A movie to actually get excited about (finally)

Not to offend the many many Twilight fans out there, but the movie isn't going to be good. Entertaining, yes, but I am not getting my hopes up that it will be worth the hype or worthy of the book. The trailers (except the newest one) are hokey, and as was pointed out at dinner last night, a movie just can't do justice to a book that has cult following. Having said that, I'm still going to see the movie as soon as possible because it's the most interesting movie to come out in months and I loved that book and I enjoy getting supremely dorky about this kind of thing.

I've heard people compare Stephenie Meyer to J.K. Rowling. The fact these two authors make kids and teenagers read books is excellent. But Meyer is no Rowling (again, Twilight nuts, I know this smacks of blasphemy, but it's true). Twilight was a wonderful book with an excellently told story. But the other three books were very poorly written. Their stories were good, but the plot progression was nearly non-existent. I've heard she's a good storyteller but not a good writer, and it's true. She does tell an excellent story, and the Cullens are some of the best characters ever.

Conversely, J.K. Rowling is a phenomenal storyteller and an equally impressive writer. The Harry Potter books are great literature. So good, in fact, that I am reading them again, again, because I need books I know are guaranteed good reads.

I also think the movies have been pretty good representations of the books (long books can never become stellar two hour movies, so there's always that caveat).

Therefore, I am quite excited about the sixth movie. This trailer shows why. The stories have gotten so mature by this book and are even more interesting to read. The things that happen in this book . . ..

(I realize I just totally vented about Twilight and gushed about Harry Potter. Apparently this has been stewing in me for a while. And I am a total nerd.)

Little victories

There doesn't seem much in the world to be excited about or to feel we have control over--the economy is sinking, the housing market is sad sad sad, in three weeks we have to choose between the lesser of two evils as the most powerful person in the United States, Fox doesn't post a show online until eight days after it was shown on TV, etc.

Recently I've made myself happy by becoming victorious over one annoyance: Blogger word verification. Some sites use actual words to help our brains decipher the verification, and although some use random letters they do so in a nice non-fuzzy Arial font. Not our Blogger. They use many different colors and random serif(!) fonts whose letters blend together and create a string of letters that's far longer than it needs to be. Like this.

This drives me nuts! All I want to do is comment, not strain my eyes trying to figure out if that's two Vs or a W. Bah.

So I'm bucking the system. Instead of playing their game, if I get a long string of letters or a weird fuzzy font I merely input a random letter and press enter. Blogger then gives me an easier, shorter, sans-serif string of letters. Like this.

I feel so powerful.

It's the little things that make my days bright, people.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me--a jumper for my car battery

Women are hard to shop for, and sometimes we don't even know what we want (well, we do, but we're reasonable enough to know you can't have 100 pairs of shoes). I have an excellent gift idea, but it's not romantic or soft or peep-toey--it's functional, but awesome.

Last Christmas my brother- and sister-in-law got me this car battery jumper. It charges by being plugged into a regular outlet in your house. It has a meter on it so you can tell how much charge it has. And it's lightweight; the two times I've used it I had no problem lifting it from my trunk.

It has actual paddle thingies (see, it's obviously easy to use if someone who knows nothing about cars or car terms can use it effectively) that attach onto your car battery, just like if you used cables attached to another car. Except all you have to do is attach the paddles and then turn the charger on. Then start your car and viola! You have power again. It is honestly the coolest thing.

All women should have one of these, charged, in their cars at all times. Because batteries never die when men are around. They die after your husband leaves for work, they die when you're at the gym and no one will help you, or they die when you're stranded in a huge parking lot and it's getting dark. It's a huge safety issue as well as one of convenience. It's so nice to be able to restart your dead car battery all by yourself.

So there ya go. It's not pretty, but it's still one of my best gifts.

A very merry unBirthday to me

After making a stocking for Todd last Christmas, I remembered I actually enjoy sewing some things and being crafty with fabric. Since then I have been thinking of sewing projects I want to start. I am going to make this quilt some day, because I love the stark black and white, and because, hello! penguins. I also am going to make place mats and matching runners (based on these) for three holidays, and then another set for fun and my happiness.

The place mat project is actually going to happen soon, because on Saturday my mom and I went to Home Fabrics and Joann and found the most awesome and adorable fabric for the Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween sets. We also found the most eclectic color combination ever for my happiness set. As we were getting our fabric cut, my mom asked if I had thread, and I responded, "Do I have a sewing machine for the thread?" (the answer is no; luckily my mom has several sewing machines).

After I got home and had totally dorked out showing Todd all my fabric, he handed me a present and said he couldn't wait any longer to give me my birthday gift. My birthday is still a month and a half away, but the present was burning a hole in Todd's pocket (as it were) so he couldn't resist. I love that about him.

So I opened it, and it was . . . a sewing machine! My very own sewing machine! I'm so excited. And officially an adult.

Let the projects begin.