Some Housekeeping

I have added some folks to my "Look What I Found" list. Some are old friends that I've found again and some are new peeps who I've been lucky to meet through the Manic Monday writing.

So...please welcome to the blogroll:

It's a Blog Eat Blog World: Written by Mo, the fearless leader of Manic Monday, and so many other things!

DUWARD DISCUSSION: Written by Jaimie. I love reading her posts. They are so informing and thoughtful. I learns something new from her each time I go there.

From Bryn Mawr to You: Written by Jessica and Matt. Two of my friends from Arkansas who are now living in the beautiful state, Alaska.

Manic Monday: Kit

Todays word is Kit:

The first thing I thought of when I saw the word Kit was KITT the car from Knight Rider. Duh..how many of us who grew up in the 80's thought that one. So... I skipped it.

The second thing I thought of was Catwoman. Yes, that's right Catwoman: Eartha Kitt. I know, I know, the name is spelled with two "t"s instead of one, but that's what you're getting today.

I absolutely LOVED to watch that 1960's Batman show. It came on every afternoon after school where I lived. All my friends and I watched those reruns religiously. "Same Bat-time, Same Bat Channel". Somewhere, I even have Adam West's and Burt Ward's autographs. We would play "Batman and Robin" for hours on end. I would always be Catwoman or Batgirl...not like there were a lot of choices, but Catwoman was my favorite. (I have a thing for villians)

Now, Eartha Kitt was not my favorite Catwoman....no way jose'. That will always be Julie Newmar. She was just soooooooo sexy, slinky, cool. But, Eartha Kitt had that voice....WOW, she could purr like no one's business. Here are some facts about the wonderful Eartha Kitt, who is best known as Catwoman, but is also a renown singer.

Eartha Kitt was born on January 26, 1928 in South Carolina to a family of sharecroppers. When she was eight years old she was sent to live with her aunt in Harlem. While in high school she became involved in the performing arts and studied dance. She was part of her church choir and also took piano lessons.

At sixteen she joined the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe and toured in Europe. While in Europe she had to fill in for a singer during the tour and decided she liked singing more than dancing. Orson Wells called her "the most exciting woman in the world" and signed her to star as Helen of Troy in his stage production of Dr. Faust in Paris. Her first film was Time Runs, an Orson Wells film. She acted in Batman in 1967, supposedly because they wanted to make it seem that Batman was in love with Batgirl rather than Catwoman.

While attending a White House luncheon in 1968 she denounced the Vietnam War in front of Mrs. Johnson, which led to her blacklisting, where she could not get a job in America for six years. She performed solely overseas from 1968 until 1974. "It wasn't that the American public didn't want me. It was that I couldn't get work anywhere. Even people I had contracted with wouldn't work with me," Kitt said.

She was watched by the C I A , which for years kept a thick file on her. "I was rejected artistically, emotionally and personally. I remember thinking, my own mother had given me away and now my country didn't want me either,"

She was one of only a handful of performers to be nominated for an Emmy, a Tony, two Grammys and an Academy Award. She has made a comeback of late, has released a book, a new recording and performs on a regular basis. Still, an activist, she is outspoken for her stance on Gay Rights which she feels is the community that stuck with her through the bad times when she was blacklisted.

She lives in Westchester, New York where she still amazes audiences with her one-of-a-kind personality.

Flash Back Friday Photo: Great Grands

This is my Great Granddad George Mann White on the left, and Great Great Granddad David T. Rochelle on the right.

I was sent this picture by one of my Mom's 1st cousins. I actually was born before my Grandad White passed away. I have pictures of him holding me as a toddler. This is the only picture I have ever seen of Great Great Grandad Rochelle.

I wish I knew what year this was...I love this picture. They both look so relaxed and happy. I'm guess late 1920's? Grandad White always had a cigar. He looks so much like my grandfather and my uncles ..or I guess they looked like him.

Grandad White owned a feed store in Arkansas and had a farm house. My great uncles took over the feed store and one of them lived next door to the farm house. I have such great memories of going to the feed store as a kid. We would roller skate there. It was set up in a way that it formed a perfect sized roller rink "circle". The floor was just smooth concrete perfect for skating.

It always had such a distinct smell as well. A mix of seeds, dust, salt, hay, soil... it smelled good to me. I loved to go to the seed bins and open all the different drawers and look at the seeds. They were different colors, sizes, textures.... They always felt cool, and I would scoup huge handfuls up and let the them run through my fingers back into the drawer....until someone caught me and told me to get out of those drawers! Someone always ran me off from there, I never understood what was so bad about me playing in the seeds. I guess they thought I was going to spill them everywhere.

The other thing we used to do is make our own sausage there every year. My family would all pitch in together *all grandparents, cousins, and kids* and buy a hog or two. Then we would gather at the feed store one evening and grind and mix the sausage, and link it ourselves. At my cousins and I were too young to help...that's when we would skate and explore. Then, as we got older we were allowed to help out. Making your own sausage is pretty gross.... but man oh man was that sausage good. I will never have sausage as good as that again.

Anyway.... like I said, I love this picture. It makes me think of good times and makes me wish I could have known the both of them. I love to hear the stories about them, but I wish I could have known them.

Come on Down...

Yes, today I'm going to talk a little bit about The Price is Right. It's Tuesday and I don't really have much to talk about today...and this is something I've been meaning to write about for a while but just keep forgetting about and I happened to remember today...*breath*....

I have two anecdotes for you about the beloved game show. The first is not so interesting, but kind of funny to me and my family. My grandfather is a HUGE fan of the show. I'm anxious to discuss with him his feelings of the departure of Bob Barker. I am wondering how well he is going to like Drew... it may ruin the show for him.

When I was pregnant with my second born, I would watch The Price is Right every day. This was before the days of watching the Disney Channel, and Nick Jr.... I loved to call my grandfather and talk with him as we watched the show, or right after to talk about the contestants.

When I actually gave birth to my second daughter, we went in the hospital around 6am...watched the morning news show, and then whatever..The Price is Right...and as soon as that was over, we were in business... it was almost as if the announcer said "Come on Down!" and Lyanna did. We all think it's hilarious here...

The other thing that happened during that time was something I saw on one particular show. I don't know if anyone else happened to see it, or comment about it....but I thought I would pee my pants while watching it. *I was pregnant*

As usual a group of college kids was there. One of the guys was called down to the front. Every time he was asked to bid on an item he would give the same amount:
$420.

FOUR TWENTY!!! His friends were dying in their seats each time, laughing their assess off, the rest of the audience had no clue what was going on, and Bob definitely didn't. Knowing that the audience was totally clueless was funny enough...I kept wondering why no one took the kid off the air...but I guess no one at the show knew what was going on either...which made it even more funny..I sort of felt sorry for Bob, because it was kind of sad to see him being duped that way..... It was hilarious, I just wish the guy would have actually wond something and gotten on stage...that would have been GREAT!

"Gotta go with four twenty Bob..." "Bob, I gotta say four twenty..." "Sticking with four twenty this time Bob..."

That had to be, hands down, one of the funniest days of that show for me.

If you don't know about 4:20 here is the Wikipedia definition and a linky poo:

4:20 (cannabis culture)

4:20 or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is a term used in North America as a discreet way to refer to the consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis culture. Phrases such as "420 friendly" sometimes appear in roommate advertisements, indicating that the current occupants are tolerant of cannabis users. [2]

Manic Monday: Crisp

A Haiku for you:


I bit the apple

Crisp.....and juice ran down my chin.

Is this how Eve felt?

What's your Career choice?

Kelly had this little Meme on her blog and it looked cool to do so, I did it.


1. Go to www.careercruising.com.
2. Put in Username: nycareers; Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top whatever results

These are mine: Interesting enough, my career choice is on here...just at #17..

1.
Music Teacher / Instructor

2.
Actor

3.
Computer Trainer

4.
Personal Trainer

5.
Director of Photography

6.
Musician

7.
Casting Director

8.
Comedian

9.
Composer

10.
ESL Teacher

11.
Foreign Language Instructor

12.
Special Effects Technician

13.
Dancer

14.
Driving Instructor

15.
Elementary School Teacher

16.
Professor

17.
High School Teacher

18.
Fitness Instructor

19.
Teacher Assistant

20.
Set Designer

21.
Costume Designer

22.
Early Childhood Educator

23.
Website Designer

24.
Animator

25.
Desktop Publisher

26.
Multimedia Developer

27.
Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator

28.
Animal Trainer

29.
Nanny

30.
Library Technician

31.
Computer Animator

32.
Critic

33.
Artist

34.
Graphic Designer

35.
Bus Driver

36.
Video Game Developer

37.
Market Research Analyst

38.
Print Journalist

39.
Activist

40.
Political Aide

Flash Back Friday Returns....With a new twist.

I haven't done a Flashback Friday in a long time. The reason behind that being: no one has given me any dates to flashback to. So.....I decided to revamp the idea. I've noticed a lot of bloggers have Photo Friday. I didn't want to really copy that, but I'll take it a little further and combine the two.

I will now have Flashback Photo Friday. I promise, to the best of my ability, to have some sort of photo from the past to share with you on Fridays. If you want to participate in this with me, just leave me a comment about it. Here's the rules... You have to have a photo from the past. Can be your past, someone else's past, something you saw, something you think is intersting..etc. but it has to be from the past. Would be nice to have a paragraph to go with it, explaining what it is, or why it has meaning to you.

So...without further ado I give you my first FLASHBACK PHOTO:

This is me in New Orleans, with a beer and a whole big bucket of crawdaddies! Yes, I am in the French Quarter and this was just moments before those little mud bugs were thrown into a big pot of boiling water with some seasoning, corn, and potatoes....tossed onto a plate, and then eaten by ME! Yummy for the tummy!

This was March 2003, hanging out in the Big Easy before leaving on our marriage/honeymoon cruise.....

Oh here's me sucking some head.

New Room and a Big Girl Bed

My 3 year old was still sleeping in her crib until this week. She finally figured out she could climb out of the bed. Everytime she climbed out she went wandering around the house. The wandering wouldn't have been so bad if she could keep crap out of her mouth.....which for some reason she can't. I had to call the stupid poison control because she tried to brush her teeth with acne medicine....

The poison control person said she would be fine, but her mouth might be a little irritated. Brad says: "Well at least she won't have pimples on her teeth." Ha ha!

So.....anyway.... we knew it was time for her to move out of the nursery and have her own room and a big bed.

Luckily her crib evolves into a nice double bed, so we spent today setting up her new room. It turned out really really cute and she absolutely ADORES it. We were so glad that she did, and so far so good, she hasn't tried to crawl out of bed and go wandering.....we do have a tension gate on the door though.

UPDATE: She has gotten out of bed twice....this last time she wandered down the stairs to where we were watching t.v. She had managed to climb out of bed, over the gate, and was down to just a diaper...where or where had the jammies gone? So....I took her back up to her bed, changed her diaper, got her dressed. Took the chair out of the room she used to climb over the gate, re arranged the bed, and then Brad comes in and lays down with her. Hopefully she'll go to sleep with him in there with her...we'll see.

Wish us good luck with the big change!

My Hone-ee, My Hone-ee

Pronounced like Phoney..... That is what my 2 year old calls My Little Pony. We had a My Little Pony themed birthday party for them this year. I haven't put up any pictures from the party because I am waiting for my in-laws to send me the one's they took.

I am going to put up pictures of the birthday cake I made instead. It was a work of love and my first attempt at a blue horse, so give me a break. I think it actually turned out pretty good for a first attempt at so large a cake. It took 3 cake mixes to make this sucker.

Here is a picture of the Pony I used as my "model".

Here is my cake:

Cake when first cut to make horse shape

Parts that got wasted: I am on a diet....

Mmmmmm.....FROSTING!...before it turned blue.

Starting to look like Rainbow Dash...

We have color...the mane and face are added

And here is the finished product....what do you think?

Clue

I guess what immediately comes to mind when I hear or see the word "clue" is, of course, the board game. I spent many a rainy afternoon or late night playing this game with my friends and/or family. I liked being Professor Plum...I think because the piece was purple, and he looked smart on the picture....My mom was always Ms. Scarlett..wonder what that says about her personality? Wouldn't that be an interesting quiz type thingy. What does your favorite Clue piece say about you....hmmmmmmmm....


Looky what I found! I took the quiz and wouldn't you know it...I got Prof. Plum. Too freaking funny!

What Clue Character are you?

The other thing that comes to mind is Sherlock Holmes and my little brother Daniel. I am a crazy mad reader. I can NOT ever get enough to read, or enough time to read what I want. I like reading mysteries....good mysteries. I enjoy a nice Sherlock Holmes story. They make you think and most of the time they are a little bit creepy too. Daniel likes Sherlock Holmes stories too. He even went so far as to dress as Sherlock Holmes at Halloween once. I think....I have a picture of him dressed up....he also collects pipes. I wonder if his love of Sherlock Holmes led to his eccentric hobby

Rock On!

The Scorpions

Detroit, Michigan

September 6, 2007

First Weekend for NFL 2007!!

Whoo hoo! Football season has started! I LOVE Pro football and laying on the couch on Sunday afternoon and watching and just being lazy.



I love playing Fantasy too! As promised to Ian: here is my 2007 Fantasy Draft...subject to change as the season progresses:



The 2007 Dogtowne Ladybugs



QB: Drew Brees

WR: Anquan Boldin

WR: Reggie Brown

RB: Steven Jackson

TE: Benjamin Watson

FLEX: Brandon Jacobs

FLEX: Jamal Lewis

K: Josh Scobee

D: Chris Hope

D: Kerry Rhodes

D: Aaron Kampman



BENCH: Santana Moss

BENCH: Ben Roethlisberger

BENCH: Ron Dayne

BENCH: Marty Booker

BENCH: Tony Scheffler

BENCH: Justin Miller


It is not such a bad team, but I am soooo losing this week. BLEH! My guys just didn't perform this weekend....I'll crack the whip, bust some assess and get them back in shape for next weekend!