Tuesdays With Noirrie

The Mist

Have you seen this movie?

Being a long-time Stephen King fan, I've wanted to see this movie since it first came out in theaters. There's the King factor, plus it just looked really good. Well, I finally saw it on Saturday. I kind of wish I'd noticed where, on the cover of the DVD, it said "One of the most shocking movie endings ever". Maybe that would have prevented me from seeing it. But probably not. First, I'll just say that the movie was pretty good. It seems like with movies made from King's stories, they're either great or awful. This was more toward the great end of the spectrum, although not quite there in my opinion. I reserve great for The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption. Still, it was pretty good.

Until the end. Nothing like having a movie kick you square in the balls. And that's what this one did. It was incredibly disturbing. Three days later and I'm still thinking about it. I was so unprepared for it. I won't say what 'it' was ... I'll just warn you to pull up your protective emotional blankie before watching it. And, if you do, let me know what you think.

Tuesdays With Noirrie

Random Thoughts

Man, I'm full of it today. [Do not insert comment here.]

Here we go ....

To be added to the list of things that I don't get - celebrity gossip. I mean, who cares? Why does anyone really want to know who's doing whom, who's gay, who's drying out, etc.? I saw a clip from a South Park episode where Barrack Obama - you know, the potential leader of our entire nation - was being interviewed and a NEWS FLASH broke in about yet another Britney Spears antic. I found it hard to see this as funny because there are so many people obsessed with celebs that I could almost see this actually happening. This clip was shown on the Today Show. It was shown in conjunction with another clip of Britney's cameo on some sitcom or other (I wasn't paying particularly close attention.) And then they announced that if that cameo "... didn't fulfil your Britney fix, you can bid on the outfit she wore for that cameo!" Um, who wants that? Seriously. Please tell me. And this is just the tip of the celebrity gossip iceberg. Speaking for myself, I do NOT want to know anything about actors other than how they perform in whatever movie I happen to be watching at the time. What I find even sadder is that this type of information is often passed along in the form of "news". Someone, somewhere, needs to look up the definition of news.

On the same Today Show, some expert or other (did I mention that I was only paying partial attention?) stated that we've become a society of germophobes and it's actually making us sicker. YES! They confirmed my long-held belief that my shortcomings as a housekeeper are actually building up my family's immunity and, therefore, keeping them healthier in the long run. We NEED to be exposed to a certain amount of germs in order for our bodies to build up that immunity to them. Smug.

I really, really, seriously, deeply hate my insurance company. Wouldn't it be nice (and, in their case, novel) if you could get the correct, complete answer the first time you called? And not get a different answer each time? Wow. Imagine.

Why is it that this sporadic back pain I've had for the last few years has always gone away within a few days when left to its own devices and yet, when I finally seek chiropractic help to stop it from recurring, it has now hurt continuously for a week and a half? I know he'll make me better in the long run. It's just waiting for the long run that hurts.

I still can't believe that I'm on Myspace with all my teenaged WoW friends. Honestly, I'm way too old to even be there.

Tuesdays With Noirrie

Chosen by a Cat

My friend gave me a book to read called Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards (and, honestly, I'm still not sure I've forgiven her for that!) In the book, the main character receives a rescued horse to care for. She watches as this mare goes from a sad, skinny, mistreated animal to a healthy, glorious, beautiful creature under her care. Many things about this book reminded me of our Sunny. Or, more accurately, Levi's Sunny.

Levi had wanted a cat of his own for quite some time. Last year I told him he could have one for his birthday. About two weeks before the day we headed to the Humane Society to choose one. There were several kittens and young cats available. They have a little room where you can take the potential pets and spend some time with them to try to get to know them a little. After playing with a number of kitties, Levi chose the one who was to become Sunny. Honestly, I was angling for the little orange and white one who was beautifully marked, a few months old and looked sleek and healthy. My second choice was the year-old grey tabby female who displayed a very sweet personality. But it was Levi's choice. He picked the skinny, runty-looking little orange male with the attitude. Oh well.

We had hit Wal Mart for a wide variety of feline supplies, including a brand-new carrier, on the way to the Humane Society so were all ready to bring his new friend home. Levi was immediately in love. Sunny, not so much. Oh he was affectionate and playful, but he also displayed so many of those typical cat characteristics including accepting affection when HE decided he wanted it.

He was kind of a sad-looking little thing. He was so starved that his skin just draped loosely over his tiny, little hipbones. His head seemed over-sized compared to his skeletal figure so that he kind of resembled one of those creepy bobble-head thingies. But Levi didn't care. He thought he was beautiful. He named him Sunny, more in honor of his color than his personality.

And then Sunny got sick. Two days after bringing him home, he developed a cough. I understand that 'kennel cough' is not unusual for rescue pets like this. However, his breathing became very labored and he grew lethargic. I immediately took him to the vet and pumped a fairish sum of cash into him. He was quite an ill little kitty. One night not long after that, Steve and I were discussing how to handle it when Levi's birthday gift died on him. That's how bad he seemed. But, he was tougher than he looked and he rode it out, beat the bug and grew into a fat, healthy, beautiful cat.

Being a cat, he doesn't display the attitude of gratitude that the horse in the book did. Or maybe he does in his own way. Levi takes Sunny into his room and night and closes the door so that he stays there. Given a chance, Sunny will escape. And yet on those nights when Levi doesn't lock him in, Sunny can often be found sleeping next to Levi on the bed. Apparently if it's HIS choice, it's OK. He is, as far as he's concerned, the alpha male. Almost from the moment he entered the house he began trying to assert his dominance over the other two pets. The dog doesn't fall for it. The other cat did. He strolls about the house with the air of an aristocrat who has graced us with his presence. We often call him The Young Prince. Well, when we're calling him something polite that is. He won't voluntarily come sit in your lap, but he will at times deign to sit on the back of the couch behind you and slap you repeatedly in the back of the head with his tail. We've chosen to take this as a sign of affection. He's aloof, demanding and arrogant. But he does occasionally wrap his tail around your leg briefly as he walks past you and I think that might mean he likes us. He has free run of the house, his own jar of treats, gets the toilet flushed just for him when he's hanging over the rim wanting to watch the water swirl and more affection than he really wants. You'd think he'd be grateful. But he's not. He's a cat.

After paying the last of the vet bills, those on top of all the supplies and the adoption fee, I told Levi that his birthday gift ended up costing far more than we ever spend on each other. He agreed that was true, but also pointed out that Sunny actually ended up being a gift for the whole family.

And, really, he's right.

Tuesdays With Noirrie

Embarrassed

[SS Blog Challenge - Your most embarrassing moment]

I can be a bit of a smart-arse. I sometimes make rude smart-arsed comments. Sometimes even crude. And they never embarrass me. At least ... not when I do it on purpose.

Last year my high school volleyball coach called and wanted me to be his assistant coach. I really didn't think I could commit that much time with my own boys being so busy, but I thought I'd talk to him about it anyway. Upon entering the gym, I noticed the ball cart. This is a wheeled cart that holds about 30 volleyballs for practice. Back 'in the day' when I played, volleyball had a pretty small budget compared to other sports. We had a few nice, new balls for games, but our practice balls were crap. Old, brittle, brown with age. The first thing I noticed about most of the balls in the practice cart were that same agedness. I picked one up and carried it into Coach's office with me where I held it aloft and asked him, "Do you still have the same balls you had when I played for you?"

Without missing a beat he looked me straight in the eye and said, "Yes, I do."

*Blush*

Mrs. Hughes Skewed Views

From Crackle: Mrs hughes skewed views

Cheery Bunny from Scrap Share shared this video of her MOM performing her comedy. Her mom! How awesome is that? I loved her so had to share this clip.

A Cello Rondo

Tuesdays With Noirrie

Hubby Done Good

Steve has been selected to be the Chamber of Commerce President for Blackwell for the coming year. He's very proud. I'm very proud of him. This, of course, will mean more work for him. Like he needed that. Still, it's an honor, and a good move for him being a bit of an 'outsider' in the community. He worried a bit that I would be upset when his exta responsibilities take him away from home more evenings this year. How can I tell him that I consider those bonus nights? Nights when I can get away with just making chicken nuggets and mac 'n' cheese for dinner. This is certainly no hardship on me.

Here's an excerpt from the article the paper carried:

Developing a sense of family within Blackwell is the goal for incoming Chamber president Steven Russell.“I believe in Blackwell,” he said the week prior to assuming his new office.“This is truly a community of family. We are blessed with multiple families here. We have our home family, our work family and the community family.”

I wanted to add the entire article but discovered that the Blackwell Journal-Tribune requires a paid subscription to do so. Note to self: Send an email to the BJ-T editor letting them know that NO one from out of the area is going to pay to subscribe to this paper online. And those in the area can just pick it up at the gas station. Sheesh.

Teenagers

I need to get a t-shirt that says this. On reading the Scrap Share board, Kellisue posted about a very unmotivated teenager. I could SO relate (x2). But the best thing to come out of the thread, for me, were these words by the ever-wise Diana in MD:

Teenagers ...

Taller toddlers

with bigger words.

Tuesdays With Noirrie

The Cave

I'm not sure if I should call it the bear cave, the bat cave or just the man cave. Any one of those would apply. But a cave it as certainly turned out to be. See, we used to have this nice family room. We gained it when we added on to our house nearly five years ago. It was a lovely room for a time. We installed surround-sound and I decorated it with a fun movie theme. It belonged to all of us. For a while.

Then, slowly, the men took over. Steve started going there when he wanted some alone time. He closes the doors (a clear signal) and hibernates in front of the TV. But the real overthrow came when Lane discovered that he could hook their game system into the surround sound. Hey, who wouldn't want the sounds of things exploding coming at you from all directions?

In the last three days I have had a succession of eight different teen-aged boys through there. When the boys have friends over, that is their domain. And, admittedly, it's nice for me to have a place to send them, out of my way. But can you imagine the look and, more importantly, the smell of that room after having that many guys in there for the weekend? Teen boy funk. Ah, there's nothing like it. That's why I'm thinking I should call it the bat cave. Not because of that cool masked hero. No. Because of the odor of guano that permeates it. Seriously, there is not enough Febreeze in seven Wal Marts to freshen it.

I wonder if I could talk Steve into adding on again? This time, we could build a girl room. Hmmm.....

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Does anyone else get seriously tired of having to tiptoe around certain people? Do you have those people in your life that you have to pussy-foot around? You know the ones that are always on the edge of their seat ready to leap at you for the slightest (inevitably imagined) insult or slight? If not, thank your lucky freaking stars! I have a few too many of them in my life. If you know me, you know who they are. I know I should stop indulging them, be blunt and just not play their game. But then I have to suffer the repercussions. It's a catch-22.

*sigh*

Maybe I should just buy some of those toe shoes ballerinas wear to make this balancing act easier?