Whats in your purse?

No, we are not about to play Lets Make a Deal where we see who has a boiled egg in their purse. Haha. I thought (oh no there I go again with the thinkin thing) it might be fun to talk about some of the things that we couldnt live without. Well, maybe we could live without them but they make life a little better for us. I'll go first. If you have something in your makeup bag, purse, closet, or cabinet you would like to share feel free to comment or email me directly.

Im not necessarily "brand loyal" when it comes to most things. I have a few items that I will only get a certain brand of and one thing is foundation. I discovered this item after I got a makeover at the Clinique counter a few years back. I started using Clinique when I was in college. Its pretty much the only brand I can find with a shade even close to "white as a piece of paper." I'll go to the drugstore to get blush or eyeshadow or mascara but when it comes to foundation Im a Clinique girl.

Clinique Touch Base for Eyes
This cream comes in 6 different shades and is used for keeping your eyeshadow from flaking off during the day. It could also be used alone as an eyeshadow if you are not into a lot of heavy color on your eyes or are just in a hurry. It stays on and keeps your powder eyeshadow from creasing or fading. It really does make a huge difference! Its a little pricey for an eye product so I usually stock up when Clinique has a bonus because my normal foundation is a *little less* than the required price to get the free prize.

And no, Im not getting paid for this.

Word of the Day

This week's Word of the Day is brought to you by Golden Boy (not to be outdone by last week's installment that was created by Drama Queen). It was a late weeknight and GB and I were giddy from rounds of flashcards featuring the table of elements ala 10th grade chemistry. You know, iron...Fe....chloride....Cl.....potassium.....K.
Sounding familiar? Ok good.

Selenium, Calcium, Sodium....I asked Golden Boy how he was feeling about it after we had been through the list several times. His reply?

"Oh its easium"

Carry on.

WOTD is back

Word of the Day Wednesday is back!

Limited time only. Limited by the number of words I can think of.

Today's word is brought to you by Drama Queen. We were in the car and both of the 2 cars in front of us were square-ish. One was a minivan and one was one of those Honda Element thingies. I guess she couldnt think of any word to describe them so she made up one:

Cubular.

Thats all. Carry on.

Death Day part two

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my dad's passing away (he missed Elvis Death Day by 2.5 hours). I cant believe its been 3 whole years. I havent talked much about my dad here except for that his cremains are in a jar on my piano. Long story short after my mom passed away in 2000 it was a roller coaster of ups and downs with his alcoholism and me trying to make him act right. Me beating my head against a brick wall is a pretty good description of that.

One day in June 2005 he got admitted to the hospital and got diagnosed with lung cancer, severe congestive heart failure, and emphysema all in one day. That was a very tough day. I dont have any siblings so managing his care was pretty much left up to me, though I cant discount the endless support I recieved from Big Daddy during that time. He did things for my dad that most people dont even do for their own parents, like cut his toenails, ew. Dad did well for about 1 1/2 years (about a year longer than anyone ever dreamed) and then he just gave up. He was lonely and no amount of love or care I gave him was going to change that. So on Aug 16, 2007 I told my dad that it was ok if he needed to go. I knew it would be soon because he had seen angels and deceased family members, had given me some instructions, not to mention his affairs were all tidied up in an accordion folder. But I had no idea it was going to be the next morning.

I was both shocked and relieved to recieve the phone call that he had gone. For anyone who has cared for an ill parent, it can be very very difficult to see them suffer. No matter how old you are, you still look to your parents for advice, love, care, etc. Changing that role to care for an aging parent can really mess that up. I learned a lot about myself, and about him, during the last 7 years of his life. He had just as difficult of a time accepting my help as I did giving it, frustrating us both. He wasnt a warm fuzzy person who was into hugging and kissing much but I did get to show my dad that I loved him many times during the last years of his life, and for that I am thankful. Had he died suddenly I might not have had that chance. So despite the fact that it was a great deal of suffering we both went through, it was for SOME good.

This week my best friend's son is going off to college. Zac is taking with him some of Dad's beloved Mark Twain books, and some of his furniture. I think that would have made Dad very happy that someone like Zac is enjoying his books enough to take them to college. There are things everywhere that remind me of my dad: his coffee cup in my cupboard, his keys in my bedside table drawer, his Navy jacket in my coat closet.

We miss you alot, Jack, and know that it will only be a minute in "heaven time" till we see you again.

We interrupt this blog to bring you ANOTHER orthopedic "emergency"

Seems my children are getting rather cozy with the ortho docs. 3rd trip in 13 months. Drama Queen had an unfortunate accident at cheer where the floor jumped up and got her before the spotters did. And since I dont run to the doctor every time my kids skin their knee (read: horrible mother) I sat on it a few days before we went.

Also pictured, the lovely and talented Roscoe who is now going to be in our family album since we have photographed him so much. May also rate an appearance in family christmas card.

Back to your regular programming.

Death Day and Cookies

Its the most wonderful time of the year.....NOT.

Those familiar with where I live know that this is a very unusual week. People from all over the world converge on our great city to commemorate the death of The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley who died on Aug 16, 1977. I remember where I was and what I was doing when the event occurred. I was 9 years old and at my best friends house. Her mom had been making some chocolate chip cookies and we were upstairs playing when she called us down to the kitchen. She said that she had some bad news. The worst thing I could have imagined happening was that something had gone wrong with the cookies. Then she said "Elvis is dead." I remember looking over at her tiny tv that she had in the kitchen (back then only rich people had tvs in their kitchen. was my friend rich? why yes. she had a 2 story house and a tv in her kitchen) and there being a "breaking news" on.

My mother was the biggest Elvis fan I had ever met (up until then). We actually had tickets for the concert that never was. I remember seeing Elvis in concert when I was about 4 at the Mid South Coliseum. I remember thinking he was tiny as an ant. We must have been on the last row. I dont know what I expected but evidently that was not it.

I worked at Graceland one summer while I was in college. It just happened to be the 10th anniversary of his death. That was an experience, let me just say. Elvis fans are a rare breed. My mother she was a fan, but not to THIS degree. She had his records, she had some tshirts and other memorabilia. We had gone to the gravesite before he was moved to the mansion, when flowers were still there. I remember that and I have her Elvis scrapbook with the dried pressed flowers still in it. But these Elvis fans that make the pilgrimage to Graceland every year are different. To come, some from the other side of the globe, yearly for the candlelight vigil and other events is a little....weird and stalkerish if you ask me. We were required to memorize facts about Elvis in case asked. We were not allowed to talk negatively about anything related to Elvis. We couldnt even stack the cassette tapes in front of the albums for fear they might cover up his face on the cover.

Not that I dont appreciate the economic impact that these fans have on our city, dont get me wrong. There is not a hotel room to be found during Death Week. They spend money here eating out and shopping, and of course going to Graceland, which is not an inexpensive thing not to mention the cost of getting here. A great deal of the fans who come here for Death Week are not Americans.

Most of the people I know here either havent been to Graceland ever, or only have gone to take out-of-towners. When our family comes to visit and they start asking questions about Graceland and Elvis, we just roll our eyes. Oh great. The last visitors we had who wanted to go balked at the price so we only drove by and took pictures at the gate. Yeah, we narrowly escaped that one.

There arent many other people in history whose life had quite as big an impact on the world as Elvis. The whole world. And his sudden tragic unexpected death had a huge impact as well.

On some more than others. Pass the cookies.

If you're picky and you know it, raise your hand!

Big Daddy and I visited a new restaurant Genghis Grill on Germantown Pkwy near Wolfchase. He had been before but I was interested to try it since I'd heard others say it was really good.

First you are seated and your server brings you an empty bowl. Our server asked if we had ever eaten there before, and even offered to go through the line with us but since BD had already experienced it and knows my quirks I just let him help me. There is a menu but its pretty much one price (9.99 for lunch, 12.99 for dinner, 3.00extra for bottomless bowl), you can pretty much skip it. There are some recipes/suggestions and cards you can take with you through the line or you can make up your own as you go, which is good for me because I can leave out what I dont like and add more of what I do.

First you pick your protein

Then you pick your vegetables. Use your skillz to pile as high as you can in your bowl. Next you select your sauce and place it in a separate bowl. They had tiny spoons ala Baskin Robbins to taste test your sauce.

Then you pass off your selections to the people who do the cooking:

You can select rice, fried rice, or noodles to go with your meat and vegetable concoction. I bet you have never seen a pile of rice this high at Shogun:

Then you sit down and your server will bring your personally selected concoction to your table. Voila! Yeah, It was good:

There's no place like home

A big thanks to Random Dad for guest blogging during my recent escape to Las Vegas. He acted all humble and everything but he is really a funny guy. So now that he has set a precedent by blogging three days in a row I guess I better up my game. I'll only bore you with Las Vegas details and pictures for a short time, or until I think of something else clever and funny.

We are definitely glad to be home. We were shocked to hear that the heat index here was 124 one day. The actual temp was one degree hotter here than in Vegas. And Vegas was pretty darn hot. Of course its a "dry heat" there. Whatever. Hot is hot. It might be dry but its still like sticking your head in an oven. 101 at 5pm. Ugh.

Word of the Day Wednesday

Rebuttaling - v. - the act or refuting or arguing a point.

Bill Cosby made up this word to refute reports earlier this week that he had died.

I used it this morning when told by #2 and #3 sons that their room was clean.

O Possum, Where Art Thou?

Yeah, it's still me. Don't worry though, Red will be back soon.

So last night about 10 p.m., we had a visitor at our house. My wife's dog (who I fondly refer to as Satan), was barking uncontrollably from his pen in the carport. Why is his pen in the carport you ask? Because my wife doesn't believe dogs were made to live in the elements (too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too whatever). So our car is in the elements and the dog is in the carport. So #1 son (birth order - not favortism - get over it #2 and #3.), heads out to see what the commotion is. He yells back in the door, "Possum." My wife jumps up because a few nights ago, when Satan was out doing his nightly business, he got into an altercation with a possum and my wife thought he was going to be eaten alive. After much screaming, crying and running around, we finally got Satan on his leash and back in his cage without him being eaten by the possum. Well evidently possums hold grudges. Possum momma returned last night and brought her young 'ens with her. So when my wife and #2 son jumped up and ran outside, #1 son left the door open and a little possum ran into the house and under the china cabinet. Hilarity ensued. My two teenage sons (thankfully #3 was already asleep) ran around like 6-year-old little girls screaming and jumping on furniture. We couldn't leave the thing in the house, so we had to come up with a plan to get it out from under the china cabinet and out of the house without breaking anything. #1 son grabbed a five-gallon bucket from outside and threw a piece of bologna on the floor. I don't know if he was expecting the possum to come out, eat the bologna, say thank you and hop into the bucket or what, but that plan didn't seem to be working. We decided on a broom and flip down dustpan. #2 son got down on the ground to see where the possum was while #1 son moved the broom back and forth under the china cabinet while I held the dust pan at the ready. Finally the little guy came out scared to death and got under a chair. The boys wrangled him into the dustpan, and we dumped him in the five-gallon bucket. We had captured the possum. Then around midnight, we had to go release him into the wild. I'm hoping none of the neighbors saw us.

No possums were hurt in the making of this blog.

Not the Redhead! Not the Redhead!

Well, if you haven't figured it out from the title yet, I'm not the redhead. I am "Friend of the Redhead." While Red and BD are vacationing in an undisclosed location (let's just say "what happens there stays there"), she asked me to guest blog. Red and I go way back. We knew each other back in Jr. High (back in the days before they even had Middle Schools). We had mutual friends. BD and I went to high school together. Who knew that 20-some-odd years later we would all end up being good friends, our kids would be growing up together and that Red and my wife would be in a cult together. (That's for another post.)

Anyway, I've really been bothered by something lately. If you watch any TV in the area, you've probably seen it also. And I want to do something about it. I think we should start a telethon or have a fundraiser -- something, anything. This man needs our help. There's this little ol' white-haired man that could be any of our fathers or grandfathers. It started when he couldn't hear his grandaughter while they were outside playing soccer. Well thankfully he got a device so he could hear again, and all seemed well. But he must have stopped wearing it or something because the next time I saw him, he was needing a power chair. I don't know if he forgot to wear his hearing aid and stepped out in front of a truck or what, but now he couldn't get around without the aid of a power chair. Well, thankfully that Tom Cruse guy (not the one married to Katie Holmes) helped him out and got him one (even if his insurance wouldn't cover it). Things seemed to be looking up again. The next time I saw him though, things just went from bad to worse. He must not have been able to work because of the accident, because now he and his wife owe the IRS over $20,000 in back taxes. Hopefully this company in the latest commercial will be able to help them settle for only$1,000. At least there was some good news in the last commercial -- he was standing again and he didn't seem to be having any trouble hearing. Maybe they should sell the power chair and hearing aid on e-Bay and pay off the IRS. I'm thinking this poor guy has the worst luck of anybody. My wife thinks I watch too much TV. Anybody know how I can get in touch with Jerry Lewis?