Crankypants

I've been feeling especially cranky lately. Maybe it's the two kids I babysit every day that test every last nerve I have. Maybe it's that I still get not enough sleep. Maybe it's that I seem to be in some kind of holding pattern. It's almost as if I'm waiting for the good stuff to happen, biding my time, gritting my teeth through the every-day crap.

I'm cranky with everyone, and it seems (to me at the very least) to be about anything. I have lots of good experiences. Went walking with Juanita last night and it was wonderful. Spent most of today at my sister's house for my nephew's 4th birthday party. The kids sleep most of the way through the night. We finally got a stove/oven (thanks to my brother and his wife, who thought it was broken and replaced it - it's not broken, just needed to be reset) for the kitchen so there is progress.

So what's the good stuff I'm waiting for? I don't know. It's a vague sense of unease. I'm really hoping that my appointment on Thursday with Dan proves the fitness plan to be still working. I just want this to be over. I honestly don't know what the deal is.

It's not cabin fever. It's not that time of the month. It's not mid-life crisis (I'm only 36!).

Maybe it's just waiting for the headache to go away. I can't remember the last time I didn't have it. blah.

Movie Review: Fired Up!

I would wait to review this, but I want to get it out there. This movie has a lot of swearing. It also sort of has nudity and lots of "gay" jokes and references. It's completely immoral.

Despite all this, I haven't laughed so hard in a really long time. This movie is HILARIOUS! It's dirty, so if you get offended by any of the stuff above you'll want to stay away. "I'm just saying."

You know how so many movies show all the good stuff in the previews? Well, this movie didn't. I mean, there was lots of good stuff in the previews, but there was lots more that wasn't shown. Brent and I laughed consistently through the entire movie.

Again, it's dirty. It's immoral. It's filthy. And it's fun.

Rated PG-13 - it earns that mark through swearing, implied nudity (covered), and really off-color humor. Interestingly, it's not derogatory in its humor (some people might disagree, I'm sure).

Anyway, there you have it. A very successful parody of a sport movie.

Progress

Felix is speaking a lot more lately. He talks all the time and tries really hard to do things himself. And he's using pretty close to complete sentences.

Last week he insisted "WeWe change bum", but when he was down on his back he couldn't figure out how to take his pants off. He felt around, paused, and said, "help!" We all got a good laugh out of it, but he did basically change his own bum. Kind of fun. We've tried pull-ups on him but he just uses them like diapers. He's still using the potty chair whenever he's naked - very regular and no accidents. I think it might be a while before he doesn't need some kind of protection at night, but I consider this great progress.

On Tuesday morning I asked him to go get a diaper so I could change him and before going anywhere he called out: "Biper! Are you in closet?" Awesome. Man I love that little kid.

Amelia is the great sleeper of the family. I still nurse her almost every day. Just for a few minutes, but we both still like it. She's a champ with the bottle too though. The nicest thing is that Brent is able to spend lots of time with her and I'm able to sleep in. Well, till Felix wakes up, usually around 7. Not much of a sleep-in, but every minute counts!

As I posted a couple weeks ago, I've started a new fitness thing. I haven't been nearly as good as I need to be, but the numbers are still moving. I'm up to almost 1600 calories a day, and I've already lost 10 pounds in the last 2 weeks. And that's with lots of cheating and slip-ups. I haven't really done very well at all, but I'm still making progress. That's some serious motivation to keep going. Thankfully, the foods I'm eating are all things that I do actually like. The biggest changes are that I'm eating less at a time but a lot more often. My worst eating habit was to go like 6+ hours without eating and then pigging out. Now I have to eat every 2 to 3 hours. It's tougher than it sounds. But results, man!

So, progress is being made. Our kitchen is finally ready for a stove and we've got one that will be moved as soon as we can commandeer a truck to the AF/Orem area for an hour. Felix is talking and being as fun as ever. Amelia is on the brink of crawling and holding her own bottle (freedom!). And I'm losing weight. Brent hasn't changed, but he's doing fine too.

The end.

Oh, I joined Twitter. I have no idea what to do with it yet, but I joined. As far as I can tell it's just another way to waste time on the web. My favorite person to stalk is Wil Wheaton. Remember him? Wesley Crusher from Star Trek Next Generation. He's hilarious.

Movie Review: Swing Vote

Turns out Kevin Costner can actually act. Who knew?

Swing Vote is a really far-fetched movie about a presidential election that all comes down to one voter. They try to explain things, but we do know this could never happen.

Thank goodness though, because Bud is NOT the person with whom you want to trust the country.

Now that you know everything about the movie, you need to know a little bit of other stuff. Like that this movie does actually make you think about how little we know about issues. Or that beer makes you stupid.

Oh wait, we already knew the thing about beer.

This movie is a bit over the top, but it does make you laugh and think. There's swearing (because apparently rednecks do a lot of that), but nothing else objectionable. It's interesting even though it is about a stupid drunk guy who's a deadbeat dad and knows nothing about politics. I really liked it.

I give this 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. Not perfect, but a pretty good ride.

Movie Review: The Proposal

Brent and I snuck out for a late movie on Saturday, leaving the kids within earshot of their grandma. The showing we wanted was sold out, surprising Brent but not me, so we ended up a bit later than we expected and wanted.

That being said, we had a great evening out.

The Proposal is about a super mean Canadian book editor who essentially blackmails her adorable and desperate (to be a book editor too) assistant into marrying her so she won't get deported.

It's predictable if you're paying attention, but the chemistry and physical comedy of the actors is so fun that it works anyway. Sandra Bullock is cute as ever, even if she is looking older. Ryan Reynolds is, um, drool-worthy.

There is one scene that I thought was a bit too much. Margaret (Sandra) gets out of the shower and, not seeing any towels, has a few moments on screen naked. Now, nothing explicit is shown, but covering your parts with hands and arms doesn't really do it for me. I was disappointed, thought it was a bit off-putting. When the two naked people (he strips on the balcony to get in the shower not realizing she is home) run into each other, you get the side view. Again, disappointing. Not that the view is bad, just completely unnecessary. You know?

I hate when movies I like have one scene that has really objectionable stuff. It really does ruin the movie for me. I guess I would consider owning this movie (and showing it to others) if I had a filter and could take out that scene. I did like it, and despite the scene, it has heart and is filled with beautiful (albeit fake) Alaskan scenery (it was filmed in Massachussettes and Rhode Island) and the leads are really fun to watch.

So, ignoring the scene, The Proposal gets 4 out of 5 stars. Not ignoring the scene, it only gets 2 1/2. Yeah, it bothered me that much. If that stuff doesn't bother you, you'll probably like it a lot. If it does bother you, wait till it's out on video and you can watch it with a filter over at my house. :)

I am your new Pampered Chef lady

That's right, I joined an MLM. But since they concentrate a lot more on the products than on building your business through recruitment, I'm totally okay with that. Especially since I love the products.

I had my first party last night. It went fine, and amazingly enough, I'm just more excited about doing it. I'm going to get a website for internet orders soon, but in the meantime you can contact me to get all sorts of kitchen goodies.

I might hit you up to host a party. All that means is that you invite some people over for free food and a kitchen tool demonstration (there is the option of a catalog show where you just pass around catalogs and collect orders from anyone interested). Sounds easy enough, right? I promise there will never be any pressure to buy. I'm just not that kind of salesperson. :) Considering I'm right at the beginning (and really just testing it all out), I need practice.

Thank goodness I love to cook with good kitchen tools, and eat healthy and interesting food. Right?

Just a few recent pics

My fat blog

Since I don't really want to make this a blog all about being fat, I've taken that elsewhere. You can find all the information about training with Dan over at Say Goodbye, Fatty!

Funny story... When I went to talk to Dan on Monday he asked about my husband. Of course I need his support to make this journey, but it turns out that Dan and Brent grew up in the same ward in Brigham City and Dan was even Brent's piano teacher for about a year. How's that for a small world?

Anyway, I'll only put up milestones here so you don't have to worry about lots of fat talk. For that, head over to the other blog. Thanks. :)

Movie Review: UP

A+ I don't know what else I should say. Honestly, it was amazing, fantastic, heart-warming, hilarious, impressive (the 3-D was awesome), entertaining (no slow parts), and lots of other positive adjectives.

Within the first 10 or 15 minutes you're crying and completely invested in the characters. And by the end you're almost hoping you can get Christmas cards from the characters because you feel so close to them. And they feel so real!

This movie is great for all ages. It is among the best of Pixar's arsenal, and that's saying a lot considering that movie house is behind Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

Honestly, my only complaint was that there was no short movie at the beginning. But not like the movie itself has faults.

Rated PG, appropriate for everyone (and, more importantly, entertaining for everyone), etc. Go see it and love it with me. :)