‘Tis The Season

Last night we watched Merry Christmas Mr. Bean, which is still one of the funniest things you can watch at Christmas time.

I’m working all week, thankfully just during the day, so I do have my evenings free. I am looking forward to the museum Christmas party on Friday night. I spoke with Mary last night, and she said I am very sorely missed on Mondays. That things are not the same without me, and that Rich is sore that I haven’t been emailing him. Ha ha. I laughed I thought that was so funny. Well, I’ll make sure to say hello to him on Friday. Geoff is going to come with me, as Mary said spouses were welcome. She’s bringing her husband, whom I haven’t met yet.

So due to my schedule, and because Geoff has to go to Boulder on Monday, looks like Saturday may be the day we celebrate Christmas. I will try to take a picture of the tree to post. That means we have to find time this week to make cinnamon buns, as it’s an Armstrong tradition to eat cinnamon buns Christmas morning.

The Golden Globe nominations came out this morning, and while I wasn’t totally surprised to see them overlook Passion Of The Christ, I was shocked to see them nominate Zach Braff for best actor in a comedy!



I think this is their first ever nomination for a Golden Globe. Maybe this will get the Emmys to acknowledge that the whole cast is outstanding. No new episodes until January (late January). But the DVD is supposed to come out next year. Can’t wait!

Oh yeah, Nicole Kidman quit the movie remake of The Producers. Haven’t heard yet who will replace her, but I’d love to see the actress who played Ulla in the L.A. production we saw take over. She had a fabulous voice.

Gotta go to work. Legend of Earthsea is on SciFi tonight. I’m going to try to tune in, though it doesn’t look like they are sticking that close to the books.

I’ll close with a quote from the Simpsons.

Homer’s ghost: Marge you gotta help me, I have to do one good deed to get into heaven.

Marge: Well I got a whole list of chores: clean the garage, paint the house…

Homer’s ghost: Whoa whoa whoa. I’m just trying to get in, I’m not running for Jesus.

Ocean’s Twelve

Such a good movie! I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so I’ll hold off on saying anything I liked. But it was a great movie, definitely worth the matinee price we paid to see it. It merits being watched again. I will have to get this on DVD.

I’ll close with a quote from the movie, but I’ll leave out who says it.

“it’s almost like this kabbalah stuff doesn’t work!”

Bad Shopper

I went against my own rules and bought myself a gift before Christmas. I know, I never do that, I hate when people do that. But it’s something I honestly believe no one would buy me, so there is little danger of getting it as a gift. What did I get me?



Christmas With The Rat Pack. It’s a great cd, we listened to it last night.

I also went over my budget for Geoff’s stocking stuffers. But only by a little bit. But it’s hard. Working at Harry & David there are so many great gift ideas.

I am done shopping, save one tiny thing I need to get before I mail off Kelly’s gift. Everyone else is done! Sigh. All that’s left to do now is open gifts. 🙂

The noisy neighbors moved out. Not the ones below us, but the ones that were kitty-corner from us. The girls from NY. And they were just starting to be quiet regularly. Oh well, we can only pray the next neighbors are quiet.

We watched School Of Rock the other night, since Geoff hadn’t seen it. I think it’s hilarious, but it has caused me to have Immigrant Song playing in my head over and over.

I’m going to close with a quote from this week’s episode of Scrubs.

Dr. Cox: Carla, Carla, have you seen newbie?

Carla: Oh you mean he got off your leash?

Dr. Cox: Ha, give me a break. The kid’s like like a, have you ever seen a drunk baby? Eh, it’s a long story involving my son, rum cake, and a low counter. Suffice to say, as it turns out, at first, it’s endearing to watch them bounce off of the walls, but then you take your eyes off of them for one second and BAM! They’ve got a bucket on their head and they’re plowing right through your brand new flat screen TV. God save me, it was barely out of the box. The point is…newbie is MY drunk baby.

An iPod In A Pear Tree

Geoff said he nearly bought another iPod when he was shopping on Sunday. But fear of me kicking his butt stopped him. He’s very enamored with the photo iPod. Myself, having seen the U2 iPod in person, am in love with the black.

Often while I am walking and listening to my iPod, I laugh out loud at the music it chooses. It is permanently on shuffle, so I never know what I am going to get. I almost wonder if I shouldn’t be ashamed of some of the stuff on it, but I have no shame. I like to listen Bryan Adams on my iPod. If that is wrong I don’t want to be right. 🙂 Alright, I’ll post the last 15 songs my iPod played.

Out of Touch – Hall & Oates

I Believe – REM

Let It Whip – Dazz Band

Every Day – Phillips, Craig & Dean

Can’t Stop This Thing We Started – Bryan Adams

Friday I’m In Love – The Cure

This Time Tomorrow – Captain Tractor

Are We Afraid – Toad The Wet Sprocket

The Boy Is Mine – Brandy & Monica

A Girl Like You – Edwyn Collins

Push It – Salt-N-Pepa

Call Me – Blondie

Paradise By The Dashboard Light – Meatloaf

Better That Way – Easily Amused

She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5

Okay new topic.

Work is busy. I haven’t been to the museum in a month, but I made sure I got the evening off that Jeff & Rich scheduled the Christmas potluck/party. I really hope my friends will be there. I don’t know what I will bring to share, perhaps some of the infamous Harry & David Pepper & Onion Relish. It’s a dip you mix with cream cheese, and it’s infamous. It’s much more likely I’ll bring something I would eat, since who knows if anyone else will. 🙂 Picky eaters rule!

I’ve been a strange mix of emotions. Weird things set me off, I can’t really predict how I will respond to stuff. I guess specifically, I find myself being more sensitive than I ought to be. I feel hurt by things more easily than usual. We all know the culprit of this. But I truly hate that. I don’t like being so sensitive. I am usually the first one to point out when others are being too sensitive. Well, nothing to be done about that. I thankfully have Geoff to talk sense into me.

Speaking of feelings,last week, I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was feeling I used to get when I worked downtown in Edmonton. The feeling was always because I thought I was going to see someone I didn’t necessarily want to see. Why I had this feeling in Denver is what is odd. Who could I possibly see in Denver that I didn’t want to? Maybe it’s just a mall vibe. 🙂 My dreams are still being weird.

Saturday we spent 2 hours writing out our Christmas cards & letters, and I dropped them in the mail on Monday. It’s nice to have that off my to-do list. It was a lot of work. Our apartment building is having a contest for the best decorated balcony. It’s inspiring ( or tempting) us to do more to our balcony. We currently have some lights on it.

Speaking of lights, Brock Skywalker wrote on his blog about his dislike for Christmas lights. He essentially said the only place he feels that does lights right is the Legislative Grounds. Those words made me feel lachrymose (I have a thesaurus!). There are few things I miss about our first apartment in Edmonton. But the big thing was having the Leg grounds for my backyard, and walking through it in the early morning or in the evening at Christmastime, when there were no other souls about. And the lights were perfect, the air was quiet, save for the music they would play over the speakers. My favorite song they would play, that would make the grounds seem magical, and bring a smile to my face, was Waltz Of The Flowers (Tchaikovsky). I do cherish that Christmas tradition we had. Walking the Leg with Doug. 🙂

I’ll close with a quote from a Christmas movie, Scrooged.

Earl Cross: All day long I listen to people give me excuses why they can’t work. My legs hurt. My back aches. I’M ONLY FOUR.

Oh Canada!

So I read on a few blogs that the CBC put out a contest for people to pick who they thought was (trumpet sound) The Greatest Canadian! There were names on the list I didn’t know, and names who are way unworthy. But it was funny to look at.

Last night, I was flipping through the channels, and I saw a familiar face. It was Rick Mercer (#50 on the list). He was on a PBS program NewsHour, along with Mark Kingwell, a professor from Toronto, and Margaret Wente, from The Globe & Mail. I had my doubts that there would be intelligent thoughts coming from The Globe & Mail, as the only other person from that paper I saw on American television was a tool. But Wente, Kingwell and Mercer all presented themselves terrificly. Even though I did not agree with some things they said, they could at least say it intelligently. The best comment I heard was something I’ve been saying for a long time, but it doesn’t always get through to people. Margaret Wente said Canadians don’t understand the U.S. as well as they think they do, and Mark Kingwell agreed. But Kingwell added that Canada is far more different from America than Americans think. My other favorite comment, again by Wente was, “I think sometimes Canadians tend to be too obsessed with the past”. That’s so Canada! That’s me, that’s people I know! 🙂 You can read a transcript of it here.

Speaking of Canada, it’s still chilly here. We haven’t gotten any new snow, but the temperature has been cold enough that the ice isn’t quite melting. I slipped on a patch of it today while I was doing my errands. I’m fine, my hand and butt broke my fall. I wasn’t paying attention to walking, which I should be doing with my growing body.

I am nearly done my shopping! I really have only Geoff’s stocking stuffers to buy, and a gift for my favorite cousin. We got gifts from Colin, Dawn & Dylan yesterday and they are sitting under the tree. I’m hoping to post a picture of the tree maybe this weekend. The Christmas letter we send out is practically done, but I haven’t begun to think about what we’re doing about cards. In past years I stamped my own, but wasn’t up to it this year. I can’t believe how large our Christmas card list is, we need to stop making friends or something. 🙂

I have Saturday off work, which is nice. Geoff and I will be able to observe our Peet’s ritual. That’s all that we really have planned for the weekend.

Kevin Smith is super excited to be doing a guest spot on Degrassi: The Next Generation. He says it’s fulfilling a life long dream. Dude, that is hilarious. I now have to close with a quote from The Drew Carey Show that sums up Kevin’s life long dream.

Kate O’Brien: Yeah, is pathetisad a word?