We Love Them Hens

Last night we went to a Mud Hens game and it was really fun. We won! But my son lost his voice "screaming for ice cream". He's all hoarse today. : )

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Funniest thing I heard "today": Last night, on the way home, we saw a cherry-picker and the truck it was on was red. We were trying to figure out if it belonged to the fire department or to the city. My little one said, "Not all red vehicles belong to the fire department. Look! A fire car! Another fire car!!" Z said "I've got a fire sports car. If you have a fire, I can get there really fast! But I can't do anything."

Tuning In

The other day my 11 year-old brought me his student guitar and said "Look mom, I tuned it. It was really awful but I fixed it." I plucked through the strings and only one of them sounded slightly off. I said, "That's pretty good! How'd you do it? Did you find the pitch pipes?" He said, "No, I just remembered what you hummed when I saw you tune it." Which I haven't done for a year, dang! But this is the toddler in the morning who would be humming songs he heard in Dad's car on the way home the day before. (Is that Smoke on the Water?) And the one that blew us all away on the musical perception test.

This weekend I watched the movie August Rush. I liked that movie. (I like all movies about kids overcoming things, like Akeelah and the Bee, and Second Hand Lions, and even AI.) August Rush is about a boy who is a ward of the state searching for his parents. It's melodramatic but nice anyway. In one of the scenes he basically learns to read and write music in one day. Z said that was far-fetched. But I don't think so. Not if he had something in his head he really needed to write down.

I remember the week after I graduated from high school. My dad got me a nice keyboard for a graduation present. I played with that thing day and night for a week. I learned some Bach. Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, the whole thing, which took 3 days. Part of the first Goldberg variation, another day. And Bouree, which I learned in the wrong key because I couldn't find my tape. I used to think that in a past life, I could have been... somebody who really liked Bach. : )

Maybe I could have been a musician. But I tried to learn to read music, and I couldn't stand it. Looking is not hearing. (But it's cheating, isn't it?)

I do know I need to notice my kids talents and nurture them. Definitely steering that one towards orchestra!

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Funniest thing I saw today: A dreamcatcher, hanging from the rear-view mirror of a car.

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(New Category!)
Movies, Movies, Movies: Recently we saw the movie "Vantage Point". It looks pretty good in the trailer, and it is an okay movie, all in all. But the way they rewind the movie over and over to show the scene from different perspectives is extremely annoying. "Aw, geez! Not again!"

Jill in the Box

Hi! Sorry I haven't been around for a few days. I've been working hard.

Chef Nick wanted me to post the link to my old band, so here it is.

To download our songs, just click the download link under each song.

I added some pictures, circa 2004.

UPDATE: Apparently you have to be logged into MySpace to see MySpace pictures, so here they are on Flickr.

Conveyor Belt 3

It took a while. But I've got my space back! : )

Fanatic

A TV commercial shows ceiling fans pouring out money. I think medical bills from ricocheting pennies would eat up all the profits.

Trading Influences

The kids did the dishes and I went off to fold laundry. Two boring minutes later, I remembered my son's iPod. "Hey! There are a lot of good songs on here!" Of course. I had loaded it for him with all my favorite songs from my favorite cd's. Heavy on the rock and light on the folk for him...

One of my guilty pleasures is the show, "Trading Spouses" where they send a parent to live with a different family for two weeks. Even though the show is a production, and the families seem mixed for maximum conflict, and edited for emphasis, and some of the scenes are as real as wrestling, I never fail to learn something. It's fascinating the different levels of intensity vs. laid-backness, or different values that surround each family.

Last week the "new mom" confronted the father about indoctrinating his kids with the evangelical Christian lifestyle. He basically said yes, indeed.

And so I've indoctrinated my children with my taste in music? (It happened to me, Roger Whitaker was funny!) And TV, must watch NOVA, must watch Jeopardy, must watch Nature. And food, my husband eats what I cook. (Or mostly, I eat what he cooks.) And talking to each other, we form a consensus. Or stick to our differences which we can tease each other about. (Or use as alternate solutions.)

It's like a house is a very tiny little world. (It's got all the best people, the ones whose faces make or break your day.)

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Funniest thing I saw today: This little turtle is a cute overload!

Hey, America

My husband and I were watching a news story about the mortgage crisis and how the government may step in to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. My husband said, "The first thing they need to do is change the stupid names." I said, "Freddie Mac makes me think of Freddie Mercury, you know, the singer from Queen." He said, "Not me. It's makes me think of Bernie Mac: 'Hey America, I lent you all my money so you could buy your house and now you won't pay me back. Why won't you pay me back, America?'"

And so I logged on to post this cute story and I find out Bernie Mac is in the news for making an inappropriate joke. Way to ruin my cute story. But at least I'm topical now. : )

Conveyor Belt 2

Ha! I have boys, with muscles, who can carry boxes to the shed. All I have to do is supervise.

Sometimes I wonder if it is stupider to complain about everyday, normal life or stupider not to complain about everyday, normal life.

Conveyor Belt

I heard "Stayin' Alive" on the radio and thought, "Wow, I'd like to learn that bass line." When I got back to my office/library/music room I see how things really are. I don't have room to get out and play my guitars let alone set up my PA because in reality, my family has piled my office with stacks of Rubbermaid boxes with miscellaneous stuff for me to "go through". While I've been sleeping my family has turned my space into a junk room. It inches up on you and then piles up on you. (My own fault for letting others drop their crap on me.)


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Mashup I am not going to make: "Forever Your Girl" and "Tears of a Clown"

Elbows vs. Melons

Funniest thing that happened today: My son is sitting here because he's wants to show me a new game called "Spore" as soon as I will let him. : )

He bent down to get his shoes from under the table. I put my hand out, blocking his head from the table. ("Watch your melon!")

He hit his head on my elbow on the way up instead!

Well I'm off to see "Spore" now. Maybe I'll make a melon. (With elbows!)

Less Paperless

Why we'll never go completely paperless: Because the guy out back with the fork truck and the pen--anything he scratches out and writes on your form is way more important than whatever the computer thought and archived to pdf.

You've Seen Nothing Yet

Sometimes I listen to my morning AM station for local issues, but they have a guy on there who rants about normal things almost as if he has no idea how anything works. I'll make up an example: "And the city requires vendors to have the contracts notarized... And they leave it up to the vendors to find a notary... And the vendors have pay the notary fee themselves!

Anyway, I listened to NPR yesterday and there was a protest group chanting and the chant I remember was "We'll be back! We'll be back!..." This chant does not have a lot of punch.

It just goes to support the rule: Plan it out ahead of time.

Under The Rainbow

There was a big storm this afternoon. A tornado spotted in town. The rain pelted down. Thunder. My boss said get away from the windows. My back was bothering me and I went out to the middle of the office to sort some paperwork... After a bit I went back to my office. I heard a loud noise that sounded like a tornado but I think it was just thunder... Made a fool out of myself by running into my boss's office "Did you hear that loud noise???" I am such a wuss.

I'll never forget one tornado: 10 years ago I was taking my toddler and baby to the babysitter, Chery's. The skies darkened dramatically on the way. Just when we got there the rain started to pour, in sheets. I got the car seat/carrier detached and grabbed little Z by the hand and headed up the walk. I got halfway up and Chery's daughter came out to help. She grabbed the baby from me... but Z had disapeared!

Suddenly, overhead, I heard the sound of a hundred freight trains, a deep groan. I spotted Z, he was back in the car. I ran back to the car, I don't care what, and got in with him and waited a while for the sheets of rain to die down. We went in and watched the TV weatherman spotting the tornados where we were. I called in to work to tell them I would be late. My clothes were as drenched as if I'd jumped in a pool. Chery lent me an outfit to wear to work. I was about an hour late.

We saw the top of her willow tree had been broken off by the tornado. It's taken about 10 years but it almost looks like a normal willow tree now.

The strongest thing my Dad's given me, and I hope I've passed on to my kids is the work ethic. The dedication.

Shoe Suede Blues

I'm going to see Peter Tork and the Shoe Suede Blues right now! Had to miss the Weird Al Yankovic show for this, but that's how it goes...

UPDATE: I got there too late and they were sold out. I asked for a peek and got to stand there for a minute, cleverly saving myself $20. I saw him, just didn't see much...

From The Back of Your Head

I told my son I was pretty sure he was going to grow another foot. He looked at me, confused, and said "From where?"

Happy 4th of July!

Silently Blessed

Huh.

I just sneezed and then immediately said "Thank you." My office neighbor is not here today. Boy, am I spoiled or what? : )

All Clear

I'm home. My mom's home. She's doing really well. No C!
: )

I've Seen Worse

Okay, so I'm on my way to spend the day at the hospital with my mom. I'm getting ready to leave and I was going to bring a comic book my friend lent me because I'll have plenty of reading time... Wait, can I really sit in a hospital with a book called "The Walking Dead"?

Thank goodness for book bags.