Hey, I heard a rumor the semester is over and that I survived it.  I know, right?

My travels take me to my parents’ house, where the neighborhoods have either not been plowed from the snowstorm or have been badly plowed.  As in, a main road suddenly loses half a lane with no warning because of a crap plow job.  It’s not like my parents live in the boonies.  Right now, my car is more or less parked in the middle of the street, where I’m hoping for the best.  As a rule, our nation’s capitol does not do well with snow, but this is just unbelievable.  One begrudging point to Pittsburgh.

So, amidst the snow and the drama that are families in general and families trying to reintegrate grown children in particular, my sisters and I have hunkered in the basement, doing the Christmas movie thing.  In my personal life, I have surprisingly missed some of my yearly viewings – Little Women and Meet Me in St. Louis (yet I did learn the very important lesson of not watching The Hours at five in the morning in the long, final stretches of an all-nighter).  Some movies are left to my parents/the TV – Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas; some are for friends – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; but only one is for sisters.

You know this movie.  It was first aired on ABC in 1987 and replayed the following two years.  This movie has everything.

The copy my sister and I have is taped from TV from, we think, the 1988 showing.  It’s a glorious time capsule of television.  I know this isn’t the point of this post at all, but it totally needs to be mentioned.  The sponsors of this special were M&Ms (remember the two different browns and when they were called plain?) Oshkosh (Bgosh), maybe Coke also?  But not once is a single commercial repeated.  Seriously.  The sponsors repeat, but the commercials are all different.  Can we bring that back?

Anyway.  We start the movie singing “We Need a Little Christmas” with some of the muppet gang in Fozzie’s truck, driving to his mom’s house for a country Christmas.  Mom is on her way out for a tropical vacation, but, ack!, it’s a blizzard out there.  Doc and Sprocket (do I need to give you the reference?  Can you get it on your own?) are supposed to be renting the house for some peace and quiet (though I never really got the impression that they lived the hard life elsewhere).  Before you know it, all the muppets are there, the Sesame Street gang is there – seriously, it’s just everyone.  All the way down to Guy Smiley, the Guy with the Big Blue Head, the Two-Headed Monster, all of ‘em.  It even turns out that Fozzie’s mom is friends with the hecklers.  There’s even a moment when Kermit and Robin go down in the basement and make a visit to the Fraggles.

[clap] [clap] Pass it on!

Epic.

Part of the drama is that Miss Piggy keeps getting derailed and poor Kermie is just worried to pieces about her.  But that’s so background noise to the Swedish Chef trying to cook everyone from Camilla to Sprocket to Big Bird.  (Is the Swedish Chef still PC?  I mean, I love him, but it seems that most things I love aren’t acceptable somewhere.)  The tranny-like muppets do their band thing; we watch baby muppets sing a song.  There’s an ice-slip joke on repeat that makes me laugh every time.  And what’s interesting in retrospective viewing is how very little Elmo means to Sesame Street culture at this time.  He just chills in the background, doesn’t say anything.  He’s a nobody.

We’ve watched our copy so many times that the volume and picture are shot.  I keep it in my apartment for no other reason than to know it’s there.  I found a copy on the cheap whilst working my old retail job to give to my sister, and that’s the one we’ve been watching tonight.  (Though, as I’ve written this, we’ve moved on to Christmas Vacation as you might have already noted if we’re Facebook friends.)

More Christmas-themed adventures for the next couple days.  I seriously blew most of my dream posts because of something about having to actually write for school (what?  Ridiculous), but there are two more days to redeem myself.

[clap] [clap] Pass it on!

My man DJ Skeet Skeet bringin back that childhood nostalgia.  Check out his refix of the popular children’s show, Fraggle Rock’s theme song.  Oh, and in case you’re forgetting the words (shame on you), here they are so you can sing along.

Dance your cares away,
Worry’s for another day.
Let the music play,
Down at Fraggle Rock.

Work you cares away,
Dancing’s for another day.
Let the Fraggles play,
We’re Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red.

Dance your cares away,
Worry’s for another day.
Let the music play,
Down at Fraggle Rock (Clap Clap)
Down at Fraggle Rock (Clap Clap)
Down at Fraggle Rock.

http://www.eatskeet.com

http://www.twitter.com/skeetonmytwitts

Watching the Muppet’s Christmas Carol in a sort of obsessive fashion, one could live their whole life without knowing that the Muppet’s Family Christmas Special even existed.  And while we love the Muppet’s Christmas Carol, it would be a damn shame to live life without its lesser known, Sesame- and Fraggle-enhanced cousin.  Because of this.  Video after the jump.

- The Taste Testers

Last night I had an awesome bowl of stuff.

• Shrimp
• Broccoli
• Guacamole
• Goat cheese
• Bee pollen
• Toasted almond slices

It was tasty!

.

Today after my long grueling shoulder workout I wanted a Perfect Foods Bar.  I remembered my solution to not eating them all.  I told Mike he can have the ones that are left.  Well, there was 1 cranberry one and I didn’t realize it was the Lite version until I was reading about it on their website last night.  So I conned Mike into letting me have that one   OMG, I am in LOVE with these!  Between these and the Bora Bora I have found the perfect bars for me when in a pinch or in need of something sweet and natural.

.

In order to make the crab appetizers I need Kraft Old English Cheese Spread.  I have been to Walmart, Kroger, Target and Marsh in hunt for this stuff.  I even emailed Jessica and asked her about it.  Well Jessica my mom found it at Walmart!  I am the type of person who puts things together and refuses to read the instructions if that tells you anything.  So thanks mom!

.

I made a Drs. appt today.  I’ve been having digestive issues.  That on top of not having my period in over a year I thought it was time.  I’ve been miserable for a week.  I feel 4 months pregnant.  I’ve been “using” the bathroom but still feel awful.  Today was the first day I actually feel good and didn’t take a nap.  I cut out gluten and dairy and it’s not helping.  So enough is enough.

Man, that picture is painful.  It was tender to the touch also.  I took this so I can show my Dr.  I knew that by the time they actually scheduled me in I wouldn’t have the issue and they would think I was mental.  Like I said i’m better today but why does this happen?  I want to find out.  No more prescribing me a laxative or Provera to start my cycle…I want answers.

.

Weight was 118.4 this morning.  Not where I want to be but i’m happy it’s still under 120.  Plus since my body is going through something crazy I guess it’s okay.

.

Tomorrow i’m going shopping with Amy again.  She text me today to give me PLENTY of time to get mentally prepared LOL!

If you were a muppet who would you be?  I would be Red of course   I loved Fraggle Rock!

Well, here we are at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  We traveled early this morning, instead of trying to fight Thanksgiving Eve traffic last night.  And just what does a three hour trip from the Chicago ‘burbs to north-central Indiana look like?  Here’s my view from the driver’s seat…

“Who wants to see my proboscis?”  (Oldest Daughter, just out of the driveway)

“I’m sure glad we’re travelling this morning instead of last night.”  (Me to Ordinary Spouse, as we made two effortless left turns  where I’d normally encounter great volumes of traffic during my morning commute)

Six minutes into the trip, we get on the “fast road” (the general nickname for limited access road, which in this case is I-55).  This is the signal for the girls to request a DVD.  In goes Fraggle Rock.

About fifteen minutes later, we’re onto I-355 and crossing the “blue light bridge” over the Des Plaines River.  McMansions overlook the valley on the south side.  I spout opinions… “If I had half a million dollars to buy a house, I’d get something with more character than these boxes.”

Shortly thereafter, I remember my blog… “If I could live blog this trip, I would.” Instead, I ask ordinary spouse if she has paper and pencil.  She anticipates my next request and writes, “My ordinary assistant will hand write the whole thing.”  I comment that “ordinary assistant” will probably get replaced by “smart-alecky assistant” when the notes make it into print.

“Could you give me blana?”  (Youngest Daughter woke up five minutes before we left and didn’t have breakfast.  Now she wants a banana.)

All along, I’m sipping coffee.  I’ve got a great thermos.  Too great.  The coffee is scalding hot nearly all the way.

Ordinary Spouse is cleaning out her purse.  She finds a diaper.

From I-355 to I-80.  The opening bars of U2’s “Zoo Station” (from the album, “Achtung Baby”) are playing as we’re exiting from one to the other.  Makes for a nice transition.

We see a white flag with a red border and a blue star.  Ordinary Spouse speculates that it’s a Czech flag.  Turns out that it’s a flag displayed by the family of a member of the armed services serving in a dangerous location.  We learned something new.

Shortly after getting on I-80, an alert Ordinary Spouse kept me from rear-ending another car.  The road was nearly empty and there was no one in my lane, so I reached for my coffee.  At the same moment, a car in the left lane braked and pulled into my lane.  Then they proceeded to the right lane and accelerated again.  Not sure what that was about.

We cruise through the IPASS lane when I-294 merges with I-80.  It occurs to us that we have no idea how much toll we’re actually paying.

The billboards along the interstate near the Illinois-Indiana border are really classy.  (“Gamble 30 minutes and get a free buffet” or “All of the liquor; none of the clothes”.)  Ordinary Spouse comments on the first one. “Sounds like  a gamble to me.”

We’ve removed Fraggle Rock, which didn’t seem to be a big hit.  It’s been replaced by the Laurie Birkner Band. “This is like a rock star for kids,” says Middle Daughter.

Rain, rain, rain.

Onto the Indiana Turnpike (I-80/I-90).  We immediately stop at a rest area.  Coffee’s coming through.

We debate the spelling of “niece”.  I comment on the weird spelling of “weird”.

We see a flock sheep walking in formation.  Then we see a sheep dog calmly standing and calling to them.  No running involved.  Impressive.

We reached the end of “Achtung Baby”.  I spout more opinions: what makes an album more than the sum of the parts, and why “Achtung Baby” is one of those albums.

We pass the pond with the big musical instruments.  Time to exit the Turnpike.  On to the bypass around South Bend.  Ordinary Spouse phones her parents and tries to make them believe we still have two hours to go.  Actually, we only have about 45 minutes – we’ll be just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Michael Card’s “Starkindler”  is now playing.

Ordinary Spouse and I discuss Richard Rohr and right brain/left brain duality.

Off of the bypass and on to US-33 toward Goshen.

In Goshen, we spot a couple running from their house to their car, carrying a turkey.  They didn’t cover the bird.  It’s raining.

And then, 150 miles and two and a half hours later, we’ve made it.

Thanks to God for every blessing in our lives.  May the thanks we give today continue throughout the year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dude, The Muppets are covering Queen lolz!!!

Lucy requested numerous time last night that I post a new blog.

I requested she shut the fuck up.

We were drunk and it wasn’t Rage Sunday. Fuck.

I feel that I can justify the drinking on a day that was not Rage Sunday because a celebration of sorts was called for…..and because we went to a hipster art party and I cannot be around people wearing rancoon tail skirts and un-ironic silver lame unless I’m drinking.

I felt the need to celebrate because a corner has been turned. For weeks I have been a quivering, skinless mass of mopey pus and tears. I felt like I had no control over any of my emotions. I was angry, devastated, listless, hopeless, unmotivated and so, so sad. Each time I broke into another round of tears I was perplexed at myself. Sure, I’m a basketcase sometimes but generally I can keep my shit in check. It was a humbling and miserable few weeks.

Any girl in my age group will remember the scene in My So Called Life when Angela pops out of bed after months of brooding over Jordan Catalano and realizes that suddenly she feels nothing. Cue The Violent Femmes and dancing around room in pajamas. She was free.

Whatever had a hold on me has loosened it’s grip and I feel back to my old semi-emotionless self. I’m able to think about exactly the same things that were causing breakdowns last week and not even feel a twinge behind my eyes. I still have some things to deal with as always but now I can choose to deal with them in a rational way as opposed to an angry way. Yippee fucking doo.

As for the blog, who knows what will happen here. I’ve cleared out the stables. They’ve all been put out to pasture. The Unicorn, The Bartender and Tiny Baby are no more. Okay…well Tiny Baby might sneak back in because Lucy is so insistent about him and good god he’s attractive.

There are no dates on the horizon just vague threats from friends who want to set me up with so and so. The Lovelab ad was deleted FOREVER and numerous names have been deleted from my phone.

A new wave of dates might roll in but I’m less frantic now. I’m tired and quite content to relax and hibernate a bit. Chris has mentioned that I have 29 years of ridiculous material to mine from if I want to keep writing. God knows everyone needs to know about Paul The Butt Spitter and the guy who dry humped me while Fraggle Rock was playing.

I feel a change in the air, kids. Something is about to move. We’ll see what it is. For now, I’m a stronger, quieter Sweet Bird. For today at least.

Free and High

I’m sure that everyone remembers the Ipod commercial for the Nano last year that introduced myself and I’m sure many others to the group Chairlift. Now Apple has the tendency of drilling music into our heads and making us never want to listen to songs ever again, which unfortunately has a toll on the musicians behind those catchy jingles. Anyway, I am going to throw the same song at you but a nice remix by one of my favourite bands Passion Pit. You better like it, or I’ll get mad. And I don’t like being mad.

Lady GaGa Totally Looks Like Marjory the Trash Heap From Fraggle Rock

» Think you can do better? Make your own!

Pictures by: dunno source. Look-Alike by: Givesadamn via Totally Looks Like Builder

“Madrugar” es una costumbre ineludible extendida por todo el mundo. Normalmente, si no es por un incentivo emocional – económico puramente egocentrista, suelo evitarla. Llamadme rebelde si quereís!

En estos momento debo seguir a la masa e incorporarme al serio mundo laboral, por lo tanto: Madrugo. Esto se traduce en un cansancio con  DOS apellidos bien REDONDOS.

El Cansancio muestra diversos síntomas, que como todo en la vida, dependen de la persona de la que estemos hablando. En este caso, el mio, hay un síntoma que me gusta particularmente: La Risa Tonta.

Basta con un pequeño gesto, una frase mal dicha o simplemente una compañera de trabajo con la cara del malo de los “fraggle rock”,  junto al cansacio acumulado, se convierte en una risa atroz de la que no puedes escapar hasta 20 o 30 minutos despúes de que comience.

No desespero, No todo es malo en Potenza, algo que no puedo decir de la atmósfera húmeda mezclada y rebozada con mi pelo. El resultado de esta receta capilar, os lo adjunto en forma de imagen(los bigotes no cuentan).

Os presento a una compi de curro. No os equivoqueís, me cae bien, pero eso es otra historia.——>

Agradecimientos a GruppyMad, Antonio y El Croata Bailón. Gracias por los comentarios, Galanes hasta la médula! Besazo para cada uno!

Aren’t these trees glorious?  I got the photographs by stepping out my back door and going for a little walk in the woods around the house.  Leo Chapo and Bootemius followed me there, and I got some especially good shots of Leo posing on the woodpile and Booty stalking something in the viridian undergrowth, his pale green eyes glowing.

A walk in the woods was just the thing I needed.  And it was also, coincidentally, on my new list.

In Week Ten of The Artist’s Way, Julia (yes, we’re now on a first-name basis in my mind) asks us to make a list of “touchstones”, the little things in life that bring us joy, the little pleasures we can indulge in easily and often.  The idea, of course, is to continue treating ourselves like precious objects.  The items on the list might be small objects or activities we love, but that we might not ordinarily make the time or spend the money to do.  Part of creative recovery is learning not to squash and suppress and starve our inner artist, as many of us have been doing (guilty) but to indulge her whims sometimes, just do the things that give her pleasure, or put the things that lift her spirits in our everyday environment.

After you’ve made your list, you’re to post it beside your desk or wherever you’re likely to look fairly often.  And I must say, it is having an effect.  I made a preliminary list of about 60 things, kept adding to it over the next few days, and I’ve already acted on a few of the suggestions I’ve thus given my subconscious.

I’d like to encourage everyone reading this post to start a touchstones list.  If you’d like, you can post yours online, too, and put a link to it in the comments so I can come see it.  But definitely do hang it in a place where it’s likely to have an effect.

And now, without further ado, here’s my list:

1. Leo Chapo (yep, that is him — isn’t he gorgeous?)
2. Booty
3. good stationery
4. snail mail — especially long letters, sent or received
5. fresh flowers
6. garden catalogs
7. an unread book
8. a well-read book
9. seeds
10. lavender
11. Clairefontaine notebooks
12. small stitches
13. turquoise and tangerine
14. my super-sharp sewing scissors
15. snails — when they’re not in the lettuce
16. clean sheets
17. white towels
18. small boxes, even if they are empty
19. cicada songs
20. daydreams
21. seashells
22. nutmeg
23. baby laughs
24. F.’s accent
25. harp music
26. star-filled night skies
27. my stuffed penguin, Zout
28. jonquils (a.k.a. daffodils in Northwest Georgia dialect)
29. sky blue with a touch of red
30. walking in the woods
31. sketching in my sketchbook
32. getting my hands in the earth
33. baking anything
34. kneading bread
35. cutting vegetables
36. a pen running dry (another 2.5 kilometers of words written)
37. watching (and hearing) someone play the piano
38. a fire in the fireplace (as long as I don’t have to build it)
39. Fraggle Rock
40. Chapi & Chapo
41. belly dance
42. a really jingly hip scarf
43. old-fashioned quilts
44. a new paintbrush
45. F.’s digital camera
46. techno music
47. belly dance music
48. cleaning the kitchen while dancing (yesterday it was to this)
49. lightning bugs
50. Yellow Pear tomatoes
51. Cherokee Purple tomatoes
52. mason jars
53. dried lentils (I know, I am very strange)
54. my garden
55. pretty paper
56. fabric stores
57. Fuchsia (the plant, not the color)
58. Sam Flax (Atlanta)
59. Dick Blick’s big dreamy catalog
60. girls’ nights out (Girls’ Weekend Out coming up in two weeks!)
61. my CSA
62. squirrels
63. freckles
64. red hair
65. green eyes (especially this one pair)
66. apple mint
67. linen closets
68. fancy French soap
69. hummingbirds
70. my bone folder
71. Art Nouveau anything
72. Celtic knotwork
73. taking a hot bath with bath salts and a good book (yes, I’m a carnal book-lover)
74. bees
75. overflowing bookcases
76. oyster mushrooms
77. peacock feathers
78. overripe pears served with blue cheese
79. creeks
80. kudzu
81. dogtooth violets
82. thrift stores
83. letter openers
84. owls hooting
85. ivy climbing brick
86. really cheesy Regency romance novels
87. Araucana roosters
88. houses with white columns
89. railroad tracks
90. heat lightning
91. the mournful sound of the train whistle at night
92. a huge thunderstorm
93. magnolia trees
94. dogwoods
95. old books
96. dictionaries
97. a long, flowing skirt
98. cappuccino with nutmeg sprinkled on top
99. my pearls
100. accidental naptime
101. going barefoot