They've got Whatever It Is

My new love is the Zac Brown Band. They're so adorable, and even though they've only had two songs out on the radio (on our ONE country station) I've downloaded a lot of their stuff, and I simply adore them. I don't exactly know what it is about them but they've got something that I totally dig.

I also saw a little interview on GAC where they talked about how they write all of their own stuff and they just seemed like genuinely nice guys. And a lot of fun too, I'd love to hang out with them!



And I LOVE the fiddle in this one...



But this is my current FAVE song by ZBB, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE the little bit of "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison they included in the middle of this live version I found on YouTube. I HEART Van Morrison, so now I'm convinced that Zac and I are, like, "right there".



Enjoy!

Ten Things I'm Loving Right Now

1. Old Country Music

Merle Haggard, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, David Allen Coe, Hank Williams Jr., I'm sooooo loving some older country these days. Ho' down!


2. Bare Escentuals Warmth

After hibernating through the winter months, I need a little warmth on my skin. And this one doesn't look fake. Bravo, Leslie!


3. Pirates!

Arrr! I love me some pirates and skulls. Actually, I dig the whole scene. These fuckers have made it hard to justify my pirate love, but, really, I just dig the make-believe pirate scene. I'd have made a good pretend pirate, I think. I look good in tight pants and blouse-y tops.


4. Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Latte

This whole love affair started at Christmas. Because -- OMG -- They had peppermint whipped cream. They don't have that anymore, but I've carried the Peppermint Mocha addiction straight through Patty's Day and now that's it's warming up, I'll just ask: Peppermint Mocha Fraps, anyone? Or should I ask, 17 grams of fat, anyone?


5. Clorox Greenworks Toilet Bowl Cleaner

I just like it. As much as one can like a toilet cleaner.


6. The weather

It's creeping towards spring and I love warm, yet breezy days. This rain can hit the road though.

7. Brie Cheese

Tim and I go through these wacky dessert/snack phases like soft pretzels with Cheese Whiz, brownies with peanut butter or s'mores but right now, it's Brie on buttery crackers, spread with raspberry jam. God damn, it's good.


8. V-8 Splash

It's such a yummy fruit juice. It's sugary sweet BUT, don't fret, it has vitamins!


9. My slippers

I got new ones at Wal*Mart for $9.97 and they are the best slippers I've ever, ever owned. They're very old man looking, which was the inital attraction, but now that's just a bonus.


10. Softlips

Remember Softlips? From high school? I found some at Target earlier in the winter, became an addict and I've blown through six tubes of it already. It's tingly, and I get tingly when I think of all the memories that it brings back.

Maple Syrup... Mmmmmm. Zzzzzzz.

I accidentally overdosed on maple syrup today.

The result of a self-induced sugar coma is laziness. Jot it down.

Things started out okay. We got up, got dressed and out the door in a timely fashion, which never happens, so that was a Bravo for me! We met some friends for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and that’s precisely where my day ended.

I ordered the Momma’s French toast breakfast, because I am, in fact, A Momma, and it does, in fact, include four (count them!) slices of French toast, two eggs (scrambled, for me, with cheese, naturally), and I chose sausage as my obligatory breakfast meat. Why stop there, you’re wondering? I know! I couldn’t either! I also got a side of hash brown casserole.

*insert a variety of barnyard animal noises here*

I did share nicely with Mattie.

Nate had a kid’s meal of two pancakes and a side of bacon.

I doused my French toast in so much of their amazing 100% pure maple syrup and then I had a little dipping pool of the shit on the side, to dip my already too maple-syrup-y French toast in. I actually feel a little sick thinking about it. Then, I had three cups of coffee, trying desperately to give my body energy after I weighed it down with all that food.

Then we left. And I was left feeling very full and sleepy.

And that’s where the day officially ended. I did not lift a finger for housework or cooking or baking or anything that I didn’t HAVE to do. I haven’t even gotten the mail yet. Maybe I’ll live on the edge and leave it there till tomorrow. Ooooh, the mailman will think we’re on vacation!! How exciting!

I set up the sand/water table my kids got for Easter in my kitchen because I’m cool and fun (and plain stupid) like that. Just water, no sand, so I can easily say “It’s just water, people!” except I won’t say that, all that I will say is “It offered hours of fun, people!”. After I got sick of the mess, I put the cover on and they’re still playing with their cars on it. Not that stupid of an idea in the end, people.

What did I do while they enjoyed this wet, indoor fun? I learned a lesson. No, not that I shouldn’t let them play with water inside, that would be too OBVIOUS. Here’s the lesson: I can guiltlessly ignore my kids when I’m on the computer or the phone but if I’m laying on the couch, it just feels wrong. I know this now, because that’s what I did. I curled up on the sofa, under a blanket and everything, and I tried to watch a movie but it... just felt wrong. Too stereotypically lazy, I guess. Jot that one down, too. Mommy guilt can be a bitch.

Just like Mother Nature can be a bitch. The reason my kids were playing with water INSIDE is because it was raining today. After ALL I do for her, she rains when Nate is on school break, can you believe it? So, when Nate threw the banana I handed to him directly into the trash, I left it there. I could have gotten it out and put it in with the composting, the bag was empty, it wasn’t gross or anything, but I’m spiteful like that. No potassium for you, Earth.

Too much sugar makes me lazy and nasty, too, apparently. Yay. Another reason to stick to the diet.

Harry Kalas

Our city was saddened when we heard that the announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies, Harry Kalas, passed away this afternoon. Harry was found in his booth at 12:30pm, just before today's game against the Washington Nationals, which for some reason makes me feel so peaceful. Here's a man who spent 21 of his 73 years announcing for the Phils, and he dies right where he loved to be.

Harry Kalas started announcing for the Phillies in 1971, seven years before I was born. Those that know me even a little bit know that I’m not a sports fan. But, I grew up in a house where my dad supported Philadelphia teams, and my husband is exactly the same way (if "exactly" means "much more obsessively obsessed"). So, I grew up listening to Harry’s voice. A summer evening ball game won’t be the same without it. Falling asleep on the sofa on a Saturday afternoon was easy if the game was on because Harry’s voice was so soothing. Being at the game, hearing him shout “It’s Outta Here!’ made up part of the whole experience.

Very sad news. RIP Harry Kalas. Philadelphia will miss you.

Can I Be a Teenager for Two Seconds?

Okay, first, dudes, 90210 last night was whack. Drama! Angst! Craziness! All in pure 9-0 style... you know, ridiculous but all-consuming. For an hour, anyway.

I felt so sad for Silver, but you now who I feel worse for? That Mr. Matthews, aka Ryan. Good God, does he get blamed for just about everything, or what? Poor guy.

Next week Donna's coming back and YAY for that! I just love it when the old cast is on the screen, I can feel my lungs filling up with a scream just thinking about it.

Okay, moving on...

Second, I am in love with the song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. Weird, I know. I don't even know one other song Miley Cyrus sings. Or any of Hannah Montana's hits. I just really like the message it sends to young girls. I don't know if I necessarily completely agree that it doesn't matter how fast you get there or that it's not about what's waiting on the other side, because sometimes, it is but really, overall, it is very important to focus on the teensy steps that get you there. Bravo, Miley!

Crisis: Laundry!!

I'm pretty good at my job, I like to think. I like to clean and keep a tidy house, so housewifing isn't all that difficult or unpleasant for me. But everyone has small struggles in their field, I guess, and mine would be laundry. I cannot stay on top of laundry. And I trrrrrry. And I faaaaail.

We just got our spring/summer stuff down from the attic. And by "just", I do mean 3 weeks ago. The boxes sat in the hall for about a week and a half. Then I moved them into a closet for a couple days - I figured that if I wasn't going to do anything about them, I should probably just move them out of sight so I could stop talking about them, too.

But, then I remembered them. Or, Nate reminded me of them because he found and wanted to wear the too small Phillies jammies that I saved for Mattie. That was a whole different crisis.

So, last night before I went to sleep, I dumped all of the boxes of clothes onto the floor so that they would be in my way big time and I'd HAVE to do something about them. Kinda pathetic that it has to reach this drastic extreme, don'tcha think?

Well, it's working. When I woke up, I threw a load in before I even started the coffee pot. As of right now, I have about five loads washed, dried and folded and three more loads to wash, four to fold. Of spring/summer boxed up shit. Then I have a load or two of our regular clothes. Then towels. And the sheets I never washed on Sunday when I changed everyone's bedding.

And then there's the new problem of piles of folded clothes that are all over my house... on the coffee table, on one of the sofa's in the living room, in baskets all around the place... little piles of everyone's stuff, separated and ready to be put away. Putting away is hard for me, too.

Housewifery is tough work, yo.

Smooth

Spring is here, and before we know it, it's going to be time for shorts and skirts and tanks and other articles of clothing that show off the body parts we've been trying to hide all winter long. Which is great! Who doesn't love warm weather and skirts?

I have one teensy problem. I like to snack. At night. When I'm watching my shows. Like, tonight, I have The Biggest Loser, and I'll want to snack while I watch people work-out and weigh-in. I've been doing Jillian's 30 Day Shred and I've been liking it, but it's not enough. I'd love to pretend I'll never snack at night ever again, but let's just face it, that's never going to happen.

So. I've been making smoothies.

They are so good! And lower in calories and fat than, let's say, molten chocolate lava cake, or pound cake, or any kind of cake, really. And they're fun, so I enjoy my snack ten times more simply because there's a straw involved. Win-Win. Win.

I use a bit of V-8 Splash Tropical Blend juice, a couple dollops of non-fat organic vanilla yogurt and some fresh or frozen peaches, pineapples, sometimes a half of a banana, always about a cup of ice, and then I blend it up. And I always drink it with a straw.

Twilight

This weekend, we watched Twilight. I read the books after half the world read them, and it wasn't in the movies after I finished them, so I had to wait for DVD. Which is fine... this is what I do.

So, my review: I liked it. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. If I hadn't read the book, I think I would have thought it was a stupid tweener vampire movie, but since I had read the book, I enjoyed it. Too much probably.

I do heart me some Edward. He's so hot, it shouldn't be allowed. Plus, he's sweet and romantical. And fictional. Heh.

Things You Should Know About Me

You should know that the last birthday I celebrated was my thirtieth. Admittedly, as the months crept closer and closer to B-Day, I was completely, totally, absolutely, certifiably terrified because OMG, 30 is all old and shit. But. If I'm being honest here, I'm really, really, really, truly, madly, deeply loving 30 thus far.

See, here's the thing... the thing is that I know who I am now. That's the thing. Like, I really k-n-o-w and accept who I am, and more importantly, I like who I am. There's always room for improvement, of course, hence Jillian Michaels coming into my life, but, I'm happy 93% of the time, and I'm content 100% of the time. Okay, maybe 99% of the time, but 99 is still a real good number.

I do worry that I'm no longer allowed to think that John Travolta looked good in Grease? High school student? Yes or no?

As I may mention them from time to time, you should note that I am married with two children. I met my husband, Tim, during our senior year of high school and seven short years later, he proposed. We married in 2004; we'll be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this May. As adorable as that might sound (and as adorable as it sometimes is) we have our marital troubles just like everyone else, but we're still on twelve years strong now. We got pregnant with our first child, a son, just six months after our wedding. Nathan arrived in the summer of 2005, and his brother, Matthew, followed in the summer of 2007. Two cats and a dog complete our little family.

I make up new words, you should know. Well, I don't so much create new words, I more or less combine existing words (synonyms, mostly) to form new words (primarily adjectives). It's so easy and fun! And, beware: they can be catchy.

I LOVE mini's. Like, the miniature version of just about anything --- toiletries, notebooks, candies, juices, spoons, cups, cards, literally anything that is a smaller version of the real thing. The exception here would be diamonds. And um, well... you know. And if you don't know, bless your innocent little heart.

I love music. Classic Rock, Alternative, Blues, Jazz, 80s hair bands. Country. We have music on at our house all.day.long. I prefer music to TV as background noise. I have dinner music, workout music, cleaning music, rainy day music and summertime music... I just love music.

Having said that, you should assume that if it's new, current or "now", I do not know about it. This applies to music, movies, books, fashion... pretty much anything aside from Reality TV. The awesome part? I don't give a tiny rat's ass. I don’t care if I’m “cool”. Because I’m 30 now. And I am sooooo cool.