Not Pathetic at All

Should I have capitalized the "at"? Or not capitalized the "all"? Capitalization in titles always confuses me. Sorry.

Anyway, because I was primarily raised by television, to this day I feel comforted and normal when the tube is on. I do house chores, cook, clean, work on the computer, all while it's on. Because I like to be amused, I find myself DVR'ing random shows I enjoy ("Gilmore Girls," "Seinfeld," "Sex and the City") and having them on all the time, so at least when the TV is on, it's tuned to my selected mind-fluff, and not just whatever crap is on.

So, while I'm here on the computer I've had "How I Met Your Mother" on - I've begun taping old episodes that I've discovered are shown in Lifetime on Monday evenings. How great is this show? I really enjoy it - Doogie (Neil Patrick Harris), Jason Segal ("Freaks and Geeks" is in my Top 10 favorite shows) and Willow from Buffy?! Right on. Anyway, just watched the episode that ended with Barney (Doogie) writing his blog on his computer a la Doogie-endings. Right on. (Did I just say that twice? Oh well, I won't delete one - I won't!) Love it.

It smells like dog food in here. Schizophrenic much? Perhaps. Or just a smart, fast-paced, ever-thinking (?) mind. Or something.

Oh - just saw a commercial for "Post Grad" - Rory from "Gilmore Girls" is in it. And speaking of which, I saw a commercial (on Lifetime?) for "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" that said it "launched the career" of the actresses and showed Alexis Bledel at that moment. Um - no! I think "Gilmore Girls" did that!

Enough tv/movie stuff.

Movie Madness

I finally took a break from my three-month long "Battlestar Galactica" (such an awesome show) fest with Andy to actually move some movies to the top of my Netflix list and sit down and watch them. In the past five days I've seen three big supposedly must-see movies of the year: "Gran Torino," "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Revolutionary Road."

Of course, "Slumdog" was awesome. I just love movies and books about East Asian culture. Fascinating. That culture is one of the reasons I had a concentration in Cross-cultural Literature when getting my BA. The first English class I took at Hunter College was East-Asian Women's Lit and it basically changed my life. Reading works by Shani Mootoo, Arundhati Roy and Jhumpa Lahiri (among so many other amazing writers) was just amazing, and turned me onto a whole new world. So, of course, this movie went right into that world and was just great. And sweet and lovely, which is always nice, too (I'm so easily pleased).

"Revolutionary Road," which we watched last night, was good and depressing and all that. I won't get too into it, for those who haven't seen it, but I admit I was nervous that when the movie was over I'd turn to Andy and insist we sell the house and get out immediately. This wasn't helped by the fact that just about every day I tell Andy how much I want to return (again) to Paris. Those who've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, when it was over I was depressed by the story, but didn't feel I had to change my life... because we're special, we are the Spaceks, after all...right? hm.

And "Gran Torino." I though this was a reference to a "Grandfather" or "Grandpa," last name "Torino" because, you know, Clint is old, and what the hell do I know about cars?

Anyway, I liked the movie, and again, it's always nice to get a glimpse of other cultures... however I found that the girl who played Sue was such a terrible actor it was hard for me to concentrate. I felt this way about a lot of the dialogue between her and Clint - like I was watching a student film. A bad one. Sorry. I thought it might be because I had the English subtitles on (I do this when I can't hear/understand the tv/actors sometimes) - perhaps I was reading too much, and that made it seem so scripted? But then I turned them off and I still thought she was awful, so go figure.

Have you seen these movies? What did you think? Wanna argue with me about that bad actress? Do you like/dislike the authors I mentioned? Leave me a comment!

Oh, a Disclaimer

*(See previous post to know what the hell I'm talking about.)*

Don't make fun of my favorite videos - I like watching babies eating limes - if that's not pure comedy, I don't know what is!

If you visit you tube here at this link you can enjoy not only Vivi, but also see an old video of Andy & his brothers in Prague, laughing, eating & speaking Czech. I think they were drunk - what do you think?

Videos of Vivi!

Yes, I DO have that much time on my hands.
To post videos on you tube of my puppy.
Between job searches on the internet.

I mean, you never know - I could post videos of Vivi on the internet and she could be the next big sensation. This reality/internet world is a mysterious thing.
You just never know.

Anyway, to see videos of Vivi (because you have as much free time as I do, right?) click here (I'm Ivyreb).
Better yet, subscribe to me when you get there - I don't know what it will do for you, but it will make me feel mad important.

Just in Case...

...you didn't think she was cute enough before...

Dog Days

Introducing our new puppy, Vivian!

We call her Vivi. She's a West Highland Terrier, and very smart - she has learned her name, to fetch and to come AND has been AWESOME in her housebreaking (for the most part). And it's only her second full day here!

See more pictures of our little Vivi here.

We're not really the kind of people to call ourselves our pet's "parents" or her our "baby," but seriously, she's so cute and little and we have to wake up in the middle of the night to take her out, so it certainly feels like we are getting some preparation for a baby (and no, I'm not pregnant yet!).

We've wanted a dog for loooong time, but never could get one in our NYC apartments. We knew we wanted one as soon as we moved here. We thought we would get a mutt or something, but we happened upon a litter of Westies, and my mom's dog Buster is a Westie and a great dog, so we went for it.

And it's not just me who loves terriers! One of my favorite sketches by "The Kids in the Hall" is Bruce McCulloch singing the Terriers song.

Your Average White Suburbanite Slob

Wait, you don't know the song "Asshole" by Denis Leary (my favorite line conveniently perfect for the title of this post)?? Before going further, go watch the video NOW!!

(and yes, our other, often-quoted, favorite line is "When handicapped people make handicapped faces"... don't judge!)

Little did we know that one day we'd be what we've been laughing at all these years.
It all started with... a mower.

That's right - we got a lawn mower.

Not just any mower...

a ride on mower.

We have a big yard.
A push mower would take hours.
Everyone else has a ride on mower.
It makes the air smell really nice.

Never mind the excuses, here's my own white suburbanite slob, taking that bad boy for it's first spin.

It's absolutely thrilling. I know. Don't be jealous.

I don't know what's next - me wearing an apron, baking a pie? What other suburban stereotypes can we act out?

Babies & Movies. And Stuff.

Hey! A great friend of mine has started a blog. You should go on over and check it out - the dad scene.

My friend is the first-time father of an (adorable) 11-month old boy AND a self-proclaimed pop culture nerd. Because I kind of am, too, we've never run out of things to talk about, and he's like my TV show soul mate. But he's got other things going for him, too. Check it out!

Painting (Before & After)

Painting, painting and more painting. That's where I've been.

But today was a change - the big carpet cleaning expedition! How exciting!
We rented a carpet cleaner and just finished up four hours of intense cleaning.
I hate carpeting.

Here's some before and after shots of some rooms we've done so far, in terms of painting. We have lots of decorating that will be coming up soon; just not yet. foyer before (looking into the half bath)

foyer after

half bath after (never got a decent before pic)

guest bathroom before

guest bathroom after

guest bedroom before

guest bedroom after

dining room before

dining room after

living room before

living room after

Paint Colors:
Foyer & Half Bathroom: Glidden Antique White w/ Creamy White trim. (We were dumb - we went ahead and bought the Antique White based on a suggestion on a website that it's a great cream color, without actually testing it first... it's a little more grayish than cream, but it looks clean so I guess it's okay for now.

Guest Bathroom: Behr White Bathroom paint (mildew resistant, all that good stuff) w/ existing wood trim

Guest Bedroom: Behr Grass Cloth w/ existing wood trim.

Living room & dining room: Behr Cool Sky w/ Creamy White trim.