Lending A Helping Hand

Nothing is more fun and gratifying than helping your kid with their homework.

The assignment today? Create a compound sentence using the following word: CANVAS

The sentence we came up with?

I thought I heard the canvas of the tent rip; but it was Uncle Michael letting something else rip.

Dancing, singing fat woman

I am a 38 y.o. fat woman who dances and sings in public. Yes, yes..I admit it.  When I go to stores and they are playing great music, (or sometimes the music doesn't have to be great, just there), I sing along loud enough for people to hear and many times I move along with the music.  AND, when the mood strikes me, I downright boogie.

It's an embarrassing fact for my daughter.  My poor, poor soon to be 13 DD.  Which stands for dear daughter, or when the mood strikes her, demonic daughter.  So sometimes she deserves it.  The embarrassment that is.

I know, I know...what could I be thinking?  Singing and dancing in public...and NOT in a darkened club or karaoke bar where it's acceptable to sing and dance and embarrass myself.  But then, I smile randomly at people and make faces at babies in grocery stores too.  So sue me.

But admit it.  Sometimes, when you're in the freezer aisle, and George Michael's "Faith" comes on, you want to pull that carrot out of your cart and belt it out along with him.  Not to mention the horrible urge to sway along with the music, or even rotate those hips and swing that hair.

So give in.  The next time your favorite song comes on and you're in the dairy section, give in and sing.  Swing those arms, shake those hips and give the security guys something to think about.  You'd be surprised at the smiles you get.

Day Two Season Premiere, Dancing With The Stars

Okay. Cloris Leachmen made it to the second round? I mean, as much as I want to see Mark's very good looking father; and as hilarious as Cloris is..keeping her on is just...okay. It's NOT torture. Cause I laughed more during her segment than during the rest of the entire rest of the show. Probably more than I've laughed during any other DWTS show. She's hilarious. Bribe the judges? Nice. But as much as I love you Cloris, and as much as I would LOVE to see more of Mark's dad, Corky Ballas, it's time to go. Keeping Cloris on is like when voters kept Kaitlyn Maher on America's Got Talent. Ridiculous.

But now let's talk about Lacey Schwimmer. Please raise your hands if you think that the judges are being...judgemental because she comes from the OTHER show. I mean, come on! Len was completely dismissive of her choreography on the first night, and tonight the judges blew her number off once again. I mean, is she just too contemporary for DWTS? I know that the other show is more contemporary, funky and out there; but isn't there room for Lacey here? I think so.

Catty comments:

What was up with Toni's make up? Please fire that make up artist!

Is it my imagination or did Cheryl get thick over the summer? I'm not saying she looks bad, but either someone needs to talk to the costume designers or she's been gaining weight. Pregnant?

Kim Kardashian? Puleeeze! The sooner we see the back side of her...leaving, the better. I'm sorry. She's a socialite. Socialite = code for my parents have money. That's it. Nothing else of worth to her resume at all.

Suprising favorites:

Rocco DiSpirito - Despite his fumbling along the dance floor the first night, he was so darn happy to be there and so obviously having fun that I want to see more of him.

Ted McGinley - Ted's always been a great side kick, a regular comedic face that I remember from way back; but his dedication of his first dance won me over. Whether men use his dedication to prove to their women that the men on DWTS are truly miserable, (no matter what they say on camera), or women use it to prove that AnyMan can dance..it was a great move.

Corky Ballas - The father of Mark, this older, handsome man is a sight for sore eyes. Sadly, since he's partnered with Cloris, it's almost enivitable that he's going to go early. I'm sure he's aware of that, but I sure would love to see more of him. All the young manly flesh is wonderful, but that experienced twinkle is down right sexy! Rawr!

Looking Forward:

Criminal Minds premieres tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been a big fan of the show from the very beginning and they ended the season with a (literal) BOOM!

Bones is always a good bet. With Angela and Hodgins making a break of it and Sweets getting on everyone's nerves by acting the puppy dog...just add disgusting evidence and neat mysteries to solve. Excellent!

And if you haven't tried out Sons of Anarchy, do. Okay. This series is not for everyone. Along the lines of Saving Grace in it's grittiness, SoA is something else. So far I'm a fan though.

I'll also be catching up on my DVR. It's about half full after tonight. Some shows I'll be catching up on?

90210, Greek, Heroes, House, L&O: Special Victims, Raising the Bar and Eureka.

TV Freak? You betcha. ;)

Childs. Julia Childs

Seems that Chef Julia Childs wasn't just poaching fish all those years on the TV. Recent release of new documents confirm an early career in the OSS, (Office of Strategic Services), a department of the government that later evolved into the CIA. The initial article at CNN did not mention that this information was available earlier, so after reading a couple of comments about her OSS career being before her TV Chef fame, I checked out other sources on the web to find out that she was hired on as a research assistant for the OSS and played a part in top secret communications during WWII. Neat.

Does this mean that Rachel Ray is CIA?

Blog List Bonanza

I went on a blog reading spree before I decided to start another blog and found some wonderful bloggers. So take a look at my sidebar and go on a bit of spree of your own. Maybe my taste in blogs will give you a look into my brain. I will say that the list is a tad eclectic. There's everything there from food and art to parenting and being green. (Not green like Kermit. Although that's great too.)

You might consider doing something I used to do on my last blog. Blog Tripping. To do that, I would pick one of the blogs on my blog list, and click over to them. Spend a little big of time there perusing what that blogger has been up to recently, maybe post a comment..then pick a blog from their blog list. And so on, and so on. You can pick a time limit, a number of click-throughs, or some other perameter to decide how long you want to trip.

In the end, Blog tripping can be a wonderful adventure into the blogosphere where you can "..explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." Okay. So more than likely someone's seen the blogs you'll surf to, but it's still a great adventure. It also makes a wonderful blog post.

A'Parent

Gorilla Politics

First let me preface that I will rarely post about politics. I'm a private politics kinda girl, meaning that I'm happy to go back and forth on individual issues, but don't want to go over and over which candidate promised what.

All that being said...

Good lord people! There are better ways to make a difference in today's politics than shooting people. It's called VOOOOO-TING. Try it sometime.

One person was shot Wednesday at the Little Rock headquarters of the
Arkansas Democratic Party, police said.

The shooter, described as a white male, came into the headquarters
before noon and asked for Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney before firing three shots, CNN affiliate KATV reported.

Little Rock police would not confirm or deny whether Gwatney was shot.
CNN affiliate KTHV reported that a witness working in a nearby shop said
Gwatney's assistant ran into the shop and asked her to call 911 because the
chairman had been shot.

Little Rock police Lt. Terry Hastings said that the victim was in critical condition at a hospital.

I just gotta say...KARMA!

KATV reported that a blue Dodge pickup believed to be the suspect's had been
wrecked and smashed against a tree.

Original story is at CNN.com.

Introduction

I was reading something just yesterday about how too many bloggers blog, (say that five times fast), what's a seemingly "perfect" life, with kids that are darn well close to perfect, husbands that are "perfect" and lives that are, well...perfect. I don't quite know what to say about that. I know that I've read a lot of blogs where the houses seems to be like June Cleaver just whirled through on a housecleaning binge, kids are a little less rumpled than those I see on the street, (or in my house), husbands I'd like to talk to about their unmarried brothers and lives that seem to have way too much time spent on the good things rather than the practical things in life.

Kinda like fiction. Right. Or maybe I'm just jealous. Because my life is far from perfect. My kid is rumpled, my house is a mess, there's no husband in sight and I rarely seem to have time for the good things in life (even if I could afford them.). A couple years ago I had a blog, but circumstances required that I close it. Now I'm back under a new pseudonym, in a new blog, thinking about a slightly different focus.

I don't really know what it was about the past two years that has moved my self-definition from my glory days, to where I actually am today. I can definitely say that the last two years has been a reality check. Still is. When reality imposes itself upon your psyche, the psyche usually gives way. Which has brought me from my former early life glory to my current life reality.

I am an end-of-my-30s parent. Specifically a single parent of one girl child currently on the brink of teenhood. (God help me.) I also have a dog that's like a second child. We also have a cat, a hamster and a fish; but I'm not so attached to them. I just feed them. I'm working now at a temp job at a community college, where I'm trying to get a permanent job. I need to get my butt in gear and get back to school. I moved to my current location for the sole reason of going to school. So why am I not in school now? Long story.

I intend to blog as a parent. I want to do a bit of life and news commentary. I'm also starting to explore my spiritual side again, so you might find a bit of that here and there. Blogging helps me to explore thoughts I have that are right now a bit free range. It helps to focus and narrow it all down. Amazing what black and white can do.

Hmm. What else to tell you? Only other thing I can think of that might flavor all of this is that I am former military. That is a big part of where I come from, so I might not sound like the typical mom sometimes when I'm thinking from that. I think that's it though.

I hope you stick around to catch the ride. It's sure to be interesting. At least, that's the hope.

A'Parent