Hugh must surrender the crown...

It's almost time. November is when People Magazine announces their Sexiest Man Alive - and since no one yet has manged back to back victory we can assume that Hugh will be displaced this month.

Sexiest Man Alive (SMA) has been a long standing People Magazine feature. For reasons not known to me, they didn't announce winners in 1993 or 1994 (I've only really noticed these guys since the late 90's)... but every other year since 1985 has had a SMA. Not always a strong choice, but a crown was issued nonetheless. Here is a list of the past winners:

1985: Mel Gibson (Really, back then? So hot!)
1986: Mark Harmon (?)
1987: Harry Hamlin (The 80's were strange, no?)
1988: JFK, Jr. (No argument here.)
1989: Sean Connery (Yes, in agreement.)
1990: Tom Cruise (No doubt the gays loved this choice
1991: Patrick Swayze (Sigh, he was a hottie back then.)
1992: Nick Nolte (No, no, no! Revolting choice. I'm betting that they didn't sell more than 100 magazines with this choice - and that is why SMA disappeared for two years.)
1993: People didn't name a sexiest man, they did name a sexiest couple... Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford.
1995: Brad Pitt
1996: Denzel Washington
1997: George Clooney
1998: Harrison Ford (No. Just no.)
1999: Richard Gere (This doesn't count as a second, since he didn't actually get sexiest man in 1993)
2000: Brad Pitt (First man to double.)
2001: Pierce Brosnan (ummm, well I guess if you really go for that type.)
2002: Ben Affleck (Would have been better as Sexiest Fraternity Type Man That You Might Beer Kiss Alive, but cute enough.)
2003: Johnny Depp (One of their strongest choices ever.)
2004: Jude Law (He looks better on film.)
2005: Matthew McConaughey (I agreed with this one fully - until I found out that deodorant wasn't part of the whole "Matthew" package. Then it fell off for me
2006: George Clooney (Nine years after his first honor he gets SMA again.)
2007: Matt Damon (SO right!)
2008: Hugh Jackman (Perhaps the sexiest SMA ever.)

Rumors of this years nominees include Robert Pattison (NO!), Bradley Cooper (Like Harrison Ford... is "cute" necessarily "sexy"?), Justin Timberlake (uh, no), George Clooney (he IS sexy), Jon Hamm (this would work), Brad Pitt (I don't know, he's sort of over isn't he?), Ryan Reynolds (super nice to look at, rumor has it he's a jerk), Will Smith (cute, funny, could work), Gerard Butler (no), JayZ (say what you will, but power is sexy), Colin Firth (hands down should be the winner - love him and would gladly post SMA Fridays for him), and a handful of others that don't really warrant inclusion.

There has been no mention anywhere of Robert Downey Jr., Edward Norton, Matt Damon, or Johnny Depp - all of whom would warrant a continuation of SMA Friday.

Winner will be announced soon... and, unfortunately, People is more interested in selling magazines then pleasing an unknown blogger. I fear Edward Cullen for the win.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

SMA Friday

In the midst of chaos I must stop, and remember the sexiness that is Hugh.

Sigh.

We will miss our SMA!

Not really "sick" sick...

Icky sick. That sick where you aren't sick enough to really say, "I'm sick." I'm not sick enough to call in sick to work - not that I do. Work, that is.

You know how you feel when you are up really high and look down? You get that sort of vertiginous, "fally" feeling? That's what I feel like.

Right now.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is fun. It's just fun.

I wonder who doesn't have fun memories of Halloween as a child?

Dad taking us out trick-or-treating. A big THANKS to my mom, as this has carried on to my kids - and I've stayed nice and toasty warm because of this "tradition". Plus? My kids love that this is a "tradition" in our family. In this day and age, when cultures have mixed and family traditions are few and far between we grasp on to our own families "traditions". I have no doubt that my daughters' children will trick-or-treat with their dads, too.

Planning costumes and changing costumes the day of Halloween itself. Who didn't decide at that last minute that being a hobo would be more fun than being an M&M... only to discover that coffee ground were itchy when stuck to the face with Vaseline? (Not at first, mind you, but once you had been out about half and hour you were an itchy, gooey, slimy mess. Fun!)

Your mom MAKING your costume - as the only costumes you could buy were those plastic apron and mask combinations. (Where the back of that plastic mask got wet from all that pesky breathing you had to do?) Oh, didn't we feel sorry for the kid in the store bought Batman costume the day of the school parade? His mom didn't even make him a costume! (For the record, I've made only one costume for my kids. Not even one each, just one. Julia was a "peach" for her first Halloween. Now you can buy fairly elaborate costumes for less than the cost of making them - which doesn't seem right.)

Planning our routes once we got older to maximize our candy haul. Because in the 'olden days' we could trick-or-treat unattended by 3rd or 4th grade, and end up miles from home... with no cell phone to keep in contact. Mom didn't worry - it was Halloween!

That one scary house in every neighborhood that you stayed away from?

Cleaning out and carving pumpkins? Well, cleaning out pumpkins and then drawing the faces that your parents would carve with huge knives. I don't think I carved my own pumpkin until 7th grade.

Remember the parade at school? With the other grades marching before you, and your class joined on the end, and then once around the outside of the school (or gymnasium in bad weather) so the moms could get pictures? Cookies and apple cider provided by the room mothers afterwards, maybe some candy corn. I hear that still happens in some schools, but my daughters' school doesn't do that anymore.

Wearing costumes under winter coats, hats, mittens, and snow boots. The age old question of "who do we have here?" literally needed to be answered... NOBODY could tell I was Raggedy Ann under all those layers!

I remember the last time I went out Trick-or-Treating was with my neighborhood friend Christine. We planned our route for weeks in advance, and had a blast. It was all about quantity - and carrying your candy in a pillowcase because other containers would fill up too fast! I think we each got half a pillowcase full that night. We didn't eat all of it, though, as some of it was thrown out because it was candy we didn't like, and it was raided by our older brothers and sisters (we were both the youngest kids in the family), because going trick-or-treating was, for them, too babyish.

When my youngest daughter woke up today she shouted, "It's Halloween!"
Yes. It is!

Not Martha Stewart

Suppose ole Martha ever suffered a blistered finger from boiling caramel just to see her daughter smile? I have it in my head that she is above that... not that she wouldn't make a caramel apple to see her daughter smile - quite the opposite. I'm betting her daughter practically got sick on all the goodies her mom made for her. No, I'm betting she never ended up with a blister from that stupid, sticky, hot caramel that leaps out at you as you are dipping the apples.

It really is much trickier than you might think.

Also, Martha's apples look like this:



Ours? Well, these are ours:

To quote a famous fun loving chef - Bon Appétit!

SMA Friday

Almost forgot again... I keep seeing the same Hugh pictures over and over and over again, and frankly I've forgotten half of what I've posted already! Enjoy this candid Hugh.

Cougar Crush

See? All it took was one really good snarky post and I feel like I'm back on the blogging wagon. Lindsay might be a train wreck, but it's like she's a go to girl when I'm feeling a little mean coming on. Is that wrong? (Don't answer that.)

Anyway, lets talk about Cougars for a moment. Not the animal, the women. I personally find this to be a ridiculous moniker - and so embarrassing for those to whom the word is applied. Finding out that you are attracted to a someone 10-15 years younger than yourself certainly isn't new. And it certainly shouldn't be NEWS. Do you know what they call a men who are attracted to someone significantly younger than themselves? Men. Women deserve better.

That said, even though I loathe the term "Cougar", I have to admit that I have a "Cougar Crush". I generally mock my friends who develop these crushes on young men - and now I shamefully join their ranks.

Do you watch GLEE? (If you are a facebook friend you already know how I adore this show.) There is a young man on that show that is so darling. His name is Mark Salling, and he plays Puck. A mean bully who has knocked up the head cheerleader - who also happens to be his best friend's girl. (Yes, I too had thought these story lines had been done to death, until I watched this show. Comes off as totally original, go figure.) LOVE this character.

To my friends, who I have mocked endlessly for their love of Zac and Corbin...well, I will never apologize for that - because I still find those crushes to be completely ridiculous. But now you can openly mock me in return. I GLEEfully acquiesce.

Ahhh, so I do remember how to blog after all!

But only because I saw THIS today, and had to comment:

If those scary Meth commercials on late night television don't scare your kids? Show them this photo.

Then remind them that this girl is 23 years old.

Twenty three.

This? Would have scared the crap out of me. It's taken Donatella Versace a lifetime of cigarettes and celebrity drug culture to achieve this look - and Linds did it by the time she was only 23. Bravo child stardom and the life of fame. Isn't it beautiful?

We're BAAACCCKKKKKK!

I posted these on Facebook, but wanted to share them on the blog also. Some of my friends don't use facebook! We are back from WDW, the Happiest Place on Earth! Our time there was magical... I'd go back in a heartbeat! I have to get the pictures all in order, but here are some from the day the girls visited the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. DD1 was Rosetta (a flower fairy friend of Tinkerbelle's), and DD2 was - naturally - Minnie Mouse. They LOVED the special attention they got from everyone that day - but especially from Minnie herself, and Rosetta doesn't get too many other Rosetta's in to visit her. She was wonderful.

DD1 and her twin:
DD2 posing in the entry to Fairyland:

She really did look magical and glittery:

Minnie, showing her best friend how to pose for a picture. Pure happiness for DD2:

We are so happy to have taken the girls to someplace so magical. They had a great time, we had a great time... and the memories will make us smile for a lifetime! (Can't wait to go back!)

SMA Friday

Ha Ha Ha! Don't I WISH!!

Happy Friday from the Happiest Place on Earth!

I'll give you a topic...

...and you can talk amongst yourselves.

"Why do children get sick on Friday nights?"

This question goes hand in hand with, "How come the stomach flu hits children at 2am?"

Which might beget the question, "How much medicine is appropriate to bring on vacation?"

Not kidding when I tell you that DD1 has a knack for getting sick on Friday nights, and that vacations bring out the sickness in her. She has had two throat cultures at that Little Clinic (up at King Soopers) on Saturdays - yes, they worked... she had strep, and two years ago had to take her to a clinic at Walmart on the Saturday before Easter because she came down with a raging ear infection. (The child who NEVER gets an ear infection!) Once in Atlanta she got a stomach virus and threw up 27 times in 24 hours. (Had we been here I would have had her hospitalized for dehydration.) The child came down with a HORRIBLE cough on the second night of a two night trip with her Brownie Troop last Spring - and the mothers there called me about what could they give her? (Her entire cabin lost sleep that night.)

Why am I bringing this up now?

We are leaving for our WDW vacation on Monday morning. Cue DD1 coming down with the flu on FRIDAY NIGHT. I could have put money on it. She's off of school all of Friday. (side note: we aren't able to do anything fun because my car decided that it needed to have some expensive repairs done NOW and it took two days to be fixed.) She wasn't feeling punk until that afternoon. Late that afternoon. Certainly too late for me to process, "Oh, perhaps I'd better run her to the peds office for a quick check to make sure we're not dealing with anything awful." Directly before dinner she gets her fever. The peds office is now closed until after we are to depart on Monday.

Great.

Turns out we don't know FOR SURE if she has the flu. The urgent care clinics are swamped today, but the nurse at Children's hospital (don't you love that Children's has a concerned parent line) said they were seeing all kinds of the illness I had described, and it's most likely Type A or Swine flu - they're different. Good news? The flu they are seeing lasts 3-5 days and is only dangerous if patients are having difficulty breathing. Does my daughter have any breathing difficulty? "No." Well, they say, you can call your pediatrician to see if they'll prescribe anything like Tamiflu, but we won't prescribe it through the hospital unless the child is hospitalized. OK, I'll call the on-call pediatrician.

Now, I should probably mention that we picked our pediatric practice before DD1 was born - and really liked this one because they have an integrated health care philosophy. (Husband in particular liked this.) They are proponents of using homeopathic supports in combination with western medicine. I wasn't surprised that the on-call doctor wouldn't give us a tamiflu script - disappointed but not surprised. His reasoning was that there is now a shortage as it's been prescribed for entire families at a time (which- incidentally - is exactly what I was wanting), and this particular flu seems to be short enough in duration that the effectiveness is in question. (Still, would like to have it in my hot little hands... but I had known before I spoke to him that I wouldn't be getting any. Or, I would have started there!)

Husband is out getting Echinacea, Vitamin C, Zinc, and BHI Inflammation. I'm also taking Motrin, mucinex, delsym, benedryl, ocean spray and vicks vapo rub with us.

I'm not worried about getting the flu. If I get it Husband can take the girls to the parks. I'm not worried about our activity level, as we have 6 1/2 days in the parks and we can take it slow if we need to. I'm worried about two things: 1) DD2 getting it and 2) DD1 being run down and getting a different seasonal virus from the airplane air.

It is what it is. As of right now we're not cancelling our trip.
If she's worse tomorrow we'll re-evaluate.

Cross your fingers, send good thoughts... all prayers are appreciated.
Mom? Are you listening?

SMA Friday - they're back!

Can't tell you when my last SMA Friday post was.... well I CAN, but I'm not going to. To make up for it, here are a couple different faces of Hugh. Sigh.

Thumbs up for a Happy Hugh:

This next Hugh is what I picture he looks like when his mother-in-law is talking:

Hugh about to profess his love and/or anxiety... but looking totally cute while doing so:

FBI Hugh, it would have come in handy to have him in our neck of the woods last week:

Wordless Wednesday

(I haven't posted a wordless wednesday in a while but my friend, Laurie, sent this to me and I have to share!)

Blogging my strange stats

So, every once in a while I take a look at my stats. My really great stat counter is no longer working (nope, don't even care why... I'll find a new one someday), but I have a feedjit counter attached here. Feedjit is an overview - I can't drill down any information... not that I'd need to when you see what it told me.

In two hours I got 50 hits. From 14 different countries. Which sounds impressive until you look and see that 48 of those hits were on that stupid entry from May 22nd that had a picture of the SMA and his wife.

FORTY EIGHT out of 50.

Two people in the last two hours came to see me at my blog. The other 48 were looking for Hugh and his wife.

Such a strange thing, if you ask me.

The Disneyland Fund

Behold - The Disneyland Fund.

It wasn't always the Disneyland Fund. For a while - when we were first married - it was "the change bottle", then it was lovingly referred to as "The DD's college fund"... but after the kids started taking an interest in dumping mom and (mostly) dad's change in there we started calling it "The Disneyland Fund."

I was sure we'd take the kids to Disneyland before we took them to Walt Disney World, but after the state of California came after Husband for $9000.00 in taxes that he didn't owe, from a time he didn't live there, all tourist money that might have been directed towards CA got channeled towards FL. The name stuck though... it was The Disneyland Fund.

The Disneyland Fund. Money we've been saving for souvenirs and extra spending money at Disney World. Not money for the actual trip costs, not hotel or airfare. Extra. Fun money!

If you've been to our house you've seen it. You may have had to help me move it, you might have tripped over it, or your kids might have thrown stuff in there. It has been emptied out to clean it out once before (as we were afraid the cheddar bunnies that ended up in there might attract bugs), which gave me daughters quite a bit of pleasure looking through all the coins as they put them back in. You'll notice that there is a lottery ticket in there, courtesy of a very young DD1 who decided - when given a choice of getting another lottery ticket or saving the two dollars in the Disneyland Fund - decided to save. We woke up the next morning to the ticket torn apart and placed lovingly in the bottle. The paper money is courtesy of Grandma and Peepaw, who were as excited as our kids about our someday having a family vacation to Disney. The change is from when Husband emptied out the tray in his car, or I emptied out the spilled change when I switched purses. It was just "extra".

We emptied the Disneyland fund today, and Husband took it to the bank with his two Darling Daughters. They called me with the total.

Take a look again at the picture. Keeping in mind that it's a glass water cooler bottle (big and heavy), how much would you say is in there?

My guess was a couple of hundred dollars, Husband guessed between $400 and $500.

So, what's your guess?

I'm leaving the amount in the comments.

All I can say is DISNEY WORLD HERE WE COME! (Nine days.)

Holy Cow!

Has it been almost a month since I've blogged? I don't know if I've ever gone that long. I haven't even been keeping up with SMA Fridays... so I'm going to have to find a lot of Hugh pictures to make up for it!

I suppose there hasn't been a lot to blog about. I've been updating "my selective reality" regarding design star, but I wonder what's been happening overe here that I can talk about?

DD1 and DD2 are in school. 4th grade is getting tougher, and 1st grade is the most wonderful place DD2 has ever been. She's making new friends, having a blast - and she is reading much better than we knew she could. They're both doing great in math (DD1 is working on square roots this week, and "everyday math" is finally beginning to be recognizable as MATH to me now), and our annual book fair "Dads and Donuts" is tomorrow morning. Where I tell them they can each get 2 books, and they talk dad in to many more. Every year they laugh as they tell me how they snuck one past me!

In eleven days we are leaving for our first family trip to Walt Disney World. We'll be there Monday to Monday - and I think Husband and I are as excited as the kids.

The flooring is going in slowly but surely. Husband now has it figured out, but has been slowed down by a long upper respiratory virus, a hectic workload, and a bout of the flu. (Which DD1 also had. Pretty bad stuff - but over fairly quickly.) The rest of the house? Not coming along at all - which is my fault!

Sadly, this pretty much catches us up. I'm sure I'll have lots to tell you when we get back from Disney!!!!!! Tune in tomorrow when I get back to SMA Friday! Not much longer until we have a new SMA, and who knows if I'll find him blog worthy?

First day of school...

It's back to school week here at our house! DD1 began 4th grade - and DD2 started 1st grade. They seem quite happy so far, DD1 said she had lunch "with the girls." DD2 came home from the first day and told me she had made a new friend. All is well.

Now I will tell you of my shame: each and every year I cry on the first day of school.

Why? Heaven only knows... but I am that mom, the one you can place bets will be crying at first day drop off. One of the other first grade moms was fine until she saw me crying... and then she started too. At afternoon pick up that first day a mom who has known me for four years was laughing and said she should have warned her friend not to stand near me that morning because I always cry! It's really ridiculous, I even cried over my 4th grader this year and 4th grade isn't some huge milestone or anything.

When I got home I cried again. Partly because I'm afraid my kids are growning up too fast, partly because I don't know what becomes of me as they get older and need me less, and partly because I didn't really have anyone to call and talk to. It's one of those times that my mom would have been able to understand. She would have had sympathized with me, and then we would have shared a laugh at my expense - because I truly am a total sap... and she so got that about me.

The Tooth Fairy

I have it on good word from my friend who grew up in Poland that the Tooth Fairy is an American thing. (There are tooth losing related rituals in other cultures - but most of them involve little mice taking the teeth, which is simply not true and completely ridiculous.) Imagine her surprise when her kindergarten daughter lost her first tooth and started wondering how much the Tooth Fairy would leave.

DD2 is in the throes of Tooth Fairy fantasy. Just having lost teeth numbers 3 and 4 (with a little help from the dentist yesterday - as her teeth don't come out on their own, just like mine as a child) it was time for a visit from the Tooth Fairy last night.

At 11:30pm, just after the Tooth Fairy had retired for the night, she popped up out of bed whispering, "Oh God, I forgot about DD2!" I go downstairs, grab the greenbacks out of my purse (because she'd found my stash of gold dollar coins earlier in the Summer - so I can't use anything so obvious), and dash back upstairs. I kid you not, as I'm slipping the teeth out of the pouch SHE SAT UP AND LOOKED AT ME.

My heart stopped. I smiled at her, quietly murmured in her ear "Mommy is just kissing you Goodnight like always." Kissed her cheek, left quietly. I waited about 15 minutes before attempting to slip the newly filled satin pouch back under her pillow. (I'm sure I was a sight, crawling stealthily in to her room.) Then I returned to my room and cried, afraid I have screwed up one of the most fun things about being six years old for my daughter.

This morning she appears to have no memory of seeing me last night. She probably was fast asleep and truly remembers nothing - but I wonder.

I wonder.

Daily Drama

Welcome to the House of Daily Drama. With two daughters it's always something dramatic. How do girls even live past the age of 10 with all the tragedy and chaos they create? You'd think their hearts would give out...

8:15am


DD1: "Oh NO! Our Webkinz account is going to expire!"

DD2: "No! Mama!!!! Our Webkinz will all die and we can't play with them anymore." (comes running to get me)

DD1: "It's going to EXPIRE! Mom!!" (Trying to push her way past her sister in an attempt to get to me first)

Me: "When is it going to expire?" (thinking to myself it hasn't been all that long since we registered a new precious Webkinz family member and getting annoyed that Webkinz seems to have shortened their 'free' membership time...)

DD1: "APRIL SECOND, TWO THOUSAND AND TEN"

Me: "Are you KIDDING me with this? That happens to be NEXT APRIL. I think you can stop panicking - you have 8 months. Now get out of here, and shut the bathroom door on the way out."

DD1: "Well, to be on the safe side...."

Me: "NO."

SMA Friday!!!!

I like this picture of Hugh, he looks just like Husband's friend, Brian.

I blame Farm Town...

Has anyone given up on ever seeing me blog again? I blame Farm Town.

What is Farm Town? It's basically a Sims type game, but building farms, and it's addictive. I'm on the Farm Town that is connected to Facebook - although I think MySpace also offers the app.

I'm not kidding - it's a total time suck. My kids are telling me I'm on there too much... one night last week my husband looked over while I was on the computer. He asked, "You farmin?" I said, "No, I'm doing research." DD1 shouts from the family room, "Yea, research on FARM TOWN!" (Which I wasn't... really... maybe a little...) My sister-in-law and I are arranging times to harvest each other's farms (in pursuit of the magical gold coins we so desperately need to pimp out our farms), and even texting each other farm updates. ("My grapes are going to ferment on the vine - where are you??") I can't stop.

So, right now I'm on Facebook a lot. I've neglected my blog, although My Selective Reality is still going strong and slowly gaining readership. (However, I didn't even get my recap up until last night this week - and my aim is always no later than Tuesday afternoon so I'm slacking there, too.) When Project Runway starts I don't know how I'll balance it all out. (TGFTDVR... Thank God for the DVR)

So what have I learned from my foray in to Farm Town that I didn't know before? I know that I was correct in suspecting that I would be a Sims addict if I had ever installed them on my computer two Christmases ago. (I told my husband that I'd keep it in case I changed my mind, but I was pretty sure if I started a Sims life I'd never leave the computer again. CORRECT.)

I have missed my blog, missed sharing my life with God only knows who stumbles by, and am going to try to cut down on my latest obsession. After all, in any good 12 step program, the first step is admitting you have a problem.

My name is Dodi, and I'm a Farm Town Addict...

SMA Friday!

...already! It never fails to amaze me, the amount of Hugh there is on the internet. I think this one was taken on he and Tracey's wedding day?

Because he's ANCIENT!

I noted this on facebook, but it cracks me up so much I'm putting it on my blog too. (If I manage to get it up on Twitter is that like a social networking hat trick?)

We were at my dad's house yesterday. The Ellen Show came on the TV. (Because the television is never off at my dad's house.) It was Ellen's birthday, and all kinds of celebrities sent video messages. All of the sudden DD1 turns towards the TV because one of the stars has caught her attention.

"George Clooney? Is he still around?"

New Blog

So, here's the deal. There are two shows on reality TV shows that I watch every season without fail. One is Bravo's Project Runway (which after a long delay premiers on August 20th) and the other is HGTV's Design Star (which premiered last night).

I follow these two shows, and I do recaps on them which usually contain my unflattering and somewhat judgemental comments. Am I qualified to fire away at these people? No. Not even remotely. Which, I think you'll agree, makes it even more fun. I had posted my recaps on this blog last year, but they are lengthy and not really related to what I usually talk about here. Which is Hugh Jackman. Who has never been on either show as far as I know.

Anyway, I started a new blog and if you watch these shows with me this summer we'll have a lot of fun over on My Selective Reality.

Join me over on the dark side!

Walter Cronkite

When I was a child the voice of the evening news was Walter Cronkite. The evening anchor for the CBS News, he was invited in to our household every night. I didn't revere him as a child - because to me the News was an interruption to Gilligan's Island or The Brady Bunch... I hated watching the News. But my parents loved the News, and Walter Cronkite was an evening fixture at our house. As I stop and think about Mr. Cronkite, I wish I had been more aware of who he actually was, and what he represented to our society.

In 1963 (no, I wasn't born yet - but I remember my mother telling me about this), Walter Cronkite reported the death of John F. Kennedy to America:

(on air) the editor handed Cronkite the bulletin. Cronkite stopped speaking, put on his eyeglasses, looked over the bulletin sheet for a moment, took off his glasses, and made the official announcement:

"President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time." (glancing up at clock) 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago."

After making that announcement, Cronkite paused briefly, put his glasses back on and swallowed hard to maintain his composure. There was noticeable emotion in his voice as he intoned the next sentence of the news report:

"Vice President Johnson *cough* has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the United States."

On February 27th, 1968, (in this very famous broadcast) Walter Cronkite correctly predicted that the war in Vietnam was not winnable:

Tonight, back in more familiar surroundings in New York, we'd like to sum up our findings in Vietnam, an analysis that must be speculative, personal, subjective. Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I'm not sure. The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw. Another standoff may be coming in the big battles expected south of the Demilitarized Zone. Khe Sanh could well fall, with a terrible loss in American lives, prestige and morale, and this is a tragedy of our stubbornness there; but the bastion no longer is a key to the rest of the northern regions, and it is doubtful that the American forces can be defeated across the breadth of the DMZ with any substantial loss of ground. Another standoff. On the political front, past performance gives no confidence that the Vietnamese government can cope with its problems, now compounded by the attack on the cities. It may not fall, it may hold on, but it probably won't show the dynamic qualities demanded of this young nation. Another standoff.

We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that -- negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.

Walter Cronkite was the man that reported to us in 1969 that man had landed on the moon.
Walter Cronkite was the voice we heard reporting Watergate and the resignation of an American President.
When something important happened on the world's stage during my childhood, it was Walter Cronkite who reported on it.

Walter Cronkite died yesterday at the age of 92. May he rest in peace and may his family be comforted at the knowledge that we are all impacted by his death, and send our blessings in their time of sorrow.

SMA Friday!

Just under the wire! Almost forgot it was Friday!!!

Here's our hot Hugh:

July 14th

My mom always liked Bastille Day... because she was born on Bastille Day!

Happy Birthday, Mom. I hope they have excellent chocolate cake where you are!

UP

Finally took the girls to see UP.

I'm not going to lie - I sobbed through the entire first 10 to 15 minutes... and then intermittently choked up throughout the rest of the movie. (Seriously, I spent the first 15 minutes thinking, "This is a DISNEY movie?" Bambi has NOTHING on this one in the realm of lump in the throat and unabashed tears.) The animation was crazy cool, and the story was touching, funny, sad, clever, magical, happy, and beautiful. The characters were amazingly "real". Doug was endearing, trying so hard and he was so genuinely loving. I've had dogs like that, and would love for my dogs to have a collar like that. How much fun! Plus, the old man was hilarious, in part because he reminded me of my dad in a way. My dad? Would totally send that kid out snipe hunting.

It was a great movie, but I think the old man losing his wife before he was ready hit a little too close to home for me. Every time he crossed his heart I cried. DD2 kept leaning over to pat me on the arm, and DD1 would whisper in my ear while giving me a squeeze, "It'll get better mom, just hang in there." How funny, that now they can comfort me instead of it always being the other way around. Sometimes I get to see a side of them that surprises me, and I'll always remember UP being one of those experiences.

P.S. My SMA post back in May that featured the SMA and his wife? Has been hit 39 times in the last 13 hours - mostly from Europe. All over Europe, not one little clumping of a specific country. Why??

A funny thing happened on the way to decorating the bedroom...

Because y'all thought I'd be ON that by now, right? I have the bedding, I even have the bed. I need to get some stuff from the container store for turning her shelving unit in to a desk unit, remove the Pooh wall border, and make a stop at the paint store... but the Ipod docking station is bought by golly!

HOWEVER... before I decorate that room, I have to empty the closet that I've been storing things in since the girls were babies. (It was the nursery - and what newborn needs an entire closet? Half of it is taken up with storage... well more like 3/4.) I cannot leave my stuff there, as when you are nine you can easily fill an entire closet with your wardrobe.

Whats that you say? Move the stuff to the basement?

Therein lies a problem.

When we moved in, the basement was were we put boxes we would "get to later." During the nine years we've lived here the basement has been were we stored things, dumped stuff we had no place for, and where I'd lug tubs of "stuff" after a big cleanup. The desk with my main computer is down there, my photography stuff is down there, and the washer and dryer are down there. My friend, SA, has some stuff stored in our basement too, as she was already living in TX when her condo was sold. The extra stuff ended up in our basement. There was literally NO MORE ROOM for anything else.

So, on Monday night I started to sort. By Tuesday night we had several bags of trash (lawn and leaf size), lots of empty boxes, and a small Goodwill pile. By Wednesday night I had 5 more bags of trash, way too many more empty boxes, and a much larger Goodwill pile. Things that I need to work on AFTER I finish the initial sort would be the entire bin of pictures collected from about 15 different locations around the basement, a huge amount of stuff for Husband to keep or toss (technical stuff, mostly obsolete - but that isn't a decision I'll make), cables... hundreds of assorted cables, my grandmother's dishes all sorted out and stacked, one large box of mildewed bedding that I swear I have never seen before (Husband's from before I even knew him I think and I think it's headed for the dump), an entire copy paper box full of stuff to shred, and a drafting table that I haven't used since college but have moved to 6 different locations since graduating.

I am about halfway through the main room. This does not count the storage under the stairs that I am not dealing with at this time.

Hopefully I will be done with this unexpected "project" by Saturday.
Then I can start on the bedroom.

So, in essence, part of decorating my daughter's new bedroom is cleaning out the basement. Don't you hate it when that happens?