Rock and rock and roll radio. let's go...

Our Christmas was quiet. Just the 3 of us. Sometimes I like it that way, but I do miss my giant family gatherings sometimes. Maybe next year.

The holiday was not without it's craziness. We decided to get the little man a drum set. I don't know if a 4 year old normally knows how to hold drumsticks and use the bass drum. I swear he played like he was doing it his whole young life. Instead of Marc Bolan, I think we may have Keith Moon. Yesterday we were trying to drum to an Eagles song and I realized it may not be so appropriate for a wee man to be singing, "somebody is going to hurt someone...". Quickly I said let's learn, Rock and Roll Radio by The Ramones. Much better.

Usually Christmas is also marked by us watching some marathon of a TV series. One year was, not a TV show, it was the Planet of the Apes movies. That was strange. One year it was Season 1 of The Sopranos. It made us start swearing more than we usually do. Last year was 6 Feet Under. I really love that show, but again kind of odd to be watching at Christmas. This year, I needed to lighten things up. I decided we missed a few episodes, and probably never saw Arrested Developmentt in the right order. I'm still laughing over the never nude.

Took the tree down yesterday. Sad to not have the lights, but I'm not one to keep holiday decorations up.
I'm not sure if it's an old wives tale, or just my mom's tale, but she always told me "you shouldn't do anything on New year's day that you don't want to do all year." In college I should have listened to this, because I always seemed to be nursing a hangover all year. Now that I'm older, taking down decorations is not high on my priority list of activities I want to do all year.

Toys galore scattered on the floor, there's no room for more.

Here is the tree. It's pink and I was very proud of myself when I bought it in the Highland neighborhood in Atlanta where we used to live. I thought, someone should take a picture of me walking down the street carrying this 4 foot tinsel tree.

We bought it out of much consideration over the real trees that we bought in the past, then discarded after the holiday.

Growing up in Florida we ALWAYS had the same fake green tree, and the day after Thanksgiving my sister and I would put it together. By the time I was a teenager, the color tips on the ends of the rusted tree branches were faded. My sis and I would just chuck the branches into various sizes. We knew by experience which branches went where. We could put together the tree blindfolded. Have the whole tree lighted and decorated by the time my mom came home. My dad just smiling, and saying the tree was crooked.

I grew up with that, but when I got married, I wanted a change. I really wanted a beautiful smelling tree. I loved all the trees we bought. They were so lovely. One year in Atlanta it started to snow when we went to the tree lot. Melvin was interviewed by a news channel because there was such a uniqueness about the weather and buying a tree. It was a very northern and romantic moment for me.

Then I started to feel very guilty. I love trees too much to do this to them. So we bought a pink Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

I also have a sort of complex about not getting rid of Christmas decorations. Anyone familiar with "Rudolph" and the Island of Misfit toys, will understand me when I say, I have the tree of misfit decorations. The bear in the top pic has lost both eyes and lost the pom off of one of his drum sticks. Still he goes on the tree. He has a special job too you know.
This is a little elf man who lost both arms in a tragic toy shop accident but still hangs on the tree with pride. I especially love the little fresh knit cap he's wearing.

Peace to all. Merry Merry!!

Gonna rock the Christmas tree...

OK everyone go-check out Citizen of the Month and listen to all of the lovely songs for Christmahanukwanzaakah. I don't know how Neil did it but he got my very large document of a song up on the list as well. The jingling is a ball of bells. This is my first and only web song for the masses. I was inspired when I heard Daniel Johnston sing it.

Self Portrait Challenge - red.3

This is my first ever self-portrait challenge participation.

More red here.

think and wish and hope and pray...

I get all my list from Acumamakiki

How tall are you barefoot? 5.5

Do you own a gun? no-only bothers me when I think of zombie attacks

What do you think of hot dogs? I used to love them. Now I'm excited if I find a place that has turkey or veggie dogs. Otherwise I don't eat them.

What's your favorite Christmas song? Father Christmas-The Kinks

What do you prefer to drink in the morning? coffee, a little sugar, lots of milk.

Can you do push-ups? push ups? My worst excercise. I can do maybe 5.

What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My Swatch and silver bracelets

What is your secret weapon to lure the opposite sex? Always my smile

Middle name? Marguerite

Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?

1. I want us to do our own thing
2. where will that be?
3. Is it possible?

Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?

1. coffee
2. water
3. cran with seltzer

What time did you wake up today? 6 am

Current worry? How are we going to make this dream happen.

Current hate? The town we live in.

Favorite place to be? By the back sliding doors looking at the mountains.

Least favorite place to be? Standing in line at the grocery store

Where would you like to go? I'm like a kid-a drive in the country makes me happy.

Do you own slippers? I have some, but I don't like them, so I'm giving them away.

What shirt are you wearing? 2. Gray tee with hot pink MTV logo,under that a silver long sleeved tee. I layer.

Do you burn or tan? Olive skin-I tan.

Favorite color(s)? Red, Pink, Brown, Blue

Would you be a pirate? I think I would. A very nice one.

What is your favorite holiday? Halloween hands down.

What songs do you sing in the shower? A medley of tunes

What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? Hippies going to shoot me up with dope. Or guerillas kidnapping my family. Or some guy on PCP. The 70's were a tough time to be a kid.

What's in your pockets right now? A Playmobil kangaroo

Last thing that made you laugh? The Christmas card my husband made for clients

Best bed sheets as a child? Bright yellow and orange flower prints. I still have the bedspread in my car trunk.

Worst injury you've ever had?I don't talk about these things.

Are your parents still together? If my dad were still alive, most definitely. It would have been 50 years in 1999.

Do you wish on shooting stars?Of course.

What is your favorite book(s)? "A Town Like Alice" by Nevil Shute. "Einsteins Monsters" by Martin Amis.

What is your favorite candy? Dark chocolate

What song did you want to have played at your wedding? "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys

How is the weather outside right now? Too warm for this time of year. There should be snow on the ground.

what was your first thought this morning when you woke up? It's morning already?

Everyone's a superhero, everyones a Captain Kirk

Today I was in super girl cleaning mode. I have this desire to purge. It really clears my head to remove things in the physical realm.

In my haste though, I broke a very lovely fish bowl. It used to have the catfish in it, and countless of other beautiful goldfish. I loved that bowl. But if I ever had to leave in an emergency, I would have left it behind. So it's OK it's broken, I'm just a little sad that I probably broke it subconsciously.

In the past, it's always when I am rushing that I break things. I broke a lovely glass terrarium for my orchid because I HAD to move the dresser immediately-(I was rearranging the bedroom.)
I moved pots around in the kitchen cupboard in a haphazard fashion and one thing led to another, and a pot fell on a glass decanter I bought for Melvin one Christmas.

I have problems with glass. I love glass but I have a rough history with it. I hate to think that I get rid of things by breaking them. Especially the ones that I love.

I'd rather have chew toys, than yule logs...

Last week there were fireworks on Bear Mountain across the river from us. It's not easy capturing images , but I think this one is odd. Strangely it looks like the moon behind the trees.


This is a new painting. It's on watercolor paper. I have always loved working on paper instead of canvas. I just like the look of it.
So I want to try a series of these. Fire houses or something like that.

When I'm a walkin....

I am in a mood today. I knew it because of the rain. Our real estate agency called yesterday to show the house today. This morning I cancelled. The people still showed up. I double locked the door and let Emily bark at them. I just don't trust strangers coming into the house right before Christmas.
This is what I feel like doing. Just pour it right in. It looks like I'm about to take a sacrement.

I got this in the mail yesterday. Really started me off in a bad mood.And the letter adressess me as Pat. URggggh! I was so mad I threw my gum out of the window while driving and I almost ran off the road. Goes to show you you should not drive when you are mad.



*This letter which is now gone, was a rejection letter from a gallery asking for submissions for a small painting show. Buh. The worst part is they sent my business card back too.

Hey..do you want to go out?

A song placed in my itunes folder by Melvin....does anyone remember it? The chorus is "A, E, I, O, U....sometimes...Y" it was by Ebn-Ozn. Now do you guys remember...


Over at Neil's he is talking about Blog crushes. I wanted to see what everyone thinks about reading other peoples comments and such. Say you read someone's blog (a blog friend) and respond, and then they respond and other people write too and then they get responded to as well-how likely are you to read what other people write? Is there an etiquette-should a person not really read others comments?

Today up by the Hudson-it's rainy. My dad's description of today's weather popped into my head while I was washing dishes, staring at the fog covered mountains. He would call it a soft Irish morning. I miss his sweetness.

*So I'm not thrilled with the NEW blog format. I'm feeling somewhat unloved and sad.

West End girls...

It was the week that I cancelled Family cable...

Isn't ironic that the week I get rid of all of those cable channels, we all get sick and are homebound? That is how funny my life is. There are other channels, oh let's say in the 100's that are just as good. I'm lucky to have those. I may not have Comedy Network but we have Noggin and THE TUBE. Not You Tube, but The Tube. If you were as addicted to MTV like I was, this will be a truly wonderful station to go to every once in a while. I forgot how much I liked "Shock The Monkey". Seeing Simon LeBon run through the jungle in "Hungry Like the Wolf" made me realize he looked like a young Malcom McDowell.

So we watched too much tv. I was worried my son would get used to it, but he's fine, and now we laugh about all the shows we watched.

I lost my Christmas spirit which was harsh. I didn't care about anything and was in some sort of sick funk. I'm better now. We all went to The New York Botanical Gardens in The Bronx to see this Train Show. Very cool. All of these historic NYC buildings are made out of natural earthy things, and models trains zoom in and around them and the plants. That was uplifting. (Of course seeing all the orchids and my pitcher plants helped too.) So yesterday I put lights up and I'm very pleased. Today I will work on my cards.

Also, and this is huge. My crack/prostitute neighbors moved out! Hooray!! Their landlord raised the rent and they couldn't pay it. I know the owner must have been bugged by the city to do something. That still doesn't change my mind about moving. The schools are still horrible.

Then I know, I better get back in the line....

I will come out and admit, I had the flu. I'm still reeling from the fact that I was this sick but it even happens to the best of us. It was horrible. I got so cold at one point I had on 3 pairs of socks and sat by the heating vent in my son's room while he raced cars on his train track.

The catfish named Emily died. I told my son that he wasn't going to make it through the night and that we should pay our last respects to him now. "You were a good catfish and lived for almost 2 years."

So he died later the next day and I wrapped him in a paper towel and buried him under the lilac tree next to where his goldfish friends Car and Sid are also buried. I have always buried my fish. I feel they would be happy to return to the earth.

I thought we were going to get snow last night, but all we have this morning is bitter cold with a wind chill of about 6. Still I must venture out and buy some whiskey for the cough. Oh yes and we have to-I mean we HAVE TO mail the letter to Santa.

Oh yes and since Melvin is also sick we kind of spaced out and sat in front of the tv for far too long last night. First we watched Classic Album on VH1 and it was about Dark Side of the Moon. Then I was ready to go to bed and Kinks Christmas special was on next, so I had to see my Ray.

"Desperation is the English way"

Lately...I don't feel so hot...

Buh-I have a head cold. Soon the whole house will be sick. The catfish is dying. I had an emergency cleaning this morning of his bowl but I think he has a cold too. You know what they say when fish get colds...

I am delirious. I am swimming in my head, and I feel like I am floating in space.

Peace to all

Rocking around around the Christmas...

Ok so it's not as bad as I led everyone to believe. It's not a hack job. But...I'm a perfectionist when it comes to this haircut. I told him I wanted a Louise Brooks and he had no clue. Shouldn't it be against the law for a hairdresser to not know this actress who made this classic bob cut famous? I'll admit, I'm tough with this.

So here I was sitting in the chair, he's blow drying and chatting, and in my polite way I said, "I have to ask you something, are you going to give me bangs?"

I had pictures! Then the bangs were way too long, and I said shorter please. I never ever have stylists redo things, but this time I did and it's still not right. So let me tell you what is not right. There needs to be more bangs. The hair flips are too much in my face. And the back, needs to be VERY angled. If I could fix this myself I would.

Once I went to,(and it was the last time), to some hair cuttery zoo place in Hotlanta, and the gods must have been upset with me because they gave me the worst stylist ever. She was and I cannot make this up Miss Swan from MADTV.
I had pictures for another haircut, and she cut my hair exactly like hers. I was so upset. I think I was going to a Flaming Lips concert that night. I was horrified.

she threw it in my face, just for a laugh...

Bad day yesterday. My son was sick. It's never fun when you are sick, it becomes downright scary when your child is throwing up and has a temp. I kept thinking in my head, "Are we going to have to take him to the hospital?"

He's better today, but most definitely no school.


The new hairdo pic will come. I might take it today. Still not thrilled. More later. I keep thinking about all the haircuts I've had.


Had a snow flurry this morning. I'm sure people in the midwest don't want to hear about a stinking flurry.