Rubbing Shoulders

Last night I watched Taladaga Nights for the first time. It was kind of funny. There was a reference in the movie to Highlander and that got me thinking. I don't know if anyone remembers the TV show called Highlander, but I used to watch it with a lady I lived with in Kanab. We would spend our evenings sitting in our respective Lazy Boy recliners watching Kung Fu, Walker Texas Ranger, and Highlander. In her defense (as well as my own) she was my grandmother's age and she was a little crazy. And she was letting me live with her for free so I pretty much had to watch what she wanted.

A few years prior to this I worked Room Service for the Provo Park Hotel and actually served the actor from Highlander, too bad I don't even know his name. Yes, that's right; I served room service to a famous actor who no one remembers today. I also brought room service to Iron Butterfly, don't be jealous. Oh and then there was that time I gave the guy who always played the dad in the 80s movies (Licensed to Drive comes to mind) directions to the state liquor store because the Provo Park Hotel bar was closing. He gave me a $20 tip, too bad I don't know his name either.

My brush with fame started when I was 5. My grandparents took me and my sister to a Donnie and Marie concert. Toward the end, Donnie went running up the aisle and my grandpa grabbed me and I stuck my hand out just in time for Donnie to slap it as he ran by.

More recently, I stood behind Lyell Lovett in the sky cap line at the Spokane airport. As we were pulling up, I looked at him and thought, "Hurry up Lyell Lovett, you're in the way!" But then I looked a little closer and realized it really was Lyell Lovett, not just some ugly guy that looked like him. While we were in line I had plenty of time to observe him. Of course I was taller than him, taller than even his Kramer-esque hair. He had on tight black jeans and I remember thinking he had the lower body of a woman. You know, soft around the edges. Several people came up to him to tell them how much they enjoyed the concert the night before, he graciously thanked them. I was proud of myself for leaving him alone, but then again I didn't go to the concert…

These little stories are nothing like my sister's brush with fame that she only just recently told me about. She was in New York on business and ran into Gene Simmons in the lobby of her hotel. They actually spoke to each other, mostly about her height. Another time in New York she saw Lenny Kravitz getting out of a cab or something. Which is a little ironic since "Mr. Cabdriver" is a fun song about not getting a cab… maybe it was a limo.

I Hate WalMart

I know I'm not alone. I really dislike going to WalMart, I want to avoid it but seem to end up there sooner or later. I hate that every time I go I can't find parking. I hate that the bell ringer gives me a dirty look even though I gave my change last week. I hate the carts. Oh how I hate the carts. Every cart has a bad wheel, a squeaky wheel, an alignment problem, or sticky stuff on the handle. I hate that the aisles are close together. I hate that there always seems to be a group of confused people who are not sure where they are going- right in front of me. I HATE the pharmacy section. I can never find what I need and the aisles are super crowded with those confused people (including myself this time) and some employee with an angry face stocking ace bandages. I hate that there are literally 85 registers and only 3 open at a time. I hate when the person in front of me needs to buy stamps and they have to page the keeper of the stamps to deliver the stamps to the register. Oh, and those people who pay with a check and wait to fill it out until the cashier pushes total... don't get me started.

Icy water Dora, anyone?

Kitty wants just one thing for Christmas and I don't even know if it exists. She wants an "icy water Dora". Huh. I have no clue. Has she seen it on TV? Yes. Does it change color in the water? No. Is it the mermaid Dora? No. Is it big or small? Big. What does it looks like? "You'll see when Santa brings it."

Who?

Ok, so forgive me for a minute here but I kind of freaked out because Tyler commented on my last post. I don't know Tyler. But then I realized the irony... here I was reading everyone else's blogs assuming that no one I didn't know would be reading mine. I was like, "who is this mysterious Tyler character, and what interest does he have in my blog, and how did he find it in the first place?" I went through a few possibilities like maybe he did a key word search for blogs that included the words, "pickle soup" and mine came up. Or maybe he found it under the category, "Boring Blogs" or "Blogs about nothing". That's when I decided to use my powers of deductive reasoning and investigate (or is it inductive?).

I clicked on his profile, found his blog and read it (so there!). He is actually a very talented artist and I liked several of his paintings he had posted. He had a "live-feed" gadget and I examined who had been visiting. Then I saw it, a familiar domain name! Hooray, Tyler is a friend of a friend! Mystery solved. I feel like I just finished a Law and Order episode where it all works out like you wanted it to. Not like the episodes where they leave you disappointed not only in the lack of resolution, but in humanity in general.

So welcome to my blog Tyler, I hope you return once in a while. I appreciate your sage advice and determination to help me out as a total stranger.

So this blogging thing IS ok...

This blogging thing has become my most favorite hobby. It's not like I had all that many hobbies before, but now it's nice to go through my day thinking of what to write about. So the bottom line is, I'm sold. I also get a rush of excitement when I see my friends have updated their blogs. Who knew it would be acceptable to become openly obsessed with other people's lives? I mean, not in a creepy way, just in a curious way... right?

I was just reading up on a friend's life and then decided to read some of her favorite blogs and so the cycle begins. I came upon a very funny one that pretty much had me laughing for real. I wasn't just smiling and making a little breathy sound-- I was truly laughing. All alone. By myself. The dog came into the room to check on me.

So since I don't know any blogging etiquette I hope it's OK for me to post the link to her blog with the rest of my list-- even if she doesn't know me, or that I admire her humor and aspire to be her, whoever she is! And I would go one step further and recommend it to anyone who needs a real belly laugh. You can find the link on my sidebar as "Every Day I Write the Book".

Oh and if anyone knows how I should give her proper credit on my blog let me know the rules, I'm new around here.

A Breakthrough!

The saga with John and Christmas continues...

I got a great new Christmas CD called "Mary's Lullaby: Christmas Songs for Bedtime" from Deseret Book. It is a quiet, peaceful collection of some of my favorite seasonal songs. Because both children were content and happy, I decided to test the waters as we ran errands today. I slipped the CD in and within three notes of the first song John was in hysterics.

"Is this church music?"

"No it's Christmas music."

"Ahhhhh!! It's church Christmas music! It's not even church day!! Turn it off, turn it OFF!"

The tantrum continued while Katherine was saying how much she really liked it, so I turned it up to drown out the screaming and crying. I heard too many reasons to turn it off to list here, but my favorite was, "Mommy! It's too cute, the music is too cute for me, you have to turn it off!" As if he would melt from listening to "cute" music.

The breakthrough came during song 6: The Little Drummer Boy. I told him he had to be quiet because it was one of my favorite Christmas songs and it was about a boy playing a drum. I knew the drum might spark his interest. By the end of the song he wanted to hear it again. By the end of the CD he said to me, "Mommy, I was wrong. I actually like this music. It is so soothing." And he was right, it is way more "soothing" than it is "cute".

AND I read four days worth of Christmas stories before bed. Of course, none of them could mention the actual Christmas event, but they definitely didn't mention Santa either.

Church Christmas

This evening I decided that I needed to do something to get into the holiday spirit and being the copy-cat that I am (Shay, Korie...) I decided to read some pertinent scriptures to my kids about Christ and Christmas. There is a list of 25 different passages to read every day in this month's issue of the Friend Magazine. If you want to know what they are just hop on over to Shay's blog at http://getkinetic.typepad.com because for some reason she is one of those amazing people that actually takes the time to copy the list for our use, make the scriptures have links, and manages to make it sound inspiring and doable all at the same time. Seriously, once you read Shay you see how simple my mind actually is... but come back, don't let Shay suck you in, I like your company.

Back to the point. I started to explain to my kids that this month we were going to do something different for stories before bed and before I could say any more John interrupted with, "I know what you are trying to do and I am not falling for it." I just looked at him in disbelief. Firstly, I was not trying to do anything hoping he would fall for it, and second, how did he know?

"You are trying to trick us and it's not going to work," he says.

"Trick you how? I just thought we could talk about Christmas-"

"I knew it! All that church Christmas stuff, I'm sick of it."

WHAT? As a parent I'm totally stumped because (don't tell anyone) we have not talked about the "church" Christmas stuff at all this year. Not even a little.

So as I get out my Bible and search for the passage to read for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (we have to catch up) John continues to refuse to listen. Sweet Kitty on the other hand says she wants to hear the church Christmas story. So I decide to read regardless of my audience. Long story short-- the misbehavior increases, my patience decreases and I end up yelling at them both to pay attention to the scriptures, or so help me. I don't think the true "reason of the season" was conveyed.

I guess I will have to be more creative in my trickery.