Thursday, June 25, 2009

The one about Michael Jackson....


I loved him.

I saved money with my sister to buy the album...yes, the vinyl record, and we listened for hours.
We awaited the premier of his "Thriller" video on Friday Night Videos with baited breath, nervous we wouldn't be able to stay awake (did that show start at midnight, or what?) because we were nowhere near a house that had the elite channel, MTV.

We saved our Shasta sodas and day old Hostess treats, carefully rationed by dad, to add to the experience, and I remember it like it was yesterday.


In High School me and my friends vowed our love to him and further showed our loyalty by praying to be back-up singers someday, with posters plastered in our hotel window on choir tour. We did his moves whenever possible, and usually laughed ourselves silly- or worse, until someone peed their pants. I remember taping my fingers at one point in my life.


After high school the trials and plastic surgeries started, and I was sad to have to admit Michael was a complete freak...but it didn't stop me from using my knowledge for gain.....



And of course, that is me, lip-syncing "Billie Jean" (and winning, might I add), at our singles ward party. I cruised the Halloween dances that year in this get up- and ended up center floor during "Thriller", surrounded by clapping dancers (would have been a you tube hit, I am sure) and even had a girl ask me out. Creepy.

Anyway, MJJ (middle name Joseph....yea, I know that) was such a big part of my life...such a huge part of my dancing and grooving to music and dreaming about stardom. For today I have to put aside the law-suits and stories of abuse and honor him for what he gave me.



Happy days dancing with my radio blasting....learning the moonwalk....giggling with friends...trying to kick my leg to the side....staring at posters... watching my reflection in the big family room window at night, just being a happy kid.


I kind of regret I never saw him live, but I am glad for the silliness I did have as a loyal MJ fan.


Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Rainy Summer Days

Locals know it has been raining off and on for weeks here, and my family is feeling a little stir crazy. We got out last week to enjoy some cool exhibits at a nearby museum, where we saw some of Walter Wick works (say that 10 times fast), the brilliant man behind the "I Spy" books.

No cameras allowed in the gallery...oopsy...I took this at the doorway and put it away the rest of the time. The little houses and villages were amazing.

Then it was off to feed some ducks and play frisbee..... Which kept the boys busy for a while ( light sprinkles of rain for that portion of the day.)

As for me, my idea of summer fun is a little bit of spotlight time. A nervous audition for a great director I acted besides (eh-hemm) back in the 80's in "Saturday's Warriors" and 2 years ago in "CATS" got me this great news.... That's right.....I get to be a real witch. I can not wait! I have hade dress fittings (inspired by Elphaba from Wicked) and I already bought my green finger nail polish..... now I need to start memorizing those lines.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Summer Arts & Crafts Camp

I excitedly registered my kids for classes in our city's arts festival after the fabulous experience we had last year. My oldest will be jamming with a bluegrass ensemble and getting a first time lesson in songwriting (I want to be a fly on the wall for this one) with Cherie Call.

My youngest sons are taking a LEGO art class that *gasp* had an extra $43.00 fee (on top of the class $30.00 fee) for Legos and storage bins. I gulped down my summer savings anxiety and signed them up, like I said...last year's classes did not disappoint.

But I am chomping at the bit to create, and trying to purge some of my old scrapbook papers and stickers that I will probably never use. I have declared all summer Mommy's Art & Crafts Camp, and will feel free to create (and buy) as my artistic needs arise. That's fair, right?

First Project- Crystal Light Canisters
Cyrstal Light canisters are clean and durable and break my heart to throw away, so I covered these with scrapbook paper- with a little stamping and personalizing. The first one I made I added extra glue- and you can see the squiggles under the paper, which I hate, so skip that and stick with double stick tape on all edges of the paper (a 6'x9' piece)- roll and smooth to stick on.
No need to take off the original wrapper if your paper isn't see through. I have markers and brushes in mine. I imagine ribbon and tags would be cute on these too, but I tend to be impatient and wanted to keep these simple today.

Next is my "About Me" album which is an ongoing process. I finished 2 more pages, making me close to half way done with the book.

The first page is Strengths and Weaknesses- funny how the weaknesses are hidden in a file behind the strengths. It was a fun one to ponder as I worked on it, and I believe this the first picture from my 'CATS" role that I have scrapbooked. What took me so long?



The second page is the Labels page, which I thought sounded kind of dorky in the instruction book. BUT- there was a similar DARE a couple of months ago which made me go ahead and give this page a shot instead of trashing it to do my own thing.
Now I am in LOVE with this page. From a little tag stolen from my most comfy pair of jeans to a cafe' logo from New York, just looking at this page makes me happy. I would have never thought of this cute "label/tag" idea on my own, and I love it. I think labels, tags, and advertising bits would be great in collages so I am going to start stashing these away a lot more.

It is a good start. Summer is already rolling along so quick and I don't have near as much computer time as I do when the kids are gone during the day. Being creative keeps me sane and much like blogging, make me reflects on the ups and downs that are my life.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

My scared self is getting the best of me


(Little old me with Congressman Jason Chaffetz at the 9-12 Project rally)

So this little rally started a fire in me. The planning of it, the people I met, the things I discussed all gave me a sort of empowerment. I am not scared to use my voice, and that is a good thing. Even disagreeing with people doesn't cause me anxiety attacks like it once did. So imagine my surprise when my husband kind of thinks it would be fun to support the tax-payers protest rally taking place in D.C. this fall. There will also be memorial services for 9/11 victims and caucus meetings. We booked our tickets and made hotel reservations......

BUT.... I really don't like to hear about Anthrax threats , especially when they are bragged about being like "confetti on the lawns of DC".
Even if you aren't afraid of Anthrax or terrorists, what about crazy people showing up and causing a mess? What about the fact that I am just a little old mom trying to show her kids it's okay to take a stand, but I need to be home on Monday to pack their lunches and send them off to school? I can't be in a mass arrest.....I can't be in some lockdown airport if the crazies come to play, and I certainly don't want to be on the lawn of the White House when the "confetti" falls.

I have taken pride in the fact that I try not to get paranoid and live with peace and happiness, but I am kind of losing confidence in my D.C. vacation.
I'd love to hear your opinion on this (not really the reason why I am going, that is a whole different post and debate) BUT just the fear I am kind of experiencing over the trip. Am I silly for worrying? Should I still go and call it an adventure? Or do I just switch up my vay-cay to some where else, and enjoy the moments I have with my hubby for our anniversary?
What do you think...and also, are you ever scared of this kind of stuff?