We got new carpet downstairs recently, which inspired us to fix up the joint a little bit more, so we've been working on our "Media Room," which is now my favorite room in the house. We purchased a video projector, and then Joe painted a screen on the wall using Sherwin Williams ProClassic Smooth Enamel Satin Finish, which we read about online in an article called "Painting the Perfect Screen for $100" (it cost much less than that). Then Joey hooked up some very effective speakers (six of them) that he got from a friend at work, who evidently has more speakers than he needs. Whoa baby, they produce a LOT of noise. On a materialistic roll, and needing a place to sit and watch a show, we bought a couch and loveseat on ksl.com. There is a deep pool of sofas and the like available on the ksl.com. A wide and often humorous variety. But these are clean/one owner, an unassuming khaki green microfiber, and very comfortable to recline upon. And we recline with the best of them, so it's an important consideration. Joe's brother Mike was staying with us for a couple days and he helped Joe carry the love seat downstairs, no problem. The couch was just enough bigger to get firmly wedged, at a jaunty angle, halfway through the door frame on the way down, kind of "hanging" in midair, until one corner punched through the wall going downstairs, leaving a shocking hole. You kinda hope your house is a little sturdier than that; makes one feel vulnerable. By this time, Andy, Kat and Mac had shown up, and Andy helped dislodge the beastly couch from the wall and we got it downstairs. If we ever sell the house, the couch is part of the deal, 'cause we ain't moving it again. (Kat told me to take a picture of the wedged couch and put it on the blog, but I hesitated a moment too long. It really was a spectacle.)
But anyhoo, we have our theatre room now (oh, and we got a red velvet curtain, also on ksl.com, from a lady named Linda who lives in Draper and just got married and whose husband plays piano -- he had a book of Scriabin sonatas on the baby grand -- and who owns two impressive greyhound dogs they got after they [the dogs] retired from dog racing -- anyway, we bought a red velvet curtain from this lady to hang between the theatre room and the adjoining piano room, since there is no real door in between and you need to, you know, block out the light from the other room if you're watching a movie in the afternoon or something.)
Speaking of watching a movie in the afternoon, one issue we've discovered is that Joe and I (but mostly Joe) want to watch action-packed thrillers that BOOM through the speakers and rock the (apparently fragile) timbers of the house, but this type of movie is inappropriate viewing for the third member of our household, and we can't really crank it up when Em's asleep because the theatre's right under her bedroom. So we've taken to watching little snippets of "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" late in the afternoon when Joe gets home from work and Em's outside playing, and then we hurry and turn it off when Em suddenly pops in right in the middle of some tense cliff-hangery scene. (I must say, that one part where Tom Cruise sprints down the side of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is pretty neat.)
Our investment in the theatre room really paid off tonight when we watched "The Sound of Music" with Emma from beginning to end. Such a nice clear picture and mahhvelous sound! Emma's seen little snippets of it before and can sing "Do-Re-Mi" very nicely, but seeing the whole movie was an important milestone in her cultural education. She's at a good age to start appreciating it. She was extremely interested in the relationship between Liesl and Rolf and wanted to know if they were going to get married, and if not why not, and if not, who would Rolf end up marrying, etc. She was also concerned about The Baroness when it became apparent that she wasn't going to end up with The Captain (who would she marry now?). Speaking of The Baroness, I've always thought it was funny that she gets such massive billing in the credits. You have Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, all the kids, etc., and then it's AND ELEANOR PARKER AS "THE BARONESS." Who the heck is Eleanor Parker? How does she rate? Have you ever seen her in anything besides "Sound of Music?" (Dad can probably recite her entire filmography. Dad?) She must have had a good agent. Anyway, my two favorite comments from Emma were when the Reverend Mother started up with "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and Emma said "....I didn't really know she had a voice," and when I let slip that the Von Trapps were going to escape from Austria without using their car and she said "How will they get out.....by hot air balloon?" She loved so many little parts of it and sang along to "Do-Re-Mi" with operatic fervor. I got teary-eyed watching her enjoy it. It's such a glorious movie.
So we like our new theatre room very much and look forward to many more Sunday night movies.
The End.
P.S.: Joe has already repaired the hole in the wall, patching the drywall, sanding it, and painting over the whole thing. Sigh. He is so utterly dreamy to me.
