Thursday Notes From the Home Front
1. THIS is the song I’ve been dancing to two or three times a day. I may be stuck in the past but at least it’s not classic rock.
2. I’ve been dancing for a long time. Remember those wallet size high school senior pictures that we went around getting signed at the end of school? Beside the usual “good luck in the future” sentiments, many of my classmates wrote comments saying what a good dancer I was and remembering seeing me on the weekends at the Surf, the dance club in the beach town where we all grew up.
3. Sometimes blogging feels like playing spin the bottle and comments are like getting and giving kisses. I feel this especially when I visit Michele Agnew’s site on the weekends. Each weekend she hosts a blogger’s “meet and greet” in which you leave a comment before visiting the blogger that commented above you on the list. The next blogger to visit finds your name next on the list and visits your site. You never know whose site you will land on or who will end up at yours.
4. I’ve never seen a ghost in Floyd but Floyd now has a ghost tour and a book, “Strange Tales of Floyd County,” to accompany it. I recently ran into the woman who wrote the book in a spa in town. I was there doing an interview with the owner for a newspaper insert called “All About Her” and she was there getting a purple streak dyed in her hair.
5. Speaking of hair, check out THIS photo of some Floyd wildlife involving wigs.
6. You can see Dan Rather singing “What’s the Frequency Kenneth” HERE. And Michael Stipe singing when he had long hair (for those of you like me who like men with long hair) is HERE.
7. I have two sons. Growing up, one was like the tortoise and the other was like the hare, but both had trouble with coats. One was known to frequently lose his and the other wouldn’t wear them. To this day, when I see them I say, “Where’s your coat?” and “Aren’t you cold?”
8. Speaking of newscasters, occasionally they announce something that shocks me. I was shocked to recently hear that Barack Obama and Dick Cheney are distant cousins in a similar way I was shocked the night they announced that diet soft drinks actually cause you to gain weight. That’s right; rats fed artificial sweeteners ate three times the calories of rats given sugar, which suggest that sugar-free foods might play a role in the nation’s obesity epidemic, the authors of a study on artificial sweeteners said. See THIS and THIS.
9. My husband, Joe, is a counselor. The other night a friend asked me how he was doing. The conversation went like this:
He: How’s Joe? Is he practicing?”
Me: “You mean his martial arts?
He: “No, I mean counseling. Is he practicing?
Me: What do you mean practicing? He doesn’t practice; he does it for real.”
He: “No, I mean practicing, as in ‘does he have a practice?’
Me: “Oh.” Laugher ensued.
10. I spent a large part of the day yesterday walking around the house with stuff like a paper clip in one hand and two pennies in the other, trying to figure out where to put them. Sometimes it feels like I spend most of my life putting stuff in its place, fiiguring out new places to put stuff, or trying to find where I put stuff. I wonder if I have George Carlinitis.
11. Have you ever noticed how many things you do in exactly the same order or the same way everyday, like the way you shower or bath? Do you think this is true: The second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half. ~Feodor Dostoevski
12. I’m very proud of the way the Hotel Floyd Writer’s Suite came out, a project a few of us from The Floyd Writer’s Circle worked on for most of the summer. The Hotel Floyd website now has a series of photos in flash rotation of each of the 14 themed rooms. You can check out the Writer’s Room HERE and click on the sidebar to view photos of all the rooms.
13. I haven’t come across anyone as funny as the Fruitcake Lady yet. But THIS – boy doing Will Ferrell doing President Bush – comes pretty close.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.
October 25th, 2007 10:49 am
I am trying now to get rid of all my habits of the first part, becausse now I am in the second part of my life, but what shall I do in the third part then ?
October 25th, 2007 11:08 am
About your #7: My son and daughter have always been the same way about not wanting to wear a coat. In their case I wonder if it’s because, until they were 8 and 9, we lived in old houses that were always very cold in the winter, so that is what they became accustomed to. They are both very warm-natured.
October 25th, 2007 11:17 am
Did you hear Obama’s comment about being related to Cheney? He said Cheney was the black sheep of the family.
October 25th, 2007 11:23 am
I adore the Fruitcake lady.
The other day Martin said “I saw a friend of mine from Floyd and they have a hotel there now.” I just went “No.” He said “Oh I guess Colleen already told you.”
Now he wants to go see it too.
And what is wrong with classic rock????
October 25th, 2007 11:32 am
I love classic rock but I lived so much of it and get tired of hearing it over and over like I don’t like watching movies more than once, so I guess I just wanted to show I can and do move on. REM was considered punk at one time. Maybe they’re classic now?!
The hotel is beautiful! We’re going to hold our newt writer’s circle meeting there.
And yes, Obama also said he’s okay with it but doesn’t want to go on any of the Cheney family hunting trips.
October 25th, 2007 11:44 am
I hadn’t realized how absolutely beautiful Michael Stipe was, gorgeous hair! And that’s such a perfect description of Michele’s site on the weekends. Love your comment above about Obama and the hunting trips 😉
Thanks for visiting!
October 25th, 2007 11:52 am
I am the same way with 80s tunes. People are suprised the 80s aren’t preset on our satellite radio but I got burned out. If I want to listen to them I’ll play them myself but I just don’t want to hear it anymore. Now the 70s are pre-set. And the new years! I came in to classic rock more as an 18 year old….Janis was already classic and so was my fave’s Lyn.Skyn. …but I understand the burn out. Same with Pearl Jam, I sickened myself of that style music and rarely play it.
October 25th, 2007 11:55 am
What’s the Frequency Kenneth is a great song to dance to! Very entertaining TT! Thx for your visit.
October 25th, 2007 1:39 pm
I love the quote about habits. I hope that means I have a few years left to develop healthy ones 🙂
October 25th, 2007 1:41 pm
You described Michele’s M&G very well!! that was my first blogging experience ever: published a little post for the first time and off I went over to play the M&G!
Don’t remember ever seeing Michael Stipe with hair! I have a weakness for males with long, long hair.
Halloween is now actually also celebrated in Chile nowadays: my 9 yo niece is going trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, my sister does the chaperoning, though.
Love your autumn leaves in the picture…
Happy thirteening
October 25th, 2007 1:46 pm
Floyd seems to have some interesting wildlife!
…and every town, county, village, and city has a ghost story or two… you just need to find ’em! 🙂
October 25th, 2007 1:49 pm
tortise and hare funny
October 25th, 2007 5:32 pm
Thanks! I laughed, chuckled, went aha, and chuckled again with most of these! 🙂
October 25th, 2007 6:05 pm
#13 is hilarious!!! I have seen it before but I never knew it was Will Ferrell’s voice. I actually wanted to send it to you once and then I forgot. xox
October 25th, 2007 10:59 pm
1. R.E.M. is cool, but how in the hell do you dance to that?
2. If you can dance to R.E.M. then you really must be a great dancer.
3. Spin the bottle is a very apt description. And if I don’t get enough comments in the day, I truly do feel unloved, unpopular, unwanted: all those horrible feelings from high-school rushing back. Comments*=kissing. Tee hee!
8. I’m definitely intrigued by that sweetener thing. I’ll be looking into it further.
9. That’s a Seinfeldian conversation if there ever was one.
13. Thanks you so much for intruducing me to the Fruitcake lady. My life will never be the same!
🙂
*thanks for your by the way. Always appreciated.
October 25th, 2007 11:04 pm
Did you watch the video?! Michael sure can dance to it. So can I!
October 26th, 2007 12:07 am
I have always found R.E.M. pretty danceable. 🙂
October 26th, 2007 2:15 am
What great links on your blog today. I am still laughing at the Global Warming Video. I am going back to Michele’s blog also. I love your dancing video on You Tube.
October 26th, 2007 4:56 am
I LOVE The Fruitcake Lady…If memory serves..(And it may not..) I think she is related to Truman Capote…!
Anoyjer very very rich TT, Colleen…I don’t know how you do it. The time it takes to just do those links…! Amazing, my dear, Amazing!
October 26th, 2007 8:27 am
Re: #11 – I don’t think that *has* to be true. Anyone can spice it up, and probably should. Take a bath instead of a shower? Drive a different route home, um, dance to a different tune?
October 26th, 2007 10:20 am
“George Carlinitis”. PERFECT!! That made me laugh right out loud–I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to me, walking around with a safety pin, a couple of pennies, and AAA battery & having not a clue as to where to put them.
Hello, Michele sent me!
October 26th, 2007 12:41 pm
Hi, Im here from Michele’s. There are so many things here to comment about, but mostly I have a neck ache watching your dancing video. 🙂
October 26th, 2007 1:03 pm
Love this: “blogging feels like playing spin the bottle and comments are like getting and giving kisses.” I will have to check out that site, thanks.
Great 13 – a teenager doing dubya, dancing, singing, a comedy routine, it is like watching one of the old variety shows like Carol Burnett. Have a great weekend!
BTW – your comment on my post today was priceless! “Ain’t life a fast ride? Sort of like Nascar.”
October 26th, 2007 8:44 pm
I love the Spin The Bottle analogy.
October 26th, 2007 10:35 pm
this site has even more info on artificial sugars. Quite alarming really what side-effects it may have: http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html#symptoms
October 27th, 2007 12:54 pm
~~ Love the bit about George Carlin ~~ I just did walk around with some old yarn, torn newspaper, and a dirty t-shirt. I gave up trying to find a “place” for them, an’ jus’ pitched ’em all in the trash…
October 27th, 2007 3:52 pm
My favorite thing about the Fruitcake Lady is the placement and usage of her hands and fingers while she’s dishing wisdom. Don’t you love it??
October 27th, 2007 3:53 pm
Why is this happening to me when I comment here? YIKES.
October 27th, 2007 5:38 pm
Three times a charm? Dear Weary, since my server moved my blog the comments are posted without my moderation and they seem to take more time to post; but they are posting. I can’t even stand it while my own comments are posting here, so I go off to do something else.
I’ll delete a couple of them.
October 27th, 2007 10:46 pm
Oh, I love the fruitcake lady! What a great post….really fascinating….
thanks for visiting us