Do you feel like dancing, wooo dancing...

I love music... Any kind of music, I am not partial. I can listen to country, rock, metal rock, gregorian chants, 80's punk, classical, broadway show tunes. I like it all. Smirk seems to have inherited my love of music (without the classical and gregorian chants) and could not survive without the invent of the ipod. She can be found bouncing around the house dancing to her own beat.
We all have deep conversations about figuring out our theme songs. We can be found breaking out into song to answer random questions.
Grin, is far more serious in her musical thoughts (as she is with everything else). While she does participate in our fun, she only likes certain musical genres. We are trying to expand her horizons but it is difficult.

Grin cannot read and listen to music at the same time. Nor can she do homework while the TV or radio is on. She has to have complete silence while reading...For instance right now the clicking of the keyboard is probably driving her insane as she sits next to me in a catatonic state while struggling through the first chapter of the Mayor of Casterbridge for her summer reading lists. You can hear ever twitter of the birds outside. You can hear the leaf drop from the trees...

The silence is DEAFENING and killing me....

Resorting to Smirk's ipod, as she is still asleep and surgically removed it from her head before bed. It is quite a picture.... Me, head nodding back and forth, typing in time to the beat of some 80's pop band ooh-laa-ing about how to free my mind and the rest will follow into my ear, while I lip sync along, for I am not allowed to sing aloud. While my lovely child glares over the top of the book, like a somber librarian shushing me, informing me that my lip syncing is loud and just as distracting as my chair dancing... I feel like Kevin Bacon in footloose... I am going to explode into dance and song very soon!!! She better watch out.... I am going to start jumping on the couch and dancing around her prostrate, taciturn body. I do believe I will start with a melody about my favorite things....

Ou est la couer?

I have been in love with France ever since I set foot in the country in 1986. And not just France, I love England and Italy and Switzerland as well. But while in France, I had no money left on my European trip and my parents had wired me money. Only hitch, I had to go to a specific bank. I couldnt just go to the local B of A and pick up money, no I had to go to a bank on a certain street. I had the address and set out with a group of friends on our free time day in Paris. I was the only one who could speak French and that was passable at best. We started from the hostel and went out on the Champs D'Elysee and walked with L'Arc du Triumph at our backs. We found the nearest Metro station and paid for a ticket. I found the street we needed to be on and the correct stop and jumped on the next train. We got to the street just fine, but then we could not find the bank. There were beautiful buildings in this district but none said Banque... Nothing.. The girls were all afraid of asking someone for help as we had all heard about the French attitude towards Americans... But I was not afraid. I walked right up the nearest local and asked in atrocius french, "Ou est la banque?" He started to babble very fast and motion with his hands.. I tried to follow along and watch his hands, but it was to no avail.. I was completely lost... I started to tear up and this very sweet old french man stopped... He looked at me and said in Frenglish... "Alors!! No, do not cry ma petite, follow me!" This sweet man took us all like ducklings to the door of the bank! He came inside with us and told the teller what we needed! I nearly hugged him and kissed him!!! He was my hero. As the teller took my paper with the money transfer info and my passport, I turned to thank our hero, but he was walking out the door... We all very unlady like yelled across the very quiet, old financial institution our profuse thank you's.

Ever since that moment, I have wanted to go back to France. I want to live in a old chateau in some sleepy, sun drenched town full of vineyards and old stone houses. I have read books because they are set in france. I love Joanne Harris novels and french wine. I subscribe to a daily email subscription from an English painter who lives in Provence. He paints the local landscapes and still life paintings. They are lovely!! http://www.shiftinglight.com/

Some of my favorite movies are french!!! Have you ever watched the Umbrellas of Cherbourg?? Fantastic movie from the 60's. I have now found a new one!!!! Today I watched "A Good Year" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401445/ and now I want an eccentric uncle to leave me his vineyard in France... Can someone please find me one??? I dont believe we have any in my family but if anyone out there in blog land would like to adopt me and bequeath their vineyard to me, I will be more than happy to live their and make fantastic wine!!!

Now that I have had my dreams of france, I must go back to the drudgery of the day and go to the grocery store... and laundry... and vacuuming.... I realize that I would have to do all of these things if I lived en France' but if I were there, it would be far more wonderful and romantic to do these mundane chores there, than here....

Drama!!

I have been a bad blogger! I realize that I have not posted in quite some time, but WOW! We have been a busy household. This week has seen finals, volunteering, end of school and more work than I need!


Since the school year is coming to an end we have had finals and studying for finals. And alot of "Last" things for high school! Smirk is graduating on WEDNESDAY! My baby is now a full grown adult. She is smart and amazing and I cannot wait to see what she makes of herself in the future.


Grin, with 2 years left in high school, is also amazing but more exciting, her Dad finally realized that she is talented and he should stop picking on her for wanting to be in the Drama program. She and her fellow sophomores had to perform monologues in front of an actual audience. Hers was touching and she did really well!!! The ex Mr. Amused was extremely upset with me for saying anything negative (HELLO, all I said was that she needed to slow down, she got nervous when she looked out into the audience and saw us and went a little fast) but ex Mr has completely changed his tune...


Grin also was kidnapped Friday night or Saturday morning, but I stayed up almost all night to make sure the kidnappers actually got in our abode... They did and was it worth it!!! One was dressed as a parrot, one was dressed as a pirate, there was a maid and a one had an outfit I didnt really recognize, but it was dark when they finally arrived at 5:30am (they were kinda like the cable company as they were supposed to arrive between 2 and 4am) but they walked into the living room and I could hear them whispering, now what?? So I whispered back "Are you the kidnappers?" they whispered back a fervent yes! (they had tried several "G" apartments in my complex...weird that people dont lock their doors) they trooped upstairs as quietly as someone dressed in a parrot costume could and went into Grin and Smirks room.. Then there was some confusion as to which bed to look in as there are 3 in the room... Two real beds and one air mattress on the floor for Pony Princess when she stays over... So I pointed them in the right direction and they couldnt find her head... after they found that she was blindfolded and trooped down the stairs and out into the car... She had a great time and has been formally inducted onto the Thespian Society Student Board as the Scribe... She isnt quite sure of what that entails, but she is excited!

Now we are off to clean the for the arriving graduation party relatives!!