NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! (click this. sniff.)

Here it is... Soul Line TV!

This song is a little more current than I've seen. Usually its Marvin Gaye or good 80's soul, but you get the idea. See the masses dance.....

Road Trip!!

Natural Blonde already told me she's up for a pilgrimage to NJ for this. Anyone else? (I so wish I could find a YouTube clip or something -- you have to see it!) They broadcast on comcast and the "dances" are in NJ. Here's what WMCN says about "Soul Line TV" on their website:

Soul line is energetic dance movement, done to rhythmic, contemporary music, which leads to the road of consistent health benefits, pleasant social activities, and well-deserved self-fulfillment. See how the soul line dancers pizzazz and astound you with dancing, fun, and outright enjoyment. Directed and Produced by Bob Thomas.

Here's To A Very Happy 2007

Dear ever-lovin' cousins, Natural Blonde and family, and all other family that checks into RTTB, may 2007 bring peace, happiness and good health to you all.
Love,
ELC

H ours of happy times with friends and family
A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - dont' worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A ngels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!
~ Author Unknown

And they say Bambi is traumatic!!!

Ok, so I'm totally hooked on the Family Channel for the holidays. I wish they were not so Harry Potter crazy - even though I love him - because he doesn't seem to be part of the classic holiday collection. Anyway....tonight I watched Nestor the Long Eared Donkey for the first time. It's in the same vein as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is coming to town - part of the ever popular Rankin Bass stable. HOWEVER, Roger Miller narrates it and sings (yes, the song is called Nestor the Long Eared Donkey!), and Nestor is subjected to all kinds of horrors (slave beatings, sandstorms, being bullied in the farmyard) before he has a christmas epiphany (if you will) that his giant ears are good! Instead of putting me in a good mood, I may have to go sit in a dark room and rock back and forth. Wow - that's a bit dramatic, but I'm still Nestor-disturbed!!! Watch at your own risk!

What will THIS year hold?

Repost from last year:

Low-Singing Christmas Decoration Tour NEVER disappoints!

Let's see --
Starbucks trying to pawn off the MOCHA peppermint cocoa, AGAIN!
"Oh no! Not the blue lights again."
"Look! Its waving Santa! Hi Santa!!"
"Look, its waving Santa again. Hi Santa."
"Oh no, not waving Santa again. Turn the other way!"
"That's the creepy creche."
"Didn't you like that inflatable tree last year?"
"Creche on a picnic table!"
"The end of Chris's street is creepy."
"The albino creche." (we're definitely going to hell!)
"Where is the creepy street from last year?" "Why did we think this was creepy?"
"Remember where I thought it was a drug deal going down? Let's go there!" "Its a park -- AAAHHHHH!!!"

ahhh, the fun. Can't wait until next year!
(when I spellchecked this, it wanted me to replace "ahhh" with "ahoy." Isn't that excellent?! AHOY!

And the winner is.....

CARIDEE!

Here is her winning CoverGirl shot.


America's Next Top Model crowned its 7th winner last night. ELC and I watched together by phone and enjoyed it thoroughly. Twiggy called her a "loose cannon." Miss Jay said she was crazy. But the judges clearly thought she was better than the dead-eyed, phlegmatic Eugenia and the calculating, overconfident, annoying Melrose. Congratulations Caridee!


Here's Caridee as a circus freak (of course!)



Our two favorite moments? When Eugenia was eliminated halfway through, she and Caridee, who had become close friends, shared a sad hug. Then Melrose, hated by ALL the contestants, awkwardly tries to join in on the embrace. The other two girls COMPLETELY ignore her. And the camera stayed with it to capture the delightfully uncomfortable nature of Melrose's awkward embrace. EXCELLENT!

Look at those dead eyes! Isn't this a dreadful photo?

The second best moment was at the end when Caridee is announced the winner and we see how bitter and graceless Melrose really is when she turns away from the winner and basically just walks out. EXCELLENT TIMES TWO!!






Pretty, but annoying. A little too pleased with herself.

Wishing Star

Today in my kindergarten class we did a project where the kids made a Wishing Star. They traced a star on wrapping paper, cut it out and wrote their wish for the world. Well, when we were sitting on the rug to hear the directions beforehand, Kathy asked the kids to tell us what their wish for the world was. There were some wishes about not littering and polluting as well as a couple for being nice to each other, and even one for everyone to become superheros! But one boy said,

"Well because a lot of people in the world get hurt. They get hurt because the world is hard. I wish the world was more soft."

Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever heard? I think he actually may have meant it literally, like "when i fall on the playground it hurts because the ground is so hard." But, of course, I thought of it more metaphysically, and I agree. Sometimes the world is too hard! It took a little effort on my part to hold back the waterworks, but I did.


And one of the things that makes the world a little easier? THE SEASON FINALE OF AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL!!!!! TONIGHT!!! Woo hoo! Don't miss it!

I'm Crabby!

I was in the lovely community of Baltimore this weekend. I was there for a job interview for a counseling position at a school outside of London -- their U.S. headquarters is in Baltimore. The woman I met with was delightful and, of course, very British! So they won't know anything until after Jan 31, when their staff has to give notice. So I don't know -- it would be an amazing adventure but being away from family would be TOUGH! Anyway, I don't have to think about it until/unless they offer me a job.

So I treated myself to a harborview room at the Hyatt on Baltimore's Inner Harbor. I'm so glad I did. The room was comfy and clean and this was my view:



Nice, eh? So after my interview, I walked around the harbor a bit. It was cold and crisp, but sunny. I went to Phillip's for lunch, where I had Crab Soup, a Crab Cake and a Chesepeake style Cosmopolitan. I know, the cosmo sounds weird, but basically its a regular cosmopolitan with a little pineapple juice -- because of all the pineapples that grow in the Chesepeake Bay area?!?! -- I don't know. I'm just glad it didn't have crab or bay seasoning. It was, in fact, quite yummy! As was the soup and crab cake. Here is the soup and my delicious, though strangely named, cocktail:



So last night was also the Baltimore Boat Parade of Lights, where boats with holiday lights go around the harbor. So I also had a great view of that, although it moved a little slow, which I suppose is a safety precaution. You can't have all those boats cruising fast and close around a small body of water -- although it WOULD be a LOT more exciting that way!!

The Orange Menace

Trying to post video to the blog. Hope this works! The poor big kitty.

Happy Thanksgiving

To all of you Thirsty Bridegroomers and extended family, I just wanted to wish you a wonderful season, and let you know I'm thankful for you.
Much love,
ELC

QUESTION FOR THE AGES!

Dear RTB members, can you remember the origin of "KWEEEE KUUUUU." I thought of the sound the other day and, while it is very vivid to me, I can't for the life of me remember where it came from.

Lazy Sunday Morning...

Sometimes its hard to get started in the morning...



ehn, I'm going back to sleep...zzzzzz....

This is for you, Sistah!

Here he is, the man, the myth, Ming Tsai!



He was on Bravo's Top Chef last night as a celebrity judge. He is yummy and does seem soooo nice. Um, I might have to cheat on Tyler Florence. Sorry Momogus. We might have to fight over this man. It was a good show.

As for ANTM, did you watch it ELC? Did you get my kerrazy messages? I really don't like Melrose -- I'm fairly confident that eventually she'll get her comeuppence. I hope so. I like Anchul, but she'll most likely be sent packing for her self-esteem issues. But that girl is exquisite. She's the Indian lass on the bottom right.



So tomorrow our class is off to the apple orchard!

You know who's funny?

Ok, you know who's funny? Alec Baldwin. Yes, Alec Baldwin. I just watched "30 Rock" and he was very good. I had no plans to watch the show but they were showing a repeat on Bravo and I must say that I laughed out loud several times. He did a guest shot on Friends a while back and he was hilarious. I'd forgotten about it. I may have to put "30 Rock" on my watch list.

Project Runway. While I really disliked Jeffrey's behavior (particularly towards Angela and her mother), I do think he was the right choice as winner. I LOVED Laura's collection -- everything was beautiful and classic. But I do think PR prefers a more innovative point of view. Uli's also was pretty, but fairly predictable. And Michael, oh Michael, it was kind of hootchie and all wrong. Oh well.

Here is my personal version of "Happy Birthday" in our kindergarten classroom:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! stop it! (to two kids poking at each other)
HAPPY BIRRRRTHDAY DEAR MOLLLLYYY!!!! I said stop it!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Tomorrow is cookie day for The Boy and Me (although I NEVER told him he could eat nothing but cookie dough at my house!)

Guilty Pleasure

Project Runway finale tonight: Is anyone in with me?

The Great Technology Horizon Event!

So here I am posting on our blog, using my new high speed internet, uploading a picture that I took with my new camera phone of my new car that has XM satellite radio! I feel so gadgety I may just pass out. I would like to thank MM and Mother for your kind offers to pick me up so I could open all of my new bank accounts. It helped to make me feel less isolated up here in the mountains. I'm reveling in my revitalized sense of independence with my sporty new little red car. Zippy is the feeling I'm trying to describe - zoom, zoom!

Um, we can still see them!!!

Dad and I went to NYC today to see Madama Butterfly at the Met. It was a wonderful new production by Anthony Minghella. The experience was bittersweet since Dad had originally purchased the tickets to take Mom. It was one of her favorite operas. So it was a bit of a weepfest for me since every time there was something that moved me or delighted me, I kept thinking how much Mom would have loved it.

So let me say this -- it was visually stunning and the lighting and staging was spectacular. The use of deep color lighting was brilliant and dramatic. This is from the opening (that is an actual person in silhouette!)



Ok, there was a small problem. I've been checking reviews and apparently some people really loved Minghella's use of a puppet or banraku for Butterfly's small son. Um, no. I found the puppet and its two to three human handlers (also known as puppeteers!! wa ha ha!) very distracting. Even though they were dressed in black (which does not render them invisible!), I was very aware of the clump of people involved in these intimate scenes between Butterfly and her son. You can see for yourself.







Dad and I agreed that, even with the puppet, we would still give the performance an 8 or 9 out of 10. I am choosing to forget about the weird puppet (a small child actor could NOT have been any more distracting than a puppet!) and remember the beautiful presentation and music. It was a wonderful day.

OH MY GOD. You must go here Please note the second family. You WON'T be disappointed!

School Photo Day Doesn't Get Any Better...

You've been waiting and they're finally here! Three mighty afros!



Little 'Fro




Rockin' a little red in the back!



Now big brothers do it with a little more subtlety...

A little blue'll do.



Just a jaunty orange cap.



Have a great school year boys! We LOVE you!!!

That's MRS. Disk Warrior to you!

Well, I've been waiting to post because I wanted to include photos from my mighty birthday celebration. So I finally got the pix developed (yes, I don't have a digital camera!), and my new husband, Erik Disk Warrior fixed my computer which unexpectedly went on the fritz on Thursday. But now the scanner seems not to have recovered from whatever was wrong with computer. Sigh. So no birthday pix, yet.

So here is another entertaining photo for you to enjoy...



Could I be more impressed by my talented sister?? Come on! She can stick a balloon to her face! And it just stays there! No hands! I might even let go of my pencil collection (wah???) I'm so distraced.