The Lie Has Been Revealed......

You may recall, I also participated in the "Two Truths and A Lie" Blog Hop hosted by Liz at Random Thoughts of A Lutheran Geek.

And, as promised, here is my lie:

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a clean freak! 

That's #3 on my list, in case you were wondering. (Click here to see my original post.)

On any given day, there are multiple finger prints on any t.v. screen in my house. If I dust, it's only the front of the shelves - you know, the part that people can see. And more often than not, clean clothes are pulled from the laundry basket rather than a drawer. Sometimes they are folded, but that's the exception. The toys of little boys are usually scattered from one end of the house to the other and don't even get me started on the dishes!

I really did end up leaving the pool stretched out in the back yard with about 4 inches of water left in it. The kids "skated" on it in their snow boots until the snowpocalypse that has been the norm this winter buried it. Repeatedly. I wonder if i just let the snow melt into it, will I not have to fill it? Probably not. We got a LOT of snow this year, but not that much.

And yes, I have been known to have popcorn for dinner. I recently introduced my boys to the wonder that is JiffyPop. But sadly, it just doesn't taste as good as when it's cooked over the tiny gas camp stove while in the midst of the wilderness. I prefer to make mine on the stove in my giant stir fry skillet. I top it with REAL butter because anything else just makes the popcorn wilt and shrivel away to nothing. And if I'm feeling spicy, I add some Montreal Steak Seasoning. It's not just for steaks anymore.

Check out some of these other sublime bloggers and see what their lies turned out to be!

Happy Monday!

Super 8 Debut Albums - Blog Hop Fest

The task given in this blog hop was to list our favorite debut albums. I think there may have been a requirement that they be "super" debut albums and, well, I don't know that everyone would agree with me as to their greatness. But what I do know, is that the first time I heard them, I loved them and was instantly hooked and had to hear more.  So away we go!

8.  Vixen - Vixen 1988 - I am now, and forever will be, a child of the 80s - BIG hair and all! Their follow up albums weren't as good but this one was awesome and proved that the girls could rock just as hard as the boys!

7. Skillet - Skillet 1996 - Never thought I would like Christian anything until I heard these guys (and girls) and have been hooked ever since. God ROCKS!

6. Nickelback - Curb - 1996 - I love these guys! They rock, they're sexy, maybe even a little dirty (She Didn't Make It This Far....) and they have continued to get better and better. I have ALL their albums and they just get better and better and better!

5. The Wreckers - Stand Still, Look Pretty - 2006 - This duo is made up of Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp, each of whom had their own musical careers before teaming up for this album. It's awesome. the harmonies are sublime!

4. Wynonna Judd - Wynonna - 1992 - I already loved The Judds and Wynonna all grown up and on her own did not disappoint! The girl can sing like nobody's business AND she has red hair. Like me. So, she's awesome anyway!

3. Poison - Look What The Cat Dragged In - 1986 - I have to admit, the boys of Poison were so pretty that the first time I saw them I wondered if they were boys or girls. (They're almost as hot as the girls of Vixen!) They were the ultimate glam-stadium-big-hair-80s rock & roll band and I loved them instantly and still do!

2. Pat Benatar - In The Heat of the Night - 1979 - I remember roller skating to Pat Benatar at Little Wheels roller rink and playing her on the jukebox at my 10th birthday party at Little Big Men Pizza. I have all of her albums and can probably sing all her songs by heart. I was always amazed that such a BIG voice could belong to such a tiny person. Again, she's proof that the girls can rock as hard as the boys!

1. Def Leppard - On Through The Night - 1980 - And finally, my first love and favorite band of ALL time. They were killer then, and they still are. They have overcome adversity - their drummer only has ONE ARM!! - and are still one of biggest, baddest bands out there still today. On Through The Night hooked me, and each subsequent album kept me coming back for more.

And there you have it. My Super 8 Debut Albums. I'm not sure they all "rocked the world" but they certainly rocked mine. Don't forget to hop on over the other bloggers participating by clicking on the linkys below.

Thanks to Larry at DiscConnected for hosting this blog-hop. What a trip down memory lane!!

You Know You Live In Alaska When.....

I have been known to watch some rather odd things on television since we got all "dished" up.

Today I was watching "Alaska State Troopers" on the NatGeo channel. They were filming a bit about fishing in Dutch Harbor and the cameraman (or woman) panned around to take in the bald eagles. What beautiful birds the are. And my, what BIG birds they are.

Big enough, in fact, to not be at all intimidated by us mere humans.

The trooper who was being interview was telling a story of how his son had been attacked by the stately birds and now, the elementary school children had to be escorted from one building to the next for fear of being swooped down upon and carried off by bald eagles.

Coming Up On Monday.....

It's time to get my groove on with the lastest blog-hop!  I get to pick my favorite 8 Debut Albums. This blog-hop is Hosted by DiscConnected. Sign up below and join in the fun!!

Also coming up on Monday, The Lie Shall Be Revealed from the 2 Truths & A Lie! Good guesses all, everyone who participated. In reading everyone else's post, we are a very interesting bunch!

Sick, Tired and Cold

This has definitely been one long cold winter. And one long winter cold. Most days, and especially when my thermometer dips WAY below the zero mark, I don't feel good. The cold makes my muscles stiff and trying to use them when they're stiff make me sore, so I take it easy in the winter. I take it easy a lot.

This last week, however, I have also been blessed with what I can only describe as Mutant Martian Annihilation-itis. Otherwise known as several different -itis's strung together - bronchitis, tonsillitis, otitis media, and sinusitis. Although, I don't think I can technically call it "tonsillitis" anymore since I had them removed last December. Not something I recommend a grown person have done if it can be AT ALL avoided!!)

Anyway.

I'm sick, and I'm tired, and I'm going to bed. And if you don't hear from me, don't worry. I'm probably just buried under a pile of tissues and will be back as soon as I can tunnel my way out!



What do you do to make yourself feel better when you're sick?

I HATE It When Commercials Make Me Cry......

I really hate it when commercials make me cry. And the ones from The Foundation For A Better Life routinely do just that. The one I saw tonight, however, was over the top.

And if you REALLY want or need a good cry, here's the full video for the song, 'You Can Let Go Now, Daddy' by Crystal Shawanda.

Now I gotta go get another box of tissues!

Two Truths and A Lie - A Blog Hopping Carnival

Here are some "facts" about me. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to decide which of the three "facts" are actually a lie. Give your answer in the comments section and then hop to the other blogs to keep the fun going! Click here to see the big reveal!

Fact #1: I neglected to put the kids' swimming pool away at the end of the season and left it lying in the backyard. They have used it as an ice rink all winter. 


Fact #2: I have been known to eat popcorn for dinner.

Fact #3: I am slightly obsessive compulsive about cleaning - the dishes are always done, the laundry is always folded, and there is never a speck of dust anywhere.

Reading Well Into the Wee Hours of The Night.....Or Monrning

I just finished Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou. It was delicious, full of meaty words that I had to look up. So for this one it can definitely be said I have learned something. And I will try in future posts to work some of my new vocabulary into the text.

For now though, here are a couple of quotes that stuck with me:

"Somewhere behind my knees was a place that waited for trouble."

"Raising boys in this world is more than a notion."

"Every shut-eye ain't sleep an' every goodbye ain't gone."

"Infatuation made me believe in my ability to create myself into my lover's desire."

"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities."

From "Heart of A Woman" by Maya Angelou.

And I will leave you tonight with my 7-year-old's divine humor:

What does one frog say to the other frog? Time's fun when you're havin' flies!! (He has a bit of a crush on Heidi Klume and we sometimes watch her Lifetime show "Seriously Funny Kids." He was watching this evening while I was distracted by something else and came in and laid this one on me. He cracks me UP!

Next on the reading list: Voices of the Faithful ~ Inspiring Stories of Courage from Christians Serving Around the World with Beth Moore, compiled by Kim P. Davis. It's actually a daily devotional but I think I will read it straight through. I don't always do so well when I have to limit myself to one small bit at a time.

Maybe there's another blog in it?

 

 

 

Miscellaneous Monday

So I made kielbasa and mac and cheese for supper tonight and when I started to cut up my 1st grader's piece of sausage all the juice ran out onto his plate. "Mom! It looks like the sausage peed his pants!" I have to say I almost peed my pants.

The amount of "Mom, he            (fill in the blank as to what he did)        to me!!" today I am just about at my wits end. I love long weekends. In the middle of winter. When it's too cold to play outside. I'm pretty sure I've gained about a thousand "platinum highlights" over the course of this winter. Maybe even just today!

So, I'm making an effort to read more. And along with the work of literature that I am reading, I have to have a dictionary beside me. I thought I had a pretty decent grasp of the English language and even had a fair vocabulary but I ran into several words today that I had to look up. Here are my top three for today:

pulchritudinous - physical comeliness, beautiful

quotidian - commonplace, ordinary

avarice - greediness, excessive desire for wealth or gain

 And finally, one of my most favorite shows on TV is Criminal Minds. At the beginning and end of each episode, they have a quote by some famous person or other. I liked both of these a lot:

"No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." Terry Pratchett

"A sad soul can kill you quicker - far quicker - than a germ." John Steinbeck

And as we speak, my littlest one is laying in the bathtub, ears under water, screaming at the top of his lungs because he likes how it sounds all "cloudy and big." He should be where I'm sitting!

 And that's it I think for this misc Monday.

 

Upside Down On A Dime

I hugged my kids a little tighter today. Gave them a few extra kisses today. Tried to be a little slower to irritation with their usual high jinks and other nonsense today.

Because I was reminded today that life on this Earth is finite. It ends. And sometimes, far too suddenly and far too soon. Without warning. Without preparation. Life turns upside down on a dime.

A friend of mine lost her husband to an accident over the weekend. And it makes extraordinarily sad because by all accounts, theirs was a great romance that has lasted some 20 years. The unfairness of it makes me angry. And my self-pity over my own situation makes me feel quite guilty.

I have spent a fair amount of time feeling quite sorry for myself that my FSS (former supposed spouse) got himself locked up again. He's no longer here when I need him. The passenger side of my bed is absent of him. (I would say empty, but it's piled high with clean clothes, books, notebooks, etc.). But even though that side of the bed will remain absent of him, he is not altogether absent from my life. He writes letters. He calls and talks to the boys. Even though he is not here in my house, he is alive. I can talk to him. I could reach out and touch him if I chose to.

My friend can no longer do that. And my heart breaks for her.

***

If you love someone, tell them. Hug your children and give them lots of kisses and loves and zrrrbits. Call your mom and dad. Make those amends that need making. Because you never know when your life will turn upside down on a dime.

Not Just Writing, But Reading Too!

And do I find myself taking up yet another challenge for myself. I read a post from a blog that I follow that led to another blog post about challenging ourselves to actually READ the books we already own. Since I am guilty of buying books when standing in line at various stores who just happen to place books where I can see them, having all intentions of reading each and every one of them, I now have a rather large stack of them.

Waiting. Looking so lovely with their colorful covers. Longing for me to pick them up and dive in.

So here goes. My reading list for 2011:

The Last Precinct, Blow Fly, Trace, and Predator by Patricia Cornwell;
New Moon by Stephanie Myers;
Open House by Elizabeth Berg;
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou;
Voices of the Faithful with Beth Moore compiled by Kim P. Davis;
John Belushi is Dead by Kathy Charles;
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott;
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen;
Dracula by Bram Stoker;
The Bear With Two Shadows by Roland Yeomans;
Aesop's Fables
and
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The "classics" listed above came pre-loaded on my Kindle and Nook for PC so since they're there and I haven't read all of them, I really think I should. And there will probably be more. Spring cleaning will be coming (even if Spring itself still has it's doubts) and I am sure I will discover many more books I have purchased and never read.

And if you would like to participate, visit Jamie over at Jamie's Bookshelf for all the details.

Happy reading!!

It's TRUE!! In My House Anyway......

Just some random rambling observations that I made over the course of today.

1. There is a decibel at which the screeching of my youngest offspring begins to feel like an red-hot ice pick piercing my brain right between my eyes.

2. The stubbing of toes hurts ten times worse when my feet are cold.

3.. It's winter and my feet are always cold.

4. I'm a klutz and I stub my toes a lot.

5. When I am tired, my children are NOT. And vice versa.

6. There is nothing that makes me happier than the sound of my children laughing. (And nothing that makes me bat-shit crazier than the sound of them fighting.)

7. My kids still think frozen pizza is a treat and as long as there are Oreos and cold milk for dessert, all is right with the world.

8. Kisses from mommy still fix most of the boo-boos, bumps, and bruises incurred by two little boys who are more monkey than human.

9. It's a popcorn-for-dinner kind of day. The good kind, made on the stove not in the microwave with real butter. And Montreal Steak Seasoning.

Yep. That's Right. I Did It.

What, exactly, did I do?

I entered a blog fest. For those of you who don't blog and wouldn't know, a blog fest is an event where lots of bloggers sign up to write on a given topic during a given period of time. It sounded like fun. It sounded like it would be something I could do....

And now, as I'm rolling though the linky list and looking at some of the writings of some of the other bloggers who have also signed up to participate, I'm starting to feel a little intimidated. These people are like writers in REAL LIFE. It's what they DO. And they're GOOD at it. And I'm feeling just a tad bit intimidated and a little overwhelmed.

But, as with all things in life, we live through it. And if we're lucky, we learn through it, too. I am a person who learns more by doing than by seeing so, I'm all in for better or worse!

Here's the premise - this is the April A to Z Blog fest. Every day in April, except Sundays, post a blog based on a letter of the alphabet. Twenty six letters, twenty six blogs.

I'm writing them in my head as we speak. Here's hoping I remember them long enough to put them on paper.

Blog Hosts for A to Z Blogging Challenge:

Arlee Bird - Throwing It Out

Alex J. Cavanaugh

Jen Daiker - Unedited

Jeffrey Beesler's World of the Scribe

Stephen Tremp - Breakthrough Blogs

Karen Gowen - Coming Down the Mountain

Talli Roland

and

Candace Granger - The Misadventures In Candyland

(Since I am so very new at this bloggy thing and am calling myself lucky to know how to insert ANY kind of link or picture, I will refer you to one of the above sites (well worth the trips, I promise) to find the LinkyDink to enter the blog fest.)

Grammy Award Winning = True Talent? Not Always....

Music has always played a big part in my life. It started when I was 5 listening to my granddad's collection of 78's - Bob Wills, The Andrews Sisters, Connie Francis, Elvis, Buck Owens, Henry Mancini (he composed the theme from The Pink Panther). I would dress up in my grandmother's old clothes and costume jewelry and entertain myself for hours on end singing and dancing and plunking away on the ancient upright piano in the basement. Somewhere in the darkest corner of my heart, I don't think I've yet forgiven my mother for selling the house with the piano still in it or selling all the jewelry and records.


Every song that is a favorite song has a memory attached to it. Some are good ones. Some are sad ones. Lots are bittersweet. I consider myself to be an equal opportunity music lover. While most of my favorite songs are by 80s hair bands, I enjoy everything from The Manhattan Transfer to Eminem to They Might Be Giants.


I watched the Grammy's last night and was wildly impressed with some things and horribly disappointed with others. 


Lady GaGa, bless her heart. She is definitely a freak of the highest order. While I wouldn't call myself one of her "little monsters," otherwise known as fans, I do like some of her songs and I appreciate her fearlessness in being whomever and/or whatever she feels like being on any given day. The song she sang last night was okay, but for a "new" song it sounded terribly familiar. It sounded an awful lot like "Respect Yourself" by the "GaGa" of the 80s, Madonna.


Usher and his white bread "Mini-Me" Justin Bieber were a total disappointment. The thing that annoyed me the most were the head-set microphones that completely covered their mouths. I suspect this was by design so that we would be "fooled" into believing that they were actually signing and not lip-syncing what few lyrics there were. I admire people who are talented enough to sing and dance at the same time. But with these two last night, it was more about showing off their dance moves at the expense of the song. Which is ironic considering it's the GRAMMY'S and not the VMA's or the Tony's.


Bob Dylan I think has seen better days. I love Dylan. But last night was not a good night for him. Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers were excellent and I think represent the "next generation" of Dylans. But the genuine article was decidedly worse for wear.


Mick Jagger on the other hand was a wild man!! I can only hope that I have that much energy when I am pushing 70. Who am I kidding. I don't have that much energy now!


Bruno Mars was great - a very talented young man. I love his song "Grenade." It took me a minute to recognize it last night as he did a very different version of it, but it was really good. I also liked that for those few minutes everything was in black and white. Very cool.


Lady Antebellum had a huge night last night taking no less than five awards. And I really do like their song "Need You Now." It's the Drunk Dialer's ring tone on my phone. However, by the end of the evening, I was on "Need You Now" overload and quite tired of hearing it. Partially because it's now been stuck in my head all day. But mostly because it makes me think of the Drunk Dialer. And because the song has been stuck in my head all day, so has he. Been on my mind all day. And past experience tells me this is never a good thing.


There were two performances that blew me out of the water last night. Right off the bat, kicking off the show and kicking ass at it were Christina, Martina, Jennifer, Yolanda and Florence and their tribute to Aretha Franklin. All I can say is WOW! These women knocked it out of the park!


My favorite performance - the one I stayed up well past my bedtime to watch - was Eminem with Rihanna, Dr. Dre and Skylar Grey. I am a recent convert to all things Eminem. I like music that tells a story, regardless of the genre. His definitely does. It may be coarse and gritty and foul-mouthed, but it's real. I'm fascinated by the "back-story." And the story of Marshall Mathers is an interesting one. I admire people who pull themselves up out of their personal darkness. I think Mr. Mathers is an excellent example of what it is to be authentically flawed.


I do wish I could find an unedited version of the performance as I know we missed considerably more than the occasional F-bomb to the seven second delay for "live" television.


Gotta say I wasn't very impressed with either Muse or Arcade Fire (although I think it's VERY cool that Arcade Fire has a chick drummer). I think Eminem's album Recovery was far better.


But he's my "boyfriend" so maybe I'm a little biased. (No, he's not really my boyfriend, but, it's my delusion and I'll tell it how I want!)


What were some of your favorites?

Oh Lighten Up Already!!

Okay, so the last few posts have been pretty heavy so I think maybe it's time for something a little lighter.


Customer Service.


I love the fact that every company in the country has farmed their customer service and/or tech support call centers out to the farthest corners of the planet. (Sarcasm, friends. That was sarcasm.)


Wednesday afternoon, my Internet all of sudden quit working and the first wave of panic set in.


Did I forget to pay my bill? (again?) Is there an outage in my area? (again?) So, before I investigate anything at all on my end, I call tech support.


And I get "Peggy." For those of you who don't know "Peggy," here's a link to some of her commercials. She's a riot! Discover Card - Peggy with USA Prime Credit Commercials


And I spend an hour - most of it on hold - trying to figure out that "edriss burr" = address bar and that I need to type the following "edriss" in the "burr" to get to the modem set-up page. 


Unplug, reset, check the wall jacks, take the filter off. There IS only one wall jack and there also is no filter because there is no phone service. It's a DSL only line.


Silence.


Because, if the procedures on her little step-by-step computer screen don't solve the problem or if, like her, you have a not-so-firm-grasp on the English language, or if the customer's set-up varies one iota (like mine does) from the vast majority of customers (most people in my area have both home phone service and DSL service on the same line, thus requiring the aforementioned filter) she has NO clue what to do next.


Except schedule an appointment for the service technician to come out and check the lines and jacks. For $85. Tomorrow. Between the hours of blah blah blah dee blah blah.


GrrrrrreeeaaAT! Click.


I decide to make one last check of all the cords and jacks. Just to make sure.


And.....


Low and behold.


There was - in fact - one cord that had come loose from the jack. Yep. An hour and 20 minutes with "Peggy" only to find out that I am in fact a big dork who panicked when faced with the prospect of going 18 hours without Internet and did not check all the connections as thoroughly as I should have. 


Yeah. Probably should have done that before I called "Peggy."


I really hate it when that happens!

Oh so very flawed.....but at least I'm real

I think it's better to be authentically flawed than to be perfectly fake.


With that thought in mind, I have some authentic flaws that I need to face. The biggest and most immediate is that I am no longer sober. Well, I am at this moment, but today instead of having a year, I have a little over a week. I was feeling pretty bummed about that for a couple of days, but I'm okay with it now.  I think.


I do still have a relationship with a Higher Power. And I have spent a fair amount of time talking with that HP this week. I don't know if I've come to any conclusions about anything yet. But I have a couple of theories.


Authentically flawed instead of perfectly fake.


The truth is, I've been feeling like something of a fraud for quite some time. Long before last week. They tell me that "all that is required" is a desire to stop. That desire has been absent for a while now. I kept telling myself I wasn't going to meetings because I didn't feel good. Ever. But the reality is that I just don't feel like I belong in the meetings I was going to. I felt like an intruder. A perfect fake.


Authentically flawed.


I think maybe my authentic flaw is not that I am an alcoholic, but that I am supremely codependent. My former supposed spouse is without a doubt an alcoholic. And I think maybe in my desperate need to try and help him, I convinced myself I was something I was not. I think I believed that if I went through the steps and read the book and did the work, the I would be better equipped to help him. If I could fix myself, then maybe I stood a chance of fixing him.


And that perhaps is the biggest flaw of all - the belief that anything I could do would fix him.