Mortimer's Mom

TMZ needs to hire me!

Man, I was on fire last night! And without the benefit of alcohol!

Not only did Dlisted pretty much copy my post, including Hot Tranny Mess, but now, TMZ has this little gem up on their site.... I told you it was no accident!

Tab World

I have been jonesing for some good tv lately, and decided to give the Sarah Silverman program a try.... oh my! the Tab episode..... funniest sh*t I have seen in a long time! Clearly, not a show for everyone, but I am having a ball working through the episodes....

Bye Bye Dexter, HELLO Coach Taylor!

The combination of the writers' strike and being at the cottage with only basic cable had a big impact on my TV watching. I finished the second season of Dexter on day 2 of my vacation and as I mentioned before, found myself watching reruns of CSI Miami and New York..... I tried to read a book (shocking!) but the only English books at the local store were all of the top 10 paperback variety.... I'm working on a readable mystery novel, but really, it's not that entertaining.

So I dug around on my hard drive and remembered that I had the first season of Friday Night Lights. my favorite gossip girl, Lainey, has been going on and on about it for months, and a while back, Hubs and I tried watching it. We saw 2 or 3 episodes, but didn't get hooked. There was too much football for my liking and it was too soap-y for Hubs. But here I am, with nothing to do, so I gave it another try.... Remember last year when I suddenly discovered Heroes and felt like a big dufus for missing out.... Yeah, well, I'm an even BIGGER dufus for having given up on FNL. Oh My Goodness! It is quite possibly the best written show on TV, ever! And Kyle Chandler? What can I say? I have loved him since his days on Early Edition and even before, on Homefront. (remember that show? I LOVED that show!)

Anyhow, I don't know how true to life Friday Night Lights is, but man, people in Texas really get into high-school football, don't they? It puts Hockey Dads and Puck Bunnies to shame! And for the record, Tim Riggins doesn't do it for me. I can't stand the hair. But Coach Taylor on the other hand...... yummy!

Unfortunately, I'm all caught up, first season and up to date on season 2, so I must wait til tomorrow for my next fix. In the mean time, tonight, I watched.... I can't type it...... Celebrity Apprentice..... shoot me now! First off, Celebrity? I mean, a couple of them are bona-fide celebrities, but most of them, I have no clue. And I'm a huge celebrity gossip fan, so if *I*  don't know who they area..... But Gene Simmons is going to rock this thing. From the get go, he was on the phone, pulling strings. I used to watch Family Jewels and I will say one thing for him: Dude knows how to make a buck. But Trump and Simmons together? The bad hair and egos, in one room?!?!??!

And then, there was CSI....

We are all tucked in, cozy and warm at the Kibbutz, and there is absolutely nothing to do after the kids go to bed. There is nothing on TV, I have watched everything I have downloaded, the local video store has crap to offer... I forgot to bring a book, and the local availability of anything in English is non-existant. Also, noone online is really updating much, so after 15 minutes of reading my peeps blogs, I am done. I could do some sort of crafting, but I'm not feeling very creative.....

So tonight, I vacuumed. The entire house. This is MAJOR people! I do not clean. Repairs, painting, DYI, cooking, no problem, I'm your gal. Cleaning, no way! But tonight, I became one with the bagless monster and boy, we had a lot of dog hair lying around!

And now that I got that out of my system for the next.... 3 years, I'm sitting here channel surfing and it seems that CSI NY and CSI Miami are both on tonight. I gave on on the regular CSI about 2 seasons ago, only saw a handlful of episodes of Miami, and never was able to get into NY.... but now, here I am, settled in for the night, with my glass of wine and a CSI marathon.

Oh, and I'm sending out my New Years Cards! So if you are wondering why I didn't send you one yet, as per last year's new tradition, I am sending my cards out during our break up north, and since they are in fact New Years cards, I am not breaking any etiquette rules!

live blogging the end of Britney's carreer

ok, so I had wine, but DUDES! she lipsynched OUT OF SYNCH, in a glittery bathing suit, and didn't know the choreography!!!!!!!! This was the best thing on TV!

Even Rhianna was laughing at her!!!! (Shut up! I know who Rhianna is!)

Edited to Add: and Now Sarah Silverman just nailed the final nail in her coffin.....

ETA#2: I am officially too old for this.... It's soooo Sensory Overload! The tables light-up, it's in a casino, the main stage isn't very big but there seems to be 2/3 other smaller stages... I'm getting whiplash...

ETA#3: The Foo Fighters look as old as I feel... wait, we are probably the same age..... anyhow, they look like the parents took over the kid's band practice. And big suprise... 50 and Kanye, together on stage... come on! I don't know their music, but their stupid rivalry these last few weeks was PR manipulation by first year PR students...

Why is Beyonce wearing a gold toga? and who is Chris Brown? I sort of like the song I just heard.....

ETA#4: I  soooo didn't mean Chris Brown! I know that song, it's soooo annoying! Some white dude was signing a really cool bluesy tune going into the commercial and Chris Brown's name was there... Also, apologies to my readers with feeds, I know it will show a thousand updates. Also, I am hitting refresh on a few favorite gossip sites so much, I crashed my IE..... maybe Microsoft is trying to protect Britney!

ETA#5: actually, Chris Brown dancing old school a-la MJ was kinda cool. And I take comfort in the fact that Puff-Daddy looked as old as i feel too! Dude looks old enough to be their fathers! (And I know he gave up Puff Daddy, but I am uncool like that.)

ETA#6 Justin Timberlake just admitted he felt old being there! If he's old, I'm freaking ancient. That's it, I give up on this. I was what I wanted to see, peace out!

Had to come back just once more to say: Pamela Anderson looked great! But like a mom! In a respectable dress that covered all her major erogenous zones... hell = frozen!

So much TV, so little time

What have I been up to this summer, after the kiddies go to bed? I've been downloading and watching illicit TV programs that Canadian channels haven't picked up, or show months after they aired elsewhere. And thanks to the iPod dock that hubs bought me for my bday, I don't have to give up my laptop and can surf the net WHILE we watch the shows! Wow! (it does take a bit of extra time to convert the .avi files into mp4s, but it's worth it)

First off Hubs and I both keep up with Top Chef, which we love. And The Closer. We both really like that show. Hubs tried watching Flipping Out with me, but the dude is just too crazy for words. Personally, I think the entire thing is a joke on the viewing public. How can somebody so nutso get a TV show????

My personal favorite up til now had been The Tudors. It won't start airing til fall here in Canada, but I watched the whole thing. I know some people are upset about historical inaccuracies, but here's the deal: I went to French Canadian school. We learned about Napoleon. What I know about English Monarchy you can fit on a postage stamp. Which is ironic, because the Queen is technically our Monarch as well..... Anyhow, I don't care if Ann Boleyn didn't really have blue eyes, I am loving the show.

And then, something really weird happened around episode 3.... The dude who played William Compton... he started looking really familiar. Not in a "he was in a Touch of Pink, which I saw" familiar, but in a "he drinks Sleemans Dark and a friend of mine made out with him" sort of way. It was really weird. And since I watched the episodes late at night in bed on the iPod, I couldn't Google him immediately and then I would forget in the morning. But at episode 7/8, when the plague hit, I couldn't stand it anymore and I Googled him. His imdb page didn't list too many credits, and while some of them were familiar, that is not where I recognized him from. But then, I saw that he was doing a business degree at Concordia when he was first cast.... and then I became totally convinced that the does in fact drink Sleemans Dark and that a friend of mine has in fact made out with him, because although they don't give his age anywhere, we would have been in college about the same time. And there used to be a guy we lovingly refereed to as "the guy with the eyes and the girl's name", which he totally fits the bill for.... Mind you, it would have been 12-15 years ago and I was probably very inebriated at the time, but I am going to go  with my gut on this and say he used the drink at the same bar I hung out/worked at.

And now that I have finished watching The Tudors, I have 2 new obsessions. One hubs and I are sharing, namely a Brit show called The Restaurant, in which 9 couples (not necessarily married) compete to win a restaurant. Sounds like Hell's Kitchen for couples, but it's more like Top Chef for amateurs. We've only seen the first 2 episodes, but we are already really into it.

My second obsession is Heroes..... To all the people who have loved it since the beginning, I must apologize. I don't know how I missed it the first time around. It must have been on against something else and I never got around to recording it. But I get it now. Holy crap do I get it!!!! I'm only on Episode 7, but I am stealing away moments in the day to try to move along. This morning, I got to work really really early (mental note, blog about the ungodly hour at which we have to get up now that Dumpling has to be in school by 8:20) and I watched half an episode, then I finished it at lunch...... I gotta get through all of them before it comes back in the fall!

PS: tomorrow, I whore my blog out and give free advertising... shoe lovers, check back in....

Fox News + Al Sharpton RE Paris = End of my Credibility

Both of the kids are in the attic with the babysitter playing educational games or watching Shrek 2 (I'm not sure, they are supervised, I don't care!), Hubs is either asleep or passed out from the fever, (but he is breathing, so I'm letting him be), and I'm in the basement, watching Fox News, Al Sharpton is giving his opinion on Paris going back to jail.

1) I didn't know we even had Fox News

2) Why am I watching this?

3) Who will save my credibility, which has now been shattered?

I want a JOOST invite!

If you are cooler than I am and got a Joost invite, please, please please send me one! I have to be in on this, it will change my life!

what happened to Kellie Pickler's hair???

OK, so maybe because I have no strength or energy whatsoever, just maybe, I watched the American Idol results show (on Fast Forward on the faux-Tivo, because I can only think so low....)

What the heck happened to Kellie Pickler's hair?!?!??! I understand she might be going for a more mature look, but MOM HAIR???? Was that really necessary???

Don't worry about me though, Herb's got a good line on a good rehab place, so I'll have this nonsense taken care of immediately.

Return of the Famewhore

I'll be a tad more discreet this time, with only a link and no embedding.... but you know me, I can't pass up an opportunity to pimp myself out, even if I am leaving in 14 hours!!!

Edited to add: for your shopping pleasure.  mention Mortimer's Mom Blog, the girls will take special care of you on my behalf (ie: 15% discount!)

for your viewing pleasure

because their site seems to cut off right before she walks into the store.... and for a limited time only (I will take it down as soon as their site is fixed)

Armed and ridiculous

I haven't blogged about TV in a while, but the MOST RIDICULOUS TV show ever has brought me out of retirement on that subject.... Armed and Dangerous... Seriously?!?!? Officer Latoya Jackson is afraid.... of cats?!?!??!?!  how does she look in the mirror? she looks just like a cat!!!!  Also, the hair! Ho wlong will it take before a drunk she's trying to "arrest" pulls that weave right off her head?

Thank you CBS, that was honestly the funniest, laugh-out-loud comedy I've seen in a LONG time!!!

PS:  I got a prescription for sleeping pills, I slept an entire night last night, yeah me!  My travel mate-friend and I split the packing list today (so we don't double up on the "just in case" stuff that we will most likely not need anyways), we are leaving two weeks from today!!!!!!

The G.A. Gang

Tonight was the thrid weekly meeting of the Grey's Anatomy staff viewing party. After a roaring start of 3 staff members and one boyfriend, we are holding steady at 2 staff members for the second week in a row.

I happen to really like these 2 gilrs, one of whom is the manager, and let's face it, my own personal assistant, life organiser. Without her, I'd be lost. The other is unfortunately leaving next week, after being with us since the opening of the big store a year and a half ago. But she graduated back in June, so now she is moving on to a real world job, and the store will miss her terribly (especially since she was Handy Girl, the one who could fix anything when I'm not around to do it)

It's a little weird that the highlight of my social week is hanging out in my basement with snacks, wine and my staff. But we are having so much fun, we pause it to discuss and FF through the commercials to get to the good parts! But I'm starting to get a bit worried about the fact that my strongest relationships are either in the computer or with people who depend on me for a paycheck.....

Meanwhile, how much did you LOVE High-Meredith?!?!?! And the check, 8.7 Mil... .what the heck????

Paging All Staff

so it's 8:30 and if you are a fan, you are already 30 minutes into Grey's Anatomy.... I on the other hand, am waiting another 90 minutes to start watching. you see, I started watching when D, super-manager extraordinaire lend me her Season 1 DVDs. Then I got season 2 online and have been anxiously awaiting the faith of the panties all summer.

Last week, we started talking at work how we should all get together to watch it, a la Melrose Place. Except that *the kids* at work are all too young to remember Melrose Place.... Anyhooo, long story short, the staff, almost all of them, are coming over tonight at 10 pm (after they close the store, of course) and we shall watch together. I have been giddy all week about this! Two of them got together last night to make vegan snacks! So it's totally not like I'm the only excited one!

Is it a little sad, however, that I, a grown woman, mother, business owner, am waiting for my college-aged staff to come over and watch TV with me? When I put it like that.... maybe they think of me as like the boss in The Office...... No, this is not some team building exercise!!!

live blogging the emmys

I'm well into the first child-sized dog-print 6 oz cup of Rosé of the night, and some guy just won for Writing, My name is Earl..... So far, pretty boring. Conan's opening bit was a bit funny. Actually, this writer guy's acceptance speach is hilarious: the people he is NOT thanking, including the teacher who made him shut up and G-d who took his hair....

Can you tell the wine is working, 'cause I'm not making much sense....

We went to the country house this weekend, an attempt at R&R. Except the last time we went, in July, we had to go out and buy 4 fans to beat the 36 degree Celcius heat (that's in the 90's for the rest of the continent). And now, mid August, we had to make a fire on Friday night. A fire, in the fireplace, to warm up the house, because the temperature was around 2... that's a couple of degrees above freezing (which I have no idea in Imperial.... I only know temps in metric)

I'll be back if anythign exciting happens on the Emmys

9:04
WFT??? Barry Manilow's face looks like Joan Rivers!!!! Creepy...

9:16
Wentworth presenting... yummy yum yum. yes, he plays for the other team, but still....

9:38
Hugh Laurie speaking French!! also yummy yum yum!

9:50
Candice Bergen, she's a little bit country, a little bit formal..... seriously, ball gown skirt on the bottom, dress shirt on top, tacky huge belt in the middle..... But wait, it's the Spelling tribute. Let's see if Tori Huband-stealer Spelling will make an appearance....

9:52
She's there, so is her no-good child-abandonning husband (and this is NOT the wine talking).... Wonder if Candy insisted she sit in the back rows....

9:57
the Angels are still hot! (and very wrinkle-free)

10:01
Was that a weird ending to the spelling tribute? The Angels cry, they show a clip and then cut to commercial... weird.

NOTE TO SELF: remember tomorrow to tell the story of the girl who sent her mom to the store to quit for her.....

10:05
Eva Longoria is Swan Lake Barbie!!! She'd better fire her stylist, pronto!

10:11
The Phileminator wins! Watching the Emmys and hearing Phil explain that "A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with it's own pros and cons": Priceless!

10:26
Frankly, the show is boring, the dresses are boring, I give up... Maybe I should have had more wine.

A New Love

I must post again to night because I simply have to publicly declare my love for Gene Simmons' Family Jewels..... I am no reality TV novice, I know about loose scripting and editing, but the love in thtat family just emanates on the screen, their kids are the most unbelievably cute and well adjusted kids I've ever seen, and happily unmarried for 23 years, I LOVE THAT! This is now my favorite show, even ahead of Project Runway!

Blame it on McDreamy

So here I was, back to regular posting, the TV almost completely turned off, with nothing to do but read blogs and entertain you with my mundane existence... And then you people turned me onto Grey's Anatomy! In the last 10 days, I have watched both seasons. I actually finished on Saturday night, so that would mean I did it in 7 days.... Damn you! And how come nobody warned me about the bomb episode.... That required a warning people! I didn't have kleenex nearby, and it's not like I could pause or anything, I mean, the hand, the bomb... Someone should have warned me!

I thank youf or your suggestions of shows to download. Here is where i'm at: Already saw Six Feet Under, used to watch Buffy the first few years but it got too much after a while, I really can't go back there... I have yet to put my hands on Firefly, but in the meantime, I got Weeds, which i've almost seen already, but I think i missed the first 3 and i could totally watch the whole thing again. I also got Entourage, which I think will be good viewing with the hubby, along with The Closer. Now we just have to burn it all on DVDs to watch on the tv, rather than on my laptop in bed til 2 am, like I did with G'sA!

On a totally unrelated topic, I got dressed in my finest AND put on lipstick two nights in a row! We went to a wedding Sunday night and were invited to a lovely dinner party on Monday night. I can't remember the last time I put on lipstick 2 days in a row.... I have pictures from the wedding, I need to put one up, I looked particularly smashing, if I do say so myself!

Dumpling got a HepA vaccine today. We were at the doctor's for her 3rd bday checkup (3 montsh late!) and mentioned going to China at some point for Sprout, so he suggested we start her vaccination now. she needs another in 6 months, this one covers her 90%. On the one hand, I would like her to have part 2 before we go, on the other hand, it can't really still be 6 months before we can, right? I mean that's DECEMBER!!!!

in my own backyard

what does it take to make me come out of my self-imposed computer hiatus? Dumpling's first ski lesson, with a blue bunny? No, because the pictures are still in the camera. A 2 page spread about hubby and I in the Quebec equivalent of Star magazine? nope (le lundi, for those of you who live here).

But TAR semin-finale taking place in my own city. For the whole episode!!! Oh my god!!!! Granted, it's family edition, but that Victoria Square metro station is a couple of blocks from our store, the station I used to get off at everyday when I worked at IATA.  How did I not know about this? I had heard about them coming to Canada, but how did I not know they were HERE?!?!? I would have totally become a Fern and lead the Weavers astray. (cannot stand the Weavers. As I write this, it's not over yet and I hope they don't win!)

Also, if anyone read The Naked Ovary's post, I'm dying to know what that book says about my blog. But we don't have Borders here. let me know!

Sprout and Bloom

In Sprout news, our facilitator just confirmed this week that our DTC date of August 12th has given us a LID date of September 5th. The countdown can officially begin. I could start building a second baby shrine, but instead, I will be using Sprout's room as a temporary holding facility for all the crap (pardon me, collectibles) that will migrate from the house to the new country retreat.

And speaking of collectibles, I wasn't aware that our episode of Srading Tpaces was airing again yesterday, so if you are here after googling the store and somehow finding the blog, welcome!

Finally, a bit of TV commentary. I haven't said anything about TAR-Family because I really, really wanted to give it a good shot, but frankly, meh. There are no intersting personalities, and the complete lack of any adventure is just killing my show. Drive here, drive there, find a giant chair, please!

But there was one speck of interest on tv tonight, in the form of a guest appearance on L&O: SVU of Brian Bloom... Remember him? Dusty Donavan? Those freakishly piercing blue eyes.... haaaaaa, I'm 16 again! I had to google him and was shocked to see how much work he's actually gotten, I just missed it all!

canada rocks - sort of

As I write this, Rock Star has just announced that fellow Canuck JD has won. Honestly, I saw it coming and I don't care, 'cause I can't stand him. He's actually a good performer, but he's a jackass and way, way too full of himself.  Now, as I give you my impressions of the rest of the early TV season, I will be hitting playback on the Ti-faux and finding out what happened on BB6...

Bones: I love the books, but I'm not really buying into the TV version... they cast her too young. In my mind, she's mid 40's, not early 30's. But you know, that dude from Buffy is watchable (I only ever saw a few episodes of Buffy)...

Head Cases: will  not last the season. the crazy guy is funny, but O'Donell is totally not believable in this role. the premise is funny...

How i met your mother: meh... the red head is funny, he should end up with her, but if we see a different girl every week who turns out NOT to be the mother, it'll get old very, very soon.

Prison Break: still LOVING it! he's yummy, that's all I've got on this one.

House: not enough love in the world for how much I enjoy this show. Case in point, tonight's exchange between House and Cuddy:

C - Are you high?
H - It's Tuesday, I'm drunk.
C - It's Wednesday....

Martha: OK, flame me, but I'm loving funny Martha. Her self-depreciating humor totally got me, and watching her trying to cook with *normals* is great.

Survivor: OK, the first challenge was one of the most grueling, and therefor most entertaining to watch, ever. But I'm curious to see how the season develops, I'm not loving the return of the past participants...

My name is Earl is being Ti-Fauxed on the west coast feed, so we won't see it til tomorrow.

and the winner of BB6 is.... ***don't read if you dont' want to be spoiled*****

Maggie.... not the best outcome, but better than if Ivette had won. I mean, she won by letting others do all the work, but at least she wasn't a jerk the way the other one was....

RIP 6 Feet Under and other TV news

So I didn't post again last night, I was too busy blowing my nose in my shirt, sitting alone in my basement balling my eyes out that the series finale of Six Feet Under. The epilogue was probably the highlight of the television year for me. So what if the Claire/Ted thing was a bit schmaltzy, I soooo wanted him to follow her to NYC, I was quite content with that turn of events. And I was blown away by Keith's passing, absolutely no pun intended. Seriously, it never would have occurred to me that Alan Ball, genius, would have shown us how they all died, but it made such perfect, perfect sense.

But it was quite the pitiful sight, sitting alone on the couch, my hubby having gone out with friends, just balling, with the dogs wondering what the heck was wrong with me!

As for the rock gods tonight, Marty rocked, Jordis was a big disappointment, and I don't care if he's Canadian, get JD off my TV, noooowwww! I still think Ty is my fave, just 'cause he's too hot for words!

And in the real world, the system is back up and running (cross your fingers that it lasts more than 24 hours), we are still about 7 days behind in data, and the new merchandise is being delivered at a rate that includes every single delivery company you can imagine, and a skid. Yes, a skid. So long little ma & pa gift store, hello the empire of M*rt*mer Sn*dgr*ss!!!!

a behind the scenes look

OK, so you watched us, now you want to know how it REALLY was.... let me just say, had I written this post 6 weeks ago right afterward, it would have been very different.... We are THRILLED with the room, minus the nip*les. We took those down a week later, after all the friends and family had come over to visit. We put up those paintings we had and have pretty much left it as is since then. We did order wall sconces for the fireplace, but they are still in a box, I haven't gotten around to putting them up. Ines and Shady also really like their room and have left it just as you saw it in the bounce back: the couch is squeezed back together with the small tables on either side, and they changed the knick-knacks on the TV unit. That's it.

We are also very, very, very pleased with the episode itself. It was hilarious and totally spot-on for representing each of us. Jay is absolutely exactly as you saw him, that was NOT an act. (to the poster on the boards who said he had quite enough of "the little man", just imagine living with him 24/7!)

Now, the less fabulous stuff. I was very bummed with the actual process. First off, Laura is quite the diva. She didn't say one word to us during the 3 days, except for what you saw on screen. If the camera wasn't rolling, we didn't exist for her. I'm told by Ines that it was pretty much the same thing with Doug. After the reveal, I was looking forward to talking to Doug, but the camera switched off, he said goodbye and poof, he was gone. Not one word, not one picture, if it wasn't for the show, I would have no proof that he was actually here. (same for Carter, though all the girls in the neighbourhood got their picture taken with him over the 3 days and told us he was quite the charmer!)

The process is nothing but hurry up and wait. We sat around more than 75% of the time. The rest of the time, we filmed interviews about we were about to do: "Next we are going to paint the panels on the wall". We would do interview after interview. Every time we returned to the room, the elves had done everything but the little part they want to film you doing. When you see us painting the light blue on the wall, in the first work scene, the rest of the room is already painted. Then, after you film your scene for 3 minutes, you go back to do interviews about what you just did: "we just painted the wall". By the time you are done, everything in the room is finished.

How much work did we actually do? Very little. I painted a 2 foot by 2 foot square of the wall color. I made the 4 pillows because I insisted. I recovered the chairs and the bench because I took it upon myself and pretty much hogged the staple gun so the elves couldn't get to it
**. Jay painted the coffee table for homework while I painted the base coat of the dark brown on the panels. Wynn is actually the one who did the finish on those panels the next day. She did an awesome job.

We did film carpentry scenes and Jay filmed that lamp scene (which actually lasted almost an hour and was probably unusable due to the fact that Jay was so funny, Laura was on the ground laughing with a camera over her head and the sound guy couldn't drown out the sounds of the crew laughing in the background), but no work was actually done at that time. The elves take care of everything: taping the room, laying tarps, painting, marking out the panels (except for the one we did on screen, but actually, the horizontals and verticals had been done for us, Jay just had to draw the corners). That's it. Like I said, I insisted on doing the sewing. The sewing elf is absolutely fabulous! He was very cool, we got to talk a lot and he pretty much just let me do my thing with the pillows because it meant less work for him. But if I hadn't made a big stink about doing it myself, he would have done it.

There was a huge amount of tension on the set at all times. The crew was on their last shoot and heading home. They were tired. And the didn't seem to like Laura too much.... I was actually excited at first, because I like her style and I thought she would do a great room for them. But in reality, she was very hard to work with. She didn't care about anything we had to say or contribute. She went to the wrong Home Depot, which turned into a big deal for the accountants so we lost about 3 hours on day one, waiting for a PA to go fetch the supplies she had bought the day before. At the end of the day, she got lost on her way to the right HD (a straight line AND OnStar in the car....) so we didn't get to stain the valences because we had no stain. There was also a huge mix up with the furniture that we bought. We called her and discussed the price with her and she OKed it. But then, she never accounted for it and we were scrambling at the end to make one chair and the bench fit in the budget. We ended up buying the second chair so it could stay in the room. All in all, we loved the design she did but there was no love lost between she and I.

** Some eagle-eyed posters did notice me "telling" Laura how things should be done.... By the time we were filming the staple gun scene on day two, we couldn't even be in the same room at the same time. I pretty much was trying to drown her out with the repetitive stapling. If you noticed in the reveal, once she and Wynn came in the room, my eyes were fixed to the floor and pretty much no one had anything left to say... the vibe just changed when she was around.

When it was all over, I felt completely depressed. I had looked forward to working my fingers to the bone and pulling a homework allnighter. We stayed up way later the week before when they came with the crane to do the exterior night shots of the house! Don't get me wrong: the crew is absolutely fabulous. They are the unsung heroes of the show. We hung out, ate together and laughed all the time. I knew that you got some help behind the scenes. I read all the boards and blogs, so I knew there were extra hands to built things and sew things. But I had no idea how little we would actually do.

Maybe it wasn't a typical show. Maybe because we started soooo late because of the home Depot debacle, they felt they had to do more to get it done. But I know that when it was over, I was totally bummed. I looked around that room and I couldn't really see what I had done, save for the pillows and chairs. Jay wasn't quite as bummed out, having had no expectations and being a big cynic: he never thought they'd actually LET him near the tools! I felt more like a prop: paint can, check. paint brush, check. Female Home Owner, check.

As for Ines and Shady, I will invite them to post their own feelings. Since they weren't as big a fan as I was, I think it was less of a letdown for them. And I know they are beyond pleased with both the room and the episode.

the dish

the post has been written. it will automatically post Friday at 5:00 EST.

from the fan mail

My in-box is full of fan mail.... People saw the show, googled the store and wrote to us. The number one comment is about how incredibly hilarious my husband Jay is.... he's currently looking for an agent and will be leaving the gift business in favor of a career on TV, radio or stand up comedy! (and do you get it now, that's he's a non-geeky version of Richard from Beauty and the Geek?)

Second most commented on: Dumpling, of course, followed by our nice house (thank you very much), the cool store (again, thank you very much) and our nice friends (thank you on their behalf). They don't have a website, so we're passing all the comments along.

Weirdest comments:
Apparently, unbeknown-st to me, I am a dead wringer for Tina Fey.... Someone during the shoot had told me this, but I guess it must be true! I personally don't see it, but I guess when I straighten my hair and with the glasses...
A guy on one of my yahoo adoption group (of all places), said I was a MILF.... wow! I'm flattered and embarrassed all at the same time!

Holy Canoli!

So I can't talk about the show for a week, but I'm sure I can tell you this: we did not expect that the name of the store would make it on the air... we didn't warn the web guy..... The site is OVERLOADED with hits and orders!!!! Mama's gonna have to go to work tomorrow and ship some funky things south of the border!

tomorrow night, 9 pm, TLC

well, here is a lesson in stalking 101. If you want to see me likely make a fool of myself on television, then tomorrow night's Trading Spaces is your chance. Saturday, july 30th, 9 pm, TLC.

I won't be able to comment on anything about the episode until 7 days afterwards (contract), but I will answer any and all questions that you guys post here in the comments. the regular blogging will resume, but no secrets revealed until the 7 days are up.

Announcing: nickname for 2.0!

Well, thanks for your suggestions. I like Sweet Pea, but it's Figlet's.

So I worked from a list that looked something like this:
Spud, Bean, Niblet, Peanut, Kneudle, Pumpkin, Snow Pea, Kishka, Matza Ball, Bing (from Dumpling's favorite books), but I think I came up with something that works.....

Sprout! So Dumpling 2.0 will henceforth be referred to as Sprout.

And, I'm sure I'm breaking part of my agreement by linking to this, but media outlets north of the border have started talking about our upcoming television debut....

http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2005/07/15/1132214.html

http://tlc.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=36&cpi=54775&gid=5954&channel=TLC

July 30th, not aug 6th

Mark your calendars: my Srading Tpaces appearance has been moved up a week to July 30th (from the original date of Aug 6th)

so if you've already set your Tivo, change it by a week!!!!

(PS. I'm allowed to mention that I'm going to be on it, but I don't want them to Google it too easily, I intend to be snarky post-airing.....)

kevin hill tears

I watch WAAAAYYYY too much tv.... I try to convince myself it's *good* tv, but let's face it, I'm addicted to ANTM, Survivor, and all other manners of crappy reality and non reality tv.

My new favorites from this year's crop were House, Veronica Mars, and my sweet indulgence, Kevin Hill. The premise is so far-fetched, but Taye Diggs.... yummy!

So this afternoon, while both baby and daddy were napping and staff was running the store, I hid in the attic with my faux-tivo and caught up on the last two episodes.... and cried, cried, cried my eyes out for a full 20 minutes..... Damn! I dind't see that coming.... Well, I sort of did, but because I watched both episodes back to back, it wasn't a lot of time to let it sink in..... *SPOILER ALERT**** So he had to give her away... what that did to me, as an adoptive mother, was play to my worst fears.... I know it's only TV, but damn!

And does anybody want to venture a guess as to who showed up on Veronica's doorstep in the last scene of Veronica Mars????

Day -1

so, yes, I've been absent from this blog.... first we opened the store, then we had a grand opening party this past Wednesday night and today, well today was day -1 of Srading Tpaces..... we did all the *before* stuff, endless interviews about why we wanted to do this, etc, etc.

Of course, I agonized over two things: what to wear and how to do my hair..... I can't give you details, you'll have to watch the first weekend in August to find out, but don't worry, I'll remind you.

So that's why I've been absent. But I promise you a week of blogging until next Wednesday, when the actual 3 day shoot begins and I must go in-communicado until Friday night.

it's a yes!

We have gotten a yes for you-know-what. There is still a small chance it won't work out because of a sheduling conflict with my friend's work (too important to call in sick for!). We'll know on Monday or Tuesday if we can do the second shoot, and then, you'll all get a chance to see me and hubby make total fools of ourselves on cable television.....

the scoop

here's the scoop: the tv show we applied for, which I am not allowed to mention by name, came to scout us on the weekend. This is as much as I am allowed to tell you. This week, we find out if we got picked. If we dont' get picked, I can tell you that and I guess I can tell you about the scouting a little bit. If we do get picked, you will figure it out because I won't tell you that I didn't. And then, I cannot tell you anything else until 5 days after the air date. I will be able to let you know to watch it. and then, after it airs, I can dish all the dirt, but not until then.

All I will say is, there is a chance you will get to see my husband and I make total fools of ourselves on tv.....

reality check

I don't even know where to start... There has been so much happening in reality tv lately and I'm so far behind..... Imaginary Flesh-eacting bacteria on a truly fugly  model, blood and wrecks on last week's TAR, soft-core goat milking this week (complete with boo-chick-a-boom music and Boston-Rob narration....).

But my true reality indulgence these days is.... The Bachelor. Shut up. If you aren't watching it this time around, you are missing what The Bachelor should have been all along: a horny toad and a bunch of skank-ho's fighting it out to make out. No mention of love every after, no pretentious gowns, just lots of drinking and fighting. It's what's been going on behind the scenes of all the other seasons but we haven't been able to see.

(side note: someone reminded me I never posted b-day party pictures.... they're coming, I promise!)