A for Effort?

You may recall we embarked on a movie watching challenge at the beginning of June. The goal was basically to watch as many movies as possible, so as to get a great value out of our Netflix subscription. In the past 30 days, we have watched eight films.... so an average of 2 per week. Not bad, but in no way something to write home about. Our plan was thwarted by the fact that we (mostly Michael) watched a million episodes of Heroes via the "Instant watch" queue. For most people this means watching movies and TV shows on the computer screen. And that used to be us. We started Heroes in the fall, instant-watching on the computer. But apparently that's not good enough for us anymore. When we got our Blu-Ray player earlier this year, Michael purchased the one with built-in Netflix, thus allowing all instant watch programing to come through the big screen. I was indifferent to the feature, but he was super-pumped. To wit: He has watched 30 episodes of Heroes via the instant watch feature just this month- And the month is not over yet!

I do not like them, Sam I Am

If you read this blog have ever met me, then you know I hate eggs. LOATHE and DESPISE them, in fact. (I will eat a fritata, but that's a story for another day) But this post really isn't about eggs. I just wanted to use a clever title that was also food related.

For as long as I can remember, I have been the maker of lunches. My own, my sister's, my mother's. I probably would have made Dad's too, but he never asked and got up and left for work so early that it would have to be made the night before. This lunch-making began in about 4th grade and I haven't looked back. I guess at the age of 9 Mom thought it was OK for me to wield a butter knife to spread peanut butter and jelly or the mustard for the turkey sandwich. I got the gig not necessarily by being the best lunch-maker, but by being the person who was always ready first. This was sort of a dubious honor in my house because being ready for school way before everyone else meant I also had to help Mom find her black shoes/earrings/a safety pin to de-clump mascara or Al find her shoe/homework/hairbrush/clean clothing. I also had to wake Al UP but again, that is a story for another time. Once I helped the organizationally challenged members of my family locate the necessary items for school that day, I made them lunch. Sandwiches, soup, lunchables, salad, leftover pasta, etc. I did get better over time, which did nothing to help me get out of said task.

Side note: When I graduated from high school and went to college (out of state) Al was a junior in high school. She did not have lunch ONE DAY of her junior or senior year because I was not there to make it for her! Don't worry she didn't starve. Mom gave her lunch money to buy both of them Panera or Taco Bell or whatever else. I'm pretty sure they were both super pumped when I got home in May and high school went till June because they had a month of lunch.

Flash-forward to post-college 2005. I moved to DC and continued to make my own lunch. (and Al and Mom were probably still starving) Michael walked home for lunch (so lucky!) and was responsible for his own fare. I'd occasionally remind him of the 1/2 can of soup I left for him, but remained rather uninvolved overall.

Then we moved to Florida. Working from home allowed me to eat lunch at home this time- score! But because I got up when Michael did, at 6:30, I decided to be a dear and make his lunch for him while he showered and I made the tea. (He never once asked me to make him lunch, but every day thanks me for it on the way out the door. Such a sweetie) Everyone in his office was (and still is) supremely jealous of the fact that his lunch is ready when he leaves for work. My sister's current roommate recently learned of my lunch-making (for both Al and Michael) and said "She makes his lunch EVERY DAY? No wonder he's marrying her!" I like to think it's because I do his laundry, too. Quasi-relatedly, I also bake cookies and routinely send him to the office with them. A co-worker actually said "Jules makes you lunch and bakes cookies?! I want to marry her!"

Anyway- the reason I started writing this now excessively long blog post is because I'm eating lunch right now (it's 2:15, which is late for me) and it's not one of the best lunches ever. You see, it's Friday. I grocery shop on Sunday. This results in kick-ass lunches on Monday and Tuesday, with lunches progressively declining throughout the week. We had pizza last night and despite his insistence that I could have the leftover pizza and he'd grab a sandwich from Quiznos, I gave the 2 leftover pieces to my future husband (THAT SOUNDS SO WEIRD TO SAY!) this morning and decided to make a salad with the remaining 'spring mix' greens and raspberry dressing I have leftover from my delicious strawberry and feta cheese and walnut salads earlier this week. But since I am out of both strawberries and feta, I decided to add protein with Tyson's pre-cooked chicken cubes and add almonds just for kicks. Yeah. Not the best combo. I think the greens and chicken would have been OK with the bottle of dressing I keep in the work fridge, but for some reason I thought 'spring mix = raspberry dressing' which might be true if you don't add the chicken. Obviously, I should have taken Michael up on the going to Quizno's thing but I was very grossed out by having pizza for lunch knowing my co-worker was bringing McDonald's breakfast for everyone. And my 'less than 3 months away from your wedding' self told me I really should have 5 consecutive days of salad for lunch, and if I wasn't going to, I certainly shouldn't have McD and pizza on the same day.

Bottom line- I am glad it's 2:15 because I don't have that long to wait until dinner. Yes, a vast majority of my thoughts revolve around my next meal. It's been like that for a great while, and I am not ashamed.

Remembering the King of Pop

I have posted the greatest music video of all time in honor of the very sad news this evening. For all of his weirdness, Michael Jackson was a hell of an entertainer. I was never a rabid fan, but I certainly enjoyed all of his music. I hear him often on my morning runs, and have yet to see a Super Bowl half-time show as good as "Heal the World" in 1993.

Father's Day

I just read an article in the paper this morning that basically states Dads get the short end of the stick on Father's Day. More money is spent on Mom on Mother's Day, they get better gifts, etc. etc. Well. I don't think that should be the case. And in honor of this equally important day, I leave you with my favorite Paul Harvey piece, "What Are Fathers Made Of" And yes, it always makes me cry!


A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth, without an anesthetic.

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good–and laughs loud when it’s scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of worship in his child’s eyes. He never is quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be. This worries him, sometimes, so he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when school grades aren’t as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son although he knows it’s the teacher’s fault.

Fathers grow old faster than other people.

And while mothers can cry where it shows, fathers stand there and beam outside–and die inside. Fathers have very stout hearts, so they have to be broken sometimes or no one would know what is inside. Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren’t nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody’s. Fathers fight dragons almost daily. They hurry away from the breakfast table, off to the arena which is sometimes called an office or a workshop…where they tackle the dragon with three heads: Weariness, Work and Monotony.

Knights in shining armor.

Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who will live the longest. Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting. Even as the odds get higher and higher, they keep right on betting more and more.

And one day they lose.

But fathers enjoy an earthly immortality and the bet is paid off to the part of him he leaves behind.

I don’t know where fathers go when they die. But I have an idea that after a good rest, he won’t be happy unless there is work to do. He won’t just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he’s loved and the children she bore. He’ll be busy there, too…oiling the gates, smoothing the way.

Funny Al

Al: Hi Boo. I have some details for you
Me: Wait. You have information before I do?
Al: Well, there's a first time for everything. Tomorrow you'll be wearing ice skates to get the mail!

A Fun Movie Quiz

My mother is forever sending me 'distractions' like recipes or fun articles or videos, etc. She recently sent me a super fun movie quiz. It's sponsored by Empire, and it celebrates the last 20 years of movies. As you may be able to tell (above) it's a big painting with movie titles 'embedded' in the artwork. Some are obvious, others not so much. I have figured out about 35 so far. Best part is you can save and come back later. To play along, click here.

I love Zack Morris

My favorite show ever: Saved by the Bell
I have all 5 seasons and special movies on DVD of only one show: Saved by the Bell
Jimmy Fallon is trying to organize a reunion of the kids on.... Saved by the Bell!

I could go on and on. This made my day. My week. The reunion (if it happens) would likely do me in. I love Mark-Paul Gosselaar for this.

Holy Pete Y'all! I'm getting married!

Despite being engaged for 9 months (to the day) the reality of getting married has not really sunk in completely. I mean, don't get me wrong. I have done a lot of planning and have a dress and all that. But since we started planning a year before the event, everyone has been saying 'oh you have time' and other such things. Well, we did. And we have a lot less now! I find myself thinking of random details like "Do I need a human being to pass out programs, or will a basket in the foyer suffice?" and "What time do we need to get to the church" and all sorts of other random things. But what makes it feel 'real' now is really dumb, actually. Mom sent out the shower invitations last week, and gifts are being purchased off the registries. We created the first one back in February and have been adding and subtracting and changing quantities off and on. But we can't do that now! People are buying us this stuff!! They're coming to the shower and to the wedding, which is a real event that will happen in 3 months. And this is a good thing, this wedding in 3 months. But all of the sudden we went from 'tons of time' to less than 100 102 days. Which I realize is not 'zero time' but still. It just feels very very real right now.

*Thank you Al for calculating our wedding countdown

Movie Challenge

Now that there is nothing* on TV, I have had to come up with alternative distractions in the evenings. You know, when I am not planning our wedding. And I thought of something! We have been Netflix subscribers since moving to DC in 2004. In case you are unaware, the thing about Netflix is you pay monthly and can rent as many movies as you want. There are no late fees, so if you receive a movie on March 1 and don't watch it until April 30, that's OK. I mean, you're paying for unlimited movies and you've only watched one. But if you're fine with that, so are they. Spring was rough for Netflix watching. We were just busy, doing various stuff. We had visitors, house stuff, wedding stuff, etc. Oh, and don't forget about May television, which included season finales of Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, LOST (best show ever) and American Idol. We really don't watch much TV-- those are our only shows-- but you can't miss the last ones till the fall! Then the Cavs were in the playoffs and like any idiotic Cleveland fans, we tuned in to each game. Once the Cavs lost, I decided we needed to do something productive (and less heart-wrenching) in the evenings. This brings me back to Netflix. I decided we should try to watch a Netflix movie every day. We can have 2 DVDs at home at a time, but we also have 'instant watch' movies, which will keep us busy while the actual discs are in the mail. We have recently watched Cactus Flower, Get Smart, and Silkwood. Quite a motley assortment, no? Tonight we have no discs at home, and will venture into the instant watch category. We also have HBO with our cable- somehow it does not cost extra- so we have been searching for movies currently in our Netflix queue to record on HBO, thus adding more 'instant watch' movies to our list. Between the DVDs, Netflix Instant Watch, and HBO movies that we DVR, we should be in good shape! I'll let you know how we do later this month.

*unless you count reality summer TV or NBA finals w/o the Cavs as quality television

Marissa was here, too!

Marissa visited us over Memorial Day weekend. I was going to write about her visit, but she already has done a much better job than I ever could in capturing the weekend's fun.
So this post is two-fold:
1) I post without having to think
2) I introduce the very few readers I actually have to Marissa's blog

Here is a photo.