I FINALLY saw “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” last night.  Since we just asked for our money back at the drive in (I won’t be going back THERE, thankyouverymuch), Kile suggested I take Harry while he stayed home with the little ones.  We went to the theaters down at the Summit Sierra mall.  I’d almost forgotten what it was like to watch a movie in a REAL theater.  It’s been a while.

Anyhow, I’m not going to go into big details here just in case there is someone out there who is as unlucky as me and hasn’t seen it yet.  But… yeah.  I liked it, for the most part.  I loved the way it was directed, the cinematography, the whole ATMOSPHERE of the movie seemed right on to me.  But there were some changes.  Things left out, things added in…. A lot of it made me want to tear my hair out, to be perfectly honest.  If anyone out there has seen it, feels the same, and wants to discuss it, just email me and we can discuss at great length what we liked and what we hated.  Sound good?

***

On the other hand, it was really nice going to see a movie with Harry like that.  We grabbed McDonald’s at the drive through on the way down to the theater and ate in the car.  Harry made a fine companion and it was nice to get to spend time with just him for a change.  He and I used to spend all sorts of time together.  I took him everywhere with me when he was little.  He was my sidekick.  We never get to do that anymore.

I would like to make this movie thing a semi-regular thing.  Maybe one a month or every two months?  Just he and I, out to the movies.  That would be so much fun!

***

I woke up this morning to overcast skies.  I cannot express to you how happy this makes me.  No sun = some relief from blistering heat.  I’m sure it’ll still be unpleasantly warm, but at least the sun isn’t out, making it worse.

Sadly, I doubt it will last.  The sun will come out and force it’s rays upon us.  But for now, I’m enjoying the dim.

Shoot, in the movie last night, I found myself gazing fondly at the screen during the snowy-winter scenes.  Oh, snow.  How I miss you!  How I love the sight of snow-covered mountains and snow falling and the crunch under your feet….

Damnit.  I want winter back.

***

I’m ignoring about 90% of my Facebook friends today.  Sorry, y’all.  But if you’re going to insist on posting about traveling to BlogHer, seeing people at BlogHer, being excited about BlogHer, etc and so forth?  I’m going to have to stick my fingers in my ears and go, “LA LA LA LA!!”

Nothing personal.

***

I hear my little girl waking up upstairs so I best go fetch her.  I haven’t seen her since about 5:30 last night so I’m actually looking forward to getting some cuddles in, as I’m sure she is too.

She really is quite snuggle-icious.

Enjoy your Thursday, all!

BlogHer.

Bah.  Bah, I say!  And humbug!

Actually, I’m torn.  Part of me is sad and/or left out because I love BlogHer and I’ve gone for three years now and there are so many fabulous people I’m going to miss seeing this year.  And everyone is posting about BlogHer.  I can’t even check Facebook without being inundated with posts about packing, makeovers and last minute arrangements.  Darn it, I always enjoyed that last minute frenzy before the fun began.  I’ve purposefully stayed away from news and talk about BlogHer this year because I didn’t want to feel any worse about having to miss it.  So while I don’t know EXACTLY what I’m missing, I know I’m missing something.  And that sucks, yo.

And then part of me is sorta relieved that I’m not going.  Last year, quite frankly, was kind of a nightmare and while I’m SO glad that I went, I still have bitterness.  But mostly why I’m relieved is that right now I don’t think I could handle the extra stress that going this year would bring.  One big vacation at a time, thank you!  All money aside (and yes, money was a factor in deciding whether to go this year), I think even if someone had come to me last week with a free pass, free plane tickets, a free hotel room, I would probably STILL balk at going.  We are leaving for our Disney Extravaganza in two weeks (GULP).  That trip is literally taking all my attention right now and it’s not fair to the Disney Extravaganza or to BlogHer to divide that attention.  It’s just bad timing is all.

Still, at the end of the day, I wish I were going to Chicago this year, going to the parties and hanging out in hotel rooms and attending sessions and learning and meeting and doing.  That would be so much fun.  And I’m sad that I’m missing it.

So I wish everyone who IS going safe travels and a fun time in Chicago.  Get out from behind the potted plant and meet people and talk and join in the fun.  Just trust me.  And save me some swag, okay?  To everyone who ISN’T going, don’t feel too bad.  There is always next year.  Just decide early on if you’re going to go and then GO.  I truly hope that I can go next year.  As always, it’s somewhat dependent on where it’s located and who is going, etc and so forth.  But I’m hoping to go.  And I hope you are going too!  And we can ALL meet and have fun and do silly things and annoy the people who can’t go on our blogs.  Sound like a plan?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go FREAK OUT cuz it’s TWO WEEKS until we leave for Florida.  HALP!

I’m trying (very hard) not to feel too bad about going to BlogHer this year.  I’ve known for a while that going this year was pretty much out of the question.  Short of a completely free trip (RIGHT), there was no way I could feasibly go.  And it’s not just the money thing.  We’re going on that big cruise/Disney World/extravaganza just weeks after BlogHer is scheduled and that’s an awful lot of traveling.  So yeah, if a fully comped deal had landed in my lap, I could make it work.  Since the last time I checked such things do not exist, I am not making it work.  I’m not going.

I made no secret that last year’s BlogHer was a little… less.  It was very, very, VERY hard to go with the family.  Even with Harry staying with my parents, having to deal with Evie made it VERY hard.  And while the day care set up was awesome (SERIOUSLY, if you are thinking of going with a child, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT.  The people there were awesome and Liam had a great time), it had limitations.  Mostly in that at 5-5:30 or so, day care was over and it’s hard to go to night clubs with two year olds.  I think I was in bed by 8 that night, my heart sick with stress and frustration.  The next problem was parking.  And check out.  Sure, we could have solved that by paying for an extra day of parking and an extra night at the hotel.  But we are notorious cheapskates.  We had to be back in San Jose on Saturday to celebrate my dad’s birthday and why pay for another hotel night when we wouldn’t stay there?  And the parking was outrageously expensive and paying a whole day for just a few more hours just didn’t jive with my practical side.  So by checking out by noon, we lost a place for me to go and nurse Evie and rest and have downtime (the nursing room provided was small, filled with uncomfortable chairs and cold as heck), and we lost a place to put all our stuff.  Kile had suggested moving the van to a place down the street where he could pay to park it for a few hours and we could keep our stuff in there.  But, heart-sick again, I gave up.  The Gods had deemed the whole thing a loss.  So we left at lunch.

Even now, writing that out, I still feel so incredibly sad about how it all ended up.  No ones fault, to be sure (except maybe my own).  But still so sad.  It was just hard to manage with kids.

If I had gone this year, it would probably be by myself, sans children.  Which is awfully optimistic of myself because even though Evie is closing in on her first birthday, she shows no sign of wanting to wean and still rejects virtually every other method of liquid intake available.  So even if I took Evie with me and put her in day care, I’d need to go feed her or whatever.  Which, yeah, I could make it work.

But the point is: I’m not.  I’m not going.  It feels weird to admit that since I have gone for three years now.  I’m going to miss some fabulous ladies this year.  So you’ll have to forgive me if I avoid all discussions about BlogHer.  If I roll my eyes at mentions of roommates, parties, sessions and swag.  If I stick my fingers in my ears and go “LALALALAICAN’THEARYOULALALA”.  It’s nothing personal and it’s just me being a little bitter.  (Save me some swag, please?  I’ll be your best friend!)

The end of the year is the perfect time to indulge in reflection and memes, don’t you think? I did this particular year-end meme last year too and I has been just as interesting to read last year’s answers as it has been to look back on this year.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

I had a baby girl! I also learned how to knit. And I took up cloth diapering. Wow, this was a banner year, wasn’t it?

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

SNORT. I’ll be going over this more in a day or two but the long story short is: No. And yes.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Uh… me? I think that’s someone close to me. Plus lots of fabulous bloggy peoples gave birth too.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?

Riiiiiight.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Money. That’d help. And sanity. That’d help, too.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

March 20, the day Evie was born. November 4, the day Obama was elected.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I had my third and final child.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Again, I was social failure. And a professional failure too, for the most part. I guess I should just be happy that I wasn’t a total failure as a parent, eh?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nope. Thank goodness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

iPhone. Even though I didn’t really buy it so much as WON it, but it is totally the most awesome thing in my life, materialistically speaking.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Anyone who is near and dear to me. Friends and family that have been there for me and helped me and picked me up and dusted me off. You all know who you are. Thank you.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

This would pretty much be the same people as last year. Suffice it to say, if you say you’re a friend, you should act like it.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Cloth diapers. Heh. And I’m supposing we’re saying money in a relative sort of way. Otherwise I’d have to say something totally boring like “the mortgage” or something. Yawn.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My daughter. Meeting her and getting to know her has been so incredibly awesome. Also was very, very excited about the “Twilight” movie and my iPhone. Heh.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay, “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. Awesome songs.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? SADDER. Sad to say.
b) thinner or fatter? THE SAME, which ain’t so good considering I was 5-6 months pregnant last year.
c) richer or poorer? THE SAME, though with less Christmas money to spend. Dangit.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Exercise. Definitely. I don’t know exactly what I need to do get more exercise since time is definitely short.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Again, I wish I had done less sitting around. SIGH.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

We stayed home and Kile’s parents came from Elko to spend it with us. That was really very nice, actually. It was nice to have someone here besides just us. And wow, Christmas with three kids is a lot different than Christmas with just two or one.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Yep, with wee little Evie.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

“Lost” for sure. That show rocks my socks.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nope. I try not to. Though I’m fairly annoyed at Dell for this shoddy laptop.

24. What was the best book you read?

Can I count the whole set of “Twilight” books in this one? Not literary genius, to be sure. But still totally awesome.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Hmm. Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” themed playlists really helped me find some interesting new music. And I rediscovered a love for Coldplay.

26. What did you want and get?

A baby girl. A trip to BlogHer ‘08. A new iPhone. Those are some pretty swell things!

27. What did you want and not get?

A new laptop. (Macbook!) A new camera. (come on, it doesn’t even have to be a DSLR!)

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

“Twilight”. That was awesome. “Ironman” was good too.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Sigh. I turned 33. I got my blood drawn. Kile made me dinner. I got jammies.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A new laptop? A new camera? (Do we sense a theme here?) A healthier outlook would have helped too.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Comfort is Key. Heh. A lot of people bag the whole pajama thing but come on. They’re COMFORTABLE. Sure, jeans look nice when out and about but around home I want to be comfortable.

32. What kept you sane?

Is this a trick question? Heh. My blog helped. Having this outlet helps more than you can know.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

EDWARD!! Come on, 2008 was totally The Year of Edward. And Neil Patrick Harris. Oh, and Owen Wilson. But that’s a gimme.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Can I get a “duh” here? The election, people!

35. Who did you miss?

Don’t know if I really missed anyone. I missed not seeing Zoot at BlogHer ‘08 though.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

I didn’t meet a whole lot of people this year but I did meet Rhi and Loralee at BlogHer. That was pretty much awesome.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Hmm. Not sure if I learned anything. I did get further lessons in “There is No Such Thing as Adult Friendships” though.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay

If you want to join in the fun and do this quiz on your blog too, check out the details from All & Sundry for including your post in her “master list”. Sound fun? Just keep in mind that it takes a while to do it because this has taken me no shorter than three hours to get through. Of course, my laptop is continuing it’s sharp decline and that hasn’t helped matters. Let’s have a new laptop in 2009, mmkay?

I’m writing this on my iPhone, sitting out in the van with the kids while Kile is in the DMV here in Elko trying to take care of a situation that has been brewing for the better part of a year. I’m also hoping that there’s enough of an Edge network signal to post this once I finish.

Cell phone service is criminal out here. Edge is as best you can hope for and I don’t think I’ve had more than three bars worth of signal since we got here. I tried to talk to my parents this morning and the call was dropped no less than 10 times. Whatup, AT&T?? To be fair, the Internet is little better. Though my in laws have wireless DSL, the signal and performance are… spotty. Very frustrating. Don’t get me wrong though. I’m rather glad to gave any signal at all. Having Edge is even better than I expected. But this would definitely be a deal-breaker should we ever consider moving here.

It’s Harry’s birthday today. Nine years old. I don’t think I feel nearly old enough to have a nine year old. We did up a family party last night and he is beyond thrilled with his new iPod Shuffle (which he is now listening to in the “way back” seat). He got some other great gifts too. Only I didn’t take any pictures because I totally forgot and I fail as a mother. Sounds about right.

I saw the big BlogHer announcement this morning. I’m a little sad that the conference is going to be in Chicago this year. Since it is, I don’t think I’ll be able to go. The combined costs of traveling and hotel and conference itself are just too much. We’re going on a big cruise in August and though my parents are pretty much paying for it all, we’ll still need spending money. That doesn’t leave much room for BlogHer. I’m sad because it’ll be the first conference I’ll miss since 2006. And I’ll miss seeing friends and all sorts of other awesome people. So… boo.

Anyhow, we’ll be cooling our heels here for another day and are heading back to Reno tomorrow. And then I’ll have my decrepit laptop back. Yay.