What to rent???

I thought perhaps since some of us may be looking at a long weekend ahead because of Snow Storm 2010 (have the tv weather guys had the graphic made up for that yet?) it might be good to get some recommendations for movies to rent.

I have Blockbuster Online and I always have great difficulty picking movies. I don't know why, I just do. Even as I look at the New Releases I have difficulty picking anything I'd like to see. Of course I do love classic movies like Casablanca, but these are some newer movies I enjoy.

Here are a few movie's I'd recommend:
1. After Hours (1985). (Martin Scorsese, Director) I love this quirky movie. I've seen it several times. It follows 1 night in the life of an ordinary word processor who decides to take a walk on the wild side.

2. Donnie Darko (2001). Again, I've seen this several times, each time I notice something I missed before. Don't let the plot summary steer you away, it's not all about the bunny visions. And I absolutely love the song "Mad World" by Michael Andrews. Much better than the Tears For Fears version.

3. Park (2006). It takes place all in one day in a park in Los Angeles. It was an unexpectedly fun movie.

4. Little Miss Sunshine (2006). I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. I'm always skeptical of movies that do well at the box office and get good reviews.

5. Julie And Julia (2009). You can read my review of the movie here.

If each of you can, name 5 movies can you recommend in the Comments Section.

Please leave a comment with some movies so those of us hunkering down can make a movie run and have something to do this weekend.

Lola's Diner
©2008-2010

This and That...

It's a cold !@#$%^ out there. Here in Illinois we await the alleged 8-10 inches (or as my ex says 10-48 inches) of snow here. Our daughter returned to her behavioral school on Monday and is already crossing her fingers for a snow day. I on the other hand am crossing my fingers and toes that there is no snow day. If I could cross my eyes and not get a headache I would. Honestly! I need a break! (And I don't want to hear any more of the 'is Dad coming with our Christmas/Hanukkah presents on Saturday or not'? I've heard enough of it already and our daughter is already backsliding because she's stressing over it. I keep telling her I have no control over it and to assume he will not show up because he has already laid out a bunch of potential excuses which usually means he will cancel. Haven't you heard? It's going to snow 48 inches! I've given the school a heads up about this and have asked her counselor to address it.) Our son returns to school Thursday and he hasn't expressed any hopes of a snow day. I think he is ready to go back. He didn't get to spend any time with his friends over the break and I think he is anxious to get back into the routine of school and seeing his buddies.

Update: Awww snap! The van actually came early for our daughter. You should have seen her face. Lol!

Wednesday night I arrived early at the bowling alley to pick up our daughter, just in time to hear what I thought was a highly inappropriate speech by one of the helper coaches. (I don't know if he is officially a coach paid by the school or just a relative of one of the team members.) I'm sure it was meant to get the girls off their duffs and concentrate more on their bowling, but all it sounded to me like was "WE HAVE TO WIN THE NEXT MATCH TO GO TO CONFERENCE AND WE HAVE TO WIN THERE TO GO TO STATE. WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN. You girls are goofing off and fooling around." That's all I heard.

I didn't hear words that coaches should say, stuff like:

'We need to do some team building. This is a team and no one person is more valued than the other. Being a part of a team and doing your part in sports in high school is great preparation for the adult world.'
'We need to help each other out and encourage each other and those of us who are scoring high need to offer some tips to those who aren't.'
'We need to respect the game and not goof around.'
Where is the teaching of good sportsmanship?
'Bowling is a mind game more than athletic...concentrate, check your stance, align yourself to the marks on the floor, envision a strike in your mind, release the ball and follow through completely...be the ball.'

Nope, just 'WE HAVE TO WIN', 'WINNING IS EVERYTHING', 'LOSING MEANS YOU ARE A LOSER'.

What was I thinking?

Hoping there's not too much snow in the morning. Anastasia and I have to take the kitties for check-ups. Irish isn't doing so well. Her cold/upper respiratory thing is really kickin her butt and Maddux is still sneezing. The medication the shelter gave us just isn't doing the trick. Irish is hiding out under the tree and before she fell asleep she sneezed at least 8 times in a row. I lost count after that. Poor baby. She wants no part of Maddux's playfulness and even when we leave our door open she's been staying in our room to keep away from that rascal.

Just wanted to give a shout out to two wonderful blogs that I won some gift cards from earlier this week. I won a $25 Coleman Gift Card from Mama's Money Savers and a $30 Walmart Gift Card from Confessions Of A Psychotic Housewife. Woo hoo! Christmas is coming late for me and that's ok. Lol!

Lola's Diner
©2008-2010

Wordless Wednesday - My Guys

Oh, he's going to kill me if he finds out I posted this. (I don't mean Maddux.) Promise not to tell, k?

Lola's Diner
©2008-2010

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Can't remember if I blogged about it already (I think I'm going senile, I can't remember shit anymore. Oh look, that 'shit' goal is really working, isn't it?), but the other day I noticed Maddux had a dark patch under his chin. Kind of a kitty soul patch if you will. Upon further investigation I discovered that it was dried blood and he had hurt himself or had lost a fight with Irish. Since then I've been feeling all bad for him and trying to make sure if Irish is out of our room, we're keeping an eye on both of them. Well Saturday night both of them are in our room, kitty fur is flying, under the bed, behind the dresser, into the closet. Next thing you know I see both of them in front of the foot of the bed. Just sitting...looking at each other as if to size each other up. Next thing you know Maddux pulls this mad, stealth, ninja fighting move...jumping up, using his rear paws to kick Irish, (he's totally air born at this moment) then using his front paws to grab at Irish's face. Suddenly I don't feel bad he got hurt because it looks like he's totally the instigator.

It is freakin cold out there. Can I say how much my new winter coat sucks? It's not warm at all. The catalog I ordered it from calls it an Anorak Jacket, which would lead one to believe it is like a Snorkel Jacket. (Check Wikipedia, seriously, it says they are similar.) It referred to the coat as having a zip out liner and being like a 3 season jacket, kind of like a Columbia Jacket. Umm, not so much. It's like a spring jacket. The wind whips right through it. Today I went out to run an errand and I had to layer up. T-shirt, Waffle long sleeve henley, zip front fleece, then the Anorak Jacket. I still froze my butt off and now it's too late to buy a different winter jacket because I'm sure none of the plus size stores have any left. It's stupid really. This is a woman's coat, it should be extra warm because women are always cold right? Two years ago I bought a men's coat, it was super warm...men are always running around in sweatshirts because they're naturally so warm. WTH? Rant off.

Ok, so how do you un-teach the whole household to not close the 1st floor bathroom door when they are done? Reason? The shampoo in the corner shower stall is freezing because with the door shut the little floor vent can't heat the room enough to keep the shampoo from freezing. Ever try to dispense frozen shampoo?

Lola's Diner
©2008-2010

December Top Commenters

Here are the results:

1st Place - Stacey @ All Stace, All The Time 1000 Entrecard Credits.
2nd Place - Auntie E @ At Home With Auntie E 750 Entrecard Credits.
3rd Place - Lin @ Duck and Wheel With String 500 Entrecard Credits.

Congratulations to the winners! Entrecard Credits will be in your accounts shortly.

Just a reminder to everyone that my Top Commenter Contest will be running in January, so now is your chance to stake out your spot at the counter or grab a booth.

Lola's Diner
©2008-2010

One More Look Back...And Forward Again

I saw this over on All Stace, All The Time. Thanks, Stacey!!
1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? Begged for money on my blog. I hate that I did that.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I stopped making resolutions ages ago.

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve? At home, spent it with the kids.

4. Did anyone close to you die? In 2009? Thankfully no one.

5. What countries did you visit? Countries? I made it to Milwaukee, WI and Cedar Point, IN, that's about it.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Financial security.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I don't recall the date, but it was huge and devastating and too personal.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Hmmm...making it through the year.

9. What was your biggest failure? Financial difficulties.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing new. Same old stuff, some days worse than others.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I don't think I bought anything for myself this year. Heck, I didn't even buy myself a pair of jeans until December.

12. Where did most of your money go? To pay bills to stay alive!

13. What song will always remind you of 2009? I can't think of anything that really stands out.

14. What do you wish you'd done more of? Enjoyed more time with my kids and my partner.

15. What do you wish you'd done less of? Stress and ruminate.

16. What was your favourite TV program? Glee.

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No one. I try not to hate. Even the exes. I found myself wasting time enjoying the misfortunes of them and decided to stop because karma will take care of them on it's own time.

18. What was the best book you read? I enjoyed Kathy Griffin's memoir.

19. What was your greatest musical discovery? That our son totally loves my music from the 70's and 80's. It's funny how when we listen to Jack Fm in the car he thinks he can name the artist before I can, or how he tries to stump me when they play some obscure songs.

20. What was your favorite film of this year? I don't see a lot of movies in the theater. Julie and Julia would be one. We did rent a movie that was very unexpectedly good, Park (2006).

21. What did you do on your birthday? I don't recall.

22. What kept you sane? ... My kids. Trouble is, they also keep me insane. Lol!

23. Who did you miss? My Mother.

24. Who was the best new person you met? Bloggy friends. Specifically Lin from Duck And Wheel With String. She's a hoot!

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: You cannot make family want to stay in touch, just because they are family and you all are all you have left. Some people just don't give a shit.

Lola's Diner
©2008-2010

What celebrity would you just want to shake some sense into?

Welcome to Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: You Shook Me

1. What celebrity would you just want to shake some sense into?

Tiger Woods.

2. What do you think comes after death?

A trip to a morgue?

3. What is the first book that you can remember reading by yourself as a child?
Probably Dick and Jane, you know 'see Spot run'.

4. What was the first rock concert that you attended?
Rush, December 7, 1978. 38 Special opened for them. Tickets were a whopping $8.50!

5. If you were to suddenly become famous, would you choose a stage name? If yes, what would it be?
Don't I already have a stage name?

6. What is the one thing that you wish the media would stop talking about?
The White House party crashers and how our no fly list is or isn't good enough. Obviously it isn't good enough. Pulleaze! Otherwise that guy wouldn't have just about blown his wiener off when he hid explosives in his undies.

7. If you could be part of any band, which one would it be and who would you be and why?
Indigo Girls, but I think they already have enough girls, don't they? Haven't been to their show, but it's got to be an awesome experience.

8. Do you live close to your immediate family members? If not, how far away are they?
My kids live with me and it's becoming clear that even though our daughter wishes otherwise, she will likely continue to live with us after high school.

9. Last seasonal question (promise): What did you do on New Year's Eve?
Watched New Year's Rockin Eve, watched our local New Year's Eve show and then watched the New Year's Rockin Eve concert portion after our local show. Shared some nasty Sparkling White Grape Juice with the kiddies at midnight. I was desperately trying to stay awake until Anastasia came home, but I gave up the ghost at 3am. Her sister worked later than anticipated so she got home quite late. (No CNA on the holiday, so Anastasia pitches in and is caregiver for her bro.)
...............

6 ways you’ve decided to change your life in 2010

1. Win the lottery. (I do have my priorities!)
   
2. Calm the hell down.
3. Stop ruminating on shit that doesn't matter.
   
4. Stop trying to keep in touch with relatives who don't give a shit.
5. Stop saying 'shit'.
6. Get my photo on People Of Walmart.com.

Lola's Diner
©2008-2010