Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Changing my name

I'm changing my name. And yes it has everything to do with the recent hurricane which has seriously impacted the Northeast. I'm taking a page from Prince. Thus I shall be referred to as "The Woman Formerly Known As Sandy". I haven't come up with a proper symbol yet, but I'm working on it.


And I don't remember anyone asking me for permission to use my name. There are at least 60 other names beginning with "S" that could have been used. I know because I counted. I considered suing but I figured they might tell me to "blow it out my rear" and considering how much damage the wind has already done with its blowing, it might be best to let this go.

I told my mom it was her fault for naming me. Then she reminded me that my given name is actually Sandra so my argument was invalid. She says Po-tay-to, I say Po-tah-to.

At one point last night, Bill told me "I" had been downgraded. This made me happy as I immediately thought of lessening winds and rain and this whole thing quickly going away. Then he explained that I was no longer a hurricane and instead just a pain-in-the-ass. Thanks a lot, funny man. 

Juliet famously asked, "What's in a name...?" Oh Juliet, you were at odds because of your family name. My name was tagged onto a hurricane. And not just any hurricane either, oh no, this one goes down in the books. Hurricane Sandy couldn't just turn into a little tropical storm that blew out to sea leaving everyone in its possible path to rejoice. Of course not.

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the corner cursing my namesake with the Katrinas and Irenes.


*Note: In all seriousness, I'm from NJ and watching so many places that I am personally familiar with be devastated was and is disheartening. My thoughts and prayers to all those affected.

Friday, October 26, 2012

A witch, a baby, Flo and Mayhem

Every now and then a commercial gets made that makes me want to high-five the advertising team who developed it. Geico's recent ad featuring a witch flying in a broom factory is one of them. It makes me laugh every time I see it. It's cute and timely with Halloween coming.

I like a lot of the insurance ads. I'm a fan of Flo from Progressive. Not all her commercials are great, but for the most part they're good. Bill prefers Mayhem from Allstate.

My all time fave commercials feature the E-trade baby. This one makes me giggle.

Now, I'm not advocating for these companies and I don't do business with them. They just make me laugh and not want to grab the remote and change the channel at break-neck speed.

Anyone out there have a favorite ad on television?  Share please!


Monday, October 22, 2012

Little Man, The Great Pumpkin and Me

It makes me so insanely happy when I can share something of my childhood with Christopher, especially when he enjoys it as much as I did/still do.

Tonight we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" as we do every year just before Halloween. He loves to watch Snoopy fight the Red Baron. I love to watch him as much as I love to watch the show.

I'm a big fan of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. I've watched their holiday specials every year without fail ever since I was a little lady. I know them by heart, yet I never tire of watching them.

After Chris was born I was excited to share my favorite comic strip pals with him. He loved them, too. Of course there was a period when he was about 4 when he watched The Great Pumpkin repeatedly. It was a long October. And November. Until December came and I persuaded him to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" instead. Still, I never minded. We might've driven Bill a little crazy but that's why we have more than one room in the house. And more than one TV.

 It isn't officially Fall or Halloween until I watch The Great Pumpkin. Linus was wrong. You really can discuss the Great Pumpkin with people.





Sunday, October 21, 2012

I am Iron Man

Yesterday Little Man and I went to a Halloween event sponsored by JDRF. This was a fun way to teach healthy eating habits for type 1 diabetics. There were games and snacks and a costume contest.

He dressed up as Iron Man complete with muscles (foam padding) in the suit, the power gloves and mask. We walked up to the judges' table and the first lady said, "Oh, it's a Transformer."

What?

Chris and I spoke at the same time. "He's Iron Man," I said. "No, I'm Iron Man," he said calmly.

But I read between the lines. He looked unamused and a bit confused by this woman's mistake. His look said, "Lady I'm a Marvel super hero NOT a Transformer. Jeez."

My inner dialogue went like this: "A Transformer? Really? They are so last year. Does the Avengers ring a bell? Hello? Jeez."

Chris ended up winning 2nd place in the best super hero category. Must've been the fact that the mechanical heart in the center of his chest lit up. And that the other judges were smarter more hip.

Friday, October 19, 2012

My take on vampires

I'm very picky about my bloodsuckers. Thanks to romantic old-school notions and Anne Rice, there are only 2 vamps I really dig - Dracula and Lestat. Okay, 3 if you count Caleb from the now defunct soap "Port Charles".

I've only ever seen a handful of "True Blood" episodes and I've never read a Charlaine Harris book. And I will probably never read any of the "Twilight" books either. I once caught about 5 minutes of the first movie in the series and I wanted to gouge my eyes out. With a rusty spoon. Vampires are not supposed to sparkle! They're dark and fangy and badass.

When I think of a bloodsucker, I think of black capes and pale skin, like Bela Lugosi in the stereotypical role. "Look into my eyes..." and all that.

Bela Lugosi as Dracula


And then there's the Vampire Chronicles, which basically ruined me for all other vamps. What can I say? I'm a vampire snob. Sure I can enjoy a good vampire movie now and then. But I reserve my neck for just my faves.

However, I'm sure if I ever came face-to-face with a vampire I'd be scared to death and it would be a horrible, bloody, messy, unromantic death on my part. Or, as my luck would have it, I'd get bitten by an unattractive, monstrous beast of a vampire and not a sexy, dressed in black, looking-to-seduce-with-a-bite hottie. Either way would suck...haha.

Sexy vampire...please bite me



 
What would probably end up biting me





Saturday, October 13, 2012

Halloween humor

Some funnies for Halloweenie.
 

Three vampires went into a bar and sat down.
The barmaid came over to take their orders.
"And what would you, er, gentlemen like tonight?"
The first vampire said, "I'll have a mug of blood."
The second vampire said, "I'll have a mug of blood."
The third vampire shook his head at his companions
and said, "I will have a glass of plasma."
The barmaid wrote down each order, went to the
bar and called to the bartender,
"Two bloods and a blood light."

(thanks to jokelibrary.net)












Monday, October 8, 2012

Las Vegas Woman

Over the summer I submitted an article to a local magazine on tips for helping parents adjust to life with a newly diagnosed diabetic child.

Guess what??

They published it!!  My article, "Caring for Your Child's Diabetes is a family affair" appears in the Fall issue of Las Vegas Woman.  Read it here.

And now you'll have to excuse me, I'm very excited. (Does the Snoopy happy dance).

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Reading + Tired = what happened?

It's never a good idea for me to read when I'm really tired because when I continue where I left off nothing makes sense. Then I have to go back whole paragraphs or even pages to jog my memory. Then I swear to myself to never do this again. I say to myself, "Self, next time we are tired and droopy lidded, put the book down." But that never lasts because I inevitably force myself to read past that point because I so want to know what happens next. Do you see the problem?

One time I was convinced the husband was playing a prank on me and had moved my bookmark. I even questioned him in that trying-not-to-sound-accusing, but still curious way. "Did you touch my book?"

Of course he looked at me with that puzzled, you-must-be-insane look. I'd like to think that's more because he knows better than to mess with my books and not because he really thinks I'm a crazed, book-reading psycho.

This whole scenario especially sucks when I'm reading a long tome like Stephen King's "11/22/63" where time travel is involved. Okay, that did happen. And I had to re-trace my reading because I had no idea where the main character was and how he got there. It's a credit to the authors because their books are so hard to put down.

Maybe for future late-night reading I should ingest more caffeine. Or read someplace less comfortable than my bed. Like the rack used in the Addams Family basement. And then I could pull the butler bell and summon Lurch and after he said, "You rang." I would ask him to bring me a pillow and blanket. Which defeats the whole purpose but I've always wanted to summon my own Lurch-like butler.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Almost Halloween. Sort of.

Yay! It's October. And that means Halloween is right around the corner. If the corner was 30 days away.

Still, I'm excited for cooler temps, pumpkins and trick-or-treating. More for the treating because...free candy! And of course I'm talking about the candy that Little Man shares with me or doesn't like to eat. Yes, he has least favorites.

Anyway, I thought about doing a holiday post a day featuring Halloween themed topics but let's face it, I can barely be counted on to write daily posts as it is, so why place such an awesome burden on my shoulders. Right?  However, there will be some Halloweenish type posts made throughout the month. I think. I hope.

In the meantime, I'll leave you this cute little holiday poem: