The Unadventures of Tracie

So I remembered once that Austin posted a list 3 years ago of his top ten Christmas movies and thought, you know I should do the same. So here are MY favorite Christmas movies in somewhat ascending order: 1.  The Santa Clause - This is my favorite Christmas movie of all time. This movie is just quintessential Christmas to me. Santa, the holiday spirit, presents, kids, elves, snow, humor. It's got it all. I love how the elfs look like children. It could be that this movie came out when I was still young enough to consider myself a kid (1994) or it could be that it's just that good of a show. I love this description for The Santa Clause I found on the Sun Sentine l 's  list of the Top 25 best Christmas movies : "It's every kid's dream: Dad could be Santa Claus. All he has to do is push the other Santa off his roof. That perfect mix of whimsy and mature laughs made this Tim Allen comedy an annual favorite. Who can forget Allen desperately trying to lose...

Every single time I find a new show that I absolutely LOVE, I find out it was canceled way before it's time. (And yet, pure drivel like Two and a Half Men is still on the air.) This is my tribute to 5 shows that were canceled before their time.   Arrested Development . Also known as #1 reason I hate FOX. This show was brilliant and hilarious. It had a stellar ensemble cast, great writing, and well, it was just awesome in pretty much every way. One of the best comedies ever. If you haven't seen it, RUN--don't walk--to the nearest big box store and buy it.  Seriously. Buy it today. You won't regret it. Let's all hope that the movie gets made. Firefly . #2 reason I hate FOX. (Oh, and Heather, we saw this, and loved it, years ago. :) )This show was made by Joss Whedon people! Who totally rocks. ( Buffy , Angel , Dr. Horrible , Dollhouse , they're all good. And I own, or will own, all of them.) So Firefly is the best sci-fi western nobody watched. Until it was on ...

I love popcorn. It is one of the best treats ever invented. I am perfectly capable of devouring enormous quantities of popcorn single-handedly. I blame my mom. She is also a popcorn fiend. But this isn't about her. This is about fluffy, buttery popcorn and all of its marvelous wonderousness. My life has been forever changed. So I'm not a complete idiot. I was perfectly aware that not all popcorn comes from little paper bags cooked via "the popcorn button" in the microwave. I mean, I had heard of air poppers. What I didn't know is that it was entirely possible to cook popcorn YOURSELF...ON THE STOVE. Thanks goes to Charity who shared this little piece of wisdom with me. A few weeks ago Austin and I went over to Charity and James' to watch a French postapocalyptic film about cannibals called Delicatessen . (Verdict: Weird, but interesting. And the French are weird.) Anyway, being the good host that she is, Charity had made some homemade popcorn th...

I just finished reading The Neverending Story for the first time. It's much different than the movies (particularly the second one). The first movie ends a little less than halfway through the book portion. Anyway, I really liked the book (though it did seem a little neverending to me). It totally put me in the mood to watch the movies. I LOVE the movies! If you didn't watch The Neverending Story growing up, I'd say your childhood was missing something. (Unless, of course, you weren't a child when it came out. ;) ) The story is one of the most imaginative stories I've ever read/watched. The movie was fascinating, scary, intense, sad, happy, and inspiring. Made you want to wish and dream. The book was the same way. I couldn't believe the imagination of the author. He created so many new and different things that were so creative. Made me wish I were that creative. I really liked the messages in the book as well. I remember watching the movie growing up and thin...

Austin and I went to see The Dark Night on this night. (August 2 that is.) I really liked it. I don't think I can say I loved it because it isn't the type of story that I could really get into. It didn't make me think or feel anything (for the most part). However, I did think the film quality and performances were very good. The cinematography was very well done. I found Gotham to be a believable and real city. I loved the effects on Two Face. My problem with the movie is it didn't have enough Batman for me. I felt like he was pushed off to the side a little bit. I found myself wanting to see Batman (and Bruce Wayne) more. For this reason I liked the first movie more. But you could say this movie wasn't about Batman. It was about the Joker. And if you take it that way, the movie did succeed. I thought Heath Ledger's performance was amazing. I couldn't believe it was him. He succeeded in creating one of the scariest bad guys ever. He was downright creepy....

It’s that time again. “To everything (turn, turn, turn) /There is a season (turn, turn, turn) /And a time for every purpose, under heaven/A time to be born, a time to die/A time to plant, a time to reap/A time to kill, a time to heal/A time to laugh, a time to weep” And a time to blog. I just realized it’s been almost two weeks since I last updated. I feel like such a hypocrite since I’m always getting after all of you to blog more often. But in all fairness, I really haven’t had much time. I ironically only update while I’m at work. And since I was in a workshop for almost the whole week last week, I really didn’t have the time. And I don’t really have anything to blog about. Austin had a good birthday. I got him good presents (which he wrote about on his own blog). And a good time was had by all. My own birthday is now approaching. (In three days, including today.) It’s kinda hard having my birthday so soon after Austin’s because I feel sorta like an afterthought. I reminded my dad y...

I can’t believe I’m finally doing this. I’m finally writing my American Idol post (and finally finished it, I've been writing this for days now). You see, I’m somewhat addicted to the show. Austin and I have watched every episode this season since Hollywood week. (We missed the audition stages.) I first got hooked to the show during season five, which Austin and I watched almost every episode of. Last year was ”eh” so I only watched some of it. But this year I’m back and into it. I’ve been meaning to write about AI for several weeks now but haven’t because I knew it would take a fair amount of time to write this as I wanted to take the time to fully present my opinions. Anyway, I know the show is up to the “Top 7” now, but I am going to include some opinions of people who already left, some missed, some not. I’m not going to present them in any order really but just how they pop into my head. First up: David Archuletta . Yes, I know his talking voice and his penchant for choosing ...

Austin and others have been complaining that I haven’t been updating frequently enough. So, here I am updating on the last week or so. On March 4, I, along with AJ, threw Heidi a baby shower. We had a “spring” theme and it was a “friends” shower. (Shera had thrown Heidi a ward/family shower in December.) AJ graciously did the invites and mailed them out while I was still in Texas for Austin and me’s trip. Since I don’t get home until 6:30 usually and the shower was set to start at 7, I planned to get everything done the night before. I left work an hour early and stopped at Walmart for groceries and Heidi’s gift. I then returned home and started cleaning the house. I cleaned furiously and prepared the spinach artichoke dip that was to be cooked the following night. I also made sugar cookie dough and placed it in the fridge to chill while I finished cleaning the house. Austin and I were still technically housesitting for my parents and so we went over there to bake and frost the sugar ...

So, it's official. I have jumped on the LOST bandwagon. And I love it. It's one of the best-written, most interesting shows I've ever watched, at least thus far. Austin and I borrowed Season One from my parents like two months ago. We finally got down to watching it two weeks ago, and we were instantly hooked. I resisted getting into it for years for several reasons. One of which is because I knew it was so popular. When things are that popular, I tend to be skeptical. Plus the whole concept sounded kinda weird and stupid. That is, until I watched it. It's like watching a short movie every episode. The music and production are awesome. The dialogue is believable and smart. The actors really know their characters. Characters have proper motivations. And there's consistency! (Well at least the first season does. We just barely started Season Two so we'll see how the rest of the show fares.) What I love is the real emotion and intensity that is in every episode....

So things aren't as bad today. Austin already has 4 interviews set up this week, and it's only Monday. Friday I sent his resume out to like 20 companies. I'm sure we'll hear from at least 5 more before the week is over. I also scheduled Austin an eye and doctor appointment. Tomorrow I'll schedule dentist appointments. I'm so excited for Austin to get new glasses. It's been no secret that I've always hated his glasses. I never felt they did much for him, especially now since they've been broken in two for like a year (and he still wears them, only to drive or to watch movies though.) And he'll finally get his handicapped license. That will be great finally getting good spots. Plus it'll be so much easier for him to get to class. Austin went to class for the first time on Saturday. He liked it. More good news. Got my license plates! Yay! Now I don't have to worry about getting pulled over any more as my temporary registra...