I should probably be in the spirit by now, but I’m not.

blah blah blah

The Bachelor is coming up – Jan 4 !!!!!!!!!

I went to visit a winery last month, and it was fantastically interesting and delicious.

I found this on the web today:

Ashlee Simpson-Wentz & Colin Egglesfield Moving Out of Melrose Place
October 22, 2009
People Magazine

Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is moving out of Melrose Place – the actress and her costar Colin Egglesfield have been cut from the CW drama, Entertainment Weekly reports.

The decision to cut the two actors has been “the original plan going into the development of the show,” executive producer Todd Slavkin tells EW. “We felt that once the murder mystery [involving their characters] was resolved, the tone of the show was going to shift … and [Simpson-Wentz's] character would move on.”

Their departure comes just a few weeks after original Melrose alum Heather Locklear began filming scenes for upcoming episodes.

Simpson-Wentz and Egglesfield took the news “like professionals,” says Slavkin. “Because they knew ahead of time [that leaving was a possibility], it wasn’t a complete shock.”

But fans shouldn’t worry about Locklear’s fate. Executive producer Darren Swimmer reveals her character will have a new love interest for at least three episodes. Adds Slavkin, “[Locklear is] in every episode moving forward. She’s a major focus [of the show].

Simpson-Wentz’s rep and CW were not immediately available for comment. — Eunice Oh

Patrick Wymore/The CW

I watched the original Melrose Place when I was just a 20something single girl looking for a night of flaky tv with glamourous, double-crossing characters. I’ve been watching the newest version and the one thing that killed my fun in watching this guilty pleasure was Ashley Simpson-Wentz’s acting. She was just unbelievably horrible, to the point that it was painful to watch her attempting it. The only person that is worse than her is the unbelievably horrible and unbelievably plastic Tori Spelling.

Freshly made banana bran muffins! What a great way to start the day. Mmmmm…….

The death of Michael Jackson really has me shaking my head. It’s so sad that all that fame and all that money did not bring him much happiness.

I spoke to a woman this week who returned after living in Afghanistan for 14 years. The stories she told me were very disturbing. She said there are a lot of Westerns killed there that CNN doesn’t report about. People working in medical care who are shot while going to the ATM or while picking up medical supplies. She told me she knew a couple, and one day a Taliban man went over shot one man who was sitting in his car waiting. The poor wife was left a widow and the children fatherless.

It’s so disturbing.

June 1st was our moving date, and it was an insanely crazy day.

It feels like I still haven’t caught up since the movie. I feel exhausted all the time.

COHEN COOLER THAN EVER

By JAMES REANEY
London Free Press

Leonard Cohen enthralled a crowd of about 4,800 at the John Labatt Centre last night. The show was the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s first in London in about 15 years. Canadian icon Leonard Cohen probably had us when he doffed his hat. When he lofted that fedora for the first time last night, he still had about three hours to go — and he didn’t waste a minute.

Last night, 4,800 fans gave Cohen the rock hero’s welcome at the John Labatt Centre during his first London concert in many years.

The first standing ovation was for strolling on stage and looking so good in a dark suit and fedora. The dark fedora was doffed for the first of many times as he entered. Again and again, the poet-rocker would lift it to acknowledge the fans who cheered every song from Bird on the Wire to Suzanne to Sisters of Mercy or to salute the excellence of his band.

“I didn’t come to London to fool you,” Cohen sang with a downtown London arena treat during Hallelujah, which is now his signature song.

Hallelujah was a triumph early in the second set, with swirling keyboards and gospel choruses from three vocalists.

At 74, Cohen is even cooler than he was when he released his first album more than 40 years ago. He was already a major Canadian poet and novelist before he began making records in the late 1960s. Judging by the boomer-strong crowd last night, many of the fans first loved Cohen then.

Early on, Cohen kept to the set list familiar from other stops on his tour. He opened with Dance With Me to the End of Love, followed with The Future and Ain’t No Cure for Love and then Bird on a Wire.

His deep, rasping murmur of a voice could be heard in, over and under the band. With the second set finale and encores still to come, that voice was strong. Nobody sings Cohen like Cohen and last night all those words and images were receiving the inflections of the master. Following Hallelujah, Cohen shifted effortlessly from the spiritual to the raunchy with a terrific version of one of his sexiest songs, I’m Your Man. Like many of the songs last night, there was a strong sense of sex and life force battling the shadow of death. When Cohen intoned “I’m your man,” it was as if he was addressing everyone in the crowd as intimately as only a great poet and singer is able.

Cohen has been writing for more than 50 years — and writing classic songs for almost as long. The 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer published his first book of poetry in 1956 and just released Live in London (Columbia/Sony BMG), a CD and DVD from a London, England, concert.

When Cohen introduced his band toward the end of the first set, he was eloquent. Vocalist Sharon Robinson, who has co-written songs with him, took the lead on Boogie Street. The “gymnastic” Webb sisters, Charley and Hattie, sang beautifully and pulled off a remarkable flip during Ain’t No Cure.

The six-piece lineup included Barcelona guitar and string genius Javier Mas, who brought a klezmer and flamenco tinge to many arrangements. Cohen addressed the klezmer-tinged opener to Mas, going down on one knee to sing. That was a move he used many times — and it never failed. Cohen had a jaunty skip and bounce to his step as he left for the intermission.

There was a merry touch to much of his stage presence, too. He kidded about his age, smiled about his “golden voice” during Tower of Song and mocked his keyboard prowess as the second half opened with that song. “It’s kind of sophisticated. You probably haven’t seen anything like it here,” he said of the little keyboard in front of him. No harm was done when he picked out a few notes on the keys, but soon he had a guitar and made sweeter sounds on it for Cohen classic songs of love and life from decades ago like Suzanne.

Cohen’s first London show in about 15 years followed a flurry of sightings over the weekend. The star was spotted having a brew at a downtown pub, trademark hat in place.

The ticket prices for Cohen’s show were set by the tour organizers and peaked at $250, believed to be a venue record.

I went to the fertility clinic this morning to have the hcg level measured in my blood. It came back at 40, which means that I am on my way to getting back to zero. I’m still bleeding a little every day, which isn’t fun. I’m dealing with the miscarriage okay right now, but I think that is because I have a lot of other things going on.

Tonigth we’re going to see Leonard Cohen and I’m really looking forward to it. He’ll be on the stage in 40 minutes, so I had better go finish getting ready!

Bye for now!