My test has failed...

I'm just reporting that my week was NOT supercalifragilistic or expialidocious. It just was a whole lotta nothing. Blah. Mostly due to the fact that I was plagued by the Sleep Disorder this week, much to my dismay, despite all efforts to not have the Sleep Disorder. I tried, I really tried, I did all the things I'm supposed to do - I had my sleepytime cup of tea, I tried to get into a routine the last hour, I didn't watch or read or listen to anything too abrupt or stimulating. I was exhausted ... and still I didn't sleep enough. Which makes me quite the grumpy gal (right, Daddy?). Plus, it makes me mentally low and not myself and I don't feel like doing much and I think it makes me look ugly, aged. Really. But mostly it makes me an ugly person on the inside, so I tried so hard to bite my tongue and be sweet and not take it out on others. I don't want to be THAT person. You know the one I'm talking about! If you don't, well then maybe it's YOU.

For the most part, I succeeded - I was a total bitch inside, sweetness and light on the outside. And last night I got some decent REM sleep so I feel more like myself today and I had a delovely sushi lunch with the Bushwick Bird and she makes me laugh and smile so it was a nice way to cap off the so-so week.

BLAH. I need to do something fun this weekend, methinks. Me is thinking a museum? Perhaps.

But - one thing made me particularly happy - someone finally after all these years, decided it was time to replay The Beatles Anthology. 14 years ago, I was still in college and going down to Aunt Jill's in Virginia for Thanksgiving and working on one of my senior papers (on Rabelais which I ended up not writing because it was too much, too dense - so how very Rabelaisian of Rabelais) that weekend but instead I watched the Beatles Anthology with her and thinking "oh this will come on again so if I miss some of it, it's no big deal".

Well, it's never come on again - until this week - yay! So Wednesday on VH1 they played the first 2 hours but I like the later Beatles best so that section will be aired next Wednesday. Sigh...they were all so cute ...

So that's that, the week is over... it's all rainy and gray and chilly out right now, perfect stay at home & read & have some sake weather - yes that's right - SAKE!!

Theme of the Week: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

I'm testing out a theory here...last week, I did a terrible job of carrying water and chopping wood. I did not stay calm but I did carry on. Mostly I was awfully tired (due to the heat?) and feeling like a cross between Billie Holiday & Anne Sexton on a bad day.

In other words, my mood was quite dismal.

But did I set the stage by setting the bar so low?

If so, I am declaring that this week shall be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!



Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay!!
Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay!!

George W. Bush = Siberian Gnome

I cracked Veronica up with this theory so I thought I'd share it here and see what you all out there think - look at this from my Gnomes book and tell me they don't have the same beady eyes?

"The Siberian gnome has been the most affected by crossbreeding. He is centimeters larger than the European type and associates freely with trolls. In certain regions there is not a single gnome to be trusted. The Siberian gnome takes revenge for even the slightest offense by killing cattle, causing bad harvests, droughts, abnormally cold weather, and so forth.

The less said about him, the better."

- from "Gnomes" by Wil Huygen, one of my most beloved books

The theme of the week?

Chop wood, carry water! Or in other words:

Second theme?

"Don't harsh on my mellow!"

(a phrase I happened to hear yesterday on "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" on NPR which made me giggle)

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
-Chinese Proverb

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.
-Buckminster Fuller

Check out...

Cool "mermaid" photos...oh I'm tempted to buy one but I sure don't need it...

http://www.vintage-art-prints.com/mer01_mer06.htm

Then, look at the plant spirit images - you have to click on the thumbnail to see them enlarged - so cool!!

http://www.plant-spirits.com/pspage1.html

And then for fun - because you know I love these types of stories, and no I don't care about their validity, I just enjoy the story and the possibility of them...the same reason I love all the hauntings and spooky ghost-y stuff:

"Mermaid fever sweeps Israel beach town of Krivat Yam as many report sightings of fabled creature"

What else? Well it's Friday, that's for sure...this has been an odd week for me, I feel very ungrounded, as if my head were in the clouds (oh it usually is anyway) and very much like I was in a fog for most of it. It's okay, nothing major - I think really it's that I'm still in vacation thought processing mode and since it's all been buzzbuzzbusy since the end of July, I'm just slowing down and getting back to reality now that the reunion has passed, the Texas ladies have come and gone and WHOOSH! it's time to deal with my life again. It's all in a good way, of course - I'm not complaining though because life in general has been summerly sweet as of late.

And I have to say, in the past week, I've gotten three of the best compliments I think I've received in my life:

1. Veronica mentioning that I make everything magical - I believe I was fixing tea for you in my "hobbit's cup" - I'm thrilled I make you feel that way!! Seriously, I know it was something that you said in passing but I took it to heart!

2. Zoe - a girl I used to babysit - telling me that I had a crazy laugh - I've always thought that crazy laughs ROCK!!

3. This week at work - I'm not going to go into what happened because I don't want you to think I'm hurting myself while patting myself on the back, but it was so cool and unexpected and made me feel fantastic and smiley but it was totally a Sally Field Moment "YOU LIKE ME YOU REALLY REALLY LIKE ME" and it was such a typical ME moment too where I thought I was actually perceived as quite the odd dork only to find out that it was totally the reverse. So there!

In closing, I'll give thanks to all The Gods of This Week then - you really did a great job!!

Fuck You, Penguin: A blog where I tell cute animals what's what

http://www.fupenguin.com/

Please check this out and laugh as much as I did (here at work, where I had to pretend my giggles were due to some stupidly funny query request via email).

I feel like I knew about this blog long ago and then forgot about it - the rants against how wonderful and cute animals are seem so familiar to me...

So now, once again, I am on my own. I am usually, typically on my own and used to it. But for the past two weeks I have been continuously with Others - first, the family in Washington State for the reunion and then with just my mom and dad for a few days in Oregon and then since Monday, The Texan Lasses have been by my side but they left this morning and now I'm a little blue and I'll have to get used to the "by myself" part again. SIGH.

Shall I sing the Eric Carmen song to illustrate my mood?

No, I didn't think so either.

But we did have fun, didn't we Texas? Let's see, we did our own Literary Tour of Greenwich Village, had some Israeli food and margaritas, perused the Chelsea Market and bought stuff and food and coffees and walked the High Line and then they were left to their own devices while I worked - but I met them for a tasty Thai dinner uptown on Tuesday and last night, we had BBQ WAY uptown by Fairway at 131st and 12th Avenue - turns out, that area is sort of hopping - I got a wee bit misty-eyed (not really) because I used to come up here all the time whilst at Barnard for 2 reasons - I was cheap and going the distance to Fairway was worth the trek, so I'd load up on essentials and food items and Columbia owns a building up there called Prentis and that's where Eve had her art studio and so I'd go up there and hang out (i.e. study) while she worked on her senior project. What this really means is that she'd sculpt or look at art books (maybe stolen from the Butler Stacks - we knew a trick) for 20 minutes, I'd try to read Shakespeare and Spenser and then we'd spend the next 4 hours smoking, drinking coffee, and talking and thinking that we were cool.

And we were.

So anyway - I feel both good because I've had such a happy two weeks - and then sad because it's all over and my Dear Little Buddy is gone and who's going to laugh at me when I act silly the way she does and now there's nothing to look forward to.

Hrumph. Bah. How about a rousing rendition of Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)"?

Fine then.

Who knows though...perhaps something good and supercool is peeking out at me just around the corner and sticking its tongue out at me and I've got blinders on...so let's wait and see and slap on a happy face nonetheless - we shall fake it til you make it.

I'm back and I do declare...

our family reunion to be a success!! Total triumph!! I forgot to say goodbye here on dear bloggie before I left on July 24th but since my audience is really just my family, they all knew where to find me!!

Here are some of my fave shots from Snow White's collection (so far..other incriminating evidence has yet to surface so stay tuned!)

Aw, the Family Drinking Game!! Funnily enough, my dad was the best at it... hmmm...

The entertainment portion of our week - yes, my father is dressed up as Susan Boyle and yes, he makes quite the ugly woman!! I think he's okay with that!

All of us!!!

Drunken troll dolls!!!