The Lola Shuffle - "The Short Week Edition"

Since we had Monday off in observance of Memorial Day, it's technically been a short week - but it sure didn't feel like one! I've worked my keister of this week. YAY weekend!

Shuffle'em up Lola...

1. Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles (pretty song)
2. Could You Be Loved - Bob Marley (not one of my favorites, but still good)
3. It's Been a Long, Long Time - Bing Crosby with The Andrew Sisters
4. 32 Flavors - Ani Difranco (OK, wow! Now there's a difference - Bing Crosby and Ani DiFranco! Although he did duet with David Bowie that one time...)
5. God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday (perfection)
6. Everlasting Love - Gloria Estefan (Lola hasn't shuffled up our home girl in a while...)
7. Just in Time - Tony Bennett
8. Roundabout - Yes
9. Big Spender - Shirley Bassey (Lola is going for the big voices today! Great song - great voice.)
10. Long Time Gone - The Dixie Chicks

Good job Lola - everyone have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Random Meme

I haven't posted a meme in forever! Here's a ragtag compilation of questions I've come across...

1. If you were stuck in traffic, who would you want to be stuck in traffic with? My friend Cris
2. Would you rather be late to the party, or the first person to arrive? First to arrive
3. Be honest, have you ever sung into your hairbrush like it was a microphone? Absolutely!
4. What is the first thing you do when you come home from work? Make the central air colder
5. Can you be found blogging in your pajamas? Yes
6. Be honest, have you started to save money for Christmas yet? Nope
7. Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola? Coca Cola
8. What concession stand snack(s)must you have at the movies? Soda, popcorn, chocolate covered raisins
9. What do you call your TV's remote control? The clicker
10. If you could work for any company in the US (without having to relocate if you didn't want to), what company would you want to work for? Algonquin Press

Wanna play? Let me know in my comments please!

'Toon Tuesday

That Which Amuses My Husband

A few days ago Sari from The Geek Inside posted about her husband's sense of humor and it inspired me to post about my husband's sense of humor.

As you may know a couple of weeks ago we went on vacation to Naples, Florida where we spent a week and had a great time. Well, in our wanderings we encountered what appears on the picture below. My husband thought it was soooo funny he made me take a picture of it.

Apparently Hubby is a very tall and hairy 13 year old.

:)

The Lola Shuffle - "The Memorial Day Weekend Edition"

We're observing Memorial Day this weekend - it's not a holiday one celebrates, it's a holiday one observes - because it's not a happy thing. We're supposed to be remembering and commemorating military personnel who have died in service to our country. WOW! That's huge - they deserve so much more from us than an excuse for grilling and department store sales.

Of course being in the midst of a war, where we've surpassed the 4,000 mark on military deaths, this day should really resonate more with us as a nation than I believe it will. So, this weekend, I will stop and say a prayer for our military who have died in service to our country - and a prayer for their families and friends left behind.

Lola is shuffling in their honor - and if there's a happy song or a silly song, that's OK - because it's good to remember people in happiness - don't you think?

1. Be My Life's Companion - The Mills Brothers


2. Embraceable You - Nat King Cole


3. Changing Your Demeanour - The Chieftains


4. Sweet Baby James - James Taylor


5. The Way You Move - Big Boi featuring Sleepy Brown


6. As Time Goes Boy - Rod Stewart


7. Two Out of Three Ain't Bad - Meat Loaf (fabulous song!)


8. If It Makes You Happy - Sheryl Crow (a nice summery song)


9. Hey Ya! - Outkast (I can't help it but this song *still* makes me smile)


10. Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow - "Sarafina" Soundtrack (If only that were true!)

Have a safe and restful Memorial Day weekend with friends and family. And if you can, think a thought for our Military.

American Idol Recap - The Battle of the Davids

Well, this is it...

I didn't really take notes, this will be short. Overall I thought the show was boring.

The First Song selected by Clive Davis:

Cook - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Great song, great performance

Archuleta - Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me - His best performance of the season; fantastic song.

The Second Song - The Songwriter's Songs

Cook - Dream Big - The song was OK but to "poppy" for him; he sang well

Archuleta - In This Moment - Boring song, he sang it well

The Third Song - Their Choice

Cook - The World I Know - I had never heard this song but I liked it; he took a risk by singing a song he had never performed; it was pretty and he sang it well

Archuleta - Imagine - Until tonight his performance of this song early in the season had been one of the few I had liked by him; I didn't like the arrangement tonight.

****************************************

Who do I want to win? David Cook

Who do I think will win? David Archuleta

See you next season!

'Toon Tuesday

Book Review - "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield

I really enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale, a great Gothic thriller, in the tradition of "Rebecca", "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights", even though it was written in 2007.

There are lots of plot twists and surprises, so I don't want to spoil anything. Basically it tells the story of Margaret, a young woman who in addition to working in her father's used book store is also a biographer. As the story begins Margaret has been commissioned by a famous author named Vida Winter, known for making up different stories about her life. However, Ms. Winters tells Margaret that this time she will tell the complete truth.

Margaret has her own issues to deal with, but frankly, I think Margaret's story takes away from the main plot and serves as a needless distraction. It is Vida Winters' story that captured my imagination and had me speculating and guessing as clues were revealed.

This is a story with two narrators, Margaret and Vida, and Vida is revealed early to be an unreliable narrator. Due to the nature of the story character development is difficult, but despite this, you definitely see Margaret's growth.

I definitely recommend the book.

The Lola Shuffle - The "I'm Sick as a Dog Edition"

UGH! I have a cold, a summer cold which pisses me off to no end. I feel like crap on a stick.

Lola seems to be OK, so she's going to shuffle while I sit here and feel miserable.

1. Even Now - Barry Manilow
2. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Paul Simon
3. You Fill Up My Senses - John Denver
4. Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez
5. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
6. Too Hot - Kool & the Gang
7. Think - Aretha Franklin
8. In Hollywood (Everybody Is a Star) - The Village People
9. My Confession - Josh Groban
10. Carry on Wayward Son - Kansas

Have a good weekend (sniffle)...

American Idol Recap - The Top Three

Well, well, well…it’s almost over. For this year’s semi-finals, they repeated the formula they used last year everyone performed three songs: a Judge’s selection, the Performer’s selection and the Producers’ selection. Let’s get to it.

Archuleta – Paula’s Choice – And So It Goes by Billy Joel: I had never heard this song; he sang it very well, part of it a capella; the vocal was excellent but the performance was boring. Score – 8

Syesha – Randy’s Choice – If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keyes: I don’t like this song; she looked beautiful; the low parts were too low for her; boring song, boring performance. Score – 6

David Cook – Simon’s Choice – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack: Beautiful song!; his arrangement was fantastic, he totally owned it; excellent performance. Score – 10

Archuleta – His Choice – With You by Chris Brown: Don’t know the song; there must have been a shift in the time-space continuum, perhaps a sign of the apocalypse, but I really liked this performance; the song was great and his performance *wasn’t boring*!; he actually looked kinda cute. Score – 9

Syesha – Her Choice – Fever by Peggy Lee: One of my favorite songs ever; she looked great but I didn’t like it at all; her voice was off and the arrangement didn’t work for me. Score – 6

David Cook – His Choice – Dare You To Move by Switchfoot: I didn’t know I knew this song but I recognize it from somewhere – a commercial maybe? In any case – fabulous! He sounded great again a fantastic performance. Score – 10

Archuleta – Producer’s Choice – Longer by Dan Fogelberg: Another of my favorite songs; horrible choice for Archuleta, he totally doesn’t *get* the song, it’s way too old for him; he looked like a dork with the short buttoned to the top; his voice was off, he reverted to boring; it was a mess. Score – 6

Syesha – Producer’s Choice – Hit Me Up by Gia Farrell: Don’t know the song, but I liked it; she looked good again, comfortable on the stage; good song for her, good performance. Score – 8

David Cook – Producer’s Choice – I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith: great song, amazing arrangement; he took an iconic song and changed it without messing it up; loved the violins; his voice and performance were excellent; he’s head and shoulders above the other two. Score – 10

Combined Average Scores:

Archuleta – 7
Syesha – 6
David Cook – 10

Wishes and Predictions:

Who I Think Should Leave – Syesha

Who Will Leave - Syesha



What do you think? Will it be a David vs. David Finale?

'Toon Tuesday

Mother's Day 2008

Today is the first Mother's Day since my mom died a few months ago.

I wasn't Blogging when my father died but I wrote an e-mail to friends and family and everything just flowed. I haven't written about my mother that way yet. At first I thought I would when a month had passed, then I thought something would come at Mother's Day - but so far nothing.

I have so many feelings, so many memories, but I can't seem to write about them.

I'm sorry Mami...maybe for your birthday?

I love you and I miss you, Happy Mothers' Day.

Naples - Day 8

Today was a super lazy day. We slept in late, went to lunch at a great little diner called "Mr. Mom's". Then we came back to the hotel and I took a long nap while Hubby played WoW and then joined me for part two of the nap.

We eventually woke up to get ready for dinner with some friends. We went to Italian mega-restaurant Buca di Beppo. It was a lot of fun and we ate way too much food. Later Hubby and I went to our hotel bar for a nightcap (see Hubby overlooking the bay in the picture?) and enjoyed the balmy breeze. It was a bit of a jolt to have my nightcap - chilled creme de menthe - in a cardboard Pepsi cup, but whatever.

It was a great "extra day", and tomorrow we head home and back to reality...we'll always have Naples.

Naples - Day 7

Today we headed North on 41 towards Bonita Beach, Cape Coral, Estero, etc. Fort Myers and Sanibel are in that direction but there's construction on both bridges and we didn't want to deal with it.

We started by crossing the Caloosahatche River into Cape Coral where we met with yet another WoW friend for lunch. Nothing exciting, just Perkins. Then we drove to Bonita Beach (shown above). I had never been there and really liked the beach - it made me regret I didn't pack a bathing suit - I'm usually not beach person, but today the sea "called to me"...

We explored a bit around Naples today trying to find the "Historic Area", we kept following the signs but didn't see anything particularly historic - this is Naples people, not Philadelphia! We also checked out Naples Beach, isn't it pretty?

We stopped at the Italian restaurant from which we got pizza and sandwiches the other day and once again are eating in. Hubby has a hockey game, the Eastern Conference Final to watch (go Flyers!), and frankly I'm tired so we're just gonna hang.

Oh, big news! We were supposed to check out tomorrow (Saturday), but Hubby surprised me by booking an extra night, so we're leaving Sunday instead. He figured it would be easier for me this Mother's Day if we were traveling rather than being at home. One of the many reasons I love this man.

The Lola Shuffle - The "Naples, FL Edition"

Hello all...today Lola has to do a quick shuffle, we're on our way out the door for fun and adventure. I'll be back later to tell you about our day.

Lola...rev'er up!

1. That's Life - Frank Sinatra
2. Lonely People -America
3. Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
4. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado
5. Smooth - Sanatana with Rob Thomas
6. Little Woman - Bobby Sherman (WOO HOO, Bobby Sherman!)
7. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon
8. Shining Star - Earth, Wind and Fire
9. Hey Mama - Black Eyed Peas
10. Boy - Erasure

Quite eclectic Lola...good job.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Naples - Day 6

Today we went to Marco Island, Florida - just south of Naples (that's my foot in the Marco Island Beach sand - yes, I need a pedi ASAP). I hadn't been to Marco Island for many, many years - we're talking over 25 years, and it has changed a lot. Sadly not for the better IMO.

I had memories of a sleepy beach town, very little development, hardly any businesses and just miles and miles of beautiful white-sanded beaches. Seriously, the only thing I remember being there was a Marriott Hotel, a couple of locally owned restaurants (fast-food restaurants weren't allowed) and some small apartment buildings and hotels. Now it is a development nightmare! We had to drive forever to finally find a beach we didn't have to pay to go to, considering all I wanted to do was stick my foot in the sand and take a few pictures. But after I got over the shock and a little melancholy for days gone by I enjoyed myself.

Well, I enjoyed myself after we found food! What is the deal with restaurants that only serve lunch till 2 p.m. then *close* until 4:00 p.m. for dinner? Hello? What if you're hungry at, oh, say 2:37? We stopped at like 738 restaurants until we found Capt. Brien's Seafood and Raw Bar - it was awesome. For an appetizer I had a tomato stuffed with fresh crab salad and then I had 1 lb. of cold snow crab - I was in crab heaven! Hubby had coconut shrimp as an appetizer and a platter of fried seafood that included Ipswich Whole Belly Clams - have you tried these? They're meaty and delicious. His platter also included these huge sea scallops that were fantastic and Hubby was so nice he gave me two of them! For dessert we shared a Mango Creme Brulee - talk about two great tastes that taste great together!

So, we finished lunch and started heading home. Now, I've been in Naples since Saturday afternoon and I've been craving Cuban coffee since Saturday evening. As you may know, Cuban coffee is not the same thing as espresso. there were plenty of places that served espresso, but nary a cafecito to be found. So today after the lovely lunch I was ready to cave and stop at the Evil Empire Starbucks and buy their nasty-assed, over-priced, unsweetened espresso. But then I saw out of the corner of my eye a sign that said "Coco Frio", which is basically an ice cold coconut with it's top hacked off and a straw stuck in it, and a very popular Cuban (and apparently other Latin American) drink. So I thought maybe they'd have Cuban coffee. They didn't, the owners turned out to be Mexican, so as I bought a tangerine-flavored Jarrito, I told the lady about my quest. She told me there was a Cuban market right near where we were staying!

OHMYGOD! We followed her directions and...bliss...I found Cuban coffee. In my incoherent excitement I confused the young girl making the nectar of the gods and I wound up with an entire "colada" which is the equivalent of about 6-8 shots. Hubby had ordered a cortadito, which is Cuban coffee with a shot of milk, so I wound up drinking the colada by myself. Needless to say I'm typing really fast right now!

We came back to the hotel and now we're settled in for the night, we may stop by the hotel bar later on, but probably not.

I decided to not take the sight-seeing cruise and instead drive North tomorrow, towards Fort Myers, Sanibel, etc. in search of new adventures!

Naples - Day 5

Well, we've already done all our "must dos" for this vacation: meet up with friends, go to the Naples Museum of Art and gone to Lindburgers - so everything from now on is rest and gravy.

Today we woke up late and then walked to lunch at another of the restaurants in our complex. The food and service were great. Then we walked over to the bay side bar where the picture was taken and I had a shot of Goldschläger - yummy!

We came home and just hung out and played WoW and watched TV. We decided we needed pizza. We couldn't find anyone to deliver, so we went to a nice little Italian joint and picked up. I tried an Italian Beef Sandwich for the first time - I will be having it again, it was awesome.

Tonight we watched American Idol (bye, Jason) and again, just hung out. Exactly what we needed!

Tomorrow we may take a boat tour - or not...:)

American Idol Recap - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

So tonight the kids could've picked pretty much any rock and roll song...let's see what they came up with.

David Cook - Hungry Like the Wolf - Really David? You could pick virtually any song by any rock and roll singer or group of significance and you choose Duran Duran? Really? Well, I pretty much hate this song, largely because I really hated the video. Sadly after Cook's performance, my opinion of the song didn't change; I didn't like his performance at all; I thought it was boring and his voice was uneventful; again - a sucky song will do that to you. Score - 6

Syesha - Proud Mary - That's what I'm talking about - fantastic song! This song, made a classic by both Creedence Clearwater Revival who performed it first and by Ike and Tina Turner who had a major hit with it - obviously Syesha went with Tina Turner's version and she rocked it out! It was a perfect choice for her; she looked beautiful and she totally sold it! Score - 9

Jason - I Shot the Sheriff - Jason, Jason, Jason, you're killing me; I love the song, but you don't mess with Bob Marley even if you have dreads; the performance was not only weak, it was weird; it didn't work. Score - 3

David Archuleta - Stand By Me - Pretty song, but boring and safe; he sang it beautifully; it was a good choice for him; I didn't hate it, but I was bored. Score - 8

David Cook - Baba O'Riley - One of the great rock and roll songs; a fantastic choice, almost makes up for the Duran Duran aberration; his voice sounded great, his performance was spot on; too bad the song had to be cut short - I'll probably buy the studio version from iTunes to get the whole performance. Score - 10

Syesha - A Change Is Gonna Come - Amazing song; perfect choice; she looks beautiful and she sang it beautifully; she made me cry while she was performing, and even more after the performance. Score - 8

Jason - Mr. Tambourine Man - I'm a huge Dylan fan and I love this song and when he said he was singing it I cheered because it is perfect for him - unless he forgets the lyrics!; WTH Jason?; other than that the performance was great, this should have been gold for him; (sigh). Score - 6

Archuleta - Love Me Tender - (yawn) again, pretty song, boring and safe; again he sang it very well, but I didn't like the arrangement; I liked "Stand By Me" better. Score - 7

Combined Average Score (rounded up):

David Cook - 8
Syesha - 8
Jason - 5
David Archuleta - 8

Wishes:

My Bottom Two - David Archuleta and Jason

Who do I want to see leave? - David Archuleta - yes I know I gave Jason a lower score, but I always want Archuleta to leave.

Predictions:

Their Bottom Two - Jason and Syesha

Who will leave? Jason

So, what do you think? Is it bye bye for my Jason, or will his pretty eyes save him for another week?

Naples - Day 4

Today was Museum Day! We woke up around 9ish and lolled around the room drinking our free in-room Wolfgang Puck coffee - it's really good!

We had an early lunch at one of our favorite Naples haunts Lindburgers Restaurant which boasts 50 varieties of gourmet burgers - and their boast is substantiated. The burgers are delicious and the prices are reasonable. It's got a funky hole-in-the-wall vibe. I had a burger smothered with grilled onions and cheddar cheese made extra-super rare - delicious! I was very good and didn't eat my fries and only ate one bun.


Then we went to the Naples Museum of Art to see the Pablo Picasso: Preoccupations and Passions exhibit. The exhibit was wonderful, it included portraits, still lives and the themes of Harlequin, Jester, Minotaur and Faun. There was another visiting exhibit called Visions: Contemporary Drawings from the Dyke Collection which included pieces by Hockney, de Kooning as well as three Cuban artists I was surprised to see.


The museum which shares a large area with the Naples Philharmonic is absolutely beautiful and houses an impressive permanent collection which includes exhibits such as Modern Mexican Masters and Leaders in American Modernism. In addition to beautiful Picassos, I saw several works by Rivera, Siqueiros, Orozco and Tamayo - surprisingly there was no Frida Kahlo. The American Modernists included Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove and others. The different exhibits are hung in perspective with the style or school, which is different from most museums which follow a traditional hanging style.


Once my soul was nourished by the beautiful art we stopped for a snack at a work of art i n and of itself - Sonic. I ordered my usual Large Chocolate Coke (sigh...yummy) and some popcorn chicken. While sitting in our car noshing, I saw some thing new on the menu and of course ordered it (DUH!). When we got the order and we tasted the new item everything changed...


The sun shone brighter, a choir of angels sang to the heavens...it was magic. We had...Deep Fried Macaroni and Cheese Bites! OHMYGOD! You can't even imagine how amazingly good these things are. They are these golden nugget sized fried chunks, but when you bite into them there are actual little macaronis with creamy cheese in there - it incredible. Of course there is absolutely no nutritional value to this, which probably makes it that much better. Here's a picture I took, but it doesn't do them justice.


We're back in the hotel for the night. We're hunkering down for election results, American Idol and room service. Life is good.


I have no idea what we're going to do tomorrow, but it'll be better than working!

Naples - Day 3

Another beautiful day in Naples - the weather has been fantastic.

Today we slept in and then went across the street to Tin City - a shopping and restaurant complex built right by the water. We had a nice, relaxing lunch at Riverwalk Fish and Ale House and then visited the Naples Winery. They had wines made from various Florida fruits, and offered lots of samples, which I gleefully accepted. I wound up buying some Muscadine grape wine (Muscadines are the only grapes harvested in Florida) and a strawberry sparkling wine that was delicious.

We drove around Naples getting the lay of the land...we drove to the beach, around the historic area and through the residential area. We didn't go Downtown yet, we'll probably go on Tuesday. Oh ad we made quick Publix run for supplies.

We came home and relaxed, took naps and just hung out. Then we walked around the block to a fantastic "Hawaiian fusion" restaurant called Roy's. Dinner was absolutely delicious! I had a Mai Tai, lobster pot stickers, roasted duck and a yummy chocolate souffle. Then my wonderful hubby insisted that I order Ice Wine as an after dinner drink because he knows how much I love it, so I did - and it was good!

We walked back to the hotel just as the sun was setting, a cloudless evening and a wonderful breeze. It's all good...

Naples - Day 2

We woke up surprisingly early and had breakfast here at the hotel. For $5.95 they have a nice enough breakfast buffet. We then came back up to the room and lollygagged until our friends came down from Cape Coral and we went to lunch. Our first choice turned out to be closed on Sundays (and no it wasn't Chick-Fil-A!) so we wound up at Joe's Crab Shack. It was, well, Joe's Crab Shack - a chain, at least here in Florida - I had a Margarita (remember I mentioned it a couple of days ago? well I finally had it and it was good) and an order of coconut shrimp with a side of snow crab. Serviceable Key Lime Pie for dessert. So the food was good but the company was fantastic.

Of the four that came we had already met two *in person* but the other two were virtual friends and WoW Guildmates. Their Wow names are Mesogentle, Beatlejuice, Fummunda and Baggobalz - don't ask. After lunch we came back to our resort and hung out talking, joking, reviewing WoW strategy (yeah, it was pretty much a geek fest) until 10 p.m. It was fantastic! That's our motley crew up there...you'll notice I'm sporting a lovely crab bib...

Naples is one of those places that pretty much shuts down at 9 p.m., unless it's Sunday when it shuts down at 8 p.m.! WTF? Even the resort restaurant and room service closed at 8 p.m. Hello? The people here are on vacation! We don't have to wake up early tomorrow - would it kill anyone to stay open , till say, oh I don't know - the ungodly hour of (GASP!) 11:00 frickin' frackin' PM?

So what happened? We were forced to go out trolling for food and the only stuff open were fast food drive-thrus, and since I have a "don't eat anything you can eat at home while on vacation" rule, we HAD to go to Sonic! I had no choice but to order a foot-long cheese and chili hot dog, a corn dog and large onion rings with a large chocolate coke! I mean if a real restaurant had been open I would have had a grilled chicken breast and a salad....WHAT? SO anyway, Sonic was as always sublime...we'll be back before this vacation is over - for sure!

Naples - Day 1

We arrived in Naples at around 4 p.m. after an easy drive with no traffic or problems. The resort is beautiful, we have two adjoining rooms, one a traditional bedroom with a full bathroom and the an efficiency, with a sofa bed, a fridge, microwave and another full bathroom. Both rooms have large flat screen TVs and high speed Internet connections.

The hotel is located in a little villagey type area that has a bunch of restaurants and galleries. For dinner last night we went to a churrascaria , which is a Brazilian steak restaurant. Like most churrascaria, they serve rodizio style, which if you've never experienced it and you like meat, you must experience. These men were bringing us sword upon sword of different types of steak, pork loin, chicken, etc. And they had the most phenomenal "salad bar", which barely had salad, but had all kinds of sliced hams, meats, cheese, olives, anchovies, etc., and they had feijoada - which is one of my all time favorite dishes. Oh and I had delicious caipirinha - YUMMY!

After we finished dinner, Hubby came back to the room to watch a hockey game (YAY Flyers!) and I took a walk around the hotel. It was a beautiful night and I got the lay of the land.

Tomorrow we have some WoW friends that live in the area coming to visit.

Why I Would Make a Sucky Polygamist Wife (alternate title: Why Not to Eat Leftover Shrimp Pad Thai with Extra Peanut Sauce after Midnight)

[WARNING: This is going to be a "what I dreamt last night" post, so if you don't like those you should probably "walk on by-y-y-y" (shout out to my girl Dionne!). However, before you leave you might want to consider that the post will include, among other things, Jennifer Love Hewitt and jarring fruit (talk about key word search combination!), just so you know.]

[[DISCLAIMER: This is in no way meant to criticize or mock people who choose a polygamous life-style, as long as everyone is consenting I'm cool with that. It's all about me. Really.]]

So I'm sleeping, minding my own business, when my damned brain decides to make up a dream, where Hubby and I, along with a lot of other people have apparently decided to become Polygamists and live in a Compound. Not a scary, creepy compound like the one that has been in the news lately - ours is really nice and modern and I didn't notice any kids, but then again, that happens to me frequently anyway.

We come in mid-story where Hubby has taken on Jennifer Love Hewitt (JLH) as a second wife. See, JLH is one of Hubby's real-life-never gonna-happen lust objects, and frankly why wouldn't she be - she's adorable, right? So we're in our beautiful polygamist compound house and Hubby is "with" JLH while I'm in our state-of-the-art equipped kitchen attempting to jar peaches to store for, I don't know, the Apocalypse? Whatever, the point is, I of course, suck at it because HELLO!, it's *jarring fruit* - that counts as a craft in my book and I'm not frickin' frackin' crafty!

So while I'm wrestling with the jarring machine (there is a machine for that right? Well, in my dreamworld there is, it's big) and getting all sticky, my best friend Purplepassion (did I mention some of you, my Blogging buddies, are in this dream? Well you are.) walks in - ostensibly to make sure I don't kill myself or the peaches, because well, she knows me.

As she's wiping peach goo off of my super beautiful counter top, she tells me that JLH was mentioned in the Polygamist Gazette because she had sold some ridiculous amount of tickets for the Annual Polygamist raffle or carnival or something. To which I replied "Of course she did!" all snarky and bitchy and sarcastic, like you know I can be. She looked up at me and asked if I was OK, and I said no. I'm an only child - I don't *do* sharing all that well.

So we took a break from the peach torturing jarring (is that the term?) to go out and sit on one of the beautiful Polygamist Compound front porches. When we get there we run into newly Polygamisted Poppymom and DixiePeach (I've never physically met them, but we've known each other virtually for years) who are sitting there knitting, and Purplepassion begins to knit too. Meanwhile I sit there, sniffling and looking at my beautiful cuticles (they have a mani-pedi service at the Polygamist Compound) because HELLO!, knitting is a craft and I'm not crafty dammit!

Poppy, who had apparently just arrived, looks at me and asks me if Hubby had taken on a second wife? I said yes, and they all came and comforted me, by giving me ice-cold Coca Cola in a frosted glass. Then Poppy told me that she had read about it, again in the Polygamist Gazette, and that now that he had a second wife Hubby was highly respected in the community. To which I responded in my dream, I swear I'm not making this up, "Well la-di-frickin-da! "

That's the last thing I remember before Hubby woke me up to start our road trip to Naples.

The morals of the story so that this doesn't happen to you:

• Don't eat leftover shrimp pad thai with extra peanut sauce after midnight


• Don't pause your TV during Jennifer Love Hewitt's bra commercial because you have to do something else for a few minutes and you don't want to miss any part of the show that comes back on right after JLH's commercial


• Continue avoiding the polygamist story on the news

Don't say I didn't warn you!

The Lola Shuffle - The "I Am Outta Here Edition"

Yep - starting mañana I am on vacation! WOO HOO! The western coast of Florida is beckoning to me...its warm tropical breeze whispers my name...right now the bottle of tequila for my first margarita of the trip (which I will be drinking tomorrow!) is being delivered...

But for now...Lola shuffles! Lola's all packed, her ear buds, charger and cable is ready to go!

1. Take Me Home - Cher (HA! Lola is making a funny. We're getting ready to *leave* home, so she shuffles up "Take Me Home" - get it? Silly Lola.)
2. I Only Want to Be With You - Dusty Springfield (Triple love this song!)
3. Juke Box Songs - Danny Collett & The Swamp Cats (Fantabulistic zydeco song - makes me want to dance like nobody's watching. I mean the song starts with "I'm gonna to go downtown, I'm gonna find me a bar, I'm gonna drink and drink until the song comes up tomorrow - oh baby - I'm gonna spend my money on jukebox songs, I'm gonna dance the night away baby...")
4. Mother and Child Reunion - Paul Simon
5. Southern Nights - Glen Campbell (Stop laughing! Yes - I have a cheesy Glen Campbell song on my iPod, this shouldn't surprise anyone by now.)
6. Lady - Lenny Kravitz (awesome song)
7. Iko Iko/Brother John/Jambalaya Medley - Terrance Simien (I guess Lola is in a zydeco frame of mind...Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!)
8. Reasons - Earth Wind & Fire (That's right all 4.5 minutes of it - in school dances, this is the one you wanted to be sure you were dancing to with the guy you liked, 'cause it's loooong and slow...you ended up smelling like the guy's cologne. In my day if it was a *private school boy* I smelled like "Aramis" or "Polo", whereas if it was a *public school boy* I smelled like "Brut" or maybe "English Leather" - ah, memories...)
9. The Look of Love - Diana Krall (another nice slow dancing song - for grown ups)
10. Roundabout - Yes

Excellent job Lola - next up...Road Trip! WOO HOO!

Have a fantastic weekend! Next time you "hear" from me I'll be on the other side of the state.