Instead of the Federal Government paying for a relatively insignificant reduction in gas prices over the summer (some say zero reduction after considering that the prices will just go up anyway), why can't the Oil Companies significantly reduce their out-of-control profits for the summer?!
Read more...We live in a typical suburban neighborhood of ranch style homes. Our particular lot happens to back to maybe a 1/4-mile-wide strip of dedicated green space (thank you Austin tree-huggers). Behind our picket fence, a herd (?) of deer appears most every morning to eat in the small clearing there. We usually keep the wild foliage mowed back about 15 feet, and they stay about that far away to be in the taller grass. We haven't mowed there for a while, so now they come right up to the fence. It's pretty cool.
I keep thinking I'll put some deer feed out there, but I don't want the wild slipping from the forest into my backyard. Plus, where does one purchase deer feed? I think they like the flowers I just planted, too. Ain't nobody gonna touch those.
Funny thing is, my friend who lives on what amounts to a small ranch in Wyoming never has deer in her yard. The occasional rabbit is all she reports. Awww... rabbits! The only other things I've seen (run over on the highway) in our area are armadillos (um, YUCK) and raccoons.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall was pretty funny! "When life hands you lemons, f*** the lemons and bail." The completely gratuitous full-frontal nudity of Jason Segel was funny because it was gratuitous and it just kept going on and on. Chelsea Handler commented on her show that girls do not want to see that. DH added guys didn't want to see it either. Hehe. And Mila Kunis- so cute. For some reason I thought she was WAY younger than Jason Segel. She's not. He's 28 and she's 25. I told DH she was 20 and he was 35-ish. LOL.
Got the sleepy kiddo off to school this morning. Sent out weekly newsletters for my websites. Now I'm here with you fine people, trying to remember why I started writing this entry.
Ahh yes. I just found out my grandpa was in a band his senior year of high school. They were a dance band that played gigs in south Texas back in the day. He said it only lasted about six months before they all got called up to fight in WWII. Bummer! I didn't even know he played an instrument. I wonder now what other secrets he's got.
Name the seven companies you most admire.
1. Google
2. Target
3. Johnson & Johnson
4. Disney
5. Apple
6. Honda
7. USAA
Finally made it out to Trattoria Lisina in Driftwood at the Mandola Estate Winery. That's a little way's past the Salt Lick, for everyone who is familiar with that landmark.
The restaurant is much bigger than I thought it would be. It's beautiful, with hill country decor and an open kitchen visible in the dining area. You can even pull up a bar-style seat and watch the cooking. There is outdoor seating as well.
The antipasto misto appetizer was a nice sampling of meats and veggies. Everyone can choose their favorites from it. For dinner, I had the Saltimbocca alla Romana (veal scaloppine), which was to die for. It comes with escarole and polenta, neither of which I have ever had, and neither I wish to have again. Nothing against the restaurant, I just think those food items are better left for anyone but me. Polenta=Italian grits. It gags me to even think about it. lol. DH had ordered a side of Parmesan and garlic mashed potatoes, so I had some of that instead. They were absolutely yummo.
The only complaint I had was that the dining room is REALLY LOUD. It's because it's a single large room. Next time we'll try eating outside. Other than that, it was really good.
I misunderstood one of the awards the band got in St. Louis. It wasn't Best in Class for one division, it was Best in Class of the entire competition! Wow! That included five high school bands. She said it was a nail-biter, with one of the high schools certain they had won it.
So I've edited my other post about the trip.
This is the school band festival DD is currently attending in St. Louis.
The final report:
DD's band got Superior ratings.
Her section received the award for "Outstanding Brass Section." Woo!
Their band also won "Best in Class" which is the award for the top band of the entire competition, including high school bands!
As Madam President, she got to carry the giant trophy.
Yesterday, she called me from the top of the St. Louis Arch. She informed me that the elevator holds 5 people at a time. SITTING. And it takes a few minutes to get to the top. Yikes. I'll just take her word for how cool it was.
Now they're headed to the Science Center and Hard Rock Cafe. Tomorrow it's more sight-seeing before heading home.
Yeah, I got nothin' for a cutesy or relevant subject today. lol.
If you have not downloaded the studio version of David Cook's Music of the Night at iTunes, you are totally missing out on the amazingness. Just sayin.
We now have tickets for Rascal Flatts in San Antonio June 22. Boo-yah! Can you say mucho dinero? Ticketmiser is now charging fees beyond fees. So start with a $75 ticket (or FOUR) and add the $12 per ticket fee, then some kind of $5 surcharge and another $9 mystery fee and $2.50 to print your tickets on your own printer, and you're broke.
The kiddo is gone to St. Louis with the band through this weekend. Apparently, there is no sharing of blankets on the buses. Every student is to be wrapped in their own blanket, "like a burrito." Ahahaa. I love it.
Chuy's is open at William Cannon and Mopac. MARGARITAS, BABY. I can walk home from there if need be.
The Davids were amazing last night! David A pulled a "David Cook" and did an alternative arrangement for his song. David Cook surprised us by performing his song in full-tilt Broadway style. Just wow.
My faves this week:
David Cook
David Archuleta
Syesha
Finally watched the last episode, with the interviews. I just love Jill. The others are okay, but Jill seems so fun and always cracks me up, even when I think she's being ridiculous about something. And her hair is gorgeous.
The only other woman I think is her true self is Bethenny. The other three seem to be out to prove something to others. The montage of Jill and Bethenny together was hilarious.
Happy Earth Day!
I've watched less than a half hour of TV today and have been treated to a slew of misinformation about environmental issues. One enthusiastic person even recommended that children not be vaccinated because of toxins in vaccines.
I don't want to hear bubble-headed nuts-and-twigs chicks rattling on about these issues. Give me an educated, mainstream scientist or academic-type who can present the whole picture. I want actual science behind my efforts. Let's get correct info out there before we turn people off to the whole idea.
One thing I've done better at this year is reducing food waste. I buy smaller amounts of ingredients so I don't end up throwing away stuff. (Speaking of that, HEB has a new 3oz envelope of tomato paste. Yay!) I also make sure leftovers get eaten. That's my Earth Day Tip!
No this isn't the rumor mill. Just two unrelated thoughts for the day...
Someone was trying to convince me yesterday that Oprah has started a church. While I'm certainly not the expert at all things Oprah, I happen to know that A New Earth is not a church. It's a book. She is hosting an online class about the book. It is spiritual, but not necessarily religious. Matter-of-fact, you don't even have to be religious at all to benefit from the book. If O had started a church, the world would know, and we'd all be wearing the tshirt.
The other thing that seems to come up quite a bit lately is the following question:
If you saw someone you know absolutely, positively cheating on their spouse, would you tell the spouse?
For me, it totally depends on who gets me in the divorce. If I am closer to the wife, then I would never tell the husband if she had been cheating. If I saw her husband cheating, I would tell her asap. Closer to the husband- the same in reverse. If I feel they are equally friends of mine, I wouldn't say anything either way.
Saturday Six
1. You’re ordering a hot fudge sundae. Do you order it with nuts or without?
With.
2. You’re buying a jar of peanut butter: which brand do you buy most often? Creamy or crunchy?
Creamy Jif.
3. What was the last kind of nut you remember eating?
Blue Diamond Lime 'n Chili Almonds
4. Take the quiz: What nut are you?
You Are a Walnut
You are down to earth and genuine.
Responsible and practical, you are a grown up in all aspects of your life.
You probably eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise.
And while you're not wild, you're not boring either. You're actually very deep and interesting.
5. This one will do a lot to indicate where you’re from: when you hear someone refer to “boiled peanuts,” are you intrigued or grossed out?
What on earth is a boiled peanut? I guess I am as intrigued as one can be about peanuts.
6. What is your favorite synonym for the other kind of nut, as in “a lunatic?”
Wack job. Sometimes wackadoo. Adjective - wackdillyicious.
My favorite cruise line, Royal Caribbean, has at long last released official info about Project Genesis. The ship will sail from Ft. Lauderdale in late 2009.
Wanna see? It's really cool.
Royal Caribbean's Project Genesis
The decor shows always make art out of stuff they have lying around. Today I'm making art from stuff on the web. I did a Google image search for extra large images of Austin architecture, changed them all to greyscale and cropped them to size. Now I'm putting them in plain black 8x10 frames I got on sale at Hobby Lobby and I'll hang them together in a vignette. I have the Bullock Museum, the Capitol building, the 360 bridge and the Frost Bank building. Way cool!
This could be done with just about any subject. I was going to use calendar pages, but I was having trouble finding a calendar with black and white images. Calendars are another good source of "matching" photos though.
The guys ROCKED tonight!!! I voted for the first time this season. David Cook just knocked it out of the park. Just wow. And he cried. Aww.
Quantum leap----- My Mormon friend would like to make sure people know that the Jeffs wackadoo cult out in west Texas are NOT Mormons. Just a little public service announcement there.
Clinton is cracking me up this week. Obama is elitist? Hmm. Isn't she the bajillionaire? And her tossing back two shots and a pint at the bar is as bad as Obama bowling or Romney trying to fit in with African-American teenagers. Just kinda weird.
10 Favorite Comedies
1. Princess Bride
2. Airplane!
3. There's Something About Mary
4. Wedding Crashers
5. What About Bob?
6. Office Space
7. Scary Movie III
8. American Pie
9. The Jerk
10. Weekend at Bernie's
You simply must visit the Emerald Nuts website. View their commercials under "Videos."
My favorite used to be the Robert Goulet commercial ("...Robert Goulet comes in and messes with your stuff..."), but now it's the "Addicted to Love girls." Ahaha!
I was emailing Kimberly about planting a salsa garden (tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalepenos), which I was just dreaming of, but won't ever do. When I typed "jalepeno" it underlined it (like Blogger is doing this very minute). The suggested spelling?
Penologist.
Yeah. It's not what you're thinking. A penologist is an expert in the division of criminology concerned with punishment, crime prevention, and treatment of prisoners. From the Latin poena - punishment.
That's the word of the day, kids!
Yesterday someone was talking about the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. I thought they were saying Asshat Pop Music Awards. That would have been interesting.
Gardening is cheap fun for about a day. When you have about half of your flowers left to plant, it's like, What was I thinking?. Then you spend your Saturday morning digging more holes. Good thing it's absolutely gorgeous weather here!
There was the most beautiful orange rose bush at Home Depot. It was trained into a topiary style on a long trunk with a big poof at the top. Everyone was eyeing it and raving about it, but no one took it. I would have grabbed it, but I have no place sunny and large enough for it. I cannot tell you how spectacular it was. I should have taken it and just planted it in the middle of my yard.
I'm not sure who impressed me more on Idol Gives Back- Fergie when she sang with Heart, or Teri Hatcher singing "Before He Cheats" with the Band from TV.
I can't believe Michael got axed this week. I thought he had a few weeks left. I figured Carly was gone. Hmm! And what was up with Ryan saying they didn't let anyone go last year... but Michael is leaving. Pretty harsh!
Bought a jillion plants today. Now I guess I have to plant them! I hate that part.
Mandola Winery opened a new restaurant called Trattoria Lisina. It looks beautiful!!
The last two weeks, David C is picking songs I'm not too fond of. Still, I think he is the best. Faves are staying the same this week:
David C
David A
Jason
Found out more about David C's former band, Axium. They have some songs online here and there, including their MySpace, although they broke up in 2006.
How many total songs? 751
How many hours or days of music? 1.8 days
Sort by song title - first and last?
First: "Accidentally in Love" Counting Crows
Last: "9 Crimes" Damien Rice
Sort by time - shortest and longest?
Shortest: "Girl" (1:04) Jim Sturgess- Across the Universe soundtrack
Longest: "Down Once More/Track Down this Murderer" (12:46) Gerard Butler and others- Phantom of the Opera film soundtrack
Sort by Album - first and last?
First: Across the Universe soundrack
Last: "9" Damien Rice
Sort by Artist - first and last?
First: Alanis Morisette
Last: 98 Degrees
Top five played songs?
1. "Feel" Matchbox Twenty
2. "It's Not Over" Daughtry
3. "Bless the Broken Road" Rascal Flatts
4. "Never Again" Kelly Clarkson
5. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" Panic at the Disco
Find the following words. How many songs show up?
Sex: 1
Death: 0
Love: 34
You: 131
Home: 1
Boy: 11
Girl: 19
10 Favorite Actors/Actresses
1. Viggo Mortensen- Not just because he's hot, but he is able to become such vastly different characters from film to film. He's just so good at what he does. Lord of the Rings is my favorite, but he is also awesome in Indian Runner.
2. George Clooney- Just because he's hot. Kidding. He is himself from role to role*, for the most part, but he is always entertaining. Favorite movie: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
3. Angelina Jolie- I've liked her since Girl, Interrupted. She's usually a strong character.
4. Johnny Depp- Another versatile actor who is believable in such varied roles. Great in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, oh... and those Pirates movies.
5. Steve Carell- SO funny. Hilarious in Anchorman and "The Office." Also is in one of my all-time favorite movies, Little Miss Sunshine.
6. Kate Winslet- She's just great. Gotta say Titanic.
7. Drew Barrymore- I love her free-spiritedness. A down-to-earth kind of girl. In another of my all-time faves- 50 First Dates.
8. Sandra Bullock- Funny and so cute. I loved The Lake House.
9. Matt Damon- I will never be able to hear his name again without thinking of the Sarah Silverman video. I like all the Bourne movies, but also his dorky character in Ocean's 11-13.
10. Gwyneth Paltrow- Loved Shakespeare in Love.
*I think Nicholas Cage and Diane Keaton play themselves all the time as well. It's not that it's bad acting, they're just kind of locked into a persona and it would be nice to see them in another one.
Evidently Anderson showed off his biceps on Regis and Kelly last Friday.
Looks like Popeye, except whiter. Ahahahaaha.
Click here to watch the video. It's at the bottom of that page. He giggles through the whole thing. And "Jazz hands everyone..."
Man, I hate to give a Clooney movie a poor review, but I'm going to be honest. Leatherheads was really funny in several parts, most of which were in the trailer. The rest of it was quite... blah.
Too bad. :(
We keep hitting these pre-opening training nights at restaurants. Yesterday we were at Costco and Cheddars looked like it was having one, but we weren't sure. We ended up at Jason's Deli for dinner.
Meanwhile, Laura and family were over there and they thought it was open, so they went in. It was indeed "practice" night (they called it VIP night) and they got their meals comped. Nice! So I guess they are imminently opening that location.
Something I've been pondering:
Here in Texas, 6th grade is most commonly a part of middle school. In other states that is sometimes not the case. The 7th and 8th grade kids here always say that, in general, the 6th graders are "so immature" and "more like 5th graders." I would agree that they are much more like elementary school students than they are like their older schoolmates.
So. When 6th graders are included in elementary school, are they "immature" as 7th graders, where perhaps that first year of middle school is a year of social development, with a larger school, more independence, more responsibility, etc.? If so, it makes that first year of middle school a valuable time for growth. Or are 12-year-olds just hitting an age where they are naturally maturing physically and emotionally, where the grade in school is of minor importance? If there is a true jump in maturity there, maybe 6th grade belongs in the elementary schools.
Bacterium is a movie that was recommended to DH by Netflix, based on his liking another film. Just... wow. It is BAD. But we had the best time heckling the actors! The thing is hilarious to watch, and I definitely recommend it for pizza night with friends. I'll give it one true compliment- the bacteria blobs are absolutely disgusting and quite realistic (in most scenes anyway). They look like they're made of hair and glue and fingernail clippings, among other things.
He must have rated Hatchet well. That was another recent one from his queue. It even has some known actors in it. It's bad, but not bad enough to have fun with.
Yep, I'm one of those people whose birthday pops up on your calendar just as you turn the page to the next month. Annoying, right? lol.
DH got us tickets to Leatherheads this weekend. Very nice of him to take me to see Gorgeous George and the adorable John Krasinski. We're going to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants tonight.
Random cooking tip- Pepperidge Farm makes something called "onion sandwich buns." They're by the hamburger buns in the store. I use them for my herb chicken burgers, but they are also quite good as a substitute for bagels, when topped with cream cheese and smoked salmon. Make sure to toast it first. Yummo.
Note to self: Steven Spielberg's Wii game, Boom Blox, comes out May 4.
I don't know, dawg. This week was only a'ight for me.
David Cook was great, but I don't really like the song. Loved the haircut. David A did well. Syesha did a Whitney song. How many times do the judges say not to do Celina or Whitney. Come on now. Ramiele looked stiff again. Michael performed a whole song without his voice cracking, so that was good. Kristy was sarcastic with Simon. Whatever. She'll be out next week.
Jason sang stronger this time. Brooke was good. And I left someone out, I can't even figure out who. It's all musical wallpaper this week.
So- here are my current faves:
David C
David A
Jason
I played David C's "Billie Jean" for a friend who doesn't watch AI. She said she liked it better than the original. I played the original for my daughter, who had never heard it. She just laughed. It does sound kind of 80s-cheesy next to the rock version.
At the outlet mall last weekend, Kathy L left with shopping bags galore. Know what I bought? Two coasters on clearance at the Crate & Barrel Outlet for 75 cents each. That's how it always happens when I shop with friends. They buy out the place and I purchase little or nothing. So when you need to power shop, be sure and give me a call!
Read more...
Posts
All Comments
© Blogger template On The Road by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009
Back to TOP
