How to tell it's almost Xmas

Everyone's finding my blog when they search for Dominck the Donkey lyrics.

(Oh, dammit: here). This one's better though, you can HEAR IT: Dominick - although why you'd want to ... ?????


It's cold as hell. It snowed tonight. Just a little. But more is coming. Ugh. I ache. Not as much as Suzy, who once got clotheslined while wearing a giant chipmunk head. A story for another day.

I still don't have my car because they thought it was fixed and the alarm started going off again. Haha. Swell.

Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza 2008 is August 1 -3. This may seem far off and so not who I am, that you all are going "Huh? the girl who likes country music is going to Lollapalooza?" No way.

Today is Friday, and it is unfortunately chemo day for my very favorite Lollapalooza fan, and all I can say to offer encouragement is, think Lollapalooza, girl.

So if all my lurkers would think about Lollapalooza (how many times can I use that impossible to spell word in this post? ) today, and if you could send karma or prayers or anything else that now comes to mind when you think of Lollapalooza, I'd appreciate it.

seriously?

So today was one of those "the universe is messing with me days." Up down up down.

Things like feeling crummy from dental work, (like I got punched repeatedly in the face, but that's a tad melodramatic?) and then seeing someone I used to work with which was a nice surprise and then having someone be snippy with me about how I'm interrupting their work by oh, asking for information I need to do MY job.

Having to admit in a meeting that "well, you know, I really don't think I'm able to do THIS project alone, because my development skills just aren't this good yet, and they needed this done a long time ago..." and then going out to lunch and laughing and being silly, and then getting a memo that there will be staff cuts soon, because OF COURSE, it's Christmastime, and having someone say "god you look awful, what's wrong?" (dental work...staff cuts... because of course I just put down money for spring break, we never go ANYWHERE, but we're going to go somewhere and for .3 seconds I was excited about the trip....)

And leaving and going out to a loaner car that smells like wet hairy dog and finding a nasty chewed piece of rawhide in the back, and dragging myself through the supermarket because we have no OJ and then to choir even though I'm already way too tired, and being the only alto again, and doing ok until the end when I was just so exhausted I couldn't think straight.

Cracking open a beer and sitting down to watch what happened after That Guy From The Scooby Movie had his carotid burst and

it's a fucking repeat.

Are you kidding me?

Linus and Lucy

Linus and Lucy is that song from A Charlie Brown Christmas that they all dance to. My child #1 performs a hilarious rendition of "that kid in the orange shirt dancing".... capturing the essence of limited animation - just the arms moving a little (bend at elbows), modified twist of the feet, drooped head...

SO yes, I downloaded it from iTunes. Why not? I might actually enjoy this Christmas for once.

Never mind that my repairman failed me* and I won't have an oven for YET another week... or that my new car feels easily alarmed (It went off randomly while my car was sitting in my driveway last night. I called my friend, who sold me the car, and said "is this a feature?" He sighed and said, "Meet me down at the lot. Or, you could just park it way down the street from your house tonight.")

Nevermind that I have too much work to do and I'm falling behind. Or that someone is randomly leaving Shrute Bucks tucked into various parts of my desk at work and it's a TINY BIT CREEEPY. Because they have my picture on them and it's probably the worst picture of me ever, or at least since that mug shot in college that passed for a student ID. I mean, it's funny, to keep finding more, and the picture was from a work activity, but I'm keeping a list of suspects and being all CSI about it, and acting like I just don't care, because they're popping up in drawers and folders, and I think it's Chico's revenge. Or it's probably JV doing this, so he's laughing his ass off right now, but I also suspect Tania, and KH, and Julie, and oh my god, everybody at work is out to get me, and I need to hide under my desk. This is really NOT going to help me catch up.




*that damn oven guy,
he broke my heart,
showed up and said,
have to order that part....

It's final

I traded in the Jeep today. Too much of my money was going into the gas tank. Well, we had some awesome times in it, in the 7...(or was it 8?) months I had it...great memories. Not my best financial move, but what's done is done. So, I got a car with a bunch of extras. Like heated leather seats. I will finally have a hot ass.

(Oh, and P, I left the pink magnet on the Jeep. Sorry, I know you wanted it for your collection. Not!)

My son was watching Dancing with the Stars with me tonight and pointed out that Mel took something off Edyta's rack tonight. Ha! I swear if Marie wins I will eat a tv guide. Ugh. I think they rigged it so she can't (because the top 2 dance again tomorrow, winner decided by judge's votes....) I split my text votes between the other 2. I think Julianna & Helio should win though.

Sunday Art

So every Sunday I take the art book* I bought at the MOMA store in Manhattan and I look up an artist whose work appeals to me. Today, Berthe Morisot .

How nice to be a wealthy french girl and make painting your life's work!

*Surprisingly enough, it's called The Art Book. Phaidon Press Limited.

Switch it up

This late on a Saturday night, someone should not be vacuuming. That's all I'm saying.

So I'm shopping, and selecting from this page: this page: I'm thinking #8 or 12 for my daughter. Although, the farm animals kill me. (Yes, Johnny, there are outhouse switchplates too!)

There is SERIOUSLY a switchplate for everyone on your gift list. I dare you.

PS: My son told me that he wants the truck because "the ladies" want a real man, not one who drives a "girly car", something like a Corvette. (his words!)

How can I tell him that the first car I ever drove was my college boyfriend's white Stingray?

Mural update

Here's the current status... ads are done. I added my friend's logo; he's a car dealer. My son was trying to negotiate a deal for a huge Ford truck today; something about cleaning his dealership for a year and we'd be even then, right??

My son was strict with me about the bleachers... "NO ONE sits there." They're still wet, which is the weird reflection, but they will be black with grey streaks and no one sitting there.

He kinda had that look in his eye. It was the same look my sister in law had the other day when she said that she makes the green bean casserole different, and her family LIKES it that way, and why don't I just fry up the bacon. As in, don't touch it sister, or someone will get hurt.

Ruh Oh

I knew I recognized Carotid Artery guy... he was in the Scooby movie with Buffy and crew.... he's the good guy bad guy good guy who likes Velma. It drove me crazy the other night. Who is he? When will that thing burst? Why didn't they fix it in the first surgery?

Now that this information is in my brain, something truly useful will have to go. Overcrowding, you know.

Black Friday

The only shopping I've done all day is pondering which of these to give to Johnny, Shop, and Shamus. I mean, really. Calamities? Maladies? Dunno.

Grey stuff

The entire show, I was waiting for that guy's neck to burst on Grey's Anatomy. Ughhhh. I knew it was going to happen, and I was just hoping not to barf. I hate that they're not posting to the writer's blog because of the strike.

I love the idea that my bank thinks that "pretty" checks will encourage me to take a cash advance on my credit card.

Winter really does seem to be here, it's COLD, and the light sucks. I did some work on mural today, but not much. GIANT headache as a bonus. Will post picture tomorrow after I do more (hopefully??). Still working on the billboards.

Jumping the...

Tonight at dinner my son pulled out a slip of paper and told me he saw something really cool on tv today. I was thinking Robots, Xbox, etc.

No.

He wants a Shark VX3. As in, a vacuum. He actually wrote down the name, the 1-800 number, and some features. See? (The spelling, it's not so great. It's quite quiet. Really.)

What is funniest about this is that recently, when I was away for the weekend, while I was settling in to go to sleep I was watching an old Grey's Anatomy re-run. An infomercial for this thing came on, and I was considering buying it. Of course, once I fell asleep I forgot all about it.

So he started telling me about it and once I realized what he was talking about and he realized that I might get it for him we both got so excited to the point that we were giving each other high fives.

I may never have to do housework again.

Good Lourdes

So, here is Madonna's daughter... her name is Lourdes. If you click on this picture for a closer look, don't be frightened. Because, holy cow, the eyebrows. That layout would work for miniature dominos. (Up the nose and... well, you have to defy gravity for that, but admit it, you can picture it in your head, can't you?)

It surprises me that a woman SO image conscious would not take the simple step of preventing her daughter from international mockery by having an aesthetician wax those little 'pillars now & then. Oh, and bleache that upper lip a tad.

I (reluctantly) concede that her daughter is obviously still young, and should be left alone, but ... reality check. When your mom is one of the most famous singers EVER, you're going to be photographed pretty damn often.

Poor Lourdes, she doesn't get to watch TV and she doesn't get Christmas gifts. Whatever on the gifts, but I totally disagree with the "No tv at all" stance. It will only be effective as long as the child is in Madge's presence. As soon as she gets older, she'll rent an apartment, and she's going to put a huge flatscreen up, and spend weeks catching up on things like The Bachelor, I Love NY, and The Girls Next Door. Because they're just effing hilarious.

My actual point is that you can't pretend a huge segment of culture doesn't exist so that it won't influence your child. You need to acknowledge it, allow some access, and modulate the impact by TALKING to your child about what you approve of, or don't, and why. For crying out loud, at least let the kids watch redeeming stuff, like, uh... um... I'll get back to you on that. Wait. Cooking shows. What's so bad about being able to watch a cooking show? Alton is very educational. Sports. The kid can't watch the Olympics?? Nothing???

And geez, it only takes five minutes to wax.

Un-Lost

So I got this junk mail about Lost "Mobisodes". I googled and found out they're three-minute vignettes — collectively known as "Missing Pieces" — kicks off with "The Watch," focusing on Matthew Fox's character. The micro-stories aren't deleted scenes — they're newly-shot material that fits into the larger Lost saga; it's up to the fans to figure out where they belong. A new Webisode will post each Monday.

Apparently they were supposed to be realeased only to Verizon customers. Whatever. They suck. You can see so for yourself here, but other than the fleeting joy of watching Jack throw a rock, you won't get much out of it. Frankly I would think it's a smarmy thing to do during the writer's strike, but I know these were probably filmed before that, since the show won't be back until January at the earliest.

Enjoy your turkey, everyone

If a cookbook falls in the kitchen, does it make dinner?

So lately I've been pulling out cookbooks in the evenings. Perhaps that's because my oven is broken (and will be for another week and a half! If only I'd actually called sooner to schedule a fix....sigh... at least the top still works...) and if I can't COOK, I at least like to look. Much like when I was pregnant, couldn't stand the smell of food, and fell in love with the cooking shows on at the time. (I remember it being Emerill, but that can't be right... can it??)

My kitchen is small, but if you don't count cake decorating books, I've got at least two dozen. I've got plenty of cake books... hardcover, as well as annual Wilton yearbooks going back to at least 1993. Does this vast collection make me a fraud, since I usually make things like spaghetti and chicken caesar salad, and not pumpkin orange tart with orange sabayon creme?

Is it enough that I just get enjoyment from browsing through the books, folding down the corners of recipes I'll probably never try?? It is to me! Certainly "entertainment" is the secret second purpose of these books. (After making money... NO, I mean instructing the buyer.... heh)

Call Me Smudgy

Today was one of those days where I dropped paintbrushes, had paint splatter onto my face, etc.

Oh, and I got paint on my hands more than once, and deposited elsewhere in the mural.

Fun times. Working and reworking. A dab of color, oops, too much, more white.

Left are two local companies, around my Jeep logo. Dunder, then a shoutout to my friends who support the Juvenile Diabetes Research foundation (I walkas part of a family team every year). After that will be Sirius, Freihofer Run, Ford and Apple.

When I turn 80.

A Quick trip to the Gallery

This is by Vilhelm Hammershøi . I almost used this artist last week; went with Chase instead.

This artist appeals to me because of my Danish ancestry; you should try some of my Danish Christmas cookies (the recipes all start with "take a pound of butter and add....")

I enjoy the softness of the colors, and I'd like to have that piano in my living room.

For Sarah (OK Seriously)

Here is the article about John Krasinski.... (how long DOES a URL need to be?????)

White

Blistex "complete moisture" chapstick leaves a taste that has me feeling like I just huffed a can of Lemon Pledge. Icky.

Today on the mural? I painted white. And some more white. And a big red logo, and while I was doing that I kept picking up white on my brush when I wanted to be painting red and the red on the other brush when I was trying to fix the white. A smarter/ more patient person would STOP, and wait for one color to dry, but noooooo, that's not how I roll. Just as annoying as I expected that logo to be. Oh, the irony.

I'm still getting the headache, EVERY time I paint. Joy.

Mural update

Today was another day where I woke up, planned to do 25 things before noon, then had a good laugh about that over lunch. At 1:15. With only 2 things done.

With Suzy's help I did finally figure out what to do about the billboard portion of the Yankee stadium mural I'm doing for my son. Rather than be "true" to what is usually on display, we're going a different route. I don't want the NYC radio stations and whatnot that I'm not even familiar with.

(The other day I spent about 10 minutes with a coworker showing her a map I'd picked up when I was down in manhattan... the kind where the landmarks are sketched in, in 3-d of sorts... so the conversation was, "this is where the stadium is in relation to WTC, Rockefeller, Empire state building, etc...." It's funny, we're only a couple of hours away by train and none of us go there all that much. )

So anyway, the mural will have my company logo, Sirius, Ipod/apple, Ford, Jeep... icons that have meaning to us. (I suppose that means y'all will figure out where I work, unless I blur that going forward, right Sgt? I wonder what my COE says about that.) Oh! and I almost forgot... the Dunder-Mifflin logo will DEFINITELY make an appearance. I'm not happy that it's WHITE, on a dark color background, but what-ever.

Time to get to work...