Musings on Miss America

Is it just me, or did Miss Indiana look like she had been attacked backstage by the ugly stepsisters and there was no time for her fairy godmother to appear before she had to compete in the evening gown competition?

And wouldn't it be refreshing if one of the contestants sang a Metallica song instead of something from a musical? We'd all rather hear Enter Sandman than anything from The Wiz.

And if Miss America is supposed to be a role model, shouldn't there be some guidelines on the amount of skin showing? During the swimsuit competition we almost expected to see a few of the contestants start swinging on a pole.

I'm just saying if pageant officials are really interested in changing public perception of Miss America, they might start by ruling that necklines should be higher than the belly button.

Another Culinary Disaster

My poor family. Lately, any attempt I make at preparing food seems doomed to failure from the beginning. I made meatloaf and forgot the start the timer. I entered the correct amount of time, I just didn't push start. And that it how we ended up with super dry meatloaf. I attempted to make peas and potato soup, which is basically peas and potatoes in a white sauce. Worst white sauce ever! Even Princess H refused to eat it. The failure may have been due to my use of low-fat butter, but it was a dreadful night.

Last night I made a pumpkin pie. Brent loves pumpkin pie. He wanted to eat some of it last night, but I said he had to wait until Sunday night because we can't show up to a Fake Thanksgiving dinner with a pumpkin pie missing a slice or three. It looked good. My dad had given me a crust, so we know the crust was good. So what's the disaster, you might ask? I got distracted watching the tivoed Lost premiere and forgot to put the pie in the fridge after it cooled down. I found it this morning, sitting on the counter, mocking me. My plan is to make a replacement pie before Brent gets up. I have time. It's only 10:52am.

Movies I Can't Stand

Old Yeller

Air Bud and all the sequels

Beethoven

Incredible Journey

Milo & Otis

(Are we seeing a pattern? Animal movies, particularly dog movies. I hate dog movies.)

Peter Pan

Finding Nemo

pretty much anything with Robin Williams in it

Sounder

Cast Away and most anything else with Tom Hanks in it, with the exception of You've Got Mail and Forrest Gump. Seriously hated the Da Vinci Code. We'll have to see if he can ruin Angels and Demons as well.

Camp Rock and anything else Demi Lovato ever makes

Babes in Toyland

Davy Crockett--I don't care if he is the king of the wild frontier.

Big Red--dog movie

Where The Red Fern Grows-again, a dog movie

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Return To Oz

Muppets Wizard of Oz

Newsies

Most of these came from the list of 1,282 results that came up when I looked at the Disney Family Friendly movies on Amazon.com. And some others I just thought of while making the list.

24 is Back!

I have to hand it to Brent and myself. We did not stay up late watching 5 hours of 24 last night when we should have been sleeping. We only stayed up and watched 2 hours. With the new episode that just recorded, we have 4 hours of 24 left on the DVR.

I have to say that I am absolutely delighted that 24 is back. As you know, I spend a good portion of my day thinking about what Jack Bauer would do, what he has done, and who would win if Jack Bauer and James Bond got in a fight.

Is it bad that Brent and I kept laughing every time someone referred to "how far Jack Bauer will go", or when he would hurt someone? Have we crossed some sort of line where we have gotten so desensitized to violence that we can make jokes about Jack cutting off someone's head and stuffing it into a bag? Perhaps.

We do not let Princess H watch 24, but we have been letting her watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which she calls the puppet show. Yes, it's rated TV-PGV for violence, and parental discretion is advised. So I turned to Brent and said "Brent, this is rated PG V for violence. Parental discretion is advised. What do you want to do?" And he said "Princess H, come watch this show." So I said "yes, let's get her desensitized to violence so we can watch 24 as a family." Joking, seriously. Pretty much. This is the kid who says "Grandpa, let's watch Tinkerbell and then the puppet movie." The kid who was delighted that Grandpa bought The Clone Wars. The kid who tried to get me to buy her Spiderman on Blu-Ray on our last trip to Wal-Mart, and who was dissapointed that we didn't watch Spiderman when we got home. (Yes, we let her watch Spiderman 3.) (Yes, that was right around the time she watched Pirates of the Carribean 3.) (No, she hasn't watched any Indiana Jones movies lately.) (Yes, she understood that Brent dressed up as Indiana Jones for Halloween, where most 3 year olds didn't get the reference.) (She dressed up as a poodle for the second year in a row, but then was upset when she didn't have a Princess Leia costume. For the record, I wanted to dress her as an Ewok or Yoda.)

Brent and I are so going to hell.

My Arch Foe

As we often do, Saturday night we went to Wal-Mart. H got a smiley face sticker for being a good girl. Brent got $40 in cash for lunch next week. And me? As Brent pointed out, I got $96.99 worth of groceries that I get to take home and prepare, serve, and clean-up from. Somehow I don't think that's much of a reward.

I Knew It!

According to VH1, the number one heavy metal song is Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle." I could have told you that. I believe I've already written a post talking about the many conversations/arguments my brothers and I get into about which GNR song is the best, and I almost always say "Welcome To The Jungle".

I had a good time watching the whole countdown, though. What can I say, I'm a sucker for top 100 shows. I even watched the top 100 (or however many there were) country duets. And I believe I called that it would be Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton with "Islands in the Stream" taking number one.

Here's the thing. I was raised by a father who listened to country, and a mother who listened to classic rock. My mother, may she rest in peace, got into an argument in Relief Society about rock music, taking the position that the best song ever written was Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train".

My husband Brent and I argue about music frequently, often about my training H to like classic rock. He has been, and always will be, a huge fan of Oingo Boingo. The first song I ever heard in his truck was Little Girls. Boingo is great, and I fully intend to put a Boingo quote on Brent's headstone.

I am a product of the '90s. I fully agree that Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the quintessential '90s song. No offense to my mom or Ozzy, but I personally feel it may be the best song ever written. I mean, if you don't count "Freebird."

I have a theory on music called ELCR--Everyone Likes Classic Rock. I really need to make it Everyone But Brent and His Dad Like Classic Rock, but EBBHDLCR is a really long acronym. And Brent is coming around. He likes the Eagles now, so that's progress. And he's up for a little Pink Floyd once in awhile.

Still Standing

So far, so good. 2009 hasn't been too bad. No major catastrophes, hardly even minor catastrophes. H and I made a bird house, a bug house, and some valentines day magnets.

H is obsessed with watching Peter Pan. Can I just say that Peter Pan is really obnoxious? I mean, who wouldn't just punch him in the face after being around him for an hour? She likes to watch it because Tinkerbell is in it, even though Tink doesn't talk. H loves the Tinkerbell movie.

Brent and I have tried to watch a movie every Saturday night, which is no small feat, considering his travel schedule. But since we have a projector that works again, we are making the effort. Last week we watched Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D. The movie was what I expected--not the best ever, but who cares when you get to look at Brendan Fraser for two hours? The 3-D part was fairly lame, so next time I think we'll watch it in 2-D. I have to pick a movie for the this week. I wonder if H will fall asleep again so we can watch something too violent for a 3-year-old. Yes, I say this even though she watched the new Indiana Jones movie. And yes, she didn't have nightmares, but you never know when they will start. Though she is getting desensitized to violence--her new favorite show is Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which she calls the Puppet show, and she has watched The Clone Wars movie at least twice. Yes, mother of the year, right here. Do I get points for teaching her the Brady Bunch theme song?