"Get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter..."

So, for those of you who may not watch the news and think of me, the Great Northwest has been hit with its first winter storm. Definitely some parts got hit worse than others. As for the boyfriend and I: some torrential rain, a little snow and some damn freezing temperatures.

Guess what that means?!

Lots of snuggling with the boyfriend :)

Seriously, yesterday was below freezing. Minus a brief foray into the craziness outside, we spent the day at home doing some cleaning. The fun thing about helping the boyfriend clean and sort through things he has in storage is seeing the little clues to his past. A few treasures we stumbled across yesterday:



A magic 8-ball pen



An Oscar Mayer weiner-mobile whistle



A Lego man



A pinball



And the coolest thing EVER!! A "Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego?" board game. Can anyone guess what we did last night? Have I mentioned how much I love being a kid again with the boyfriend? Which reminds me...in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, here's your holiday Top 9 list.


Top 9 Things I'm Thankful For This Year

(In no particular order...I'm feeling very random today.)



The great love of my life.



Our Netflix membership.



Finding a few more soul mates.



The ability to pursue my passion.



A wonderfully brilliant, healthy and handsome son.



My library membership.



The truest friends a girl could ask for.



A warm roof over my head and a kitchen to cook in.



My health. (As tenuous as it seems some days.)


And now that we're all warm and fuzzy, I should probably say Adieu and start getting stuff ready for tomorrow. Just curious...am I the only one silly enough to be cooking crazy amounts of food?

Have a fantastic holiday y'all. And for my readers who might be in places where tomorrow is not a holiday: Celebrate anyway!! Bring on the wine and Grey Goose ;)

Toodles, my loves!

Hangin' Tough this Monday morning...

Good morning folks...



Okay, that's maybe an overstatement. It's not exactly a good morning now, is it? Well maybe for you, but not for me. I slept funny again. And because I can't really remember any details of my disturbing dreams, I'm going to blame my poor night's sleep on the ridiculous American Music Awards.

A little tidbit you may not know about me, I love watching award shows. Not really to see who gets what award (although I do love it when my favorite artists win) but to see the performances. So for any of you who tuned in last night, you can see why I would be disappointed.

Now a sane person would have changed the channel after that horrendous opening by Rihanna. To paraphrase the boyfriend, it was like Cirque De Soleil and your trashiest strip club had a love child. It was NOT pretty.

But, alas, I held out hope that things wouldn't be all bad. To quote The Cranberries, "...I was wrong, I was wrong..."

All I can say in retrospect is that after every poor performance I kept hoping it would turn around. And I kept my fingers crossed that the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys collaboration wouldn't be a hot mess.

Now, to be fair, it wasn't ALL bad. Pink rocked like only she can do, even patting her barely visible baby bump as she exited stage right. Christina's Burlesque performance was fun and nearly has me thinking that I might want to waste twenty bucks to go see her movie. Taylor Swift was cute and classy as always.

And...AND...the collaboration was everything awesometastic. I don't even like the Backstreet Boys and I was singing along. With the very first choreographed dance move I was transported back to my 8 year old self cooing at the guys I was sure I was going to marry. (Don't judge me...you know you did it too.)

Let me fill you in a little bit. I was the epitome of a New Kids fan back in the day. I had all of their posters from the teeny-bopper magazines plastered all over my bedroom walls. I had their faces on t-shirts, I had them on VHS. Hell, I even had their sheet-set on my bed. I was OBSESSED.

So imagine me last night, in bed with the boyfriend sitting nearly forgotten beside me, hands over my mouth, eyes wide...very nearly squealing at the T.V.

Yeah, I was THAT girl.



But it's great, right?!?! RIGHT?!?!?!

Okay, I'm going to leave you all now...I think I may have embarrassed myself enough. If you need me, I'll be lip-syncing Step by Step while folding laundry.

Toodles my dears!!

My Favorite Me's!!

Holy geez! Is it really the weekend already? Where has my week gone? Do you know that I have not gotten a thing of substance accomplished this week?


Okay, that's kind of a lie. I did go to a poetry meeting last night. And the laundry is mostly caught up. That's about it, though. I still have pictures from last weekend's gigs to sort and post as well as getting my booty in the shower and dressed for tonight's gig.

In case you're all wondering, I do have an actual blog for you today. And, glory of glories, it's a list!


My Top 9 Favorite Fellow Bloggers


Allie @ Hyperbole and a Half



I'm a new follower of this particular blog, but I've loved it since I stumbled across it by accident. Anyone that can post their drawings for the world to see is brave in my book...and that equals awesome. Also, she's a funny lady. We know how much I love funny ladies.

Amy @ Bitchin' Wives Club



A mother of three small boys who hasn't gone nuts yet? Super kudos!

Don @ Workforced



Don won his way into my heart by being the very first person to email me about my blog. Also, as a die-hard fan of Office Space, his blog makes me smile.

Jessie @ 20-Nothings



The name says everything. A blog about all of the nonsense that seems to captivate my peers.

Nic @ That's Not How You Do It



OMG! This chick will have me holding my sides from laughing! I feel bad that I'm getting so much humor from her struggles in life, but her writing style makes it hard not to. I aspire to be her kind of humorous.

P. Fenton Cosgrove @ How You Have Wronged Me Today



This man has some serious anger management issues. At least he's writing about it instead of actually assaulting the people he meets each day. I like to think he's me in male form... Can't you just see some of his topics as Tips for 'Tards?

Recessionista Du Jour @ Past Due



I'm a new follower to Past Due. My heart aches for her struggles, but YAY! for having the strength to write about it all. I feel like I have some things in common with her which keeps me coming back each day to read how she's dealt with every obstacle.

Sara @ Sara in Le Petit Village



I heart Sara! I'm jealous of her life in the hills of France. Also, she won my heart as my first pen-pal via blog. She never fails to leave me an uplifting comment and she even likes some of the same books I do. Kinda hard not to love a girl like that!

Sassy @ The Sassy Curmudgeon



Ah Sassy! This lady is funny, smart and the epitome of what I want to be. A successful writer. Even though she has a love for reality T.V. that I just can't wrap my head around, I want to BE her. Well, in me form though...it's not like I'm coveting her husband or anything. Does that make sense to anyone else besides me?


Lordy! I feel so much more accomplished now. Unfortunately, I'm still not showered so I should probably get going before I start stinking up the house. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. If you haven't gotten your groceries for Thanksgiving yet...well you're probably screwed at this point. We went to the store yesterday and it was chaos. I don't recommend venturing out again until January.

Until next time, Toodles!

Welcome to the Cough-a-cabana!!

There are 38 days left until Christmas.


Are any of you as excited as I am? I doubt that.



As you may remember from my fascinating {insert eye roll} post about Easter, in recent years I have become less than enthusiastic about holidays. This year is not really an exception. I go through the motions and make sure the lil man has gifts and all the goodies, but really, my heart isn't in it anymore. I'd be perfectly content to just spend most of November and December curled up with hot apple cider, a good book or ten and the Netflix queue. Oh, and of course, the boyfriend :) He's a stellar snuggle buddy.

However...this year is a little different. This year is the first year that the boyfriend and I will be celebrating together. (Last year we were too "new" to do a "couple" thing.) So...can any of you guess how nervous I am? I mean, I know it's silly. It's not like it's a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Except it is. Growing up, holidays were for family and only family. You didn't have friends over because everybody was spending time with their families like you were supposed to be doing. As I got older, this was expanded to include significant others with the implicit understanding that if you brought your boyfriend/girlfriend over for the holidays, it was SERIOUS.

I know this isn't an issue for the boyfriend and I. We've had the "talk" and we're comfortable with where our relationship is. Which is to say, it's serious, we're madly in love but in no way shape or form will any of you all be hearing wedding bells anytime soon. I'm still nervous. It's not rational at all but I can't help it. It's that nervous kind of excitement that comes with knowing we're making more memories together. And yes, now I'm getting all mushy on you. Deal with it.

See, since I've been all curled up in bed dying for the last week or so, I've had a lot of time to think. For those of you who haven't figured it out by now, thinking isn't really something I should do a great deal of...especially when hyped up on cold medication. Seriously. You guys should hear some of the thoughts I have. I can be scary without even trying. Thank you Mucinex.

So I guess my point in all of this rambling is two-fold. First, I would like to announce that I think I may be on the mend and therefore your regularly scheduled blogging will recommence. Second, does anyone have any fun ideas for how the boyfriend and I can inexpensively do some festive-type memory making stuff?

I should probably go now...before I start telling you about how I had to give up sugar and now I'm all sorts of miserable and stuffs. That's another blog post entirely.

Toodles all you sickeningly healthy people!

P.S. Have any of you ever wondered if your mucus is really having a party in your sinuses? I'm just curious if I'm the only one. Okay, moving on. Bye.

Why doesn't Theraflu taste as good as Dimetapp?

Ugh...have I mentioned how much I hate being sick? Probably I have. Instead of being all whiney though, I'm really trying to be upbeat today. Mostly because I'm not the only one sick and I seriously don't know how much the boyfriend (who's still ill...) can take before he duct tapes my mouth shut and leaves me to my own devices. (Which would effectively be him committing murder since I can only breath through my mouth...)

So in my nice, upbeat (and completely fake) mood, I've decided to give you yet another peek into my childhood. Now I don't know about any of you, but in my house, if you stayed home sick from school, you stayed in bed. This was probably because our parents were usually sure we were faking it. Most times, we were. But on days where we really WERE sick, as in Mom-had-taken-us-to-the-doctor-and-had-it-confirmed-and-now-she-was-feeling-guilty-for-not-having-believed-us-in-the-first-place-sick, we were allowed to curl up on the couch with our "blankie" and pillow to be nursed with medicine and soothed with the wonderful device known as the T.V.

The best part about this was that I would have the T.V. all to myself. It was very rare that my sisters and I were all sick on the same day and Mom would be off doing whatever it is mom's do during the day. And so I would get to lay there and watch all of my favorite shows with minimal interruption. (When you have two younger sisters, this is VERY rare indeed...) As I got older, I was more likely to stay in bed and curl up with a book or magazine. But when I grew up and had my little man, I tried to remember all the good things about my youth. And so when he had the flu he got to curl up with his over-sized Sponge-Bob character pillows and watch Bob the Builder. When he had a double ear infection he was wrapped in Mama's arms watching Finding Nemo over and over. (Repitition is good when you're little.)

And so, in honor of what I (and I hope, most of you) really want to do when we're sick, here's your list for the weekend. The favorite shows of my youth, the friends I turned to for comfort when I had another pesky ear infection or had caught yet another cold. A reminder though, these shows are from a large span of my childhood so don't think that my parents were letting my 6-year-old self watch all of these.


Top 9 T.V. Shows From My Youth

Fraggle Rock



"Dance your cares away, worry's for another day! Let the music play, down at Fraggle Rock!" Really, how can you not like a show with a theme song like that?

Bosom Buddies



The original slapstick comedy for me. It was like Laverne and Shirley and The 3 Stooges had a love child and it was Tom Hanks in a dress.

Perfect Strangers



One word. Balki. That is all.

Kids Incorporated



I wanted to be one of these kids. I used to watch, enraptured. When I wasn't "sick" I would try to dance and sing along with the characters, just knowing that someday I'd get my big break and get to be on stage right next to them. Alas, it never happened. I wonder if my mom still has my stone-washed jean jacket? I was going to wear that to my audition. It was my "cool" jacket.

Star Search



Come on! Who didn't want to be up on that stage singing their little hearts out? I can honestly say I didn't have a ruffle-dress already picked out for my performance. I guess I just thought if my parents ever figured it out and submitted a tape of me (or whatever they had to do to get me on the show...) that they would promptly go out and buy me an appropriate amount of taffeta to impress Mr. McMahon and the judges.

Saturday Night Live



I can't remember how old I was when I was finally deemed old enough to watch SNL but I'm sure it was sometime after my parents' divorce when J became more slack about pesky things like bedtimes and appropriate television shows. I can't knock him though, because I didn't really mind. I fell in love with all of the characters and laughed until I thought I would pee myself.

Smurfs



As an adult I find numerous things wrong with this cartoon. But as a child, I loved it! I'm pretty sure the reason I won't actually own a cat (A little incongruous, I know...) is due to the fact that deep down I think all cats are exactly like Azrael. It probably doesn't help that my mother once owned a cat that would have given Azrael and Gargamel both a run for their money.

Rocky and Bullwinkle



"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outta this hat!" I actually preferred the Mr. Peabody and Dudley Do-right bits but who's keeping tabs? Natasha was my first depiction of the "bad girl" and I blame her for me dying my hair pitch black my senior year.

Punky Brewster



I wanted to have her fabulous sense of style. Instead I wore whatever my mother picked out for me. I am lame.


Alas, there it is folks. There were many who didn't make this list and it makes me a little sad when I think about it. If only the list could be a little longer to encompass shows like The Jetsons or ALF. But then it wouldn't be my nine lives and it wouldn't make much sense. Not that much of what I do makes sense but still, I have to have my standards, guys. I hope you all enjoyed my trip down memory lane. I'm going to go make something comforting for dinner and get ready to curl up with the boyfriend. (The band is off this weekend.) Maybe Netflix has some old episodes of Looney Toons we can watch ;)

Until next time, Toodles my dears!

Humpin' with the Celebrities...it's not always a good idea.

In the words of nearly every immature idiot on the Internet this morning, Happy "Hump" Day. And since I'm starting things on such a lovely, positive note, I'm sure you all can guess what kind of mood I'm in today.

I'm grumpy, stressed, pissed off, irritated, frustrated and scared. Did I mention annoyed? Or tired? Let's just suffice it to say that today is not a happy day.

And because I'm in such a stellar mood, I've got just the topic for you. Now, I could sit and ramble on about the elections. Certainly there are plenty of areas for me to find fault with there. Instead, I'm going to go the other end of the spectrum. The entertainment industry has been mass producing stupidity for awhile now and I feel like it's gone unanswered by yours truly. Well now that's all going to change, folks.

Tips for 'Tards - Celebrity Edition

Mariah Carey is Pregnant

In what world is it a good idea for this chick to be pro-creating? Nick Cannon should have had his head examined for marrying her. But for the sake of all that's holy, what possessed him to not run right out and get fixed immediately upon saying "I do"? Nick, when a woman who is a decade older than you bats her fake eyelashes at you, here's a tip...RUN! Quickly and in the opposite direction.

Skating with the Stars

OH MY LORD! You can't be serious? We're sooooo desperate for "reality" t.v. that we need this show? I'm tired of all of this crap. I don't want to dance with the stars and I most certainly don't want to skate with them. Network Exec's here's a tip- How's about hiring some people with actual creative abilities and have them come up with ideas for new shows with even an ounce of integrity.

Taylor Swift

I get it. She's young, cute and slightly innocent in a Britney-before-Justin kinda way. What I don't get is why we all feel the need to discuss her every move like she's the future princess. To the so-called journalists, here's a tip- How about reporting on something other than with whom Taylor may or may not be having ice cream?

Well now, don't we all feel better? I know I do. Okay, that's a lie. I'm still pretty irritable. Today might be one of those days where a lot of cleaning gets done. Which means I should probably get going.

A quick note though, before I pull on the yellow plastic gloves. You may have noticed a few changes around here. (If not, you're blind as a bat and should probably have your eyes checked...) I would love to hear what you all think about the new layout, just leave a comment or shoot me an email. Also, a note of thanks to Sara for letting me cop a few ideas from her page. She pretty much rocks my socks :)

Toodles!

"...it's just a beast under your bed, in your closet, in your head..."

Happy Halloween!!

I know I'm a day late, and I'm most definitely a dollar short. But when you hear the week and weekend I've had, you'll totally understand.

Let's rewind to last week, shall we?

Wednesday the boyfriend stayed home sick and instead of staying home and nursing him back to health, I was at Miss J's helping her bake more goodies for the party.

Thursday was more of the same. Poor man sounded like he was gonna cough up a lung. Fortunately, he did not. As we know, I am NOT good in the face of an emergency.

Friday was crazy-psycho busy day for pretty much everyone. I dropped the boyfriend off at work (He was only marginally improved, but insisted upon going...), raced home to shower and start the transformation process. Then I was off to have a quick lunch with the boyfriend before heading back to Miss J's house to finish everything.



We got it all done with just enough time for her to do some beautifully crazy things with my hair and makeup. I picked the boyfriend up from work looking like some half-breed and then we raced home to change into our costumes. The boyfriend was Ron White and I was....(wait for it)...Medusa!

The party was wonderful, loud and at times slightly nuts. There were wonderful costumes and I got to meet and reconnect with some awesome people.

Saturday was spent trying to wash all of the product out of my hair from the night before so I kinda slacked on Saturday night's costume. The band was playing at Miss B's parents' bar again and they were throwing a Coyote Ugly themed costume party. The boyfriend dressed up as Elvis and made my heart melt. I did jeans, a western-style shirt and a cowgirl hat. (Told ya I slacked!) Unfortunately, I added heels to that mix. Normally that wouldn't have been an issue except Miss J and her friend Cleo were bound and determined that I was going to dance with them. Add a few vodka sunrises and I really didn't need their motivation anymore, I was out on the floor like a dancing machine. Fortunately, I was the one with the camera, so I don't think there's any evidence. I'm pretty sure I looked a bit like young Forrest Gump...you know, before Elvis made it cool?

Yesterday (which was the actual day to dress up...) was spent in jammies, recovering, watching football and cuddling with the boyfriend. All in all, it was a pretty damn good day. The boyfriend even brought me breakfast in bed :)

So, now that you're all caught up to speed, would you like a present? Of course you would, EVERYONE likes presents. Here's a little list of the best costumes I saw this weekend. Enjoy folks!




Little Red Riding Hood and her Big Bad Wolf




Cleopatra




Raggedy Ann and a Pregnant Angel




Yellow Cab




Mr. and Mrs. Vampire (He had some wicked contacts in!)




Pumpkin Man




Just Been Bitten


And there it is gang. I hope you liked the montage. I'm off to get some work and cleaning done. I hope everyone had a safe and fantastic Halloween. And Happy November to you! The rush towards Christmas has officially begun. Are any of you as thrilled as I am? {insert eye roll}

Toodles dears!