TV and Small Talk

I was thinking about my nephew today. I was thinking about a fun conversation we had about a TV show. And then I was thinking about what the odds were that we watched that particular show and those two particular episodes. But more on that in a minute.
~
Back "in the day" when we had the three networks, it was always easy to make small talk with someone you didn't know very well by discussing TV shows. It probably took just a few seconds to find a show you both watched. And that whole "water cooler" thing probably came from back before there were water fountains. And now a big TV event is called a "water cooler moment." But unless it's something really big like "American Idol" or something, the chances are that the first stranger you'd ask, didn't see it. Of course if something really bizarre happens, they may have caught it on the news or the internet.
~
With all the cable channels out there and all the niche networks and programming, it was really odd that my nephew and I were really big fans of those two episodes. How niche is this?:
The show is called "Robot Chicken." It comes on late at night on the cartoon network during what they call "Adult Swim." The two episodes were funny takes on the Star Wars franchise.

That's a picture of the evil emperor at the barbershop on a bad hair day. "Robot Chicken" is all stop-motion animation and really funny. My nephew and I were discussing and quoting segments and I was thinking today how wonderful that was. And how odd. We live halfway across the country from each other, he's a guy and I'm not and we have a 34 year age difference and we were quoting lines from that show. A 15 minute show that comes on late at night.
~
I don't know what the odds are on that, but if Mom had had a water cooler at her house, those surely would have been some water cooler moments for me.

The Mad Natter

I was reading an article about Barbra Streisand the other day and I wanted to look at her house on Google Earth and boy does it give me the heebie jeebs.
It's a gorgeous house and the ocean view must be awesome and I would love to have it anywhere else. But there is no way, and I mean seriously no way ever I could live on a cliff. I don't think I could even sleep there one night knowing that the backyard ends in a giant sheer drop like that. I think if I eventually fell asleep, I would dream I was falling all night.

~
You know how they have been telling us for several years now how important it is to wash your hands? Well they keep saying that it doesn't matter what type of soap you use (regular or anti-bacterial) or what temperature the water is, but how long you rub your hands together vigorously under the water. So I was wondering if you only have one hand or your hand is bandaged or broken or whatever, does that mean your one good working hand is never really clean?

~
Today was the first day I have driven since school started back on Monday and man were the roads and freeways clear. Who knew kids took up so much road space?
~
I am a serious creature of habit and every Wednesday I have to read Craig Wilson's "The Final Word" in The USA Today while I eat lunch. Today he talked about a book called That's So Annoying by Cynthia W. Lett and he cited 6 examples and none of them were even half as bad as people who walk into public doorways and stop or people who get to the bottom of the escalator and stop, but I sure hope those are in the book.

~

I just realized today that the only picture that I have of Dad and My Sweetie together was one that I took when Dad was visiting in early 1995. He took a bunch of my co-workers and me to lunch and My Sweetie wasn't even My Sweetie then. He was just a work friend that I liked a lot. Well, at least I have that.

~

If I had to be a hat, I'd be one of the jaunty hats that Rosalind Russell wore in His Girl Friday.

~

Monday night I dreamed I toured a Jewish college and it seemed very real but I wondered if they even existed and when I woke up I called My Sweetie to ask. They do. According to my dream, they are very nice, but it's hard to find a place to smoke.

~

For the first time, Carole's and my husband will be out of town at the same time, so we should have some fun girl time together. I'm looking forward to it.

~

Oh, and my brain is working "normally" again. Can't you tell? ☺

I Went to Soap Nation

On Saturday for no particular reason, I went to Soap Nation at Billy Bob's Texas. But before I get to that, I wanted to say that I've been feeling "off" for several days. It happens sometimes. I think of it as my electrolytes being out of whack even though I don't really know what that means. I think Jammie J would say my hormones were being funky. Whatever it is, I don't like it. On Sunday afternoon, I felt like I was having an anxiety attack. Just sitting in my living room chair. With nothing going on. I hate when that happens because you can't even logically "talk yourself down" because there's not even anything going on. I started to feel a little more normal today. I hope when I wake up this morning, I'll feel all normal again.
~
For those of you that don't watch soaps, Soap Nation is some big party gathering thing with a bunch of soap stars. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was A) Indoors B) at a bar and C) Free. So why not? I don't know anyone that watches my soap except Daryl the blogger, but she lives in NYC, so I resigned myself to going alone. Because I am a serious beer drinker, my daughter droppped me off before she headed off to an appointment and my husband picked me up after his Fantasy Football thing. I even made myself a goofy little sticker to wear on my shirt:
I guess my main purpose was to hear Bobbie Eakes sing, which I did. She plays Krystal on my soap and she has sung on there a few times and I really like her voice. I have no interest in autographs and I don't stand in line, so there really wasn't anything else for me to do but stand at the bar, drink beer and smoke. This is just a tiny part of the line to get autographs:

It went all through the building. I know people stand in line all the time, but I just don't do it, unless it's the only way to use the bathroom. But Billy Bob's, being such a giant place had plenty of bathrooms and apparently most soap watchers are not beer drinkers, so I never had to wait for those two things. It was also sort of interesting because I had not been there in almost exactly 23 years. Saturday was the day before my daughter's 25th birthday and the last time I went was on her 2nd birthday. With Dad and my first husband. I didn't recognize anything.

~

They had some deal that you could get a free barbecue sandwhich if you wrote down a question for one of the soap stars, but I didn't want a barbecue sandwich, so I ordered a nice grilled cheese sandwich:

Blogger is being ornery tonight and won't let me highlight anything, so I couldn't URL Dary's blog but it's on my sidebar there. Or make italics. Oh well.

~

So that's what going on over here and why I've been quiet. Hopefully my electrolytes will get back in sync.

Friday Goof

Since I am about 20 lbs. overweight and I'm so bad about walking on my treadmill, I was thinking maybe I should get a bicycle. This one looks good:

My Next Project

I bought the stuff today for what I am calling my "belt purse."

As you all know, I am dressing as Dorothy Gale from Kansas for Halloween. I ordered the dress and it fit perfectly which is really bizarre and I love love love my "ruby" slippers and all that, but the problem was: Where do I put my stuff? And before you even think about a cute wicker basket or a cute wicker basket with a stuffed Toto dog sticking out, I need to remind you that I am not going to a genteel party at my husband's boss's house. In which case, I would do that whole route. I am talking here about drunken revelry on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. A beer in one hand. I need a free hand in case I fall down. Or want to point at something or whatever. Besides, when I'm in a party crowd situation I want my stuff attached to me. Usually I stuff the important stuff in my pockets, but this dress has no pockets. Notice the two buttons on the front of the sash? Well I am going to make an extra sash with a little pocket belt purse thingy like this:

I'm going to make button holes to fit over the existing dress buttons so it doesn't slide around and I am going to make the sides triangular. I figured a flat pocket would get weird and bulky, but with triangular sides it will have a sort of bottom. There will not be piping around the flap. I just drew it that way so you'd see that there will be a flap and button. The material I bought is the exact gingham pattern although the color seems off just a hair, but it will be nighttime and people will all be wearing their beer goggles, so the pocket should pretty much blend in with the dress.

~

Because gingham is a very thin material, I bought that muslin to line the sash and purse pocket with. Dang. I couldn't figure out how to make that sentence without ending it in a preposition. How about: I bought that muslin for lining the purse pocket. Anyway, I don't have a pattern or anything, just my idea in my brain, so I'm thinking I will lay out all the stuff I would want to put in there like camera, money, room key, credit card, driver's license, carmex, smokes and lighter. That should give me an idea of what size I need. I guess the other consideration is that it should not be any longer or deeper or whatever than my hand can reach. I just now thought of that. I don't want to look weird all night like I'm leaning over and grabbing my thigh.

~

So that's what I'll be working on in the next few days and when I am finished, I'll put it all together and have pictures here. I hope it works.

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Should Have Been Birthday Dad! I miss you every day. I think about you when I watch "Jeopardy!" I guess you know that I spilled the beans to the guys about how "Jeopardy!" came on earlier here in Texas and I would tell you on the phone the hard answers and you'd impress the hell out of them with your "knowledge." The funniest part was that they were all surprised and thought you knew all of that stuff. How funny was that? The funniest part was when Alex would name the Final Jeopardy category and you would "guess" the answer before the question was asked. Those guys thought you were a frikkin' genious! Those were fun times.
~
I miss all of our trips. It was so sweet that you wanted to make up the New Orleans Halloween trip since you broke your ankle the first time but came anyway. How funny was that that my costume was Tonya Harding and you were on crutches? I don't even remember now what my costume was going to be on that make-up trip. I just remember telling them that they needed to cancel because you had died.
~
I know you are tickled that Lo and I are going this year. It's the 10th anniversary of our first "deathaversary" trip together. I remember how happy you were that Lo and I liked each other and that you were confused about how we met. That's because you refused to accept the fact that you took naps. We met during one of your naps and you always asked about it. You were so funny that way. "I'm just resting my eyes" you always said, but Dad, people don't snore when they are resting their eyes.
~
You know how much I love the beach? So many of my memories revolve around you and the beach. I guess you know now that all those Saturday or Sunday mornings when we all wanted to go to the beach, they sent me into your bedroom to wake you up and ask "Daddy, can we go to the beach today? Mom will make fried chicken and pimiento cheese sandwiches. Can we go? Please?" And I loved going out in the ocean on your shoulders. And the very best thing was late in the afternoon when Mom would decide I had had too much sun and she'd put one of your great big white t-shirts on me.
~
You were always the fun Dad. All of our life every kid said, "I wish my Dad was like your Dad." You made our yard the games yard. Every kickball game, "Mother may I?," freeze tag, "Ain't no bears out tonight" and "One, two, three redlight" game in the neighborhood was played in our yard. And once a year or so you threw one of your brightly colored smoke bombs from your National Guard service out on the road for us. Not to mention the fireworks every 4th of July. Oh, and Christmas. Even the years we were very poor, you always made Christmas special.
~
Speaking of being poor, I'll never forget that one year that we could not afford to spend a week at the beach. You made that very special too. We spent the week at the Holiday Inn in town and that's where we saw the moon landing. I remember I was just learning to dive in the pool and then watching the moon landing that night in wonder. And with probably a little chlorine ring around my eyes.
~
You took that job in the Dominican Republic and I had my first plane trip and then when I was 16 you took me to New York to see Duke play in Madison Square Garden. That was truly awesome. I felt like such a grown-up! One of my favorite stories is of us in that bar. The bartender asked, "What'll you have?" I replied, "I don't think you've heard of it." He responded, "I've been bartending here for over 30 years. You can't name a drink I never heard of." So I said, "Galliano and 7-up." He sort of froze and said, "Okay, you got me there." I love telling that story complete with the bartender's accent. And Dad, just for kicks I tried that about a year ago and it was hideous!
~
The best part of the New York trip of course was meeting Rodney Dangerfield and that was all you Dad. I've already posted about that and I certainly know you remember it. And really what I learned from that trip was HOW to travel. You always made a big deal of not doing the touristy things and finding your own cool things to do. I still do that today.
~
I guess what I miss most about you now is not so much what I am missing, but what your grandkids are missing. I so enjoyed bonding with my nephew but later I realised that he was only 3 when you died. It breaks my heart that he will never know you but everyone says I am just like you so I hope some of you, through me, will get through to him. And I will tell him stories. Because you always had great stories. I miss your stories and I miss you. Happy Birthday Dad. You rock.
~
As you would say, "Life is but a dream, sha-boom, sha-boom."

Post Trip Sluggies

This is me:

I don't know if I am just having a hard time getting back into my groove since the trip or if I'm in the throes of my normal August Lazies or it's a combination of both, but I am one giant potato. Well not too lazy to make a really long sentence, obviously. Or maybe making really long sentences is a sign of the lazy?
~
We took so many gorgeous mountain pictures that I want to make a slide show, but that would require doing stuff. I also have a theory that oceans and mountains are never really done justice in 2D. But I'm still going to do it. Some time. Later.
~
I got home around 5:00 I think on Wednesday and spent the evening watching some of the recorded shows on the DVR with My Sweetie. And we ordered Italian food from Tony's. Thursday, I actually unpacked my suitcase and did some laundry, which is pretty good for me so I thought I was being all snappy and quick. Friday the phone rang and it was the termite pest control guy asking if he could come earlier for the house inspection. I said, "To be honest I forgot all about you and I've been out of town and my house is a mess, but come on." Then I continued watching TV until he got here. I don't know if I did anything after that. Saturday I finally got around to The Green Bag.
~
Last Christmas, a good friend gave me this giant chartreuse beach bag with lots of side pockets and zippers and whatnot and so I found a place to hide it. I really hate chartreuse. As I was getting ready for the trip I realized I needed a really good bag to carry all my "must haves" and "cool stuff" and "what ifs" and after thinking long and hard, I realized that green bag was my best bet. Besides, it would be really easy to see in the tightly packed car. It was GREAT for the trip but I dreaded unpacking it.
~
After working it around in my head I finally decided to get a trash bag and sit down on the floor next to it (it was on the library floor). I started placing items all around me by room or putting them in the trash bag. After organizing it that way, I finally got it emptied and then had to do all the room trips to put the stuff away. It was a really big bag and the variety of stuff in there was crazy. I think I should call her and thank her for that bag.
~
Mostly I've been reading newspapers and magazines and watching TV because I didn't really do any of that for a week and I missed it a lot. But it seems like I've spent most of time in the kitchen. People always tease me about taking vacations because I don't work, but I really do spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I even made a cilantro/candied jalapeno pesto Saturday night for my quesadillas. It was delicious and they were delicious.
~
Tonight I'm going to make something easy. And we're almost caught up with our recorded shows so hopefully I'll get back into my groove. Or maybe I am in the throes of my August Lazies. I guess I'll find out.

My Crazy Road Trip

I've been having a hard time trying to figure out how to describe my trip. I want to use a word like "transcendent" but it seems like a foofy word. I did look it up however and it pretty much describes what I'm trying to say. I just don't like using foofy words. And Jazz hates the word "awesome" but at least it doesn't sound foofy. And don't even ask me what foofy means.
~
My Daughter and I left just after noon on Wednesday the 5th. (I'm just going to refer to her as MD from now on to save my two fingers a little wear.) We took 121 out of the metroplex to avoid Dallas because anyone with half a brain, which is about what I have, does not want to drive through Dallas. We were all giddy and excited which everyone is on the first day of a road trip and had an easy trip to Memphis even though it was quite a drive - around 440 miles. I did see two deer down in a valley off of the freeway at one point and that was cool. I don't remember what time we got to Memphis because I've never been a clock watcher type of person but I would guess it was around 9:00 pm give or take an hour either way.
~
We had a lot of energy after checking into our hotel so we went out to party on Beale Street:
I think I actually took that picture the second night. That little light in the center is the full moon. I was right and it was quite similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans except the streets were wider and the bars were larger. It was like Bourbon Street super-sized with different music. The next day we were going to walk over to the park on the Mississippi river but it was too hot and muggy. We walked just far enough to see the river, proclaimed, "There it is!" and headed back to Beale Street for more beer.
~
Since we'd had a good party night Wednesday night, we didn't feel the need to repeat it and got to bed at a decent time Thursday night. We actually made it out before check-out time on Friday by a few minutes which is a big deal for me. Friday was not so good, roadwise.
~
After a few hours, traffic came to a dead halt and I'm nervous about being crushed from behind by a semi after what happened to Magazine Man's parents and had also happened recently in my area so I was craned backwards for a while ready to jump out of the car. MD had to P while we were stuck in that so it was quite tense for a while but at least we were slowly crawling forward. We finally got around a jack-knifed 18-wheeler and were okay but it wasn't fun or anything. Then a few hours after that we were blocked again and finally figured out that we were in Friday night weekend traffic for Dollywood. That was horrible. Oh and some time that afternoon the bathrooms had turned really bad. We both decided we would never go to Tennessee again by choice. When we finally reached the Tennessee/North Carolina border mountain pass it was very dark. MD was really a trouper. If you've ever driven Interstate 40 through that mountain pass you know how crazy it is. She was on high alert as we went through crazy twist after crazy turn. It was like a rollercoaster. But not fun.
~
When we had to leave the interstate to head north up to the Pisgah National Forest where Mom was, it got worse. I had to call Mom about 10 times and MD kept getting irritated. At the end as we were slowly creeping up a gravel road and saw my step-dad at the end of their driveway, we had never been so happy to see him in our lives. It was around midnight.
~
We did not visit very long and all went to bed and by the time I woke up my brother and nephew were already there. I woke up when I heard my brother's voice asking about snoring. I thought he had heard me snoring but found out later he was making a joke. But I DO snore.
~
Here are the pictures we took before they left on Sunday:

Except for riding with my brother to the store on Sunday morning, I never left Mom's mountain place. It was such a beautiful place. They have hummingbird feeders and and birdseed out to attract all sorts of critters. I could do a whole story on the hummingbirds and the crazy cardinal, but I want to tell about the family.

~

I have always had a special bond with my brother's oldest child, but have never really gotten to know the youngest boy that I will call AC. Well, now I have. I had such a great time connecting with AC. I would have to say that except for the special bonding with MD during the drive, the next best part was getting to know AC. We are A LOT alike. That Saturday night we played the game Cranium. I partnered with AC and MD partnered with my brother. We had a blast! Playing Cranium that night was really the highlight of the trip for me. Later that night AC went out to look at the stars. I followed him out and we discussed astronomy. I told him that I had brought my planisphere and he was quite impressed. He also has one. Then he said, "Well, we really need a compass." I said, "I brought one!" I bet he was surprised.

~

On Sunday after a group breakfast, MD, AC and step-dad went to Mt. Mitchell State Park. My brother, Mom and I got to spend the day together, which was very nice. They left in the early evening and after dinner, Mom and I played Scrabble.

~

Monday we decided we did NOT want to drive back through Tennessee. We started out on 80 south to hit the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were having a great time until we started down 411. That was mistake. If we had known, we would have gone to 75. But we didn't. After creeping down that road for freaking ever, we finally bought a map and discovered we could cut over to 75 and hit Birmingham to 20. We made it past Birmingham and went through to Tuscaloosa where we spent the night at a RATmada Inn. It was icky to say the least.

~

On Tuesday we drove down to beautiful Vicksburg. We had planned to do some sightseeing there but it was hot and muggy so we left early. But they had a nice bar. A few hours down the road we hit hell. When we got to Monroe, Louisiana we came to a dead stop. I did my truck watch again, prepared to jump and run. But this was worse. There was no moving at all.

~

I feel bad complaining about it as I was not the dead guy, but it really sucked. MD who had been the awesomest driver trouper person ever up until this time, became slightly unhinged. The only time traffic moved was when some brave (crazy?) soul drove down through the median and turned around to head back the other way. MD finally got the idea we could make it across the median and make it to the exit ramp on the other side. And that's what we did. It was scary crossing the median as it had quite a dip and we had to cross the highway on the other side, but we made it. When we went down that exit ramp, we crossed back over the highway to the mall/shopping center on the other side and went into a restauarant to get directions out of there from the locals.

~

Up until that stop, MD had been undecided about spending the night in Shreveport or going on home, but after that, she was ready to settle for the night. I called My Sweetie and asked him where we should stay and he looked it up and told us Diamond Jacks. It was the best hotel room we had had. Even better than our fancy Westin in Memphis and only cost us $69. We had some steam to blow off and that was the place to do it. We had a fun party night and woke up the next day and made it home in about 4 hours.

~

The really best part of the trip was all of the time with my daughter. We had a LOT of laughs and made great memories and oh yeah, I had some collards:

I'M BACK!

What a long crazy trip. I have LOTS of pics to download and sort through. And Scarlett, that animation program is some software that came with Carole's Logitech camera. It has all sorts of different things you can do besides the animation. I'm thinking about buying one for myself because it looks like lots of fun. I'll be back later with a trip report and pics. And boy is my typing rutsy rusty!

And I'm Off!

Trip Prep

It was funny when I opened Google Earth today and saw that my yellow pushpins were pretty much arced across my road trip route. We're just days away from trekking across the country to party in Memphis and visit Mom.
~
I've actually had dreams about maps because I've spent so much time studying them. I'm the navigator. Friday night I spent hours printing out my individual Mapquest pages:

I stapled them together in sections and labled them. I think they weigh 2 or 3 pounds. I won't have computer access so I need to have all the information that I may need with me. And I've also made lots of notes. I'm trying to find the perfect balance between having all the info I need and having the trip being a free flow thing. I think it's all good so far.
~
I'm such an airline travel type person that the very idea of being in a car and all the freedom that that entails has made me almost giddy. There are no "how much can I fit into this suitcase" restrictions. I'm starting to realize that I need to think about how much (little?) I can pack into my daughter's car because I want to take a million things. Just because I can.
~
Now I need to relax because the busy time will be here in just two days. I can't wait!

A Pet Peeve

We always talk about our pet peeves, but most people have never seen one. I was all set to do a post about a pet peeve and I realized I needed a picture, so I "took" one. This is my pet peeve. His name is Max.
~
Actually my latest pet peeve is the phrase "that being said..." What's the point of that? Seriously, we all know it was just said because you just said it and we have ears. Why do people use that expression? This guy named Mike Aubrey must have used that phrase four times last night in maybe 14 minutes of air time on the HGTV show "Real Estate Intervention." He was presented as a "Real Estate Expert." And guess what? The people he was intervening(?) did not take his advice. Would you take the advice of someone that followed every third sentence with, "that being said...."? Yeah, me neither.