Rental Only DVDs?

I know I’ve mentioned it before, I love movies. Joel and I have a Blockbuster Online membership. We get three discs at a time in the mail and can trade the mailers in for a rental at the physical store. It’s been a pretty good deal for us so far. However, recently I’ve been noticing a trend with the DVDs that we rent that I’m not excited about.

It’s kind of difficult to read because it’s covered with the sticker. It says Rental.

The disc says the same thing.

Seems like a good way to mark DVDs so people might be less inclined to steal them. The problem is, it’s not just a label. When you see it, you should know you’re about to be ripped off. Where The Wild Things Are is supposed to have special features, according to Amazon.com. This particular rental however,

Nothing.

I’ve had this experience with a couple DVDs now and it’s frustrating. One of the fun parts of renting a movie is watching the special features. I understand some movies choose not to include any but it feels like a major rip off knowing that there are supposed to be special features but I don’t get to see them because I rented the movie. I tried looking online to see if I could get any information on this new trend. I don’t know if it’s a Blockbuster thing or if Netflix, Redbox and other movie rental companies are doing the same thing. I’m assuming it saves them money somehow but again, I can’t find any information. Even the employee I asked at Blockbuster had no idea. I’m really curious so if anyone has any information please let me know. Also, any of you that have memberships with other DVD rental companies, have you seen the Rental label on any of your DVDs? Or is it time for us to switch companies?

Anyway, Where The Wild Things Are was a great movie. I highly recommend it. It’s dark, and artistic. Its not your typical kids movie, in fact, it’s almost more of an adult movie. It definitely captured the book beautifully. Luckily it was good enough that I plan on buying it and I’ll be able to see the special features. Not all movies are good enough to own though so I hope this Rental Only thing will remain the exception, not become the rule.

My version of a hot bath

Sorry, no naked picture of me here… today anyway.

Baths don’t actually relax me. Sorry, but soaking in my own filth just isn’t my cup of tea. Plus I’ve never really had a tub that I could get comfortable in. After a few minutes, I’m too hot, my neck is cramping up and I’m bored. I’m much more of a shower person. However, this post isn’t about my hygiene habits. It’s about what I do when I want to relax.

I’m a bit different and this is what relaxes me:

I cut words out of magazines.

As I kid my favorite thing about paper dolls was cutting them out. I’d meticulously cut out each doll, dress and accessory. I’m sure I also made up elaborate stories in my head featuring whatever character the doll happened to be of at the time. When I was done cutting though my interest died out. I didn’t really have much of an interest with dressing up the paper dolls or playing with them. Once they were all cut out, they were neatly put away or given to my younger sisters.

Eventually I became too old for paper dolls. I’m not sure how or when my interests shifted from paper dolls to magazines. As a teenager I had stacks of magazines and one day I started cutting them up. After awhile I had dozens of envelopes full of words and pictures. I don’t know what happened to them. They probably got thrown away once I moved out of my parents house. For years I was kind of a nomad and since there was no place to store my words my habit kind of died.

As a flight attendant one of the easiest things to do on the airplane during down time is read gossip magazines. They’re not very in depth so it’s easy to start and stop reading since interruptions are inevitable. Plus, people leave them on planes all the time so they’re free. During my time flying I built up quite a collection. Not really on purpose, I left many on planes for other people to read or passed them on to other flying partners. Many made it home with me though. Plus, Amazon has had some really great sales on magazine subscriptions (Cosmo for $5 for a year? Um, yes please!). I now have several stacks of magazines cluttering up my house.

Since I’m on furlough I’m currently jobless. I’m looking (Ugh! Whole other story) but in the mean time sitting at home watching DVD’s can get really old. In an effort to declutter and give myself something to do I’ve taken up my old hobby again. I’d forgotten how soothing it is. There’s something about finding interesting fonts, colors, words and letters that just makes me happy.

I haven’t decided what (if anything) I’m going to do with all these words yet. It seems like a waste to just stuff them in envelopes. I’ve thought about using them for scrap-booking (another hobby I’m thinking about taking up) and someone asked me if I planned to make cards out of them. Hey, if I don’t get a job soon I may have to take up kidnapping to bring in a little extra cash. Never mind. That last ones a bad idea Detective who is reading this because someone in my neighborhood went missing. Definitely wasn’t me… I’m open to suggestions though so if you think of anything be sure to leave a comment and let me know. Or leave new hobby suggestions because this one may just be a little too much proof I have OCD.

No, you do NOT have the short haired version

I love taking Phoebe out with us. There aren’t many places that allow dogs around here but whenever we go somewhere like the pet store she comes along. Inevitably when she’s out with us she gets lots of attention. I’m always impressed when people know what kind of dog she is. Before we decided to get a dog and I did the research I didn’t know what a papillon looked like. However, too many times I have people who think they know what kind of dog she is.

“Aw! Look at the little chihuahua”

“I have the short haired version at home.”

*sigh*

Here’s a quick lesson in dog breeds:

Chihuahua =

Cute, but nothing at all like a papillon=

I mean seriously, how can you confuse this face

With this

???

I know people are just trying to be friendly so I’ll keep smiling and nodding. It’s just too much effort to explain that they don’t have a short haired version of my dog because there is no short haired version of a papillon. I won’t stop sighing though.

Eating In: Day Four

Today was a much better food day and I even have a recipe to share. Since I started tracking my calories on SparkPeople I’ve run into some interesting problems. I thought I would have a hard time staying within my recommended calories for the day and I was right, just not in the way I thought. When I eat out I have problems staying under my calories for the day. However, when I eat in I have the opposite problem. I have to yet to follow the meal plan exactly and maybe that’s my problem. I was surprised to find how easy it is not to eat enough calories every day. What I have the most trouble with though is eating enough carbs. I know, whine whine. You probably hate me now. Not getting enough calories every day is just as bad as eating too many so it’s something I have to manage better.

Anyway, the food report: I woke up and was freezing this morning so I had some oatmeal. There’s nothing like oatmeal on a cold morning, love it. For lunch I cooked the rest of the Greek turkey burgers that I made Monday.

Mmmm, it was a really yummy lunch.

Then dinner I made a garden vegetable frittata. It took a decent amount of time to prepare. There was a lot of chopping and mincing vegetables. I also discovered that if I say ah! enough times while using a big knife Joel will offer to buy me a food processor. I wonder how I can make that work for other things… Anyway, it took awhile but it was delicious!

It doesn’t look too bad either, does it?

The recipe calls for it to be served at room temperature but we were hungry (because it took three times as long as it should have to make due to my lack of vegetable chopping skills) so we just let it sit out for 20 minutes or so. If you would like to make this yummy, veggie-full frittata you can get the recipe here.

Eating In: Day Two

I knew eventually eating in all week would probably become more of a challenge but I didn’t know it would happen so soon. I found out today was National Free Pancake Day at Ihop. I love their pancakes, especially when they’re free! In my head I tried justifying it. Ya know, it was supposed to be about saving money and if it’s a free meal then it doesn’t really count. In fact it should be even better because it doesn’t cost me anything at all… right? *sigh* I didn’t give in to temptation though and held out. I can get free pancakes next year.

This morning I didn’t have anywhere to be so I was able to have a normal breakfast. It wasn’t anything fancy, just some cold cereal. For lunch I made Joel and myself spinach and cheese omelets. It was my first time making omelets and I was surprised that it went pretty well. It actually came out looking like an omelet instead of scrambled eggs so I was pleased.

Dinner was another story. I got a recipe for portabella mushroom burgers off Spark People. I love mushrooms and when I looked at the ingredients it seemed like it would be delicious. I didn’t pay close attention to the instructions when I decided to make it though, and that was my big mistake. We bought all the ingredients yesterday and as I was preparing to make the burgers I read the recipe more closely. That’s when I realized this was not going to be a quick and easy meal to make.

The recipe called for garlic, rosemary, thyme, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. When I read the ingredient list I assumed they all would be mixed together and then rubbed on the mushroom cap. Yeeeah, not exactly. What I actually had to do was this:

I cut little slits in the top and had to insert the garlic, rosemary and thyme into the holes one by one. It took for.ever.

Once I finally finished stuffing the four mushroom caps I brushed the oil and balsamic vinegar on them and grilled until they were tender. The looked pretty nice once they were done.

Unfortunately they weren’t as delicious as they sounded and looked. They weren’t awful but they were no where near worth the time it took to prepare them.

So, out of six meals at home I’m only classifying one as a fail so far. Not too bad for a girl who almost never cooks.