Wednesday, February 21, 2007

TV Addict

Okay there were three things that I liked about American Idol last night: A) The Keen song and the beat box boy's version of that song B) Ryan Seacrest (funny) C) The adorable parents of the Justin Timberlake looking kid.
There were three things that disappointed me: A)Sanjaya! B)Paul Kim's falsetto (and overall performance C) Chris Sligh's whiny response to Simon's critique
And I though Sanjaya and Chris Sligh were going to steal the show.

I hate to admit but I like the show better when they only sing a little bit of the song. I get bored with all those bad boring songs. I am not a true fan am I?
After Idol we watched the Prestige on DVD. Go rent that movie RIGHT NOW, you won't regret it.

Monday, February 19, 2007

President's Day Weekend 2007 and Happy Chinese New Year

Kind of a quiet holiday weekend and I spent the day off catching up on my sleep. Work has been pretty busy this last week so it was nice to just relax, read in bed, and snooze. We did a little shopping yesterday at IKEA and spent the evening constructing 4 dining chairs and one loungey type chair for the sun room. The IKEA directions could be a little more efficient (and I know something about directions). On more than one occasion we realized we had made a mistake because the appropriate screws or chair pieces we not correctly marked. The good part was we did this all while watching the season premiere of the Amazing Race All Star show. Yes, I am hopelessly addicted to TV and now becoming more and more addicted to reality TV. But the Amazing Race is all about travel and it is so fun to see all the places around the world that they end up going on their crazy adventure. The wacky relationships and the bickering is fun too. Before we hunkered down in front of the TV we spent the afternoon at a Chinese New Year festival. It was the fairly standard Chinese New Year festivity; lion dancing, fireworks and food. We spent SAturday cleaning the house; sweeping and taking out the garbage because it is good luck to start the Chinese New Year with a clean house (what mom started that tradition;)?) and sweeping, cutting, and throwing out trash is forbidden on the new year day.
I did take advantage of my extra holiday time and went to the shelter today as well as my usual shift on Saturday. Lately, I have been getting some really mouthy puppies who like to go for my whole hand when I play ball with them. I look like I did when I was a kid with scratches on my hand from my very energetic border collie puppy. Every time they get rough I stop the play and we go back to the kennel but it has been 4 dogs in the last 2 weeks to do this. Hopefully, with more training they will get a little less mouthy. My favorite moment with the dogs was when the Schnauzer named Fancy I took out chased after the shadow of a bird flying over head. He was very disappointed when there was no bird on the ground.
Well I have to run and make hamburgers- it's like 75 here and we thought we'd celebrate with an outdoorsy kind of dinner. Hope all you have a great year of the Pig.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Lots to Report Little Time to do so

These days it so hard to find time to get on the computer if I am not working. The good thing is I am SUPER busy at work and very happy with all the new challenges. The bad thing is I don't feel like getting online at home and blogging as much; tired of looking at the computer screen. So those are my feeble excuses. But I thought I would take these few moments at lunch to report some stuff going on in my little corner of Austin. First, the Gold Ribbon Rescue interview on Sunday was a blast. The interviewer brought over her Golden puppy and the puppies mommy. What a blast it was to watch the momma and the puppy play in our back yard. The neighbor dog Maggie (lab) came over to join in on the fun and it was so good for the soul to watch them chase each other around the trees. As far as the interview goes she told me she will let me know in a couple of weeks what their decision is- so I still don't know if I get a rescued golden but I will keep you posted.
Also, I hope everyone had a great Valentines day. CornyT and I had a quiet night home. I made organic steak, potatoes and zuchini yummy yummy. Better than anything in a restaurant and we exchanged Xmas/v-day presents. Huh you say? Well if you remember I was stressed and cranky at xmas so we decided to give our presents in FEb to give us a little break from shopping and such at that time. I gave him pants, a new shirt and tickets to the Richard Thompson concert coming up in March. He gave me baklava, a puppy calendar, and an adapter to play my ipod in the car. Score.
After dinner we capped our romantic evening by watching American Idol. So I have favorites of the newly picked 24- for the girls I LOVE Lakeesha- that woman is going to make me cry I just know it and I like the woman who made it to Hollywood last year but was cut- can't remember her name but she has personality. For the guys, I LOVE Sanjaya- so cute like a little puppy, all gangly and smiley, the guy who looks like Jack Osbourne, and that HOT guy from LA who was a back-up singer, Brendan I think! CAn't wait to keep watching. Well I need to get back to work so that is my quick and probably full of typo post. I will try to write more late.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Worn Out

Whew it has been a busy weekend. Last night we went to a reading of Mike's former classmates in charming Kyle Texas and then went to a fancy wine bar/restaurant down town here in Austin.The wine bar was great a little pricey but amazing food and nice atmosphere for the fancy schmancy "Dallas" district. 2nd street down town has gotten a little uppity and doesn't have a lot of the traditional Austin casual charm but the fancy restaurant did have the most amazing mashed potatoes. Ah nothing is better than cream and lots of butter in a plate of mashed potatoes.
Today, I walked the dogs, took a long walk with a couple of friends and then went to the gym with Mike. Tomorrow is the big day, the home visit by the Golden Retriever rescue group. I cleaned up and am all ready to meet her two dogs and show her we can make good golden parents. It will be weird when we get a dog. I am sure it is going change our routine a lot but it will also be fun to have a buddy to go walking with and take to the river and the dog park. I can't wait!

Friday, February 09, 2007

Guilty Pleasure

The other morning I awoke and felt the same as any other day, but something had profoundly changed. I am not sure how it happened but I had found myself hooked on American Idol. I have always had a mild interest in the talent show that has stolen America's heart but for some reason this year I am a "we-have-to-record-it-and-I-can't-be-interrupted-while-it-is-on" hooked. Maybe it was all the heart wrenching auditions this year like the older man who fought to get an audition to give his dying wife hope or the 16 year-old, "crack baby" who sang her heart out or maybe it was the really attractive back up singer who wanted to get on Idol to validate his singing career. Whatever it was, I am hooked and I can't wait to watch the upcoming Hollywood auditions!