2/25/2009

Musical Crayons


Getting to participate in one of Splotchy’s Green Monkey Music Project mixes is always a treat. Being involved causes me to think which is something I’m not often accused of doing. This time, without realizing it (or thinking), I played for the third time helping me earn a badge of honour which will allow me to dream up a worthy theme for a mix at a future date.

My choices this time had to fit the theme that there be a colour in the title of the song. Following the rules of Scattergories (and thinking), I tried to come up with songs that most likely nobody else would, a task made easier by not signing on until everyone else had chosen theirs.

A few of my choices ended up with colours in the song title and the artist’s name so thank you for that, artist types. After poring back over the palette I chose, this is why I made the choices I did:

I like these songs and they have colours in the title.

To download my selections or those of the other contributors, head over to Splotchy’s place and get busy.

· Once in a Very Blue Moon - Mary Black
· Beautiful Red Dress - Laurie Anderson
· Crimson and Clover - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
· Orangedale Whistle - The Rankin Family
· The Song of Purple Summer - Lauren Pritchard
· Green Island Lullaby - Vienna Teng
· Pink Panther Theme - Pink Martini

2/24/2009

Terminal (Work) Station

It starts with a low rumble in the distance.  Soon after, water ripples in the glass on my desk.  A strange odour, louder sounds, footfalls. 

Whew and phew!  It's only the I.T. guy with the T. Rex arms and prehistoric smell here to check my computer.

2/21/2009

Six 6 Six


When a Princess asks you to do her bidding, you do what you must to get into the royal will.  She asked me to post on six quirks, facts or things about myself.  Being the most conservative looking kind of rebel you've ever seen, I refuse to post 'rules'.  It's six things, you'll figure it out.

In some particular order:

5.  I can't dance.  At all.  Unless I'm drunk.  But I don't really drink.  If I drank more, I'd pretend that I wouldn't want to join Coaster Punchman as he learns country and western dancing and instead, lead a big Bollywood style production number.  Watch for me coming to an Indian slum near you!

6.  While I may not be much of a drinker, I can still drink you under the table.  It's in my genes coming as I do from a long line of marathon drinkers.

1.  It took me a long time to come up with just the right name for my cat.  'Rizzo' suits her perfectly.  Now, I rarely call her by the name I anguished over.  If it pops into my head when I see her, that's what she gets.  Latest monikers include Bunny Kardashian and Kitty Kitty Dum Dum.  The 'b' in dumb is left off to preserve her dignity.

3.  Making seat friends (or single serving friends) leads to satisfying relationships.  Whenever I go to an opera or theatre event, I generally end up chatting with someone seated nearby who I don't know.  A laugh or opinion about whatever is playing is exchanged, we smile at each other and I never have to see them again.  No muss, no fuss.

4.  For someone who spends a fair bit of time on the Internet I generally leave it to others to find fascinating, funny or amazing items for me to view.  'My latest find' (thank you cousin Jessica) is Fail Blog.  Hilarious.

2.  I am going into sugar withdrawal.  Despair arrived but the fudge didn't.  My mother got the parcel she tried to send me back a second time and is now embroiled in a war with Canada Post.  They don't want to refund her the hefty postage she paid to try and send it to me (fudge is heavy!) but my money's on mom.  By the end of it, she'll have free stamps for life.

I'm supposed to tag people to play but since I don't touch anyone before donning a HazMat suit, I'll just invite them to give it a go this way:





and the rest.  





2/15/2009

Escape From Big Rock Candy Mountain

The blog card is on its merry way back to America proper but I have big hopes that afterward, it'll do a grand criss cross of Canada once more.  We've only just begun (what someone else begun)!

Still no sign of my mother's fudge but if it ever does show up, my plans now include laboratory testing before an official tasting.   My family hasn't been this interested in me in years so it's true I suppose that sugar really can bring people together.

In keeping with the sugar theme, may I present my new favourite snack...the cheesecake covered candy apple courtesy of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  Mmm mmm good!

If you don't hear from me for a while, I'm changing my excuse from good old fashioned laziness to sugar shock.

To weigh in on my hopes and dreams for American Idol this season (don't worry, they're not legion), you can check here.

2/10/2009

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

My fudge still hasn't arrived but I've no time to worry about that because something pretty spectacular showed up in today's post and it's been distracting me all day.  

A while back, Jen from Casual Slack and Amy from Mish Mash came up with a game of blog tag but of the sort that requires you to go postal.  

Amy's original card to Jen is a masterpiece nearly defying description.  It's now been seen in person by several bloggers, each who has added their own touches to it.  The card's been on tour through America and recently spent time in Scotland and Australia and it's now made it to the Great White North and into my grubby Canadian hands.  

If you'd like to be the next recipient of this work of art in progress, leave me a comment and I'll add something to it and it'll be on the next leg of the journey.  

The present incarnation of the card looks a little something like this.



The original card from Amy to Jen with additions by Jen, Chris and Miss Alex





Teri's postcard



Another lovely pussy card! 
 Nobody added a note and the back of the card is by Midleah

Sushiboy's card with nutritional and hilarious snack on the back, additional message from Sans Pantaloons inside



Sans shows off his hypnotic eyes, rhyming prowess and ripped bod.  Additional message inside by Scarlet (turn monitor upside down to read) and some hilarious card back antics from Sans


Some lovely scenes of Australia courtesy of Scarlet and family and a message on the back, have a look at the upper left corner of that postcard- yikes!



The paint's almost dry on my addition to things but first let me recap Jen and Amy's official rules:


Official rules & regulations:

• When You Get "The Card"post a photograph/scan of it's arrival & contents
• Ask readers to leave a comment if they want the card next
• Pick the blogger who is worthy
• THEN add your name / url plus a nice message or creative addition to the card
• Include a copy of the official rules with the card
• Send it on it's way to the next worthy recipient
• Send it out fast..
- no putting it on the mantle an admiring it for 3 weeks...
• Can a blogger who has already received the card - be sent the card again? - Yes!
• What if there is no room left on the card? -ADD A NEW PAGE - IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!


So?  Any takers? You know you waaaant it...

2/04/2009

And Piles of Snow Before I Sleep

It falls like snow at this time of year that many of us are stuck on the weather and my disappointment flows at finding myself outdoors at all so far ahead of a kinder season.  Not everyone is held hostage by the inconvenience of winter however;  my neighbour Honeypot, like the mail, generally manages to get delivered.

Her new man has wheels and big ones!  He courteously parks them on the far side of her lawn each night so as not to pull focus from the lonely car still for sale on the corner of her estate closest to my house.  

A few evenings ago, I was nearing my driveway when I spied a small Bobcat tractor crunching along the street toward me.  As it got closer, seated in the tiny cab I spied Honeypot, bundled up like the Michelin man clinging to her new fella.  He deposited her at the front door and this enchanting vignette ended with a frosty kiss before he headed back out, presumably to search for other souls in need of a man with a machine.  It's tough to say if the bigger growl came from them, me, or the tractor.  
I might have been happier at the end of this day had there been any mail.  My mother had called the week previous to say she'd sent me some of her homemade maple fudge.  The usual protocol after receiving it is for me to call, say how good it is, listen to her warn me not to eat it all at once and for me to pretend this hasn't already happened.

Depending on the motivation of the post office, packages usually arrive from the other side of the country within 2 to 4 days.  By day 6 when there was no sign of my sugary treat, I declared the letter carrier a thief and hoped he was suffering at the hands of his dentist.  On day 8, my mother called and ranted about what the post office could possibly have done with it.  On day 9, she got her answer.  She got the package back in her mailbox.  

When addressing mail to someone, the importance of including the actual address should not be underestimated.  Thankfully, she got my name right and did put the number of the house on it but didn't bother to write in the street name.  The post office clerk who helped her readdress it was kind enough to not laugh directly at her and sent it back to me at no additional charge.  

If this fudge ever gets here, I may well need help lifting my stale gift.  I plan to enquire about how much Honeypot's man charges, minus the kiss.