Thursday, October 20, 2005

The Fur Posse

I'm all about fuzzy animals, etc. and that is apparently a gene within my X-chromosome that my daughter inherited. We only have one (ONE! Uno! really!) animal that is purchased and officially belongs to us: Runaround, the Kamikaze Hamster (yes, she's still with us, halleluiah. That is one resilient rodent). A recent photo:


And yet, like a beacon in the night, animals seek us out. (Fine by me, not so fine for allergic-husband, but we compromise and shoo all large hairy things out from under-/off the bed and away from the upstairs)

First to seek us out: Sweet Cat (a misnomer, she's only sweet about 25% of the time, and then she's Wacky Cat: loud meowing, hissing, running away, generalized madness). [Note for my hunny: this photo taken prior to previously-mentioned shoo agreement]


And then Black Cat found us (and our supply of Friskies). Misnomers abound: this is the cat who should be called Sweet Cat. Silky fur, quiet little meows, puts up with Mary-Chandler carrying her around like a rag doll, sits in laps and purrs for long periods. Perfect cat.

And last week, I found a Woolly Worm (tis the season here in the mountains) and we put him in our bug box. MC named him Silly (b/c he crawled all over her dress), he even came shopping with us at KMart.

I just re-read that last sentence and cannot help but think: Lo, how the mighty have fallen. I'm carrying a woolly worm into KMart for my daughter. While I'm there, let me purchase some makeup to cover my Red Neck, ya'll.

Anyway, after 2 days, I became concerned that Silly may not be eating the grass in the bottom of the cage and probably needed to return to more spacious surroundings than the small box that may be double his length at best. OMGosh, MC wept like a refugee for the better part of an hour when we put his box outside. She is such a softy about this stuff, but she gets it honestly.




And then there was the influx of emus:


No, just kidding.

Monday, October 17, 2005

She's still Preoccupied...

It's not new anymore, but there was a song on the radio called "1985" in recent months that made me laugh every time I heard it. Outside of the year I met & married my hunny, that was just the best year EVER (well, the first half) b/c I was a senior in high school and as the song says, "there was Springsteen, Madonna/way before Nirvana/There was U2 and Blondie/and music still on MTV/Her two kids in high school/tell her that she's uncool/'cause she's still preoccupied/with nineteen, nineteen, nineteen-eighty-five"

Change that lyric, to 'her two kids in PREschool', and maybe it's me! Anyway, all that to say, I just came across a list of the Top 100 songs of 1985 and reading just through the top ten had me grinning like the village idiot. There's just something about YOUR music, however passe it may be, and the memories that come with it. Still fresh, twenty years later (twenty? how can I be so old?)

So, if you loved the 80s like me, here it is:

1. Careless Whisper, Wham!
2. Like A Virgin, Madonna
3. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Wham!
4. I Want To Know What Love Is, Foreigner
5. I Feel For You, Chaka Khan
6. Out Of Touch, Daryl Hall and John Oates
7. Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Tears For Fears
8. Money For Nothing, Dire Straits
9. Crazy For You, Madonna
10. Take On Me, A-Ha
11. Everytime You Go Away, Paul Young
12. Easy Lover, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey
13. Can't Fight This Feeling, REO Speedwagon
14. We Built This City, Starship
15. The Power Of Love, Huey Lewis and The News
16. Don't You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds
17. Cherish, Kool and The Gang
18. St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion), John Parr
19. The Heat Is On, Glenn Frey
20. We Are The World, U.S.A. For Africa
21. Shout, Tears For Fears
22. Part-Time Lover, Stevie Wonder
23. Saving All My Love For You, Whitney Houston
24. Heaven, Bryan Adams
25. Everything She Wants, Wham!
26. Cool It Now, New Edition
27. Miami Vice Theme, Jan Hammer
28. Lover Boy, Billy Ocean
29. Lover Girl, Teena Marie
30. You Belong To The City, Glenn Frey
31. Oh Sheila, Ready For The World
32. Rhythm Of The Night, Debarge
33. One More Night, Phil Collins
34. Sea Of Love, Honeydrippers
35. A View To A Kill, Duran Duran
36. The Wild Boys, Duran Duran
37. You're The Inspiration, Chicago
38. Neutron Dance, Pointer Sisters
39. We Belong, Pat Benatar
40. Nightshift, Commodores
41. Things Can Only Get Better, Howard Jones
42. All I Need, Jack Wagner
43. Freeway Of Love, Aretha Franklin
44. Never Surrender, Corey Hart
45. Sussudio, Phil Collins
46. Strut, Sheena Easton
47. You Give Good Love, Whitney Houston
48. The Search Is Over, Survivor
49. Missing You, Diana Ross
50. Separate Lives, Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
51. Raspberry Beret, Prince and The Revolution
52. Suddenly, Billy Ocean
53. The Boys Of Summer, Don Henley
54. One Night In Bangkok, Murray Head
55. If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, Sting
56. Obsession, Animotion
57. We Don't Need Another Hero, Tina Turner
58. Material Girl, Madonna
59. Better Be Good To Me, Tina Turner
60. Head Over Heels, Tears For Fears
61. Axel F, Harold Faltermeyer
62. Smooth Operator, Sade
63. In My House, Mary Jane Girls
64. Don't Lose My Number, Phil Collins
65. All Through The Night, Cyndi Lauper
66. Run To You, Bryan Adams
67. Glory Days, Bruce Springsteen
68. Voices Carry, 'Til Tuesday
69. Misled, Kool and The Gang
70. Would I Lie To You?, Eurythmics
71. Be Near Me, ABC
72. No More Lonely Nights, Paul McCartney
73. I Can't Hold Back, Survivor
74. Summer Of '69, Bryan Adams
75. Walking On Sunshine, Katrina and The Waves
76. Freedom, Wham!
77. Too Late For Goodbyes, Julian Lennon
78. Valotte, Julian Lennon
79. Some Like It Hot, Power Station
80. Solid, Ashford and Simpson
81. Angel, Madonna
82. I'm On Fire, Bruce Springsteen
83. Method Of Modern Love, Daryl Hall and John Oates
84. Lay Your Hands On Me, Thompson Twins
85. Who's Holding Donna Now, Debarge
86. Lonely Ol' Night, John Cougar Mellencamp
87. What About Love, Heart
88. California Girls, David Lee Roth
89. Fresh, Kool and The Gang
90. Do What You Do, Jermaine Jackson
91. Jungle Of Love, The Time
92. Born In The USA, Bruce Springsteen
93. Private Dancer, Tina Turner
94. Who's Zoomin' Who, Aretha Franklin
95. Fortress Around Your Heart, Sting
96. Penny Lover, Lionel Richie
97. All She Wants To Do Is Dance, Don Henley
98. Dress You Up, Madonna
99. Sentimental Street, Night Ranger
100. Sugar Walls, Sheena Easton

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Vacation Woes

I have procrastinated on this post b/c it's just too bloody depressing to reminisce. Our annual pilgimage to the ocean was mid-September. Some pics of our arrival:

Well, sure, it looks lovely, but it's just fooling you.

Hurricane Ophelia was sitting off the coast when we arrived on Saturday evening, and by Tuesday morning we were under a mandatory evacuation. So upset we didn't know whether to resort to violence or weeping. We have one week a year where Kent is completely ours, and that was it. It's also his only time to decompress from such a run-run-run-go-go-go job and he lost that b/c when we arrived home, who became sick? ME. In the bed for the remainder of his vacation. Poor man had zero mercy on him.

But of course, I have a camera hot-welded to my face at all times, so we still got a money shot: