Tuesday, June 28, 2005

This Little Piggy

So if you haven't already done this, go check this out, courtesy of Trine. You draw a pig, and then they'll tell you what your drawing says about you. Here is my piggy:
piggy drawing
Isn't she just the cutest??? And here is what it says about me:
-you are a realist.
-you are direct, enjoy playing devil's advocate and neither fear nor avoid
discussions.
-you are analytical, cautious, and distrustful.
-you are secure, stubborn, and stick to your ideals.
-you are a good listener
And the tail....well, go check it out and see for yourself. I drew a large one. So there.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Friday Night

But first...I wanted to introduce you to my alter-ego, superhero self (thanks to MommaK and aka_Monty for this - go check them out!):

BADASS MAMA!
superhero 1
She is a mom and blogger by day, party girl by night! Party catastrophe - your blender has broken in the middle of your fiesta? No need to fear, Badass Mama is here! Frozen margaritas for all! Need something vaguely interesting to read that won't make you have to think but might make you laugh? Badass Mama to the rescue! She fights evil right-wingers with the greatest of ease, spreading liberal joy to all with a shake of her odd silver bra-like thing! She's...Badass Mama! Our hero!
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Friday night, Patsy and I went out for Girl's Night Out. We always go to the same place, this little dive-y kinda place where they know us and give us free drinks. Its usually dead-quiet when we get there after Patsy gets out of work at about 10pm, and then at about 1:30am it gets super-crowded because its the only place around that's open till 3am. Well this week, we get there at about 9:45pm and its PACKED. We couldn't even sit at the bar. We finally finagled a table and hung there for the evening. The bar was just chock full of freaks, let me tell you.

There is a really drunk couple standing by the door of the bar. The guy tries to hug the girl, but due to his drunkenness he misses. He decks her in the eye, crushes her into the wall, and causes the doorman to come over and threaten them that they will be kicked out if they don't watch it.

So I go to the ladies room and who is behind me on my way there but the girl that got decked by her man. She starts screaming about how she loves my tattoo on my back and oh my God, its so f'ing cool. I give her one of my patented smirks and say thanks and turn away. She continues talking to me, asking me questions. I don't answer her but instead ask her, "aren't you the broad that just got punched in the eye?" She excitedly says "Yes! That was me!" and takes this as an invitation to become my friend. She tells me her life story, and you would think a girl who gets punched in the eye by a guy in a bar would have a more interesting story to tell. There are two stalls in the ladies room, so we each take one. She is talking and talking and I am just trying to pee and get outta there. Someone else comes into the ladies room, and this crazy girl starts yelling - "Who's that!? Who's that!? Who's that!?" and then continues to tell me her story. I finish peeing and get the hell outta Dodge. I leave her in there talking to me, but I am long gone.

A little while later, I am talking to Patsy and I see this other girl. She keeps staring at me. I am getting annoyed. Finally she comes over to me and says, "Do I know you?" I am like, "no" and she is asking me my name and all these questions and I kept saying, "I don't know you." Patsy and I keep rolling our eyes at each other but this girl is so wasted and so sure she knows me that she doesn't even realize it. Then she finally says, "I at least wanted to come over and ask if you knew me because I didn't want you to think I was just staring at you." I said, "yeah, I was getting pissed wondering why you were staring at me." She just kinda giggled and said again that she was sure she knew me and then she finally went away.

Another time when I went to the ladies room (I only went twice, I swear), there was a girl in there doing coke. She barely registered the fact that I walked in on her doing this, so I just peed and left. Believe me, its not the kind of place where you expect to see people doing coke. This is not Studio 54, this is a beer-and-a-shot joint.

Finally, its about 2:30am and we look out the window. Now, you can't fully see it in this pic but this chick is wearing a skirt that is up nearly around her waist, she is sitting on the curb, and on the verge of puking her guts out. So you know I had to take a picture:
Drunk Chick on a Friday Night

That, my friends, was my exciting Friday night.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Two Awesome Things This Week

As a quick wrap-up to my week's "vacation," here are two awesome things that happened to me this week (other than my amazing Coach bag deal):

1. I actually got PROOFED this week! Hub and I went out for dinner on the way back from the shore. I ordered a beer with dinner and someone actually thought there might be some chance that I was not 21! So, yeah, maybe she was on crack, I don't know and I don't care. I GOT PROOFED!

2. I had Girl's Night Out with Patsy last night (more about that tomorrow) and she told me the nicest thing ever. As a little bit of backstory, Patsy and her man Diddy have already decided they don't want to have kids. So last night, Patsy tells me that all of a sudden Diddy was thinking about having kids because my Princess is the most adorable kid around, and not only that, but she is the coolest kid too. He loves spending time with her and it made him second-guess their decision not to have kids. All because of my adorable, cool kiddo. How flattering is that, to know that your kid is so awesome that someone would rethink their life decisions because of her? She reminded him that not all kids are as adorable and cool as Princess, and that even as adorable and cool as she is, she still poops and pukes and cries. That, I could not argue with. But still. Way flattering. Thanks, Patsy Darling!

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Now I Know My ABC's...

But first...I want to say how horrified I am over this. How is it ever ok to take someone's property just because big business comes in and can bring in more tax money? When we were down the shore the other day, we drove back up the coast and through Asbury Park, a shore town (made famous by Bruce Springsteen) that is in the midst of "urban renewal." They are building new townhouses starting around $700k in the middle of the hood. We saw this bar, called "Anybody's," which was right smack dab in the middle of two blocks of construction. They are refusing to leave. Good for them.
Anybodys Aint Going

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Saw this over at X-Tessa's and wanted to give it a try. Let me know if you try it too.

A is for Age - 33
B is for Booze - Prefer strawberry margaritas, Coors Lite, or Mike's Hard Lime, but will drink anything, really
C is for Career - Hot Mama
D is for Dad's name - Daddy
E is for Essential Item to bring to a Party - Myself, of course, since I bring the good times with me
F is for Favorite Songs at the Moment - I am still hooked on The Killers Mr. Brightside
G is for Goof off thing to do - when I am goofing off instead of doing what I should be doing, I am usually blogging
H is for Hometown - Nunnayurbizniss, New Jersey
I is for Instrument you play - I shoulda been a punk rock drummer
J is for Jam or Jelly you like - Smuckers strawberry jelly
K is for Kids - Princess (and no, btw, that is NOT her real name!!! I am not a total freak!!!)
L is for Living arrangement - Me, Hub, Princess, and Gypsy in our lovely home in NJ
M is for Mom's name - Mommy
N is for Names of best friends - Patsy and Chris...oh, and Hub, I suppose :)
O is for overnight hospital stays - just when Princess was born
P is for Phobias - bugs, boats, and that all the fun I am having in life will suddenly come to an end
Q is for Quote you like - "On my way out of town I drive by your house two times. It don't do me no good, I didn't think that it would, cuz you're not mine." -Lucero, It Gets The Worst At Night
R is for Relationship that lasted longest - 11 years and counting with Hub
S is for Siblings - younger sister, karchamb
T is for Texas , Ever been? - Yep, San Antonio (loved it) and Houston (hated it)
U is for Unique trait - I can drink alot without puking
V if for Vegetable you love - Not many...I would say potatoes (yes, they count)
W is for Worst traits - inability to stop spending money, moodiness
X is for XRays you've had - gall bladder
Y is for Yummy food you make - I make delish brownies...and oh yeah, jello shots too
Z is for Zodiac sign - Sagitarrius

Up in a Tree

Don't have much to say today (except to tell you that I got my gow-geous Coach bag at the Woodbury Commons Outlets in New York. And yes, they did have a few more of them! And Guppy, you gotta be kidding, a Shop-Rite bag for my goodies? Surely you jest. $100 is quite the bargain for Coach, trust me, I am a professional).

So here are a couple pics we took last Saturday at the park. Princess in a tree II
Princess in a tree I

Edit: Of course there is someone holding her in the tree. I would never just prop her up there, even for my readers' amusement.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Shopping Day

Spent all day shopping. It was pretty good, except that it started raining at about 2:00, and its one of those outdoor malls. So, we spent lots of time in the Little Me and Disney stores trying to keep dry.

I am so not a good po' person. I bought a new Coach bag. But I have been wanting a new bag for so long, and was holding out for the perfect one. This is it. Its pink and beautiful. It was originally $328, and I got it for $100. You cannot beat that, you just can't. See how I can justify anything? Isn't it lovely?
New Coach Bag

I also bought a really cute 4th of July outfit for Princess, and a Hawaiian-style outfit for her as well. And I got her 2 pairs of pants for next spring and a dress for late summer. Great bargains all around. AND, at the Disney store, I found the perfect sweatshirt for Hub - its a zip-up hoodie that says "Grumpy" across the front. Perfection.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Summer Lovin, Had Me a Blast

Happy First Day of Summer! We spent the day down the shore, at Pt. Pleasant for the boardwalk and Brielle for the beach. We drove back up north along the coast and saw all the shore towns. It was such a nice day, but we are all EXHAUSTED. Here are a few pics...and we are off to do outlet shopping tomorrow! Yippee! Coach Outlet, here I come!!!

Hub and Princess on the beach in Brielle, climbing the jetty. Of course, about 2 minutes after I took this picture he got whistled at by the lifeguards to get off the jetty because he had gone out too far, looking for starfish for Princess.
Climbing the Jetty

TJG and Princess at the end of the day, huddled in a towel. It got awfully chilly out!
In a Towel

Hub let Princess roll around in the sand. Unbeknownst to him, this outfit cost a pretty penny, and here it is all covered with sand. Ergh.
$80 outfit with sand

The whole way home, Princess kept whining and saying "ocean, ocean, ocean..." She really loved playing in the sand and loved getting her feet wet in the water, even though it was COLD. She didn't seem to mind.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Another Blasted Meme

This is going to be a slow blogging week for me, just warning you. Hub is on vacation, and since we is po' we aren't going away. So, we are just spending time together and with Princess and the dog and that means little time to blog. I'll probably just post some pics, but you never know. We are going down the shore tomorrow, and Hub is going back for MORE tattoo action on Thursday, so I may have lots to say.
--------------------------------------
I was tagged THREE TIMES with this same meme, and I am not sure how to go about responding to it since you have to list the people who tagged you. Its a confusing meme anyway (well, to me it is). So I am going to go with MommaK's list, since she tagged me first. Sleeping Mommy and Helen also tagged me. This is a meme in three parts:

Part One:
Remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump everyone up one place; add your blog's name in the #5 spot. You need to link to each of the other blogs for the desired cross-pollination of your chosen blogs.
1. The Cerebral Outpost
2. JustaskJudy
3. Home Grown
4. Petroville
5. True Jersey Girl

Part Two:
Select four new friends to add to the pollen count.
No one is obligated to participate, seriously. I'd love to see what these people have to say about it:
1. A Dose of X-Tessa
2. Indigo
3. Trine
4. Fancy Toryssa

Part Three:
Please write about five things you miss from childhood.
1. Going down the shore for two weeks every summer and staying in the pink houses right across from the beach.
2. Rollerskating at "The Rink" in junior high school.
3. Max (my German Shepard I grew up with)
4. Being a founding member of The Pink Ladies.
5. Having a crush on a boy and walking past his locker every day, even though it makes you late for class every day.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Happy Father's Day!

First of all I want to wish a happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world....mine. Love you!!!
Dad and Me 1975

And happy day to all you other dads out there too! Hope you had a good one!
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We had a nice bbq at my house today to celebrate. My parents were there, along with Hub's dad, sister, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. All in all, it was a nice day. But it made me wonder: are all parents blind to the terror that their own child is?

All day long, our niece (3 years old, almost 4) was a brat. I mean, a serious brat. She whined, cried, complained, pouted, and sulked. Examples: My dog is not the best-trained dog in the world, but he is a sweetie. Anytime he came near her, she cried that he knocked her down. Even if she was still standing. She would hold out her stuffed animal and call him over and put the stuffed animal in his mouth, and then when he bit it, she would cry and say how bad he was. She and I were playing catch, but then decided that because when she missed the ball, the dog would go after it (he is part retriever, its in his blood to chase and retrieve) that the ball should be put in the house and no one could use it because the dog was bad. She complained about Princess as well - that she wasn't sitting at the little Dora patio set to eat dinner (when we hadn't even started cooking yet) and she was bad. That she wouldn't sit with her when she wanted her to. That she wouldn't read with her. Generally, anything that didn't go this kid's way, she pouted and complained and was just downright obnoxious. My mom and I were shooting each other looks all day, amazed at how spoiled and rotten this kid was and that her parents did not seem to notice.

Well, later in the evening, I was talking with my SIL about the routines that kids get into and how important they are to them. So SIL tells me that the other day they picked up Brat at daycare and brought her to the mall for dinner, rather than home like usual. And Brat was misbehaving and they couldn't figure out why. Then they realized that taking her out for dinner was outside of her routine, and that must have been why. And as SIL is telling me this story, she says, "So Brat was being bad...well, you know, Brat is never really bad, she was just bad for her."

And it made me realize that maybe those annoying parents in stores and restaurants who let their kids run wild and don't even seem to react...maybe they just don't realize how bad their kids are? Because I am telling you, if my kid acted like Brat did today, I would be apologizing for her behavior. They didn't even seem to notice.

Hub is on vacation this week and we are talking about going down the shore one day. His sister wants to join us. Luckily, Brat is in daycare so she wouldn't be joining us too. How sad that a 3 year old could ruin your day like that.

Saturday, June 18, 2005

TomKat (ugh), A/C, and Nature

So let's say for the sake of argument that A). Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are really in love and this is not all a publicity ploy and B). any of us really care about them at all. If the whole relationship and idiotic public displays of insanity are true, you know who I feel bad for? Nicole Kidman. I mean, she was married to the guy for ten years. He never jumped on a couch or pounded the floors declaring his love for her. He has been running all over the world saying that Katie is the "love of his life" - well then, why were you married twice before, once for just (suspiciously) under ten years? Poor Nicole has to sit around watching her ex making a fool of himself over some 26-year old broad while, according to her, she can't even get a date. I feel for her.
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I did not have to go to the A/C place to beat anyone up. At 4pm (remember, he was supposed to be there between 12-2) the guy shows up at the door, totally unapologetic. I opened the door and just stared at him.
Annoying Non-English-Speaking A/C Guy: Here to fix air?
True Jersey Girl: You are two hours late.
ANESACG: I busy.
TJG: (snarling)I busy too. I have been waiting since noon.
ANESACG: So so busy.
TJG: You couldn't call to say you were going to be so late? I have been waiting for you and I do have other things to do.
ANESACG: (stammering) Oh, um, no, no call.
TJG: I called your office 50 times and there was no answer.
ANESACG: Um, they busy too.
TJG: You need a better system for appointments so that you aren't inconveniencing people, you know? I am extremely annoyed and you should be apologizing for this.
ANESACG: Oh, yes ma'am, so sorry for late. So busy, so sorry.

I shake my head, roll my eyes, and finally let him in the house. I have the dog behind the baby gates so he won't lick the guy to death, but with my dog your first thought is that he is going to eat you. He is a hyper pitbull mix who is straining at all times to lick people and jump on them, but strangers are afraid. I like that.

ANESACG: (nervous laughter looking at the dog): He cute.
TJG: He doesn't bite. Unless I tell him too.
ANESACG: (more nervous laughter and starts sweating. Perhaps a tear or two.)

He goes about fixing the A/C while I am in the kitchen doing whatever. He keeps glancing at me, perhaps making sure I am not sharpening knives. Finally, 45 minutes later, its done. Then, for 15 minutes, this:

ANESACG: (cannot understand him because of strong accent)
TJG: (nodding)
At least its fixed. And of course its in the 70's today so who needs A/C?
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Finally, a good nature story. I have a cardinal's nest in the bush on the side of my house and its filled with little baby birdies! I can only see their little beaks opening trying to get food, but I am sure they are adorable. And its weird, but there are two cardinals coming to feed/check on them. One is bright red (male, I assume?) and one is only partially red (female, I assume?). Who knew the dad stuck around? I hope he gets a big Father's Day kiss from those cute little birdies.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Service People Suck

I was tagged twice with a meme that I planned on doing today, but it takes some thought and I just don't have the time today. I'll hopefully do it tomorrow.

The friggin' air conditioner guy was supposed to be here between 12-2...whaddaya know, its 3:10 and he isn't here yet. And, I called the office and there was no answer, not even an answering machine. The other day there was an answering machine so I have no idea what is going on. AND, the cable guy was supposed to come on Monday to install a digital cable box and HE never showed either. I called there, and after keeping me on hold for 15 minutes they told me that he would be another 40 minutes. He was already an hour late, and he had a four hour window to get here. I said to forget it, that they just helped me make the decision to get a satellite dish and cancel cable.

My brother-in-law came over for a visit today because he is in Jersey, interviewing for some jobs up here. He and my sister currently live in Maryland, so I am hopeful they will move north so we'll see them more often. The whole time he was visiting, Princess was pulling the shy act - she didn't want to go to him, wouldn't even show him her books or anything like that, she just clung to me. After he left, she must have said "Uncle BC" a thousand times. He probably thinks she hates him, and here she is, begging for him to come back. She then went into the photo albums and found his pic. I said, "who's that?" and she said "Uncle BC" and looked at the door as if he was going to come walking back in.

Alright, gotta run because if the A/C guy doesn't come soon I may have to find his shop and go give him a piece of my mind, or perhaps a piece of my fist.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Our Late Night Visitor

So its 11:15 pm right now, a time when I am usually in bed, all Nyquil'd up and watching Friends reruns, waiting to fall into a deep sleep. But instead, we have a visitor in our home. Nope, not a flying squirrel (thank God for that). A plumber.

I was out for a good chunk of the day today at my mom & dad's. I got home a little before 9 and everything seemed normal. We put Princess to bed, blah blah blah...then Hub comes up from the basement and asks me to come down and help him. With what? Just come down.

We recently had our hot water heater burst, and water filled the basement. So that is what I was expecting. But no. This time I was hit with the stench. The slop sink was filled with nasty, dirty water and it smelled like poo. Well, not really like poo, more like bits of rotten food and such. So my help is not really needed because there was only a smell and no random soggy belongings to clean up. Except that I needed to encourage Hub to call someone about it tonight, rather than having me do it tomorrow. All the ads in the yellow pages say "24/7, no extra charge for nights and weekends!" So why wait till tomorrow?

The guy was here within about 30 minutes, which was a good thing. He is charging us $245.00, which is a bad thing. Or maybe that's a good price, I don't know. No matter what kind of plumbing work you get done, or house repairs or car repairs for that matter, you always feel like you are getting ripped off.

So the guy is still here, I have not taken my Nyquil, and I am tired. Oh, and while the heatwave broke today and the temp reached a cool 85 degrees (and it felt downright brisk, I might add), the air conditioner repair guy can't come until Friday. So we have a hot, smelly house. Oh, and spending the day with Princess by the pool yesterday gave me painful sunburn on my shoulders. Just wanted to share with you. Aren't you glad I did?

Surprise! Party

We spent Saturday night at a surprise birthday party for our friend Mike. It was such a nice time; there were so many different kinds of people there, and you could look around at any time and see animated, intelligent conversations going on everywhere (well, intelligent conversation only lasted till about 10pm, when the tequila started kicking in big time). And you saw people of all different backgrounds talking to each other, which is always fun. Princess was well behaved, and Patsy's man Diddy spent most of the night playing with her (and not in a Michael Jackson kind of way).

There are no pics of me, since I had the camera, but here are a few highlights:

Here is Fernando pouring the strawberry margaritas...
Fernie pouring the drinks

And here is Patsy drinking them...
And Patsy drinking them

And finally, the birthday cake I bought (which did not have a penis candle when I delivered it):
Cake

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Beating the Heat, At Least A Little

Its still soooo hot here, but at least there is a little breeze today. So here is what we did to beat the heat:
Swimming

From Above 2

And here are a few pics of Princess over the last few days:
From Above

Princess in Floppy Hat

Its too hot to be in my office, so that's all I got today! Keep cool and have a good day! I'll be by to visit EVERYONE tomorrow - I have been a terrible blogging friend lately but its just been too dang hot. And its my blog, I'll bitch if I want to ;)

Monday, June 13, 2005

Should We Talk About The Weather?

The Hot, Angry SunThere is something decidedly wrong with my weatherpixie. She is telling me that it is 73 degrees out, and I would like to know where she bought the crack she has obviously smoked. It is a solid 95 degrees out today. And its bloody humid too. I tried to lay out in the sun for a little while during Princess's nap, and I think I melted. I lasted 30 minutes, which felt like 3 hours, and all I have to show for it so far is red skin from overheating and some new freckles. NJ has already had 5 days over 90 degrees in June, which officially qualifies as a heat wave, and its not supposed to go under 90 until at least Thursday, when it will dip to a brisk 85. Break out the parkas.

Edit: I forgot to mention that our air conditioning is not working. It is blowing out warm air. It feels like actual hell at my house.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Rich People Are Crazy

There is a little upscale children's clothing boutique up the street from my house. I live in a decent town, but the town next to me is one of the most expensive in NJ. The boutique is in that town. I am on their mailing list, so I get these coupons that tell me if I buy $50 worth of stuff, I will get $10 off. Sounds good right? But when I go in there, I cannot justify spending $40 on ONE T-SHIRT for Princess when she will only wear it a few times before she outgrows it.

But last Monday was their 50% off sale. ~~cue the angels singing~~

Everything in the store, all of the summer merchandise, is 50% off. At their winter 50% off sale, I bought Princess next year's Christmas dress (we are hoping it will fit her...) by Baby Lulu. Its lovely (AND I found the matching hat for $10 on ebay!). But I never would have paid full price for it.

The store opens at 9:30, so once I get Princess up, have breakfast, get ready to go out...its about 10:30. We get there and I cannot believe my eyes...the place is mobbed. I mean MOBBED. The shop is small, and there have to be 100 women in there, grabbing at the racks and filling up bags and bags of clothes. All these women have on khaki shorts or pants, crisp white shirts, huge diamonds on their fingers, cell phones attached to their ears, and perfectly coiffed hair (despite the humidity). And then there's me. My hair is in a messy bun on top of my head because it reacts quite poorly to humidity no matter how much Frizz-Ease I use. I have on black cropped sweatpants, a white t-shirt from Old Navy, and sequined flip flops from Target. And well, my diamond ain't too shabby, but it's well under the 5 carats these ladies were sporting.

But as classy as they all looked, appearances were deceiving. They were snatching clothes and pushing their way around and being, well, quite un-classy. It was a sight to see. They didn't even have time to look down on me; they were too busy looking for bargains.

I did buy Princess some things, although I did not grab or snatch or push in any way:
Princess's new clothes
And yes, they are all HURTFUL PINK. Of course.

Friday, June 10, 2005

Not That I Am Trying To Stir The Pot, But...

I was, and continue to be, shocked when I see some of the people who read me and blogroll me. I am such a liberal, left-wing feminist (though perhaps I don't show much of that here; I generally try to keep it a little lighter). So it amazes (and pleases) me to see that I have some self-proclaimed right-wing-nuts who read me. And truth be told, I read some of them and I blogroll some of them too. And I consider some of them to be friends.

I think that's the beauty of our country - that we can all co-exist and communicate with each other, even if our beliefs are different and we stand for different things. We can either disagree fairly peacefully, or just avoid the topics that stir the fires within us.

And then I find this site, via And I Wasted All That Birth Control. And it reminds me that there are people out there who think its their views or no views, their religion or no religion, their way or no way. And it sickens me, truly.

As a woman, I am most offended by the sexist views shown on this site, most specifically this brain surgeon's comment: "I'm an old-fashioned woman. Men should take care of women, and if men were taking care of women today, we wouldn't have to vote." This statement of obvious brilliance was made by Kay O'Connor, a Kansas Senate Republican. How are you a female senator with an opinion like that about the status of women? Ugh. And the comments against gays - they maddened me. What is the big deal? If its against your religion and your beliefs, why can't you just not do it? If gays are going to hell, isn't that their problem and won't they be judged by God? Do they need to be judged by these people too, in such a mean, hateful way?

I don't get it. Do you? If you consider yourself to be of the religious right, do you adhere to this kind of thought process? How do you justify being the judge of other's behaviors when that is to be left to God? Or are you more "compassionate" in your views?

Is what has happened to the "religious right" the same thing that has happened to the "liberal left" - that it gets hijacked by a few nuts and that is the only rhetoric that gets out? Do you feel that your religion and political party has been stolen? Or do they represent your views for the most part?

I am truly asking these questions out of curiosity, not out of anger or disdain or anything like that. I value each reader I have and I value your opinions (on both serious subjects and on frivilous ones). Where I live in the liberal Northeast, I don't have any friends who have "right wing" views. I am interested to hear what people have to say, and I hope everyone will be tolerant and courteous of other commenters. And if you are going to be an ass and post something stupid, at least have the guts to not be "anonymous." And I have the right to remove any inappropriate, trolly comments.

I Am Now An F, and Some TV Reviews

So I got cocky. I Blog Battled again yesterday (only one time) and somehow, my dear little blog LOST. How can that be??? So I went quickly from an A+ down to an F (100% to 50%) in a matter of moments. Bah. Now I have to keep playing to get my score back up. Youse people don't know who you are dealin wit! Jersey's in the hiz-zouse, I'm comin at ya!

Did you watch Hit Me Baby One More Time last night? Last week it was kinda funny; this week was just downright sad. Eek, to hear The Knack butcher Jet, and Tommy Tutone massacre poor Blink 182...and WTF was Vanilla Ice thinking when he said he was going to do Survivor by Destiny's Child - I mean, it wasn't the same music or lyrics. I think I saw him do a few Beyonce booty-shakes there, but it wasn't the same song! I guess I concede that he was the best of the bunch, although I am a huge Motels fan from back in the day and I thought Only The Lonely was good...and I thought the way she redid Nora Jones at least took some guts, to turn it into a rock song...although it didn't sound so great. Bah. I don't know why I keep watching this show because it just makes me feel old when I see these bands that I used to listen to (ok, I was in grade school when most of them were out, but still...) and how old and bloated they look and how horribly wrong their voices have gone.

And on a final note, I missed the first few minutes of HMBOMT because I was watching that godawful "The Cut" ith Tommy Hilfiger. Ya know how The Apprentice has "You're Fired" and Survivor has "The Tribe Has Spoken"? Well get this: the tag line for this show (about trying to break into the fashion world) is: "You Are Out Of Style. You Must Walk Off The Runway." Good Lord, that is cheesiness at its cheesiest.

Ok, I am off for some more battles.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

At First I Was Afraid, I Was Petrified

I was terrified. I had been lurking and watching and wanting to play along, but my ego is quite fragile. If I was rejected, I would have felt like burying my pretty little head in the blog sand. And I had heard about some rough stuff going on...people intimidating others and outcomes being decided before the games even began. So I just wasn't sure if I was ready to get into the scene.

I am talking about the Battle of the Blogs on Blog Explosion, of course.

I am sure you have heard of it by now (if not, click on the link on the bottom of my sidebar that says BlogExplosion and get going, people!). I have used BlogExplosion and the BlogRocket for a while now. And I wanted to try the Battle of the Blogs, as I think my blog is good fun and most people that come here tend to come back.

So, I gave it a shot. I entered a battle with another Jersey Girl (Diner Bitch, I think), so I knew there would be hair-pulling and acrylic-nail-scratching going on (nah, I don't really have fake nails). And guess what???

I WON!

So my record in Battles is 100%. So I think I may quit now and go out a winner. What do you think? Have you tried the Battle?

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Anyone see Primetime Live last night with Brad Pitt talking about the situation in Africa? First to get this frivolity out of the way - Oh. My. God. Is he hot or what?
BradPitt
But here is my question. Do you think it is our job to help Africa out of the poverty and disease they are mired in? On one hand, as the richest nation in the world, isn't it our moral responsibility to help since we can? Those kids, orphaned by parents who died of AIDS, seemed to sincerely want to make something of their lives and seemed quite capable of it too. Most wanted to be doctors - and with all the sickness there, wouldn't it be great to support people going to medical school so they can help their own population?

And, on a selfish note, isn't it wise of us to assist in developing the African nations, which are half Muslim? Rather than them turning into another Middle East and hating us and looking for ways to destroy us, they would see the value and generosity of Americans.

But, on the other hand, why is it *our* responsibility to help everyone? We have hungry and needy and diseased people right here who need help. Shouldn't we help ourselves first?

So what do you think? Personally, I believe its our moral obligation to help. We can facilitate a 180 degree turnaround by contributing so very little from our pocketbooks, and the returns would be so substantial. What is your view?

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Why I Hate Nature, a Meme, and Me With Debbie Harry

I didn't post this yesterday because it was framed in the basement and I was too lazy to walk alllll the way down there, take it out of the frame, scan it in, upload it into flickr, and post it. Bah. But by popular demand, here is my photo with Debbie Harry (and my friend Chris). You can kinda sorta see Deb's forced smile, no?

With Debbie Harry
Chris, True, and Debbie at Wigstock
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I am sure I have mentioned this before. I hate nature. I know alot of you are going camping these days, happily sleeping outdoors in a tent and cooking weenies over a fire and dousing yourselves with bug spray. Not me. And this weekend reminded me of why I hate nature so much.

1. On Friday, I had zero mosquito bites. By Sunday night, after spending Saturday and Sunday outdoors, I have 11 just on my legs. My mom always said I got so many bites because I was so sweet, but guess what, I am not sweet at all. Bugs just suck.

2. In our bathroom upstairs we have frosted windows. So I see the shadow of a dragonfly on the window and open the window to flick the screen and make it go away. Well. I forgot that there is no screen, and not one but THREE dragonflies flew into the bathroom. I had to flee, slamming the door behind me. I am only hoping they starve or run out of oxygen or something before I have to go back in there. Thank God for multiple bathrooms. Again, bugs suck.

3. We are out bbq'ing and I look at Princess' little Dora the Explorer patio set. WTF is that all over the chairs? OMG, its spider webs, attaching the chairs to each other, and the webs are covered in a combination of teensy tinesy little spiders and spider eggs. She had just been sitting on these chairs the night before and there was none of this. DIS-gusting. And once again, bugs suck.

4. A bee was in my kitchen. I freaked out. I smashed it against the window with a coupon-envelope-thingee. It fell to the window sill. I smushed it against the window frame with a big glass bottle that's on the sill. Whew, its dead. I leave it there for Hub to pick up later (I don't touch bugs in any way shape or form) and I continue doing dishes when I hear buzzing. OMG, the thing came back to life! I grab the coupon-envelope-thingee again and hit it, four times, against the window. It appears to be dead, but I do not fall for it this time. I see its little stinger twitching and I know it is trying to reincarnate so it can sting me. So I hit it again three times for good measure, then swipe it into the sink, into the drain, and drown it. I run the water for a good 3 minutes, just to be sure. It swirls down the drain, never to be heard from again. If a soggy bee comes after me tomorrow, I am making a movie about it.

5. The scariest part of the weekend having to do with nature: we were outside bbq'ing with a friend on Saturday evening. Calmly sitting on the deck, drinking a few beers, enjoying the weather. When all of a sudden we hear a rustling noise. Now, I live in the 'burbs, practically the city. I have a 50x100 lot. We do not have animals of any kind around here except for squirrels and the occasional chipmunk. So I start freaking out. The boys think its a raccoon, but I think no way! We don't have wild animals like raccoons and tigers and giraffes around here! So Hub goes inside and gets his big flashlight. He shines it up at the tree in our yard, only to see these little white-ish grey critters which I think are rats running up a branch. Then - they take flight! OMG, we have FLYING SQUIRRELS! They have apparently built a home in the one tree in my yard, in a little hole. This cannot be. I decide right then, as I barricaded myself in the house, that we need to move to someplace less rural. Nature sucks.

I am never going outside again.
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PresentStorm tagged me on this one. I am not going to tag anybody, but if you want to do it, go do it!
1. Blogger that you most want to meet in person?I would have to say MommaK to this one, because she and I are sure that we are really twins separated at birth and I want to see if its true.

2. Blogger who makes you laugh the most?
No question, its my girl Mimi at Simply Complicated. The chick is insane and honest and funny as hell. Go see her, you will laugh (but be prepared for sex talk and bad language)

3. Blogger whose template(skin) is the coolest?Aw, so many of you have chosen lil ol' me on this one and I am soooo flattered. I love my skin too! Of the ones I visit often, I would have to say Mrs. Mogul, because I love the evocative image she has of the woman, typing away in London at her computer, while dreaming of NYC.

4. Blogger you can't wait to read a new entry from?Oh man, there are so many. I try to read my whole blogroll every day but its so long (and growing) that I can't always do it. Off hand, I would mention Trine at A Doll's House, Grace at Dr. Laura's Worst Nightmare, and Michele. But I love all of you and never go more than a day or two without visiting each and every one of you.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Straight People + Super-Gay Event = Good Times

In 2000, I met one of my idols, Debbie Harry of Blondie. One of the reasons I have always loved her is that she is so badass, has such an amazing voice, can play with the boys and hold her own, and she is also hot (see yesterday's post). So when I heard that she was going to be playing at Wigstock, I knew I had to go.

What is Wigstock, you ask? Ah, let me enlighten those of you who aren't aware. It is a now-defunct event (edit: Wigstock has apparently been reincarnated!) held on one of the piers in NYC that celebrates drag queens and gays and lesbians and transgenders and all that fun and rowdy stuff. A friend of mine (I will call him Merry Lad, or ML for short) had a friend who worked on the PR for this event. ML called me and asked if Hub and I would like to go...and oh yeah, he had backstage passes too. I was slightly intimidated...I mean, these men in dresses are hotter than most of us ladies could ever hope to be, and they can be, well, bitches. They have attitude. But, Debbie Harry was going to be there so I sucked up my fear/intimidation and said hell yeah, we're there.

We go and get our wristbands that say "talent" on them (hm, did people mistake me for a queen? I think probably no). We walk through the huge crowd of thousands to the backstage area. Wow, this was something to see. There were people all over the place in various stages of dress, prepping for their turn on stage. There were some singers, some dancers, some comedians, some general performers. It was so cool to watch them get ready...applying false eyelashes (which I could never do; I always seem to get glue in my eye), stuffing their bras (which, incidentally, I have never had to do), and walking in heels that were higher than the hair on their wigs (and that's pretty high).

Finally, I see Debbie Harry. She is hanging out with some queens, just talking and laughing and whatnot. I suddenly get shy and I can't think of a thing to say to her that won't sound lame. So Hub goes up to her and says, "my wife is a big fan, can she take a picture with you?" She rolls her eyes, sighs a breath of exasperation at being bothered by such boring, non-transgendered people, and nods yes. She was refusing to smile, until Hub was finally like, "people you better smile so I can finally take the picture!" So she smiled a big, fake smile, I assume just to get away from us. And then walked away like the diva she is. Hub was offended that she was rude, and while it would have been awesome had she invited us into her trailer for drinks and let me sing on stage with her, I thought she was just as I expected her to be. A punk rock diva with an attitude. And I loved her. We blew up the pic and it is framed in our basement bar.

But the best part of the day was when Hub has to use the restroom backstage. It was an outdoor event, so there were just two portapotties back there. There was a line. He gets on line, right behind a 7-ft tall (with heels) blonde drag queen who was so gorgeous. I am not really paying attention, until ML says to me - look! Hub is chatting up a queen! And I looked over and there they were, talking away,Hub in his totally white-bread baggy blue cargo shorts and polo shirt, and Queen in her heels, huge blonde hair, full makeup and beautiful super-short dress. Of course I took pictures. It was classic. And proves how comfortable Hub is in his masculinity - I was proud. Although it looks like "she" is ignoring him in the pic, the conversation went on for a good long while:

Hub with Drag Queen

And, while still on line, a teeny tiny queen came up by Hub. She was a bitty thing and was basically doing the "pee dance" begging Hub to let her go in front of him. He let her. Time went on and on, and she wasn't coming back out. Finally, she emerged from the portapotty and whispered to Hub, "don't worry, I wasn't peeing, I was doing coke." Um, ok.

We were walking around backstage later on, and who do we see but Dan from the Real World Miami. My one friend gets starstruck by him (huh?) and she's like, I gotta say hi to him! So she goes up to him and says - Dude, you rock! He was like, um, thanks?

All in all, a good time. We were out of our element, for sure. But it was fun and I learned alot. But not how to apply fake eyelashes, unfortunately.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

A Discussion of Porn and Playboy

Here's what I want to add to yesterday's post about Tiffany being in Playboy, since a couple of you commented and a few emailed as well. I didn't realize that little comment would hit a nerve. So let me say: I have nothing against Playboy or strippers or porn or any of that stuff. I guess you could say I am an "enlightened feminist". As Guppyman said, and I agree, if people will pay to look at a woman's body, she has every right to show it and make money off of it.

However.

There are a few points to bring up. One is that perhaps I am slightly naive in hoping that someday, women will be valued for their talent, brains, and abilities moreso than their bodies. So when you have a woman with talent (well, in Tiffany's case, let's say questionable talent) who chooses to pose nude to boost her career...to me, it implies that the talent (or brains, or abilities, or whatever) just isn't enough. She needs to sell her body too. When her talent can't sustain her career, she falls back on nakedness to get attention. I find that to be really sad.

And its even sadder when you have a daughter. I look at my brilliant and beautiful daughter and I can only dread what women will have to do for success when she gets older. I want her to see women who are successes for what they accomplish. I hate that the images that my 15-year-old cousin gets are of girls like Christina Aguillera, who has an amazingly beautiful voice and is a beautiful girl, but she has to keep pushing the envelope of sexuality and showing more and more of herself and getting "dirrty-er and dirrty-er" each time she comes out with new music. Why isn't her talent enough?

When a woman chooses to pose for Playboy (or do porn or whatever), there are consequences that come with it. You are no longer taken seriously. Look at all these women who are in porn, thinking that this will be their big break into Hollywood or into a singing career...and it never is. Because now you are the porn star or the centerfold - you are no longer a "whole" woman, if you know what I mean. So my point with Tiffany was that now to me, she is a centerfold, not a singer. And I am sure lots of people think of her that way - "she's that mallrat singer who posed for Playboy."

And on another note, it also pains me that most of the "feminists" we see on tv are butchy and unattractive and masculine. That also sends a poor message to women - that if you are going to be strong, you will also be masculine. Now, I am one tough broad, don't get me wrong. I am strong and smart and well-educated and quite talented. I also wear makeup, heels, skirts, and like to look pretty. I wear a bra (nope, didn't burn it) and I shave my pits and legs. Where are role models like that? Why can't we be sexy and beautiful AND smart and talented? The impression is that strong women are ugly (and I do believe that certain segments of our population have taken hold of that myth and run with it to keep women "in their place" - now, you don't want people to think you're a lesbian do you? Just smile and look pretty and keep your mouth shut or the boys won't like you.).

So I think I got a little off topic, but hopefully you get the gist. I have no problem with female nudity (or male nudity, naturally), and I totally get it that men are going to like to look at naked women no matter how enlightened our society gets. And that's ok - but our bodies are only one part of what we have to offer.

Friday, June 03, 2005

My Name in Lights....sorta

But first...Did anyone watch that show Hit Me Baby One More Time last night? OMG, what happened to all those people? The basis of the show is that old, fat, formerly good-looking and previously famous bands and singers come on tv, do one of their own songs and then a cover of a current song. Then the studio audience votes on who was the best and the winner gets $50,000 for their charity.

Loverboy sucked. I can't believe they still do 100 shows a year and people pay to see them. And to choose to do a cover of "Hero" by Enrique? Are you mad? Flock of Seagulls were decent on their own song, but their cover song (something by Ryan Cabrera) sucked. Cece Penniston was good; her voice still sounds strong. Tiffany, I just dislike because she recently posed for Playboy. As a feminist, I think women with talent (which she has - her voice sounded pretty good) shouldn't sell their bodies for success. It takes away your credibility. Not that a former big-haired mallrat had any credibility to begin with, I suppose. And she still, actually, has big hair. But you get my point.

I was happy that Arrested Development won, mostly because I thought they were the best last night, but partially because I saw them in concert back in the day ("the day" being maybe 1994 or so) and they were great back then. Its on again next week, with one of my favorite 80's bands, The Motels, plus The Knack, Tommy Tutone (you know, 867-5309), and 2 other bands I can't remember.

And now...found this over at Plum Crazy Millersville - go here to try it yourself! Cool!



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Thursday, June 02, 2005

Its Like Stabbing Myself in the Ear Repeatedly

There is definitely something wrong with me. Now, you all know I like Bon Jovi, but other than that I generally like harder rock and punk music. I love Hole, Babes in Toyland, Fugazi...stuff like that. So WTF is going on with me?

I am loving the Backstreet Boys song "Incomplete" for some reason. Never did I think the words "loving" and "BSB" would be in the same sentence unless the sentence was "I am loving kicking the BSB's asses since they are such wussies."

I got a certificate for 2 free downloads from Rhapsody. So today I downloaded "Incomplete" for free because it makes me feel like less of a sell out. Bah. I suck.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Random Thoughts on a Sunny Wednesday Afternoon

First of all, go check out Cori and the lovely image she posted of me (well, of my "essence", I guess). How flattering!
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It is very, very hard to think when your kid is teething something awful and is up every hour all night long. My eyes are already itchy from allergies, and now they are heavy from lack of sleep. And I do not do well on no sleep, people. I could sleep 15 hours a day if I had the time.
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I guess I did pretty well on my diet last week. I lost 5 pounds. It was tough to stick to it over the holiday weekend though (vodka is fat-free, right???), but I did the best I could do. I made a pact with myself to get back on track yesterday, which I did. Go me!
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Is anyone else addicted to blogexplosion's blogrocket thing? I gotta get in on the battle of the blogs too...but if I were to lose, I am afraid my fragile ego will be crushed. And speaking of blog stuff - did you know that because I was not online for most of the weekend and neither were most of you, I slipped from an Adorable Rodent down to a Flappy Bird in TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem? Why this matters to me, I cannot explain. But for some reason it does.
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I updated my blogroll yesterday to include some of you that I visit often but hadn't added...if you see you aren't on my blogroll but I am on yours...let me know so I can add you.
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FYI from yesterday's post:
Grandmother's Name: Mary
Favorite Song: Boys of Summer
Favorite Food: Fettucini Alfredo
Favorite Smell: just-out-of-a-bath baby
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Going out to enjoy this beautiful spring weather we are having! Have a great day!