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Yesterday morning, I was all set to listen to U2 while I ran on the treadmill. I've kept their Achtung, Baby! down there for several years for when the U2 running mood hits me. (I also keep some Ted Nugent, John Mellencamp, and Dixie Chicks handy - my running moods are pretty eclectic!)
(It's kind of funny... I didn't appreciate U2 until I approached my fifties. That seems so strange to me because I love their music now... to me, it's so passionate and energizing.)
Anyway, that's what I needed yesterday morning, but when I opened the case, it was empty!
I searched through the loose cds piled on the shelf - no luck. I looked through the other cds upstairs. No luck.
I scratched my head. Why did my U2 cds keep disappearing? My absolute favorite one - The Best of 1990-2000 - went missing years ago. I keep the case, still hoping it will turn up someday, maybe under a couch cushion or someone's bed, perhaps.
But now Achtung, too? What was going on? Was this some personal vendetta against me and U2?
I called Tom, texted all of my kids, in hopes that someone saw something, spotted it somewhere, remembered removing it from the player...
No luck.
Thank goodness I still had Joshua Tree to appease my U2 running mood, but the whole time I ran I wondered about Achtung and the great U2 CD Mystery...
When Tom came home later that evening, it only took him a couple of minutes to find it, of course. Show-off. Someone (possibly even me) had placed it in a clear cd case. It was sitting right there on the shelf near the others.
I would be mad at him if I wasn't so grateful. (Thank you, baby! Now can you find the other one?)
This first day of January has just drifted by. I haven't accomplished much of anything beyond a little after-party straightening and a walk with the puppies. Just reading about everything I did last New Year's Day makes me tired!
But I feel as if I'm drifting in a calm spot between two rapids in a river. We need days like that, don't we? Days where we just lean back in our inner tube, dangle our hands in the cold water, gaze at the sky above... where we progress so slowly, we have time to notice the details in the scenery along the shore...
Anyway...
How did you welcome 2012? Did you dress up and hit the town? Cuddle under a blanket watching the ball drop on television? Gather with friends in someone's kitchen?
Part of me loves the idea of dressing up all glittery and heading downtown with masses of people to celebrate the new year. The other part prefers to dress in jeans and spend the last bits of the old year and the first of the new surrounded by good friends in my own home, sipping red wine and cheap champagne.
That part of me is bigger and stronger than the first part, and that's why almost every year for the past 7 years, Tom and I have decided at the last minute to throw our own New Year's Eve party. (It might also be because we're never invited anywhere... but I try not to think about that!)
Yesterday my feet, aching after seven straight busy, busy hours at the Bistro, were grateful we made that decision again so they could spend part of the evening propped on the coffee table in their own living room, listening to live music, courtesy of Michael Clay and Jim Linton. They didn't even mind dancing a little.
I didn't begin the new year eating healthy or taking time to run like I did last year, but each day is a new beginning, right? A chance to do what you neglected to do the day before. A fresh page in your book. And the story is yours to write.
That's pretty sweet.
Here are some other sweet!s...
Saturday: a road trip with all three of your kids for the first time in years; singing Christmas carols; attending Christmas Eve Mass with your babies in the church where all three were baptized, two went to preschool and one celebrated his First Communion
Sunday: Christmas; waking in your parents' home on Christmas morning for the first time since you were 18; bacon, eggs, and biscuits with plum jam, made with love by your Daddy; your niece's peppermint cupcakes; the rain stopping for your drive home; watching old Dark Shadows episodes with your son
Monday: sleeping in; running on a country road under a brilliant blue December sky; surprising a family of Mallard ducks on a little pond (not so sweet - didn't get a photo!); finally starting your Christmas cards; watching your son cook dinner with his dad while you work at the computer
Tuesday: getting back to work on your book; clean windows; a text message letting you know your son is going to propose to the love of his life; a phone call letting you know your son proposed to the love of his life and she said YES!; your middle son packing up, preparing to move out into his own place again (bittersweet)
Wednesday: a warm jacket on a frosty morning; finally mailing your Christmas cards; an impromptu lesson from the postmaster on how to detect counterfeit bills; a paycheck waiting for you in the mailbox
Thursday: surprising the family of Mallard ducks on the little pond again - and getting a photo before they could fly away!; a donation in your tip jar; stopping in the aisles to visit with people you know at the grocery store
Friday: looking back on a busy day, feeling you accomplished a lot; a movie with your sweetie
Saturday: coming home late from work to a home all decorated for your New Year's Eve party, thanks to your daughter; welcoming the New Year with dear friends and live music in your own livingroom; two new photo shoot proposals
Sunday: starting the day with eggs, bacon and toast; a walk in the afternoon sunshine; listening to your daughter and her friend laugh about their New Year's Eve adventures
What were some of the sweetest moments of your week? Please share!
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A few more sweet!s from our "Welcome 2012" party...
~ smiles and laughter ~
~ dancing ~
~ more smiles and laughter ~
Wishing tons of smiles, laughter, fun, and friendship for all of you in 2012!
We live a mile down a dirt road. There are no small children living nearby, and even if they did, their parents would skip our house and head for a real neighborhood in town where the little goblins can trick-or-treat door-to-door, collecting a lot more loot in less time with no driving.
That's what we always did.
So I have no Halloween candy stashed in a cupboard for tonight. No Jack-o-lanterns grinning on our front porch or ghosts dangling from the tree branches.
Tom and I didn't even dress up this year; I worked Saturday night, the traditional Halloween party night. Tonight we'll be working on projects.
But Daniel showed me this video last week and, in honor of Halloween, I'm sharing it with you. If you're a movie buff or a Christopher Walken fan or just enjoy a good spoof, I think you'll enjoy it. Otherwise, you'll probably go, "Huh? I don't get it."
I cracked up. That tells you a little bit about my sense of humor.
Whether you watch it or not, dress up or not, go trick-or-treating with little goblins or not, I hope you have a Happy Halloween!
I've mentioned before how acrobatic my little Belle is, that I thought she must be descended from circus dogs...
Now I believe it more than ever!
Would you believe she has learned to stand and walk just on her hands, er, front paws?
(Where's Ellen's number?)
Nah, not really. It's April Fool's Day, remember? This is the best I could come up with. It's a real, untouched photo alright, but this is just the goofy way she runs... I keep expecting her to flip all the way over!
But the focus52 prompt this week is "silly" and right away I thought of my sweet, silly Belle, who bounds like Tigger when she runs, who makes me laugh every day, who radiates joy with every fiber of her being.
She loves dirt the way Max loves water!
She might just be the goofiest dog I've ever owned - and that's saying a lot!
One thing's for sure... it's a dog's life around here...
But I don't mind.
In honor of April's Fool's Day, here are a few of my favorite 'fool' quotes...
A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. ~ William Shakespeare
He who hesitates is a damned fool. ~ Mae West
Showing off is the fool's idea of glory. ~ Bruce Lee
The wise man does at once what the fool does finally. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli
Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. ~ Henry David Thoreau
I spend a lot of time on things I enjoy ... walking through the Hollow, writing, photography, running, dancing, watching movies, reading, connecting with friends ...
But there's one thing I do purely for fun.
It benefits no one but myself. It's not something I can do with anyone else, like walking or dancing or watching Glee.
It's not part of any goal or dream, like writing or photography. I don't harbor any fantasies of ever being any good - much less playing in a band one day! I'm starting to wonder if I can even improve at all!
Although it would seem to have some health benefits (it can be a pretty good workout and it's a great stress reliever!) they're canceled out by the racket that I'm sure is damaging my ears (and yes, mom, I wear ear plugs.)
I don't learn anything from playing them.
No, wait. I do learn something.
I learn that even if I don't get any better, even if I can't multi-task while banging the drums, even if no one benefits from the time I spend on that little black stool, it's okay.
It's okay to play just for the fun of it.
This is my contribution to Focus 52, a creative project sponsored by Jan at twoscoopz. This week the word is Play. Easy one for me! Banging the drums is pure play for me - I've tried, but can't think of any other motive with which to justify the time!
Click on the link HERE to check out the other contributions, but first (just for fun!) take a look at this great video sent to me by my friend George. I only hope to be this good one day. But if I never am, that's okay, too... (will someone send me some blue drumsticks?)
I remember when MTV first aired. (That's how old I am.)
I would just watch and watch and watch, one music video after another, mesmerized. Even when I was forced to leave the room for some reason - to eat or sleep or take a potty break, for instance- I would keep it on just to hear the music.
When I was pregnant with my firstborn, we bought a foreclosed house and moved. We opted not to connect to cable in our new home; Tom was a returning college student, so we were down to a single income and wanted to save money where we could - we were about to become a family! And all that stuff they showed on cable - lord have mercy, we didn't want our kids watching that!
I missed those music videos, though, so you can imagine how excited I was when Tom recently discovered Cool TV! It's just like the old-time MTV, airing one music video after another, including some of the old ones we watched almost 30 years ago - except it's on network television! It's free!
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The next best thing to having your own work published or promoted is seeing your friends succeed, and this weekend I get to witness the work of my friend Amory Casto come alive on the stage of Salvage Vanguard Theater. Yay! Congratulations, Amory!
Check out the promo... and if you're in the Austin area, come see it!
Small town love isn't as simple as it should be. Charlotte is a quiet girl, who wants nothing more than to simply love and be loved by her boyfriend Gabe, a recent jailbird who wants nothing more than to walk a straight line. Charlotte soon discovers that he has returned a different man than the one she fell in love with. Heartache turns to fear when she decides one day to meet Finley, a wondering optimist in an open field.
Tickets are $12 and can be reserved online at www.hydeparktheatre.org. Once on the HPT website, click on "See full Long Fringe schedule". Scroll down the page--What You Touch is Gold is second from the bottom. Then reserve them tickets!! (All tickets must be paid for in cash/check at the box office before the show)
What You Touch Is Gold, a new play Written & Produced by Amory Elizabeth Casto Directed by Lindsey Sikes
Starring: Erica Heidepriem William Buchanan Dane Seth Hurlburt Megan Minto Alexander Hilary and Charles Devany
Damn juniper, cedar, whatever you want to call it...
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The past few mornings our walks have swung down to our pond. We've had a visitor lately and I'm trying to capture him/her with my camera. But it is just too dang sly and fast for me...
Can you see it hiding from me in the weeds? When I took this, it was in the gray of dawn and I was standing pretty far away. I could barely spot its eye through the weeds and just hoped when I snapped the shot that I was capturing something in the frame.
Here... I'll zoom in a little more for you...
About this time, Belle and Max spotted it and headed closer. The jig was up and the heron decided to scram... I started snapping and, considering I was yelling "No Belle! No Max!", and it was still dark, and I was moving and still pretty far away, these didn't turn out half bad...
Dang heron. I'll get a good photo of you yet...
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If you had ten extra free hours a week, what would you do with them?
Thanks to the economy I've had to wrestle with this issue this past week (much better than having to wrestle with the issue of No Job At All, that's for sure!)
This is what I've packed into my two extra hours per day:
And that's it. But that looks like a lot to me. Right now I'm kind of enjoying that extra time and I'll try to remember this tingly feeling when I take a look at my paycheck tomorrow...
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All this time I thought I had a Facebook page, and it turns out it was just some sort of Insights Page. (Why?) Anyway, now I have a Real Facebook page, so if you're on Facebook, and you're so inclined, look me up! (Long Hollow website)
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I came across this video on Recommended Daily Dose and it cracked me up because I love ridiculous stuff like this. I had to share it in honor of my friend Mary Kay, even though she never reads my blog. She's a huge Josh Groban fan (he touched her hand once at a concert and she didn't wash it for a week! She's also in love with Matthew McConaughey, but that's another story...)
It's only Tuesday, but it feels like this week is lasting forever! Just when I thought I had everything all organized in my head, a schedule figured out, a game plan in place on how to tackle my to-do lists AND my book AND get some sleep (AND have some fun!), life reminded me that survival is all about flexibility. Glass balls shatter when they slip out of place - rubber ones bounce.
I am going to bounce, baby. I'm not giving up that easily!
But I am so happy that tomorrow is Wednesday. It's going to be jam-packed, but I will get to bed on time - that's a promise to myself.
Thursday will be another busy day, but it will be Weekend-Eve... the day before I get to see all my kids (actually they're kind of iffy on it, still, but I'm staying positive and hopeful.)
I'll still have some work to do around here (and don't tell them, but I think their Daddy has some projects he needs help with) but I'm hoping to fit in some funny movies, walks on the property... maybe I'll get lucky and it'll cool down enough for ping-pong or just hanging out on the porch, talking.
What would really be fun is to make a funny video like the one below - I discovered it on my friend Juana's blog. It's her nephew, his wife and their teenage girls - they have a whole series of them on You Tube!
My kids would never do this, and especially not with me and Tom. The closest thing I have is a video of TG and Daniel's energetic lip sync performance to Livin' La Vida Loca several years ago (move over, Ricky Martin!) complete with costume changes, dancing, you name it. It's hilarious, but unfortunately, I can't show it to you here, much less post it on You Tube. Another one of those promises. In fact, I have to keep the tape highly guarded - there have been threats to its life!
But I can show you this one by the Longostatikz. I'm not even related to them and I think it's funny! (Click here to see more of the Longostatikz on Juana's blog, or check them out on You Tube!)
It's only been two weeks since Tom hurt his back bowling. It had gotten better, but I'm pretty sure he stretched Dr. Oz's advice a bit far Saturday...
A few hours later, he was back in bed, lying on a heating pad. (can you hear me sighing?)
I only have time for a quick post this morning - I feel like I'm staggering off of a wild rollercoaster ride straight into a whitewater rafting adventure - what a jam-packed weekend! It was a great weekend, though, totally worth the exhaustion and baggy, saggy bloodshot eyes and mental fog hitting me now. More on it later. Happy Monday!
While blog-hopping this morning, I fell into a time warp. Jan of Jan's Daily Dish posted a link to a song she says her dad used to sing to her (with a warning that anyone under 55 might not want to click on it!)..."If I knew you were coming I'd've baked a cake..."
I'm still just a spring chicken of 50, but I took a chance and clicked anyway...and that's when I went swirling back in time (imagine me flailing my arms, surrounded by spirals of black and white, like they used to use on those old sci-fi shows)...landing in the middle of my livingroom of the early 60's. There are dining room chairs sitting in a row with one in front and somehow I've convinced a few of my friends (probably Janet, Linda, Ricky, Sandy...) to put on a skit based on one of my favorite songs. I still wonder how I managed to talk them into it...you'll wonder the same thing, if you listen to it.
My friend Darla's daughter finished up two weeks of summer camp in East Texas today. Another friend, Patti, offered to let her spend last night at her lakehouse near the camp so she wouldn't have to make such a long drive first thing this morning. Darla invited me to go along just for fun.
Heck, yes! Road trip!
Never mind that I'm always complaining about not having enough time in the day to get everything done and that I'm quick to use "no time" as an excuse that the laundry is piling up or the refrigerator is empty or my book isn't written. Life's just too short to pass up a chance for a change of scenery...hours yakking with dear friends...sipping margaritas as the sun sets on a beautiful lake...witnessing first hand the reunion between a mother and daughter who have been separated for two weeks...and, to be honest, catching a glimpse of what a real "Parent Trap" camp looks like.
So what if I'm sitting at the end of another "not much accomplished" weekend - I have no regrets at all. For one thing, at the end of last week I zoomed around getting things done just so I could go without too much guilt - I was whooped! I needed a break!
Here's a quick update of the end of last week...
Thursday...our anniversary. We had a wonderful dinner at Outback Steakhouse (free, thanks to a gift card someone special gave us.) And even though my car was supposed to be my our anniversary gift, he surprised me with a Windberg print of an old barn he discovered on Craig's List (I've been a fan for thirty years) and a beautiful, sweet card - a good thing, because of the video he sent me via email earlier in the week, entitled "The Perfect Marriage" (see it below.)
My gift to him? I settled on only one card instead of buying three like I usually do and I'm not taking a class this semester. (I know...pretty lame...but he really is impossible to shop for! And these things really do make him happy!)
Friday...TG's last day at work. Our bosses took us both to lunch at a new place in town (new for all of us, anyway.) I'm going to miss having her nearby all day long.
After dinner we shopped - I think we scoured every clearance rack in Kohl's and finished up just before the lights went out - and laughed till we cried listening to comedy channels on my free-for-now XM Radio. It's hard to believe that this time next week she'll be settling into life as a college freshman, and Tom and I will really and truly be empty-nesters!
Below...a taste of lake life with dear friends...a sign from the camp (I want one for my house!)...the "funny" email Tom sent me...
Something fun for a Saturday morning - dedicated to all of those Craig-Listers, especially Darla and my sweet Tom, who might be headed out to gather up new treasure...
Like any job, mine can get tedious - coming up with fresh new names can strain anyone's creativity and then staring at a computer screen for hours and hours, screening the potential new names for trademark hits, puts a definite strain on your eyes and your "sitting" muscles.
But learning something new is always exciting to me, and I've had the opportunity to learn something new almost every day since October, when I started this gig.
However, one of the real perks has been working with creative people like Ricky Russ, who built the new NameStormers website and edited the videos that either he or I filmed. This one for Pizza Cravers by Doritos (a name NameStormers came up with) is brand-spanking new and definitely my favorite video to date. He gets all the credit and my thanks for making me laugh!
I was attacked by a Chroma-Pop Green Screen at work today - it popped me in the eye! It hurt enough that I applied ice, worried about walking into Kendall's graduation tomorrow night with a black eye.
I was trying to fold it up to put it away in its neat little carrying case. According to the video on the website, this is a very simple procedure and only takes seconds. Two or three moves, and this 7' x 5' rectangle becomes a compact circle that slips right in to the bag.
I've done it before, but it took more than a few seconds or a few moves...it took a lot of patience and calm, cool, confident determination. I was all out of patience and calm today, and somehow this screen sensed it - somehow it knew that my chi was off balance. It made its move while I was weak.
It soothes my pride a little to know I'm not the only one out there who has struggled to fold these. Just watch this video to get an idea of my morning...
Tom and I are trying to slow down a little. We've been hitting the trails on our property the last couple of days, taking advantage of the sunshine and sub-100 degree temperatures while they both last. This evening, Charly, Max and Frankie all went with us, but yesterday the dogs wimped out and just Frankie tagged along. He came trotting up when we called and tagged along close behind Tom, making sure we didn't get out of his sight. It seems so strange, and yet so normal.
We waded through Mexican hats and under an arching tunnel of lush green grapevine that cover the land bridge to get to the other side of the creek, then took a trail down to the little pond. It's my favorite place - a quiet green oasis, draped in ferns. No water runs down the upper creek, dropping as a miniature waterfall into the pond right now, although it does happen, and when it does, you couldn't imagine such a little waterfall could make so much noise - even on our back deck I've closed my eyes and could easily imagine I was sitting next to the gulf shore, listening to the surf. But it's still glorious when it's quiet. I envision myself...someday...sitting there on a little bench under the trees next to the pond, listening to the waterfall (this is a dream, after all!), typing away on a laptop.
People around here badmouth the cedar trees (technically a type of juniper, but we call them cedar - don't ask me why, because I don't know!) They are looked down on because they spread fast and drink up all the water. They gang up on oak trees and anything else that has roots and leaves. Don't get me wrong...I actually have a soft spot for cedars. The smell reminds me of going to my grandparent's cabin near Lake Medina near San Antonio when I was little, and the old trees with thick trunks are beautiful (to me, anyway.)
But right now I don't like them so much. There is so much cedar pollen in the air, thanks to the otherwise perfect weather (sunshine, mid-70's, breezy) that I'm wishing someone would take some steel wool to my eyes and SCRATCH!! I'm taking antihistamine every way I can - orally, nasally, and ...eye-fully? With eye drops...you know what I mean.
Maybe they're just trying to get revenge for all the trash talk and weeding out of their kind that goes on, but, come on! they're not doing their cause any good. Here are a couple of pictures I found of cedar pollen explosions - I never have my camera when I see one myself. The first one is in Arizona (by digital_house - I believe in giving credit) and the second one is in New Jersey (by Benny Bishop). I never realized other people were suffering just like we are. It doesn't make me feel any better.
While I'm on the subject of revenge, here's a cartoon I cut out of this week's Parade magazine that really made me laugh...
It's only Wednesday, but these last few days have been so long and hectic that Sunday seems like years ago. That's when I took my own advice about slowing down... I spent a few hours with Daniel doing nothing but laugh at his new Flight of the Conchords Season 1 DVD (his birthday present) and eat ice cream cake (which should be named Extreme Cookies and Cream because there's not really any cake involved - just neopolitan ice cream, Oreos, chocolate syrup, and Cool Whip.)
Okay, that's not exactly true...the part about doing nothing else, anyway (the cake part is true)...we'd watch an episode, then I'd get up and "accomplish" something...laundry, cleaning off my desk, or something...then we'd watch another one. It's the closest I can come to being a couch potato. But we watched six or seven episodes over the weekend, and by the last one Sunday night, I knew I'd be going through withdrawals...they are so funny! It makes me wish I had HBO. I'm going to miss Bret and Jermaine.
After all these years, after all the zillions of times I've looked at that photo of my dad in my bedroom of 1970, I have NEVER noticed that there is a hand coming out of the closet! There's something about seeing photographs on this blog that makes me look at them as if for the first time - unfortunately, it's usually after I hit the PUBLISH NOW button. I tried to go back and crop out the hand, but this old computer was too tired and froze up on me. By then, I thought, what the heck...it's very intriguing...I suppose at some time I knew who that was in my closet and why they were there, but that tidbit of knowledge was displaced in my brain long ago. I'll have to make some phone calls today and see if anyone remembers...
I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it: Friends make life a lot more fun. (Charles R. Swindoll )
Hope your weekend is full of friends and joy and fun...
Ike has come and gone, leaving a mess in his wake, but not creating nearly as much havoc as he could have. My family is fine...sweaty and sticky from the power outage, but safe.
I'm happy to report my parents' old house weathered the storm with no damage - even the carport is still standing, although it's relatively new, thanks to some other storm. Ditto on Donnie's house. Brenda had some water in one bathroom, but they're not sure how it got in - the roof is untouched, although a tornado left it's signature dangerously close, twisting and splintering one tree and leaving it to die on the neighbor's carport.
I've been mesmerized by the televised scenes of destruction Ike did manage to paint on his way through the Galveston/Houston area. It reminds me of the aftermath of Alicia. When she hit in 1983, Tom and I lived in League City. We stayed up all night listening to the wind roar, wondering what the bumps and crashes could mean. Tom took advantage of the calm in the eye of the storm to try to patch up our damaged roof. The next day we walked through the neighborhood and drove to the bay, seeing crumpled houses, splintered trees, downed power lines, and washed up boats.
Even though we're miles away and are feeling no physical effects from this storm, it's comforting to have all my "babies" here at home with us for the first time in months. This afternoon we gathered around the computer, watching funny videos on youtube...it reminded me of the days I would read to them huddled around me on the couch.
