancer, and I think she will end up taking this competition, but still, I just don't love her. She's not pulling the devotion from me like Kelly Osbourne does. I'm bothered, because I like her story, but I'm not attached. Still, I think she'll be one of the final two.
Joanna Krupa ~ 1 vote. She's beautiful, and kind of blank. I hate it when I feel apathetic towards a competitor on this show, but it's not unprecedented.
Donny Osmond ~ 1 vote. He did so great on all of his dances, regardless of the first disaster. I can see his crazy, little fan base giving him the trophy at the end of next week.
Honestly, any one of these people could win it next week. I'm intrigued, but not obsessed with how this ends. My gut instinct tells me that Kelly gets booted tomorrow, or early next week. We'll see tomorrow night!!

Also, new blinds for the living room

~ Happily, I'm feeling a bit better today, though any day is always a better one when Brian brings home a hot chocolate from Dunkin' for me in the morning. Yummy!
~ Also, it's kinda cold in my house. I feel silly saying that, since it's not even close to being as cold as my weather has been in the last several years. Still, I'm wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, and am covered up in an afghan. It would be perfect if there was a hot chocolate for me to sip on the table next to me.
~ Sydney and I made popcorn this afternoon, and per usual, the adventure ended up being the bane of my dental existence since then. Thankfully, I have a fully functioning dentist in my home, and was able to make him get that one crazy, difficult-to-get corn bit in my back tooth. He told me he'd charge me $112. I told him I'd write him a check. But, I think I just found another one. However, he's sleeping now.
~ Can you believe how the Patriots just choked that game? Dude. Belichick has got some explaining to do. Thank goodness I wasn't watching it, otherwise I'd be really irritated.
~ It's 10:15 p.m., and my goal was to be in bed by 10:30 p.m. I'm out-ee.

Feel better soon, PLEASE!! *sigh*

I can't remember the last time one of my colds manifested into such an awful, awful mood. Almost every single thing that happened today managed to irritate me in a huge way. And between my sick irritability, and Sydney's sick whining, it's a wonder that Brian didn't run screaming from the house at least three times today. Syd and I played off each other's issues, and Brian was just kind of a spectator, who neither wanted to play the mediator, nor become the object of our "affection." In that, he just stayed out of our way, gently condescending whenever we talked to him, whined at him, bitched at him, or cried to him. Really, he was a bit of a saint, now that I really look at how his day rolled. Add to that the knowledge that he'll probably catch this cold, too, and today, as a Saturday, must have sucked right out loud for him. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a better day for everyone.
We did manage to watch a movie tonight though. It was Up. We missed it in the theaters, so when we saw it at Best Buy this morning, we decided to pick it up for an afternoon flight of fancy. The movie itself was wonderful, and the story was as heart-wrenching and -warming as you'd heard. Very good movie, and once again, Pixar amazes us all.
The best part of the film though, was that the dogs in it had collars on that translated their thoughts into words that were heard via the collars' speakers. Um, fantastic! There isn't a dog lover/owner/parent out there who wouldn't give practically anything to have such a great little gadget! It was fascinating mainly because the dogs' thoughts rolled in such a stream of consciousness, exactly how you would expect a dog to be thinking. ... SQUIRREL! ... Like, right now, I imagine Oliver's collar would be saying, "I lie next to you because you let me, and you're warm, and I love you." *Yawn* "Rub my tummy."