Melting Pot

Our neighbor, Tiffany, is moving on Saturday so we decided to girls needed to get together with her before she left. We decided to go to the Melting Pot. Let me tell you, I was so excited for this get together, that I was praying I did not go into Labor beforehand and miss it. And I'm so glad I didn't miss it! It was fabulous, I think we should make it a regular event.

And speaking of being pregnant, five out of the seven of us are, there must be something in the water out here!

Here is Tiffany and Valerie (the two non-pregnant ones, guess they felt like they needed to stick together!)

And here I am with Amy, and then Mandy and Kris. Carma, I guess we didn't get a picture of you sitting alone on your side (sorry). Yum, yum, yum, I've seriously been thinking about it all day!

Some Funny Moments

I forgot to mention this in my post from last night.

ALW had been my favorite mentor from this season. It seemed like he actually gave the contestants advice that could help them. But the real reason I really enjoyed him was because of some funny moments.

First, when he told Jason the song "Memory" was about a glamor puss. I couldn't find a clip of just that, but here is one that includes it.


And then when he told Cookie to act like he was singing to a beautiful 17-year-old. And Cookie, said, "Well, I'm 25"

Andrew Lloyd Webber

hmm, I don't know if I have a favorite this week. It's a toss up between the two David's for me. I did like Archie's rendition of "Think of Me" I thought it was neat how he was able to completely change the sound of it and change it into a pop song. But even given that, it didn't really excite me that much. But my one gripe is why aren't the judges giving him any credit for creativity like they give Cookie, anytime he changes the arrangement?

I did like Cookie's performance of "Music of the Night" however, I do feel there is a bit of a double standard. If any of the girls try a big song, they are always compared to the original singer. "Music of the Night" is a big song. And while Cookie did very well, I do not think he measured up to Michael Crawford's version. I remember getting chills when I saw the play in London.


So onto the others. Syesha and Carly both had probably what I consider their best performances so far, but I still don't care.

Now Jason and Brooke. They were both at a disadvantage given this theme anyway. But wow, Jason's "Memory" was just awful. And Brooke needed to start over AGAIN and then her performance wasn't really that great afterward.

So who is going home? If the pattern continues, it will be Jason. Although I would really rather see Syesha or Carly leave.

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day is tomorrow. I have one tip that I've recently tried to incorporate that isn't that hard. I've switched from using the plastic bags to reusable bags at the grocery store.

At Smith's they are 79 cents a piece BUT you get 5 cents back every time you use them. So eventually not only will they pay for themselves, but they will start paying you! I love these bags, they hold a lot! I only have four and if packed correctly (you will quicly learn which baggers are better than others) will hold my entire weeks worth of groceries. And it makes bringing in the groceries so much easier too.

To celebrate Earth day, I plan on making this rainstick activity with my kids and some bird nest cupcakes. If you are interested in doing some Earth themed activities you can find more here.

Bye Greggie!

Beauty and the Geek was on Tuesday night, but because of Idol I didn't get a chance to watch it until last night. My favorite geek was eliminated. But the problem was he was paired with my least favorite Beauty. That's my only major complaint with this show, that same thing happened last season. I think somehow they need to add a way for partners to be swapped because they went up against another team that had my least favorite geek, Joe. I was really torn who I wanted to go home. I'll miss Greggie he was so sweet. I tried to just find some Greggie footage but didn't have much luck. All I could find was the episodes broke up into pieces. So here is a clip from the first episode where I instantly feel in love with Greggie.

And here is the clip from the last episode where he got kicked off. You can tell everyone else in the house loved him, but wanted to get rid of his partner, so sad!

Mariah Night

I was very interested to watch tonight. The judges constantly critic the contestants about trying to sing songs from artists such as Mariah, yet now they HAD to sing one of her songs. Going into it I was sure David A would be fine, very curious to see what David Cook would do, had no idea what Jason, Brooke or Kristy would be able to do and thought Syesha and Carly would both try to imitate Mariah and would probably be in trouble because of that. For the most part, there weren't too many surprises.

For me the best performance was David A, but I might be biased because I love that song.

I liked what David Cook did, but it didn't quite work for me. And I actually really liked Jason again this week, but I wasn't familiar with that song.

I liked Carly at the beginning of her performance but then once she went for the big notes, she never came back and again over thought and over did it. And again, while Syesha can sing well, there is just something boring about her.

The worst performances were Kristy and Brooke. I really think Brooke may be in trouble this week. My guess for the bottom three is Brooke, Kristy and Syesha. I'm not quite sure who will go home.

With Michael's departure last week there are rumors spreading that the eliminations are fixed. So far it has been a pattern of boy, girl, boy, girl, etc. being eliminated. I really hope this isn't the case. The guys really have more talent this year and they deserve to stay in longer.

The Return of The Office

Okay, so it looks like most of us were most excited to see The Office return. What did you think? Was it still as funny? Out of all the returning NBC comedy shows, I did think The Office was the funniest still (thank goodness!) Earl and 30 Rock both returned a lot cruder, which irritated me because that's easy humor. But The Office didn't take that route. My only complaint is that almost the entire episode was at Michael's dinner party, and while that was still funny, I missed the rest of the cast, especially Dwight.

Good-bye Michael!

So my idol went home last night. And while it was a shock, in a way I wasn't that surprised. I think his last performance as "forgettable" and the only reason I'm stealing that Simon phrase is because of this: When I put up my last poll of who should go home, I listed everyone but only had seven names and I had to really think about who I had forgotten. And who was it? Michael! I couldn't believe I had forgotten my own idol! But I think that is just evident of why he did in fact go home.

I remember how upset I was when Chris Daughtry was voted off, so much so that I refused to watch the rest of that season. But now, he has went on to become one of the most successful AI contestants. So this isn't necessarily the end for Michael. And yes, I will still watch the rest of this season because there are still lots of contestants left I enjoy watching.

But putting that aside, I would have preferred Carly went home. In the beginning I liked her, but now she is just getting on my nerves. I too feel she over sings every song to the point there is no meaning in the song anymore. I would have also liked to see David Cook in the bottom three. Not because I want him to go home, I don't, he is one of my favorites, but because I agree with Simon he was way too arrogant in his last performance. I think he could have used some humble pie.

Inspiration Night

What a night! For the most part everyone did well.
My favorite of the night was Jason Castro. Which was kind of weird because when he first started, I HATED it! And then slowly, I LOVED it. I think the Ukulele (took me awhile to figure out how to spell that one!) threw me off.


The worst performance for me was David Cook, closely followed by Carly.

The most surprising, Kristy Lee. That was not an easy song to sing, and she did it well. I think she has earned the right to stay for another week.

Who I would like to see go......Carly, but it might be Syesha.

Return of Primetime

Wow what a let down! At least for me. After months of waiting for the writers strike to come to an end, the first primetime shows are returning to air. For me, the first was "My Name Is Earl" and although this isn't my favorite show, I've always watched it and enjoyed it. Well last night it returned with a new episode and it was horrible! This is what I've been waiting for? They have the same writers right? Did they just try to hurry and put something together just to get it back on the air? All I can say is "The Office" and "30 Rock" returns next week, they better not mess those up.

How Fast Do You Type?

83 words

Speedtest

This was kind of fun. Now, I must admit if anyone beats my score it will drive me nuts and I'll go back to test again until I beat them.

Dolly Week

I haven't been that quick to comment on the performances last night because I wasn't really impressed either way with any of them. I didn't feel like any of them were that great or any were really that bad either. So that doesn't leave much to say.

So here are some thoughts. First, I was really worried about the guys, especially Jason, David Cook and Michael Johns having to sing a Dolly song. But all of them did pretty well I thought. Usually I totally agree with Simon, but last night I did disagree with him about Jason. I really liked what he did last night. But I know I'm not in the majority. The buzz on the internet is that he is expected to be in the bottom three again.(sorry Deann!)Archie did good, but I don't think he captured that same magic he created with "Imagine."

As for the girls, Carly, I'm just bored of. For me, she almost gets it right but never quite makes it and I have given up on her. Ramiele I thought had the worst performance, but even hers wasn't that bad. Syesha took on the big "I will always love you" I really agreed with Simon on this. She should have completely stayed away from Whitney's version. I actually wish she wouldn't have sung it at all and one of the guys would have attempted it. I was really surprised Kristy didn't sing the classic "9 to 5" to get more of those all American country votes. Brooke could have really hit it big with "Jolene" but as Simon said, she didn't bring the emotion that goes with a song like that. Apparently, she isn't worried about another woman taking her husband.

So who deserves to be in the bottom three? Beside Ramiele, I really don't know.

As for other Idol talk:

I've also just started to hear the other rumors going around about Archie's dad. Hopefully they aren't true. Have you heard these?

Last week we went to Archie's home town of Murray and saw "Murray Idol" that city still has a lot of talent. The girl who won, Lauren, is amazing. Rumor is, American Idol is coming to Salt Lake next time for auditions. About time! We have so much talent here in Utah. Everyone was trying to convince Lauren to try out, but she said she was nervous, hopefully she does!

A funny story about her. After all of the singers perform they come out into the audience and you can meet them. Kennedy was really excited about this. She wanted to meet the girls she was voting for. Unfortunately, her votes were more based off of what the girls were wearing (hers had a pretty pink dress with a flower in her hair) instead of the singing talent (So maybe Simon has a point when he critics wardrobe). Well, she went up to the girl she wanted to vote for, but the girl was kind of rude to her and ignored her. I convinced Kennedy to go and talk to Lauren. Kennedy went up and started talking to her, and she was very nice to her. Well, after a few minutes Lauren said, "Are you voting for me?" And Kennedy just looked at her dumb struck, and Lauren said, "You aren't! Are you?" But in a very nice teasing sort of way. Joe and I made sure to let Lauren know afterward that we both were voting for her along with Jackson. I'm glad she won.

Archie's Mom was also at Murray Idol. I recognized her immediately but Joe didn't believe me. Finally he asked the people in charge and they said it was her. Funny thing was, by the end of the night people were swarming her like she was some kind of celebrity.