Lazy Days

Do you ever feel like doing absolutely nothing? I know that's how I feel today. I just don't want to deal with anything. My paycheck didn't come in the mail so I'm without money today because either our payroll service or the USPS fucked up royally.

I just want to be left alone today. Totally and blissfully alone. I don't want to do anything I don't have to do. I just want to veg and I want to keep my aggravation levels down.

Is that too much to ask?

It probably is, because any time when I have plans to do absolutely nothing I have to do something and that something is usually something most obnoxious.

So if the world will kindly leave me alone for 24 hours I might return to whatever "Normal" I might usually be, if not I can't guarantee I won't be a super cranky bitch tomorrow, and that just wouldn't be a very nice thing, now would it?

Top 5 On Friday - Week 177

From Music Memoirs


Top 5 songs about work or are work related


Fountains Of Wayne - Bright Future In Sales
FOW are good at songs about bad bosses and work.

Jimmy Buffett & Alan Jackson - It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere

I wish it were 5 o'clock already, this has been a horrible week and I need to be home and away from the world right now.

Elvis Costello - Soul For Hire
This one is about attorneys, since the title doesn't give it away.


The Vogues - Five O'Clock World
I know this one was one of my weekend songs a few weeks ago but lets just say it's at the top of the working songs list too!

Duran Duran - Skin Trade
Most everyone is working for the Skin Trade in one way or another!

PS the ultimate work song is Take This Job & Shove It!

The Rock That I'll Be Hiding Under

The only joy that I got out of my day yesterday came late. Yay Pens for finally winning a game of the Stanley Cup Finals. I was beginning to wonder if they'd forgotten how to play hockey on the short trip from Pittsburgh to Detroit.

Thank God they didn't. I think I would have cried if they did, and lord knows I was doing enough crying yesterday without needing a sports team to add to my hysteria.

It all started out with my keys hiding from me in the morning, then a file disappeared at work when it was just needed, then a health issue that got me worried. Oye. I discovered that I can in no way afford health care for myself at least good health care. Highmark for a single person is about $300 a month.

That depressed me. I'm still trying to figure out how my gram managed to only pay $286 every three months. It must be a special deal for seniors through Highmark.

~big sigh~

Yesterday was just a horrid day, probably one of the worst I've had since April 26, which right now I consider the worst day of my life.

Oh and today's shaping up to be such fun. I have to meet with someone at Sacred Heart Cemetery for something or other. PAH! And next Thursday I have to meet with the attorney to get things sorted out with the Estate.

Can I please just sleep a week or two so I can get my life back. I've already lost my perky and most of my sanity, I want to hold on to what little is left of me for the time being.

Is that too much to ask?

Thank God For Fishy

I can't believe I'm actually thankful for that dork, but if it weren't for him I'd not be seeing Gordon Lightfoot in 2 weeks. For some reason, even though I have the tickets already and the date is printed on them, I've been saying the day of the concert is a week later than it actually is.

The concert is on June 11th not June 18th.

Both dates are Wednesdays, but I have no idea why my mind wrapped around the 18th as the date of the concert. If it weren't for the fact that The Pickle is giving away tickets next week and they had to do a really bad commercial to tell us about it (sorry Fishy, the commercial sucks) I wouldn't have been in Chester, WV on the right day.

Now all I have to do is get my boss to let me have that Wednesday off. I'm not concerned about getting no sleep the night after the concert. I'm more concerned with getting there, as the Mountaineer is about an hour and a half away from my house, and the show is at 7:30 and well I get off work at 4. So you can see that there would be little time to get there and get lost, as I'm apt to do when hunting down places I haven't been that often.

Fingers crossed for me that I can get that day.

I can't wait to see Gordon!

Tuesday Tunes: Week 34

From Music Memoirs

Another word association week. Remember name the first song/artist/album etc that you think of when you see these 10 words.

Country: When I hear country I automatically think of Dolly Parton.
Patriotic: Neil Diamond - America
Summer: The Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City
Heat: Glenn Frey - The Heat Is On
Fun: B-52's - Funplex

Beach: The First Class - Beach Baby
Surf: The Surfaris - Wipe Out
Park: Freddie Boom Boom Canon - Palisades Park
Live: The Grass Roots - Lets Live For Today
South: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Southern Accents


What would be your picks?

Welcome Summer!

Well yesterday officially started summer, even though it really doesn't start til mid-June. Tell that to the weather we had yesterday. It was in the mid-80s and quite possibly sweltering. The kind of weather that makes sleeping very uncomfortable when you haven't broken out the fans.

Wow where did the heat come from? Last week we could barely get into the 60s! It's like the weather knows when we get to Memorial Day.

Now I'm ready for the beach or the amusement park or something other than sitting around the house. It's time! It's been a long, cold, lonely winter as George Harrison so nicely put it.

I'm ready for some fun and sun and water and sand or at least a nice deck chair. The only problem is that with the coming of Memorial Day we also have gas prices at the $4.00 mark.

Way to put a cramp in all the places I want to go!

Thank you major oil companies. I appreciate you frelling up my summer before it even begins.

I have a funny feeling that this summer its going to be me and my damn computer again.

PAH!

Sometimes My Zen Tortures Me

I'm a total weakling. I could barely run today on the elliptical today. A woman that had at least 30 years on me was running better than I was.

ARGH!

Then to make matters worse, my mp3 player decides to be sadistic.

It starts firing off songs from a Fleetwood Mac Best Of that I transferred to it in a moment of madness.

What song does it spew at me?

MONDAY MORNING!

The dreaded Lindsey Buckingham song that I hate with a passion and the song that gets stuck in my head every damn time I hear it.

GAH!

Over 5000 songs on that player and it picks that one. Then to add insult to injury, two songs after that one, it plays TUSK!

The two most awful, pathetic, vile songs every written by Lindsey. I still wonder what kind of drugs he was taking when he wrote Tusk. I mean they had to be really good ones if he thought that song was good.

And I'm not usually a Mac basher. I really like good Fleetwood Mac. I only bash them when I hear these two songs or when I hear that they are considering letting Sheryl Crow into the band.

BLERGH!

Usually I only get the one song on Monday, care of the Pickle DJ, Fishy, when I'm so disposed to listen to the first half of his morning show, which isn't that often anymore. (And we all know which of those two songs he plays every damn MONDAY (FUCKING) MORNING.

AHEM.

Yeah, so needless to say, I'm going to be removing that album from my Zen.

The Memorial Day Concert

Did any of you watch the PBS special last night? Idina Menzel aka the Wicked Witch from Wicked was on as was Sarah Brightman and Gladys Knight, oh and some horrid country singer.

Everyone but the redneck country singer looked spectacular. Well maybe not Sarah, who looked like she was wearing an extremely expensive night gown and forgot to wash her hair, but that's OK she's Sarah Brightman and she can get away with it.

Idina made me laugh hysterically. She makes such funny faces when she sings. Idina has lips like Julia Roberts, which means she can make a mighty mean duck face with her lips and she did several times during her two songs. Her mama should warn her that her face might freeze that way if she does that too often!

I was trying to figure out what songs most of the ladies were doing but the only ones familiar to me was Sarah's Agnues Dei from her ex's Requiem and Gladys' lovely rendition of Let There Be Peace On Earth. My mom seemed to know the first song Idina did, but her second was a terribly boring original composition that made me positive that she should stick to Broadway and not songwriting.

I'm not exactly sure why I gravitated to this show, except my mom had it on and I was bored and I kept walking by the living room. Still it was most amusing, in a bizarre kinda way.

Doing Something Different

In the musical arena I enjoy listening to different bands but I also seem to prefer to listen to them grouped at one time. I'll listen to The Moody Blues for a whole day or Gordon Lightfoot. Mixing things up usually only happens when I'm in the car. But yesterday something changed.

What changed? The planets are still in alignment, Obama still sadly looks like he'll be the democratic nominee, my car is still a run down piece of poo.

Nope nothing changed in the grand scheme of things.

But it did.

Yesterday I went to Best Buy and came home with a 320 GB External Hard Drive. I spent a few hours last night transferring files over. I was surprised that I only have about 45 GBs of music. Hmmm maybe I should get that 80 GB Zune or Zen. Nah! I'm happy with my little mp3 players though I would like to get the 2 GB Zen Stone that is just so darn cute it's insane!

But back to the subject at hand. I moved all my music last night and I cleaned up my winamp playlist and then reloaded all the songs and then I hit play, allowing my winamp to play any song it felt like playing.

It's been quite a weird night for music.

I didn't know The Mamas and The Papas did a version of My Girl. Actually I didn't know I had a copy of it on my hard drive!

It's a happy music day for me!

Computer Geekery!

My high speed USBs arrived and are installed! Can I get a woot? And can we applaud the nephew that installed them with much difficulty, especially as the metal casing that needed to come off near the slots in my computer just didn't want to comply to his or my wishes?

So I will buying an external hard drive for all my necessary and some unnecessary music.

I'm so excited about that too. All my music in one place! I may spontaneously combust! And I'll have the ability to move my music about so much faster too! Woo hoo!

That's so wonderful, because we all know that music is what keeps me going. Well that and my computer!

This weekend is shaping up to be pure musical bliss. I'll be broke when I'm done, but I'll be in bliss, so that can't be too bad, right?

Top 5 On Friday - Week 176

From Music Memoirs

Top Five things you want to tell/ask your favorite musician/band.

OK, so I'm sitting down to have a chat with Mr. Elvis Costello.

1. Mr. Costello, would you please do an album with your wife, not in the help produce or arrange kind of way. I mean in the two of you writing songs and recording and singing together kind of way. That would have awesome written all over it. On Diana Krall's The Girl In The Other Room, you can hear Elvis' influence all over it. I can only imagine and wonder how wonderful it would be if he were to lend a vocal or two to some of those tracks. Ah I would expire from the gloriousness!

2. Please rerecord Heart Shaped Bruise. I love Emmylou Harris, but that song wasn't really meant to be a duet and it sounded so wonderful in the years prior when you did it live. While you're at it, how about doing a version of There's A Story In Your Voice, sans Lucinda Williams.

3. Stop with the whoring of yourself out to companies like Lexus. That's really sad and pathetic. I don't care that you have the twins to put through college. You and Diana are better than that.

4. Why did you sell yourself out and become friends with the likes of Elton John? Elton is an extremely talented man, but he's also a nasty one. Since when did you become the type that wants to mingle with the rock n' roll elite? I mean besides Paul McCartney, and who wouldn't want to hop nob with him?

5. Write songs with Nick Lowe. In fact, he's another artist to collaborate with. Perhaps you, Nick and Diana could get together and get your snark on and come up with some really good tunes. Ah what a beautiful album cover that would be.

Thursday Thirteen

13 reasons that I should try getting to bed a little earlier.

1. I might not pour astringent into my hand instead of my facial cleanser, simply because the bottles look exactly alike, except the astringent is lighter.

2. I might not have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off in the 7 o'clock hour, because I'm trying to do stuff that I should have done earlier, but wasn't quite awake enough to do yet.

3. I might stop turning off the alarm when it comes on at 5:40 a.m. Thus resulting in weird dreams about a DJ. Yikes. The worst part is Pickle refuses to come through on my clock radio, I'm getting 99.3 The Laurel Highlands Rock Station and I don't know why!

4. I might stop yawning throughout my day.

5. I might be able to check my dailies list in the morning again. I miss being able to get through my list before work.

6. My bed may get made before I crawl back into it.

7. I may actually get 8 hours of sleep on a day other than Saturday.

8. Laundry may get done during the week, rather than Sunday night.

9. I'd be able to put out clothes for the gym thus eliminating the need to come home to change before going. Oh wait, the skinny wenches are there at 4 maybe it's a mental thing.

10. Those mix CDs I've promised people? They'd get burned and sent.

11. Maybe my perky would return. I miss my perky so very much.

12. I'd be able to think of more entertaining topics for a Thursday Thirteen.

13. Zzzzzzzzzz.

New Janet Evanovich

There's nothing I like more than a new Janet Evanovich novel, so you can only imagine my delight when I went to the BOMC website and saw that she had a book coming out on June 17th.

Woo hoo!

Granted her books aren't deep thoughtful reading material, but I don't usually like to read that sort of thing. I read to be entertained for the most part and Janet's books entertain me just fine. Even the books that can be considered potboilers bring a smile and a laugh for me.

So yes, this is going to be one book that will get pushed to the top of my reading list.

Getting It Done

Well I finally bucked up yesterday and ordered the PCI card for my computer that will upgrade the USB ports from 1.0 to 2.0.

Why is it that I can easily drop money on clothes that I only wear to work or to the gym, (Not much difference there really, as I work in an office trailer and every day is casual Friday) but on stuff that would actually make my life easier, I dilly dally around with purchasing?

Everything would be moving much faster if I had those 2.0 USB ports and since I'm not in a position to buy a new computer yet. I may however buy an external hard drive so that everything will be freed up on this computer for the time being.

Ah that would be wonderful. The secret would be to not buy the external that has 1 TB because I really don't need that kind of space yet. I need a 250 or 350 GB. That would house all my music and all my photos with ease. Of course, I haven't purchased that yet either. There are other things for the house that are higher on my priority list, like an area rug for the computer room that's had a bare floor for 2 years now and a new tv stand because my old one fell prey to a young kitten testing his claws. Oops.

I hope to get that part done next month or the month after. One can hope right? As long as I don't go on a huge CD buying spree, I should be ok.

Tuesday Tunes - Week 33

From Music Memoirs

This week is word association week and it's all in colors! I'll give you a color and you tell me the first song/artist/album that comes to mind when you see it.

Pink: Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink
Purple: Marillion - Lavender
Blue: The Moody Blues - Blue World
White: Elvis Costello & The Attractions - White Knuckles
Gold: David Bowie - Golden Years
Silver: Roxette - Silver Blue
Green: Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Green Shirt
Yellow: Donovan - Mellow Yellow
Red: Cheap Trick - Kiss Me Red
Brown: The Beatles - Old Brown Shoe

Why Is It

~ That when you start to do something a million and one other things happen and you just can't get what you started finished?

~ That when you clean out closets/drawers/cabinets and toss things that when you go to put things back, there's less space? (Anyone that reads my blog knows that this is a mystery of life that I think really needs solved)

~ That bra straps spend most of their time falling down my arm.

~ That one event can throw off a schedule forever. I'm really not into blogging in the morning anymore. I may start posting at the end of the day, which is when I'm going to be visiting my daily list.

~ Just when you think you have your inbox cleaned out, there are about 10 other emails that you have to save. Grrr.

~ Boys cannot or perhaps its will not flush after peeing. Can I get a resounding eww to that please?

~ Just when the debt monkey is almost off your back, something happens and boom you're lugging that monkey around again! Damn those monkeys!

~ When you want to talk to someone, they aren't around or are too busy.

~ When I think the tears might have dried up, there are more to shed.

~ That when I think of Grandma, I can't see her as the vibrant loving woman I hugged every day. Why can't I get that other image out of my head? Why? WHY? WHY!! Dammit, I want it to go away. Please make it go away.

Random 10 - Week 155

From Music Memoirs

10 songs that sum up your weekend...or were on your weekend playlist...and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did)

Lots of weird music going on this weekend, a bit of everything.

Rob Thomas - Little Wonder
The Byrds - Feel A Whole Lot Better
Gordon Lightfoot - Carefree Highway

These three were from a mix CD that I've been trying, rather unsuccessfully to play in my car lately. My CD player has scratched it up quite nicely, damn and blast.

George Harrison - The Art Of Dying
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

I decide to put George on random yesterday and what does my winamp do? It finds all the songs that will depress me.

Hem - The Pills Stopped Working
Martina McBride - I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
Over The Rhine - Suitcase
Erasure - Spiraling
Colbie Calliat - Kiss The Girl

These are other artists that I was listening to over the past few days, as you can see, it was a very random weekend for music, from classic rock to country and just about everything in between.

And my photo was taken on Saturday afternoon. It's a rainbow!

Tag! I'm It

Sol has tagged me with my own six word memoir. The rules are: -Write your own six word memoir or epitaph; -Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want; -Link to the person who tagged you in your post; -Tag at least 5 more blogs; -Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play. My memoir is:

Hmmm. This is funny as I delivered a short eulogy for my gram at the chapel at the cemetery where she has her final resting place, because gram always asked me what I'd say about her when she was gone and I hoped I'd never have to say anything because gram was going to live forever and a day.

What would I say about me though? That's hard. Harder then the few minutes I condensed what was important about gram, which was quite simple: She Loved Us More. Me, I'm a different story.

I know myself though. I'm greedy. I want things I can't have. I dream a lot. I love few, but I love well when I do.

Perhaps these words: A Loving Dreamer Who Wanted More

I won't do the tagging business but if you want to play along, go for it and then let me know so I can come and read your answers.

The Moody Blues - The One

This song from Strange Times has baffled me from the first moment I heard it. It's a John Lodge track and I'm wondering who he was thinking of when he wrote it. As far as I know there's been no mention of the inspiration for this track written about anywhere on the web. Of course, when it comes to Lodgey, they only want to bitch about Words You Say and discuss Isn't Life Strange or ask him about Nights In White Satin, which as any good fan knows, he didn't freakin' write!

Have a listen:



It's funny, as I listen to it now it makes me think of Pattie Boyd and her horrid biography, Wonderful Tonight/Today (depending on your country). Of course its not about her. At least I don't think it is, because I don't think Pattie's ever fallen from grace.

This song does make me wonder though, and heaven forbid any DJ or other interviewer ask them questions about newer material. That would just be appalling, because as we all know music made by classic artists after their hey days are through, just isn't worth a mention.

ARGH!

Top 5 On Friday - Week 175

From Music Memoirs

Top 5 "Night" songs or songs that relate to the night or evening.

I'm pretty sure I did this topic once before, but lordy I need help in the Top 5 topics area. It's hard to be fresh and original after 3 years of memes. Looks hopefully for new suggestions.

1. Dubstar - Stars
I love this electronic britpop band. This was one of their first singles from their Debut CD Disgraceful. Loved it!

2. George Harrison - Here Comes The Moon
The sequel to Here Comes The Sun and what would night be without the moon?

3. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Night Time
He only operates at night time. Mmmm. I can deal with that.

4. Erasure - Man In The Moon
One of my favorite seldom listened to anymore bands. This is a sweet song from the I Say I Say I Say album.

5. Justin Hayward - Night Flight
Cheesy 80s Justin is my favorite Justin, except for the hair.

Mmmm I Need More Fridays

No not the day of the week, especially as I'm one of the few people that hate Friday as much as I do Monday, for work related craziness, but the restaurant. I love the sangria at Fridays. It's a really lovely combination of juice and fruit and alcohol, and after dealing with opening an estate, alcohol was definitely needed.

Truthfully for the last few weeks I could have used a whole pitcher of sangria. Maybe I would have got more than a brief interlude of the warm fuzzies. I couldn't afford to have more than that though. Not enough money, nor anyone to drive me home.

One good thing did come out of yesterday though, besides the yummy sangria, the waitress carded me. Woot! It's always nice to get carded when you are nearly 34. It made me feel really good.

But back to Fridays. They have something that really appeals to the dessert lover in me. Dessert Minis! I don't like to get regular desserts when I go to eat alone, since I'm always watching my damn waistline which seems to prefer to expand rather than shrink. The dessert minis are served in a glass just a tad bit bigger than a shot glass. Just enough sweet to make me feel like I've had dessert. The rocky road was really yummy too.

So yeah, I think I could use a few more Fridays right now.

I'm Pissed

Last week I found I could upgrade my DSL connection speed at no cost. Basically because my connection was slower than a snail as it was. My area still isn't in the FIOS type speed but I could get a pretty fast connection. So I talked to support at Earthlink and they said it would be 3 to 5 days and we'd have the upgrade and my account would remain at the same rate.

It's over a week and we're still at the same speed. I'm getting aggravated.

When I started out with Earthlink I had a bad experience and I wanted to drop them, but there weren't many broadband servers in the area at the time that were reasonable. Now there are many but I don't want the hassle of the switch.

Every time I've had to do something with a switch I've lost internet for days and getting a new provider up and running on the lines never goes through as quickly as they say.

Grrrr.

I just wonder why their chat support can't help you with anything?

Oh yeah, they are probably in India and they don't know a damn thing about anything at all.

~head desk~

I just want the connection speed that I'm paying for. And if my connection keeps crapping out there's going to be hell to pay. It's been 3 days of this and still no sign of any change. No I lie it's been 5 days.

Tuesday Tunes - Week 32

From Music Memoirs

What's the newest song you are currently into?
My favorite song from Elvis Costello's Momofuku is Go Away. Recent songs I love, Dolly Parton's Better Git To Livin', Madonna's Miles Away which I hope will be a single as it sounds more like her than the rest of Hard Candy.


What older artists have you recently discovered?
I'm really getting into Ron Sexsmith as a result of seeing Nick Lowe. I don't know that he is considered an older artist but he has been around since I graduated high school, and that was *gasp* 16 years ago.

What do you think of "reunion tours" or "revival tours"?
In some ways they are awesome. I love to see bands that I might have missed the first time around. However I'd like these things better if they were a way for the artists to put out new material rather than touring to churn out the same old songs over and over and over again.


What new releases are on your wish list?
Too many to mention. I still need Sarah Brightman's Symphony, B-52's Funplex among the list of 115 + albums on my amazon wishlist. Oh and have I mentioned I still don't own the reissue of Jesus of Cool? Huh? Oh and there was a Julia Fordham CD out in the past 6 months that I need to get too. ARGH!

Calvary Cemetary

It took most of the night to sort through my mess but I did get the pictures uploaded as you might have been able to tell.

Here's one shot from the batch.



If you want to see the rest click here.

Calvary is a very small cemetery in Charleroi, located on a rather nasty windy hill. When the sun is shining the cemetery looks just like any other. But add some wind and a cloudy sky and I'm betting just about anyone can get a chill or two from looking at some of the old stones. Come to think of it, if you really wanted to give someone the creeps take them there and play some Midnight Syndicate soundscapes and they'll probably run down the hill so fast that they'll remind you of the roadrunner!

Random 10 - Week 154

From Music Memoirs


10 songs that sum up your weekend...or were on your weekend playlist...and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did)

A lot of time was spent in my brother's car this weekend so it was his choice of tunes

Terri Clark - Emotional Girl
(She's one of my favorite country singers and this song like Girls Lie Too is a hoot)

Chicago - If You Leave Me Now

Bernie Barlow - Sexy

Keri Noble - I Won't

Nick Lowe - Ragin' Eyes
(I want to have ragin' eyes!)

Diana Krall - Narrow Daylight
(My favorite song by any artist)

Joan Osborne - These Arms Of Mine
(A cover of the Otis Redding classic)

Keri Noble - Butterfly
(One of my favorite tracks from her debut album)

Thompson Twins - King For A Day
(Tripping on the 80s)

Art Garfunkel - Bright Eyes
(Saddest song ever)

And now for the photo...from Calvary Cemetery



I'll post the link to the rest once they finish uploading.

Lots Done, Except Sleep

I didn't get to bed last night until almost midnight and now I feel like I've been hit by a bus. However I got rid of a lot of stuff between my parents' house and gram's house yesterday, so that would be considered progress. Right?

That's not to say there's still not loads of stuff to do and somehow the 5.5 hours of sleep I got last night is going to make getting lots more done an impossibility. I'm one of those people that need at 7 hours of sleep or I can't function.

At least I didn't have nightmares of that creepy cemetery I visited yesterday. My brother and I went to Calvary Cemetery in Charleroi to find the graves of our great grandparents on my mother's father's side of the family.

It took much doing and this cemetery is old. And when I say old I mean, this is not one of those places that I'd want to be after dark on a cold windy night. I must remind myself to post the pictures we took on my flickr page. Yesterday was just blustery and dreary looking enough to give the place a real haunted feel to it. (And it didn't need any further assistance at that)

I think I would rather just go back to bed right now, but there's no time for that. The day must be started. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do with this day, except maybe nod off ever 10 minutes. Zzzzzzzzz

Happy Mother's Day

To the 2 women that have loved me more.

Mom: You've put up with so much from me, school, relationships, jobs. You've criticized for all the right reasons. Sometimes I listened, sometimes I didn't. But no matter what you always loved me. You always were there with a hug and kiss and a shoulder when I needed it. A huge heart, so full of love. You've taught me how to love and you gave me my faith. I hope there are many more mother's days to celebrate together.

Grandma: Always a dollar to spare. Always a hug and a kiss. Always a word of advise that I didn't want to hear, but always you. Always a smell of Olay and Rose Milk hand cream. Always a smile. Always a lady. Always a sparkle in your eye. Someone to share my smutty novels with. What am I going to do without you? Love you so much more than you could imagine, grandma.



And now a few of grandma and a little grandbaby that looks suspiciously like me from some Christmases in the 70s.

I Believe

~ In the power of friendship to heal all hurts.

~ That there is something higher watching over us.

~ That out of every bad thing something good will come.

~ That music can calm and relax.

~ That books are the key to opening the mind.

~ That a hug is the best thing to cure depression.

~ That love may not conquer all but it sure helps to.

~ That sometimes you need to sit in a quiet church.

~ That tears need to be shed to heal your soul.

~ That an idle mind is a wasted one.

~ In the simple things to bring the most smiles.

Top 5 On Friday - Week 174

From Music Memoirs

Top 5 songs that remind you of your mother.

1. Paul Stookey - The Wedding Song (There Is Love)
This is one of my mother's favorite songs.

2. Michael Ball - Love Changes Everything
Mom loves musical theater. This is one of her favorites by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

3. Oingo Boingo - Insects
This is a hilarious song that I used to listen to quite a bit, and mom knew the lyrics.

Insects make me scream and shout...they don't know what life's about!

4. Michael Crawford - On Eagle's Wings
This was a favorite hymn that was used quite a bit in our parish. We also used it for Grandma's funeral mass. (I don't have this track on my computer right now, but check back later and I might)

5. Les Miserables -Master Of The House
Another favorite of my mom and dad from musical theater. They like the funny stuff sometimes. I'll have a version of this posted later today, because if you haven't heard the song you should.

Dear Lady In The Mini Van

Because this needs to be said.

Dear Lady in the Minivan,

The fashion police are a few steps behind you. They will arrest you for crimes against humanity for wearing a camouflage peasant skirt and a floral blouse. Most likely they will put you away for a long time, letting you out of the house only when dressed by a responsible adult.

It will be a shame too, because the world needs to be able to laugh that hard.

Especially since you had a rainbow print handbag too!

I don't think I've laughed that hard in months. Thank you for that.

Please find someone to dress you from now on. I almost wrecked the car as a result of my laughter.

Sincerely,

A rather amused Mistress Of The Dark

I'm So Behind On Things

I have the last 3 weeks of Doctor Who to watch. I just haven't been into staring at the telly too much. Actually I haven't really wanted to stare at the computer much lately. I'm like that Bacharach and David song, I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself.

I was going through pictures and what not. I need a lot of time for scanning soon. Gosh the stuff that there still is to go through. At least I've been walking, which is good. I've been to the gym once this week and I've gone to the walking path twice and walked 2 miles. It's helped a bit.

I just wish I could fall back into my normal routine, only that normal routine included grandma. At 6:30 I always want to go down to the house. In the mornings when I leave for work I always look to her window to see if the blind is up or down. That was her signal to us so we'd know if she was awake or not.

How set in my ways am I really? Very it seems.

Having her gone just makes things the world not seem right.

I think it's going to take quite a while before I catch up with the world around me.

Momofuku

That's the title of the new Elvis Costello album and its pretty much the most exciting thing about it. I love the title because it sounds like a curse word. Now when people anger me I'll just tell them to momofuku!

Other than the odd title that pays homage to the creator of ramen noodles, the album isn't much to write home about. It's not bad. It's not incredible. That alone leaves me feeling a bit let down. I wanted something to really get excited about, especially as Elvis has gone back to doing rock, which he had left for the last 3 albums. That's not to say there aren't some great tracks here, what I'm saying is that none of them have the power to really grab you. There's no Monkey To Man or 45 or Alibi.

Go Away is far and away my favorite track on the album, with Stella Hurt and Harry Worth coming in close behind. Turpentine is another decent one.

Do we want to go into the worst? My Three Sons, makes me want to toss my cookies. Well at least there's mention of the first son that most people don't know exists. After all, it's not as though Diana Krall, lovely though she is, is his first wife. I believe her number in the marital scheme of EC's life is 3.

I'm not sure if this is one of those albums that will eventually grow on me so that I'll play it constantly or one that will sit on the shelf. I'm disappointed as I find myself being in just about every new album I've bought lately, with my tried and true loves.

I suppose in a world where the quality of music is so low this is quite a great album, but from someone that expects truly great things from Elvis it falls a bit short. But hey, it's nowhere near as awful as Madonna's Hard Candy, so that's a plus. Sadly this album won't see the top of the charts, even though it's by far the superior album.

Tuesday Tunes - Week 31

From Music Memoirs

Word associations again! Remember answer with the first band/artist/song/album etc that you think of when you see these 10 words:

Rocking: Rocking Horse Road - Elvis Costello
Bird: Ringneck Loon - Gordon Lightfoot
Art: Art Garfunkel!
Mountain: River Deep, Mountain High - Erasure
Road: Highway - The Moody Blues
Animal: Martha My Dear - The Beatles
Car: What Car? - Cliff Richard
Walk: Keri Noble - Watch Me Walk
Cloud: Stuck Inside A Cloud - George Harrison
Wilderness: The Wilderness Years - Nick Lowe

Walking Is Relaxing

I love going to the walking path in Monessen. It makes me feel a hundred times better than going to the gym even if I'm only there a half hour, mostly because you see normal people there and not those 5 lb wonder wenches.

I can't help it but being around those little chickies makes me really violent. I want to drag them by their hair to the Wendy's up the street and feed them Baconators. At the walking path there are normal people who seem to get lost when they go to Jack's or rather they last there a month or so and get very self conscious of the skinny wenches and quit going.

I really must be strong, because I've gone on a semi-regular basis for over a year now. I miss Curves in Charleroi. It was so much nicer on the sanity.

Which brings me back to walking. Just me, the mp3 player and my thoughts. Perhaps not the best combination of things, but it felt good. 2 miles, which is much less than I usually walk but still it was better than nothing. If I had gone alone I can usually walk for about 5 miles, but then again, there were other things that needed doing last night too, so even a little exercise was good.

Today come hell or high water I'm going to the gym. It's nowhere near as relaxing or even as good for the nerves as walking but I pay for it, so I better use it. After all, I need to get rid of my excess aggression, and where better to do that than the place with those skinny chickies that annoy the hell out of me, right?

Random 10 - Week 153

From Music Memoirs


10 songs that sum up your weekend...or were on your weekend playlist...and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did)

I had a very obnoxious mixtape playing in the car on my way to Uniontown yesterday. Here are some of the tracks:

Tommy James - Hold The Fire
Paul Stookey - The Wedding Song
Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)
Billy Joel - Rosalinda's Eyes
Tommy James - Love Words
The Spinners - Cupid
The Bangles - Where Were You When I Needed You
Gordon Lightfoot - Alberta Bound

Now some non-mixtape tracks

Nick Lowe - Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Battered Old Bird

Now for the picture: A little something growing in our yard.

More Shopping

I'm totally lethal at Rue 21. I spent another $40 + at that store today. Sadly the capris I went there for will have to be returned, but I'm sure I'll be able to find something else there. I bought 2 dresses for $5 a piece a couple t-shirts and a pair of exercise sweat capris.

I also bought a lovely body wash/lotion/spray set at Bath & Body Works. I'm addicted to that store too. I love pretty smelling stuff and I don't have one perfume I prefer to another. I tend to pick my scents according to my mood. Today I fell in love with Blushing Cherry Blossom.

Shopping was a bit therapeutic. At least when I was spending money that I didn't have I could keep my mind off the sadness. That's something. Right?

Going to Sonic helped too. There's something about Cherry Limeade that really soothes the soul. Tater Tots do the same, especially if they are covered in cheese. Mmmm. Oh and the grilled chicken wrap was pretty good too.

Now I really have to get some of my older clothes cleared out of the closet to make room for the new stuff. That's never fun, but here's hoping that keeping busy keeps the tears from flowing as freely, because the constant feeling that I'm about to break down is not fun.

Still Exhausted

I'm trying so hard to get back to normal, but nothing I seem to do is working. I had to do laundry and since I'm used to using the ringer washer, I headed down to grandma's to use her machine.

The whole time I was doing the laundry I thought I could smell flowers. It wasn't the laundry detergent or the fabric softener. My guess is grandma was there watching over me and the nephew who was helping to make sure that we didn't squish our fingers in the washer or break her ancient but oh so much better than the modern machine.

It feels so strange to be there without her.

Its even stranger to be going through her things. It doesn't feel right. I hate to think that someday someone else will be living in her house and that the familiar will become strange, but there's no way that I could afford to keep the house for our family. All the other grandchildren have homes of their own. I don't know what I'd do if I ever wasn't in my own home with my parents. I've been here so long.

All the thinking and moving stuff around is tiring. I fell asleep last night with my glasses on before I had finished doing what I was doing. I had just laid down to rest for a minute and I had gone out for 3 hours.

I just need to start getting things sorted out. I don't know when that's going to happen though. There's still too much to do.

Top Five On Friday - Week 173

From Music Memoirs

Top 5 songs that get you ready for the end of the day/weekend

The Vogues - 5 O'clock World
It's a 5 o'clock world when the whistle blows. No one owns a piece of my time.


The Moody Blues - Here Comes The Weekend
This is a Lodgey creation that's so cheesy it's unbelievable.

Jimmy Buffett - Another Saturday Night
Ok, this is a Sam Cooke tune, but it's Jimmy's version that I remember and love. Sadly it's also the story of my life. Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody.

Erasure - I Love Saturday
I love any day that isn't Monday or Friday. Those are the two worst days of my week. Right now, Saturdays are on my bad side too though.

Roxette - Here Comes The Weekend
This is another cheesy tune, but Roxette, rocks in that 80s pop kinda way. This song is so fun too.

*all downloads available for a limited time only. Snag em while you can.

Vintage Photos

I can't think much right now, so I thought I'd share a link to some vintage photos of my family that I've been scanning. Clicky here to see them.

This one is of my grandmother and the grandfather that I didn't get the chance to know, as he died in 1967. I hope she's telling him all about me right now.

They were quite a lovely couple, weren't they?

She loved him so much. I don't remember her talking about him to me much, but in drawers I found cards she gave to him for birthdays and a card he gave her. Such sweetness, such love.

They spent 41 years apart. Now they are together again.

~sigh~

I know I'm selfish but I want her with me.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I'll always remember about my grandma.

1. Her love of reading. She always said she learned something from anything she read, including the smutty novels we both share a passion for.

2. Her sweet tooth. She loved brownies and cookies and cake. If we made anything and I didn't take her some, she'd get in a snit.

3. How she'd never let me put clothes through the ringer on the washing machine because she thought I'd get my finger stuck.

4. Her braids. Grandma had very long hair pulled into a intricate braid in the back. Her hair was so beautiful.

5. Her shopping lists. Always terribly spelled, but there was always the same stuff on them, cream of mushroom soup, tomato soup, pot pies, chicken tv dinners, rollin oats cereal and pierogies!

6. Her love of bunnies. If you saw her face when a bunny hopped through her yard, you would know pure joy. Her eyes would light up and the 100 + year old face would become a child's.

7. Her stubbornness. You could never win an argument with grandma. She could be wrong but she would still win!

8. Her love of clothes, mine in particular. When we'd do laundry she'd always say when I got tired of something she'd take it. Her closets are full of my cast offs. And though I'm nearly 34 and she was 101 she looked pretty in my things.

9. Her wubby blanket that was always wrapped around her shoulders. She was always cold. Now I'm sure wherever she's at the warm sun is shining on her and keeping her warm.

10. The barrel she had for my mother. She always put money for her in it, for things we sent her.

11. Her beef noodle soup. No one made it like grandma. It is one of my favorite soups.

12. Playing Candy Land at the top of the stairs with her...or building a puzzle from one of the many that were in her house from my other two siblings.

13. How whenever we'd tell her we loved her she'd say, "I love you more."

Grandma, I hope you know how much we love you wherever you are