File this under "No shit, Sherlock!"

Giggle Break
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 88%

You are a movie buff of the most obsessive variety. If a movie exists, chances are that you've seen it. You're an expert on movie facts and trivia. It's hard to stump you with a question about film.

Are You a Movie Buff?

New living room

New living room
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

If you take a surf on over to my Flickr account you'll see a whole passel of pictures of the house. I hope Helly doesn't gnash her teeth too much: getting it done so quickly cost us pretty close to five figures, way more than we wanted to spend. Nonetheless, I'm loving our living room. It looks like a living room now, instead of an Inquisition tortute chamber.

All rooms except now have laminate floors, and now is a good time to compare and contrast laminate vs. carpet:

Laminate flooring is good because:

• Easier to keep clean
  
• Easier to spot and avoid stepping in cat puke
  
• Children learn the laws of physics quicker
  
• Good excuse to buy bunny slippers
  
• Looks wonderful and isn't as expensive as hardwood flooring
  

Laminate flooring is bad because:

• Harder to be lazy and ignore the dust drifts and cat puke.
  
• Child's lack of understanding of the laws of physics leads to more bumps on head.
  
• Sound isn't absorbed as well so house is now noisier.
  
• Cold on the tootsies.
  
• Cat hates cold floor therefore takes up residence on pillows or head.
  
• Cat spins his wheels madly when trying to run away from small marauders.
  

70's brown shag carpet is good because:

• Hides spills, cat puke, cat hair and dirt well.
  
• Warm on the tootsies.
  
• Child somewhat protected from spills.
  
• Cat can fall asleep wherever he wants.
  

70's brown shag carpet is bad because:

• Won't find the cat puke until you step in it.
  
• Will destroy your sinuses and cause you thousands in medical expenses, even if you have insurance.
  
• Looks like crap.
  

So there you have it. I have noticed little effect on my sinuses yet because I still have a sinus infection (appointment w. doc today), plus I'm still taking meds that keep my nose clear so I don't know yet if I can ease off on taking them. Once I get completely infection-free we'll see.

Brenden's room

Bs room
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Well my estimate on getting the house finished was optimistic. Maybe Friday. Ugh, it will have to be Friday because after that we will have run out of money. Jon and I have successfully avoided credit card debt and we're not going to start now.

I never did comment on the elections, did I? Well I was disappointed when Daniel Craig was selected. When the Broccolis were talking about a 'younger' Bond, I was expecting very young, like mid-20's. I was hoping they'd consider Mathew MacFadyen. Technically Craig is younger than Pierce Brosnan, but he's still not what I pictured. Oh, okay, Daniel Craig is not very good looking. At least he doesn't do it for me. I have to admit, though, no Bond ever did it for me except maybe Timothy Dalton and he lasted for only 2 movies.

But the reviews for Casino Royale indicate that this might be the Bond movie I've been hoping for all my life. I'm not really exagerrating - Dr. No came out 2 years before I was born and I can recall seeing every Bond movie that came out in the theater since The Man with the Golden Gun. Yes, I saw every single Roger Moore Bond, the best of which was The Spy who Loved Me. It was all downhill from there but I sat through them all.

When Dalton took over, I was so optimistic. The Living Daylights is still one of my favorites - the script seemed to care about the story and characters (well, in the context of James Bond movies). License to Kill, however was a total mess so exit Mr. Dalton. Pierce Brosnan I like so I was happy to see his Bond movies starting with Goldeneye but they slowly deteriorated and he lasted for 4 movies - I saw every single one of these in the theater, though.

So here we are at Casino Royale, a new Bond with reportedly all the crap jettisoned and I'll probably have to catch it on DVD because Monkey boy is just not ready to sit in a theater seat for 2 hours.

Stripped Room

strippedroom
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Bare nekkid walls!

This process is going much faster than planned. This shot was taken Monday; Todd used the panelling you see here as templates because the wall panelling is the same dimensions as the drywall. They were able to hang almost all the drywall yesterday and even got a good deal mudded (whatever that means - all I know is they aren't far from painting which should be happening today).

This photo also doesn't show that most of the rest of the carpeting is gone (hooray!).

More photos to follow eventually.

More writing

writing3
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Oh! I should add: yesterday when I picked him up from daycare, I led him to the car holding his hand, opened the door, and he got in all by hisself and sat down in his chair! He patiently waited as I buckled him in. This might not sound important, but I have always carried him to the car and placed him in his seat. He's been fighting me lately and now I know why: he wants more independence.

This coming Monday Todd our contractor is coming back and he and Jonathan are going to tackle the living room. This part of the job includes taking the panelling up and putting up drywall. Brenden and I will be banished to the bedrooms (which I need to take photos of because they are beatiful! If not a little stark. I need to put some pictures up, or something. Maybe some dogs playing poker.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

writing
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden likes scribbling. Note to myself - stock up on crayons and drawing paper. I haven't seen him sit still in once place for this long since he learned to crawl.

This is the kitchen floor, by the way, which I know looks filthy. It's because of all the home improvement stuff. I can't wait until this floor is replaced!

What we're watching:

Brenden tried to feed his cookie monster doll a vanilla wafer last night. We TiVo Sesame Street for him and it's showing. I can't get that frickin' song out of my head: "La la, la la! La la, la la! Elmo's World!"

Battlestar Galactica continues to hurt: Starbuck and Tigh were playing "Who's the biggest asshole in the fleet" when Admiral Adama called them on it. Starbuck couldn't take having her surrogate dad refer to her as a "cancer" so she is trying to pull her crap together. Tigh, who was forced to kill his wife, is apparently going to try to drink himself to death.

Catch Me if you Can is a movie about a teenager in the late 60's who conned and wrote bad checks all over the U.S. and Europe. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks star. This movie is only worth seeing because it's based on a true story. And a performance by Christopher Walken that wasn't phoned in (for once).

Speaking of Tom Hanks, I saw Big a few nights ago. Damn he was young. Fun movie.

We saw Mission: Impossible III last night. It was the best of the 3 movies, but I know that's not saying much. Still it wasn't bad for an overblown action movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the bad guy and he does so awesomely. I must say the IMF agency is the worst government agency ever! Every movie has featured a bad guy who was a member of IMF. They're even more compromised than the Los Angeles division of CTU, and that is saying something.

Letter to Brenden Month 17

eating
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I came to the realization recently, Brenden, that you are a highly active child and will need many different places and things to roam, investigate, and climb upon. Sometimes I wish you would just sit down and watch some TV quietly, but then I feel guilty because the last thing the world needs is another couch potato. You do like books, which is great - especially books with photos in them. You like to point to a picture and I'll tell you what it is. You seem pretty hung up on that picture of an airplane. I wonder why?

You aren't adding any new words to your vocabulary but I'm guessing that language hasn't really clicked with you yet. You do like to imitate hand gestures and facial expressions - no, I'm not going to teach you sign language because your daycare provider wouldn't know what the hell you were trying to say so that could only be confusing.

I'm really not sure yet about what I'm going to do about finding more outlets for your active nature. I take you outside when I can, but it's so hard to keep you away from things you want to investigate but really shouldn't (pools, cars, sharp pointy things in the garage, barking dogs, etc). The world is your jungle gym.

Program Notes:

surfing
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Warm up your TiVos:

Iron Chef America will feature a battle featuring Giada Di Laurentis versus Rachel Ray. I just bring this up because of some comments on someone's blog about these two. They will be paired with Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Mario Battali, respectively. The ingredient is cranberries (November 12th @ 9, 8 central ).

Spongebob until you drop - Nickelodeon will be counting down the top 100 Spongebob Squarepants episodes, ending with the premiere of the Spongebob Squarepants movie, which I loved. This all starts Thursday at 8.

Mom with Brenden

Mom w B 6
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Do you like the parallel in this picture? You would think it was staged. Trust me; no one stages Monkey boy and gets away with it!

Speaking of - he has a head cold, plus an ear infection in both ears. That explains why he's been shoving things in them. D'oh!

He's taking an antibiotic and a decongestant. Fortunately I don't have to fight him to take those - I feed the meds to him through a syringe designed for dispensing medication and he cooperates happily. Matter of fact, I usually have to wrestle with him to get the damn thing out of his mouth.

Fall in Oklahoma 4

Fall in Oklahoma 4
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

This is just my entry to keep up with the Nanoo Nanoo blog more month. Not much to say. Brenden is sick so I'm going to pick him up in a little bit - hope I can get through to the doctor's office today. Poor little monkey boy.

Attack of the Monkey Boy

Attack of the Monkey Boy
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Blog more, huh? What do I have to blog about today? How about how everyone on the face of the planet underestimates how much they will spend on large home improvement projects? I don't want to talk about it.

Here's a haflway decent view of the north side of our living room.

Hello!

Hello!
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

November is write more month - many bloggers are pledging to post at least once a day. I'm not sure I'll be able to do that much but I'll take a whack at it.

I bought 5 bags of candy and we still ran out last night. We watched King Kong, Peter Jackson's remake of the highly beloved and rarely seen 30's film. The good things: lotsa kewl action, Jack Black, and excellent CGI work behind the animating of the 25-foot ape. He was a very sympathetic creature. The bad things: it was too frackin' long!!! Usually I don't have a problem with butt-numbing films unless you actually notice that your butt is numb before the movie ends. I hate to say it Pete, you could have cut down your story and it would have been just as effective. The movie was just an onslaught and I was worn out by the time Kong fell off the Empire State Building. Sorry if I spoiled that for you.

The work in the house is going slowly but steadily. Jon has put the flooring down in the back bathroom and the bedroom and it looks good. I was very surprised at just how dingy the ceiling looked when it was painted and I could contrast the old with the new. the ceiling was old-dishwater grey. Blech! Both Jon and Todd, the contractor, are getting all of the rest of the house finished before tackling the panelling in the living room. At the rate the rest of the house is taking, they may not be getting to it until next week. It's worth it because the care taken with everything is worth it. Photos are forthcoming, because the transformation of the rooms done so far have been astonishing.

Despite Brenden's sugar highs last night, he slept pretty well. His sleeping patterns had been disrupted because of the time change so none of us had gotten enough sleep the last couple of days. Brenden is officially a Smartie junkie. I may never get him to eat a green bean in his lifetime (not that I won't try).

No Costume this Year

Bee Crying
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Yeah, it's a slow day today. I've been asked several times what Brenden is going to wear for Halloween, and the answer is 'nothing'. I'm going to let him run around naked while I hand out candy tomorrow. Seriously, no costumes this year. Maybe next year if he wants.

I was thinking about finding him an all-white cotton outfit w/sweatpants & hoodie. I'd spatter red food dye on it and then with a sharpie, put big dots in the middle of the spatters. Then when everyone asks me what he's supposed to be I'd say "an extra in a Hong Kong gangster movie" but a) it's not that funny and b) it's too 1990's.

Fall in Oklahoma 2

Fall in Oklahoma 2
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

More Brenden stuff: As I was getting him ready for bed last night, he protested when I put him in his crib. I picked him up again, and got a bright idea: I took the 2 stuffed ducks out of his crib (all the time I'm carrying B) and went to one of his toy chests and took out a stuffed tiger. I offered it to him and he managed to hug it and me enthusiastically. I took him back to his crib and set him down; he immediately put the tiger in a complete bear hug and started to, uh, make sweet love to it. I put a blanket over the lovebirds and left them alone. I never heard a peep out of him after that. Every Calvin needs a Hobbes.

Oh, yeah: and this story. I don't know how it is around the rest of the country but the political way of dealing with the Methamphetamine problem here is severely restricting the sale of products containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. When you do buy them you have to go to the pharmacy counter. Most places I go simply take your name & address and want to see your driver's license.

Saturday I went to buy some Claratin-D, a product I'm fond of when my sinus headaches get bad which between the paint fumes and the changing seasons have been killer lately. The pharmacist takes my information and then takes my license and is apparently making some sort of computer check on my id.

Several minutes go by and the pharmacist apologizes and says the computer check is going slow. More time passes and Brenden is getting restless in his shopping cart seat so I ask for my license back. I'm pretty angry right then even though I know the pharmacist is simply following instructions. I do chew on her butt a bit just to vent, but I felt somewhat bad about doing that. She didn't make the rules and she certainly doesn't run the crappy-assed database Alabama had thrown together to track pseudoephedrine purchases.

But for JEBUS'S SAKE!!! 5 people came up to the pharmacy window, asked for refills, and NEVER HAD THEIR LICENSE TAKEN FOR A COMPUTER CHECK! Next time I see my doctor I'm going to ask for a prescription.

Till the cows come home

Fall in Oklahoma 3
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Ileana sent me some photos from the farm in Oklahoma. I like the Fall - it's not unpleasantly cold and the afternoons are pleasant and walking around is nice, especially with all the trees turning color.

Dooce, A.K.A. Heather Armstrong writes a wickedly funny and popular blog. Some friends pointed me to her blog when I became pregnant because she suffers from chronic depression. Today she linked to this article about depression. The guy who wrote the article is right: "depression" is a horribly poor word for that disease. Maybe in the sense of "tropical depression" because you get to listen to a lot of howling, but in your head instead of the wind.

I have done fine since the worst effects of depression dissipated after my pregnancy. I have been off of medication for over a year and have felt no need to go back. I do have bad days occasionally, but to extend the article's metaphor, those days are mild thunderstorms and not the hurricane I was in while I was pregnant. And mine was a category 1. I can't begin to imagine how someone can live in a category 5 for that long and survive.

In happier news, Brenden said "tattoo" today, while pointing at his dad's tattoo. He also likes to stick a finger in our bellybuttons and say "beebeebeebee!" because we beep his bellybutton all the time.

Having fun pressing buttons

Having fun pressing buttons
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

It has begun!

Our house is being painted as I speak but it's much more than painting - many walls were covered with wallpaper that were never primed, which translates to holes being ripped into the drywall when you try to remove the stuff. So those holes have to be patched and sanded as well. What a mess.

I am happy with the color I chose for the walls - so far our bedroom and bathroom have been painted and they look nice. No floors have been put in yet. I have taken plenty of 'before' pictures (and have yet to post them) and will take plenty of 'after' photos when the time comes. Here's a nice photo of the paneling in the living room, which should cease to exist sometimes next week.

In the meantime Brenden has mastered the art of turning door knobs so every door knob in the house now has one of those childproof knobs on it. He hates me, I know he does.



There are reasons why I love Battlestar Galactica and why Lost annoys me, and it all has to do with the characters.

In Battlestar Galactica the characters are flawed. Hella-mega flawed. Roslin tried to throw an election. Adama jr. and sr. have jeapoardized their entire species trying to rescue a comrade. Starbuck is a reckless boozehound, Tigh and Zarek are terrorists (from different wars), and we won't even begin to walk through Baltar's flaws. Yet I love them one and all because when they hurt, I hurt. Last Friday's ep (Exodus, pt. 2) was so awesome I doubt they will be able to match it the rest of the season.

It was more than the nerdy ecstacy of the Galactica jumping into New Caprica's atmosphere and freefalling while unleashing all those Vipers on unsuspecting Cylons. It was more than the Pegasus coming to the Galactica's rescue and taking two Cylon base stars out with it. What made that show ring was a broken Colonel Tigh and Starbuck's realization that she had been had in the most horrible way imaginable. The few remaining humans had been rescued from the Cylon camp and that was cause to cheer, but my two favorite characters are in more pain than I can bear.

So why does Lost annoy me? I don't like anyone. I sat through 8 seasons of indecipherable plotlines of The X-Files because I loved Mulder and Scully. I will keep watching Lost, but it better let me emphathize with someone ASAP because it's beginning to piss me off.

Skiffy shite

Tardis
Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

I'm so very grateful that the Skiffy network is broadcasting the new Dr. Who episodes for us old nerds. I saw my first Dr. Who episode on WGN, sometime in the late 70's. That's so strange - I thought my memory has to be off but it's true because I recall watching the show on PBS in early 1979 and I know I had seen some episodes before that.

I also like that BBC gave the show new sensibilities and has started to deal with questions we fans have had for a long time: just why does and immortal (so far) being go gallavanting around the space-time continuum with a varied assortment of simian life-forms, typically those who are young, pretty, and British? Ok, so he's lonely.

I viewed the latest (U.S.) episode last night, which was very sad because we got to meet (or revisit) one of the good Doc's former companions, Sarah Jane Smith. (She has a startling resemblance to Mary McDonnell, and I was amused that my favorite recapper Jacob noticed the same on Television Without Pity.) She and the doctor run into each other while investigating some school shennanigans being masterminded by Anthony Stewart Head, whom some people might remember from those old Taster's Choice commercials.

Anyway, she and the doctor have a nice reunion, then Rose, the doc's current companion gets all shirty towards Sarah, until after some talking she discovers her insecurity is more rightly pointed at the good doctor. More important than why does he pick them up, why does he show his companions the universe then dump them so soon? Well that turns out to be a duh, too; because humans grow old and die while the doc just regenerates. I guess he dumps them after a couple of years or so so they can at least try to have a life after moving through time and space. The very sad part about this episode is it seems Sarah Jane had no life after the doctor ditched her. She is still nosy, but she never married.

She got to keep the disco dog, though.

Another boring post

Mom B and BFK
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden stumbled and split his lower lip against the nightstand in the bedroom yesterday. I was folding clothes. Poor kid bled everywhere, especially on me, but he'll live. Despite the volume of blood there's only a tiny cut on his lip. He got over it pretty fast, too.

Big Fat Kitty jumped on the nightstand sometime later on (I was still trying to fold clothes in the bedroom) and Brenden rushed up to him and wagged a finger at him and yelled "No no no no no!". For the rest of the day he did the same thing to the cat no matter where kitty jumped. I guess it's wrong of me to have one set of rules for Big Fat Kitty and another for Monkey boy.

I'm getting major T.V. fixes now that Lost, Dr. Who, and Battlestar Galactica are back on, not to mention Veronica Mars, The Office and new South Park. Quick observations:

1: I like Lost better without so many damn commercial interruptions.

2: David Tennant is a good Doctor, but I miss Chris Eccleston.

3: Battlestar Galactica is still my favorite show. I could do without Fat Apollo, though.

4: I made my Veronica Mars observation yesterday. I really like how Veronica is allowed to be an asshole and I'm also really glad that her boyfriend Duncan has left (stupid baby subplot nonwithstanding). Logan might be a psychotic jackass, but at least he's an interesting psychotic jackass. And it's nice to see Charisma Carpenter get some work!

5: I actually like Michael on The Office. Of course if he were my boss I would have to kill him.

6: South Park has always been hit-or-miss. Not much else to say about that, but Blizzard must have been in 7th heaven for that 20-minute World of Warcraft commercial (which also explained in excruciating detail why I don't play multiplayer games).

Silly Face

Silly Face
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Here's a rare Sunday blogpost because Brenden is tolerating me being out of the living room for a little bit.

I had *yet another* sinus infection, but went to my way cool allergy doc instead of my overworked family physician who can't remember me from visit to visit. He put me on an aggressive antibiotic treatment and it seems to be working because I can smell things now without having to O.D. on Afrin. I am currently stripping wallpaper when I can and using a steamer (only way to go) so the whole house smells like old wallpaper glue.

I'm such a whiner.

We're halfway through season 2 of Veronica Mars and I must say it's a shocker what gets past the censors on that show.