Please, please, please, please don’t suck. Please.

And a rider for this post:

I had one of my classic Bad Days on Monday. It started with waking up early thanks to a charlie horse in my left calf that left me limping from muscle pain all day, a coffee pot failure, an ATM failure, multiple work failures that resulted in me getting nothing done all day, and then finding out that Jay’s daycare is closed from Dec. 22 – Jan. 3, leaving me with no care for him and neither of us has any vacation.

Oh, and the waterbed mattress is broken, although I’m secretly glad about that. It’s uncomfortable, so I cheer the opportunity to get a regular mattress. I’d rather sleep on the sofa, which I did last night with my new quilt until we can replace our mattress.

We haven’t seen Harry Potter yet either. Hopefully we’ll manage to make it to that. Certainly it will be in theaters for awhile because December is a busy month for celebrating birthdays and that whole Christmas/New Year thing. I’m not sure we can make both Tron and Harry Potter in one month.

How did we accomplish this? The drive-in. There are still three in the Kansas City area. The cost is decent. You can bring in your own food, although at least two of them ask you not to grill. The one we went to on Friday — The Boulevard — still has a playground. People also brought frisbees and were playing on an open grass area. The speakers on the outside are nice and loud, and there is digital audio tuned in over your car speaker. This one even provided some surround sound, as I heard sounds coming from the back of the car that I didn’t hear from the front. The weather was nice, if not a bit cool on Friday. You have to deal with heat a little more when the summer nights are muggy and in the 80s, but those are good times to bring lawn chairs and sit outside your car.

It is a really good deal, especially considering that it can cost Mac and I $10/hour just for the privilege to leave the house without the kids. That’s why you don’t see us out that often.

I started on a task on my list that I can do with minimal finger usage — the file server. It is a terabyte RAID that only had 307MB of free space left. That would give me enough space for about 11 photos from my camera before we’d be out. I started sorting through the files today. There is some old stuff on there. Wow. And duplicate things due to it horrible organization. I also started going through photos — making sure they were all tagged and unneeded ones were deleted. I’m still in 2001. I worked on the file server for about 5 hours today before I just couldn’t do more. We now have around 25GB free.

We had Popcorn Movie Slumber Party Night tonight. I make the kids beds on the floor, make popcorn, and we’ll watch a movie before going to sleep. Tonight we watched Coraline. It was my first time to see it. I thought it was fabulous! Ada is settled down with her sleeping bag, and I’m about to do the same on the other sofa. Jay had to be put in his bed because he wouldn’t stay lying down. I wonder if they will remember these nights?

Long time fans of the Star Trek franchise say JJ Abrams’ enjoyable, engaging prequel betrays what Star Trek is all about.

Most people know that I am not a Star Trek fan. It was probably a surprise to Mac that I picked this one for one of our very rare outings to see a movie. I like the things that JJ Abrams does, I heard good things about this movie, and I do like SciFi, so I wanted to give it a go. I really enjoyed it^*!

*And not just because of the martinis or the lovely chocolate brownie served w/ coffee ice cream at the end**.

**Since we get to see maybe 3 or 4 movies a year, we always sit in the VIP section/theatre. The cost is worth it.

Mac and I did get to leave the house yesterday without children, thanks to Hilary and Camilo. We went out to see Twilight, since it was the one playing in the VIP section. I had a coffee with Bailey’s Caramel Irish Cream and Godiva Chocolate Liquor. Mac had a Red Bull and Vodka, and we had chicken quesadillas as a snack to tide us over until dinner. That’s why we always get tickets to the VIP section. I left the movie with some extreme lust…over the Cullen’s house. I want not only the house, but the location of the house. I have not read the book, nor do I plan to after seeing the movie. It wasn’t a terrible movie, but I think I would have liked it a lot better 20 years ago. The only thing that made me want more–besides the house–was the preview for The Spirit^*. Graphic novel noir usually makes me happy. We ran into a few stores after the movie, went out for dinner, and then came home where I made some more hot cocoa mix and finally watched Wall-E.

And lastly, my weekly menu.

Saturday: Whatever we had in the fridge and cabinets that was edible and couldn’t be labeled as dessert.

Sunday: Mac and I ate out. The kids had Aladdin’s Cafe.

Monday: Again, leftovers. There was a lot of food made recently. Mac hasn’t been feeling well today, so I dug up stuff from the fridge.

Tuesday: Baked potato soup

Wednesday: Chili–a small pan of Cafeteria Chili for the masses, and some of M’s Best Chili Evar! for me and Mac if he feels like it.

Thursday: Spinach ravioli with a sauce yet to be determined. Perhaps a vegetable on the side.

Friday: Leftovers or a Guinness braised brisket. It depends on the quantity of leftovers from Tuesday – Friday.

M’s chili would probably would fulfill my “make one new thing a week” goal. I’ve been doing well since I’ve started posting my menus. At least one thing every week is something I have never made before.

*Beware, it will load the trailer, loud blaring sounds included.

I am looking forward to fall–sweatshirts, cool breezes blowing through the windows, crunchy leaves, warm food.

I also have a long standing rule^* that any movie that is viewed in the month of October must be a horror flick. I’ll have to make up a queue of my favorite horror movies and try to watch 1-2 a week.

*It pains me to attached the adjective “long” onto that. I started this rule shortly after I started college. *Sigh*

I’m trying to remember when I saw this preview. It was when we went to see a movie which is rare these days. Perhaps it was Transformers? Either way, when I saw the preview, I about jumped out of my seat when I proclaimed “Godzilla!”

I have been staying away from any information about this movie, but I don’t think it is the fabled movie about Godzilla that focuses on the people being attacked rather than about Godzilla.

So, again, don’t tell me. Hopefully I will get to see this one in the theatre. Please, let this be good. Is anybody else going?

Gingerdead Man

Evil never tasted so good!
When Sarah Leigh (Robin Sydney) testifies against three murderers in a death penalty case, she never expects them to return to life in the form of delicious desserts. But that’s exactly what happens when their cremated ashes accidentally fall into a batch of batter and are baked into a trio of gingerbread men. Now, the adorable yet evil cookies will stop at nothing to find the woman who sent them to the electric chair.