Sugar and Spice

Did you ever have one of those mornings where you are still between sleep/dreaming and being awake?

That was how I started my day today.

A friend of mine (check out blog here: http://yvonneyaar.blogspot.com/) and I were to meet at one of the local flea markets at 9:00 AM this morning.

I had some really weird dreams last night. I don't remember the details or actually it would be hard for me to write them down because they are so fragmented, but at one part of my dream I read an e-mail from my friend saying she couldn't make it to the flea market because she had to have a medical procedure at 5:00 AM.

No worries - I'll go it alone (and then some other weird stuff happened in the dream)

M usually leaves the house around 6:30 AM and she gives me a kiss goodbye and I drift back to sleep.

So I drifted and then I woke up...or thought I woke up and looked at my alarm clock and it said 9:30!!!

I sprang up in a panic because I was going to be late in meeting my friend. I clumped down the stairs - sometimes it takes a while for my ankles to loosen up so I really don't walk...just kind of clump and grabbed my cell phone to call her and at the same time I was trying to open up my e-mail to see if I really read that she had a medical procedure this morning or if it was part of a dream.

Her phone rang a few times and her voice mail picked up and I looked down at the clock on my computer and it said: 7:10 AM.

I hung up the phone and didn't leave a message - embarrassed.

My e-mail finally came up and there was NOTHING about a medical procedure anywhere and in fact she sent me an e-mail last night to confirm the 9:00 AM meeting.

Talk about confused!!!

It wasn't 9:30 it was only 7:10. I wasn't late at all and just sat in front of my computer trying to figure out where I was.

Oy!

Actually what did happen was that my friend had really weird dreams too and she overslept and she was late!

(que in Twighlight theme now)

SO - for today's song I thought I would post something that kind of gives you a glimpse of my spaced out frame of mind this morning!




Love the trippy ink blotty things in the background!

Far out!

Peace all!

Have a great weekend!

Sugar and Spice

Another Friday is here! For all you 9 to 5er's a two day reprieve before you have to do it all over again.

I hope it's a good one!

We have had THE crappiest weather this week. Rain, drizzle, more rain...throw in a little fog and humidity levels that do not dip below 90%.

Can we say sticky and disgusting? You never feel completely dry. My dogs have tracked in so much dirt and mud into my house I've just about surrendered to the fact that my house won't be clean until it dries up a little.

On the brighter side - both of my rain barrels are full again!


But the silver lining to all this crappy rain was that I got to spend all day with BOTH of my kids yesterday. My son is in from Chicago for a few days and daughter C had the day off so we went to our favorite little town: Ocean Grove and had a nice lunch. Afterwards my daughter wanted to put in an application to THIS store so my son and I moseyed about and he was getting ideas on how to decorate his new apartment since this one is bigger than his postage stamp size one he previously had.

My daughter played chauffeur and I have to tell you it was kind of nice being driven around!

We had to stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner and then my son and I went to the liquor store and he picked out a very nice Chilean Pinot Noir. Agustinos Reserva if you want to check it out. Nice and light and it went very well with our dinner which was beef, chicken and shrimp kabobs.

My daughter and her boyfriend were there and M came home just in time for us to serve up dinner.

We chatted and laughed and I am still smiling today because I enjoyed myself so much.

Here is a picture of my son, my daughters boyfriend and my daughter. (there was a picture that included me in there as well but between the sunburn I got on Sunday and the reaction to the sulfites in the wine I was as red as a lobster so I'm not going to post that one!)



Also - I want to mention that R (daughter's boyfriend) is in a band called Racing Kites. He's the drummer. If you ever want to check them out please do!

I let you know what my son's theme song was when he was a baby, but now it's C's turn. It's not a tune that is as well known but the first time I heard it was right after she was born. The very first time I got to hold her in my arms I said: "Hello little sweet pea! You have the brightest eyes!"

Sweat Pea was her nickname when she was little and she still is my little sweet pea, but she's all grown up now.



Thanks for a great day yesterday kids! I love you both!

Peace all - have a great weekend!

Sugar and Spice

TGIF all!

I went to my counselor yesterday. It was a good session. She's sharp and is not afraid to call you to task. She's the first counselor that I've ever had that has done that. Usually I can use my wit and charm to disarm them and skirt around the heavier issues in my life. Not with this one. She watches every move you make, every rise or fall in your voice. Any change in position and notices when you are avoiding something.

That is what they are trained to do obviously and some people are better at it than others. She's excellent!

She noticed that a lot of the things that I do are for other people (hello co-dependence) and asked me what was I going to do for myself after this session.

"Go home and take a nap?!" said the coy and sly little me.

She just shook her head.

"Um, go home and walk the dogs?!"

"Much better!"

I've been trying to get my ass moving to exercise and lose weight and I just have been extremely lazy about it. One week I will be great - eat right, work out in the yard, take the dogs for nice long walks and then the following week I'm eating crap, lying about the house, surfing the web and feeling like a blob.

I'm sabotaging my own self.

We have a white board in our kitchen and I write all of the things/chores that I am trying to accomplish while I'm unemployed. I've managed to get a lot of things done so far. I also ask M to write things that she needs me to do as a reminder because I'll just plain forget.

This morning on my list of things to do M wrote: 1 task for Sharon 6/5/09. What is she doing for herself today? and added a little smiley face to it.

I loved it!

So the two things that I want to do for myself today is read the book I've started. It's a good rainy day and perfect for book reading and give myself 30 minutes on the treadmill. I need to get moving and if I start a little it will help me a lot.

There is a play list I have on my iPod that I've made just for walking on the treadmill. There are slower songs in the beginning and then the songs increase in tempo as I go along.

The last song I usually play is Trouble by P!nk. I can usually jog through the entire song and I feel pretty pumped up afterwards.

I freakin' love her. She scares me a little but I really like her music.

So for this weeks spicy song I give you P!nk and maybe if you crank it up a little it will get you moving too!



Happy Weekend all!

Peace!

Sugar and Spice

I talked to my son last night. He's moving again. The poor guy has had to move every 6 months for the past 2 years or so for some odd reason or another and now he has signed a 1 year lease and will become a permanent resident of the state of Illinois!

Congrats!

I know I keep posting stuff about my kids and if you get bored with that kind of thing - sorry, but I am still having these "OMG I can't believe they are all grown up" thoughts.

I swear it was just yesterday when he looked like this:

and now he looks like this:

That's him and his girlfriend K.

Not a little boy anymore...definitely a man now.

I'll spare you all of the trips down memory lane. I want to keep some of them to myself but I will tell you that each of my kids had a song I used to sing to them when they were little. I'd play it on the stereo and dance around the living room with them. If it came on the radio when they were in the car I would tell them that this is their song and turn it up and sing along.

So looking at the picture of my little guy and his golden hair and eyes of blue I used to always sing this song to him:

(My head is boppin' back and forth and I'm getting a bit choked up)

I love you S and I'm so proud of you!

Happy weekend all!

Peace!

Sugar and Spice

Ooops - sorry I'm late folks.

It was one of those days of endless errands so I was away from the computer most of the day.

The first thing on my "to-do" list was to get a hair cut. I've been doing the hair color thing for about 2 years now. Getting the expensive color and cut. Now that I'm unemployed I've decided to go back to my basic hair cut and to let the color grow out. Since I wear my hair relatively short it doesn't take long to get rid of the color and WOW is my hair white! And you know what? I kind of like it!

So the white stays and I'll save a few bucks too!

I finished all of my errands relatively early and decided - heck...I think a nap is needed!

And so it was - a wonderful 2 hour veg out time. I don't think I slept, but it felt good to do nothing for a little while.

M reminded me that there was one thing I forgot to do today and that was my "Sugar and Spice" post for the week.

She helped me with this week's selection because I wasn't coming up with a good "spicy" song. She suggested "Conflict" by Disturbed first. Um...no. Not my cup o' tea. It just sounds like a lot of screaming and banging.

We went back and forth and we finally agreed to a classic Aerosmith hit.

M's been a fan of Aerosmith for a long time and actually talked me into going to one of their concerts. I have to admit I am not a fan, but seeing them play live gave me a whole new appreciation for the band. That Steve Tyler is a maniac and M thinks that Joe Perry is HOT! (personally I don't get it, but hey - whatever)

SO for this week's SPICE song we have picked Crazy by Aerosmith.

Have a happy and Safe Memorial weekend all and please don't forget those who have served and have sacrificed their lives for our country.



Peace!

Sugar and Spice

Happy Friday for all who get the next two days off to relax and enjoy. I hope you have nice weather predicted.

Yesterday I had all of these things flying around in my head that I was going to share with you for this post, but today all of those thoughts are gone.

Vanished! POOF!

I need to start writing stuff down.

As I am typing I am listening to the racket that a pair of starlings are making. They've decided to build their nest in my vent again. They weren't here last year thankfully, but they are back now! Time to get out the ladder and shoo them away. Unfortunately I've become rather shaky on high ladders as I've gotten older. Maybe it's because if I fall now, I'll probably get hurt as opposed to when I was younger I would have just cursed a little, rubbed it off and gotten back up there. Getting hurt really didn't enter my mind as much.

Middle age - blech.

I did some more work around the yard this week. One of my rain barrels sprung a bit of a leak so I had to fix that, I got some planting done and I'm working on building a raised garden bed. My veggie garden is going to be a bit late this year unfortunately.

Yesterday while I was tooling around the yard a group of neighborhood kids whizzed by on various means of transport. One was on a bike, another on a razor skooter, then a lil' dude on a skate board and the last guy was whizzing along on those sneakers with the little wheel in the back of them - roller shoes.

Those are pretty cool I have to admit. If I was a kid I'd be wanting me a pair of those.

Instead we had these:



Later I graduated to these:


(add a pair of striped knee socks and you were a totally hip and happening kind of chick)

Fun times! Scraped knees and elbows - no helmets or pads, just put them on and ZOOM we were on our way! Well maybe not so much in the metal skates - they just kind of did a "scuff, scuff, rool - scuff, scuff, roll" kind of thing.

The skating rinks were big back then too - roller disco! (That's a whole other subject for a whole new series!)

Watching these kids zipping around got me thinking of a particular song and it's been stuck in my head so now I have to let it loose and get into your brains instead of mine!

Brand New Key - by Melanie
(Does anyone remember her?)

She had this shrilly, squeaky kind of voice that kind of went right back to that nerve in the back of your neck and your shoulders would skrunch up and winced - but you probably sang along too. (Yeah...you did, admit it)

So let's pay tribute to the past and remember our first pair of metal skates and looking for that freakin' key that you needed to adjust the things so that they would stay on your feet. We could never find that key when we needed it!

Happy Weekend all!



Peace!

Just a few things...

before I go!

M and I are flying out to Chicago tomorrow to see my son "S" graduate from Loyola University! Yikes - this is one of those - I feel so proud and so old at the same time! (I'm only 45 though)

We're looking forward to the trip - it's been a while since we've gone away just the two of us. My son has promised to be our tour guide on Thursday and Friday and then on Saturday I think we'll roam around ourselves for a bit. We hope to meet up with Deb from the Middle Girl blog on Saturday if we can. It's always nice to meet a fellow blogger! The weather is supposed to be so-so, but that's ok. With all the rain we've been getting this spring I've developed web feet and gills so it shouldn't bother me.

I haven't had much time to do any work around the yard this week because of the soggy weather but I've been keeping myself busy by taking lots of naps and trying to plan a trip to the UK for sometime in June. That's my new project.

SOooooo, since I won't be around for the weekend I thought I would leave you with some odd picture of things around my house. These aren't really my artsy pictures that I have but more of the mundane, the odd and the fascinating variety. Or at least I thought so.

First up is this little gem I found in one of my bushes while I was cleaning up the leaves:



It's a Praying Mantis egg sack! I've been watching it closely and it still hasn't hatched yet, but soon hundreds of these little guys and gals will be roaming my gardens eating aphids and spiders. Very cool bugs!

Next up: Two lazy squirrels.



This guy was hanging out on a really hot day last week. It was about 90 degrees and he just looked tired and hot and was trying to just take a break from running around.



Same branch a few days later in the rain and there were two squirrels huddled together. I thought it was adorable how the first one is all tucked in.

Here is one of my completed projects:



My rain barrels! I didn't paint them just left them their industrial blue color but maybe next year I will get the chance. I finished these on Wednesday - and by Saturday afternoon each 55 gallon drum was filled. That is just from a few days of light rain! I was amazed how quickly they filled up. This should keep my house plants and gardens happy for a while!

Last up is an object of questionable nature and if anyone can tell me what it is I will be truly thankful:





It's a blob of some sort. I don't know if it's a fungus or what? It was in my neighbor's cedar tree and I kept seeing this bright orange blob so I investigated. It is quite slimy in nature and sticky so perhaps it's a sack of sap - I really don't know.

Anyone have a clue?

Last but not least I thought I would leave you with this weeks Sugar and Spice selection.

The spicy songs are a bit harder for me to come up with because I'm not really a "spicy" kind of girl, but since I reference Axl Rose in my last music post I thought it only fitting to leave you with him this week.

What a loon this guy is, but they knew how to rock!



I know it's only Wednesday - but have a good weekend all!

Peace!

P.S. The orange blog is Cedar-Apple Rust! (thank you Google)

Sugar and Spice

Yikes it's nearly 4:30 and I never posted this week's song.

Forgive me but I was hangin' with a friend today and I was having so much fun talking to a live person (besides M) that I just totally forgot!

I need a freakin' job!

I may have an interview next week - so that is promising - keep your fingers crossed for me please!

Most of the "sugary" songs that I have selected for this segment have what I call the "head bob" factor. When I hear them my head just kind of bobs from side to side along with the beat.

This one qualifies and I also think that Axl Rose got his dance moves from this guy.

Maybe it's me - you be the judge:

The song for this week is Daydream Believer by The Monkees (sung by Davy Jones)



and there is the Axel Rose dance:



Coincidence?

I think not!

Have a great weekend all!

Peace!

Sugar and Spice

Hey ho - Happy Friday all!

Another nice weekend is forecasted for the weekend here in the Northeast. We are supposed to get temps in the 80's That's a little warm for me, but the humidity is low so I can cope with it!

I'm off to run some errands for the day but didn't want to leave you without this weeks song.

If you were a big hair ban fan of the 80's you may like this one. I am not, but I thought the song was fitting for the theme that I'm going with here.

The song is a bit more spicy than sugar, but it has sugar in the title. I think one of the famous lines of the song goes something like this: "I'm hot, sticky sweet, from my head down to my feet! Yeah!"

Can any one guess before peeking?

It's Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar on Me. The idea of the song was actually taken from the song "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies, but it's a bit more sexual than their song I think!

The interesting thing about Def Leppard is that the drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident so only plays the drum with one arm. I give him a lot of credit for that - he kept doing what he loves to do despite his loss.

Turn up the volume and rock on all!



"You got the peaches, I got the cream
Sweet to taste, saccharine
'Cos I'm hot, say what, sticky sweet
From my head, my head, to my feet"

That ought to get the blood pumping for your weekend!


Peace!

Sugar and Spice

Happy Friday all!

We've have 2 days of glorious sunshine here on the east coast. It's been a cold, wet, windy, raw spring this year. I'm not going to complain too much because the rain has been watering my plants and filling up little lakes and ponds in the area that have become so low in the few past years.

The rainy days give me time to get some things done inside that need to be done and the warm sunny days I have been outside working in the yard.

It's all good.

Today's Sugar and Spice song has been stuck in my head for over a week already and so perhaps if I post it here I will get it out and push it on to all of you!

Originally the song came from a musical that made it's debut back in 1967. I was but a wee lass at the time so I don't remember it, but there were plenty of song from the musical that made it to the radio. Among them were: Aquarius, Donna and of course Hair.

But the song that has been stuck in my head for over a week now is Good Morning Starshine!

Oliver climbed the charts to #3 here in the states with his cover of Starshine in 1969 and with lyrics like:

Gliddy glub gloopy
Nibby nabby noopy
La la la lo lo

You can see why!

You can also see the effects of the drugs people where taking when they wrote that song!

I have this mental picture of some guy in a beanbag chair, trippin' out on LSD muttering:

Sabba sibby sabba
Nooby abba nabba
Le le lo lo

Someone in the background saying: "wow, that is like totally cool man. I think that would make a great song."

Far out!

For your spring time ear worm and sugar sweet song of the week I give you: Good Morning Starshine by Oliver (the video kind of sucks so just listen)



Happy weekend all and I hope where ever you are you are getting a nice taste of spring!

Peace, love and all that good stuff!

Sugar and spice

I am going to post this tonight because tomorrow I won't have time.

Me, M, Neetzy and the Semi-Conductor are going to Philly to see the Cezanne exhibit and have lunch. It should be fun!

The song I picked out for this week is on the "spice" side of things.

When I first heard it on the radio I was like: "What the fa is that?"

I didn't like it, but unfortunately it has a way of becoming an earworm very quickly. The group quickly rose to the top of the charts and then fell apart just as quickly. Now most of them are more famous for their shennanigans after stardom.

Believe me when I say that this isn't normally a song I would pick for this blog, but it fits the category well so I just couldn't resist. And - you gotta admit, you can't help but "slam it to the left and then shake it to the right" when you here it!

hee, hee, hee!

Unfortunately YouTube has blocked the embedding feature so you'll have to click on the link below to hear the song.

If you dare!

Shazza's Spicy song of the week! <-----Click here!

Happy Passover/Easter/Weekend all!

Sugar and spice

...and everything nice.

We all know that isn't true. Especially these days.

Unemployment here in the US is the highest it's been since 1983!

I'm so glad I'm doing my part. Actually I think I was jobless in 1983 for a while.

I hate being left out.

Me and my unemployed self have been taking a lot of naps, doing odd jobs here and there and watching a lot of political shows for some silly reason. Mostly because I like the personalities, not really because I'm interested in politics.

Rachel Maddow - cute and smart and funny and willing to challenge the people who come on her show. What a gal!

Keith Olbermann - I like him - I don't always agree with him, but his long standing feud with Bill-O is very entertaining.

I tried to watch a sitcom last night: In the Motherhood thinking it would be just as funny as the MSN short episodes - but it wasn't. It was kind of stupid. Luckily my Dad called me in the middle of the show and saved me from myself!

This is why I don't watch regular TV. News maybe, History Channel, Discovery Channel and Tuesday night is The Biggest Loser night here, but that's about it. (Everyone cries on this show)

This is the life of an unemployed woman - she actually tried to watch a sitcom.

I NEED A JOB!

(heh, heh) Not really - I'm kind of enjoying the down time and I've had a few good leads on some jobs so I'm not in panic mode yet. It will happen.

Today I thought I would start a new musical Friday post and this was inspired by driving along on a beautiful spring day listening to one of those radio stations that play a variety of music and promises a "no repeat work day". I like it because they play a lot of "older" music - stuff I grew up with and they smather in some newer stuff and then mix it around.

So the song: Sugar, Sugar by the Archies came on and I was transported back to those wonderful Saturday mornings as a kid laying in my pajamas eating breakfast cereal downstairs (which we were not allowed to do but Mom worked early on Saturdays and Dad slept in so we got away with it) and watching Saturday morning cartoons. The Archies was one that I liked: Archie, Jughead, Veronica, Betty and Reggie.

I had a "thing" for Veronica! ;)

Such sweet innocent times. I often think that a lot of kids these days aren't as innocent as we were because they are exposed to so much more. Oh well, times change.

So for my new series I will select some "Sugar" songs: songs so sweet they will make your teeth hurt and I will select some "Spice" songs: maybe not so sweet, maybe a little anger in there! Just a little something to get you started off on your weekend!

TGIF everyone - here is "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies!