Music: Choo Choo

January 31, 2010 | Music

I <3 Twitter. Don’t you? It is SO full of awesome. And, OMG, the music. I follow some of my favorite musicians on Twitter, and I’ve found some great music I probably never would have found otherwise. The Snake Charmers? Hello. Rock!

I’ve followed Choo Choo, a band from Switzerland, for a while (@choochootheband). I finally ordered their CD, and it arrived the other day, so I listened to it. Oh, what fun. They describe their sound as 1960s teenage beat and Indie pop. And, yeah, I hear the 1980s resurgence of the 1960s in there. They remind me just a touch of Southern Culture on the Skids (SCOTS are way more hillbilly, but something is similar, especially the frantic drums) with a dash of The Finnsters, who could do a mean Steppin’ Stone back in the day. They’re working on a new album right now, and I think it’s due out later this year. Go, Choo Choo!

(Speaking about SCOTS, did I ever tell you about them, Skipper’s and Stephen King? Eh, another day, then.)

Sick of snow

D.C., Friends, Iowa, Weather, Winter

I know some smart and funny people. My friend Bob, who lives in Washington, D.C., wrote this delightful ode to snow. Thanks, Bob! I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Oh, the weather outside is flaky,
And my nerves are kinda shaky,
And since I’ve no place to go,
I am so sick and tired of the snow!

It doesn’t show signs of warming,
And the drifts are slowly forming,
The temperature’s way down low,
And I’m so sick and tired of the snow!

When I’ve shoveled it all at last,
And the driveway is finally clear,
The plow once again comes past,
Piling it all up to here!

It’s certainly not too pleasing
When melted snow’s refreezing,
And I really want you to know:
I am so @&#^ sick of the snow!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You think you’re driving anywhere tonight? Ha!

Crazy snow drift from the last storm.

Books: Katie and the Spanish Princess

January 30, 2010 | Books, Family, Iowa, School, Weird things

I got this crazy idea the other day to find books for my kids with their names in the titles. It just so happens their school has a “Read a Million Minutes” program for February. So our first 20 minutes were spent on Katie and the Spanish Princess by James Mayhew, who has an entire series of adorable Katie books. This book had a magpie in it, which I thought was fitting, considering that the crazy idea came from my friend at Magpie Musing. (See? Weird coincidence.)

A decade: Are you reelin’ in the years?

January 29, 2010 | Family, Florida, Iowa, Norway, Stuff

2000

London calling, yes, I was there too

I love you, yes I do, well, it says
so in this Book of Love

Buona sera, signor, kiss me
goodnight

Oo la la la, c’est magnifique!

Oh yes, the world will always
welcome lovers

Your love’s put me at the top of the world

Skal vi gå på ski?

2001

Talk me out of Tampa (no, don’t!)

2002

Beautiful Boy

2003

10 years: Gonna take a ride across the
moon, you and me

Great-Grandma always takes the time

Oldemor & Bestemor: She’s got her special
ways to chase the clouds away

2004

Just a boy and his dog

Rock-a-bye my sweet baby girls

I’m dreamin’ tonight of a place I love

2005

Put them all together they spell Mother

Even more than I usually do

And although I know it’s a long road back

2006

It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to

13 years: I need you to love me

I’d be made in the shade

Everyone’s smiling just for me when I go home

These boots are made for walking, and that’s
just what they’ll do, one of these days these
boots are gonna walk all over you.

On top of the world again

Peekaboo!

I promise you

2007

They say it’s your birthday; it’s my birthday
too, yeah! We’re gonna have a good time!

Just keep swimming

I’m gone to Carolina in my mind

Bus stop, wet day, she’s there, I say, please
share my umbrella

W-a-s-h-i-n-g-t-o-n, baby, D.C.!

It’s not because it is the grand old seat

Of precious freedom and democracy

It’s the bloggers, baby!

I’ll be home for Christmas

You can count on me

Christmas Eve will find me

Where the love light beams

2008

We are family, I got all my cousins with me

Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter
bonnet

I get by with a little help from my friends

A word that means the world to me

Goodbye city life. Green Acres we are there!

2009

Because I’m still in love with you, I wanna see
you dance again

Blue skies smiling at me, nothing but blue skies do I see

January 26, 2010 | Iowa, Weather, Winter

Morning parhelion, er, sun dog. Woof.

I can’t make it on my own, drive me home

January 25, 2010 | Blizzard, Iowa, Weather, Winter

This is what it was like driving in a blizzard a few hours ago. Visibility now is even less, I’m sure, and the driveway is completely drifted shut. (Well, that, and it’s getting dark.) Better get out there and start clearing. If my count is right, this is Blizzard No. 5.

Rocking pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu

Family, Getting sick, Iowa, Medical, Pharmaceuticals, Stuff, Weather, Winter

I just moved my mini-pharmacy from the kitchen back to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I hope I didn’t jinx anything.

Spinnin’ wheel got to go round

Family, Norway, Stuff

I have a confession to make. I can’t knit. Or crochet. Or anything like that. I have all this beautiful handiwork from Norway, and I don’t know how to fix it. Take, for example, my daughters’ blankets.

See?

Did you hear that? That was all the Norwegians who know how to knit (and even the other two who don’t) gasping in horror. At this rate, I’ll never get to be an honorary Norwegian. Heck, for this high crime, I’ll be banished to live in darkness with the trolls and never be allowed to touch a pretty thing again.

In the meantime, I’ll have to beg for help from real Norwegians who can do things like this.

And this. (Well, *I* made the babies.)

And this.

And this.

Help!

I can’t remember what I said, I lost my head

January 24, 2010 | Iowa, Weather, Winter

This is what happens when the temperatures hit 30 degrees or so for a few days. (That’s the snowman’s carrot nose on the ground beside him.) It’s not like spring is here or anything. Just a mid-winter “heat wave” to make things all messy. The weather forecast calls for lower temperatures and more snow and ice.

Books: An Ocean in Iowa

Books, Iowa

I just finished reading An Ocean in Iowa: A Novel by Peter Hedges, an Iowa author. (He also wrote What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.) It’s about a year in the life of 7-year-old Scotty Ocean. As I read the last word in the book, I just wanted to gather Scotty in my arms and give him a big hug. I can’t do that, so I’ll go hug my own 7-year-old boy.