"Strange Kind of Love" by Love and Money

GO BUY THIS ALBUM ON iTUNES. Yeah, I just did, and you all know I have a PROBLEM, but I HAD to have this. This is MY album. It was purchased in the Fall of my senior year of highschool, while on a short shopping trip with our foreign exchange student Tarja. She implored that I must buy it as it looked interesting and I just needed to try it out. It was bya group called LOVE and MONEY after all, and what else was anyone in the 80's looking for? She was really good at talking me into anything, pushing me to do anything, pushing me off a cliff, but that is another story. Anyways, I purchased the TAPE and it lived in my 1980 powder blue VW Rabbit for the next several years. It was surely the soundtrack of that car, along with Stevie Nicks "The Other Side of the Mirror", an obscure non Lindsey Buckingham Fleetwood Mac album called "Behind the Mask", and two or three mixed tapes, literally labeled Car Tape, 1-4. It is a great album, and certainly worth some more detailed commentary, but here is why I mention it TODAY. I finally found it on iTunes! I have looked for it for years in CD form, and haven't found it. It is available on amazon, but only from other sellers. I mean, I had it on tape, so I wasn't desperate, but still. I am so excited to have this piece of ME in mp3...hey, that's kinda catchy.
Must go listen and drift back.
-Cheryl

...so I guess I will have to rename my alter ego. "The Friday Night Alcoholic" perhaps would be better named "The Saturday Morning Caffeine Craver," or perhaps even "The Saturday Afternoon Iced Coffee Consumer," as here it is 1:36 pm and I am finally getting to write. I blame school starting and frustratingly getting in my way of my living my LIFE. Jobs, aargh, can't live with 'em, can't quit 'em, need the paycheck to support Vera Bradley habits, etc. etc. etc. Anyways, last night was the first Friday night of the first full week of school and what started as an excitable evening where I had all kinds of plans for what I wanted to do with "my time" turned into me, in a sleeping bag, on the couch. I didn't even make it to the end of "What Not to Wear." First it was pizza for dinner and a beer, then it was relaxing and playing with the pup and the kids, then it was bedtime routines. When 9:00 rolled around, I cozied up on the couch with a second Dundee Wheat beer, and my buds, Stacy and Clinton. For whatever reason, I got chilly...probably the body shutting down, putting its own sad party pooping plans into place. Tim bought a mummy style sleeping bag this week, for an up coming Cub Scout camping adventure, and it was out on the computer room couch. I grabbed it, climbed in, zipped up and checked out. There was no way around it, the minute I was in I was down for the count. It is sad, really, how much of our leisure time we really have no control over. The past week and a half have been consumed with work getting started again, but our evenings have been usurped as well. Extracurriculars have begun, for the kids and for the adults, and any "issues" in life, which in the last week and a half have included a gas tank issue standing in the way of a car inspection, a persistant bee's nest, and a rather expensive water leak, fortunately OUTSIDE the house, have to be delt with somewhere between 4pm and total collapse. I have been reading Loving Frank, as Sue did earlier this summer, and it is easy reading, but mentally very hard, thought provoking. It is all about the affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney, and it brings up so many questions about choices, committment, creativity and needs. I want to sit and consume the book and be able to think, but again, the past week and a half, reading has sent me off to dreamland even quicker than said sleeping bag. I know things will slow down, or at least become the norm. Our bodies will adjust to more activity, more stress, more work and less sleep, but I want that adjustment to be done NOW. I want to be happy to reach the weekend for reasons of fun, not just reasons of replenishment. It'll come, I know, it always does, but I need to have patience, I need to read Frank, and most of all, I think I need some more iced coffee...
-Cheryl

...and am feeling a return of "The Friday Night Alcoholic" tonight having completed our first full week of school, thankfully.  These daily reasons to drink inspire me.  More to come, post consumption of my Dundee Wheat Beer.  After all, with their tagline being "Be Unclear," what more could you ask for in Friday Night Pontification, or in a Friday night beer?

...I'm feelin' a blog comin' on!

Yep, that was the quote of the evening as I nearly drove off the road in rage.  

We headed to a movie today, and you know, it is not enough that when I go there I have to endure myriad previews, now so professionally referred to as trailers, that give away the essence of every damn movie I might want to see.  No, now I have to endure everyday advertising as well.  Today's offering was that damn JCPenney's ad, glaring down as me from the big screen now, that rips off one of my, and all children of the 80's, favorite movies, "The Breakfast Club."  There they were again, the jock, the rebel, the prom queen, or at least this generation's lame representation thereof, decked out in their JCP Back to School frocks.  "Nothing new, just new people doing it" a la Grandpa Colby came to mind.  He was, apparently, a wise, wise man.  Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me," remade by some millennial emo band hummed, cloyingly, in the back of my mind the rest of the afternoon.

Fast forward a few hours and we were singing along with the radio on the way home, and I flipped by a station playing a VERY familar song.  Hey a ma ma ma...Life in a Northern Town...it sounded somewhat right, but no, it was a COUNTRY VERSION!  I mean, REALLY!  I did nearly careen into a ditch with the sad realization that, apparently, my entire youth is destined to be ripped from me and remade so a new group of people can claim it as their own.  I ranted, I raved, I threatened to drive my entire family into a lake, which was, quite literally, a mere 10 miles ahead.  Then, even with the country twang evoking in me images of waving wheat as opposed to abandoned factories and lake effect, I found myself singing along.  Tim mentioned that there are, after all, northern towns in the midwest, and maybe they just want to be heard, or perhaps, in some small way, understood.  

I came home, I downloaded off iTunes, I followed along, and I felt a blog coming on...

Sigh, I am a lemming after all.

-Cheryl

(and for anyone who wants to know, it was remade by the band Sugarland, along with Little Big Town, whom I LOVE - less country, more Fleetwood Mac.  Check them OUT!)

...and so it ends

Yep, another summer vacation has come and gone.  Tonight's last hurrah of sorts, a bookgroup outing for dinner and discussion and some pity shopping with Sue.  Sigh, a quiet end to a fairly quiet summer, but it is with sorrow that I say goodbye, yet again.  Today I was looking back at old blogs, of summers past, and reading about exactly the emotions I am having right now.  It surely is time to get back to reality, to schedules and structure, to regular bedtimes and to dependable tooth brushing.  It is time for cooler temperatures, crisp fall air, color in trees, and football on Sunday, but alas, for a moment I must look back.

This summer started out the summer of Lucy, our sweet little black lab, who is still sweet, but less little.  It continued with the regular fare such as our fourth of July festivities, day trips, and fun with friends, such as American Girls Night Out with  me, Gwynn, Sue and Jilli.  There were swim lessons and lazy days in the yard.  We moved a hot water heater, installed a mammoth invisible fence, and, stupidly, ripped apart a computer room in the week before school, but hey, it's progress.  We travelled, of course, this year ONLY to Ocean City, MD, Albany, NY and Tim and myself at least, to Burlington, VT...not too shabby for a summer we weren't going to travel much - gas prices be damned.  Tim realized how old he is in the advent of his 20th HS reunion, but I realized I am just one  year behind.  Friends from college moved back to the area, and I couldn't be more thrilled.  As a final, but not to be overlooked note as well, the kids went to Lansing and stayed with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for about 1 and a half weeks of the summer ON THEIR OWN.  What a gift, both to Tim and myself, and to the kids and family.  Even in living an hour and a half away, we have nutrtured secure bonded relationships, between the kids and us, AND between the kids and the rest of their family, and I couldn't be happier.

This was a big milestone type summer for us too...15 years married.  We so wanted to do something big this year, something special.  Maybe we'd take a cruise, go to New York City...Europe even, but you know, we didn't.  Don't get me wrong, we did special things, like our day out at Empire Brewing, and wine touring and Dano's, and a couple of days in Vermont, but Tim said it best one night when we were sitting out on the patio eating a lovely dinner while the kids were in Lansing.  For our anniversary, we got TIME...Time to enjoy ourselves, time to enjoy eachother, and in being refreshed in such a manner, time to really enjoy our family as well.  

It has been a good summer.  I am thankful, but also mindful that we're headed like lemmings to the cliff of back to school.  As we careen over the edge, may I want to stay in touch with the peace I feel right now.  May I remember that a day is only a day and I am only one person.  May I continue to count my blessings.  Finally,  may I still realize that the present is a gift, and may I keep on giving myself, and my family, that precious gift that is TIME.

-Cheryl

The Hershey Let Down

So the big family vacation has come and gone for another summer. Of course comparing anything to last year's DISNEY would have to be tough...but come on. How can you mess up CHOCOLATE?

We arrived in PA on Wednesday the 13th and things were looking up. Nice weather, gas at $3.55 a gallon and a decent motel. In some ways, the motel actually topped Disney in the breakfast department. Each morning, we went down the stairs and across the front a few steps to the lobby for quite a nice spread, all included in our stay. There was cereal, fruit, bagels, toast, donuts, and boiled eggs. But the best of all, was a waffle maker for you to make your own custom made waffle with choice of toppings. Then there was coffee, tea and juices. After breakfast hours, the lobby had a movie theater popcorn machine with all the yummy popcorn you could eat in those cute little bags even! The kids just loved this! They had a decent inground swimming pool even. Our room had a nice fridge, microwave and coffee maker. So when comparing our Disney stay and the 4 mile walk to breakfast, carrying our cups, PA really was ahead.

On Thursday we drove to Hershey Park, about 15 minutes from where we stayed in Harrisburg. First, you had to pay $10 to PARK your car. Luckily we'd bought advance tickets from a friend of Margie's who is a PA resident and gets a discount somehow. We got into the park right when they opened at 10am. There were honestly more people at the gate than when we went to the Magic Kingdom (and not on the magical extra hours either). The kids waited forever in lines, some much longer than anything we waited in Disney. The water park attraction totally bit. Freezing water, CROWDS and CROWDS of people and you couldn't sit in chairs and watch your children, you had to physically be IN the water with them. We are spoiled by the expansive layout and casual family like atmosphere of Enchanted Forest. We all agreed that the water park blew.

Then lunch. 3 sandwhiches (Jillian and I shared) and 4 beverages ran us $35. We ate dinner the night before at Applebees, and for our 4 meals, desserts and a BEER...it was only $43. We were not at all impressed. Around 5pm the sky opened up and it began to POUR. Of course Jillian had been waiting in line for a hair wrap for about 40 minutes and JUST sat in the chair when the thunder/lighting began...and then the downpour. There we were, standing under a big table umbrella. If anything it forced her to choose the hair UNDER neath which only cost us $13, rather than on TOP which would have cost a lot more ($2 an inch!).

We left the park at 6pm and never looked back. We were glad to be outta there.

After a quick meal at WENDY'S we hit the convenience store across the road to bring dessert and beer back to the room. We grabbed ice cream, but there was NO BEER! We went back to the motel, and Billy left in search of beer. After several stops he was told he could go to a BAR to buy beer. WHAT!??! Yes, they can sell you a 6 pack or a 12 pack as long as it does not exceed x number of ounces. Are you KIDDING me? Or he could go to a DISTRIBUTOR. Someone gave him directions and he was off to purchase a case of BUD LIGHT. He returned with a 24 pack of 10 ounce cans. They were just the strangest looking cans! When he questioned the employee about the chase for the beer, she said to him, Welcome to Pennsyltucky! Alrighty then! You can smoke in restaurants here, buy fireworks and use your cell phone while driving but can't purchase beer at a gas station or grocery store!??!?! HELLO!

Chocolate World Tour was the next day. Another $10 to park. I don't know what I was expecting, but this was not it. I went to Hershey as a child, with my Aunt and did the tour. I would have bet money that we toured the ACTUAL FACTORY. I have one vivid memory of it. But now I am questioning whether it is that I am remembering, or if it is the UTICA CLUB BEER BREWERY tour I am remembering! Yes, as a child I toured a brewery with my aunt! Anyway, I looked online when I got home and it said that they closed the factory to the public in 1973. I am trying to get my mother to remember what year that would have been that I went. I doubt she'll figure it out, I will have to call my aunt.

The tour of today is a DISNEY-IZED ride through a pretend factory with singing cows. WAY disappointing. We paid a ton of money to watch a 20 minute 3D show that was kind of okay. The kids paid $15 to wait in a long line to pretend to be a factory worker and package Hershey kisses and get an ID badge. We spent over $100 at the gift shop and I refused to buy any chocolate there. All of the same chocolate is much cheaper every day at Walmart, and was actually on sale this week at Price Chopper. I was a little shocked. And they didn't even have my coconut kisses there! I was really kind of hoping they'd feature some of their retired flavors, but no such luck.

I was really all too excited to get in the car on Saturday morning, after our last yummy motel breakfast, and HIT THE HIGHWAY back to NYS!

GREAT, GREAT, GREAT book...To Be Someone by Louise Voss.  It is all the life story of a former 80's pop star, told through the soundtrack of her life.  It has a realtime storyline, and in the alternating chapters you hear the "backstory" as it relates to all these songs.  I picked it up out shopping with Sue, off of a bargain table, for $4.  We thought it sounded so "me" in its premise, although I recognized only a third of the songs, being that much of the story is set in England, thus the whole europop edge.  I didn't have high hopes, but it was a bargain, and in the end it did not matter in the least.  It was a wonderful story, with great writing, great feeling, and it has set my mind adrift to contemplate my "soundtrack."  Fine use of my day, I know, but hey, what else is summer for? ( I am concurrently multitasking through my day anyways - re-reading the second Traveling Pants book, cleaning my upstairs, and packing for our Albany/Vermont trip too, so hey, cut me some slack!)

Childhood Songs 

Get Off of My Cloud - Rolling Stones

Take a Chance on Me - Abba

Witchy Woman - Eagles

Hotel California - Eagles

The Greatest American Hero theme

Star Wars soundtrack

Annie soundtrack - even when Tomorrow was being played/sung by mom on the piano

I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

Flashdance - Irene Cara

Private Eyes - Hall and Oats

Peg - Steely Dan

Saturday Night Fever and Grease soundtracks 

(and I wonder where my love of a mix tape comes from - soundtrack queen)

JFS Middle School Year 

Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

Cum on Feel the Noise - Quiet Riot

Hello - Lionel Ritchie

DURAN DURAN!

Camp

Dust in the Wind - Kansas

Crosby Stills and Nash - Daylight Again album

new age guy Andreas Vollenweider or sthg...

Amy Grant Amy Grant Amy Grant!

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel

Get Together - ?

Early Lansing

DURAN DURAN - STILL!

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin

College

SO many to name...so many, but Steve Miller Band stands out for sure...

Early Marriage

All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow

You Gotta Be - Desiree

Hannibal Hell/Buying House

Long December - Counting Crows

If It Makes You Happy - Sheryl Crow

See, I could GO ON...but life calls.  Have to take Tim and Devin down to try out their new canoe "thing."  Rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby...

-Cheryl

AND JUST A THOUGHT SO SUE WILL REMIND ME...WE NEED TO ASK JILL IF WE COULD POST HER TATTOO ON OUR BLOG!!!!

And So It Goes...

So, as promised, my first entry in the Vacation Without Dog (VWOD)Blog as now Sue is away at Hershey Park.  It'd have been so much fun to go with her and her family, but alas, on Friday we are off for the next in the slew of Howell family weddings. At least for this one, we are simply guests, and there is no stress of flower girl duty.  Post wedding, Tim and I are off to Vermont for a few days without kids.  Now what is that?  VWODK?  Sounds a little weird, but I will go with it.

The image on the left SPOKE to me today, loud and clear.  I mean, here  I am on August 13th, merely three weeks from the start of school, and I am finally picking up on this writing thing.  Every summer, I have the intentions of writing...working on some new stuff, polishing stuff I have, setting up a writing assignment I envision for our extended family (ever the teacher you know...) and possibly even submitting some work to be published, somewhere, somethow, and alas, the time has flown by.  Mind you, I have no regrets for my summer.  We have had a great time, despite somewhat crappy upstate New York weather.  We had a great trip to Maryland.  We reconnected with high school and college friends, in part due to being 20 YEARS out of HS, and in part due to college friends who have moved back to the area.  I've had plenty of "me" time, cleaning, organizing, remembering, reading, and out with friends, relaxing, dining, shopping.  My kids have had swimming lessons, weeks at their grandparent's homes, and just enough playdates.  Last, but not least, Tim has done TONS around our home. I am thrilled, and in a really good place, and truth be told, school may be three weeks away, but it is the FURTHEST thing from my mind.

So the picture spoke to me, as I said, because summer is in its last hurrah.  We have done a lot, and there is more to do, but it is bittersweet in a way.  We are certainly in the home stretch...winding down...and I am bad at this part.  In fact, I am pretty sure I could look back at older posts and see many a maudlin rant about summer's end and school's start.  Yet, as every year, this time I am going to try.  I will try to relax, I will try to embrace, and I will try to change gracefully.  We'll see...

 

SUE IS A BLOGGING MANIAC!

( and I am LAZY!)

-Cheryl

If Walmart doesn't have it....
You don't need it!

After the big disappointment last night of Target discontinuing my pineapple salsa, I didn't know how I was going to be able to live. I tried a new one, a peach mango salsa, and it came with a big WARNING on the label: MAY CONTAIN PEACH PITS! Oh terrific. So I may break a tooth.

After a trip to Wonder Walmart tonight, my testimony is once again confirmed, If Walmart Does Not Have It...You Don't Need It. There it was...Newman's Own PINEAPPLE SALSA! So there! I do NEED it afterall...because Walmart has it! I just love Walmart!

Wallets come and go...and so do Blueberries!

Why must they do it to us? We get something we really like, and then they discontinue it. Like the much discussed wallet. Today's topic is the Yankee blueberry candle. I had my first one in 1994 I believe. I can remember it burning in the living room, and the guys working on our ROOF, OUTDOORS, asking what that smell was? It was going out the windows and up! On the heels of that came blueberry muffin. I may possibly be mistaken, but I want to say that they actually overlapped. I had the muffin candle in 2001 because it was my maternity leave with Jillian candle. It burned fast because I was home for 3 months and I lit it all the time.

THEN...what were they thinking? They retired them BOTH and we were left with NOTHING. No blueberry fix at all what so ever!

Last night was like coming home again. At the very newest Yankee shop in Great Northern, there it was...the newly released, Blueberry Scone. It is absolutely amazing. I may need to hoard them along with my French Wallets.

Another day, another wallet, another Vera...

Of course nothing can just be simple. With all the panic over the damn French Wallet, and what is to come 7-10 years down the road, I decided that I better not get too comfortable with just ONE wallet. So I had been looking at Vera wallets all along. But again, I can't touch them or look at them because there is no authorized Vera retailer in the area. But even so, I always look.

Tonight I happened to see this one, for just $9.99 buy it now (actually or BEST OFFER, which I hate because you have to make the offer, email it and then wait to see if it has been accepted) with only $2 shipping. So after comparing it to the ones on the authorized website, I saw that I could buy this exact wallet from Vera herself for $15 (because it is a clearance from 2 seasons ago) and then of course shipping. So a good deal. I decided to jump on it. I now have $ in my paypal account from selling some of my crap in my closet...so that made it worth it. I figured if I get it and hate it, I can always relist!

Remembering Love's....












So here are those 2 ads I found. The one on the top I can remember. You sent in $2.75 and could get that shirt. I WANTED that shirt. But I do not believe that I ever actually got it. Now the ad on the bottom is downright WRONG. It is disturbing. There was a lot of feedback on this ad all over the sights I went to in search of ads. How this girl appears to be 10. I was thinking 7, myself. There was one more ad that I tried to download but for some reason it didn't work. It was as disturbing only for different reasons. A college aged girl dressed up to be 10. It was all very odd. So the one on the top is really the only appropriate one. The young high school aged girl advertising the product in a sweet and innocent way. But hey...maybe we are just reading into it too deep. Was there an outrage in 1976 when this ad was out? Probably not. Perhaps the advertisers really were just innocent and were using slumber parties, nail polish sessions and such as inspiration, kind of like Katy Perry? It really probably wasn't that big of a deal. Maybe it was supposed to bring BACK your innocence and all that went with it? Let's ask Katy...

Isn't it great to have a GIRL?

Yesterday, while waiting for prescriptions at Kinney, Jilli and I wandered over to look at the perfumes. There it was, Love's Baby Soft. I told her how much I used to love it. We tried the tester on, but there were none of the shelf. Because it was just a body spray version, it was pretty inexpensive, and I was in whip it in the cart mode so I was kind of bummed. Not bummed enough to get the $11 spray version, but a $4 fix would have been fine. I told her we'd look at Walmart.

Sure enough, Walmart came through. We whipped it in the cart. I was on the look out for the powder, too. I remember having the powder and loving it. I was describing it to Jillian, and how I loved the clear pink plastic bubble that covered the top. Of course, there it is on ebay. I don't know if I'd pay $10 for it with shipping, but even so I have a watch on it.

That led to other searches for images of my pre-teen perfume. I found several ads. Of course what I hate about this blogger is that I can't get the images to insert like RIGHT HERE. Not at the top, above the first picture. And if I start a new one it will publish on top of this one. **sigh**

A little Sunday morning shopping...

So it's been a while, at least a week, since I have ordered any (won any?) Vera off eBay. My most recent purchase was the matching Vera leash to go with Zoey's collar. Today I spotted this NWT Amy purse in the Peacock pattern. I knew I wanted to get Elizabeth a Vera for her 11th birthday and really like this size and style for the 5-13 ish age group. It is kind of like Katie, only with the shoulder strap. It was also available as a Buy It Now...but I had to check with Lizard (her nick name) first, to see if she was into Peacock. I threw a couple of patterns out there, including Daisy Daisy (seems young and hip) but she shot that one down, giving the thumbs up to Peacock. So I jumped on it....BIN for $20....$3.50 shipping. Nice!

Reading the Sunday Paper
7/27/08

While reading the Sunday paper today, a ritual I enjoy every week with my coffee, I had some comments on some ads and some articles. First...Avril endorsing some line of clothing for Kohl's. My question is...WTF. And please, someone explain to me the BLACK EYELINER. While looking through my son's middle school yearbook, I notice more than half the 8th grade girls following this trend. Why? It doesn't even LOOK good! If Carmindy saw this she would definitely have some advice. Now I am even okay with the pink highlights....I can see that as artsy, funky, self expressive. But the black rimmed eyes? ALL THE WAY AROUND? Not so much.

And speaking of BOOKS....

In today's STAR there is a write up about Danielle Steele's new book. The headline CRACKS me up. Romance author HATES appearances, but comes out occasionally. Well COME ON! Look at her! She is turning 61 and is trying to look 25. The hair has GOT to go. It is making her look 81. It says she was in NY for the TODAY show. Well, certainly she could have stopped by Nick Arrojo's studio for some help. He wouldn't be shy in telling her that her hair is not working for her. It says she publishes up to 3 books per year, I am sure she could afford the $500 price tag on a session with Nick!

Been reading Loving Frank for the past 2 days and am totally sucked in. Makes me think of a blog I posted a few months ago....can one person really meet all of your needs? Just a question to ponder while Loving Frank....

What really bugs me about this BLOG

Alright...what I cannot STAND is trying to get the font size to be what you want. It will do whatever the freak it wants. I go back and repeatedly change some to make it smaller...and still it is larger than life. But then some, it will do what I want. I just cannot stand that. I have changed the one about the Mitsubishi at least 5 times (right now that is set on the smallest) and still it is big. But then, the one about the Santa Fe is exactly how I wanted it...I can't WAIT to see how this looks! As I have the title largest and then this type at normal. Also, the one about the ebay wallet has this strange purple box that I cannot get to go away. UGH! Now I know why I do not have a job that requires computer use!