So, I'm glad you guys liked the video yesterday (especially Tameka and Mindy)! I found a few more from the same project, Playing For Change! They're all wonderful and I hope you enjoy these as well.
A Change is Gonna Come
One Love
The next one is a Hindi children's song. I don't know what the lyrics mean, but the song and tune are so happy-making!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Small World
I saw this on Ravelry earlier in one of my groups and I knew you guys would like it. It kind of demonstrates just how small this world is becoming, with all the technology we have to connect us. It also illustrates that we all have things in common, no matter that we also have our differences. Music is pretty universal.
So, here's the story:
And here's the video.
So, here's the story:
Until a video of "Stand by Me" had gone viral on YouTube, Roger Ridley had sung and played guitar anonymously on the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., for years. The video begins with Ridley and then mixes in 40 other musicians from around the world. It's part of a 10-song collection called Playing for Change: Songs Around the World.
Producer Mark Johnson got the idea a few years ago when he heard Ridley's voice on a street in Santa Monica.
"I approached him after the performance and said, 'Hey, if I come back in an hour with some recording equipment and cameras, I'd love to record you, film you, add musicians around the world to it,' " Johnson says. "And he looked at me really funny, sort of thought I was crazy. But he said, 'OK, if you come back, we'll do it.' "
Another strong voice on "Stand by Me" is Grandpa Elliot, a staple of the New Orleans street scene, where he's been playing since age 6.
"You know, in New Orleans it's interesting, because a lot of the best musicians play on the streets," Johnson says. "And so Grandpa [Elliot] is known by everybody in New Orleans as one of its greatest musicians and an icon of New Orleans music."
These are just two of the many voices and instruments heard on Playing for Change. The song always starts with Ridley, then Johnson puts headphones on Grandpa Elliot in New Orleans, then plays those recordings for a tribe of Zuni Indians to add a drum, and on and on for a total of "37 other musicians that never met around the world."
And here's the video.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
The ShamSuck
So, one of the blogs I follow does product reviews and the most recent one was for the ShamWow. The review was not complimentary, so that kind of sucks. BUT, on the upside, that blog found this parody of the ShamWow infomercial and I laughed so freaking hard at it that I cried. I thought it would be criminal not to share it with all of you, so here goes!!!!
Friday, April 17, 2009
A Departure from the Usual...
Ok. For a few months now it's been all about family stuff and weight updates and crafty progress. I haven't posted anything political in quite a while, right? Well, I'm breaking my streak. Unlike during the election, there won't be a bunch of these posts in a row. I'm just going to say my piece in this post and I'm sure I'll be able to contain myself for a time after that. This is the warning for any who disagrees with my political beliefs and may find this post distasteful or objectionable. Standard disclaimer and all that.
So, yeah, this whole Tea Party Tax Day thing? It's freaking ridiculous. I think it's insane that after the last administration and all the protest-worthy things it engineered (i.e. an endless war on false pretenses, surveillance without warrants on American citizens {including our deployed military men and women in their private conversations with family back home}, the collapse of our economy, etc.), only now is it necessary and even encouraged to protest anything. I mean, during the Bush administration, if anyone dared to protest, they were unpatriotic and un-American and communists and hippies and so on and so forth. Nobody was supposed to question the President's decisions because, well...he was the President. And if you didn't like what the President was doing, you were supposed to at least respect the office of President.
So....when did the rules change? Coincidentally, they changed around or about January 20, 2009. Suddenly everything the President does is fodder for criticism, down to the smallest detail-like the gift he gave to the Prime Minister of the UK. Suddenly it's appropriate to accuse the President of communism, fascism, socialism, totalitarianism, and any other -isms one can think of. Just so we're clear, all those -isms aren't interchangeable, but you wouldn't guess that from the rhetoric being spouted all over the place. It's like this thing that Jon Stewart said the other day about a lot of the Fox News people going on about tyranny, "Yes, tyranny. AKA our democratically elected President. I think you might be confusing tyranny with losing. But see, when the guy that you disagree with gets elected, he's probably going to do things you disagree with. See now, you're in the minority. It's supposed to taste like a shit taco."
Anyhow, back to the Tea Party Tax Day business. You've got all these people screeching about the "big government" and "wasteful government spending" and the "massive budget deficit", chief among them the "journalists" at Fox News. The problem with that line of thinking is that it's a complete and total logical fallacy. Where were the protests about our "massive budget deficit" when our budget surplus was decimated by President George W Bush because of this pointless war? Where were the protests about "big government" when the previous administration initiated warrantless wiretapping on American citizens? Where were the protests about "big government" when the former President decided to stomp all over the Constitution by allowing torture and doing away with habeas corpus for detainees in Guantanamo Bay? Where were the protests about "wasteful government spending" when President Bush enacted his tax cuts for the wealthiest people in this country rather than the middle class and the poor?
Now President Obama is trying to clean up the mess left to him by initiating the stimulus and continuing the bailouts. Wait a minute, did I say continuing the bailouts? Oh, THAT'S RIGHT. President Bush initiated the bailouts, not President Obama. Another thing that's conveniently ignored is that these bailouts, while infuriating and frustrating, are necessary to prevent the complete implosion of our economy. It's not like President Obama is pocketing the money or something, for crying out loud. President Obama is also doing away with the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which will set their taxes back to Clinton-era rates, a marginal rise of 3%-horrible and sad, I know. And here are these middle class and blue collar types getting all we're-mad-as-hell-and-we're-not-gonna-take-it-anymore about policies that actually benefit them. It's like a parallel universe or something. They're all "Boohooo, I hate paying less in taxes while the top 2% of earners pay a smidgen more. I hate having paved roads and bridge maintenance. I hate having a public education system. I hate having trash pickup and water treatment plants and sewage facilities. I hate having police and fire departments to keep me and my loved ones safe. I hate Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. I hate having military forces and keeping them well-equipped so that they're not in harm's way without the proper gear. Waaahhhhh waaaaaahhhhhh. I hate all that stuff so much." Oh wait, you mean they're not saying that? Cause those are the things our taxes pay for. And the result of Obama's change in tax policy is that the rich pay more and the not rich pay less. Freaking deal with it. All that's happening is that the people screaming the loudest are starting to look more and more like straight up nutballs rather than members of one of our two major political parties. To bottom line it, this whole Tea Party Tax Day thing is stupid, contrived, and gimmicky.
P.S. The Jon Stewart quote I mentioned above, along with other hilarious and pithy observations on the recent lunacy, can be seen in the video below. I highly recommend it. There is some mild language, so this may not be safe for work, depending.
So, yeah, this whole Tea Party Tax Day thing? It's freaking ridiculous. I think it's insane that after the last administration and all the protest-worthy things it engineered (i.e. an endless war on false pretenses, surveillance without warrants on American citizens {including our deployed military men and women in their private conversations with family back home}, the collapse of our economy, etc.), only now is it necessary and even encouraged to protest anything. I mean, during the Bush administration, if anyone dared to protest, they were unpatriotic and un-American and communists and hippies and so on and so forth. Nobody was supposed to question the President's decisions because, well...he was the President. And if you didn't like what the President was doing, you were supposed to at least respect the office of President.
So....when did the rules change? Coincidentally, they changed around or about January 20, 2009. Suddenly everything the President does is fodder for criticism, down to the smallest detail-like the gift he gave to the Prime Minister of the UK. Suddenly it's appropriate to accuse the President of communism, fascism, socialism, totalitarianism, and any other -isms one can think of. Just so we're clear, all those -isms aren't interchangeable, but you wouldn't guess that from the rhetoric being spouted all over the place. It's like this thing that Jon Stewart said the other day about a lot of the Fox News people going on about tyranny, "Yes, tyranny. AKA our democratically elected President. I think you might be confusing tyranny with losing. But see, when the guy that you disagree with gets elected, he's probably going to do things you disagree with. See now, you're in the minority. It's supposed to taste like a shit taco."
Anyhow, back to the Tea Party Tax Day business. You've got all these people screeching about the "big government" and "wasteful government spending" and the "massive budget deficit", chief among them the "journalists" at Fox News. The problem with that line of thinking is that it's a complete and total logical fallacy. Where were the protests about our "massive budget deficit" when our budget surplus was decimated by President George W Bush because of this pointless war? Where were the protests about "big government" when the previous administration initiated warrantless wiretapping on American citizens? Where were the protests about "big government" when the former President decided to stomp all over the Constitution by allowing torture and doing away with habeas corpus for detainees in Guantanamo Bay? Where were the protests about "wasteful government spending" when President Bush enacted his tax cuts for the wealthiest people in this country rather than the middle class and the poor?
Now President Obama is trying to clean up the mess left to him by initiating the stimulus and continuing the bailouts. Wait a minute, did I say continuing the bailouts? Oh, THAT'S RIGHT. President Bush initiated the bailouts, not President Obama. Another thing that's conveniently ignored is that these bailouts, while infuriating and frustrating, are necessary to prevent the complete implosion of our economy. It's not like President Obama is pocketing the money or something, for crying out loud. President Obama is also doing away with the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which will set their taxes back to Clinton-era rates, a marginal rise of 3%-horrible and sad, I know. And here are these middle class and blue collar types getting all we're-mad-as-hell-and-we're-not-gonna-take-it-anymore about policies that actually benefit them. It's like a parallel universe or something. They're all "Boohooo, I hate paying less in taxes while the top 2% of earners pay a smidgen more. I hate having paved roads and bridge maintenance. I hate having a public education system. I hate having trash pickup and water treatment plants and sewage facilities. I hate having police and fire departments to keep me and my loved ones safe. I hate Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. I hate having military forces and keeping them well-equipped so that they're not in harm's way without the proper gear. Waaahhhhh waaaaaahhhhhh. I hate all that stuff so much." Oh wait, you mean they're not saying that? Cause those are the things our taxes pay for. And the result of Obama's change in tax policy is that the rich pay more and the not rich pay less. Freaking deal with it. All that's happening is that the people screaming the loudest are starting to look more and more like straight up nutballs rather than members of one of our two major political parties. To bottom line it, this whole Tea Party Tax Day thing is stupid, contrived, and gimmicky.
P.S. The Jon Stewart quote I mentioned above, along with other hilarious and pithy observations on the recent lunacy, can be seen in the video below. I highly recommend it. There is some mild language, so this may not be safe for work, depending.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Baracknophobia - Obey | ||||
| ||||
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Updated with Picture of Allie
Now that I got my brother's permission, here's a picture of Allie with my other niece Sophia. Allie is on the left and Sophia is on the right.
See? I told you! Adorable, right?
See? I told you! Adorable, right?
Lots of stuff to talk about!
Ok, so I think I'll work backwards here. First of all, I hope everyone had a great Easter!!!! We did! We decided to go completely against tradition and start a new one of our own. We made egg rolls and fried rice:) It was the first time that I made either of those dishes myself, and both turned out really good. We also made Rice Krispie treats in egg shapes! Of course, the kids got their Easter baskets first thing in the morning. Oh, and we also had an egg hunt. Justin, the kids, and I dyed eggs Sunday morning and then Justin and I hid them. We had 26 eggs to dye and hide and out of that 26, Justin managed to dye 3. He was all insanely meticulous with the wax crayon thing, making designs and dipping in different colors to make stripes, then making more designs and re-dipping in new colors. It took him roughly 15 minutes per egg. I asked him if he was like that as a kid and he said yes. Anyway, here's a picture of the kids with their baskets. Get a load of that bedhead on all 3 of them!!!
Next is some lovely and colorful evidence of egg-dyeing. Notice whose hand is not in the picture? Yes, Justin's. (Well, and Dorian's, but he was too little to help yet.) He didn't have a single speck of dye on his hands. Lo-ser.
Ok, and now for pictures of the egg hunt! In case anyone is wondering, Justin mowed the yard exactly one week before these pictures were taken. So, it's not as unruly as it might look with all those weeds and whatnot. Also, the big brown spot is where the pool was last summer. As always, click to make the pictures full size.
Yes, that is a Halloween pumpkin bucket. We had to scrounge because their real Easter baskets were all full of candy and stuff. Also, how do y'all like Justin's spiffy orangutan pj pants? Haha.
(I love this one! I got Sebastian and Justin both smiling:)
After taking the pictures, I got out there to help hunt for eggs. We failed to recover 3 of them due to Justin's overly difficult hiding skills and the fact that he couldn't remember where he hid them. Ok, so that's all for Easter! As I said, we had a wonderful day and I hope all of you did too:)
Next up--talk of Bethany's birthday! Bethany's birthday was Friday (April 10) and she turned 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously cannot believe that I have an 11 year old child. It seems surreal. Anyway, we had such a good time! The Hannah Montana movie premiered that day, so Bethany and I went to see that while Justin and the boys stayed at home. We picked them up after the movie and went to a restaurant of Bethany's choice (she picked O'Charley's). As presents, she got some money to spend, some headphones, earrings, and an mp3 player with video screen (for which we bought some new music off of iTunes, including the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack). We had an awesome day and she really enjoyed her birthday:) I don't have any pictures because we had freakishly bad weather that day. I planned on taking some pictures of her outside the theater, but it was unbelievable how bad the weather was. It was actually hailing on the way there, which was pretty freaking frightening considering that they were releasing tornado warnings for a town that's 15 or 20 minutes away when we were about halfway to the theater. By the time we got to the theater, I was just so relieved that we made it one piece (or 2 pieces? whatever). Anyhow, it was raining torrentially at that point and pictures weren't possible. Sorry!
Lastly, here's something else I sewed! I made this for my little niece, Allie. She's 2 1/2 and she's just as cute as she can be. I forgot to ask my brother for permission to post pictures of her, so I won't, but trust. She is adorable. Anyway, I present to you Allie's kimono shirt!
It was made using the Habitual Kimono Pattern, which is surprisingly easy to follow. You basically make your own pattern, using the measurments that she gives and then follow her directions. I'm really happy with how it turned out! So, that's all for now. Till next time!
Next is some lovely and colorful evidence of egg-dyeing. Notice whose hand is not in the picture? Yes, Justin's. (Well, and Dorian's, but he was too little to help yet.) He didn't have a single speck of dye on his hands. Lo-ser.
Ok, and now for pictures of the egg hunt! In case anyone is wondering, Justin mowed the yard exactly one week before these pictures were taken. So, it's not as unruly as it might look with all those weeds and whatnot. Also, the big brown spot is where the pool was last summer. As always, click to make the pictures full size.
Yes, that is a Halloween pumpkin bucket. We had to scrounge because their real Easter baskets were all full of candy and stuff. Also, how do y'all like Justin's spiffy orangutan pj pants? Haha.
(I love this one! I got Sebastian and Justin both smiling:)
After taking the pictures, I got out there to help hunt for eggs. We failed to recover 3 of them due to Justin's overly difficult hiding skills and the fact that he couldn't remember where he hid them. Ok, so that's all for Easter! As I said, we had a wonderful day and I hope all of you did too:)
Next up--talk of Bethany's birthday! Bethany's birthday was Friday (April 10) and she turned 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously cannot believe that I have an 11 year old child. It seems surreal. Anyway, we had such a good time! The Hannah Montana movie premiered that day, so Bethany and I went to see that while Justin and the boys stayed at home. We picked them up after the movie and went to a restaurant of Bethany's choice (she picked O'Charley's). As presents, she got some money to spend, some headphones, earrings, and an mp3 player with video screen (for which we bought some new music off of iTunes, including the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack). We had an awesome day and she really enjoyed her birthday:) I don't have any pictures because we had freakishly bad weather that day. I planned on taking some pictures of her outside the theater, but it was unbelievable how bad the weather was. It was actually hailing on the way there, which was pretty freaking frightening considering that they were releasing tornado warnings for a town that's 15 or 20 minutes away when we were about halfway to the theater. By the time we got to the theater, I was just so relieved that we made it one piece (or 2 pieces? whatever). Anyhow, it was raining torrentially at that point and pictures weren't possible. Sorry!
Lastly, here's something else I sewed! I made this for my little niece, Allie. She's 2 1/2 and she's just as cute as she can be. I forgot to ask my brother for permission to post pictures of her, so I won't, but trust. She is adorable. Anyway, I present to you Allie's kimono shirt!
It was made using the Habitual Kimono Pattern, which is surprisingly easy to follow. You basically make your own pattern, using the measurments that she gives and then follow her directions. I'm really happy with how it turned out! So, that's all for now. Till next time!
Monday, April 6, 2009
So, it's that time of year again!
What time of year, you ask? Time for the Daddy Daughter Dance. Since we moved here over 2 years ago now, this is Bethany and Justin's 3rd time attending. Bethany loves it to death and Justin tolerates it because he knows Bethany loves it. He says that he ends up spending most of the time hanging out at a table because Bethany always runs off to dance with her friends. Plus, he's younger than most of the other dads and Justin's not exactly a social butterfly anyway (heh...understatement of the century). Anyhow, so the most important decision of Daddy Daughter Dance night is always "what is Bethany gonna wear?". Well, this time, I decided to blindly craft in pursuit of the answer...much like I do with many situations in life.
A few months back, a formal wear store here was going out of business and one of our neighbors picked up this really poofy and fancy skirt for Bethany to play dress up in. It was a grown up size 10 so I figured that I could just kind of reconstruct it into a dress. With no real direction or skill, I started going at it. And.....quickly realized that it was a disaster waiting to happen. I decided that given my very limited sewing repertoire, I really needed a pattern. So, I go buy a pattern. But, once I have the pattern, I'm looking at the fabric requirements and I have nowhere near enough fabric for the chosen pattern. So, I buy fabric. Oh, and did I mention that I picked an insanely complicated pattern? Yeah, it was a dress with a fitted bodice and a circle skirt. It was also fully lined, with a netting ruffle to provide fullness under the skirt, and a zipper. I've never made a dress with lining, nevermind a damn zipper. Matter of fact, I've only made one other dress from a pattern period and it was a very simple affair...a casual sundress with elastic in the top back edge. So, this pattern was definitely above my skill level. Oh, wait. I may have forgotten to mention that I picked this pattern up on Monday. As in Monday, March 30. And the dance was Saturday, April 4. Yeaaaaaahhhhh. In hindsight, many bad decisions were made.
Anyhow, I managed to sweat, curse, and muddle my way through the pattern. And the end result was...BEAUTIFUL!! I couldn't believe it, really. Let's not dwell on the fact that I was still sewing at 3pm Saturday and the dance started at 6pm. I did add some of my own touches because that's what I do. The outer fabric I used was a polyester/cotton blend. It was very similar in look and feel to that really heavy satin that's dull with just a hint of sheen. The lining was a pale pink broadcloth and even the netting for the ruffle was a shade of pink! The black lace on the bottom and the black satin ribbon tie were my ideas. And really? Bethany looked like an absolute doll. She was so beautiful. I sometimes have a hard time believing that this gorgeous, bubbly, outgoing creature came from my neurotic inhibited self. If you've never met Bethany in person, the one thing that may not come across in pictures that you immediately see in person is that she just...sparkles. She really does. So of course I took a million pictures of her. Here are all my favorites. There are a lot of them:)
Ok, I know Bethany is unbelievably cute in the above picture, but could you also take note of the perfection that is my first zipper? Click the picture to see it full size. You still can't really see it, can you? That's cause it's an invisible zipper!!! I felt like I had performed successful brain surgery when I finished with that part. Moving on.
Dorian was outside running around when I was taking these so you know he had to get in on this action.
And now for a couple of Bethany and Justin together.
The next morning, Bethany told me "Mom...Daddy made me feel really special last night". Awwwwww!!!!! Aren't they so cute together? It goes without saying that Bethany was the cutest girl there, but I bet Justin was the cutest Dad there too.
So, that's what I was doing this week. And I mean, that's ALL I was doing this week. I stayed up late every night working on that damn thing. And the really crazy thing? Now I want to sew something else. I think that if I had a proper amount of time and didn't jump straight into the deep end when I barely know how to dog paddle, I'd probably enjoy sewing.
A few months back, a formal wear store here was going out of business and one of our neighbors picked up this really poofy and fancy skirt for Bethany to play dress up in. It was a grown up size 10 so I figured that I could just kind of reconstruct it into a dress. With no real direction or skill, I started going at it. And.....quickly realized that it was a disaster waiting to happen. I decided that given my very limited sewing repertoire, I really needed a pattern. So, I go buy a pattern. But, once I have the pattern, I'm looking at the fabric requirements and I have nowhere near enough fabric for the chosen pattern. So, I buy fabric. Oh, and did I mention that I picked an insanely complicated pattern? Yeah, it was a dress with a fitted bodice and a circle skirt. It was also fully lined, with a netting ruffle to provide fullness under the skirt, and a zipper. I've never made a dress with lining, nevermind a damn zipper. Matter of fact, I've only made one other dress from a pattern period and it was a very simple affair...a casual sundress with elastic in the top back edge. So, this pattern was definitely above my skill level. Oh, wait. I may have forgotten to mention that I picked this pattern up on Monday. As in Monday, March 30. And the dance was Saturday, April 4. Yeaaaaaahhhhh. In hindsight, many bad decisions were made.
Anyhow, I managed to sweat, curse, and muddle my way through the pattern. And the end result was...BEAUTIFUL!! I couldn't believe it, really. Let's not dwell on the fact that I was still sewing at 3pm Saturday and the dance started at 6pm. I did add some of my own touches because that's what I do. The outer fabric I used was a polyester/cotton blend. It was very similar in look and feel to that really heavy satin that's dull with just a hint of sheen. The lining was a pale pink broadcloth and even the netting for the ruffle was a shade of pink! The black lace on the bottom and the black satin ribbon tie were my ideas. And really? Bethany looked like an absolute doll. She was so beautiful. I sometimes have a hard time believing that this gorgeous, bubbly, outgoing creature came from my neurotic inhibited self. If you've never met Bethany in person, the one thing that may not come across in pictures that you immediately see in person is that she just...sparkles. She really does. So of course I took a million pictures of her. Here are all my favorites. There are a lot of them:)
Ok, I know Bethany is unbelievably cute in the above picture, but could you also take note of the perfection that is my first zipper? Click the picture to see it full size. You still can't really see it, can you? That's cause it's an invisible zipper!!! I felt like I had performed successful brain surgery when I finished with that part. Moving on.
Dorian was outside running around when I was taking these so you know he had to get in on this action.
And now for a couple of Bethany and Justin together.
The next morning, Bethany told me "Mom...Daddy made me feel really special last night". Awwwwww!!!!! Aren't they so cute together? It goes without saying that Bethany was the cutest girl there, but I bet Justin was the cutest Dad there too.
So, that's what I was doing this week. And I mean, that's ALL I was doing this week. I stayed up late every night working on that damn thing. And the really crazy thing? Now I want to sew something else. I think that if I had a proper amount of time and didn't jump straight into the deep end when I barely know how to dog paddle, I'd probably enjoy sewing.
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