Odds and Ends...

Hello friends it's been a while, but life sometimes interrupts art or in this case blogging. Things have been busy here at Rancho de Cuckoo thanks to kids, Mardi Gras and never ending laundry. There have been a lot of thoughts I have wanted to share with you, but I haven't had a chance. And so today I'm going to touch on just a couple of topics, talking points if you will. 

Last week I was keenly affected by the loss of my first teen idol, Davy Jones of The Monkees. One of my first tv/music memories is standing in my playpen (yes I still remember flashes from that early age, my mind works like that) and watching The Monkees. My late mom said I sang around the same time I started talking, and sang along with the show's opening. Growing up my younger sister and I would play their albums until they where worn out and of course we would sing along, hair brushes in hand (you have to be a girl to get this one I think). I'm still feeling the sadness of his loss. We never expect our teen idols to die, and considering the 3 touring Monkees members would turn up every few years you somehow felt as though they might just be here as long as you would be. I was lucky enough to see them in concert 3 times during the 80s, and even met them and got hugs on one occasion. It will always be a highlight of my life, and a fondly cherished memory. Adieu my beautiful Daydream Believer.

My daughter is in a play at her high school. They are performing "Hairspray" later this month. The reason I mention this is because Momma is feeling a little like she is a cast member as well. Why? Because I am having to keep track of my daughter's practice schedule, shuttle her to and from school at odd hours of the day and night.  I must keep track of how much she owes in fees. They ordered wigs for goodness sake, costumes, and I had to purchase special $35.00 shoes and on and on. Whoever said that education at a public school was free, was a liar. Now I was in the school chorus from kindergarten thru twelfth grade. Whenever there was a musical play I was in it, but I do not remember EVER practicing as much as these kids are. It's kind of crazy, I think the teacher in charge thinks this is an off Broadway production, but the kids are having a ball, so break a leg kiddo.

The New Orleans Saints are embroiled in a scandal. It's being reported the the guys on the defense had a kitty going, which was payable when you lay a hit on the other team, effectively taking one of their "stars" out of the game. As far as I can tell, football (American or otherwise) is like a big fraternity, complete with partying, scratching, and burping, that said, I highly doubt that other teams didn't know this was happening and doing it themselves. The problem is that last week a class action suit was filed by ex-footballers regarding old concussions, so now the NFL has to make examples out of my boys. As I am a firm believer in taking the rest of the rats down with a sinking ship, I hope that Saints players, if and when they are slapped with fines and sanctions, sing like birds and prove that this happens every place in the league. 

It's like crazy spring here at my house, the daffodils that I swore where sprouting way too early are blooming, leaves are popping out on the trees and this morning before dawn those way too cheerful for 430am birds where singing. The time changes to daylight's savings time this weekend so I'm going to loose an hour of sleep, dammit, but I will gain an extra hour of outside time so eventually when I get over the sleep deprivation (I do not do time change well) I will be glad. I think it's time to hit the garden store and plant some veggies in the sad and empty pots on my patio. Last year my tomatoes did well, but I didn't get a single eggplant.

If you are or have ever been a fan of ABC's daytime drama General Hospital you really need to be watching it right now. If you can't watch live DVR it or watch on line. New writers have taken over, familiar faces from the late One Life to Live have crossed over and it is sooooooo good. Yes, the downside is Sonny the mob boss with the heart of gold is still there along with Jason, but they are not the main story right now, so get on it!   

And finally, donate to the American Red Cross for those folks here in the US that where effected by last weeks tornadoes, it's a reliable organization, and the money will go to the victims. Buy some Girl Scout cookies when you see those little girls at your local stores. The troops really do make money to  keep them going from the sales and it'll make your tummy happy, and this is National  Craft Month. Go out and make something or buy something from  a crafter that you know. 

That is all for now, a little light and fluffy, from a heart that's heavy. Until next time...

ME

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, yet another Valentine's Day has arrived. The day when we show those that we love what they mean to us.Yeah, well Hallmark and Walmart I ain't buying it. I believe that we should show the people we love how we feel 365 days a year. So, I am declaring this day, "Great Excuse for Chocolate Day". I don't care what the box is shaped like, it could be aardvark shaped for all I care just gimme, gimme that chocolate.

With all this talk of  love floating in the webisphere today I thought I would talk about a few things that I love..besides chocolate that is because today it is number one on my hit parade. See if you feel the same..

Pizza..not just any pizza will do usually, but I have come to realize that pizza  can match your mood. If you are feeling like a "chunky butt" there is veggie types. For down days give me a meat lovers pizza. My absolute favorite pizza comes from a hole in the wall place, cat flinging distance from the house I grew up called "Tower of Pizza". You can watch them flip the dough through the air, it comes in 2 sizes small and large, you need longer arms to wrestle the hot cheese from the pan to your plate and for me it's  a pepperoni, mushroom and extra cheese, no extra charge for the half inch of grease on top. Not health food, but sometimes you just don't care.

Coffee.. some of the best gifts I've ever received where a bag of beans that I had to grind on my own with a bow on top. It's the stuff that keeps this old bod moving (diet pepsi too). There is just something about a quiet house and a steaming cup of coffee in the morning that says my legs could fall off right this minute, the dishwasher could explode, and the house burn down, but it's ok because I have this awesome cup of joe. 

Puppies.. there is just something about squeeking, waggly, licky balls of fuzz with Puppy Chow breath  that makes me all smiley inside. Of course puppies grow to be adult dogs, but when you are a dog person you just know that you've got the most perfect and unconditional love right there before you, and you don't really care about the proof of their affection they leave laying around for you to retrieve or the holes in your shoes. I've only been without a dog for 3 years in my forty-blah-blah years and those where some lonely damn years. When I get old I'll be the crazy dog lady, sitting on my porch, talking to my wiener dog. 

The Bay City Rollers..Donny Osmond..and Rick Springfield..If you know me personally  you know that I would walk naked, in a hurricane, across shards of flaming broken glass, up hill in the dead of winter to see any of these men in concert or having their shoes shined, it wouldn't matter. Their music colors the scrapbook  of my life, and to me is perfect. If you don't know me or  their music take thy self to youtube right now, and watch these videos, Bay City Rollers "You Made Me Believe In Magic" Donny Osmond "Soldier of Love" and Rick Springfield "Jesse's Girl". Nuf said on that, don't question me.

Traveling.. nothing beats (for me anyway) throwing some clothes in a bag, gassing up the car, and hitting the road. The freedom of the road stretching out before you,  moving from point A to point B and beyond, and it doesn't matter if I'm going across the state for a marching band competition or across the country let's just go and get  the hell outta here for a little while. And if we are staying someplace where I don't have to cook or do laundry even better. Score!

I could go on and on, the list of my loves are vast, but I will throw out one more.. Books.. the ability to read and process the multitude of words contained in a book is the greatest gift that could be granted I believe. Growing up I remember trips to the library during the summer and you threw open the door and walked into the dimly lit book lined walls. The smell was library smell, it was hushed in contrast to the traffic outside, and you stood before the rows and rows like you would stand before the alter in church. You have to touch their spines, and treat them with reverence. Within the covers of a book you can learn, dream, laugh and cry. Your imagination is used not a keyboard, controller, or other costly appliances. 

So there you go, now go out and be with the one you love, love the one you're with, or buy a book but have a fabu VDay.

Until next time...ME

  

Branded For Life..and death

Nearly every morning after I get everyone off to work and school I take my morning coffee into my little office/work room, sit at my computer, and turn on my local talk radio channel. It is a great way to start the brain turning in an effort to tackle the day, or in some cases get the blood flowing to the point that you want to grab someone by the shoulders and shake them really hard. That was the way I started my day today...

I should qualify my following comments by stating that I don't not label myself a conservative person or a liberal either. I believe what I believe and hold on to the values that I have and rarely do I ever try and force them onto anyone else. In other words, I make a concerted effort not to judge others least I be judged, but there are some things that I hear or read that enrage me to no end, especially stories about ill done to children and the stupidity of some people who become "parents".  There are times when I hear about things that go on in this country when I begin to think that perhaps before you can conceive a child you should be able to pass a common sense test, if the test results states "it's a wonder you have lived this long", then perhaps you should rethink this whole procreating thing. The reason for my tirade is simple. On the radio this morning there was a story about a woman from the Atlanta area of Georgia who was arrested because she took her 10 year old son to get a tattoo to memorialize her 12 year old son, his brother who was murdered. The mother was upset about being arrested because she said her son wanted the tattoo and after all its her kid so she should be able to do what she wanted to with him (I am quoting what she said in an interview, I swear). When he was asked why he wanted it he said so he could remember his brother.  

I am not against tattoo's. Before it was cool, in, the quasi-norm that it is today my mother had a small tattoo of her initials above one of her knees. When I asked her about it she told me that, like many things she did before she married my father, she was "young and stupid" when she had it done. I thought it was cool, but she would go through great pains to hide it, placing a small band-aid over it even when she wore hose, so that people would think she had had a leg shaving accident. Many members of my family have tattoos, but I have never gotten one, even though there have been several times in my life that I have wanted to get one. It's not that I am afraid of getting one, it's just that I probably have just enough medical knowledge to remind me of the dangers and a general mistrust of mankind to allow anyone to permanently draw something on my body even in a discrete location in case of spelling errors or lack of artistic skill. I know that there are the majority of people that don't think the way that I do, however there are laws in place for a reason here in the good old USA.  In the state of Georgia, you can not get a tattoo until the age of 18. Simple, and I will say that the radio host playing devils advocate asked his listeners if this was a case of too much government in people's  business, and many on the station's Facebook page said yes. But there are occasions such as this, where the laws are in place to prevent illness or even death. Every year 10,000 people in America die from a disease called Hepatitis C. This is a blood born disease, the Center for Disease Control is tracking the fact that the leading cause of this epidemic in this country right now is from people getting tattoos at shops that do  not take proper precautions to prevent it. You are twice as likely to get Hep C or it's relative Hep B from getting inked than a IV injecting drug user says the CDC's report. Other not so fun diseases they are tracking from the ink shops are AIDS, Tetanus, Tuberculosis, and MRSA also know as the flesh eating bacterial disease to name a few. MY question is what kind of parent would willing take the chance that his/her child could contract one of these life threatening illnesses in the first place?  Is it not the job of a parent to at least attempt to prevent harm coming to their offspring? To me this is like handing them a gun allowing them to play Russian Roulette.

My child has come to me with some wacky requests in her nearly 16 years of life. When she was 10, the same age as the boy who got this tattoo, she wanted a pet tiger cub (don't laugh, in my family it is actually possible) and when asked where we would keep it because we had at that time 4 dogs and 2 cats she said it would live in her room. Besides the fact that like the dogs, cats, subsequent fish and gerbils I would be the one that would end up taking care of the tiger cub, but tigers are a dangerous thing. I would never put her life and limb in such danger even if she cried herself to sleep nightly for wanting one, it wasn't happening. She has also asked as she has seen her sisters and cousins getting tattoos when she may get one as well. We've pointed out the diseases that she could get, we've explained that like all the rest of the pop culture "fads" that have come and gone (belly button piercing for one) that this too shall pass and one day in the future all these tattooed people may find it difficult to get employment, and finally we told her that when you turn 18, don't live in our house and can pay for it your self, if you still want a tattoo, go for it, in hopes that the knowledge we have shared will probably take that long to reach her brain because there is a back up of hormones right now slowing the knowledge flow. By the way, she now understands that tiger cubs belong on game preserves and not bedrooms. But that just goes to show that what we want at 10 changes at 16, 18, and 48. 

As to the woman's statement that it was her kid and she should be able to do whatever she wanted to with him I say, in the old days children where considered property, which led to children working and expiring in sweat shops, children are not property to do with what you want, they are people who must follow the laws as well as are protected by laws. You, madam have failed the common sense test, it is a wonder you have survived this long yourself. It is a shame that she may very well loose another child, this time not to death but her own ignorance because it is obvious to me that she either thought it would be cool if her son was walking around with a memorial to the one she lost or she lacked the parenting skills to say no come back when you are 18 and ask. May the Georgia judicial system be swift.

Until Next Time..ME

The Icon the Mouse Killed

The Icon the Mouse Killed


Sorry dear readers that I have not posted a blog in a while, but the holidays are over, thankfully, and I am ready to get back on my beloved schedule. Today I am going to talk about the death of the soap opera One Life To Live. This topic isn't important to many readers I am sure, but if you have ever stayed home from school or work sick I am willing to bet you have watched at least some or all of a daytime drama in your life time. Perhaps your mother or grandmother watched her "stories" during the day while doing her house work. The cancellation of this American institution is important to myself and millions of others, so bare with us while I mourn.

I began watching daytime dramas very young, at my mother's knee if you will. I remember her watching "The Edge of Night", "Secret Storm", "Days of Our Lives" and "Dark Shadows" before I even began school. My favorite was "Dark Shadows" it still is as I have it cued up on my Netflix, and am eagerly awaiting the upcoming movie starring Johnny Depp. When I started school, I could not wait to get home to watch it and because of my twice-a-year tonsil issues growing up there would be usually two weeks of soap watching with my mom during school and and of course all summer long. Soaps where hardly ever in reruns back in the day. Fast forward to my teenage years. In 1976 I began watching "General Hospital" It was the days before Laura met Luke and they became a super couple that was even talked about in prime time. I had found my own "story", and during the summer I would turn on the television early and watch "All My Children", "One Life to Live", as well as GH. I will admit though, as I grew up I lost interest in All My Children and could never really rekindle a love for it, and One Life to Live became something that was on before General Hospital which I still watch religiously today, until three years ago. That is when OLTL stole my heart yet again.

Starr was pregnant, Todd was being Todd though we found out he was really his twin Victor, and Dorian was just all over the place. If you have never watched the show, you have no idea what I am talking about, but millions of us worldwide know, they have become like family members to us. When we get together we talk about the characters like they are real people, and even if we are strangers, we are bonded together by our Llanview, Pennsylvania family. A year ago after months of swearing that the rumors of cancellation where untrue, ABC the American Broadcasting Company owned by Disney announced that "All My Children" and "One Life To Live" where indeed being cancelled. They stated that the viewers wanted information not entertainment, and commenced to fire thousands of people on both the east coast and west coast that where involved with these shows, replacing them with what they admitted where low budget information shows. "The Chew" starring a couple of chefs who had outlived  their usefulness to The Food Network and "The Revolution" starring Ty Pennington and more people that I personally have never heard of. Millions of viewers cried foul. Campaigns began for fans to email, call, fill out coupons to mail in, and rally at ABC affiliates all over the country, but sadly we could do nothing effective to save our soaps. Then prior to the demise of All My Children a company named Prospect Park appeared to save the day, promising to put our soaps on line. Later when they said they just couldn't make it happen just a couple of weeks ago, did many of us viewers realize it was probably just smoke and mirrors to quiet down the out cry that was causing so much discomfort for the House of Mouse.

So here we sit, 1 week left until One Life to Live ends fittingly on Friday the 13th.  This past Thursday #OLTL trended  on Twitter for the entire time it was on in all the different time zones in the US, Friday it trended world wide. Thursday the drama had me on the edge of my seat and my chest hurting, on Friday I was reduced to sobbing. I realized I felt like I was being divorced, my best friend was moving away or worse passing on to the great unknown all rolled into one. Mainstream media is even writing articles touting that this is the worst mistake ever made by ABC as far as programming goes. So what will I be doing with my time Monday through Friday from 1 to 2 pm CST after this week? Not watching ABC. I still stand with the boycott. The only show that the network airs I watch will be General Hospital. If it is cancelled, ABC and the other channels under Disney will be blocked on all 3 of my televisions. And I will continue to assist in my small way in trying to find a new home for the soaps. After all, my reality, the one life I live  is enough reality for me. I want to be entertained.