Getting back to normal...or what passes for it

I'm up earlier than I usually am, because this morning my piano is being delivered! It's been at my niece's house, and we finally have a place to put it so we made arrangements to have it moved over. Mom and Dad gave it to me many years ago, but I ended up in an apartment that didn't really have a place for it, so it ended up with my sister, then her daughter and her husband bought their house from them, so poor Mr. Piano has been around the block, and lonely for a long time! I'll write more about it later. I think Mom and Dad wanted me to have it because I'm the one who played it the most. Diana was already out of the house, and Susie was in nursing school, so I probably spent the most time with it.

Hey, the black bean soup turned out great! Ken put more chili powder in his, but it was just right for me. The blend of flavors was really good. I'll have to find another soup to try!

We finished watching "Hostel II" last night. I can't remember when I last said this, or IF I've ever said it, but...don't see this movie. I found nothing whatsoever that would redeem it in any way, shape, or form. It is a vile piece of cinematography. It was almost unwatchable, and there were a couple of times where I almost said I couldn't watch any more of it. I soldiered through, but I absolutely cannot recommend this to anyone. In fact, just the opposite. I recommend that you NOT see it. Yes, it was that bad. Quentin Tarentino made one of my favorite movies, "Pulp Fiction." Now it seems he has made one that is probably my least favorite, "Hostel II." Jeez, find some middle ground, will you, Quentin?

Milwaukee Dan #3 left me a comment about my political letter to my undecided friends. He wrote that he'd be glad on Wednesday when he can stop by here without wincing and ducking. Ha ha! I wrote back and said that frankly, so will I, and I thanked him for being a good sport. My brain is just about fried from all this stuff. Yesterday, I took an "election quiz" that was on AOL. Here are my results. That's right, a perfect score. That tells me that I'm probably a little too caught up in it all, and I'll be happy to leave the anxiety behind. There's definitely excitement there, too, but it's time to be done.

In fact, that letter to my friends was probably the last thing I'll write about it, until results start coming in tomorrow. It was sort of my closing argument. Unless something really big happens today, like we find out one of the candidates is an alien or something. (And I'm not going to speculate on who I think might be an alien! But her name kind of rhymes with alien. Hahaha! Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

I'm really looking forward to getting back into reading for fun, and I've got plenty to occupy me. Books, magazines, and getting back into the book club (I took a hiatus during the election season). There are letters to be written, piano to be relearned, songs to be sung...! Scratch that last one. Anyhoo, I feel like I'm getting ready to rejoin the human race. How exciting!

Keeping the evil spirits away

Rabbit rabbit rabbit!

I forgot to do that yesterday. Gotta keep the evil spirits away from Nutwood at the start of each month! Someday, I'll see if I can find the origins of that. I learned it from the Bob & Tom Show, so that should tell you something! Although now that I think about it, it has been a few years since evil darkened our door! I guess it knows when it's not welcome.

Today is Sherry's birthday, so pop over and wish her a happy one. She's a sweetheart!

I don't know what it is this morning, but I feel wondrously refreshed...almost as if I had an extra hour of sleep! (wink)

Russ (Who was my 100th follower, by the way...wish I had a Kewpie doll for you, Russ!) left a comment about the movie "Hostel," in which he calls it "torture porn." I don't recall the first one being that extreme...I found it very creepy, at least situation-wise, and fairly scary. Last night, we started watching "Hostel II," although we didn't finish it before SNL came on. Oh my God, it's awful! There is one scene where I turned to Ken and said, "I wouldn't and couldn't recommend this to anyone." (Two words: Elizabeth Bathory.) We'll finish it tonight, but Tarentino jumped the shark on this one. It's not amusing, it's not suspenseful, it's really not all that scary...it's just sadistic. So I'm with you on this one, Russ.

Next up is "The Hills Have Eyes" (the remake), followed by "Hellraiser." We might have to watch a non-horror movie in there somewhere. I think it was Joann who asked if I'm brave enough to watch horror movies when Ken isn't here. Generally, no. Ha ha! It depends on the movie. If it's something campy (we recently watched "Fright Night"), or only mildly creepy (I picked up "Carrie" not too long ago), that's no problem, but some of these would definitely creep me out if I were by myself. Ken has a business trip coming up later this week, and I'm probably more likely to watch something like "Airplane!"

I remembered to soak the black beans last night in preparation for the black bean soup in the crock pot. I'll get that going later. I sure hope it turns out okay...this is an experiment!

Oh, SNL! Ben Affleck hosted, and the skit where he played Keith Olbermann was brilliant! We'll see if NBC lets me embed. Again, a little long, but I've been watching Olbermann lately, and Affleck gets his outrage down perfectly! I hope Miss Precious Perfect isn't too badly emotionally scarred.

No, it is not letting me embed, although it gives me an embed code. Darn you, NBC! (shaking fist) Okay, click here to see the clip.

College football and death by elevator

Notre Dame lost to Pittsburgh today in...get this...FOUR overtimes. Ken and I were trying to remember if we've ever actually watched a game that went into four overtimes, and we don't think we have. I'm not upset about it, because Notre Dame had every chance to put the game away and win the thing, but they were unable to do so. Pitt won fair and square. Next week's game is at Boston College, and anyone who knows anything about Notre Dame football knows that Boston College ROBBED US of a championship several years ago, and of course, we've never forgotten it! And there is no way in hell I'm tagging this entry with Boston College, because I just don't want to hear it! Ha ha!

On the upside, Illinois beat Iowa, so one of our teams (Illinois is Ken's alma mater) won! And my Ball State Cardinals are still 8-0, and currently ranked #18 in the country (although they didn't play today)! I am sitting here proudly wearing my new Ball State sweatshirt that I picked up this week when we bought the exercise equipment. They had a table with kid-sized sweatshirts, and I found a Ball State one. While there are certain disadvantages to being of small stature, I've learned to embrace my small size and enjoy being able to buy a few things in the kids' department! We're talking a $10 difference in price when it comes to sweatshirts, so viva lá miniscule! (I know that's not a French word. I just liked phrasing it that way.)

Last night we watched "Thirteen Ghosts," and I have to say that I was a little disappointed. It had its creepy moments (and the Cagehead ghost running down the hallway sort of gave me the willies...okay, that definitely gave me the willies!), the house itself was very cool, eerie, and masterfully engineered (I loved the mosaic mechanism in the floor--great visual), but I just didn't find it all that scary. Maybe I'm inured to mildly scary and need really scary in order to feel that I've gotten my full fright's worth.

But I have to give "Thirteen Ghosts" a big thumbs-up (if not for the entire movie) for the guy who gets...well, how shall I put this? Imagine stepping part way out of an elevator, and before you can get all the way out, the doors slam shut. There is no sensor, no bounce-back...they just slam shut. Forcefully. While you are halfway through the door. Are you getting me? It took me a moment to realize what had happened, and I looked at Ken and said, "WHOA!" Yep, that was a good one. Nicely done! It rivaled the split dog scene in "Return of the Living Dead." (If any of you know what I'm talking about, you get double bonus points!) My friend Marty had a recent brush with a killer elevator. It could have been much, much worse, Marty! If you've seen this scene, you'll know that you escaped with nothing less than your back half!

So tonight's movie--which was already next on our scary movie queue--is "Hostel II." I suspect that might be a little more...intense, shall we say? The first "Hostel" creeped the hell out of me. Let the fright begin! HahahaHAAA!