Read a Book, Read a Book, Read a MotherF*@#ing Book

One bonus of spending time at my mom's is that there's no Tivo or Netflix guilting me into watching. It's funny how things that are supposed to make your life more convenient end up making you feel more pressured.

By the time Baby Girl goes to bed, we clean up the debris from our play session, wash dishes & other chores, it's 9 or 9:30. Thanks to Netflix, we pretty much always have 3 movies waiting and Tivo must have 25 hours of stuff that we've taped - both movies and TV shows.

Every night it's a battle to watch as much as we can before I pass out on the couch. Unfortunately, we're losing. I always think I should cancel some shows but then someone will tell me how great this new show is...and I add it too. I really love television but some days, I just want to cancel cable. And my Netflix is a free subscription so no point in canceling that!

Anyway, the point was that at my mom's house, I was finally able to read a book - Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood by Cari Beauchamp. I've had it for a while, thinking I'd read it on the treadmill at the gym, but then I didn't want to get it all sweaty and gross.

Hmmm, now I'm a sweaty gross woman who hasn't read a book. Nice mental picture.

Try to erase that from your mind because it's not fair to the book, which is a fascinating look at Frances Marion, who was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter - male or female - for almost 3 decades, and the women who worked with her, including Mary Pickford, Marion Davies, Anita Loos and Hedda Hopper.

I couldn't put it down and highly recommend this book if you're a woman, a screenwriter or interested in early Hollywood. If you're reading this blog, I assume you must be.

Either that or you're just looking for a way to humiliate your husband.

Blubbering Idiot

One thing you shouldn't do when you're unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant? Make sure every movie you see revolves around pregnancy or features a pregnant woman.

The last three movies I've seen are Juno, Waitress and Lars and the Real Girl.

Now don't get me wrong. I thought all three were really great movies. However, when everyone else is laughing and you're crying like an idiot? Maybe you should be avoiding these kinds of films.

With all the blubbering I've been doing lately, you'd think I was pregnant but no such luck. It's weird wanting something so much that 10 years ago you prayed would never happen to you.

Turns out it's not as easy as you'd think to get knocked up - oh yeah, saw that movie too.

Am I a glutton for punishment or what?

Thanks-mas

Just got back from a weekend with my mom and it went so much better than I expected. Suffice it to say that my family is an excellent candidate for its own Maury Povich episode.

I would have said Jerry Springer, but there's not enough yelling. It's much more of a passive aggressive "I'm not speaking to so-and-so because 14 years ago, she said such-and-such to me."

Anyway, it actually turned out to be quite pleasant. Of course, the brevity of the visit was insurance. And my severe cat allergy was the back-up plan as my half-sister who now lives with my mom (after being estranged for more than 20 years) has a cat.

Oh, it's such a long story and I'm just too tired to relate it here. The hubby is trying to convince me to write a book about it but I'm afraid it would turn out with too much tragedy to be comedy. We'll see.

In the meantime, I think I'll spend my time worrying about my daughter. I think she's a little strange...

Video of the week

Feeling too lazy to blog so, instead, enjoy this video that we made. And yes, that is Baby Girl in a starring role.