Overture, Curtains, Lights...

I miss movies. Daniel is finally of an age where he would sit through one in a theater, but I highly doubt we could get away with having a 1 year old there as well. A good action / escape flick like Cowboys & Aliens sounds great about now. H may try to take Daniel and his cousin Nicholas to the Drive-In in the near future. A great summer adventure!

Wonder if I can get away with making popcorn while I am up at 3am with the little guy surfing the On Demand selections on cable?

My Brain on Summer

Summer, feh! I've got no excuses, really. June has been cool to cold, and raining. I bought Daniel a Slip-N-Slide to try this year, but in the grand tradition of experiencing drought as soon as you buy a kid some rainboots we have yet to use it. Where is my summer???

My scattered summer brain has started and stopped a number of blog posts that couldn't seem to get beyond a "cliff's notes" stage. Like:

- Driver beware! At least in Massachusetts, the state police are pulling over cars to enforce the "move over" law. (If there are police, emergency personnel, etc. at the side of the road you are obligated to move to farther lanes.) I understand the law, but man did we fall into a ticket trap last week.

-Must find more activities for the 3.5 year old this summer! If we are leaving one activity, he wants to know where we are going next. I find him running laps of our tiny deck when we are at home. Any recommendations?

-Tickled to find the Retro TV Network on one of the random Comcast stations that I don't usually frequent. Magnum PI/vintage Tom Selleck has helped me wind down the past few nights after the kiddo is in bed. Anyone want to volunteer a favorite vintage TV show that you can't help but watch? Particularly one you haven't seen for awhile?

Tonight I am off to a Thirty-One purse party with the girls, and to perhaps drink a margarita. Hopefully to usher in SUMMER!

Feel the Burn

One of my favorite shows returns tonight, 9pm. Burn Notice features sexy, savvy characters, and lots of fun spy stuff mixed with a healthy dose of humor. It's actually shot in Miami, and the city itself lends lots of flavor to the show. If you haven't caught it already, check it out! I can't wait!

Rambling

I learned to type on a real, honest-to-goodness typewriter. I'm occasionally finding it a bit disconcerting as I watch my 3.5 year old zoom around Noggin.com playing computer games with Diego or the Backyardigans. He's become pretty adept with the mouse, and even remembers where to click off and on various pages and how to print! There are so many things that I grew up with, that my kid may never see (except for Mommy reminiscing): Real LPs (heck, even cassette tapes), VHS (remember your first VCR?). The list goes on. Just another of those Mommy Moments where I wonder: Where has my baby gone?

Reading: Just finished The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. A mystery set in Salem, MA about a woman with a gift - a seer - and her unique family. I have a soft spot for books set in familiar places, and Salem is a wonderful place to visit.

Listening: Free* by Jim's Big Ego. Erin introduced me to Boston's folk music scene, and JBE is a long-time favorite. They used to do a big Halloween show every year at Club Passim where audience and band members alike showed up in costume. Great music with a quirky sense of humor. Great fun!

Watching: Many shows are gone for the summer (LOST, Heroes) or gone for good (Battlestar Galactica, Terminator:TSCC). I've recently been enjoying In Plain Sight, and Burn Notice is back in early June - Yay!

Hoping to see: Pamela, my sci-fi partner in crime, and I are trying to carve time out of our schedules to get out to see the new Star Trek. It looks fabulous!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

A Treat

I love my little guy to pieces, but there are moments where my switch always being in Mom Mode just becomes a bit exhausting. H gifted me with a few hours of time to myself this afternoon by taking Daniel for a visit with his Gram and Uncle Bruce.

It was a delightful smorgasbord of things to do - some necessary like a load of laundry, but most were not and just completely my aimless wandering. A power nap, computer work without the guilt, nibbling a snack of avocado, reading a chapter of Driving Sideways while curled under the bedcovers, watching non-kid approved programs such as a documentary on Hollywood folks who escaped Nazi Germany, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives all at the same time. I also got the chance to sneakily wash Daniel's much-loved blankie while he was gone.

The boys returned, and we bustled about dinner. As is typical of late, Daniel was more interested in his robots and coloring and wrestling his father than eating. We all had hysterics when one of us exclaimed: Let me see Daniel! Preparing to scoop him up, only to have Daniel reply: Dam-el isn't ON right now! As though he were a TV show we were all happily watching. Then there were Curious George stories and bedtime.

Buzzing about at my own pace was refreshing. I must work at finding small concentrated moments to do this more often.

Bunny Hell

Our cable has been out for the past few days. Only on one of the two TVs, but it means there is NO WAY OUT. My Spiderman-obsessed, GI-Joe, Incredible Hulk, Darth Vader superhero action figure kid has discovered the bunnies Max and Ruby.

And Mommy has discovered what must be one of the newer circles of hell. It's an adorable cartoon, but we're on the eleventy-billionth viewing. Cable guy comes tomorrow, and we are high-tailing this one back to the library ASAP. Luckily bedtime went down without a hitch and I've gotten in some computer/quiet non-"Max and Ruvee" time this evening. Sanity to resume tomorrow.

The SciFi Legacy Continues...

In 1977 my whole family took a jaunt to the local movie theater to see this little movie called Star Wars. So began my love affair with all things science fiction (and a huge crush on Harrison Ford). I began reading and watching anything and everything I could get my hands on... these ran the spectrum from watching The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, and reading any book by Harlan Ellison (I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream). Even, (I shudder now) watching Buck Rogers in the 25th Century... pickings were sometimes slim.

It tickles me that Daniel has now discovered Star Wars. I think it started with the release of the animated movie recently, but instead of jumping on that bandwagon I showed him the original Star Wars. Having my three year old run around the house talking about Artoo and Chewbacca and how he really has to find Darth Vader's helmet has brought me no end of chuckles lately. If you check out my "reading" and "watching" sidebar items, I still gravitate towards things fantastical. I wonder if Daniel will continue to take after his mother...

Smooth is Smooth Baby

Summer TV can seem like a bit of a wasteland. And not only ain't there much to escape into on the Tube, but many of my favorites (LOST, Battlestar Galactica) have vanished for awhile and have already projected their series end dates.

A glorious exception is USA network's Burn Notice. Jeffrey Donovan plays Michael Westen - a former spy, under a "burn notice" - for all intents and purposes pink slipped out of the business. Stuck in Miami with no credit, no job history and not much information to go on he spends his time helping people and chasing down who did this to him and why. Season 2 recently started, and I am thoroughly enjoying this little Thursday night jaunt into sun, sexy scenery, engaging characters and witty dialogue.

A night on the town...

As a teenager I can recall spending weekend after weekend at Pine Knob in Michigan on outings, just seeing whomever was playing at the time: Huey Lewis and the News, oohh there was that double bill of The Thompson Twins and Berlin... yep, even the Pointer Sisters! (OK, looking back I'm a little agog at that one...)

Even before the baby, and in the days of ever-climbing ticket prices, I'd gotten a lot pickier about an evening out. It just has to be someone I really want to see if I'm going to make that effort.

H decided to splurge for my (ahem) milestone birthday this year and nabbed us some tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld when he breezed through town. I didn't quite anticipate heading into Boston with the rest of the Red Sox faithful last Friday. We made it on time, but the jockeying for position at the **&^%$! tollbooths made me a little nervous. Thanks MBTA. Jerry was in fine form for a (mostly) family-friendly show. Refreshing to have an outing holding hands with my guy and not keeping one eye peeled for: Where did the 2.5 year old just go?

It must be a measure of my TV addiction however, that I kept half-expecting to see George, Elaine and Kramer pop out on stage as well...

A pet peeve, and something stupid...

Our cable service has that lovely on-demand feature. Perfect for when Daniel insists that he really wants to watch Thomas, and Mama really needs to take a shower. My pet peeve is this: When the programming is over, the screen reverts to a menu with a "preview screen" up top. And some of the stuff they are previewing is scary! I can remember points where the Harry Potter films were in pretty heavy rotation, for example.

So yesterday the above scenario happened. And hearing Daniel start to get pretty upset I lunged for the couch where I had last thrown the clicker. And completely crunched my right foot. Life sometimes has ways of asking you to slow down. I'd just prefer they not come with a puffy turning-purple toe and a pronounced limp.

Stop the Insanity!

We watch TV at our house. Courtesy of the local library, Uncle B and a variety of sources we have seen a spike in available DVDs. The toddler prince of the DmF household has suddenly sparked to the idea that Hey! These sparkly disc-things give me control over what's on the TV!

Mama is trying to figure out how to not have to watch the trash truck video for the eight bajillionth time.

When my family arrived for Thanksgiving, TV football arrived with them. After about the third day, Daniel was getting antsy at having no TV control. When he was finally told that we could put one of his shows in he very purposefully walked around the kitchen table to tell Uncle A - No. As in: It's not your turn anymore buddy! We all roared. I've said it before. The kid knows what he wants.

The best laid plans... and all that

I've been craving some "get together with friends" time lately. With kids, without kids, it almost doesn't matter. It feels like a need to be sure and use these "nice" days to their fullest extent before the weather forces us all indoors on a more permanent basis. I guess I tend to hibernate during the winter months.

It just hasn't been happening, which is frustrating. My sister-in-law with the 3 year old, the closest cousin to Daniel's age, and I have been trying to get together for weeks. A busted water heater, various work schedules, and a dead car have thrown themselves across our respective paths. Pamela and I have been been dealing with similar items - that dratted water heater, a cracked car windshield, braces, various illnesses, work commitments, family commitments.... Despite all this, I signed us (I thought) up for the November 12th showing of Battlestar Galactica Razor at a local theater.

Turns out the organizers, in their infinite wisdom had deemed it one signup per email address. A fact which had escaped me. Especially as I was busy trying to track down a confirmation email that I never received. I mean really. It occasionally happens, but how many people go to the movies solo? It should have been two "tickets" per signup... My inner Type A/Event Organizer was rebelling at how this whole thing was put together. Especially against all the gaming commercials at the beginning of each reel of the movie. At one point I was wondering if the projectionist had pushed the wrong button, and we were back at the beginning, but I digress...

Pamela, still not feeling well, excused herself insisting that I stay to watch the show. So again... no get together with a good friend who I haven't seen in awhile. Sigh.

On the plus side: for Battlestar Galactica fans out there, I can recommend the movie premiering on the SciFi Channel on November 24th. They have done an excellent job weaving the backstory of the Pegasus through with events and characters that we already know. There is solid acting by all involved, gripping action scenes, and I am always impressed when writers pay such attention to detail.

I, in the meantime, will be back to trying to connect face to face with the friends in my life.

Coincidence?

One of Daniel's newest favorite shows is "Word World." I like it too, as it is very letters and literacy-based. Letters make up the characters and pieces of "Word World". It is hard to see in this picture, but Ant is made up of the letters A N T. It's much easier to see the B A R N.

Just a small digression here: I have been doing the single-parent thing since Saturday, and so I'm a bit bleary. I love my kid to pieces, but sunup to sundown for this many days without a break is a wee bit taxing.

Anyhow, I stumbled into the kitchen this evening to start dinner, and found on the refrigerator in magnets: A N T. I suppose I'm going to have to reserve judgement, as Daniel wouldn't replicate it... he's a very focused kid, and this afternoon the focus has been on how to get Mama to knock her head against the wall (and for how many times and how hard). But... coincidence? Sheesh! Do I start saving for MIT now??

Kick-Butt Mama

One of my favorite shows has always been Alias. I don't own the DVDs, but I can imagine myself watching and re-watching Jennifer Garner as kick-ass agent Sydney Bristow.

Out of the celeb Moms that are out there/in the news, Jennifer has always seemed the most down-to-earth. Married to Ben Affleck and Mom to Violet, the main paparazzi shots that I've seen are of them out in the park, at the grocery store... just being a family. I find that refreshing.

It looks like she is returning to the action scene in a new movie opening September 28th and starring with Chris Cooper and Jamie Foxx. The Kingdom: A team of U.S. investigators set out to find the perpetrators behind a deadly attack in a Middle Eastern country.

And it appears Alias co-star / hottie Michael Vartan also has a new show premiering this fall.

Peeved

As long as I am on a roll:

I was blog-surfing recently and read a funny post about Dunkin' Donuts having it out for the author... I'll be darned if I can remember where I saw it, and I'll be back to link to it if I can figure it out. If it's you, drop me a note and/or just know that you tickled my funny bone. We've been visiting DD on a regular basis this summer as the two year old has developed a real yen for their smoothies or "hobies" (?) as he calls them. Our order is nearly always the same, only the price constantly changes. Can't figure that one out... But with an antsy kid in the backseat I'm not gonna argue too loudly, particularly when it's in our favor. What I find particularly irritating however is the fact that I place my order over the "squawk box" only to reach the window and have the person ringing me up say: Now what did you have? Why do I bother? And there is always at least one thing not right. Today's order was: a small tropical smoothie, small iced tea with sugar and lemon, a glazed donut and six munchkins (2 plain, 2 glazed, 2 sugar). What I got was the smoothie, the tea minus the sugar, a powdered sugar donut and 4 munchkins. Go figure.

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I am, shall we say, a bit lax on the issue of the two year old and TV. The whole "No TV Before Two Years Old" movement is great in theory, but it just didn't work out that way around our house. And part of my whole "Dirt Makes Fat" philosophy is all about ditching the Mommy guilt, because goodness knows I certainly don't need any more.

I do, however, try to keep an eye on what is on TV. Nothing too violent or racy, and our lack of stereo equipment sometimes means that we have the country videos on in the background for a little music around the house. Daniel and Trace Adkins, Gretchen Wilson, Rodney Atkins and others are really becoming best buds.

There should be the same restrictions on commercials as there are on TV shows, though. We will have something pretty innocuous on the tube and suddenly there is a commercial for Halloween or The Ring II or some such movie on... and the commercials are just as bad as the flicks. They have their place, but I shouldn't have to go diving for the remote to keep these images away from my kid.

That's all I'm saying.

TVLand Purgatory

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