For your entertainment - after all, it's Friday...

Late night ramblings

It's late. I'm awake, can't sleep. I've been watching tv but got tired of it - I can only watch for so long before my eyes get all funky and dried out. My sweet Big Girl has kindly shared her germs, and my throat's bugging me. Plus my ears itch, deep inside my ears close to my throat - do you ever get that? Drives me nuts.

It rained a lot today. So the kids spent too much time indoors, cooped up, slightly hyper. Hopefully I can take them out for some fresh air tomorrow.

I'm loving PaperbackSwap again - I have several books to mail off in the morning, and then soon I'll get the credits to request more books to read. Not sure what I'll request next - so many books, it's hard to decide. I have an extensive list, which keeps growing longer and longer, of books I want to read over at goodreads. And, well, honestly I have plenty of books I could read here in my house - but that won't stop me from requesting more to add to my to-read collection. I've been indulging in a lot of fantasy, sci-fi-type stuff lately, which is fun and engaging without being too demanding (in the way that I can't help myself when I read works by authors I studied seriously in grad school), and I've been working through a few behavioral-type books dealing with kids and relationships, too. Any books I shouldn't miss? Let me know in the comments.

I watched Hanging Up earlier today - I DVRed it when it was on a few days back - and was reminded, through the relationship between Meg Ryan's character and her father, played by Walter Matthau (love him), that you can't make people be who you want or need them to be. No matter how desperately you wish a relationship or a person were something better, or more meaningful, or supportive, whatever, you cannot force other people to be who you want them to be, or who you think they should be. I know this is true, of course, but sometimes it's still incredibly frustrating. The movie's cheesy. Decent casting, but a somewhat frivolous plot that was resolved a little too neatly, and yet it still made me tear up. I'm an easy crier. Anyway, I've been reminding myself frequently of late, in the middle of frustrations, that I can only control myself. It's hard for me to make peace with that concept.

On Alan Rickman

As the postscript on my last entry suggested, I will watch just about any movie if Alan Rickman is in it. I'm not sure when my fascination with Alan Rickman began. It's not a silly-woman-swooning-over-Brad-Pitt thing (although Mr. Pitt's just super as eye candy, tyvw, as is his woman - but that's another story). But I just love to watch Alan Rickman perform, in any role. It's as if I know it's him, and he's an amazing actor, and yet I almost always suspend myself totally and believe him in the role, as the character. And, well, his performance as Snape just really appealed to me on certain levels, in ways that I wish I could act sometimes as a teacher. While at the same time I got a lot of vulnerability from his depiction of Snape, too. Well, anyway, I could wax on for hours about Alan Rickman as Snape.

I enjoyed him in Dogma and Love Actually, endured Galaxy Quest for him, and loved Michael Collins, which you should see if you haven't (said the nerdy Irish-lit-loving woman), but I think my favorite is Sense and Sensibility. It's got Emma Thompson as a bonus, and I'm a big fan of hers, too (oh - The Remains of the Day!). Sense and Sensibility is a perfect storm for me - Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, AND Jane Austen. Good times, good times.

If you haven't seen Sense and Sensibility, that's your homework. Seriously. Alan Rickman's performance as Colonel Brandon was exquisite - he captured the emotional tenor of his character so well, and was an excellent casting choice. And after you finish that, you can come back and tell me how much you enjoyed the movie.

And now for something completely different...

Hubs has certain movies that he just loves to watch, again and again and again and again. Last night it was late, and we were tired, but he saw that The Right Stuff was on. So he fell asleep watching it. Tonight, he came out to the den and turned on the television - I'm on the laptop and wasn't watching tv - so that I could see Die Hard. And then he promptly left the den and went back to the bedroom, where he is watching Die Hard too. Die Hard, The Right Stuff, Patton. He has certain movies that inspire this strange reaction, this weird obsession. I don't get it. At all. And he's in denial, I think, about my failure to adopt his obsessions. Hmph. Time to turn off the den tv and go to bed, where I'll still be able to fall asleep to Die Hard. Is this normal man behavior, or is he just special? ;)

p.s. Die Hard does have many redeeming features - I don't dislike it. After all, Alan Rickman's in it, and it's a fun movie and all. I just find Hubs' quirks rather, well, quirky.

Tonight...

We watched Pearl Harbor on AMC, and, well...

That's Hot.

The highest temperature I observed today was the display in my car: 97. Yuck. I've been "moist" all day. Our air conditioner has had a limp for a few days, and yesterday it decided it just couldn't keep up. For most of the week, it stayed within five degrees of the target temperature, but yesterday it was set on 72 and reached 84, so a repair guy's coming on Monday. It was new last summer, so who knows what the problem is. Hopefully something easy and fast.

I went out to the grocery store early this morning to get a few things, including charcoal so Hubs could smoke some meat in his (former water heater) smoker. On my way out, I saw a yard sale at a house down the street, so Big Girl and I went to check it out after I returned. We found some beautiful wood furniture that was already sold - figures - but we did score a nice train table, in good condition, with a storage bin full of wooden tracks, trains, and accessories. It was a great deal, and both kids are ecstatic. It will go in Two's room, once we finish a little cleaning and maintenance (minimal, really - it would be fine, but we want to reinforce a couple of places just in case). I don't think we would have considered a new one, given the price, but this one was a wonderful bargain and will keep them occupied for hours.

Big Girl helped me water her herb garden and flowers after that, and then we went to swim at my parents' house. The water was wonderfully warm, and yet so refreshing given the heat. Both kids paddled around wearing water wings and clutching floats until they were worn out, and then we had lunch before I brought them home. Two passed out in the car, snoring softly with his mouth open, and Big Girl happily went down for a nap once we got home as well.

Live Free or Die Hard - actually kind of fun. Hubs has been on a Die Hard kick lately, and really wanted me to watch this one with him since I had never seen him. He described it as "John McClane meets Swordfish," and that's a pretty accurate description. The hacker character played by Justin Long, the "Mac" guy from the commercials, has a fun rapport with Bruce Willis' character, and there were a lot of fun connections and action sequences. Hubs was happy that I watched something he wanted to watch, and enjoyed it, since lately I haven't been in the mood to watch some of his favorites (I get burned out on Deadliest Catch and Dirty Jobs, and I've never liked Ax Men or Man Vs. Wild - what can I say?).

It's 82 in the house now, at 9 pm. I picked up yet another box fan late this afternoon, so now there's one in each bedroom and one in the den. Two gets terribly hot and sweaty in his room - he's a hot sleeper anyway, and I feel so bad for him. I put him to bed with a huge sippy cup of ice water, and one for Big Girl too. I'm looking forward to several hours of air conditioned comfort at church in the morning.