The best film that I forget that I love

There is something at work in this universe of ours, that knows what I need and when I need it. Or at the very least knows what movie I need to be watching because I am down.

We have had The Movie Network for several years now, and sometimes I get downright frustrated with the selection provided by these fiends. I pay $20 extra per month - why should I ever need to use my video on demand? For a while we had it just for The Sopranos. Then Big Love. Also Six Feet Under back in the day. Now it's Flight of the Conchords and Entourage.

Anyway, even though it's frustrating 98.7% of the time, it always seems to know when I am feeling low, or sad, or down, and you know what movie it plays then? Elizabethtown.

This is the best movie I know that can let me wallow in whatever melancholy I am feeling, but still leave me with a very good feeling. But I forget how much I love it until I start watching, and each part gets better with each viewing. It's one of the rare films that I actually enjoy seeing Orlando Bloom in. Kirsten Dunst plays much as I imagine her to be in real life. Susan Sarandon cracks me up every time with her tap dance. I love that the dad always said "If it wasn't this, it would be something else." I think I would be friends with him in real life. I desperately want someone to make me a very unique map, and desperately want the time to be able to follow said map.

I always gasp when he sees the photo of his mother (Susan Sarandon) when she was young. I always laugh out loud when she talks about Boner Bob. I always nod my head to the beat (who are we kidding, I full on rock out) while Ruckus plays Freebird. I always giggle when Bloom dances alone in the field. I always cry each time he lets go of another handful of his father's ashes. I always hold my breath when Bloom searches for the girl in the red hat.

I have seen this movie in its entirety at least 10 times. I can't even count the number of times I have watched only part of it for a little pick-me-up.

This weekend, I watched it again. It was the first time SB had watched it. It still makes me feel better.

And over on the East Coast....

It turns out that last night while I was playing the Oskar Schindler of muffins ("this banana, I could have used this banana to bake just one more...."), my sister was having herself a car accident.

Driving home at night on the highway, possible mechanical error, some swerving, and some rolling over of the car a few times.

My sister bought her car on Monday.

When she called to tell me about it, I asked details about the accident, and we chatted for a minute. She sounded so normal that it didn't hit me until hours later how lucky it is that she's okay.

I feel horrible for her, not only because her car is probably totaled, and now she is very nervous to drive again, but also because it appears that she may have inherited my luck. I hope she keeps her chin up, and I hope she keeps driving. But in daylight. And maybe at like 30km/h at first.


***note: sorry about the tasteless Schindler joke, but to my tired, sick, melancholic brain it was too funny to ignore.

Aching

Throughout high school, I earned my extra dough by working at McDonald's. I started on my sixteenth birthday, and was there on and off until my fourth year of university. After...not very long working there, the only job I liked to do was work in the drive thru, and did so even though it involved doing all of the dishes. Probably my least favorite thing to clean were the muffin trays - even though they use the muffin cups, the trays still get really crusty, and the sweet, burned smell can really get to you after your fourth or fifth tray.

I remembered all of this tonight while I was baking.

Something really terrible happened yesterday - not to me, but to one of my closest friends. I'm at a loss, really, and am not sure what to do. How to help. What to say. When to say it. It has been a very long time since I've been in a situation like that, and I'm not sure what I would want from a friend. I know what I want to do - I want to make it better, easier, less stressful. But what will do that? And what will just make it worse?

So, I'm baking. I will deliver everything tomorrow and leave it on the porch - I'll call after so she won't have to see me if she doesn't want to, but the stuff won't get eaten by a stray dog or anything. I've made stuff that can be frozen, so if no one feels like eating, it won't go to waste, which would probably make things worse. Mostly muffins. Lots of them.

Man down! I've been hit!

For about two months now I have been battling my allergies, as I do pretty much 6 months of the year, it seems. I have found a great allergy pill which, although it sometimes makes me dizzy, I only have to take once every day and it keeps my head from filling with boogies.

Last week my throat started to get scratchy, but I kept taking my allergy pill telling myself "it's just the allergies" even though my throat never gets scratchy when I have allergies. Then last night, horror of horrors, I ran out of my medication.

Falling asleep, my eyes felt all burny and I had to take my contacts out. I actually slept okay, but as soon as I woke up and got out of bed my head filled up, I started coughing, and my eyes kept on burning. I'm pretty sure this isn't allergies anymore. I think that maybe this is a cold.

Remarkably, I think this is only the first or second cold I've had since leaving office/retail work. I used to be perpetually sick, picking up a bug every second week and trudging along through life with a runny nose (murder for someone who hates nose-blowing in public) and a fever. I guess it's a testament to the value of life as a virtual hermit whose largest social gathering is a pack of 12 dogs - you don't get sick a lot. But now that I have given in to the sickness, I do not feel like walking my group today. I just want to snuggle into the sofa and watch movies.

I don't think sushi is a good first date

Got to watch The Hills in a timely manner this week - here we go:

1. I'm sick of Heidi and Spencer. Unless they are breaking up, I really don't care to see them on my television anymore. But, at least she finally got a little firm with him - he was all mad she was missing a "surprise" dinner he planned for them because she had to work, and he started guilt tripping her "Fine, just go, you don't even care about us" and she was like "It's called 'work'; you should try it sometime." So funny.

2. Whitney finally went out in public and socialized, which was awesome. She was pretty quiet and boring, though. I guess she can only be goofy and fun in the confines of their little closet/office at Teen Vogue.

3. Lauren's date with Gavin = boring. First of all, they went out for sushi, which, at least at this particular restaurant, seemed like a bad idea for a first date. They agree on one kind of roll to try, then he mentions a baked salmon roll, which is his favorite. Lauren says she isn't a big fan of salmon, but of course he orders it anyway (hey, it's his favorite, whatever, I would do the same thing) and when they bring it out, she pretends that she likes it. Whatever, the purpose is to get to know each other, they don't have to be at the "let's share everything, let me feed you" stage. You can tell a lot about a person by what they order, so on a first date everyone should order their own. Maybe share dessert....

4. Brody is so cute pretending he doesn't care that Lauren is going on a date, then acting all protective of her. I don't care what those two say, they should be together. Especially now that Spencer isn't around effing everything up.

Knitty McKnitter is back in action

Several years ago, I bought six balls of cashmere/merino wool yarn on sale in a greyish blue color. It was so soft and such a pretty color, it took me a very long time to decide what I wanted to make myself with it. Then SB's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer over a year ago, and I said "I will use my fabulous yarn to make her a fabulous cap to keep her head warm, and also that is very cute and soft." Of course once the hat was done I had to make her a scarf to go with. I ended up with some yarn left.

A year later, I decide to make myself a hat. But halfway through the hat, I realized I didn't have enough of the yarn left to finish it. So I ripped it apart. Now I'm trying to figure out what I can make with the itty bitty bit of yarn I have left. (I actually could have sworn that I had a whole nother ball of it leftover, but I have searched high and low to no avail). I hate to waste it, because it is so soft and nice, but really can't think of anything that small to make out of it. If you have suggestions......

Two days late...and I have no excuse

I missed The Hills on Monday, and haven't had a chance to watch it on demand until today. My thoughts:

1. Jenn Bunney is so shady. She loves the gossip too much, and while she doesn't actually get her hands dirty in anything, she is constantly trying to stir everything up. She keeps repeating "I don't want to get involved" but then passes on info to Lauren of what Heidi said, then has lunch with Heidi right away so she can pass along what Lauren said....I think Lauren should just concentrate on the friends who haven't stabbed her in the back at all.

2. Spencer is WITHOUT A DOUBT the one who spread the sex tape rumor. did you see the look he gave Heidi? She didn't even dare come out and ask the question, because he would invariably admit on camera that he did it. Instead she leans on the issue, and he gives her this knowing look back like "you know I did it, so just keep your mouth shut". I hate that guy.

3. I so love that we got to see Heidi get in trouble for the whole Emmy debacle. I hope she gets fired before the end of this season. Actually, I hope she either gets fired, or realizes that Spencer is bringing her down and is a bad influence, dumps him, and then actually succeeds at her job because he isn't there to drag her down.

4. Brody Jenner is hot. I am not happy that the preview for next week shows Lauren dating another guy. I hope it makes her see that she should be with Brody. They are so cute together.

5. I'm glad that Lauren apologized to Audrina for being so critical of Justin Bobby - although I didn't take it as a sign that she has changed her opinion of him, because EW he's gross, but I think it's good that she sees that she needs to keep some of her opinions to herself for the sake of her friendship.

He's wastin' away

Our dogs are both quite whiny, but for very different reasons.

Charlie likes to whine when he is staaaaarrrrrrvvvvving. They usually eat between 6-6:30pm, so that means he starts whining at 6:31. I'm hunnnnnnngry. When is someone gonna feeeeeeeddd meeeeee? I could diiiiiiiiiiie. Tonight I am heading out for drinks, and I'm not sure when SB will be home, so I'm holding off feeding them until right before I leave. It will keep them occupied for about 2.87 seconds while I sneak out the back door. So, for the last 23 minutes, there has been the whining, as Charlie sits in front of the patio door (not even smart enough to whine in the kitchen, where the food is) staring into space and whiiiiiinnnnnning.

Gabby whines all the rest of the time.

Swimming

My head has been very googly. This is a combination of sinus pressure and medicine to relieve sinus pressure. I shouldn't be driving, in my opinion, but there you are.

It's not so bad when I am in my apartment. Something about being indoors with a ceiling and closed space, my head is okay with that. But as soon as I step outside, it's like my head is filled with helium and trying desperately to float away. So weird.

I have been non-productive the last few days, and I'm okay with that. I have been keeping up with work emails and phone calls and all that silly business, but other than that - well, let's just say the house is in a state of slight disarray. SB did a really great tidy-up the other evening, which was spectacular, but the laundry, it is piled up. Dangerously. We may lose one of the dogs in there.

Also, the pot roast experiment was delightful. So tasty. SB has requested I make one a day. Or at least enough so that there are constantly leftovers hanging around. I think it is a sign that it tasted good.

I have fallen in love with Fall

Finally! Fall is finally here! The temperature has chilled, the air is crisp, the leaves are falling, and all is right with the world. Due to global warming fall came a bit late this year, but now we are full speed ahead. One thing that did confuse me a bit was the fact that the leaves began to change color before the temperature drop. This goes against everything I learned in Ecology 101 (literally, we did a 3 week project on leaf-changes, and leafy vs deciduous tree growth based on altitude) wherein the theory would be that the leaves lose all their chlorophyll as the tree sucks it back in so it can survive the winter. And the trigger for the chlorophyll sucking? Cold. So I guess our crazy "theories" were only partially right, and that trees follow some sort of circadian rhythm as well.

Anyway, there are many many things I love about fall, not the least of which is our new fireplace. We moved at the end of April, just in time for air conditioning season, which I was equally delighted by, but it has been pretty freakin' fantastic curling up in front of the fireplace on the weekend and reading the paper and falling asleep with my kitty all cuddled up with me.

I also love the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, so have been having one or two of those a week to celebrate the season.

The group walks have been fun, because there are no bugs this time of year and you are rarely drenched in sweat because it's nice and cool. The bad parts: it's burr season, so the two terriers I walk are generally full of them by the end of the walk; it's fat squirrel season, so I need to keep my eye on dogs chasing the sloooooooow squirrels to be sure no one grabs one, and that no one gets grabbed by one.

In honor of fall, I am making my first ever pot roast (it just kinda feels like a fall/winter kinda meal, don't you think?). I have made many a roast beef and roast chicken/turkey, and I have braised my fair share of slabs of meat as well, but I have never tried a pot roast, so away we go. It is currently simmering away and smells delish. I am not looking forward to my run with all those smells wafting into the spare room while I'm on the treadmill!

My baby girl is like new again

Those of you who know me at all know that my dog is my child. Just like my cat is my child, but my dog I actually got when I was a child, and we have been through a whole lot together. She is 13 1/2, and I love her dearly.

Before we moved, she became very limpy. Her rear leg was sore, and she often favored it making stairs difficult and jumping on furniture impossible (this was part blessing and part depressing development). When the furniture jumping ceased for her, we passed a new law in these here parts of no more dogs on the sofa or the bed, so that the other wee canine didn't get benefits that Gabby couldn't get. We started supplementing her food with glucosamine tablets, which seemed to help quite a bit for a few months, but recently seemed to not be helping at all.

The move brought a lot of anxiety on my part - we have more stairs here then we used to have, and it was increasingly difficult for her to climb them on her own. Doing so involved getting her focused on the task, and ascending at a very steady pace. Any deviation from the pace or any distractions caused her to lose momentum, and then she would usually fall backwards. If we didn't have a hold on the leash or weren't paying attention, she could have toppled all the way down the stairs doing backward somersaults.

One evening we were watching TV in the bedroom and SB thought it would be nice to give the dogs a little treat and let them on the bed. Since Gabby couldn't jump up anymore, he tried to lift her onto the bed, at which point she snapped at him. This was devastating to me, as she is the sweetest, most gentle dog I think I have ever met, so I knew her lashing out like this meant that she was feeling a lot more pain than we realized.

I made an appointment with the vet with a very clear aim in mind. I just wanted to ease her pain. She is far too old for any surgery, or major procedure, but if we could get a medication or another treatment that would help at all, I was ready to try it. SB was concerned about costs, of course, but our vet is fabulous and usually presents tons of options taking cost into consideration. I was concerned she would say surgery was the only option, and then I would be faced with the decision of letting her go on in so much pain, or putting her down.

She told us that Gabby most likely tore a ligament at some point, and then the extra strain caused her cartilage to wear away in that knee. She said surgery was a possibility, but again age was a a concern. I told her that Gabby has led a fabulous life up until now, and I would just be happy if she was not in pain anymore. She suggested several different treatments, one med by injection, one by pill, and another dietary additive we could try. She said that if we did all of these things at once, we would definitely see improvement, but if cost was a concern, we may want to start with one and then trial and error what works best.

We decided on giving her Meloxicam in pill form. I was extremely pleased to find that since her last vet visit, Gabby has lost 10 pounds! That's huge for a dog, and I attribute it to their new holistic diet, because she definitely hasn't been up for any amount of exercise. But, because of this weight loss, we have to cut her pill in half, and then also shave off about 1/5 of that piece to get her the correct dose. We could have given her the liquid form of the medication, but it is 3 times more expensive, and we weren't even sure it would work.

So, away I went with these pills and a limping dog.

Within two days, it was like she was 5 years old again. The limping stopped, and she started a routine of finishing her dinner, then bringing us a toy to throw down the hall for her to chase. If we didn't throw right away she would bark at us until we did. She has an enthusiasm and vigor she hasn't had for years, even before the limping. Now our other dog looks at us like "when is she going to slow down again - I'm exhausted."

I'm pretty sure her joints are weak because I used to run with her on sidewalks when she was young. I didn't know it was bad for people and dogs at the time, so try not to do it, especially with dog breeds prone to joint problems.

Every night I look at SB and proclaim my amazement at how she has changed over the last few weeks. I am so happy that she is feeling like herself again, and can see how happy she is to be feeling better. I also almost started to cry when two nights ago she jumped up on the bed. I let her hang out there for a while.

Cuddle up

I just spent the past half an hour reading through the blogs on my blogrolling list complaining about how people don't update enough. Um, hello, hasn't posted since last week. Mmm, sorry. Ha. ha........ha

I made it through psycho Thanksgiving weekend, with the help of SB and some yummy Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes. MmmmmmMmmmmm. We had two pretty full days on Saturday and Sunday, and were pretty exhausted by the end, but managed to haul ourselves off the island to our friend CHAG's house for yummy Thanksgiving dinner. I had so much fun and was so stuffed with food I almost forgot that I was about to fall asleep in my soup. Then we had to visit a geriatric cat who needs fresh wet food four times a day. I'm not even joking. But she's sweet, and old, so I kinda like spending time with her. It's just not so fun at 11 at night after a big giant dinner.

Monday I went out alone to finish up all the cats and was able to finish my day by 2:30. When I got home, SB had fired up the fire place, and I enjoyed the best nap ever in front of it, with my cat. I cannot recommend this enough after a long six months. Just grab a blanket, get in your pjs, let your cat crawl into that nook your knees make when you crunch your legs up, turn on the fireplace and snooze. I felt like a four year old who passes out in front of the TV after being out sledding all day. This may become a new routine, along with my two hour baths in our big giant tub which include me, bubbles, a book, and an IKEA Optimal glass of wine**.

Also, the Hills was a recap episode last night, so no Hills Tuesday this week. :(


**for those of you out of the loop, the IKEA Optimal wine glass holds about half a bottle of wine. It's pretty fabulous, and efficient when getting up from the table, or out of the tub is just a big old pain in the rear.

When your whole body is constantly saying ugh

I have been feeling a little low lately. I'm not sure why. Ever since we went home for that wedding, I have felt this giant weight on my shoulders. Or on my head. Yes, definitely on my head.

Maybe part of it is that Labor Day was my benchmark for "get a break from work" because our summer months are insanely busy, and I desperately needed a break. But this year I did not get a break. Not even a little one. Yes, we flew home for five days, but along came the laptop and the Blackberry and work, she was being done daily. When I arrived back, suddenly EVERYONE wanted our services and I had client consultations coming out of my eyeballs. New dogs all around. This is all very very good for the business. But timing-wise, I am pooped. Now it is Thanksgiving, and I have to work the whole weekend. I meant to take days off during the week to balance it out a bit, but that didn't happen. And besides, a day off alone is just boring.

Actually, I think that is also a part of the problem. I'm bored. Yes, I'm busy. But things have become a little ho-hum. I get up and have breakfast and coffee while I watch Regis and take all the messages. Then I call everyone back, and send out reply emails. Then I have a group walk or cat visits or whatever is scheduled for my noon time. Then I come back and take the messages again and do more emails. Then it's administrative stuff til five, when the "office" "closes" and I go take a bath. Yesterday I really switched it up and had a run then took a bath. I know, that's just crazy. Would I rather be doing anything else in the whole big wide world besides this job - hell no. But I think I'm a little lonely. And things annoy me really easily, so any unexpected changes to the routine just make me angry.

Or maybe all of these things are just side effects and I am just going a little crazy again. Maybe I should take a trip to the pharmacy and see if feminine hygiene products make me cry.

Something's brewing there....

Wowie The Hills was good this week!

1. Spencer should be brought out and shot. First and foremost, he continues to grow that fugly beard. Also, he convinced Heidi to screw over all the people at work to get this job with more responsibilities and stress, and then he is ticked at Heidi for having to bail on their anniversary dinner because of an emergency. Hey, Pubic Hair Face, the world does not revolve around you. Grow up and get your own job.

2. I thought what Elodie did to Heidi was really low, and professionally pretty stupid, but aw shit I envied her and wished I had had that opportunity at one or two of my old shitty jobs. For those of you who missed or don't watch (who doesn't watch The Hills, though, really?), Heidi screwed over Elodie for a promotion, so this week E decided she quit. On her last day, Heidi approaches her to fill in for her at the Emmy's so she can have an anniversary dinner with Pubic Hair Face. The Emmy's are the day after Elodie's last day. (Don't even get me started on the fact that Heidi is supposedly E's superior and she doesn't even know she's quitting). Elodie says "Yes, anything for you." and promptly doesn't show up. So then Heidi gets the call to get her ass over there, leading to Pubic Hair Face's demon serial killer look of death. In short, Elodie is my hero slash I don't think I would ever hire her.

3. Audrina went off on Lo and Lauren that she is sick of the tension between them and Justin Bobby and that she can't take it anymore, then had a sarcastic rant about how she will just never see him again then to make them happy. Um, honey, your friends may not like Justin Bobby, but they are making a serious effort to be nice to him, while he is making zero effort at all. I don't think they are the ones you should be mad at.

4. Where was my Whitney? Oh, well, carry over from last week's episode - I thought it was absolutely hilarious when they were at the photo shoot and Whitney was predicting how mad Lisa Love was going to be, and then did her Lisa Love imitation: "Whitney....you do not have a future."

5. If Brody Jenner and Lauren don't hook up, I will be seriously pissed. All of this lead up and anticipation is killing me. Unless he comes to MTL to hook up with me instead. Then I wouldn't be so sad.

Digging in to the routine

My sister left this morning after ten days visiting. We had loads of fun - did tons of shopping, mostly, but she was also jonesing for a ton of relaxing so of course I was game for that. However, after all that relaxing I feel completely behind in my work, even though I'm not really, but you know that sinking feeling that you know are forgetting something......

While visiting, my sister took advantage of us. For our cable. She doesn't have cable. I know, I know, I almost asked for a DNA sample to prove we are related before feeding her when she arrived. She says she is not home enough to pay for it, and that she gets free movies from work anyway, so if she will be home she just brings a few with her. Meanwhile I can barely survive 8 hours of sleeping time without TV. It's on constantly - even if I'm not paying attention to it, I like to hear it as background noise. It was especially fun for her that there was a marathon of LA Ink on yesterday.

I've been able to catch a few of the new shows in amongst my routine of old ones, and I have to say I have been overall pretty pleased with the new, and underwhelmed by the favorites. CSI premiere was a little un-forensic, ER was a little too ER not enough character stuff. Law and Order SVU was a bit too dense - they tried to jam a two-part episode into an hour. However, I am totally in love with Dirty Sexy Money (maybe because I have a major hard-on for Peter Krause), and surprisingly charmed by The Big Bang Theory. It was friggin' hilarious. I highly recommend it if you like sarcasm, nerdy humor, and sarcasm. I wasn't impressed at all by Big Shots - in fact I could only make it through about 10 minutes before switching over to Without a Trace. And that is saying a lot, because I could have easily caught the re-run of Without a Trace on Friday night. I'm very sad, because I have also been known to have a hard-on for Michael Vartan. Maybe if I watch it with the sound off or something.