Obit Reading and Reviewing

Okay, there were the usual amount of obituaries, but not really any super cool or interesting ones.  I am sure all the people were lovely.  I am just talking about the actual writing of the obits. Please don't misunderstand or misunderestimate what I was saying there.  Heh.

There were a couple of Honorable Mentions.

First up!  We have the very lovely Viola Bennett, who "after dancing in many parts of his world, began joyfully dancing with the angels on March 23 at the age of 92."

Then we have Miss Betty Jo Bisbey, was known to family as Gram, but to many of her friends as Bingo Betty.  I bet they said things like "I saw Betty the other day" and the other one would say "Really?  Which one?  Was it Bunco Betty or was it that really cute Bingo Betty?"

And then we have  . . . . . .

"God called and Mr. Wilfred "Speedy" Washington answered on March 16 ay 7:25 a.m."

Speedy!  Gotta love that nickname.  The best thing of all was the last line of his obit. "You were a father, dad and mentor to all. You will be missed and loved infinitely."

Now, who wouldn't want to be loved infinitely?  That's a wonderful thing to say about someone.

Have a fabulous day!

What's on my nightstand, so to speak

Y'all remember that I was sick with the head, chest, coughing virus thing for damn near FOUR WEEKS? Do you further remember that the meds and the coughing made it impossible to sleep?  How to while away the hours while the rest of the house slept was my dilemma.

Kindle to the rescue!


Oh, how I love my Kindle.  I love me some regular hardbound books, don't get me wrong.  I hold the written word in very high esteem.

So, I have been reading.  A lot.  I finally forced myself to read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.  I had tried and tried to start the first one, but it just wasn't striking my fancy.  Then finally, it did.

It's a crying shame that they were published posthumously.  I am sure he might have had a couple more good books in him.

Then I read this:

I can't remember who recommended this book to me, but thank you to whomever it was.  This was a really interesting read.  And then . . . .  at the end?

There's a conversation with the author and he goes into great detail about how this was one of those novels based on his very own personal family tree.  I really enjoy those historically accurate novels where you start out based in truth and then fill in the blanks with what you think would make a great story.

After that came this one:

Ok, now this book was recommended to me twice.  And when I read the little synopsis, I was immediately leary.  I thought it would be different than what it turned out to be.  So I did what any good Kindle owner would do, I got the free sample chapters to try it out.

Yea for the sample chapters!!

If they can hook you in the first couple of chapters, you are good.  If not, you've only wasted a little time and no money.

Back to Room.  This book was so clever, so intriguing and so gripping I don't even know how the author came up with this.  It does come to some good resolutions, but not so cute and "happily ever after" in a smarmy non-realistic way.

These were both really good books and I can recommend them.  After the dark subject matter of these I decided to go with a more light-hearted read and am currently reading a new Maeve Binchy.  More on it when I finish.

Oh!!  And totally off the subject of books, I got myself a new phone this weekend.  Yea!  I still like my old phone, but it was dying.  Is anyone else irritate that phones seem to be made to last 12 to 18 months while your contract is designed for 24 months?  And then you have to baby your phone along to get to the 24 month?  I am trying to get the hang of the new phone and find all new ringtones and Caller Tunes (as T-Mobile calls them).

In a couple of days it will be April Fools Day.  And that signals the beginning of all sorts of festivities around here!  Spring, wildflower sightings, Fiesta , Poteet Strawberry Festival , Easter, Earth Day , not to mention the NBA PLAYOFFS!!!  Time for our beloved Spurs to rally.  Yea!

Yep, April is a great month.  I swear to you there are at least 2 or 3 things you can find here to do every single day.  Most of them free.  If you are bored, it's because you want to be.

Every few years I update my inventory.  I do a complete inventory of everything in the house.  We have had to do this in the past because of all the international moving we did and keeping the inventory was a chore I took on and if we made a big purchase I would try to take care of entering the item right away from the invoice.  But sadly, since we have been planted for almost 6 years I have neglected my inventory.  So along with the spring cleaning mentality I get the "let's clean up the inventory list" fever. And that is my goal for the rest of this week, to work on the inventory.  Isn't that exciting?  Don't you wish you led the glamourous life I lead?  Real Housewives of SA, here I come!  Heh.

Enjoy your day.  

East Side, West Side, whatever

Last night we had our tickets to West Side Story.  It was one of our Broadway Across America lineup. When we knew we were moving to this city in the summer of 2003 and we knew that 2 couples who were our best friends in Mexico City were also moving here we all decided to get the season tickets to the Broadway touring shows that come to The Majestic Theater this is one of my all-time favorite venues. It is just gorgeous inside.  Scope out the link to the theater and see what I mean.  It is set up like you are in a courtyard of a gorgeous old Italian/Spanish villa and the ceiling is all curved/domed and made to look like the night sky.  And get this!  As the evening goes on you see more and more stars twinkling and little wisps of clouds moving across.  It is just one of the most spectacular places and still a very cozy and welcoming atmosphere.

Back to West Side Story, I do remember my parents had the soundtrack to the movie and played it so I knew all the songs before I ever saw the movie on t.v.  And in 9th grade we studied Romeo and Juliet along with West Side Story, together in the same book.  I still have it.  So I thought I knew a bit about the show.  And for some reason I remembered that the Sharks were the Puerto Rican gang and that the Jets were Italian.  Maybe because Richard Beymer, who played Tony opposite Natalie Wood looks Italian?

Early on in the play last night, it was apparent that they were trying to show the gangs as Latino vs Mixed Heritage But Definitely White Guys.  This was puzzling to me as I said I thought the Jets were supposed to be Italian.  How they were supposed to tell Italians from Puerto Ricans at a distance, I did not know.  But Anyhoo, then Maria asks Tony what "Tony" stands for and he says Anton, that his family is Polish.  Really?

So I did what anyone would do and got on Wikipedia and looked up West Side Story.  And Lordy, is there some back story behind getting this thing on Broadway.  Started and shelved, producer fighting with song writers, shelved again, it just went on and on and on.

But!  And here's the interesting bit.  It was originally conceived as EAST Side Story and the gangs were Italian Roman Catholic and Jewish Holocaust survivors.  It was to take place a little earlier (due to all the shelving and fighting) and Maria's family was the Jewish one and of course Tony is the Catholic Italian boy.

Maybe someone should have told them that they changed Tony's ethnicity before casting ol' Richard Beymer up there?

After many fights and shelving and carrying on this play finally got made and was nominated for a bunch of  Tonys and won most of them.  Then the movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and received 10.  A very successful venture both on stage and on film.

My son, the ever-so-clever-and-handsome Sparky and his girlfriend went with us last night and afterwards he commented that he had never seen the show or the movie but that he surprised himself by knowing almost all the songs.  He just didn't realize they were all from West Side Story.  That's how prevalent in our culture this music has become.  Looking it up, I could not believe how many people have remade these songs.

It has been forever since I had seen the movie and I had never seen a live performance and I was so glad I did.  And after thinking about it for a while, I have to say my favorite character is Anita.  Now she is a girl who can hold her own and kick some ass!  Hurray to Chita Rivera for playing the original Anita on Broadway and to Rita Moreno for following up with her own version in the movie.  The Anita in our traveling group last night was wonderful.  She really shone.

And with that I am now looking forward to Rock of Ages!  It will be too much fun.  If you look back at the Broadway Across America site you can see that we have a fabulous line-up for next season.  Every single one a winner.  Usually there are one or two that I don't care about.  But this next one?  Going to be killer!  And here I was debating on whether to renew our seats for next year or just go with Spurs tickets instead.

So, my question to you, dear reader is this, do you also like musical theater?  If so, what are your favorites?  If not, why the hell not?  Let me hear from you!  It brightens my day.

What to post

I have been trying all morning to decide what to talk about here.  And I was perusing previous posts and you know what?

It seems like all I ever do is promise to follow up one post with some pictures and stories that tell you the rest of the story.  And then . . . . . nothing.  wth?

I had no idea I was that big of a dingbat.  So I either need to come up with a system that tells me it is time to take some pictures and do a follow-up post, or I need to just shut the hell up and quit promising things I am clearly not capable of delivering.

Did any of you notice that I do this?  If not, never mind.

But!  I do have something awesome to show you.

This is actually courtesy of Mr. Big Ed.  Follow the link here to the Washington Post and see this slide show.  I tried and tried to capture each photo and post them individually here and could not make it happen.  I also have no idea how to imbed this slide show here.  So please, click over to the Washington Post and scope this out.

If you have been here for any length of time you already know about my love of Peeps.  And did you know that you can go to the Peeps website and have loads of fun??  When you are in the Peeps site, click on the general store and there are gift tags, coloring pages, wallpaper, all sorts of fun things you can print up.  Not to mention recipes using Peeps!  Love the Peeps!!

Since St. Patrick's Day I have been listening to my Irish Drinking Music and I finally had my fill of The Clancy Brothers and switched today to my 70's Soul Music.  This is my go-to play list.  What could be any better than a couple hours worth of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Isley Bros.?

I got sucked into a 30 minute long infomercial the other night by Smokey Robinson.  It was all Time-Life DVDs of Soul Train.  And do you know it took the the whole 30 minutes to figure out that the Soul Train DVDs in question were in fact . . . . DVDs???

The whole flipping time I was thinking that it was going to be cds to listen to, not watch.  What a goober!  Anyhoo, if you haven't seen old Soul Train episodes in a long, long time you are probably like me and didn't remember how epic the outfits and the hair was!  O.M.G. Indeed!

I am probably going to have to go to the Time-Life site and order the damn set.  Oh!  And the DVDs are supposed to include the old Afro-Sheen and Ultra-Sheen cosmetics commercials.  Woot!

I really didn't like being a boring white person without an afro in the 1970's.  I could have rocked a nice big afro and carried a pick in my back pocket.  But no, sadly I am just a generic Irish-German white person.

It is only a month till Easter.  Time to start making my plans.  It's not like I have that much to do with grown kidlets and no grandbabies yet.  Pretty much it's just a few decorations, and planning the Easter menu.  And that has become entirely too easy since we have settled on our very traditional Easter paella. I mean paella is a big one dish meal with some salad and bread.  I still boil and color eggs so that we can have deviled eggs, egg salad and such afterwards.

Enough rambling from me.  Let me hear from you!  And I hope it's a great day for you.  Thanks for stopping by.

Front Porch Sittin'

Who sings that country song "Where I come from, lots of front porch sittin'"?  Isn't it Alan Jackson?  He is one handsome, tall drink of water, as people say.  Let's have a look, shall we?

Yep, it's five o'clock somewhere.

Anyhoo . . . .   Back to the front porck sittin' issue.  My house doesn't have a front porch, which saddens me greatly.  I love a porch.  Or a veranda.  Or a patio.  Or a lanai.  Or a courtyard.  Whatever you want to call an outdoor house-adjacent sitting and rocking spot.  I like 'em.

We have a huge backyard with a nice table, chairs and a shade umbrella.  But there's something about sitting out front and waving and saying Hey to the neighbors that is appealing.

Our front yard is also huge.  It might be huger than the backyard, but I have no way of knowing that because I am the world's worst person at spacial perception.  Never let me try to pack your leftovers away in Tupperware, because I will pick the wrong size 48 times and we will have to wash out those other 47 containers.

So back to the huge front yard.  It is bisected by a large semi-circular driveway.  So there is a part that is next to the street that has a stand of live oak trees in the middle.  And there is the section from the driveway up to the house.  That section is cut down the middle by the sidewalk steps that lead up to the house.  This means that there are basically 3 sections to the front yard.  Y'all still with me here?

There are a couple of spots that I have been looking at for possibilities for front yard sitting.  One down in the middle of the stand of trees.  But this is where we hang the hammock so maybe not the best choice.  Then there is a nice flat area under a couple of trees over on the right.  That is the spot I have chosen.

We went down and bought this patio table and chair set that I had been watching in the circulars for some time.  It is a really nice set and seems very sturdy and comfortable.  I will get outside and take some pics of it so you can see what I am talking about.

Last year I had bought Mr. Big Ed a couple of the coolest solar lanterns to hang in the trees you have ever seen.  And he has let those boxes just sit there for months!  Hasn't done a damn thing with them.  So I got them out and hung them in the tree right by the new table and chairs.

Here is a pic of the new lanterns

This photo is from the website of the company that makes these gorgeous things, but these are exactly the two I bought.  And let me tell you how fabulous those silk lanterns look all on their own without the light shining through them.  They are gorgeous!

And since I am bragging on this company, here is a link to their site.  They have all sorts of beautiful solar lanterns.  I think I need about 4 more of them.  They really are spectacular.  Check them out, I think you will like their goods.

Now that I am getting my little front porch sittin' area together, we are using it every single day.  Mr. Big Ed and I have been taking our giant mugs o'tea out there and sitting with the newspaper on Sunday mornings.  And now you know where I am when I am reading the obits!  (It always comes back to the obit reading, doesn't it?)

Obit Reading and Reviewing Part 934,234,658,123.54

I haven't reviewed the obits in a couple of weeks.  Maybe because I have been sick with the crud and it felt a little too close to home?  Like I was one foot in the grave?  Who knows?

But yesterday, there were a TON of dead people!  There were 3 1/4 pages.  Typically we get 2, or 2 1/2.  Anything greater than 2 1/2 is a lot.  3 1/4 is unprecedented.  Must have been all that partying hard for St. Paddy's that did them in.  Ha!

So here's the low-down on the obits:

There were two people who died that belonged to the same church.  There was one woman who quit being a nun after 30 years to become a professor.

Sometimes it's not just the facts they lay out but the "in lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to such and such" that will tell you something about the dearly departed's life.  For example, there is a really sad one regarding a boy who died a day shy of his 22nd birthday.  As if that wasn't sad enough, the family wrote so many lovely things about him that it made you wish you had known him.  Then they go on to request donations be made to a local Recovery Center.

Now this could mean it's a favorite charity of theirs, but most likely it means they had been dealing with this boy's addiction issues for a time and that is what killed him.  So sad.

There was a beautiful picture of a woman with thick gorgeous hair.  She had really high cheekbones and was doing the little Mona Lisa smile.  Her obituary was wonderful.  Whoever wrote it tried to capture her spirit and not just state geneology facts.  The story of how she met her husband upon his return from the WWII European front was awesome. "He asked her to marry him almost immediately and wrote in a letter, 'When I first held you, I felt like I'd known you always!'"

She was an avid craftswoman, "a virtual Martha Stewart a la Mexicana".

The family with the best group of names has to be the Humphrey bunch.  First up is Hazel (the deceased a.k.a. Fern), then her husband Willard, Ed, Joe, Wanda, Brandy, Misty, Caedmon, Rhett and Zoe.  In the  listing of services it says "Funeral Service for 'Geen' is Tuesday, at 1 p.m."  Huh?  Geen?  I thought it said Hazel was known as Fern?

Runner-Up for best names, but also probably for Coolest Obit:

"Stanley Kahawaii, 58, of Waianae, went with God on March 6, in San Antonio. Leaving his loving wife, Madonna; children, Alexander (Crystal) and Sierra; sisters, Nanette Smith (Robert Leval) and Ella Ching (Rudy Paredes); Hana'i families, Iokia and Pakele; nieces, nephews, and "da boys".  Celebration of life will be at 6:30 p.m. Aloha attire."

Now, aren't you sufficiently curious about this bunch?  Sadly, there is no location listed.  I guess you would have to call the funeral home to find out the details.

Oh!  There was a new twist on saying "died" in this week.  Check it out:  "Bradley passed from the loving arms of his family to the everlasting arms of our Lord".

Also a contender for Coolest Obit:  "Orval Manuel Fletcher, Jr. Predeceased by his life partner "Jellybean".

This one is in a class all it's own.  It's a long one so I will just share some of the highlights with you.
"Masterpieces are often contemplated, admired, reflected upon, and cherished for eternity. These larger than life and immortal objects, masterfully designed by the hand of god, molded from clay, panted on canvas, carved and crafted in stone, and captured on film all conceived by careful consideration and masterful manipulation by the hand of man. On March 13, a living masterpieces was lost to this world. A timeless work of art to be admired, loved, and cherished forever. "
**Ok, I have to interject here, could they have used the word MASTER and any of its variations any more in that little paragraph?
They go on to say "A descendant of kings, queens, and of military grandeur, she lived her life in royal fashion with a curious interest in, and a love for life. 'Plus Oultre', chere Mama"

Okay.

There were a couple of people who passed away due to a brief or sudden and unexpected illness.  One of them was surrounded by family.  Really?  If you are surrounded by your family and sick and in bed, I don't think it is that terribly unexpected.  Hell, I have been sick for over 3 weeks and not once have I been surrounded by my loved ones.

Several people died from car accidents.  One of them was a young 27 year old police officer.  She had only been on the force a little over 3 years.  And get this, she was responding to a call and was hit by some drunk idiot who was on the expressway going the WRONG WAY with no headlights!  How do you even get on the wrong side of the expressway?  What a complete douche.  According to the witnesses, there was no braking, no turning of the wheel or anything by either car.  They flat did not see each other until it was too late.  And you know what I am going to tell you next. The "allegedly" impaired driver?

Lived!

Also, there was an 83 year old homeless veteran listed.  It states that he served honorably from 1947 to 1967.  It breaks my heart that we have homeless veterans.  There should be more of a safety net for these guys.

That's it for this week's obit reading.  I hope you enjoyed sharing in this with me.  Let me hear from you!

St. Patrick

Yesterday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with the usual Irish beer, corned beef and cabbage (which was excellent, by the by) and the wearing o'the green.  And I asked myself "Self, what does any of this have to with St. Patrick???"

And I had no answer to that question.

But!  I do have a book on the Lives of the Saints.  So, I proceeded to look up the Irish Saint and read about him and his life.  Let me share with you what I gleaned from it.

He was born in either Ireland, Scotland or Wales.  There is dispute about that. His father, the deacon Calpurnius, (you will notice the father has a Roman name. He was some sort of muckity-muck from Rome sent to oversee these heathen Irish)  had a farm beside the sea. About 404 a.d. it was pillaged by pirates (aarrrggh) who carried off Patrick, aged sixteen. They sold him to an islander who employed him for six years in tending his flocks, after which Patrick fled and returned to his parents.

In a dream he had a vision that caused him to devote himself to the evangelization of Ireland, still in idolatry.  So he crossed the sea, stayed with the monks of Le`rins, then went to Auxerre where, from 415 to 432 he was at the school of the bishops St. Amator and St. Germain.

**(So he left being a pagan Irish farmer to follow his dream of being a French-trained Roman Catholic bishop). Then it goes on to explain how after being freed from Roman domination, the Irish were ruled by a host of minor kings.  And it was towards these kings that Patrick directed his "zeal" on arriving back in the country. Wielding absolute power, the kings' religion was their subjects' religion. And since they owned all the land, they alone controlled the building of churches. And the story of the evangelization of Ireland is almost entirely written in terms of the conversions made by St. Patrick among the heads of the clans and families.

There are many legends about St. Patrick but the main idea expressed by all of them is the extreme veneration of the Irish people for the apostle who made them Christians.  One of the stories is how he used the Irish shamrock to show the trinity as the three parts in one whole.

** There is no mention of the pagans who were perfectly happy in their paganism being forced to convert.  And typically that conversion meant "convert or die".   Sorry, I meant to just relate the information and not put my own sensibilities in there, but I just can't abide the whole "oh, my particular brand of religion is the true faith, and unless you convert, you are totally less-than and just not getting in to the Really Good Heaven with us".

And then I googled images of St. Patrick to get a look at who people are venerating.  Here's what I found.

Thus endeth today's lesson.

Go in peace.

Rambling and Musing

I have not been able to string two coherent thoughts together for over 2 weeks now.  Maybe it is this virus from hell that has attached itself to my body?  I am so tired of the headache, the chest wheezing and the infernal cough, cough, cough, cough, run to the bathroom so I don't pee on myself, and then cough some more.  Things need to be getting done, and I am not doing them.  It sucks being sick is what it does.

So my brain has had all sorts of random thoughts and I thought I might share some of them with you.

1. It is a tradition in my family to put out a jigsaw puzzle during the Christmas holidays and leisurely work on it with Christmas carols playing in the background while nibbling on cookies and such.  This year we have left the big round folding table up that houses the puzzle and have done one after the other after the next.  I think we are on the 7th one since the holidays.  We are some jigsaw puzzling fools!

If you have a puzzle that needs putting together, send it on down.  We will do it and then take a picture of it for you.

2. I have been researching on ancestry.com since I have been sick.  It's a new hobby and it is a good change of pace from the usual things you do when you don't feel good.  I work on one branch for a while and then switch over to another.  It has been really interesting looking at the old census pages and seeing what all you can find out from reading them.  And reading between the lines, too.  For example, in looking at a census of one family branch I noticed that a different branch of my family was listed on that same page. This means that they were neighbors.

Some of the censuses, censi, whatever the hell the plural of census is, ask questions like
A. What color is this person?
B. How many children have you given birth to?  How many still living?
C. Where was your father from?
D. Highest level of school attended?
E. Rent or own home?
F. Employment?
G. When did you come to this country?

In every case, the man is listed as head of household, unless he is dead and the widow is working the farm with the help of a bunch of the living kids.  When she gets older, the son or son-in-law is then listed as head of household and she is listed as retired, even though they never moved!

In the early 1800's the census also asked for an accounting of how many free white people and how many slaves.  Where did the indentured white people go on that list?  There only seemed to be the two categories.

3. Spring is springing up all over!  It is so beautiful.  If we could get a good long misting, sprinkling rain I think it would be just what we need to push all the wildflowers into bloom.

4. Showtime's new series to fill the void left after The Tudors finished, The Borgias is due to start on Sunday, April 3rd.  And if this isn't the best thing on t.v. (since the Tudors) I will eat my hat.  Go, run over to Showtime and scope it out.  Read up on those e-vil Borgias and get ready.

5. Over at Bye Bye Pie in the comments the last couple of days, we have been discussing our favorite soups.  Now, this is NOT what June posted about, but somehow the comments over there take on a life of their own and there we go.  Anyhoo, we were all discussing our favorite soups.  So I am curious, what are your favorite soups?  Homemade?  Restaurant? Cream based? Brothy?  Do you have one in each category?

Soup, it's good food!

Time for me to go make some more hot tea and get a cough drop.

Get your corned beefs ready!  Get your Irish soda bread made!  Bake up some gingerbread!  Get your Guinness or Harps beer on ice. And think about ole St. Paddy.  Driving the snakes out of Ireland.  Makes you wonder what happened next, doesn't it?  I have a book on all the saints, so I will look it up and give you a full report on St. Patrick tomorrow.

T.V. shows 2011 Part 2

For some reason I am not posting a regular update on what's happening on t.v.  Maybe t.v. is lame? Maybe I have become all high-brow and don't watch as much t.v.?  Nah, that couldn't be it.

Here's what I do know!

Survivor - I love me some Boston Rob!  I hope he makes it.  I hope he kicks some ass and they never see it coming.  And Evil Fucking Russell?  *Ding dong, the witch is dead*!!!  The new people on this season that I love to watch are Phillip and his pink saggy drawers (ewww, and gross) and that other guy Ralph who is wearing the "awesome man sweater".  Have you ever in all your born days SEEN so much body hair?

You know what would be even grosser than all the above?  If Ralph was wearing Phillip's pink saggy drawers, that's what!

Sadly, I don't care for any of the women this season.  Not a one.

Amazing Race - This is shaping up to be a great season.  I love all these teams and am glad to see them back.  The most hilarious thing ever!  was last night when they were in China and Ron and Christina who being Chinese speak the language and have actually traveled in that area before were so far ahead he got to stop for some of his favorite snacks.  And then he kept wanting to stop and eat every five minutes.  The whole show was Christina saying "Dad!  Dad!  No, quit eating that.  No, you have to wait till the pit stop" Hee!!!

My Big Redneck Wedding - I know, you are asking yourself "what the hell is Lisa Pie talking about now?"  This is without a doubt, hands down the absolute trashiest show on t.v.  The funniest shit I have ever seen.  I love it.  This show is on either Friday or Saturday nights on CMT.  Love. It.!

Shameless - I don't know how they continue to top themselves week after week on this show.  Every person on here is so good.  Even characters you think are just in the periphery, will blaze in and just kick ass the next week.  Honestly, there are awards written all over this for these people. Five stars and two thumbs way up!

Big Love - It's almost over and there is absolutely no resolution anywhere on any front for any of these people.  I have no clue how they are going to end this series.  I have really enjoyed watching it over the seasons and hope like hell they are going to come up with a doozy of an ending.  None of those damn stupid Sopranos endings.

True Blood - sometime this summer the new season starts.  If you aren't up to date, you have plenty of time to get that way!

U.S. of Tara - coming soon!  Another big winner for Showtime.  Hurry and get caught up and be ready for the new season!

Top Shot - Ok, this show is on the History Channel.  Seems odd.  But they do use some really old weapons.  Maybe that is the connection?  I like this show a lot and I love Colby Donaldson and am glad to see him getting the work.

Modern Family - Hilarious!  Best comedy out there!  Can not say enough good things about this show. Watch it.

DWTS - Really?  It's coming soon and I am sooooo underwhelmed.  I will be watching Kirstie & Maks and probably ole Ralph Macchio.  But yeah, not the best casting ever.

Desperate Housewives - Paul Young?  His weirdo son?  Recycle ideas and bad guys much? You know, if it weren't for Gabby and Carlos I would have quit watching 2 seasons ago.

So we have the new cast of Celebrity Rehab announced, but as usual, no one we are all really rooting for and wanting this sobriety for them so bad.  You know what I mean?

That's all I can think of right now.  Let me know what you are watching and what you think!

Holy Moly, check this out!

First there was the Snuggie,

then the jeggings,

now?


Go Here

Hee!!!!!

Who orders this shit?

Ash Wednesday

It is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten Season.  40 days or so leading up to Easter.  It is traditional in different faiths to observe this time by giving up something, doing without, or just being extra mindful of what you have and how you can improve yourself.

In the last few years I have taken to cutting back on preparing one dinner a week and with the supposed savings I make little brown bags of things for the homeless.  I put little affirmations in them and a piece of fruit, a bottle of water, crackers, granola bars and a wet-nap.  That kind of thing.  I found some little toothpaste samples I am going to put in bags till I run out.

I will do this again this year.  I always have fun putting them together and carry around 5 bags with me every time I leave the house.  They get really good responses from the recipients too.

I learned about a blog challenge called 40 bags in 40 days that lots of bloggers are going to participate in and put weekly updates on their blogs.  It looks great.  I think I might start it as well.  Check it out and see what you think.

For me Lent is about stretching and expanding my spiritual self, finding new ways to put myself out there for my fellow man, not about "oh can I live without chocolate or chips for 40 days".  Of course I can.  But I want it to be about adding a new habit to my life that is meaningful.

How will you acknowledge the Lenten season?  If you aren't Christian, would you consider using these 40 days as a time to look inward and start some type of meditation or even doing the 40 bags and de-cluttering your house?

Getting political today

I have made it a point to not get political here.  I don't really want any dischord in my life or my cyber-life. But I am going to step a bit, just a big toe dipping into this political pool, so please bear with me.

I am a birth doula.  I am also a post-partum doula.  And I am a massage therapist who specializes in prenatal and infant massage.  I am also a mother.  And I hope one day to be a grandmother.  So you might tend to pigeon-hole me into the group of people who like to call themselves Pro-Life.  Who would not want to consider themselves Pro-Life?  Are we ever Anti-Life?

Groups have ways of finding innocuous-sounding names to bring in people who might never darken their doors had they really known the group's agenda.

Because of all that mentioned above, I am firmly encamped in the Pro-Choice side of this debate.  One thing that is sacred to me as a woman mentoring other women is choice.  I tell every. single. one. of my clients over and over again

If you don't know your choices, you have none.


It's true.  It is true about childbirth, about parenting, about making food choices, about budgeting, whatever. If you only know one way, that's what you do.  If you only have one viable choice, you go along.  Even if there is a niggling little feeling in the back of your heart telling you "there must be another way".

So, today I am here to say that this is absolute bullshit being put out there that funding must be cut to Planned Parenthood.  Please go check out Planned Parenthood and see just exactly what kind of work they do. There is so much need for the kind of education they provide, the testing of HIV they do, the pregnancy testing, just everything.

If the Pink Bus is coming to a city near you, please go and support them.  Go and find out.  Go and educate yourself about the need to educate.

Just don't do nothing while they get their funding slashed and the rights of women get trampled and thrown back to the 1940's.

I work with pregnant teenagers, some who have homes, some who do not.  I work with some at the juvenile detention center.  And I work with some who believe they are in a committed relationship and have the rose-colored view that everything will be the way they are picturing it in their head as opposed to reality.  The numbers of my actual clients who end up staying together with their boyfriend, keeping their babies, and living as a family unit are dismal.  This never happens.  It does not matter what the ecomonic level of the family is, this is such a ridiculously hard way to start out, that most of these girls can not find their way through it with this dream intact.

What they need is more support from the community.  From people like me who have lists and lists of organizations, agencies and such that can provide education, support groups for the young moms and dads, access to birth control so that they can cope with what they have before adding to it.

What they don't need is to be treated like children who have done wrong and now have to be punished. "You made this bed, now you have to lie in it".  Really?  That's how you want them to approach parenting?  As a consequence of being bad?  How does that translate to their feelings about this baby?  Are you able to love a baby that is a daily reminder of your transgressions and your failings?

It's a thorny issue this one.  I just thought I would go ahead and let you know my stance on this.  I will be standing outside my closest Planned Parenthood clinic tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in solidarity with others.

Please do some research and arm yourself with facts.  If you don't know your choices, you have none.

Have you missed me?

It has been more than a week since I have posted!  Have you missed me?  Here's what's been going on at Chez Lisa Pie:



I HAVE BEEN SICK!


Yes, I have been sick.  I have had the crud for what seems like for-freaking-ever! At about day 4 I was sitting up on the couch covered in a cat blanket watching mindless t.v. because the thought of trying to lay down and then start the coughing jags was too much; and I had to turn the t.v. up louder because the damn cats were snoring and I couldn't hear anything.  And you know how it goes when you hear an annoying background sound, it begins to be all you CAN hear.  So I started investigating to see which one of these cats was being so darn noisy.  At this point I was noticing that the snoring seemed to be in rhythm with my own personal breathing.  Weird.  But we are all sitting together, so whatever.  Anyhoo, it took me about an hour to figure out that it was not the cats snoring, but rather it was my own personal chest wheezing!!!!!  Never in my life have I ever wheezed.  Not once.  Even when I wanted to try and do the Muttley wheezy laugh, I had to really work for it.  This was very disconcerting.

 I got to about 5 or 6 days in and figured out that I was not going to get better on my own so I went to the doctor.  After a not very long wait (yea!!) the doctor listened to my chest and sent me to get x-rayed.

Have you had your chesticle area x-rayed?  The frontal view was not too bad.  But that sideways profile view?  Weeeeellll.   Hmmmmmm.

Do you recall that cartoon Granny from Playboy?  The one with the really long breasticles?  It seems gravity is not my friend and that is the direction my own lovely breasticles are headed.

Downward.

I didn't really need to see that x-ray is what I am sayin'.  A blow to my vanity.

Anyhoo . . . . . .

So I am now on all sorts of new and improved medications, inhalers and steroids.  Yep, I am on the 'roids. Juiced up, as it were.  Maybe these 'roids will perk up the breasticeees?  That would be a nice little benefit, wouldn't it?

The doctor seemed to think this particular little viral infection would take about 3 weeks to clear out and I am about halfway there.  And thank the Lord about for that!  This staying home, coughing and having no energy and wheezing has not been a picnic.  Or a day at the park.  Or a walk in the park.  Or whichever saying you like best.

What have I been doing to fill up my day while I can't sleep or talk or anything else, you might ask?

I signed up on ancestry.com and have been researching and filling up my family tree.  Ooooh, I know what you are thinking, "I bet Lisa Pie has some really interesting characters nuts in her family tree!"

Well, that my friends, is news for the next time!

I hope you and yours are all well and not wheezing, coughing, snotty, or disgusting.

p.s. to QueenB, your tea is sitting on my kitchen table just waiting for me to take it to the UPS store.  You will receive it really soon!

p.p.s. Since it is already the first week of the Month again.  Plan on a new tea drawing in the next few days!!

You Have to see this!

Ok, if you get the IFC channel you have to be watching this series called Portlandia.

Here is a video that is part of one of the episodes.

This is some of the most hilarious shit e. ver. put on t.v.

Personally I think they could substitute Madison, Boulder or Austin for Portland and the only difference would be the weather.

I swear you will crack right up.  There are some great guest stars in each episode as well. So far they have only done the original six episodes.  I sure hope there is more to come!

Would I steer you wrong?

Food Art

Do you like to look at gorgeous food?  How about those Ace of Cakes people?  They do some awesome work.  I have always wondered if a cake that pretty could possibly taste good, too.

I found a cake bakery place that is in Austin, TX that looks like they have fabulous cakes.  No rush or anything, but if my Rachel Pie would ever decide to get married or something, we could start taste-testing these things and make some plans.  She promised me years and years ago that I could completely plan her wedding.  When she was turning 15 we were living in Mexico City and she flat-out refused to have a quinceanera. Then the next year, no again to a Sweet 16 party with the promise of "leave me the hell alone and you can plan my wedding".  I know what she was thinking, "if I can just put her off long enough she will forget about it and I can go flitting about on my merry way.  Tra la, Tra lee."  Well, you have another think coming, Miss Rachel Pie!  Yes, indeedy.  This mommy is never forgetting.

In days past I used to dream of the fairy tale wedding we would do at DisneyWorld with the whole Cinderella coach and horses and the whole shebang.  But, truly that is like the opposite of Rachel Pie.  So, no Disney wedding for me to plan. (insert sad face)  I have decided to think completely out of the box and tradition be damned!    We can do anything we want, right?

But there should definitely be a cake.  Just sayin.

Who, again?

Alright, so they announced the new cast of DWTS.  I don't know why the casting people can't seem to remember that the name of the show is Dancing with the STARS, not Dancing with the Has-Beens, Losers, Wanna-Be's and people we have never heard of show.

Did you see the cast yet?  Now, they haven't told us yet who will be paired with which dancing pro, so that could improve how this season will shake out.

Here's a photo of the complete cast, rather than a whole bunch of pics to look at and say "Who?" each time.

The two names that jumped right out as people that could be considered "stars" are Kirstie Alley and Ralph  "The Karate Kid who seems to have had too much botox" Macchio.  There is another person that I have seen on t.v. before named Wendy Williams who has a show on BET.  Personally, I always thought she was a trannie.

Then the usual one or two athletes led by Sugar Ray Leonard.  After that, I have no clue who these people are.  Do you?  Give me some scoop on them, please.

I am waiting to see who gets paired up with whom before I get excited (or depressed) BUT!  I will tell you this, I am betting dollars to donuts that they try to stick Maks with Kirstie.  She's known for being loud, opinionated and feisty.  Pairing her up with Maks will make for some great practice footage.

Any opinions yet?  Let me hear from you!