Procrastination Tactics

This is how I waste my time when I have a long to-do list. I make a schedule. I won't even tell you how much time I wasted cutting and pasting letters from magazines to make this homemade calendar look like a ransom note. I am at the end of a "cold" and I am tired and I needed something to do to keep me from doing what I actually needed to do today. Well, it worked. This is what I have to show for my time well spent! A lovely calendar!

"The Aristocats"

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
With the Voices of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Liz English, Gary Dubin, Dean Clark, Sterling Holloway, Roddy Maude-Roxby, Scatman Crothers and Paul Winchell.
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Rated G
Amazon $19.99 (available 2/5/08)
Reviewed by Liza Marchant

As I am singing “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat” with my five and seven year olds, my eleven year old clears her throat, and reminds me, I don’t like cats. “Mom, you hate cats, why would you want to be a cat?” Okay, so maybe I dislike cats (hate is a very strong word that I may have used once in front of my children when describing how I felt about cats, shame on me), but leave it to “The Aristocats,” a Disney Classic from my generation, to consider the possibility of loving a posh pussy like “Duchess” and her three adorable kittens, Berlioz, Toulouse and Marie. Did I say adorable? Oh, how they make a purr-fect feline family, who live an idyllic life in Paris with their owner Madame Adelaide. So idyllic, that Madame Adelaide plans to leave her worldly fortune to them. This somehow seems to parallel a real life heiress who recently left millions of dollars to a dog named “Trouble.” I wonder if she got the idea from “The Aristocats?”

Unfortunately, for Madame Adelaide, her butler Edgar overhears her plans to leave her fortune to her feline friends and decides its time for the cats to meet with an accident. After poisoning their food, he drives the cats off to the countryside and tosses them in a river. Of course, aside from “Bambi,” what Disney movie begins with tragedy? The posh cats survive and are soon befriended by the Irish, crooning, alley cat, J. Thomas O’Malley. He loves serenading the ladies with songs about himself, until he finds himself falling for “Duchess.” O’Malley assists Duchess and her kittens in their return to Paris to their beloved owner with a few adventures on the way, which brings me back to my favorite part of the movie, when the jazz inspired cat band plays “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat.” In reality, this is complete nonsense, because who in their right mind would want to be a cat? I suppose if you were heir to a fortune. Not. What would that get a cat anyway? High end cat food, heavy cream, the world’s finest cat nip and a diamond studded collar?

All in all, my children and I agree, “The Aristocats” transcends the generation gap and makes this Disney classic worth owning. Even if you don’t like cats, the music will get your feet tapping and make you believe for a moment, “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat!”

My children enjoyed the DVD extras, especially the “Virtual Kitten Game.”

I give it 9 out of 10 binkies. (Sorry cats, no 10 from me)

LOST Returns!

I am all prepared for the return of my favorite prime time television show, "LOST," on Thursday, January 31. At this point all of my other shows have run out of new episodes or they are off air at the moment. As of late, it seems the quality of television shows has gone down the tubes, pun definitely intended, with all of this reality television. As of now, there are very few shows that I watch on the major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX.) I am finding more and more winners on cable television.

Here are my favorites (in no particular order):

1. The Riches on FX

2. Mad Men on AMC

3. Big Love on HBO

4. Flight of the Conchords on HBO

5. LOST on ABC

6. Football Night in America or Sunday Night Football on NBC

7. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on thr Travel Channel

8. Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel

9. Brothers and Sisters on ABC

10. Inside the NFL on HBO

My Weekend at a Glance or Should I Say the Rest of January!

1. Work on MH Essay

2. Fight the beginning of a COLD

3. Make Chef Tyler Florence's "Ultimate Lasagna," "Broccoli Rabe," and "Semi-Freddo with Pomegranate Molasses and Salted Caramel"

4. Write a Review BVHE and Disney for the Upcoming Release of the New Digitally Remastered "The Aristocats"

5. Church

6. More Training for the Catalina Marathon

7. Continue writing My New York Times Bestseller

8. Mentally Prepare for the Return of "Lost" on 1/31/08

Wait, where did January 2008 go???????

176 Items= Another Mother Lode of Groceries

6 Organic Bananas
Bambino Pepperoni Pizza
Giotto's Bambino Cheese Pizza
Have Your Espresso And Eat it Too!
2 Strawberry/Banana 6 pk yogurt
White Handmade Tortillas 6 pk
French Onion Soup
Frozen Chocolate Croissants
2 Dozen Cage Free Eggs
Shredded Three Cheese Blend
1lb Salted Butter Quarters
1lb Unsalted Butter Quarters
2 Packages Applewood Smoked Bacon
Sliced White Mushrooms
Organic Tortilla Chips
Almond Cranberry Trex Mix
Tropical Blend Carrot Juice
Cranberry/Raspberry Juice
Trader Joe's Banana Bread
Vanilla Bean Cake Mix
Fresh Blueberries
2 Packages of Strawberries
Trimmed Green Beans
#5 Box of Clementines
Trader Joe's Apple Juice Boxes
Men's Dep Hair gel
Gillette Men's Shaving Cream
Joy Ultra Dish Detergent
Ultra Concentrated Tide- 64 Loads
Cascade Lemon Gel Dish Detergent
Multigrain Tostitos
Regiano Parmesan
2 Quarts Ricotta
C&H Powdered Sugar
All Natural Ruffles
6 Pack Fat Tire Ale
Precious String Cheese
Ground Italian Sausage
Dreyers Peppermint Ice Cream
Dreyers Double Vanilla Ice Cream
Nature's Path Oatmeal
Canadian Bacon
Mrs. Richardson's Butterscotch Topping
Mrs. Richardson's Fudge Topping
4 Cans Organic Whole Tomatoes
Starbucks Coffee Beans
Ginger Snaps
White Cheddar Cheese
100 Count Ziploc Bags
Sea Salt
8 Emmi Yogurts
Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 Quart Heavy Whipping Cream
3 lbs Organic Onions
Ground Beef
2 bunches Broccoli Rappini
Fresh Oregano
Fresh Italian Parsley
Fresh Basil
Aquafresh t/Paste
Black Peppercorns
12 Pack Select-a-Size Bounty
12 Pack Scott Toilet Paper
6 Pack O.W. English Muffins
2 Packages Plain Goldfish
2 1lb Boxes of Lasagna
4 Cases Ralph's Water
5 1/2 Gallons of Organic Horizon Milk
2 Pints of Half and Half
2 Cans Pinto Beans
2 Cans Solid White Tuna in Water
3 Boxes of Eggo Waffles
Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 8ounce Philly Cream Cheese
King Arthur's Flour
1 Pint Sour Cream
1 Package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 lb Mussels
1/2 Bay Scallops
1/2 Shrimp
5 Pack of Pampers Refills
3 Softsoap Soap Dispensers
Pantene Conditioner
Pantene Shampoo
Venus Razor
2 Skintimate Shaving Cream
10 pack Daisy Razors
Band-Aid
Ban Solid
2 Aluminum Lasagna Pans
Aluminum Foil
3 pack Kitchen Towels
Sauve Kid Shampoo
Huggies Baby Shampoo
Zest Bodywash
2 8 ounce Packages of Tillamook Cheddar Cheese
2 packages Ground Turkey
2 Lbs Organic Chicken Breast
2 packages reduced fat Wheat Thins
1 package OB
Grape Nut Trail Mix Cereal
1 Bunch Celery
1 Bunch Carrots
Fig Flat Bread Pizza
Yellowtail Merlot
Yellowtail Chardonnay

Laura Scudder's All Natural Peanut Butter

Chocolate Almond Breeze

4 Pack GUS All Natural Ginger Ale

Ian's Breadcrumbs

Artichokes

2 Boxes Nutrigrain Bars

No More Excuses

I guess I am not the only mother lagging on my Mothering Heights Mother's Day Essay. I just checked out the daily slog at MH and there's an essay shortage. Somehow my husband ended up with the morning off, so I have no excuses (meaning no 21 month old to watch), I have time.... but I am sure there's something that needs to be done, beds to be made, laundry, vacuuming, next year's Christmas shopping..... NO MORE EXCUSES!!!!

Parallel Thinking: Mother-in-Training

All it took was a phone call from my marathon companion, Linda, to tell me she was too tired to do hill-repeats, for me to say, "No problem. I didn't really want to do them either." And as I hung up the phone, I realized there was a parallel to "my stressay" problem. I must do hill-repeats. Hill-repeats are necessary in my marathon training program. I need those hill-repeats to perform in the marathon. Just like that 1500 word essay for Mothering Heights. I must complete that assignment, because it is the smaller writing assignments that train me for writing my New York Times Bestseller. I am in training as a runner and a writer and while I am at it, as mother, because truly, motherhood requires constant training. By George, I think I've got it! The answer to "my stressay." What I will write! I have the answer to "What I know now that I wish I had known before becoming a parent." Oh, the parallels. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!