This is why I'm hot

this is why, this is why, this

well, not so much anymore. We've had an electrician take care of the weird phenomena of blown fuses for electrical devices running down the center of our house. No ceiling fan for a week. We're good to go now, though. It's only 100 degrees in the shade today.

I'm waiting for my wife, my daughter, my ex-husband and his stepdaughter to come back from a Nickelback concert. Periodic text msgs come through with "Puddle of Mudd rocks" or "Not too hot out here" or "Leaving no later than 10:15."

This weekend, Matt gave us the shirt off his back, we were asked to be godparents for their baby Kurt, and R got a certificate for lasting 1244 days as Matt's friend. We have the folded up b&w 8.5x11 inkjet printout to prove it, too. Verily.

Shan and them have this cute cava-poo puppy, and they named her Hope, no doubt after their second-chance relationship. The cat Snackers seems to be hell on wheels, and hopefully they won't encourage her mean behavior. Nhu had a mean cat that would do devilish, nasty things to people, and it just wasn't good. She ended up back in the pound, and to be honest, for the silver beauty that she was, I dearly hope she didn't find a home with children. But I digress. Didn't get to see Hallie and the Logan tonight, but maybe next time. Game night? I don't know.

Read most of my chapters in my copywriting book. There are some smartly written tidbits in there. Some I already knew, but from a copy editor's standpoint, not much of it mattered before. I never had to be in front of the client. I have to learn some social skills I guess. I know I can't please everyone all the time, but I piss some people off most of the time.

I've made chicken and dumplings, and I'm workingo on chili now. I'm going to divide up this brisket shortly and put it in the oven all night to roast. This family eats some serious meat, I'm tellin' ya. I think it's the ex's birthday soon, so we need to do dinner.

Amanda wrote a great story. Once I finish typing it in, I will post it online for the ho' wi' whirl.

Another banana post from Andi

Ok, here's the article that changed my life.

Look out for the big banana

11:22 AM CST on Monday, January 8, 2007

SAN ANTONIO – A Canadian artist hopes to make the Texas sky his canvas by sending a 1,000-foot-long helium-filled-banana to float overhead next year.

"I want to bring some humor to the Texas sky," Montreal artist Cesar Saez, 38, told the San Antonio Express-News for its Sunday editions.

If the plan works, the giant bamboo and paper dirigible will be launched from Mexico in summer 2008. It will then drift eastward over Texas at a stratospheric altitude of 20 miles.

"There's no question this is a serious artistic project," said Donna Balkan, a spokeswoman for the Canada Council for the Arts. "It's a work of public art, but what makes this project unusual is that he's using the sky as his venue rather than a park or street corner."

After reading this, i wrote to my wife and our good friend...

Some guy in Dallas Canada has a dream. In Quick today (a local paper), I read that
this guy wants to float a large helium-craft over the Dallas skyline. It's
in the shape of a banana. At some point in his daydreaming and
goal-achieving, he said to himself, "Dallas needs to see a large banana
balloon. That will be fun." And then someone else hears about this dream and
says, "Hey, that's a great idea. I will write about the big banana balloon
and tell thousands of people how fun that will be." So now I get to read how
some guy, whose name I don't recall or care to, has a goal of flying a
phallic fruit over Dallas, and other people agreed that this was splendid,
fantastic thing! so let's move forward with that. And if you note at the end someone was quoted saying "there's no question that this is a serious artistic project." By golly, who am I to question that kind of art?

And here I sit moaning and writhing about my goals and my career. All I need
is to talk to people. I just need to make sure that I know what I want, and then
tell people about it. That's IT! It sounds so easy, but I don't LIKE to talk
to people! I don't need to learn to program in HTML, or use
InDesign or even project management. I need to learn how to talk to people.
To strangers. And do public speaking. And, oh how hateful this is, even
marketing. But somewhere, somehow, someone wants my big banana, and I'm
gonna give it to 'em.

Fold up the branches

Yesterday, Andi made a list of chores for Amanda. The list was rather basic or so we thought. Andi had run to home depot and to the post office. She thought it was safe to leave us alone or maybe she considers it a risk each time. :) Anyway, the request as written: "Fold up the tree branches." Andi wanted her to fold up the branches on the Christmas tree so we could put it back in the box. It was the only thing left of the decorations to put away at this point. Amanda seeks clarity. So I go thru this whole visual demonstration and explain how to do it. As I am talking Amanda gets more and more horrified. I can not figure out why this is bothering her so. Eventually she ask, "all of the branches?", "Yes, all of them", I say. She repeats the questions but is near tears at this point. "I don't understand why Mommy wants me to do that." Then she says, "Every tree? And I really don't think I can get up that high" and I say "WHAT? Are you on crack?" She thought Andi was asking her to do to this to the trees out in the backyard.

I can see the new service offered by lawn care folks: Tree folding $99 per tree. Sleek! Trim! Bound trees for every occasion.

Cat in Heat!

This morning before the sun came up Andi and I woke up with a start. There was a horrible sound that I could not quite figure out. Andi and I quickly glanced at one another quizically. At first we thought it was Amanda talking in her sleep. We confirmed that was not it. Then, I thought it was a small child crying. Then, it sounded like an old lady saying "Oh Lordy...Oh Lordy" We were a bit concerned and so we got up put on our slippers and headed outside. I was a bit frightened at what we might find but it turned out to be a cat in heat.

THAT IS JUST WEIRD!!!!

new year

Andi and I both have done some thinking for the new year. One of my goals is to write on this blog more. Life moves so fast that I can not seem to keep up or remember. I do not expect this blog to generally be all that exciting so I am sorry to you folks who were looking for constant wit. However, I would like to utilize this free space blogger has offered to the world.

Right now I am home alone, and ummm cleaning house, while Andi is taking Amanda to the doctor. Amanda can not shake her cough. I thought I was catching it yesterday but woke up better today.

This weekend we had a dinner party here at the house. It was just the family and not even all of the family. Nancy was ill and could not attend. We played imagine If and poker. It was a nice visit. These things always seem easy but because we slept late we got a late start on the day. We did buy some great food though. Personally, I had a great time putting the food together. Andi swept and mopped the floor while I did the food. I made this one thing with candied pecans and cream cheese with chives on a wheat thin. I think I will call it the Brenda special.

I also wrote a short story about a snowman that was not all that great. Perhaps I will post it for the heck of it. Basically the only true part of the story is that mom walked to work in the snow. The rest of it pure fiction or so I think. When thinking of childhood the memories often get jumbled.

I can not believe they actually hung Sadam. Andi and my first thoughts were that it was a hoax and they did not follow thru. What do you guys think? Also, I heard it was already on you tube. If that is true there are sickos in the world. Who wants to watch such a thing? Teenagers??