What's on my nightstand, so to speak

I used to post pics of the stacks of books on my nightstand.  And that was kind of fun.  But since I have a Kindle that I love so very much, it is more difficult to share with you what I am reading.  I am a very visual person, meaning my style of learning and remembering is visually based.  So I would love to show you the cover of the book I am currently reading, but who wants to look at a pic of a Kindle screeen?

And so I go online to look for a picture of the current book and here it is!

Some how on the Blue Zones website they only have one photo of the book, and it is a combo pic of both books together.  I am reading the one on the right.  It is really, really interesting stuff.  And while I was over at the Blue Zones website I took their happiness quiz, to see how truly happy I am in my current surroundings and such.

I got a B+!!!!

Not too bad!  Their recommendations were that I get outdoors more often (I don't know about that, because  outdoors here means suffering greatly with horrible allergies for weeks after just one excursion) and that I stop watching so much t.v. (Well, of course I saw THAT one coming!!)

Check it out and please, feel free to come back and report on your happiness findings and which areas they recommend some adjustments in your life.

Return of one of my favorite things

I had a jar of Pickled Spiced Peaches in my pantry last year and I had no recollection of how they got there. I am sure I bought them somewhere, but where?  Anyhoo, I broke them open and, my oh my!  It was like nectar of the Gods.  It was the perfect contrast of sweet, tart, spicy and juicy.  It was perfect, is what it was. So I searched high and low.  I searched near and far.  I even got smart and scoped out their website.  They claimed that the closest grocery store to me is about 300 miles away and it's a chain I have never been in. Hmmmpph.

I let it go.  I assumed that I had picked them up when traveling sometime and the likelyhood of running across these little gems was zilch.

And what happened yesterday, I ask you?  Do you think I was at one of my favorite stores and ran across these Pickled Spiced Peachy little wonders?  Yes indeedy!  There they were.  Cases of them standing at the end of the cat food aisle. (Not exactly where I would market jars and jars of peaches, but there they were)

So I snagged 2 jars this time.

This is what the old jar looked like.  The new one is squatter and fatter.  I am beside myself to open one of them up and find something to go with them.

Last jar of these started out as a side dish for a pork loin and it was fabulous.  And then I started pouring out the juice and some of the peaches on yogurt and on cottage cheese.  This is one of those awesome things that people say you could put on a turd and you would love it.  I, myself, will not be mixing turds in with my fabulous Pickled Spiced Peaches.

On the website they have recipes using their products and here is the one recipe they have starring the peaches.

Pickled Peach Salad

Ingredients:

-3 oz. Packaged orange jello
-1 cup of boiling water
-22 oz. Jar of Pomona Sunshine Pickled Peaches undrained
-cup finely chopped celery
-cup chopped nuts (optional)

Recipe Instructions:

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water; set aside. Drain peaches, reserving 2/3 cup juice. Add peach juice to gelatin mixture and stir well. Coarsely chop the peaches and add with the celery and nuts to the gelatin mixture. Pour into individual molds. Serve with dressing of pineapple yogurt with a little cool whip and miracle whip added in.

I might even give this recipe a test drive and see.  I bet it would be better in apricot jello rather than boring orange.

Don't you just love finding unexpected little treasures like that?  It sure made my day!

Where'd ya hear that? Return of the Jedi

O. M. G.!  Ever since I wrote all those movie quotes a couple days ago, that's all I can get in my head is MORE movie quotes.  And you know how that is, the only thing to do with something stuck in your head is to share with the rest of the class.

I can NOT believe I didn't put Princess Bride at the top of the list!  Think of how many great quote-a-longs there are from that movie.

"Inconceivable!"

"Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die."

"Mawwiage is what bwings us togethew.  Wuv, twue wuv"

"As you wish"

Awwww, the most perfect kiss of all time.  Who knew Princess Buttercup would grow up to become Forrest's Jenny.

"Run, Forrest, Run!"

"and me and Jenny, we was like peas and carrots"

"I'm sorry I ruined your Black Panther Party"

"there's boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp salad, shrimp etoufee', creole shrimp, . . . . "

"Lieutenant Daaaaaaan!"

"You got magic legs"

"Mama always says, (insert pertinent Mama quote)"

and then there is:

"There's no crying in baseball!"

"Houston, we have a problem"

"say Hello to my little friend"

and Jack Nicholson whose cheese has slid right off his cracker when he says "Here's Johnny!"

"Surely, you can't be serious?"  "Yes I am, and stop calling me Shirley"

and one of the most hilarious lines ever from When Harry met Sally, "I'll have what she's having".

So, I got online and looked up famous movie quotes and boy are there a bunch of them.  Wikipedia has a list of the Top 100 most famous movie quotes.  And even though I knew Casablanca had a lot of great quotes, it surprised me that it has the most, followed up by Wizard of Oz.  Interesting stuff.

I promise I am all done on this topic for a while.  But be sure to let me know your favorites.

Where'd ya hear that?

I was thinking the other day of how many things have become part of our daily lexicon that came from books or movies.  For example, if I said "a rose by any other name" you would know that this is part of a line from William Shakespeare.  As is  "kill all the lawyers".

Everyone knows We're gonna need a bigger boat! (Jaws)

Nobody puts Baby in a corner! (Dirty Dancing)

Mistakenly people use "Play it again, Sam" when Bogey really says "Play it, Sam".  Hell, you could use that whole movie as quotes, there are so many great lines.

How many times have you heard "You're KILLING me, Smalls!"?  (Another fabulous movie right there!)

"Anyone?  Buehler?  Buehler?"

"These aren't the droids you're looking for"

Pretty much the whole movie, Dazed and Confused, for me is a quote.

and who in the whole world hasn't heard "You'll shoot your eye out!"?  OMG, yet another great quotable movie!!

"Fra-geee-lay, must be Italian"

"Bumpus!!!!"

"Fa Ra Ra Ra Rahhhhh"

Seriously, A Christmas Story is one of the all-time great movies.  I could watch it every single week of the year.

Remember these:

"I could have been somebody.  I could have been a contender"

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"

"You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna get medieval on your ass."


"I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."


"Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself.' And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked 'em up."


***Actually, our favorite quote from A Fish Called Wanda is when Otto (Kevin Kline) keeps driving his giant American car around London on the wrong side of the road and yelling "ASSHOLES!!!" out the window to all the very correct British people who almost hit him.


Remember this one:


"My daughter is in pain...Give my daughter the shot!"


 "One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I don't know."


***Let me just say here, there never has been anyone like Groucho and there never will be.  I will watch the Marx Bros. anytime and any place.  Love Groucho!!


"But I want to be alone."


And from Gone with the Wind we have tons of great quotes:


"Lawdy! We got to have a doctor! I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies."


"No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed - and often, and by someone who knows how."


"...Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?"
- "Frankly, my dear. I don't give a damn."


"As God is my witness, they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill! As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."


"I'll think about it tomorrow. Tara! Home. I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!"


and think about The Wizard of Oz.  Good Lord, that whole movie is a bunch of great quotes.  How many times have you heard people say, "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore"?  or even "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"?

I had to look this one up to get all of it right.

 "I know what you're thinkin'. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"


My kids even know this one, but from subsequent parodies, not from the original.


"Is it safe?"


Doesn't that one give you the heebee jeebees?


"But, Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa NOW!!"


"Soylent Green is people!"


"What we've got here is a failure to communicate"


"Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?"


And for your enjoyment, check these latest photos of Lester Buster.
Now, can you imagine being that relaxed?  That boy loves himself some basking in the sun, that is for sure!!

New Bed!

Okay, here's Old Lumpy.  I had already put the quilt in the washer and removed all the blankies and was stripping the bed when it dawned on me to take some pics.  So that's why you are seeing Old Lumpy dressed up in 29 year old sheets.  You might further notice that we have a shitload of pillows up there at the top.  Mr. Ed has 3 pillows and I have 4 1/2 pillows.  We do like ourselves some comfy pillows!

Can you see the big high spot in the middle and the two low sinkholes on either side of the place where you get high-centered?

Ooops!  They took the mattress out before I could get a pic of it sans sheets.  Goodbye old box springs!!

Look, here are the brave, strong delivery dudes bringing in the new non-lumpy mattress.  See how they have to park waaaaaay down at the cul-de-sac and then schlepp that bad boy up the drive and then up the stupid steps that are a step-and-a-half wide each?  I hate those stupid step-and-a-half steps.

Here is one of the delivery dudes setting up the new frame.  Pay no attention to all the crap laying around the room while we make room for the removal and set-up.

Here's the new box springs all covered with a clean dust ruffle thing.  Lovely, uninformative photo.

And there's the new mattress!!!  See?  It still has the "Do not remove under penalty of law" tags.  It's all cushy, plushy and comfy!!

My friends Little Eliza and Virtuous Yvette showed up just in time to help me put new sheets on my bed and then try it out.  Don't we look like we worked really hard?  Don't you love my bunny slippers?  Don't you wish Yvette would put her whole self in and quit playing hokey pokey?

Actually, Little Eliza came by and rescued Old Lumpy from the delivery dudes truck and had them load it up on her truck and she took it home with her and it is now a "new" bed for her and her new husband. Yea for recycling and repurposing!!!

And here we have two more satisfied customers trying out the new bed.  Aaaaaahhh!  Can you just feel the relaxation?

Mr. Big Ed and I have spent more hours in the that bed this past weekend than I care to count.

Next purchase needs to be new headboard and nightstands.  Those things are just old and tacky.

Hope you enjoyed perusing the old vs new mattresses in Chez Lisa Pie!

The Reading of the Obits, yet again

Before I jump right into this past week's obituaries, I have to tell you the funniest story.  I was reading the local news online, since I only take the Sunday paper (for the obits) and there was an article about weird and interesting funerals.  So you know I clicked on THAT one first thing!  Anyhoo, in this article the owner of one of the large funeral homes was quoted several times.  This made me think he must be a big-wig in the local funeral parlor game.  Never in a million years would you ever guess this dude's name.  Never!  I kept going over and over the article because there is no way I thought this was real.

Picture this, me and Mr. Big Ed are bereaved and for some reason (knocking on all kinds of wood) are at the funeral home and having to make arrangements.  We are sad, we are overcome with grief, yet still having to make mundane decisions.  Then the director comes in and introduces himself.   "Hello, so very sorry for your loss.  My name is Dick Tipps and I will be here to serve you".

Yeppers.  Dick. Tipps.  They call me Mr. Tipps!

Did his parents wake up and say to themselves "Selves, we must toughen up this tiny little 6' 7" baby boy. I know!  Let's name him Dick!  Then he can get the crap beaten out of him every single day of his school career!!"  Not to mention he won't have a girlfriend to cramp his focus on his academics.

Mr. Big Ed and I were so bad, we giggled about this for quite some time and could not picture ourselves doing this and keeping straight faces.  I had to call my friend Patty Cakes and tell her all about it too.  I sure hope we aren't going to hell for our interest in obituaries and wanting to correct all the grammar in them.

On to the obits!!

Under the category of bad names, like the afore-mentioned Mr. Tipps:

We find Harold Rocco DeBona.  Was he known as Harry?  Harry DeBona?  His two sons were Rocco and Bruce.  Rocco Jr. was married to Sugar.  Sugar and Rocco DeBona.  You can totally picture this cast on the Sopranos, can't you?

Then we have Mae Gee who lived to the age of 95. (Yea Mae!!) She was born to Woo Gee and Shee Gee.  And yet her only 2 surviving brothers were named Paul and William.

New and interesting ways to say "died":

Linda Rose got her angel wings and was reunited with our Lord in her new mansion on Friday, Feb. 11.

Our dear sweet mother, Mary Louise, went to her heavenly home on Feb. 3 after a lenghy battle with dementia.

Jack Paul Leon died peacefully of pancreatic cancer at home on Wednesday, in the arms of his loving family.
**I have been with too many people in my family dying of cancer and I find it almost impossible to believe that was truly peaceful.  I sincerely hope that it was.

This next one also gets an award for longest run-on sentence. "Jenny Fleming, who was born in China and came of age in Shanghai during WWII and who married John T. Fleming Jr. in 1949, lost her valiant struggle with the complications of pneumonia and passed away peacefully on Feb. 7.
**I am sorry for poor Jenny Fleming, but seriously?  Who is born, came of age, got married, fights pneumonia and passes peacefully all in one sentence?  Give Jenny some dignity and use a period or two.

This one almost got the award for longest sentence, but they actually used two sentences for this. "Frances Marie "CISCA" Maestes, "Keka"; devoted daughter, inspiring sister, loving partner, loyal and generous friend, age 43, passed away quietly Saturday, Feb 5, at her home, surrounded by her family, into the waiting arms of her Heavenly Father. After a long and valiant battle with cancer; her spirit was just too big and too beautiful for her broken body to contain".
**The pain just leaps off the page in that particular one, doesn't it?  So sad to see these really young people who are truly in the prime of their lives dying of that no good bitch cancer.




Wonderful old names that we don't see anymore:

Eva Edna.  Love it!

Under the category of really interesting info:

"Curtis Wayne Lamb Hayes was born Sept. 13, 1937 in Long Beach, CA. Curt died from cardio/pulmonary failure. He also suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Curt was the only son of George Samuel Lamb and Almeda Marie Hill Lamb. In 1941, George was killed aboard the U.S.S. Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor."  Curt's mom remarried and he went on to live a great life and did loads of fun things.  It was a really nice, and interesting obituary.  A life well lived!

Then we come to Tara Nancy, who was way too young to die at 42.  Here is what they said about Tara. "Tara had an exciting career as a helicopter pilot, private and commercial, for 15 years and was a member of Whirly-Girls, International Women Helicopter Pilots."

"James Lee Oaks, age 70 went to be with the Lord on Feb 8. His death was unexpected. James was born in Coldwater Miss. August 3, 1940. He was from a family of 10 children and he lost his father in a fire when he was only 10 years old. He helped raise his siblings before he joined the Air Force."
**I can only imagine that losing his dad in such a horrible way was a defining moment in his life. Especially if he was only 10 years old.  I was curious as to where Mr. James Lee was in the birth order of those 10 kids.  My first thought was that he was the oldest, but that would mean there were 10 kids in as many years and can you imagine what his poor mama went through?  She would have been completely worn out with 10 kids under 10 and losing her husband.  So let's hope that James Lee was in the bottom of the pack and there were some teen-aged kids to help her out after this ordeal.


And one of the obits had a great little bit of info about the deceased that sounded a lot like me.  I read it to Patty Cakes and she said we should save it to work into my own obit.  "Mary was a life long homemaker, devoted wife and mother and an excellent seamstress, who could also crochet up a storm. She loved to work in the yard, watch the birds, do crossword puzzles and do for others. She also enjoyed many wonderful travels with Morris and friends over the years. But what she loved most was spending time with her family."

Now other than "an excellent seamstress", that sounds a whole lot like me.  And I would be traveling with Mr. Big Ed, not Morris.

Over all, it was some good reading this week.  Sadly, there were too many young people, and the worst of all was a little 15 month old named Madelynn.  The sweetest little picture of her accompanied her obituary.  So sad, just heart-breaking for this to happen.

I wasn't going to tell you this, but I will.  One of the obituaries was of someone I knew.  He was a very close friend of one of my friends.  I went to his funeral yesterday and it was so sad.  I barely knew this man and I cried like a baby when he got his military honors.  When they do the playing taps while also doing the whole folding of the flag and presenting it to the mama, you just can't keep it together.  No one should ever have to receive a flag for their child.  I am crying again just thinking about it.  We get lots of military funerals here since our Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetary is second largest behind Arlington.  And they keep those old veterans busy out there most every day doing the 21 gun salute and playing taps.  The ritual of the service must be hard for them to do day in and day out.  But that ritual is what is so meaningful to the mourners.  It was a beautiful service and I hope it was some comfort to his family.

And now, to completely change gears!!

Queen B!  would you prefer black, green or white tea?

February Free Tea Winner!

and drum roll . . . . . . . . . .



This month's winner of FREE TEA is . . . . . .


QueenB!!!

My first and long-time follower, QueenB!  Come On Down!!!

Yes, my friend, the price is right.  Free!

What could be better than Free?  Not much.

*Full disclosure here:  QueenB is my s-i-l and really is my first and long-time follower.  And I really did draw her name out of the hat.  But that does not mean YOU can't be the winner next month!  So be sure to come back and play along.

I am off to go do some post-partum work and then go to the Vagina Monologues (proceeds to benefit the Rape Crisis Center).  It's a great day, is what it is!

Come back soon and see the latest and greatest obits and other goings-on here at Chez Lisa Pie.

For Colored Girls

I watched the Spurs kick ass and take names last night (just to redeem themselves from the previous game's loss) and then I went to Movies On Demand.  I was all set to watch Red with Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, and Helen Mirren and then I saw the little promo for For Colored Girls.  So I chose that one.

Have you seen this little gem?  O. M. G.  What a fabulous, sad, wonderful, depressing, uplifting,  gritty, and gorgeous movie.  I could not believe it was made by Tyler Perry.  Some of the diaglogue was so riveting I could hardly contain myself from rewinding and watching it over and over again.

So today I got up and looked up what I could about it.  It was originally 20 poems by Ntozake Shange that was made into a play back in the 1970s.  The play was entitled For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf.

The movie has a cast that you can't believe.  Fabulous women!

I would love to say here that Whoopi Goldberg stole the show, or that one of my favorite actresses Loretta Devine was the star, but no.  This is an ensemble cast and they all fit together to lift up the sum of their parts to an even higher level.  It was so good.

And Macy Gray has a small but unforgettable role that will make you squirm.  Yes, there are men in this movie.  And it is to the credit of these talented actors that they can play their roles so well that they let the women shine through.

I am going to go read the obits as I normally do, and then since I have paid for this movie for 24 hours, I am going to watch it again.  which I never do.  It is that good.  Then I am going on Amazon to find a book of Shange's poetry that contains these 20 poems and I will be up tonight devouring them.

I don't know why this was not a huge success at the box office.  Maybe the subject matter was too in-your-face?  Maybe because they didn't know this is as far from Madea as Tyler Perry could get?  But I promise you, this is a movie you should watch.

Here's what I forgot to show you earlier this week

Look at that!  It "snowed".  It snowed enought to cover the steps, sidewalk, street and other really cold stuff, but not fully cover the grass.  We must have really warm dirt.  See where there was another car that left early?

I wish we had real snow, real winters.  I loved it so much when we were in Minnesota, the land of 4 distinct seasons.  I loved how things changed so much from month to month.  Come spring, every single month there were totally new things blooming.  There was not a single season I didn't love there. Funny how it is not on my short list of places to retire.  I might have to think on that.

Then when the huge drifts of snow cleared, Mr. Big Ed and I went mattress shopping!  Yea!!  We have needed a new bed for forever it seems.  I got a fabulous coupon deal in the mail from Sears and we spent a lot of time online scoping out what was available and getting Mr. Big Ed over his sticker shock before we ventured out to brave the cold, snow and ice.  And listen, it can be downright painful shopping with Mr. Big Ed.  He shops with both hands tightly over his wallet and his eyeballs glued to the price section of all the signs.  "Mr. Big Ed, which bed is most comfy and the one you think you can sleep on for the next 10 years?"  His answer?  "The cheapest".  Really?  Low prices make you that relaxed, do they?  Me, I need a little more from a bed than just cheapness.

Anyhoo, we headed out to go to Sears and take advantage of the great deal they mailed to me.  But we stopped off at JC Penney first.  We tried out every mattress there.  Now, if you are like me and have not shopped for mattresses in the last 10 years, here's a little head's up. They have store models that have a "Firm" side and a "Plush" side.  This is good because they can show off twice as many beds in half as much space.  It is BAD because there is no possible way for you and another person to both try out the same bed at the same time.  But since Mr. Big Ed thought he wanted a Firm, Hard as a Brick, Really Cheap bed, and I wanted the softest, Princess and the Pea Plushy model, it would have been perfect serendipity if they would just sell us one of those floor models.  Right?

Not a snowball's chance in Texas.

I started taking pics of the beds to document which ones we liked but it turned out to be more informative to take pics of the signs on the beds to remember the names of that model, since they all pretty much look the same.  So we narrowed down the Penney's beds to 4 that we liked.  The Sealy Oak Grove, the Serta Gentle Haven, the Simmons Danvers and the Simmons Marlowe.

Then we drove down to Mattress Firm, which threw me off my game in trying out beds because they had the word FIRM on all the beds and I didn't want to try them out.  And can I just say here that you know you are getting old when you fall in love with the bed with the electric controls to raise and lower the head and the knee sections?  Loved that bed.  Loved that bed.  Mr. Big Ed?  Not so much.  He saw the price and went in to a complete sticker shock and refused to get in it.  Dick.

FINALLY, we made our way to Sears and tried out all their beds and narrowed it down to 4 as well.  Then I pulled out my lovely letter from them entitling me to not only the 50% off, but the store was having another 10% on top of that and my letter gave me an ADDITIONAL 10%, PLUS free delivery and hauling off of Old Lumpy AND a free bed frame.  Turns out only 1 of the 4 we had selected was eligible for all this free stuff.  So we were between 1 bed at Sears and the 4 at Penney's.

Mr. Big Ed came out of his high price-induced coma and told me that the one feature that impressed him above all the others was the ones that had completely separate coils that worked independently from each other rather than as one big connected wire bouncy thing.  That narrowed the list down to 2 of the Penney's beds.  The beds that have this are the Simmons Beautyrest, in case you care.  So back to Mr. J. C. Penney's store we went.

And here is the winner!  The Simmons Beautyrest Danvers in the Plush, cushy, comfy version.  It is due to be delivered on either the 16th or the 18th.  Then Old Lumpy will be carted off by the Penney's people to get a Viking funeral or some such thing.  Normally, I really care about what happens to things, where they go and keeping things out of the landfill that don't necessarily need to be there, but I don't know of anything I can do with this poor, tired old bed.  So if you are in the market for a really old, sad, lumpy, saggy bed you have until either the 16th or the 18th to come get it.

Meanwhile, please feast your eyes on the soon-to-be new bed!  Aaaaah, can't you just feel the relaxation?  I sure can!

And for the last time this month, please do let me know if you want to be in the drawing for some FREE tea!  I will be choosing someone next week.  Maybe I will get organized and do it Monday for Valentine's Day?  Let me hear from you!

T.V. shows 2011 Part 1. Oh and FREE TEA

It is that time again.  February is sweeps month or some such thing and that is when all the shows pull out all the stops to make some great t.v. and hopefully revenue.  You would think that they would want this high quality programming all the time on their networks, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

First up:  Glee!  Did you see last night?  This new chubby chick they brought in who has always been such a grump was a hoot and a half.  She was just precious.  I kept thinking to myself "Self, I wish you had that kind of confidence and balls back in high school. Hell, I wish I had that NOW!!"  Love her attitude.  And Kurt and his almost-boyfriend were featured.  I miss him when he isn't on all the time, but I am happy that he is in the other school and thriving. ('Cause you know, he's real, and the school is real and the situation is real!)  I know, I am a dork.

Top Shot 2 started up last night.  I could not have been more excited!  Joann, I know you don't watch much t.v., but please tell your husband to look for this show on the History Channel.  It is really interesting and fun to watch all these marksmen learn new weapons and new challenges.  And as a bonus, it stars Colby Donaldson.

Yes, THAT Colby.  From Survivor.  He is such a doll.  So, Tuesday nights on History Channel, be there or be square!

Mr. Sunshine - new series for Matthew Perry starts up tonight.  I don't know anything about it, but I love Matthew Perry and I am willing to give it a shot.

DWTS - No word yet on who the so-called "celebrities" will be, but it is reported that Derek Hough won't be back for this season.  That's too bad, he is really, really good.  But maybe it is better for the others to try and rise up and fill that spot.  Cross your fingers we don't have a bunch of losers and has-beens and wanna-be's this time.

Shameless - If you haven't been watching this new series on Showtime, why the hell not?  William H. Macy has found the role of his life playing this sad, hilarious, unfortunate, drunk, single dad of six kids. It is set in Chicago and each week it seems to surpass itself in what all they can cram in to an hour long show.  Fabulous.  I can guarantee there will be nominations for this show.  Watch it, you won't regret the time invested in it.

Episodes - This is another new Showtime series that comes on right after or before Shameless.  It is one of those things that is so silly and far-fetched it has to be based on truth!  Matt Le Blanc is so good in this.  I know, you don't believe me, but he really is.  Just sit through the first 2 episodes of Episodes and you will be hooked.

Big Love - This is the last, final season for this HBO hit.  What will happen to the Henrichsons?  Will Bill get to keep his state representative seat?  Will all 3 sister wives stay with the family? Will the oldest daughter Sara ever show up?  How about Barb's 3 child, Teeny?  Where is she?  Will anyone finally put Albie out of his misery?  He is one evil dastardly dog, he is!  What's up with Nicki's daughter?  They all seem to be going off the deep end.  But not together.  They each have their own secret hell and misery to contend with.  I like this show.  I like how much I have learned about the off-shoot of Mormon polygamists.  It sure made a lot more sense of the mis-guided raid on the polygamist compound here in Texas from a couple years ago.  What a complete cluster-f*uck that was!

And to wind things up today, just a reminder to let me know if you want your name in the hat for the FREE TEA!!  Yes, I am trying to whittle down my tea stash by any means possible and I am now resorting to pawning it off on you.  : )

I promise any teas I send out will be fabulous and I hope you will love them.  Let me hear from you if you want to be one of the lucky winners.

Mish Mash, Super Bowl, Obits, and what-not

I have sooooo many things to talk about today!  Firstly, let's just talk about the Super Bowl and get it over with, shall we?

I gave up watching NFL games with any regularity years ago.  Mostly because we lived out of the country and they weren't available. But a Super Bowl is usually a guaranteed good afternoon of t.v., food, half-time  music, commercials, etc.  The game itself was pretty good.  I was glad to see the Packers win.  Let's just re-cap this.

1. The game was good.  The team without an alleged sex offender won.

2. The half-time show?  Not so much.  I didn't get it.  What was the point of bringing out Usher?  What was the point of Slash standing there and Fergie gyrating all around him?  While ruining a perfectly fine song.  It was a low point in half-time shows, is what I am saying.

3. The commercials.  What a sad state of affairs.  Very very few good ones.  And even the good ones couldn't hold their own against any of the previous good ones.

Here is one of the good ones.

But the best one was from the local grocery store chain H.E.B.  For those of you who are not in Texas, you most likely didn't get to see this ad.  It is Jack Ingram singing at Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas, and probably the most famous.  This is the same dance hall they used in filming that movie Michael with John Travolta playing an angel.  Remember this?

That was in Gruene Hall.  Anyhoo, back to the awesome ad for H.E.B.  This is the full length 3 minute long one.  The one on t.v. was only 1 minute.

Now, on to the obits!!  There were some fabulous old-school names listed!  Love the old antique-y names.

Sadly, Mrs. Elora J. Bump passed away at the age of 88.  She was married to Delmar E. Bump.

Louis Lorelli Guido, Jr. was married to Agnes known as "Tootsie".

Ronald G. Kruithof a.k.a. "Ron/Ray"

Nellie Knopp's family included Ben Mikolajczyk, Victoria Sczodrok, Bruno Knopp, Jimmie and Gladys Zigmond, Alphons Zigmond known as "Rusty", and Cheyenne, Chaely and Colton Zigmond, and Alex and Clara Mikolajczyk. When is the last time you met a Bruno, Gladys or a Clara?  Much less all of them in one family!  Love it.

Hiram Abiff Cockrell died peacefully.  He had 2 brothers by the names of Hansel and John Ross.

We had some unusual euphemisms for dead this week too:

"left this life peacefully"

"passed with her daughter by her side on Saturday evening, after an arduous battle with alzheimer's. The Lord released her of her suffering and took her into His arms."
**Isn't that the saddest and sweetest thing?  It just breaks my heart.


"after 83 years of laughter, love and joy, Janie was granted eternal life after 59 years of marriage to her loving husband, Leonard G."
**Okay, I was seriously confused by this sentence.  Way too many thoughts going on in there. 


"went to eternal rest with the Lord"

"F. Todd Spann, a loving gracious son given by the Lord to Delores A. Busher Spann and F. Rudy Spann, was born on Nov. 11, 1964. Todd was reunited with our Mother Christmas morning when he was welcomed into his eternal home. We rejoice in the knowledge that he passed the barrier of time as we know it and is forever at home with the Savior he faithfully served and his Mom whom he loved dearly."
**Whew.  I am beginning to think they don't charge by the word or the column inch, but rather by how many periods you use.  Why else would people all try to cram as much into each sentence as they do?




And the Most Interesting Obit this week goes to the writer of Cindy Cox's obituary.  Here is a snippet:

"Cindy Cox, born Sept. 27, 1923 in Valdosta, GA, died Feb. 1, 2011.  She was a farm girl during the "Great Depression". When a child, her family fed and provided toys for children and buried the kin of families who could not afford it. Her father, Morris Franklin Hobby (Dice) donated his own farmland for a school. Her mother, Kate Furney was a crack shot who could shoot a screech owl at midnight from 100 yards in the dead of night."
**Now, how could you NOT want to know these people?  Not only does Miss Cindy Cox sound like a wonderful person, her parents were awesome!  And whomever was left to write this tribute knew enough family history to bring their stories to life.  Good job, family of Cindy Cox!!


And since today is the 7th of the month it is time for another drawing of someone to receive a FREE BAG OF TEA!!  Straight from the tea stash of Lisa Pie's pantry.  Yea!!

Last month's winner was Sarah with an H.  I sure hope she received her lovely bag of tea alright and has been enjoying it.

So if you too would love to be chosen to get some FREE TEA, please leave a comment and keep checking back this week to see if you were chosen.  Woo Hoo!!

Returning to Dallas!

How excited am I?  Oh my sweet Lord!  Dallas is returning!  Dallas, you say?  You mean those stupid ass Cowboys owned by that stupid Jerry Jones?  Nope.

I mean Dallas.  The glitzy, glamourous, fabulous show from the 1980s.  Yes indeed!  It's back!  And guess who is coming back for it?

J.R.! (Do you remember who shot that sorry bastard that everyone loved to hate?)

Sue Ellen (who didn't seem to know any other facial expression than that one!)

and Bobby!

Here's the scoop:  The show is to center around J.R. and Sue Ellen's boy, John Ross and Bobby and Pam's son Christopher.  And of course a love triangle.  'Cause what would night time soap opera drama be without cousins fighting over a love interest!

I can NOT wait to see who gets cast for John Ross and Christopher.  (Can you tell how exciting this news is to me?)  Oh, and won't it be a hoot if all the women are STILL wearing 1980's hair and makeup?

For those of you who are not from Texas and from the Dallas area in particular; the house Southfork that they used in this show really exists.  It is in Plano.  And I went to high school with 2 of the boys of the family that live there.  I sure hope they are going to all still be living at Southfork on the new show!

All my kids lives I have told them that I wanted a house like the one on Dallas where it would be shaped in a square and Mr. Big Ed and I would have a wing, each of my kids get a wing and the fourth side would be the familial public areas.  We would all meet downstairs in the parlor for cocktails before dinner and have a huge family dinner together most evenings.  My kids' kids would grow up right there surrounded by their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.  In the bosom of the family, as it were!

Oh, I had such high hopes!  sigh.  They are not the least bit interested in this plan.  Ungrateful savages.

Here is what I am thinking, hopefully they will be using Southfork as the setting for the new show.  My kids will watch it and the subliminal message will sink in.  Heh, heh, my evil plan will work!  Yes!

More news as I hear about the show.  And as always, if you hear anything before me, please, please, do share!

Random Things from This Week

Nothing like a big serving of randomness, is there?

1. Yesterday I posted my usual thing of obit reading.  But I also talked about a t.v. show that ended.  And since I led with the t.v. show and ended with the best obit I have ever read, I kinda thought that the last thing you read would be the first thing commented on.  Nope.  Not so much.  Either y'all don't really give a shit about the obits, or you really liked the husband from the t.v. show!  Ha!  That was pretty much the concensus of the comments.  Everyone liked that guy.  Did anyone give a rat's ass about the poor dead concentration camp survivor guy?  Apparently not.

2. We had a storm come through here last night and dropped the temp about 50 degrees, with lots of wind and rain.  And this usually makes for some great sleeping at my house.  Love, love to sleep during a rainstorm.  However, last night?  All the flipping pets were up at one time or another and were all a bit on edge.  None of us got a good night's sleep.  In spite of that, I still have a full day of things to do.  Those dogs and kitties?  I am sure they will be basking in front of a window with lots of warm sunbeams on their fur.  I intend to poke each of them and wake them up every time I walk by and see one of them sleeping. Twice if they were one of the ones who kept me up all night.  Revenge, it's what's for breakfast!

3. I am reading a book that my son has for one of his classes this semester.  He brought it in and said he thought I might like it and he doesn't have to start on it for a few weeks.  So I have been reading it at night and it is really an interesting premise.  Let me go get it so I can tell you the title.

Okay, I got it.  And I went ahead and took a pic of the cover so you can see it.

A World of Babies, Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies.  The little blurb on the bottom left is from T. Berry Brazelton, my favorite of all pediatricians.

So, here is the deal on this book - The opening chapters are explaining what the premise is behind each supposed childcare guide.  Then with each childcare guide there is a synopsis of this particular society, how it functions, how large it is, what are the social, religious, spiritual more's, etc.  Then there is the imagined childcare guide written from the perspective of a healer, a grandmother, a midwife, or whoever would be a respected person from that culture.

It is really interesting.  And all these babies will grow up just fine not because of the way their parents rear them, but in spite of!  There are so many conflicting customs.  Some believe in bathing babies 5 times a day, some 2 times a day, some not until they are 210 days old.  Some swaddle tightly for months, some never.

What all this means is there is no one right way to do things.  There never has been.  What is appropriate in one society in one time period would never work across the world in that same time period or any other.  What we can take from this is that we should all be open to learning new ways and not judging things as "right" and "wrong".

I think I am on the 4th society and have 3 more to go.  I will let you know if I change my opinion when I finish.

4. Since Lester Buster made it back home safely, I have not let him go outside at all.  Everyone else thinks I am being too hard on him, taking away his Outside Privileges, but I swear to you I lost 5 years of my life worrying about him and I don't think I can do it again.  I am sure that in time I will loosen up and let him go out front again, but for the time being, he needs to be indoors.  Which brings up all kinds of my codependent issues.  It's like I am learning to be better in one area of my life, and BAM! Lester goes missing and I fell right back into my old familiar pattern.  Nice.

5. Yesterday would have been the birthday of one of my sisters.  She died 15 years ago, way too young. Her best friend and I sent each other email messages remembering things about her.  It was a rather sad, nostalgic day. R.I.P. sweet beautiful girl.

6. And before this turns any more maudlin and depressing, I have this for you!

I sure hope he gets picked up for a new series or new movie or something.  He is a cutie, isn't he?