Today I’m a Lazy Bum

Ever have one of those days when you just didn’t want to do anything? Well, at least not anything very productive? That was today.

Officially, the kids were on spring break this week. They spent the first two days at grandpa and grandma’s, then I worked from home for a day and half, while my husband was home with them for the last day and a half. In hindsight, it might have been easier to plan a vacation.

In the end, it was a messed-up-schedules-are-wrong-stupid-time-change kind of week. I just decided to take the day off — watching movies/TV, listening to my son practice piano, working with my daughter in her KidWalk, reading a book, going for a chilly run/walk, and ordering in pizza.

Oh, and for the record, I’m actually wearing a hat today, too!

Today I’m a Sports Movie Fan

If you know me at all, you have a sense of how much I love movies. And I go through phases of what types of movies I like. For example, at one point I was inexplicably drawn to “prison movies.” I watched movies such as Escape from Alcatraz, Shawshank Redemption, The Rock, The Last Castle, Cool Hand Luke and The Green Mile.

Recently, though, I started thinking about my favorite sports movies. With so many out there, I tried to concentrate on the ones I can resist. You know, when I’m flipping channels on a random Sunday afternoon and find it playing on TBS or Spike TV. Here are my Top 5:

1. Rudy
“You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And, you’re gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame.” — Fortune

2. Hoosiers
“There’s a tradition in tournament play — not talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you. I’m sure going to the state finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let’s just keep it right there.” — Coach Norman Dale

3. A League of Their Own
“Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There’s no crying! THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!” — Coach Jimmy Dugan

4. Remember the Titans
“We will be perfect in every aspect of the game. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, and I will break my foot off in your John Brown hind parts and then you will run a mile. Perfection. Let’s go to work.” — Coach Herman Boone

5. Bull Durham
“Well, I believe … Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.” — Crash Davis

Rather than sharing my Honorable Mentions, I’d rather hear from you. What are your favorite sports flicks?

Today I’m a List Maker

My husband asked me today whether or not we owned the movie The Fifth Element. My reply was simply, “No, but we do have Sixth Sense and Se7en.” That got me thinking about how many movie titles begin with a number. Here’s my list, how about yours?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Two of a Kind
Three Amigos
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Fifth Element
Sixth Sense
Se7en
Eight Men Out (or 8 Seconds)
Nine Months
9 1/2 weeks
10
(Sadly Ocean’s 11 doesn’t begin with a number)
12 Angry Men
Thirteen
15 Minutes
16 Candles
17 Again
18 Again!
21
27 Dresses
28 Days
40-year-old Virgin (or 40 Days and 40 Nights)
50 First Dates
61*
88 Minutes
101 Dalmations
200 Cigarettes
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Million Dollar Baby

Today I’m a Homebody

After a fabulous evening out with my husband last night, I stayed pretty close to home all day. Thanks to our neighbor for taking in our kids for the evening, we were able to go out and be “grown-ups” at a cocktail party in honor of my cousin and his bride-to-be. If the wedding is half as nice as this evening out, I can’t wait for October! Best wishes you two!

As for today, it started with my “meowing alarm clock” (aka: my 16-year-old cat) just after 8 am. Made it to church, treated ourselves to donuts and a sausage roll, then headed home for a little of this and a whole lot of that.

Actually, it’s been a nice day around the house. Washed, dried and folded a lot of laundry, watched a movie and little golf, tried a catnap with my daughter, restocked the fridge/pantry after hubby got home with groceries, visited with my parents and helped my son with piano lessons. All in all, a pretty great day.

Today I’m a movie critic

Any time I can watch movies is a good time. In general, I’m pretty easy to please. Although there are several I would not want to see again, I have never walked out on a movie. I was able to watch three movies this weekend: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dead Calm and Night at the Museum. All three were new to me, but only HP was seen on the big screen.

My thoughts in a nutshell:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Great entertainment, not as good as the book, super stage for the beginning of the end. For more, see my previous post.

Dead Calm: Eerily convincing performance by Billy Zane (perfect for the part). Too hard to believe John and Rae (Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman) couldn’t have ended it sooner. Very focused, two-pronged storytelling. Great psychological, strategic game play. I loved the suspense.

Night at the Museum: (Not the recent sequel, but the original) Honestly, the beginning of the movie stressed me out! Perhaps it’s the ESFJ in me, but why didn’t Larry (Ben Stiller) read the list sooner! Outside of that, I liked the historical entertainment, humor was fun and appropriate, plus it’s a great concept to think that history comes alive.

Today I’m a Harry Potter fan

I’ve been looking forward to this movie installment of the Harry Potter series for a long time. The unbelievable frustration that fired up last Fall when they delayed the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has since diminished and transformed into great excitement again.

This morning, I was able to slip away to the theater (sans family) to enjoy the latest HP flick on the big screen. I was NOT disappointed! Although the movie couldn’t touch upon a lot of the plot points in JK Rowling’s book, I didn’t feel robbed of any level of detail. And although the movie stretched well past 2 hours, it moved along quickly. I loved seeing Quidditch again and enjoyed the touch of humor used to balance the dire situations Harry and friends faced. I also thought this was a great story to get new Potter followers on board for his final trek — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Sadly, I’m back to waiting again. I’ll certainly reread the books (in fact, HPHBP is on the table in front of me now) and eagerly await the final two movies that will finish out the series. In the meantime, you’ll find me at the Leaky Cauldron if you want to talk.

Here’s to Day 1

If you stumbled upon this blog, I hope you’ll tag it and come back occasionally. If you were invited, thanks for stopping in to read and/or comment on these pages.

As an online marketing professional, I value the freedom we’ve all gained in this grand world of self-publication. And although I read blogs, I’ve never braved the terrain of creating or contributing to this fantastic genre of self-expression.

One note about the content you’ll find here: it’s likely to be all over the place. Why? Because that’s what I know. I’m a wife, mother, writer, marketer, TV junkie, movie-lover and Midwesterner-turned-Texan. Like lots of others out there, I have many roles and wear So Many Hats.

I hope you find something you can relate to. Something that makes you laugh. That reminds you of the past. That encourages you to try new things. Or maybe you’ll even find something that incites you to comment.  Either way, thanks for spending time with me today.