hair today, gone tomorrow

hair today... well, actually yesterday (photo courtesy s, age 4.5)

and...

gone tomorrow... well, actually today (photo courtesy h, age 7)

do we need an editorial or do the images speak for themselves? i was so sick of my hair, and that pile on the floor made me sooooo happy.

sushi night

me, katy (of 40th birthday fame), chi, andrea

went out for sushi last night with some friends. didn't have a chance to change or anything after canine obedience class (for jane, y'all! i already know how to behave) and my appearance shows it. and just look at the loveliness of my sushi-mates. i am shamed.

it was bogo night, so we all got cheap sushi. unfortunately, sashimi was not included on the list so i had to get nigiri-- the kind with the fish on top of little rice balls for those of you not familiar. it's funny how all i want when i get sushi is just the slabs o' raw fish. forget all the accoutrements. chop off the fish's head and serve it up on a platter. my favorites are salmon roe and mackerel, both very 'fishy' tasting. not for everyone, i know.

in other news, my friend from high school (and beyond), jill, just ahd a baby girl last night! soooo exciting! she has a 2 year old little boy also. must go find baby gift. as long as i already have to go to the tax man's office and the dmv, i might as well do a little fun baby shopping, too. i love to buy baby gifts. everything so small and cute. it plays into my obsession with miniature things i guess.

breakfast of champions

oh. hello. this is my second try at this post... the first one is forever lost and i'm afraid try two won't be as fresh and original as... say... a bowl of special k red berries!

i'm admitting to an addiction here, people! at least it's a healthy addiction unless you're an obsessive carb-counter (are there any more of those left?). special k red berries is the thing i crave at inappropriate times of day when breakfast food is entirely uncalled-for. have you ever tried it? do you feel the same??

if you haven't tried it, here's the lowdown. the lightly sweet and crunchalicious flakes that almost never get soggy in milk are interspersed with dehydrated strawberry slices that *POOF!* magically reconstitute when milk is added. it all adds up to a big bowl of berry goodness of which i cannot get enough.

on my current box (one of many many many) it claims that one can lose inches off the waist by eating it for two weeks! i'm sure this could only be accomplished by willful folks eating controlled portions of the stuff instead of the bucketfuls that i eat.

i am not a celebrity endorser for kellogg's. i just play one on the blogosphere.

t is on his way home from the beauty shop. i'm wondering if his shoulder-length, highlighted, wavy locks will still be there when he gets back. my appointment is on friday, and i'm wondering if i'll come home with any hair at all. after all the hair fuss on fussy and MIM i figured it's about time to create some of my own. i'll keep you posted. get it??! POSTED! blow me down, i crack myself up.

the never's cd release party!

my honey (left) with ari (right)

"The Never has just released their fourth album called ANTARCTICA. It's a storybook album: a full length CD literally coupled with a fully illustrated storybook by Noah Smith! The story is centered around a young, naive, boy named Paul and his journey to find the owner of a large grey object he found behind his home in the country. Antarctica is a plea for everyone young and old to remember the simple things of childhood. The book also serves as a reminder to appreciate the world and the beauty it has to offer."

okay, there's my plug for the band, the album, the guys. if i knew how to put an audio clip on this blog, then there might be one. but since i don't, if you'd like to listen, you'll have to go to their website.

the show was really really well done, they had lots of "support" musicians playing violin, banjo, cello, and other various instruments. the images from the book were projected in time to the songs. very cool and the kids loved it. i'm just sitting back waiting for them to be "discovered"... they are all so very talented.

got to talk to loads of interesting people at the reception-- the band, their families, their friends. so many people came back from their respective schools and colleges to support the show, and it was great to see all of them.

and what would a fun and relaxing night BE without a healthy dose of chatham politics??? i wanted to pick the brains of johnny and joah's older brother ken and his wife debbie as i know that they are fellow concerned chathamites but have been involved for far longer than i have. they introduced me to another woman and before the night was over i had taken over the duties of canvassing my neighborhood for the upcoming election and was a bumper-sticker-toting activist. i am so unpolitical it's not funny. but everyone must do what they can when the issues affect us directly, right? .......RIGHT?? or am i just crazy?

mad cow

driving home last night from my friend katy's 40th birthday bash, i saw a large black shape looming on the edge of the road. these old back country roads are riddled with deer, rabbits, fox, and the occasional bobcat, so at night it's a virtual obstacle course. my eyes were peeled... but what WAS the big black shape? as i approached i saw... it was... A COW. an escaped black cow, madly munching forbidden greens with a crazed look in it's eye. it started at the passing car, and walked into the road right in front of me. honestly.

the party was fun, saw lots of good friends and talked to lots of good company. and a party just isn't a party until somebody hurls. thankfully that someone wasn't me... although i did do a couple of jagermeister shots. blecch!

i'm about halfway through 'junebug' and all i can say is... OH MY GOD IT'S WHERE I LIVE.

tonight is the cd release party for the never's new storybook album 'antarctica.' as soon as t gets back from his motorcycle safety course, the whole family is gonna go see the show and support our friends. and yes, t IS taking a motorcycle class although he has no motorcycle. wishful thinking much?

movie night

we sat and watched the netflix 'house of flying daggers (shi mian mai fu)' last night. man, i love netflix! the only thing i don't like about it is when i don't yet have a new film to watch and have nothing to do on a particular night. unfortunately, it's cutting into my reading time. right now, i'm not particularly enthralled with either of my books. i'm almost done with 'the life of pi' by yann martel, but couldn't hack being so bored, so picked up 'confessions of an ugly stepsister' by gregory maguire which isn't exactly piquing my interest either.

but i digress.

'daggers' was not so much stunning for it's story or acting, but for the bold visuals. t and i were both reminded of 1950's technicolor cinemascope movies-- bold color juxtapositions and flat lighting. the above scene of the echo game had us both with our jaws on the floor. there is alot of wire-work in this movie, but if you are bothered by that, this scene does it artfully, almost like a ballet.

the love story is okay, with some good twists and turns, but overall i would recommend this film for anyone who loves gorgeous color, great cinematography, tactile costumes, and eye-popping choreography. makes me want to watch 'crouching tiger, hidden dragon' again!

low riders

my observant husband was lying on the bed the other night perusing the latest edition of the victoria's secret catalogue while i was putting away some laundry. he pointed out to me this particular photo of the "uplift" jean, and noted that the waistlines on pants are getting higher again.

what a man.

he actually NOTICES the rise of a pair of jeans! he knows i have a love/hate relationship with low rise: the love part being that they are comfortably NOT squeezing my innards, the bad part being that while i have a very healthy weight/size/fitness level, i have stretch marks from having 2 babies and they show over the top of the jeans.

pesky old stretch marks! they ruin the fun of bikinis, too. and i absolutely love the misconceptions about them. like how i was told that enough cocoa butter during pregnancy would prevent them (nope). my favorite one was that if you do... like... a ZILLION crunches every day that they will go away (again, uh-uh). how on earth CRUNCHES are supposed to repair damaged skin is completely beyond me.

anyhow, kudos to my husband for understanding women's fashion trends and loving me... battle scars and all.

microsoft

"Check the guy in the lower left......... that's Bill Gates. Paul Allen, the owner of the Seattle Seahawks with a net worth around $20 billion is on the far right, lower corner!!!"

..this was in my inbox this morning, and i thought it was worth sharing. considering MOST people looked like this in 1978, i'm sure they got plenty of investors. thank god i was 5 in 1978! i don't have any photos of myself looking like this. but let's not even TALK about the 80's. i even had a bi-level harcut, complete with poodle bangs.

must... destroy... photographic... evidence...

life in music

My Life in Music

this idea was on j's blog, and i'm not sure i've done it quite right, but i did the best i could without having a brain hemorrhage. anyone who wants a cd of this, let me know in the comments section, and i'll send you one. or maybe it would take 2 or 3. whatever.

Opening Credits: 'Cinema Paradiso' from Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone

Waking Up: 'Mr Blue Sky' by ELO

Childhood: 'On the Good Ship Lollipop' by Shirley Temple

Jr. Highschool: My Hair Had A Party Last night by Trout Fishing in America

Highschool: Flowers on the Wall by The Statler Brothers

Average Day: 'Linus and Lucy' from Charlie Brown by The Vince Guaraldi Trio (it's even my default cell phone ring)

Unrequited Love: 'One' by U2

Moving Away from Home: 'Under The Bridge' by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Falling In Lust: 'Many Rivers to Cross' by UB40

Falling In Love: 'Good Hearted Man' by Tift Merritt

Love Scene: 'Estella's Theme' from Great Expectations by John Williams

Walk of Shame: 'Freak Me Out' by Weezer

Fight Scene: 'Nugget' by Cake

Breaking Up: 'I'm Not That Girl' from Wicked

Secret Love: 'The Ludlows' from Legends of the Fall by James Horner

Getting Married: 'Love Changes Everything' from Aspects of Love by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Marriage:'You Put Your Arms Around Me' by Sinead O'Connor

Driving: 'On the Road Again' by Willie Nelson

Flashback: 'Cult of Personality' by Living Colour

My Career So Far: Where You Eyes Don't Go by They Might Be Giants

Birth of a Child: 'Born at the Right Time' by Paul Simon

Baby with Colic: 'Ring of Fire' by Johnny Cash

Life's OK: 'Hey Ya' by OutKast

Partying: 'Friend of the Devil' by The Grateful Dead

Happy Dance: 'Call Me Al' by Paul Simon

September 11th: 'Only a Broken Heart' by Tom Petty

Drinking Alone: 'Margaritaville' by Jimmy Buffett

Middle Age: 'Psycho Wing' by Big Audio Dynamite (i can only imagine...)

Death Scene: 'Walkin' After Midnight' by Patsy Cline

Closing Credits: 'Long May You Run' by Neil Young

just another saturday night

i had a VERY RARE evening to myself last night with t being at WWLA and the kidlets being at a sleepover with my friend kim and her own 4 kids. as i drove home on the dark country roads, i wondered what to do with myself! i'm not used to being alone, and though i'm not prone to loneliness, i was glad for jane to keep me company. i settled on watching the rented 'dilwale dulhania le jayenge' which popped up in my recommended list at netflix. i must give a shout out to my bombay buddy for turning me on to bollywood! i'm such a sucker for melodrama. i enjoyed watching the film, but the vocal dubbing irritated me a bit. i wish they would have used 'real' voices instead. the song & dance numbers out of thin air were fabulous, but the acting outside of these left something to be desired at times. i was reminded of a favorite movie line from 'the rocketeer':

"...acting is acting like you're NOT acting. so... ACT! but don't act like you're acting."

now i can successfully tie in a reference to one of my favorite all-time places, griffith observatory, overlooking hollywood. most of you know it as the site of the pivotal scene in 'rebel without a cause,' but it was also the location at the end of 'the rocketeer.'

on the roof is where my wonderful husband proposed to me almost 13 years ago! holy toledo, am i that old??? or was i really THAT young??! it's so hard to believe. and I SAID YES which is one of the BEST words that ever came from my mouth. so so so lucky to have such a husband. wow.

j, i'm still wracking my brain over the life in music thing. maybe someday i'll get it all worked out. way difficult, and i'm impressed you figured it all out!

betrayal

they're remodeling my walmart. did you hear me???! THEY'RE REMODELING MY WALMART!! i feel like alice down the rabbit hole. nothing is what it seems, and everything is upside-down. just when you think your spirit is still young, that you are still easily adaptable to new things, they go and change walmart on you.

it's completely torn apart, every department is in a state of flux-- placed where it was no longer, but not yet in a place where it will be for the future. shoppers were wandering with befuddled looks on their faces... grocery lists completely forgotten, with no idea which way to turn to find whatever it was they may have needed.

why, walmart? why go and change something that was totally, well, not good necessarily, but something i was so used to? something i knew like a well-worn path home? alas, life will never be the same.

curiouser and curiouser.

thursday

just a few kid photos because i felt like it and i love my kids. absolutely no cohesive topic whatsoever. the one of h is with our easy-bake "tower of terror." for those of you parents who have had the pleasure of working with the easy-bake (it cooks using a LIGHT BULB, ok?), you understand that only one small pancake-sized cake can be made at a time. so we (meaning i) made about 10 of them and stacked them all together into what my son called the tower of terror (after the ride at disney-mgm studios).

this picture of my daughter was taken after she had stuffed about 1000 crayons in her dress pockets and was so very proud of herself.

sorry, no dog photo today.

everybody's busy and i'm home wondering what to do with myself. i'm almost done applying tick-killer to the yard, and i bought a few shrubs & trees that need to be popped into the ground. it's a good cool and sunny day for planting, so i guess i'd best get cracking.

it's a dog's life

poor baby jane got aggressed at doggie obedience class today! she was having such a mellow day, too-- sometimes she gets so happy and wound up she can't focus on the exercises. today she was lolling about, not very interested in the work, until they got out the agility equipment. her whole BODY perked up at the sight of the jumps, tunnels, climbs and rings. we were happily running the course when out of nowhere, at the end of a tunnel, a big dog came racing at her and attacked her! luckily they were both leashed so i was able to pull her away while the poor lady struggled with her big dog to get him off of jane.

no one was hurt, but jane didn't want to be around the other dogs or go through the tunnel again. i had her be 'friendly' with some other dogs and coaxed her through the tunnel so there wouldn't be any negative associations. such a docile baby, minding her own business. she can't help her piercing border collie stare that sometime unnerves other dogs!

i feel like a bully pushed my kid down on the playground.

candy garden

today is a BIIIIG day for us... our baby girl is being registered for kindergarten *sniff!* we need to pick up her medical records and gather her birth certificate, social security number and proof of residence and take it ALLLLLL up to the school. it's actually kind-of a challenge to put all this stuff together and schlep it around! i feel as if we're signing her away or something.

i went to the county school bored *ahem* i mean BOARD meeting last night. it was their meeting witht he county commissioners, and they essentially were talking about the discrepancies between approved development and approved school plans, as well as money to relieve our horribly overcrowded schools. it was disheartening to see the commissioners... a board of slack-jawed, glassy-eyed good ole' boys just appear to drown out everything the school board and the concerned parents were saying. i kept saying to myself... only 13 more years... only 13 more years...

summer has sprung!

spring is springing up everywhere around here, it always comes on so fast, like an ambush. most of us are still waiting for a proper winter, so the blooms are surprising. these photos are of the purple plum in our front yard and it smells heavenly. i can't show much of any other kind of blooming happening in our yard. jane "the destructo-puppy" has pretty well made sure that the already lame beds we had planted around the house are now just muddy holes where shrubs USED to be, and ripped, torn and dragged landscape fabric with remnants of mulch trailed alongside. but we love her ANYWAY!


it's not even officially spring yet, but this past week has been downright summer-y. i'm not complaining. today's forecast is 83 and sunny! the air just smells different, and the kids outside in bare feet is such a treat. however, we all have been dragging in the ticks, so drastic measures will need to be taken on that front. the beginning of tick season is always such a bummer. the dog & cats need frontline; we humans need 'off'. it's a hazard of living in the woodsy country, and i guess it's a price we're willing to pay. it's days like this that make me feel so genuinely grateful to live RIGHT where we live. and isn't THAT a good feeling??

review

my review of 'the kite runner' is up at lotusreads! check it OOOOOOUUUUUT!

son story

i promised no kid stuff for 3 posts and i was as good as my word.

h wants to post on my blog (i say, get your own, kid! after all, you're almost 7 and a HALF! isn't it about time???!). but here he is with his story until then.

The town in the Clouds. One day S- was fling on a glider.But.............she acsidently crashed into a mountan above the clouds.But then........she heard a noise.............it was coming from the top of the clouds.It was some kind of walking and talking sound. So.............S- climed to the top of the clouds.When S- reached the top she was in a little oompaloompa town.then the cheef said will you eat some coco nuts with us.Then S- said yes and that was The End.

a dangerous precedent?

there was an article in the paper this morning talking about men's rights... as they apply to unwanted pregnancies. today is a landmark day! the national center for men has prepared a lawsuit in the us district court in michigan on behalf of matt dubay, a man who does not want parental rights AND does not want to pay child support for the daughter that he fathered with his ex girlfriend.

WhA??!?

i understand that he felt duped by the girlfriend who claimed sterility. i understand that he never wanted children. but don't you think that if this lawsuit wins that it would set up a very dangerous system of no accountability??

hmmm. read the article at the national center for men and let me know what you think. it certainly was food for thought over coffee this morning. and yes, i'm feeling better for the most part. now i'm suffering from antibiotic side-effects, helping me to remember with unwelcome clarity why i usually abstain from them.

march is piling up on me!

this month seems to be crunching closer and closer until it's almost taking me over! there is so much to do suddenly, and i am currently so sick with a rampaging case of bronchitis, there's nothing i can do but watch from the sidelines. it's been so long since i've had bronchitis, i forgot how much it hurts. the wind is out of my sails, and i'm hoping azithromycin with puff them back out. fast.

i got a school fundraiser dumped in my lap last night at a pta meeting i was too sick to attend. absentee fund-raiser dump-- is that fair? they discussed possible redistricting at said meeting (or so i heard) and now i have to brush up on my maps, population stats and school attendance numbers so i can go to every school board meeting from now until eternity. crazy cool way to spend my evenings!

couldn't take the dog to class today. can't breathe. makes me a little cranky.

tons of other parties, kid events, finishing taxes, and of course t's trip to l.a. is coming up. maybe i'll crawl into his carry on and revisit the land of my college education. the magical southern california. go to griffith observatory! the chinese theater! in-n-out burger! montrose! c.s.u.n! a traffic jam or two! sounds better than what's happening around here.

i think once i can breathe i'll be a little more perky, and will be able to juggle all this with my usual Forward...MARCH! attitude. it sucks to be sick and tired.

chapel hill makes national news!!!

it always gives you a little thrill when your town makes the national news... like when the unc men's basketball team won the championship last year. they show local landmarks and all, and you somehow feel famous by association. or maybe i'm the only one.

in any case, unc was in the national news for this story on friday. seems a unc graduate who happened to be a muslim decided that to avenge muslim deaths throughout the world it might be a good idea to chase down innocent people in a crowded area of campus with his suv. wow! what a great way to make this statement! such a productive and provocative way to draw attention to the plight of muslims worldwide!

after the attack, in which no one was killed, thank goodness, they had to evacuate his entire apartment building in carrboro because of statements he made to the police that indicated there may be something dangerous lurking in it.

the whole thing makes me sigh. this is such a wonderful place to live, but the only press we get is negative. maybe the only press ANY small town gets is negative-- when something REALLY bad and noteworthy happens. and why didn't the guy even BELONG to the muslim student union that works hard to create understanding with the university population? you got me.

gw, take note.

government mandated hot tub appropriation. sounds good to me! hopefully i will be the lucky 1 (one) citizen of the YOO-nited States of America to get that other tub. snap!

i promise no more kids' art for at least... how about... 3 posts? will that give y'all a long enough break? i know you're sick to death of it right now.