Rose Red

Jim & I watched the movie "Rose Red" on the Sci Fi channel (channel 50) last night. It was written by Stephen King and made into a tv movie. When it was first aired (I believe back in 2002), it was showed in 2 hours segments over 3 days (6 hours total). Last night they aired it back to back starting at 7pm.

The movie is about a group of psychics who spent 3 nights, over Memorial Weekend, to investigate a mansion called "Rose Red" that is believed to be inhibited by ghosts/spirits that feeds on psychic powers. The house had been laid dormant for the past 30 years but as the psychics entered the house, it started to "awake".

The movie was pretty good (most of Stephen King's movies are in my opinion). The first 4 hours of it was very interesting. However, the way the movie ended was a little disappointing for me. I still did enjoy it. Stephen King, as in most of his movies, made an appearance as a pizza delivery boy in this movie. I am not sure if this movie is out on DVD or not, but if you are able to find it, watch it, especially if you are a Stephen King fan.

p/s: For other Stephen King movie recommendations, please refer to the blog titled "The Mist"

Atonement

We finally saw "Atonement" last night and I thought it was pretty good. Sad but good. It was set in England during WWII about a girl, Briony, who lives in the country with her mother and sister Cecilia (Kiera Knightley).

Cecilia was home for the summer from Cambridge where she is studying along with the housekeeper's son, Robbie. They had an attraction to each other but were unwilling to act on it. One day, Briony witness from her bedroom window an arguement between Cecilia & Robbie... Several other things and Briony accused Robbie of raping her cousin, Lola. Tried and convicted, Robbie was sent to jail.

Well, much much more things happened, I don't want to spoil the movie for you if you decide to watch it. Anyways, go watch it... I absolutely recommend watching this movie.

Other movies by the actors/actresses of "Atonement" that I like:
1. The Last King of Scotland (James McAvoy)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean (Kiera Knightley)
3. Bend It Like Beckham (Kiera Knightley)
4. The Pledge (Vanessa Redgrave)
5. Girl, Interrupted (Vanessa Redgrave)
6. Mission Impossible (Vanessa Redgrave)
7. Murder on the Orient Express (Vanessa Redgrave)

Happy Birthday Aman

Happy belated birthday to my nephew, Aman (Raja Irfan) who celebrated his 8th birthday on May 25th.

Dan in Real Life

On my way home from work on Friday I stopped at Blockbuster and rented a couple of movies, "Dan in Real Life" & "Atonement". We had planned on watching both DVDs over the weekend but if you read my previous blog, you would know that we didn't have a chance to coz of the toilet fiasco.

After I got the toilet fixed on Sunday, we decided to watch "Dan in Real Life". I thought it was a cute movie. Steve Carell played Dan, a widowed advise columnist who is good when dealing with other people's relationships but is a little clueless when it comes to his own relationship with his 3 daugthers. While on a family vacation at his parents's house (his siblings with their spouses & kids were there too), he met a woman at a book store. They spent some time talking and he was really attracted to her and she seems like she's interested in him too though she did tell him that she's involve with someone. When he went back to his parents', he told his siblings that he met a girl...His brothers and sister were teasing him when one of his brothers, Mitch (played by Dan Cook) introduced his new girlfriend, Marie (Juliette Binoche) who had come spend her vacation with the family. Mitch's girlfriend turned out to be the girl Dan had met at the book store that morning.

I liked the movie and thought it was cute. Dianne Wiest & John Mahoney played Dan's parents and they were funny. There were funny parts in there and I really like Steve Carell...So, rent the movie if you feel like having a laugh.

Other movies I like by actors/actresses from this movie:
1. 40 Year Old Virgin (Steve Carell)
2. Bruce Almighty (Steve Carell)
3. The Lost Boys (Dianne Wiest)
4. Birdcage (Dianne Wiest)
5. Bullets Over Broadway (Dianne Wiest)
6. Hannah & Her Sisters (Dianne Wiest)
7. Chocolat (Juliet Binoche)
8. The English Patient (Juliet Binoche)

Two Girls & a Toilet

Oh what a weekend I had!!! And it wasn't the good kind. It all started innocently enough...

Late Saturday afternoon Jim told me that the toilet in our guest bathroom upstairs is leaking water from the tank into the toilet. So as not to waste water and being the "fix-it" gal that I am, I lifted the lid to the tank to see if the flapper valve (the rubber thingy that lifts up and down to allow water to run thru when you flush) is tightly shut...and it was. Since that is ok, the other thing that might be the culprit is the float arm (the ball with the metal lever). I was adjusting the lever when "CRACK!"... The whole lever with the ball broke!! Now, water was rushing into the tank and I couldn't stop it!!! I quickly turned off the water switch that connects to the tank. It did slowed the water but there was still a trickle of water still coming in so I when outside our house to look for the main water shutoff... Boy was I freaking out coz we've lived in this house for almost 5 years now and never once I thought about locating the main water shut off... I frantically called my friend Melissa (an accomplished fix-it gal, I might add) to see if she could point me to the shut off. Off course, being the pro that she is, she did...he he he...

So, after turning off the main water shutoff as well as the hot water heater, I went back upstairs to survey the damage. I know that I will need to get the whole "water refiller" (don't know what it's called) where the ball & lever was attached to replaced. It looked simple enough to do so I went to the Home Depot down the street to get the replacement. After talking with the guy in the plumbing aisle, he told me that it's better if I replace the whole mechanism in the tank so as it is all new. So, after paying the cashier US$43.93, I went home with the complete repair kit in my possession.

I got back home I found the bathroom floor flooded with water! Dammit!!! Water was still trickling into the tank even after I've shut off the main water supply...What the hell is going on? After checking that the water supply to the tank is completely turnoff (water still coming in tho), I went back outside to make sure the main shutoff is completely off. With all the strenght that I have, I turned that knob until I couldn't turn it anymore. I went back upstairs to mop up the water from the floor and lay down some towels to help dry up the floor faster.

I do have to tell you that my 2 boys were so curious with what I was doing that they kept getting in the way, a couple of times almost tripping me while I was running up and down the stairs. Jim in the meantime (being the non fix-it guy he is) tried to keep the boys out of my way, unsuccessfully of course, coz they are more curious with what I was doing to even eat their treats....he he he.

Ok back to the toilet... After reading the instructions, I started to disassemble the mechanisms. I was able to unscrew the refiller on the inside but I have a hard time unscrewing the attachment from under the tank to the water supply. No matter what I do, the nut would not budge even after I screamed, yelled and cursed at it, it still would not budge. To make matter worse, I jabbed my middle finger as I was trying to unscrew that stupid thing while water dripped from the tank onto my face (I had to lay on the floor to get to that nut).

By this time, it was already 8pm and I don't feel like going back to Home Depot to buy a fitted wrench that might work to unscrew that nut. So, I had Jim called his parents to see if they have one which they did. Since I was already too tired to do anything else, I told them that I will come by in the morning to pick up the wrench... I went to bed exhausted that night. Of course first making sure that I put a bucket under that tank so that it doesn't flood the floor again.

The next morning (Sunday) I drove over to my in laws to get the wrenches and found out that what they have is too small for what I needed. So, I stopped at Lowe's by their house and bought a fitted wrench set for US$21.67. So, back to our house to tackle that toilet...

After changing back into my dirty work clothes, I laid back onto the floor...and guess what? None, of the wrenches fit that nut!!! Aarghhhhhh... Frustrated, I started cursing at it again which scared the boys so much that they hid under the futon.

Frustrated with the whole thing and not wanting to call the plumber (they cost an arm & a leg), I decided to call Melissa... As soon as she answered her phone, I burst out crying and told her what happened. Being a good friend that she is, she came right over to help me... Phew!! Help is on the way.....

Once Melissa got to the house, I showed her what I was trying to do... she took one look at the old and new refiller and said, "The new one has a bigger tube than the old one"...Opps! so off we went to Home Depot again to see if they have the small tube...Got to Home Depot and after showing the old refiller to the guy in the plumbing department, he said, "You have a very old toilet, they don't make it that small anymore". So, after asking the guy if there is any way to unscrew that nut without actually breaking the tank itself, he told us that we could try to undo the whole tank and turn it over so that we have a better angle. He also suggested that we can try to saw it off since it's plastic...So, back to the house we went.

After unhooking the tank from the toilet and many, many grunts and curses, we finally were able to unscrew that blasted nut. After that, everything was easy....We replaced the refiller, put in the new overflow tube, replace the valve system and reattached the tank back to the toilet...yeah!!!! Told Melissa that we should open a business and call it "Two Girls & a Toilet"...he he he.

I turned the water to the tank and went outside to turn on the main water. After turning the main water and the hot water heater back on, I went into the kitchen to make sure that water is flowing... Turned on the tap and nothing happened. What the hell??? So, I went back out side and turned the main water knob somemore....I kept turning, and turning and turning and turning...nothing happened. Still no water.... I realized that I might have broke the valve in the main water line when I shut it off the day before. Shit!!!

I tried to call the HOA (Home Owner's Association) to see if the repair for the main valve would be covered by our homeowner's insurance but since it was Sunday, the office was closed. To make matter worse, Monday was Memorial Day which is a federal holiday so we won't be able to contact them until Tuesday morning. So here we are, toilet is fixed but no water except for a tiny little trickle but there is nothing that we could do except to wait till Tuesday. Plumbers cost double on the weekends and holidays and they are expansive to begin with...what to do what to do... We went over to my in-laws to take our showers and spent Monday at my sister-in-law's house for Memorial Day.

Well, it is now Tuesday morning... Jim just called me and said that the HOA doesn't cover to fix that valve. I am trying to see if one of our patients at the dentist office I work at, could help since he owns a plumbing company. Hopefully, he will give us a break and not charge too much...

I will keep you guys posted as to whether I still have an arm and a leg later on....

** Update (1:32pm, May 27)
Well, the patient at my office had one of his employees go over to our house to check the valve. Jim just called me that we now have water. YEAH!!!!!

And here's the awesome part....I still have my limbs... They didn't charge us anything for coming over and fixing the valve!!! Bless you, Randy/Danny and of course, Melissa...you guys are just AWESOME!!!!!

Exhausted

Man, I am exhausted!!! If you notice from my blogs lately, I haven't spend a lot of time on it. I used to write longer blogs but the last few months it has been shorter and this is the reason why...

I simply have too much to do and not enough time to do everything in!

My 2 jobs are demanding...Well, the work itself is not that hard but dealing with the things that come with that job is hard. I start at 7am and usually don't finish till about 5:30pm and all day long I stare at the computer crunching numbers and doing data entries. And in between those, I have supply runs to do as well as dealing with human emotions of my bosses (yes, I have 4 bosses) and fellow colleages. You see, besides than being a financial controller, I am also human resources, counselor, supplier and all around "fix-it" gal. I am kinda the peace keeper of the office. Every little friction, I have to deal with it. So, by the end of the day I am usually exhausted, physically and mentally.

I usually get home at about 6pm. And once I get home, there are housework to do...dishes to wash, dinner to cook, cats to feed. I used to be able to stay awake long enough to watch "Late Show with David Letterman" (10:35pm on CBS), "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" & "The Colbert Report" (12:00am & 12:30am on Comedy Central) every night which means that I would fall asleep at about 1:00am. Nowadays, I am out cold by 9:00pm. I even have to make sure that I set my VCR to tape "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" on Thursday nights since they come on at 8pm & 9pm respectively. Which reminds me, I need to make sure that I tape "Grey's Anatomy" for the season finale tonight....

What to do...what to do...I am hoping that my work load will lessen soon. If everything goes the way I plan (or hope/wish), I will be down to just 1 job soon. And hopefully, Jim will be better soon that he is able to get back to work.

Here's to less work and more me time.....

Dancing with the Stars

The finals for "Dancing with the Stars" aired last night and I am glad that Kristi Yamaguchi won the Mirror Ball trophy. She truly deserve to win coz she was good since the very beginning.

Jim & I watched this show from when it first started about 10 weeks ago. I am actually surprised that Jim want to watch it coz he usually doesn't like this kind of stuff. I guess having 2 of his childhood crushes on the show (Kristi Yamaguchi & Monica Seles) made him want to watch it. Sadly, Monica Seles was eliminated in the earlier round. Hopefully season 7 will be as interesting as season 6.

Congrats to Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas for winning the Dancing with the Stars

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

We saw this movie on Sunday and we both really like it. It was really well acted and full of suspense. It was about 2 brothers, Andy (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) & Hank (Ethan Hawke) whose lives were in downward spirals. They were both in need of money so in desperation, they decided to rob their parents' (Albert Finney & Rosemary Harris) jewelry store.

The robbery went badly and everything after that went from bad to worse. All the actors were really good and the storyline was awesome. I absolutely recommend you watch this movie.

The Mist

We watched the movie, "The Mist" yesterday and I really like it. It was based on a Stephen King's novel of the same name. As almost all of Stephen King's novel, this is a "scary" movie. It is about the people in a small town in Maine who were trapped in the "mist" and this is no ordinary mist. Frightening and scary stuff are in it.

I am not a very big fan of scary movies with the exception of Stephen King. I really like this one except for one part where one of the characters became a little too preachy for me. As with almost all of Stephen King's novel that was made into movies, he usually have a tiny part in it so I was a little disappointed that he wasn't in this one since I kept expecting to see him pop up somewhere in the movie . The explanation of why he wasn't in it was revealed in the "Special Feature" section of the DVD. If you like scare movies or Stephen King..rent this one.

Other Stephen King's "movies" that I like:
1. Carrie
2. The Shining
3. Stand by Me
4. Misery
5. Sleepwalker
6. The Green Mile
7. The Shawshank Redemption
8. The Stand

Idiot

Somewhere out there, a village is missing its IDIOT!!!

Happy Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMS OUT THERE. WHAT YOU DO FOR YOUR CHILDREN CAN NEVER BE REPAID!!!

"The Savages"

We just finished watching the movie "The Savages" on DVD. It was really good. Though the movie was categorized as a comedy, it was more serious and sad than it is a comedy. It is a story about 2 siblings, John (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Wendy (Laura Linney), who had to take care of their ailing dad (Phillip Bosco).

The movie shows the relationship between the siblings and their father and how they deal with death. It was a very good movie, so watch it if you can.

"No Country for Old Men"

We saw this movie, "Old Country for Old Men" on DVD earlier today and I have to say that it is pretty good. Javier Bardem was really good in it and it is no wonder that he won the Oscar last year. Josh Brolin & Tommy Lee Jones was in it too and they were equally good. Watch it if you can...

Happy Birthday, Tiger!!!

Happy birthday to my baby boy, Tiger William Pergo, who is celebrating his 3rd birthday today.