Neighbors

We have some great neighbors that really seem to care about each other. When we moved in, we introduced ourselves to everyone right around us. We have the best neighbors ever next door, George and Billie, who we guess are in their late 70's or early 80's and have lived in their house since it was built in the 50's. We always chat with them when we're both outside, which is pretty often. We've even gone so far as to take them some banana bread, and they've given us some muffins. We also tried to talk to our other next door neighbor, Roland, who was 82, a widower and a little gruff. But he seemed to enjoy our company the couple of times we talked with him. Unfortunately he passed away about a month ago, and now his house stands empty. We're not sure what his family plans to do with the house. But we really haven't spoken much to our across-the-street neighbors since we moved in.

A couple of months ago one of them was trimming some tree branches from a ladder after some strong winds had knocked them down to his roof. He fell and was knocked unconscious, and another neighbor ran to tell his wife to call 911. The last update we've had is that poor Gerry was in a medically induced coma, supposedly so that the surgeon could put steel posts in his neck and hopefully reverse any paralysis that has set in since the fall. Several of our neighbors have been taking care of his wife, getting her car battery replaced, feeding her cat during the first few weeks when she was at the hospital nonstop, doing yardwork, driving her to the hospital if she needs a ride. I think this is wonderful, but it seems like reverting back in time to see people pulling together in a community.

I was lucky with the rent house where I lived previously, having Mike and Susan next door, but I had known them already half my life. All of my other neighbors were a little scary and I had no desire to get to know them better other than briefly saying hello from time to time. So I'm not used to this caring neighbor thing. I want to let Gerry's wife know that we are thinking about them and to let us know if she needs anything, but I just can't seem to get the nerve up to go knock on the door, having only spoken to her once before. I feel like I'm invading her privacy. I'm determined to get over whatever is holding me back, though. I want to be a good neighbor too.

I love TV again

Jav very much surprised me with a DVR for my birthday. We had batted the idea around, thinking that once the baby comes our TV watching hours may be very strange, but we sort of ruled it out based on cost and I thought that was the end of it. Turns out he had already run with the idea (sorry, honey, but you must admit it was a Homer gift!).

I had almost stopped watching TV three or four years ago. But since I met Jav I have rediscovered how fun it can be to catch your favorite shows every week. And no matter how bad it may be for your brain, it's nice to unwind to. Right now we're excited about the US Open, and catching some of those matches that they show while we're at work. We want to see Agassi hopefully go out with a bang. As far as network shows, I know we'll be taping The Office and My Name is Earl every week. And we'll be excited to start the Sopranos once it's back. I'd also love to have the time to catch The Daily Show every night, and maybe even add one of the late night guys. I think I'm still a Letterman fan above everybody else, but with the option to go later I'm curious about Conan and Craig Ferguson (who my Mom thinks is great). But I doubt I'll have the time or energy to watch that much TV. It's just nice to know it's there if I do.

Friends

My friends threw me a wonderful baby shower. Great food, advice, conversation and friendship coming together to celebrate this little cause of wonder I have inside me. I'm very thankful that we've all stayed close throughout the years. I am not one to make close friends very easily. I've made a few through work. I'm feeling closer and closer to my sisters-in-law as we all get to know each other better. I hope to make some through church. But it's such a great feeling to get together with my high school friends and slide right back into wherever we left off. The years just disappear, and all the talking and laughter we share is so therapeutic and valuable to me. I hope we can manage to keep it up for many years to come.

Thanks again Audra, Jana and Julie!

Project Runway FEVER

My favorite show of the moment is Project Runway. It's just so fun to watch. I've been addicted since the first season. I think it has something to do with being amazed (and a little jealous) that the designers can come up with outfits so fast, going from drawings to material scraps to finished runway pieces in one or two days. It's also a personality goulash where you get to see all aspects of human competition, from teamwork and respect to bitchiness and downright cheating. The show's also made me a big fan of Heidi Klum, who is not just another Victoria Secret model. She's the producer, proving to have quite a brain in hitting the jackpot of reality shows. She's also very family-oriented and grounded.

I've been ok at picking the final three contestants-so here goes my prediction for this season's final winners: 1) Michael, the very cool and extremely nice and grounded kid from Atlanta who calls his Mom when he gets stressed out; 2) Uli, the quiet and unassuming German girl who loves prints and does amazing things with them and 3) Jeffrey, the neck-tattooed rock and roll designer from Austin who is starting to clash with everyone.

Is it Wednesday night yet?

Swollen and Salt-Free (sort of)

Since I am nine months pregnant in one of the top-ten hottest summers Texas has ever seen, my ankles pretty much resemble those of a small elephant's from the time I get out of bed these days. It hasn't helped that my work has finally realized that I will be gone awhile and people will have to do what I do - so they have me running around trying to train 4 different people. My legs got so bad Thursday and Friday that Jav and I decided to give up some of my vacation time that I was saving for after the baby comes. I went to half-days today, which should help. I'll still be off the same amount of time, but we'll have less money to stretch out while I'm off.

Because I'm getting so swollen, I'm trying to find meals that have the least amount of sodium, which has proved to be sort of hard. We're pretty much down to grilling meats, and having sides of fresh fruits and vegetables and a little bread. I am not one to buy canned vegetables or frozen dinners, so I guess the transition has been easier for me than some. But I'm still amazed at the amount of salt in foods I never would've thought had much. My cranberry juice has 250 mg - why? The lunchmeat with the lowest amount was roast beef, which also surprised me. And don't even get me started on salad dressings. I've become even more addicted to label reading than I was before, so it took me an hour and a half to get through grocery shopping yesterday. (It didn't help that the Braxton-Hicks got really strong while I was there and I was stopping to breath every other aisle-but I learned it's a great way to clear out a crowded aisle!)

Critic's Corner

We've watched several movies over the past few months that I never commented on. I think we've finally caught up on watching the Best Movie nominations for last year's Oscar's (except for Munich, which neither of us wanted to see).

We had already seen Crash, which won Best Picture. I now can say with a clear conscience that I agree with them, although I must admit the reason is more about the themes of racism they explored more than anything else about the movie.

We saw Good Night, and Good Luck about three months ago. Here's where I have to admit pregnancy may have affected my normal movie watching skills. I thought there was waaaaayyy too much talking and was slightly bored by the movie, even falling asleep for a part of it. I loved the jazz singer all the way through, though. Jav thought it was better than I did. I probably need to give it another chance one day to see if it was just hormonal.

Truman held my attention all the way through, and I thought it was the next best nominated movie after Crash. You should watch just to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman's amazing transformation into Truman Capote. He is great - and deserved to win every Best Actor contest for last year. The story itself is riveting, especially since it's based on actual events. I found myself thinking about the movie for weeks afterwards, especially pondering the question - how would it make you feel to know that your biggest success, including money and fame, was caused by other people's tragedy? It got me to thinking about all the books and movies coming out about 9/11 right now. Any movie that gets my brain juices flowing that much will be always well-remembered.

We watched Brokeback Mountain last weekend. It was as good as everyone's told me, and the acting was tops. Heath Ledger's performance was so subtle and understated, but SO moving and powerful everytime he was on the screen. Seeing this movie definitely made me a fan of his for life. I thought the story itself was sweet, sad and poignant.

A couple of other Oscar nominated performances are worth a mention:

I tried to watch Syriana, but found it so complex and all-over-the-place that my muddled brain couldn't take it. Jav and my Dad both fought it through to the end, but were still confused about parts of the story. Plus it's hard for me to watch something that's so close to actual events taking place right now that are so upsetting.

The Constant Gardener, with Rachel Weisz that won Best Supporting Actress, was an example of a complex plot that was followable (is that actually a word?) It had a very intriguing story, amazing acting and directing, but the horribly upsetting subject matter of the African people and their daily life amidst war and poverty. I'm still really glad we saw it, though.

Now, the best movie we've seen during this time period came out in January 2006 (and the fact that we agreed on that point says alot). Match Point, directed by Woody Allen, was unexpectedly brilliant and totally not what we were expecting. First of all, I figuired Woody Allen would be in it, which he is not. I am a fan of some of Woody Allen's movies, and this movie most reminded me of Crimes and Misdemeanors, which is my second favorite behind Hannah and Her Sisters. But it's even better. I thought the movie was very much like an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. You were on the edge of your seat the whole time. And the way the story plays out with the narration of the main character is just genius.

Preview of Coming Attractions:
We have a French thriller called Cache, The Wedding Crashers and Finding Nemo (no, believe it or not we haven't seen it yet) to watch and review soon.

Molly

Molly was a stray dog I found where I work. I took her in the hope that my parents would want her. And when they didn't, I felt responsible and kept her, much to the dismay of the rest of the pets in the household. This was pre-Jav days, so it was just me, myself and I making decisions. Molly ended up being the biggest challenge I've been faced with as an animal lover. She grew, and ended up big (95 pounds), but she thinks she's lap-sized. She is smart, but has a hard head and a will of steel like no other animal I've run across. She looked like a very skinny long-legged Rottweiller when I brought her home. The vet guessed that her other part (or one of them) was hound dog, just because of her lackadaisical countenance. I had to dig down deep and find a mixture of unbelievable patience and psychological toughness I didn't know I had before I met her. And I think I will be a better mother because of it.

We embarked on a journey filled with chew toys, training classes, and book and manual readings galore. She apparantly was hungry for quite some time as a puppy, because she is food-fixated beyond belief. She has eaten, killed or chewed on, in no particular order, kleenexes, cat toys, newspaper, lizards, quick-dry cement, birdseed, home siding, birds, rocks, rats, and her favorite - sticks. Lately her diet (besides her special extra-expensive dog food that the vet prescribed because "at least we can control PART of what she eats") has been slimmed down to birdseed, lizards and sticks, these being the only things still found in the new yard after we moved.

Molly was a rare stray in that she apparantly was never really mistreated by anyone, and so shows no fear of anything. Someone did at one point try to tie her up (when she wandered into our warehouse at work she had a ripped rope around her collar). She also goes nuts if you try to keep her contained in a dog run or outside pen. But other than that she is a goofy and joyful dog, who you will find just as often on her back with all four legs sprawling everywhere as you will right side up. Many nights we find her snoring in her kennel flat on her back.

She's come a long way, and is now relatively obedient most of the time. She is a joy to walk or run, keeping exact pace with you no matter how slow or fast you want her to go. And although she still has the bad habit of barking at other dogs that wander by our house, now she seems to be turning into quite a watch dog when it comes to people too. I doubt many criminal types would try to venture into our yard just upon the sight of her, but couple that with her viscious bark and I don't think anyone would be crazy enough to mess with us. She still has a weird habit of barking really ferociously, then retreating as if she's a little nervous with her newfound authority. My Mom thinks she's conflicted between her Rottweiller personality of guarding house and home and her hound dog personality of lounging on the porch thinking about her next meal and not really giving a damn.

All I know is I love her something awful. It's been a hardfound love, but that's what makes it even more special.

Molly, a.k.a. the Mollster, Molly Polly Wog, and the ever popular Molly, No!!!!! 

My excellent birthday gift

Jav took me to see these guys Saturday night. I've never seen anything like them. They were wonderful. Here's the review - although I think the reviewer's being a little unfair to the guitarist who made faces. I didn't think it distracted from the music at all. It was a great birthday present. Thanks Jav!