Building the Perfect Beast

So, we have a new President, and I guess if I was a Liberal I'd be happy about that. It's kind of a weird situation for me, being that I'm a fan of the man, but not the man's policies or politics. I like his charisma, his demand of the bully pulpit, his determination. I admire him as a family man, and a man of decent morals. But that's about it.

I'm not going to dredge this blog through the minutia of it all, that would take forever. I just hope that he starts to show some substance soon, instead of all style. That would be nice. And a little humility. Humility is a good thing, too, and I hear it goes a long way.

The Inauguration cost $170 million dollars. We're in the worst economic downturn since the Depression and we're spending $170 million. Nice. Ever hear of that word recession? Yeah, we're in the middle of one.

Perhaps his first big act as President should have been to tone down the festivities. But we all know Liberals are not fiscally conservative. (And to be fair, W wasn't very fiscally conservative either, despite all his claims to be.)

Alright, I'll end it here before I really start to rant. Maybe he'll go moderate and I won't have to worry so much.

One can only hope.

Sunkist Fueled Rambling

Listen. Shhh. Can you hear that? The silence.

It's quiet in my house. A rarity. The kids are watching a movie so I figured I'd take the few minutes I have to update. Now that I'm sitting here typing, I can't think of what I want to say. Typical.

The holidays were wonderful, as usual. Great food, good company, peaceful, happy, content, relaxing, lovely, lazy days. Santa treated the kids very well this year, and why shouldn't he have? They are amazing children, polite, well behaved.....exactly what we're raising them to be. They deserved every gift the fat man brought them. I got some nice stuff too, from the hubby. The Southern Vampire Series of books (aka The Sookie Stackhouse Novels) and I blew through them, thanks to my insane love of the True Blood series. Great books, good little mysteries, and vampires. Who can ask for anything more? I also got my laptop for Christmas this year, which I'm THRILLED with. My old PC had just about bit it. It was eating bookmarks and doing all kinds of funny things, so it was time to get something new. I love my laptop. I'm writing this very blog from the comfort of my own living room, rather than stuck down in my cold, little office. Can't beat it with a stick.

Going back to work after Christmas was hard, but I'm glad I'm back. It makes the time go quickly and I am SO ready for summer. I know that may sound ridiculous, but I've had enough cold and snow. Enough! I need some vacation time and beach and barbeque. I should just move south and get it over with. Now...to just convince the hubby. HA. Never happen.

I'm working on finding musical instruction teachers for my kids. My son wants to take guitar and my daughter wants to do piano. I think it's great they have such an interest in music now. They have good taste too, thanks to me, of course. My son's new mp3 player has been filled up with Weezer, Def Leppard, Metallica, Nirvana, The Beatles, etc. He's got good taste. Can't get him into Crowded House or Neil Finn though, but that's okay. He's into the heavier stuff. He'll someday realize the awesomeness that is Neil Finn and he will submit. Oh yes, he will.

So, that's that. Just a quick update. 2009 has been pretty good so far, and it's only getting better. *snort* That makes me think of a guy that I used to work for at Miron Lumber. A few times a year, the whole company would get together for these big meetings and he would say, "When people ask you how you're doing, say 'I'm super....and gettin' better!'" Yuck. I hate optimists. They annoy me. He also used to call me That Girl, like the show. I guess her name was Anne Marie too. He'd say "Hey, it's THAT Girl!" with a big, smarmy smile on his face.

I should have thrown a bucket of herpes at him when I had the chance.

Flip Me Some Bird

It's two days before Thanksgiving and I'm starving. Two small facts of my life at the moment. Hubby is late coming in from work and since no one has work/school tomorrow, we're waiting for him to eat. In the meantime, I shall shrivel up and wither away from hunger.

Well, not really. I have enough body fat to last me a decade or so. But I'm still working on that.

Things have been generally good. Kids are good, hubby is fine, work is swell. It's been nice having this week off from work (half days for the kids, no lunches!) and taking a break from chicken nuggets and grilled cheese sandwiches. By the time I go back next Monday, I'm sure I'll be refreshed and ready to nugget once again. I swear, I don't know how the kids don't get sick of that stuff, but they love it. My lunch counts have been higher than ever.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday. I have my turkey thawing and my shopping is complete. We'll be seeing the family and eating at my Aunt's. The food I cook here is for us. By 10:00 Thanksgiving night, we're all pretty hungry again and looking for leftovers so I cook a little bit here too. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, (homemade, not that slop from a can) biscuits. So when we get home that night, we have a little nosh, put the kids to bed, pop open a bottle of wine and relax. Can't wait. I'm really ready for the holidays this year.

Speaking of wine, we had a bottle of amazing Moroccan Syrah the other night. Don't remember the exact name off the top of my head, but it was very fun, fruit forward, spicy, and earthy, lots of cherry and clove. It was excellent paired up with some Double Gloucester and Camembert. Loved it. We drank the whole bottle and went to bed feeling loopy. What a treat!

Bummer note: True Blood wrapped up it's season this past Sunday night. It's sucks. (Maybe for True Blood, that would be a compliment?) What a great season ender, though. I never thought Rene would be the killer, NEVER. I was literally on the edge of my seat watching poor, frying Bill trudging through the sun to try to save Sookie, only to fail. Thank God Sam/Dog came to the rescue, and Sookie cutting Rene's head off was a bit of irony not lost on me! Excellent stuff there. Anyway, slow clap for True Blood Season 1. It was outstanding. Those are some DVD's I'll be scooping up as soon as they're available.

Guess that's it for now. Hopefully, I'll be able to update before Christmas, but you never know around here. My few spare moments are normally spent catching a few winks, and things are so busy from here on out. Cooking, cleaning, entertaining, working, blah blah blah. And shopping. Let's not forget the shopping.

Santa's job is never done, you know.

V-Juice and Other Stuff

I'm loving HBO's new series "True Blood". Totally awesome. Loving hottie vampire, Anna Paquin is fantastic, great story so far... so that can only mean one thing.

They'll cancel it. That seems to be the pattern.

"What's that? Annie in upstate New York likes this show? Cancel it! Immediately! There shall be no more Vampiric joy in her life!"

Dramatic? Yes. Realistic? No. Probability? Better than good.

So anyway, I'll enjoy it while it lasts and restrain myself from looking at the ratings reports. Why torture myself? I'd rather have hottie vampire do it anyway. Speaking of which...let me take a moment to look up the good looking fanged one...

Stephen Moyer. Great choice for the part. He has the tortured/dead/lovesick/dark/handsome/mysterious/sexy vampire thing down cold. Click on his name if you wish to check out his IMDB site and drool for yourself.

Still hitting the gym regularly. Down 24 lbs. so far and still going strong, plus I'm becoming one lean, mean, toned beast! Still can't believe how well it's going and how motivated I still am. That's unusual for me, to say the least.

Work is going great too, besides a few glitches that I actually took myself out of the middle of today. Being caught between your boss and the principal of the school is a bit sticky, but I was able to gracefully excuse myself today so they could hash things out on their own. I've had my say over the situation, now they can make the big executive decisions. *snort*

Hubby's 33rd birthday was this past Saturday. I wish I was 33 again. Not that I'm old, but I'm older than him and that sticks in my craw these days. And to think, 15 years ago it was fun being a cradle robber. Hee. Anyway, we bought him X-Box 360 and Rock Band for his present. He loved it and we've all been obsessed with Rock Band ever since. Our band is on a world tour now, last spotted in Stockholm if I remember correctly and we were kicking ass. Long live Undercooked Pork!

It's been nice having the kids back in school. At least they're no longer scratching each others eyes out during the day anymore. They go their separate ways and by 3:30 are ready to come home and be friends again. It's a good thing. Mostly for me because by Labor Day I was ready to feed them both to the dog.

So, the mornings are getting crisp and cold, the leaves are once again beginning to change colors, and fall is here. Love this time of year. Time to bust out the boots and sweaters, pull up the blanket, tuck away the air conditioners, and leave summer behind for another year. It was a good one, but I'm glad to see it end.

I was getting tired of shaving my legs so much.

I Don't Wanna Get With the Program....

It's almost my son's birthday...tomorrow, he'll be turning eight. How the hell have eight years gone by already? It almost seems impossible, really. What a hideous birth that was, and what an amazing child came from it. I guess it holds true then that where there is pain, there is pleasure. Or something like that. You know what I'm trying to say. Either way, Happy Birthday, Pumpkin Puss. I love you more than life.

So, my biggest news is that I joined a gym. Hubby and I both did, actually, and I'm surprised to find that I LOVE it. I love the challenge of the weights circuit and I love pushing myself on the cardio machines. I feel better than I have in ages. I actually have energy all day long, and I'm toning and losing weight and building muscle. Funny, isn't it? Those gyms actually do what they claim to do. Har de har.

Now, I'm not foolish enough to think I'll ever get back to looking like I did in High School. (120 lbs. and I thought I was FAT. Can you imagine? What an idiot I was.) Two kids and years of bad eating have wreaked havoc on my body, but I'm ready to do this in a serious and earnest manner. I have to. It's time and I know that any kind of improvement is a good improvement. Just getting my blood pumping four times a week is a really, really great thing. And funnily enough, I find that when I exercise, I want to eat better too. It all goes hand in hand and so far so good.

Hubby surprised me with a trip to the beach for my birthday. Spent three blissful days in Cape May soaking in the sun. We had perfect weather the whole time and the kids had a blast, I picked up Craig McManus' Ghosts of Cape May Book 2 while I was there, and came home rested and rejuvenated. There's nothing like beach time to chill you out. At least for me. There's something about the sand, sun, and crashing waves that just DOES it for me. *Sigh* I'd give anything for a few more days before summer ends, but I don't think it will happen. It's busy time now.

The actual day of my birthday was extremely low key and anti-climactic, just as I wanted it. I did nothing out of the norm....cooked, cleaned, played with kiddies....and hubby brought a cake when he arrived from work. The kids blew out the candles and I had one skinny slice of chocolate heaven, so as not to negate the awesome workout I'd had the day before. Now THAT'S dedication. *snort*

And so, tomorrow will commence with the Indiana Jones themed activities for my son.....lots of Indy toys, eyeball punch, spider webs, tiki torches and of course, snakes. Sorry, Indy, but it had to be snakes. I find it to be one of those fun little ironies in life that my son loves Indiana Jones at this age, considering the first movie came out when *I* was eight as well. Seems he's inherited my love for the rugged Archaeologist.

And Harrison Ford is still a hottie. Even if he's 66.

Post Vacation Musings

So, here I sit at 10:49 on a Thursday night, the kids are asleep, the dog is snoring soundly, hubby is on a plane home from Atlanta, and I'm clicking away at a new entry as I load up all the pictures from our Florida trip. It's taking forever. My computer is only four years old and it already sucks.

The trip went well. Visiting with the relatives was wonderful, dare I say the best four days of the entire vacation. My Aunt's house in Boca is quite large. Very large. Extremely large. Great pool, hot tub, sauna, huge bedrooms with private bathrooms...I mean, it's a vacation unto itself. It was relaxing and fun and SO incredible to see everyone. I cried like a baby when we left. I freely admit that. I was okay until my Uncle teared up and then it was over.

From there, we spent a day in Melbourne (no, not THAT Melbourne) on the beach. Absolutely gorgeous. One of the nicest beaches I've ever been on, and I've been on many. Perfect weather, perfect everything.

Disney was great. I will say, it was unbearably hot, which, unfortunately, was not the only unbearable thing that we were dealing with. I won't go into details, but just know that I held on through the whole week by the skin of my teeth. The kids, though, loved the whole thing....Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios-- which was the big hit I think, what with the High School Musical show and all and my showdown with a pushy English cow that decided to push in front of my kids. My kids have a whole new respect for me now I think. *snort*--and Epcot. It was a fun few days, I'll admit, but the last time I'll ever travel there in July. You'd think I'd have learned a lesson after my honeymoon.

I was ready for home after two weeks though. There's nothing like your own bed and your own bathroom after awhile. Sometimes, you just gotta pee with the door open, ya know?

And so, I await my birthday and my sons birthday, coming shortly. It's bound to be a lovely August.

All I know is, I better get back to the beach. My tan is fading.

Rasputin Was An Evil Genius and Other Uninteresting Thoughts

Crap.

Has it really been since February since I've updated this thing? Time surely does fly and I stink at keeping up with it. I feel like I just started work and here we are, mere weeks away from the end of the school year.

So, I'm sitting here on a fine Friday evening, listening to the dulcet sounds of Grant Wilson, pianist, artist, author, and paranormal investigator extraordinaire. I quite like the piano music on his My Space site. I'm not normally one for this kind of music, but this is pretty. And it's soothing. And he's awful cute. *Gets all shallow*

Check out his music, though, if you have a chance and like that sort of stuff. It's real purty.

So, we've decided to bring the kids to Disney this year. They're old enough to remember it now, and it's an experience I want them to cherish. I'm looking forward to it as well, although I think I'm just looking forward to any vacation at this point. I'm just hoping we're able to squeeze in some beach time while in Florida...in between seeing relatives and licking The Mouse's head, there better be some beach activity or I'll probably cry.

And no. I'm trying very hard NOT to think about how hot it's going to be in Florida in July, okay? So quit bringing it up.

I'm more worried about the fact that it'll cost more money for us to drive there then it will to actually spend a week in the Disney complex. Seriously, $4.29 a gallon? I think I'm going to puke. The last time we drove to Florida in '01, I remember complaining that gas in Boca Raton was $1.59.

$1.59.

I'd chew off my left breast for $1.59 gas.

Music has changed, now. I just put on Weezers latest. The Red Album. To go along with the Green and Blue ones, of course. Love this one much. It's another road that Rivers is taking us on....kind of a sentimental journey of sorts, completely different from Make Believe but just as illicit. Standouts so far: "Dreamin'" and "Pig". And Rivers is sporting a really cool vintage 1890's cowboy type look, complete with OK Corral moustache. I'm digging it. But I always dig Rivers. He's distinctive. And his music gives me joy.

There's not been much else going on, besides the fact that I'm obviously still away from the computer much more than I used to be, and I do miss it. I just haven't had the oomph to sit and play at night, but I do have friends that I need to catch up with. Hi, friends!

So, I'll bring to a close this completely tedious and dreary entry with hopes that I'll have something more interesting to write about next time.

I'm such an apathetic ass!

I Know He's Dennis and Dee's Father Now But....

Had to take a moment and look up Stephen Collins as Jake Cutter, after the mention in yesterdays entry.

I had pretty good taste back then, I must say!




On my days off from skinny, angsty musicians, I go for the rugged, sturdy type.