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I am alone in the office because my co-workers are going to be extras in a Horror movie filmed right down the hall…

I hope noone in a scary costume comes to get me!

The weekend started on Thursday for me, as I was surprised with a YUMMY Chocolate cake at work! I almost got a little teary when I saw it, since I’ve only been there a few hours a week for less than 2 months. It was delicious. That night, we went out to the main line to get my new Driver’s License, and then we went to the Indian restaurant in Ardmore… I overstuffed, of course.

Friday kicked off with a wake-up early Birthday Call from Meera! Joe went off to work, and I got an email from my friend Anita, whom I hadn’t seen in over a year! She had free tickets to the Phillies game, and wanted to know if I wanted to go! Of course I did! So we made plans for her to show up around 5 to drive down to the ballpark. Around lunchtime, I decided to cook up the cabbage. I felt like Little Bear, making Birthday Soup, except this wasn’t soup, and I wasn’t having any friends over. Per Laura’s instructions, I steamed the cabbage, boiled some egg noodles and sauteed an onion. I also added a pound of ground turkey to the onion. Delicious.
Anita came over, Joe came home and we all hung out for an hour or so catching up on my old job’s gossip. We bid farewell to Joe, who uncharacteristically was already on his third beer of the night, and left for the game. We had pretty good seats and had a good time gabbing, eating, and watching the game, which the Phillies unfortunately lost. They played 4 games against the Marlins, and they only lost one. And that’s the game I’m at. I think I’m bad luck.

Saturday, my actual birthday, Joe and I picked up Genevieve on our way to Bob’s Diner. She had a pie pan wrapped in foil for me. But it wasn’t pie. and it wasn’t Cake…
It was POTATO FILLING! She had stealthily taken note that last week at Heather’s party I had announced that I would rather have POTATOES than Cake or Pie or Ice Cream anyday. I decided I wanted to see a movie, and was pretty settled on “the Wedding Crashers” but I thought Joe wouldn’t want to go. I was wrong, and we made plans to see the 1:20 show with Genevieve. Oh, it was so funny. I really really enjoyed it. That Vince Vaughan said some really hilarious things… I don’t often laugh out loud at movies, but this one did it to me.
After the movie, we came home and I was surprised to not one, but TWO PACKAGES at the front door! One was from Heather and Mike and one was from Genevieve and Chris! Yay for presents! I was shocked to have so much!

For dinner, we ate cabbage and POTATO FILLING! The filling was delicious! YUMMY! Then, Joe put in some documentary about Henry Kissinger which put me right to sleep. When I woke up, I decided I wanted to go to the Custard Stand. I debated over and over about sundaes and banana splits and finally settled on a plain old Vanilla Malted Shake. It was a good choice, I think.

Sunday, Joe and I made plans to have lunch with Grammom in Reading. Typically we go to Arner’s, which is a family restaurant/diner, but it’s not really anything special. I don’t go to the chain restaurants, well, because I don’t go to them. My sister and I have taken Grammom to Red Lobster before, but for my birthday, I don’t like to do that. So, Grammom knew of a new place near the outlets– Viva– it was in an old factory building. It was actually pretty good, and because it was Sunday, they were playing all Sinatra songs. And then a man came up to a little stage area and started SINGING Sinatra songs! As you know, I love my Francis Albert Sinatra, so I enjoyed it very much. Grammom sang along to some songs too. We filled up there, and then drove through Reading on our way to the cemetery. Grammom had some flowers she wanted to put on the graves, but hadn’t been out there. I don’t like to go to the cemetery. I don’t feel like my mother is there. But, Grammom likes to go and make sure it looks okay, so we went. Driving through Reading with Grammom is always a treat, because she will bust out with her middle school fight song, or she’ll point out where she used to get shoes. We headed back to her apartment after the cemetery visit, and snacked on chips, dip and then BIRTHDAY CAKE. Which was very good– not as good as potato filling, but still very good. After we got home, we decided to watch Giant. I remember seeing Giant in high school, when I was in love with James Dean, as all teen girls are, but I didn’t have good memories of it. The only scene I could remember was the Yellow Rose of Texas scene which I thought was so stupid. So, We start the movie up. The movie starts with James Dean getting oil from a well. Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor are gray with teenage children. Okay, when will there be a flashback? Well, we watched about an hour of it before we realized that we had started the DVD on side 2. The menu did not indicate whether it was side 1 or side 2. And we didn’t think anything of it not having credits. Oh boy. So, we stopped and watched the first side and then skipped the hour we had already watched, and then finished it. Three and a half hours. And I still didn’t like it. I mean, there are parts that are redeeming. I like some of the Long Long shots. But boy, it really is a cheesy movie, just as I remembered, and that Yellow Rose of Texas scene is ridiculous.

Okay, I’ve rambled on about the weekend too long. Thanks everyone, for the Birthday wishes!

Thursday night, we watched Willard, the Crispin Glover rat movie.
I liked the rats. I liked Socrates. I liked Ben. Even after Ben gnawed on Crispin’s dead mother. But then, Crispin was given a cat named Scully. Scully entered Rat Land, and Michael Jackson’s song “Ben” began.
Scully didn’t act like a stereotypical movie cat. He made no effort to go after the rats. He knew there were way too many for him to handle. He simply tried to hide from them. He jumped onto the top of cabinet, and the rats started shredding the legs of the cabinet. He kept trying to find hiding places. He made it to the basement. And then he eyed a little hole– he thought he could hide there. But that was Ben’s hole. Scully was swarmed by rats.
And I started bawling. And I bawled. And bawled. Joe paused the movie while I had my bawling fest. He tried to reassure me that it was just an actor cat. It was like the time I went to the haunted house, and Dustin’s dad was the first scary monster I saw, and even though he took off his scary mask, I still couldn’t get through the haunted house.
Maybe I was bawling because I was going to the doctor Friday.
I’m scheduled for a D & E tomorrow. I’ll be home Tuesday as well.

Liked:
Puss In Boots
Tom Waits song
Nick Cave song

Disliked:
Product Placement
Icky versions of good songs (Buzzcocks, Bowie)
Stupid “I need a Hero” song
Not enough Puss In Boots

I was v. v. disappointed. I even watched it TWICE to make sure my first impression wasn’t wrong.
Glad I didn’t see it in theater.