Well, let's hope tonight is better than last week!!
Each singer has been asked to dedicate their performance to someone special.
Phil Stacey dedicated to his naval base or something..I kinda missed it. He's singing "Missing You." A song from back in the day, Tara. I liked Phil back during his audition and last week, but tonight, not so much. His pointy ears are distracting. (I know that has nothing to do with his singing.) He did ok with that song. Not a powerhouse performance, but it was ok. The so-called "big notes" were pretty good. I have to agree with Simon. He's very likeable just not "unique."
Ryan asked Sundance what people told him after last week. He said, "They pretty much told me not to be crappy." Now that was funny!
Jared Cotter sings Marvin Gaye, "Let's Get It On." Dedicated to his mom and dad who encouraged him to go to the audition. Boy is kinda purty. Some major eyebrows going on. I guess the girls just spoiled me last week, but this is just kinda blah. Nothing great. He's just good. Simon won't be impressed, I think. Simon calls it "Love Boat."
AJ Tabaldo dedicates to his parents. He's singing...a song I don't know, of course. I don't like him, however, he is doing the best of the night so far. That's not saying much. I can't stand names like AJ, RJ, TJ..etc. Not on Idol, anyway. It's weird. Anyway, his singing was better than last week and it was a pretty good song. Simon actually kind of liked him.
Sanjaya Malakar dedicates to his grandfather. He sings...something jazzy and old. This kid has got to go. Song choice, boo. Performance, boo. This is something he would sing at a high school choir show. (say hello to this year's chicken little) Not good. (by the way, I said the high school thing before Randy did.)The scary thing about Sanjaya is..he sounds and acts a little like Michael Jackson. Tres creepy.
Chris Sligh dedicates to his wife Sarah. Whoa..his wife is pretty hot..not what you expect. His hair is kinda poofy tonight. Chris sings "Trouble." He won't be able to do it like Taylor did last year, that's all I have to say. This song is WAAAAAY too soulful for his voice. Once again, he did ok. Nothing great. Kinda blah. At least he didn't try to be hilarious this week or talk back to Simon.
Nick Pedro dedicates to his girlfriend, Kaitlyn and he's singing "Fever." Not a bad voice, just kinda boring. Not much else to say.
Blake Lewis dedicates to his parents. Blake looks like a complete dork in that hat. He sings "Virtual Insanity." Perfect song for his voice. Best of the night even with the beat boxing/scratching that was completely unnecessary and it is getting old.
God, Paula and Randy need to shut up and leave Simon alone. I hate that they are allowed to not like someone, but the first second Simon voices his opinion, they freak out. I HATE this show so much! But I love it. :)
Brandon Rogers dedicates to his grandmother. He sings "Time After Time." He really should have gone with something up tempo. His voice sounds good though it was pretty boring. Like Simon says, he needs to make a WOW impact. That is exactly right.
Simon is so funny. He is right, though, just sing!
Chris Richardson dedicates to his grandma. He's singing "Geek In the Pink." Pretty good. At least it's upbeat. Not much else to say, really. Randy..huh? He thought it was better than the original?? Mmkay.
Sundance Head dedicates to his son Levi. He sings "Ride Sally Ride." He is much more in his element and doesn't look like he is about to pass out. Much much better, Sundance. A fun performance, probably not his best, but wow what an improvement!
Overall, a much better night than last week. The girls will bring it tomorrow, I'm sure.
My bottom 2: SANJAYA and SANJAYA...but, since he isn't going anywhere (I don't think), I'll go with Nick Pedro and Brandon Rogers only because they were so boring.
Today, I became the mother of a 16 year old. It's a very weird feeling. I remember Brianna as a baby almost like it was yesterday, yet when I think about it, 16 years does seem like so long ago.
February 25th, 1991 started with me and Bubba heading to the hospital for a stress test. Well, I was the one being tested, not Bubba, but you get it. ANYway, I was 15 days past my due date but that really didn't bother me. I was a tad scared of labor and pain and all that and I was loving being pregnant so 15 days was no big deal to me. Long story short, there appeared to be a little stress on the baby so they kept me and induced labor. Basically, it didn't work, so they decided on a c-section.
At 9:58pm, Brianna Kaitlyn was born and life was never the same.
My doctor introducing Brianna to the family.
Absolutely nothing we did would wake her for this photo.
Is this a cute face or what?
EAT THE CAKE! (as you can see, she wanted NO PART of that cake on her 1st birthday.)
Finally, here she is now in her Sweetheart Ball photo and with her cute little cake today.
Brianna was a great baby, a great little kid and now she is a pretty great teen. Yeah she's mouthy and moody, but otherwise, we don't have any problems with her. Her teachers like her, she has lots of friends, she stays out of trouble and she is excelling in school. What more could parents ask?
Happy birthday, Brianna!! We love you!
~~I put a few more old photos up on flickr if you wanna go look.
Kelly at A Yoga Coffee Outlook is giving away a Zune MP3 Player. No, seriously. She is. It's really easy to qualify and possibly "win." (technically it's NOT a contest.)
Remember the Soup Nazi? "No soup for you!!" Well, in this house, we have a new mantra. "NO SHOES FOR YOU!" Yes, that's right, I no..WE..have become....
CARPET NAZIS
"Wait! Don't put your shoes on until you get to the front door!"
"AHHH! NO! Shoes OFF BEFORE you come in the house!"
"NO FOOD IN THE LIVING ROOM!!"
"Is that JUICE you are holding over the carpet??"
"NO LIQUID IN THE LIVING ROOM!"
"Is that a crumb on the carpet? Quick! Get the vacuum!!"
"Did you just sneeze on the carpet?"
Guess who was the first one to spill something on the BRAND NEW CARPET?
Ryan announced some of the special guests that will be on this season...J-Lo, Gwen Stefani, Jon Bon Jovi, Barry Gibb and a few others that I can't remember at the moment.
Then, we are blessed cursed with a group song. I hate the group songs. Super cheese! Super amusement park show! Tonight is "Sowing the Seeds of Love" by Tears For Fears, complete with lame choreographed snapping. I love that song. Just not sung by the AI singers.
The first male toGTHOTS....Paul Kim! He of the "I must sing barefooted" butcher-er of "Careless Whisper." I was too nice the other night. He was pretty bad.
The first female to GTHOTS...Amy Krebs! She of the...who? What'd she sing again? Did we ever see her before this?
Great...Fantasia guests to sing one of her songs. I never liked her back during her season. That was a bad season. Oh, she has braces now. She pronounces sister as "shishter" and still as "shtill". That's not annoying. She still screeches. I still don't like her.
The 2nd female to GTHOTS...Nicole Tranquillo! She of the...weird vocals. Really..what was that? I didn't remember her before Tuesday night, either.
And finally, the 2nd male to GTHOTS...Rudy Cardenas! He of the bulls-eye shirt and bad dancing. His performance was a bit cheesy.
True to rumors...they are using Daughtry's "Home" as the goodbye song! Yay, Chris!!
And so ends the first GTHOTS episode of the season.
Here's hoping the girls do better tonight! I'm not really expecting anything, but maybe there will be a surprise
Stephanie Edwards sings a song I don't know. She's very pretty. Dressed nicely as opposed to the guys last night who looked pretty slobby. She's a little breathy but she sounds a little like Beyonce only less shrill. Simon says it was a million times better than the guys last night. He's right. Stephanie is playing (singing) to win! Definitely one to watch.
Amy Krebs sings I Can't Make You Love Me. She has a nice voice but it was just boring. She tried to add some weird runs in the song as Randy said. Still, she was better than most of the guys last night. Just forgettable.
Leslie Hunt sings You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. It was ok. She has a good voice, but there is just something about her. Something I can't place...Maybe it was just the wrong song. Not the best, but I'll say it again, better than the guys.
Sabrina Sloan sings something I don't know. She spunky. Not the best vocals, but she might improve over time. She got a tad screechy at times. Not as good as Stephanie, but pretty good. All the judges loved her.
Antonella Barba sings I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. Hmm..I'm not that impressed. She's ok. She was flat. She was stiff. Probably the worst of the night even though it wasn't positively horrible. Stephanie blows her away for sure.
Jordin Sparks sings Give Me One Reason. Girl got pipes! Maybe not the best song, but I really like her and I usually don't like the young girls. She can kick some butt in this competition if she chooses the right songs from now on! Love her.
Nicole Tranquillo sings don't know what this song is. Oh my. The beginning of this song was just...weird. I'm sure she can sing, but not that song. I didn't like it much at all.
Haley Scarnato sings It's All Coming Back To Me Now. She did ok on the Celine song, but it was a tad too theater-ish. Quite boring. Nothing spectacular. Others were much better.
Melinda Doolittle sings an Aretha song I don't know. Wow! HUGE voice from a small girl! She is great and should go far!!
Yay for the women!!! The guys should be embarrassed!
Alaina Alexander sings Brass In Pocket. I'm not feeling it. She just wasn't good. I don't think she'll go far at all.
Gina Glocksen sings All By Myself. Bad song choice, but she can sing. Such a sloooowww song. I like her, though. I hope she stays a while just so we can see what she can do.
Lakisha Jones sings You're Gonna Love Me. Another one with some pipes!! She was AWESOME!! Go girl!!
I am so happy the ladies did a great job overall. They guys should just go home now. Hey TARA, tomorrow will be the first GTHOTS of the season!!
I hate it when bloggers spend a bunch of time apologizing for not blogging much lately so that's exactly what I am doing now. Because, you know, I am not one of those elite bloggers who blog perfect posts each and every day that never ever suck. Anway, Here's what's been up...
My jaw is still not opening all the way, though I can eat a sandwich IF it is fairly flat. I can brush all of my teeth now, too. Yay me for being halitosis-free. A second dentist had a look-see at my jaw and he gave the condition a name. Trismus, which is what I had already figured out on my own. He thinks it was caused by the injection I had when I had my last fillings done. This, I had already figured out on my own as well. He manipulated my jaw a bit and the next day I could open it much better. Basically, it's still a wait and see kind of thing. If it doesn't get any better, I will see a specialist. I don't really wanna, so right now, I am living with the limitations.
No, I have not heard anything from The Biggest Loser. I didn't expect to, but it's still kind of a bummer, you know? There's a new host for the show for the upcoming season, too. No more Caroline Rahe...Ray...whatever... to ponder over with her bad fashion choices.
We had a blizzard the day before Valentine's Day. It's melting now. You've all seen snow before now move along.
Speaking of Valentine's Day, all y'all who thought about/posted about how much you hate it and how we should "show love every day of the year not just when Hallmark tells me to" well, I just say, Bah, humbug to you! It's a simple holiday that gives us an excuse to devour loads of chocolate! What is wrong with that?? Personally, I'll take any reason to give or receive pretty cards and yummy candy. (Cristie, I will let you slide on this one. Only because I love you already.)
We ripped out old nasty stained nasty gross nasty carpet and got brand new clean fresh clean new carpet!! I love it so much I would have stripped naked and rolled around on it. If that weren't gross. Yeah.
We also painted the two rooms that got new carpet.
By "we" I mean Bubba.
The little ones got new bunk beds. No one has broken bones yet.
Yet.
Brianna got all A's again. She rocks.
The 11 pounds I lost from not being able to eat? Um yeah, well, I haven't officially gotten on the scales, but I am almost positive they found their way back to their families of fat on my body.
It's way late and I've now forgotten all the other things I was gonna bullet post.
Lucky you.
For shizz and giggles, here are a few photos to entertain you...
The bunk beds.
The bench toybox that Bubba painted with chalkboard paint.
Ok, guys, if you hate American Idol, I'm sorry...but I just can't NOT blog about Idol. I just like to look back at my posts as the season goes on. Tonight is the first night of Top 24 competition. It's the boys' night to sing.
First up is...
Rudy Cardenas sings Free Ride. This guy reminds me of someone but I can't think of who. Clay Aiken? I don't know. This guy is forgettable. He had lots of energy, but he is not my favorite. Kinda cruise-shippy.
Brandon Rogers sings Rock With You. He has a nice smooth voice, has a good stage presence and is very good looking. He did well, but he didn't shine. I like him better than the first guy.
Sundance Head sings Knights in White Satin. Oh my. Not good. His audition must have been a fluke. I'm sad because I thought he might end up being my favorite. Nope. He was all over the place on a song he should have never chose to sing!
Paul Kim sings Careless Whisper. This guy sings barefoot and that gets on my nerves. It's a gimmick that is just...silly. BAD song choice. Started way too low and then hit a BAD high note! I liked his auditions, but this was pretty bad. If he stays, I hope he gets better.
Chris Richardson sings I Don't Wanna Be. Not bad. He's got a Justin Timberlake feel to him. He's bouncing up and down too much. His performance was fun, though not the best singing-wise. His dad was funny in the audience.
Nick Pedro sings I Will Be Your Man. Soooo slow....It's ok. He's singing safe. He was boring though he sang one high note well. What the heck is with the song choices tonight????
Blake Lewis sings a song I can't remember the name of. It's slow. Pretty boring. He did ok. Nothing spectacular. He didn't ruin the song with beat boxing, thank goodness!
Sanjaya Malakar sings another song I don't know. Slow. Boring. Not very good. Off key. Next!
Chris Sligh sings Typical? Was that the song title? I don't know. He rushed the song but it was ok. Not stellar, but he's fun. The song didn't showcase his voice at all.
Ok, I liked Chris Sligh in the beginning, but he just lost tons of points with me. I HATE when the singers "talk back" to Simon. HATE. Sing, take your criticism and get off the stage.
Jarrod Cotter sings Back At One. Not bad. Stage presence is pretty good. Not a bad song for his voice, though boring. Sounded too close to the original song. He is a good looking man, for sure.
AJ Tabaldo sings no idea. He was energetic, but very forgettable. I didn't like his audition so I'm already not a fan.
Phil Stacey sings I Could Not Ask For More. That started kinda poorly but it got MUCH better! One of the best of the night. Still, he didn't blow me away.
*sigh* The boys pretty much sucked. Hope the girls do better tomorrow.
...is what happens when one is delirious from little sleep for 4 days...non-stop ripping up of old, nasty carpet, inhaling who knows what kinds of deathly devil spores from said carpet, floor repair, painting...and painting...and painting..and shaking your groove thang to this...
Ok, so I still haven't gotten any still photos of the Brianna and the guard show. BUT, I did manage to tape it on her digital. It's poor quality, I know. But just in case you want to see what I talk about every winter, this will give you an idea. IF you watch the whole thing and look closely, you will see the hootchie boots I talked about the other day. AND? As an added bonus, you will hear me singing along to the song and woo-hooing. If you need a laugh, this is for you. If embedded vids don't work for you, then click HERE.
So, here it is..."Once Bitten."
I wish I could point out where Brianna is in the video..but you'll just have to use your imagination. They ended up getting third place. They don't even really care how they place since they all love the show so much and are having so much fun.
Seriously..I am going to throw up! I can not take this whole Colts in the superbowl crap! It makes me too nervous. Being nervous makes me want to eat. So I eat which makes my stomach queasy because I am nervous. See how that works??
On the plus side? The Colts are up by 2 at half-time. That is NOT a big enough lead for me to feel comfortable.
Pass the chocolate chip cheeseball! And I DON'T mean Prince.
Some of our superbowl food
Colts Dorks
Please ignore my non-make-up wearing, wet-haired, double-chinned bigness in the previous photo. Thank you and if you need me I'll be in the bathroom barfing.
Perhaps I should say "Fard up." It's the Tennessee in me.
It's 1:43 am and I shouldn't be up this late, but I am so mad I can't see straight. Why? Well, I made the mistake of reading the forums at the website for our newspaper. I should know better. Really I should. I just don't learn. Inevitably, when I read those forums, there is some idiot spouting off and it gets me all riled up. This is one of those times.
Let me do a little 'splainin' first. In this here town I live in, there are basically two sides of town. The north side and the south side. The north side is more affluent to varying degrees and the south side is the "poor" side of town. The wrong side of the tracks, if you will. It is poor in both perception and reality. Of course there are some areas that are worse than others. There are different types of nice neighborhoods and also different types of run-down neighborhoods.
In this town, there are two high schools. Central and Southside. Central=the rich kids. Southside=poor white trash. This is pretty much how the folks over on the north side of town have seen Southside ever since I can remember. Growing up, we were kind of middle of the road as families go. We (my sisters and I) went to a southwest elementary school and middle school, but because of freakish boundaries, we went to Central High School where we mingled with middle income kids as well as rich kids.
Southside High School
I admit that I hated Southside back when I was in high school. This was mostly because of cross-town rivalry in sports because I was SUPER FAN. However, I do remember it being pretty much a "known" that Southside kids were poor and bad and any other derogatory word you could come up with. I've since grown up.
That stereotype lingered in my mind and when we moved to the South side of town, I was a tad worried. My oldest had gone to kindergarten at one of those "good" schools and now would have to be moved to one of those *GASP!* south side schools. Luckily, at the time, I worked with a girl whose daughter was going to the same school so I drilled her on the school. She put my fears and worries at ease. Was I ever pleased with that school! Brianna (and we) were blessed with a wonderful principal and teachers and classmates. Was it a perfect school with perfect children? Of course not. But, we couldn't have been much happier with a school than we were with that one.
When it came time for Brianna to go to middle school I was met with the same sorts of worries. Again, those worries were unfounded. Now, she is at that high school. The one I once hated, I now love. Brianna has tons of school pride. She is thriving, as usual. Don't get me wrong, there are problems at Southside just like at any other school. Nothing I would pull her out of the school for though.
The one thing that is glaringly obvious about this school is that, yes, it is the 'poor' school. We have to beg, borrow and almost steal to get what we have. It's a struggle sometimes and it's frustrating. Frustrating to see the rich kids HAVE while we HAVE NOT. It's the way of the world, I know, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier to stomach.
Fast forward to me reading those forums that I mentioned. There has been talk, as there is about once a year, about consolidating the two schools into one. As usual, it is met with rabid opposition from both sides. I am completely against it, but in the end, a consolidation will probably happen within the next 10 years or so. So, here is part of one of the posts I read on the FORUM:
"...I purposely bought a home on the North side of town with my children in mind. When they start going to school I do not want them being around some of the children from the south side. If I wanted them to attend a trashy school, I could have saved myself thousands of dollars and moved to the other side of town. ...I assure you that I'm not the only person who feels that way."
Oh NO they DI'NT!
You KNOW I immediately fired off a response to that one! However, I was actually pretty calm (even if my hands were shaking) and typed a(n) (almost) well thought out response. I just feel that in a round about way, this person is calling our kids trashy and that just doesn't sit well with me. I couldn't just let it go.
Before you take ME to task for letting this get to me, I need to clear something up. I DO understand the desire to give the best of everything to our children. I have that desire. I want them to be safe and happy and well-educated. So far, the two that are in the school system ARE safe and happy and will be well educated when all is said and done. I just don't think that because our school is old and worn down and the student body as a whole is not dressed in Abercrombie stuff (or whatever the latest brand name must-have is) that they/we should be called trashy. Snobs just burn my hide.
We don't have the money to buy a home "over there" and you know what? That is perfectly fine by me. We fit in well over here amongst the po folk. They don't look down on us or check the tags in our clothes.
Bubba rocks, no? This is the cake he made for the big "CUBEGATING" party at work. It is Colts KA-RAZEE at work and all over Indiana right now. We've had spirit week at work...hat day, boot day (to stomp out those Bears. cheesy? Why yes it was...)etc... Tomorrow is Blue Day...AKA wear-as-much-blue-as-you-can-without-getting-fired-day. I'll be donning my brand spankin' new Colts shirt. You know you are jealous.
My poor Braelyn is sick. I got home from work and she was burning with fever. She'd been lying down sleeping since she got home from school. I gave her meds and a shower and then she threw up all over the floor in the living room. She was so ready for bed and just a short time ago woke up puking again. Needless to say, she won't be going to school tomorrow.
Watched most of Open Season earlier and I must say that Gary Sinise rocks that movie as the crazy hunter! (I could be a little biased since he is my favorite actor EVAH!) The whole movie is really funny. I highly recommend it to the two of you who haven't seen it yet. I am always months late at seeing movies.
I forgot that I was supposed to fill you in on my nerdy mom-ish-ness. There are visual aids that go along with that so that will have to wait until tomorrow because I don't feel like taking photos right now.
Jaw update...I know I keep talking about it, but imagine for a moment how very frustrating it is for someone who likes to eat can't enjoy food anymore. (there is something very grammatically wrong with that sentence but I am too tired to fix it) Besides helping her lose 11 pounds so far, it is VERY frustrating! Anyway, I can open my mouth a tad more today! Yay me! It's far from being normal, but today, I could fit a York Peppermint Patty between my teeth. Hallelujah!
Rob a jewelry store and tell 'em make me a grill... yeah, that song is playing now, what of it??
I will have myself an mp3 player in the next few days. No, it's not an iPod, and yes, it is used, but I kind of feel like one of the cool kids now. Brianna got her birthday present a little early...a new cell phone that has an mp3 player in it so she is giving me her mp3 player. She has to teach me how to use it first. I'm a dork that way. Plus, I need to unload it of all the songs I don't like...that should be fun.
So, I don't know if you've heard but that little team from Indianapolis is goin' to the SUPER BOWL. Ya know..the COLTS!! Yeah, Indiana has gone Colts crazy and that is fine by me. I love me some Colts. Bubba bought me a new Colts shirt to wear Sunday. We're having our own little Super Bowl party here. Well, if you can call me, Bubba and two kids a party. You know me. I'm totally not about a crowd of people in a small space. Party or not. We're still trying to decide what food to have.
We get our new carpet in a couple of weeks. Be prepared for photos. I'm warning you now.
Are you guys proud of me? I haven't been talking about American Idol. I'm watching but the auditions suck so bad, I'm not bothering to talk about it. Be proud, your little blogger is growing up!
Ok, it's late and I need to get sleep. Tomorrow I will tell you about how I've joined the ranks of nerdy mom. Until then...toodles.
