Usually I head into Saturdays armed with a to-do list.

But today, I have been armed only with a remote and a seemingly unending supply of home improvement television programming.

Oh, and a super-soft down throw that pretty much reeks of snuggle-up goodness.

I’ve watched people flip houses, sell houses, redecorate houses and clean houses. I’ve watched people hammer and saw and paint and sheetrock and landscape and stage.

Frankly, after watching people work so hard, I’m just exhausted.

I’m also stifling the urge to refinish our kitchen cabinets while simultaneously installing granite tiles on our countertops. And, you know, completely reconfiguring our master bathroom.

I mean, if the shows I’ve been watching are any indication, I can be totally finished with all three projects within about twenty two minutes, flip our house in thirty seconds, then walk away with a significant PILE-O-CASH.

I’m all about setting some realistic goals, internets, so I guess I’ll be seeing y’all at the Home Depot.

But only if I can get off of this couch first. I’m terribly absorbed in a remodel going on in South Carolina, and I’m scared to death they’re not going to finish it by eight, when I’ll no doubt be engrossed by a flip on an abandoned house in Atlanta.

Also: I need to check in on the two guys on HGTV who were looking for a vacation home in Costa Rica.

In the meantime, if I manage to, you know, get a life, I’ll be sure to let y’all know.

Stay tuned, internets.

Stay tuned.

Everybody ready for round two?

Here we go.

Gina Gocksen – “Alone” – Did anyone else appreciate that her red highlights matched her dress? I so appreciate that. I should probably mention that this song is one of my least favorite songs ever, but it was good for her. A little pitchy at the end, I thought (which is the opposite of what Randy said, but that’s a’ight). I like her confidence. And I realllllly like her hair.

Alaina Alexander – “Not Ready To Make Nice” – I’m not sure it’s wise to try to follow in Natalie Maines’ footsteps – especially given the fact that Natalie sang this song so memorably at the Grammy Awards a couple of weeks ago. However, Alaina looked great, and this week’s performance was better than last.

LaKisha Jones – “Midnight Train To Georgia” – One of my favorite songs ever. And I’m sorry, y’all – if you pulled out a phone book, Miss LaKisha could SANG IT. Not sing it. SANG IT. She is so relaxed, so talented – she can’t HELP but sing. Love her.

Melinda Doolittle – “My Funny Valentine” – Good grief, y’all. That was beautiful. Romantic. Original. Stunning. She is utterly humble and lovable. Tickled to death to see her doing so well.

Antonella Barba – “Because You Loved Me” – Much better than last week. Adorable dress.

Jordin Sparks – “Reflection” – If you looked up “cute as a button” in the dictionary, you’d see Jordin’s picture. She’s remarkably composed for her age…and when she really had to belt it on this song, she did a great job. I just think it’s tough to sing anything that someone like Christina Aguilera has recorded. Those are mighty big shoes to fill…but Jordin is so likeable that you can’t help but root for her. I really like her.

Stephanie Edwards – “Dangerously In Love” – I have to say: she did a really good job with a Beyonce’ song that can’t be easy to sing because it’s so arrythmic. She always looks so feminine and pretty – and I think she’ll be around for awhile.

Leslie Hunt – “It’s A New Day” – She is so interesting to me. Love her voice. The scat part threw me off a little bit. I just get the feeling that she would be more comfortable singing in a coffee house while strumming a guitar. Big points for the cute skirt. Not that it’s a cute skirt competition, of course, but every little bit helps.

Haley Scarnato – “Queen of the Night” – (Soundtrack from The Bodyguard, anyone? Hands up if you owned it. You know you did. You know you loved Rachel Marron.) I think Haley was trying to break out after last week’s pageant performance, and it’s admirable that she really tried to shift gears. It was way better than last week – but if you put her performance up against, say, Melinda Doolittle’s, there’s just no comparison. Not this week, at least.

Sabrina Sloan – “All The Man I Need” – Another Whitney song. Honestly, I didn’t think she was as good this week – mainly because the big parts of this song were a little rough. Her voice is strong – and hopefully her personality will come through more in the weeks to come. She doesn’t have the same transparency that Melinda, LaKisha and Jordin do – and I don’t know if that’s something that you can practice…seems like you either have it or you don’t.

Who should go? – Same for me as last week: Antonella and Alaina
Best of the night? – Melinda, with LaKisha a close second

I have no idea if anyone wants to link to their own AI posts, but I’ll leave the Mr. Linky up for a few hours just in case. Can’t wait to see what y’all think in the comments.

Fingers crossed that tonight is better than last night.

And fingers crossed that nobody sings “You Light Up My Life.” Because that would just be wrong.

Here we go.

OH! WAIT! I’m adding a Mr. Linky to the bottom of the post so that you can link to your blog if you’ve posted about American Idol tonight, too. Just please make sure that you link to your specific post and not just to your blog (thanks, Melzie, for the idea!).

Stephanie Edwards – “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore” – She can sing. And she also has some really cute dresses, based on the clips we saw tonight. But am I the only one who thought this song had an odd tempo? I do love that she came out confident, and she was way fun to watch. I like her.

Amy Krebs – “I Can’t Make You Love Me If You Don’t” – She has a great voice – even if she was a little off-key in parts – but the bottom line for me is that this wasn’t a very fun song. It was boring. She’s not boring – but the song felt like it plodded along. I’d love to hear her do something a little more uptempo, and I agree with Randy: she’s better than the song she chose.

Leslie Hunt – “Natural Woman” – Great, rich tone to her voice. She’s a little all over the place with her on-stage moves…but I bet she settles down with time. And can I just say? She has fabulous hair.

Sabrina Sloan – “The Way That I Loved You” – Isn’t she beautiful? LOVED this performance. Very Christina Aguilera-ish. And the good Christina – not that whole XTina “Dirrrty” thing. She seemed to pick the absolute perfect song for her voice – and she is definitely one to watch. Great job.

Antonella Barba – “Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” – I agree with Paula: she’s a beautiful girl. That’s all I know to say.

Jordin Sparks – “Gimme One Reason” – She’s a JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL, y’all. Good gracious. And she has an absolutely gorgeous smile. As for her singing, I’m LOVIN’ the funky version of a Tracy Chapman song – shows tons of her personality. This girl is adorable, but on top of all the adorableness is a big heapin’ chunk of talent. Love her.

Nicole Tranquillo – Y’all, I have no idea what that song was called. D. and I think it may be called “Stay Together, Baby,” but that’s because those were the only three words we understood. But you know what? The guys in the audience seemed to love it. I just think if she’d done something a little softer, a little less r & b, she probably would have had a much better, much more natural performance.

Haley Scarnato – “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” – One of my most favorite Celine Dion songs – but this performance seemed more like the talent portion of Miss America than “American Idol.” And there’s nothing wrong with that…but compared to, say, Sabrina or Jordin, it seems like she played it safe.

Melinda Doolittle – “Since You’ve Been Gone” – I HAD CHILLBUMPS THE WHOLE TIME. She is phenomenal. And I adore her. And I think that it was one of the best first-night peformances ever on AI. FANTASTIC!

Alaina Alexander – “Brass In The Pocket” – She is a very, very pretty girl.

Gina Glocksen – “All By Myself” – That’s a tough song to sing, and I thought she did a good job. I winced a little bit when she hit the high notes – but she definitely showed off her big voice, and I loved the ending.

LaKisha Jones – “I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” – I cannot think of a bigger, bolder song choice. Miss Lakisha is throwing down the gauntlet on this one (I typed that before Simon said it, just for the record)…and she can FLAT sing. Mercy me. Like D. said: it’s not just that she can sing. She can’t help but sing. It’s just who she is. Unbelievable. She has been working in a bank. With that voice. Working in a bank. Unbelievable.

I think the girls are the ones to watch this year, y’all. They’re in a different league that the guys.

Who will go? Antonella and Alaina. Actually no way both of them will go, because they’re so pretty, but they were the weakest links, I think. So I’ll say Antonella and Haley.

Best of tonight?: It’s a tie for me: Melinda and Lakisha. They’re in a different league.

Holla back in the comments, y’all.

OH MY WORD it’s TWO HOURS?

I had no idea.

But praise the Lord for DVR – we’re gonna fly right through all those pesky commericals.

Rudy Cardenas – “Free Ride” – First of all I would really, really like to own a t-shirt like the one he has on tonight. He sounds good, though he may have been a little over-the-top first time out, what with all the “WOO!”-age. But the boy can sing – no doubt about it. Fun way to start the show. I give him big points for being calm under pressure.

And it feels a little bit like old times to see Paula being outraged by Simon’s comments again.

Brandon Rogers – “Rock With You” – A little old school MJ from his “Off The Wall” days? I can get on board with that. And young Brandon can certainly sing well. But I think the problem for me is that the song is a little boring – not really something that the crowd can get into. I’m rooting for him, so I hope he comes out with all guns blazing next week.

Jason “Sundance” Head – “Nights In White Satin” – OH, y’all. I am so sad, because this is one of my least favorite songs EVER. I was hoping he would come out and sing something really fun. Also, it’s a little strange, because when he sings loudly, he sounds just a little bit like Meatloaf. I’m worried that tonight’s performance wasn’t quite as distinctive as he needed for it to be. Aside from, you know, sounding like Meatloaf.

Paul Kim – “Careless Whisper” – OH, it takes me right back to seventh grade to hear this song. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like it then, and I wish I liked it better tonight. I do like the tone of this guy’s voice – but I just didn’t like this song choice. As Randy would say, “it was just aight for me.”

Chris Richardson – “I Don’t Wanna Be” – BIG POINTS for singing something catchy and crowd-pleasing, for doing an original take on a Gavin DeGraw song. And I do believe I detected a hint of a young Justin Timberlake on the stage. I thought he was adorable…even though his voice wasn’t perfect, he had personality for days. Really liked it. Afterwards I looked at D. and said, “Well, he was darlin’.” We’ll be seeing him for awhile.

Nick Pedro – “I Will Be Your Man” – He seemed to lose his way about half way through the song, but he does have a beautiful voice. And I appreciated that he didn’t try to scream or “overdo” the song. Once his nerves settle down, he’ll probably do just fine.

Blake Lewis – “Somewhere Only We Know” – I LOVE THIS BOY. I thought he was going to beat box, and then he hit us with a ballad. He’s great. He’s unique. And I LOVED seeing his daddy singing along with him. It sort of made me want to cry.

Sanjaya Malakar – “Somethin’ ‘Bout Your Love” – He seems like the sweetest person ever. And I love me a Stevie Wonder song. But I don’t think Sanjaya found his singing groove tonight. I just wanted to hug him.

Chris Sligh – “Typical” – He hasn’t even started singing and I’m sitting here on the couch saying “COME ON, NOW! COME ON!” And now that he’s singing, I have absolutely no idea what he’s singing, though I’m hearing the word “typical” a lot, so I’m assuming that that’s the title. I didn’t love the song, but I love him, so I’m going to continue saying “COME ON, NOW” all the way through the rest of the rounds. I’m just sayin’.

Jared Cotter – “One” – Y’all, isn’t he handsome? He’s really sort of disconcertingly handsome. And he did a nice job with the song until that unfortunate falsetto moment, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll go through to the next round.

A. J. Tabaldo – “Oh My Love” – Well MY WORD he was comfortable on that stage. It’ll be interesting to see what he does to set himself apart from the pack, because I think he’s going to have to take some risks to really break out. Very fun performance, though.

Phil Stacey – “I Could Not Ask For More” – I was really, really happy when he picked up that microphone stand and WENT TO TOWN after a sort of ballad-ish start. He did a great job once he really opened it up and sang. LOVED the second half of the song.

Who will go? My guesses? Sanjaya and Sundance. I don’t think they did enough to set themselves apart from the pack.

Best of tonight?: Blake Lewis. Without boxing a single beat. I thought he was FANTASTIC (remember, I’m trying to work that word into my vocabulary. How’s it working for me? Sounding okay?). I liked Chris Robinson a whole bunch, too.

Back tomorrow night with the Top 12 Ladies.

Can’t wait to see what y’all think in the comments!

Internets, I need to tell you something:

My name is BooMama. (well, not really. just pretend.)

And I’m completely addicted to American Idol. (that part is totally true.)

I hope you’re going to be okay with that.

Because after a month of biting my bloggy tongue during the (way-too-long) audition shows, I have to talk about it right. now.

You see, this week the contestants were whittled down to 24, and I have such a DEEP WELLSPRING OF EXCITEMENT about the upcoming competition that it is physically impossible for me not to mention it (still waffling on whether or not to “live blog” each episode like I did last year, by the way. Last week I was a definite no. This week I’m leaning toward maybe).

And while the show isn’t perfect – the judges can be rude, and the song selections can be a little lame – the fact that one person will make the journey from being a talented unknown with a dream to a professional singer with a record deal is what brings me back season after season. It’s delightful.

LOVE IT. GOT TO TALK ABOUT IT.

Here are my favorites so far:

Chris Sligh – in my opinion, he’s the man to beat. Likeability for days, and I think the vocal end of things will get stronger for him as the competition goes on. Also: I was all excited about telling y’all that he has a blog, but then he took down his posts, but if you’d like to see it anyway, click here (check out the link to his pastor’s blog in his sidebar).

In short, I think Chris Sligh is fantastic.

(side note: I’m not sure if I’ve ever used the word “fantastic” before, but Emma Kate has been using it a bunch lately, and since I’ve been kidding her about it, I thought maybe I should try it. I’m not sure it’s natural for me. But I’ll keep you posted. And next up: super!)

Melinda Doolittle – my favorite female contestant (from what I can tell so far, of course). She’s been a background singer for a while, and to see the joy on her face when she sings? It’s contagious. I don’t know her from Adam’s housecat, but I can tell she has a heart of gold. (And could I sound ANY MORE like my mama in that last sentence? Good grief. Must be genetic.)

Lakisha Jones – when she sings, I get chillbumps all the way to the very tip-top of my head. Big things in store for her. And if I may, a prediction: at some point in the weeks to come, she’s going to pick a moving showtune for her performance, and when she sings said showtune, I will weep.

Oh, I could go on and on. But I’ll spare you. For now.

If you’re an AI fan, I’d love to know your favorites, too. And there are actually a few others (Jordin, Blake, Chris, Sabrina, Sundance) who intrigue me – but I don’t have as strong an impression about them as I do with the other three who, at least to me, really stood out.

All righty. I’m going to try to get some work done now so that I can re-watch last night’s episode of The Office, which is the funniest half-hour of television I’ve seen in a long while, a veritable treasure chest of comedy gold. And if you saw it, you’ll understand this closing remark:*

May your hats fly as high as your dreams, internets.

May your hats fly as high as your dreams.

*Don’t watch The Office? I do apologize for the puzzling closing. And I hope you have a perfectly lovely weekend.

In keeping with my pledge to start watching movies again, we’ve seen several over the last four or five days. I decided to write down my reactions because, well, everybody needs a goal.

Please keep in mind that as the mama of a very active and chatty almost-four year old, I have the attention span of an inebriated gnat and therefore may have missed a critical plot point or nine. However, in my defense, I did at least try to pay attention to the sequence of events instead of just closing my eyes and listening to all the pretty music. Tempted though I was.

Ocean’s Twelve

I’m a huge fan of Ocean’s Eleven, so I was understandably excited about seeing some of my favorite characters in action again. And sure enough, I found all of them in the sequel, this time trying to pull off the theft of a Faberge’ egg at a museum in Italy (I think? Maybe? I know it was in Europe. Does that count? Do I get points for being on the right continent, at least?).

But as I watched the movie unfold, I found myself coming back to one sustaining thought: sometimes it’s better to leave well enough alone. The sequel is nowhere near as good as the first one (by the way, D. and I were in Las Vegas when the first one was being filmed, and we spent the better part of an afternoon at the Bellagio watching them – and by “them,” I mean “the fancy actor people” – shoot the scene where Casey Affleck and Scott Caan are being thrown out of the casino, but that’s a post in and of itself, although I can quickly settle one critical detail: Clooney in real life? EASY ON THE EYES).

Also: Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta Jones are the anithesis of on-screen chemistry, the place where romantic sparks go to die.

Failure To Launch

Matthew McConaughey is playing a very Matthew McConaughey-ish character named Trip, a 35 year old guy who still lives at home with his parents and then falls head over heels for Carrie Bradshaw.

Or, you know, Paula. At least I think that was the name of Sarah Jessica Parker’s character. Sort of a Carrie Bradshaw-lite, if you will.

Anyway, there were lots of scenes designed to show off Matthew’s phenomenally chiseled abs, and lots of random incidents of Matthew being bitten by animals (this was supposed to further the plot HOW, exactly?), and the movie was set in Baltimore, apparently, but it took me about seven Google searches to figure out that information, what with there being a scene with the guys on surfboards (I was unaware that Baltimore has, um, waves), in addition to a scene at a Zephyrs baseball game, even though the Zephyrs play in, you know, New Orleans.

All that being said, I’d have been willing to suspend disbelief if the movie had been good. Or funny.

But it wasn’t. At least not in my humble opinion.

Mission Impossible: III

Tom Cruise is playing Tom Cruise as only Tom Cruise can (oh, they say his name is Ethan Hunt in the film, but make no mistake: he’s all Tom, all the time).

And he’s FABULOUS!

Loved this movie. It’s directed by JJ Abrams, the creator of Alias and Lost, so I figured I was in for a treat what with Alias being one of my favorite shows of all time and all. This film actually felt a little bit like an Alias episode at times (especially with the flashback structure), but what surprised me was that even though it’s technically an action movie, I really cared about the characters and felt invested in the outcome.

Philip Seymour-Hoffman was a brilliant villain…in fact, everyone in this movie was great. It’s thoroughly entertaining, and I’d recommend it without hesitation. Unlike Ocean’s Twelve, this sequel is the best of the MI lot, in my opinion.

An added bonus? Spy stuff! I’d watch it again and again – especially the scene at The Vatican, which is way cool and oh-so-creative.

Loved it.

Next in the queue: Little Miss Sunshine