Amy J. Bennett

Southern (Almost) Spring Snow

March 2, 2009 by Amy 5 Comments

The snow started about 6 last night and stopped some time during the night. School was canceled by 5 yesterday. I’d guess we have 4-5 inches. The girls were up at 7 begging us to get up every 15 minutes. I think it was 8:30 by the time we actually walked out the door.

Unfortunately we couldn’t make a snowman. The snow was so fluffy it almost seemed fake. We did get a few snowballs in. And one from Emma hit Lexi square in the face and caused a meltdown.

Then Scott was pulling the girls around and he let go of Emma to keep sliding by herself and she went right under a tree. She didn’t like that too much. I actually caught it on camera except right when she goes under the tree, the fence blocks my view. Skip to :55 to get to the good part (may need a few for the video to process).

The girls were over it after that. We came in and made eggs and bacon and made it all better.

Reading: She’s really getting it

February 26, 2009 by Amy 5 Comments

Tonight we were driving through the parking lot of Wal-Mart. I drove in on the grocery store side but we were going in to buy High School Musical 3 so I wanted to park on the other side. I, of course, was rationalizing all of this out loud to the girls. As I turned down the front of the lane Emma says, “No, I want to park at the Market.” I was a little shocked to see the word “Market” above the doorway to the grocery store entrance and asked Emma how she knew that and she said, “I read it.” She asks me what does m.a.r.k.e.t spell and I tell her Market of course and she says, “Yeah, I read it.” I think we both might have been a little shocked and I of course made a big deal about how great it was. I don’t imagine that word has come up in any readings she’s done so far so that tells me she’s really, really getting it.

I still remember a moment almost exactly like that when I was 6 or 7. We lived near the local community college around here at the time and we drove past the school and it has (and still has) TECH written diagonally on the side of the building. I remember saying “Tech” out loud and I still remember the surprise (and pride if I remember correctly) in my mom’s voice when she said, “Yes, that’s right!”

Funny how things go full circle. I just hope my love of reading is next.

Daily Peek

February 26, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

Yesterday was work, more work, AI then work. I had a dinner to celebrate the success of that project I’ve been working on. That one that kept me up until 5am the other week. I never said, but it WAS very successful and we’ve been getting a lot of pats on the back for that. After American Idol last night, I stayed up until 1am trying to figure out the root cause of another issue we’ve been having. I honest to goodness had to pray I figured it out and then had one of these Beautiful Minds moments where I could almost see the calculations running through my head in a fuzzy cloud until I had an a-ha moment. I felt very smart last night.
More movement on my “tree on a hill” opp. For now, I’ve turned it down but another proposal is coming my way soon.
Things around the house are normal…hearing things like “Girls, put your shirts on!” “Mom, you NEVER let me!” “Girls, put your shoes up!” Yes, yes, things are normal around here.
We’re spending the evening at my mom’s and then another night of TV with AI, Grey’s and The Office!

American Idol: Top 36 Group 2

February 26, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

Jasmine Murray – “Love Song” – Her voice was just not strong enough. Maybe nerves. Maybe the wrong song. I enjoyed her more in Hollywood Week.

Matt Giraud – “Viva La Vida” – Man, I was so hopeful for Matt. I thought he was a shoe-in for Top 12 after his Hollywood performances but man, that was rough. He tried too hard. You just can’t do that to that song. And he’s trying to be a singer that he is not. #1 rule – be yourself!

Jeanine Vailes – “This Love” – Uhhh..I don’t remember this performance at. all.

Nick Mitchell – “And I Am Telling You” – I think Norman Gentle is entertaining. I don’t think he belongs in the Top 12 but he’s entertaining. But last night, there were some rough spots in his song. But he was still entertaining.

Allison Iraheta – “Alone” – I was impressed with her. I love that song and I thought she did well with it. I feel like she was actually the best of the night.

Kris Allen – “Man In The Mirror” – I wanted to like Kris. He’s been getting a decent fan base built around the ‘ol Internet but I just don’t think it was strong enough.

Megan Joy Corkrey – “Put Your Records On” – First off, what was that movement she was doing? I dare not call it dancing. I looked at Scott last night and said “What is she doing??” That being said, I love how unique her voice is and she’s gorgeous. Didn’t much like her talking back to the judges saying she sounded good. I think that’s a rule somewhere too.

Matt Breitzke – “If You Could Only See” – zzzzzzz

Jesse Langseth – “Bette Davis Eyes” – First off, I feel the need to reiterate a tweet from last night “jesse, you can’t wear that kind of sweater with mommy boobs. trust me, i know.” Besides that, I think Jesse has a good voice but I did not like that song. I felt like she was trying to hard and REALLY didn’t like her attitude with the judges. I *think* she was trying to be likable and confident but it was off-putting to me.

Kai Kalama – “What Becomes Of A Broken Heart” – He sang it well enough. Just not well ENOUGH.

Mishavonna Henson – “Drops of Jupiter” – I love her voice but parts of that were a little rough. I don’t think it’s going to be enough to pick up the phone and vote.

Adam Lambert – “Satisfaction” – Adam has a HUGE fanbase. A lot of people like him. But I don’t much. I don’t think he connects with his audience. I think he tries too hard when he sings. The last song he sang in Hollywood was awful for me. He walks around as if he’s on a catwalk. And he wears too much manscara and guyliner.

But even so, Adam will sail through. Along with Allison. As for 3rd place, it’s going to be a close call though. I think Megan, Matt G and Kris all have good chances. The bad thing is, I think I’d replace Michael Sarver with any of those 3. And that is the reason I hate this year’s format.

For the record, I voted for Allison and Matt G.

Daily Peek: Idiots, Bombs, Pancakes and More

February 24, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

Highlights from today:

I fixed a job at work that was running in test for 22 hours beforehand and 24 minutes afterwards. It was an idiot coding problem that I created to begin with but at least I figured it out and fixed it.
My boss told me I was the bomb today in an email (completely unrelated to the idiot programming problem). Professional? Probably not but awesome? Most definitely.
We got free pancakes at IHOP tonight. We had my niece with us too and we gave a huge speech before we went about behaving. They were little angels that ate the hound out of some pancakes and eggs and we actually had a really nice time out.
I don’t want to give too much away here and I hate when people say this on blogs but I have some stuff in the works that is exciting at the most and flattering at the least concerning a certain site I might own having to do with a tree on a hill. In fact, please say a prayer for me as I have until Thursday night to make a decision about how to move forward.
Speaking of that tree on a hill, One Tree Hill got a new season which means good news for my site.
Privileged (which I’m still keeping up with my PrivilegedNews.com site) ended tonight. No news on whether there will be a second season and I’m not sure if I’ll keep the site either way.

Picture from IKEA Finds a Home

February 24, 2009 by Amy 3 Comments

So there it is. The picture above my bed is one of the many purchases we made on Saturday. We saw some shades (black) that I want to hang from the ceiling in a set of 3 like they had in a display in the showroom. That’s the thing with IKEA I figured out…everything is cheap but they group things so you can’t buy just one. You have to buy two or four or even nine to make it look like they do! They’re so trickay trickay.

The Bachelor: Women Tell All

February 24, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

Charlie and Sarah surprised me. She didn’t mince words last night. But good for them.
I still <3 Trista and Ryan. Mostly Ryan and his firefighting poem-writing beanie-wearing self.
Frank and whatshername, the reality show rejects were really cute together.
The rest of the old contestants, well, not sure I should comment on them. I think their actions might speak for themselves.
Natalie was and is still clueless about herself. She tries to think she knows herself and is not a self-absorbed drama-loving woman, but she isn’t. Too bad the rest of the world sees it and she doesn’t.
Stephanie is still a sweetheart and I really wish her the best.
Surprisingly Megan kept her mouth shut. Maybe she actually learned from her experience.
Jillian was amazing last night. She truly captivated me when she spoke even if she did say “in the bag” more like “in the beg”. I really felt for her and what she’d gone through. She was way more into it than Jason. I’m surprised though that Chris didn’t have the contract out on the table for her to sign to be the next Bachelorette. That will be a fun season.

*SPOILER*

As for the huge spoiler that is out about this season. If you haven’t read it, it supposedly explains about the big secret in the ending. I have to admit the editing done last night played right into that. BUT Chris gives me hope this week in his blog. Yes, it could be a company line but (and I know this sounds stupid) but I trust Chris. After watching and reading his stuff for years, I really do think he’s the real deal. That being said, I still think it’s possible whatever decision Jason makes, he changes his mind. Maybe Deanna really freaked him out. I want to believe that that wasn’t scripted from mid-season and whatever happens is done on Jason’s own terms. And if Jason screws up, well, it’s just him.

On the hate

February 23, 2009 by Amy 6 Comments

Can I just say there is a lot of hate on the Internet? Like, a lot. I realize hate is in the real world too but something about the Internet gives people the permission to hide behind their monitor and be downright nasty about things they don’t even know about. Running several sites and having to monitor comments, I have to get my “mommy voice” on but I honestly do not try to be ugly to people. But wow, people know how to nitpick any small thing and blow it up to something huge and then spew it all over the Internet. It’s a shame really.