His Boy Elroy Releases Their First CD!

Sean and Christian's band, His Boy Elroy, hosted their CD release show last Friday with a wild and enthusiastic crowd attending, complete with a mosh pit and a stage crasher who ripped off his shirt in a manic frenzy. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

The band has discovered that a lot of work goes into recording and producing a CD, and they have done a fabulous job! Well done lads, very well done. I am so proud of you.

My camera was dying a slow but painful death, but here are a few pics from the show. Enjoy.

He Was So Pleasant to Me, But the Axe Fell Anyway

Aarrrgg! Don't those people know the meaning of the word, "Warning?" So I guess it's off to Traffic School for me (again--for the fourth? fifth? time). Darn. Those. Quotas.

Guilty Pleasure

Here is one of my latest favorite sites to check in on once in a while. It is a blog of a New York guy who steps outside each day and snaps a picture of a well-dressed regular-joe person on the street, not models. Surprisingly, the "comments" on this blog are almost always complimentary and not snarky like some east coast fashionistas can be. It's kind of interesting to see what the Big Apple folks are wearing. Go to http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/ to see some great outfits (and, of course, some "pushing the envelope" outfits). Kinda fun.

Ransacking Closets Can Be Fun!

Thumbelina is home! I discovered her in my mom's basement closet Sunday night while Sean and Christian were looting and plundering there as they looked for cool retro clothes from my three older brothers' wardrobes. Sean scored this awesomely WIDE tie, and I found my one and only doll! Thumbelina doesn't say, "Mama" when I tip her upside down anymore, nor does she have that ymmy plastic-shower-curtain-smell, but she still has all of her limbs, eyes, toes, fingers, and most of her hair. Oh, during our photo shoot, I discovered that one of her big toes has a big chunk missing--could be from a bite taken by one of the many neglected and untrained dogs that kept coming home with big brother G., I don't know. (Those dogs were pretty wild.) (Scary too.) (Feral German Shepherds vs. an eight-year-old little girl?) (And my kids wonder why we never got them a dog . . . .) ANYWHO, Thumbelina is looking pretty sweet if you ask me.

Vying for His Affection . . .

The girls are on Christian's tail by the boatload, and I've got my eyes wide open, so you girls just watch your step. I'm not sayin' anything, I'm just sayin'. (He is my baby boy after all.)

Bringin' Down the House!

After something of a haitus due to Christian's horrendous injury on his hand (a very precious hand that needs to grip a drumstrick but couldn't for a while--more on that later), the band was back downstairs in the studio gearing up for their cd release show on February 22. I definitely missed hearing them playing hard and playing loud! What a lucky mom I am to have my boys hanging out at my house, letting me share in their talents and their dreams. Finishing the basement and dedicating one room for the studio has sure paid off for me because I love having them here! (Krispy Kreme donuts and a freezer full of pizzas are small prices to pay to be able to have them here so I know what's what and what's up and who's who and all that jazz.) I'll be sure to post pictures from the cd release show!







By the way, in case your are astute enough to notice that the lads are all playing each other's instruments in these shots, it is because Sean wrote a new song where the guys play different instruments to mix things up a bit. It is an awesome song--some of it is in French! Buy the cd!

I Love Her!

This picture was taken on January 28, 2008, my mom's 90th birthday! Isn't she darling? (I hope I inherited her DNA because she is absolutely AMAZING!) I couldn't have asked for a better mom--I am so blessed, so blessed.

British Humor

Is it possible to laugh with a British accent? I think Baby Charlie (who appears to have something of a sadistic streak in him, by the way) definitely laughs with that certain "across-the-pond-lilt" that makes Englishmen so charming. (You'll have to copy and past the address because my slacker computer won't allow me to actually post the video here. Yeah. I know. It's a drag.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

The Beauty

Ah, the beauty of nature, and the beauty in a thoughtful gesture. Thanks Dave.
Photo by CKS

And the Winners Are . . .

Amid much competition (thanks everyone for playing!--all two of you--namely Ashley and Jordan, thanks for your support--everyone else can just continue to pretend that I didn't notice that they didn't participate--thanks) the winners of our "Identify the Photo" contest are . . . ASHLEY & JORDAN! Yeah! Something delicious from Cold Stone is coming your way!!! (See! All the rest of you should have played. Nah nah.)

For future reference, in order to officially participate in these nifty contests, you must submit your answers via the "Comments" section of this humble little blog.

Can You Guess?

Christian and his camera have been out and about getting verrrrryyy up close and personal with some common household objects. Can you guess what each picture is? The person to guess all three correctly gets a . . . gets a . . . , well, gets something yummy! (I'll figure that part out later.) Come on--give it a go . . . Be sure to check back to see "the big reveal!"

Cast Your Vote!

Cast your vote for your favorite sugar enhanced creation! The head of The American Institute of Architects will be making the final decision as soon as he can pry open his jaw after snitching a couple of the uber-sticky gumdrops from one unlucky contestant's structure. (That will teach him not to go around stealing building supplies from unsuspecting contractors!)

Christmas Cheer!

Janie's Got a Gun . . . (Aerosmith)

ATTENTION all of you power-hungry yet musical women: A new product is on the market! Now women (well, men too, but the product is definitely made to appeal to chicks), can shoot their attacker with a "pretty-in-pink" taser while keeping the beat to their favorite song! Yes indeedy, I can get my stylish taser in a designer holster which comes complete with an MP3 player (of all things) so I can ZAP ZAP ZAP as I sway to "Happiness is a Warm Gun," by the Beatles or tap my toe to Eric Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff." The possibilities are endless when one is looking for suitable musical accompaniment to their shoot 'em up romp: "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (Pat Benetar); "Saturday Night Special" (Lynyrd Skynyrd); "Guns, Guns, Guns" (Guess Who). A perfect pairing, that taser and MP3 player. Just like swimming naked in the Arctic Ocean.

I'll Take the Meisterstuck, Please

In the realm of writing instruments, the choices are far and wide: One could go for the exquisite touch of a Montblanc piston fountain pen with 18 K gold nib and platinum inlay set with 4654 diamonds, or, at the other end of the spectrum, one could use a charred piece of kindling from their community cooking fire at the Paradise Acres Mobile Home Park. Maybe just pound your foot on the ground to count out how far down the alphabet to go to spell out your word. I don't really care. Just don't resort to this. It takes too darn long to spell out those really long words like, "thesepeopleareidiots."

Emeril Has Nothin' On These Guys!

So Sean received a very spiffy pasta maker from Williams Sonoma courtesy of Santa C. this Christmas.















He set to work making five-star linguini and angel hair while Ashley and Jordan whipped up some stellar marinara, pesto and alfredo sauces. Mmmmm good! (What am I doing
wearing the apron around here?)

These guys are going to give Alton and Giada and Paula a run for their money! My very sincere compliments to the chefs!

See Ya at 90!

I happened across a website featuring a longevity calculator while reading this article from the Salt Lake Tribune, and thought to myself, "Do I dare take the test to find out my life longevity, a silly test which may reveal that I'll be kicking the bucket sooner than my personal agenda prescribes?" I went for it anyway and came up with a respectable 90 years old! Go granny go! Take the test here and let me know your scores. (The site offers a test for those under 49 and those over 49.) We could be the rulers of the geriatric crowd down at the senior center gumming our way through boiled chicken together!

Oooh, La, La!

Christian turns a whopping
15 years old!

Our baby boy (yes, "baby boy," I'm in denial here, folks, so let me be) celebrated his 15th birthday in style with a group of his pals, dining on a French feast (sorta French) followed by the sophisticated foreign (sorta foreign) film, "Ratatouille."

In keeping with the French theme, the dinner menu from Le Magnific' Chez Sagers consisted of: Laitue (salad), des Cuisses de Grenouille (frog legs), des Escargots (snails), du Pain (bread), and Pommes Frites (potatoes). Yum, yum! I think the kids were more than a smidgeon disappointed to see that the frog legs were actually chicken legs and chicken fingers, the snails were actually popcorn shrimp, and the pommes frites were actually French fries. However, they said it was the BEST birthday dinner they had ever had. It was basically junk food (manna for teenagers) served up on fancy platters with pretty little garnishes. The guys in particular seemed to really love the formal table setting with the stemmed goblets so they could "toast" their host often.

Enjoy the birthday video below (Sean offers his apologies for the nausea-inducing camera work).

Happy birthday to the sweetest, happiest, most wonderful son a mom could have!

We love you Christian!

Brown Bagging It

Christian and Sean are such good sports to haul their Mom's little attempts at creativity to school with them for all the world to see on a daily basis. I love you guys! (For all I know, they probably ditch the sack and cram all the contents into their backpack long before they reach their schools . . . but they humor me and don't complain . . . to my face, that is.)

Preference 2007

After an adventurous "day-date" consisting of an Iron Chef Competition, Sean's preference date picks him up for a fun evening of dinner and dancing.

Oh! The secret ingredient for the Iron Chef Competition? (Break open the Pepto Bismal) . . . Vienna sausages. Yes indeedy. Sean's team won the cook-off with some sort of Bisquick Vienna sausage pie thingy (doesn't sound too bad) beating out the other team's Vienna sausage pancakes (eeewww). Those lucky judges!