Random

*I'm really only blogging because I want to hit 7 posts this month.  I'm trying to blog more, I'd like to eventually blog 3 times per week.

*Unless Mike Wallace or Darren Sproles have multiple fumbles tonight, I am going to win my Fantasy Football game this week.  This is in spite of the fact that Aaron Rodgers was on a 'bye' week and I had to start Russell Wilson (Seahawks) as my QB.  My stars of the week were Tony Gonzales (he killed it!), Marshawn Lynch, and Darren Sproles (who is playing tonight).  I am currently a little over 2 points ahead of my opponent this week (all his players are done).  So the only way I will lose is because of fumbles (-1 point each).  No fumbling boys!

edited:  since I wrote this 5 minutes ago, Darren Sproles has scored another touchdown.  I am now 10 points ahead.  I think it's safe to say that I have won.

*I am a householder in French Wednesday night.  Yay!

*I am giving my first French talk in November.  Yikes!

*I love washi tape.  I've been using it for everything.

*Today after work I watched the season premier of Parenthood.  I usually wait a few days...I hate commercials and I want to make sure I have enough uninterrupted time to sit down and enjoy it.  I was so proud of myself because it was ALMOST over and I hadn't cried yet.  (I cry during every episode)  But then it got me....the last 30 seconds or so.  And it was a happy thing...usually I just cry at the sad things.  But this was oh so good.

*I also watched the season premier of Parks and Rec.  I love that show.  I eventually want to get them on DVD, because it's definitely something I will watch again.

*I watched 'Ladies in Lavender' and now I want to read the short story that it's based on.  (more on that later on my next movie blog)

*Our Hannah got sick last week, and she is now almost 100% back to normal.  Her fiasco involved two vet trips + one overnight stay.  Poor thing.  But all is well now.

*We are vegetarians, but our pets are not.  Ha ha.  I felt weird buying canned chicken at the store (for the sick Hannah).  Chicken and rice are staples when dogs are sick.  They love it and it's easy on their stomach.

*We had a way busy weekend that involved one wedding (my husband was in it), one public talk (giving by husband), and a nice visit with new friends.

*Once we examined our dry cleaning bill, we decided to start laundering my husbands dress shirts at home.  I have officially turned into my mother, because I now stand at the dryer and pull them out IMMEDIATELY so they don't wrinkle.  He only buys the 'no-iron' dress shirts, but I am still paranoid. Every time I pull them out and hang them up, I smile and think of her.  :)  Love you Mom!

(sorry no pictures this time...but I'm hoping to blog again tomorrow night!)

Movie Project Post #7

3 more down:

My Life In Ruins

I liked this cute romantic comedy.  Not a lot of depth, and definitely fluff, but entertaining.

Dinner for Schmucks

Ha ha.  I love Steve Carell.  This movie is actually a remake of the French movie 'The Dinner Game'.  I LOVE the French version, but this one was great too.  Steve Carell has great comedic timing and Paul Rudd is good in it too.

The Impossible

Oh my.  I don't even really know what to say about this one.  It's based on a true story of a family that was ripped apart (literally) by the tsunami in Thailand in 2004.  I bawled like a baby.  Naomi Watts and Ewen McGregor were both amazing.  Naomi Watts was almost unrecognizable after her injuries....it was so real looking and awful.  And there's a scene with Ewan McGregor that I started crying and then I pretty much cried throughout the rest of the movie.

p.s. - this movie does have a happy ending at least.

My favorite of the 3:  this is a hard one because these movies were so different.  The Impossible was really good, but so heartbreaking and emotional.  And Dinner for Schmucks was hilarious.  So it's a toss up with this batch.

Next up:  I don't know...I don't have my list in front of me and I'm about to go to bed!!

Getting Organized - TV on DVD

This is actually an older project that I did, but I don't think I ever blogged about it.  I think I shared a picture one time, but that's all.

We have many, many DVDs.  Lots of movies, but you know this already because of my 'Movie Project' posts.  I blogged a long time ago (on my old blog) about how we saved some space on storing these movies.  The system we have in place works great and we've kept it up for sure.

Shortly after that I tackled our TV on DVD.  We own quite a few television shows on DVD.  I would say at least half of them are completed series...some 9 or 10 seasons each (Seinfeld, Friends, King of Queens, etc.)  Now, if you own even one series of TV, you know how much space it can take up - they come in big bulky boxes that are not uniform...each box is a different size, width, etc.  Even if you lined them up all nicely on a shelf they wouldn't look the greatest.  And for as many as we had, it would take at least an entire bookshelf.  (What's odd is that you would think with all of our TV and movies, we would be in front of the television all the time...but we're not.  We just don't go out much, ha ha)

Originally, I had thought about using the same 'Atlantic' movie sleeves that we use for our movies.  But it just wouldn't work...each sleeve holds only 2 DVDs, and some series have up to 6 discs per season (like Friends...and 10 seasons..that's 60 discs!).  That got way too pricey way too quick.  So I brainstormed other options and this is what I came up with:

Both the grey bins and the Memorex sleeves came from Target.  The sleeves were $4.99 per box (of 100), and I believe the grey bins were $6.99.

I made a label for each disc, and then filed them alphabetically.

I used white Avery address labels, and included the series name, and what season and disc it is.

Then I made dividers to identify each series.  I just cut down some colored scrapbook paper and printed a label with the logo of the series.

This system has been in place for over a year now, and I love it.  I was able to get rid of all of those bulky boxes and cut down on clutter.  This system takes up very little space, just one shelf of our little cabinet.

 The bottom shelf holds 3 extra bins, our 3D glasses and extra movie sleeves.  I also kept the 'insides' of the boxed sets (the little pamphlets that list the episodes) for each boxed set.  These are in the grey bin on the right along with the extra Memorex sleeves.

I'm on a roll so far during the 'summer-to-fall' transition with my organizing projects.  Next up?  My desk.  (yikes)

Movie Project Post #6

Three more movies down!

Larry Crowne

It was better than I thought it would be, although it was still 'just okay'.  And it was more Tom Hanks than Julia Roberts, which was nice.  I like her okay, but I like him much better.  Oh, and Rita Wilson had a small role in it too, which was great.  I love her!

Red

I just couldn't get into this one for some reason, although the casting was great.  But there was just something about it that I couldn't get into.  Too much shooting maybe?  I haven't been into action movies lately, unless they involve Tony Stark.  Ha ha.

On Golden Pond

Technically, I've seen this movie a couple of times already, but it was more than 15 years ago, so I put it on my list to watch again.  I don't think there's any movie out there that has more classic 'one-liners' than this one (mostly from Henry Fonda).  A classic for sure.

My favorite:  On Golden Pond

Next Up:

The Impossible

My Life in Ruins

Dinner for Schmucks

Getting Organized - Recipes

I used to keep my recipes and cookbooks on top of the refrigerator.  But then we got a new fridge that was taller than our old one and I couldn't really reach them.  Not that I cook a whole lot.  But still.  I wanted to display them on a nice shelf or something.  So I found this cabinet at Ross and put it in our dining room, below a framed shadow box of my great-great Grandmother's apron.  As you can see, it got quite messy:

See that busy looking pink and black binder at the very top?  That was my first attempt months ago to 'tame' the ripped out pages of magazines.  It wasn't working.

So off to Staples I went, where I found some products from one of my favorite people:  Martha Stewart.

I got a smaller black binder, some dividers, and some plain lined paper:

I wanted to keep my binder simple, that's why I only bought a 5-pack of dividers.  I labeled them Soup & Salad, Vegetables, Main, Desserts, and Snacks.

And then I went through all of my magazines, recipes scribbled on paper, etc., and weeded them out and only kept the ones I have made before or ones I know I'm going to try.  If they were handwritten, I recopied them onto the new paper.  If they were from a magazine, I trimmed them down and taped them to the new paper:

So much better!

And I have plenty of extra filler paper, so there's room to grow.

This project cost me about $20, and took maybe 2 hours.  I love Martha Stewart products.  They are high quality, simple, but not too boring.

I'm happy with the outcome!  (my new binder is almost invisible on the middle shelf all the way to the right)

Getting Organized - Cords and Chargers

The organizing bug has hit me once again.  It usually hits me around this time....right between summer and fall.  I'm not sure why.

The first project I tackled was cords and chargers.  Phones, cameras, computers, ear buds, iPads, wireless keyboards, you name it.  If it's portable and electronic, it has a charger.

We have chargers in the bedroom, living room, kitchen, office, and more.  Pretty much every room in the house.  Now, some of the chargers will stay.  Like our chargers in the bedroom, where we charge our phones and iPads every night.

But the rest of them were all over the place, and every time I needed to charge something, it was wild goose chase trying to find the correct cord.  They were everywhere.  And it was driving me bonkers.

So the first thing I did was gather every cord, flash drive, charger, ear bud, etc. that I had strewn about the house.

Not pretty.  

So, I went through them and organized them and wrapped them up using binder clips.

Better, but we're not quite there yet.

Enter these:

Yes, I have two label makers.

And this:

This container is made for scrapbooking supplies I think, but as soon as I seen it at Michaels for 40% off, I knew it would be perfect for my project.

The lid opens up and inside are 3 removable plastic containers:

Next step:

Much better!  Although I couldn't resist labeling them:

I ran out of white labels, so I had to switch to clear for the other two boxes:

And now I have this:

It sits on a shelf in our office, easily accessible.  I love it!

The next thing I tackled was my cookbooks/recipe books.  But that's for another post!

Movie Project Post #5

I've crossed 3 more off my list:

Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Just a fluff movie.  Not great, not terrible.  I like Hugh Grant, so when this was $1.99 at Hastings, I picked it up.

Funny Face

Audrey Hepburn can just do no wrong in my eyes.  It's not Breakfast at Tiffany's or Charade or Roman Holiday or Sabrina, but it is a great movie still.

Citizen Kane

This movie is apparently a big deal.  I'm sure that aspiring filmmakers and the like are impressed with it, and....I get that.  But as far as entertainment value, I thought it fell short.  Although, I do think it was somewhat ahead of it's time in the way the movie played out (all in flashbacks, trying to figure out what Mr. Kane's last dying word 'Rosebud' meant).  And it's impressive that Orson Welles wrote, produced, directed and starred in it.  But I don't ever imagine I'll watch it again.

My favorite of the three:  Funny Face

Next up:
Red
On Golden Pond
Larry Crowne

My Team

We held our Fantasy Football draft today.  I thought it went really well!  Here is my team that I drafted (in order by position):

QUARTERBACKS (2):

Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers). Yes.  The #1 QB is MINE!

QB#2 - Russel Wilson (Seattle Seahawks)  He'll be my backup.

RUNNINGBACKS (5):

Marshawn Lynch (Seattle Seahawks)

 Darren Sproles (New Orleans Saints)

Ahmad Bradshaw (Indianapolis Colts)

Isaac Redman (Pittsburgh Steelers)

Roy Helu (Washington Redskins...I had to have at least one former Husker on my team!)

WIDE RECEIVERS (5):

Brandon Marshall (Chicago Bears)

Mike Wallace (Miami Dolphins)

Hakeem Nicks (New York Giants)

Kenny Britt (Tennessee Titans)

Miles Austin (Dallas Cowboys)

TIGHT ENDS (2):

Tony Gonzalez (Atlanta Falcons)

Greg Olson (Carolina Panthers)

KICKER (1):

Phil Dawson (San Francisco 49ers)

DEFENSE (1):

The Houston Texans

It was a fun draft.  The first game is Thursday....I'm ready!!!!