1. Ellen Degeneres having her wife on the show — to promote her new show and play the Newlywed Game.
2. “Whoopee.”
4. The hard drinkin’ and smokin’ crazies on Match Game
5. Molly Hatchett, Flirtin’ With Disaster
Battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things.
1. Shepherd throwing the football straight back over his head when he really means to throw it forward.
2. A. C. Moore, a kids’ craft dream store!
3. Magic Sand
4. Sculpey
5. Jane’s Addiction, Jane Says
Holy cow, folks. I think I almost wept watching this trailer. I am so excited Spike Jonze got a hold of this. Handle with care, Spike.
Where The Wild Things Are, The Movie!
Arcade Fire, Wake Up
1. Writing a poem on scratch paper through the afternoon and into the next day.
2. Toddler shoes that close with velcro — especially Chucks!
3. “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” — Aboriginal Activists Group (thanks, Janine!)
4. Remembering the difference between alliteration and onomatopoeia while on a stroll with my family.
5. Ollabelle, See Line Woman
1. David Sedaris‘ voice. I am listening to “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” via audiobook and as always he is funny. I could listen to him read a recipe for cornbread and chuckle.
2. Every once in a while Shaun and I get it together and are able to do drop-offs in time to get on the train together. I highly recommend holding hands and walking slowly with your sweetie at the beginning of the day if you can pull it off.
3. Picking up the NY Times Crossword and knowing the first clue I read (nevermind that I stop there).
4. The “Pickin’ On” series — bluegrass versions of hip tunes — they’re hilarious. U2 and Led Zeppelin are favorites.
5. Mat Kearney, Nothing Left to Lose
Battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things.
1. The lost entertainment of breathing in helium! My goddaughter (20 years old!) had never done this so it seemed completely natural (and necessary) to buy a couple balloons and squeak out a few bars of Swanee River. And then almost pee our pants.
2. My son’s realization that he likes putting toys back into the basket(s) almost as much as he likes dumping them out.
3. “Skins” for iPods and Blackberries. I really have dropped mine without incident on more than one occasion thanks to this weird little invention.
4. Poems and Prayers for the Very Young. I still have my original Golden Book from when I was Very Young.
5. Boy George, Bow Down Mister (thanks, Jeff!)
Battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things.
1. Newly cleaned sparkly jewelry. I don’t know when during a normal day I dip my entire hand into paint and cottage cheese, but it seems to happen with some frequency.
2. New words from a toddler: “flower,” “no kicking,” “deer.”
3. Radishes the size of my fist at the local grocer. I’m not sure I’d eat ‘em (that’s a lot of radish) but they’re gorgeous.
4. Ruby watched “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning” the other day. I was in the same vicinity, doing dishes, folding laundry, etc., but I wasn’t watching enough to catch the nuances of the story. I stopped every 10-15 minutes and asked for an update…”what’s happening now,” “why is so-and-so doing that,” “what do you think will happen next?” At the very beginning, the queen had been killed by a pirate ship and the king had banished music in the kingdom as that had been one of his queen’s favorite things. Seafolk then had to sneak music. When I asked why she thought the king would do that, Ruby looked at me as if to say “DUH, Mom,” and shrugged her shoulders. With a weary shake of her head she sighed, “He’s devastated.”
5. Peter Bjorn and John, Young Folks
Battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things.
1. Oprah’s Reading Room in O Magazine. The blurbs about the books are written by writers themselves, so reading about the books is brief and pleasing and something to look forward to. If my “to read” pile wasn’t already as tall as me, I would get a hold of every title in the new April issue.
2. Snyder’s Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzel Pieces. Don’t get the nuggets — they are crumbly and dry — but every bit of the pieces is graced by the salty spicy flavor.
3. Sweet potato casserole, and it’s not even Thanksgiving!
4. Acupuncture band-aids. They’re these tiny “seeds,” round bandages with a metal pod in the middle that sits next to your skin at one of the pressure points in your ear. You’re to push it a few times a day to re-energize the treatment, and make it last a bit longer. I don’t know about all that — they’re just so flippin’ cute!
5. Pussycat Dolls, Jai Ho (from Slumdog Millionaire)
Battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things.
1. Frank Orrall is my friend on Facebook. I’m number 800 (read: number one)!
3. These toys. Who needs them as teaching tools? I just want ‘em as my little friends!
4. Keurig coffee machine — my newest weapon in my fight against the Starbucks mocha.
5. Four Tet, Everything is All Right
Battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things.
1. 70 degree weather in March — even if it won’t last!
2. Free to Be You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends. It’s timeless!
3. “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” — Winston Churchill
4. Finding the nightgown (thanks, TBone!) that I thought I had lost — folded inside the yummy t-shirt sheets
5. Marlo Thomas and Friends, Sisters and Brothers
