To Save a Life

Ever feel like all the good stuff happens after you leave? You bail out of a party and two hours later the cops show up because someone spontaneously combusted. Or maybe the year after you graduate high school, your alma mater is recognized for a winning streak in football, some genius sophomore finding the cure for cancer in Biology and Oprah shows up to do a speech at your pep rally. I'm having one of those moments.

At my last job back home, I happened to work for a guy who wrote movie scripts when he wasn't being youth pastor to hundreds of kids. I was his "executive assistant". Whatever. I did all the paperwork and other busy work he hated to do. I did a lot of other random things too, but that's not where I'm going with this. In the summer of 2008, one of his scripts came to life in the form of an actual movie with, like, real actors and stuff. I got to hear about some of the bigger names that would come out for readings when he was in Hollywood. Pretty cool if you ask me. Part of the agreement between my boss and his boss was that I still needed to do my job, not be on the set as an extra or doing the dazed fan thing. I was able to be on set a couple of times during my off hours and watch the filming as it happened or chauffer a few of the actors here and there in my oh-so-fancy Expedition.



The actor I spent most of the time talking to (because he was hostage in my front seat...ahem) was this guy:

Most recently, he's been on a Citibank commercial. He's been in Desperate Housewives, iCarly and a ton of other things here and there. He's VERY tall and that's coming from a very tall girl. He's loud. Not obnoxiously, but his voice carries. Well. He seemed nice from the short bit of time I spent with him.

About a month after the filming had commenced, I found out that this guy's part in the movie could have been played by him:

OH. EM. GEE. Seriously? When my boss told me this, I almost grabbed him by the collar and yelled "WHY DIDN'T YOU CAST HIM???" I couldn't believe it. Dylan McKay could have been sitting in the front seat of my car. I don't know how close Luke Perry was to being cast in the film but I was in la la land for the rest of the day at work. Mostly in awe. And shock. And more awe.

Anyway, the film opened last Friday and sold out in my home town more than once.

There was a red carpet premiere, a meet and greet with the actors and the writer (but I already know him...remember?...former boss) and a whole lotta Hollywood right in my back yard. But alas, I am 1500 miles away in my new home away from home wishing I was there to be a part of the finished product. I haven't made my way to the theater yet to see it but I did get to see it before we moved, before the final editing was done. If you're interested in seeing it, check out the trailer here:

http://www.tosavealifemovie.com/

You'll be glad you did.

Things Running Through My Mind

• I've recently become obsessed with home decor blogs. Like, OCD, obsessed and recently added about 10 new ones to my reader.
• I have about five ideas for a real blog post in my head, but no real direction to get them to say anything interesting.
• My husband and I are tackling our very first home improvement project and it's taking WAAAAY longer than expected.
• My typically non-sick kid has been sick for a week and it's really bugging me.
• My mom's birthday is today and I have yet to send out her gift, let alone her card. This is only the second time in my life where I've not been "home" for her celebration.
• My husband's birthday is on Monday and until I went shopping (today) I'd forgotten that I bought something for him a month ago and hid it away.
• I'm really sick of looking at all the patches of dead brown grass and piles of snow that haven't melted yet. I'm yearning for the glistening Pacific and palm trees of home.
• I hit the jack pot at Old Navy yesterday. Possibly a short blog post? Go there. To Old Navy I mean. Now. 50% off clearance through Monday. Seriously.
• I'm about to finish reading a non-parenting book. It's the first novel I've read in quite a while and I don't want it to end. I hate it when good stories are finished.
• I could totally go for some Pat & Oscars right about now.

Yes, those are the random things running through my brain. That, and I think I want some hot chocolate and I'm really wishing I had the stuff to make some Valentine-y craft right now.

Procrasti-wha...?

New Year. New beginnings. New page. New calendar. I love the beginning of the year, where everything is fresh and clean and there's all those perfectly square boxes hanging on the wall waiting to be filled in. I have such great, grandiose ideas for myself which rarely come to fruition, but whatever. I can dream, right?

Better organized
Get this and that done on time/right away/when it happens, etc.
Clean this more, spend less time there

Well, part of my New Year's tradition had to be pushed back a day because Bill's family was still in town and I just thought it might be a tad rude to bring out the giant red and green boxes and start tearing down the tree. Instead, we lazed around the house, much like we had been for the entire week, and ate. And watched tv. And ate some more. And played games. It was great. Granted, I was itching to get things cleaned up, but it was only a day off of my original plan.

I started my routine clean up the next day, but because everything is in such a different order in this house than in the last house (where we had six Christmases) it took a lot longer to find where everything needed to be. And the neighbor kids came over. Which meant mulitple interruptions. Which meant, I didn't finish putting Christmas away.

Then it was the third. And a Sunday. So we went to church like usual and I insisted hubby stop at Target on the way home so I could check out the picked over Christmas leftovers at 75% off. There was hardly a thing left, but I managed to find some "filler" ornaments for next year. We got home, ate lunch and then of course it was the kids nap time. They desperately needed it. Ok, more like I really needed them to go away, but I digress. Bill used that time to play Wii and so I decided to read. Do you know what happens to me on a lazy day when I read? I fall asleep. And when I woke up, football was on. That meant Bill's butt was glued to the couch. Do you know what that meant? I obviously felt justified in keeping my butt glued to the couch as well.

And then came today. Today was the day to *really* start anew. The kids were back in school, Bill was back at work, company is gone... On the agenda: start my little excercise routine and finish putting Christmas away. My SIL gave me one of her Wii DVDs to work out to. All I did was complete my profile which had a couple of excercises on it and I was D-U-N. Can't blame it on the altitude as we've been here since summer. I'm just that out of shape. GOOO ME! Obviously I need some work. Ok, fine, how about putting Christmas away? First, I had to take a shower. Then go and get Leah from school. And then make lunch. And then Leah wanted to watch me do something on the computer. And THEN I decided to keep working on Christmas. And then I ran out of oomph. And now it's 5:30 and my butt is glued to the tv, Trey's head is resting on my shoulder while he watches tv and Christmas is still not put away.

Maybe tomorrow it will get done. If I don't kill myself trying to excercise. Or, you know, if other things don't get it the way first.