Monthly Archive

Well what is going on with some of my ladies tonight? Lets start at Vintage Thirty with Tootsie Speaks…show her we’re listening. Very funny piece gals, you’ll love the commentary.

Over at Nanny Goats in Panties…you just can’t say that enough… she wants to know what the coolest or most unusual thing we’ve seen at a wedding is…I’m still thinking, maybe you all can help her out.

Meanwhile Magnolia’s talking about the real Rules of Engagement at The Magnolia Diaries in light of the Sarah and George split. Sarah who, George, I got it. Anybody noticed all the hotties are becoming available. And they only thought women were in sync.

Well, hope you don’t mind another day of link love…it has been a busy time as a temporary single mom of three (oh DH come home soon).

Tune in tomorrow for some inspiration.

Well it is nearly June and I’ve lost track of what Hillary is doing, and I’ve tuned out the religious rhetoric of who subscribes to what church. I guess I’ve just lost my momentum…like the candidates I’m sure.

I’m starting to feel as if election season is taking pointers from the holiday season. How soon can we start it…and when we finally get there was all the excitement worth it?

I may rant about politics but on most days I just rant. Here are some places to get the political news you so desire…unless your political muse is past its use by date too.

Political Chatter has it going on and I believe he is a former insider…really.

Check out Conservative Ally… well, what can I say? She is conservative.

If you are really conservative it doesn’t hurt to read two conservative sites…protect yourself from the liberals…don’t miss Conservative Politics. There is talk over there about a racist candidate. That warrants a peek doesn’t it?

And if you are just like me, done with politics, you will find me over at Beer & Me.

Tell me where you’re stopping by, I’ll bring a mug for you.

For those that didn’t figure it out yet, I like the funny men. It is sad news that we lost one today. For all you Harvey Korman fans…especially the ones who remember how he couldn’t keep from laughing within two feet of Tim Conway, this one’s for you.

It is hard to pick my favorite Harvey Korman skit, or movie, but I enjoyed the Mama skits with Vicki Lawrence. And my all time favorite was the spoof on Gone With the Wind…Carol was a hoot in that too!

What was your favorite Harvey Korman skit? Or would you have way too hard a time choosing as well?

Have you seen Sharon Stone lately? Never mind, but I bet you’ve heard her. Okay, it needs to be said. Do we care what Sharon Stone said about China? Did it hurt you or me? Personally, you want to be an @$$ than have at it, open that mouth wide and insert big foot. Although it really wasn’t social commentary she was aiming for…she asked herself a question and shared it with the world…I wonder if she got an answer.

The whole trouble is we run to therapists who tell us it is okay to feel something, think something, try to act appropriately but not impose “the shoulds” on other people but yet we hear people telling us to suppress those feelings, don’t think for ourselves and act like everybody else and giving us the “shoulds.” All this PC is BS to me…that would be Painful Commentary in BigShoes…so don’t quote me as I don’t want to see my name on the front of my Comcast login tomorrow as the top news story.

Karma…did you hear the one about the Chinese cinema banning Sharon Stone?

I hope the weekend was great for you all. Mine was good. I went to having the “experienced” tech fix my cable to having my “experienced” husband install a DVR. We are all considerably more happy around here when there are no arguments about who watches what, who is missing the end of a tween movie because some network guru decides to put kid movies on from 8 PM to 10 PM. I don’t know about the rest of you but when I was a kid my bed time was somewhere around 7:30 and 9:00 when I was young. I don’t think I stayed up past 9:00 until I was into high school.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t really watch a lot of TV. We are too busy for that, it is just that every time we want to sit down everybody has a different idea. My idea does not include the Disney or Nick evening lineup. Plus I want my kids in bed by a certain time so I certainly don’t entertain the idea of starting a movie you can’t watch if you need to go to bed. Remember when Disney movies started at 7:00 PM? See it is not my imagination.

So now I have the DVR, and the first movie we recorded, Flubber with Robin Williams, is apparently going to stay on that DVR machine forever as the kids all love it and they can watch it anytime they want and in multiple parts like a miniseries, or just the bouncing, dancing green Flubber parts like the two year old loves and mommy won’t ever miss the shows she needs to blog about on USA and SciFi.

Life is good…and the best, we now have two cable remotes for the kids to misplace…

The three men in my life, my husband, Stephen Colbert and Dr. Oz. Could you imagine my surprise while working late the other night when I heard Stephen Colbert introduce Dr. Mehmet Oz? He’s my favorite doctor and I always wonder why he is the one on Discovery Health and Dr. Phil is the one on network television. I guess my tastes are just more refined…side note, that is not to say that Dr. Phil should be moved to Discovery Health…he should just be moved off television.

Well, he visited Stephen Colbert and my husband wondered why I ran from the computer to the couch for a six minute interview…quality not quantity I always say, and it is not often the view is doubly good on the Colbert Report.

Here’s the video to Dr. Oz on the Colbert Report talking about men’s health and sex, yes it was a good night, and his new book You: The Owner’s Manual, which I will be buying my husband for my birthday, I mean his birthday.

If you want to buy chocolate you’ve come to the right place. I had no idea I’d been talking about it so much but all things chocolate now grace the front of my blog. I had to check out those chocolate bras and shoes, yes chocolate shoes…in color only, not flavor. Chocolate for every walk of life too, cheap, expensive, seasonal; this will make things easier for my husband when he goes out of town again and leaves me with three kids…he’ll have to send me chocolate for his birthday and stock up on some for Father’s Day…especially since I didn’t win the See’s gift certificate giveaway at Vintage Thirty today. Funny, I wonder how that See’s ad got over there in my sidebar.

So, if you have a blog and you wonder where all of your chocolate ads went, they are over here at BigShoes…and I’m not crying about it.

I know I’ve told you once before that I’m busy. I’m busy and my children should not lose the one cable remote we have for the one cable box we have in the house, for if they do, they get no television when it rains or when they are bored.

So, when I’m busy and I have, that would be me and maybe my husband, so I mean when I or we have time to watch television, we want the cable to work as well…if we are lucky enough to find the remote. Last Friday our favorite cable channels were acting up. Now this would be the same favorite cable channels that always act up when we have problems. Since I’ve been forced into digital, when these fav channels act up I of course blame it on the digital cable.

Now I don’t ask for much, but it is nice to have the cable channels you watch working when you want to watch them. I don’t want to watch my local town meeting, the weather channel or the Catholic channel, (yes the only kid show I could find yesterday afternoon was a cartoon teaching children the mysteries of the rosary). All favorite channels were out for every member of the family, no PBS, Disney, Nick or Cartoon Network and no USA, SciFi or Comedy Central.

And since you know I’ve been busy I didn’t pay attention when the kids complained or when my husband complained and a few days went by before I broke down and called the cable company yesterday…because only women know how to make service calls.

The conversation was pretty much me complaining, nicely, about my cable dilemma and how I’ve had numerous visits and how this problem keeps happening at random and I can’t understand why the cable Gods are able to selectively deactivate just the channels that my family watches.

After explaining past visits and what each technician has done the cable operator says to me, “I’m sorry; I’m putting down on your call sheet that we should send an experienced technician out.”

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

My husband asks me what the experienced technician did that the other technicians couldn’t do. I told him he could climb a ladder and change the cable from the house to the pole that was too old.

I never knew there were so many primaries that could count. Neither did the Democratic Party. What will happen to us this year? What will happen to our country? Whatever it is, it is not going to be as fun as what could happen at the 2008 Democratic Convention. Don’t you wish you could be there to support Hillary, I mean Barack, I mean Hillary, did you mean Barack?

Here’s an SNL skit that aired recently. Enjoy.

…are you still counting?

Oh, it is a good day. I was visiting Nanny Goats in Panties yesterday… I know that’s hard to say out loud so I consider it a two for one that I can crack up twice in one day from reading one post. She was discussing her petrified mac n’ cheese, the result of inappropriate microwaving, which of course leads me to believe she is a packaged mac n’ cheese girl and maybe not the connoisseur of edible, two-, three- or four-cheese baked yummy goodness. As a native of chilly upstate-NY we’ve probably cornered the market on comfort food out east. Meanwhile she gives a shout out to her friend Tootsie Farklepants at Vintage Thirty…well any friend of Nanny Goat’s is a friend of mine.

So I go to visit Tootsie and she is giving away a gift certificate to See’s Candies…real See’s chocolate. Oh, remember how I wanted some for Mother’s Day…yes he shipped a box of See’s truffles to me and I am down to but a few small morsels. So I had to enter my name of course and am so crossing my fingers and toes…and eyes. I mean, come on, I must have the record for the most See’s Candies links in a post. Today.com must think I work for them or something…Not.

Don’t just visit Tootsie for the See’s Candies certificate contest…visit her for her wit, sarcasm and way with pet peeves.

I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting…and guess what I got today? A note from the government regarding my stimulus payment. How helpful is that? This is one of those moments when I’m very proud of my country…pause for you to pick up that sound bite and hold it against me when my husband runs for president…NOT.

Yes my form letter came today reminding me how I filed, how much I’d be getting, when I should be getting it and who to notify if I don’t get it. Wow…that would be so helpful and worth the millions of dollars that campaign cost if it had come before my tax rebate check that I received on this Saturday past…tick, tock, tick, tock…LOL.

That was very stimulating, wasn’t it?

Some funnies found around the net this evening for your enjoyment.

Check out Nanny Goats In Panties thoughts on irrelevant traffic. I’m sure she has the same problem as me and BigShoes. Don’t be in the middle of a slurp of coffee when you read a few of the searches that have driven people to her site.

Ewan Morrison wrote an interesting post about growing breasts and shrinking German men. Maybe Ewan was breastfed too long. Find the interesting article at the News Scotsman.

And while I haven’t investigated who invented the bra yet from our discussion the other day, I did come across some information on a chemist named Wallace Carothers who had much to do with our transition from silk to nylon stockings. Read Nylon revolutionizes women’s fashion.

Enjoy.

Let’s cut to the chase and call it like it is. Government is evil. They spawn evil plans that waste time and money and degrade the human race. These tax rebates are the devil in disguise I’m sure, so hold onto your purses ladies, take control of your stimulus payment now.

It started out as a simple plan to stimulate the economy. Our country borrows money (we need to borrow money?) from another country to give us money to stimulate the economy via a tax rebate, which analysts say is not enough but that is a discussion for another day.

Anyway, so we’re getting some money. Now trying to figure out when and how you will get your money is more difficult than finding out how far the earth is from the moon. I read the plan, something about the last two digits of my social security number and how I filed and oops they left off the small print and now TurboTax and whomever have to re-explain how you get your money based on how you filed with them.

I’ve heard tell that over 50,000 phone calls a day are calling the IRS to check on their tax rebate checks…a gift of money really, by the way would you call your grandmother up and ask her when your birthday card with the $20 was coming? I didn’t think so. Thanks for helping raise the cost of your gift if you called.

But, in all fairness, we are all entitled to a portion of the gift and you think the government would explain the tax rebate better, since they have our full attention and we might be missing the cost per barrel of oil during this fiasco…okay, maybe not. Besides I know we all need it, I need it, but the Administration and Congress is said to have “underestimated the need for cash in most US homes because they did not see inflation coming.” I must be clairvoyant because I saw it coming.

So you can go visit the IRS Where’s My Stimulus Payment. I’ve heard it isn’t very helpful but you can visit it and go through the exercise a few times before you become one of the 50,000 a day callers to the IRS that tries to find the answer to the question Where’s My Stimulus Payment?” But in fairness to the government this time, didn’t you read the part that says that the information about your payment won’t be available in their online system until about a week before your rebate is scheduled to be issued? I know, it should really say, I’m sorry but information on your tax rebate is only given out to mind readers who already know whent they will get their tax rebate. Okay, maybe I’m not clairvoyant.

Meanwhile, everybody who wants your money once you finally get it is really helpful. ATM’s are asking me to inquire about saving it, my church wants me to do good with it, scammers are trying to steal the tax rebate in new clever ways and the government really wants me to spend money on products from the country we borrowed it from (see Ben Stein on Glenn Beck). Can I have a show of hands from anybody who had to pay for oil with their credit card this winter?

Surveys are showing we are not going to be spending our money where the government intended. We won’t be buying cars, new clothes or electronics. I’m paying down debt and extra costs incurred due to inflation along with the rest of the tax rebate recipients.

Don’t get me wrong, the government is doing some good, dead beat parents will lose their tax rebates to pay back child support. I guess this makes up for the government denying money to filers married to someone without a social security number, including our soldiers overseas who are married to foreign spouses.

Tell me your thoughts, is this tax rebate doing anything but costing the government more time and money than it is worth? Are we going to be paying for this fiasco for the next four or more years?

The news since last year was that the Russian army was out of shape and they were facing an overhaul. You see they needed to get fit and fast. One third of their top officers are overweight and many have failed their fitness tests.

What do you think is motivating the Russian army to get into shape? Designer Valentin Yudashkin’s new uniform for the Red Army. Sounds like swimsuit season to me. To support them during this crisis they were provided with gyms and swimming pools. Hey, what happened to boot camp or is that kind of diet and fitness spa only available back here in the states?

So, when you try to think about your fitness in a new light, don’t over think it. Sometimes it is all about the slinky red dress or the summer swimsuit or the skinny new army uniform…and that is okay if it gets us fit.

I don’t know, I watched the video and I still can’t figure which dress they will be wearing can you?

Here’s the updated news story if you want to see them pictured prior to them marching in their annual Victory Day parade last week in Moscow’s Red Square. Some of them must have made the dean’s skinny list. Don’t let that news overshadow the reemergence of the Red Army’s missiles, tanks and other weaponry…

I’m not going to look it up but I’m willing to bet it was a man that invented the bra. And as much as I think women are closer to earth than men are, I’m willing to bet they had something to do with the eco friendly bra developed by lingerie maker Triumph International Japan Ltd.

The Solar Power Bra compliments Triumph’s line of other eco friendly lingerie, including the bra that turns into a reusable shopping bag and one that comes with metal chopsticks to save the planet from wooden chopsticks…huh, anybody shopping or eating in Japan lately? Do you have any stories to share with us here?

The Solar Power Bra comes with instructions not to wash or sun in on a rainy day. Oh, I’ll have to be sure not to catch my rays on the next rainy day.

Besides being fuzzy looking and green, never mind, I really have nothing good to say about it. Now if the Solar Power Bra can get enough charge to boost the Toyota Prius an extra mile or two before needing a charge then I’m sold.

See full story at Reuters; don’t miss the video.

Want to take a bet on weight loss motivation? Me two, so I visited fatbet.net run by two guys who wagered to lose. Sound interesting? It sure is…a very interesting weight loss concept that I hope won’t be lost on the faint at heart. Lucky for us they decided to share their weight loss idea.

You can invite your friends in on a wager where you set your weight loss goals and any body who meets their goals wins and any body that doesn’t, well, they pay up. I am so game, I’m thinking about a little competition with some family. You know who you are…I have family that I can insult and they’ll still respect me in the morning.

The program charts your progress and there is a message board for you and your group to support each other. This is free, to use the online tool anyway, and it is totally free if you are on the winning side of your weight loss.

Now I know many insurance companies today reimburse a portion of your costs for weight loss programs, but where is the fun in that? This is like your very own version of The Biggest Loser. Of course in this scenario there could be two biggest losers on either end of the spectrum.

So are you ready for this? Are your friends ready for this? Do you think you might lose a friend if you invite the wrong person…the one that doesn’t think they need to lose weight? Will it bring fun to weight loss? What would you do with your winnings?

Before we get too far past Mother’s Day, I’d like to discuss baby names…no I’m not mom, don’t even think it. Actually this is more about the government. It was announced that Saturday the Social Security Administration released its latest list on Popular Baby Names.

Okay, when I think of Social Security, I hardly think of using their services for selecting baby names. I’m sure there are plenty of baby name books out on the market that run the gamut of popular names by sex and nationality. While my grandmother worries about her medical benefits in old age and I worry about what benefits, social security and other, that I should expect returns on after my years of contribution I find it sad that someone is compiling lists of Popular Baby Names with tax payer money.

Now, being a technical guru of sorts, I sincerely hope this is a simple query that someone then emails to the media. But knowing our government, while I await a rebate deposit I should have gotten awhile back, I’m certain the cost of said Popular Baby Name list is a good fortune in government money.

So, what do you think the budget is to find out how popular your baby’s name is?

While I don’t advertise it everyday I am a mother of three beautiful, headstrong, smart and witty daughters. Usually I spend the day on the lawn listening to the shortwave radio and maybe having some home-brewed ice-tea. I might have even planted a number of plants that my number two came home with from pre-school and church with over the last few days. But outside of Philadelphia it is unseasonably chilly and we opted for a movie day.

While the youngest slept, I too longed for a much needed rest and left my oldest and number two on their own to enjoy a movie and as I found later, some creative drawing and craft making. I was pleasantly surprised with their efforts and knew Dad would be proud that left to their own devices they accomplished much in his absence while traveling for work and himself missing Mother’s Day.

So this evening as I catch up on some work, sorely behind in Dad’s absence, I’ve been visiting some sites and treating myself to some other Mother’s Day posts across the web. So, let me share my wanderings:

Visit Cindy at Her Family Blog as she shares her Definition of a Mother.

Mags at The Magnolia Diaries has been talking about middle age this week. Trust me, after a few kids we are all too familiar with the term and we should just get it out there and talk about it.

Brenda at A Return Home shares her beautiful bouquet with us.

Don’t miss Living with a Man if you want to hear about a newlywed discussing mother-in-laws. Personally I can say, I’ve been blessed in that arena.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Many have seen this video, moms and anyone who has had to listen to a mom can relate and appreciate the humor in this. Thank you Anita Renfroe!

And Happy Mother’s Day to ALL!

Okay, almost the obvious, Mother’s Day celebrates its 100th birthday in Philadelphia this Sunday. You can celebrate depending on whom you want to give credit for it. You can read my article about the progression of women trying to honor their mothers at Her Christian Blog and decide for yourself.

Of course Woodrow Wilson didn’t make it official until 1914, right before the advent of traffic lights later that year so we were making progress. All in all though, 2008 counts as 100 years since the first celebration of a Mother’s Day service, which was officially held May 10th 1908.

The festivities will be highlighted by the playing of the Wanamaker Organ, and a cake that I’m sure will not feed the 82 million moms in the US. Who’s bringing the chocolate?

So do you think Hallmark has a special card to celebrate the birthday of Mother’s Day?

The Arizona Republic caught up with the BIGresearch study that addressed Mother’s Day spending. AR’s take is with the stimulus check arriving (nope, I’m still waiting), people will spend more and spend it on Mother’s Day.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, See’s Candies. Okay, I knew there was something important in that article. See’s Candies; or chocolate, gourmet lollypops and truffles, oh yum. See’s Famous Old Time Candies have been around since 1921. Dear Hubby brought some home from his last trip to San Diego…guess where he will be this Mother’s Day…San Diego. I know ladies; I’m making a list and will send him a link to this blog post.

It will read:

See’s Candies

Joe Jackson’s Rain

See’s Candies

And one of those faucets filters that outputs flavored water…okay that one is really for the kids because they think it is so cool. So what do you say, can they have it?

Oh yeah and See’s Candies.

If you’re childfree take a bubble bath and have some wine in a real wine glass that could break if it got knocked over, and play music that only you have to like that doesn’t feature a puppet voice singing. Oh, and chocolate of course!

What’s on your list ladies?

A poll conducted in April 2008 indicates that consumers will spend 51 cents less on mom this Mother’s Day. Where thoughtful children spent $139.14 last year, this year mom will have to remember that it’s the thought that counts on this Mother’s Day and be accepting of the average gift of $138.63. How much was that Wii Fit again and where’s the nearest Wal-Mart?

BIGresearch (51 cents LOL) shares some wonderful numbers here at www.newsday.com. I love the trend where 18 to 24 year-olds are spending more on Mother’s Day. Or is it that they are keeping track of how much they are spending on mom for Mother’s Day? Wait…they are keeping score?

They’ve moved up a total of three spaces in age bracket spending. Oh, the decline of our youth. Wake up moms, you know they either did something wrong or they are about to ask to move back in. Turn their old rooms into office space pronto. An empty nest is a clean and quiet nest.

Mom, I love you! And this Mother’s Day I’m going to try to remember to call and I will send my sisters links to my blogs so they can tell you about all the wonderful things I’ve said about you in the past week or day or two.

What can I say? She raised an overachiever and I’m going to save more than 51 cents this Mother’s Day. Maybe enough to fill my gas tank a few times to go and visit her soon.

Having seen race horses up close during a few visits to Saratoga Springs in the beautiful summers in upstate-NY, it is easy to get choked up over what happened this weekend to Eight Belles at the finish of the Kentucky Derby.

While sentiment and controversy is running high, we hope that the attempts by PETA to remove Eight Belles’ second place Kentucky Derby finish will be rejected. At the same time we hope that PETA’s efforts to improve the sport where needed is successful and will further Eight Belles’ status in history.

For now, setting aside the controversy of horse racing, this YouTube was posted as a beautiful tribute to a beautiful horse.

To honor Eight Belles, a filly running with the big boys…

Now you think a title like that would be Mother’s Day Gifts for Your Wife or Mother. However there is actually a gift list called Mother’s Day Gifts for Your Wife or Girlfriend.

Well I know someone probably made an erroneous implication there, so I won’t rush to judgment on the Mother’s Day gift list maker. However the obvious implication is that the girlfriend would be a mother, most likely of the gift giver’s child or children.

Here’s an idea, pass up the Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazine subscriptions…and the Woman’s Day (that must have been for the wifey, how sweet)… and buy an engagement ring for Mother’s Day…you know, for the mother of your CHILDREN. If she is not the mother of YOUR children then it must be serious enough if you intend to buy her a Mother’s Day gift. In such a case, get a clue and buy an engagement ring anyway, and soon. She’s not looking for robes and slippers guys.

Of course this and any other combination that the author of said list could have intended, Wife or Girlfriends for instance, would lead me to believe the author has some relationship problems, enough so that they are not considering the purchase of a Mother’s Day gift for their mother because for obvious reasons she is not speaking to him. I’m sure she brought him up better than that. Tsk Tsk.

I have to know, has anybody heard of any Mother’s Day gifts purchased for girlfriends? If you were the gift recipient, how did that make you feel? Was it a good gift at least?

We have a week to go till Mother’s Day and while we can’t always find the gift that keeps on giving, we want to select something mom will appreciate. Oh you could get flowers, candy, a day out for brunch or another special outing, but why not settle for a gift that Wal-Mart thinks would be just the perfect thing.

Yes, Wal-Mart is making sure that you don’t miss out on the opportunity to consider the Wii Fit game for your Mother’s Day purchase. Yes, give your mom that something special and tell her she is fat when you do it. So she really feels your love leave the $89.74 sticker on the box when you give her the gift. If you are feeling extra sentimental give her the free $10 online gift card that Wal-Mart gives you for pre-ordering Wii Fit. She may find the initiative to get her butt to Wal-Mart to buy some exercise clothes while she remembers how special you are.

If you don’t think you can insult your mother enough with the Wii Fit, Wal-Mart will help add insult to injury by asking you to wait for the game to hit the shelves on May 19th…a week after Mother’s Day. Hopefully your mother will still love you a week after Mother’s Day.

I’m thinking I’m not going to shop Wal-Mart for Mother’s Day, how about you?

You learn something new everyday. Well, first I can’t bring this photo direct but you can check out the photo from the Australian Fashion Week highlights. To me fashion implies wearing clothes. I think the designer in this instance may have just finished reading The Emperor’s New Clothes before setting out to design this garment.

Actually his piece was the piece attached to the lack of garment and it is called a floral merkin. The merkin, a fashion piece if you prefer, from the 1600’s is a wig for a women’s, how shall we say, her privy parts. I suppose in the context of the 1600’s, an item more popular for the working woman if you know what I mean; it might have been all the rage.

However, in 2008 I had no idea there would be a market for said garment. I have pity for that poor model. Hopefully attendees were looking through their gift bags and commenting and what free goodies they received to put up with sites like this.

What do you think is the most useless accessory that we shouldn’t consider reintroducing to our day and time?