TICKLING MY EARDRUMS

So here is what I'm listening to at the moment....

While watching the chick-movie DVD "Because I Said So" (glad I saw it on video and not the theater...cute and funny but not on my alltime favorites list), I was hooked on a song in the songtrack by The Weepies. The song is "World Spins Madly On". I downloaded it along with the rest of their 2006 album (Say I Am You) from emusic.com . They are one of my new favorite bands. I have no idea if they get radio play on the west coast but they were new to me and I am SO GROOVIN' ON THEM! If I had to pick a genre for them, I'd say 'folk' but the best bands are always difficult for me to quantify...you'll have to give them a listen yourself and see what you think

(leave me a comment and let me know!)

http://www.amazon.com/Say-I-Am-You-Weepies/dp/B000EBCOMW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1875881-0906221?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1180636356&sr=1-1

The Second band I recently stumbled across is The Czars. They have only a single on emusic.com but they have two albums available on itunes (both are awesome!):

2004 album "The Ugly People Vs. The Beautiful People" and their

2006 release "Goodbye".

http://www.amazon.com/Ugly-People-Vs-Beautiful/dp/B000060OSB/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/103-1875881-0906221?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1180635941&sr=8-3

Again, hard to pin this group down to a specific genre....according to the blip on itunes where they are described, their pre-2004 album was more pop-like and they describe their 2004 album as "beautiful, melancholic chamber ballads". That is such a weird description...sounds more appropriate for classical music....

But the description they have also includes info like, "Cocteau Twins' Simon Raymonde and storied engineer Giles Hall take on production duties, and once again, they make pianos sound like full orchestras and cause strings to echo on into infinity. John Grant's vocals are impossibly sublime throughout the album, as he seeks out tender highs and somewhat angry lows." It also says, "Whether whispering over distant country twang guitar and mariachi trumpets, intoning over the humming of Frazer, being vocoderized Grandaddy-style on "what Used to Be A Human", or harmonizing with the entire band, Grant's voice is the keystone of the album."

With a description like that, how can you NOT be curious about their sound, right???

The other band....er....well person, I'm listening to is comedian and actor,

Jim Gaffigan.

He's got one album full of bad language (but is edited on comedy central's broadcast if you want to catch it there next time he's on) and another that isn't (i haven't finished listening to it yet but so far, so good). He has me laughing so hard that there are honest to goodness tears pouring out of my eyes. Silly but comical personal observations and a lot of self-depreciating, ugh-i'm-so-white-that-i'm-pathetic humor.... Again, downloadable from emusic and also itunes.

How much do I love my mp3 player these days? ADORATION is the only word for it!!!!

Piles and Piles of ....well, you know...

Today I'm feeling my un-inspired-to start-some-art-ness a little more pointedly. I'm looking at blogs of fellow artists who are producing work that far surpasses mine and with a far greater frequency. I was thinking that with almost no shows to be Tivo'd (or in our case, recorded with the dvr), I have no excuse not to be working on art. My diningroom table is a sliding mound of paper and whatnot (books, unmounted stamps, mail, scraps, cds, future projects, duct tape, etc.) and the same can be said of my sadly neglected 'art desk' in the other room. Since my laptop has taken residency on the diningroom table (it hasn't moved from the first time it was plugged in here), the diningroom has had little to no hope of EVER being used for eating again.

Poor thing.

Also, since we are trying to empty out the play/art room so that the old wallpaper can be ripped down, the toys are slowly taking up permanent residency in the diningroom. Add to that, the large clothing rack that held our winter coats and is now holding drying laundry and waiting for the next clothing swap to be scheduled. Once THAT swap is over, it is going back to it's old home over at the Klines. Then of course, there is the odd, empty cardboard box here and there, an as-yet-unused winnie the pooh kite cast off in a corner next to a basket of formerly-fragrant pine cones and some now-dry-laundry piled up in a chair off to the side. It's tricky to even see out the beautiful windows in the diningroom because of the stuff cast off everywhere.

So all that being said, even though I'm kind of in the mood to do some art, I am feeling an overwelming sense of duty to CLEAN UP FIRST. And since I am in no mood to clean, I'm telling YOU all about it. Whine, whine, moan, whine....

Last night, I was feeling that familiar itch to create that I've actually NOT had in like months. It took me a while to even identify WHAT the feeling was, it's been so long since I was inspired to create anything.

But, instead of sitting down to a clean workspace and working on some projects, I went upstairs and started cleaning up my bedroom.

My bedroom is the upstairs equivelant of my diningroom table with pre and post-avalanche mountains of clothes on every available surface. Poor Richie couldn't even open and close the drawers of our shared dresser because of the sliding piles of clothes and belts and who-knows-what-all that was stacked there.

(I just looked up the word 'avalanche' to see how it was spelled and found these dictionary definitions that suit most piled high surfaces of my house to a 't':

av·a·lanche /[av-uh-lanch, -lahnch]

noun, verb, -lanched, -lanch·ing.

1.a large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward.
2.anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity: an avalanche of misfortunes; an avalanche of fan mail.

–verb (used with object)
5.to overwhelm with an extremely large amount of anything; swamp.

So, now, in addition to adding a little sumpin' sumpin' to my blog, I figured I would list some of the really amazing blogs that I've been looking toward for some inspiration today. Check 'em out when you get a minute and let me know if they either (a) confuse you or (b) inspire you to go out and make some art of your own!

http://m-is-for-martha.blogspot.com/

http://smallcreations.blogspot.com/

http://www.suzifiner.blogspot.com/

http://chelise.typepad.com/

Incidentally, after almost completely picking up all my various pieces of clothing and accessories, I discovered several items of clothing that I had forgotten I owned, gave myself a few new outfit options for the upcoming convention AND cast off a whole pile of stuff to the 'probation' closet in the guest room. I've decided to put those items on probation since it's been so long since I've worn them and, although they are well loved, I'm not sure they will actually get worn again. If they don't get pulled out for a wearing anytime soon, they are going to be moved to the for-the-next-clothing-swap pile and I will bid them 'soooo long'.

That's all for now! Lots to do (duh) and I can just about see the bottom of my coffee cup which means I have no more excuses for sitting here at the computer. Hasta la pasta!

This Week

Here are a few snapshots from the last week. As you can see, we've been outside since the weather has been so great! Also, I finally got my roots done and I'm all-over blonde now. YAY! The lighting isn't great in these pictures but I'm really happy with how it turned out!

today's musings

Hey there....not much to say today. Working on the laundry, dishes and the various explosions of mess around the house. I'm a householder tonight. The talk isn't really written the way I would say anything or the way anyone accepting this kind or counsel would react but hey, it's not my talk so I will just read my lines and shut up. The article it's based on though is AWESOME.

The feb. 15th 2004 watchtower article on deception...the talk is on self deception and as I read the article, I was feeling kinda squeemish.....the more I think about the 'small' decisions I make, the more I think I fall into the catagory of being self-deceptive. Especially the bit in the article that talks about how Satan fools us into thinking that we need stuff now instead of later and the self justification that goes on when we make small decisions that effect us later in the big picture. It was reminding me of how most of the folks who died in the flood of Noah's day weren't doing anything specifically wrong. They were just living their lives, eating, drinking, marrying, etc. But they were SO DISTRACTED doing these everyday hum drum things that they didn't get on board and get busy doing things Jehovah's way!

It's so easy to get distracted in all my many interests and hobbies and this and that....dude, even laundry and cleaning if it is taken to an excess and made to be too important in your life can distract you from doing more important things like studying and getting your butt out of the house and into service.

Anyhooo......this is the kind of stuff going thru my mind today......

Not too much of note happening in the way of stuff going on......I'm scheduled to get my hair done tomorrow night so very much looking forward to that. And Scarlet keeps slipping out of the house anytime the door is open for a millisecond or more. Despite our best efforts on and off over the span of two hours to get her BACK INSIDE the house, she was determined to spend the night outside last night. It was supposed to get down to freezing so I left a fleece blanket out for her on the porch (although with the fur coat of a coon cat she probably didn't need it at all). She seemed completely unapologetic when she was back in the house this morning. I'm starting to really wonder if the shelter that we got her from actually checked to verify that she was fixed. Lately she is OBSESSED with getting outside and I suspect that she is the one peeing on (marking perhaps) any pillows or cushions left on the floor. Anyone have any experience with female cats to know whether or not they are actually fixed?

As for the weather.....we are supposed to have an 80 degree day on thursday (WAHOOO!!!) but it's in the sixties today so far. The sun is shining though so I don't mind so much.....any day without darkness and rain is a good one as far as I'm concerned!

As for our health, the girls and I still have our colds. Mia's nose is a nonstop faucet, Bella is coughing a bit here and there and I have been keeping myself and Richie up with my coughing at night. Laying flat seems to antagonize my lungs inspite of the musinex that I've been taking. Except for that kind of stuff......oh yeah, Mia is already all covered in bug bites despite the fact that she has been out of doors less than her sister who has zero bites. The bugs love her just like they love me. Bella and her dad are invisible to them for some reason.

No fair!

Okay, that's all for me ......Oh yeah, except I finished up my family collage and I am really liking it. I need to scan some images of it since the digital camera doesn't show much detail and the thing is 16x20 inches.....it is too big for the scanner but still not showing up all that clearly in the camera pictures....

Anyhooo.....happy tuesday!

-s

End of An Era

Well, I just finished watching the final episode in the Gilmore Girls Television Series. As pathetic as it may sound, I did actually shed a couple of tears as all the characters said goodbye, one by one. One of the best moments I think was when Rory was told, "It is an honor to be your grandmother." (can you imagine YOUR grandma saying it?? Yeah, right. But still, how sweet is that???), as well as the final luggage packing scene where Lorelai is trying to remember every piece of advice she may have forgotten to impart and remembers that she wanted to give her an orange sweater and then to ease her fears, Rory tells her mom, "You've given me everything I need."

It's hard to believe that this show has been on the air for seven years but I wonder if, in the future, when trying to explain the ideal mother-daughter relationship, my little girls will understand what I'm talking about when I refer to these characters. I'm sure by then it will be one of those sad little shows relegated to daytime filler reruns that nobody actually watches.....put there just to fill the empty slots in the TV Guide.

Yes, yes, I watch too much tv.....but these imaginary characters held a special place in my heart, much like a well-loved bedtime story.

Goodbye to Rory and Lorelai.....

There isn't enough coffee...

So i'm sitting here for a couple minutes to check and see if there is any urgent email that needs returning....then I read the email containing my daily comics and come across this little gem. I gotta say, this really sums up my life....I need to just get myself one of those caffeine IV drips.

...maybe then I could actually catch up on my life.

I started my folks anniversary present which is a collage drawing/painting/with-photos of our family last week. Then, in the meantime, little hands dragged it down off the diningroom table and onto the floor. Then they poked a big hole in the canvas. I'm not sure if this was intentional or accidental. (I found it on the floor with small toys piled around it so I think it may have become part of the miniature carebear landscape for one of them. ) Anyhoooo....so any progress on that front went right out the window.....did I mention that their anniversary was two sundays ago?

*sigh*

Then there is the issue of the Altered Art Journal pages that were due to be sent out by yesterday or today. The art pages that aren't done.

*double sigh*

As I'm laying (lying?) in bed last night, I'm envisioning a way to free up some counter space by moving some stuff around.....so today, to make this happen, I started looking at the stockpile of juices and drinks in the pantry and realized that most of them are expired. (if i moved them, i could put a large appliance in their place to free up the aforementioned counter space).

So, one by one, I smudged off the dust to see the 'best by' date and in most cases, these dates were between three and six months in the past.....

ICK

...so those got poured down the sink and the bottles stashed in the to-be-redeemed-bottle bin. In between this activity, I cleaned off a mini trash can that had been outside to get aired out...(it's been there since last fall). I also worked on making some coffee, taking the packaging off of some socks, helped Bella put on her socks correctly (the heel portion always ends up on the top of her foot), washed some dishes, put together some sippy cups, put a giant bag of rice into a glass jar, put away some dishes, warmed up some food, replied to Bella's endless stream of 'why' questions, vacuumed the bathroom and kitchen and front hall, and tried to tune out the world (and get some beat-inspired-energy) while doing all this by listening to my mp3 player. Suddenly, I realize that the morning has vanished and I'm well into the afternoon.

Sadly, this IS a typical day.

I shuffle around doing a little bit of this and that, juggling fifteen things at once and only really finishing like three of them (still no counter space). Argggh.......

So.....yeah, this is tuesday.

Gotta get this coffee drunk (drank?) so that the caffeine can get into my bloodstream so I can get at least one of two of the things that really need doing DONE today.

Later!

Blogging Makes Me Important

Today I scratched my rear. (hee hee hee)

Today's Stuff...

It was SUCH a beautiful wedding. I was discussing with some other sisters and we all agreed that we were TOTALLY jealous of what perfect skin Psalm has and how gorgeous she looked in her dress! It was such a stunning dress choice too! Sooooo reminded me of the dreamy dress that the mice and little birds create for cinderella in the cartoon. It was AWESOME!!! Richie and I were comparing it to our wedding and both agreed that this one was unbelievably superior (which to be honest is not a difficult acheivement considering that we hated our reception hall, food, photographer, AND flowers.....LOL).

Today the weather channel was predicting 78 degree weather, so it seemed like the perfect day to work on our soon-to-be-garden! (Also, I read a report today that said that there are bacteria found in dirt that add to your sense of wellbeing and happiness....helps give you lots of happy brain chemicals.....go figure!)
I worked outside for an hour and a half this afternoon trying to dig a good sized area to do some garden planting. I've been wanting to put in a real garden (so far we only have bulbs growing here and there amidst the patches of grass) since we moved in three years ago so I was feeling very accomplished having finally done it. Problem now is that I can barely move my arms and legs and neck and everything is starting to swell. I'm such a dope. An accomplished dope.....but a dope nonetheless....oh, and did I mention the sunburn? Even the FRONT of my neck is burned.....how does that even happen??? D'oh!

Sunday's Wedding

May 6, 2007

Bella was at her aunt and uncles while the three of us went to Psalm's wedding and reception on Sunday. Here are a couple of pictures of the three of us....it was toward the end of the night and Mia was reeeeeallly sleepy. (And just as a 'P.S.', No, my hair is not usually that big. Mia's however, IS. Sometimes BIGGER.)

Psalm's Wedding Reception...

Proof that it is ACTUALLY spring here in Maine now. The leaves are budding on the trees and the daffodills are smiling happily in the warm springy sunlight!
Mia dressed up in her fancy party dress with a sparkly 'pretty' in her hair

while we waited to go into the wedding reception

Mia and Lisa playing at our table at the reception

Kathi and Aaron Keith (also at our table)

Betsy and Mia playing at the table next to ours

April into May...

Well, we've had a busy busy week or so....
Mia and Bella both had checkups (4 years and 18/19 months, respectively), Bella got a short haircut, I learned to ride the lawnmower (and to mow, duhhh). So here are some pictures of these events.... The First picture is of Bella sitting and waiting for the doctor to come into the office for her checkup. As you can see, her hair is pretty long. The second picture shows her after her new haircut in her new summer dress. The third picture is Mia waiting for HER doctor to come in....and the last picture is the one Richie took of me on the riding mower....It was tougher than I thought to negotiate those turns and compensate for the different levels of lawn. I could have sworn I was going to tip over several times but I'm told the mower has a low center of gravity and that I was never in any danger of tipping. Guess I'm going to be needing more practice!