The Texas Mama

I had this absolutely fantastically depressing, self deprecating entry all typed up and ready to go.  I had started it back in January, and just kind of edited it the other night.  But I just could not press that publish button.  While I am sure many people would just love to hear me complain what a horrible person I am (what? you don’t? oh…) I just wasn’t “feeling it”.  The more I think about it, the better in many ways, I have become about many of the issues I was facing.  That made me feel a lot better, actually.  I have lost 35 pounds now.  Who wouldn’t be happy about that?!

So instead, you are going to get this thrown together, random little note here:

By now I am sure you have noticed my near worship of Harry Potter.  Lucky me, the final book of the series will be release tomorrow.  I have yet to decide if I will be up until midnight to go get it, or just wait until morning and haul my butt over to Walmart or wherever I find out is the cheapest place around to get it.  I think I may force myself to wait until morning, because I KNOW I will want to stay up all night reading it if I go get it at 12:01! Plans have already be formulating in my head of forcing Jeremy to completely take care of Hali and do all things parenting on Sunday so that I may read to my heart’s content.  I may cook a meal for them.  Maybe.

How I am going to squeeze a room redo and Harry Potter into one weekend, I don’t know.  Hali’s room may have wait until next weekend.  This one is promising to be wet anyways.  Not good painting furniture/shopping at Ikea weather.  It could be I may actually have to consult my husband as to his work plans for this weekend- he may be working late on Sat., so the room redo will wait a week.  Or he could be ready to fix up Hali’s room and my beloved Harry Potter will have to wait. 

Which means no internet for me until I have finished the book!  There are already so many spoilers out there, that I don’t want someone to ruin it for me before I can read it for myself!  So don’t expect to hear from me for a week or so. Depending on how sleep deprived I am willing to be in order to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows!!!

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*SPOILER WARNING!*

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, continue reading at your own risk!

Last night I went (all by myself for the first time, thank you very much- and yes I am a loser who has no friends) to see the 5th installment of the Harry Potter series.  You may not be aware (say if you’ve been in a coma or just never been by here before) that I. LOVE. HARRY. POTTER. A lot.

I have been looking forward to the movie the way a diet coke lover looks forward to that first sip of the day.  It was spectacular.  I think that the actors improve with every movie- their characters are growing up and so are they.  They are really evolving into these personalities that we Harry Potter lovers have come to love.  Well, except for Umbridge.  And Malfoy.  I would include Snape, but he makes me laugh and I may kinda like the creepy guy just a little too much- I think because I always think of him this way, and what he is wearing coincidentally looks just like a “Snape” outfit:

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But back to the movie.  I knew from what I’d read on various web sites that just as in the previous movies, many things would differ from the books, and I do understand (for the most part) that it is the way it has to be.  There were a few things that bothered me though.

They made Cho Chang out to be the one who spilled the beans about the D.A. instead of her friend, Marietta.  I realize they’d rather not have to introduce another minor character into the movie and all, but they could have just shown “random girl with huge red pimples on her forehead that spell out SNEAK” and the others glaring at her instead of Cho. Then again, the whole date that didn’t work out so well thing would have to be explained and how do you do that without adding a whole other scene, right?!  But now Cho seems like a bad person and Harry seems even less faultless (than the clumsy, self conscious, insecure, unsure teenager that he is so well portrayed in the book).

Imelda Stanton portrayed Dolores Umbridge so well.  I hate any part of the book that she was in, and cringed through her scenes in the movie.  Not because she is a bad actress, but because she portrays Umbridge’s truly twisted, cruel, and horrible personality so perfectly.  I don’t think she was quite toad like enough, and that is my only real complaint.

A big fan of the Weasley twins, their departing from Hogwarts scene was fantastic.  It would have been neat to see a little shot of their swamp, but I knew that wasn’t coming.  For some reason, and I don’t know what it is, but I didn’t really enjoy their scenes like I normally do.  Maybe they weren’t making me laugh in every one of them.  Maybe they seemed so much less attractive with those hair cuts than they did in the last movie.  I am really not sure why I was unable to enjoy them as I usually do.

One tiny thing that I noticed as the scene was changing, was that Phineas’ name was shown as being burnt off the Black family tree tapestry.  I don’t believe this was so in the books.  Wasn’t he Headmaster of Hogwarts?  And also, they should have gotten a shot of Narcissa’s name on the tapestry, not just Bellatrix’s.  Was it just me, or did her picture on the tapestry look more like Angelina Jolie than Helena Bonham Carter?

Can I just say that Emma Thompson is one of my favorite all time actresses?! Her Trelawney is perfection! 

Oh, and I know this is extra, super bizarre, but I get this really weird, disturbing sexual vibe from Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs).  I don’t think he’s all that great looking, sure he’s handsome (if a little old for my tastes) and so not my type, but I feel really uncomfortable any time he is on screen, and not just because he plays a bad guy.

*NOTE* - This is kind of off the topic, but I had to throw it in:  In searching for Sense and Sensibility I did a search and one of the top sites that came back was this site, which is, incredibly, dedicated to Harry and Hermione! Wow! What a coincidence, eh?  And it just so happens, that I have been a H/Hr shipper for some time now- I  really believe that Ron will be killed off in the last book (what good is he anyways?) and that Harry and Hermione would make an excellent couple.  But this is getting far fetched for most people, I am sure!

Last night, as I was pulling my hair out of the ponytail I had it in, I thought of those scenes in Friends when Denise Richards (whom my husband is OBSESSED with) shakes her hair out.  Not that I am nearly that hot or anything, but I do have nice long shiny blond hair.  I consider it to be one of my better features.  And whenever I shake my hair out, that song is playing in my head- it’s like my hair “go to” song.

The idea came to me that it would be fun in a very crazy and weird way to walk around in public with that Barry White type music playing and doing that.  I would just randomly stop and shake my hair out to music.  I know I won’t get up the guts to do this alone, but with a friend or say a sister or two, I might actually do it one day.

Seeing as I am also not feeling brave enough or sexy enough to pull it off at the moment, this will have to suffice.

I am on THE countdown until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix arrives in theaters on the 11th!  I have been begging for a date- I don’t have a sitter so Jeremy is staying home to listen for Hali as she sleeps (its a tough job, but someone’s got to do it).  So far, I will be going it alone.  But that’s fine with me- I can mutter to myself without embarrassing anyone about how they did such and such wrong.  I am quite the critic when it comes to the films, because I am so obsessed with the books.

Why aren’t I jumping with glee at the thought of the seventh and final book that will be coming out this month as well?  Because it’s depressing to me.  This is IT.  No more wondering.  No more making my own hypothesis about how things will go.  The world is about to find out the fate of everyone’s favorite wizard.

I’ll tell you what is going to happen to him.  He is going to stay beside my Harry Potter book collection. Forever.  Isn’t he cute?!

                                           

This way Harry can live with me forever and ever.  That and I can stroke him gently and tell him it will be okay when I am reading about his fate in a couple weeks.  I could share with you all of my crazy ideas as to how things will end, but I won’t.  Unless you want me to, and in that case we should instant message sometime soon. 

I hand made him, by the way, complete with embroidered scar, Gryffindor tie, glasses and Hogwarts robes.  I made a wand for him after I took this picture too.  His hair is actually quite messy- you can’t tell so much in the bad picture.

I have a few other Harry Potter crafts in mind, but I won’t bore you all with them here, if you’re really curious or into the crafting thing, then check out my flickr pics soon.  My craft blog is up and running now(although I was having trouble with the header last night, which is still not fixed), which is where I will post my new found love of all things crafty.

And if you want to see THE best most recent clips from the Order of the Phoenix click here.  I am currently rereading the book and just finished the “I want to fight” scene and “you’re just as sane as me” scene.  SOOO GREAT!

When my family was here visiting last month we made a quick trip down to the beach one day:

                             

We all had a BLAST!  Hali especially had a good time hanging out with her aunts and uncle:

                                 

So Jeremy and I decided to have some family fun, woke Hali up, packed up the car, and headed down again this weekend. Lucky for us it is less than two hours to the beach for us, and that’s driving right through Houston, a large and very congested city. Hali is such a delight at the beach!  Everything is FUN! The pure joy in her voice when we pulled into the parking space and she saw the beach and shouted “we’re at the BEEEEEACH!” was priceless.  So was every minute we spent there:

                                                

As you can see Hali was a VERY happy girl. She’s so animated and gorgeous when she is excited. And also, how hot is my husband?! Grrr! We all went out and floated around in the waves.  Hali rode in her little pink float you see Jeremy holding.  Jeremy held onto the float. And groped me.  I groped him back.  The beach is FUN!

Hali and her dad have a unique way of making sandcastles which I will have to share later this summer when I actually remember to get a picture of it. They dug in the sand and piled sand up.  They went out in the water together, just the two of them.  I sat under the umbrella:

                                    

and wondered where that cabana boy was.  Then I remembered that I was in a stained tank top (stupid idea to put on that Natural Glow lotion at one in the morning before you go to the beach), huge floppy hat, and still over twenty pounds overweight.  No hot cabana boy is going to be caught dead rubbing sunscreen on my flab. Oh, ya, and I was at a cheap public beach on the gulf.  Not the Riviera. They don’t have cabana boys.  That didn’t stop me from calling Jeremy ” you there- boy!” and demanding him about.  I only wish I had ordered him to rub sunscreen on the backs of my arms, because they are now splotchy and red. And yes, that is me with no make up.