Doing My Part

So. One should be careful when she starts talking trash about the President's State of the Union Address. If she says things like, "The entire speech is nothing but Lies!, Lies!, (I tell you)" and that it's a "farce wherein The President will say Anything and Everything to raise his his approval rating" and that the "stupid, stupid President should not preempt House when he could be interrupting shows like Wife Swap or Fear Factor" then she should anticipate the wrath of the Super-Duper Protector of Family and Entire United States Navy-Hero Husband.

He just looked at me and said, "I fact-checked part of that speech. It is not lies."

He was not amused.

Can a wife still single-handedly end a Military Man's career?

Clearing Things Up

In adding my old posts, I've come to realize that if you are a new kid on the block, then you just might not know that I spent from 2000-2004 living in Japan. You just might think I've been hanging out here, in DC, for my whole entire life. And in that case, the posts titled things like, "The Day Winter Came to Tokyo", "The Day I Flew to Korea" (I mean, WHO flies from DC to Korea for one day of shopping?), "The Day Spring Came to Tokyo", and "False Advertizing in Kyoto" might not make any sense to you.

So now you know. I used to live in Japan.

James Brown? Why?

Japanese friends, look here:

Oh. My. God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday Night Edit: Showed the kids the video. They both said, "HEY! I've seen this show." And then they got very nostalgic.

Dear Candi~

When you come here, we'll eat this:


(But you have to eat fast because the alcohol melts the ice cream.)

xoxoxoxoBrandi


(FYI - The Incomparable Jes is deprived of this particular product while exiled* to Japan.)
*Exile...Expat...whatever.

And On A Side Note:

While taking a mom quiz recommended by the Fabulous Evil Queen, I learned the following:

Your quiz results make you a "Pretty in the City Mom"

You might have a subscription to both Parenting Magazine and Vogue. While picking up a darling Easter outfit for your tyke at Bloomingdale's you're tempted to grab a pair of Manolo Blahniks for your own tootsies. You are a fabulous mom, and you take care of yourself fabulously, too.

Making me seriously question the credibility of this particular Quizmaster. I read National Geographic, never Vogue, and wear blue jeans with white t's and flip-flops. High heels hurt my feet. I NEVER buy Easter outfits (tho I do love Nordstrom) and my main food group is potato chips.

But I am pretty.

What Are Kids Good For, Anyway?

Comic Relief


He bought that hat at Salvation Army. It's pink.

And Fetching Me Wine


When I'm too lazy to get up myself and do it.

Dosvidanya, Diaryland

SLOOOOOOOOOOWLY, SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY,

I'll be transferring all of my old (2003-2005) entries here to Blogger. It's time to pay my Diaryland Dues and I don't want to. I'm getting tired of that.

Dogblog Evidence That Winter Sucks

Dillon's Wall

Slowly but surely being painted with album covers. It should be done around Graduation next year...

Hmmm....

From this story:

"Maryland police are now reminding motorists that it is illegal in the state at any time to leave a vehicle running with the keys in the ignition."

Boy, I'm glad they clarified that. From now on, I'll take my keys out when I leave my car running.

Meme of Four Some*

I was tagged by the Dancer Girl...here it is!

Some Jobs I've Had:
-Salesgirl at department store jewelry counter
-Bank Teller
-Background Investigator - I investigated contractors who were going to work at Nuclear Power Plants
-Counselor in an Adult High School
-...and currently, a Phone Answering Goddess

Some Movies I Could (and Do) Watch Over & Over Again:
-Dirty Dancing (I know. Shut up.)
-Sweet Home Alabama
-Lethal Weapon (s) - Yup, all 4.
-Fried Green Tomatoes
-Breakfast At Tiffany's
-The Sound of Music
-Finding Nemo

Some Places I Have Lived:
-West Lafayette, Indiana
-Auburn, Alabama
-Pensacola
-San Diego
-Japan

Some TV Shows I Like:
-Sex and the City
-Smallville
-House
-Bones
-CSI
-I Love Lucy
-Gilligan's Island
-M*A*S*H - that didn't have to be CURRENT shows did it?

Some Favorite Books:
-To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
-Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier
-Roots, Alex Haley
-Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
-The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks
-The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
-Milkweed, Jerry Spinelli
-Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl
-Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss

Some Places I Have Vacationed:
-Maine
-Blue Ridge Mountains
-Portland
-Orlando
-Oaxaca & Ixtapa, Mexico
-Hong Kong
-Sydney, Australia/Queenstown, New Zealand
-Nagano, Kyoto & Sapporo, Japan

4 Websites I Read Every Day:
-Evil Queen
-Candi with an i
-Dooce
-Engrish.com
OR! You could just read that list of linkity-goodness over there to the right (and up a bit).

Some Favorite Foods:
-Potato Chips
-Pizza
-Lobster
-Crabcakes
-White Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting & Fresh Fruit on Top
-BLT's
-Rubio's Fish Tacos

*Turns out I'm not so good at following directions. Who knew?

Oh, For Christ's Sake...

Immediately after publishing that last post, I received a comment from a Concerned Christian Citizen who feels that if I just trust in God, He will see me through. Or something like that...whenever the subject of God comes up, my mind starts to wander and, quite frankly, I wasn't really paying attention*. This is probably why all those Priests and Nuns in my childhood thought I was "special".

For those of you who are concerned that I may, perhaps, be going to Hell, I didn't REALLY put that sign on my door - I just wanted to. I did leave early. I had had it. With a woman who insisted that I speak with her since her husband wasn't home and then not only refused to listen to the reasons that we were excluding her from getting a new roof this year, abused me and interrupted me mid-explanation and then spat at me to email her husband. In a word, she was a Bitch.

Now. Back to the sorry state of my Eternal Salvation. It's not that I don't believe in a higher power. I do believe that there is something greater than humankind. I DON'T believe in the infallibility of the Bible. I DO believe in the Theory of Evolution. I am Pro-Choice and completely support same-sex marriages. I do not think that Christians have the only ticket to heaven. I think there will be Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Islamics, Native Americans, Rastafarians, and even Ancient Pagans in the hereafter. All getting along beautifully. Hopefully dancing to Tom Jones and drinking Pina Coladas on a tropical island with everlasting bowls of potato chips. And Ding-Dongs. And no whiners or negativity-spewers will be allowed.

I am a nice person. I am a better-than-average Mother. I treat others like I would like them to treat me. I am happy and responsible, I say hello to strangers and I am not in the least bit worried should the Rapture transpire tomorrow.

I have faith it will all work out.

*Just remembered. It was in my deleted mail. Here it is in it's entirety:

all i have to say is trust in God he is the answer to all your questions. If you believe he will take all your pains away.

For the record- I do trust in a "higher power", I don't have any questions, and I'm certainly not in pain. I am annoyed from being treated poorly by yet another old biddy at work.

Question.....

It is ok to get completely fed up with your stupid, stupid job by 12:50 and post a sign on the door saying:

"Left early because you people are assholes."

...Right?

It's 11:56 and My Brain Hurts. Don't Expect Too Much Here.

Well. I was REALLY busy this evening*.

-Doing a couple loads of laundry.

-Talking to Annie on the phone.

-Blog-Surfing.

-Making the kids quesadillas (because the dad's working until 10pm tonight and why cook dinner if I don't HAVE to).

-Watching Madagascar.

-And frying my brain trying to write an essay about my faith - tested, lost, renewed or found. And I was drawing a blank. I mean, actually LOSING your faith is serious stuff. I don't mean "going to hell" serious, I mean "getting out of bed every day" serious. And I just don't do that - lose faith, that is. Maybe it's naive of me, but I ALWAYS, ALWAYS have faith that everything will work out in the end, and if it doesn't, then maybe it wasn't meant to be in the first place. And not in a "God pointing his finger" way, but in a "that's just the way it goes" way. Of course, I've never experienced any truly devastating events in my life - loss of a parent or child, tsunami, crime victim, so perhaps I truly am wide-eyed and innocent (at 38 - cough). But I do think in the event of any of these things happening to me there would surely be a period that I wouldn't comprehend how something so heinous could occur and try desperately to assign reason to it, but I do HAVE FAITH that in the end, I would prevail and my life would continue. Perhaps changed, but still worthy.

And if now you are as confused as I and your brain is staring to get a pinch just behind your left temple, and you want to go downstairs and take a swig right out of the bottle of Shiraz that's perched on the counter, then you know just how my evening has gone.

Back to Madagascar. It was cute. It made us laugh. Laughing is good... 3 thumbs up.

*...She stated, tongue-in-cheek.

The Headline Read:

Mom survives 11th Birthday Sleepover!
But if you knew these girls, it wouldn't be a surprise. There were 7 girls. There was cake and pizza and karaoke, dancing and games and giggling. They played Scattergories, tried to sing some Classic Rock (but it turns out they don't know the words), and once, when it got too quiet, I went down to see what was up. It was girl-talk pow-wow time. I learned that Jessie McCartney is "sizzlin'", and Matt likes Mackenzie (she does not return the sentiment), that Shahida smells bad, and their teacher is a "dumb blonde".

The only glitch in the night was when we pulled the candles out of Mackenzie's birthday cake and it was chocolate. Oops! We're a white-cake sort of family around here. But they didn't care. Marissa & Emily ate two pieces, Brittany ate only the frosting.

Not once did I hear any dissention in the pack. This group of girls is a mom's dream. When we got here last year, they accepted Mac within the first week and I've never heard them bicker or fight.

They actually slept last night. I went to bed around 1am and didn't have to get up once to quiet them down (of course, that could have had more to do with the 2 glasses of wine I had than the quietude of the Tweens...well, that and the two floors separating us). I think they went to sleep around 2am and I didn't hear them up and about until almost nine.


By 11:15 they were all gone and our Lazy Sunday could commence. It's 1:58, we're still in our comfy-clothes, and we're eating Fritos, watching Simon Birch, and generally being completely useless.

A perfect ending to Mackenzie's Week-Long Birthday Extravaganza.