Straight Up And Slightly Dirty

This is not the blog you're looking for

2008-10-18T16:10:00.002-05:00

This is.

Move along. Move along.

Coming Soon...

2008-09-24T20:33:00.001-05:00

And Now, All Will Be Right With The World Again

2008-08-23T14:41:00.002-05:00

Obama chose Joe Biden for his running mate!! Woo Hoo! How perfect is that?!?!

I know, I said I was closing the book on this blog, and I will, but today's news just made me feel so safe, and secure, and optimistic and happy for the world! I haven't felt this happy about something political since 1976 when I voted for Jimmy Carter for no reason other than just to piss off my republican dad. With that in mind, I just had to tell you all a little story.

I don't talk politics. I don't even try because I don't know enough to keep up my end of the conversation. That doesn't mean however that I don't have opinions. I just choose to keep them to myself, or at least pump my fist in the air and agree wholeheartedly with anything Jon Stewart says... or with anything Downtown Dad predicts...

A long time ago, in a city far far away from here... (OK, Seattle, 1987ish) Downtown Dad and I had just started dating. An article in a newspaper laying on my desk caught his eye. It was about then Senate Judiciary Chairman Biden, and the contention between he and Robert Bork in Bork's confirmation hearings. Not knowing either of them from Adam, I had doodled on the pictures of the two men, giving Bork an Underwood Deviled Ham makeover, and then drawing a halo and wings on Biden. Downtown Dad noted this and asked some well-informed and politically astute open-ended question. Most likely to draw me into a discussion on the pros and cons of whether antitrust laws should focus on maximizing consumer welfare, or something equally as mystifying (Like I said, we had just STARTED dating). Anyway, the thing that has always charmed me about Downtown Dad is that he can take something you know nothing about, and really DON'T WANT to know anything about, and start talking to you about it, and pretty soon you're participating in that conversation about it, and you realize you just learned a whole shitload about it, and didn't ever feel stupid along the way. And not only that... sometimes, if you're listening, he'll make a prediction.... yeah, a prediction. Like he did that day in 1987. He said something about the fact that I had polarized the two men with my drawings, but that was absolutely untrue of Joe Biden. He said that Joe Biden's views, coupled with the way he was able to communicate actually had the power to bring people together. He didn't think Biden would win his bid for the presidency that coming year, didn't think his time had come.... yet....but someday, someday...

And then.... fast forward to 1988, the Democratic Presidential Convention is on TV and this boyish looking governor of Arkansas, named Clinton had just given the looooooongest, if not most interesting speech I had ever listened to. (I was learning to actually listen to them now). Downtown Dad had leaped off of the couch and was in the middle of a victory dance similar to what some men do after a fourth quarter, 43 yard touchdown pass, when he stopped and struck a pose, index finger in the air, hand to heart, and said: "Someday that man will be president."

I just wish there was a way to capitalize on that talent! He's probably not psychic, I tend to think that he's just VERY well informed! I wouldn't go to him for advice at the horsetrack, and we don't own stock, but I've learned that when it comes to anything that has to do with governance, or constitutional law, I'll put my money on just about whatever Downtown Dad says. Oh, but here's a little tip for you just in case ..... Downtown Dad says: Invest in your local Downtown!

Closing the book

2008-08-20T16:34:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know... it's been ages, I don't call, I don't send flowers, I don't write...

Well here's the thing: I'm in transition. Personally, Parentally, Professionally, and Blog-ily.

At home we've been busy with little things like Gooseberry's 9 performances of The Wiz, and the final stateside performance of High School Musical, the next day, and, oh yeah, seeing 60 kids off for 17 days in Edinburgh, Scotland the next week! And then turning around and driving three teen girls to Branson for a week, and then going to get them!

During, or as a result of, all this I also made the decision to give up on my relationship with Real Estate. It just wasn't working for me... I gave and gave and gave and never got anything in return. Before I officially broke it off, I started a little part time gig on the side, doing transcription for a child psychologist, which did help slow down the hemorraging of money, but I decided I needed more... something permanent. I started looking in earnest for a company where I could reclaim the old me, where I could do something challenging, but something I am truly good at. I flirted with many, but there was this one that rose to the top. There was a long slow courtship process, over the space of almost three months, but I did manage to land a spectacular, good paying, full time job as an administrative assistant in the corporate office of a regional engineering firm! (pause for woo-hoos!) The timing is wonderful since I start the same day the kids go back to school. What makes this wonderful, is that it all falls into place perfectly with everything else too!

My last reasonably serious buying customer finally sold her existing house and we were on track to find her something to close by the end of August - but, (you knew there'd be a but... there's always a but in real estate) she has fiddle farted around and now has decided to rent. So, close that book. My last listing was a house that was over priced and the owner refused to lower it, since if he didn't sell it for what he wanted by the end of August, he would just rent it out. It's looking like that listing will quietly expire. So close that book too.

Tessie got her license and through a series of fortunate/unfortunate events, (unfortunate for her brother Beez - not for Tessie) she acquired her own car and while I'm a little sad that she no longer needs me to drive her and her friends around, she can now be her own and her brother's transportation to school, doctors, dentists and orthodontist appointments. Bear will get his learner's permit as soon as humanly possible after returning from Scotland at the end of this week. So, close the book on Taxi mom.

So that covers the transition professionally, parentally, and even personally, but blog-ily you ask? What sort of transition do you mean? Well, what I mean is the name of this blog. When I was a devil-may-care, pretend realtor, part-time, stay-at-home-mom, hanging out with lady friends who more often than not drank their lunch, "Straight Up and Slightly Dirty" described my attitude and the personality I was attempting to project in this blog. After this past year of a leadership class, intense volunteer work, grant writing, devoting literally all of my time to my kids' interests and some serious soul searching, I have decided that while I don't want to give up blogging, I just want the me online to more accurately reflect the real me. I mean really, when I look at the search terms that land people here - because of the Straight Up or the Slightly Dirty - I feel a little guilty for mentioning my kids, my family and our activities.

So, if anyone still visits here, and if you're still reading this far down... thank you! I'm not sure what the name will be, or where it will be, or even if. This isn't goodbye for ever, its just closing one book and opening another.

We're In The Top FIVE!!!

2008-07-07T11:18:00.003-05:00

Warning: Shameless Plug Ahead....

A while back, the parents and directors behind our year long project of Moorhead High School's production of High School Musical, entered a contest sponsored by USA Weekend. This contest will decide the best production of High School Musical in the Nation - and we are in the top 5!

Please take a second to click on this link and watch snippets of the top five finalists - then VOTE for MOORHEAD HIGH! Hurry though, voting ends Wednesday, July 9th!

Uff da y'all

2008-07-02T12:10:00.003-05:00

A good friend of ours from Louisianna was here visiting before we all pile in the car tonight and drive down to Iowa for their version of Mardi Gras! Downtown Dad took him fishing in some beautiful Minnesota lakes and caught several of our native fish.

Apparently the fish in Louisanna are less toothy with softer gills, because one of our great hunters got a boo boo. Awwww.

Driving Miss Tessie

2008-07-01T12:15:00.002-05:00

Where has the time gone....

From this.....

To this....

Next week at this time, she'll have her license!

Theatre - The Ultimate Team Sport

2008-06-30T09:30:00.007-05:00

The center section of the high school theatre auditorium was almost full. 60 sweaty kids after an intense rehearsal, 100 or so parents threatened within an inch of their lives if they did not attend, 5 directors, and The Steering Committee.

This is the meeting where we finalize the the passports, the behavior contracts, and most of all the money - all $350,000 of it, needed to send our production of High School Musical to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland this August. Through a few grants, some fundraising, and a whole lot of begging, we have been able to raise every bit of it in just over 11 months.

The tense moment of the night came when 4 of us from the Steering Committee stood in front of this motley crew and explained the American High School Theatre's policy on kids behavior while on this trip - which is basically, screw up once and you are on a plane home before you know what hit you! Oh, and that emergency ticket will be paid for by your parents' credit card. Oh, and now parents, if you'll just hand us your credit card, and your child's passport we are going to go make copies of them so that transaction can be handled with just a phone call. And by God, if they didn't do it!

I was pretty overwhelmed by the trust in that room as parents solemnly passed all manner of American Express, Visa, and Master Cards, along with their kids' shiny new passports to the aisle, like good Lutherans, where they were collected by 4 moms. All that was missing was an organ playing the offertory hymn as we carried pretty much 150 people's identities off to the Activities office to make copies.

After an hour of slaving over a hot copier, we returned the precious documents - amazlingly, all to the rightful owners. As I handed a Barnes and Noble Visa back to one parent, he whispered to me, "Well, at least if he gets sent home, with this card I'll get 750,000 points!" Now that's takin' one for the team!

Oxy-moron

2008-06-29T10:04:00.003-05:00

"More Effective" .... yet "Useless" ... hmmmm ....

Am I the only one that thinks the wording on this packaging could have used another opinion?

Dave Days

2008-06-28T07:28:00.007-05:00

There is a 10 day stretch in the month of June that we call Dave Days. Father's Day, Dave's Real Birthday, Dave's New Birthday, and Dave and Linda's Anniversary... oh, I get honorable mention there at the end with the anniversary, and thanks to a mixup early on in our relationship I did invent Dave's New Birthday, but other than that, it literally is all about Dave - otherwise known here as Downtown Dad.

Around here, Dave Days are usually a virtual shower of gifts, cards, and special dinners. This year though, the price of gas and Realtorin' being what it is, Dave Days were a little thin. A homemade copy of the HBO John Adams series; yet another political book; some clothes picked out by DD himself then judiciously doled out over the span of celebrations; and a cake decorated by car headlights at 1 a.m. by loving teenagers - some not even ours; were all that the extended family had put together.

**(Translation: "Happy dinosaur we heart you ab day")**

.... don't ask me, teenagers, headlights, 1 a.m. ... go figure ....

...But there was a Dave Days surprise in store we hadn't counted on... Tessie looked out her 2nd story bedroom window and saw a white cockatiel sitting on the wire. At first, she thought one of ours had accidentally gotten out, so she went screaming down the stairs "There's a bird outside!" but when she saw both Tizzy and Rascal safely in their cage, she added "And it's not one of ours!" Apparently, this bird was attracted by cockatiel chatter coming from our window (and the fact that it was Dave Days) and arrived on our back deck, as a Dave's Real Birthday Present from the Universe! We easily coaxed the new guy inside by putting the cage with our two birds in it, and some seed and water near the sliding glass door, and pretty soon he just walked in and made himself at home!

We've checked the lost and found section of the newspaper every day and no one seems to be looking for him, so I guess we now have three cockatiels! We're not sure what to name him yet. Since he's mainly white, Tessie is pulling for Edward, after the Vampire star of the Twilight books... any suggestions?

Mosaic about me meme

2008-06-27T10:06:00.005-05:00

I found this while reading Jen at Juggling Life and loved it, so I swiped it! (I suppose it can't be called stealing if I give Jen credit for it though, right?) It sort of reminds me of one of those Vision Boards, where you cut out pictures from magazines that represent the things, people, places or ideals that you want or want to be like... Hmmm, 5 out of 12 pictures of the ocean, yep, that's me, mexican food - check, pie - check, rain - yep... OK, yes, I have a thing for intellegent guys with white hair... you got a problem with that?

1. Oh! Que Linda, Linda Mar..., 2. enchiladas with red sauce, 3. 2/8/08, 4. .A touch of Pink., 5. Richard Dreyfuss, 6. Chardonnay Sunset, 7. Red Light, 8. Chess pie for Easter dinner, 9. the writer and the sea, 10. Why does it always rain on me??, 11. good secretary, 12. Tonight's Dinner: Pork Chops

Anyway, this is what you do:

Answer each of the questions below. Surf over to Flickr and type your answers into the search bar. From the choice of pictures shown only on the front page, click on the one that moves you. Once the page with your picture opens, copy the URL. Surf over to the Mosaic Maker, set up your mosaic, and paste your URLs. Click Create. Voilla!

The Questions:
What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you attend?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
What is your favorite drink?
Where would you go on your dream vacation?
What is your favorite dessert?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
What is the one word that describes you?
What is your Flickr name?

Lions and Crows and Boyfriends, Oh My!

2008-05-23T09:24:00.003-05:00

Both kids were cast! Yippee!

Bear, of course IS The Lion. He went into this wanting that part, owning that part, and according to his retelling of the audition and call backs, he worked hard to get it. Tessie didn't get the Addaperle part but she did get the part of one of The Crows - the evil comedic ensemble that taunt The Scarecrow. Both kids are thrilled with their parts. Jarrod's is pretty big, with a solo and a duet where he has to hit a high C. Tessie's will be determined through rehearsals depending on how much personality she puts into it. This part is totally her though. It has that Emo/Scene/HipHop kind of feel. We've got a blissful two weeks now, until rehearsals start up.

We opened the pool earlier this week. It takes about 5 or 6 days for it to go from brackish brown to sparkling blue. We're just about there, so hopefully it will be swimable for the long holiday weekend.... if only the weather would cooperate.

It has been a REALLY busy week for me, and I'm really happy with that. Since I started this new part time job, of course, wouldn't you know, real estate is starting to pick up too! Yesterday, for instance - I showed a candidate for hire as a professor around town for a couple of hours starting at 8, then went right to the DFS job until 6. While I was there, a woman called my cell, referred by a mutual acquaintance and I'm going to show her houses this weekend. When I was done at DFS, I hightailed it back to the North side of town to list a house! Whew! Today I started at DFS at 8, will be here til 3 and then have to hightail it over to my real estate office to turn in the listing before the 4:00 deadline!

Downtown Dad and Bearly are going to take off this afternoon for Iowa. DD's mom is coming up from Branson to attend her all-school reunion in Woodbine, so DD and Bear are going to join them and do a little genealogy research on the way.

In other news, (shhhhhhhh) Tessie has a boyfriend! His name is Vince. This has been a long time coming, and it was interesting to watch the adolescent dance of 'he/she likes me, he/she likes me not.' Vince is a friend of Bear's, and also a cast member of High School Musical, and, sang a lovely duet with Tessie in the spring show "All I Needed to Know I Learned In Kindergarten" no wonder there was so much chemistry there! DD and I met Vince's parents before we even knew who he was during all of our fundraisers. They, the parents are one of the "26 parents" out of the group of 60 who actually participate and do work (and go to "choir practice" afterward), and it's been fun to get to know them because they are a lot like DD and me.

I'm absolutely thrilled about this, but would never have expected it even three months ago. Tessie's taste in boys, up until now, has tended to run toward the dangerous side. She went through a (hormonally induced) week of hating us and texting non stop with an 18 year old, homeless, drop out, which scared the bejiggers out of us. She knew we wouldn't approve, and we absolutely didn't, and told her that. I honestly think she was befriending him - much like bringing home a stray cat, rather than having any romantic interest. We did come home earlier than expected one evening and found them talking outside in the street. She introduced him, but he vanished into the night almost immediately afterwards. That blew over about as quickly as it blew in - thankfully. Last week, a couple of dangerous looking boys rang the doorbell at 7:30 on a Saturday morning asking for Tess. It looked to me like they were high, and when I told them that she was still asleep, they almost demanded I go wake her up. That brought out the mother bear in me and I sent them packing with a few choice words. They were back later and got the same from DD this time. Tessie only knows them through a class they have together and explained that one of them liked her, but the feeling was definately NOT mutual. She told them that their behavior was not appreciated and not to come back. So you can see why I am thrilled at the prospect of Vince, who is a very normal, very involved theatre kid, with parents I know!

And Now We Wait

2008-05-18T18:53:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure who was more nervous, me or Tessie for her audition on Friday evening. Downtown Dad brought her since I was on audition monitor duty, and she didn't look as hyped up as I though she would be. She'd falled asleep and he had to wake her up just before they came to the theatre. She said she was confident and went in, head held high - Roger D acted as her monitor. I couldn't help myself, I listened at the door. She started with the monologue which sounded great, then went on to her song. It wasn't as loud as I'd thought she'd do it, and somehow, she missed a stanza, but recovered and hit the last note really well. Then I left when it was time for the dance portion. Apparently she couldn't get the CD we'd burned to work. They even tried a different player, but no go. I wondered what was taking so long and got worried, but, she came out all smiles, she made both vocal and dance callbacks! Woo Hoo! It helps that the directors have seen her in other productions.

Both dance and vocal callbacks were Saturday. Dance was first, with both boys and girls and when I came to pick them up afterwards they both knew they had done really well. The boys' vocal callbacks were at 3:30 and Bearly made it into the last group of 5 or 6 singing for the part of the Lion. He is pretty excited because he thinks he did pretty well. He has the body shape and the voice for that part, much more so than the others that were in that final round. Girls' vocal callbacks were at 4:30. Tessie made it into the second to last group of girls, but not into the last group who sang for the Addaperle part. She was bummed, but it's only one part. She tends to be perky cute, in a hiphop kind of way. That may have worked against her for this part - plus, she may have choked under the pressure, as I said, she's good, she just doesn't test well. The cast list will be posted by 2:00 tomorrow... so now we wait....

The kids' school has a dance after Prom called Morp, which is just the opposite of Prom. They have a theme every year and dress up for that theme. This year the theme was R. Bearly borrowed a king costume from a friend and went as Royalty. Tessie and Alicia went as Ravers - I'm not sure what that is, but it involves glow sticks.

Since the weather was finally nice, we spent today doing more dewinterization of the yard, along with the long neglected housework. Dave made some salmon on the grill for dinner, and now I think we will have a nice relaxing evening doing nothing... well, almost nothing.

The Week In Revue

2008-05-16T09:23:00.005-05:00

Yikes, I've got to catch up! I was all ready to participate in the Fun Monday carnival after a long absence, and plumb forgot about it! This blogging thing takes time, and determination. So, anyway...

Sunday's performances last week were so great! It was sad at the same time though. After the last performance which started at 7 and ended at 9:30, we parents started right in on striking the set. By the time the kids got back into the theatre about 45 minutes later from their meet and greet in the commons, we'd already gotten the extension taken off of the front of the stage and were working on dismantling the rest. Kerry, the technical director had warned us that we might be there for 4 to 6 hours, but with 36 people working, the massive, steel frame, wood decking and fabric walls were gone and we were sweeping the stage by 11:59! Woo Hoo!

I was glad the performance part of this was over - for Bear's sake and for the sake of the rest of the kids. Keeping up with your homework, and chores, and preparing for summer activities and graduation AND doing 5 performances in 3 days had to be grueling! But, they're kids and they bounce back. I, on the other hand, along with Downtown Dad actually went through a little bit of withdrawal. The core group of parents who have worked together on this from the beginning have become such good friends. Yes, I'm glad to be able to have time for laundry, and dishes, and sleeping for a change, but I'm going to miss "choir practice" with my theatre parent buds.

I also had one of the parents respond to a real estate solicitation I'd sent out at the beginning of the year, offering a donation to their kids' travel fund for referring a client to me. Actually, this mom was the last person I'd have guessed would refer someone to me, but hey, like I said, we've all gotten very close over the course of a year - who knew? Another guy, the son of one of my clients also called saying he's finally ready to buy something - I'll believe that when I see it, but who knows, maybe he is. Also, last week a guy I'd sold a house to called and said he was being deployed to Iraq so he was considering selling his house. I did a market analysis for him, but he hasn't gotten back to me, so maybe he's not going to sell after all.

Auditions for Gooseberry were held all this past week. Bear and Tessie had originally signed up for the first day, but then Tessie decided she needed more preparation so she rescheduled hers for tonight at 7. Bearly though, despite coming off of a hectic weekend, barrelled right into the Tuesday evening audition with his usual confidence and got both dance and vocal callbacks in the advanced group on Saturday. He's hoping to be cast as the Lion. He sang Giants In the Sky from Into the Woods, did the Status Quo dance from High School Musical and recited a monologue about theatre pride. He did a fabulous job too, according to the parent/board member monitor who is required to sit in with the directors in all auditions. Being new on the board I hadn't had the opportunity to sit in on auditions before and was anxious to experience it. Let me tell you - it's kind of nerve wracking. The kids, no matter how many times they've done this are nervous, and it's hard to sit expressionless and not respond - but that's what you have to do. You aren't allowed to sit in on your own kid's audition though.

Downtown Dad has been working on dewintering the back yard. He and Bearly got two huge piles of dead branches dragged to the curb and even got the pool uncovered! Now we just have to call the pool guy to come and open up the filtering system for us, then there's that week it takes for the water to somehow magically go from brackish black to clear blue sparkling! We're thinking of adding a solar heater this year to extend the usability season.

Started my new job on Wednesday. This should work out pretty slick, it's just three days a week, about 6 or so hours a day and it's really quiet, so being the multitasker I am, I should be able to at least return phone calls, write if need be, and maybe update this blog! It's a new position, and there are still a lot of hiccups in how things are going to work... log ins, passwords, network availability, just to name a few. It seems to me, that it's a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, but I'll just stand back and observe for a while before I make any assessments.

I had my graduation ceremony from the Chamber Leadership class I've been in since last year. It was a very nice lunch with a keynote speaker from our local renovated Fargo Theatre and the president of the chamber, as well as a short speech from the 'validictorian' of our class. He's an attorney with a bald head and his name is F. John. He was in my group of 5 for the final presentations last week and was out of town. We took the opportunity to conspire together to get everyone to either wear a skull cap or wear a tee shirt with a great big F. on the front. We were going to chant F...F...F...F..., but one of our more corporate, and less fun-loving classmates suggested we wait til after the ceremony and do that at our social get-together at the bowling alley. I don't usually frequent bowling alleys, but I went just for the Tee-shirt wearing and cheer. It was a nice gathering, but, I left early.

I've been worried about Tessie and her audition this week. She has a way of not preparing - for anything, not just this, and as a result, both with school work and auditions - she tests badly. She's had her monologue memorized, but up until Wednesday, was still deciding between two or three songs to sing, and didn't have a dance. Although I've never seen one of her auditions, I am just sure that one of the reasons she's not been cast as much as Bearly, is because she doesn't come off as polished and prepared. She has a beautiful voice, and a hiphop look and movement style that is pretty fly for a white girl. :) She's hoping to be cast in the role of Addaperle. Anyway, on Wednesday, we were scrolling through YouTube looking for songs that would showcase her more Alto than Soprano voice and came across Paulette from Legally Blonde singing her Ireland reprise - and that was it! Orfeh, the actress who plays Paulette on Broadway was simply amazing when Downtown Dad and I got a chance to see the show last year in New York. I never would have suggested Tessie sing one of her songs, but - holy moly - she can really belt it out! There's a fabulous long note at the end that really sells it and if Tessie is not too scared she can totally pull it off! So that was one thing down, but we still didn't have a dance.... until last night. I found an old video tape we'd gotten Tessie when she was like 6 or 7, called Darren's Dance Grooves. It's a guy teaching the steps to popular music videos. Tessie had watched that tape until it almost fell apart, in fact when I popped it into the VCR it squealed and jittered pretty badly. But she absolutely lit up when she saw it because she still remembered the dance she'd taught herself from it all those years ago and decided that was going to be her audition dance. What song? What artist? "Crazy" by Britney Spears... oh brother. But, she does it really well and she burned the song on a CD from iTunes - so whew!

This morning I bit the bullet and bought one of the parent jackets from High School Musical, it was the last day they were available and I just didn't want to look back on this year and regret not getting one. I also got an email from one of the directors who is overseeing the finances for the Scotland trip. We'd recently turned in over $1,100 from Bearly's personal fundraising letter and the way the email was worded I am concerned about whether or not all of it went into Bearly's account or if some went to the general fund. Luckily I am absolutely anal about keeping track of who sent what, and a complete task master when it comes to getting Bearly to write thank you notes right away - so I have documentation in case any mistakes happen!

Well, that's all for now, I'm working today until early afternoon, so I'll have time to help Tessie prep for tonight, before I have to go over to the theatre to be the audition monitor again. I'll have to step out when its her turn, but I am TOTALLY listening at the door!

We're All In This Together!

2008-05-10T08:09:00.001-05:00

Friday was opening night for our 5 encore and final performances of High School Musical on Stage. The kids worked very hard around school work, homework, prom, and everything else, last week to rehearse this new tightened up version with the rearranged and smaller touring cast. We parents fell into our ushering, concession, monitoring duties like a well oiled machine. And despite our fears of not selling out - the house was 95% full! It was a fabulous performance to boot! MJ and Downtown Dad broke with tradition and did a short curtain talk, telling people to turn off their cell phones, no flash photography, and then a little obligatory begging, ending with a rousing GO WILDCATS!

Tee shirts, cast photos, foam Wildcat paws and pom poms, as well as pop and sports drinks left over from the Scotland Yard Sale sold quickly at intermission, as well as before and after the show. It never ceases to amaze me that these kids are mobbed at the meet and greet after every show. Little kids with programs and cast photos clamboring for an autograph from "Troy" or "Gabriella," "Sharpay" or "Ryan." And not so much amazing as heartwarming, is seeing these teenage actors, after 2 hours of vigorous singing and dancing, patiently, and happily spend another 30 minutes bent down talking to starstruck second graders.

After the show Friday it was a weary, less demanding group of actors who scattered off to various parties and gatherings, knowing they would have two shows back to back on Saturday. After setting the auditorium and commons area right for the next day, we parents, having bonded through this 9 month experience, met at a local watering hole for "choir practice." It is amazing what good friends we've all become with these people. It's like Downtown Dad said in his curtain talk before the show - "I'm a theatre parent, not to just my kid who is in the show, but to the 60 other kids too." And while "choir practice" went on til around 1 a.m., we all returned home to find sleeping teenagers.

Saturday was a fuller day, with two performances - both not completely sold out, but a full enough audience to both pay the bills and inspire the cast and crew. At intermission for the 2 p.m. show, one of the directors showed us a letter she'd just received. An envelope with no address, just Moorhead High School, but with specific instructions to the post man to deliver it to the Theatre Group going to Scotland. Inside was a card written in the elegant but shaky script of an elderly woman, along with a check for $200.00. She had read the article in the paper about all of our hard work and was inspired to send money for our cause. She lives in a small rural town, not too far from here so we are trying to contact her and bring her to one of the shows today!

At "choir practice" last night, we again took up half the seating in the place and were louder than we probably would have let our kids be - where do you think they get it? We even came up with an idea to do a music video of we parents singing and dancing to the song from the show finale, "We're All In This Together." The choreographer eyed us skeptically, but confident in his ability, decided that he just might be able to pull it off. One of the directors brought his model of the pared down set that will go to Scotland. It is amazing how much engineering goes into making a functional, recognizable set that is light enough and modular enough to fit into suitcases, and can be assembled in 15 minutes. That in itself is interesting enough for a documentary on the Lifetime channel! Meanwhile, again, the tired but happy actors beat us home.

Today's performances will be bittersweet - the last performed on the high school stage. But since there is an orchestra concert Monday evening - parents' "choir practice" tonight will be replaced by striking the stage until about 2 a.m. By now, we know how to do this pretty well, having been through it once before, and we all all such good friends that it almost wont really be work.... after all, "we're all in this together!"

Good Kids Doing Good Things

2008-05-09T10:20:00.001-05:00

There is such a lack of good news about good kids doing good things, like setting a goal and working together with families and community to achieve it, I thought you’d be interested to hear about this:

MOORHEAD HIGH THEATRE FAMILIES OVERCOME OBSTACLES AND ARE POISED TO REACH HUGE YEAR LONG GOAL

Popular Teen Stage Play Set To Travel to International Theatre Festival in Scotland

Moorhead, MN -- Friday, May 9, 2008 -- Sixty families in Moorhead have been working, sometimes against odds, since August to raise the more than $300,000 it will take to send the cast and crew of their local production of Disney’s High School Musical On Stage to the acclaimed Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

When 200 Moorhead High students auditioned to be one of the 60 cast and crew of the high school’s fall musical, they knew the stakes were high. Not only because the energetic score required intense stamina, but if selected, they would be taking this production to the Fringe Festival in Scotland. This meant that instead of the usual 12-week rehearsal and production time line - cast, crew, and their families, would be taking on a year’s involvement.

Although Moorhead High was invited to the festival, chosen from over 1,200 high school programs nominated, taking High School Musical to Scotland was not an automatic given. Permission was difficult to acquire from Disney, and at first denied. However, when Disney officials heard the story, exclusive international amateur rights were granted. An unprecedented achievement. Parents, teachers, cast and crew have worked together since September not only on their performances, but on a whirlwind of fundraisers.

“Working together has been a terrific experience,” said Dave Anderson, a parent of one of the actors. “With set building (and rebuilding) the kids’ rehearsal schedules, fundraisers and just coordinating all of this, we’ve become more like one big family rather than 60 separate ones.”

Thursday, May 8

2008-05-08T22:49:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we had kind of a day off. Bear got to come home from rehearsals at 6:30 and he and Tessie and I had some time together to go run some errands, like getting some monologue books for the Gooseberry rehearsals next week (yikes) and some ingredients for the food basics lab he missed last week. We actually were all in bed by about 10ish for a change.

Today I had to be in North Fargo by 8 a.m. for my last FM Chamber Leadership class. Today all 6 groups had our final presentations of the projects we've been working on for 9 months. Our group presented on Asset Champions' Network and we went second at about 10 ish. All in all, I must say that I think that our presentation was the best. I don't have the energy to go into more detail.

We got front page with a picture and a continuation of the article on the back page this morning in the Fargo Forum! Woo Hoo! A couple of parents from the MHS2UK group were on am talk radio this afternoon promoting the show. I haven't sent any emails yet to see how it went. According to Bear, the article prompted a jillion calls to the activities office for tickets!

When we got home after grabbing a quick bite at Usher's, Tessie and Alicia were putting the finishing touches on blonde streaks in Tessie's hair.

If anyone is actually reading this - click on our website MHS2UK and take a look at all the things we've done to achieve our goal!

Tuesday, May 6

2008-05-06T21:45:00.003-05:00

Today Bear and Downtown Dad, along with best bud Trev and his mom MJ, and a couple other girls from the cast, went to WDAY radio at dark o'clock and promoed the show. Bear is pretty articulate for a freshman. They got all the right information in, including the 'we're all in this together' angle that I pushed in my press release, even if Downtown did have to throw some of it in at the very end. It was great.

I didn't go to Tour again today - I hate real estate.

Instead, I formatted the big 75 question survey that the Gooseberry board is supposed to take online and got that emailed out with explicit instructions. I emailed Kathy to thank her for her very generous donation to Bear's MHS2UK fund and went on maybe a little too much about strained father daughter relationships, since she'd mentioned in her note that her dad was dying. We have a lot in common, Kathy and I.

After the radio thing, Downtown called me and suggested that we get some comp tickets out to the radio stations in town so they can give them away. So it was off to the activities office for 15 pairs of prime seats on Sunday evening, and then off to the three broadcasting stations. One of the program directors asked us to come back Thursday afternoon to promo the show again!

As I was on my way to Michaels to pick up 5 frame stands for the Leadership presentation on Thursday, Downtown called and said 'lets go to lunch.' After that, I had a little time to throw a load of wash in and send out a group email to find some people to do the Thursday afternoon KFGO gig. Then it was time to go back to the high school to talk to the Forum reporter who is doing a big multi page story on the remount and encore performances. MJ, Bob, Vikki, Mike, Dawn, showed up too and we all had enthusiastic stories from different parts of our adventure with this year long process.

There was a thunderstorm this evening. Tessie brought Alicia over and we had biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns and eggs and sausage for dinner. It was ready just in time for Bear's dinner break from 6 to 7. I had time after dinner to actually fold the mountain of laundry that has been eating the couch in the family room - oh well, it keeps the dog from laying on the couch... While I did that, at last I got a chance to watch Juno - great movie, love the banter and it really does have a good message. Rehearsal was over at 10:10 this evening, instead of 10:45, so now we're all home and ready for a good nights sleep.

The Journal Begins

2008-05-06T18:37:00.002-05:00

The house is a mess. No one goes to their closets or dressers for their clothes any more - we just paw through the mountain of clean but unfolded laundry on the couch. No one eats dinner anymore - but we make amazingly efficient use of left overs and those forgotten cans of garbanzo beans and liver pate at the back of the pantry. And while dishes in the sink multiply, our supply of teaspoons has dipped to an all time low.

But surprizingly, I am not complaining. Nor am I stressed out. I am, in fact, very accepting of the situation. And so is the rest of the family. We are in the final week of remount and rehearsal of High School Musical - back on stage again for 5 encore performances. If we can promote this and sell out all five performances, we are on track to raise the last $30,000 to reach our fundraising goal.

In my most recent post, back in April, I had intended to write here everyday like a journal - capturing the drama that has engulfed us. Its a shame I didn't do that. Its so much more interesting to read 'how are we ever going to move the stage set made up of 1.5 tons of steel and wood, stored in a barn back to the high school and assemble it in 3 days, in the snow?' ... than a laundry list of accomplishments set forth in a harried voice. It's ever so much more satisfying to read about how the grant deadline was met and the grant submitted just in time to allow me to get the planning and coordination complete for our Scotland Yard Sale fundraiser from the standpoint of 'can I do it?' ... rather than just bragging about having accomplished it. There is the pathos of reading about my excitement in gaining three new customers in one day who wanted to buy or sell homes, and then, losing all three the next day. The humor in reading about trying to craft letters for three separate causes, and almost sending the wrong letters to the wrong cause. There is my ongoing nagging of Bear to write thank you notes to the overwhelming number of people who have donated to his travel fund and my incessant need to track all of this on an Excel spreadsheet. And my nagging of Tessie to memorize the final geometry terms so she can pass the class. There's my year-long Chamber leadership class that is coming to an end, and the requisite hour long presentation that 5 of us have been working on for what seems like eons, along with my brutally honest answers to the class's satisfaction survey which has earned me a spot on an advisory committee for the class next year.

All this has taken place since the first part of April, along with auditions for, and both kids being cast in the high school's spring play, which required of course, help building the set. Then there's the story about the crazy but probably harmless Viet Nam vet who wants to buy a house and has somehow decided that I'm the right person to drive his homeless ass around to look at rural properties... ah, no thank you. The three day run of the Spring show and immediate strike on Monday to make room for the above mentioned ton of steel. There would have been venomous good fun as I sneeringly recounted the oh-so blonde prom committee demanding that the set be draped in black so it would not overshadow their "Night in Paris" prom decorations with which we had to share the stage. There was the mad rush to draft a letter to the editor thanking the community for it's support, while still begging them to buy tickets for the encore performances of High School Musical's "international touring company."

Which brings us to this week, where to this point I have applied for, interviewed, was offered and accepted a part time job, learned from my sister that my mother, miffed at receiving a 'form letter' from my son will not be sending a donation to his travel fund. I wrote and distributed a fabulous (if I do say so myself) press release, and coordinated kids and parents who made the rounds to media who picked it up to promote the final run of High School Musical, attended a board meeting, 2 planning meetings, and a workshop, and.... finally... updated this blog!

** OK, I'm talking to myself here... because this, I do for myself**
Starting tomorrow - I promise - and this time I mean it - there will be semi daily journal-like entries that deal with what is going on right then. Events, thoughts about them, and how I feel and what I think. No catching up, no storytelling setups, no need for a moral or a punchline at the end.

Cockles, warmed

2008-04-24T05:45:00.003-05:00

I did not really know I had cockles in my heart, nor did I know that they had been cold. But then I did not know that I had such good invisible friends either. Thank you for your warming comments.

Wednesday...

2008-04-23T19:48:00.003-05:00

I'm back, but in a sporadic way. I've missed reading the daily adventures of my imaginary friends but I have not had the three hours daily, it takes to read and comment on all of those blogs. Which, sadly, was really the most fun - I love interaction.

Life in my family has been Straight Up hectic - and my house is more than Slightly Dirty because of it. I have let the annoyance of constant cleaning go by the wayside and have concentrated on my volunteer work, which has, consequently cut down on the amount of marketing being done for my real estate business and thus, cut down on the amount of things I am doing that actually bring in money.

So.... rather than focusing on the literary readability of this blog, I think I will use it for the time being in it's therapeutic capacity, or more like a diary, recording the crazy daily antics of two young performers, their devoted parents, and the animals that love and shed on them.

The Boys of Winter

2008-03-07T07:18:00.006-06:00

(With apoligies to Don Henley and his song The Boys of Summer)

S’Nowbody on the road
S’Nowmen are of the past
I feel it in the air
The spring is coming fast

Empty yards, empty streets
The sun’s rays can be felt
I’m drivin’ by your house
Though I know you’re gonna melt

But I can see you-
Your ice skin shinin’ in the sun
You got your scarf stuck now and your coal eyeballs on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the snow boys of winter have gone

I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me frostbit?
Remember how I made ice cream?
Now I don’t understand what happened to our love
But babe, I’m gonna watch you melt
Coz snow is what you’re made of

I can see you-
Your top hat shinin’ in the sun
I see you meltin’ real slow but you’re still smilin’ at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the snow boys of winter have gone

Out on the road today, I saw a snowplow stick it to a cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, "don’t look back. you can never look back."
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Winter won’t last forever
I should just let it go but-

I can see you-
Your twig arms shinin’ in the sun
Your carrot nose is gone but your smile beams on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the snowboys of winter are gone.

You Can Check Out Any Time You Like - But You Can Never Leave

2008-03-06T06:19:00.003-06:00

It was Wednesday morning, two weeks ago. The throng of the thousand things I had to accomplish that day had already begun to crowd into my conscious thought, trampling the new tendrils of creativity that had finally begun to take root. So, as always, I took the path of least resistance and let the events of the day plot my course, holding on to the hope that at the end of the day I might recapture some time to nurture my imagination. But first, I thought, I do have time to go for a quick run, so I clamped on the earbuds and turned on the Eagles' Hotel California, and off I went.

I don't know when I finally noticed it. Maybe the realization slowly dawned, or perhaps it happened suddenly. I just know that I was intensely aware. The air around me buzzed and swirled, yet there was nothing there. Like a thousand tiny red flags, the hairs on the back of my neck bristled, but I brushed it aside. There were, as always, places to go, things to do, people to see. There was simply no time to stop and pay attention to something that was most likely my overactive imagination ... or was it?

All at once though, daylight became green neon, a whiff of acrid air conjured from my distant memory, the antiseptic pall of an operating room, and the edges of my world took an alarming pitch. And just as suddenly, a feathery boyance enveloped my innards as they seemed to rise, heedless of the rest of my leaden being, at an incredible speed - straight up.

When I could finally drag my eyelids open against the silvery fist of fear that instinctively slammed them shut, I found that a vast expanse of stainless steel had replaced the pavement, and seemed to blend and become both horizon and sky. The colorless buzzing and swirling I had felt earlier continued, but was now somehow more muted and almost soothing.

As I let my vision adjust to the soft liquid shimmering around me, I sensed, rather than saw a comforting presence which conveyed to me that I was safe and my wellbeing would be assured. The presence I felt, seemed to be not a singular one, but multiple, and they were able to communicate with me on an intellegent, but more primitive level. It was as if my senses were piano keys and they were trying out the chords.

Over the space of many days it seemed, I walked the landscape of my own mind, accompanied by the benevolent presence I had come to think of as a council of celtic gnomes. As we travelled, the ideas for stories I had set aside, took form and mingled with childhood memories and half remembered dreams. Ideas took on shape and personality. Each manifestation vied for my attention, but was kept at bay by the gnomes who had protectively formed a circle around me. I neither slept, nor ate, but was not tired or hungry, and so my journey continued. Until, up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light, my head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, and I felt the earth tilt once more as the air around me changed to an electrically charged green flurry.

This time, when I opened my eyes I saw sidewalks and trees and melting snow. My breath puffed out in measured clouds, and Hotel California was still pounding out the rhythm for my running feet, as I turned into my own driveway.

A week and a day late....

2008-02-19T00:00:00.001-06:00

Ok, I know it's Tuesday, but here's the thing.... Last week on Fun Monday we were sposta post a song that was the essence of ourselves. Not necessarily the themesong of our life, but a song that your friends would hear and say "yep, oh yeah, baby, that's you!" Well, I posted a song that I heard waaaaay back in the 70's, that even back then, I said "that's the themesong of my life." And you can ask my friends they'll say "oh yeah, yep, that's what she said!"

Even through all the the filters I always run my posts, and through all of the comments... dude, that song fared pretty well. I thought... this is the wordless and innocuous themesong of my life and it shall carry me through my waning years...

But then I found this.... if the imagery escapes you.... He's standing in front of a GRANDFATHER CLOCK! Eff Eff Ess!

I say again.... Eff Eff Ess!

Fun Monday - This Makes Me Laugh

2008-02-17T22:19:00.004-06:00

Our host this week is Sayre from Sayre Smiles. She has an interesting request, and says this:

Every day as I go to work, I see things around me that make me laugh.
Usually these are in the forms of signs. So take your camera with you as you
go about your business and take a picture of the things that make you laugh
along the way (but it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be a sign).

OK - well it's winter here in the Upper Midwest - temps haven't gotten North of Zero in a long long time. We also get wind here and that wind, combined with the subzero temps creates wind chill. Some communities shut down for cold and snow, but not us! We carry on going to work (ever tried to get a key out of a lock box and unlock a door in subzero weather?), going to school (why do kids dress like that? don't they know its freezing out there?), going to the grocery store (have you ever tried to push a full grocery cart through a snowy parking lot?) pumping gas (ever had your glove freeze to the gas nozzel?)

Anyway, having grown up in Southern California, where my idea of winter was 60 degrees - this kind of weather is extreme! But I've learned not to cry (because your eyelids will freeze shut) and even to laugh when I see things like this when I'm out and about, along with everybody else who lives here! I thought you might like a couple of pictures, so you could laugh along.....

Oh the shame...

2008-02-17T22:09:00.003-06:00

Downtown Dad says: My children and Geo W. Bush's kids have their seventh great grandparents in common.

OK in other words - Downtown Dad's mom and George Herbert Walker Bush are 6th cousins

To bring it down - the common grandmother is Magdalene Chastain who lived from 1735 to 1771 in Manakin Goochland, Virginia - she married Jean Gividen, a French guy from the village of Gividen in France.

And they begat, and they begat, and so on and so on...

As if I'd ever invite them over for Thanksgiving Dinner....

February Face

2008-02-16T13:53:00.000-06:00

"Good morrow, Benedick.
Why, what’s the matter; That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"
–William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

I have a February face today - Why? Because I hate my Blogger layout.

You may say that I, like Benedick am making Much Ado About Nothing, but you would not believe how much time I spent trying to make this layout here work. Oh, I like my new picture and I like the color and design. But it was a "free" layout. Yea verily, we all know you get what you pay for. I hate it because it doesn't work in the background. I can't add graphics, the widget layout function looks like some jigsaw puzzle, and half the time the blogroll disappears for no good reason.

I am an ass for trying to make a free template look like the spiffy ones others have paid good money for! I really want a three column layout - but Blogger doesn't offer one. I'm not savvy enough to know the terminology of what I'm trying to accomplish, and so, I end up cruising the back streets and alleys of the Internets looking for "Free" and yea verily again, we all know what pops up when you put the word free into Google....like I said, I am an ass.

I am just going to have to suck it up and find a design I like and actually pay for it. Hopefully not out the ass...

"O that he were here to write me down an ass, but masters remember that I am an ass, though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass."
-William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

Post Valentine's Day Ode To My One True Love

2008-02-15T20:06:00.000-06:00

We used to hold hands – a lot.

You, so confident and sure of yourself. Me, a giggly bundle of insecurity.

It was just the two of us then, nearly 25 years ago. We’d meet in the morning before work, when we had to hide our newfound love from the bosses, and the exes.

We’d split a blueberry muffin and have a cup of coffee - before coffee was cool, in the town that spawned cool coffee, where salmon spawned, in the town that spawned us.

Things seemed to be more mysterious and slower then, and everything was scary, because nothing was in our control. But everything was new, and everything was undecided and up for grabs, and everything was exciting. There was a road in front of us that was unknown, and we were taking that road.

It was a long time ago, but not long enough ago that I’ve forgotten the feelings. I still feel like I have to check the rearview mirror when I hear Jefferson Starship belting out Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now. I still get the urge to slip off my shoes and play footies with you when we’re at a serious dinner with clients. Sometimes, if I shut out all of the day to day noise… if I squeeze my eyes shut and be very still, I can remember, that tingly tickle in my gut when you, being a touchy person anyway, would, to make a point during our animated conversations, grab my arm, or my leg, and send me to the floor.

I remember that heady mix of delight, desire, and dread. I remember the amazement of being absolutely adored, while absolutely adoring you. I remember loving the fact that we used to hold hands a lot back then. In the car, in the grocery store, going to sleep. It was as if we needed to connect at all times. As if we were afraid if we let go, the magical bond we’d created would somehow dissolve.

Over the years, through time, and tears and tenaciousness, we’ve cemented that tenuous bond. But even though that bond is secure, the truth is, we don’t hold hands that much anymore. Even though we are publicly and legitimately a couple, with 2.5 kids, a mortgage, two careers, pets, and all of the ensuing drama, intimate contact time is harder to come by. A peck on the cheek as we rush out the door, a quick hug while doing the dishes, a drowsy morning, post-alarm cuddle is all we have time for. I honestly miss that tentative, heart-stopping, mysterious throb of new love. And I know you do too.

But, my theory is this – we’ve had our time. We’ve had the highs, and the lows and the in-betweens of building up our relationship stone by stone, and knocking down the brick walls we’d built in the past. Now, now is the time for us to celebrate the present and plan our future. To continue the literary metaphor, this is the denouement of the mysteries of our past. This is the plot twist we didn’t see coming. Call it maturity, call it security, call it coming full circle, call it OZ, but it’s your wisdom, your heart, and courage that bring me home now, not your heady, defiant, politically astute ambition of the past.

What turns me on now is watching you work your daddy-magic. Holding your newborn children, bandaging their first torn skin, listening to their angst-filled tirades, or watching them drive off with their friends, barely licensed themselves. It scares the bejiggers out of you, but you let them go, little by little, that invisible thread connecting your heart to them, stretching a little more each time.

Soon we’ll be just you and me again, and we’ll have the same struggles we had back then, knocking down and building up, getting to know each other, and remembering that you really don’t like to dance, and I really don’t like to sing, and that you can’t remember names and I can’t forget a grudge.

Love, when it is new, holds mystery and potential. Love, as it deepens and matures holds answers and promise. We are different now, than when our love first bloomed. Our lives are busier, faster, fuller, and harder. And granted, sometimes a little less intimate. But with my newfound maturity and your proven competence, I know that we are very close to another road, where there are new mysteries, and challenges, one where we can hold hands again, and explore.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T16:25:00.000-06:00

Just Passing Through On My Way To Crazy

2008-02-13T18:32:00.000-06:00

Up to my elbows in not only snow, but grant writing, asset builders champions, making a presentation on the visioning process, snow, the wonderful pain of fatigued muscles in my back finally releasing due to 3X/week chiropractor adjustments, real estate, snow, oh, and did I mention snow?

...Never Underestimate The Power of Imagination...

2008-02-12T06:30:00.000-06:00

I honestly can't remember on what blog I read this - but it's an interesting study in the old cliches that we use every day and think are familiar. Typically, this is given to first graders, or little kids..... well since I'm fresh outta little kids, I thought I'd give it to my teenagers and see what came of it.

After dinner, when everyone had retreated to their respective TVs, iPods, and computer screens, I handed the sheet of paper I'd printed out to Tessie and Bear and asked them to fill in the blanks. Of course, never wanting to exclude anyone, I also gave one to Downtown Dad. Being the serious sort of guy he is, I expected his to have all the "right" answers. Below are their responses - color coded thusly: Green=Downtown Dad; Pink=Tessie 16; Blue=Bear 14; Black is when all three got the traditional answer....

1. Don’t change horses..... Unless they want you to (spoken like the true veterinarian she'd like to be someday)

2. Strike while the..... Sword is hot (well, really if you think about it - why would you strike someone with an iron anyway?)

3. It’s always darkest before..... Lightest (she is also an artist, therefore thinks in contrasts)

4. Never underestimate the power of..... Dad (that goes without saying)

5. You can lead a horse to water but..... It will still get lost (what?)

6. Don’t bite the hand that..... Feeds you (I'm sure they know this because we say this all the time to our birds - the birds seem to understand it too)

7. No news is..... Good news (that's just boring)

8. A miss is as good as a..... Mrs. who is widowed (ha ha, very funny dear)

9. You can’t teach an old dog new..... Tricks (learned, I assume from owning an old dog)

10. If you lie down with dogs you’ll..... Get bit (he actually did lie down with the dog of a friend once, right by their food dish, got bit too - apparently learned the lesson.)

11. Love all, trust..... No one (that's just sad)

12. The pen is mightier than the..... Sword (can ya tell they all live in a writing and reading family?)

13. An idle mind is..... The mother of dreams (now this just blew me away - that's from Shakespeare!)

14. Where there’s smoke..... There’s Cancer (good girl!)

15. Happy is the bride who..... Married me! (ok, here he is just trying to make up for that widow remark)

16. A penny saved is..... A penny earned (yes, yes, it takes many many pennies to fly to Scotland)

17. Two’s company, three’s..... A party (should I be worried about him?)

18. Don’t put off til tomorrow what..... You can do today (No doubt repeated frequently in this household)

19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and..... You’re sad (Awwww)

20. There are no so blind as..... Three blind mice (OK, but why did they run again?)

21. Children should be seen..... And not heard (I don't know where they learned THAT)

22. If at first you don’t succeed..... Try, try again (Yeop!)

23. You get out of something only what you..... Think (??)

24. When the blind lead the blind..... You’re asking for a traffic jam (how did those blind people get their licenses?)

They run into people (well duh)

They have a fool for a client (I think this is a Heather Mills reference - since the golddigger decided to act as her own attorney in her divorce from Sir Paul... her handicap, besides being insane is that she only has one leg honey, she's not blind - I mean she married Paul McCartney for goodness sake... oh, back to the answers....)

25. A bird in the hand is..... Poop in the palm (Like I said, we have birds)

26. Better late than..... Never (ah, there's relief in that)

Fun Monday - My One Song

2008-02-11T00:01:00.000-06:00

The host this week is Crown Princess from Oooh A Shiny Pen and shey says:

"Music plays a vital role in most of our lives. It is everywhere. I want to hear the ONE song that is you. The song that whenever it is heard, you smile. I am not looking for the soundtrack of your life, just that one song. Your friends hear it and think of you. You can post the video, the lyrics, the wav file. However you want to post it is great."

Well, there's nothing deep or meaningful about this song. There's no boyfriend, or life changing event tied to it in my memory. Its an instrumental, so there are no poetic phrases that resonate within me. When I first heard it, I wanted to star in my own sitcom and have this be the themesong. Like it's title says, listening to it "Feels So Good"

The One Where I Show You Stuff I Like

2008-02-10T16:24:00.000-06:00

I found this meme over at One Bad Mom, and since she could apparently see through my monitor, she spoke directly to me saying that if I was laughing and had an hour or two to spare I should consider myself tagged! Well I was laughing, and whether or not I had an hour or two to spare, I figured since I'm always able to justify or underestimate time - depending on the need, I considered myself tagged!

The rules are this: Answer the questions below using only pictures found online (only the first page of results)

1. The age you will be on your next birthday:

I never really thought of it like this, but yeah, I'm in the "area" of 51... maybe these are the ancient astronauts I was looking for!

2. A place you’d like to visit:

Once again - Auchtermuchty! Someday, someone from here is going to read my blog and see that I am freakishly obsessed with the place and offer me free room and board....

3. Your favorite place:

Goleta, looking toward 'my mountains' sigh....

4. Your favorite object:

I have a handmade, one-of-a-kind, silver unicorn pendant that I always wear, hardly ever take it off - it's my trademark. It looks something like this...

5. Your favorite food:

Not really the take home kind - I'd much rather have them at the restaurant

6. Your favorite animal:

Squirrel Monkeys. I actually had one of these little guys as a pet a long time ago - makes me appreciate my human kids...

7. Your favorite color:

Cobalt Blue.... ooooo icy!

8. The city in which you were born:

Escondido. Actually much further from the ocean and the Mexican border than I always thought.

9. The town in which you live:

Even further from the ocean and the Mexican border!

10. The name of a pet:

Cheechako is my Samoyed dog. It's an Alaskan word for "greenhorn" or newcomer.

11. The first name of your love:

LOL Cats - my new obsession - besides Auchtermuchty, and Dave.

12. Your nickname/screen name:

Actually the nickname is PORK chop, but I just searched for chop... this was a cooler picture than a slab of meat.

13. Your middle name:

I was a little surprised at the pictures that come up on Google Image when I searched my middle name... this was the one on the first page with the least nudity! Apparently Louise is a popular name for porn stars.

14. Your last name:

I would have liked to have had a chance to meet this person. Judging by their tombstone they were just a little ahead of their time.

15. A bad habit of yours:

I don't think words are necessary here - nor, by the way do I think I am alone in this!

16. Your first job:

This might even be THE Danish Bakery I actually worked at!

17. Your dream job:

Maybe not SELF published, but it's on the right track...

18. Your current job:

Yeah, and this is an actual picture of me, in fact all of us Realtors look like this, every day....

19. A Picture you find hilarious:

More LOL Cats... A fud is eatn mah fud! Hahahaha! How can you NOT laugh out loud at that! You'd probably be freaked out by the number of times I can actually fit that phrase into a conversation... I know my kids are.

20. A Picture that inspires you:

They're Pullin' The Wool Over Our Eyes

2008-02-09T17:00:00.000-06:00

OK, I don't write about politics here... but I am married to someone who speaks perfect Political. He has a few things to say about the "rebate" currently being debated in congress....

All My Creative Juices are Elsewhere

2008-02-08T16:04:00.000-06:00

I hadda go and volunteer. I serve on the board of a local youth theatre group, and over the past couple of months we've been working on a more corporate image with some goals and of course the subsequent deadlines related to those goals. One of those goals was a consistent effort to apply for grants. I remember saying somthing like...'I'll do it, how hard can it be?'

I have nothing to write here since all of my words are otherwise occupied.

Drivvel

2008-02-07T22:13:00.000-06:00

I lied. My arm was not better. I finally went to a chiropractor yesterday and again today where he adjusted my poor poor subluxated spine. About 15 more visits and I should be good as new....

Tess and Bear auditioned for the high school spring show last week and YAY - they both made it in!

Real Estate is picking up...

My 84 year old mom was in the hospital over this past weekend with a 104 temperature due to a urinary tract infection. I'm happy to say she's back home and recovered nicely... thanks to the ministrations of a decidedly flaming male nurse who just couldn't stop listening to her, then just couldn't stop telling my sister how FABU-lous her mother was, and who will probably call just to check up on her and bring her some of the tulips he grows.... what is it with the women in my family attracting gay men? What, I haven't mentioned that before....? Oh ho, there's a post for some day!

When Art Is Sometimes An Accident...

2008-02-06T08:13:00.000-06:00

I should have at least taken pictures of the progress, but I knew, 12 rows into knitting what I hoped would turn out to be a felted bowl, that I had done what all of the knitting instructions warn against... I had twisted the stitches while knitting in the round! Gasp!

Part of the reason I didn't take pictures, is because it was just practice, and I'd already messed it up. I figured I'd just rip it all out and start over... But for some reason, I kept going.... wondering why the seemingly simple twist in the stitches was so universally warned against. As the piece grew bigger, I was able to see how, while the upper edge was round and nicely formed, the bottom, where I'd eventually have to join it together, would be sort of... well, half way inside out. But still, I wanted to know, what would happen, so I kept on.

At the end, I decreased the stitches, and learned all kinds of things like different methods of decreasing stitches, and how to switch from the round needle, to working with three kneedles, and finally how to end the piece. I held the finished piced up, looked at it skeptically, and shook my head, because it really didn't look like much. I decided to go ahead and throw it into some hot water with a couple of pairs of jeans to see what it might turn out like - just for the experience.

But what came out of the washer was much more interesting than just a plain old round bowl!

Kind of shell-like, don't you think? But that's the thing about art it's gotta be a one of a kind ... I couldn't recreate that if I tried.

Throw Me Somthin' Mister!

2008-02-05T09:31:00.001-06:00

This is me in my Lady of the Lake costume, during my reign as Duchess of the Krewe de Charlie Sioux in 2001. Even though we live in the midwest, Downtown Dad and I have been members of a real, honest to goodness, State of Louisiana sanctioned, Mardi Gras Krewe for many years.

Sometime in the early nineties, the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana became the sister city of Sioux City, Iowa and as a result of that relationship, the two cities started sharing their culture. In Sioux City, we'd been having a regional free concert called Saturday in the Park over the 4th of July weekend. In Lake Charles, on a slightly smaller, tamer scale than New Orleans, they celebrate Mardi Gras in the spring. It was decided that delegates from Sioux City would travel to Lake Charles once a year to take part in the Mardi Gras festivities, and in return, delegates from Lake Charles would travel to Sioux City over the 4th of July holiday, bringing a Mardi Gras type celebration with them. A responsibility that we accepted, if not soberly, respectfully. We shared our cultural diversity freely with our sister city, affectionately known as Lake Chuck, and they with us. We learned that "Coon-Ass" is a term of endearment, if you are speaking to or about a full-blooded Cajun. They learned that Viking horns are good to hold beads, thus freeing both hands for drinking and hugging.

Imagine, if you will, trying to convince a city of midwestern lutherans that it will be fun to watch 30 people, some of them respectable local business people, dressed up in feathers and sequins, parade up and down the floor of the civic center, and then, just when you think it is over, they'll throw beads at you. It took us a while, but after a few years of offering some spicy cajun cuisine, and aiming high with our bead tossing, they started to come around. In fact, we made some of our longest lasting friendships during those frenetic days of building floats, and hot gluing feathers, and throwing beads.

Downtown Dad and I moved away in 2000, but kept up our Krewe membership until just a couple of years ago, travelling twice a year to Lake Charles, and Sioux City to take part in the parades, galas, and other festivities. Here he is in his Thomas Jefferson outfit, carrying the White House on his shoulders no less, during his reign as Duke of the Deal in 2003. Not pictured here is Bearly, who, being short, portrayed Napoleon, of Bonaparte Realty, trying to get TJ to purchase Louisiana.

Someday soon we will go back to Lake Chuck for Mardi Gras, but tonight, we will have gumbo, and make another futile attempt to recreate the elusive perfection that is a Steamboat Bill's pistolette, and we will look at pictures and say "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" which means Let The Good Times Roll!

Fun Monday - The Bucket List

2008-02-04T06:33:00.000-06:00

Tiggerlane is the host this week for Fun Monday and here is her assignment:

Have you heard of The Bucket List? Well, that's what I want from you! Make a list of things you want to do before you die. It must be at least five items - and you can make it as long as you desire. Photos are optional. And let's hear about some of the wackiest, most bizarre to-do's on your Bucket List!

Well, for me, personally, every list I ever make, changes from day to day, based on what transpires that day. Looking at where I am now in comparison to how far I've come, I'd have to say that my life is just about perfect, today anyway. Everyone in my immediately family is in pretty good health. No, we don't live in a fancy mansion, but our house is just perfectly suited for us and it's in the exact right location. And while I'm still pretty tickled to drive my new car, it's a used one and more economical than elegant. I have THE BEST relationship ever with my husband, and can't imagine any way that life could get any better. Period. My kids are an ongoing challenge, but they make good choices and we make progress on picking up the dirty clothes, and we all love each other... can you really ask for anything more?

.....Sound of a phonograph needle being scraped across a record.....

OK... OK... Five things that, may or may not cause me to say "Now I can die happy."

1. Go to Europe, England specifically. See the Globe Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon... oh and Auchtermuchty, Scotland. Take pictures.

2. Find some pictures, and/or living decendants of my paternal grandmother's side of the family. The Bryant's of Webster County, Kentucky. Sebree, Kentucky to be specific. Emma, her younger brother Clive, their father Thaddeus, or their grandmother Rebecca. Get that all documented and on an Internet Family Tree.

3. Visit the ruins of the Mayan pyramids. Get abducted by ancient astronauts. Take pictures.

4. Write a novel, or a book, or a childrens story, or a pamphlet for God's sake. Write something. Oh, and have it published.

5. Find Mike Tinney. Back in high school, he was my best friend's boyfriend, and the closest thing I had to a big brother. They broke up, but we stayed friends, then he got married to a girl, that according to friends, sent him to his room and never let him out. I miss him. He taught me how to drive cool, but defensively; how to stop hiccupping; the value of making eye contact with friends' parents; how to survive a broken heart; how to light a match in the wind; that it's a long walk home when you're a smart ass to the driver; how to smile when there will never ever be anything to smile at ever again; how to stay close to the people who are your real friends. Maybe he needs to relearn that last one.

But my kids are happy....

2008-02-03T18:39:00.000-06:00

I got through 20 of the 35 things yesterday. I lied to the community theatre director so my daughter could quit the show. I finished my laundry and got the vacuuming done. I got the creative things done that I'd been putting off because they were "fun." I made a fabulous chili for the 10 kids and Downtown dad who will be watching the game. I still haven't caught up on my blog reading.....

Saturday

2008-02-02T18:37:00.000-06:00

Nothing to say...

There is room for 32 items on my Franklin Planner Daily List. I had 35 things to do.....

Random Thoughts...

2008-02-01T22:51:00.000-06:00

Birds of a feather flock together ... and crap on your car.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

If you can smile when things go wrong ... you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name Is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

Did you ever notice that when you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS" together It spells "Theirs?"

Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

Forgive me...

2008-01-31T21:44:00.000-06:00

I have been remiss, my invisible friends... I have not visited your blogs, I have not posted anything interesting or even comment worthy for a while. But, I think - to paraphrase the words of Scarlett O'Hara, "tomorrow will be another day!"

The whole Mouse Shoulder pain thing has really sidelined me. I could not comfortably sit at my computer for more than a couple of minutes. And believe me, I really like to be comfortable to read...actually READ the blogs I visit regularly.

So, today - after being confined to a chair for a two hour meeting, I got into my car and stretched my numb right arm, and tried to do some gentle neck stretches as my doctor had prescribed, but in the midst of one stretch I felt a POP in my neck and immediately, the two fingers on my right hand which had been numb, started buzzing, like your foot after it's been asleep. My shoulder pain turned into a flash of hot fatigued muscles and I immediately felt better.

I'ts taken all day, but the buzzing in my index finger has contained itself to the fingernail and tip, and while the fatigued muscles in my upper back have continued to burn, it's a good burn, like when you've done some good exercize. I truly think I am on the road to recovery! I mean look, I was able to sit here for 20 minutes and compose a spontateous post and it doesn't hurt!

Who Knew?

2008-01-30T21:57:00.000-06:00

The women born in the 50's and early 60's will understand this...

I was watching VH1's "I Love the 70's" and learned this shocking fact:

Maureen McCormick, better known as Marsha Brady was the voice for the Chatty Cathy doll!

Weird.

I thought, - no way, the age isn't right. So what did I do? I Googled it. Google in all it's rainbow colored knowledge told me that Maureen indeed was ONE of the voices, but the first voice was June Foray, better known as Rocket J. Squirrel.

Weirder.

Frightful!

2008-01-29T19:08:00.000-06:00

The weather here has been ... well ... frightful! Especially frightful for me since Downtown Dad and Bear were supposed to fly home yesterday evening just as our bitter cold temps started to drop, from a summer-like 40 degrees in the afternoon, to a bone chilling 20 below. Here in the frozen tundra we know that this 60 degree change in temperature is what creates our signature winds, adding wind chill to the already numbing cold. After circling for quite a while, and an attempted landing, at just 800 feet from the ground the pilot of their plane pulled back up and returned to Minneapolis. The winds were THAT strong. Anyway, they were able to fly home this afternoon, and we were all very glad to see each other.

But with Downtown Dad home, the TV viewing changes. It goes from Oprah and old movies to All Campaign, All The Time. I don't know how he watches that stuff. To me, it's as painful as the soon to be rejected contestants singing on American Idol. And I'm not really talking about the candidates themselves. Lord love 'em, they are practicing their speeches and they do keep the non-union writers busy. Some, more convincingly than others, but no, what I'm talking about is the... well ... the talking. Endless hours of speculating, and spinning and arguing, by the news readers. People who, while obviously well known, at the heart of it all are really just entertainers. Actors who, for one reason or another took "a desk job." Maybe because they look better from the waist up than they do in an action shot. Maybe the live theatre of stand up comedy was too personal for them and it was easier to deliver their sparkling repartee and rhetoric to a camera. Why do we let them tell us what to think?

And here's another question. Have you noticed how freaking much money is spent on campaigns? Millions and millions of dollars. I suppose I can justify the spending, since it does go back into our American economy. And I understand that the candidates are, in addition to being a presidential hopeful, full time fundraisers. I go back to my first sentence for the word that best describes the amount of money that is spent ... Frightful!

Here's my question to you my invisible friends: Doesn't it seem wrong that only RICH people can afford to run for President?

Fun Monday - What's In Your Nightstand?

2008-01-27T23:13:00.000-06:00

Angela at The Lurchers isn't really nosy, but as she puts it, she's just interested in people. So as host of this week's Fun Monday, she wants to know what's on, in, or under our bedside tables? She says: "So open those drawers and bare your soul to us! Is there anything special there that has a story or a memory that you can tell us about? Books that you keep there to delve into from time to time? Trinkets that you don't know where else to put? Let's see."

OK, here's my night stand...

Lovely isn't it? And that lamp! Pure elegance, AND there's another one just like it on Downtown Dad's side! It has taken us years to acquire a 'grown up' bedroom set. There are my reading materials - The Name of The Wind, Bear's recommendation, kind of a wizard-ish saga, pretty good; Get In The Game, some group sales rah rah crap, I'm only pretending to read it; Better Homes and Gardens magazine. What's that? Boring you say... well, maybe on the outside... lets have a look in the drawer...
Well, that's a little more interesting... Breathe Right Strips, throat spray, chapstick, my foot sander and Kerasal cream, a journal and a few pens, some Burts Bees hand cream and a coaster, so my Sleepy Time Tea, or other nightcap doesn't leave rings on my aforementioned lovely night stand. I guess all you can tell from this is that I'm trying to keep from snoring and I have calluses on my feet. Still boring? OK, open up the bottom cabinet...

There it is... that's what you were looking for! A rolled up heating pad! Yes, you've found me out! My dirty little secret is that I have back pain! What? You want to know what that other thing is... well, OK, but it's really nothing... just an old cardboard shoebox that holds my journals from 1972 through 1975. I literally wrote something every day of my life in 1973 and 74 going on and on about the three things in my life I spent the most time thinking about - boys, getting high, and hating my dad. Then, in 1975 my dad found my journals, took them, read them and hid them from me. I took them back, bound them up in this shoe box, taped it up, wrote some vaguely ominous threats to anyone who might try to open it and then wrapped it in a blanket and hid it in my cedar chest. I've opened the box since then. Sometimes I pick a year and read a couple of months worth of entries... it's like going back in time to visit the 15 year old me.

Knitting Zen

2008-01-27T18:47:00.000-06:00

I said yesterday that I wanted to try working with felting yarn... so... since Downtown Dad and Bear have gone on a political field trip to Washington DC for a couple of days, and Tessie's social calendar was filled up with trips to the mall...I thought since I got all of my housework done, it would be safe for me to venture out to a craft store to see what it would cost to start yet another hobby.

To do the felting part, which is just basically shrinking an article that you have knitted, you have to use 100% wool yarn, so I went out and bought two of these 100% wool skeins of yarn.

One of these two packs of pointy-on-both-ends knitting needles - Size 8 mm...I'm going to assume that size is significant somewhere down the road....

...and one size 8 circular needle with 24 inch.... um... length of circularity.

Yikes...how did that wine glass get in there?

Anyway, according to the "Free Pattern Inside" the yarn label, that's all I'd need to knit a Felted Hat. Not that I'd go into this thinking that I could make a wearable hat my first go, but, it looked like pretty simple straight forward knitting.

Wrong.

Dear "Label-On-Yarn-Makers," I believe I need a rudimentary education in speaking Yarneese. M1, S2KP, K2tog, P2sso.... excuse me? Your attempts to explain your secret knitting code falls far short of those of us who are ~~too cheap to buy a book on knitting~~ actually peel off the lable, and attempt to follow your free pattern. Pictures, people. I need pictures!

So, in case any other knewbie knitters out there are trying to get in touch with their inner kneedleness, I share with you now my journey to Knitting Zen.

These first steps I dug out of my memory of watching my mom when I was 10, but in order to take this project from beginning to end, you have to start somewhere. It also doesn't help matters that Downtown Dad and Bear took my "good" camera, and left me with the substandard one.

1. First make a slip knot and slide it onto the needle

2. Then cast stitches on to the needle with more slip knots

3. Hold the needle with the stitches on in in your non-dominant hand, and slide the other needle under the first stitch.

4. Pull the yarn around the back of the empty needle and then between where they are crossed.

Then, here's the tricky part, bring the right needle's point down, and under the loop you just made with the yarn you pulled through the two needles flipping the stitch from the left needle to the right.

After scouring the Internet for patterns and explanations, I decided to just start knitting and see what I came up with. I started out with 15 stitches, ended up at one point with 75, then 150. Somewhere in the course of the evening, I decided not to make the hat, but to make a bowl because that sounded easier...
Somewhere also in the course of the evening, I had a few glasses of wine....

This is what I came up with. I have mad knitting skillz. Wicked mad.

Tinkering With The Knitty Gritty

2008-01-26T21:06:00.000-06:00

It would have never occurred to me to take on the nitty gritty plumbing or electrical portion of house renovations Downtown Dad and I have undertaken in years past. There are just too many hidden things, too many technical secrets best left to the professional wizards who have gone to school to learn how to do these things. I stick with the hauling out, and the sweeping up - these are things I understand. It's like a car - I know that you put the key in the hole, turn it and if there is sufficient gas, the thing will start. Occasionally, you have to put other liquids in it, and there are things like tire pressure and spark plugs that can be monitored and maintained by a mechanic - thus insuring that when I turn the key, the car will start.

Did I keep any of this in mind the past couple of days when I started monkeying with the plumbing and electrical workings of my blog? No. I flung open the hood and started twisting, and poking and discarding and trying to cram square pegs I wished were round, into holes I didn't want to be round but were.

Thank you to everyone who visited and commented. I really like the look, and I'm getting used to the layout. The picture makes a little more sense of the name of the blog and now I've got spaces and the ability to put in the things I want to. It will probably change again, but at least things are going in the general right direction.

I also have found something non-blog related that I'm aching to try! And a way to tie in the first paragraph to this one... It's Felting knitted projects. I probably just climbed out of a hole from the stone age, but I just learned about this and I'm really excited to try it! I remember my mother used to knit my dad's socks. He had some kind of foot sensitivity and needed pure wool socks so she knit them for him. She pretty much was knitting all the time, and taught me to knit too - although I was too 'cool' to do anything like that at the time. I remember doing the laundry once, when she broke her foot and I used hot water for everything. What I ended up with were several pairs of 'elf shoes' which I thought made great slippers - that feeling was not shared by my parents. I'm going to try a bowl, for my first project. I'll keep you posted with pictures, patterns and progress!

A NEW Look!

2008-01-25T17:53:00.000-06:00

Pardon the dust...I'm remodeling... hopefully I'll have all the fonts and widgets and links working in a day or two...

Let me know what you think.

Six Things About Me

2008-01-24T19:56:00.000-06:00

Somewhere between asking you all to tell me where to go, and my little pity party over shoulder pain, I was tagged by the unquenchably hilarious TX Poppet at Canned Laughter, to do the Six Things Meme. She would like me to share with you six inconsequential habits, quirks, or things about me that you wouldn't otherwise know. So, aided and abbetted by pain pills and muscle relaxants, I will be interested in reading tomorrow what I tell you tonight....

But first, the rules:

Link to the person that tagged you
Post the rules on your blog
Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website

#1. I am a Trekkie. Not a Trekker as the large organized group likes to call themselves. I am more of a loner and actually a purist, because I really only like the original series, oh, and William Shatner. I once found myself standing next to him in a crowd and when I noticed who it was that I was next to, I screamed and ran away.

#2. I abhor being called a 'Gal.' I can understand and tolerate 'chick' 'dame' 'lady' 'girl' or any other generic group name for females, flattering or unflattering - just not gal. Probably stems from my years as a secretary and that nameless, faceless steno-pool connotation.

#3. I am a grammar and spelling snob. If you misspell or mispronounce something, or don't know the difference between their, they're, and there, I will judge you. The two funniest instances of word butchering came from the same woman I worked for, who, while presenting a class on customer service, referred to something as the "last Sebastian of defense" and warned another class not to let something be their "escape goat."

#4. I absolutely believe in Fate, and Psychics, and Ghosts, and Fortune Tellers.

#5. I love it when our friends, or our kids' friends walk into our house without knocking, but I cannot bring myself to do that - even with my closest friends or family.

#6. When I clean house, I have to work in a clockwise direction.

Six of you are tagged:

Barb at Picture This At Last

Dave at A Revival of Conscience

Newrose at Dracos Rose

Cynthia at Darling I Love You But Give Me Park Avenue

Kaycie at Lost in the Bible Belt

Faye at Summit Musings

Thats A Stretch

2008-01-23T17:55:00.000-06:00

After storming into my doctor’s office today, brandishing kitchen shears and demanding that she amputate my right arm, she calmly told me that my recent pain was caused by a pinched nerve. The nerve however is in my neck, not my shoulder, and the pain is more likely due to sleeping with my head at a slightly cockeyed angle, than nerve damage from mouse clicking. She couldn’t imagine how regular computer activities could be active enough to cause immediate pain. ...Well, apparently the woman doesn’t blog! I’ve been engaging in quite a bit of active blogging lately. You know what I mean....

I’m nearly breathless from miles and miles of link following
My sides hurt quite often from hearty belly laughing
My eyes are loose in their sockets from the cartoon double-takes I do when I read about some bloggy adventure.
And, while not even a little bit of my ass has actually come off when I am ROTFLMAO, I’d guess the rolling on the floor could pinch a nerve or two.

So all this got me to thinking. When one engages in physical activity, it’s probably wise to stretch, or warm up beforehand. I’ve heard that the biggest reason people get injured is due to decreased flexibility or failing to stretch. And while this pinched nerve thing is the closest I’ve ever come to a sports related injury (unless you count the pool-table-pole-vaulting incident) its something I spend quite a bit of time doing, and given the pain I’ve experienced the last couple of days – something I’d better learn to do right! So I'm going to be limbering up before I head off to visit my invisible friends from now on... Of course you can take things a bit too far….

Mouse Shoulder

2008-01-22T19:53:00.000-06:00

Apparently I'm spending too much time Blogging. I have developed a shooting pain in my right shoulder that as far as Google can tell me, is caused by the tiny movements made by clicking and moving my mouse!

So, along with renewing my hormone prescription tomorrow, I will ask my doctor if there is any cure for this painful debilitating condition, short of ending my budding Blogging career!

Fun Monday - The View From My Front Door

2008-01-21T09:04:00.000-06:00

This Monday is the first anniversary of Fun Monday. In honor of that, Vicki at Catch the Light is our host, since, because she was nosy, she started all this Monday Funness one year ago. Today, like last year, she would like to see the view from our front doors - or a repost of the Fun Monday post from last year in which she had the same request. I hadn't joined yet last year so here is what I see from my front door today.

It is a little dark, but I wanted to catch the view as the sun was coming up, since the sunrises, which can be seen from three separate windows in my house, are what ultimately endeared us to this place. The house faces North, but the front door faces East. Our Front Door is a full, clear-glass front door, with a full, clear-glass storm door. A lovely window on our little corner of the world... but windows have a way of going both ways! Because of that, I was glad this week's picture WAS NOT What People See When They Come To Your Door. Initially, we planned to replace the front door immediately with something that would limit the outside world's view of us as we darted down the hall, or up the stairs in our various stages of morning undress. But as time went by, and each new day's sunrise greeted us with a different array of pink, or violet, or light streaked clouds, our opinion of the glass doors softened - and we learned to wear robes, and pants.

My First Award!

2008-01-20T22:32:00.000-06:00

I got this very cool award from Hootin Anni today. She thinks I am an Excellent Blogger! It reminds me of the old days at Disneyland, when the cool rides were an E Ticket! Thanks Anni, I like being an E Ticket. Scoot on over to visit her because she has links to 9 other Excellent Bloggers she has awarded.

Tell Me Where To Go!

2008-01-19T12:47:00.000-06:00

In August, Downtown Dad and I, along with two other couples will be travelling to Edinburgh, Scotland. Yes, our kids are in the production of High School Musical which they have been invited to perform at the Fringe Festival there, but - since there are like 80 chaperones going, and we parents have heard more than once "you're not going to STAY with us, are you?" in a horrified tone from our young actors - the six of us have decided that we will take our long overdue European Holiday like the old hippies-at-heart that we all are.... uh, were.

To that end - we are rejecting the group travel package that is offered to us with airfare and lodgings at the Edinburgh Holiday Inn Express, opting rather, to use our horded frequent flier miles and to stay somewhere more akin to our collective mental image of what the English countryside is like...

Stone cottage bed and breakfasts...

castles...

Inns with funny names...

...you get the picture. We'll rent a car and try to drive on the left hand side of the road, we'll hike the rocky heaths, we'll walk through the heathered hillside, we'll window shop along cobblestone streets, we'll rest our weary old bones next to the fire and drink too much Guiness....

But how to find these culturally rich, but off the beaten path places? Aha! That's where you come in, my invisible friends!

It is no coincidence that you happened to visit my blog! You know someone who lives in Scotland or England, or live, have lived or visited there yourself! You know some amazing things to see and do there AND for some strange reason, you are compelled to pass that information along to me! C'mon, it'll be fun! All you have to do is leave a comment here with your suggestion, a referral to someone you know, or recommendation of a place to visit or a place to stay. If, and here's the catch, IF I get enough response, I'm going to create a "Tell Me Where To Go" sidebar list and I'll link to your site. Then, in August, I'm going to do a daily travelog of the adventures of six aging boomers in Brittain, where I'll mention and link to you again, with pictures, if we visit or see your suggestion. Sound like fun? Of course it does!

On this trip, we hope to make an obligatory showing for at least one of the kids' performances in Edinburgh, but then I have three must-see points of interest.

1. Auchtermuchty

2. The Globe Theater

and Stratford Upon Avon

3. Stonehenge

Google Earth has kindly helped me visualize where things are in respect to where we want to go. According to GE's driving directions, there is a freeway, or highway called M6 which goes from Edinburgh through London, and it appears that all along the way, there are inns and hotels, and all sorts of assorted lodging opportunities. We are up for staying at, or at least drinking at any one or all of the places we get recommendations from you on! So come on now, you've got opinions, I know that much for sure! Tell me where to go!

Four Things Meme

2008-01-18T23:00:00.000-06:00

OK, it's 11:11 p.m. I've got nothing in my head, so here are four things about me that you may or may not have known, in no particular order.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1) Assistant Manager at Household Finance Corporation
2) Customer Service Auditor at The Temporary Connection
3) Administrative Assistant at Belle of Sioux City Casino
4) Public Relations Assistant at MeritCare Hospital

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1) Casablanca
2) Goodbye Girl
3) Gone With The Wind
4) Wizard of Oz

Four places I have lived:
1) Goleta CA
2) Bothell WA
3) Houston TX
4) Sioux City IA

Four places I have been:
1) Lahaina, Hawaii
2) Lake Charles, Louisiana
3) Sedona, Arizona
4) Sequim, Washington

Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
1) Kimisue
2) Wheat
3) Downtown Dad
4) Viagra salesmen

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Corn Tortillas
2) Green Tea Frappuccinos
3) Pie Crust
4) Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

Four places I would rather be right now:
1) Friday Harbor Washington
2) On a large sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
3) New York
4) With friends

Making A Difference

2008-01-17T20:59:00.001-06:00

Last year, I acted on my "resolutions" slowly throughout the whole year - slipping in and out of my resolve like a greased pig out of its pen. (That was my obligatory dirty reference in homage to the title of this blog). One of the things I intended to accomplish was a notion pretty vaguely outlined in my head... get involved, make a difference. I wish I might have been a little more specific, so as to limit perhaps how involved I actually became. This year already I've spent more time in committee meetings, planning sessions and seminars than I have at my real job - Real Estate (no pun intended... well, ok yeah, the pun was intended - the dorkiness however, was not).

As a part of the Chamber of Commerce Leadership class I'm involved in, we have an assigned project that we work on throughout the year. Our project this year is to establish a community wide Asset Champions Network after the model established in St. Louis Park, MN. When we first heard about this - 3 months ago - we all looked at each other blankly. What is an Asset Champion? And why do they need a network? Briefly, a study was done which showed that there are 40 Assets that young people need in order to grow up making good choices and eventually become a productive adult in society. These Assets are things like positive family communication, a caring neighborhood, other positive adult relationships. Asset Builders are like mentors, or role models - adults who provide one or more Assets to a young person. Asset Champions are Asset Builders who help other Asset Builders recognize how valuable they are in a young person's life and support or encourage them to continue. Confusing, yes? I'm still not sure I quite get it....

Tonight, we held our first training session for Asset Champions. Someone other than me (thank goodness) explained the theory and after 3 months of putting together this presentation, once I saw it done, I actually started to get it, and I think, once it gets put into action, it will make a difference for some kids - a big difference!

Anyway, getting my head around that, and coordinating this presentation to be included in my work with theatre kids, as well as trying to be a good Realtor has pretty much drained my brain today. I wanted to write it down, to see if I actually could get the message across in less than 30 seconds. If you are still reading this far - you are a trooper! If you understand Asset Builders, even a little bit after reading this, drop a comment and let me know - it will make a difference in my life. Thanks for reading.

To Dream The Impossible Dream

2008-01-16T19:58:00.000-06:00

As I was belatedly catching up on reading all my favorite blogs today, I happened upon this fellow Hedgewizard - He was talking about suffering an emotional breakdown after his marriage broke up, and just about the time he thought he'd pulled it all back together, a song came on popular play that seemed to sum up his feelings and attach itself to that time in his life. Even today, he dares not let that song play on the car radio for fear of weeping. I'm not familiar with British music, but the link he provides is a haunting ballad by Kate Bush. I'd suggest closing your eyes for the video part, since it does not even closely match the music, and is in fact, jarring. But the gaelic words and music pluck a melancholy note and it is easy to see how this song might tie itself to a heartbreaking time.

Unfortunately for me, I experienced my first love and heartbreak, not in the heather scented heaths of Scotland, but in the 70's in Southern California, where the hills were alive with the sound of Bee Gees and Jim Croce and the Eagles. The best I can come up with is this one from Lobo that sums up the candy-pop era of my mostly imagined and tragically brief love affair with a James Dean-esque motorcycle jock. At least the song that tugs on my heart strings isn't a Barry Manilow song like Downtown Dad....

But, back to Hedgewizard. His challenge to the blogosphere in general, is this: Losing a love is like creating a window in your heart. When that window opens, so do the tear floodgates many times, just with the first notes of a particular song that touches you. I'm guessing that Hedgewizard and I are not the only ones to have such a "window in the heart" and we'd very much like to hear about the songs that open your windows. If you like the idea, then please take it as a meme and post the button below into a blog entry of your own along with a story, or at least a mention of that one song that always makes you cry.

OK, if that's too deep for you - try this impossible quiz - it is to say the least quite impossible!

Tribute Tuesday #3 - Sisters

2008-01-15T15:50:00.000-06:00

This is the third installment of weekly offerings here at Straight Up and Slightly Dirty called Tuesday Tributes. Please comment here and let me know if you'd like to participate next week by posting a tribute to one of the characters in your life.

Barb at Picture This At Last has a really nice double tribute.

Now here's mine:

An older sister helps one remain half child, half woman. ~Author Unknown

In the flickering recesses of my memory, back when I was an 8mm black and white four year old, I fell in love with my big sisters. Both of them, tall and movie-star glamorous, Channel #5 styled and sprayed, with smiling red lips, and high heels. They were nearly 20 years old when I came into their world, yet they graciously accepted me and took me with them to movies, and out for ice cream cones. What little girl wouldn’t feel special and lucky just to be around them?

We grew up separated by distance as well as age, so those early perceptions of my sisters never got the chance to ripen in the day to day details of tearful midnight talks or giggled whispers. They remained static icons of perfection, and became two pillars in the foundation of what I envisioned would someday be the grownup me.

One sisterly pillar, so traditional, so devoutly determined and scripturally secure in her one and only marriage with six children. She was always there with a sorghum sweetened “bless your heart” regardless if it was fabulous news or a heart wrenching failure. The second, standing just as staunchly, almost the antithesis of the other - a divorced career woman with an only child, headstrong and strong willed, with the audacity to rebel against the traditional. Her car, as she urgently whispered to me as I dressed for my wedding, was at the ready in the church parking lot, in case I decided to take her advice and flee the altar.

Though we are still twenty some years apart in age, we are much closer in life experience, but I must admit I still harbor a little hero-worship for these amazing women. Now though, those feelings are based on a very real respect for the lives they have led, the battles they have fought, and the impact that they as real people have had on me. In my sisters’ eyes, I will probably always be a black and white four year old, but that just gives me the freedom to fall in love with them all over again.

Fun Monday - Websites That Changed My Life (or at least a few hours of it)

2008-01-14T07:14:00.000-06:00

Ann over at For The Long Run is this week's hostess for Fun Monday, and she wants to hear about a web site, and not just about any old web site... no, she wants to hear about a web site that's changed your life! A web site that you can't live without. A web site whose inventor you'd like to see win a McArthur Genius Grant....

Well, OK Ann, but that's going to take some thinking. I mean sure we can all say 'what in the world would we do without Google?' But that's just the point, we can all say that... We're doing this so we can learn something new - so we can find the link to some hidden e-fountain of youth, or secret to untold i-treasures! Well, I don't have the links to either of those things, but I took a look at my Favorites list and while no one website on that list has actually changed my life, I'm pretty sure a few of them affected significant alterations. I also have a terrible time limiting myself to just one anything, so here are a few websites I frequent that may not actually change your life, but could be useful:

Susan Miller's Forecasts at Astrology Zone. Ok, this is going to sound all "woo woo" and maybe last year was a case of a 'self fulfilling prophecy' but Susan's two page free monthly horoscopes, for me anyway, have been eerily right on. She explained in January 2007, that for Saggitarians, the alignment of the planets would be extremely fortuitous, and if we Sags played our cards right we would get just about anything we asked for. Any by golly, if she wasn't right, for me anyway.

Ancestry.com, along with Downtown Dad's membership there and his patient genealogical tutoring, helped me track down some elusive relatives on my paternal grandmother's side of the family. Tracing the women in your family is infinitely harder than the men, since their names tend to change, and they don't always read or write, and sometimes they have secrets they don't want told....

The first Blog I ever read "This Fish Needs A Bicycle" and this beautiful entry inspired me to start my own blog, and to write every day in hopes of coming up with something close. I haven't made it yet, but I keep trying.

If you are looking for something that will suck up hours of your time, go to Wordlab. I'm not sure I have that many things in my life need naming so badly, but if you need a word, or a group of words for something, you can find it there. They also have a quirky intelligent voice in their writing style, with links to all things linguistic. Plus, they have a blogroll to die for that opens up links to more languagey sites, with more blogrolls that link to more wordish people, who link to more, and so on and so on.

Like I said, hours of your time....

And I Still Haven't Found.... OK, maybe I have...

2008-01-13T22:27:00.000-06:00

I was at a loss for a post so I stole this from Maui Girl. I suppose I've always wanted to have a band - though I can't carry a tune in a bucket, and lord knows if I was in a band I'd be ALL OVER making the Cover Art! Here's how it goes:

You are about to create your own band's CD cover. Follow these directions to the letter. It's fun and requires no thought at all.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7daysThe third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post. Also, post it in your own blog because it’s more amusing that way.

Steal this if you want - and have fun... I'm OK with the fact that I have a Celtic Woman sort of band name with a socially conscious album title taken from an Eleanor Roosevelt quote... maybe we'd do covers of U2 songs.... Ah, I can see the negotiations with Bono now.....

For Men - The Nine Phrases Women Use, Explained

2008-01-12T09:35:00.000-06:00

"Fine" This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you just need to shut up.
"Five Minutes" If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. "Five Minutes" is only "five" minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
"Nothing" This is the calm before the storm. This means "Something," and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "Nothing" usually end in "Fine."
"Go Ahead" This is a dare, not permission. Do NOT Do It!
"A Loud Sigh" This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A Loud Sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here arguing with you about "Nothing." (See # 3 for the meaning of "Nothing.")
"That's Okay" This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. "That's Okay" means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
"Thanks" A woman is thanking you, do not question it. Just say You're Welcome. (Disclaimer: This is true, unless she says "Thanks A Lot," which is PURE sarcasm, and she is not thanking you at all. In this case, DO NOT say "You're Welcome" that will only bring on a "Whatever" See #8).
"Whatever" This is a women's way of saying "Are You That Incredibly Stupid?" You have made a fatal error!
"Don't Worry About It, I've Got It" Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in the man asking "What's Wrong?" to which the woman's understandable response would be "Nothing" (See # 3).

Thanks for this post goes to my BFF and fellow fifty-year-old Kimisue, who does not have a blog, but does read this one, but rarely, if ever, comments - to which I say "That's Okay"

Interesting

2008-01-11T23:59:00.000-06:00

Delurkers Thank You. It was really good to hear from you.
But if you really want comments - post about pets.

Delurk, ya jerk!

2008-01-10T19:46:00.000-06:00

Some dude I just clicked on named Rude Cactus decided that today is Delurking Day, but after doing some quick research I realized that according to some other blogs, it's actually Delurking Week! And according to Dad2twins - if you don't delurk - you're a commie! Greeblemonkey picked up the thread and made this graphic. Well, it was so cute I just had to put it up!

Its funny, I've been thinking about lurkers recently, so this is very timely! Just the other day, I hit 3,000 views, and today it's 100 more, but do I have 100 comments? No. Are my posts so unfriendly that I repel your comments? I look at my feed traffic stats and see familiar towns and cities, but nary a note from a long lost friend or even a whassup from a new acquaintance. Why, Santa Barbara, California don't you say hello? I grew up there, we might even know each other! Bothell, Washington - who are you? Do you live anywhere near the first house I bought at 18% interest back in 1980? Cedar Rapids, Iowa - we have relatives there, are you one of them? Edinburgh, Scotland - hi! We're coming to visit you this summer... we should talk! Irmo, South Carolina - if you are not my niece Michelle, then you certainly must know her!

As usual for me, when I am inspired, a limerick is usually not far behind, so I'll leave you all tonight with some spur of the moment, homemade delurking culture, and honestly, I think it's pretty good, but - what do you think?

If blogging’s a real line of work
And comments, the ultimate perk
Then get off of the fence
Put in your two cents
But please don’t continually lurk!

Essential Oils

2008-01-09T22:06:00.000-06:00

Because it is now way too late to write anything... I'm going to give a plug to my baby sister who, actually, in all honesty, probably saved my mother's life with her knowlege of aromatherapy and the pharmaceutical use of essential oils. I'm talking things like shingles, eye disorders, acid reflux, brittle bones... you name it - my mom had it, and Vicki cured it.... well, maybe she didn't exactly cure it, but she eased the symptoms to the point where they weren't as debillitating as they had been to my elderly mom. Here's her website Healing With Essential Oils. Take a look if you have some time.

Tuesday Tribute #2 - Take a Dip in the Ceement Pond Paw

2008-01-08T01:00:00.000-06:00

This is the second installment of weekly offerings here at Straight Up and Slightly Dirty called Tuesday Tributes. I asked all my bloggy friends to write a tribute post to one of the characters in their lives. Outrageous characters, incorrigible scoundrels, or just ordinary people. Please visit the links here and take the opportunity to meet some interesting characters!

Here is Susan, from A Slice of Life. She seems pretty normal, but I just found out she has some pretty scary critters she calls pets. I can't wait to see what other "characters" she writes about!

And this is my Sister-in-law, Barb. Her tribute is to one of the more incorrgible scoundrels in her life. She has cleverly shrouded this horrible person in the guise of a story - to which I say, Brilliant!

Josie from C'est La Vie may or may not be participating - she's taking a little break this week to catch up on her beautiful drawings. Although she did write a pretty darn funny "tribute" to a Black Widow. That's gotta count for something!

And here's my Tribute for this week. I'ts a repost about a couple I showed some houses to back in 2005. Maybe that's cheating, but like I said yesterday - I'm celebrating!

Take A Dip in the Ceement Pond, Paw

I am lucky enough to show houses for a living. I am lucky in that while doing this, I get to know people from all walks of life by listening to their stories and we usually become friends in the process. At closing I usually give my new friends a small gift to thank them for doing business with me based on something I’ve learned about them. Last year I helped a young couple purchase a monster of a house courtesy of Microsoft’s obscenely high salaries. I helped another couple purchase an ancient farm house with 11 acres and a barn they couldn’t wait to paint red. A young man wisely invested his inheritance in a home with room for his pool table, and a single mom bought her first home with the solid wood floors she’d always dreamed of.Last week I spent the day showing rural houses to a couple whose price range tops out at $40,000 – if they can find a family member who will co-sign. Nelly and Norman are in their 50s. They currently live in a trailer court where they and the other residents are being bullied out so the owner can clear the land and build condos. Norman is a Native American Viet Nam vet on disability. Nelly is a short, round diabetic with a mother complex and has not only adopted all of the animals in the trailer park, but also the various disabled and otherwise affected residents. Nelly adores Norman; it says so on her cell phone screen. Norman is tall, with a shambling gait, has few teeth, and tends to mutter with his deep low voice. They are, without much imagination at all, Maw and Paw Rugg of the 1965 Hillbilly Bears cartoon.When we go on our tour of homes, it’s usually for most of the day. Maw Nelly sits in front and navigates, equipped with her travel mug and a steel thermos of black coffee, the screw-off cup of which she gives to Norman, who sits in the back. I have learned more than I need to know about the cast of characters who populate their trailer court from Nelly’s tales of woeful abuse, punctuated occasionally by Paw Norman’s wheezy laugh. Sometimes Paw will be inspired to string together a few words, such as when a house is just too ridiculously small. He will continue to comment on the fatal flaw, his garbled comments apparently directed to the back of the seat or out the window, not requiring any response from me. But after a while he’ll return to his silence interrupted only by that raspy chuckle and an unintelligible word or two. Somehow, a memory sparked in Norman and he began an epicurean expose’ worthy of the food channel. Since I did not have a schedule of Paw Norman’s train of thought, his sudden departure took me by surprise. I thought he was still commenting on the last house we’d been in and I had been nodding blankly into the rear view mirror for quite a while before I realized the subject of his impassioned account. “…Better’n dat stuff from t’ grocery…. Harrup! Yup, could eat it all day,” Paw chortled. “Not too hard, y’ know? Heeeweeeweee!” He muttered to his coffee cup. “But not too soft neither!” he declared, directly to my eyes in the rear view mirror. “What?” “Tasty too, Mmmm mmmm. Harrup! Kinda smooth-like, ya smooooooth. Mmm mmm.”“What is?’“You ain’t never had none? Ohhhh its gooooood. Heeweewee!”“Had what?”“Dat gummintchee! Harrupp! Heeeweewee!”“I beg your pardon?” I snapped, thinking for some reason he was cussing at me.“Gummintcheese!” he carefully said leaning forward.He was talking about Government Cheese. That unearthly orange brick of surplus pasteurized “cheese-product” doled out to welfare recipients. No I hadn’t ever had any, preferring instead its overpriced substitute, Velveeta.“Oh” I bit my lip and tried hard to think of something nice to say about Government Cheese, but Nelly stepped in to save me from lying.“We’re just about done looking for today Paw, when we get home I’ll make up some grilled cheese sandwiches.”“Harrup! Harrup! Mmmm mmmm.” He mumbled happily. “Smoooooth.”A smile crept over me as I drove silently on, planning how I would score a couple boxes of Government Cheese for their closing gift.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

2008-01-07T19:48:00.000-06:00

There is cause for celebration - on many accounts today!

First, and obviously - Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert will be returning to the airwaves to help the rest of us make sense of what's been happening since the long dark ages of the writer's strike began. Ahhhhhhh! I know my family will not be alone, as we once again gather around the warm blue glow of the Comedy Channel!

Secondly, I think I'm getting a new car! I have been systematically looking for something that might somehow combine the ability to haul around my Realtor clients, and my kids, and yet be cooler than a minivan (OK, well, really anything is cooler than a minivan, so than one's a gimme), and still have the three things I really need in a vehicle. It has to be silver, black, or white, it has to have a CD player, and it has to have an autostart. Well, yeah, it has to have low mileage, and it has to run, but really other than that, I still go back to those three things. I searched through CarSoup.com using the year, the mileage, the color and the autostart feature, and voila! This is what I found....

The bank is working out all the details, meanwhile, I continue to drive my ancient minivan that has no door to the gas tank, practically invisible headlights, a stupid am/fm radio, and a happy meal toy lodged forever in petrified Coke in the back seat cupholder.

Next, Downtown Dad is the featured speaker at my Realtor's meeting tomorrow and I get to introduce him. OK, maybe this isn't cause for celebration... actually this is cause for panic if you really want to know.... yikes!

OK, another thing I'm excited about is that tomorrow is the first time I will be hosting a group event here at Straight Up and Slightly Dirty! If you haven't read it already, in last Tuesday's post, I announced that I would hold Tuesday Tributes. If you've got a character in your life, I want you to share them with us. It doesn't have to be long, just stop ripping off the human race by keeping these characters to yourself! Let me know if you'd like to participate and I will link to you so we can all share! I have heard from a stalwart few, but it's not too late to give it a go - at least for one week anyway.

The last thing I'm excited about is this - The hilarious Bossy is taking a road trip across the US this summer, and wants to visit her bloggy friends in their natural habitats. If you'd like be a stop on her most excellent road trip, email Bossy. In that email be sure to provide your name and blog name if you have one—along with your address. Let her know if you have a sofa for Bossy to crash on, or if you’re just interested in meeting for a quick cup of coffee. In turn, she'll send you this cool little button thingy -

We'll see if Fargo is intriguing enough to garner a stop off. I'm pretty sure the snow will be melted by then.

Oh, and one more thing - look to your left there in the sidebar - sometime today - Straight Up and Slightly Dirty had it's 3,000th visitor! Woot!

Gee, all that celebratin' and nary a champagne glass in sight.... I must be slipping!

Birds and Dogs and Furballs - Oh My!

2008-01-06T20:38:00.000-06:00

I must be needing some ideas for posts I guess, so I joined up with Fun Monday.

This week's host is Lisa's Chaos she says: Let’s meet your pets. I think most of us have at least one pet and I would like to see your fluffy or scaly pal. If you don’t have a camera you can tell us about him/her/them. If you don’t have a pet tell us about a pet you had or a pet you want. If for some weird reason you hate all animals we want to know why gosh-dang-it.

OK... pets? Did you say pets? Boy howdy do we have pets!

First of all there are our cockatiels, Tizzy and Rascal. That's them on Downtown Dad's shoulder.

These birds LOVE their Downtown Dad. All he has to do is clear his throat and both birds go wild, cheeping and peeping and calling him with wolf whistles so he'll come let them out of their cage so they can climb all over his head.

Next is Chako. He is our purebred 6 year old Samoyed... with white fur....lots of white fur.

His full name is Cheechako which is what Downtown Dad's nickname was when he was a lobbyist in Alaska - it means 'greenhorn' or 'the new guy.' Did I mention he has lots of white fur?

Then there is Zoey, a 3 year old Sheltie. Her fur is brown on top, but it's white underneath.
Between the feathers, and seeds and white furballs, we keep the lint roller companies in business!

Apostrophy's Debut

2008-01-05T23:47:00.000-06:00

In my day... or should I say... 'back in the day' ...garage bands played loud music that our parents hated and if they were lucky enough to ever play in public, it was in smoky bars for 5 or 6 drunk patrons.... NOT in a high school auditorium with more than 250 people - and lighting, and sound! Oh, and the band member's parents were NEVER sitting in the back taking pictures for heaven's sake!

My 14 year old son, Bear on the right playing bass ... with 'bare' feet (that you can't see because he's behind the speaker) Trevor, Cage and Bjorn make up the rest of the band.

Now you can say you knew them when!

The Theatre That Is A Funeral

2008-01-04T13:06:00.000-06:00

It isn't often that you walk into a church funeral and hear Disney show tunes being played on the piano. It's even rarer to hear the once familiar, but now archaic clicking whirr of a film projector, but that's what we heard today. We didn't know Rusty, the man who passed away the day before New Year's Eve, very well, but we knew his daughters and his wife. We had assumed they were just theatre parents like us, and also well loved teachers at the local college. It turns out he was a world reknown film editor and speaker on film studies. Thus the reason for the sweetly melancholy, but decidedly film oriented music, and the projector flickering away with snippets of the black and white silent films he loved. The musical accompaniment helping to augment and convey the emotion as only live music can.

Our family doesn't go to church regularly. And while we are deeply spiritual, as a family, and in service to our neighbors and fellow humans, we reject the pervasive flim flam and hucksters of today's popular evangelicals. So, when we do enter other people's houses of worship for the occasional bumps and turns in lifes path, we do so in sort of a hyper observant manner. Maybe it was the overwhelming number people from the theatre and arts community who were there that caused me to think of it this way, but it started to dawn on me that there is actually quite a bit of theatre that goes into a funeral. It's all there, the flawless orchestration of choirs and organists, the heartfelt personal anecdotes, and carefully selected bible verses, and, probably most awe inspiring, the respectful, but efficient crowd choreography/management. There is also high drama in the tense moments when you wonder if the emotional speaker will get through their reading of the gospel without sobbing, or that the bereaved niece with the beautiful voice will be able to finish her solo, and then the urge to applaud them, when they do. And of course, there is the pastor who officiates, and their ability to deliver the message, which, to me, can make or break the fragile mood or atmosphere the grieving family have tried to create.

We had a little extra helping of drama this morning when, just as they were pushing the casket up the aisle, and the congregation was singing, the young lady behind us began having an epileptic seizure. Again, amazed, I watched as her mother vaulted over the pew to lay her on the floor and hold her head, Downtown Dad wadded up his jacket to use as a cushion, the young man next to her called 911, someone brought a plastic bag of ice, and a doctor from two rows up, slipped in near her feet. The seizure subsided, and she was able to walk out with the help of two people on either side of her - all within the space of time it took to sing four verses of whatever song it was we were singing - because I frankly wasn't paying attention!

Whoever you are, when death comes to your family, it's hard. This hit me and the others in our social group because Rusty and his wife and kids WERE US. I guess what I learned today is that fate gives you only what you can handle - plus, the people in your life to help you along. If you are part of some greater community, tradition, and human spirit takes over and helps you keep your head above the emotional rip-tide. As I listened to the piano play Jiminy Cricket's themesong, When You Wish Upon A Star, I took to heart the words:

"Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through."

AAAAAaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh

2008-01-03T06:32:00.001-06:00

**ok, I panicked too soon. I just clicked on update or something, and it all came back.**

I have been quietly fiddle farting around with my layout here at Straight Up, in hopes of switching to a new "snazzy" layout. I must have fiddled when I should have farted though, somewhere along the line, because I have the same layout, but I lost all of my links and buttons and lists. AND, what's worse, I think I may have switched back to the Old Version of Blogger, which everyone knows doesn't exist any more! Aaarrrggghhh!

So, sorry for no "interesting" post today. I'll be deep in the throes of Shock -- Guilt -- Fear -- Depression – Denial -- Anger – and hopefully, finally Acceptance.

Remember to "stop ripping of the rest of the human race" and let me know if you'd like to participate in next week's Tuesday Tribute!

Lunchroom Star

2008-01-02T22:11:00.000-06:00

The following is my tribute to the lunch lady from the cafeteria in the hospital where I used to work. This work is based on Edgar Allen Poe's "Evening Star" - printed below for your comparison.

LUNCHROOM STAR
by Straight Up And Slightly Dirty

'Twas noontime on Wednesday,
And halfway thro’ lunch;
And you in your hairnet
Stand out from the bunch.
‘Midst the clever, cool beggars,
Of the work-a-day throng,
Lunch Lady Ethel,
Rules all the daylong.
I gawk for a time
On your soufflé of lime;
Too rich- too rich for me-
Then you wielded the ladle,
A heavenly cradle,
For soup of Asparagus Pea.
Oh doler of food,
In your querulous mood,
How lonely this lunchroom would be;
Without crumbs from your hand
Fried, curried or canned
All served with cantankerous grace.
Your liver and onions,
Creamed corn, and bunions
Endear me to you and this place.

-THE END-

EVENING STAR
by Edgar Allan Poe

'Twas noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,
Shone pale, thro' the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
'Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.
I gazed awhile
On her cold smile;
Too cold- too cold for me-
There pass'd, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud,
And I turned away to thee,
Proud Evening Star,
In thy glory afar,
And dearer thy beam shall be;
For joy to my heart
Is the proud part
Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
And more I admire
Thy distant fire,
Than that colder, lowly light.

-THE END-

Tuesday Tributes #1 - The Space Between Two Summers

2008-01-01T14:19:00.000-06:00

_______________________________________________________________

This is the first installment of what will be weekly offerings here at Straight Up and Slightly Dirty. I'm calling it Tuesday Tributes.

It seems to me, that all of us have the privilege of knowing a few extraordinary individuals. Some are outrageous characters, some are incorrigible scoundrels, some are ordinary people, but all have the ability to elicit in us a strong emotion, either with their gifts... or lack of gifts, or by their quirky or different slant on life. It also seems to me that we are ripping off the rest of the human race by not sharing these characters, at least a description of them, with others.

I figure I've got nearly enough characters in my life to fill up a year of Tuesday Tribute posts, since I have committed to Blog 365, I hope you enjoy reading about them. However, I would also like to know about the characters in your lives. Who do you love? Who cracks you up by just thinking about them? Who is a scourge to the Universe, and deserves to have their dastardly deeds enshrined forever on the Internet? This Tuesday, January 8th, I invite anyone who reads this, (and/or has also committed to Blog 365, and needs post fodder and a little linky love) to write a tribute to the character in your life. Let me know if you would like to participate and I will link to you on Tuesday morning...early. Stop rippin' off the rest of the human race already!

________________________________________________________________

He was much more than a teacher, in fact, the words "to teach" sometimes imply only the giving side of give-and-take. Bob Medley's sixth grade classrooms always had both sides. He had a joy for experiencing life, and a talent for sharing his life experiences, with his students. He served them up, conversation style, as an accompaniment to our required lessons. His conversations with those of us lucky enough to occupy his classroom, allowed us insights into the world beyond those four walls, and beyond our short time between two summers with him. This is evidenced by the many former students with whom he had amazing long-lasting relationships over the years. I was one of those students.

Always take the opportunity to travel, and always take the time for conversation.

If you boiled down his wisdom into words, that sentence just might sum up what I learned from Mr. Medley. But every day, I realize there was so much more than that. Whether it was serving in the Air Force as a pilot during World War II, collecting ethnic masks while traveling to far-flung locales, teaching sixth graders for 20 years at La Patera Elementary School, or working as a guide at California's Hearst Castle, Bob Medley had a story, or a bit of wisdom, he'd gleaned from every experience. His gift, was the ability to weave those experiences and stories and lessons he'd learned, into the conversation at just the right time, and in so doing, allow whoever he was talking to, to learn as well.

One of my aspirations, as early as 3rd grade, was hoping with all my might to be in Mr. Medley’s 6th grade class. His reputation was that significant. Despite the nickname Deadly Medley, he was always kind on his watch at Recess Duty, even to me, a clumsy, shy third grade girl who even then, noticed his hidden smirk and jovial eye rolling after he’d bellowed out for the third time to the school bullies “Searl, off the monkey bars!” or “Lindsey, stop chasing the girls!”

As the years steadily marched toward my 6th grade year, I often passed Mr. Medley's darkened classroom on my way home after school. Sometimes I would press my forehead against the tinted windows and cup my hands around my eyes to peer in. Mostly, I remember the masks. 25 or so giant paper mache heads, molded on 'punch ball' balloons, painted and shellacked, hanging from the center beam of the room. Mr. Medley’s students' trademark yearly art project, which he dutifully recorded for posterity on his 8 mm movie camera, as his students paraded their slightly scary selves annually around the school.

The shine of excitement, when I actually did finally take my place in his classroom, did rub off slightly, as I witnessed the business side of Deadly Medley. Gum chewing was certainly NOT allowed. An offense punishable by the dreaded assignment of “150 States!” This was the tedious task of writing, in Palmer Method longhand, each state, and its capital, three times on notebook paper, and turning it in the next day. If it was not turned in on time, the assignment doubled, and doubled again, until it was received, completed. There were times when, as a teacher, he must have been frustrated by the misbehavior and antics of 20 years of sixth graders. We saw, however, that he knew how to regain lost control, as well as how to dole out a punishment, when necessary, to fit the crime. Once, after catching one of his students spitting at someone, Mr. Medley made the perpetrator sit outside the classroom and spit into a bottle for the rest of the day.

We may not have known it at the time, but we learned things in Mr. Medley's classroom that led us to the paths we are on today. He died peacefully, on a Sunday morning in 2005 at age 82. The pain of loss that gripped and shook me after learning of his death has now subsided, leaving in its wake the dry leaves of memory that float in and out of my conscious thoughts. One of the fondest was a visit from him soon after my marriage in 1976. I had invited him to the wedding, but he was working at Hearst Castle that summer so was unable to attend. He later called on me in my tiny apartment, bearing a gift and a message I still hold dear today. The gift was a china teapot - pretty, but otherwise ordinary in nature. He told me, as I opened it, that I might not see the value in a teapot, but this was his way of helping me start my new life with a habit of having tea and conversation with friends regularly. Conversation, he said, was the most precious gift a person could give. Those of us who maintained Bob Medley’s friendship received a precious gift indeed.

A guid New Year to ane an` a` and mony may ye see!

2007-12-31T06:07:00.000-06:00

The two things I can accurately predict for 2008 is that 1) I will be getting a new car, and 2) my family will be heavily involved in raising funds and making preparations for a trip to Scotland. The car part is easy, I just have to bite the bullet and pick one out. The Scotland trip though, that involves lots of other people, and lots of planning, lots of drinking, oh... and lots of money!

If all things Scottish hadn't already taken over much of my brain, I've got a growing list of websites in my favorites that have to do with Scotland and travel and fundraising. In my web ~~surfing and blog reading~~ research, I learned that in Scotland, Hogmanay is the word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with a celebration of the new year. During Hogmanay, it is traditional to go first-footing, which, like a lot of Scottish things, sounds like an excuse to go out visiting friends and, I dare say, an excuse to drink! First footing is literally, the first foot in the house after midnight. According to tradition, in order to ensure good luck for the house, the owner of the first foot should be a tall, dark, handsome male. Apparently this stems from the days when the Vikings invaded Scotland. Of course then, if a blonde stranger came to your door it was probably trouble. Here in Lutheran Scandahooviaville, we are hard pressed to find anything but blondes. So anyway, this antithesis of a Viking, must be a male and must come bearing gifts, and these symbolic gifts are coal, shortbread, salt, black bun and whisky. Symbolising, I guess, warmth, sweets, spice in your life and... uh, an excuse to drink!

Since we'll be spending New Year's Eve tonight with one or more sets of "Scotland Bound" parents like ourselves, I decided to try out this old new tradition - heck, we can all use a little luck right? I did a little more ~~time wasting blog surfing~~ research and I found a recipe for Black Bun, which is pretty much a deep dish raisin and currant and brandy pie. So I made that, and some shortbread, got some sea salt - coz its prettier, and more earthy looking than table salt. I couldn't find any coal, so I got some briquettes, and I found out that real Scottish whisky is spelled without the e in front of the y, and never says Scottish on the label, but rather Scotch.

I doubt that I'll find a non-blonde male to be our first footer among the Larsons, Hansons, and Andersons tonight, but it will be fun to do something new! And as they say in Scotland: A good New Year to one and all, and many may ye see!

Frankly Scarlett, I Don't Have Time to Give a Damn

2007-12-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

I'm writing this today, or should I say tomorrow... no, if you're reading this, then it's today - but anyway I'm writing this today, or rather yesterday, and using the "post it later" feature. But it's 11:39 p.m. right now, and if I take much longer writing this it's going to be tomorrow for real!

I'm doing this to make sure it actually works because, blogaholic that I am, I signed up for this crazy challenge! I couldn't resist, I just find so many new blogs to read this way. And there are only so many blogs you can read in a day and then still find time to write something to post - right? So, blogaholic, optimist that I am, I figured that I could pre-write like, oh say, a weeks worth of posts (in my free time....) and then schedule them, like little orderly soldiers, to fall into place daily (....insert crazy maniacal laugh here...) Oh, I can't think about that now, I'll think about it tomorrow.... After all, tomorrow is another day!

'Snot Fair

2007-12-29T20:42:00.000-06:00

It wasn't enough that I turned 50 two weeks ago....

It wasn't enough that we've been cooped up with two dogs and two teenagers in a car for 15 hours....

No, it wasn't even enough when I got hit with the mother of all snot-rendering, throat searing colds within the first of those 15 hours - and was laid a-bed for the next two-days....

Now this has to arrive.

Magical Christmas Memories

2007-12-25T19:28:00.000-06:00

Once upon a Christmas season, 20 plus years ago, a radio station in Seattle - KEZX - used to play an ecclectic mix of adult jazz and local artists. One of the songs they played this particular season and then never again, was Stop the Cavalry by the Cory Band. It was one of those songs where you absolutely cannot sit still while it's playing! I recorded it on a cassette tape and every year we take it out and play the heck out of it. Every year, I worry that the very fragile old tape will wear out and I won't be able to find the song again. That same year, Beez was three years old, and after listening to me read him "The Night Before Christmas" umpteen million times, he'd memorized it pretty well - even if he did have a killer lisp, and tended to creatively misquote Clement Moore, such as, instead of "away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutter and threw up the sash" his very funny interpretation was "tore open the shutter and threw out the trash!" This, I also recorded on a fragile cassette tape, which is taken out to be played every year - worrying, each time we push the play button that it will be our last.

This year, Grandpa G, our families' resident technical wizard, took both those fragile treasures and lovingly burned them onto a semi-durable CD. Now, both of those precious sound memories can be confindently played for years and years to come! And today, through the durable magic of the Internet, I share them, as my gift to you, my invisible friends. Merry Christmas!

Gotta Stop The Cavalry

Twatha Night Before Cwiimith

"Tis The Day Before..."

2007-12-24T08:06:00.000-06:00

After a 12 hour drive with two teenagers and two dogs in the SUV, Downtown Dad and I made it to his parents' house in Southern Missouri understandably feeling a little bedraggled! Even without snow this year, their house IS Christmas for us - every wall and flat surface cozied up with a familiary reminder of the season. After the hugs and hellos and the butt sniffing (c'mon, the dogs, not us) and the preliminary catching up - we fell into our beds - sans kerchief and cap - and drifted off for a long winter's nap!

It's Christmas Eve morning and I'm trying to get this post written and published before the whole house wakes up. While the old hubub of coordinating Santa's arrival has lessened some as the kids have gotten older, the familiar patterns will soon take over and the comfort foods will be set out and consumed until we are all groaning. Familiar sounds, like our favorite Chistmas music, and "turn down that TV!" and of course we'll have ceremonious dragging out of the cassette of three-year old Beez reciting "Twatha Night Before Cwiimith." I'm going to see if Grandpa G, with all of his technological wizardry, will burn that 20 year old cassette onto something more permanent and then I can post it here! If we can break away from the talking and the eating and the butt-sniffing!

Christmas Newsletter

2007-12-17T14:11:00.000-06:00

It has been a while since I posted. I must explain... you see I've been fighting, er writing the annual Christmas Letter.

I see you out there, nodding your heads. You know what its like. You don't want yours to be that two-page yawner about each and every place you've traveled, or the compendium of your family's accomplishments and kids' grades. But this IS your once a year opportunity to let Auntie Edna in Portland know that your kids DID turn out better than your creepy cousin Johnny's... even though you learned through her letter that they've each mastered a foreign language, earned Eagle Scout badges, made mission trips to help rebuild New Orleans, all that AND they volunteer at the soup kitchen every day after school. OK, not bad for 6 and 8 year olds, but really, how are they going to top that next year? I mean really.

You want your letter to be amusing, or at the very least, readable to the end. If, perhaps you've had a messy divorce in the family, or your sister-in-law was sent to prison, or the child you've been raising for your deceased daughter suddenly decided to go live with her estranged father, well lucky you! There are so many things that happen in the space of a year, and so few of them, good, dramatic Christmas letter fodder! Trouble is, the people to whom those things happen, rarely have the literary skills to express the intrinsic drama and humor of those situations.

No, this year, I opted to keep our letter short, and rather traditional. And whether or not some or all of those things actually happened in our family, well, I'm saving THAT for my novel!

A Plug for A New Blog

2007-12-13T22:26:00.000-06:00

Downtown Dad has a blog! Revival of Conscience . Stop by and say hey!

Naked In Public

2007-12-08T20:27:00.000-06:00

For a long time now I’ve been fighting an internal battle about what I post here. I started posting initially to ‘find my voice’ thinking that by forming the daily habit of writing, I could somehow make writing easier. I have a file folder on my computer full of fits and starts of pieces that fashioned themselves in my head and were able to meander their way out my fingers and onto the keyboard, but then, they failed to thrive past the series of filters I impose on what I actually put out there. This, in itself, is good – we all know there are just some things that don’t make good blog writing or reading. But then, there are some things in that file that probably are worth posting, only, they can’t seem to traverse the mine field of filters I herd them through.

The other day I was having a glass of wine after work with some fellow Realtors. Conversation, as it does, became animated, and I made a comment phrased very similarly to something I must have said that is posted here. One of my friends piped up and said “Oh by the way, I really enjoy reading your blog.” I stopped, my face grew red, and I had that naked-in-public feeling, gripped with the fear of what I may have posted, what I may have said in the pseudo anonymity of the Internet. Conversation stopped dead. “You have a blog?”

It's true, I've only told a select few that I have a blog … that I blog … that I write stuff and I throw it out there for anyone to see. I don’t know why I don’t tell other people I know. Most of them know that I write. Most of them know I’m tactless sometimes, and brutally honest all the time... hence the name Straight Up and Slightly Dirty. Although as Kwach and Ev over at Nowhere IL say, I’m not nearly dirty enough. Touche girls! Touche! The dream interpretation of naked-in-public is representative of vulnerability or shamefulness. Maybe I fear that people will see through to my true self and I will be exposed as a fraud or a phony. Maybe I fear that I'll be ridculed or disgraced, or worse - challenged on something I write! The truth is I’m not trying hard enough. I'm not courageous enough. And so my writing isn't good nor powerful. And that's not me, and it's certainly not why I take the time to write something, hit publish post and hope that some anonymous person will take the time to read it. That naked-in-public moment taught me a lesson.

Oddly enough, in my blog-surfing today I found a site where they encourage and celebrate good, powerful writing on the Internet/blogosphere, in fact, they award prizes! The name says it all - it's called Shameless Lions writing circle. It just made me think about all of the inspiring, good and powerful writers writing posts every day. Every one of them, shameless, truthful, courageous and naked-in-public.

December 5 Because It's ALL About ME!

2007-12-05T22:02:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday To ME! What better day than this to take advantage of the fact that Grandy at Functional Schmunctional tagged me with this meme! So here are the rules: "List a word that describes you for every letter of the alphabet. Offer as much or as little explanation as you wish. Please keep the words positive (for example, don’t use “fat” for F or “lame” for L), and feel free to get creative. Tag as many or as few people as you wish. Link back to your tagger and forward to your taggees." So... here we go!

A. Articulate. Oh I do like me some piles o’ words.

B. Biotch! Yes, that is a positive word - ask my friends, we all call each other that! Some of us even have numbers! I'm B3.

C. Chop. That’s my other nickname, but only among my very closest coon-ass friends.

D. Domestic. I totally love ironing and grocery shopping. Really – go figure!

E. Effervescent. Yep, that describes me. And, much to the consternation of my friends, that describes me in the morning.

F. Family. Because that’s what I'm all about lately.

G. Guzzler. I am not a sipper. Give me tea, give me fine wine or liquor, give me water... I will guzzle it.

H. Hot. But intermittently so, in a menopausal way.

I. Imaginative. Like Tequila with a jockstrap in a pie, fixing furnaces for the world with Jello.

J. Joker. I’m a joker, not a smoker, nor a midnight toker.

K. Knock-off. I think that if it looks real, then hell honey, it is real. But nevah evah pay full-price!

L. Liberal. I admit it, I’m a Gawtdam, Leftist, broad minded, humanitarian, libertarian, free thinker.

M. Mother. Probably the finest thing I will ever have had the privilege to have done.

N. Neat. A place for everything and everything in its place – DAMMIT!

O. Old. See the beginning of this post.

P. Persuasive. If you are still reading this far into my list then I am totally persuasive. If not, then I am a prevaricator.

Q. Quarrelsome. Especially if I am Hot (see above).

R. Raucous. Rowdy. Rambunctious. Especially when I’m on my cell phone in a public place.

S. Sagittarius. Adventurous, brave, and wise, extroverted, straightforward, benevolent, ardent, idealistic, sincere, intellectual, knowledgeable, creative, philosophical, broad-minded, sexual, funny and free-spirited.

T. Tactless. Oh, honey no! You’re not gonna wear THAT?!?

U. Utopian: In my world, we all speak Esperanto.

V. Verbal. I can’t think of the exact wordage, but I’m sure I can express the correct essence of my love of lingual verbiage without being palaverous, I mean, don’t take me literally, but in the oral tradition – ok not being too rhetorical here, but really, it must be said that as I stated above, I know I can be somewhat verbose, but it can’t be over stated, I can totally use a lot of words to say very little.

W. Writer. Yes. I AM A WRITER.

X. X-husbandry. I am an expert in choosing them. I have two. One on video.

Y. Yoga. Try it. It will change your life.

Z. Zippy. Because doesn’t everyone want to know someone who is zippy?

A Roomette For Two

2007-12-03T21:59:00.000-06:00

Ette is the feminine form of the French suffix –et. Adding ette to the end of a word describes a smaller version of an inanimate object such as cigarette, kitchenette, novelette. It seems to imbue these everyday nouns with a fancy romanticism or modern allure. On the other hand, the same suffix ette has also been used to describe something imitation or inferior such as leatherette. Still adding that Frenchified aire, but really puffing up something that might not be able to live up to it’s name without that precious suffix.

On our recent train trip, Downtown Dad and I opted for an upgrade from our coach seats to a Roomette. With seating for just two, our own private picture window, and meals, plus a wine tasting event included, this Roomette would be the perfect venue for our romantic time alone, a getaway-ette. Having made the trip once before in a coach seat – or the Fart Compartment as I called it, I was all for having our own space where we could shut the door and pull the curtains – if not for privacy reasons, for the aromatic ones.

The westbound Empire Builder train, departs from the Fargo station at 3:25 a.m., so after a full day of fulfilling other obligations, an obligatory appearance at a cocktail party, packing, repacking, last minute lectures and instructions, and an 11th hour call to the doctor for antibiotics for one of the kids’ newly discovered bronchial infection, we settled into what would be our home away from home for the next 31 hours. According to the description on Amtrak’s website, this Roomette is “ideal for one or two passengers, with two comfortable reclining seats on either side of a big picture window. At night, the seats convert to a comfortable bed, and the upper berth folds down from above.”

Technically, yes, the two seats do convert to a comfortable bed…but no matter how romantic you are, it's only wide enough for one! And yes, once your porter has performed the acrobatics necessary to accomplish this mechanical magic, the second occupant of the Roomette, can climb the 6 inch wide stairs that serve double duty as shelves alongside one chair, to the windowless top bunk, a cozy 24 inches from the roof of the car - not so comfortable. So much for the romance.

Once entombed therein, the occupant of the upper berth must ask the occupant of the lower berth (the one that drew the longer straw, or the one that all of a sudden has bad knees and can’t climb up there) to hand up her chapstick, oh, and her book, and her sleeping pills – oh and some water … all of which are efficiently stowed under the lower bunk, and cannot be accessed with the cabin doors shut. After much wriggling and grunting and bumping, and after the lucky occupant of the lower berth has whumpped his pillow-ette for the fifteenth time, it is inevitible that the upper berther must now pee. Of course to do that requires leaving the Roomette, and thus more wriggling and grunting, and bumping - again, not even a little bit the romantic kind, but just maybe it sounds that way to the Roomette next door!

Glad to be off the train

2007-11-30T20:51:00.000-06:00

Here it is the last day of NABLOPOMO and I am FINALLY in a non moving room with Internet access! No cell service, but Internet access - go figure!

I would hate to quickly summarize the train trip and ensuing hilarity... it just wouldn't do the trip justice. But I just don't have the time right now. Suffice it to say that we have arrived at our destination. The Izaak Walton Lodge "a place where time stands still" says their brochure. Reasons why that phrase may just be another way to say boredom, to follow!

Uhg! more typing... :o( hee hee

2007-11-29T21:34:00.000-06:00

Tessie again.
Even though my mom is not typing, she is still here in spirit (I am her daughter after all)
So, off to do some homework!
Later!

Hola! Tessie here!

2007-11-28T21:26:00.000-06:00

This Kelsie (aka Tessie) I am posting a blog for my mom tonight because she is off on a train somewhere. Since I have never done this before I am just going to make this short and sweet. Well... I guess that's about it... I'm off to bed so I can be rested up for school tomorrow.

Adios!
Tessie

2007-11-27T23:58:00.001-06:00

Tada

No Time - Gotta Pack!

2007-11-26T19:20:00.000-06:00

I only have a couple of minutes to write this. I'm trying to clean house, and get my wardrobe in order to pack for our train trip! I'm really looking forward to this as a source of relaxation and some much needed 'grown up' time. I am worried though about Internet connection for my laptop along the route. I've tried posting from my web enabled phone but so far no luck... well, we shall see.

Show's Over

2007-11-25T22:52:00.000-06:00

Well, tonight was the final show of Moorhead High School's "High School Musical." It really was a great show. We had two cameras video taping the last two shows and those tapes will be edited into the master "file" video. That's the one that the kids are supposed to watch and critique then give back to the Director... but if some copies get made, and kept, well none's the wiser! We had a little extra drama today since the boy who played Troy Bolton, the lead, started loosing his voice. It was starting to crack at the end of the matinee, and by the end of tonight's show he sounded like Bobby Brady when he hit puberty! The girl that played the female lead, Gabriella, stepped in and sang with him, covering up the notes he couldn't hit tonight. It seems a little romance has cropped up over the run of the show and by this time they aren't just playing boyfriend and girlfriend - they are living the part - making her heroic vocal rescue tonight all the more poignant.

I'm just amazed at the parents that pitch in to help and actually run everything that goes on besides the show! We do have a pretty sophisticated parent group though, since we are running year long fundraisers to defray the costs for our trip to the Scotland Fringe Festival next summer. Yeah, there are some "theatre moms" in the mix that raise my hackles every now and then, but there are also some very cool parents there too that even things out - rolling their eyes right along with me, or smiling and nodding when I know they'd really like to smack some of these people upside the head, V8 style.

Poor Bear is feeling the let-down that is so common at the end of a show. It's tougher for him this time because some of the parts have to be recast since some of the cast aren't going to Scotland. He loved playing a yell leader, and is feeling a little trepidation at relearning a new part. Ah, but such is life in the theatre!

Well, once again, I'm posting at 11:30, scrambling to write something before the day is over. I love this NABLOPOMO thing for keeping me on task, but man does it kill creativity! I had this great inspiration this morning - once again - in the shower - about the fact that this show is a Disney show and I've always wanted to work for Disney, and the fact that I wear my show-tee-shirt that has the Disney logo on it makes me sort of a Disney representative, right? I had some connection between me being able to tolerate the "theatre-moms" because I was beholden to the Disney creed, and something or other... and thats where it all fell apart. Anyway, that's blog fodder for another day..... Gnite!

Misspent Youth

2007-11-24T23:52:00.000-06:00

Inspired by a prompt from Sunday Scribblings

Misspent Youth. It implies a youth wasted, or worthless.

Well, even though I may have spent (or misspent as it were) a part of my youth getting wasted, I wouldn’t say all of those experiences were worthless. I learned from them and I always say (despite the dangling participle) a bad example is the best example to learn from. For example, despite all my best efforts at not going to class, I did actually learn some stuff, stuff I actually remember – like conjugating verbs in Spanish, and the definition of an isosceles triangle, and the capitals of all 50 states. Not stuff you need to know every day, but hey, I do pretty well at Trivial Pursuit.

Misspent. That word sounds to me like if you could go back and do it all again, you’d do it differently. Well I wouldn’t. I took some wrong turns, and I burnt some bridges, and I hardly ever answered the door when Ol’ Mr. Opportunity was knocking. But then some of those wrong turns led to other roads that turned out OK, and when the bridge is out, you go around, and even Ol’ Mr. Opportunity eventually came calling at my door again.

I tell my kids that nothing is a mistake if you learn from it… well, OK, nothing that doesn’t involve spilled blood, or broken bones, or the next door neighbor’s cat… but pretty much anything you live through you can learn from (except dangling participles). I lived through my youth, and I learned some valuable lessons. I hope my kids don’t have to learn the hard way like I did, but part of me knows they will – they’ll have to, if they’re going to be a bad example for my grandkids!

Thankful For Friday and Leftovers and MJ!

2007-11-23T22:08:00.000-06:00

Of the nearly 50 Thanksgiving turkey's I have had the pleasure of sampling in my life, there are exactly three that I remember....

The first was in the late 1980s when my parents first purchased a Weber Grill. The novelty of barbecuing a turkey was part of it, but it did have a wonderful flavor.

The second was years later when Downtown Dad and I purchased a deep fryer, along with the gallons of peanut oil, a turkey syringe, and the cajun spices required so that we could take our life in our fireproof mitted hands, and hope to God our fire insurance was up to date, in order to deep fry a turkey - in the snow. Quick, and tasty, but IMHO, not worth the trouble.

The third one, was yesterday when we used an old roasting pan, handed down from one of our grandmas, and the syringe from the back of the utensil drawer, and a recipe from our friend MJ. We mixed a cup of boiling water with a cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of salt, 2 Tablespoons of liquid garlic, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of liquid smoke, and 2 Tablespoons of Tabasco sauce, injecting that into our humble store brand 12 pounder the night before. Mmmmmmmm Mmmmmmm! That was THE yummiest, most moist - even the white meat - turkey ever! Even today's leftovers are still great!

Omigod You Guys!

2007-11-22T22:37:00.000-06:00

While we cooked, we watched Legally Blonde-The Musical, and if you haven't seen it, you really can't know the perky goodness of the really clever songs and the freakishly sweet way they worm thier way into your brain and never leave! Anyway, and so, the fabulous food that took all day to create was devoured as usual, in 17.8 minutes. Then, since we do not have a functioning dishwasher - the automatic kind - we worked off some calories by cleaning up, and then collapsed into a heap on the couch in an L-Tryptophan induced coma... and since everyone was too sleepy to reach the remote, guess what we watched again? Legally Blonde-The Musical for the second time ... Omigod You Guys!

Who's Your Candidate?

2007-11-21T21:56:00.000-06:00

Are you as confused as I am about the whole Presidential campaign? Are the issues really blurry, and the candidates' stand on the issues even blurrier? Well, this may help. Here's a link to a survey I found on the Minnesota Public Radio site. By answering a series of questions about major issues, you can quickly learn which candidates are most closely aligned with your views. You'll be able to learn more about each candidate, hear his/her positions on many issues, and find out how your results compare with those of others who take the survey. And heck, if it doesn't help, at least you may learn something!

The Collector

2007-11-20T15:09:00.000-06:00

This is dedicated to my genealogist husband:

At family gatherings you collect them,
Names, dates, distant memories, pictures of people long passed,
Quickly, carefully - before they scatter with the winds of time.
Dried leaves, rattling across the roads that once were farms.

Collected and catalogued, they accumulate, almost palpable,
Percolating, like coffee on an ancient cookstove.
Just beneath the motes and swirls of day to day dust,
as fertile as compost in a long forgotten cornfield

Finally, the congregation is assembled, drawn together
Once again with the places that gave them life.
To anyone else, just old photos, dates and maps.
To you, the family – gathering.

Inspired by #77 Sunday Scribblings - Collector Personality

Pachelbel - Who Knew?

2007-11-19T22:00:00.000-06:00

Because I'm not really smart enough to figure out how to post this video right on my site, I'm going to put in a link because if you haven't seen this guy, you really must! This is such a great example of really intellegent humor! Enjoy Pachelbel's Canon in D - for the first time - all over again!

*EDIT* OK so it turns out that it really is very simple to imbed the video, and I have now done so based on the kindness of Mary Alice of From The Frontlines

Blue Sunday

2007-11-18T23:02:00.000-06:00

It's Sunday evening, I can't think of anything to write about so once again, I dip into my endless stash of pictures from 1967. This was taken I'm quite sure on a Sunday, Easter Sunday quite probably. My sister and I are modeling our matching coats - made, as most of our clothes were at the time, by my mother. I'm quite sure there were very few occasions that occured before I reached the age of 12 that did not include matching outfits for my sister and me. That's me, on the left, holding the lovely aqua purse that matches my lovely aqua coat, which coincidentally matches my sisters lovely aqua coat. I can't imagine what I would have had in the purse - quite possibly white gloves, or maybe two more inches of fabric so the sleeves would reach my wrists.

Notice the lady-like stance my mother, my grandmother and I have assumed - my little sister just has to go to the bathroom - she always had to go to the bathroom.

Daughters

2007-11-17T21:48:00.000-06:00

One of the most fabulous things about having a teenaged daughter is hearing her laugh.

There is a stage in female adolescent development that causes her mouth muscles to pull downward quite often and her eyes tend to roll at the slightest hint of a parental opinion. Almost all communication on her part whithers to a grunt or, if you're lucky, a tirade in which you, or parents as a species, bear the brunt of anything non-Fall Out Boy that has ever happened in the fullness of civilisation. Her apparal of choice is the absolute opposite of anything you'd choose now, or would have chosen when you were that age, (God forbid you should ever mention the words: "when I was your age"), and food, must be once again in the orange category that was so popular in her toddler years (i.e. macaroni and cheese, carrots, orange juice or Orange Crush). During this time, the female hormones - so prone to coordinate cycles in earlier years, tend to ebb in the opposite direction now, causing even the most transcendental mom to pop off a few well aimed verbal whallops, while the teenaged girl explores her newfound world of expletives.

All of this becomes blissfully insignificant, when quite by chance, you walk by an open door where she is watching an old favorite Disney movie and you are lucky enough to hear a beautifully matured version of that three-year old giggle.

La la la...something And Noodles With String...

2007-11-16T08:32:00.000-06:00

Mrs. G, over at Derfwad Manor sent out an invitation for we NABLOPOMO-ites to post our "Favorite Things" today. A welcome inspiration, I must say, for those of us who are 15 days into this daily post challenge with nary a clue as to what we will write the next day!

Today also marks the day that The Sound of Music opened on Broadway 48 years ago. Amazing then, don't you think, that Mrs. G should orchestrate a group post based on the hit song from that musical? ... something tells me this ISN'T a coincidence!

So, now without further ado - well... one ado (what is an ado anyway?) These are My Favorite Things, based on sensory experiences, the things that give me chills, or make me smile at the thought - or some things that are irreplaceable, mine alone. It goes without saying that Downtown Dad and my family are absolutely my favorite things. They already know they are irreplaceable, and just because they are not in the list doesn't mean they don't give me chills or make me smile!

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

The cherry red hood of my ’67 Firebird at 65 miles an hour
A Summer cloudburst on the tin roof outside my window
The first whiff of the tire department at Sears
Ice cold milk, first thing in the morning
Putting on warm jeans right out of the dryer
The lavender Santa Ynez mountains against blue sky
Cobalt blue and white willow patterned porcelain
Apricot colored Hibiscus blooms
The tang of salt sea spray
Incense burning
Spanish guitar music
Colm Wilkerson as Jean ValJean in Les Miserables
Jim Croce’s Photographs and Memories
Flaky, salty, sweet pie crust
Cool sheets on a hot night
Warm sun on skin
Green tea Frappaccinos
A Taco Bell Enchirito
Freshly shampooed hair
Wind in the trees and waves on the sand
Deep backrubs
20 minute hot showers
Eucalyptus bark
Red canyons and rocky creeks
My first pair of high heels
Jafra’s Almond Oil
Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
My 10-speed Motobecane bicycle
My hammered silver unicorn necklace
My ninth grade journals
My Inheritance poem
My Captain Kitty book
Palm trees
A full moon
1973

Lost in the past....

2007-11-15T23:28:00.000-06:00

Tessie and I got lost in looking at old photo albums tonight and all of a sudden it got to be 11:35! I'm working on the list of My Favorite Things to be posted tomorrow!

I Am From...

2007-11-14T21:29:00.000-06:00

I read this over at Dyane's Words of a Witchy Woman and just had to try it out. There is a form to guide you in creating your own version here. I think this is still a work in progress, but I've run out of time to work on it tonight!

I am from The Church in Cove, from Crayola Crayons and California.
I am from the identical tract house 6th from the corner with it’s back to the mountains, and my hand print in the patio cement.
I am from the bougainvilla, the hibiscus and the palm tree, the iceplant, the eucalyptus and oak.
I am from devout believers and hard workers and coffee drinkers, from Richards and Roberts and Lania.
I am from the winsome smilers and the long goodbye-ers.
From people who don’t divorce and people who are silent while daddy naps.
I am from my mother who taught me to sew and a father who took us to church on Sunday. White gloves to hide the dirty fingernails – turn the pages, mouth the words.
I'm from Escondido and County Cork – Tuna Casserole and Tacos.
From the child who could recite John 3:16 at two and a half, the girl who hitchhiked to school, and the same one who married the wrong man for the wrong reasons.
I am from the cedar chest Grandma’s brother made, the stories Uncle David told, from the hummingbird’s nest in the kumquat tree outside Mungio’s window and the lessons that hang like choir robes.