Another Ghetto Yard Update

Just to make me feel good about our slow but sure progress in the backyard, I thought I'd post another update. Here is the graveyard cleaned out. Looks so painless, but I assure you it was not. You can even see a bit of the "tunnel" behind Katie that we didn't get rid of yet. We need to give this area a major pep-up, but the verdict is out on what to do with it.

Here's the next project. Tearing off the rotted addition to the garage and either rebuilding it or just putting a new wall on the back of the garage. You can see all the damage the ivy and creeper did to it. I'm DREADING this. Maybe we'll put it off until next Spring.





Oh, but the craziness continues. John chopped down a tree and a month or so, cut down the stump. Almost overnight, this nasty a-- fungus has grown all over the stump.





It's DISGUSTING! I tried to get Katie to go over to it and take a picture, but this is as close as she got. She's been freaking out about it all weekend saying she feels like the fungus is crawling all over her. So today, I'm going to figure out the best way to get rid of it permanently. Gotta love it!

On Second Thought

This morning I posted a long vent about work and my boss. I doubt anyone saw it, but after some thought, I figured I better take it down. Not that I think my boss would ever read my blog, but there is a line I don't want to cross. Plus, I'm still crossing my fingers that my problem is being/has been resolved and I don't want that negative energy. So, in the spirit of trying to stay positive, here's how the cute cover turned out:

Jude's Thursday Dish

This is the 11th edition of the Dish! Truthfully, I didn't think I'd keep it up. I never finish anything! Well, hopefully after 11 entries, it's really becomes a habit.

1. Today is a GREAT day! "The Office" premieres tonight! I'm beyond excited. My expectations are MUCH too high, so I hope I won't be disappointed. I'm a spoiler hound, but this year I've decided to not read anything. I know the title and I've accidentally heard a few things, but it'll be a surprise. Same goes for my other shows. Tonight, I'm also going to be recording "Grey's Anatomy" to decide if I want to get back in. I'd probably be better off if I didn't get into it again. One last show to juggle.

To get you excited for tonight's episode, check out Serenity by Jan's Scented Candles. My favorite flavor is New Milk. "From the bosom of the vanilla bean comes this silky white scent that nourishes the soul. Sweet and rich, this candle says move over soy, I am the 'New Milk'."

2. Wow were the Emmys painful. The 5 hosts were AWFUL and their bits so awkward. Especially Tom Bergeron and William Shatner (who I HATE!) ripping off Heidi Klum's suit. How smarmy was that?! The "Laugh In" sketch was the worst -- a good idea, but SO out of touch. I was disappointed by a lot of the winners. Jeremy Piven? AGAIN? Come on, Benry from "Lost" deserved that award in spades. A bunch of other winners I didn't know at all, so it was hard to get excited about it. Well, I don't have cable, so I'm sure that's 1/2 the problem. I was thrilled that "30 Rock" won so much -- yeah for Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. His acceptance speech was the most gracious. And I loved how Tina told everyone the ways to watch it since it's always on the verge of cancellation. MY PLEA TO YOU -- watch this show! It may take a few times to really get into it, but once you do, it'll be a favorite! Anyway, loved the bit between Ricky Gervais and Steve Carrell. That was the highlight. Well, that... and this part. Who knew he was so funny?




3. I watched the "Sex and the City" movie Clearplayed. I think I only missed some Samantha scenes and Steve/Miranda and some language. LOVE CLEARPLAY! I loved the beginning, it got slow in the middle, but ended well. It was really fun revisiting the show. I love the fashions and the friendships and since we're going to NYC, I got really excited about the location shots. The movie had its flaws, but it just felt like a really good long episode. The tone was more serious than the show, but in a good way. These women are in their 40's now; you'd hope they'd evolve. I think it was a good ending with closure, but I REALLY hope they don't keep making them. Leave it on a high note.




4. Finally, a movie I want to see in the theater! That "Nights in Rodanthe" looks pretty good. I'm intrigued, of course, because it's a romance and based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. I've never read his books, but I liked "The Notebook" and "Message in a Bottle" so this movie seems promising. That, and I'd like to see Richard Gere and Diane Lane TOGETHER, not breaking apart like in "Unfaithful." The reviews aren't great, but they never are for movies like these. Maybe I'll reward myself when deadline is over and see it Monday while Katie's at school! Hey, I'll go to a movie theater by myself. I'm not scared.


5. I watched this week's "America's Next Top Model" and felt really bad Isis got voted off. She's the transgender contestant and without getting into any morality debate, it pained me to see her trying so hard but definitely not fitting in. On the flip side, SO happy to see that Hannah go. Not only did she have a terrible runway, but her personality drove me crazy. The wide eyed baby voiced innocent Alaskan thing was definitely too much. Next week, I hope the Angelina Jolie wannabe who hates her mom gets voted off. Yeah for Guilty Pleasures!

That's it for this week!

Buh-Bye Bailey!

Everytime we leave the house, even if I just go out to get the mail, Bailey will jump up and peek out our front window. My favorite is when I'm pulling out to take Katie to school. He'll wait until the car is out of sight before he leaves the door. My blinds are thrashed (as you can tell), but I think it's too funny to really care.

Frenemies

Everyone has a frenemy. The Urban Dictionary defines it as: "a blurred friendship; a friend and a rival or enemy." Another definition is a little more mean-spirited, but gets the point across. A "toxic" person who poses as a friend but subconsciously or consciously wishes you harm. But, I like the "Mean Girls" definition best:

Regina: We do not have a clique problem at this school.
Gretchen: But you do have to watch out for "frenemies".
Regina: What are "frenemies"?
Gretchen: Frenemies are enemies who act like friends. We call them "frenemies".
Karen: Or "enemends".
Gretchen: Or friends who secretly hate you, we call them "fraitors".
Regina: [rolls eyes] That is so gay.
Karen: [gasps] What if we called them "mean-em-aitors"?
Regina: [scoffs]
Gretchen: No, honey, it has to have the word "friend" in it.
Karen: Oh...

I love this term. I use it all the time. I first heard it on "Sex and The City" describing Charlotte and Samantha's relationship. The origin came from the author Jessica Mitford who's sister made up the word when she was little.

As adults, I think frenemies are most prevalent at work. And I think we probably have more frenemies than we'd want to know about. But what if you have a longtime friend who's a frenemy? Without going into details, I'm dealing with this. This person is very dear to me and I don't want to lose the friendship. When it's good, it's very good. There's just some aspects that bring me down. Do you continue the friendship or cut it out?

This isn't some secret message to anyone who reads my blog. I wouldn't bring it up if it was someone I was worried about offending or calling out. Just curious what others think.

Makeover Mission Complete!

Okay, I'm happy. I have experimented with all the different kinds of templates: Cutest Blog on the Block, Pyzam, a bunch of other free ones. I've tried the built-in blogger templates and the crazy XML ones. But this is finally me. Hooray!

Crisis!

I was trying upload this cool XML template and I accidentally deleted all my widgety gadgety things or whatever you call them! I didn't back up my old template like is recommended. Yes, I'm an idiot. So, I'm now in the process of trying to put everything back together. I'm trying to recreate my blog roll, so if I forgot you (or if you weren't on there and want to be included), just let me know. Damn.

Jude's Thursday Dish

It was a good week. Got a lot of stuff done, but had a good balance between real life and my pop culture obsession. But my stupid blog makeover drama has put me in a blog hatin' mood (read post below). Still, as Paula (my mom) always says... "on with the show!"

1. Okay, I know this is making the rounds on the Internet and most people have already seen it. But in case you haven't, you MUST! This is a hilarious sketch and Tina Fey is dead on. The rest of the show was...pathetic. Sorry Michael Phelps. You are very hot, but you have ZERO charisma. There have been a lot of non-actors on before who have done much better and can at least deliver a line or a joke. Derek Jeter and John McCain stand out. But Phelps was awful. This sketch was the highlight of the night. SNL was hurting without Tina Fey and now, they're losing Amy Poehler. At least I can catch them both on their superior TV shows (Poehler's isn't coming out until 2009). Here's a part of it...



2 & 3 (since this one's lengthy). I finished "Twilight" last Friday. First, I'm going to do my friend Marcy's way of giving criticism, sandwich the negative between too positives. The positive: I ended up really liking it. Okay, now the negative, which is much more fun! It took me forever to get into it and it's a SERIOUSLY flawed book. I wouldn't be me if I didn't take this opportunity to point out the things that didn't work. We started talking about it at Young Women's - our Pres, Camille, told me that you can't think about it too much and just enjoy it for what it is. Our Secretary, Katie, pointed out some of the problems, but agreed it was enjoyable. I tend to be more in Katie's camp. MILD SPOILER ALERT, but I really think most everyone has read it since I'm WAY behind on the craze. Or, skip forward if you don't like to hear any negative feedback about the book.

My main problem was that I had major issues with the writing style. The author wasn't very original with her descriptions. Please Ms. Meyer, get a thesauraus to come up with different adjectives than cold and clumsy. I get it, Edward's skin is like marble and Bella stumbles around like an oaf. And some of the dialogue was so heavy handed like Bella describing being disappointed that Edward wasn't in school "The desperation that crippled me..." Yeah, she's a teenager, but that would've been ripped apart in my Freshman writing class. I was SO bored until she got to Port Angeles, but I started reading Edward's POV "Midnight Sun" and I wish she could've incorporated both in "Twilight." Much better. Bella drove me crazy, but I did warm up to her. My other issues are probably because I'm 36 and out of touch. Why did the vampires enroll in highschool exactly? Couldn't Bella have been 19 or 20 and starting college up by Forks? Bella's life wasn't so bad, what did she have to be so moody about? Why was she so mean to Charlie? And the question that kept coming back to me... didn't Bella have a period? Wouldn't that be...um, trying to put this delicately... a problem? I know, that's totally random, but I'm trying to be more honest and I did keep thinking that. Clear throat.

Okay, so on to the last positive, Stephenie Meyer is an EXCELLENT storyteller. I got very wrapped up into the world she created, the conflict of the characters and definitely, the romance. What girl, of any age, wouldn't love herself an Edward? I was just as mooney (spelling?) as everybody else. The whole introduction to James and the showdown was great. It totally ended on a high note for me. It was kind of like when you eat a dinner that you're not sure you like while your having it, but afterwards, you can't wait to go back to that restaurant. My memories are more fond than the actually reading experience was, but I'm cool with that. I'm taking it as a good one and look forward to the next books. I'm reading the "Midnight Sun" draft posted on Meyer's website now, then I'll take a break before reading the next in the series.


4. I watched "Then She Found Me" this week Clearplayed. I missed very little, so I'm thinking it's R for the language only. This is the kind of movie that has me written all over it. MILD SPOILER ALERT (don't keep reading if you don't want to know plot details). It's about a grown woman finding her bio mom. She's struggled with infertility and has a miscarriage (not that I have the infertility issue, but the feelings of loss and disappointment are very similar to women like me who have lost pregnancies and I can totally relate). She struggles whether or not she should adopt. Oh, and we have the same birthday. And even more oh... the divine Colin Firth is in it. You'd think I would've loved it. But, it was really --- meh. Helen Hunt should get props for not having any work done and growing older naturally, but she's WAY too skinny. She needs to eat a cheeseburger. She looked so severe and uncomfortable; it was hard to warm up to her. The movie itself was kind of boring and I just didn't feel any real connection to the characters. I was disappointed, because I went in completely thinking I'd love it. But, I know a lot of my friends feel the Colin love too, so it's worth seeing it just for him.


5. Enjoying my fall shows like "Gossip Girl", "America's Next Top Model" and I'm still hanging in there with "90210" (ooooh, Kelly's baby daddy revealed... big surprise!). I think it's going to get the boot, because I'm trying to get "Biggest Loser", "Dancing with the Stars" &/or "Fringe" in the mix. Thank heaven for Tivo, but still, it (and my couch potato ways) has its limits. Yet, these are all 2nd and 3rd tier shows for me right now. The really good stuff starts next week and the casual dating will have to stop. Fortunately, I hate "House", so that was one less premiere to juggle this week. Cannot WAIT for next Thursday!!!!!

That's it for this week!

Sneak Peek

Last night, we had a photo shoot with the FABULOUS Chauntelle Janzer (Opie) from Opie Foto. She took some family photos and she is doing our Utah Family October cover with Katie. We tried all different kinds of things, but here's just a sample. Isn't she great? Check out her work!!!

Hookin' Up Through the Decades

Props to my niece, Liz, for introducing me to Yearbook Yourself. It's been fun playing with this program. John's pix turned out MUCH better than mine... a.) I had a great straight on picture of him; all mine have bangs or layers in my face, and b.) I have a very large head -- not so easy to work with, thanks a lot Yearbook Yourself!

The 50's. I love this picture of John. This is exactly what he would have looked like back then. Well, he looks like this now except with less hair. It kind of has a Jimmy Stewart vibe and he looks like his late Grandpa Rees. I, on the other hand, don't understand how the girls in highschool were okay with looking age 80 with those hairdo's. But, I SO would've rocked those cat eye glasses!



The 60's. John would have probably been going for that JFK look, especially with the bow tie. Scary thing, this is exactly my hair now -- just bigger. Tracy Turnblad would be proud!

The 70's. I actually like John's hair in this! It makes me think of him being the intellectual, hipster type. And here's another house frau shot of me, even though my face is all uneven in the shot.



The 80's. Okay, this is what John's hair basically looked like back then. Just a little more mullet-y though. I wasn't brave enough for this kind of hairdo, but I really dig the "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" look which I would totally do over if I could hop in my Delorean and go back in time.




The 90's. John's a little hottie in this picture. I had this hair in the 90's, more dirty blonde than bleached, but it was the same hair. Too bad I couldn't find a photo of the "Rachel" which is the epitome of the mid-90's for me. And I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing a sleeveless denim shirt (or is that a vest?).

Anyway, you should check it out! It's great "look like you're working when you're really not" Internet fun.