I finally made it Harry Potter last night.  And I will write about that next.  But I have a major beef to air, and since this blog is called Rac's Rants, here is a rant.

Tim and I love to go to movies.  Our similar taste in movies makes it something we really enjoy to do together.  We are willing to fork out the dough to go to a good movie theater with excellent sound and assigned seats so we can have the best viewing experience possible.  One of the factors in a good viewing experience is not having our kids with us.  Of course, we take our kids to movies that are meant for kids, because it's a fun family experience.  But even at those movies, when our 2-year-old has had it and starts to get noisy, we take him out of the theater.  But we NEVER bring them along to a grown-up movie.

Last night, I called around until I found a babysitter so Tim and I could to Harry Potter 7.2.  I didn't purchase my tickets until I had actually found a babysitter.  This way, there was no chance that we'd be stuck with movie tickets and 2 little boys with nowhere to go.  Apparently, this is not how everyone does things.  When we got to the theater and had settled into our seats, a couple walked in with what looked like a 2-year-old and maybe a 4-year-old.  They were sitting in the row ahead of us.  Groan.  Then another couple walked in with a baby that was probably around 8 months old and ended up directly in front of us.  Double groan.  Here is why I think it is wrong to bring little kids to a PG-13 movie at 7:30 at night.

1.  Those of us who are paying babysitters at home did so so we wouldn't have to listen to kids whine and cry and kick the seats.  When the baby in front of us started to fuss, the mom nursed the baby for about 5 minutes to calm her down.  And then she kept fussing. So they gave her a toy to cheer her up, which she did, and then she was making happy noises.  But fussing and happy noises are both NOISES.  And we got to hear those noises for the first 20 minutes of the movie before Tim said, "That baby's got to go out," and they finally removed her from our row, and took her to the end of the row, where she continued to make noise.  The parents didn't completely remove her from the theater until about halfway through the movie.  It is EXTREMELY distracting to have a baby crying.  It interrupts any kind of mood the movie is creating.

2.  News Flash: Some movies aren't appropriate for little kids.  Harry Potter was one of those movies.  That 13 at the end of the rating should be an indicator to parents that the movie isn't aimed at toddlers.  And every time we go to a PG-13 movie, even at 8pm, there are little kids all over the place.  When we went to Star Wars: Episode III, there was a little girl that was about 5 sitting next to me.  She was terrified and cried the whole time, and her dad refused to take her out.  He just said to her, "Oh, don't be scared.  It's not real."  Yeah, that helped.  The same thing happened when we went to see Spiderman 2, and Doc Octopus was taking out the entire hospital staff.  There was a row of 3and 4-year-old boys in front of us, and they were whimpering and crying, and none of the adults with them would let them leave.  I'm not sure what's going through those parents' heads, but as an outside observer, it just looks selfish.  You wouldn't want to miss part of your movie just so your kids can have relief from the terror they're experiencing because you refused to get a babysitter, right?  Last night, every time something scary happened, I worried about those little girls sitting in front of us.  It's none of my business to tell other people how to raise their kids, but when those kids are screaming and the parents aren't doing anything about it, it ticks me off.

3.  It's just rude.  There is a huge effort going on to get people to turn off their cell phones, and it seems to be working.  People are turning them off.  So why isn't there an effort to get kids out of adult movies?  It is even more distracting to have a toddler screaming her head off next to you or a baby crying or a 6-year-old kicking your seat than to have someone's cell phone go off for a few seconds (although that's still lame).  There are plenty of kids' movies out right now.  If you're going to a movie as a family, why not see a family movie?  If you can't find a babysitter, wait until you can.  If you can't afford a sitter, arrange a trade with friends so you both get to see the movie without your kids.

The theater we went to in Mississippi had a policy that wouldn't allow children under the age of 10 (or maybe even 13) into PG-13 movies after 7pm.  It was the best idea I've ever seen.  I knew that if I went to a grown-up movie, I'd be watching it with grown-ups.  Maybe we can encourage that same policy in our theaters here. Who's with me?

So You Think You Can Be a Pussycat Doll

Is anyone else watching So You Think You Can Dance this season?  A few thoughts about the show thus far:

1.  What is up with the naughty outfits and even naughtier dancers?  There are a few dancers that actually said in their intro packages that their dream was to be a Pussycat Doll.  There's one contestant in particular that is an incredibly talented and skilled dancer, but all she seems to do is prance around in her bra and panties and sticks her booty out far too much when she's asked to dance for her life.  And then she acts all coy and innocent when a choreographer asks her to pretend she's seducing her dance partner.  Blech.  Pick a personality.  And could it please be the one that covers up a little more?

2.  I love Cat Deeley.  She's fantastic.  Not only is she fun to listen to because of her British accent, but she seems so at ease, just standing up there chatting with the judges.  She also seems very genuine, and if she doesn't care about the contestants, she does an amazing job hiding it.  When it's auditions, she goes outside and freezes her buns off with all the peons trying out for the show.  Plus, you just never know what she's going to wear next.  And she just finally got nominated for an Emmy.  (Take that, Ryan Seacrest!)

3.  I'm loving the rotating celebrity judges.  So far we've gotten Megan Mullaly, Kristen Chenowith, Carmen Miranda, one of those guys from Modern Family, and Doogie Howser.  (And a few more, probably, but I'm blanking.)  It's nice to get a fresh perspective on things.  I just wish it were Mary Murphy getting rotated out, not one of those other choreographers that used to be a judge.  Why does she yell SO MUCH?

That's all.  Just putting it out there.

A little late, but the thought was there

First of all, happy anniversary to my super great husband.  I happen to know that he doesn't look at this blog all that often, so it's a good thing I told him happy anniversary on the actual day.  But I'm just giving a shout-out to a very kind, very patient man.  He has been dealing with a grumpy, tired pregnant lady for the past 6 1/2 months, and he deserves a medal.  One example I can share of his kindness is that he let me choose our new mattress at Ikea, which I kind of insisted was perfect.  Then, when we brought it home and I had slept on it for a few days, then sat up in the middle of the night, crying in frustration at the horrible hard new mattress, he immediately got the foam mattress topper from the spare room and put it on my side of the bed so I could get some sleep.  With no complaints.  He never pointed out that I was the one that chose the stupid mattress in the first place, or that maybe a lot of my lack of sleep has to do with the giant belly I'm hauling around.  He quietly helped fix the problem.  Thanks, honey.

For our anniversary we went on a date (HOORAY), and went to a fancy restaurant in downtown Ogden called Jasoh!  Yes, the exclamation point is part of the name.  They have two sections, with two separate menus: casual dining and snooty dining (I can't remember what they really called it).  We chose snooty, and here are a few items from their menu:  Himalayan Yak with Quinoa, Lamb Loin with curried asparagus, and Quail stuffed with Andouille sausage.  To name a few.  We felt like total rubes while we were ordering, because we had to ask what buerre blanc meant (butter sauce) and what gastrique was (a reduction sauce).  It was tres chic.  Tim got adventurous and ordered the quail.  I was pondering ordering a chicken dish, but once he stuck his neck out, I decided to go with the Duck with chocolate gastrique.  Wow, was it good.  It was on a bed of penne pasta with a creamy fontina sauce.  I ate around the wild mushrooms (a mushroom is still a slimy mushroom), but the chocolate gastrique combined with the moist and tender duck meat and the creamy sauce was TO DIE FOR.  I was seriously disappointed that right now I can only fit a tiny amount of food in my stomach before I'm full.  I will be going back again and ordering the duck again and eating every last bite of that dish.  Or maybe I'll try the yak.

This culinary experience is responsible for my new TV addiction, which is the Food Network.  I was idly flipping channels the other day while Tim was making a bunch of phone calls, and happened upon Food Star.  It caught my eye because there was a really nervous-looking chef presenting a very complicated-sounding dish to Courtney Cox.  Because of my amazement at the deliciousness of the combo of chocolate, fontina and duck, I became fascinated with the combinations the chefs were creating for their dishes.  The chefs had to present their dishes to the cast and crew of Cougartown, and it was quite enjoyable to listen to their critiques of the food.  I am a meat and potatoes, mac and cheese kind of girl, and have never been drawn to fancy food.  It has never looked good to me, and usually when I hear what's in a fancy dish I think, "Gross!" and eat my grilled cheese sandwich.  But now I am convinced that, even if it sounds wrong, or looks weird, it just might be the tastiest thing I've ever tried.  And watching chefs come up with those recipes is now fascinating to me.  I'm not saying I'm going to start cooking fancy at home, at least not right now.  Just like I'm not going to become an amazing hip hop dancer or lose 100 pounds right now.  I am going to watch other people do those things on TV.  If, after this baby is born and I have lost that 100 pounds, I am motivated enough, maybe I'll learn a few fancy dishes to impress guests when they come for dinner.        

The Down Side to Fanhood

If you have been reading my blog for a while now, you may have noticed that I've posted a few things about Twilight.  Maybe just a thought or two about the movies, the books, the actors...  I've kind of set myself up for the problem we are now facing in naming our next child.  We are expecting boy #3.  Yes, hooray and all that stuff.  To be honest, I'm relieved it's another boy.  It's what I know.  And, being a completely emotional and ever hormonal girl, adding another girl to the family could be...explosive.  But I digress.  The naming problem.  You may know that our oldest son's name is Jacob.  He was named Jacob before I read Twilight (which I read in 2007, if you must know, and Jacob was born in 2005).

When we found out we were expecting boy #2, we pulled out our family history chart to get some name ideas, and grabbed a few names we liked.  One name that was prevalent in the family tree was the name Edward.  It was a name we both agreed would fit well in our family, and it works with our last name.  But you see where I'm going with this.  Despite the fact that I named our oldest son Jacob before the Twilight craze, in order to avoid constant teasing, I will never get to use the name Edward for one of our sons.  Or Bella for a girl, should that situation present itself (not that Bella has ever made the list for either Tim or me.  It hasn't and won't.  It's a fine name, but it's even more Twilighty than Edward).  This is the downside to being an outspoken fan (or critic, for that matter) of something that's such a huge part of pop culture.  So we didn't name #2 Edward, we opted for Tyler.  Now comes #3, and we are still a little stuck on the name Edward.  And we still face the same problems with the name that we did with boy #2.  This is what I get for posting so many times about all things Twilight.  A perfectly good name, down the drain.

BUT, should we name baby #3 Edward...

...here are some ideas for dressing little Edward and Jacob (although poor Tyler would feel left out):

--T-shirts that say "We are team Jacob and Edward" with their pictures on the backs (Tyler would have to pick sides, of course).

--For little Edward, a gray v-neck t-shirt, sports jacket, and skinny jeans, and for Jacob, a pair of cut-off shorts and nothing else.

--Bright red lipstick for baby Edward to match what is bound to be extra pale skin (have you seen my other children?).

--Spray tan for Jacob.

Some other ideas to keep with the Twilight theme in our family:

--A super fancy Volvo for Edward when he turns 16.  Jacob can go on foot (bare foot).  Or we can find an old Rabbit for him to fix up.

--Theme beds:  a coffin for Edward and a cave for Jacob.  Tyler can get the bunk bed all to himself.  

If we go with Edward as the baby's name, why not go super fan?