3:37 a.m.

Once upon a time it was 1:29 a.m. and my little duffer had woke me up with his snarfuls and inability to sleep.  Fast forward two hours and you have now.  I worked hard to try and fall back to sleep, but I kept worrying that the duffer would wake back up again and I’d be dancing to my Grammy Award winning made up songs.  Now, I am just waiting for the idea of sleep to creep back into my brain.  But, while awake, I might a well write since I don’t tend to have a lot of time to do that usually.

The other day before presenting to the school board about communication I sat around the table with some educators having a meal and nervously waiting for our time to present.  The woman next to me with a young son like me was talking about her holiday plans.  Side note, I’ve now realized that from December 1st to December 24th the only conversation people want to have (especially when you have a small child) is what are you doing for holidays?  I am guessing from December 26th until mid-January the conversation focuses on what you actually did.  This woman did get into all the details, but implied from her tone and whatnot that she had a doozy of Thanksgiving with her in-laws in Massachusetts.

My immediate (and to all those who know me) obvious response was have you seen Home for the Holidays? No.  She had not.  So, of course, I recommended it.  I am thinking she will appreciate it.  I mean how can you not appreciate Holly Hunter, as the pathetic protagonist, who has lost her job and is heading home to thanksgiving sans her daughter (played by Claire Danes — pre-My So Called Life) who she finds out is planning to have sex with her boyfriend after she has lost her nice winter jacket and is forced to wear this horrendous jacket her mother just happens to have in the car.  Oh, and I forgot her trying to kiss her not at all attractive boss after he fires her.  Charles Durning as her dad.  Anne Bancroft as her mom.  Robert Downey Jr. as her gay brother who just lives to make life horrible for her perfect sister and husband (the woman I know from other stuff — she is a total character actor and Steve Guttenberg as the husband).  Throw in Dylan McDermott as Robert Downey Jr.’s friend and you’ve got a complete holiday filled with well, holiday goodness.  A must see at any holiday time (Easter, Valentine’s Day — who cares — it’s hilarious!).

In that same vein, what are other good non-syrupy holiday movies?  Forget Miracle on 34th Street or It’s a Wonderful Life – what are the real holiday movies that make you laugh, etc.?

Over Thanksgiving, we saw Four Christmases — Vince Vaughn & Reese Witherspoon — not bad — some good laughs and one-liners.

A Christmas Story — always a good one.  I believe my husband even showed it to a math class once for what reason I can’t tell you, but it is quoted regularly in our house.

I know there are more, but strangely at 3:54 a.m. I beginning to get tired.  So to throw it out to the void — What is your favorite holiday movie and more importantly WHY?

Karma

Yesterday, we decided to have a fun day.  We went to Julie/Julia at the Mom’s Matinee. Despite not finishing the book, the movie was cute.  I say cute because anything Nora Ephron does is just that (think Sleepless in Seattle).  During the movie, which is a place where moms can take their babies and not have to worry about crying, there was one kid who just screamed.  Not cried, but screamed for almost the entire movie.  For the first half of the movie, I felt empathy considering my baby isn’t really a screamer (more on that later), but by the second half the tension headache I had arrived at the movie with was full blown and I was on pins and needles.  Driving away from the theater, I did make a comment to my husband about the baby’s screaming, but tried to feel compassion for the mom who probably just wanted some air conditioning and a a little entertainment.  Little did I know, I would be experiencing something very similar only at midnight and beyond.

Little duffer has had a cold since Tuesday, but somehow last night was the worst.  He work himself up at 9:30 and didn’t settle down until almost 1 a.m.  Plus, on top of that, I managed to get his cold so I couldn’t breathe.  It was worse than all those nights without sleep at the beginning of my child’s birth.  At least, I could breathe, read books, and watch bad t.v  I needed to catch up on even if I was delirious from having no sleep.  This time around he just wouldn’t settle and it involved lots of walking (I couldn’t put him down — talk about mama strength — he weighs 26 pounds), a car ride, and eventually taking the car seat out of the car so he could sleep in it.  Finally, we had some reprieve at 2ish until 5ish.

In the a.m., he didn’t really get any better and had a fever so inevitably he earned himself a doctor’s appointment.  Secretly, I think he likes visiting with his doctor, but he was just plain miserable so we needed something to make him feel better.  However, I admit I went to my hair appointment while my husband (the saint that he is) took the little duffer to the doctor.  No worries because I spent the entire hair appointment so stuffed up that I thought my head might imploded.  In addition, my hair dresser accidently drank my latte and then had to run in the back room to gargle so he wouldn’t end up miserable during a fun weekend away.  Great, I instill salt-water gargling in folk (at least I don’t instill vomiting).

All in all, the verdict for the little duffer — double ear infection.  No wonder he was upset.  Now, he is on the pink stuff and Tylenol as needed.  He is slightly better, but not really himself yet, which is okay because I am thoroughly not myself either.  Today, I can breathe, but now my cold has moved to my chest so I sound like I have a smoker’s cough and feel like someone hit me with an eighteen wheeler.  Good thing, little duffer has decided to take a nap so I can have a couple cups of coffee to help jump start my day to be a powerhouse or maybe just able to carry the 26 pounder to the car for a little shopping (after all — it is tax free day in Vermont!).

Rainy Day Off

Sheets of rain and wind are the backdrop for my day off.  I suppose it is my luck that today when I could be outside frolicking I am enjoying an inside day not unlike many people who probably live in the Seattle area.  I can’t remember the last time I sat down to write, but that doesn’t surprise me because even though I didn’t run the marathon this past weekend in Vermont I have been running my own marathon with six-and-a-half month babe, end of school year stuff, and oh yeah life.  Today, since I can’t sleep past 6:45 a.m. anymore, I was up catching up on some blogs I subscribe to about books.  Why I wasn’t reading an actual book instead I can’t tell you, but I felt like I need to hear about what others are reading.  This, of course, only depressed me because I realized I am that far behind in the world of books.  Clearly, the hip beret wearing book crowd is not reading Mouse was Mad, but actually many may be reading Where the Wild Things Are because of the movie due out in the fall.  Speaking of books that become movies — I am mad about a recent decision to cast Angelina Jolie as Kay Scarpetta.  Granted I became increasingly uninterested in the Patricia Cornwell series as it continued, but what the hell were they thinking.  In all the books I have read, not once did picture Angelina Jolie as the main character.  This, my friends, is what frustrates me about books becoming movies because in my humble opinion if the movie is better than the book then the book must have been bad.  We all have our games of thinking about who we might cast in the movie version of our favorite books, but do we want them to actually make the movie–not really.  For years, my mom and I have tried to figure out who would play the characters from the Janet Evanovich series with Stephanie Plum.  In fact, we have been playing this game for so many years we had to uncast (not a word–I know) Sandra Bullock because she became too old for the character.  I know it is not just me who feels this way about books to movies.  A student yesterday, who was telling me I must read Pride and Prejudice as a summer read if I hadn’t already,  said DO NOT see the movie with Kiera Knightly.  I am guessing this student was saying in not so many words that Kiera Knightly is not who she would have cast as Elizabeth Bennett.  I guess the only positive thing I can dream about happening from such books being made into movies is that folks will decide to pick up the book after the movie is out, but I guess this could become the famous chicken and egg scenario fast.  As you can see, amidst the muted day outside my window, I try to find a glimmer of sunlight about books and movies.  Truthfully, I think I will have to look ahead to my haircut this afternoon and past that conversation to find warmth.

Must Love Dogs

A billion times.  Maybe two billion.  That is how many times I have seen Must Love Dogs.  I never tire of it.  It is like Say Anything for adults.  Helps that John Cusack is in it.  Sam and Maggie enjoy it as well.  They really go for the newfoundland in it named Mother Theresa.  It is Friday night.  Duffer and I are on movie number three.  Well, technically he has only made it through two since now he is asleep, but we are living large.  His dad, my husband, is away at a golf tournament.  Tomorrow, we look forward to more movies.  If he falls asleep, I may attempt watching a film like Rachel Gets Married or Slumdog Millionaire.  Something that requires you to think while watching it and not miss key elements of dialogue, etc.  Or maybe I’ll just rent Bedtime Stories and pretend like I all cultured and stuff.