Peeps

So I sent Suzy this, which is from BentObjects and shows how they make those tiny candy hearts one might buy for Valentine's day. They hack them out of Peeps. Excellent.

She responded with this which is the documentation on a surgical procedure separating conjoined peeps. (Lines like "Throughout the surgery, subjects were infused with a 97% glucose drip to maintain physiological homeostasis. " Suzy points out that some medical professional had WAY too much time on their hands. Phase 5 is awesome. )

The other link I have to offer is one of my favorite works of art on The Post- it Project. Enjoy. Create your own. But don't let Michael Scott catch you stealing post-it notes, because as you might recall, he tried to use that as an excuse for firing Pam in the first episode.

Finding me on the great big internet

My favorite search hit this week was "more naked Sawyer" and to that I say "-Amen."

Johnny V is still sending many unsuspecting victims my way. He also gave me some excellent music this week - Jack's Mannequin and other goodies.

Speaking of music, I got at least 25 hits from a search string that included the phrase "Carrie Underwood & scoring " and I thought... you pervs... until I realized it was some sort of blog search engine. Carry on. Enjoy the photos.

Someone searched for Carly Mural "Yankee Stadium". I know who you are...because I saw where that search came from... and no I haven't done ANYTHING on it lately. Maybe tomorrow.

So, hi to Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Ontario, the Phillipines, Singapore, and Newcastle upon Tyne (I know who YOU are.... smooches).

It's snowing and I'm having a glass of Chardonnay with my seafood pasta. Now if only I had someone to talk to.

Catalog shopping on a snowy day

It's been a while since I posted my favorite catalog items. Far too long.

The Hillary Clinton nutcracker. Oh, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. The metaphors. The imagery. The complete lack of respect:

Does she always stand that way? I never noticed. Does she ride a hog?

Now, this was the runner up... sweet buttermilk biscuits. How awesome would it be to live in a gated community and slap this on your lawn?

Then we have this little number. Now, as a Mom I see the flaw in the basic premise of this gag. If my kid is running to the john and flips up the lid and sees THIS I'm going to have to do the laundry because he's definitely going to crap right away in his pants.



Now for some runner-ups:

• The Drum Alarm Clock would last maybe a week in the average person's household. I mean, it sounds like a bad joke. A drum solo next to your head to wake you up?


• Dusting slippers. Rag-mop scuffs. Um, no.


• The Fartmaster key chain. I actually bought this once for the brother in law who later gave me Humphrey. Yes, I learned my lesson.

Well that's all the shopping we have time for but you just browse around, I'm sure you'll find something to buy, like the "More Cowbell" t-shirt. Later!!

Maybe he should turn pro

If you'd like to see a GREAT picture of the eclipse, go look at Bill Wadman's. Be sure to poke around all of his various links.

See, now it is not THAT cold

...it's 19 degrees (yes Farenheit, Marco) and I dragged my son outside to see the lunar eclipse. He went somewhat willingly, I am happy to report. Certain others in the house ignored us until I began ringing the doorbell (evil smile).

He broke the mood a little, comparing it to toenail clippings.

Kids.

Luna

Had the errands to run today while the daylight sky changed to zephyr-indigo-blue and then went black. Meanwhile the man in the moon climbed steadily up an invisible rope. You could almost see it lifting up through the sky.

Yes I'm crazy, and exhausted. Eclipsed, you might say. So if the military misses that busted sattelite and it lands right on my forehead in a day or two, at least I'll be grateful for the rest.
Carly(via Blackberry)

Wouldn't wanna do her laundry

Ms. Carrie Underwood. She's beautiful. Extremely talented singer.

She did all of her hits, and then some. We had great seats as you can see. My one complaint - toooo many costume changes tonight.

I *know* that she probably never messes up when she sings in church ;-)

But Suzy agreed, too many changes (there were at least 3 other outfits not shown here.)

At the end, confetti shoots out of big machines near the stage. The security guard had told a dad near us with a very small child that the "gun" would make a really loud noise. It didn't. Suzy and I sat with our fingers in our ears for the last half of the song (Before He Cheats, of course) because we were literally five feet from it, and then we felt stupid when the big noise wasn't much of a noise at all....

Tired... going to sleep.

D-i-v-a

Carrie Underwood hasn't taken the stage yet. Josh's crew cleared his stuff in short order. Now they are vacuuming the stage for Her Blondness.
Carly(via Blackberry)

Great seats

Amazing seats 20 ft from stage. JT was excellent.
Carly(via Blackberry)

Would you go with me

Going to see Carrie Underwood with Josh Turner tonight. My favorite part will be seeing HIM. (If only he were to tell ME "I wanna be your man"... Alas his wife is his backup singer... )

Last minute hit on arena web page got me GREAT tix, just released. Gotta go get on the road. Daughter is wild w/ the happy. Later y'all!
Carly(via Blackberry)

It's fun to stay...

I have blueprints for my addition but no number yet. So I still don't know if I can do it. Torture.

I did get a chance to replace my sirius radio this past weekend. Yaaaaaaay. If you saw someone doing the YMCA in her car this morning it was me. (Oh yes, I did. You know you wish you saw me. Totally 70's. )
Carly(via Blackberry)

On the road again

It was a great day today here - about 50 degrees. I went for a run. It's kind of wet out, plenty of snow is melting, so it was messy. But I didn't fall down, and since I am rather like Grace, that's usually something of an accomplishment for me (wink). I did see a rocky little stream in the park that was flowing at a steady pace. Nice to watch the water flow over the rocks. OK, I stopped because I was out of breath. But still.

I am hoping to do the Freihofer run again, which is in 103 days. Time to get semi-serious. ;-)

I ran and walked (alternating). When I was done my face was a lovely rash of beeeeet red. Niiiice.

Sunday art with a side of piano

I went to a "duo piano" performance today at a local college. Barbara & Michael Musial are not just each fantastic concert pianists in their own right -- they play together. As in, two grand pianos, nose to nose. It was amazing to listen to how well synchronized they are when they play.

I got a great seat near the front so I could really see him play, and found myself rather jealous of them at one point. Performing so well, working so hard(very intense pieces of music) and absolutely beaming. Bach, Gershwin, D'un Matin de Printemps (Of a Spring Morning) - a wonderful way to spend a dreary winter afternoon.

***

I had success of my own today, on a MUCH smaller scale (no pun intended). The last few times that I have been cantor (singing the responsorial psalm, etc) I have felt a certain degree of crappy about how my singing has gone. When it comes to the higher notes, my voice gets thin or near breaking and I back off from the note and it sounds like crap. (Mind you, everyone else is always kind, and says "No, it was fine", but in my mind it just wasn't GOOD.)

The other night at rehearsal I was singing a different piece (Ave Verum, an arrangement by Colin Mawby). It's a beautiful, complex, SATB, 8 part piece. Since there are only two altos right now, myself and one other woman, we each since a different line. It's got notes that I consider insanely high for an alto part (the soprano lines are even higher) but I have learned to get to them over the past 3 years with a fair amount of volume. I am much more comfortable with the high notes when I'm singing with other voices (even if they're not singing my line). The choir director was having us run through the song one section at a time (the four sections, SATB) and the other alto and I were up. All of a sudden Bette's head whipped around and she glared at me. "That was beautiful!" sounds funny when someone's a little mad at you. "You can hit those notes there" (points at my seat in the back row) "then you can hit them THERE" (points at cantor microphone.)

Busted. I knew she was right. It's mental. I get up there, get nervous, and my vocal cords tie in knots. I psych myself out since I'm an alto. I got handed today's cantor sheets, and really worked on it at home. Today wasn't perfect, but it was definitely twice as good as usual. I really felt like I could sing out and sound good. I was much better at managing the nerves.

Throw the roses gently, boys.

Not far enough

Unfortunately my son's apple hasn't fallen very far from the tree

We left the house for his basketball game. We went by a park where I run sometimes. I saw a crowd, a fire truck, and a rather large-ish fire. "What's burning?" I wondered aloud. "The bonfire" said Mr. C.

We drove for about twenty minutes (on two separate highways) and my son said "Dad? We're not having a home game today, are we?"

Poor kid.

iTune meme

So I'm feeling a little viral today. This meme comes from Poly, and she shames me in every way. Seventy one days worth of music, she has.

Instructions: Open up your iTunes and fill out this survey, no matter how embarrassing the responses might be.


How many songs total: 7,063
How many hours or days of music: 20.2 days. I'm already feeling unworthy.

Most recently played: weird, it's blank - because I just updated software no doubt.
Most played: Kerosene, Miranda Lambert (I'm thinking that I like this song, but my daughter is the one who's played it 100+ times, since we share a library)

Most recently added: Christina Aguilera / Back to Basics

Sort by song title: First Song: "A-hole" - Bowling for soup
Last Song: + by Coldplay
*these songs are no doubt from Johnny V and/or Shamus who have tried over the years to improve my musical tastes. I don't know what either of these songs sound like.


Sort by time:
Shortest Song: "7th inning stretch" - Gin Blossoms - I HAVE heard that one
Longest Song: "Ocean Waves" - Peter Roberts - actually IS nothing but the sounds of waves, I listen to it often at work. Longest real song, Blood Money / April Wine, probably via Johnny V again.

Sort by album:First album: "A-1-A" - Jimmy Buffet (there was just that ONE day, when it seemed like a good idea)
Last album: "5150" Van Halen (MINE! MUSIC I KNOW! )

First song that comes up on Shuffle: "The world has turned and left" - Weezer

Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death -4
Life - 133
Love - 611
Hate - 13
You - 1100
(Me - 1826, so there)
Sex - 8 - sigh

SO I love you, but myself twice as much. Hah.

Got a lotto ticket too

One of those beautiful shining moments you only READ about happened to me today.

I needed a dress for an upcoming semiformal (black tie optional) event. This filled me with dread since I don't want a miniskirt/spaghetti strap number with plenty of my pasty white skin showing. And that is what most semiformal attire is these days. Shudder. I was thinking I 'd be stuck with Mother of the Bride with a side of Extra Frumpy.

I met Suzy at the mall. She explained an outfit she thought I'd look nice in. At the FIRST store we went to, the FIRST thing I tried on was it. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted, in my size (ok I'm not happy about WHICH size that is currently, but the outfit fits and flatters me and the colors are good and...).

I walked around for a while afterwards saying "I can't believe it was that easy" over and over. Usually, when I go to the mall and need something specific I can't find it. If I go with money I don't find things I like. If I find things I like I don't have money or they're not in my size. SO much mall, so little success, normally. I have been dreading this excursion for a couple of weeks now.

Suzy is available for personal shopper services at a mall near you. Oh, and on the way out of the dressing room I noticed a dress on the rack, that someone had tried on and not bought. It's PERFECT for her. The price tag said $10. It's the perfect "go to Vegas and get in plenty of trouble" dress. Unbelievable. I'm SO going to hit the lottery tonight.

And I actually could read it

I just walked into my daughter's room. She tends to keep her door closed. By the time I opened it and walked in she had done something and had that guilty "I got caught but I'll try to look innocent" expression on her face.

She was sitting on her floor barefoot, and she had a marker in her hand. Her small whiteboard was on the floor in front of her. Her name was written on it, but it was so messy...

The gears in my head went kachunk, kachunk.

"Are you writing with your feet? "

"um... yeah. I was bored."

It makes about as much sense as most of the rest of my day.

Homework sucks (the life out of parents)

I now know sooo much more about Hank Aaron. That's right, sports fans, it's LEARNING FAIR TIME. I mean, he's a fantastic legend and I respect all of that, but I did not want to take a 2 liter soda bottle and try to make it look like him. I mean, help my 10 year old do that. This is the stuff nightmares are made of.

I can also tell you what you can see if you should happen to visit Egypt, which is half the size of Alaska and has four times as many people as NY... only 2% of it is arable, and I can tell you what that means and show you some really cool vultures who hang out there somewhere along the Nile river. Vultures waiting for me to die of sheer exhaustion, so that they can pick my bones over with a nice side salad of desert grasses.

SO many projects. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!



PS: check out Bent Objects: This and this are my two favorites. Get your name on the list for Terry's book.

I have love for my man Flave

because of lines like this:

"I felt like a wedgie."

man, I needed that show today!

What would they write on the traffic ticket?

Went to get groceries last night about 7 pm. Brr. (Many bags filling my trunk, but what did I buy??????)

Went out to leave for work this morning. It was 9 degrees out. As my friend said, THERE SHOULD BE A NUMBER IN FRONT OF THE NINE. Preferably the number would be greater than I can count to using one hand. Wind chill currently "minus something".

I hit the door unlock button on my car remote. Nothing happens. No clicky-click. Front passenger door won't open.

Go to back door. Get lucky there. Open door, put in briefcase and purse.

Go to driver's side door. Tug. Hit unlock. Yank in utter futility. Curse.

Return to passenger side rear door, the only one that will open. Climb in. Climb OVER to front seat and wonder if at least one neighbor will see me, in my clunky boots and long coat.

Pull out of driveway after wrestling coat under control and buckling seatbelt. NYState, it's the law. I always do it - I'm a big believer (even when you're in the back seat) But I hate the feeling of strangling in a winter coat and being buckled in.

Drive down street, three houses, hit pothole. DING. "Trunk ajar" lights up.

Realize lock to TRUNK froze too and didn't latch when groceries were removed last night.
Ponder choices. Pull over to side of road. Unlock again, and push driver door open.

Slam trunk. Test. It's closed.

Get back in driver's side. Pull door shut. Watch, astonished as it BOUNCES BACK OPEN. DING! "Driver's door ajar". Slam. Bounce. Ding! "Driver's door ajar".

Ponder driving back home (holding door shut) and returning to my electric blanket.

Ohh. An idea. Pull door shut as snugly as I can. Press "lock". Ding! "Driver's door ajar". No, it's effing flapping in the breeze.

Sit. Fume. Wonder if my anger will thaw door lock. Ponder driving down highway holding door closed. Try to remember high school physics to figure out if my arm will get ripped off if I take a curve at a high rate of speed. Abandon idea of holding anything since I am a spaz and need to drive with BOTH hands on wheel.

Pull door shut snugly again. Hit lock. Partial success. Rattles but won't open if shoved.

Stew some more.

Decide to risk it (since door doesn't actually swing open any longer, just rattles) and start driving again.

Stop at red light and open door, slam shut, hit lock, say prayer of thanks when it closes right.

Wonder how I made it to the age of 42. Wish for a garage I can park in.