Friday Funnies

A funny "Jack and Tony" moment...apropos at the moment, no? Hopefully it'll all end soon...

Enjoy! And have a funny Friday!

Lost in Translation

Have you ever told a joke to someone and when he doesn't understand it, have to explain it to him?

It kind of takes all the funniness out of it, doesn't it? The silliness is lost in the translation of it, I guess.

Stuart has a daily Far Side calendar this year, and occasionally he likes to share a pile of the pages with me.

Recently, while we were reading some together, laughing at the complete and utter zaniness of Gary Larson, Far Side's creator, Edward came into the room and asked if he could read them, too. We said sure, why not.

He read the first one...blank. The second one...another blank. You could actually see him trying to process each one to understand it and find the funniness.

In the end, we tried to explain the comics on the pages to him. After a few moments of studying them again, he would chuckle as he seemingly "got" it.

It may be his age -- afterall, he's only 6-going-on-7 -- or it may be that he's just too serious.

Either way, I have no doubt his humor will develop in some way.

Afterall, he thinks burping loudly is funny already.

More Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Since it's still November, I figured we could enjoy a few more (post-)Thanksgiving "thoughts" before submerging into the Christmas holiday frenzy season. Thanks to my hubby for finding this gem!

* * *

Great American turkeys
BY DAVE BARRY
(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published Nov. 17, 1996.)

Thanksgiving is a time of traditions, and there is no tradition more meaningful than the annual U.S. Department of Agriculture warning about fatal food-dwelling bacteria.

This year, I'm pleased to report, the department has outdone itself: For the first time ever, the department has officially advised Americans not to stuff their turkeys. Many alert readers sent in an Associated Press item in which the manager of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Hot Line -- whose name is (I am not making this up) Bessie Berry -- is quoted as saying: "Improperly cooked stuffing can cause serious illness or even death.''

I am frankly wondering if stuffing should be regulated, like assault rifles, to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.

BANK TELLER: May I help you?

ROBBER: Hand over the money!

SECOND BANK TELLER: Do as he says! He's holding improperly cooked stuffing!

But the looming specter of a painful death should in no way dampen the festivity of your Thanksgiving dinner. Just make sure the food is prepared in accordance with federal guidelines (''STEP ONE: Lighting The Blowtorch''). And before you eat, don't forget to bow your head for the traditional prayer of thanks (''We thank Thee for this bountiful meal and ask Thine forgiveness for the fact that we hath ordered pizza'').

Another traditional thing you should do is teach your kids the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I suggest you have them put on the following historical play, ''The Very First Thanksgiving,'' which I wrote myself after several backbreaking minutes of research in the encyclopedia.

THE VERY FIRST THANKSGIVING

(Scene One: Some Pilgrims are standing on the deck of the Mayflower.)

FIRST PILGRIM: Well, here it is, the year 1620.

SECOND PILGRIM: Yes, and we have been on this tiny ship, the Mayflower, for many weeks, fleeing persecution in England because of our religious views.

FOURTH PILGRIM: Also, we wear hats that look like traffic cones.

FIRST PILGRIM: What happened to the Third Pilgrim?

SECOND PILGRIM: He's throwing up.

FOURTH PILGRIM: Hey, look! There's Plymouth Rock! Pull over, captain!

LONG JOHN SILVER: Arrr.

(Scene Two: The Pilgrims are standing on the shore.)

FIRST PILGRIM: Well, this looks like a barren area with poor soil and harsh winters, offering little chance for our survival.

OTHER PILGRIMS: Perfect!

ROBBER: Hand over the money!

FIRST PILGRIM: Hey! You already did your scene in this column!

ROBBER: Whoops.

SECOND PILGRIM: Look! A Native American!

NATIVE AMERICAN: Fortunately, I speak English. My name is Squanto.

FOURTH PILGRIM: ''Squanto''? What kind of name is "Squanto''?

SECOND PILGRIM: It sounds nasty! It sounds like, "Mom! The dog made Squanto on the linoleum!''

FIRST PILGRIM: What's "linoleum''?

SECOND PILGRIM: I have no idea.

SQUANTO: I'm going to show you how to plant maize and beans using alewives, shad or menhaden as fertilizer.

FOURTH PILGRIM: "Alewives''?

SQUANTO: That's what it says in the encyclopedia.

(Scene Three: One year later.)

FIRST PILGRIM: Well, here it is, one year later.

SECOND PILGRIM: That was a pretty harsh winter.

FOURTH PILGRIM: That was definitely the last winter I plan to spend in a small confined space with people eating a diet of maize and beans.

FIRST PILGRIM: Also, as you will recall, we had a lot of starvation and disease, the result being that half of us are dead.

SECOND PILGRIM: Time for a celebration!

(Scene Four: The Pilgrims and Squanto are seated at a banquet table.)

FIRST PILGRIM: So here we are, at the (burp) first Thanksgiving.

SECOND PILGRIM: I definitely want the recipe for this alewife dip.

FOURTH PILGRIM: Hey Squanto, what are those drums saying?

SQUANTO (after listening for a moment): Lions 14, Bears 7.

FIRST PILGRIM: You know, Squanto, without your help, we never would have survived this winter. So we've decided to take over all of North America and pretty much obliterate your culture.

SQUANTO: Sure.

FIRST PILGRIM: Really? You don't mind?

SQUANTO: No, not at all.

FIRST PILGRIM: Great!

SQUANTO: Try this stuffing.

Freedom Stands

Thanksgiving always brings to mind all the things I love the most yet often take for granted.

I loved this song and video because it reminded me of how thankful I am for freedom...

(Be sure to pause/stop the sidebar music video.)

Marketable Monday Musings

Just a friendly reminder that Season 7 will come again...eventually...right? *Sigh*

Happy Monday to you!!

The last Monday in November...and officially "Cyber Monday" -- the latest in holidays, brought to you by the Shoppers' Guild of America.

Okay. Okay. There's no such thing as the SGA (that I know of), but "Cyber Monday" is a true "watched day of the year" nowadays. Who'd have thought it? The Monday after Thanksgiving designated as the biggest online shopping day of the year. It's a whole new world out there...

Anyways...

Hope you and yours enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The countdown remains on hold, pending any decisions made at today's negotiations between the Writers' Guild and the studios.... Fingers crossed that they'll come to some kind of agreement and get back to writing scripts for all of our favorites. In the meantime, I've been catching up with Life online and The Closer, Season 2 offline. SEASON 6 OF 24 COMES OUT NEXT TUESDAY....not that I'm excited or anything....

Heard in the car on our way to Thanksgiving dinner:

Emily: Conservatives...aren't they the ones who take stuff from stores? Stuart: No, that would be shoplifters. Me: I think you meant consumers.

After we saw a rat(!) cross the road...
Edward: I think that rat came from that building we just passed. It said 'Ratting Cages.' Stuart: Those were batting cages....it's a sports complex.

You have to love the way kids think. Ours are always coming up with funny interpretations of what they hear us talking about. Their little brains are processing everything at such amazing speeds. That's probably the reason they have a hard time hearing us....all that whirring and beeping and buzzing going on inside their heads. That's one theory anyway.

New week, new song, new schedule...all heading towards the busyness of the holidays.

Back to the grind...

* * *

5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• a favorite mug

• leftover-turkey sandwiches

• starting a holiday shopping list

• violin music

• relaxing by the fireplace

* * *

Edward's 2006 wishlist...he was 5.

I love when our kids write their holiday lists and present them to us with the utmost faith in our fulfilling every wish, whim, and detail on them.

I always think they should just grab the nearest toy catalog and say, "Please, Mother and Father darlings, will you buy me every item in this humble book?"

Of course, that would be ridiculous since we'd need to buy them each their own house to go with said catalog-load of toys.

I wonder why we don't encourage more useful gift ideas such as "tuition at today's prices" or savings bonds or even shares in Google or Godiva Chocolate?

The answer is simple.

Because then we -- the parents -- couldn't play with their gifts after they've gone to bed....

Black Friday Funnies

A post-Thanksgiving funny for an enjoyable Black Friday!

And remember only 32 more shopping days until Christmas....

Thinking on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

to each and every one of you!

Every day is a day to be thankful for something, and I have so much to be thankful for...

As I reflected on my family, I realized how blessed I am to have them...

...a sweetheart of a hubby who loves and cherishes me...

...and two wonderfully loving kids who are still so sweet and innocent as to be excited about the whole organic carrots (complete with the greens) we bought for the rabbits the other day...

"They're just like the ones you see in the movies!" an excited Emily told my hubby after we bought them and returned to the car.

Gotta love that.

5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• cooking all day long

• an autumn centerpiece

• special and fitting words

• rolling up your sleeves to eat

• pumpkin pie and fresh whipped cream

On Rats and Children...

No, this isn't my house...but it certainly makes me feel better about my own! *wink*

Well, after almost 10 hours I finally emerged from the kids' rooms....

A-hem...

For two little people who entered this world buck-naked with nothing else but their cuteness, they sure do have a lot of junk! And I mean A LOT!

My mother says that their "pack-rattedness" is inherited -- though I maintain that I was never that bad. Still, perhaps that was because my mom isn't a keeper of much so she was on me more often than I am on them.

Yet, I am amazed at what they keep and where they choose to keep it.

What started as a small job of switching over last season's clothes became a huge undertaking of taming the toys.

As I sorted through all of it in Edward's room, I felt like I was getting buried in a mountain of LEGO, mini tires, Kid K'nex, bits of tissues, wrappers, and even the paper punch-out items from the back of his math workbook.

I was left asking myself: Who invented LEGO? And why didn't someone shoot him before it was marketed to small boys who haven't learned the art of tidiness and keeping it together in the plastic bin provided for him by his kind and thoughtful mommy and daddy?

It's evil.

Pure and simple.

Or it's a disease.

Either way, I'm convinced it was made merely to distribute whimsically all around the house to drive adults insane every time a piece lodges in their foot.

Every box and bin and crevice (including some in his sister's room) had pieces of LEGO. I think I'll dream in LEGO tonight.

All that aside, I never imagined I would be spending an entire day sorting through their stuff.

After I thought I'd tamed the LEGO...I discovered he also had a problem with keeping tabs on all of his Kid K'nex pieces. And then it was his Matchbox cars...and all the minions of sea creatures someone thoughtful had given to him in a tidy cylindrical container which merely served as a hatching ground. Perhaps I should have kept it and put it in the center of his room. Maybe the sea life would have migrated back to it.

And lest you think the girl's room was any better...it wasn't.

While she doesn't own gazillions of LEGO and Kid K'nex like her brother, she has her own vices.

Namely, Polly Pocket.

You know, I'm not a fan of Barbie. Never have been really, and especially not after someone warned me when Emily was still a baby to "just wait" for all those little bits and pieces that come with Barbie. I knew then and there to run away...run away very fast when someone offered to buy my daughter a Barbie doll.

Then came Polly Pocket.

No one warned me about her. But I'm convinced she has the same creator as LEGO...

Talk about tiny accessories....we're talking microscopic...and millions upon millions of them all hiding in the various nooks and crannies of my daughter's room.

I'm surprised the doll has anything left to wear.

So sorting the kids' clothing was simple compared with figuring out what to do with all the toys and various "stuff" in their bins, boxes, shelves, and desks.

Still, I made it work and got most of it under control before they had to go to sleep for the night.

*sigh*

Speaking of which, I'm off to bed...

I'm sure I'll be dreaming of Polly Pocket and her friends having a need for some kind of LEGO car or Kid K'nex building or Magnetix spacecraft.

Ugh.

And of course my little cherubs thanked me. They also paid me in leftover Halloween candies....they just don't know it yet.

Oh, Absolutely

My husband is British but not in the BBC/PBS-Masterpiece-Theatre sort of way. He helped me to see that every country -- despite the stereotypes -- is full of down-to-earth, friendly people.

Still, the stereotypes exist for a reason.

I was thinking back on an occasion when I was in England and ran smack-dab into a truly stereotypical Brit...two, to be exact.

Stuart and I were visiting some place along the southern coast -- a castle, maybe? -- and as we were wandering the grounds, we came upon two very posh gentlemen talking with "frightfully nice" accents.

The conversation went like this:

"Where's Cynthia?"

"Oh, she's pahrking the cahr."

"Oh, absolutely."

Stuart and I looked at each other to verify that we'd each heard what we thought we'd each heard, the laughter bubbling within us and threatening to burst out.

We hurried away so that these two proper gentlemen wouldn't have to be "bahthered" by our giggles, amazed that people actually talked like that.

After that, it became a little, private joke between us. We'd reenact the little ditty between these men, exaggerating their tones and accents.

Of course, we found it funny, but we highly doubt poor Cynthia would have understood our mirth once she returned from parking the car.

Come to think of it, some gentlemen they were, having her park the car...

Amazing Monday Musings

No, that blog post title has no correlation to me or my actually doing my Monday Musings post...but the fact that it snowed overnight. I opened the window blind beside my bed this morning and said, "Wow!!"

It's certainly not much, and it won't last as "there's a warm wind coming." *wink* Still, the kids are psyched.

Happy Monday to you -- the Monday before Thanksgiving. (Can you believe it's nearly the holidays??) That's also amazing to me.

I'm typing my musings this morning on a older, used laptop (Stuart's dubbed the "Jacktop" for my Jack story. *grin*) I bought with birthday money. It's quite exciting as I hope to use this laptop to help me get back into writing professionally.

So let's see...new week, new happenings.

We're finishing a week's worth of lessons today and tomorrow so that the kids can have school vacation from Wednesday through Friday. They're excited and motivated...so here's hoping.

No new shows since the writers' strike is still going on....*grrrrr!* There is a glimmer of hope since the two sides have agreed to sit down and talk again (finally) on Nov. 26th. So the 24 countdown is still on hold but may begin again?? Okay. Okay. Let me keep my rosy glasses on for a bit longer...

We've been enjoying a new show called Life. It has a very interesting storyline and a good cast of characters/actors. Until all our favorites start up again, we've been enjoying the DVD sets we have for How I Met Your Mother and The Closer.

We head to my aunt's as always for an enjoyable Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday. She lives outside of Honey Brook, a small town about 40 minutes from us. Hopefully, the weather will be conducive to taking a walk afterwards...the yummy dinner always makes the whole family sleepy afterwards.

Last Friday night was our monthly TMHB (teacher's mental health break), the movie night so dubbed by my "bff" homeschooling friend and me last year. It's the night we get together once a month to share our favorite movies and eat snacks and "yack." This month, I brought The Right Temptation and she had Crash. Let's just say 4 hours later we couldn't believe both movies were over. They were so intense and involving that we didn't realize how quickly they passed until the credits rolled. My rating on both movies? Definitely recommended.

I spent Saturday at the Schuylkill Mall in Frackville for my annual Christmas shopping trip with a dear friend and former colleague from Highlights magazine. We figured out that this was our 13th year of meeting there. It's really a "Podunk" sort of mall...in the sense that there's not much there. But we don't really meet to shop. It's more of a "eat, chat, shop a bit, chat some more, eat lunch, chat even more, shop some more, etc." sort of time together. One year we said we'll have spend the night before at the Holiday Inn Express down the hill from the mall. Then we can catch a movie and shop, eat, chat, etc. *smile*

Speaking of the mall, it's located about an hour north of me, and the drive there this year especially was breath-taking. We've been experiencing a very late Autumn, and as I drove through the mountains I saw trees with leaves of yellow and orange and then deep red...truly amazing! I wanted to take some photos with my cellphone, but then I realized the little camera was helpless to capture the beauty of that moment. So I had to settled on mental photos...

Sunday night was the Ladies' Night for the small group Bible study we belong to at church. We met at a local eatery called Stoppers and enjoyed some good food and fellowship. It was encouraging, as "kid-free" times always are. We were missing two ladies, but I'm sure they'll be able to join us next month.

Emily had her last Friday night practice for the Nutcracker. We start the longer Sunday afternoon practices next Sunday...and then in a couple of weeks it's the tech rehearsal, dress rehearsal, and SHOWTIME. It's always such a fun experience for her. We're thrilled that she has the opportunity. I'm going today to get our tickets...hopefully they won't be too high in "the nose-bleed section."

Heard in the car this afternoon... Edward: What if we had square butt cheeks... Emily: Then we'd have square toilets...

And on that note...

* * *

5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• a cup of Darjeeling with a lemon slice

• a burst of elation

• stepping out of a limo

• a gentle answer to a difficult question

• broken-in ski boots

* * *

I love tea.

So whenever we go back to England, I'm thrilled to get lots of cuppas during my visit.

On one of our journeys back, we got a ride in a limo...a long, white, stretch variety. It drove up to our apartment in the middle of the city, causing a bit of excitement for our neighbors.

(We had a very simple wedding. We didn't use limos (not that we would have wanted to), and I had a fairly sheltered existence so I didn't have one for the prom either (not that I would have wanted one). So I am not well-versed in the art of gracefully "stepping out of a limo" like you see on TV during the awards ceremonies.)

We were accompanying Stuart on a business trip. Emily was just over two years old and very newly potty-trained....

While we were riding in said-car, enjoying the roominess and luxury and free sodas, Emily announced very sweetly that she needed a potty.

Now, like every newly-potty-trained soul, when she announced that she needed a potty that meant she needed a potty NOW.

Hmmm...we didn't know what to do.

Then we noticed that the limo driver -- who was apparently a newly-trained, new-brain-transfer recipient -- went the wrong direction on the Pennsylvania Turnpike so that we were heading towards the Pocono Mountains instead of the Philadelphia Airport.

Being worried about missing our flight entered our brains but in front of that worry was the urgency of Emily's needing a potty. Did I mention the free sodas?

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention...

The free soda came with free glasses (to use only, of course); glasses wide enough to hold under a poor, trembling 2-year-old who was desperate for a loo.

The cup proved instead to be the perfect item to create "pee lock," thus we were saved from having to leave behind an unexplained glass of "yellow soda," in a variety not previously offered in this limo...

And the "stepping out of the limo" at the airport?

Well, it was hardly graceful -- more of leap at the curb in front of Departures -- as we rushed to get our newly-potty-trained little one to a real bathroom before the lock released.

Friday Funnies!

This guy really gets into his music.... Enjoy, and have a fun Friday!

Dance, White Guy!

Hazards and Houses

A photo of the front of the house last month as the windows were being replaced

One of the hazards of owning a 90-year-old house is that at some point it will need some work done to it...again and again and again.

We bought our home, seeing its potential...what it could be, not what it was. The latter was just depressing.

The people who owned our house before us were multi-millionaires, though we didn't know that at first. They came to the settlement in old clothes and appeared to be "in need" of selling their house. We felt good about the whole transaction since we were "in need" of buying a house.

Fast-forward to the conversations during settlement, and you'll hear the man talking on his cellphone to his son who is fly-fishing in the Colorado River...and chatting about his horses and their latest races against a sheik's horses...

*sigh*

Not very needy.

Still, we bought the house and realized afterwards that though this couple had money, they put none of it into the house. They were, in fact, "slum lords," or people who buy property for the rent money but have no intention of keeping the property in good repair. Sad, really.

So we began to fix up the house...

That very night we tore down the suspended ceiling...to reveal the enormous cracks in the plaster ceiling...and a bathtub-sized hole.

I need to point out as we later found out that the house had been rented by three different "families" over the course of the former couple's ownership. One family had a reptile business... Another was just a "normal" family...we think. (Though a 3-foot patch of our backyard won't grow anything on it...and there's some surmising that they buried something there...)

And the last group was a commune of his, hers, yours, theirs, and ours. About 10 people, none of them married, with a kid who set a few local fires, absolutely no common sense, and not a single clue about "This Old House." The main man -- for lack of a better term -- tried to pass himself off as a home repair guy. (Insert a smirk here.)

Using pressure-treated wood to create a "half-timbered" (or Tudor) look in the dining room doesn't do it for us. Neither does hanging a suspended ceiling to cover the cracks and holes in the plaster ceiling...and then building a closet only the same height as the suspended ceiling over top of a dead mouse and...and...and...

You get the picture.

Recently, we got it into our heads to replace the kitchen floor.

Like all projects in this house, it was like opening the proverbial "can of worms."

After nine layers of flooring (including carpeting), several weekends, and lots of sweating, Stuart finally got to the original hardwood floor.

Step one complete!

Step two was putting down an underlay. Since we don't have a lot of room in the kitchen (it's only 10 X 12) that took place in several stages. But eventually it was finished, too.

Step two complete!

Step three was laying the vinyl floor.

(We have just one car in our household. We decided to do that as a moneysaver. I don't need one all the time, and when/if I do, I drive Stuart the 4 miles to work and pick him up afterwards. That said, this poor little car also doubles as our Home Depot "truck." The amount of stuff it's had to tote from the DIY store has been amazing. Enter a roll of vinyl flooring...)

So we had the 12 X 12 sheet of vinyl. Stuart wanted to get it down in one piece so there aren't any seams to worry about...

And he did it! A beautiful job if I say so myself.

I gave it a good washing and vacuuming...and then we began to move stuff back into the kitchen...

Refrigerators are heavy items. There's a reason that when you have them delivered they take a team of men and a dolly to move them around.

...

We began to move the 'fridge back into the kitchen. All was going swimmingly until we realized we had it facing the wrong direction. We began to turn it and saw that...

...we...ripped...the...floor...

...our brandnew floor...

We felt sick. Not only was there a 4-inch tear, but there were three spots where we'd rubbed back the vinyl. I smoothed down the rubbed marks and used a Sharpie (gotta love those!) pen to blend into the black.

Oh, well. What's done is done, and overall the floor looks so much better than the dingy tan linoleum tiles that were there on top of carpet on top of wood on top of...

Just one more hazard of owning -- and loving -- an old house...

Latest Additions...

Tony and Jack...

...or Jude and Kiefer?

Our newest handsome guys!

I'm guessing Stuart won't be too keen on us going to future 4-H meetings....but who could resist these two?

Aspiring Autumn

I love the colors, smells, and tastes of the autumnal season! I mean, who can resist pumpkin pie heaped with whipped cream? Or the smells of a newly lit fireplace on a damp evening?

Autumn is trying its best to come this year (it's much later than usual), and while it's not as colorful as in past years, there's still plenty of color to enjoy!

I took the photos of the trees along the road on my way home from our homeschool group last Wednesday.

2002

2002

*Sigh*

I guess it's time to finally switch over the clothing, putting away the summer stuff and donning the heavier, warmer coats and mittens and scarves and hats.

Afterall, Winter's on its way.

Meandering Monday Musings

Back on track...or I can hope.

Happy Monday to you!

We're nearly halfway through November already! (My hubby's excited because, while he's not American, he loves one of our American holidays: Thanksgiving.)

Speaking of holidays... Happy Veteran's Day (yesterday) to all those who have served in the military around the world -- especially my hubby and my dad. We salute you and say a BIG thank you for the sacrifices you've made to ensure our freedoms!

So a new week, new happenings, new busyness? New video on the sidebar player...in honor of all those veterans out there.

Well, the countdown for my beloved 24 is on hold at the moment since FOX has postponed the premiere due to the writers' strike. Here's hoping that they settle the strike quickly and soon -- not just so my favorite show can get back on track but because a lot of people stand to lose their jobs because of it.

We had a "girls' night" on Friday for my mom who celebrated her 66th birthday on the 1st of this month. We spent the evening together, enjoying a meal and making some Christmas cards. It was such fun to be together -- just us. My dad joined us for dinner, and we sat around the table, reminiscing as the original family of five...all grown up. (See the photo above.) It was funny because all three of us girls wore black shirts -- and we didn't even call each other ahead of time.

Stuart and I got new cellphones this week as part of renewing our 2-year agreement with Verizon Wireless. Let's just leave it at: Wow!! We've been enjoying our new "toys." Oh, and yeah...they are useful for making phonecalls, too.

(And did I mention mine is bright pink? *grin*)

We signed up Edward for Spring soccer. He did a little skip and laugh as we left the area where we did the sign ups. I asked him if he was excited, and he stopped and said, "No." But there was a definite grin behind it.

The Nutcracker practices are in full swing now. And it won't be long until Emily has the honor of dancing on stage in her fourth Nutcracker performance at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center. She's excited as this is her second year as an angel. She's enjoying the challenge of dancing, but I think other interests may be encroaching on her first love.

* * *

5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• a cure for the hiccups

• brightly painted shutters

• learning from a master

• trivia games

• a pint of Guinness

* * *

I'll end with an awesome ad I used for an earlier "Friday Funnies," but one that goes with today's "5 Things"....

Friday Funnies

Well, with the continuing writers' strike and my growing sadness over the delay/possible loss of my favorite show, I bring you a timely, much-needed funny video.

Enjoy!!

What if Jack Bauer only had a pager, dot-matrix printer, and AOL 3.0?

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot.

Sigh...Sniff...Curses...

Wait a minute while I stomp, shout, cry, seethe, shriek, punch a pillow....

There! That's better...a little.

It seems to be a "cursed" season for 24.

First, a delay in production, then some troubles for the star, then the wildfires, and now...a writers' strike.

Ugh....

The network has officially announced plans to postpone the premiere.

8 whole months of waiting...

Sigh.

I wonder how Jack Bauer might handle this situation...

"Just settle, d***it!!!"

Pictures of You...

...pictures of me...

This is the clock upon the wall
This is the story of us all...

Pictures of you, pictures of me
Hung upon your wall for the world to see
Pictures of you, pictures of me
Remind us all of what we used to be

~The Last Goodnight

Picture day! Ah, I remember it well!

I'm a bit of a photo junkie...always have been. I think it's genetic from my paternal grandfather who was a photo junkie himself in the days of manual-focusing and brownie box cameras.

Of course, part of that comes with having kids.

Somehow they are just there, always available for the cutest shot...a freeze-frame moment in time...

Outfitted for school pictures...

Picturing Daddy behind Mommy, getting ready to tickle her...

This photo shoot thing is hard work...how does Kiefer do it??

Totally Tardy Tuesday Tidings...

Photos by Ben Solomon, GWHatchet.com
(If I publish this at 11:59 p.m., is it still considered Tuesday Tidings?)

Happy day and new week to you!!

It's been a "rough" week already! Wow! And it's only Tuesday.

The busyness never seems to stop....and here's me hoping life would slow down a bit once we put the clocks back an hour...

Anyways...

There was quite a bit of excitement this weekend on our coast since several of the cast/crew of 24 -- including Kiefer -- were filming in Washington, D.C. I was really hoping to go (we're three hours away), but we had some house chores -- like finally putting in our kitchen floor -- that had to take precedent over roadtrips... Drat.

I also heard that Rocco is playing in Atlanta again...tomorrow. No chance of us going there this time. All the mundane duties of life call...like homeschool learning group, dance class, a doctor's appointment, Spring soccer sign-ups...

Speaking of our homeschool learning group, tomorrow is picture day. I'm always excited for that since it means new photos showing the growth of our kids. When they were really small, we, like most new parents, took them regularly (read: bi-monthly) for photos. In fact, if you stapled the photos together, you'd have an animated flip-book of them growing during those early years. Still in all... I'm excited since we only get professional photos annually now.

I spent two hours this morning participating in a focus group for homeschool curriculum. It included a Myers-Briggs type indicator profile to show what my teaching style might be. The session was quite interesting, especially because you got a good mixture of people.

One of the added bonuses? I got paid $75...not a bad hourly rate. The other? My great, wonderful, marvelous friend Angel watched my two cherubs for me...and I returned to her house to watch her three munchkins so that she could join in the afternoon session. Worked out perfectly!! $75 each! Woo-hoo! Let's go shopping! *grin*

I saw two former colleagues from the newspaper whilst I was waiting in line to vote tonight. Pretty interesting, especially when this usually-introverted-former-reporter told the one totally-extroverted-former-colleague-turned-business-editor that she was available if she -- the editor -- ever needed a stringer or a sub. (I have to admit, I miss it a lot. I love being home with my two sweeties...but I miss some of the excitement of the news world. I noticed it especially while I watched the reporters in New York City during the 24 Season 7 trailer. There's a certain non-drug-related-rush gotten from having deadlines and doing interviews.) Ah, well. Not the right season yet. *sigh* Until then, I have to be content in training future journalists...and continuing to write my bestseller. *wink*

* * *

5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• meditating on the morning commute

• student-organized film festivals

• rotary telephones

• chicken pot pie in a flaky crust

• earrings that dangle and jingle

* * *

The first time Emily used a corded phone she nearly ripped it out of the wall. We had one in the house just in case we lost power and the cordless ones didn't work.

She was about 2 years old and had no concept of a phone that was tethered to the wall. As far as her toddler mind understood, phones were portable. She couldn't grasp the idea that a phone might have a cord attached to another part.

Usher in the rotary telephone.

My grandmother gave us an old one that she was throwing away. She thought the kids might get a kick out of playing with it.

It was such an oddity to them. They couldn't understand the center dial with the little fingerholes over each number. It didn't resemble any phone they'd ever seen.

Technology is like that though. What we grew up with suddenly becomes antiquated seemingly overnight.

Our kids "surf" the internet on Pentium III (or better) computers with a DSL connection that allows downloads in seconds. I grew up with a Commodore 64 -- a chunky computer with 5 1/4-inch disk and a game/program loading time that allowed you to use the bathroom and get a drink and snack before it was finished. My parents didn't have computers at all.

I remember the first time the kids saw 45 rpm records on the walls of a 50s-style ice cream shop. They pointed to them and giggled, laughing at the funny, black "CDs." Hmm...

Can you still hear the purr of the telephone dial as it rotates? I can. And what a bummer if you missed the proper hole and had to start over again...

* * *

Well, I missed my deadline, and it's technically Wednesday. But since I can tweak the time aspect in the "post options," you don't technically know that.

I'll bid everyone adieu and return anon with more musings.

Guy Fawkes' Folly

I'm pausing in my Monday Musings to bring you a special holiday story. Tune in tomorrow for Tuesday Tidings...

HAPPY GUY FAWKES DAY!

Never heard of it?

Well, neither had I until we moved to England in the autumn of 1988.

It's an obscure holiday to celebrate the demise of a man named...you guessed it: Guy Fawkes, who tried to burn down Parliment in the 17th Century. (Of course, my English hubby tells it a different way and says they celebrate the fact that he "had a go." Glad I'm the one who teaches history around here...)

Anyways, I couldn't believe this when I read this a couple of weeks ago. How sad for this town!!

* * *

Bonfire event banned in Guy Fawkes' home town

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - A bonfire celebration in York, the home town of Guy Fawkes, has been banned on health and safety grounds, the local council said Tuesday.

Thousands were due to attend the spectacle on the 402nd anniversary of Fawkes' failed plot to blow up parliament.

But York City Football Club was told their ground was too small to ensure spectator safety, a decision which left the head of the cathedral city's tourist board "lost for words."

York Council's head of licensing, Dick Haswell, declined to be interviewed Tuesday.

But in an emailed statement he defended the decision, saying it was made on health and safety grounds.

"Because the football club was proposing to hold a firework display in a certified sports ground, legally, they had to apply to York's Safety at Sports Advisory Group for a Special Safety Certificate," he said. "Unfortunately, the ground was not large enough to provide the necessary distance between the area where fireworks could fall and spectators."

The chief executive of York Tourism Board, Gillian Crudass, said she was "lost for words" at the council's decision.

"We are very much disappointed because it is a British tradition," she told Reuters.

"It attracts a lot of interest not just from local people, but also from visitors from all around the country who come for a short break -- as well as international interest."

A spokesman for the football club declined to comment.

Guy Fawkes was born in April 1570 in Stonegate, York and was in charge of executing the Roman Catholic plot to blow up parliament and the protestant King James I during the state opening of parliament on November 5, 1605.

The plot was uncovered at the last minute and Fawkes was caught and executed early in 1606.

You Are the New Day!

Okay. Okay. I'm such a big softy...

The following video is an ad that played on PBS back when Emily was a lot younger. I got thinking about it the other day when I saw another cool (read: moving) PBS ad running at the moment.

It always made me cry then...and, I have to admit, it still does as evidenced by my tear-stained face now. *watery grin*

But it's such a beautiful song...and the video with it...

Well, you decide...

(Be sure to turn off the sidebar video first.)

Friday Funnies

This is why Chaucer sleeps in the basement now.... Enjoy!

How a Cat Will Awaken You

The Force Is With Us

What do you get when you have Princess Leia and a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the same room? Well, it certainly wouldn't be an episode from the original Star Wars series.

But it might be...Halloween.

Emily's bat costume went out the window (*hee-hee*) when I spotted a Princess Leia costume beside the Obi-Wan Kenobi costume in Target the other night. I'm not big on pre-made costumes (I love some, but others are just plain cheesy-looking), but both costumes were just about the right size...and both were on sale. (The other reason I'm not fond of pre-made costumes: they're expensive!) So how could I resist?

And the results?

Adorable, I think....but I guess adorable is not the look you're going for when you dress up as a Jedi knight and a brave princess...

(My favorite part? The wig, which was way too small, but we made it work. Funny what it looks like on the girl on the packaging...)

And because the costumes were "roomy," I'm sure Obi and Leia will be hanging out in our house (and neighborhood) for a long time yet.

The Force is strong with this one...or two...