Conversation Hearts: Road Trip

I woke up to a snow storm today. It snowed all day. The tri-county area of Michigan I live in, exceeded it's predicted wintery blast and has officially run out of salt. The streets are slush and black ice. We are supposed to get snow Saturday and sleeting rain on Sunday.

So of course, I call my daughter.
She lives about 2 miles from the salon she works at.


Me: (5PM) Hi Cait, have you left work yet?

Cait: Yeah, I left about an hour ago.

Me: Good, the roads are nasty and rush hour traffic will be a biotch.

Cait: ::: Laughing, ignoring me, saying something :::

Me: Cait? CAIT? Are you at home? Who is laughing so hard with you?

Cait: Sorry Mom, that's Ashley and Michelle (the owner of the salon)

Me: Are you in the car?

Cait: Yeah, we're on our way to Chicago.

Me: WHAT?!?!?!?! What are you doing?

Cait: We're going to a hair show/seminar.

Me: Who's driving?

Cait: I am.

Me: (On my hands and knees wishing I had a rosary and I'm not even Catholic)
No way Cait, I'm not comfortable with you taking your car.

Cait: Me either, I have dads SUV.

Me: Okay, have fun, drive careful, call me .... sometime?!?!

I was really thinking crap! He let her go in this weather? She never drives out of a 15 mile radius.

Then I remembered, when I was 18, I stuck my thumb out on I-75 and hitched-hiked to Mexico to live, with nothing on my mind but having fun.

She'll be 20 in a couple months. She's with other girls, a reliable SUV, and a couple charge cards. She'll have a blast.

Q-Tips all Around

I think some voters for this past week of American Idol need Q-Tips.

I don't normally get all defensive about this show. It's on while I'm waiting for LOST to start, so I watch as I'm doing other things. I actually got choked up tonight, when they sent Alaina home.

She's 16, every bit as cute as Carrie Underwood, (who I happen to like) and the fact she made the top 24 speaks for itself. She may not have made it to the end, but there are a few others that should leave before her.

I have no idea why Cruella made it through.
Her performance was horrible, she barely hit one note correct.

Clearly, Alaina was sent home before her time.

Combo Platter

Message In a Bottle

If you want to leave a virtual message in a bottle, for all of time, check out this site. I sent one.





I saw this 123 Page meme on Canned Laughter and decided to do it.

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 123.
Find the 5th sentence.
Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

I propped myself up on an elbow and rubbed my eyes.

Tomorrow morning, Quinn goes in for a teeth cleaning. Thank you Jebus! He is almost 11 and I have never had them cleaned. Probably because he's never had bad breath ... until now.

I'm going out tonight with my friends Debbie and Pam. Pam has a birthday, this year. She was born leap year, so every four years she celebrates ... the biotch, never ages. Here we are in the 80's. Pam was rockin' the bug eye look and I had some Farrah hair going on.

Blue Goose Inn

Tonight, these wild and crazy girls ...

Are going to see this wild and crazy band ...


[except this one member is exempt from being labeled crazy
'cuz hotness trumps crazy]


At this wild and crazy club.


Oh, what the hell, one more of hotness ...


*and yes, I know, you don't need to point out how young he is,
I emulate Demi

Cowboy Boots

Did you hear about the Texas teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots?

He asked for help and she could see why.

Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet." She looked, and sure enough, they were.

It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet.

He then announced, "These aren't my boots."

She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say so?" Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said,

"They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em."

Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"

He said, "I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots."

She will be eligible for parole in three years.



=)
(Thanks JJ)

Upside Down

Upside: All the wood trim in the hall, living room, 8 door frames, 1 window and 1 big picture window have been sanded, primed and painted with 2 coats of paint. Now the walls can be painted.

Downside: The kitchen and dining area still hasn't been started.


Upside: My driveway including the backyard, little walkway, front and back porches are all free of snow and ice. Clean down to the concrete.

Downside: It's going to snow tonight.


Upside: My dog Quinn has an appointment to get bathed and groomed and another to get his teeth cleaned. (finally ... PEEEE-YEWWW)

Downside: My hair has grown out of my new style and I have 1.5" roots!


Upside: I have been eating more fiber via flack seed bread, yummy chewy bars, and sprinkled in my yogurt.

Downside: No need to go there. But take note, it works.


Upside: I am caught up at work and have been on line all morning.
Downside: Jack is all caught up too, and I can hear him horking in his office.


Upside: After 5 or more years, last night I picked a color for my nails instead of my usual "French" look.
Downside: It's already chipped this morning, reminding me why I never wear color.


Upside: Detroit Tigers began spring training in Lakeland Florida.
Downside: No way is there a downside to that!

I hope your day ends on an up!

Usted habla español ?

There's more than just Spanish I'm not understanding.

Spice Girls from the Crows Nest

This show surprised me. It was by far one of the most entertaining concert I have been to in a loooooong time. They certainly didn't disappoint even this most cynical critic. Since this is a reunion tour, the songs they did were all the old favorites.

Remember, our view was from way up here,
so the photos are fuzzy.

Here are a few shots:

Here is Caitlin (2nd from right) with Sadie(last, on the right) in 5th grade Spice Girl mode ...








and Saturday,10 years later, still in Spicy mode:

Me, Caitlin, Sadie and Bea:

Had I known this was going to be so much fun and such a great show,
I would have bought closer seats.

Cait and me waiting in line to buy our Spicy T-shirts.

More pictures on Flickr

The Great Interview Experiment

Neil at Citizen Of The Month, states "Everyone is somebody". His brain child was to set in motion a perpetual interview amongst any and all bloggers that want to participate. Simply leave a comment on his post explaining his experiment, and you will be paired with the next person to interview. He calls it The Great Interview Experiment.

I was pleased to be interviewing Katherine from Passions at Play. After pilfering through her archive, getting to know a little about her, I sent her 10 questions. Enjoy, and be sure to visit her interesting blog.

01) Your bedroom has no windows. Please describe what you have on the walls and what types of lighting you use in there. What is the theme or colors?

The walls are white and I have a couple of posters up on the walls. There is not a huge amount of wall space as I have several bookshelves – I love books. There isn’t really a theme. Lighting consists of 3 bedside lamps and one on my dressing table. I am rarely in my bedroom unless it’s getting dressed or sleeping so it really is not a room I put much thought into. My bed though is huge and very comfortable.

02) What was the initial motivation to pursue The Passion Project Radio Show? Who would you love to have as a guest if all options were open?

I enjoy using my voice and have always thought it is my most effective way to communicate. I feel I am on a mission to inspire everyone to follow their passion as I think it is a tragedy to live your whole life working a job you hate. Other than the rather clichéd choices of my heroes Oprah and Nelson Mandela, I would bring back from the dead Douglas Adams, the writer of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy amongst other books because I want to talk to him about the new phenomena of Skype Time which is I believe a new dimension.

03) If you could change one single event in all of history, which would you choose and why?

I couldn’t even start to choose because there are so many atrocities and also because who knows what good things would also be altered. I am not convinced that everything happens for a reason but I do believe we can find reasons in everything that happens. There’s a wonderful book by Stephen Fry called Making History which is a fictional account of what might have happened if Hitler had never been born.

04) What book would you like every man, woman and child to read at least once in their lifetime? Why?

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Not only is it one of the mostly beautifully written books ever in my opinion but it shows that whatever our circumstance we still get to choose how we think, how we react to a situation. We can have the ability to move anything but our eyelids taken away from us and we can still travel the world in our head and to write a masterpiece one blink at a time.

05) Part of your New Year's resolution is to be present more with your children. How is that coming along? What changes have you made?

Sometimes it is making sure to limit my computer time. But mostly it has been about really listening to them and resisting being the teacher ALL the time.

06) When asked to bring a dish to pass, what do most hosts expect you'll bring? If you care to, share your recipe.

I haven’t been to one of these in years so I have no idea! I do make a lovely dish which is basically homemade macaroni and cheese with chicken and broccoli.

07)You've been lucky to have lived in England, the Netherlands, Spain , and the USA. Were these job related? Where do you hope to be living when you retire?

I was born in England, lived in the Netherlands when my father’s job transferred us there, I au paired (live-in nanny) in Spain and moved to the US with my then husband who is American. I think I will retire either somewhere very temperate or back to England though it may well depend on where my kids are as I would love to be a grandmother who is active in her grandchildren’s life (that sounds so weird to think of myself as a grandmother)

08) Your blogs archives start October, 2007. Is this your first blog? How much time do you spend a week writing and reading other blogs?

I have written other blogs before but this is the first one that I have really kept up with. I spend an hour or two writing and at least twice that reading other blogs. One of things that really helped me to get started and to write regularly as I am not a writer was to not worry about the word count. I just say what I have to say and if it’s 150 words or 600 it doesn’t matter.

09) Do you have a family tradition that you have continued with your children or one that you have started for them?

When we sit down for dinner in the evening we go around the table and talk about things we are grateful for. Otherwise I am not really that big on tradition.

10) If you were given the opportunity to give someone an opportunity, no limits, what kind of person would you seek out to help, and how would you help them?

This one is easy for me – it would be anyone who really wants to live their passion. I am not sure I would want to help one person out TOO much as I think we learn the most in the struggle so if I can cheat I would spread the help over lots of people -financially so they get some breathing room, supporting them, finding mentors for them and really giving them the belief that they can do it.

Thank you Katherine. I enjoyed your answers and reading through your blog.

Adding a Little Spice

Last June I posted this photo of Caitlin and her friends from 5th grade, dressed as the Spice Girls.

Sadie, Caitlin's friend since kindergarten, her mother Bea, and I are going tomorrow night to The Palace of Auburn Hills to see them.

I know they're more of a novelty and less of a talent so I'll add a bottle glass of wine and it'll be a good time.

We have nosebleed seats, but with ticket prices from $400-$800 for mediocre seats, I'll risk any temporary hypsophobia.

We're meeting for dinner before the show, I'll be sure to take a photo of Cait and Sadie, 10 years later! I'm sure we won't be getting any photos of the Spice Girls, well, that's recognizable.

V-Day!

I wrote this post last Valentines Day. I think it's worth another read.

Happy Vagina Day!

You expected me to say Happy Valentines Day?


Two years ago, Valentines Day, I saw the play, The Vagina Monologues, at Oakland University. I went with three other women. We met for dinner and had enough drinks to start our comedic quips about what we were going to see. The sold out performance was attended by both men and women, not just college students, but of all ages. I though I was going for the comedy, and yes, there is plenty of it. What sobered me up was the message.

"The Vagina Monologues is based on Eve Ensler's interviews with more than 200 women. With humor and grace the piece celebrates women's sexuality and strength. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina."

I took those words from the V-Day site. I hope you save the link at the bottom of this post, take the time to read it and pass it on. We pass on email chain letters and jokes, this link is definitely worth passing on.

One particular part of the play I liked was the explanation of "Vagina Warriors." Once you become aware of the violence women and girls all over the world experience, you can't deny that you should be a warrior against what is happening. As in anything, once you are made aware, you can't pretend it doesn't happen. After the play my girlfriends and I decided we needed to become warriors and therefore we had to have warrior names. My hope is that when it is scheduled at Oakland University this year, I can get a girls-night-out together and go see it (I checked, it's not posted yet) Now I will tell you about my warrior name. Men readers, you may stop here or get a lesson, in part, of what happens at our annual exams. We all know that the speculum has the shape and look of duck bills. Even though our doctors insist they are kept on a warming tray, the are as cold as our Michigan winters when they are using them! With that in mind ... I wish you all a Happy V-Day and a Happy Valentine's Day.

"Warm Duck Lips Please"
My Vagina Warrior Name

Stop The Violence

Four Questions

A friend of mine sent me a link in an e-mail. E-mail tests, you know, the kind we all smirk at and hit delete. Even though our wish won't come true because it's now in the recycle bin. The kind you have to pass on to your sister and her neighbor, and his brother's mother-in-law's pastor's housekeeper? Yeah, that kind of test.

I clicked on the link.

Maybe it was the music.

Maybe it was just my late night mood.

Maybe because it was packaged as the Dalai Lama's wisdom.

I answered truthful and with the first thought that came to mind.

I admit, I was amazed at the way my answers played out.

There are only 4 questions but the results are very interesting.
Be honest and honor what pops into your mind when the questions present themselves.

Answer These Four Questions

If you do this, please leave a comment. You don't have to reveal your answers, just how you think it related to you. You'll need a paper and pen. I saved mine to post here later. I'll be saving them anyway.

and just one more Grammy thing...

Oh, the irony. First, her team finally convinces her to get her crack-ass into rehab and just as quickly tries to get her a visa to come perform at the Grammys.

Although I am glad it was denied, I had to wonder how we can let terrorist slip through the whole visa system, but Amy ... no-no-no-no ... she's stopped before she can get out of the dentist chair with her new tooth. [At the last minute, too late to make the trip here, her visa was okay'd]

So plan B goes into effect. Let her perform via satellite. Brilliant, let her out of rehab so she can perform and get an award for her hit "Rehab".
* excuse me a minute while I scratch my head*
And then continues on by entertaining us with "You Know I'm No Good", her other hit.

Don't get me wrong, I think she has a great voice, really. A sexy, sultry, bluesy sound. Others must agree, because she in fact did win a total of five Grammys.

The award show may have inspired her to get new teeth, comb that rats nest beehive in place and she was polite. She did remember to send love and thanks out to her husband Blake ... or as Amy said my "incarcerated Blake".

I hope the night of musical success was just the shot-in-the-arm (yeah, I took the cheap pun) she needs to get her life back together.

I must be a "mom" because I want to get her a haircut/style, a bath, a manicure and pedicure, fix the rest of the teeth and some decent clothes. I'd ban her from getting anymore tats and feed that girl three square meals, each with a side of chocolate. And I'd try to keep her butt in rehab, I'd say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't that what management teams are for?

Good luck Amy. You have potential and were given a brass ring on the merry-go-round of life, don't fall off, just enjoy the ride.

Wasn't she pretty before she discovered the ugly crack pipe?

Did you see HER?

I'm sorry, with all due R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha,
I think Tina is the real Queen!

At sixty eight years old, her singing and dancing duet with Beyonce was unbelievable. I think Beyonce looked nervous and intimated by the whole number.

Can't say I'd blame her. I mean could you sing Proud Mary with Tina?

Pale Blue Dot

This is the photo Voyager 1 took of Earth.

Earth, from approximately 4 billion miles away.

It's called the Pale Blue Dot,
which is also the title and inspiration of a book by Carl Sagan.

This is definitely worth watching, and listening to as Carl Sagan speaks.

"It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another,
and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot,
the only home we've ever known." ~ Carl Sagan ~

Gung Hay Fat Choy !

February 7, 2008 starts the Chinese New Year

The year of the Rat.

If you or a family member were born in 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, you were born under the sign of the rat.

Look at this chart and see what sign you were born under according to the Chinese Zodiac.

http://www.chineseart.com/chinese-zodiac.htm

I'm a goat. (as in Nanny?)

Any rats in your family? [smirk]

School of ROCK!

Remember the movie with Jack Black?

I remember buying a guitar when I was in high school. I started my weekly lessons, make that my short lived weekly lessons. I was bored to tears. Literally. I hated it.

Wanting to be Ann or Nancy Wilson, maybe Pat Benatar, or Debbi Harry, I certainly didn't want to learn how to read music. I could play chords by ear, I just needed to learn how to string them together.

My older teacher wanted to teach music theory. This wasn't going to happen. The first song he tried teaching me was Autumn Leaves, huh?

Then I decided I'd play drums. I watched Karen Carpenter and figured I could do that. And how cool would that be? Girls playing drums were rare. My parents, remembering my guitar affair, wouldn't buy me drums.

They bought me sticks instead. A set of sticks.

Can you imagine the words thoughts that ran through my head when they handed me a set of sticks and said "practice" with a drum pad? They assured me if I really wanted to play drums, they'd think about it.

How uncool. I stashed them in my room, next to my guitar. My room looked like Ms. Rock Star stayed there, but in truth, it all just collected dust.

It's 35 years too late for me, but I am excited for kids age 7-17 in my area that have an interest in playing in a band. A rock band. Forget about boring after school private dull windowless room lessons 'cuz the SCHOOL of ROCK has come to Rochester Michigan.

Learn to play in a rock band by professional musicians. On a stage. With a loud professional sound system. They advertise teaching how to play songs by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, AC/DC, Zappa, Queen. This is a win-win situation for kids and parents. No basement or garage band noise for parents. Equipment and direction from musicians that enjoy teaching and forming rock bands for the kids.


I drove by the studio and can report there were no signs of groupies or Jack Daniel's.

FAT Tuesday

It's Fat Tuesday.

I completely forgot.

Someone just dropped these off at our office.

How many Weight Watcher points are in one custard filled Paczki?

Because I just ate one.

Mayor of Detroit Apologizes, Sorta

You may have read about the latest scandal stirring in Detroit. I posted about it here. After staying silent for a week, he appeared on TV to make his public apology to the people of Detroit, his family, and his wife. As I sat there listening to what he had to say, I knew it was about as sincere as a four year old saying "I sow-wy" as he's being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I think what the Mayor said was one thing, what he was thinking was more like this:

Profiling is the Pit's

I've posted photos of my son's Pit Bull, Bently. I know some people have definite fears and opinions of Pit's. Bently has been well trained and is a loving dog.

I was just reading about the dogs that were rescued from ex-NFL Player, Michael Vick's house. 22 were saved and are living and being rehabilitated at a rescue sanctuary.

With any dog that is not trained properly or has suffered abuse, there will be horror stories. The Pit seems to be the latest that gets a bad rap. And yes, there have been some awful incidents involving them. There are also incidents from many other breeds. Blame the ignorance of the owner, not the animal.

I remember years ago, when it was the Doberman or German Shepherd to fear. Then it was Rottweiler's. Now Pit's. A dog can be trained to attack and protect, but are also trained to listen to a command. Police and rescue dogs are a perfect example. Fear the people that keep and breed these dogs with cruel intentions.

The back-alley-breeder-gangsta-wannabe's are just ignorant. The Mike Vick's of the dog fight rings are just as ignorant. Mike's sentence of 23 months isn't enough. I hope his career is over too.

Do you know what a pit looks like? Most people see a big, mean looking, muscular, stocky dog and assume it's a Pit Bull.

There is only one American Pit Bull Terrier in the photos below. What's your guess? Click on the photo and see if you're right. Leave the number of your first guess in the comment section please.

1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20

(photos from pitbullsontheweb.com)

Remember "Petey" from the "Little Rascals"?
A Pit