Great Mashup!

Beck & Beatles:

Some Songs...

Some songs just take you back to a certain moment or feeling it's eerie. And kind of sad. However dumb the song is, it becomes a piece of your life history. Same thing with smells. I recently smelled samples of these wickless candles my friend is selling from Scentsy, and many of them automatically called certain things to mind. Scent is a more influential sense than I thought!

From her awesome hairdo (dare you to do this hair tutorial Iris!), to the ingenious way the video was shot that resembles something a kid could put together and upload to youtube in a minute, to the sexy spoken lyrics in the beginning..I am in awe!

In certain frames she looks like Robyn:

  Anyway, this song came up on recommendations on youtube and it just brings me back to the early 1990's. Being a kid not worrying about anything really important. Being scared and kind of sad when my parents' band would go perform weekend gigs, but sort of excited about what wierd or fun thing my sisters (the babysitters) would do or watch. Man the 1990's were such a carefree time. Or maybe it was just my childhood. What songs bring you back?

oh and another one that brings me back and makes me sad is Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares to You"---I always thought it was so sad growing up..for some reason I thought it was about someone dying.

Pumpkin Patch

At the library the other day I picked up this free magazine called "Space City Kids" (the suburbs here all surround the NASA Johnson Space Center) and it is full of great stuff. I am sure the prices are high for most of the little kid gyms or early learning programs, or swimming lessons etc, but I might do one once (or should I say 'if') John stops working so much overtime.

   This month's issue was also full of fall festivals in the area. We went to one today at a local Methodist church. It was really close and we only stay for a half our or so, but it was fun, free and John was able to go back to sleep when we were done. His goal right now is to be as involved in the family as possible while still getting enough sleep for work. :) He's doing a good job.

We got to get some cute family pics, and they both wore the shirts that only make sense this time of year lol. They had a train (but the line was too long) and a petting zoo, numerous pumpkins and squash of all shapes, face-painting, 2 castle jumping bounce things, and slushies. We got slushies and bought 2 small pumpkins. The babies had fun--and we will be going to more festivals thanks to the magazine :)

Olivia had to tough the soft bunny rabbit.

 "okay, give us our pumpkins!"

 Of course they reach for the same one.

 Trying out some yummy strawberry slushies.

 What's funny is that they actually wanted to switch; Olivia wanted the bigger one

Lucas wanted the more symmetrical, almost perfectly circular consistently-toned one. OCD?

BTW, Lucas liked his hair like this (gel in it, in between actually combing it) so I left it. It's his costume: Nick-Nolte-mugshot-hair-man...gimme some canday!

  It was such a nice thing to have for free--and all the volunteers were so nice. Tomorrow after mass our church has a little lunch party so hopefully the babies are up for that...usually after mass they are ready for naps.

Halloween Stuff

Yesterday I felt like taking the babies to Kemah. We go pretty regularly and it's usually well-worth the free outdoor fun (parking is free during the week). So the babies are familiar with "kemah" and get really hyped up about it once they see the boats when we go over the bridge.
   Well yesterday happened to be a conference event for a company, whose tent took up half the parking lot. And Kemah recently started there BoO on the Boardwalk Halloween celebrations, including haunted houses, so it was crowded anyway. I drove around for about 20 minutes looking for parking no matter how far. It's frustrating because they have 2 extra lots that they open during the weekends and during special events with parking for 5 or 6 bucks, but yesterday it was locked up..all those empty spaces unused...I would think they'd want the extra business buying their food, games, rides and other entertainment. So I tried to explain it to my thoroughly disappointed babies..Olivia cried and Lucas pouted "Bye Kemah...Bye Kemah.." aw.

   So I took them to the dollar store with the intention of coming up with a new idea for making them Halloween costumes. I bought $10 worth of fun stuff, but no costume idea. I got Halloween decor because they are really excited about pumpkins and such. I bought Lucas a fireman hat for fun. 2 dog toys (which have already been destroyed) a clamp-on reading light for me (when John's sleeping and I wanna read my biographies) and 2 pumpkin buckets for trick-or-treating. We may not even go trick-or-treating because I just found out John got called in to work that night.

They really enjoyed putting up the decorations with my double sided tape:

So the night was saved with some halloween dollar store items....then, I fed them and cleaned up, let them watch a little "Caillou" and put the dogs on their leashes to let them potty before starting the kids bath...I luckily glanced over at Olivia before walking out the door...she had opened her diaper and was playing with something on the couch..upon a closer look, I see she is smearing her poop into the cushion. I was so angry! I wiped her off and put her in the bath, then put lucas in, took the cushion covers off to wash, pour the detergent in, and try to start it...IT WON'T START! Meanwhile the dogs are still whining to go out but they had to wait til I was done bathing the kids. So glad I caught her before I went out the door..who knows what she would've touched.

   Of course it has to happen on a friday night so the maintenance people can't come til monday as its not an emergency. But since the carpet's now clean, I can have them also fix the stove door which has become unhitched, the recessed lightbulb in the bathroom, and my garage door that keeps on opening when other tenants use their remotes. (which is a big deal not only because of vandals/thiefs, but the wildlife..possums and raccoons have gotten into our dog food in the garage before.

Another sidenote--she was farting a lot during dinner (should've cued me in on what was to come) and she used to be proud of it saying "I fah-tid!" But I have noticed recently she looks at me with a sort of embarassed look that turns into an angry denial when I say "ew you're a stinky girl, farty butt." She's quick to catch on about things like that..not that I want her to be embarassed. I guess I shouldn't react the way I do but it's so funny when she farts. The other night as daddy was going to work, we gave her a hug to make an Olivia sandwich and then quickly smelled the 'condiment' of her squished poop--which she thought was funny.

Olivia always manages to make herself high maintenance. Everything is harder with her around, but she's cute and smart so she should do alright in the longrun lol.

Cleaning..

It never ends. I just had professionals come and clean our carpets, which have only in the past 6 months, been stained with food, drinks, babies, and dog messes. We moved all our furniture which gave me a chance to clean the shelves. The carpet looks great except 2 stains that will not come out. Shmoopy's messes that went unnoticed because they were sort of hidden by the rug, and at night, so by the time I saw them and tried to scrub them out with resolve, the acid had already dyed the carpet. And it was peed on subsequently. So frustrating and gross.

  Anyways, it is now sanitized and only took about 3 and half hours to dry. We re-arranged the furniture to allow more play space. (and also more space for my dorky workouts). I am being really strict with not allowing the babies any food, snacks or drinks on the carpet, and putting the dogs in crates when we go out or to sleep. There was already a little dog pee on the carpet because the dogs were excited about John getting up. But if I see it I clean it right away so it won't stain.

 I was embarassed to have anyone over because of the many stains but it's all nice and clean now...for a little while.

 Before

  After

I had been putting off having the maintenance guys come over and fix things because I was embarassed about the carpet. I know we will probably be paying for the carpets to be replaced (not to mention the blinds that I can't keep the babies from messing with) when we leave.

 

   

Kroger

We usually do all our shopping at Target (for convenience and price) and then I do a little trip to HEB for their produce which is sometimes good--they used to have HUGE mangos that were delicious. But a few days ago I took the babies to HEB and walked right back out. I don't find their prices to be better than others, and they didn't have the mangos I wanted, and they barely had any yellow squash, and they were tiny. And they had zero butternut squash. The place is kind of dirty, and the parking lot is always full of nasty starlings (one of which pooped on my head once recently).
    So I decided to try a newer market down the street from there called Kroger. There's an older Kroger even closer to us, but I wanted to try this one out. I was glad I did. The prices were either comparable or better (with their membership cards) and they had a very good selection. The place was immaculate (reminded me of the nice Ukrop/Martin grocers of VA) and they had these cool kids carts with 2 tvs! I thought it would keep the babies happy for the trip, but they were tired and hungry and acted up pretty much the whole time.
  sidenote--why do these stores have discount cards? If anyone can get a card, (i got one that day, without filling anything out, or even giving my name) why don't they just have their prices always be that low?

They look happy here, but it didn't last.

So these carts were neat because they had a place for your kids to stand and watch the tv, which I can control--had 3 different cartoons (including veggietales). And then the bottom front part is a little car with a steering wheel and a TV. The doors on either side lock so your kid cant fall out. I think they will like it when we go back again.

  They had lots of huge butternut squash and yellow squash..no mangos though. They had boar's head deli meat and they sliced it VERY thin like I like :) and they had the lower sodium cuts too. Gave the babies samples...peculiar--they like the deli meat when we get samples at stores, but not when I put some on their plates, or sandwiches.
They also had cinnamon flavored low-fat graham crackers, which I couldn't find anywhere else.

It'd be even cooler if those cart tv's had episodes of jersey shore for me to watch haha.

I love this guy!

Herman Cain is black and he doesn't smoke crack:

Gettin Ready For Pumpkins!

We are going to be going to a really cool Xmas Tree farm in Spring next weekend, which is now hosting Pumpkin Patch festivities. But for now, I just took them to Kemah to look at the big pumpkin and get excited :) Don't know what they will be for Halloween yet.

So excited they had to do their tricks :)

My cute Olivia posing with the huge pumpkin.

 It seems not to long ago that we were at Pumpkinville in VA 2010:

 Look at my chubby and gummy mouth Olivia!

 We miss you all...and Virginia. But not Lucas' excessive drooling...Thank God he's done with that!

Ahh...year went by pretty quickly. It was a rough one. Excited to start truly enjoying the fun in the true essence of holiday celebrations: kids! We miss all our family though. Come to Texas :)

Kroakee w/ Tina

Was very windy on the top deck...no hair ties...

Last Saturday night Tina and I went to a place called "Turtle Club" in nearby Seabrook. We had never been there before--it's basically a 2 story small floating pier, with dock stations for boats to pull in. Downstairs there was a bar, and upstairs there was karaoke (tina calls it "kroakee").

Tina so overdressed...just keeding don't cry!

  You all know me...99 % of my wardrobe is t-shirts and jeans. I intended to wear just that, with sneakers...(And who calls them "sneakers" anymore? I'm old.) When I got to Tina's to pick her up, she started crying over being overdressed...and proceeded to force me to go home and change into a top with a cardigan, and ridiculous heels....as mentioned in my weight loss blog, my back was aching from a workout injury, so walking in those heels  in a gravel parking lot, onto a swaying platform, and upstairs to karaoke, didn't help my back!

My camera couldn't capture how pretty it was atop the water across from Kemah and the bridge..but I still like these:

   Karaoke was fun, although I would've really liked to play live music at open mics. This was the closest thing. Tina was too chicken to sing, even after trying a "Bushwhacker" (what did you think it was called again!? lol) The scene was what could be expected at a karaoke bar...smoking, drinking, trashy outfits, blow-up dolls, creepy old drunk men. You know, all the stuff that's entertaining to a sober person to just observe. But my 'date' (Tina) didn't know that when you even engage these creepy old drunk men, by answering any question or smiling, you encourage them! I had to cut a few off from bothering us. I remember going out with Susan when I was young and polite and she would always tell me, "They think you are flirting if you even acknowledge them." No matter how innocent I was, it's true. Men (esp drunk creepy and old) don't take hints.

These are the few pics I got..after Tina asked a few CODG's to take our pic, and they failed lol.

The karaoke DJ lady had a couple computers set up to essentially search for any song you wanted, and change the key. I didn't come very prepared so spontaneously chose "Two More Bottles of Wine" by Emmylou Harris first, which was fun, and then "FM" by Steely Dan. Not the best song to sing at karaoke  (lots of uncomfortable dancing during the long 'instrumental breaks' lol), but it was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There were some really good singers. I got a few compliments on my singing, and my "WTF" bag :) Then we headed home, but not before being solicited to buy spring rolls out of some guy's car. My back hurt so bad that night I slept with a pillow arching it up. It feels better now and I am thinking I might get back to my workout DVDs tonight, without the weights for starters.

Fixing her lip gloss :)

   It was fun to get out with Tina, but like I always say, I feel awkward and useless without that double stroller and babies, and of course I missed Johnny. :)

"Give us some funked up music...she'll treat you nice."

  Tina is also starting out as a consultant for Scentsy products. I have sampled some and like them. I just bought this snapshot warmer for my mom's bday, with a few scents I thought she would like:

If you'd like to check out all their products:
https://tinamorgan.scentsy.us/Home

"Reducing to a Singleton"

My babies' godparents just sent this well-written article I wanted to share. It's no surprise that many women who conceive twins or triplets or any multiples, (naturally or artificially) choose to murder the ones they don't want, but of course it never ceases to disgust me. And what really makes me mad is the way the women try to justify their callous decisions--always turning it into a selfless act of love. Then they go to psychologists that tell them their guilt is projected on them from hateful and judgmental "outsiders" as opposed to their own healthy conscience.

Check the article out here.

SO VALIDATED!

I can't believe it.....I was just getting back from a workout, and got an email, saying I got a comment on my new youtube video (my mashup cover song "Start Again, Jackass")....I couldn't believe my eyes. Look at the comment I got:

"Wow! I just stumbled across this by total accident... As the writer of this song (Start Again) may I say you have made a beautiful version of it, I love the harmonies. Thank you so much for showing an interest in the group and for recording this wonderful version. Finding this has made my day! Alex. x"

AH!! I remember back around 2002, just after graduation, Susan started listening to them and I really liked this song and the harmonies and the synthesizer/vocoder effects. I finally started trying to put together the 3-part harmonies, and asked John to take the babies out for an hour or so, so I could totally devote myself to putting this song together. I am so glad I did. I am extremely flattered (sort of embarassed, at recording it in my bathroom etc) but I feel like this is the highest validation one can get when covering a song---a compliment from the original artist! I am getting very motivated to play more music and learn more and put my own spin on more songs. I am also motivated to get some of Electric Soft Parade's newer stuff. I have always wanted to record "Silent to the Dark" but don't feel I can do it very well with just me and my guitar. ELECTRIC SOFT PARADE ROCKS! AND SO DOES YOUTUBE! I never would've thought I'd be heard by an actual artist I was covering...right now that video only has like 50 views lol. Feeling real good :) Thank you Alex for making MY day! Alex White is on the right :)

Getting Paid?

The Daily Caller has just released this video of some hispanic protesters in DC, who, like most of the other protesters, don't really know what they are protesting other than "we are protesting the people who took away our money", who? and what money? None of them would or could speak english so the interviewer spoke in Spanish which helped to reveal how clueless they were about holding their signs up...and the main organizer accidentally revealed that some of them weren't volunteers, meaning they were being paid to protest. He talked about affordable housing not being available to the latino community in DC...what does that have to do with wall street? Here's the video: The interviewer Michelle Fields also said that some of them that didn't know English, were holding signs in English--that they didn't understand. She is going to be on Cavuto later this afternoon to speak about it. Now I just can't stand Pelosi and other liberal politicians coming out to proudly support the unknown cause these protesters espouse. I know that these interviews of clueless people holding signs and their inane responses might be cherry picked from a crowd that may have a real purpose (i.e. the video in the former post where the guy wants to end the federal reserve..IMO he's in the wrong protest--he's definitely not an Obama supporter, which is the only common thread among the rest of them..his values are aligned with conservatives--he references Ron Paul--the "intellectual godfather" of the Tea Party movement), but it's pretty ridiculous when you compare Pelosi's response to the Tea Party protesters---a grass roots cause that wants less government spending, no bail outs, simplifying the tax system, repealing Obama's wasteful health care legislation, and basically spending less of their tax dollars on wasted pet projects and failed social programs...but the theme of the OWS protests seem to be about GIVING more handouts, and essentially hate for anyone who has money. Voicing your opinions and forming protests to promote change is what this country is about. But how has the mainstream media classified the Tea Party? As dangerous racist hick teabaggers, and according to Pelosi, "astroturf"--as if we were being paid to protest. But her response to the Occupy Wall Street protesters? "God bless them for their..spontaneity..it's young, it's spontaneous, it's focused.." Suspicious.

The Wall Street Protest

Celebrity hypocrisy, however predictable, is infuriating. While celebrities like Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin have claimed to support the unknown cause of these protests, who claim to be anti-capitalists protesting big banks....I remember Baldwin in a recent commerical for some, little bank called...Capital One.."what's in your wallet?"

Anyway, initially I just saw the clips of the hippies not knowing what they were protesting and running around naked and dirty and I laughed it off, or the people who really just wanted to attack, conservatives, or Fox news, or Tea Partiers by painting them all as westboro-baptist-sign-holding, racist 'birthers'(none of which I am, as a conservative). I understood Herman Cain's response "If you're not rich, blame yourself." Their complaints against "the rich" while loyally supporting a president who has only made the economy worse, and unemployment and government spending higher, confused me. I won't even mention Solyndra. Oops.
              Red Eye's Bill Schultz infiltrating the protests:

 
 And Greg Gutfeld's quick statement comparing protests here.
   But I saw this video below and I actually agreed with most of what this guy says, and although Ron Paul says some extreme things, I tend to agree with him upon really thinking about it. (I also happen to think that many of the young "Vote for Ron Paul" supporters wouldn't support him if they truly took the time to look at his stances...a small example--he's very pro-life, one reason I like him.) While I may not hear or totally agree with everything this protestor said (i.e. our going to war to sell tanks and guns, and I dont know what would happen if we totally ended the federal reserve), he definitely wasn't an idiot but I doubt many of the protestors out there, understood any of it--and the fact that he specifically called out George Soros (gazillionaire who funds EVERY evil liberal cause in existence) went unnoticed by the heavily liberal crowd. Their blind allegiance is scary. Anyway here's the only OWS protestor I've heard that seems to know what he's talking about:

I like this guy, but most of the other protesters are merely protesting against capitalism, which for anyone with a brain, is clearly not the problem, but the solution. Prime example, Steve Jobs---didn't take any government money, but built his own empire. A true enterpreneur--and I love Greg Gutfeld's statement on Jobs' death...it just aired so I don't have the clip yet, but he basically talked about Steve having been conceived by a Syrian man and an American woman--but her father didn't his daughter having a baby with a Syrian man, so she gave him to an adoptive couple, Paul and Clara Jobs. Gutfeld said that we should all be grateful that his mom made the choice she did (life) and how it reminded him of all the people who haven't had the chance to live and show their potential. How we forget that all the technology that makes life convenient for us, all had to be thought up by someone. Ah, well, he said it better than I did lol. It makes men so attractive to me when they voice their prolife-ness :)
update heres the clip: Still don't know who I will be voting for...looks like Perry's out. Romney maybe, Ron Paul maybe, Herman Cain still maybe. Santorum isn't getting enough support. I really am getting sick of hearing Obama speak about the country's problems as if they weren't at least partially caused by himself. </p></body>

Start Again Jackass

This is my new mashup, of Electric Soft Parade's "Start Again", and Beck's "Jack-Ass".
Again, it was all recorded separately with my camera and then layered together the best I could, so there's a lot of background noise--BUT no babies, because John was such a trooper--he volunteered to take them to the dollar movies so I could have some time to play music :) Unfortunately the dollar theater was closed today, so they went to the park and had lunch.

  I did my hair and makeup using various tips from Iris' youtube tutorials :)

The quality isn't very clear, so the glitter I used, looks like I'm dripping with sweat lol.

Olivia Planking?

My Babies Getting Cuter

I think I am an overly sentimental guy lol. Pretty much every month at least once, I go back and look at the babies' pics and video from their birth. This time after watching some old baby video of Olivia, it made me really want another baby! Crazy huh. Well, looking at her now, so cute, but very defiant and a diva-ish little girl who could easily be on one of those toddler pageant brat shows, it makes me miss having a little delicate baby even though she never stopped, and still hasn't stopped crying/whining:

But for now, I am also enjoying my kids...I can now call them kids right? Lol, at the park yesterday John was laughin at me because I was talking to another mom, and she asked how many months Olivia was, and I was like, "um, I don't know how many months. She's 2 in January...I don't calculate by months anymore...I just have an almost-two-year-old, and an almost-3-year-old (wow...3 years!)" My brain was just being lazy but I don't seem them as in months anymore. John thought it was pretty funny. :)

Lucas is still in my opinion behind in his speech; still looking into speech therapy. But he is so smart it shocks me, and this really rubs off on Olivia, who seems to be the real brains behind their evil escapades. When Lucas does something bad, he does it surreptiously (it's one of my vocab words) but when Olivia does something bad, she looks you in the eye with an evil grin thoroughly enjoying your reaction to her deed.

Lucas is becoming a great actor. He acts things out that I didn't even knew he understood. Just little scenarios that he picks up and puts together. He enjoys bringing his recipes to you, (just air) and telling you to eat them..he and Olivia always have to ask me and John, "is it good mommy/daddy?" when we eat anything.  And then one time I was laying down with him and he said "Surprise! Open it...present." I didn't understand right away, so he proceeded to "open" the pretend box he placed in front of me to say "toy!" ..lol. I guess that means this Xmas will be really fun!

He also started "whispering" to me and then laughing real hard like he told me a joke..we do this back and forth and our laughs get bigger and bigger :) Olivia sits there confused. lol

Yesterday he and Olivia were playing with their phones and John and I looked at each other as we heard Lucas apparently talking to Susan on his phone...so I made him do it again for a video:

Here we are at the park yesterday---it was wierd, the day September started, the weather cooled off...then mid-month shot back up to the triple digits, and yesterday, October 1st, it cooled off again! It's so nice out today we have to go to the dog park when John gets home :)

My Jolly Sailor Bold

My famous friend Iris (Ilovegerardo on youtube) requested that I do this song from "The Pirates of the Carribean" for her newest tutorial, recreating the mermaid beauty for Halloween. I was very honored!
Here's my version--there are many many verses, but as it is all the same melody, I didn't want to bore, so I chose my favorite ones --oh, and enjoy my new favorite thing-- www.faceinhole.com  (it's not a dirty site I promise!):

I learned the song, and layered a few harmonies, but it was with my camera, so there is a lot of background noise, including random cries from me wee little sailors :)

And here's her finished product--it's so relaxing to watch her do her hair huh? very pretty mermaid indeed. Thanks Iris for promoting me--made me feel very good!

Biographies

My maternal grandma...I think she kinda looks like her :) kinda.
Marilyn's younger days:

The blonde bombshell:

So sad how lonely she ended up being:

I recently finished Marilyn Monroe's biography--I highly recommend it. Hers, and Elvis' are just so full of excitement and scandal they are are hard to put down. They were both so bizarre and immature, despite their beauty and talent. It was so sad that she had 14 abortions. She then developed endometriosis and couldn't have children. The author commented on how often Marilyn liked to exaggerate the difficulties of her childhood and eventually flat-out lied to get attention and sympathy. She was so obsessed with being the only sexy thing around, although she was also very frustrated with her dinky roles; she felt restricted by her contractual agreements and wanted to be taken as a serious actor alongside Marlon Brando and James Dean. She felt the only way she could maintain the attention of the public was to constantly be sexy...her insecurities even caused Cyd Charisse to have to darken her hair, because Marilyn didn't want her taking attention away. I still can't believe all those horny Kennedy brothers got away with...and I now tend to believe they had something to do with her death..read the book!
Watch it!!!!!!!
    So I picked out Natalie Wood's biography this time. I have liked her since I saw "Splendor in the Grass" in early 2004...I was in a stagnant part of my life right before getting married and John was gone..it had a big impact on me lol. She's so adorable in it and such a great actress. And Warren Beatty is hot in it too--I once had a boyfriend that sorta resembled him in that movie. John and I always like the scene where she's in the tub saying "Did he spoil me mama!?"

She was also great in Gypsy.
   Anyway, I've only just begun her bio, but I never knew her parents were Russian refugee immigrants. I know it should be a good one because I remember her brief trist with Elvis and how dramatic she was. And I also remember her mysterious death in which many believe Robert Wagner is guilty of something--and oddly enough, Christopher Walken was with them. I didn't know Christopher Walken was famous back then. Anyway, I never finished Steven Tyler's autobio...he's just so full of himself, it feels like a lot of it was embellished. I didn't finish George W. Bush's, only because I checked out the Monroe one at the same time and her's took over lol. I really did like Bush's story though--what I had read revealed a lot about what was really going on in his mind, before and during his presidency. I supposed I am more likely to believe what research and multiple witnesses account about a person's life, as opposed to their own.

 

Natalie and Elvis

They were so cute in that movie...you all should watch it!
Gonna go read her biography now :)