Tuesday Trivia: Music

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

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What guest artist played lead guitar on the Beatles' 1968 recording of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"?

Dear August

Dear August,

I hate to break this to you. But you're my least favorite month of the year.

Most months fly by. But not you. You drag on and on and on and on and on and on and well you get the idea.

It’s the end of the summer. I’m ready for boots, hot tea, college football, baseball playoffs, new TV. I could go on.

Not to mention that it’s effin hot outside. I mean there’s a reason why the longest sanctioned bicycle ride in the country that takes place during this particular time of year is called Hotter'N Hell. Am I right?

We had 3 and a half weeks over 100 degrees this summer. 3. And. A. Half. Weeks. With the thermometer reaching 107 on what was the hottest day.

Our cabinet project has stagnated a bit thanks to the heat. DH nixed working on it the day it reached 107. I guess I can’t blame him. Really I was hoping he’d say no so I wouldn’t feel so guilty for not wanting to do it.

I know last week you brought us a wee little cold front, and we actually had more reasonable temperatures. I liked running again instead of mentally asking myself if I was crazy to run in the heat and humidity that is also known as August. For that I'm grateful. But only a little given the preceding 3 and a half weeks of 100 plus temperatures.

As much as I gripe, it takes getting through this hell of a month for me to feel like I earned the fun and cooler temperatures of fall.

So it is with respect August, that I help you pack your bags and push you out the door until next year. You have most definitely over stayed your welcome. I hope you don't mind that I won't be shedding any tears to see the back of you. Instead, I'll be warmly welcoming September as soon as you're gone with some 7-layer dip and beer while we watch football and baseball.

Until we're forced to meet again next year,
Becky Mochaface

P.S. September - if you know what's good for you, you won't let the thermometer get above 100.

Happy in a Moment

Several years ago, when I first moved to Dallas for my first high heel job, I spent a lot of time by myself, and more of that time that I'd like to admit was lonely. I grew up in Fort Worth – the laid back, cool cousin to Dallas’ high-style, image-focused reputation – so I didn’t have old childhood friends in the area.

Several of my A&M friends were from the Dallas area originally but several have moved on to somewhere new. Or, we’re just not as close as we used to be, which is what sometimes happens. It's a sad truth but doesn't make it any less a reality.

My incredible group of friends from graduate school were spread around the country. So while I talked to them often and saw them when I could, all of them weren't near enough to get together on a regular basis.

Now thanks to Twitter (and DH), my calendar is full to the point of sometimes being double booked. Not that I'm complaining. I am having a blast. Twitter has introduced me to some great friends.

And being married is about the best thing ever.

Still. There are moments when I long for simpler times. When I only had myself to worry about. When I made a list of things to get done, I knew I could finish the whole list. Then the moment's gone. I remember that those simpler times were sometimes lonely, and I'm happy once again where I am.

I wouldn't trade places with my younger self for anything.

It's a good thing they have 9 lives

I get that some people just aren't into cats. But this? This I don't understand.



Most non-cat people would have just ignored the cat. Not pretended to be nice while really luring it into a garbage can.

Hump Day Humor: Simon's Cat

ANSWER - Tuesday Trivia: Science

How many chemical elements on the periodic table are represented by a single letter?

14. They are B-Boron; C-Carbon; F-Flourine; H-Hydrogen; I-Iodine; K-Potassium; N-Nitrogen; O-Oxygen; P-Phosphorus; S-Sulfur; U-Uranium; V-Vanadium; W-Tungsten; and Y-Yttrium.

You guys were so close!

Tuesday Trivia: Science

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

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How many chemical elements on the periodic table are represented by a single letter?

Road Trip to Lubbock

This weekend DH and I went on a road trip to west Texas to visit his brother, his brother's girlfriend, and their son.

He looks good holding his nephew, doesn't he?

So I Married a Video Gamer

At some point in my dating life, I remember saying (though I can't remember if I actually said this to someone or I just promised it to myself) that I didn't want to date a guy who plays video games.

Then I met DH.

And I threw my rule on the ground and stomped on it.

Truth is I wasn't exactly thrilled about the video games. But he was cute, we could have an actual conversation and he made me laugh. (What is it about men who make us laugh that leaves us with legs and hearts wide open?)

I was listening to a morning radio show the other day with the hosts talking about men who played video games. The women were pretty adamant anti-video gamer husbands. Their argument mostly being that the video gamer would be so engrossed with his computer and/or Xbox, they would be ignored. And no woman likes to be ignored. Well, at least not all the time.

While I tease DH a lot about his video games making him a giant nerd, he does make an effort to spend some time with me as well. Any hobby or interest - whether video games or something else - is going to use up some time away from the spouse.

I want to spend time with my husband. But not every second of every day. I don't try to wean him off the video games because a) that's how he relaxes in the evenings, 2) I want us to have our separate interests (just as we did when we were dating) so that both of us can hold onto who we are as individuals while we face Life as a pair.

What DH taught me about video gamers is that while it may not be the coolest hobby in the world (like sailing, rowing or mountain climbing or something equally as cool), there are worse habits. Sure he may spend a lot of time at his desktop moving fictional, animated armies against other fictional, animated armies, but at least I don't have to share the TV remote with him.

Life

When I was about 12 or so, I had a plan (of course you did little Mochaface, you Type A of the Type A-ers you). I was going to finish college. Live on my own for a year so I could experience living on my own terms by myself. And then get married. Specific and measurable. All in all, a good plan.

Only Life didn't go according to plan. Big surprise there.

And while I am incredibly satisfied and, dare I tempt the fates with this next word, happy with my Life and the route I took to get where I am today (because it wasn't always easy Lord knows, but it was fun. Like the night I drank too much on an empty stomach and passed out in the bathroom blocking the door so my friends couldn't come in. That night was fun. The next day? Not so much.), I can't help but look at the way I'm playing the game versus just about anyone else.

During these dark periods, I feel really behind in that great board game Life. Like I'm losing. And I hate to lose.

The thing is Life is not a competition. And I know that there is no one way to play the game. Just like in the actual board game, there is more than one direction you can take. And because there is no one way, it means there is no right way as well as no wrong way. Which also means that winning, that being successful, is defined by the individual player.

I know all this. Really I do. But it doesn't stop me from feeling like I'm behind from time to time. Feeling like I'm a failure.

But I'm not. I am extremely lucky and blessed. I'm also not a plastic stick figure in a tiny plastic car. Stuck in a forgotten board game box. So there's that.

Hump Day Humor: Jack-in-the-Box Kitteh

Jack-in-the-Box Kitteh - watch more funny videos

ANSWER - Tuesday Trivia: States

How many U.S. states are officially known as commonwealths?

Four - Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Congratulations to Beckles for being the first - and only - to get the correct answer!

Tuesday Trivia: States

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

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How many U.S. states are officially known as commonwealths?

I hope there's some sort of treatment plan

I must be incredibly sick.

I don't have any of the regular symptoms. No fever. I haven't been throwing up.

No cough. No runny nose. No stuffy head.

In fact I feel perfectly fine.

But something is seriously wrong you guys.

I went to the mall Saturday with my mom. And there were at least two pairs of shoes that were incredibly cute. One of which was definitely on sale. Let me tell you, I was crushing on those shoes hard core.

And here's the sick part so pay attention.

I did not buy either of them.

I KNOW! I don't know what's wrong with me either.

(Though I did buy a pair of silver flip flops that were only 20 bucks. So whatever is wrong with me, it can't be too serious.)

It's been a while since I last shared some pictures of new shoes. So here are my most recent new favorites.

Puppy Dog Tales

G'day Internets,

I don't exactly know what it is about you that is so seductive, but you must have bacon in your pockets or something because my mum and dad spend a lot of time playing with you instead of me. And I get left sleeping on the floor.

Don't get me wrong. I like sleeping on the floor. Especially in the sunny spot. But sometimes a dog could use a good belly rub. Know what I'm saying? I like the dog days of summer. For obvious reasons. Except I haven't gotten to run as much...

SQUIRREL!

...I'm no dingo, but I do enjoy getting to go on a bit of a walkabout around the block. Really I think my mom just doesn't like to run in temperatures that are 100+. But we both agree on the mozzies. We could do without those.

Even with those bloody mozzies, I still enjoy sitting outside for a bit just watching the magpie-like birds fly back and forth. With the heat we've started getting these little wiggly things in the house. My mom calls them chameleons or something. They're not as big as the ones that hang out by the back door, but I like to play with them. Sometimes they stop moving. I don't understand why they do that.

I guess there's a lot I still have to learn. My mom says staying would be on the top of that list.

Kisses and puppy dog tails, mates!

Cooper


(DH and I like to pretend that if Cooper could talk, he'd talk with an Australian accent. No good reason why. We just do.)

Out with the Old, In with the New

Project Update Kitchen just took a big step out of the procrastination penalty box and into the progressing nicely bucket.

Granted that's largely due to how DH and I didn't actually do anything except pay a large bill, but damn it at this point, I'm going to take what progress I can get.

We've got new counter tops!

The hideous monstrosity that was our old counter top:



I know right. Completely disgusting.

And the new (please ignore the ugly wall behind, backsplash will get done soon. Fingers crossed):




Gorgeous! Love love LOVE the new counter tops! Seriously, can't stop caressing the pretty new surface.

An update on the next step in the greater Project Update Kitchen:


All of the cabinet doors and drawers have been removed. We've stripped the finish off half of them.

I don't think it's completely unreasonable to set a goal to finish the cabinets by the end of 2010. I just hope we can actually do it. As I would like to get the doors back on at some point.

UPDATED - Hump Day Humor: Dry Erase Board Quitter

A story was making its way around the Internets yesterday about a girl who quit her job with pictures of her holding a dry erase board telling the story of why she quit. She emailed the pictures to all the employees at her company, one of whom send the pictures to theChive.com.

Love that she had the guts to stand up for herself and also call her boss out on his crap. Which I'm sure we can all relate to.

UPDATE: Apparently, this story is a hoax. A pretty good one as I saw it everywhere on the webs. Still funny.

ANSWER - Tuesdy Trivia: Literature

What Pulitzer Prize-winning book was voted the best novel of the 20th century by librarians across the U.S.?

To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee. The 1999 vote was conducted by The Library Journal.

Congratulations to Shelley for being the first - and only - to get the correct answer!

Tuesday Trivia: Literature

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

<><><>

What Pulitzer Prize-winning book was voted the best novel of the 20th century by librarians across the U.S.?

Yes, That's North

Our calendar is getting packed in the coming weeks. Every time DH gets an invitation or finds something he wants to do he asks me if we have anything going on.

This is not anything new. He asked me calendar-related questions before we were married. But according to him it's different.

DH: I can't remember dates since we got married.

Me: What? You were asking me about any plans we had set before we got married.

DH: Yeah but I could remember some dates. But not since we got married.

Me: So basically you married me to be your calendar?

DH: Uh, no, not really.

Me: Uh huh, sure.

In addition to his lack of calendar memory, DH is not gifted with an internal compass. He's directionally challenged. Gotta love him. But if he had been by himself Saturday evening coming home with Cooper from the dog park, he probably would have driven at least 10 minutes in the wrong direction.

I think among the many reasons for marrying me, calendar and personal GPS would be on that list.

A Birthday Story

Last week was my birthday. I went to work - wearing my tiara and rock star button naturally, because if I have to work on my birthday, I'm going to make it as fun as possible - and then DH and I went out for fondue.

It may have been low key, but I had a lot of fun celebrating it. It did get me thinking though about some higher keys birthdays in my past. And there have been a few. But none quite as exciting as my 18th birthday.

The year my parents threw me a surprise party at my favorite ice cream soda/karaoke shoppe. It was the summer in between high school and college. When the possibilities in life seem almost infinite. And you're on top of the world. At least that's what that summer felt like to me. Infinite. And greater than the great.

Well after the party, four of us (three girlfriends and myself) decided we weren't quite ready to go home yet. And since we were only 18 (actually two were still 17), we couldn't really go out go out. So we did the next best thing.

Walmart.

After a little fun and mayhem in Wally World, we got the bright idea to go skinny dipping (hi Mom!). So we bought some towels and got ourselves over to the nearest lake where we found all the gates shut. Well, a shut gate is not enough to stop four crazy teenagers from doing something that seems silly and fun at the time - though looking back it's probably not the brightest shining moment of our lives. So we parked the car and walked down to the lake.

After some splashing around in the water (here's where it gets a little scary, so imagine some ominous music. Or better yet, turn some on. I'll wait.), we hear a car coming up the road. Which was a surprise given the shut gate that caused us to leave our car behind. We watched it come down the road, turn around and stop. Quick as a dog after dropped bacon, we were out of that lake and getting dressed. As we hurried to the road to get back to the car, we saw two men walking towards us.

Now one of my friends always had a knife with her. Why? Zero clue. But at that moment in time, I didn't question it but was ever so grateful when she pulled it out. Just in case.

We made it to the car knife unused and stopped to capture the memory with a photograph. Again why? We were 17/18 and infinite. The mystery car started up the road again. We squealed and jumped in our car and took off.

Only the night doesn't quite end with that. Because as we pulled back onto the road, we got a flat tire. Terrified that the mystery car was following us, we drove on the flat for a little bit until we could find a nicely lit area (at least we were smart enough for that). Pulled over and thanks to my dad insisting I know how to change a tire (thanks Dad!), we managed to get that tire changed without a single one of us having to call our parents. Now that is a success.

It is a miracle nothing worse happened to us that night. But it definitely will go down as one of my most wild, crazy birthdays in the history of ever.

Book Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Set in small-town Alabama in the 1930s, this American classic, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, delves into the irrationality of prejudice, racism and class from the perspective of a young girl named Scout.

What makes this book so fantastic and such a timeless classic is the way Lee is able to address such difficult, complicated topics through the innocence of a child's perspective. For example, the scene when the mob comes to the jail in the middle of the night to lynch Tom Robinson, Scout saves the day but has no idea she's doing so. (One of my favorite scenes in the book.) She shows that by singling out someone in a mob and reminding them of their humanity and decency, he'll realize what he's doing is wrong and be more inclined to put a stop to it.

Lee gets the reader to hold a mirror up to herself and take a long hard look at her own prejudiced, judging self. If you haven't read this book, read it. If you have and it's been a while, read it again.

Hump Day Humor: Hot Pockets

I heart Jim Gaffigan and his food-related stand up routines. His bacon one has to be my favorite.

But this one on Hot Pockets is a close second.

ANSWER - Tuesday Trivia: Food

What are kernels of popcorn that don't pop called?

Old maids.

Congratulations to my sister who was the first to get the correct answer!

Tuesday Trivia: Food

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

<><><>

What are kernels of popcorn that don't pop called?

Project Procastination

My mom has a theory about procrastination. Well, really it's about procrastinators who also happen to be perfectionists.

Procrastination is the practice of avoiding the chance of failure.

It's time for the next step of Project Update Kitchen actually. Well, the next step is counter tops, but in a couple weeks, those will hopefully be installed. And not by us, which is even better.

I've been procrastinating the cabinets. We're stripping and refinishing them ourselves to give them a nice update to go with the new floor and new counter tops. I've finished a nude table and chairs before. But I've never taken anything that has already been stained and redoing it.

It's a big project that I haven't done before. I know I can do it. But I still procrastinate. Well, no longer. We've started the stripping of the finish on half the cabinets. It's going to take a while to finish. But it's going to look so awesome when we're all done.