Tuesday Tunes: Week 160

From Music Memoirs

We haven't done a word association in awhile...and since its the Christmas season ....lets do holiday words.

For those that don't remember I give you 10 words and you tell me the first artist/song/album/instrument that comes to mind.

Sugar   Sugarland
Little  Little Town By Cliff Richard
Holly Holly Cole
Tree Maybe This Christmas Tree

Joy Joy To The World By Three Dog Night
Night Silent Night By Sixpence None The Richer
Cold The Coldest Night Of The Year By Elaine Paige
Home Home By Another Way (Album Version) By James Taylor
Travel Traveling Wilburys
Gift The Gift - Susan Boyle

The Best Book I've Read In A While

For those of you that like a bit of chicklit, I want to recommend a book called Planning To Live by Heather Wardell.

It is a very quick read, only about 220 pages long, but those twenty pages are wonderful.

Its about a woman (Rhiannon) who has spent most of her life planning for things. She struggles with her weight and hopes that when she's lost 40 pounds her life will be better. She'll look good in her bridesmaid dress and she won't embarrass her friend Sandra at her wedding, even though her weight doesn't matter to Sandra at all.

Heather Wardell really captures the way so many women feel.

I don't think I've ever loved a character in a book as much as Rhiannon.

I only wish that Fleetwood Mac song wouldn't have gotten stuck in my head while I was reading it!

2010 Christmas Mix

I'm done early this year...now to get the house ready...



Artist:Various Artists
Album: It Came Upon A Christmas Mix (97 MB)
Genre: A Bit Of Everything
Tracklisting:
Puppini Sisters - Step Into Christmas
Susan Boyle - Do You Hear What I Hear
Lady Antebellum - On This Winter's Night
Wilson Phillips - When A Child Is Born
Robbers On High Street - Season's Greetings
Nancy Sinatra - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Mirabilis - Riu Riu Chiu
Tori Amos - Snow Angel
Patty Loveless - O Come All Ye Faithful
Chris Isaak - Christmas On Tv
Celtic Thunder - Baby, Its Cold Outside
Pink Martini - A Snow Globe Christmas
Annie Lennox - Universal Child
BJ Thomas - O Holy Night
Rhonda Vincent - Christmas Time At Home
Micky Dolenz - O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Norah Jones - Peace
S Club 7 - Perfect Christmas
Darius Rucker - Candy Cane Christmas
Lady Gaga - Christmas Tree
Britney Spears - My Only Wish (This Year)
Faith Hill - What Child Is This

Left Over Mashed Potatoes Anyone?

 I found this recipe on my Giant Eagle receipt. I made it yesterday and the results were really delicious. A great easy way to deal with left over mashed potatoes that are never nearly as good the second day.

It says it makes 8 but I like smaller cakes so mine made about 12...The oldest nephew declared this a winner.


2 cups chilled mashed potatoes
2 eggs, slightly beaten, (separate bowls)
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1/2 cup flour for dredging
1 cup Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs
3 table spoons vegetable oil for pan frying

Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine potatoes, one egg, onion and black pepper. Divide potato mixture into 8 equal portions. Use your hands to form 1/2 inch thick patties. Dredge patties in flour, then in egg and coat with Panko Bread Crumbs. Meanwhile heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add potato patties to the hot oil. Cook until well browned, turn with a spatula and brown on the other side.

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 Musical things that you'd get up at the butt crack of dawn to get


You guys know the drill. Play along in the comments or in your journal. This meme is created for my site Music Memoirs. Feel free to go there and check out my other weekly memes and play along.

1. Tickets to see Erasure (Not that this will ever be a problem. These guys don't come to my fair or not so fair city)

2. A good deal on either a 64 GB iPod Touch or the 160 iPod Classic. Sadly there's no such thing as Apple doesn't allow these items to really go on sale much. PAH!

3. A great laptop with loads of hard drive space for my music, because I'm really lazy about getting stuff on my netbook.

4. A pair of headphones for my mp3 players that weren't totally uncomfortable!!! or always falling out of my ears. Do they make such a thing?

5. All the special edition Monkees CDs...assuming Rhino would make them available again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Sorry turkey! You shouldn't be so darn tasty! However, since I've met you. I won't eat you. I'll eat a turkey I've never seen before. Feel better?

Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Eat Drink and Be Merry and Thankful!

Doctors Annoy Me

I had to take mom and dad to their primary care doctors yesterday. Their appointments were @ 3:15 and 3:45, but the doctor usually sees them together.

We arrived at the office around 3 o'clock, early for both appointments, right?

Oye!

I knew that they were going to be awhile, when I saw a waiting room overflowing. So I went to KMart (10 minute drive from the office) to buy our Christmas tree.

Came back at about 3:45, which is the time my Dad's appointment was scheduled for. They are both still sitting there. I then said I was going to take the tree home, and I'd be back. Drove home, another 10 minutes there and back. It is now 4:20, and guess what? They still aren't in for their appointment!!

They both went in about 10 minutes later and didn't finish up until about 5:30!!!

Can I get an ARGH please?

Doctor's have no regard for time.

I truly think that when patients are made to wait over an hour for their appointments they should at least have the decency of apologizing for the wait.

It is a good thing most of the people in the waiting room were there for wellness visits, because if any of them passed on germs...I think I would have gone ballistic!!!

Christmas Mix CD Making

Last weekend I started making the Christmas CD cards that I mail to some friends and post here for all my internet friends to snag.

I hope to have it done by Black Friday. I have about 6 songs on this one. I'm doing my best not to duplicate songs from year to year, which gets difficult because there are some artists that I absolutely love.

If it really were up to me, The Moody Blues' Don't Need A Reindeer would be on every Christmas CD along with Elvis Costello's St Stephen's Day Murders. The Pogues' Fairytale of New York would be there too. These are some of my favorite not so classic holiday tunes.

But there's always room for something different, right?

This year there's a Christmas CD by Annie Lennox, and I finally got a copy of Tommy James' I Love Christmas. So expect songs from those CDs to make it on the disc.

I can't wait to finish it up and get them sent and posted for you guys.

Music is really what makes my Christmas...

Oh and Christmas books!

The Funniest Song Ever!!!

S.J. Tucker's Salad Of Doom!

Up A Tree

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Originally uploaded by moodylady

Miss Tabby, one of the bazillion feral cats that have discovered the wonderfulness of my back yard, decided that the maple tree was a really cool place to sit.

She climbed to the top at least three times, crazy kitty that she is, giving me palipations

Miss Callie used to climb that tree alot before we convinced her that inside was the best place for kitties to be.

Just an FYI to those of you that feel that cats should go outside; the life expectancy for outdoor cats is less than half of that for indoor cats.

Camera Critters!

If you want to play along with Camera Critters just go here

Tis the season...or it will be at the end of next week...for reindeer to play...

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 overplayed songs that you still enjoy listening to


You guys know the drill. Play along in the comments or in your journal. This meme is created for my site Music Memoirs. Feel free to go there and check out my other weekly memes and play along.

I'm going to do a slightly countrified version this week, since I've been listening to country radio at work.

1. Sugarland - Stuck Like Glue
2. Zac Brown Band w/Alan Jackson - As She's Walking Away
3. The Band Perry - If I Die Young
4. Darius Rucker - Come Back Song
5. Keith Urban - Put You In A Song

If you turn on any country radio station, I can guarantee that you will hear any of these in any given hour.

Palin in 2012

For the love of God, is there no sanity in this country?

And then this batshit insane woman says she can beat Obama in 2012!!

I don't think any words have scared me as much as those.

I mean, isn't there a requirement that you should have to have at least half a brain cell before you can become president?

If there isn't....someone amend the constitution so that this can be so.

Of course if we entered that into law...and extended it to congress and the senate....well I can guarantee you that we wouldn't have many elected officials, cos I'm pretty sure most of them would be ousted immediately upon the Catscans coming up NEGATIVE!!!

I'm so sick of politics making me feel twitchy.

I'm Jealous Of Will and Kate

Its so disgusting when two people the same age...fall in love and live happily ever after. It is even more disgusting when it is two people who will have the title King and Queen at some point in time in their lives.

AGH!

I think, even though its not quite the sweet looking thing that we saw with Charles and Diana back in the 80s, because thankfully, these two got to know each other and are really in love, it is still so digustingly wonderful.

Both of them are gorgeous. (Thanks to Princess Diana for the good genes that stopped him from looking too much like his dad)

Which leaves me wondering...how in gods name do  the ugly genes take over in the royals!!

Thankfully they are starting to marry..erm...some more unique genes.

Still, this is the wedding that so many little girls dream of; a handsome prince charming, and Wills really has that Prince Charming look.

Plus, he gave her his mum's ring.

How freaking sweet is that?

GAH!!

Where's my Prince Charming!!

I demand he show up now!

With a ring like that!!!

~sigh~

Burning Out On TV

This seasons shows really aren't doing anything for me. At least this years US shows. Most of the stuff I find from the UK I really enjoy.

Castle has been boring me silly this season.

Big Bang Theory is rather Ho Hum!

I hate Two And A Half Men, and wish Charlie Sheen would go to jail for awhile so that this show would go away.

Law and Order....dullsville

CSI...same thing.

BTW how many spinoff shows can we have here!

Right now I'm enjoying Mike & Molly, The Middle, Better With You, Modern Family, Shit My Dad Says and Psych.

That said, I can't wait til Christmas when Doctor Who comes back for a few episodes and the Eureka Christmas special

The Word Of The Day: Fuqua

Fuqua, its a fancy word you say when you want to say Fuck, but really shouldn't.

My dad has had a cold for the last two days. Its more like a sinus infection, but its been wearing him down, and it doesn't help matters that he has COPD. (emphasyma).

So my mum gives him cough syrup, which then causes him to to go into a coughing fit, leaving me to wonder if I'm going to be spending the next 5 hours in the ER.

I wish she's just let him suck on his cough drops.

At least he's sounding a bit better now.

I lost a few years off my life dealing with it.

At the rate things are going, I'll be dead by next year, and they'll live for another 15!!

Fuqua!

My New Favorite Video

This song is so fun and cute..and the cowboy is hot.




Laura Bell Bundy has actually appeared in a few Broadway shows, Legally Blonde being one of them.  I find it really funny that she is a country singer, but actually a pretty good one.

I think I'm going to watch the video again...and maybe again...That cowboy sure do have a purdy face!

Camera Critters

It's time for the Camera Critters meme, because we all know how much I like animals

Here are some photos of one of the bazillion kitties that come and eat on our porch. Apparently we serve the best cat food in town.

This is Miss Tabby




and this is another gorgeous little one that comes every day for noms

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 Artists You Never Expected To Like But You Do


You guys know the drill. Play along in the comments or in your journal. This meme is created for my site Music Memoirs. Feel free to go there and check out my other weekly memes and play along.

1. Zac Brown Band: I like more country music now than ever before, mostly because it really isn't pure country. I think I really didn't like the band's name. It screamed redneck to me. Then I heard them do As She's Walking Away on the CMA's this week and I was in love.

2. Mika: When his first album came out, I dismissed him. Didn't bother to listen. Then I heard We Are Golden. I was an instant convert.

3. Mitchel Musso: I never ever thought I'd like a Disney kid, but this one can really sing and they aren't trying to make him into the next best thing, so he might stand a chance.

4. Diana Krall: OK, I just wanted to hate her, cos she is married to "The Man". However after listening to The Girl In The Other Room, I gave up trying to hate her, and fell in love with the whole Krallstello thing.

5. Lady Gaga: I love to hate her, but damn it her music is catchy and I can't totally hate on her. Though I think I will always wish she'd just go away....so I don't get any more of her earworms stuck in my head...Papa ...Paparazzi

Behold The Power Of Coffee

I have totally fallen in love with the new Carmel Mocha Latte at McDonald's. I still can't believe all the good coffee costs $3.50 and if it's from Starbucks or some other fancy coffee place it is more like $5.00.

Oye!

I never thought I'd spend that kind of money on a drink that didn't have alcohol in it!

What is funny is that places like Sheetz and my Exxon  Buy N' Fly have great coffee too at much cheaper prices, but I'm seldom there when the need for caffiene strikes.

Go figure.

So tell me, what is your favorite coffee and what's the most you've ever spent on a cup o' Joe.

BTW the best coffee I've had was in Berlin, OH at Java Joe's

Murphy's Law

If I have to go to Pittsburgh for my boss, it will be a beautiful sunny day in the city.

If I go to Pittsburgh to spend the day there it will be overcast or cloudy.

Why is this?

I am in firm belief that I am allowed to have no joy.

I had to drop something off in the city for him...remember that the city is about 30 miles from where I live and work. I couldn't stop for lunch, even though he shipped me off at about 12:15 pm. I got stuck in construction and I had to pass all the places I love to go on the way in and out: Crazy Mocha, Pita Pit, Quadbo, Cheesecake Factory, Primantis, Buca, Hard Rock..do I need to go on.

There's really a certain amount of unfairness to all of this.

Oh and the Christmas lights were up at Station Square.

Grrrr

Wow!

I had nothing to say yesterday. I think that's a first in a very long time.

I guess it had to do with running around like a fool after work, which is becoming a regular occurrence and then fighting for the shower, which shouldn't be a regular occurrence but it is, getting to the Y to get my exercise in and then flopping down on the couch to watch Mike and Molly.

I lead a very exciting life, don't I?

I think it is because I'm sick of politics...because politics makes me sick.

Entertainment news is so bleh.

Billy Ray and Tish are the only thing amusing me.

Why?

Some stars fight over money...they are going to fight over the kid....just the one...the one that makes more money than they ever did.

LOL.

Then Janelle reminded me of Conan...I can't say it enough...I freaking can't stand Conan O'Brien. Actually I can't stand any late night shows...seriously...go to bed people.

On a happier note...

Psych is back tomorrow night and it looks like we'll be getting a Christmas episode!! Woo hoo!

Powell's Books!

Have any of you done any online shopping at Powell's Books?

It looks like an interesting online shop and unlike so many of the big book retailers online, it seems to be all books.

All kinds of books. OK, they have lots of the Doctor Who books and that makes me so excited, since these are a pain in the butt to find here. Plus so many of them have those beautiful covers with David Tennant on them.

Any book with David Tennant on the cover is a good book in my eyes.

Actually they can put Matt Smith on the cover too. He's not a bad looking bloke!

So if any of you want to make me happy this

Meet The Ferals

At some point in the last month or two, our neighborhood has acquired some feral cats. Or half feral, as they aren't totally afraid of humans. They are happy enough to eat the food we leave them on the porch.

I'm trying to figure out a way to possibly get them fostered out so they can find homes.

But right now I am a totally crazy cat lady, with my passel of puddy cats and a feral cat colony.

Here are two of them.

Camera Critters

If you want to play along with Camera Critters just go here

I shared the one picture of our cat food nomming opossum. BTW...I found out that it is opossum and not possum. Possum's are in Austrailia and New Zealand...Opossums are in North America.

Not sure what, besides the nose is different, nor do I want to find out.

But anyway...here's the opossum

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 ways music makes your days better.


You guys know the drill. Play along in the comments or in your journal. This meme is created for my site Music Memoirs. Feel free to go there and check out my other weekly memes and play along.

1. When it is stuff I love, it totally de-stresses me. I really should be playing The Moody Blues for the next 2 years at least, or until Sarah Palin gets shipped to Russia...she can see it from her house, ya know!

2. It is a pick me up whenever things are not going quite right or when I need energizing. There's nothing like a favorite song to get things moving.

3. If its an album I'm reviewing, it makes me some money. (Money is always good)

4. My Oldies Radio station makes my day go faster. Anything that can make work go faster is awesome.

5. It makes exercise easier. Without music, who really wants to exercise?

What I'm Reading

I picked up a copy of Kathy Reich's Bare Bones when I was at the YMCA awhile back and I finally got around to reading it.

All I can say to people who are fans of the series Bones, which was inspired by these books, you'll be in for a sad awakening. Brennan isn't much like her TV counterpart, but that's not to say the books aren't fantastic, because it really is.

If you like CSI type things, this is definitely a series worth checking out, even if Bones is a bit more human in the books.

I now have two more books from the series sitting on the shelf waiting to be read.

How sad is that?

Like I need to bring more books home!

Better still, like they won't still be at the YMCA when I finish this one!

Found On My Porch

Some people get raccoons.

We get baby possums.

Baby possums that like cat food.

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of a wild animal that is only about a foot from the front door?

Yes, I am crazy, but isn't this little critter cute?

Stupid Crappy Day

~ Hurry Down Doomsday the Repugnant ones are taking over.

~ Idiot check out girl didn't scan my advantage card at the grocery store..had to deal with customer service...which is NOT FRICKIN FUN!

~ Kids in the gym, not following the rules and screwing up my workout.

~ My latest review came with a Digital Download that was 19 untagged and unnamed mp3 files and no liner notes!!! NONE!!!

I'm so glad that its almost time for bed, because this day sure has been lousy. The only plus was getting a box of peanut brittle for 39 cents at the grocery store.

Yes, it is the little things in life that make me happy!!!

Sometimes I Wonder

How some people exist with no brain cells whatsoever.

I realize that I'm not a member of Mensa but the level of stupidity I deal with on a daily basis is just astounding. It makes me wish I didn't have to leave my house on a daily basis. Of course, I'd still be able to turn the TV on and see the fuckery and stupidity that occurs in Washington.

Seriously....I want to enlist Stewart and Colbert to have a Rally To Restore Intelligence!

Now that would be something.

I wonder if we could petition them?

I can only handle so much. I don't know how Bilbo survives working so close to such great stupidity on a daily basis. It has to be hard on the sanity!!!