It's Her Party!

My granddaughter is 1yr old! Watching her eat, smash, and trash her cake was hilarious. It made me think of my 19yr old's first birthday, where he climbed onto the table, sat on his cake, and started eating it. Babies are too cute and funny when we introduce them to sugar!

UVA makes the Colbert Report

I was pleasantly surprised the other night, when Stephen Colbert's guest mentioned the most beautiful architecture as the Lincoln Memorial and UVA. A picture of the Rotunda was shown, and of course mention of Declaration Boy, Thomas Jefferson, being the Renaissance Man of his time.

Having lived near Charlottesville, and UVA, for some time now, I never actually took the time to walk on the lawn until a few summer's ago. For those who are not familiar with UVA, the lawn is where the Academic Village is: the Rotunda, the Pavilions- the lawn rooms--including the Poe room (UVA's most famous drop out), and the Gardens. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and there is this tranquility there that is just magical. I think of others who have walked the same brick path or who may have stood where I was then: Poe, Walter Reed, Bobby and Teddy Kennedy, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Byrd, Georgia O'Keeffe...I could go on and on... A picture is worth many words, and the one above speaks loudly of the magic on the lawn. It is breath taking.

Patrons Who Stare at Idiots

The husband and I decided to take in a movie this evening and try out the revamped Visulite, in the historic district of Staunton. The Visulite turned out to be better than the theaters at the Staunton Mall; The seats are comfortable (they rock), the aisles are wider providing plenty of leg room, the movie screen is large, and the sound system is above average.

The husband and I decided to see "Men Who Stare at Goats", and my only problem with the experience at the Visulite was the overly giddy twenty-something year old girl who sat two rows behind me, to my right. The movie was bizarre,and it had some true comedic moments where I laughed out loud, but for the life of me, I did not understand why this girl chose to laugh when certain words were said. Was her laughter because of some odd and new type of 'Rocky Horror' experience that neither I, nor any other patron, were akin to? I am puzzled by this. Let me give you an example: Whenever George Clooney or Ewan McGregor would say "Jedi" or "the Force," this girl would laugh LOUDLY, and it was not a quick laugh. It was a solo long LOUD laugh. It became most annoying after her fourth inappropriate outburst, and it was at this time that I got my husband's attention, ushered him closer, and gingerly whispered in his ear, "She must be high." He let out a quick giggle, because he sometimes forgets that I can be wicked. Every time she did her solo outburst, I sat there thinking that it would be great to learn George's awesome talent of being able to stare at some live creature and make it's heart stop. I could use that talent on this inappropriate girl, and I believe there were others who may have thought this same thing tonight. I dared not look at her as I left the theater, fearing that I may blurt out something wickedly witty, or that I may have miraculously picked up George's talent and ended her idiotic ways. In a way, I failed humanity but not sparing future legions of movie goers from her idiotic torture. I am sorry citizens of Staunton.

Wicked

Halloween is a wonderful holiday; I absolutely love all the ghoulish festivities, making children work for their candy (this year a coin toss--had to land a coin on dinnerware), and creating my grand-daughter's costume. I tend to be a people watcher, too, more so during this holiday than any other. Some of the costume ideas people come up with are absolutely original and awesome. Other ideas people have, like adults buying some store bought costume, stuffing themselves into it, and then wearing it out in public...OMG!!! What were they thinking!
Being Catholic at heart, and being raised in a Catholic school from the start, I was taught that if you thought something wicked, you have sinned. Oh what a sinner I was in elementary school, and yes I was very consistent. Though I felt much guilt and a touch of shame for all those wicked thoughts, having to go to confession weekly to cleanse my wicked soul, did not deter my evil ways. Why just yesterday, I observed Wonder Woman clutching a bag of candy, only this was an impostor! Wonder Woman was stuffed into her sexy outfit--it was bulging at the seams! Where did her girlish figure go?? This was a ghoulish figure! Was this her intention, after all it is Halloween? I suspect this impostor splurged on too many Krispy Kreams, Duncan Donuts, Big Macs, etc. I wanted to rip the clutched bag of candy from her hands and yell, "No more woman! This must stop!" Immediately after those thoughts crossed my mind, I said to myself, "Oh Marie, you are so going to Hell." I chuckled to myself, because I know I have a fast track ticket to meet Satan, as evidenced by my continued consistent wicked thoughts. What would the nuns at Sacred Heart say if they knew this has continued well into my 40s? Here comes the guilt, that is quickly washed away again by a chuckle, and I just love when I do that and people stare, wondering what I am chuckling at. Currently, my husband sits puzzled by this thought. I need only say three words, and he gets it. "Going to Hell," because of my wicked, wicked ways.

Livin' in Zombieland

My almost 16 year old son and I saw Zombieland Saturday night, and honestly that was the funniest movie I have seen in some time. It was full of wit, included great rules for a zombie attack, Woody Harrelson is awesome, and the movie did not gross me out! Bill Murray even makes an appearance as himself, but alas is killed while playing a prank on one of the main characters. One of my favorite lines from this movie is when Woody's character greets Bill, "...Bill F****ing Murray; I know that's not your middle name..." My favorite funny-horror flick, Dracula Dead and Loving It, has just been replaced!

A Thief in the Night

Working in a place where people are forced to use a community refrigerator, invites thieves to steal the carefully packed food of others. Tonight, my thoughtfully packed grapes and banana were stolen. Petty, yes, but those yummy snacks should be in my belly beginning the fascinating process of digestion. Instead, by a thief in the night, they were taken away and savored by someone else. As I sat eating my lean cuisine pizza, I thought of terrible ways this fiend should suffer: projectile vomitting and diarrhea, choking while at work requiring intubation, four point restraints, a foley catheter, and an EGD in the morning. Let's throw a run of a-fib in there, too, where we did not have time to sedate and did cardioversion emergently...yeah... shock the crap out of him or her. Might get my grapes back that way! I take comfort in knowing that I never washed those grapes; hell, I even dropped some on the kitchen floor, before placing them in the baggy :)

Liam makes his debut

After a few false alarms, our second grandchild, Liam, made his entry into this world 9/15/09 at 11:30 p.m. Most C-section babies are just beautiful--they have no misshapen heads. Little Liam was delivered vaginally, and thus has a slight cone head. My husband's first thought on seeing him, "Mr Smithers." Liam really is a beautiful baby, but I chuckle at the Mr. Smithers resemblance. In my search for a funny hat that Liam could wear for pictures, I wound up finding only a pirate's hat. When I took the hat out of it's package, I thought, "Hmm. Looks like something Aunt Jemima wears. So here is Liam, aka Smithers, in his Jemima headgear :)