It's all about the punctuation

I would soooooo love to be that guy! I know, I know, I have ranted and bitched about the decline of language before. But seriously! Do you listen to people talk? I have been wondering about how hard it must be for people to learn English as a second language when nothing spoken on the street or in music is at all what it is in the classroom. Ya feel me, dawg?

Maybe it's a sign of age? I don't know. What I do know is that it bothers me, no that's not right, it scares the crap out of me. Who will be the new Shakespeares, the new Mark Twains? Hell, who is going to be the new Shel Silversteins of the world? Will there be another Charles Dickens?

I don't know what the future holds for the English language but it seems that standards have been dropped or just dispensed with altogether. Is it a good thing? Not good as in good vs evil, but more like good-useful, good-productive, that sort of good. Language is like a river ever-flowing, ever-changing, but sometimes it moves at a pace that is hard to appreciate when you are in the midst.

Any thoughts about this? Is it occurring in all languages at the same pace? I know when I try to do online chats with friends in Latin America the shortened-up IM Spanish is like a whole new language for me.

Lemme know whatcha think, a-iiiiggghhht?

5 minutes of pure joy

Check this out, just in case you aren't one of the 6,000,000+ who have already seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

BB & other t.v. updates

It's about flipping time! Big Brother is back on. Summer night time viewing is happening. Now, initially I think I liked 2 or 3 of the new houseguests/hamsters, but as their true colors start breaking through I may have to revise my opinion.

WARNING!!! Because my brain has turned 50 and menopause has kicked in, my memory has turned to crap SOOOOO since I watch the Showtime after dark stuff which is in "real time" as opposed to the Sunday and Tuesday night shows which are recorded snippets of what happened during the week, I may be talking about things that are happening in the house NOW, and that may reveal who is on the block, who is talking smack about someone else, who is sleeping with whom, all that sort of stuff. So if you don't watch the live feeds or the night time stuff on Showtime, you may just want to skip my talks about BB, or alternately you could just pick up on what's happening and not have to suffer through 3 hours of late night viewing!

What gives with this year's cast? For the most part they are sooooo boooring I can't stand it. The ones that aren't boring are just irritating. Could Chima's laugh be any more annoying? I would be pushing the button, throwing in the towel, doing whatever it took to get me the hell out of there if I had to listen to her all day and all night long. OMG! The other one that irritates the beejeebers out of me is Natalie. S T F U, now! Good Lord she is so aggressive, belligerant, defensive, and just plain mean. Aaaarrrgh! Of course, I couldn't stand Natalie from 2 seasons ago either. Maybe it's just Natalies in general I don't like? :)

Hell's Kitchen started up last night with a bang, didn't it? Seriously? If you are making a "signature dish" to serve to Gordon Ramsay so that he can make a judgment about you, your skills, your so-called culinary point of view, etc; would you bring out the sausage gravy and biscuits? Are you looking for a job at a truck stop in Atlanta? wtf? No wonder that poor schmuck got kicked out. And the way they ended it? With that guy that sounds like he's from south Boston up in Chef Ramsay's face? What was that? Did someone spike that guy's water? That all just seemed to come out of left field. Very odd.

But nothing was as weird as seeing Gordon Ramsay's new highlights. What was up with his hair? Hmmmm???

What else have I been watching? MTV has been running a series called 16 and pregnant, and it is surprisingly good. Really good. I am hoping they are going to put it on dvd and we can use it as a teaching tool for some of our younger clients so they know what they are up against. It seems like a great way to reach some of the kids before they get in that situation. This week they are doing a reunion show of a sort with all the girls, babies, baby daddys if they are still around, etc. and Dr. Drew. I hope it's going well for all of them.

That new HBO series called Hung is shaping up to be a good one. Entourage is back on, praise the Lord! And speaking of HBO series, I totally called it that True Blood is going to end the season with a confrontation between Sookie and Jason at that weirdo church compound. All things point to a big show down there.

More later!

R.I.P. Gato Pato

My Gato Pato, the King of the House, died Saturday night at 8:36. I was waiting to post something till I could find some good pictures of him to post as well. But I haven't had the time to go through all the pictures and choose any yet.

So I just wanted to mark his passing by saying how much we all loved him. Gato was honestly the best cat ever. He came to us as a little skinny guy with a pointy nose, big round eyes and looked like a baby possum. Jonathon and Rachel Pie were riding their bikes around our house in Argentina and saw him and of course came home wanting to know if they could have him. When Jonathon tells this story it seems as if it was all him and no Rachel Pie! Since that day in March of 1995 Jonathon and Gato were inseparable. Jonathon was my Chubby and Gato was the Skinny. Through the years Jonathon became tall and skinny and Gato got downright plump for a while. But the nicknames stuck.

When we took Gato in it was just after my dad had passed away and we calculated Gato's birthday to be near that same time. It made me a little wishful that maybe my dad had sent Gato to us. We already had Sammy our little Shih Tzu and Muffin the meanest calico cat in the world. So skinny little Gato came and just quietly demanded attention and stole our hearts. I swear he was a year old before we ever heard him speak. Never a sound out of him. Sometimes Mr. Big Ed and I would take Sammy for walks around the neighborhood and Gato would come with us.

In December of 1996 Sammy died and right after that Muffin disappeared. Just a couple weeks later we moved to Chile and Gato was the only pet with us. Not long after we moved he disappeared and was gone for about 3 weeks. We all thought he was gone for good and we were so surprised when he came strolling up a little skinnier than usual but fine. Gato got in a routine in Chile of getting up every morning and leaving the house, he would never go far and he came in every evening. We all said that Gato went to work every day with the 8 - 5 hours he seemed to keep. Then he started bringing friends home from work. First there was Charlie Barley, then Black Kitty. Then Old Black Kitty, and various other Black Kitties. There were a plethera of Black Kitties in that neighborhood!

Gato lived in 4 countries and six different houses with us. Over the years we acquired 3 more dogs and 4 more cats and he quietly let them know who was the boss. If any of the kittens were acting like fools and doing something stupid, all he had to do was give them "The Look" and that was the end of foolishness!

It is amazing to me how quiet the house is now. He never made any noise but the house has a vast emptiness to it without him. We buried Gato in the garden under a tree and are thinking of placing Sammy's ashes next to him.

Mr. Big Ed and I were talking about the remaining 4 cats and which of them might have "King of the House" possibilities. We're not seeing much potential there for leadership. Sorry, boys!

I will get to the pictures soon, but I wanted to do this for now.

Fun for the easily entertained

I don't know how I have missed posting something about this before, but here goes!
Miss Rachel Pie called me several months back and said "Mama! go to youtube and type in Literal Videos." Ok, so I did. And we laughed our asses clean off! They are hysterical. Have you seen these?

The one that seems to be the most well-done is Total Eclipse of the Heart. But there are plenty of them and probably more in the works.

So, go to youtube. In the search box, type in Literal videos and have a ball!

These are a few of my favorite things (sing with me!)

You know you want to, how can anyone NOT want to sing along with Julie Andrews? That is one of the best songs ever and should be on everyone's lists of their favorite things. ; ) Isn't it fun that we can take most any event or feeling or whatever in our lives and relate them to a song we have heard? You want to perk up and feel happy? Start singing "My Favorite Things" and you will feel better. Guaranteed.

And that is what I am doing today. I need to be perked up and happy so I am making a new list of favorite things. Here goes:

Freshly made bed with ironed sheets and pillow cases
Sleeping with the fan on
Running into an old friend in an unexpected place
Hearing a great old song on the radio that you haven't heard in 20 years
Chips and Salsa
Playing games; board games, card games, dominos, Mah Jongg, Farkle, Mouse Trap, pretty much any game. Except Risk. I am not a world domination kind of game player.
Spending time with my kids
Watching my 2 favorite things on the internet: The Free Hug Guy http://www.freehugscampaign.org/index.php?categoryid=1

And after Free Hug Guy I always go to Where the Hell is Matt
http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/index.shtml?fbid=A7fJFIWsqTG

If you are having a bad morning, I promise you that spending the 8 minutes or so that it takes to watch both of these will completely change your mood.

That's it for now. Thanks for playing along and feel free to share some of your favorites!

Back to Tara

Feeling very Scarlet O'Hara today. Fiddle-de-dee and all that stuff. Not the least bit interested in things that require actual deep thinking. Like complete sentences. Not making any of THOSE today either!

I attended a birth last Friday. It was fab-u-liscious!! I loved this couple and the way they worked together for their goal of a beautiful natural birth with no drugs. None for them, none for me, and especially none for that baby. And oh! What a handsome, alert, vocal and LARGE baby he is! I was so proud and honored to be there and witness his arrival into the world.

My Rachel Pie is leaving again. She is traveling and then heading back to school for her final semester. Woo Hoo!!! Then come the big decisions, staying for graduate school, working, working and going to school together, coming home and working or going to school or both, or whatever is behind Door #3. All these possibilities and only one life to live. What to do, what to do. Personally, I am of 2 minds on this and my opinion doesn't really count so I will tell you what they are.

1. She should come home and go to school here and live rent free.
2. She should spread her wings and go further afield and see what else is out there before she gets to the age of settling down and never gets to do that.

See, 2 sides of the coin. The practical, let's save some $$ side and the not-practical go where the wind takes us side.

On the other side, Sparky has decided to move back home and go to school full time to pursue his degree. Maybe that whole "nature abhorrs a vacuum thing" is what's happening? Rachel Pie is about done with school so it's Sparky's turn to be studious.

My first thoughts and wishes for both of them are that they are happy, healthy and doing what they love. But then I watch Suze Orman and all I want them to do is SAVE EVERY FREAKING PENNY THEY COME ACROSS!! There will be no social security to care for them when they are old and they better start putting aside for that rainy day now. How scary is that? We would love to make it so that they don't have to consider these things but since we are not Rockefellers or Vanderbilts, that is the way of the world.

My new motto is "Instead of trying to have more and more things make you happy, try to enjoy the freedom of being happy with less." Surely, someone has said that more eloquently than I.

Here's to a summer of the revolving front door! One in, the other one out. Someday, hopefully, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, BOTH of them will be home again at the same time. :)

Big Brother is Back

The summer fun has begun! The new season of BB is back and we have loads of new people to love and hate. The whole "back to high school clique" thing could be good or just blow up in their faces. I for one, would HATE it if I went in planning to play my individual game and got hit with that! What on earth could be worse than having to re-live h.s.? Good Lord!

I'll tell you what's worse than re-living high school. Re-living high school on camera, locked in a house with 11 other people . . . . . .



and JESSIE!!! o. m. g.

I wish I could relate how much I can't stand him. What a complete tool he is! Aaaaauuuggghh. Another whole summer with Jessie. Can I just say o. m. g. one more time? I feel like coughing up a fur ball. Blech.

Right off the bat I have to say I kind of like the cute gay graphic design guy, the scientist girl and Lydia the tattooed lady. Anyone who comes on and knows that great song that Groucho Marx sang gets to move right to the top of my list! Go Lydia! I am not sure about the rest of them.

And how much does it suck that in real life the damn jocks run around high school like they own the place and now they get to do the same thing on BB this week? Please, please, please let some other clique win HOH next week.

Thoughts on the clique twist? Thoughts on the new hamsters?

Random thoughts

When I last posted it was Saturday and I know you have been anxiously waiting with baited breath to find out how my a/c saga turned out. Can you even believe that Mr. Big Ed called the a/c guys to see if there was anything they could do or recommend? Me neither, but he did. And can you further believe that they sent someone over to fix my a/c? At 8 p.m. on Saturday night! On the 4th of July! He was here during prime fireworks shooting time! Now that is some job dedication, people!

He got it up and running and I was so grateful. Now I have to figure out how to fix the ceiling in the laundry room that has huge gross rusty water stains on it and replace the light fixture that had water running in it. I am really leary of that fixture now because after it dried I turned it on and a weird smell and some smoke came out from around one of the bulbs. That does not seem to be normal behavior for a light fixture. I think the ceiling needs to be replaced but Mr. Big Ed thinks we just need to scrape the cottage cheese crap off and re-paint it. I don't think that's right. But I will do some research to find out what really needs to happen.

Oh, I need to post some photos of the new lovely chain link fence too! Nothing like going in the backyard early in the a.m. in my nightgown to let the dogs go pee and look over and there's the Colonel! Hey Colonel! It's just me in my gown. Me and squatting dogs.

Speaking of The Colonel, yesterday me and Sparky were sitting on the front steps enjoying the morning view and he says to me, "Mama, look over there" pointing in the direction of TC & MB's house. So I did. And what do you think we spy? THREE GIANT TURKEY BUZZARDS!! That's what. These ginormous turkey buzzards were roosting on a big tree branch that runs parallel to the ground. They were all facing north (away from us). Odd buzzard behavior. So I called TC & MB and no answer. That meant I had to go over there and scope out their yard for dead critters and such to see why the turkey buzzards were there. Actually there was a 4th buzzard on a different branch acting as a lookout. Nothing dead there. All we could figure is they were en route to some other place and just stopped for a breather.

The whole time watching the turkey buzzards I kept thinking about the scene in the Jungle Book where the buzzard/vulture guys are talking in their British accents "Whatcha want to do today?" "Oh I dunno, what YOU want to do?" "Oh, I dunno, what YOU want to do?" Back and forth like that. Ha!

My Gato Pato has perked right up with all his drugs and seems to be very happy and alert. The kids are saying he's "on the juice" what with all the steroids and such. Poor Gato! To be old and sick and now he is being libeled!

I have 2 clients who are due in the next couple of weeks so that is exciting! Looking forward to their births. Both babies will be welcomed into very loving families. Woo Hoo!!

And now I am off to do laundry. Oh the joy of weekly chores. Be still my heart.

Big Brother Countdown!

It is officially that time of year! The time of No Sleep, and Big Brother all the time. Big Brother on live feeds. Big Brother after dark on Showtime. Big Brother twice a week on network t.v. Have I mentioned that it is time for Big Brother??? ;)

Woo Hoo!!! I have already been scoping out different sites that have the new decor of the house and all the rooms and the new twists and turns to the game. We will have to wait till next Thursday to see who the players are and who we like and who we can't stand! OMG! Just too excited over here.

Anyone else excited about this besides me and my friend Richard? I am thinking we might need to do a Big Brother watching party.

However, I can't plan anything yet because . . . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . my stupid A/C decided to do something stupid last night. Last night. A major "holiday eve". No A/C repairman till Monday. Nice.

Sleeping in the heat. Double Nice.

Living in the heat. Really Nice.

Today is shaping up to be a going to the movies kind of day, don't you think? In spite of the sarcasm above I am in a pretty good mood and not too concerned about the A/C. I am adopting a laissez-faire attitude about it. Zen-like. I would say calm, cool and collected, but to be accurate it would calm-ish, warm, and semi-collected. ; )

Enjoy your 4th whatever you are doing, grilling hot dogs, eating watermelon, watching fireworks displays, whatever! I will be staying in a dark, cool movie theater till the sun goes down.