I'm told I'm picky about music. This is probably true. The thing is, I love music, lots of different kinds of music, but I tend to form strong opinions for sometimes random reasons. I have completely arbitrary rules about what we can listen to in the car on the way to school. Thea likes to flip the radio channels and choose music, but she has to abide by my rules.
For instance, no Katy Perry. Because once she was a guest judge on American Idol and I couldn't stand her, plus I hate "California Gurls" because I think the lyrics are stupid. So, I decreed No More Katy Perry.
Also, I don't like songs in which the singer announces his name (I'm looking at you, Jason Derulo, and also at the three of you, Jay Sean, Sean Paul, and Lil Jon) because for one, it's arrogant, and for two, if you sound so much like a hundred other artists that you have to remind the listener who you are, why do we need you cluttering up the airwaves? Hence, No Saying Your Name.
I don't like Buckcherry's "All Night Long" because it has no hook, no musical piece of interest at all, it's just non-stop caterwauling. It's like hearing my kids whining and wailing at me for four minutes or whatever. Also, pretty much anything by Avenged Sevenfold. Tiresome. It sucks that I used to be into 98 Rock-type rock music, but now much of what they play seems just like a bunch of noise. Great! I'm officially old! No Buckcherry or Avenged Sevenfold.
But lest I (and you) think I'm just the grouch that hates all the kids' music these days, now and then something truly interesting and original will come on the radio and I'll perk up. Here are two things that caught my ear this past week: "Believe" by The Bravery -- This is a unique sound, leans to the alternative... but still you can turn it way up with the windows down on a late summer night and rock out as you drive.
"100 Yard Dash" by Raphael Saadiq -- Do yourself a favor and check this out. The video is cool too. Very retro and fresh, makes your hips want to move.
We went to Rehoboth Beach last weekend with friends and had a good time. I can't believe it was the only beach trip we've made yet this year. I hope to also go once to Ocean City after Labor Day, after the prices drop, but before it gets too cold to go in the water.
I don't have pictures from the July camping trip up yet, let alone beach pictures, but here is a picture of tonight's injury:
See my purple toe, second from the left? Tomorrow morning we'll see if I can move it, because tonight I can't and it hurts like #$^@.
I'm up to 23 books read for the year, which is the most since 2007. It feels good to be reading a lot and I hope it will get me in the mood to write some, myself, for Nanowrimo in November.
Becky: What did you see today? Holly: Spickle! B: What was it about? H: A bad guy. B: What did he do? H: He was mean. And there were yellow things. What were they? B: I don't know! H: Thea, what were the yellow things? Thea: Minions. H: Yes! B: Then what happened? H: There were girls, and they were good. And they went like this: [makes frowny face] B: That's all? H: Yep.
For all this personal data Facebook is supposed to be collecting and learning about me, they're doing a crappy job putting it together. First there was this:
I think even people who pass me on the street know my opinion of Nickelback.
"Jingle bells Frosty melts Jingle all the way Old MacDonald had a farm And ...unintelligible..."
Unrelated, there are ants all over the counter and the sink in the kitchen. I keep wiping and wiping but the little pests aren't going away. Usually we have two rainy periods a year and ants appear in certain spots around the house, but it's sure not rainy now. Maybe they were driven inside by drought this time?
A summer rainstorm knocked the 100 degree temperature down into the 80s. Woohoo! It also soaked the load of laundry I had hanging on the clothesline. Dammit...
Today's Hollyism: "I need a Band-aid for my finger or it's going to bleed! Is that what you want?!"
17 books read this year and I'm more than halfway through the 18th. My goal for the year was 15. At least I am exceeding expectations at something!
One of my Pandora stations I've tuned to what I call my "Writing Music" (even though I haven't done any significant writing in a while). It's mostly instrumental, atmospheric, mood music. Music that makes me feel a variety of emotions, just listening to it.
Here's something that station has been playing me for a couple of years: "Between Us And Them" by German electronica musician Ulrich Schnauss. This is music that will really take you away.
This time, I only knew she had gone to see a movie, but I didn't know which one.
Becky: What movie did you see? Holly: I don't know. B: Well what was the movie about? H: A bus! B: A bus? What did it do? H: It went to a scary place. There was fire. B: There was fire in the scary place? H: Yes! B: (still no idea what movie this was) Were there any kids in the movie? Any girls or boys? H: There was only one girl. And a cowboy. B: A cowboy, huh? Was the cowboy's name Woody? H: Yes! B: Did you see Toy Story 3? H: Yes!!!
A bus that went into a scary place with fire? I haven't seen "Toy Story 3" yet so I don't know what actually happened, but apparently this was the main plotline that stood out to Holly.
For the record, Tim Burton's recent "Alice In Wonderland" was described by Holly thusly: "A girl stabbed a dragon. That's all."
Holly went with her dad and sisters to see "The Karate Kid" (the 2010 version obviously) in the theater. Here is her take, in Q and A form.
Becky: What was the movie about? Holly: The Karate Kid. (duh, Mom) B: Oh? What did he do in the movie? H: SHE. It was a SHE. B: The Karate Kid was a girl? H: Yes. SHE. (Sorry, Jaden Smith.) B: All right. What did she do? H: She kicked! (Kicks her own foot into the air.) B: Oh yeah? Who did she kick? H: She kicked the bad guys! They were being mean to her!
And there you have it, plot summary of "The Karate Kid." She kicked the bad guys.
I tried "Mtn Dew Distortion," one of the three test flavors of Mountain Dew. It's described as "lime blasted." It tasted similar to when I used to squeeze limes into my regular Mountain Dew. Which was super tasty when I did it myself, but strangely not exciting when it was coming from the bottle that way. It tasted a little bit like dish soap smells.
Sorry, I'm still loyal to good old classic Mountain Dew.
This is Emily, the new member of the cat family. She's a lot of fun. :)
I have been working hard updating the photo albums on Zebranest, so check them out here: http://www.zebranest.net/photos. Lots of stuff up from the beginning of the year up to the end of May. Also, I'm looking to sail past my goal of 15 books read this year, since I'm already working on the 13th -- woohoo! You can see my reading list here. The older girls are supposed to be reading plenty this summer instead of rotting in front of the computer or Wii... you can check out their progress on their blog, Chickpeas.
A US Census worker stopped by my house yesterday to get my census information. But why? I had dutifully mailed in my census form weeks ago, AND I already took a phone call from a census worker who got all the information again. If this continues it'll look like Baltimore City consists mainly of white single moms of a ton of middle-schoolers and preschoolers.
I got a summons for Jury Duty, again. I went 30-some-odd years without anyone wanting me to be a juror, but now that they know I'll actually show up, I'm getting called every year. Unfortunately the date of my summons is right during my vacation in July so I have to call up the court and ask them to change it.
We have a new member of the family -- Emily, a nine-month-old kitten that we took in when a friend couldn't keep her. She's solid dark grey and very impish. I'll put up some pictures when I get my camera working -- it's on the fritz.
In gardening news, we have eaten the first strawberries! Picked a small bowl -- maybe 15 -- on Friday. The patch is in bad shape, overgrown with weeds, and after this harvest I'm going to try and relocate the plants.
The blackberry bush has blossoms and some things I assume will turn into blackberries.
I planted bean seeds at least three weeks ago, but they never came up. I replanted them Saturday as well as put seven pepper seedlings into the ground. Tonight I put in seven cauliflower plants.
Left to plant -- tomatoes that are currently in paper cups, and cucumbers I was planning to seed directly in the ground. Had a little surprise -- I found some volunteer cucumber plants growing over where I had them last year! There are about five plants all clustered together. One of them in particular is very robust and I'll have to do the rest of the garden around it, apparently!
So Thea and Faith (although mostly Thea) are obsessing over the new hottest thing: Silly Bandz. Basically these are like those jelly bracelets we used to wear in the 80s, except when taken off your wrist they take shapes -- animals, stars, letters, symbols, etc. I really don't understand what is so exciting about them, but they are being traded at school and I do remember what it was like to want desperately to be involved in the recess trading post (*cough* sticker albums *cough*). Anyway, the girls have been dying for their very own Silly Bandz for three weeks now but they're not easy to find since apparently every other middle schooler in the region is also dying for them.
Finally last night their dad took them to the mall and they found some at Claire's. These are in space shapes -- rocket ships, moons, planets -- and while they are definitely not the shapes my girls coveted, they glow in the dark! Ooooooooh! It was all Thea could talk about when I got home. Faith was similarly excited, but she was busy working on homework in her room.
I went up to see her and she had her 11 (she had given one of her 12 to Thea) Silly Bandz laid out on the floor while she was sitting on her bed doing her handwriting homework. I sat with her for a few minutes and talked to her. I dimly registered that the dog had followed me upstairs... you see where this is going, don't you.
The dog gobbled up all 11 of her Silly Bandz.
Yes... For Faith this was indeed a Woohoo Dammit moment (although since she's only 9 let's call it Yay Nuts) She finally got some Silly Bandz YAY! Not two hours later the dog ate them all NUTS!
April has been a good month for flowers. I missed getting a picture of the daffodils, which bloomed very early, but I only had a couple anyway.
But here are my tulips.
I swear I used to have several colors, but it seems I only have pink now, and only a few of them. But the irises:
The irises are spreading. They are from bulbs that sat in my shed for over a year before I finally got around to planting them. Hardy. This is the first flower.
The sprawling azalea that came with the house awes me every year. It is the most vibrant, stunning bush on the block. (Although it needs some pruning.)
I planted two new azaleas this year, and although I feared they wouldn't flower until next year, if they even survived, the purple one erupted about two weeks after the mature azalea bloomed.
It's small, just a tight mass of flowers. I love it.
I planted phlox last year under the mature azalea and although the plants lived, they didn't seem to be thriving. I was pleasantly surprised when they all bloomed this year -- little rugs of color.
And last but not least, my roses. The first flower came almost two weeks earlier this year than last year, I believe.
It has been open for about a week and already looks pretty rough, but it endured a couple of strong rain and wind storms. There are plenty more buds on the red rosebush, and the pink bush is budding too. The other two bushes are a little behind but I have faith in them.
No pictures until I find my missing camera (grrr) but we did a lot of work over the weekend that I want recorded.
April 6 -- Replanted the bulbs I dug up from the front of the house. In related news, I have blooming tulips. :) April 10 -- Weeded the rosebushes (which are growing excellently). Planted cauliflower, peppers and tomatoes in cups to sprout inside. Mowed the lawn. Put two new azaleas out front and made a nice mulched area bounded by old cut-up branches from the tree that fell in my yard two years ago. April 11 -- Tilled the vegetable garden area and the flower garden area. Did a lot of other yard/outside work unrelated to garden.
Played in the dirt yesterday. First I planted a blackberry bush.
Then I dug up some unidentified bulbs from the front of the house. I plan to replant them over on the side, although if they don't survive it's not a tragedy since I'm not even sure what they are. In their place I'm going to put two new azaleas.
The other side of the front of the house has a lovely mature azalea already, but the patch of land in front of it looks terrible. I put phlox there last year and it is still there, but has barely grown at all. I don't know how long it takes to spread, if indeed it spreads. And it's not flowering.
