Reflections On The Third Year

Happy Blog Anniversary to Jane!
It's been three years, 600+/- posts and what have we learned?
Firstly, we learned that Jane is a champion whiner. Also super stubborn, a control freak and probably a little - fine, a lot - bossy. Maybe a tad critical.
We have learned that she likes her cats, her football team, live musical numbers, TV, talented women and nerdy cute men, a random selection of music that may or may not include the Top 40 depending on the decade, we know she likes to cook, and she LOVES her few devoted readers. She is overly scheduled nearly every week, especially with church stuff and she doesn't always get it all done. She's not a perfectionist when it comes to housework but she is about pie crust. Jane likes to read a lot of blogs and wants others to post more often since their lives are more interesting than hers.
But lastly, and not least, we know that she does love the weird, funny, kind, abstract sequential man known as Tarzan.

This is me and it's been three years. Are you bored yet?

I Vant To Not See It Everywhere

I realize I take me life in my hands when I ask this question but I'm feeling tough today so I dare to forge ahead anyway:
What is with the love affair America is having with vampires right now?
And because I do not understand, I find THIS
And this:
So very hilarious.

This is me, and you may now proceed to stone me for heresy.

Countdown

As I was posting last night, all complacent about the BIG DWTS finals next week, I realized that I won't be watching the BIG show. I won't know who wins for hours, or even days after the final BIG show airs. And I won't get to see the whole two-hour episode until we get home because Tarzan and I will be on a plane heading to his parents' house for Thanksgiving when Tom Bergeron is announcing the winner of Season 9. Now, while I do enjoy my Dancing With The Stars, it is not that all-encompassing.
Really. It isn't.
My amazement when I realized I won't see the show next week was more along the lines of HOW IS THANKSGIVING NEXT WEEK ALREADY?!
I am not ready. There are presents I need to buy to take with us so we don't have to ship things in the Christmas rush. There are things I need to ship to The Other Side Of The World so they don't get caught in the Christmas rush. The week after we get back starts the Christmas parties and the tree decorating at church and with the cub scouts and there's cards and things and I have to pack and it all starts with Thanksgiving.
So rather than get a leg up on it all, what am I doing? Blogging for you Internet friends. My priorities are SO in the right order.

This is me, and I'm not ready.

Under Pressure

I was hoping the judges would ask to see Donny's tango - done the way he had practiced it instead of the way it came out - but no, they encored Mya's salsa tonight on Dancing With The Stars.
The dance troupe from Nine was...interesting. It's from the movie about a guy who has a lot of women - nine apparently? - in his life and how each one influences his career. One of them is a prostitute it would seem and I'm guessing that dance came from her section of the film.
Alicia Keys and Leona Lewis are not my cup of tea, but their songs did not make me want to jab a stick in my ear. So that was good.
The film blurb was amusing - there is not a lot of lip syncing skills amongst the remaining few - but the antics were good for a laugh. The behind the scenes looks, with the professionals, are one of my favorite parts of the show.
Now the Bee Gees were awesome, especially noting there were only two of them left, but I did not see the necessity of Melissa Rycroft for the dance. In fact, she kind of stunk.
I was a bit surprised that it was Joanna was sent home, but then again, she likely has a smaller fan base than one of the Osbournes right? Did anyone else catch Ozzy's face when it was announced Kelly will be dancing in the finals? That man is still so strung out from his hey day it's really a tribute to his wife that he's made it this far.

This is me and next week's shows are going to be big, I tell you, BIG!

Dancing Etc - The Semi-Finals

One would think my entry would be shorter since there are only four couples left on Dancing With The Stars. But of course they now make them dance three routines in one night so it's like there are twelve of them.
I certainly was uncomfortable watching Donny and Kym's tango but not because of the sensuality of the dance. Let's start with Kym's dress and Donny's suit - she was hanging out all over the place and he was completely covered up including his hands. He was not holding her tight at all and the whole dress hem thing - does NO ONE wear their dress in rehearsal? - and WHAT was WITH all the jokes about Marie?
Joanna and Derek's waltz-that-was-not-Viennese was much better, but it still lacked something. I saw her shuffling her feet several times and she hesitated her turns so they looked awkward. It was a great song for the dance though.
For me, Kelly and Louis' rumba was much better than most of her dances this season. It was full of difficult poses but not as much content as maybe could have been. I have to wonder if Louis fell in that one part? Her solo bit looked like she was counting and maybe that's what she lacks...fluidity?
Mya and Dimitry's waltz was lovely - Tarzan commented on it - but I am surprised that Carrie-Ann did not mention the lift and her feet coming WAY off the floor.
Donny's samba was much better - though I do not know what Kym was wearing - his feet, his hips, his smile. It was fun and I liked it.
I did not like Joanna's cha-cha all that much. She seemed stiff and I don't like those fringed pants that everyone likes to wear. Her hips were lacking too.
Kelly's quickstep had a rather frantic song - I still would like to know who picks the songs for these things - but except for one rather poorly planned misstep in the middle as they were running across the floor, it was rather fun.
If tonight is any indication, Mya will win this whole thing. Her salsa was insanely good. My only criticism would be she misses her spots a lot in the turns and it looks a tad awkward coming out. Her song was awesome.
Donny's jitterbug was not as big as I expected it to be from him. (These little snippets of dances are so short it's hard to judge how it's going before it's done with. I don't know that they deserve a full score for only 30 seconds worth.) It was fun and it was good, but it wasn't as large as a jitterbug should have been I think.
Joanna is not thrilling me tonight. Her salsa was not all that great.
Kelly's cha-cha was cute and not bad. Can I just say that I LOVE Louis van Amstel? I really do.
Mya's cha-cha was good, no question.

This is me, and we're getting down to the end of it.

Once Was Lost And Now Is Found

For all those who were concerned, you may rest assured that we did find Tarzan's wedding ring. It was in the pocket of his pants, and fortunately for me, the washer filter does not accept metal items and spits them back out at me.


This is me, and there are times when my lack of housewifely skills is a good thing.

To Wear Or Not To Wear?

Where else in the world does the temperature rise 30 degrees in two hours? When I accompanied Tarzan and the Academic Decathlon team to their scrimmage this morning - just past 6am - it was a cool 50 degrees. That's about right for November, yes?
When I left to do other things at 8:30am it was a balmy 81 degrees. It makes it very hard to dress one's self in the mornings not knowing if it will warm up later in the day - like today - or not. (The thermometer didn't make it above 70 on Thursday.)
On the other side of the coin, it's a great day for some football. Let's beat The Farm.

This is me and what's a girl to do?

A Rare Find

I was unaware that domesticated felines still made nests:

This is me and I learned something new today.

SPLAT!

That, my friends, is what it sounded like last night when I was casually searching through the Internet Movie Database - tell me you all do that too - and found this little gem on Kristin Chenoweth's page

3. Wicked (2010) (announced) (rumored) .... Galinda

and my head exploded. Exploded all over the computer screen. It took me all night to clean it off enough to write this. They are making Wicked as a movie. Wicked! As a movie! AS A MOVIE, PEOPLE, A MOVIE! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. So excited, I am scared that it won't actually happen and someone is just teasing me.

It's been done before - the whole Gilmore Girls mini-series plot comes to mind.

But can you imagine how awesome a MOVIE of WICKED would be?

And with the original Broadway cast! I'm a tiny bit concerned because it lists a teen Galina - and a separate actress - on the movie page and that does not jive with the stage show I know and I would not be happy with a movie adaptation of the book, but still.

The possibility for my dream come true is there.

This is me and for once I would wish the next year upon us.

Veteran's Day

I think we've established I am not a crying type of girl. But apparently all bets are off when I visit a veteran cemetery. It being the 11th of November and all, and a holiday, we figured we should do something more patriotic than watching television. So Tarzan, ATL and I took a jaunt over to the local veteran's cemetery to look around and visit the memorials:

I'm okay with the flowers:

It's the plaques that started misting me up:

This one had me sniffing:

But it's the memorials like this that kill me:

"Dolores, I will love you always, Michael"

I suppose I don't remember that 'the soldiers' and 'servicemen' that are honored on days like this, are real individuals - people - and have lives that are left behind when they die. It's something I shouldn't take for granted. Like the liberty I enjoy that they ensured. Thank you.

This is me, and it hit me hard today.