My husband and I  spent yesterday in the movie theater at the Best Picture Showcase. We saw all of the 2008 Oscar Nominees. It was a long day, and the theater was a lot more crowded than I had expected. Were you there too?

My predictions are the following:

Actor

Will Win: Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Want To Win: George Clooney, Michael Clayton

Support Actor:

Will Win: Javier Barden, No Country For Old Men

Want To Win: Casey Affleck, Really Long Jesse James Movie

Actress:

Will Win and Want To Win Ellen Page, Juno

Support Actress:

Will Win: Ruby Dee, American Gangster

Want To Win: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Directing:

Will Win: Toss up between No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood

Want To Win: Juno or Michael Clayton

Best Picture:

Will Win: No Country For Old Men

Want To Win: Michael Clayton

Who Should Have Been Nominated: Gone Baby Gone

I love the movies! I am a huge movie fan, but I am an even bigger fan of the movies that are nominated for an Academy Award. Each year I watch as many of those movies that I can from the time they are nominated right up to the awards ceremony, keeping careful track of each and every movie I see by highlighting them on my printable ballot. This year my deadline is this Sunday, February 24th, at 4:49 p.m. -- which is approaching fast, by the way. 

I admit that trying to see all the movies is somewhat crazy, but I do it each and every year. I'm thankful for Netflix and Blockbuster, and that I have a husband who goes along with me on this ridiculous quest each season. He's had to sit through a long list of movies that he might not have normally watched as a result.

So far this year we have watched the following Oscar nominated movies: Michael Clayton, Eastern Promises, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Away From Her, Gone Baby Gone, Ratatouille, Surf's Up, The Golden Compass, The Bourne Ultamatum, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, 3:10 To Yuma, and Enchanted. He's watched Transformers, but I opted out of that one. (my reviews of these movies and others can be read here)

What left to see? I have Norbit and Once on their way via Netflix, and I have American Gangster and In The Valley of Elah checked out from Blockbuster which I'd like to watch tonight. Since this is crunch time, I'm trying to catch Atonement, Juno, No Country For Old Men, and There Will Be Blood on Saturday at the Mayfair May 18 for their 2nd annual AMC Best Picture Showcase (all 5 Oscar Nominees for only $30). I know I'm still missing some, but that's just they way it'll have to be.

Of all the movies so far, my favorites have been Michael Clayton, The Bourne Ultimatum, Gone Baby Gone, and of course, Disney's Ratatouille. What are your favorites this year? Are any of the readers also on the same quest that I am?

I can't believe that I'm writing about politics as it's a topic that I purposely don't write about. However, being that it's Super Tuesday in Wisconsin, I feel the need to remind you to get out there and vote.

I've already been to the polls today, and I have to say that I'm pretty excited about my vote. Are you excited about yours? Regardless of who you voted for, who do you think will win both the Republican and the Democratic presidential primaries?

If you don't know where you polling place is, please visit elections.state.wi.us.

Okay, so I’m home from Riviera Maya. We stayed at the Grand Palladium which was very nice … if you like walking over a gazillion very tall bridges to get where ever you need to go. Yes, it was a workout, and it was confusing at times because all the bridges looked exactly the same as the others. I don’t know how in the world a drunk person would be able to find their way back to their room in the dark, in the daylight they might be okay, but in the dark no way, and since it was an all-inclusive place the drinks were flowing —  CONSTANTLY.

I couldn’t help but notice a few slightly weird things about Mexico. For instance, you know that big spoon that you get with your place settings? The one that your mother uses to serve mashed potatos to you at Thanksgiving? Well that spoon is the soup spoon down there in Mexico. Very confusing, especially when eating at a chinese restaurant, because you know when you are being served chinese they always give you a giant serving spoon. So the waiter handed me the serving spoon and I was all thinking: yum, dinner! but instead it meant: soup. And it felt very wrong to be eating what little soup I did with the big giant serving spoon. In fact, I had no choice but to the alert the waiter that it was not a soup spoon, but a serving spoon, and I kinda expected him to notice his error and take it back and bring me a real soup spoon, but instead he looked at me like he didn’t understand what I was saying.

Another thing, which my brother fully warned me about because he was at the resort the five days prior to me, was that the bed would short-sheeted. Every night he said he came back to his room and remade his bed. What? That’s insane! Yet every single night my husband and I found that our bed was also short-sheeted.  Since it bothered both myself and my brother, I’m going to blame my mother for this tick that we both have because she was all about the sheets always being straight and properly tucked in when we were growing up. Imagine a mattress, and the bottom sheet is a flat sheet, not a fitted sheet, and it doesn’t stretch down to the very foot of the bed. Some nights it was only 5 or 6″ short, but one night was actually a full 12″ from the bottom. I’m sorry, but my feet totally noticed that they were not on a sheet and instead on a bare mattress, which is gross and I’d like to note a bit unsanitary because of the all the sand that is on the beach which is only about 20 yards from my room. Anyhow, each night we tore the sheets off the bed and remade it. One day we were in the room when the maid came and I did my best to convey to her through the language barrier how we wanted the sheet to cover the entire mattress. She shook her head that she understood and then made the bed with two sheets on the bottom, overlapping each other so that the entire mattress was covered. Whatever. It’s not like the sheet wasn’t big enough to cover the whole thing, because it was.

Okay, and then when we were at the airport coming home I bought a couple magazines (Time and Shape if you must know) and while I was checking out I threw a Kit Kat candy bar on there because they had the Nestle Kit Kat’s and in the US we have Reeses Kit Kat’s and this is a secret, but I’m going to tell you anyway, the Nestle ones are better. I handed over my credit card and then I noticed that the clerk was putting a price tag on the USA Today newspaper: 430 Pesos. 430 Pesos!! That’s $4.30 American!!! And the price on the newspaper says 75 cents. I rubbed my eyes, then verified the price was correct and the clerk tells me that everything in Cancun is expensive. So I had to ask, I just had to. How much did I just pay for that Kit Kat? And the clerk replied, 300 Pesos. $3.00 American, that’s how much I paid for a Nestle Kit Kat, and candy bars in the States are only something like 65 cents. And no, I haven’t eaten that Kit Kat yet. Something that ridiculously expensive deserves to be paired with the finest of wines for sure.

(My adventure continues here and here)

I'm still trying to catch-up from my vacation, but here's a few photos from the beaches of Riviera Maya.

This is me feeding a raccoon. There were about six of them that were regular patrons of one of the bars on the beach.

My husband got up at 5:30 a.m. to walk the beach during sunrise.

I was going to write about my time in Riviera Maya but it's going to have to wait because I came across a small article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Pickle lovers get in their licks with novelty frozen pops by Karen Herzog.

I cannot think of anything that I would want to lick least. I hate pickles! I truly hate pickles. I don’t want to touch them, I don’t want them touching my food, and surely don’t want to eat my food after it has soaked in pickle juice. Blech! Do you know what I mean? Are there other pickle-haters out there, or am I the only one? I have my husband conditioned to take the pickle off of my plate the moment it arrives when we are out to dinner, and my most favorite restaurants are those that remember to not put a pickle on there in the first place.

When Zoe was a toddler she would come to work with me every day. My co-workers loved to give her pickles at lunchtime. Not because she liked them, no, it was for pure entertainment. They loved to see me freak out because my child would have pickle juice dripping down her arms as she squeezed the living daylights out of those icky green things! Inevitably, she’d smell like a pickle for the rest of the day.

The thought of eating frozen pickle juice like it's a popcicle is enough to give me the heebie jeebies! But, if you are one of those weirdos out there that enjoy a pickle, I guess this treat is made specifically for you. www.picklesickle.com

(cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

I'm home from Mexico! Here's a photo from Playa Del Carmen, where we spent the day shopping on 5th Avenue.

I am so over winter. ENOUGH ALREADY!!! I'm looking at the forecast for today and as of right now they are expecting the snow to start falling around 5 p.m. and not stop until tomorrow afternoon. Are you kidding me?

I'm very thankful that I have a snow blower, as I can't imagine shoveling my driveway one more time.

I'm even more thankful that on Thursday I leave for Mexico and don't have to think about anything but sand until Monday.

Back to the snow .... I have places to go tonight. First off, I have to drive all the way over to West Allis to pick up insulin for my diabetic cat, and I have a college class at 6 p.m. in Brookfield. My husband and daughter have plans to attend the Mardi Gras celebration at the Milwaukee French Immersion School where our daughter is a student. If Mother Nature could find it in her heart to wait until, say, 10 p.m. to let the flakes fall, I'd be forever grateful.

My family really enjoys a good water park. We've been to a few of them, some have been outstanding and some have been disappointing. For instance, Paradise Landing which is located in the Milwaukee Hilton was a complete waste of our time. The Kalahari was too large to keep track of everyone easily, and that toilet bowl slide? I didn't see how that was fun, I mean a girl could lose her swimming suit on that one. However, Moose Mountain Falls at the Timber Ridge in Lake Geneva is worth the trip.

My daughter attended a birthday party at the Country Springs Hotel's Waterpark and when I picked her up I thought it looked like the perfect afternoon getaway. The cost, $25 per person. Right, like I have an extra $75 just laying around to go the waterpark for the day. I don't. Good news though because they do offer special rates occasionally and I was able to get tickets today for only $15 per person. That's a pretty good price, and if it weren't a school day, and if three people at work weren't in Mexico right now leaving me in charge (my plane leaves on Feb. 7th!), I'd be willing to be at the water park at 9:59 a.m. with my swimming suit on!

My family could use some fun, have you been reading about our lives lately???? What with the near explosion, the vegetable oil spill, a car crash an eye infections and a waiter who changed his tip, or how about a boulder of ice --- I think my family deserves to ride the Triple Dog Dare until the cows come home!

Let me know if you have any indoor water park recommendations!