Ten on Tuesday

10 Countries You'd Like to Visit

I assume I am listing ones I've not visited yet...

1. Australia- such a long flight, I'd have to stay a month
2. Greece- sounds romantic and fun
3. Netherlands- sounds clean and picturesque, and we've got to try those brownies
4. Russia- I'd love to see Moscow, the architecture, go to the ballet
5. Italy- my mother's favorite place, I'd take a few weeks and visit all the regions
6. Egypt- my dad's favorite vacation, I'd love to see the pyramids
7. Switzerland- my aunt lived there for several years, said the people are really great, good skiing
8. The U.K.- I've been to England, but I would like to go back and see Scotland and Ireland
9. China- just Hong Kong, just once
10. Japan- again, the architecture and also the culture

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Almost back to normal

The house is almost as it was before everything started breaking and falling apart. Yay! Today the wallpaper person is redoing the wallpaper around the flooded window. We've primed the walls in there as well, so there is just one coat of paint remaining before the kitchen is finished.

Julie and the kids are back from their annual month-long New England visit with their family. Their second story addition should be complete in a few weeks. They're also replacing all their appliances in the kitchen, as well as the countertops. Fun!

As for the wacky weather, we may actually see some sun today!

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Man vs. Wild not so wild after all

From the Chicago Sun-Times (and other sources):

Man Vs. Wild Could be Wilder

We figured the camera crew was staying in a hotel or at least a tent, with food and other emergency supplies, because they never say that the crew are without those things. We did assume the host was actually doing the things depicted. Very disappointing.

Oh well, there weren't too many more new environments for him to be dropped in anyway...

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ABBA

I just watched a really good show about ABBA on the Ovation channel. They ended it with an appearance that Bjorn, Benny and Frida did together at a London production of Mamma Mia. (Agnetha wasn't there.) Frida said they've been offered $1 billion to sing together again as a group, and they refused it. They want to be remembered as they were.

I don't know whether that's admirable or crazy.

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... Video- Adult... Wallpaper...

My child and her friend and my husband have all been around the house today.

I was calling wallpaper people this morning, and left the Yellow Pages out all day on the counter, with the phone sitting on top of it. As I was putting it away just now, I noticed the full page ad on the facing page- for an adult video and toy store.

My family would have called me out on it, had they noticed.

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Saturday Six

1. Think about your best friend in high school: how long has it been since you’ve seen her?
I saw Cathy in early June. She came up from Houston with her boyfriend.

2. Think of the last time you saw more than one of your high school classmates together at the same time: how did you happen to run into each other?
That would be about 6 years ago, when Kathy A. and I were at Doug W.'s when he lived by Zilker Park. Doug had emailed me through Classmates.com (or reunion.com?) and we eventually met up.

3. How many of your teachers do you think you would love to visit in person after all the years since you graduated, just to talk about having them as a teacher and catch up: one or two, three to five, five to ten, or more than ten?
3-5

4. Take the quiz: Could you pass high school?
You passed High School with a B.

5. What was the best lunch food your high school served?
Hamburgers

6. Did you participate in any extra-curricular activities in high school, like sports, band, etc? If so, how many?
I was on the newspaper staff.

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Are we sick of the Hollywood chicks yet?

I've now had my fill of the Lindsay Lohans and Britney Spears-es-es of the world. I don't even feel sorry for them anymore. They're just really pathetic. And all that drunk driving without a license out there is going to kill someone eventually.

... moving on...

Anderson Cooper has been praised for his YouTube CNN debate moderating. I didn't watch, but I hear he pressed the candidates for REAL answers! Go AC! I hope he does the same with the Republicans.

Turns out the cheer team missed Grand Champion by one point in Padre. Argh. What can you do.

DD and her friends saw Chuck and Larry. They declared it "TMI, but funny." There's the review for the middle school set. Oh, and Lance Bass is evidently in there somewhere.

I have finished watching Season 3 of "Entourage" on DVD. It was great! DH watched this season, and he actually likes the show. Now if he could just get "The Office."

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Hairspray

DH and I saw the original cast of Hairspray on Broadway back when it opened. We've been huge fans since, and DD is even in on the excitement. Yesterday we saw the movie. I give it an A+.

John Waters' cameo cracked me up from the opening scene. (Cue DH whispering, "Who is John Waters?" Oy.) I was able to refrain from singing along during the movie (well, most of the time). One of my favorite moments came during a song I always skip on the CD- "Timeless to Me." It was the simple realization that I was watching John Travolta in drag, singing and dancing with Christopher Walken. Who would have ever imagined such a thing? lol.

I am disappointed that they omitted two of the very best songs from the musical- "Momma I'm a Big Girl Now" and "The Big Dollhouse." Oh well, I suppose they can't fit everything in. The singing was amazing, perhaps even better than the original cast.

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Ahhhhh

Finally some peace and quiet after all the hammering of the roof replacement! Yay!

We're down to one last thing before we're done with these crazy breakdowns of house items. We're going to rip down the sheet rock around our previously leaking (more like storming) window, juuuuuust to make sure we don't get into one of those horrible mold situations. Then we'll get the wallpaper up again, and the new paint.

Victoria Beckham seems to be creating her own American publicity machine. This show about her is cracking me up. Well, at least now we've actually seen her smile!

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Family history

I've been exchanging emails with my grandpa for the past few days. He's been telling me about his parents' families. It's all very interesting. Most of his family were/are in the El Campo area.

I've always thought all my family lines went to Germany by about only 1-3 generations back, but Grandpa told me that his grandmother (my great-great-grandma) on his dad's side was part American Indian! Wow! That's pretty cool. He also notes that she was a rotund woman who chewed tobacco. Ahahahaa.

An interesting factoid associated with the Indian ancestry- Grandpa has a type of glaucoma that only American Indians and Eskimos get. Hmm!

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