Friday, April 30, 2010

Pay back is...

Are you wondering why this is on my blog? Well, Scarlet and I have some personal interest in this story. That is all I am going to say. I will miss some thing’s about “The End” though. I really kind of like the new change in the station too.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700028435/Radio-dial-The-End-meets-its-end.html

It is just that Good

I'll admit, I bought this CD after only partially hearing a song on the radio because I loved it just that much...
 
Fall For You
        Secondhand Serenade
    A Twist In My Story
  1. Like a Knife
  2. Fall for You
  3. Maybe
  4. Stranger
  5. Your Call
  6. Suppose
  7. A Twist in My Story
  8. Why?
  9. Stay Close, Don't Go
  10. Pretend
  11. Goodbye
I had heard the end of the song "Fall for You" on the radio one day and the chorus was catchy "Tonight will be night I fall for you over again."  It was so melancholy and I guess it must have been the mood I was in because I bought that song the very same day. After listening to it I decided I wanted the whole album. I downloaded it from amazon.com so I could listen to it immediately. Most of the songs are pretty sad about love and lost loves and dreams and disappointments, but a lot of modern music, I have noticed, is about that. Like in our modern world love is such a fleeting and disappointing thing. I don't believe that, but I guess the music industry does. A lot of the songs revolve around the theme of 'if you leave me I will die.'   
I really enjoy listening to Secondhand Serenade when I'm in that "bleh" mood because depending on how full or empty my cup is depends on how the music moves me.
 
Some favorites off the album:
 
Fall for You - This is my favorite on the album. I think that's probably because it's the first I heard. (That how a I choose a lot of my favorites on an album)
 
Your Call - "I was born to tell you I love you" This is a sweet song about love and working for it because "I'm tired of being all alone."
 
Goodbye - This is one of those 'dumped' songs for a relationship that has gone on too long past it's expiration date.
 
UPSIDE: Nice pretty quiet music that I could listen to when I'm in that retrospective mood or when the loudness of everything else has given me a headache. Nice to sing along to.
 
DOWNSIDE: Loses some of it's charm when played too loudly (i.e. when I have to drown out the sound of the department next to me or the voices in my head.) The music is still great, but I don't like it as much turned way up. (I think this is the first CD I have said that about.)

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Spork!!

I just don't uderstand the novelty of them somedays.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

All About Me Today

I was emailing a new friend I made at goodreads.com today and she asked me what I liked to do outside of reading. I quickly threw together this description of me and decided that it's pretty good and sums me up quite nicely so I decided to share with you all too.
So, here we go ....
I love painting and singing and writing. I'm currently working on a novel with the great aspiration to be published some day. I have given myself 10 years to get this accomplished. We'll see how that turns out. I used to think of myself as a great writer, but the older I have gotten the novelty of it all has worn off. It's all in my head, but I just don't have the "umph" to get it onto paper anymore.
I have 2 cats and a husband. I work for an insurance company. I drive a blue car. I like puppies, but not dogs, and birds are nice, but I'll never own one as a pet because birds are meant to be free. I have 25 (+ 3 on the way!) nieces and nephews that I love to spend time with and spoil rotten before sending them home to their parents.
My hot-babe-trifecta includes Ewan McGregor, Johnny Depp and Gerard Butler. I also have a huge girl crush on Eliza Dushku. I think she is totally cute. She was Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I love old TV shows like the Farscape, X-Files and Buffy. We have an extensive DVD collection of Cartoons from the 80's and 90's.
I'm love going to the movies, watching movies, buying movies. I have seen a lot of movies. I'm one of those people who go for opening night and I used to stand in line for hours for big movies to open, but with the invention of reserved seating in the theaters I don't do that anymore.
I love Anime and Manga art and cartoons (but you have to be careful in your choices you might find some stuff you do not want to see) :)
Most recently I have had a fascination with Zombies (i.e. board games, card games, movies.) I don't know what the deal is with that, but they keep me entertained.
My favorite stores are Barnes and Noble and Kay Jewelers ;) I own too many books and not enough jewelry.
I love music of all kinds. Right now I'm into bad 90's crap, but it's what I grew up with so it's nostalgia. Grunge rock, a little rap, mostly alternative music. For my general favorites I love the New Kids on the Block, Ludo, U2 and anything classical.
I love cooking! I am up for trying just about anything. I'll try most types of food once, unless it looks really gross. I own a huge collection of cookbooks, but only use one of them. I'm working on expanding that.
In the last few years I have started decorating cakes for fun. Usually the only person to appreciate my skills as a decorator is my husband before he eats whatever I just worked so hard on. :)
I love the out doors, hiking, boating, camping! I live in the mountains so I have to use them, right? I need to do that more often. My In-Laws like to go fishing, but I hate fish so I use my outdoor time at the lake to tan my legs and read a book. That's always fun for me.
That's all I can think of for now, I'm avoiding working but I still have 2 hours until I can go home for the night. Ugh! I'd rather not ever have to work, but it's one of those evil necessities of life.

One down a million more to go....

     Keeper and Kid: A Novel

                by Edward Hardy

 

I received my copy of Keeper and Kid from a Goodreads.com giveaway back in September of 2009 and it has taken me until April 2010 to pick it up to read…

 

I picked this book up from my giant pile of unread books thinking that if I read anything it should be this just to get it off the pile and out of my way. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

 

I started reading this on a Saturday evening around 5 pm and the next thing I knew I was on page 200 and it was 1 am. I got so caught up in this story of Keeper and his discovering parenthood. I seriously couldn’t put it down.

 

I loved Keeper. His reactions to being thrown in with a 3 year-old are very real. I was a Nanny for a long time, and that first few months with new kids is just plain hard so I really felt for him. Getting used to their routines and their needs and their lives and forgetting your own. It is really hard.

 

I also identified with him on a more personal level since my sister-in-law and best friend just passed away last year leaving behind her 3 year-old. Constantly remembering those moment when you should have done something different, or wondering if you had done something else would it have ended the way it did. I cried a little while reading this book. Losing someone you love is like that.

 

I didn’t like Leah from the beginning. I had already decided that she was not my favorite. I found myself wanting to know more about Cynthia and her life and her personality. Leo was adorable, though at first I thought he was a little too articulate for a 3 year-old, but as the story moved on he leveled out to what I know of 3 year-olds.

 

Tim is a really good friend. Everyone needs a friend like that in their lives to keep around when times are tough. What a good man. 

 

I think this book reminds us all that life is not stationary and that we never know what to expect. Take the time to cherish the ones you love, and don’t overburden yourself with stuff you can’t do anything about. Just live in the moments.

 

There is just one item that I did not appreciate in this book. The over use of the f**k word. I’m not a fan of it in real life so I prefer not to read it in my literature as well.  I understand that my morals are different than most of the world and that is a perfectly acceptable word for most. I understand that it was one way to show the stress of the situation through words, and maybe Keeper just didn’t have a better way of expressing himself,  I just don’t like hearing/reading it as the punctuation to everything. To have made this more realistic Leo should have started parroting it back to Keeper. Because they do. That’s usually a good way to get a parent to clean up their language.

 

But above all, I love this book. I will recommend it to others.

Monday, April 26, 2010

The Movies ...

The Losers - Loved It! Explosions, Gun fights, Chris Evans. It was great, laugh out loud funny at times. We'll probably end up owning it.
 
 
....and that is the only movie we watched this last week. (I know, we're slacking off.)

ha ha

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Nailed 'Em - Drive-Through Rapping
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorFox News

Sunday, April 25, 2010

hi

Just to see if anyone is still reading this. The first person that I know to comment on this post gets a dollar. oohhhhhh.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

My Summer Project

17 Cement blocks. 3 days. 6 Scratches. 2 Smashed fingers.


Phase One Complete.
Time for Phase Two....

Friday, April 23, 2010

The stack of unread books next to my bed... I need to start reading.

Richard Grieco, you see right through me.

I don’t really know what the fascination with movie sound tracks was back in the 90’s but it seems that I own a lot of them. I'd say that about 85% of the soundtracks we own are all from movies that came out in the 90's. The soundtrack for today’s CD of the week is...

 

    Night At The Roxbury:

    Music from the Motion Picture

 

  1. What Is Love? [7" Mix] - Haddaway
  2. Bamboogie [Radio Edit] - Bamboo
  3. Make That Money [Roxbury Remix] - Robi-Rob's Clubworld
  4. Disco Inferno - Cyndi Lauper
  5. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? - N-Trance, Rod Stewart
  6. Pop Muzik - 3rd Party
  7. Insomnia [Monster Mix] - Faithless
  8. Be My Lover [Club Mix] - La Bouche
  9. This Is Your Night - Amber
  10. Beautiful Life - Ace of Base
  11. Where Do You Go [Ocean Drive Mix] - No Mercy
  12. Little Bit of Ecstasy - Jocelyn Enriquez
  13. What Is Love? [Refreshmento Extro Radio Mix] – Haddaway
  14. Careless Whisper - Tamia

First of all, I’m going to state for the record that I HATE this movie. It is one of the stupidest I think I have ever seen, its quite high on my list. (my #1 stupidest I have ever seen is Dumb and Dumber.) I know I may quote it sometimes, but that’s just the way my brain works. Make no mistake, though, I hate everything about it… except the music.

This movie came out in 1998, but I didn’t hear the soundtrack until 2002, after I married into it. I am a sucker for remixes. If there is a remix or a techno version of something I love, I have to own it. This album became a "must own" and had I not gotten it when I married John I would have run out and bought it because it is just that great. It is full of so many great dance tracks and remixes that when I finally did get to hear it I was sad that I had missed out on it for all the previous years.

There are so many good songs on this album that it's hard to pick out two or three that I love so I wont. I'll simply state that the album is mixed in such a way that each song melts into the next really well. Not a good album to use in compilations because of the intro and extras on the songs, but I'd rather just listen to the album as a whole.

 

This post is dedicated to John.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Music, Music, Music!

Hi all,
This is just a shout out to the follwers of this POST from back in December of 2007. After all of our compalining and boycotting of this station it has finally failed, and The DJ's are gone!

NOTE: And yes, that was followers of just one post, and not of the blog, go figure.

Thanks to the amazing news I received yesterday I was finally able to seek out the lost station of 101.9 again with no fear of hearing the irratating voice of Jimmy Chunga in the monings. It was so nice to tune in this morning and hear, not only a song I love, but NO Chunga. Yay!

I think I seriously did a happy dance in my car this morning when after a few songs it cut to comercials. Usually I don't cheer for comercials, but the lack of Chunga just made my day.

I hadn't realized that it had been quite so long since I stopped listening to the radio. I guess my life has been full of so much more stuff going on that time just flew by. People have asked me in the past what station it was that I listened to once 101.9 was out of the picture, and the truth is, for a long time I didn''t listen to anything but what I owned.

After a while I went to the raido because there was not a CD in the car I wanted to listen to so I bounced between The Mix 107.9, My 99.5, and Movin' 100.7. Once in a while I would try FM 100.3, or one of my onging favorites Classical 89.1. But for the most part, I just listened to whatever I had on my iPod.

But this morning when I tuned into 101.9, just to check, the first song I heard was Baby's Got Back. Then Greenday. And then .... No Chunga! Nice!

All they play now is 90's music, which is both a good and bad thing, but I love it. I actually added it back to my presets. It's awesome now.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Ha. Ha.

The End of The End 101.9

http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/blog-3480-music-blog-the-end-of-the-end-1
019.html

I am so glad that Jerk Chunga is gone!

In your Face Chunga. You Suck.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Movie Review Monday

How to Train Your Dragon - Two words = LOVED IT! This movie was totally awesome. We saw this in 3D. Though I am not a fan of 3D this movie was totally awesome. I loved the characters, the dragons, the story. It was a winner all the way around. I suggest you go see this with or without your kids.
 
Rescuers Down Under - This is a movie I hadn't seen for a very long time, but I saw it twice on Wednesday while watching Lucy. I forgot how cute the movie was... but at the same time it isn't my favorite Rescuers movie. I prefer the first.
 
The Great Mouse Detective - I love this movie, I always have. It was released last week from the Disney Vaults and I had to have it. I have always liked detective stories and Basil and Dawson are some of my favorites.
 
Sherlock Holmes - Bought this one because it is awesome. It is as good today as it was when I saw it in the theater. Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr. are great together as Holmes and Watson. I do hope that there will be a sequel.
 
The Best of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - I don't remember watching a lot of He-Man as a kid. I do recall that my brothers owned a large number of He-Man action figures that I thought were awesome. . . but watching this show now, well, it wasn't quite as cool as I remember it being. As a matter of fact we both slept through most of the episodes in this collection. Yes, it's just that exciting. The stories are campy. Prince Adam's purple and pink outfit just wasn't very flattering. I do still love Skeletor he is an awesome bad guy.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Friday, April 16, 2010

Friday Favorite

This is one of my new favorite albums. (new meaning within the last 2 years) I was first introduce to Ludo probably the end of 2008 when my cousin and I were exchanging music and she gave me a song called :Love me Dead” I loved it and I immediately wanted more. This is the album that followed my request:

 
    You're Awful, I Love You
                Ludo
  1. Love Me Dead
  2. Drunken Lament
  3. Please
  4. Topeka
  5. Lake Pontchartrain
  6. Such As It Ends
  7. Mutiny Below
  8. Streetlights
  9. Go-Getter Greg
  10. The Horror Of Our Love
  11. Scream, Scream, Scream
  12. In Space
  13. Japan It! (Bonus Track)

Apparently Ludo has only been popular since 2007 so I don’t feel as out-of-the-loop/out-of-date as usual. Their music is a fun pop/rock/goth combination that I love. I smile every time I hear one of their songs on my iPod. They are catchy and I find that I often have a song from this album stuck in my head.

 

On a sobering note, last year when Lariann passed away every song I had in my car or on my iPod reminded me of her in some way. A lot of our relationship had revolved around music. I shared all I had with her, and in turn she shared her favorites with me. I think I even took her to her first concert, The Aquabats. So in a sense Music = Lari. I needed something to listen to loudly to block out the thoughts and aching that I had in my head revolving around her being gone, so I pulled out this album because it was one I hadn’t really listened to prior to that day, and I hadn’t had the opportunity to share it with her yet. I listened to this every time I was in the car for the months following. I listened to it so loudly that I couldn’t hear myself screaming the lyrics. It made me feel better.

 

I have since turned it down to my standard listening level (still super loud, but at least I can hear myself) but I have really grown fond of every song on the album.

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Love Me Dead – My first Ludo song I listened to. I loved you at hello.

 

Lake Pontchartrain – this is the song that gets stuck in my head the most. I will often wake up in the morning with it running through my head. “Come down to Lake Pontchartrain. Rest your soul and feed your brain. That's where you will get to see, Everything the water can be.”

 

Such As It Ends – Fun Song!

 

Go-Getter Greg  - This song is funny in a pathetic stalker kind of way. It makes me laugh.

 

The Horror Of Our Love – What a great stalker song.

 

Japan It! – This is the song I listed to the most often. I think I have put it on every mix CD I have made since I heard it the first time. I always crank up the volume on this one and sing along.

 

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Down in the Dumps

April 14, 2010

 

I have been feeling rather depressed this last week. I can almost pin point the exact cause of it because there are several things going on that have tweaked the last nerve that has made my world turn blue.

 

Number 1:

Last week I was asked the cryptic question of  “did so-and-so call you?” this usually means that someone is having a baby and their afraid to tell Liz and John. To “Spare our feelings” they want to wait to tell us, or have someone else tell us, or not tell us at all.

 

Like it’s not something we’ll notice either while they are pregnant, or when they show up to something with an extra kid in tow. Above all I think this “sparing our feelings” crap is more hurtful then the reminder that I’m still baby-less.

 

Oh Please! Spare me your pity, I don’t need it. Just tell me you’re having a baby.

 

I promise I wont be upset and cry until I’m home alone. I’ll smile for you and tell you how happy I am, because I probably truly am, I’m just sad for myself. I’ll help you pick out baby clothes and decorate your nursery. I’ll cuddle and love your baby because babies are precious and I’m happy for you. Really I am.

 

The only time I really get upset over these announcements is when I feel that you are a terrible mother and don’t deserve another baby or if this is one of those babies that you don’t even want but now you’re pregnant so what are you going to do about it… This is the kind of announcement that we got this last weekend. And I was really okay with it for a few days until I fond myself crying in my car as I drove home from work. Why do terrible mothers end up with babies they don’t want or deserve.

 

Grrrr.

 

I have gotten a pretty good grasp on this infertility issue in the last few months. That’s why this blog has been so quiet. I’ve been truly happy that most of my sisters-in-laws are expecting babies this year. I’m so excited to hold and love little Becca and little Rachel. I’m excited to be an Auntie with kids close enough to love again. I’m a bad long distance Auntie, even though I wish I wasn’t. John and I have really kind of accepted the fact that we may not ever be parents to children of our own. We don’t know how long it will be before we can afford IVF. We don’t know if we can handle the stress and disappointment that may come with adoption. We don’t have a house where we would be comfortable being foster parents. So right now, we are just learning to be happy with our selves just the way we are. Think of the vacations we can take and the movies we can see. Think of the freedom we have without having to find a baby-sitter or worrying about where our kids are or who their with. We’re trying really hard to look at the bright side of life. Really, we’re trying.

 

Number 2:

It's coming up on May 9th the 1 year anniversary of Lariann's death. It seems like everything the family does together reminds us of "The last time" we did it with Lari. This next month is going to be pretty difficult for the family. Two weeks ago we got together and dyed eggs for Easter with Lucy and Kira. We all had a really nice time, but at the end of the evening it hit us that last year we did the same thing with Lari and Lucy. That brought the fun of the event to a low. We cried a little. I think about her every day.

 

Number 3:

No more Natalie. Z and Rachel finished their Catholic classes. They had been going every Thursday night since. September (I think.) and we have had Natalie pretty much every week. It’s been fun to have her, to love her and to play with her. I invested in toys for ages 3 and under so she’d have something to play with. She’d come over and we would watch Vampire Diaries together she’d torment the cats and John and then I’d put her to bed. We had a great time. But it’s all come to an end. The last class was last week so now I don’t have her anymore. On one hand I’m very glad that we have our Thursday nights back, but on the other, I’m going to miss her terribly. I’ve told Z and Rachel to bring her to me when ever they want to.

Also, the months are quickly passing until we wont have Lucy every Wednesday. Scott is getting married on August 13th and then that will be the end of my Wednesday night’s with Lucy. It’s going to be weird fitting time in with Ariane and the family now that Lucy will have 3 sets of grand parents, additional Aunts, Uncles and cousins, a lot of the Evans’ are worried that Scott may just disown us. I don’t think he will. I just think that we remind him of Lariann so he chooses not to put himself through that grief by not hanging out with us. I’m sure that as the years pass we will all become more comfortable with it. It will just be an adjustment. Again, I have mixed feelings about not having Lucy. We’ll get our date night back, but I’ll miss the bonding time with my Lucy.

 

Number 4:

May 9th this year will be Mother's day. This is a tough time for me anyway, but the hatred of this day was compiled last year, and now I dislike it even more. It will also mark the official 1 year anniversary of not going to church. John and I joke a lot about taking off a year and calling it our “Year of Apostasy” but we haven’t been very apostate this last year.

 

The book I am reading has identified that part of  what I have been feeling lately as a "Spiritual Injury." That is, I have been pretty mad at God for ... oh, probably the last 8 years of my life. I think I have gotten a pretty good spiritual beat-down, and it may take a while to heal. All I have really ever wanted was for a nice life, kids, friends, health, a home, but those dreams all seem to have drowned in the crap that life has handed me.

 

In our life together we have had 2 years of unemployment. A school that promised a AS degree in business, but after 6 years of attendance they decided not to make Business Management a degree program. In the last 5 years I have dealt with 6 deaths: 2 family members, 2 friends, and 2 family members of friends. My dad has prostate cancer. John’s mom has kidney failure.  I have been in 3 car accidents, totaled out 4 cars. Depression. Anxiety. Grief. Allergies. Mold. Asthma. The Dinosaur Flu. Bad jobs. Mononucleosis. A sister with brain tumor/cancer. Betrayal by a kindred spirit. Debt. Miscarriage. Infertility. Obesity. Back surgery.

 

The list really does just go on and on. I have tried to learn from the trials and to become a better person, but apparently I haven’t learned enough and the crap keeps flying. Frankly, I’m done with it all. I’d like to just have a stress free life and be able to do the things that we want to do and not always have to be reacting to the situations we are thrown into.

I spend a lot of time locked in my house. I avoid phone calls and knocks at the door. I have a hard time agreeing to see family and friends. I just want to crawl into bed and pull a blanket over my head. There may as well only be two rooms in my house; the kitchen and the bedroom. In fact, I don’t think I even need the kitchen.

 

And yes, for the most part, I blame God for my problems. If he was a more kind and loving being, then why am I always feeling so run over and spread to thin. Why is it that the people I love continually die. Why is it that I can’t claw myself out of the dark depressions that covers my life with the bleak hopelessness. Why can’t I just be happy with what I have and move on with my life. Why does my life feel like it’s stuck in the mud and sinking.

 

I have been spiritually injured.

 Again and again and again.

 When is it going to stop.

 

I find it hard to sit through 3 hours of church feeling like an outcast because I am not a newly-wed or a mother. I hate sitting there and watching the families with their children who have no discipline. I’m tired of being the outcast because I hate “crafty” things and social situations. I hate not having anything in common with the women who look down on me and make snide remarks about people who shop at Wal-mart and live in trailer homes. I really have no desire for these women to be my friends. I don’t like them and I don’t want to be like them. I hate that this ward hasn’t lifted a finger to see what is wrong with us. No one came when john was laid up for to months after back surgery. No one came when John was in the ER. No one came when Lari died. No one stops in when the yard hasn’t been mowed for a month and no one has seen us outside. No one came when we didn’t show up to teach out Sunday school class for one month… three months… six months… nine months…. Still no one comes. I hate that the Church Office Building treats my husband like crap and doesn’t give him the opportunities to grow and advance and earn more money like any other company on earth would do. I hate that the Church Office Building doesn’t help us pay for school because a “Janitor” doesn’t need a business degree.

 

I know that this last part is a failure of people. But it’s a failure of people of the church who are supposed to care, but don’t. I am angry at the failures of men.

 

And for your information we haven't gone back to church yet for the sheer pride factor. I don't want to be judged for abandoning our Sunday School class or for telling the relief society president that I'm to selfish and lazy to be a visiting teacher. I don't want to be stared at as we walk into the chapel and pick the seat furthest away from the pulpit. The pride of self consciousness has overcome our desire to go out in public.

 

Right now, I just want to be left alone. Is that to much to ask. I don’t want anymore stress or death or failure. I just want to fit in somewhere. I want to be happy with no strings attached. I want a family. I want a house. I want my husband to stop worrying about everything. I’m just done with what life has handed me.

 

I'm going to stop now, if I don't, I could go on forever.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Movie Review Monday

Clash of the Titans - Epic battles. Medusa. Giant monsters. Immortals. This movie was pretty good. John loved it. I only liked it. It was pretty cheesy in parts and I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes at the absurdity of it all. But I would recommend this movie to those who like a good action film with not very much story development.
 
Jennifer's Body - Teen promiscuity. Demon possession. Violence. Satanic rituals... This movie has just about everything needed for a campy "B" movie, but oddly enough, it was pretty entertaining. It didn't turn out at all the way I had expected it to.
 
Ghost Stories - (Anime) This series was loaned to us. For the most part, the animation is good. (Like most Anime we have watched.) But the English dubbing was terrible. The characters are crash, vulgar, offensive, and the story makes no sense. HOWEVER, if you watch it with the subtitles it becomes a whole different show. I recommend watching this one in Japanese with English subtitles (it's less distracting that way.) The story is very interesting and I enjoyed the plot more without all the "gigity-gigity" and prostitute filler.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Noranti

Covered in catnip

Friday, April 9, 2010

God Gave Rock n' Roll to You

If you know the movie reference to the title of this blog then kudos to you. Its one of my favorite songs from the Soundtrack to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Oddly enough, it's by Kiss, a band that I'm (a little) sorry to say that I really know nothing about their music.
 
Sometimes I like to think of myself as a music connoisseur, but when it comes down too it, I'm just a geeky girl who owns too many CDs. I have a great love of music from pretty much every genre, there really isn't anything that I wont listen to at least once.
 
I have decided to start a new tradition on my blog where I pick out one of my favorite CDs and tell you people why it is that I love it so.
 
You may agree or disagree with my music taste and choices, that's your right. Leave a comment and tell me about the memories you have of the music presented, I'm interested in your stories, too. I would also love to hear about some of the music you love as we go along.
 
Without further ado, here is today's selection:
 
        William Shakespeare's
        Romeo + Juliet
    Music From the Motion Picture
 

 1. #1 Crush - Garbage

 2. Local God - Everclear

 3. Angel - Gavin Friday

 4. Pretty Piece of Flesh - One Inch Punch

 5. Kissing You - Des'ree

 6. Whatever (I Had a Dream) - Butthole Surfers

 7. Lovefool - The Cardigans

 8. Young Hearts Run Free - Kym Mazelle

 9. Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) - Quindon Tarver

10. To You I Bestow - Mundy

11. Talk Show Host - Radiohead

12. Little Star - Stina Nordenstam

13. You and Me Song - The Wannadies

 

"Peace? Peace. I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee."

 

I can hear it now. Some of you out there are saying "Really? THIS ALBUM!? You Chose THIS as your first CD Choice!? Wow! That's so lame!"

 

When this movie came out in 1996 I had to see it. I liked to think that as a 17 year-old I had a pretty good grasp of Shakespeare, a love of movies and the desire to see both done really well. In my teenage years I had a huge girl crush on Claire Danes and I couldn't get enough of her. I also didn't find Leonardo DiCaprio that hard to look at either. I saw this in the theater opening night, and it blew me away. I loved everything about it. The music, the setting, the director. It was amazing... but this blog is about the music and not the movie, I'll do that another day.

 

I had a rather measly CD collection at the time, I think I purchased this among my first 20 CDs ever. Thanks to the Columbia Music Club. This is one album that I still listen to often even 14 years later.
 
I remember when I first bought the album I wasn't 100% fond of all the music on it, and since I shared a room with my sister I opted to listen to other music more than this.. several songs on this CD have the "F" word that just was not appropriate to a young woman's ears... (I got over that.)
 
I didn't really start listening to this CD until I was working at KB Toy in Ogden. I had my own car with a CD player and had that 15 minute drive to and from work pretty much every day and lots of time to listen to what ever I wanted. Most nights after working I'd just need a release to vent some of the pent up energy/rage I had collected through the evening - that's when I discovered my love of this soundtrack. But it had to be played LOUD.
 
There were so many nights where I jacked up the volume of the stereo as loudly as I could and just belted out the songs at the top of my voice. It didn't matter, I was alone, there was on one to judge me. I loved it. I remember cruising down I-84 in the dark taking "the scenic route" home just so I had more time with my music.
 
Some of my favorites from the Soundtrack:
 
#1 Crush - The first song on the CD is one of my favorites. "I will sell my soul for something pure and true. Someone like you." What a way to open an album.
 
Pretty Piece of Flesh - Listen to this one loud.
 
Kissing You - This is the love theme from the movie it's a very sweet song. I love listening to it when I m in that sappy romantic mood. (This song would usually get skipped when I was listening to the album in my angry mood)
 
Young Hearts Run Free - I have to laugh at the fact that I got my Little Lariann to listen to this CD and she loved listening "Young Hearts Run Free" at my unearthly volume as much as I did. Sometimes when I got her in the car with me we'd just pop in this CD for that one song. Those were good times.
 
I love every song on this album. I admit that it's hard listening to it at a decent volume so it doesn't get listened to as much as I'd like since my husband isn't a fan of my super loud music. (or my music in general) but some days I pull up the album on my iPod put in my ear buds and turn it up... ah... it helps get me through my day.
 

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

These are a few of my favorite things...

Favorites of the Moment:
 
Song: Pearl Jam - Just Breathe (or "Soft Kitty" from  the Big Bang Theory)
Album: Once (Soundtrack)
Actor: Ian Somerhalder
Movie: Whip It!
Book: The Luxe (series)
Food: Jimmy Dean: Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick
Color: Red
Hobby: Sleeping
Animal: Cat
 
Ongoing Favorites:
 
Song: Kermit The Frog - The Rainbow Connection
Album: The Block - New Kids on the Block
Actor: Ewan McGregor
(my "Hot-Babe-Trifecta = Ewan McGregor/Gerard Butler/Johnny Depp)
Movie: Tristan & Isolde
Book: The Eye of the World (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time Series)
Food: Cheese Cake
Color: Blue
Hobby: Reading/Writing
Animal: Cat

Monday, April 5, 2010

How much is that doggie in the window....

Bark! Bark!

And now that I have THAT song stuk in your head.....

TANGENT: Andrea, do you remember how Kenji used to LOVE that song and you had it on a record and the yellow big bird record player, and you had to play it over and over and over and over and over again? Yeah, that was awesome.

It has been a while since I posted something substantial. so I'm going to give it a shot today, now that I have pulled the calendar from my drawer, and see what I can come up with... Here I go.

Are you comfortable?

February flew by. It's a short month anyway, but this year it didn't really feel like it existed. Then March happened and now, suddenly we're in April.

February 5th was John's 30th birthday. Thus making him old, like the rest of us. It was a Friday. We drove out to the south end of the valley and had dinner with his brother Jared and the family. It was nice to see all of them, we don't get out to Utah County very often... Even if it was at the chuck-ur-gramma.

February 6th was a long day. Well, since the night before we weren't home we decided to have the party on Saturday night. This involved 3 days of cake preparation. Getting the right food coloring, baking the cake, locating my crystal cake stand. Yadda Yadda Yadda. I woke up early that morning 7 am! That's is early for me on a Saturday. I ran to the store to do our weekly shopping and then ran home to clean. Vacuumed the house. Mopped the floors. Cleaned the cat box. Showered. Frosted cake. At 2:00 pm we attended the baptism of one of our favorite little boys, named William, who belongs to our favorite Logan and Jenny. Visited at their house. Then ran home. All in time for a party at 6. No one showed up until 6:20 when my brother Z and his wife, Not-Your-Sister, showed up with their 3 kids and apologized for being late, (which they were) but since no one else had showed (I guess they weren't) The party got started and they got the first pieces of cake. (NOTE to Self: Next time. Bigger Cake). But the Party was a blast.

People from both families showed up, nice to have some representation among the family. More friends showed up than expected. It was so nice to see Tom and Lindsey and Holly and Megan you people don't come around enough. And an extra special thanks to everyone else who came, you really made John's un-birthday a fantastic day. And Thanks to Rachel (John's sister) for the decorations! They were spectacular!

February 7th - We got the news that the Father of one of our best friends passed away. This was hard news for us, we seem to be in a constant struggle with mortality and the depression just seems to pile up on us some days. But Bryce came out for the funeral and it was nice to see him.

February 12th was the funeral. We took the day off work. The service was beautiful and he will be missed.

February 16th We all got together with the Brand Family (All meaning: John, Bryce and Jacob + Spouses and Kids) It has been a while since all the boys have gotten together, and it is always a good time when we do. John sure misses his friends when they are not around.

Lets skip a few days where nothing of note happened...

Febryary 23rd - - - DISNEYLAND!! Or at least the start of our Disney trip. We left work early this day and Drove to St. George with John's parents. We spent the night in St. George with Kristin and her family. It is always so nice to see Kristin and Company. They are such a wonderful part of our lives. It's sad that we don't see them more often, but St. George is just so far away.

February 24th - After a fantastic breakfast burrito, we loaded back in the car early and made a stop at the Bass Pro Shop in Las Vegas. We got to wander the store for a while and Dad Evans couldn't leave without getting the Bass Pro game for his Wii. He's such a funny old guy. We stopped in Baker and had lunch at Big Boy next to the Worlds Largest Thermometer. (I can add that to my collection with the Worlds Largest Groundhog that we stopped at on the way to Kansas once.) We got to California around 4:00 pm and decided to go to dinner at Knott's Berry Farm Chicken Restaurant. The food was pretty good. I had chicken and Dumplings and John had the Fried Chicken. Mine was covered in gravy, and John had half a chicken all to himself. The Bredthauer's arrived later that night (Scott and Lucy and Scott's parents) and we all got prepared for our FUN-tastic day at Lagoon... er, I mean Disneyland!

February 25th - DISNEYLAND!! Yes, we finally made it. We had breakfast at the over-priced bad-service iHop right across the street from the front entrance to the park. We had Early Entry for the day so we were in line to get in. I don't know what it is about Disneyland, but when I wait in line to get in that first day I'm always so excited and so happy I could cry. I guess that's just the magic of it, isn't it. :) We got into the park and fun ensued.

February 26th – Feeling tired. Feet hurt, but still keeping up. We had a lunch appointment at Club 33 this morning. So we started out in Toon Town and did some wandering of the park. She was very excited to see Goofy and Mickey. Lucy liked Toon Town. But she LOVED seeing Winnie the Pooh. I don't know that I have ever seen her THAT excited for anything. She was absolutely adorable. I finally went on Splash Mountain. And for the Record: I HATE SPLASH MOUNTAIN. Whose brilliant idea was it to put the fat girl in front!? Oh that's right, Not Mine. I got soaking wet on that stupid ride, right before we went to lunch at Club 33. First of all, club 33 is very hoity-toity. Scott's dad has a friend who is a member and got us all in. It is very nice. Very expensive. It's located through a blue door right next to The blue Bayou. You have probably walked past that door a million times without even knowing it. I know I have. We were seated in the Trophy Room right under the Air Conditioning. I was freezing cold the whole time. The linen napkin and the nice cloth upholstered chair soaked up some of the water from my jeans, but not much, the effect was really just making everything I touched wet and cold. We had steak.

We spent pretty much the rest of that day in California Adventure. I'm not too impressed with that park, but it's getting better. Soaring Over California is always fun, as well as the Tower of Terror and the new Toy Story ride.
SIDE NOTE: Unfortunately I wasn't as impressed with Club 33 as I should have been. I didn't understand the historic significance of the place before I went. I didn't look it up until AFTER we came home, but now that I have read more about it and learned about some of the cool items that are stored there, I wish I had taken more pictures, and I'd like to go back. Oh well. Missed opportunity. It was pretty cool though, being able to go somewhere that not a whole lot of people get the oppertunity to do.

February 27th – By our third day. I was tired and sore, and John's mom was very tired and very sore. She ended up getting an "electric conveyance device" that we lovingly called the Jazzy. It was Awesome. We got to skip so many lines and it was a life saver for how many times we crossed the parks that day. Space Mountain is awesome in the dark. It was lit up last time we went with Red Hot Chilli Pepper blasting in our ears, so it was cool to go on it for real this time. Plus, no waiting in line. Score! I think we went on the Tower of Terror like 6 times during this trip. I'm scared of heights, but I love that ride. Weird, I know. John bought a picture of us all on the ride. (Minus the moms and Lucy.) It's a classic photo. Scott has it hanging on his fridge. The Evans' had lunch at The Blue Bayou. This is a place in Disneyland that I love. I don't think there is anything on the menu for less than $23 but the food is good, and the atmosphere is well worth it. This trip, as a whole, was kind of our farewell to Lari. We came to the park to celebrate her life, and to do some of the things that she had wanted to do but never had the chance. At lunch, there on the Pirates of the Caribbean river front, we talked about Lari and remembered her life. We toasted her and had our own moment of silence in her memory. It was a sweet memory that I now have of Lari, she wasn't there physically, but I'm sure she was with us. It rained most of the day on and off, we had our ponchos. I also rode the Monorail for the first time. I know it's not the most exciting ride in the park, but it's one of those things you need to go on at least once. I left the park around 8:45 that night. John stayed to "close the park" with Scott and his dad, but I was cold and tired and starting to get sick so I walked back to the hotel and bought myself some Tylenol, but I could see the fireworks from the hotel window, and they were amazing.

February 28th – With our visit to Club 33 we got a one day pass to use on the day of our Club 33 visit, so that left us one more day at Disneyland on our 3 day pass. We went back over to the park to catch up some extra shopping before leaving for home. We left Anaheim around noon and drove back to Kristin's n St. George for the night. I slept most of the way. I was getting a cold and felt like crud. I went to bed early that night.

March 1st – Monday morning we woke up to pancakes for breakfast and prepared for the drive home. Kristin gave me Cold Medicine. I slept all the way home.
March 2nd - I was so sick, but I was determined to get to work after a vacation so I mustered up all the will power I could find and drug myself into the office. Suprisinglyy, there was very little that I had waiting for me. My new assistant who had only become my assistant about two weeks before did a smashing job at taking care of things while I was out. Which meant that the next day...
March 3rd - I stayed home sick.
That was the disneyland trip. It was awesome. A big THANK YOU to the Breadthauer's who invited us along. It was so much fun sharing Lucy's first Disneyland experiance, and I hope that when the New Bredthaur family decides to go again that we might be invited to come along again sometime in the future.
March 6th - Alice in Wonderland with Devin & Rachel and Rob & Erica in Ogden. I hadn't been to the Larry-Plex in Ogden so that was new to me. It just made me see that I'd rather drive to Jordan Commons instead.
March 8th - My dad had surgery to have two huge kidney stones removed. He's doing pretty good now, at least in the kidney department.
RANDOM SIDE NOTE: I have fallen into a 20 oz Soda once a day. I had gotten down to one 20 oz Soda a week, I'm so disappointed with myself. But I have noticed every time I'm at the Soda machines that the Pepsi machine dispenses so much faster then the Coke machine. And I wonder... Does the Coke machine purposefully dispense slower to make you think of that Coke commercial where the weird little beings inside the coke machine put the coke together and fly it all around their little world before it is dispensed for your enjoyment?? I think they do.
April 4th. Yes, It was Easter, and General Conference. I enjoyed both.
And before I go, one final Moive Review for this post:
Whip It! - This movie was awesome! I totally love Roller Derby. If I wasn't so out of shape, and if I didn't bruse so easily I'd think about joining a leauge here in Utah. The movie is totally cute. It's a bout a teenage girl finding something she loves and then having to fight for it. We had expected it to be a funny movie, but it turned out to be rather touching and cute. I recommend it to those eho enjoy a good movie.

I HAVE FELT THIS WAY.

Lio



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Saturday, April 3, 2010

Installed new dryer vent. By myself. In the dark.

These 2 birds in the back yard are driving Mahana crazy.

Mahana

John's singing was driving this cat up the wall. Her ears were pinned back just before I sanpped this picture. Instead of the frightened cat look, I got this pretty nice picture of my favorite fat cat.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Silly Silly People

I had to answer the following question before I could invite someone to be my friend on www.goodreads.com:
 
Q: "If someone made a statue of you, what material would it be made from and what did you do to deserve it?"
A: I think my statue would need to be made out of obsidian. This would make me dark and beautiful with sharp edges. I would deserve this statue because I brought down the stupid people of earth, starting low by destroying those who can't properly sort faxes, or people who leave voice mail without a name or return number. I'd then move to those who  can't staple correctly or use a cross walk.... Soon, under my command the world would be full or efficient people who did as they were told and always did their jobs in the proper order! I will bring peace to the chaos and in the end we could all say "The World IS Quiet Here."

Book Review

Jesus Wept
by Joyce and Dennis Ashton

Jesus Wept: Understanding & Enduring LossI expected more from this book.

Here I was seeking some comfort and guidance after my younger sister-in-law died and I was given this book with heartfelt concern and love from a dear friend whom had received her own comfort from it’s pages and wished nothing more than for me to also have comfort… But this really leaves me wanting something more.

The book is pretty much split into 3 sections. The first 3rd of the book covers types of feelings. The second 3rd talks about the reasons for the feelings. And the last 3rd of the book deals with how we should deal with these feelings.


There are several reasons why this book really didn’t resonate with me:

1) This book is based mostly on the personal trials of one family/person. And though their life has been full of trauma I don’t know that it was really portrayed to me in a way that made me care. There are small tidbits throughout the book from others experiences, but most of it was “when this happened to ME.” Or “when MY so-and-so died.” Or “when the house fell on MY wicked witch” blah blah blah. I don’t really want to hear the personal experiences of the author. I wanted counseling and guidance and not a 247 page testimony meeting.

Tell me these things in Third Person POV. I don't want YOUR personal experiences. What YOU feel and what YOU think and what YOUR emotions are... this just doesn't apply to me. I am not YOU.

2) I think I was looking for more FACTS and not opinions. This book is full of opinions. I wanted more direct cause and effect statements, i.e. You feel this way because this happened. Maybe I was expecting the book to psychoanalyze me and give me some direction through my grief, but it didn’t.

The book as a whole is full of nonsense and not the least bit helpful, but I have gleaned a little bit of perspective out of it. Like the average grieving period is 18-24 months for some people, but for close family and friends it could take years!

In the end, can emotions really be measured and quantified?

According to encyclopedia.comEmotion: term commonly and loosely used to denote individual, subjective feelings which dictate moods. In psychology, emotion is considered a response to stimuli that involves characteristic physiological changes—such as increase in pulse rate, rise in body temperature, greater or less activity of certain glands, change in rate of breathing—and tends in itself to motivate the individual toward further activity…. Since emotions are abstract and subjective, however, they remain difficult to quantify: some theories point out that non-Western cultural groups experience emotions quite distinct from those generally seen as "basic" in the West.”

So my answer is: No, not really. All these books about counseling and grief/loss are all just other peoples opinions. The only one I can really trust is my own.