Life On The Planet

All About Your Heart

I love you guys. Warts and all. (Especially the warts!)

P.S. This song has a wonderful story behind it.

Costumes

I've been working on a couple of costumes for the musical Butterfly is in.
The making of the costumes involves taking this...

stinky, old burlap, and turning it into this...

 
a cape fit for a queen. A Rat Queen that is. It's for The Pied Piper!

(It's not quite finished, but as soon as the hot glue gun burns heal, I'll get right back to it.)

Hog Wild at Wal-Mart

What the kids plan to buy with the Wal-Mart gift cards sent from Aunt the Major for Christmas: Wii games, digital cameras, camping gear,...

What I bought with my gift card: Ricola, Benadryl, a shower curtain (navy blue - very nice!), half-priced Christmas cards, dog food, the Twilight soundtrack (which was shortly thereafter confiscated by Butterfly) and 24 ROLLS OF TOILET PAPER. Woo-Hoo.

For an entire week I don't have to hear the following phrases:

"The dog wants food."
"I need a cough drop."
and (my personal favorite)
"WE'RE OUT OF TOILET PAPER!"

And if they decide to yell about something else, I'm cranking the music up.
A week of bliss...it's the ultimate Christmas gift.

Thanks, Aunt the Major. You rock!

More Holly & Ivy

I've been singing The Holly and The Ivy nonstop for the past two weeks. This musical experience is not enhanced by the fact that I don't know all of the lyrics. Sometimes I combine Aussie Kim's version and the traditional version. Sometimes I just make up my own lyrics.

"The math book and THE PEN-cil

Are there to help YOU LEARN.

IF you pick them up AND use them.

The school day-AY will adjourn."

I think it's fun and festive.

The kids are ready to vomit.

So guess what the choir sang during the offertory on Sunday!!!! You got it - THE HOLLY AND THE IVY!!! Butterfly's eye role was a thing of beauty. Even Tiger cringed.

Anyhoo, here is a version that is highly preferable to mine.

Twerpy British Anglicans...they think they can sing. I could show them a thing or two.

Just ask my kids. Er, maybe you should just take my word for it.

 

'Tis the Season...almost!

I haven't been feeling very festive this year. Usually by this point, the cards are addressed and stamped, the gifts are hidden and I'm backing cookies. This year...well, bah humbug. I'm tired. I'm sick. I'm sick and tired. Whine, whine, whine.

But today, ah today! I turned on the Christmas music and something magical happened.  I listened to Eartha Kitt sing Santa Baby! and suddenly I felt festive. Since then I have organized the Christmas lists, started the Christmas letter and spent quality time on American Girl dot com.

In the spirit of sharing the spirit, here are a few links to make you feel both warm and wintry.

No snow? Scribbit has plenty for all of us! Watch her power through a mile long sledding course. My kids are green - positively GREEN - with envy!

Once you're in from the cold you're sure to need some Candy Cane Cocoa! This sounds really good. (Not for the lactose intolerant!)

Looking for that unique gift item? Here's how to make a light-saber cozy...no joke. Somehow, to my way of thinking, light-saber and cozy just aren't words that should appear together in a sentence, but who am I to judge? It'll be slicing through the competition this holiday season.

Hope you enjoy the links. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been an awfully good girl this year. So, Santa Baby, if you're reading this, the list is on the dresser. It's not too long.

Coincidence? My kids don't think so.

On August 11, 1970 the Chattanooga Choo-Choo pulled out of the station for the last time. For the record, just because I happened to be born on the same day does not make it my fault that the era of train travel in the United States came to a screeching halt.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Kids. What do they know?

I'm in a Happy Land

No, I'm not strung out on painkillers. Well, maybe I am, but that's not what this post is about.

Butterfly just finished reading the Little House series. She tackled the first four books a couple of years ago, but just got around to reading the rest. I suppose she needed to be a few years older to appreciate them. Whatever the case, it's been Laura Ingalls Wilder Central at our house for the last few months.

One of the best parts of our Little House Fest has been the music. Butterfly has been playing Happy Lands: A Musical Tribute to Laura Ingalls Wilder 24/7.

It includes quite a few of the songs familiar to anyone who loves the books. Arkansas Traveler will get your toes tappin'. You'll think of Mary when you hear Highland Mary. Ma's favorite Hymn, Happy Land is on there, as well as The Big Sunflower which was Pa's "trouble song."

The music has been wonderful and a perfect antidote to my current troubles. It's hard to be grumpy when Oh! Susanna is playing!

The painkillers haven't hurt, either.

Graceland

Graceland with the Cub Scouts today.

I'm all shook up!

Thankyouverymuch.

Belly of the Whale

Have you ever seen the Veggie Tales movie, Jonah?  I have.  I've seen it a great many times. I really enjoyed it the first fifteen times I saw it. (I'm afraid it's appeal is floundering. Ha! But I digress.)

There is a song played during the credits that is by one of my favorite groups, the Newsboys. I don't care how many times I hear it, Belly of the Whale never gets old. I've recently realized that they wrote that song about my life. Seriously. Listen...

Up to my ears in bitter tears. (I live with an eleven year old female. Get the picture?)

Can't believe I've sunk this low

As I walk the plankton Inner sanctum. (Truer words have never been spoken to describe Tiger's room.)

It's not just the kids...

Got outta Dodge, (left Louisiana)

Sailed on a bon-less Bon Voyage. (8 hours, 3 kids, one geriatric dog and a yodeling cat. Oy.)

You said North, I headed south. (Well, they call themselves southerners here.)

Good Lord, that's a really large mouth... (Pick a kid, any kid.)

They comment on my forays into Pilates and Chemistry...

End times, they come rolling around. (Not funny, guys.)

Enzymes, they come breaking us down to the core. (Ain't that the Gospel truth?)

They comment on my housekeeping skills...

Bad food, lousy atmosphere.

And back to the children...

How long is this gonna take?

You know, sometimes you hear a song and it just speaks to your life.

It's a gut call.

A song can touch something deep inside you. It can remind you of those nearest and dearest to your heart.

I'm a paddle boat, paddlin' in their wake.

A song can perfectly sum up your condition in life.

It's a tight squeeze, it's a-gettin' to me

...But my unemployment pays. (Please, Lord, let them get scholarships!)

The right song will hit the nail right on the head.

I'm in the belly of the whale.

The way I figure it, sooner or later things have to work their way out.

Hmm, what rhymes with 'comet?'

Beware the Homeschoolers

It's a warning all should heed! Obviously, certain politicians have already seen this video. I think, however, if I were a politician, I would be hesitant to base any legislative reform on something I found on YouTube. But, hey, that's just me.