A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

I’ve been lazy this weekend. Shame on me.

Well, I actually got a little bit accomplished around the house. I got a few loads of clothes washed and hung out while the weather was nice, and did a little cleaning. Nothing too ambitious, though. As far as work, I did pretty much nothing. I had a few things I could have done, but no looming deadlines, so I decided to take it easy. I think I deserved a weekend off after busting my butt all last month.

Last night I went to see Fast 5 with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. It was friggin awesome! I didn’t really expect much from it with it being the fifth movie in the series, but I really enjoyed it. If you liked the others, be sure to see this one.

Nothing much went on other than that. But for some reason, my back has been killing me today. With all the aching backs around here, I’m beginning to hope that Pumpkin will decide to go to massage therapy school when she graduates. Too bad she’s still in elementary school.

It’s late, so I’m going to pry myself away from the computer and get to bed. So long!

Sometimes I can concentrate on my writing. Unfortunately, those times are now few and far between. I often end up surfing the web, and the subjects that I read about are as scattered as my brain. Sometime last week, between seeing how much I could get by selling my hair and learning about hydroponic systems, I ran across a video that I’ve been meaning to share since then. It’s by a band called the Zimmers, which is made up of a group of senior citizens from the U.K. And they’re doing a cover of none other than The Prodigy’s “Firestarter.” Watch and be amazed:

I showed it to Pumpkin, and she was rather freaked out by it. But I love it! If you’re interested, you can learn more about the Zimmers at their website, and you can download this and more of their songs at Amazon.com.

I’m not really known for my movie reviews. In fact, if memory serves me, I’ve never really done one before. But I watched a movie last night that was so awesome, I just had to share my thoughts on it. That movie was The Wrestler.

I’ve wanted to watch The Wrestler since it was in theaters, but it didn’t play in the tiny local movie house. When it came out on DVD, I stalked the Redbox incessantly, but I was never able to catch it before someone else snatched it up. I finally found it on HBO a few nights ago, but it was half over and I was feeling too bad to even watch a little of it. So I set the DVR to record the next showing, and finally got around to watching it last night.

Now, I’m a fan of professional wrestling, but I think I would have loved this movie even if I wasn’t. The story is that gripping, and the theme is something that I think we can all relate to on some level. I’ll share a brief synopsis, without giving anything away for those of you who haven’t seen it.

Mickey Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a wrestler who had his heyday in the 80s. In present day, he is still wrestling, but he’s not enjoying the fame or acclaim that he once did. He wrestles on weekends in a small local promotion, and works during the week at a grocery store. He finds himself locked out of his trailer park dwelling due to non-payment of rent, and must ask his condescending boss for more hours at his job.

As the stereotypical wrestler, The Ram spends a great deal of his income on pharmaceuticals. Not quick weight loss drugs, but steroids and other performance enhancers. He eventually succumbs to ill health, and is told by his doctor that he should never wrestle again. He proceeds to retire and tries to make connections with the people he cares about, but it never quite works out like he plans. He finally decides that he must return to wrestling, because the ring is the only place where he feels truly at home. And that’s where I’ll stop, because I don’t want to give away the ending.

Mickey Rourke was the perfect actor for this part. I read that Nicholas Cage was the first choice of the producers, and while I like Nick, the movie just wouldn’t have been as poignant with him as the lead. The story followed many Hollywood conventions, yet it still seemed fresh, and was certainly engaging.

I highly recommend this movie, not just to wrestling fans, but to anyone who loves a good drama. Enough said.

A few weeks ago, Hubby traded his cousins some stuff for some wrestling DVDs. Much to my dismay, none of them were WWE, so they didn’t have my beloved Shawn Michaels in them. But there were some TNA ones, and I saw one match with one of my other favorite wrestlers in it: Jeff Hardy.

Even though it’s not what I’m used to watching, I do kind of like TNA. Sting, a favorite of mine since childhood, is also on one of the DVDs. It’s a little rougher than what we’ve been watching, and depending on my mood I can’t stomach some of the bloodier stuff. But it’s something different to watch, which is always a good thing when you don’t have cable or satellite.

There are also a couple of DVDs from the smaller regional wrestling organizations. Some of those turned out to be better than others. The guys weren’t quite as huge as the ones in the big leagues, and some of them even look like they could benefit from taking some Noxycut. Could be that’s why they haven’t made it to WWE or TNA yet. But I’m no expert.

Hubby has watched all of those DVDs already and is watching some of them over. I caught bits and pieces, but I don’t see myself sitting down to a wrestling marathon anytime soon. Pro wrestling is one of my guilty pleasures, but I prefer it in small doses.

Ah, Celebrity Apprentice. It’s like The Apprentice, only with celebrities and money for charity. Lots of drama, and lots of fun.

The latest episode challenged the teams to create viral videos for All Small and Mighty, a highly concentrated laundry detergent with time-released freshness. To make things even more interesting, Joan and Melissa Rivers were pitted against each other for this effort.

The results were spectacular, and hilarious. The elder Rivers’ “Guess That Stain” video was classic Joan, complete with her trademark humor and wisecracks. Melissa’s “Laundry Fairy” video was an adorable documentary-type clip. Both were awesome. Here’s a sampling:

Unfortunately, there was no winner of this challenge, so no money was raised for charity. But don’t worry- you can help just by watching the clips in their entirety online. All is donating 50 cents to Joan and Melissa’s charities (Guide Dogs for the Blind and The Lili Claire Foundation) for each view of the videos on their website. So have a look, and send them to all of your friends!

There’s another good reason to visit the site as well. For 24 hours only, you can get a coupon for $2 off on All Small and Mighty. After 11 pm EST on Monday April 6th, the amount will be reduced to $1 off. So don’t delay if you want a chance to experience the concentrated freshness at a great price!

Oh yeah, one more thing: You can also enter to win an all expense paid trip for two to the Celebrity Apprentice finale or a year’s supply of All Small and Mighty! So… why are you still here? I mean, I’m honored that you’re still reading and all, but get on over there and get your coupon and sweeps entry and help out some great charities!

I have to make a conscious effort to stay away from YouTube. If I make my way there, I can’t seem to leave. I have enough trouble getting my work done as it is, and I don’t need to get my nose stuck in videos and make things worse.

If there’s anyone out there with ADD (which I still haven’t found out for sure whether or not I have, but it seems very likely), it’s easy to understand how one can get lost in a sea of short videos on every subject imaginable. If I take a notion to watch that kooky OK Go video where they’re dancing on treadmills, I can’t just stop there. There’s that listing of related videos next to it, taunting me, saying, “Kriiiiiiiiisty… you must watch this… it’s so awesome!” So I do, and the cycle continues until I’ve gotten nothing done all day except watching those blasted videos.

For that reason, I try to avoid YouTube at all costs. It doesn’t always work, but I try.

I haven’t been to the movies in ages, but there’s a movie coming out next month that I think might just change that. It’s called The Women, and it features an awesome cast that includes some of my favorite actresses: Meg Ryan, Debra Messing, Annette Bening, and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Although the cast is all female, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill chick flick. It takes a close look at two issues that are important to women: the definition of beauty and friendship. You can watch a great mini-documentary about the making of the film at Dove’s website.

The documentary features teen journalist Cammy Nelson (pictured above with director Diane English), a very smart young lady who has been involved with projects designed to promote self esteem in young women since the age of 12. She worked with Go Girls! and PeaceJam before teaming up with Dove to go behind the scenes of The Women. She toured the set and spoke with the actresses about their opinions on beauty. You might be surprised at their answers, which had nothing to do with outward appearance.

In addition to the documentary, you can read Cammy’s diary entries about her experiences on the set. There’s also a director’s diary written by Diane English about the making of the film.

My Take on Beauty and Friendship

As you may know from some of my previous posts, I think it’s very important for girls and women to realize that real beauty comes from the inside, and from the things that make us unique. But I don’t think I’ve touched on the subject of friendship very often.

In today’s impersonal world, fewer and fewer people have real friends. I can’t say that I have any that I talk to on a regular basis. Well, there’s Hubby, who is truly my best friend in every sense of the word. I can talk to him about anything, and he’s always there to comfort me when I’m down. But it’s nice to have female friends to talk girl talk with, and to do the things that the menfolk just aren’t interested in with. I guess I need to give some of my old friends a call, because I miss that. Maybe I’ll invite them to go see The Women with me.

So what do beauty and friendship have to do with each other? Well, your real friends will appreciate you for who you are, not what you look like. In high school, I had some “friends” who decided they didn’t want to be associated with me because I didn’t try to be a carbon copy of the popular girls. But to a real friend, things like that do not matter.

Win Tickets to See The Women

Want a chance to win free tickets to see The Women at a theater near you? Visit Dove’s website starting on September 3rd. They’ll be giving away 100 pairs of tickets. You can enter once a day between September 3rd and September 19th.

Hubby, Pumpkin, Hubby’s cousin, his daughter and I are going to see wrestling tonight. Not WWE or anything like that, just mostly local people. But the Boogie Woogie Man and Kid Cash are going to be there.

Hubby and I went to where they’re having it to give his brother some money today and met the Boogie Woogie Man. We hadn’t planned on going to the event, but the promoter talked us into getting tickets. I thought it would be fun for Pumpkin, so it wasn’t a hard sell.

Gotta go… Hubby’s in a hurry to leave. Laters!

We finally got our satellite service canceled. I would have done it a long time ago, but when I first mentioned it I was met with protests. But Hubby finally came around. Pumpkin said she wanted her Disney and cartoon channels back, but she hasn’t kicked up a big fuss about it. And me? I don’t miss it a bit.

I joined Netflix so we would have something to watch when we wanted to without having to pay an arm and a leg each month. We got our first movies last night. I ordered Pumpkin a Hannah Montana DVD, and we watched that first. Then Hubby, his cousin and I watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story after she went to bed. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. But make sure the kids aren’t around, because there’s a bit of nudity and raunch in it.

Anyway, I enjoyed that more than I would have enjoyed sitting around watching TV. Even though we don’t have a projection system or home theater sconces, it’s nice to have a movie night. Especially when we get to watch something we haven’t already seen a million times.

Not being much of a television watcher, there are few shows that I watch regularly. But I caught a couple of episodes of VH1′s Celebrity Rehab, and I really liked it. I had planned on watching every episode, but I just got through reading a news story about how the final episode just aired a couple of days ago. So much for that, I guess.

Maybe I’ll manage to watch all of them in reruns. For some reason the idea of celebrities going through drug rehab intrigues me. It seems kind of voyeuristic (as do most reality shows to me), but I think this one has the potential to benefit people instead of just invading the participants’ privacy for profit.