Lazy Sunday

I admit, and it's a bit painful to say this as an Upstate girl, but I totally wimped out due to the cold today. I have been fighting a sore throat for a few days, and so when I saw the temperature was a mere 14 degrees this morning, I decided to chuck my plans and stay in. Even though I'm in dire need of a haircut and highlights, I'll just wear my hair back for another week. Ignore my bad hair at the HH, I beg you! And I feel bad about cancelling my dinner/movie plans on orphaned Mr. L, but since I'll be seeing him and the Mrs. and Brunette for dinner tomorrow, I figure no harm done. So, bring on the lazy Sunday...!

I spent the morning watching the full Food Network line-up. It's now a toss-up between Tyler Florence and Dave Lieberman in the "who's my Food Network boyfirend?" race. They're both fun to look at. Oh, and then there's Paula Deen's sons, Bubba 1 and Bubba 2. :-)

Would you believe I spent 20 minutes organizing my sock drawer? How can so many socks go missing between your feet, the hamper, the laundry cart, and the dryer? There must be a sock monster that lives under the bed. Or something.

Another item checked off the to-do list... I went through all my bills and paid them, plus I paid ahead a bit on my credit card. The big raise I got has started to show up, and it's looking like it will be a big help on getting me caught up on ye olde Visa problem. I still have to do my taxes, but I'm counting on a refund. I got a decent refund the last 2 years, and I think my withholdings and stuff are still set up well for me to get one this year. But my poor younger brother - literally, my poor younger brother who's just barely scraping by on 2 part-time jobs - just found out he owes a thousand bucks. He didn't have enough taken out cuz he needed the money to live on. Poor kid. Luckily, Mom and Dad can help out...

After weeks of it sitting on the shelf, I finally popped in the DVD of Magnolia today. I can't say I loved it. I found the 3 hour movie to be bloated and a bit boring. It had an indie dream cast - William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Felicity Huffman. Jason Robards plays a key role, but for some reason I've had a lifelong aversion to Jason Robards. I must have seen an interview with him I didn't like or something, cuz I always think of him as a big jerk. Speaking of big jerks... I remember a lot of hoopla when the movie came out about Tom Cruise's surprising performance. Instead of his usual hero, he played a manic, arrogant, egomaniacal jackass. He even scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and won the Golden Globe. But with all the time and crazy antics that have passed, it just seems that the couch-jumping, anti-glibness Tom Cruise was all to believable in that role. Perhaps he was just starting to show his stripes back then? And what the heck was up with those frogs? I think this movie was full of symbolism and deep thoughts that I just wasn't in the mood for.

I spent the afternoon reading, and finished Freakonomics. This was a good follow-up book to The Tipping Point, which as you know I just read last week. This book was a much faster read and even more enjoyable, but it had less of a coherent theme than Gladwell's book. In fact, the authors tell you right up front that the book has no "unifying theme" - the rogue economist Leavitt explores questions ranging from how legalized abortion affected the crime rate, to why teachers cheat on standardized tests, to whether good parenting really makes a difference in kids' success. Some of his theories are pretty radical, but he does a good job of arguing simply based on what is found in the data and remaining neutral on questions of morality or good taste. This was fun, and I hope to have good conversations with my friends who've read it, too.

Well, now it's Sunday night, so that means it's time for my favorite night of tv!