The Tao Of Nathaniel

(the following snippet of conversation took place in my car on the way to his swim lesson)

Nathaniel: "Boys have it so much easier than girls."

Me: "Oh yeah? Why do you think that?"

Nathaniel: (thinks for a minute) "We can pee standing up."

Me: *laughing*

Nathaniel: "And we don't have to wipe."

Me: "Is that it, or is there more?"

Nathaniel: "Trust me. You do NOT want me to go there!"

I Am Iron (Wo)Man

You Are Iron

You take your time and make sure things are done right. You hate to make mistakes, no matter how big or small. You choose your words carefully to make sure you communicate effectively. You always get your point across. You aren't afraid of adventure but you don't seek it out. You rather tend to your own garden. You pride yourself on being detail oriented. You never forget about anyone or anything.

What Periodic Element Are You?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

*cue Black Sabbath* Pretty ironic result for someone who is anemic.

Funny Church Sign

I don't know what's worse: consecutive days with a heat index of 115 degrees, or digging out from under a foot of snow.

Mother Nature's Oven

Forget frying eggs (yuck!) on the sizzling pavement...give me some dashboard chocolate chip cookies! Note to self: must try this if this heatwave lasts any longer.

Happy Birthday, Cameron!

My nephew turns 10 years old today. Hope your special day is every bit as wonderful as you are. Love you, buddy.

My Sentiments Exactly

Monday Movie Meme: Favorite Film To Date

This week's topic is all about favorites. Share on your blog your favorite YTD movie - not necessarily one released this year, just a new-to-you film viewed this year. You can play along here.

No disrespect to The King's Speech, The Fighter, or Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, but my favorite movie thus far in 2011 is the hilarious Bridesmaids. Bridesmaids is the story of Annie (Kristen Wiig), a maid of honor whose life unravels as she leads her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), and a group of colorful bridesmaids (including Rose Byrne as "Helen" and Melissa McCarthy as "Megan") on a wild ride down the road to matrimony. A wild ride that includes an unfortunate case of food poisoning at an upscale bridal salon, a ruined bachelorette trip to Las Vegas, and an intense competition between Annie and Helen, not only for control of the festivities, but also for the title of Lillian's "best friend".

I know that Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph are the "stars" of the film, but as funny as they both are, they tend to be overshadowed any time they have to share screen time with the fantastic Melissa McCarthy. She was an absolute laugh riot! Loved her. Also great is Irish actor Chris O'Dowd, who plays Wiig's love interest. When he first appeared, I knew I had seen him somewhere before, but just couldn't place him. After wracking my brain for half the movie, it finally hit me: he was Simple Simon in "Pirate Radio" and Gen. Edward Edwardian in "Gulliver's Travels".

Jungle Fever

You Are a Lion

You're very self-reliant and apt to do your own thing. You know what you want out of life. You are a total visionary. You have your own idea about utopia, as impractical as it may be. You have sharp senses and a heightened awareness. Very little escapes your notice. Decision making is easy for you. You have a spot on intuition that's been with you your whole life.

What Jungle Animal Are You?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

I Think I'm In The Depression Stage Already

How many more days until Pottermore opens?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

68 years old today and still causing trouble :)

Thursday 13: Pugs, Not Drugs

13 pictures of my pug, Mushi Mu.

1. 
2. 

Yep, I'm Circumstantially Infertile

The Truth About Childless Women

The grief over not only not being a mother, but now also suffering from feeling 'less than' because I just simply hadn't found love (or mutual love), was at times overwhelming. And as I saw couples younger than I getting sympathy for their biological infertility, I wondered why all I got were accusations of not doing enough, not trying hard enough. Trying too hard. Being too picky. Not being picky enough... And the hardest comment to defend: "You better hurry up!" (Hurry up and fall in love?)

Well, Hellooo Neville Longbottom

Puberty was most definitely good to you.

Monday Movie Meme: We're Having A Heat Wave

This week's movie topic is all about Heat. Share on your blog movies containing a heat wave or extreme summer heat that was present in but not necessarily the focus of the film.

The War (1994)- Set in Juliette, Mississippi during the summer of 1970, The War is the story of a shell shocked Vietnam War vet, Stephen Simmons (Kevin Costner), dealing with personal and employment issues while his children, Stu and Lidia (the wonderful Elijah Wood and Lexi Randall), fight a war of a different kind against a family of bullies (the Lipnickis). Putting your anger aside ("Sometimes all it takes is a split second to do something you regret the whole rest of your life") , forgiving those who wrong you, compromising for the benefit of the community, and moving forward with the struggle for hope with joy in your heart are just a few of the life lessons offered in this wonderfully moving film.

Just a word of caution: if you decide to watch TheWar, don't forget the Kleenex. Elijah Wood and the littlest Lipnicki boy will make you cry. Guaranteed.

Wondering

Why do the bridesmaids serving WE Tv's Bridezillas put up with the verbal abuse, bitchy attitudes, and insane demands heaped upon them? I realize that planning a wedding can be stressful, but that is no excuse to act like a spoiled, self-centered dictator. I love my friends and relatives, but if any of them had ever pulled that bridezilla crap on me, well...let's just say they would've had to have surgery to remove my bridesmaid dress from one of their bodily orifices.

I'm Not A Ravenpuff?

Your result for The Sorting Hat Test...

Slytherclaw

You scored 53% Order/Chaos, and 44% Moral/Rational

Rationality with an orderly/chaotic split. What you strongly know is that you try to be rational, objective, and like to consider things as shades of gray. On order, you see the value of rules and organization but equally can become impatient and advocate a rather loose system. Your strengths arise from your ability to consider both radicals and straightlaced authority objectively; however, it can turn on you when others feel betrayed by the fact that there are few you support unconditionally and consistently.



The 4-grid I used to determine this is as follows:

	Chaotic	Orderly
Moral	Gryffindor	Hufflepuff
Rational	Slytherin	Ravenclaw

Take The Sorting Hat Test at HelloQuizzy

Happy Independence Day!

Beaker rules.

Diana At 50

Is it me, or is this photo of the late Princess Diana walking alongside the Duchess of Cambridge a bit on the creepy side? I can only hope that the Princes William and Harry won't see this magazine cover. It would be so hard being confronted with a picture of what could have been. I think Diana would be thrilled with Kate and would embrace her like the daughter she always wanted but never had.

It's hard to believe that she would be 50 years old today. Seems like only yesterday when she was the shy 20 year old bride walking down the aisle at St.Paul's Cathedral. The fact that she has been gone almost 14 years seems unreal.

I miss her. Still.

How To Annoy Me

Park your shopping cart in front of the entire Anniversary section of greeting cards and then rudely ignore the fact that I need to look at cards in the same section.

Free Agent Frenzy?

More like free agent fizzle, at least for this fan of the St.Louis Blues. I wasn't really expecting any blockbuster signings (due to the team being for sale again) but c'mon! The only free agent the Blues signed was goaltender Brian Elliot? No offense to Elliot, but I thought we already had a solid back up goalie in Ty Conklin. And where does this leave Ben Bishop and Jake Allen?

I was hoping we could sign at least one forward or defensemen from the UFA pool, but it seems like the same four teams (Florida, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Columbus...I'm looking at you) have greedily snatched up all the desirables. Watching all these teams take steps to better themselves while your team does nothing but sit with their thumbs up their butt really bites.

At least TJ Oshie and Matt D'Agostini were re-signed. I can put away the torch and pitchfork and cancel the revolution. For now.

Happy Canada Day!

Just a heads up, Larry and Teena. If this happens next November (God forbid), I'm moving in with one of you :) Depending on who that candidate is, I might have to consider a move to New Zealand.

Hope all my Canadian peeps are having a fun and fabulous holiday!

P.S. Send me a beaver tail, eh?