Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Thankful for the school we are in
The subject of Valentine's Day came up at work today. One of my childless co-workers has a teacher husband. His class is not having a Valentine's party because one of the children in the class does not celebrate Valentine's day. Instead they are having a "day before winter break party." Huh? Like that is somehow better than getting a bunch of fancy cards and candy and treats! I don't think so! Just have the damn party and maybe this child could share with the class exactly why his family doesn't celebrate Valentine's Day. It might be interesting, the kids might actually learn something.
Long ago, when my first child was a baby, and my husband and I were house hunting, we thought distantly into the future about schooling. A looming thought was that we would probably have more than one child and, if we did, we probably wouldn't be able to send them to private school, at least not the private schools that we might like to send them to and still be able to afford college. Homeschooling has never really been an option because I don't really like to stay home, I also enjoy working and since homeschooling usually falls to the mother during the day, this didn't seem like it would be a viable option for us either. We decided to bet on staying in whatever neighborhood we bought our house in at least until our oldest was school age and chose instead to buy not a super great house in a super great neighborhood.
While I would love to have a new and possibly bigger home, I realize that we won't be able to do that anytime in the near future and stay in the neighborhood that we are currently in. Now, for the school. It is pretty much like being in a private school without paying tuition and the parties are fantastic. Why have parties at school? Maybe because they are fun and only happen about once a season. At our school we always have fantastic Halloween parties, which is great for me as Halloween is my favorite holiday. Sometime we get in a Thanksgiving feast, in the younger grades we have a festival of light and cultures around the world in December. In February there is Valentine's day, then St. Patrick's Day, and May Day, and the end-of-the-year parties. It helps to have parent involvement, another thing that I look for in an elementary school and we have that in spades. The PTA, though often a target of humor, is really important and so is the school auction that we hold every year. Those private funds can really enhance any public school program.
So when I hear that some schools don't have any holiday parties or have to alter their parties so that they don't represent the holiday on the calendar, I realize that I am kind of out of it when it comes to what is going on in schools in the country at large. When I hear about this kind of thing it makes me think of that episode of South Park where the kids in lieu of holiday celebrations (because they couldn't have any) chose instead to hold as mascot a piece of poop and celebrate it in honor of political correctness. Yes, that was funny, maybe based more on reality than I realized at the time.
Now I could say that I would send my kids to a poorer school, I can't say a more diverse school, because our school is very diverse. I heard recently that our school is known by name in Korea and people actually move here for a year or more to enroll their children in it. But my kids are not a social science experiment. While I do care for children at large, I can do that on my own time. Personally I would rather sacrifice daily for the good of my own children rather than have them sacrifice daily for the good of other children at their own expense.
So there you have it, my calendar is blocked out this Friday afternoon, I have three Valentine's Day parties to attend and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.
Long ago, when my first child was a baby, and my husband and I were house hunting, we thought distantly into the future about schooling. A looming thought was that we would probably have more than one child and, if we did, we probably wouldn't be able to send them to private school, at least not the private schools that we might like to send them to and still be able to afford college. Homeschooling has never really been an option because I don't really like to stay home, I also enjoy working and since homeschooling usually falls to the mother during the day, this didn't seem like it would be a viable option for us either. We decided to bet on staying in whatever neighborhood we bought our house in at least until our oldest was school age and chose instead to buy not a super great house in a super great neighborhood.
While I would love to have a new and possibly bigger home, I realize that we won't be able to do that anytime in the near future and stay in the neighborhood that we are currently in. Now, for the school. It is pretty much like being in a private school without paying tuition and the parties are fantastic. Why have parties at school? Maybe because they are fun and only happen about once a season. At our school we always have fantastic Halloween parties, which is great for me as Halloween is my favorite holiday. Sometime we get in a Thanksgiving feast, in the younger grades we have a festival of light and cultures around the world in December. In February there is Valentine's day, then St. Patrick's Day, and May Day, and the end-of-the-year parties. It helps to have parent involvement, another thing that I look for in an elementary school and we have that in spades. The PTA, though often a target of humor, is really important and so is the school auction that we hold every year. Those private funds can really enhance any public school program.
So when I hear that some schools don't have any holiday parties or have to alter their parties so that they don't represent the holiday on the calendar, I realize that I am kind of out of it when it comes to what is going on in schools in the country at large. When I hear about this kind of thing it makes me think of that episode of South Park where the kids in lieu of holiday celebrations (because they couldn't have any) chose instead to hold as mascot a piece of poop and celebrate it in honor of political correctness. Yes, that was funny, maybe based more on reality than I realized at the time.
Now I could say that I would send my kids to a poorer school, I can't say a more diverse school, because our school is very diverse. I heard recently that our school is known by name in Korea and people actually move here for a year or more to enroll their children in it. But my kids are not a social science experiment. While I do care for children at large, I can do that on my own time. Personally I would rather sacrifice daily for the good of my own children rather than have them sacrifice daily for the good of other children at their own expense.
So there you have it, my calendar is blocked out this Friday afternoon, I have three Valentine's Day parties to attend and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Happy Epiphany
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany. The word "epiphany" comes from an ancient Greek word meaning "manifestation" or "striking appearance." Before Christianity, the word was used to record occasions when Greek gods and goddesses made appearances on earth.
In the Eastern Church, which includes the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches, today is a general celebration of God's becoming man. It includes celebrating a whole host of things: the birth of the baby Jesus, the revelation of Jesus' divinity to the rest of the world — like to the Magi visiting from Persia — and most importantly in the East, Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River.
Centuries after the Eastern Orthodox Church began celebrating the Epiphany, the Roman Catholic Church decided to start doing so too. But for some reason, the Western Church really latched on to this image of the Persian priests bringing gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold to the infant Jesus, guided from their homeland of Iran by a shining star. The Magi are mentioned only in Matthew's Gospel and he never specified how many magi there were — just that there were three gifts. In 1857, the Reverend John Henry Hopkins Jr. wrote some lyrics for a seminary Christmas pageant, a song that begins: "We three kings of Orient are / Bearing gifts we traverse afar / Field and fountain, moor and mountain / Following yonder star."
I usually like to take the Christmas tree down on this day. That is the big celebration around our house. The problem is that the tree is not completely undecorated and I really don't want to do it by myself. I am thinking that it would be best to wait until Saturday and have my husband and father-in-law do it together!
At one time I heard a story about a college professor who used to like to go on long walks. He like especially to walk with his dog. The dog was called "Epiphany" or "Piphy" for short. This was because this professor would often have enlightening thoughts while tramping around the forest, with his dog.
In the Eastern Church, which includes the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches, today is a general celebration of God's becoming man. It includes celebrating a whole host of things: the birth of the baby Jesus, the revelation of Jesus' divinity to the rest of the world — like to the Magi visiting from Persia — and most importantly in the East, Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River.
Centuries after the Eastern Orthodox Church began celebrating the Epiphany, the Roman Catholic Church decided to start doing so too. But for some reason, the Western Church really latched on to this image of the Persian priests bringing gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold to the infant Jesus, guided from their homeland of Iran by a shining star. The Magi are mentioned only in Matthew's Gospel and he never specified how many magi there were — just that there were three gifts. In 1857, the Reverend John Henry Hopkins Jr. wrote some lyrics for a seminary Christmas pageant, a song that begins: "We three kings of Orient are / Bearing gifts we traverse afar / Field and fountain, moor and mountain / Following yonder star."
I usually like to take the Christmas tree down on this day. That is the big celebration around our house. The problem is that the tree is not completely undecorated and I really don't want to do it by myself. I am thinking that it would be best to wait until Saturday and have my husband and father-in-law do it together!
At one time I heard a story about a college professor who used to like to go on long walks. He like especially to walk with his dog. The dog was called "Epiphany" or "Piphy" for short. This was because this professor would often have enlightening thoughts while tramping around the forest, with his dog.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Happy Snowy New Year
We travelled soon after Christmas, into the mountains in search of snow. Some people enjoy going someplace sunny over the holidays, but I always get the itch for snow this time of year. When we first arrived at our destination, there was very little snow on the ground and we were all a bit disappointed. Then, on New Year's Eve, it began to snow buckets and buckets. There was amazing new snow for the kids to sled and play in. We didn't make it up to the downhill slopes this vacation, but we did take the kids on two short cross-country ski trips in ungroomed areas and they loved it, we loved it, and today it was even sunny! As with all great things, vacation must end and we are now back home this evening. I was ready to come home though and that is usually a sign that one as had a great trip. That is true in my case. Happy New Year!Saturday, December 12, 2009
Kneading Bread Dough and Holiday Traditions
When I first started this blog, I promised myself that it wouldn't become a "homemaking blog" although it is difficult for me to avoid homemaking altogether as I have three young children. So consider this a therapy post rather than a homemaking post.
It is that time of year again, the one where we get ready to celebrate Santa Lucia. This is one of the only holiday traditions that our family has carried over from my Swedish ancestors. This celebration includes the making of Lucia buns. Of course I could probably buy something similar to Lucia buns or we could just have jam and toast, but I started making them a few years back and found that I rather enjoyed the process.
Yesterday was a long day. I had a hair appointment and have determined that I just don't have the time to sit around getting my haircut by someone else. Perhaps it is time that I learned to do it myself. This set the whole day behind. We went to see Santa Claus and the line was long. My kids have pretty much started to not believe in Santa anymore, this whole process is more about me taking them to have their picture taken. In the end they had fun, I just wonder how many more years I will be able to drag them out to get their perfect Santa picture. There was a twenty-one-year-old in line ahead of us with her mother. She was giving her mother one last Santa picture, so this gave me hope!
Now back to bread dough! Last night I made up the dough for the Lucia buns and started kneading it. Once I started, I found that I didn't want to stop. My hands were a mess, but the feel of the soft dough, rolling it rhythmically back and forth and pushing it down at each turn was somehow therapeutic for me, I found that I started to actually relax. This got me to thinking about how the pioneer women must have made it through difficult times without support. Maybe kneading bread dough was part of what helped them through a difficult life. Maybe there are some other household tasks that have this same effect, but I haven't found them yet. In the meantime, during this busy holiday season, maybe I will have to find more time to knead.
It is that time of year again, the one where we get ready to celebrate Santa Lucia. This is one of the only holiday traditions that our family has carried over from my Swedish ancestors. This celebration includes the making of Lucia buns. Of course I could probably buy something similar to Lucia buns or we could just have jam and toast, but I started making them a few years back and found that I rather enjoyed the process.
Yesterday was a long day. I had a hair appointment and have determined that I just don't have the time to sit around getting my haircut by someone else. Perhaps it is time that I learned to do it myself. This set the whole day behind. We went to see Santa Claus and the line was long. My kids have pretty much started to not believe in Santa anymore, this whole process is more about me taking them to have their picture taken. In the end they had fun, I just wonder how many more years I will be able to drag them out to get their perfect Santa picture. There was a twenty-one-year-old in line ahead of us with her mother. She was giving her mother one last Santa picture, so this gave me hope!
Now back to bread dough! Last night I made up the dough for the Lucia buns and started kneading it. Once I started, I found that I didn't want to stop. My hands were a mess, but the feel of the soft dough, rolling it rhythmically back and forth and pushing it down at each turn was somehow therapeutic for me, I found that I started to actually relax. This got me to thinking about how the pioneer women must have made it through difficult times without support. Maybe kneading bread dough was part of what helped them through a difficult life. Maybe there are some other household tasks that have this same effect, but I haven't found them yet. In the meantime, during this busy holiday season, maybe I will have to find more time to knead.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Christmas Anxiety
It is that time of year again. The advent season leading to Christmas. I do like Christmas, generally, I love the warmth and celebration in the air, more festive gatherings in order to spend time with friends. The thing that I don't look forward to much is the gifts. More specifically, the gifts that I need to get for my children. My younger two are still at the age where they like to open a lot of presents and they count their gifts. This brings me to the anxiety that hit me today. It happened when I ordered a gift for one of my children on-line. I had wanted to get this and all gifts for my children at stores this year. When I reflect upon the "why" of this decision, I realized that it had to do with our Christmas in the Northwest last year.
We were pounded by snowstorms. Now I realize that in many areas of the country this is the norm this time of the year. It isn't the norm here. We have hills and lots of them. We also live in a damp climate. When it gets cold and snows and freezes there is ice everywhere. Ice and hills do not make for good driving conditions and as we are so unprepared in this part of the country roads are not plowed. They are not sanded or salted either because of our close proximity to Lake Washington. Suffice it to say, all of our on-line gifts, most were for the kids, did not make it in time for Christmas. I found myself going through the birthday gift bin, those pre-bought sale gifts that I sometimes keep on hand for birthday parties and those were their Santa gifts, not things that they had asked for, some of those didn't come until 2-3 weeks after Christmas. This is a lesson in delayed gratification if there ever was one.
Flashback to Christmas 2006. We suffered from a huge windstorm in this area right before Christmas. Our grid was out of power for seven days. Grids surrounding us were restored in 2-3 days. It took the energy company quite a bit more time to get around to removing the huge Douglas Fir tree laying on the power lines that supplied our grid. It was difficult to drive a block from our house and see everyone else's lights on and know that their house temperature must certainly be above the 45 degrees on our home register. The next Christmas, 2007, I felt stress when I took out the Christmas decorations because of flashbacks to that very challenging Christmas season.
Weather around this time of year has increased my anxiety level at the holidays. I feel myself going into prepared mode, I feel a need to have everything organized and done early in case there is foul weather to mess up holiday plans. I think it will be easier when my kids are older and I don't have to worry so much about the timeliness of the gifts. When they are older they will also have more resilience regarding changes in holiday routine and tradition. In many ways I don't look forward to my children getting older, holiday time is not one of them.
We were pounded by snowstorms. Now I realize that in many areas of the country this is the norm this time of the year. It isn't the norm here. We have hills and lots of them. We also live in a damp climate. When it gets cold and snows and freezes there is ice everywhere. Ice and hills do not make for good driving conditions and as we are so unprepared in this part of the country roads are not plowed. They are not sanded or salted either because of our close proximity to Lake Washington. Suffice it to say, all of our on-line gifts, most were for the kids, did not make it in time for Christmas. I found myself going through the birthday gift bin, those pre-bought sale gifts that I sometimes keep on hand for birthday parties and those were their Santa gifts, not things that they had asked for, some of those didn't come until 2-3 weeks after Christmas. This is a lesson in delayed gratification if there ever was one.
Flashback to Christmas 2006. We suffered from a huge windstorm in this area right before Christmas. Our grid was out of power for seven days. Grids surrounding us were restored in 2-3 days. It took the energy company quite a bit more time to get around to removing the huge Douglas Fir tree laying on the power lines that supplied our grid. It was difficult to drive a block from our house and see everyone else's lights on and know that their house temperature must certainly be above the 45 degrees on our home register. The next Christmas, 2007, I felt stress when I took out the Christmas decorations because of flashbacks to that very challenging Christmas season.
Weather around this time of year has increased my anxiety level at the holidays. I feel myself going into prepared mode, I feel a need to have everything organized and done early in case there is foul weather to mess up holiday plans. I think it will be easier when my kids are older and I don't have to worry so much about the timeliness of the gifts. When they are older they will also have more resilience regarding changes in holiday routine and tradition. In many ways I don't look forward to my children getting older, holiday time is not one of them.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Why Hurry Christmas?
It's that time of year again, Halloween is barely over, Thanksgiving isn't even here, and the decorations and Christmas music are in full force all over town. Why does Thanksgiving have to be rushed every year? Can't we take even a moment in our hurried and harried society to pause and give thanks? This year, as with every other, it seems as though Thanksgiving is a mere stopping place, a touch point really, on the way to the full scale mania of materialism at Christmas.
As I went about my errands today, I tried to stop my ears against the Christmas songs blaring in all of the stores, I tried to ignore the shelves upon shelves of Christmas decorations and advertising for Christmas gifts, and I even attempted to shut out Christmas items that were already ON SALE! How's that for effort? I do hate to hurry Thanksgiving. I love Halloween, all of that candy and no relatives, and I love Christmas-just not so soon. I will continue to "shut out" the Christmas frenzy and not get wrapped up in it the best that I can until Thanksgiving weekend is over. It is going to be awfully hard to do though if I go out in public at all.
As I went about my errands today, I tried to stop my ears against the Christmas songs blaring in all of the stores, I tried to ignore the shelves upon shelves of Christmas decorations and advertising for Christmas gifts, and I even attempted to shut out Christmas items that were already ON SALE! How's that for effort? I do hate to hurry Thanksgiving. I love Halloween, all of that candy and no relatives, and I love Christmas-just not so soon. I will continue to "shut out" the Christmas frenzy and not get wrapped up in it the best that I can until Thanksgiving weekend is over. It is going to be awfully hard to do though if I go out in public at all.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Trying to Eeek out the Last Bit O' Summer
We had a wonderful camping weekend here at this little State Park. What a great place! And to think that I had never heard of it before. When I attempted to fill the group site that I had reserved here a couple of months ago, I was under the impression that Labor Day weekend would be nice and sunny. It usually is, has been for years, it seems. Not this year. Our small, but wonderful and very dedicated group, camped bravely through two nights of rain and wind. Yesterday was sunny and we enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach only to be beset with on and off showers throughout the evening which led into a torrential downpour as we were wrapping up the campfire. As tempting as it was to risk it and spend a third night, on again, off again morning showers convinced us that it was better to pack up our soggy shelters and enjoy a day doing indoor activities around the coast and head home towards night. That way we would all feel like we got a full extra day. We did. Now everyone is tired. Our wet gear is hanging in the laundry room, our tent is set up drying in our yard, and now I get to enjoy being in my own bed without the fear that my shelter may blow down upon me. Happy Labor Day.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy 4th of July
I consider myself to be a holiday person. Typically I enjoy most of the festivities that accompany any holiday. Although I don't enjoy anything that could be considered overly materialistic, like putting oneself in debt for Christmas presents. I just like the holiday, food, sometimes family, friends, a reason to have a day off of work and celebrate. When I was a child I lived in a small town. Every year our small town had the best Main Street parade. The traditional kind of parade with marching bands, old cars, floats, horses, and candy. I am told that there are still parades like this in the area that I now live, but I have been hard pressed to find one. What is more common is children riding decorated bikes, scooters, and pulling wagons. Sometimes there are a few typical parade festivities, but our local parades seem to be more about the local children riding through on some sort of decorated child transport system.
Now I certainly have nothing against children doing this, nor do I begrudge the parents their early morning labor in order to produce this patriotic effect, I just can't get into it. I have tried, but the fact of the matter is, aside from perching my lazy self on a float and waving to the crowds as I pass, I just don't want to participate in a parade, I want to be enterained by the parade. Now I am sure that my kids would probably enjoy decorating (or having me decorate) their bikes and pedaling down Main Street to cheers and waves. To be fair we have done this. Three times to be exact. One year (when we had one child) we decorated her jog stroller and walked with other families in the parade. There are so many families walking in these parades that I am surprised that there are any observers. Another year we pulled a decorated wagon and I seem to remember at one time scooters being involved in a parade. I tried to be a good mom and enjoy doing this, but I just didn't. I like to do fun things with my kids, often I put my needs last and do what they would consider to be fun even if I do not. I just don't find decorating kid transportation and walking them in the parade to be, dare I say, tolerable.
Then there is the early morning aspect. To be in the parade, which usually starts early in the morning, you have to arrive 30 minutes to an hour early on a holiday when I am dying to sleep in. Now that my kids are older, they sometimes sleep in too. That didn't happen today though, my younger two were on a sleep over and I was informed that they woke up gleefully and loudly at the crack of 5:30 am. I don't think that they will be returning to that friends house for another go 'round any time soon.
The other thing is that our town does not have a parade. There is a neighborhood parade in a neighborhood near us, if I went I would probably know quite a few people. Suffice it to say that this parade is pretty much only kids on bikes and scooters. There is also a parade in the town immediately North of us, less than ten minute drive. Neither of these are real community events for me. If I have to paraticipate and not be entertained by the parade it would at least be nice to have it be a community event.
Our family usually does not much of anything during the day of July 4th and then we go to a party late in the afternoon and watch fireworks at night. That is our celebration and aside from the guilt about depriving my kids of walking in a parade, I am happy with it.
Now I certainly have nothing against children doing this, nor do I begrudge the parents their early morning labor in order to produce this patriotic effect, I just can't get into it. I have tried, but the fact of the matter is, aside from perching my lazy self on a float and waving to the crowds as I pass, I just don't want to participate in a parade, I want to be enterained by the parade. Now I am sure that my kids would probably enjoy decorating (or having me decorate) their bikes and pedaling down Main Street to cheers and waves. To be fair we have done this. Three times to be exact. One year (when we had one child) we decorated her jog stroller and walked with other families in the parade. There are so many families walking in these parades that I am surprised that there are any observers. Another year we pulled a decorated wagon and I seem to remember at one time scooters being involved in a parade. I tried to be a good mom and enjoy doing this, but I just didn't. I like to do fun things with my kids, often I put my needs last and do what they would consider to be fun even if I do not. I just don't find decorating kid transportation and walking them in the parade to be, dare I say, tolerable.
Then there is the early morning aspect. To be in the parade, which usually starts early in the morning, you have to arrive 30 minutes to an hour early on a holiday when I am dying to sleep in. Now that my kids are older, they sometimes sleep in too. That didn't happen today though, my younger two were on a sleep over and I was informed that they woke up gleefully and loudly at the crack of 5:30 am. I don't think that they will be returning to that friends house for another go 'round any time soon.
The other thing is that our town does not have a parade. There is a neighborhood parade in a neighborhood near us, if I went I would probably know quite a few people. Suffice it to say that this parade is pretty much only kids on bikes and scooters. There is also a parade in the town immediately North of us, less than ten minute drive. Neither of these are real community events for me. If I have to paraticipate and not be entertained by the parade it would at least be nice to have it be a community event.
Our family usually does not much of anything during the day of July 4th and then we go to a party late in the afternoon and watch fireworks at night. That is our celebration and aside from the guilt about depriving my kids of walking in a parade, I am happy with it.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
What do you get when you combine?
Zombies wandering the streets by day
The famous "huggers"
Lots and lots of folks on stilts and unicycles
Colors waving in the sun
Naked cyclists
Beautiful handmade floatsAnd a whole lot of forest nymphs, tree guys, fairies, pirates, and political movers
You have the annual Fremont Summer Solstice Parade
Happy Summer Solstice Everyone!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Honoring Benito Juarez
I looked at my calendar today and realized that I had missed Benito Juarez birthday. Every year I celebrate the birthday of this great man with two of my friends and we MISSED it. Fan Girl and Silver Fox are you up for a belated celebration?Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Valentines Day 2009
When You Really, Really, Really Like a Love Song
Ahhhh...Ain't it Sweet!
Yes, Somebunny Loves Me!The first annual Valentines "potlove" party was a success. These were the love song winners:
Best Love Song, "Fly me to the Moon" Frank Sinatra
Worst Love Song, "Havin' My Baby" Paul Anka
"Earworm" "I think I Love You" David Cassidy
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Party Love Songs
After creating my playlist, I included the songs that I listed on my previous post as well as a few others that I found on my ipod, I have now been able to make my categories:
Best Love Song: "Love and Affection" Joan Armatrading
Worst Love Song: "All Out of Love" Air Supply
"Earworm" Song: "You'll Never Find" Lou Rawls
"You'll Never Find" was not my earworm song until yesterday. I made a playlist, downloaded some songs, and burned a CD to take to the party. In this process "You'll Never Find" has become my "earworm" song. Nowadays it would be considered elevator music, but I grew up in the '70's and it was popular on the radio and on turntables across the country. I don't think of the elevator when my "earworm" gets going, I think of hearing that music on the school bus (yes, the drivers could pretty much play what they wanted to back then), eavesdropping on adult conversation, watching my parents get ready to go out for the evening while I got to look forward to staying home with one of my older cousins, watching singers wearing pastel tuxedos on T.V., riding in the car with my mom when she was mad at my dad (she always had the radio on at those times and she always seemed to take us kids when she went on these drives, I never have found out why), playing outside without supervision for hours on end (we lived on a few acres of land), or watching the older hippie kids around town and wondering what I would be like when I grew up. All in all, not bad memories. I think that I will keep my "earworm" song this Valentine's Day.
Best Love Song: "Love and Affection" Joan Armatrading
Worst Love Song: "All Out of Love" Air Supply
"Earworm" Song: "You'll Never Find" Lou Rawls
"You'll Never Find" was not my earworm song until yesterday. I made a playlist, downloaded some songs, and burned a CD to take to the party. In this process "You'll Never Find" has become my "earworm" song. Nowadays it would be considered elevator music, but I grew up in the '70's and it was popular on the radio and on turntables across the country. I don't think of the elevator when my "earworm" gets going, I think of hearing that music on the school bus (yes, the drivers could pretty much play what they wanted to back then), eavesdropping on adult conversation, watching my parents get ready to go out for the evening while I got to look forward to staying home with one of my older cousins, watching singers wearing pastel tuxedos on T.V., riding in the car with my mom when she was mad at my dad (she always had the radio on at those times and she always seemed to take us kids when she went on these drives, I never have found out why), playing outside without supervision for hours on end (we lived on a few acres of land), or watching the older hippie kids around town and wondering what I would be like when I grew up. All in all, not bad memories. I think that I will keep my "earworm" song this Valentine's Day.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Love Songs for Valentines Day
We are going to a "potlove" party on Saturday night and we are supposed to provide some music, awards will be given for the following love song categories:
The Best Love Song of All Time
The Worst Love Song of All Time
An "Earworm" Love Song (one that you just can't get out of your head)
This is my list thus far, although I have not categorized these songs:
"Roses" Mary J. Blige
"Love and Affection" Joan Armatrading
"Silly Love Songs" and "My Love" Sir Paul McCartney and Wings
"You'll Never Find" Lou Rawls
"The Look of Love" Dusty Springfield
"Love you Madly" Cake
"Love will Keep us Together" Captain and Tenille
"Is this Love" White Snake
"I'm Still in Love with You" Al Green
"Baby I Love your Way" Peter Frampton
"Crazy Love" Brian McKnight
"Sweet Love" Anita Baker
"All out of Love" Air Supply
"The Look of Love" Diana Krull
While this is by no means a complete list, I am hoping that it will get me started. I think that I might just compile a "Love Song" playlist and let people vote. I will probably add "Girlfriend in a Coma" The Smiths, because that is more my type of love song.
The Best Love Song of All Time
The Worst Love Song of All Time
An "Earworm" Love Song (one that you just can't get out of your head)
This is my list thus far, although I have not categorized these songs:
"Roses" Mary J. Blige
"Love and Affection" Joan Armatrading
"Silly Love Songs" and "My Love" Sir Paul McCartney and Wings
"You'll Never Find" Lou Rawls
"The Look of Love" Dusty Springfield
"Love you Madly" Cake
"Love will Keep us Together" Captain and Tenille
"Is this Love" White Snake
"I'm Still in Love with You" Al Green
"Baby I Love your Way" Peter Frampton
"Crazy Love" Brian McKnight
"Sweet Love" Anita Baker
"All out of Love" Air Supply
"The Look of Love" Diana Krull
While this is by no means a complete list, I am hoping that it will get me started. I think that I might just compile a "Love Song" playlist and let people vote. I will probably add "Girlfriend in a Coma" The Smiths, because that is more my type of love song.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Winter Weather and Christmas Songs
Whoever wrote such lyrics as:
let, it snow, let it snow, let it snow
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
on the lane snow is glistening,
a beautiful sight, we are happy tonight
walkn' in a winter wonderland,
and other such lyrics about being cozy and warm inside
and spending time with family
while the delightful snow rains down outside
did not live in the 21st century. I am amazed at how ill equipped we are to deal with bad weather in our modern life. Where I live, we are gripped in the fist of the worst snow weather that this region has seen in probably over 60 years. Another point for global warming! Because we don't live in a snow-friendly environment, really hilly with snow turning to ice every night, nobody is prepared. While I like the notion of the "cozy indoor family nest," our family "nest" tends to drive each other crazy after a few days. Forget the friends and family, no one can get to each others houses and our out-of-state relatives have chosen to stay out-of-state for the holiday, leaving only the "cozy nest of just us five". This will also be the year that my kids will have to suspend belief in Santa, all of those carefully chosen and early ordered gifts have been stuck in transit. We haven't seen mail or a delivery in five days. I am trying to embrace what these song writers must have felt at the time that their music was written. It was maybe a simpler time in many ways, people lived closer together and didn't rely on cars, planes, and trains to reunite. As my children enjoy a less present laden holiday without grandparents, for the first time since their birth, and I enjoy cooking and cleaning the kitchen and sharing yet another day indoors with my "cozy" brood, I will try and remember, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful and, whether I want it to or not, it will snow, it will snow, it will snow.
let, it snow, let it snow, let it snow
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
on the lane snow is glistening,
a beautiful sight, we are happy tonight
walkn' in a winter wonderland,
and other such lyrics about being cozy and warm inside
and spending time with family
while the delightful snow rains down outside
did not live in the 21st century. I am amazed at how ill equipped we are to deal with bad weather in our modern life. Where I live, we are gripped in the fist of the worst snow weather that this region has seen in probably over 60 years. Another point for global warming! Because we don't live in a snow-friendly environment, really hilly with snow turning to ice every night, nobody is prepared. While I like the notion of the "cozy indoor family nest," our family "nest" tends to drive each other crazy after a few days. Forget the friends and family, no one can get to each others houses and our out-of-state relatives have chosen to stay out-of-state for the holiday, leaving only the "cozy nest of just us five". This will also be the year that my kids will have to suspend belief in Santa, all of those carefully chosen and early ordered gifts have been stuck in transit. We haven't seen mail or a delivery in five days. I am trying to embrace what these song writers must have felt at the time that their music was written. It was maybe a simpler time in many ways, people lived closer together and didn't rely on cars, planes, and trains to reunite. As my children enjoy a less present laden holiday without grandparents, for the first time since their birth, and I enjoy cooking and cleaning the kitchen and sharing yet another day indoors with my "cozy" brood, I will try and remember, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful and, whether I want it to or not, it will snow, it will snow, it will snow.
Friday, December 19, 2008
My Favorite Holiday Movie
Yeah, I know that it is corny, but I love this one. I did take a few years off of it though, even favorites can have a shelf life. I renewed my interest, several years ago and now I watch it every year. My kids don't even like it as much as I do. I will watch it again this year, probably by myself as everyone else is burned out.
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