Roller Disco

Perhaps it's the passing of Paul Newman or the financial and political volatility but I'm feeling nostalgic for simpler times. I'd like to strap on my skates, blast some Donna Summer and disco dance with my gal pals until the street lights come on.

Outing the ordinary

If functional items such as clothes, food and electronics are visible in my home I'll be more inclined to buy stuff that I really want to look at (a lot) -- and in theory I'll take better care of fewer items. I've been meaning to circle back to the original mission of this blog "to chronicle my efforts to become a more conscious consumer." I'm guilty of getting off track with too many thoughtless trips to Target, Ikea and the like.

To kick off this outing the ordinary concept I've ordered these Magnet Tacks from Design Within Reach. According to the product description these pretty little guys are "a superpowered magnet inside a sturdy thumbtack. They provide a sensible alternative to the junk drawer. It’s only fair to say they might also replace the junk shelf and junk countertop. Easily hang keys, sunglasses, small tools, pens and paper clips simply by holding those items up to the Tack. Any object attracted to a magnet – think stainless steel, brass, bronze, and silver – will find a tidy new home. Magnet Tacks come three to a pack and can be organized on the wall or corkboard in a grid or more abstract formation of your liking."

I'm sure I'm not the first to entertain this idea -- any thoughts or inspiration on this topic are welcome.

Runners and Clumpers

We've pretty much decided on punting pole -- a gorgeous clumper. This bamboo variety will grow to be a proud 40 plus feet. That should help block out the mini "green" mansion going up behind our house.

Kinder Chambers aka "TxBooGuru", President of the Texas Bamboo Society and his lovely wife Minnie had us out to their farm. We were smitten with the lovely varieties of cain and the Chambers themselves -- they are a rare kind of people that make you feel like getting old may actually be sorta fun. We plan to go back for a float down their river and a cook out in the groves.

When can you play with me?

This is number 4 on my shout out list. Fellow Austin blogger happythings channels my exact sentiment this week. I've copied and pasted her entry & photo here...

Bea wants me to play with her.

Not now -- because she's sleeping. But the rest of the time. For the record, taking her places - kiddie classes, field trips, parks, or shopping -- does not count. Cooking together does not count. Reading kind of counts, but not really. Doing "lessons" about letters or science experiments does not seem to count. Buying more toys for her to play with herself definitely does not count, not for long anyway. Watching shows together is desired but still does not count. Time spent doing adults chores, even those for her benefit, counts negatively. Playdates with other kids do not even count. Argh.

This is all to be expected. It should actually be appreciated and desired by a person in the right frame of mind. I know, I know. This little problem does not amount to a bean (definitely not a hill of beans) in our world full of problems. I know. And yet, tonight, I am tapped out and I send up a prayer for patience to play.

New Pie

I'm so appalled by the Palin pick that I stutter and stammer and stomp my foot when trying to express my distaste and fear for the future. Fortunately these women do not have that problem.

"Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie." ~ Gloria Steinam
Link to full article

"Americans love the outsider plucked from obscurity. And Palin provides bucketfuls of the new and exciting. As long as voters and the media are caught up in the latest installment of As Sarah Turns or the Alaska version of All My Children, they aren't paying attention to the lack of solutions McCain is offering to the serious crises that face us." ~ Arianna Huffington
Link to full article

"72-year-old John McCain and 44-year-old Sarah Palin, whose average age is 58, a mere two years older than the average age of the Obama-Biden ticket. Enthusiastic Republicans don’t see the choice of Palin as affirmative action, despite her thin résumé and gaping absence of foreign policy knowledge, because they expect Republicans to put an underqualified “babe,” as Rush Limbaugh calls her, on the ticket. They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West, like the previous Miss Congeniality types Dan Quayle and W., and then letting them learn on the job. So they crash into the globe a few times while they’re learning to drive, what’s the big deal?" ~Maureen Dowd
Link to full article

flutter flutter

Mojo moments I'll call them -- the very second you realize you've discovered something special. I happily stumbled across two seminal 'mojo making' icons from my girlhood this past weekend. Friday night I saw Lawrence of Arabia at the Paramont Theatre. This was my first full viewing of the master piece. Why did I wait so long? Honestly, my inspiration for going was my near forgotten crush on Omar Sharif. Sometime in the 70's before I crossed the great chasm between preadolescence and puberty I encountered Omar Sharif in 'Funny Girl'. I was captivated by his face and understood in a flash that there was something between men and women that I was going to like.

AND on Saturday night Mr Mooks and I stayed up late enthralled by performances from The Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD. These BBC recordings started in 1971 and significantly influenced music tastes and record sales. Debbie Harry, Talking Heads, U2 were amazing and they are all such adorable baby rockers. But Bob Marley and the Wailers performance of 'Stir It Up' took me back to the swivel seats of my neighbors custom van. That was where I first heard the now ubiquitous Bob. Eureka! This new sound was some kind of grownup elixir -- sad, mad, sexy, stoned, ohso funky and very different from my little girl life -- and I was going to get me some of that someday! Not surprisingly Doctor Zhivago is at the top of my netflix queue.

Omar and Babs in Funny Girl

Bob and the Wailers on the set at The Old Grey Whisle Stop