Daily Led Zep

Heard today coming back from lunch:

Going to California

la la la laaa

Daily Led Zep

Heard yesterday while we were eating:

Ramble On

Kings Island

You know you are in for a good day, when your daughter holds up her deli round sandwich roll at Subway and shouts (yes, shouts) "My buns are big!"

Chad had the day off, and I did as well, we went to King's Island yesterday. It was a blast. Izzy and I rode several rollercoasters...can't wait until she is 48 inches and can go on the big rides! We even got Chad on the "Beastie" - which is now called The Fairly Odd Coaster.

It was hot, but thanks to my SPF 50 sunblock, we didn't get burned. Izzy made it the whole day without throwing a fit (Thank you!)

It's been ages since I've been there, and many things have changed, but some have stayed the same: The Eiffel Tower was cool, although it freaked Chad and Izzy out a little, being up so high; the Beast is still one of the best roller coasters in the world (You dinna' think I'd take a trip to KI and NOT ride the Beast, now did you?); LaRosa's pizza tastes the same; and everything costs about 250% more than it did 7 years ago.

Our favorites of the day, the Viking Fury - the ship that rocks back and forth, the Fairly Odd Coaster - oh, Izzy walked right past the little Kiddie rollercoaster - Backyardigans' themed, I think, and headed straight for the "big" one, and some of the older "carnival" style spinning rides.

More details as I remember them coming soon... I just can't wait to go back!

Friday Friday Friday

Howdy - It's Friday and the weather is beautiful, the air is fresh and I'm outside working on our new laptop - whoo hoo! The freedom! Now, hopfully, I can get motivated enough to keep up my writing.

I won't go into too much detail here, but for those that heard my "vent" last week at this time, let me assure you - all is taken care of, and things are back to normal, at least for this year. Whew!

I think tonight, we are going to the town's movie night in the park - free movies, bring your own lawn chair, like a drive in, but before cars!

And Now for Pickerington's Place New Feature!

You already know about the Daily Led Zeppelin, and What's on My Desktop.(Which does need updating - come to think of it.) The new one is partially inspired by an email I got this week; you know, one of those, answer the questions and send along so others can get to know you. It's also partially inspired by "Heather's Lunchtime Poll" made popular by the classic - Heathers.

So, here it is - The question of the week (I must admit, the braincells are not up to par today, so I'll have to ponder on another catchy title.)

What's the most exciting and the most boring thing you think you'll do this summer?

TTFN:

Give Me One Moment In Time

Our story begins today, but goes back many years. Today, my mother found a picture of the one "semi-formal" dance I went to my freshie year - turnabout, where the girls ask the guys. Join us on a trip down memory lane to visit places, places best left in the hidden recesses of memory.

Time: Sometime in March 1990
The Event: Turnabout

Dramatis Personae

Lisa
Michelle
Deeann
Dave, Lisa's escort
Scott, Michelle's escort
Bill, Deeann's escort

Lisa and Dave before the dance, Lisa is wearing Gunne Sax, while Dave sports the sweater and tie ensemble.




Michelle and Scott (AKA He, as his name was too vile to speak.) Again, sweaters were very popular for dances (in hickville, not our school!)



Bill and Deeann - the organizers of the evening (insert evil master laugh!)



The obligatory pinning of the flower. Hair professionally rolled to look "old-fashioned."


The cast of 90210 (what a bunch of wannabes)



Cheesy guy shot -- they must be plotting something!



Mullett-man speaks, and reveals the plan to hit the road...



So into the '86 Chevy Astro we go!



"Stan, what a fine mess you got us into!"




Ahhh, the paparazzi won't leave us alone!




"So Beavis, where are we headed tonight?"

"Heh-heh-heh - your boobs look big in your sister's dress!"




Time to pose for the famous dance photo! (Wallet and 8X10 avaliable!)

Aaaannnnddddd SCENE!

New fashion statement

I've been known to make some fashion goofs before... but even I know that it's very Tacky, with a captital T, to wear halter tops, wait -- backless halter tops with a black bra.

Click here for video

Brittany - I know you just had a baby, but your body changes! Go with the changes honey -- you can't wear the same clothes you wore way back when....

FREE!!!

Howdy!

Somehow, we got on the mailing list for these courses... Anyway - the lectures from Ivy League profs are on CD or DVD, but not without a significant investment. The lectures are from: The Great Courses - The Teaching Company : Educational Courses on DVD, Audio CD, Tape, and Cassette - Lecture Series by College/University Professors

So, in order to save everyone money - I've found some free online course for those that just love learning. Here you go:

Course Topics at Free-Ed.Net

Barnes & Noble.com - Barnes & Noble University

OpenUW Free Courses

Berklee Shares: free music lessons, mp3, quicktime and pdf files download

Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University

Writers.com: Online Creative Writing, Nonfiction, Screen Writing, Genre Classes & More

http://u.about.com/

Happy learning!

Saturday

Howdy!

Today is turning out pretty well - had a crazy week with work last week, and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

DG came down - Yeah! - so we are ready to rock the town. Last night we saw the DaVinci code. It's fiction people. But I was impressed with how much of the storyline they followed, considering most book to movie creates leave soooo much out. Yes, some was still left out, but it was an OK movie - it was neat to see some of the images described in the book.

Today, we are hitting the gym and going to COSI -- not sure what is the plan for tonight.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day! I hope every mother enjoyed the day today!

This morning, I went out with my mother in law and some of her friends -- we had a great lunch!

When I got back home, hubby had a bunch of flowers waiting for me, along with a DVD of one of my favorite movies - Bend it like Beckham. (I think I like it because of the accents!)

It was great!


Also - my conference went very well -- we only had a few hitches, but for the first conference my writing group put on - it went very well! We have big plans for next year, and it should be even better!

I'm jazzed about my writing, for the first time, last night I dreamed of signing books at my first booksigning - great feeling! I can't wait to go to the national conference this July!

Happy Mothers day!

Happy May

Just wanted to say happy may to everyone - hope the weather is nice -- don't have much time for blogging updates but should have plenty of time after next week!

Laters!

Daily Led Zep

Good Times Bad Times

Update

Howdy folks --

Few topics for today:

Raining Cats...
I found the code from here
But since it's spring and not winter, I found an image that I could replace the snowflakes.

I've been looking for new "goodies" to add to the blog - I like playing around with html code, and I'm actually learning quite a bit! My next venture is CSS, so we'll see what I can add with this.

Here's a good tutorial I've been using: http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp

Ahh... Young River...
I found the movie Exlporers on TV and TIVO'ed it for Izzy - she loves it! I like it too if only to see young River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke. River is soooo adorable!




American Idol:
Last night - what was up with Paula? Did anyone see how much Simon had to control her to keep her looking good?

My prediction: Paris and Kellie in bottom 2, Kellie going home!

I hope they get back to singing some songs that we liked them for at the beginning.

My favorite: Chris -- HOTTIE!

Daily Led Zep

Forgot to put this with the last post


Heard on the way back home:

Heartbreaker

Fun day

Today was cool -- we went to COSI - had a blast! The place is different from what I remember - It sort of looks like the same building, but I don't remember the river -- anyway - they had some really cool exhibits. A STAR WARS exhibit is opening in June - that should be a blast. One cool perk of being a teacher is the discount... we were only there for a little over two hours, and I was worn out! Izzy had so much fun, especially in the Ocean.

Our next stop: JumpBounceBoing!

Ahhh Childhood....

I don't know whether to be disturbed by this or not.... I found this site while looking for clapping rhymes to teach Izzy.Probably won't be using any of them with her.

I know when we were in school (yes, Catholic school where everything goes!) we said some raunchy rhymes... but nothing like this.

After digging around the site - it does appear to have some value; a collection of folk lore around Australia - stories, songs, chants and the like. Certainly - playground chants are part of that - I get that!

Now it could be a cultural thing - different things may be accepted in other countries - I don't know. It could also be a decade thing -- kids are exposed to more today then 20 years ago when I was a youngin'. (But let's face it, Miss Suzy and her Steamboat will be around for a while!) But If I heard my 11 year old daughter saying "I'm Sexy, I'm cute" I think we'd have a problem. (Damn the "ever-increasing influence of American hip-hop culture")

To quote the site:
Being year six this is usually the last year girls participate in playground games, especially singing and clapping games, as they become self-conscious and also
preoccupied with boys. All three of the girls were told of the background to the video session, what was expected and that it was being done at home (rather than school) so there would be no censorship of the more ribald material.


Now, I'm not sure if Year Six is the same as our year six, or a Hogwarts year six... but in any case, I think the censorship thing is a little backward. Personally I wouldn't say "cock..... roaches" "whores" "piss" or even the F bomb in front of my parents. Now at school, that's a different story.

Yes, I know how clapping games work: they play on word sounds, puns, syllables and double-meanings. I get that.

What I don't get is how the kids can do these in front of their parents. More importantly - why the parents aren't more concerned!?!


You are warned:
Clapping Rhymes

Yet, I am amused at some of the rhymes... I wish we knew them back then! (The soldier one is amusing.)

So... what were some rhymes said on your playground?

Interesting Blogs

???????????

Life in Moscow

Oh, We Get it
(Caution - poo poo words on this site, but some hilarious videos)

Lost and Found on Easter

Happy Easter everyone -- whether or not you celebrate the day, I hope your day was full of nice weather and happiness.

Here are the highlights of our day... with pictures (Apologizing in advance if the page takes a while to load)

1) Had family over for a lovely pot luck lunch - the food was great, but more importantly, the company was wonderful! We had great weather, and it's a good thing they left when they did -- the clouds came in not long after they left.

2) Here is a pic of Izzy's flower from her Papaw -- isn't it cute!
3) And while I was taking the picture of the bunny flower, I took one of my table as well. I have always wanted a table that I could decorate with cool and interesting place settings. Yeah! Now I have one -- If only I can stay away from Bed Bath and Beyond long enough to save my wallet from spontaniously opening to pay for new settings!

4) And yes, that's Izzy spinning in the background with her singing and dancing bunny, here's a better view.

5.) BUNNY BREAD! Way overpriced, but how could I pass up such a cute bunny!

OK, so he's missing a leg here.

Izzy re-enacting a scene from Night of the Living Dead, above.

Yummy! Brains!

6.) And last - I am convinced of Karma (or Carma, as Earl Hickey calls it.) I lost my purse on Friday. I thought I had it with me - Chad was diligent about searching for it - we looked everywhere! I even called the places I had been on Friday, hoping someone must have turned it in. The only thing I was really concerned about was my rosary -- everything else could be replaced (well, except for my metal case I use as my wallet - DG, you know what I mean - I liked that thing as well, and have yet to see another like it.)

So we looked and we looked, and our friend, bless his heart, dug through our icky garbage even to look for it (yes, I'm a bit of a scatterbrain, and may have thrown it away!) So he drives by Kroger on the way home, and goes in to ask for it. Mind you, I did call earlier and they didn't have it in the lost and found. He asked if it could have been anyplace else, and it was turned in to the safe. I couldn't believe they even gave it to him. (He did describe the my metal case and gave my name on the ID). Yeah! I know have the purse and everything was intact. I'm guessing that since I don't put my SSN on my driver's license, it would be harder to commit Identity theft. But anyway, it's back, and I'm convinced that whoever turned it in, will have good Karma coming their way! Now it's my turn to do a kindess for someone else!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Things on my mind at the moment.

1. Ducks don't land in trees. It would be pretty interesting to see a duck in a tree, though.

(This after seeing our ducks, nicknamed Seven and Thirty, since they show up around 7:30 pm each evening.)

2. I've always been confused by the terms "layers" and "one length" in reference to ladies getting hari styles. I would always mix them up, since cutting in layers, actually gives the hair a consistent length per strand, hence - one length. While one-length cut, does give a nice trim line at the bottom of the hair, there really are layers to the hair. Didn't anyone take into consideration the fact that a head is typically curved, and therefor the hair strands will have different lengths depending on where the hair is located on the noggin?

OK -- I think I think too much. Maybe I better get Jonathan to explain it to me.

American Idol

Why do I keep watching this show? I must say, after last nights episode, I was almost ready to blind myself after seeing Ace in (faux)leather pants. It was scary.

I'm glad of some of the song choices, but Kelly's Bohemeian Rhapsody - what was that! ?! Take the story of a 8 minute song and condense it to about 2 minutes -- it loses something. Personally, if I were performing the song, I'd do a more Wayne's World performance.

I must say, the show did get better at the end... Chris is still my favorite!

My prediction - Bucky

Chad's prediction: Bucky

Izzy's prediction: Ace

What's on my mind at this point:::

OK - since it's been so long since I've posted, (sorry about that folks) so here goes:

1) After seeing this, I'm glad I work at home!

2) Are we really saving time during Daylight Saving Time? After all, we are using more daylight each day, so what are we saving? If it's energy because we are doing more during daylight hours when the sun is free, why not call it Energy Saving Time?

3) There is an image of William Shakespeare on our wall. We are thinking of having an auction to raise money.


OK - thought I had more, but it must be too early in the AM for me..