Hi ya, Big Boy

Yesterday, I went to my friend's house so she could cut my hair and make it look like a color that actually exists in nature (yes, they call in "Natural Instincts" but it doesn't look all that natural when you put it over pre-existing dyed blond hair, but that's probably a story for another entry). She recently had a baby boy, and this is the first time I got to see him -- other than a picture on Facebook, in which he looked oddly spray tanned. (He's not.)

During the course of the afternoon, I got to hold the boy a few times. He's quite cute and seems so tiny. I held him and walked around with him for a bit while my friend made us some lunch. During that time, he decided it would be a really good idea to pee and let some leak out the diaper -- just a couple of drops, but still it's pee. I have to wonder if I should be flattered.

It turns out that having a kid is kind of a big job. And my friend, who recently turned 40, isn't so sure she wants to try for a second one. I don't judge -- OK, yeah, I'm Judgey McJudgerson, but I don't judge my friends in regards to their parenting choices and styles -- but she did seem to be pretty darn tired and was obviously feeling like she was nothing more than a dairy for this little man.

Don't get me wrong, she's deliriously happy with this baby. She was just exhausted and realizing (as I'm sure all new parents do, no matter how prepared) that having a kid is way more work than they thought.

I have accepted the fact that the universe doesn't want me to have a baby. But there is a part of me that thinks the universe has a grand scheme to lull me into a false sense of security, then years from now, when I'm contentedly settled into my mid-40s -- BAM! -- pregnant. Is it wrong that I think the universe is trying to pull a long con on me?

Another Big Brother

A couple days ago, I told you about the oldest of my three older brothers. Now, let me tell you a little about the youngest of my three older brothers.

My niece and brother, high above the zoo.

We're separated in age by almost four years but were close enough in age growing up to have gone to elementary school together for a bit, walking to school together. And close enough to actually play together some. He might not remember -- or might not like to admit -- that he helped me set up a doll house at the top of the stairwell so my "Sunshine Family" could live next to a waterfall.

Me and Mike at our aunt's wedding. I didn't get to be a flower girl, thus the pout.

We were also close enough in age to have fights and arguments, but I must be getting old because I don't remember them ever being that bad. (Not like some of the other fights in our house that involved hammers and broomsticks. But I digress.)

Mike was always the handy one. He built end tables and lamps and other wooden items that are still in use today -- and that didn't look like they were built by a "kid." I wouldn't have admitted then how much I admired his skill.

Today, I admire him for his incredible parenting skills. He has raised my niece and nephew on his own and done a damn fine job, too. They're both smart and well-adjusted kids and somehow tolerate their aunt and her silliness. Their visit last year was the highlight of the summer -- strike that -- it was the highlight of the year.

Big Red Nose

Allergies suck.

Apparently, the entire country is experiencing record high pollen counts. I guess I'm selfish because I don't really care about the rest of the country. I just care about my raw nose.

For me the worst part is that I never even had allergies until I was in my late 20s. Now I never know what might trigger them. Dust? Definitely. Animals? Some. A dog with any amount of Lab in its blood will set me off like nothing else. Even my own dog (who is certainly Lab free) will sometimes cause me to break out on my arms.

I never really thought pollen was my problem. And around these parts, it might not be pollen. With the high winds, it might just be dirt and dust blowing around. All I know -- and I don't need a doctor or some other expert to tell me this -- is allergies suck.

Big time.

Big Movie Night

Over the weekend, the S.O. and I watched two movies out on DVD right now. We don't go to the theater very much any more, mostly because I'm a curmudgeon who doesn't like crowds or talking during movies or crying babies or sticky floors. And I like to make my own popcorn and watch movies in my jammies.

We'd heard a lot of good things about both the movies we watched (on DVD because we're not that high-tech yet) . They weren't super hyped up, which can be the downfall of a movie. But they got good press and even received some awards. And they both definitely lived up to my high expectations of them.

The first one was "The Blind Side." Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her role -- in case you missed that with all the news of her cheating husband -- and she, along with the rest of the cast really do turn in great performances.

It's heartwarming without being cloying, and kind of restores my faith in humans. And don't worry if you're not a huge football fan. Football plays second fiddle to the real story here.

The second movie we watched was "Fantastic Mr. Fox." I loved this movie for its unabashed playfulness.

Where "The Blind Side" was uplifting for it's rags-to-riches story and help-your-fellow-man message, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is funny, laugh-out-loud, release-your-inner-child pure fun. George Clooney voices Mr. Fox, bringing all his old Hollywood type of charm to the character. Meryl Streep voices his wife, and Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Michael Gambon (Dumbledore!), Willem Dafoe and other lend their talent.

Based on the book by Roald Dahl, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is fantastic, with talking wild animals (should I be bothered that all the mammals can talk, but the fowls are food?) who get themselves into crazy situations that are only partly due to their being wild animals.

These two movies, while wildly different, made a great double feature. Add in some homemade popcorn and the dog curled up on my lap and you really shouldn't wonder why I prefer my movie nights at home.

Big Brother

No, not the giant talking face from "1984," but my actual big brother -- the oldest of the three. We keep in touch through (extremely) sporadic phone calls, but mostly through Facebook. We exchange comments and chat sometimes. I often think Facebook is evil, but in this case it's been great.

Jim and me and our dog, Herkimer.

We're separated in age by nearly seven years, so we didn't always do kid things together, but I can remember him taking me to see "The Rescuers" at the movie theater. And he was the epitome of what a big brother should be to a baby sister. He was protective. He looked out for me. And while he sometimes teased me (and still does!), it was always good-natured teasing and he was never ever mean to me.

With him living in Michigan and me in Colorado, we don't see each other often enough, but I know he's always there for me. He's the first person I wanted to talk to after Mom died.

He's been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so I've been thinking about him a lot and hoping my happy thoughts reach him and make him feel a tiny bit -- or a whole helluva lot -- better.

Big Video Saturday

One of my new favorite things is "The Rotten Tomatoes Show" on Current TV. The hosts, along with viewers like you and me, critique new movies and present some how-to videos of their own. Like this one.



Because it features a clip from the movie "Big," I think it fulfills my daily Big quota. It's also quite funny, and Brett Erlich is a cutie pie.

My Big Snow Day

We had big plans this week to ski Wednesday and Thursday. Alas, the universe had other plans. Thanks to a spring snowstorm Wednesday morning, the roads were a bit treacherous, so we decided to head out a little later than originally planned. Then, thanks to a truck driver who reportedly was just not paying attention to traffic, the interstate was backed up. It took us an hour to go just a couple miles. Finally, we got around the accident and hit the open road and got to Frisco by about 3:45 p.m. -- just in time to check in to the bed and breakfast.

We stayed at the Galena Street Mountain Inn, and I highly recommend it. It's quiet and comfortable, and the owners are great hosts. They set out wine and cheese in the evening and cook a delicious breakfast in the morning -- homemade granola, fresh fruit, eggs to order, as well as fresh-brewed coffee -- and it cost less than staying at one of the chain motels near the interstate. It also cost half the price of staying in Copper Mountain and was way nicer.

After our wonderful breakfast Thursday morning, we headed out to Copper Mountain (just a few minutes down the road) for our day of skiing. It was a perfect day for it. The temperature reached the low 40s. The sky was so blue it was almost purple. The snow was fresh and fluffy. And the crowds were nonexistent.I skied blue runs the whole day while the S.O. took on one black. I don't know what was different about the day but it was the best day of skiing I think I've ever had. I felt strong and confident and had a ton of fun. We'd like to get one more day in before the end of the season, but I can't imagine it'll beat yesterday.

Big Picture Show

What I watched: "Penelope"

Every once in a while I am left to my own devices with the television. When that happens, I usually watch something I know the S.O. would scoff at or just wouldn't care about. Sometimes, it's a foreign film, sometimes a golden oldie.

This week, it was "Penelope," a film from 2006 that must have had zero publicity (because I'd never heard of it) and that I really enjoyed. It stars Christina Ricci and James McAvoy and it's a sweet little twist on "Beauty and the Beast."

Peter Dinklage is also in it as a rabid reporter, looking for a big scoop. And if you haven't seen Dinklage in "The Station Agent," stop reading right now and go to Blockbuster or Netflix and add it to the top of your queue immediately. I'll wait.

(Files nails, whistles ... ) Oh! You're back. Hi.

Is "Penelope" a romantic comedy? Maybe. I'd call it a fairy tale that appealed to even my cynical nature. It's romantic and sweet and cute. And you can probably guess the end before it comes, but none of that stopped me from smiling. And none of that stopped me from loving the characters I was supposed to love and hating the characters I was supposed to hate.

If you're going to spend 90 minutes watching something that's supposed to be romantic, that's supposed to make you laugh, that's supposed to make you root for the leading lady and man, you may as well spend it watching Christina Ricci and James McAvoy in "Penelope."

Big Obsession Confession

I have a confession to make. I have a bit of an obsession with coffee cups -- travel mugs, cups with pictures, cups with funny sayings, cups from far away places. My latest find is this one.

I found it at World Market (If I'm completely honest, I have a bit of an obsession with that store, too). And it's a really cute cup. It looks like a take-away cup from a coffee shop, complete with the little sleeve to keep you from burning your hands and the white lid. But the cup is ceramic, and the lid and sleeve are silicone.

The S.O. has told me I need to get rid of some of the coffee cups. But I can't get rid of the one with Inky on it or the one from London with Paddington Bear on it or any of the travel mugs because I have to be able to take my coffee with me or the set of red ones that match the plates and bowls.

OK, maybe I have a problem. But I promise you won't see me on "Hoarders" or "Hoarding: Buried Alive" or even "Clean House" any time soon -- well, ever. I promise.

Although ... I did see a really cute coffee cup yesterday ...

Big Step

I finally took a big first step and applied for a personal trainer certification course. Soon, I will not only be your go-to girl for rants, ramblings and stories about my dog, I will also be your go-to girl for fitness know-how.

I promise not to question your choice of menu items or hound you about working out ... unless you ask me to, of course.

This is something I've been thinking about doing for a while. I've just been -- as I always am -- a terrible procrastinator. I'm told most people finish in three or four months but also that I have up to two whole years to complete the program. I really want to be finished by the end of the summer.

Wish me luck.

Big Oops - or not

This is my horoscope today:

Capricorn - You are provoked to express your passionate perspective every chance you get as the Moon joins ruthless Pluto in your 1st House of Personality today. You could go out of your way to make sure that someone knows exactly where you stand on a controversial social issue. But a volcano derives its strength from the intense heat that it holds beneath the surface. Likewise, you have a chance to increase your power by choosing what to say on your own terms. Carefully controlling your message gives you the career endurance that you desire.

I read this after shooting an e-mail off to the guy who coordinates my freelance work with the paper. A week or so ago, I told him I needed to have all the information for my stories by the Friday before my deadline (which still cuts it close). He passed that along to the powers that be and they agreed. This morning, I get an e-mail saying here's the info for this week's story. So, I forward it to him, saying, "What part of Friday deadline do they not understand?"

Maybe I should have read my horoscope first -- or maybe not. I've been looking for a reason to stop doing these stories. Maybe this is it. I complain about the assignments. I complain about the people who won't call me back or completely blow me off. I complain about the last minute BS. Maybe it's time to step away. It's a lot of stupid stress for not a lot of money.

I don't really think I can burn bridges with this guy or even with the paper. I was kind of a bitch when I left and I still got freelance assignments. Maybe rather than a big oops, this is a big wait and see.

Big Picture

Happy Easter!

I took this photo -- and crafted the eggs in the basket -- back when I still wrote for a local parenting magazine. Ripley was mostly interested in the hard-boiled eggs in the basket. The other eggs were wooden.

Easter isn't really a big deal around here. We're not really religious and we don't have kids. And we're not pagan enough to celebrate the coming of spring. But it seemed like a good excuse to post this picture of Ripley -- like I need an excuse to post a picture of my dog.

Yeah, it's probably a little pathetic. Don't judge.

Big Plans

No. I don't actually have any big plans. I need to make big plans but I find that I'm a person who plans to plan. I'll say, "I need to plan meals better" or "I need to plan my career move." I'm great at planning to plan. I need to follow through better.

I want to be better about planning meals. I hate waiting until it's dinner time to think about what to fix. I try to eat healthy, and planning ahead is a really important aspect of that.

I want to start a new career. It shouldn't even be that difficult for me to do what I need to do. I've asked the right people the right questions. I just need to sit down and make a plan to get it done.

So, once again, I'm planning to plan but have yet to actually make a plan.

I'm even planning to plan to blog every day for a month. I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of "bigs" I wanted to write about. What do I actually have? A sticky note with "Blog - Big" written on it, stuck to my desk.

So, OK. Big list:
Big brothers
Big changes
Big mouths
Big powder (from our upcoming ski trip, I hope)
Big dogs
Big kids
Something about books, movies, songs with "Big" in the title

OK, short list. But at least I have the start of a plan. Baby steps to my big plans.

Big Kid Ideas

I have mentioned before my love for the comic strip "Cul de Sac." It's cute but not too cutesy. And I'm pretty sure the little girl in it is the child I should have had.

Click comic to enlarge.

A kid that likes the sound of a post-apocalyptic landscape is my kind of kid. I also like to think I'd be like the mom here -- just taking it all in stride.

A Big Push

It's been a while since I've been out here blogging. Little updates on Facebook? Sure. But nothing big. So, when I got the e-mail from NaBloPoMo that April's theme is BIG, I thought I should go for it.

Last time I tried to blog every day for a month, I made it. That was back in November. Since then, you've gotten to read about my dog's run-in with a vicious wild feline and her recovery, but little else. Speaking of which, she's doing much better.You can see her wounds are healed and the hair is growing back. She's wearing her normal collar again. But still likes to lay as close to me as she can get. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, if she were any closer, she'd be in back of me.

For a few weeks after the incident, Ripley didn't want to go outside by herself. She was pretty gun shy -- or cat shy. But now, she's back to her old self, barking at the neighbors and the neighbors' dogs. She even managed to give me a big bruise while we played together. She grabbed for her toy but got my fleece-covered arm instead. Little dog has a big bite.

She's back to thinking she's a big dog again, and nothing can defeat her. And that's fine with me.

Yes, she's spoiled. Why do you ask?

My butt is almost on the seat here.

It's hard not to spoil her when she's been hurting. She's much better now but still not 100 percent.

What I watched: "Julie & Julia"

I just finished watching "Julie & Julia." No, really, just five minutes ago, I finished watching the movie. And now, I don't know if I'm inspired to write or cook or crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head because I'm never going to get a book deal out of this blog!

The movie is cute and sweet and funny and inspiring but not cloying and has just a dash of spice. Meryl Streep is brilliant -- but how can you not love Meryl Streep -- as Julia Child. Stanley Tucci is her amazingly sweet and loving husband. Jane Lynch shows up in a small scene as Julia's sister and, as Jane Lynch is wont to do, steals my heart.

Amy Adams is Julie Powell, a government worker who takes on the challenge of cooking every single recipe in Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year -- and blogs about it. (The bitch gets a book deal and a movie out of it! Yes, of course I'm envious. Why didn't I think of that? Well, except for the fact that I know I could never boil a lobster alive or bone a duck. But I could write the hell out of reading about it! And I did make beef and barley soup for dinner tonight. Yes, I know it's not French. Shut up.)

I loved this movie. There's not much more I can say about it. I have no objective critiques. I just loved it. It made me happy. It was like a really great dinner, with a really great wine and really great friends.

You shoulda seen the other guy

Poor Ripley. She cornered a cat in the back yard this morning. For some reason effing little cat couldn't jump the fence. Which leads me to wonder, how the hell did it get in the yard in the first place.

A trip to our truly wonderful vet and $350 later, Ripley is home, resting, looking a bit like Frankenripley, with her stitches and drain tubes. A slightly, possibly disturbing picture below.

And just like that I'm no longer thinking I want another cat. Grrr.

Guilty Pleasures Friday

After spending a good portion of the day setting up body work for my car, I allowed myself a small indulgence this afternoon. What's my guilty pleasure? "The Pretender" on Hulu* and dry cereal.

You know, it's the little things.

*I can't help myself. Surveillance videos that zoom in and have multiple angles, a good guy who's a genius, bad guys who are pure evil, shifty eyes, knowing looks. All it's missing is a villain twirling his mustache and tying a girl to railroad tracks. It's so cheesy, and I love it so much I'm going to marry it.

What I watched: "Drag Me To Hell"

"Drag Me To Hell" is a prime example of what happens when a movie is built up by friends and critics: I was disappointed. If I hadn't had high expectations, I probably would have loved the movie. But with the build up and the hype, the movie fell flat for me. It didn't have enough humor and cheesiness, and the effects were too good for it to be a classic B movie. And even though I thought the ending was cool -- no spoilers -- I also thought it was kind of predictable.
That said, this is probably a movie I will watch again some day. And it is worth watching. Just don't pop it in the DVD player expecting one of the all-time great horror flicks. It was fun and offered up some good gross-out moments and laugh-0ut-loud scenes and even made me jump a few times. Still, it's not scary enough to compete with "Night of the Living Dead" or even "Jeepers Creepers" for straight-up horror and it doesn't begin to measure up to the likes of "Zombieland" or "Shaun of the Dead" for horror humor.

Maybe a cameo by Bruce Campbell (or *that guy* who made an appearance in "Zombieland") would have helped. And Justin Long didn't get have to die or get hit in the junk, so I guess that's something.