It's Sometimes spins this week on The Spin Cycle, inspired by Arnebya at What Now and Why? Check out her post HERE.
For those of you who don't know Arnebya's blog, you SHOULD. Read her, and I promise you won't be disappointed.
So check out Arnebya and see what she sometimes does. Then make it your own.
Write your spin on "Sometimes". Post it. Let me know. I'll link it here!
I love everything about this video - the little crowd of flower children, the orchestra dudes in their tuxes, Mick in the audience, the way John is chewing gum the whole time, the guys with the weird sandwich boards and signs ("Come back Milly!). All love, love, love.
And that's right, in honor of Valentine's Day, it's LOVE week on The Spin Cycle.
Please join in! Write your take on "Love". Post it. Let me know. I'll link it.
This was THE slow dance song when I was in junior high...
I hated junior high. I was tall and gangly and...dorky, and no boys ever asked me to dance to Colour My World, I just stood in the corner or cried in the bathroom...
Okay, before I start to cry, please check out this week's Spin Cycle "Color" spins!
I've been busy, busy, busy. (Read in the voice of the mean magician who steals Frosty the Snowman's hat).
Cooking, planning, caroling, carding, egg nog making, baking. Much holiday merriment and business around the Second Blooming house. And it's a miracle I'm actually getting anything done, because I'm so frazzled. My usual Holi-daze.
I blame this for last week's confusion about exactly when the end of the world is expected. Whew, I'm glad I didn't miss it.
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For the first time in many years, I managed to avoid having another Great Teacher Gift Debacle. I'm so relieved. Feel free to check out the Great Teacher Gift Debacle of 2011 which involved slicing 32 pounds of onions, and the Great Teacher Gift Debacle of 2010, which involved a buttload of flat pound cakes. This year, I'm pretty pleased with my homemade gift.
Let me preface the rest of this with a story...My Mama's best friend for the last several years of her life, was a very dear, gracious, lovely woman named Gaynell. Every year, Gaynell made everybody her famous mustard. Gaynell's mustard was outrageously good - sweet and spicy and perfect on ham or turkey sandwiches. Crazy good, and like nothing I'd ever had before. I begged Gaynell for her recipe. Everybody begged Gaynell for her recipe. But she would not give it out, it was her "thing". And you know what? She took it to the grave with her. For YEARS, I've been trying to find a recipe so I could recreate Gaynell's mustard.
Well guess what. I found it! Good old Southern Living Magazine came through with a recipe that is as close as anything I've tasted. Just enough sweet and just enough hot. And it's EASY.
So this year, everybody's getting mustard. Who knows, maybe it will become my "thing". But I will share the recipe...
Sweet & Hot Honey Mustard
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups dry mustard
2 cups white vinegar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
Whisk together the sugar and mustard in a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Gradually whisk in the vinegar and eggs until blended.
Cook mustard mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, about 20 minutes or until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in the honey. Cool and store in airtight jars in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Makes 4 cups.
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I did not want to laugh at this. But I did.
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The other night, Jimmy and I were lying in bed watching television. Suddenly Jimmy asked, "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" I asked.
Jimmy sat up and did this movement that if he had been a dog, I'd have called "pricked up his ears". But since he's not a dog, I'll call "listened intently".
"THAT! Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?!" I asked again.
"THAT! It's like a clicking. Or a banging."
Jimmy grabbed the remote and turned the television off. We both sat up, listening.
"Yes!" I said, "I hear it! It's a...tapping or a...knocking."
"That's it!" said Jimmy, "stay here!"
He jumped out of bed, grabbed the candelabra off the dresser and started to creep toward the hall.
"Where is it? Is it somebody trying to break in?!"
Jimmy disappeared into the hall with his weird weapon.
Not one to stay out of a tussle, I jumped up and grabbed...the fancy air freshener bottle. So I could...make the intruder smell like Voluspa Grapefruit and Mint Cuttings. Or something.
I crept out into the hall and heard the noise. A clicking. Or was it a tapping. Or a...dripping.
I went into the bathroom and looked into the bathtub. Drip. Drip. Drip.
"Jimmy, I found it," I called out.
When he entered the bathroom and discovered that the dangerous intruder was...the bathtub faucet dripping, he looked at me and said bluntly "We are a couple of horse's asses."
And it was true.
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This is the silliest damned website, but I couldn't stop flipping to picture after picture and giggling. CATS SITTING LIKE HUMANS. For those of you too lazy to click the link, it's filled with many, many pictures of cats...you guessed it...sitting like humans. Like this...
I do not want to know what she's doing.
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People have been writing these all over Los Angeles. Hysterical!...
Hehe.
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Hope you're all having a great week and you're not too stressed.Here's a little funky James Brown Christmas to mellow you out. Go grab an eggnog and enjoy. Then go visit Stacy.
It's Christmas List week on The Spin Cycle. It's time to make your list and check it twice. Have you been naughty or nice? Are you hoping for lots of goodies under the tree? Or are you more likely to get a stocking filled with coal.
Write your Letter to Santa. Post it. Let me know. I'll link it here.
Thank you to everyone who asked/prayed about how Mommy fared Hurricane Sandy. A couple of you even sent me personal emails asking how she was. She would LOVE to know that she is so cared about by people "from the internets", but I can't tell her because then she would know I talk about her. Anyway, thank you so much. She, Pop and Aunt Grace rode out the storm together on Long Island, and came out just fine, and luckily, their electricity came back on within 24 hours. A big tree blew over in the backyard, but thank God, didn't hit the house. Instead, it landed on top of the neighbor's above-ground pool and pretty much trashed it. We're hoping the insurance will take care of it.
Now, when I say that Mommy came through the ordeal just fine, I don't mean to say that she wasn't a total and complete nervous wreck, because she was. MUCH worrying and fretting and blaming and second-guessing. But hey, that's Mommy. Pop, the war vet, actually said to me "Gretch, it made me wish I was back in Korea." My b-i-l Tony and his wife, the Amazing Niki, STILL don't have electricity, and so are staying with Mommy and Pop. Now remember, I stay there for many weeks at a time every year, but Niki and Tony are locals and so have never experienced this joy. Niki called the other day, sounding like she was about to have a nervous breakdown, and told me that her esteem of me has risen tremendously. She's asked me to please say a novena that she survives the ordeal. It would be nice if all of you would join me.
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I had the nicest visit on Friday with Aimee from AimeeWrites!!
Me and Aimee - aren't we cute?
She was down in LA from Seattle, visiting her sister, and so after years of an avid on-line friendship, we finally got to hang out. Actually, I picked her up at her sister's office, and gave her my ten cent tour of Hollywood, which consisted of driving around to all of the hotspots and pointing to them out the window while the two of us gabbed and gabbed about every damned thing under the sun! I mean, we never stopped talking! I don't think we finished a single subject, just kept tangenting from thought to thought. Never a dull moment. We did stop for lunch, where we were joined by Elizabeth...
Me, Aimee and Elizabeth. All cute.
I realize that I look exactly the same in all of these long-arm shots. I should really stop taking them. Or maybe do a series of them. Kind of a retrospective of unattractive long-arm shots of me with various friends.
Anyway, much fun was had by all. Aimee was just exactly what I thought she'd be like. Smart, funny, fun. Isn't that amazing? Every time I meet somebody I've only known through blogging, I'm never disappointed.
So if any of y'all are headed this way, let me know. I'm up for another ten cent tour if you are.
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On Saturday, Jude FINALLY had his first swim meet. He did great! I realize that video of someone else's child's sporting event is exactly what all of you are dying to see, so I'd hate to disappoint. Here is Jude in the 50 yd. Freestyle...
That is me, hooting and hollering. And yes, he did win his heat by a LONG way, but unfortunately, it was a slow heat, and he didn't win a medal. But for a first time out, I think he did tremendously well.
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For about 4 days this week, Jimmy and I BOTH kept forgetting to buy our little dog, Fancy, her food. She was completely out. I realize that we are just the WORST doggy parents! We kept going in to feed her and realizing that we still didn't have any food, but we were too tired and lazy to make a special trip to the store. It's pathetic. I kept feeling guilty and therefore filling her food bowl with her treats. Lots and lots of treats. And yesterday I found out that Jimmy had been giving her Honey Nut Cheerios!! Apparently, he would pour it into her bowl just like it was kibble, and she gobbled it up! This can not have been good for her, right? Feel free to chastise us both!
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All the kids, and I do mean ALL the kids, at Jude's school are obsessed with this tremendously silly video...
Have any of you ever heard of it? It's a Korean pop star named Psy. I can't figure out if this is a world-wide phenomenon, or just Jude's school. His school is right in the middle of Koreatown, and we have lots of Korean students, but Jude has discovered all sorts of "Gangnam Style" parodies on the YouTube, so it must be popular elsewhere. Who knew? I apologize to all of you who just listened to this video, because you will now be singing this song for the rest of...your life. I can not get it out of my head. "Heeeeeeey, sexy la-dy!" ERghhhh.
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Yesterday, when I finally got around to taking down the Halloween decorations, I discovered a large, creepy, real spider living on the fake spider webs I'd wrapped around the bushes in front of our house. And I couldn't figure out quite how I felt about the poor spider. Did he just happen upon this enormous web and think "Hmm, maybe, if I hang out here, the other spiders will think I made this myself and be terribly impressed." Or maybe he was just very confused, and thought that maybe he'd spun this huge web and forgotten, but decided to stay there anyway. Or maybe he was just extremely enterprising, and thought "I don't know why the hell some human hung this web here, but it's mine now!" What do y'all think?
What makes your skin crawl, the hair on the back of your neck stand up, your pulse quicken? The dark? Noises at night? Spiders? Dark alleys? Haunted Houses? Scary movies?
Or maybe you have your very own ghost story. Here's your chance to scare us all and get us in the mood for Halloween!
Write your scary spin, post it, let me know, I'll link it here! Come back on Friday for my Spooky post and next week's Spin Cycle topic.
I must admit, I was looking for some Francis Albert, but all the YouTube videos had hokey fall leaf montages on them, and Jude informed me that they were "Too hokey for Frank Sinatra." So here's some Tony Bennett, and he does tear it up.
It is Autumnal week here at The Spin Cycle! All about all things Autumn.
Please join in this week! It's easy! Just write your post, let me know, and I'll link it here! Don't forget to add the cute link below.
I'll be back on Friday with my spin. Until then, be sure to read our weekly spinners...
