Well, its time to move along.

I’m sorry to disrupt your links, but I’ve decided to move to my own domain. My blog has moved to here. Please come check me out there. Thanks!

Friday morning

If you haven’t seen it, you have got to go check out Dad Gone Mad this morning. Its hysterical, especially if you enjoy Snarkywood.

You know what I love? I love having a brief moment of quiet and just following links to see where they take me. You get to see all kinds of cool things, especially when it comes to blogland. This morning is full of discovery (I’m procrastinating cleaning my kitchen, doing laundry, and going halloween costume shopping for Michael while he is school) while Piper (finally!) takes a little nap here on the couch beside me. Want to see where I’ve been today?

I’ve spent a bit of time reading about this blog content stealing issue apparently going on. As Lorelle says on her blog: “hell hath no fury greater than a ripped off blogger.” Interesting, isn’t it?

In other news, I’ve found some interesting Mommy reading (aka other mommies talking about normal life stuff). You can go check them out if you are interested:

Her Bad Mother
Her Bad Mother’s Basement
Fabulous / Cheaper Than Therapy (same blogger, different blogs)
Mommybloggers
The Cheaty Monkey
Home on the Fringe

And in case you’re interested in knowing the meaning of ‘operator headspace’, go check out BuzzWhack.

Thursday Thirteen Volume #1

So have you seen this Thursday Thirteen stuff going around? It’s easy-and hard at the same time. Case in point: You do it every Thursday (hard to remember?), you create the theme (hard to come up with good ideas on what to use?), then list thirteen things that fall under that theme (easy? hard? not sure!). I think its a cool way to get to know people, but the best part is that you don’t tag others to do it, so you really are just doing it to share. I think its cool. I wish more people would do it, too-its really neat to see what people come up with to share and its an insight into what’s going on in your world. Ok, I’m rambling…Here’s my Thursday Thirteen for today…

Volume #1: Thirteen Things Within Three Feet Of Me Right Now

    1}    Piper
    2}    Laptop
    3}    Telephone
    4}    Venti Soy Chai a la Starbucks
    5}    iPod
    6}    Pucky (pacifier for Piper)
    7}    Pillow
    8}    Dispatches From The Edge by Anderson Cooper
    9}    A note to remind Steve about fixing our health insurance to include Piper
    10}    Pen
    11}    Journal
    12}    Burp cloth
    13}    Swedish fish

I was tagged!

Do you believe it? Andrea tagged me!

So here are the rules: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but the must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.
My seven songs:
1 Beverly Hills
2 Toxic Girl
3 My Doorbell
4 Lose Control
5 AM Radio
6 Punk Rock Girl
7 Sao Paulo
Seven People I’m Passing the Tag to:
1 Liss
2 Lisa
3 James
4 Sara
5 Jessica
6 Norman
7 Stephanie

Old man fashion is hot??

Having been to the mall several times over the past few weeks, I have noticed a new trend in men’s fashion. Apparently, old man fashion is hot. Um, hello? I have never seen young men ranging between the ages of 22 and 35 wearing some of the stuff that these designers are trying to pull off. Seriously, this is stuff that my Grandpa used to wear. I’m all for sweater vests for the young crowd only if they are going to an 80’s party.

I’m going to have to pass on the old man fashion.

More septuagenarian woes

So, remember Scout, Henrietta, and Camilla? Well, are you ready for some updates on them? Here goes…

Recently, I was visiting Scout. Yep, took the kids and had a great time. Anyway, when I arrived, Scout said to me, “Guess what Henrietta said to me yesterday?” I knew it was going to be something crazy, but I managed to crack a joke implying that she didn’t want to come see me while I was in town. We laughed together (since she always makes sure to come see me when I am at Scout’s, and usually brings me yummy food, too!) and Scout told me that she actually said something rather shocking. Prepare yourselves, Dear Readers, for a shock of selfishness. Henrietta said that she no longer would be showing up for any parties that would be happening in the future (for example, birthday parties, Christmas parties, etc.), because she was too uncomfortable being there. Scout was shocked and asked if Camilla had said or done anything to her to make her feel this way. Henrietta admitted that Camilla had done nothing, but that she just felt unwelcome when Camilla was around. I was so proud of Scout when she told Henrietta that if that’s how she feels its her own fault and she’s an adult and can make her own decisions about attending parties. I couldn’t believe that Henrietta actually said that, but I was so proud that Scout didn’t go down the route of “Please please please come to our parties!”. Once again, the digression to high school antics is rather ridiculous.

But wait! There’s more! (Just like an infomercial, huh?)

Henrietta did, indeed, come to visit me and the kids while we were at Scout’s house. The phone rang, and can you guess who it was? Yep, Camilla! She was calling to say that she was coming to visit in just a few minutes. When Henrietta found out, she straight up said, “Well, I’m leaving.” I was in such shock that I told her “No, you aren’t. Don’t be that way.” When Camilla did show up, Henrietta ended up staying for awhile, so I was happy.

But wait! There’s more! (I told you it was like an infomercial!)

Henrietta was holding Piper when Camilla walked in. Henrietta almost immediately offered to pass off Piper to Camilla since she had been holding her for quite some time. Camilla said no. NO? To hold my darling baby? NO?! What kind of woman says no to holding a baby!? Mind you, when Camilla had held Michael as a baby (rare, rare, rare-I can think of two times), I was a hovering mother. I had “First Born Disease” (You know how first time mommies tend to hover and be just a teensy bit more protective and somewhat anal than they are with subsequently born children? I have dubbed that First Born Disease, competing with conventionally known Second Born Syndrome, which refers to all other children who seem to get the short end of the stick compared to the First Borns – and Only’s, but that’s another story) and she seemed so awkward holding him that I admit, I was scared he would get dropped. Yet, I told myself that this woman had reared three children and they all turned out semi-ok (haha). But I digress (a whole four and a half years!)…

Eventually, Henrietta told Camilla that it was her turn and stood up, telling her that she had to sit in the chair she just vacated because “those were the rules”. I laughed so hard (out loud, even) because we hadn’t told Henrietta that she had to sit there, but I was happy that Camilla was leaving a dining chair for a big sofa-y chair. Safer for my little one, you know. I felt First Born Disease starting to come back and told myself that now was time for Second Born Syndrome to kick in instead. Besides, Scout was a mere three feet away and doing a fine job of watching to make sure that all parts of ‘the Pipes’ got transferred from Henrietta to Camilla.

I swear to you that not two minutes, TWO MINUTES!, Camilla said, “Oh, I think she wants her Mommy.” Um, hello? My child is beautiful and just plain perfect, and you are ready to give her back after TWO MINUTES?! Oh wait-she actually made a noise, so she is clearly unhappy and wanting her mother. HELLO?? Babies make noises, it doesn’t mean they are hungry or miserable each time they coo! CHEESE AND RICE! So, I said…

“Oh, she’s fine. You can hold her longer.”

Scout nearly laughed her face off-she actually had to leave the room (“Drinks, anyone?”) to save herself from smirking in front of Camilla.

Yet two minutes later, Camilla said again that Piper wanted me. So I said, “Ok, I’ll take her…but I’m going to go to the bathroom first.” And off I went. Mind you, I was in there less than a minute, and when I came out Scout was holding Piper. Apparently, Camilla isn’t into holding the little ones. “Oh, Staciedear,” she says (and yes, Staciedear is one word), “she is just so beautiful.” Oi.

Crazy or just talking on a cell phone?

Why I love wireless cell phone earpieces: They make everyone look like they are talking to themselves, therefore making the rest of the population look as loony as the crazies who talk to themselves. Often, I wonder if I look crazy while talking to the kids in the backseat since we have supertinted back windows where they sit. It makes me giggle, hoping that them thinking I am crazy will make them get out of my way out of fear of the loony driving the big ass Expedition.

Change that blahblah, Part Tres

I know, I know! Its been too long to wait for part three of the Change that blahblah series. My sincerest apologies. We ended up going to the beach for the weekend and then the kids and I went to visit my family for a few days. Needlesstosay, I didn’t get a chance to blog like I had wanted to. On the other hand, my lack of posting has given me even more things that I absolutely MUST tell you. I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for this, right? Right? RIGHT! LOL

So have any of you ever had a real reason to have your back to the wall? I think Norman needs to have her back to the wall. When I get the creeps, I feel the need for my back to be by the wall. It makes me feel better. The last few days, I have had that feeling of someone sneaking up on me, and I know its from reading her posts, as well as the other synchronistic spooky things that I’ve been seeing over the past few days. It reminds me of a time when I was babysitting my sister. She was a baby, still unable to talk, and I had a friend over. I was packing to go back to college (yes, my sister and I are 20 years apart; no, there are no other kids between us) after college break, and she was hanging out in her carseat while I got my work done. Of course, it was nighttime, and that girl started laughing and waving at the door to my room. I swear she was looking at something, and her eyes moved around the room as if watching someone walk in. She was so happy, and my friend was so freaked out. At the time, it didn’t bother me too terribly much, because I was used to the feeling. Why? Every time I talked about my grandmother who had passed away when I was a baby, a music box in my room would play. Of course, after my sister watched this something, the music box played and then she was done smiling. {Before you get too far away, let me tell you that the music box didn’t ever just play a few notes, it played the whole chorus from start to finish without missing a note. So, no, the music box wasn’t just unwinding like music boxes do. I mean, what are the chances that every time I spoke of my grandmother, the whole chorus would play?} Thinking back on the whole situation freaks me out more now than it did then. It makes me want to sit with my back to the wall so no one can sneak up on me.

As an aside, I think that because of this desire to view everything that’s coming at me, I would make an excellent mafia boss. You know, like in the Godfather? As in, “You should have come to me sooner!” If you would like to sign up to be part of my mafia, just leave me a comment. Be sure to let me know if you would like to be known by a special name, such as Lucky Lola, The Crimson Camilla, Scout the Smasher, or even a more enigmatic name such as The Black Widow or The Bone Crusher. Oh, and if you have any stories that show why a person should have their back against a wall, be sure to either post that in the comments, or (dare I say it?) blog about it on your site and throw me a link back here, eh?

Now, lets talk about En Fuego Man at Starbucks, also known as Flaming Boy. I call him Flaming Boy, because he was so obviously gay. That alone is nothing to really blog about, but the kicker is that when he talked to me over the speaker at the drive through, Lisa (who was on the phone with me at the time) could hear that he was gay. We giggled and speculated what this boy would look like and here is the kicker of it all. He looked like what I call “one of Liss’s boys”. Liss has a ten mile long list of gay men that are her friends. Having met some of them, I will make not just a generalization, but a SWEEPING GENERALIZATION, about Liss’s boys: they are very polite, fun, and great friends to Liss. Several even have impeccable fashion taste. Anyway, En Fuego Man had a full tilt Liss’s Boys Uniform on: collared shirt, cacky pants with braided leather belt, leather loafers, and not a hair out of place. He was a nice looking boy, and very polite. But it made me wonder: are all obviously gay men excellent dressers? Are they all polite? Fun? Good friends? I’m going to start keeping track of the politeness-factor of the men I run into…

Having put that out of the way, let me tell you that when I take my children to the doctor, I have to travel about 30 minutes. Why, you ask? Well, we used to live about 15 miles north of where we live now, and I really like the doctors that Michael went to up there. When we moved down here, I was going to transfer his records, but frankly, all the people I contacted were snooty, so I figured why bother? Anyway, while driving up there, you feel like you are in the boonies (mostly because I take back roads to avoid the massive traffic of the highway). There were a few questions that I wanted to ask you that stem from one of the little towns that I drive through along the way:
-If you live on Sweepstakes Road, does that make you ineligible to win a visit from Mr. McMahon telling you that you won a kajillion dollars?
-Is the 1130-230 timeframe really the optimal time to completely overhaul the landscaping at the McDonald’s drive through?
-If you are going to sell bird cages from your front yard, wouldn’t it be more appealing to a potential purchaser if the cages did NOT have bird toys and (what I lovingly call) poopy papers in the bottom?
Just curious what your thoughts are on those… (insert rolling eyes smiley here, would ya?)

One more question for you guys. Is there anything that really freaks you out when you’re watching television? I have two that just kill me. First and most freaky is that new effect that they are using in horror films where the people move really fast and jerky. You remember the commercial for Gothika? That one chick moved across the hall like that and I knew right then and there that I could never watch that movie. I still haven’t, even though I’ve had it in my possession for probably a year and a half thanks to Liss leaving it here. The second one is watching old black and white documentaries about indigenous peoples. Oh, I can handle naked bodies everywhere, no problem. Its the random eyes rolling in the back of the head dancing that freaks me out. Besides being scary to look at, you wonder about the logistics of it all-how do they not fall into the huge bonfire while dancing with their eyes like that?

Change that blahblah, Part Dos

I know, I know, you’ve been waiting with bated breath since the last post for the continuation of this series. I won’t make you wait any longer. (I wonder if this “Change that oil every 3000 miles” post will turn into a THREE part series?)

So, let’s start with the generic theme of ‘People with issues’. Like the man at the very beginning and ending of the movie Pretty Woman who says “What’s your sign? Everybody has a sign!”, I think that everybody has at least one issue. Whether or not it turns them into a non-productive part of society is a different story. In any case, I have recently noticed that instead of the younger generations seeming to have major issues, its the older generations that are shocking me with the things they choose to do. Mind you, I am not making a sweeping generalization (gotta love redundancy) about generations, I’m talking about specific people in my extended life. I will give you two examples of what I mean. To make it easier to understand, I will use names, but the names have been changed to protect the semi-innocent, of course.

The first is an older person in my family, who shall be known as “Henrietta”. Henrietta is a mother figure to “Scout”. Scout has another mother figure in her life, “Camilla”. Scout and Camilla get along just fine. Scout truly looks at Henrietta as her mother. Major difference. Henrietta, for some strange reason, feels that Scout likes Camilla more than Scout likes Henrietta. In all honesty, this is not true. Scout respects Camilla, but truly loves Henrietta. So, recently (over the past year or so), Henrietta has “teased” Scout about wanting to be with Camilla more than her, but as time has gone on, the teasing has gotten more and more kind of mean. Scout is in serious emotional dilemma about the whole thing, but over the past few months has gotten a little ticked off about the whole thing. The past few family events that have had both Henrietta and Camilla at Scout’s house, Henrietta has left Scout’s house without saying goodbye. This makes me mad, because it really hurts Scout’s feelings. My take: when we become of octogenarian age we clearly revert to junior high childishness. I hate it because it makes me feel like Henrietta is pulling a “No one is paying attention to me, so I’m going to leave and see if anyone notices.” I don’t want to feel this way about Henrietta, because I really like her, but WTF?

On to example number two: “Odette,” a septuagenarian, and her daughter “Lola”. Lola tries hard to be the friend that Odette wants her to be. Lola, on the other hand, really just wants some respect as an adult from Odette instead of being treated like a teenager (which by the way, she is NOT). Odette likes to give Lola the third degree on everything from what she bought at the grocery store and why to how come you don’t want me to come visit you for three weeks straight. Lola’s biggest complaint about Odette is that Odette always says to her “How many people did you tell before me?” Um, as if that matters? Be freaking happy for Lola, for Pete’s sake, instead of turning every good thing that happens to Lola into a ‘Poor Odette’ thing.

OK, I think I’m done rambling about people with issues, but its nearly 1130 at night right now and I have to get up in an hour or two to nurse the Littlest Peanut. The rest of my blogging will have to wait for Part Tres tomorrow…

Change that oil every 3000 miles!*

*I preface this preface to tell you that this title means nothing in particular, it was just something I thought of while typing up my post. I could have named this post “The goggles, they do nothing!” but decided to save that for some other time. I also could have used the titles “Mindless rambles”, “Thoughts of a poli sci major while watching silly people on CNN”, or even “Are you sure you want to read this?” Alas, “Change that oil every 3000 miles!” won out.

I preface this post with a pre-blurb stating that I may not have time to finish this post the way that I want to if “The Littlest Peanut” of the house wakes up from her nap. But unlike some people (who make pre-blurbs such as this fashionable) who have a lot to post, I will post whatever I get done before the six week old siren calls. Yeah, Liss, I couldn’t resist the callout on your latest post (made possible by me and another troublemaker ganging up on her)!

So this post is definitely going to be a mishmash of thoughts that I’ve had throughout the day, and of course, feel the need to blather on about to you crazy kooks. Dare I say welcome to the ramblings of a stay at home mom who is rather addicted to CNN and the local headlines? Ah, heck, you guys can hack it: ¡Recepción a mi mente torcida, mis amigos!

Today while Michael was at school, I spent most of my time on the phone with the previously mentioned troublemaker. I must admit, its nice to have someone to ‘hang out’ with during the day again, but Lisa, I will definitely be happy for you when you get a new job. Even if it does give me more abandonment and rejection issues. Speaking of such issues, Liss…I would like to officially thank you for giving me additional doses of these issues today while you decide to go on a business trip instead of being with me. Perhaps I should truly direct my thanks towards the Storming Rhinoceros? Anyway, hope you have a good trip, even if I do need therapy because of it, LOL.

So, today I was watching President Bush meet with Palestinian leader Abbas (front row thanks to CNN), and I was reminded of thoughts I had as poli sci major in college about the control that interpreters have over politics. What if they tell something wrong or put inflection on wrong word, etc. I mean, sure, we think they were saying nice things to each other, but maybe they were actually telling each other that they enjoy goats when their wives are out of town? They sure smiled like it…SMILED, not SMELLED!! LOL Then while watching Venezuala’s Chavez speak to reporters, I wondered-who is the chic who keeps getting up and whispering in his ear? Its freaking annoying. And by the way, if he thinks he’s the only one that thinks Bush is the devil, he’s probably not up on current events. I doubt he’s alone. Oh, and accusing Washington of being all about “domination and exploitation”…um, isn’t that what the American dream boils down to half the time? LOL By the way, I like those little boxes they put on their ears so they can understand what the reporters are saying. Very fashionable, Señor Chavez. And my last political blurb of the day. Lisa, talk about synchronicity…weren’t we just talking about votes not counting? Add this to my list of reasons.

Ok, the ‘nut is awake, so I have to go for now, but rest assured that I have much more to add. Here is a preview for you:
-People with issues
-Reasons to have your back to the wall
-A Starbucks Character: En Fuego Man
-Random thoughts about the way things are in the boonies
-Favorite commercials
-Why I love wireless cell phone earpieces

And now for a brief interlude. I will return as soon as I can. Sing with me now:

“Seems like the wrath of the gods got a punch in the nose and it started to flow, I think I might be sinking! Throw me a line, if I reach it in time, I’ll meet you up there where the path runs straight and high.” (Zep, Going to California)