I should do it more often, because so many things happen in my life that I want to remember but I forget all about them later, but sometimes I remember to take “notes” and draft a text message in my cell phone. The problem is that even though I take these notes, I often forget that I did. I’m awesome like that!
I thought that I would “clean house” today and share a couple of these notes:
The first one is just one word “fantabulousticulous”. I am not sure who said it (or why), I can’t find it in my email…it must have been on Facebook! I took note of it because it made me smile.
“My heart is beating like a jumbo drum” which are misheard lyrics to a song that kept coming up on Starr’s playlist (usually heard through the walls/floor as she is cleaning or primping and I am in another area of the house) and I wanted to know what it was, but I forgot to ask until just now. “It’s Jungle Drum” she says (she was in the other room when I asked, and I could hear her rolling her eyes when she answered!). Okay, well, that makes sense.
” ‘Hikes Around Fort Collins’ – Melodie Edwards” a book I saw at the bookstore. I wanted to buy it, but wanted to make sure that I didn’t ALREADY OWN IT first! I just checked, and I don’t.
“I want to squeeze his cheeks! And when I say ‘squeeze his cheeks’, it’s more like marry him!” Starr talking about some cutie, I didn’t take note of who. I need to take better notes!
“If a guy is treating you like he doesn’t give a shit, he genuinely doesn’t give a shit. No exceptions.” A quote from the movie “He’s Just Not That Into You” and something that I need to remember.
“What do you think about when you look at the camera? — The depths of hell!” A question posed to Michael Proietti, who is noticably uncomfortable in front of the camera,last Sunday on The Next Food Network Star…and his answer which voices the exact way I feel about cameras!
For a nearly two weeks, I had been receiving and ignoring daily calls from Nielsen Ratings. I would look at the caller ID and shrug and walk away. They kept calling. Apparently, my input was crucial! Last week I finally picked up the phone.
“We at Nielsen Ratings would like you to participate in a survey about your television watching habits. Would you be willing to participate?”
“Sure.”
“What types of television programing do you and your family watch?”
I laughed, “Um, many types?”
She wanted clarification, “soap operas, comedy, sit-coms, drama, news?”
Okay, “among others we tend to watch dramas, reality TV (totally Starr!! *cough*) and the news.”
“That’s fine, I can record those answers. Thank you for participating in our survey today.”
I laughed out loud, they have been calling my house every single day and they had one non-specific question? “That’s it?!”
I heard her giggle, “yes, well, some of our surveys are longer than others.”
One of those Facebook memes going around my circle these days:
The iPod Game
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Put your iPod or other music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
* I added an mp3 link when possible. The links without a play button (like this –> “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” – Vampire Weekend) will take you to a place where you can hear the song. Sadly there were a couple songs that I couldn’t find at all.
Borrowed from Jason at The Jason Show (Happy 40th Jason!). Unfortunately, I celebrated my 40th just a short while ago…but thought I would play along anyway!
Do you think you’ve really lived so far? This is a list of 100 activities–some I have experienced (in red), some I have not (in black).
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band–does singing into my hairbrush as a teen (or last week?) count? Thought not.
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Bathed in a river
7. Been to the Taj Mahal
8. Walked on a glacier in Alaska 9. Caught and held a snake
10. Spoke in front of a big crowd–hopefully I will never have to.
11. Bungee jumped 12. Had a whirlwind love affair that broke your heart
13. Found an arrowhead or fossil
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch–I am not sure what this means. I draw. I’ve created all kinds of things..from scratch.
15. Rescued an animal–I remember a bird, and then there was Jimmy Crow, who I didn’t rescue, but did help nurse back to health.Last summer, there was that earthworm on the driveway, I tossed him back onto the grass…it counts!
16. Ate sweet breads, glands or tripe–I hear that sweet breads are good. I can’t do it.
17. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hiked to base camp on Mt. Everest
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Watched an animal being born
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Learned a foreign language
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Stayed up for more than 24 hours
31. Trained a dog to do cool tricks 32. Been on a cruise–Northern Europe
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors–if I knew where they were from, it might help. But non-specifically, I have visited England, Ireland, Germany and France among others…so I think I have the majority of countries covered, but not specific towns etc.
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Can drive a stick shift car
37. Won over $1000 in a raffle or lottery–*crosses fingers and checks latest Powerball numbers* …um, no.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke–and I never will. 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Been serenaded–he sang Woody’s “The Kelly Song”. It was sweet.
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Broke a bone
47. Started your own business
48. Quit a job because you were totally unhappy
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the Eiffel Tower
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain passionately–I feel like this should be a definite yes…but sadly no.
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Joined a prayer group 58. Taken a martial arts class–I hated it.
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching–I haven’t been on a “whale watching” trip/cruise, but have watched for and seen many whales from land and while on our cruise.
63. Received flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving–and I won’t.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy–many books. They were what I wanted to save.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar–I don’t care for it.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London–saw the guards, but not the changing.
77. Broken something extremely expensive
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Got a tattoo
83. Been to a coffee shop in Amsterdam
84. Seen the aurora borealis in person–and it was incredible!
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Toured the UN
95. Hiked to Machu Picchu
96. Swam in the Indian Ocean–no, but I have in the Mediterranean Sea. 97. Conversed with someone when neither of you spoke each others language–not really “conversed”, but yes.
98. Dirty danced
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Acted in a play–does the first grade Thanksgiving play count? Otherwise, no…by choice.
I received my second bill with a Where’s George stamp last week. The first bill that came across my path wasn’t actually mine but a one dollar bill that my dad received as change while on Holland America’s ms Prinsendam near the islands of French Polynesia. He brought it to me December 2003 and I entered it into the Where’s George data base. Since then that one dollar bill has had a total of zero hits. Zero, in five years.
Last week while out for a glass of wine with a friend, I received my second Where’s George bill. A five dollar bill. This one has been hit twice since it was originally entered just this past December. All of the hits are from here in town.
So, perhaps this Where’s George bill will see more action, and possibly make it out of town someday!
Last year I couldn’t make myself send out our usual holiday cards. I wasn’t in the mood. It was hard to pretend that the holiday was anything other than something to suffer through in light of our year. I did write a short note that I emailed to those people on my card list who I had email addresses for and I attempted my first digital scrapbooking project that I sent along with the letter.
Pics of Starr, Sunny and Skye, compiled December 2007
I am in very much the same emotional hole this year as I was last year. However, Starr thinks that we need to send out cards. She says that I need to stop moping around and participate in life. “We don’t want people to think we don’t care about them.” She even bought cards for us to send, because she knew I wouldn’t do it myself. So we will do it.
Today I need to compile my recipient list, address envelopes and write a short letter. However what I am doing instead is browsing blogs…being oh so productive as I avoid the task. As usual.
While doing this, I found the video below at Pastor Ryan’s blog This is Reverb:
Checking in on the most visited posts via random Google (or other) searches. It’s not really fair to the awesomeness of my newer posts *eyeroll*, but since I started tracking those sorts of things these are the top five visited individual posts on this blog:
#2 Inside Me There’s a Sad Machine
See, you Google “Inside me there’s a sad machine” and this post is number two. Maybe it’s the post titles that catch Google’s attention? The title also comes from the first line in this song, which is also featured: GfC by Albert Hammond Jr. also of The Strokes.
#3 Real Men Wear Kilts
Mmm. Kilts. I get all kinds of hits with all kinds of searches for this one. So, I am definitely not the only one who likes kilts! Which makes me feel better about the whole thing!
#4 To The Sky
I said in this post that Starr was going to be mad at me for posting her version of this song. She doesn’t yet know that I have. She knows about the blog, she is allowed to view it, but she is too busy to check in very often. She would be mortified to know that people searching for “Carl Strommen, To The Sky” and variations land here and listen to it all the time.
#5 Draw Me
This one I really don’t get, but it gets regular hits. My crushed artistic dreams, and a turtle…I think it’s the turtle they are after.
I showed this video to Starr the other day thinking that it was kind of humorous. Well, now she can’t stop watching it and all the other Get Your War On videos. I might just have to stage an intervention. So I thought I would share it here.
I have finally succumbed to the cold that Starr has been suffering from for the past few weeks. Yippee! I truly thought that I might just escape it…I was wrong!
Here are two things that I found online recently:
The first is pretty darn cool:
Astronaut Don Pettit created an astounding video using a sequence of still images he shot of the aurora borealis from the International Space Station.
Name? Kelly. Mysterious? Not really. Passionate? Yes. Lazy? Sometimes. Outgoing? Not a bit. Trusting? Mmhmm. Artistic? On good days. Crazy? Could be. Trustworthy? Absolutely. Graceful? I wish. Sarcastic? Often. Deserving? You bet. Forgiving? Yes. Religious? No. Spiritual? Yes. Uncertain? At times. Confused? Sure. Distracted? Daily. Silly? Yeah. Talkative? Not. Punctual? To a fault. Breakable? Quite.
This is not a music blog. While it is my desire to share free and legal music here (music is a part of me), it is not my goal to critique this music.
If I have posted music, it is because I like it, and it moves me at the moment. It might match my mood, it could be on repeat, or mirror the sentiment of my post. It might be quite random, and just what I wish to share.
*Older links may not always work, as promotional MP3s, in particular, are known to disappear without warning.
Artists and labels: if I have erred and posted a song inappropriately, let me know, and I will remove it.
To download a song: on a PC, right click the link and choose "save link as"
.” The title of this post is from the first line of the lyrics of the song.
by 
