Lexical Light

President Bush & The Pope - Representin'

7 words and a picture made me laugh. Finding just the right words can be hard, but Bird of the Thinklings
nailed the merging of photo & phonemes with this picture of the President and the Pope. Take the time to click over. I'll refund your money if you don't laugh.

Choppin' Broccoli

It made me laugh out loud. Now I can show my kids the inspiration for my outbursts about choppin' broccoli.

Though I'm quite wary of content on youtube, I do appreciate being able to enjoy & share things that make me laugh. Sigh. I have a feeling this will get some airplay on the outgoing phone message.

Anakin Dynamite Video

"You'll either think this is hilarious or ridiculous. Maybe hilariously ridiculous. Ridiculously hilarious?" - Me

A reprise from May 2005, now showing on my blog.

HT: My neighbor, MK.

I wonder if director Wayne Barnes thought about using Ligersabers in this film.

(Disclaimer: When you click play, it will take you to Atom Films. At the time of this post, nothing objectionable came up via this link, but don't let your kiddos go there alone. Preview what will come up in the sidebars, etc. before you let them watch it.)

I Love U2...and You Two

Meeting my close girlfriends at Fourbucks* is one of my favorite things. Last week we had a particularly loud & laughter filled time on patio.

During our little coffee klatch my astute musical ears picked up U2 on the outdoor speakers, but I didn't recognize the song. (I'm thinking it's World Cup related.) Regardless, I practically sighed, "I love U2" to my friends. This fairly gushing declaration of affection was prompted by an earlier realization that U2's albums CDs are some of the few that I will listen to all the way through and because Bono is my favorite lyricist.

This was a bit significant because I'm careful about not idolizing celebrities. I also try to be careful about flinging the word love about, overused word that it is. Finally, neither of my friends enjoy U2 quite as much as I do. So, I would usually keep that thought for myself. But, in the warmth of the moment, I knew I could share such a "bold" statement. (Yes, I know I'm quite the rabble-rouser.)

I didn't think much of it until I got this e-mail from my dear friend Lynn (quoted w/permission):

"Last night at Starbucks when Lexie said “I love U2”
I thought she meant “I love you two!”
I was touched    (briefly)
I was about to pipe in “I love you two, too!”
Until I realized the mistaken homophones.

Tragic…."

The minute I got the e-mail, I knew it was blog worthy. 

BTW, I'm am thrilled to have a friend who uses the word homophones so easily.

*HT to the Thinklings for the lingo

Watch, LOL, Repeat.

I don't read/watch all the fwds. that come through my mail box, but since a dear friend w/a simpatico sense of humor recommended this one, I gave it a try. I'm so glad I did. It's an instant classic, just like Baby Got Book.

Inspirational comedian Judson Laipply chronicles the Evolution of Dance with a medley of moves set to the music of different decades starting with the birth of rock n' roll until now. He even manages to work in a Brady Bunch groove. ("Keep On" from the "It's a Sunshine Day" album.) Too stinkin' funny.

My kids watched it, thought it was a little funny, but were probably  more humored by Mom bustin' up. (No, I didn't try any moves.) I then had to give them some pop music education by showing the "Ice Ice Baby" on Launchcast.

If you go watch it & enjoy it, let me know because it's always more fun to share laughter.

(HT: My long time friend, Tina.)

5/25 Update: There's now an "evolutionofdance.com" with more info on Judson. From his FAQ I realized I made a mistake in calling him a Christian comedian. The youtube category for the video was inpirational & I wrongly assumed that meant Christian. In some respects that matters, but in some ways it doesn't.  The video is still stinkin' funny and it sounds like he uses his talents for good and not evil. BTW, he'll be on the Today show on June 5, 2006. I'll be tuning in to hear more from the guy that has made me laugh so much these past weeks. :)

Boys' Clothes that Made Me Laugh

Mopsy did it again. She made me laugh out loud,  with no mention of David Hasselhoff.   This time it's her post  "The Dress", which is actually a "do over" of a Nov. 2004 entry titled: "Why did the dinosaur drive a race car across the football field? To be on my son’s shirt.”  Read the rest of the post for more observations on boys' fashion.

Someone's in the Kitchen

Alert the media, or EMS - I've been in the kitchen a few hours this afternoon. It's not unusual for me to be in the kitchen cleaning, schooling, or eating, but I was actually cooking. Well, I was baking.

Songbird has her 6th bday party this Saturday and wants my Granny's chocolate cake baked in our new Betty Crocker Bake n' Fill pan. Between my track record w/Granny's cake and the new baking utensils, I had an excuse for a test cake.

So test, I did. I tried to substitute baby prunes for the butter. That works fine in commerical cake mixes, but no so in Granny's yummy recipe. My Granny will laugh hysterically when she hears what I've done this time. It was really flat, and kind of crsipy around the edges.  Here's Fifi modeling the results:

Lovely, eh? (Fifi, the infomerical queen, said if I would've had Smartware that wouldn't have happened.)

You see, we have a history - Granny, her cake recipe & me. Not only do I have delicious childhood memories of eating her chocolate cake, I have hilarious, at my expense, memories of trying to bake it. A few years ago I decided it was time to try the recipe myself. Perched at the computer, ready to document the recipe for posterity I eagerly listened as Granny dictated to me. I was trying to get meticulous instructions, probably wearing her out with all my questions. It wasn't long until we were both in tears - from laughing so hard.

She was trying to explain to me how to melt the chocolate squares w/a double boiler. She said to turn it upside down. I thought she was talking about the double boiler & was wondering how on earth that was supposed to work.

I was showing my prowess in the kitchen before I even attempted the recipe.

Then last September I wanted to give the recipe an intial try for a friend that likes cakes. It took me 3 tries to get it right. I was on the phone to me Granny a few times, knowing that my follies would make her laugh. Then she happened to talk to my mom. By the time I had produced a presentable cake, I had three generations quite amused at my attempts in the kitchen. 

So, today I got back in the saddle. I knew the prunes were a risk, but wanted to see how they would do. I'll stick to the butter.

The second cake was much better. We filled it with chocolate pudding & chocolate chips. That sounded like too much chocolate, even for me. Amazingly, the kids and a couple of friends loved it. I forgot to take a picture & it was gone quite quickly. I'll try to post a picture of the finished party product.

Last week I let Mom & Granny know I'd be making another cake this week. Granny reminded me that she took naps during the day (i.e., schedule the phone calls for help around the naps) and Mom asked something along the lines of how many tries I thought it would take this time. I don't mind the jokes becauase I know my gifts are in other areas ---way outside the kitchen. Thankfully, my dh is gifted in the kitchen and he knew that was part of the deal when he married me. It's a good thing there are more ways to a man's heart than through his stomach.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some cake to eat.

 

My Son...the Translator

I asked Gameboy (formerly Ninjaboy) to call Dad & see when he would be home. He calls Dad.

"Is 7:15 okay?" Gameboy asked me while on the phone with Dad.

"Yeah, I may not be here, but he can come home then," I told Gameboy.

"That's okay," he tells Dad.

He brings me the phone.  Turns out Gameboy had translated Dad's respone of 7:00 to 7:15 (allowance for travel time) and translated my sassy response to a benign one (allowance for Mom being goofy).

He's no dummy.

Oy Vey!

This made me laugh.

Though I am not Jewish, unless you count this adoption, I often go around saying, "Oy Vey!" with a Texas accent. My brother gives me a hard time about it, but what's a girl to do?

Fuhgetabouit. 

Mommy Moments and Blogs

"A merry heart does good like a medicine..."  Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV)

This morning was one time when I wanted to take a page from the Captain Underpants school of child management. Instead of the 3R's, Ms. Ribble focused on the 3S's:

Sit Down
Shut Your Piehole and
Stop Driving Me Crazy

This goes against everything I've learned about parenting or teaching. It  also goes against what I actually try do as a parent and teacher. However, this morning it sounded like a good plan.

There were no extenuating circumstance, no unusual behavior by the kiddos. They were having the usual "socialization training" opportunities. The x factor was a little more hormonal activity on my part. The  good thing is that after several years I've finally figured out that "this too shall pass", usually w/in a day or so. (A little chocolate helps, too.)  This knowledge doesn't keep me from being a crabby patty at times. 

Because I hadn't been on the computer much this morning, I figured I'd do a quick blog check before we ran errands.  That's when I found the "medicine" that chased my blahs away. 

Apparently Mopsy's troops have been like mine recentlly. Her take on the situation made me laugh and I feel much better now.  Thanks, Mopsy.