Diary of a Metal Mommy

It's December, egads!  Quick, get the Christmas shopping done, write the holiday letter and get them all sent, send packages to family afar and by all means, bake the Christmas cookies!!!  Are we tired yet?

It just so happens that tonight I AM baking cookies (and Christmas Crunch, another beloved holiday goodie...) and I am tired--especially since I did an awesome kick-butt Tae Bo workout this morning! Getting to the point where I could do the Tae Bo DVD/vid routines that I have in my sleep, I was more than ready to get something new.  I know, I know...Tae Bo is so passe...but I admit it, I love it. My name is Susie and I love Tae Bo.  It totally appeals to my love of karate, something up-beat, and that Billy Blanks is just so darn cute.

The workout I got is Tae Bo Amped.  This goes beyond your basic kicking and punching as it involves this cool 'amplifier' bar that you can open into three different positions, and it packs three pounds in it. Three pounds doesn't sound like much, but when your throwing it around for 45 minutes or so, it gets kind of heavy!  I am definitely feeling it now--and it's a good hurt!  It's just the kick in the butt I needed to get motivated again.  And a kudos to Billy (we all know he reads my blog...;-)) for having some decent music on there for a change!

So on the menu tonight--Lyndsay's Ginger Snap cookies and the aforementioned Christmas Crunch. Lindsay is a friend of Stephanie's I met, and this is her recipe.  They are darn good, to me a much-improved version of the classic Gingerbread.  Once these guys cool I'll dip them in white chocolate--yum!  The Crunch is just a dastardly mix of Corn Chex, Cheerios, peanuts, pretzels and M & M's mixed with a coating of white chocolate. (white chocolate seems to be the theme tonight...!)  The stuff is deadly--once you start eating, it's hard to stop.  So much for the Tae Bo workout....!

How many of you love to bake Christmas cookies?  I've always had a love/hate relationship with it, but it seems the older I get the more 'hate' it becomes.  It's just such a chore, and of course when you make them to give out and have around you are definitely making more than one batch.  I'm such a Scrooge, I haven't done the roll-out kind for years.  Luckily I have a yummy Drop Sugar Cookie recipe that we can still frost and the kids can still decorate...because of course that is the big draw for them. (besides eating them!)  Oh, I'll never stop making at least SOME Christmas cookies--it's a tradition and honestly I'd be really bummed without them--but I'm just going to whine about it. Hmmm, whine.  Wine.  That might make the tradition a bit easier to swallow...??  Or maybe a Tanqueray and Tonic?  I'm sure Bing would approve....;-)

Am I driving you crazy yet with all of my moving around?!  I guess I'm still trying to find the perfect place.  Sheesh, I'm moving blogs almost as much as I've moved homes.  (and that's a lot.)  Bear with me, my friends...this should be my last move.  I followed Stephanie over here to Sugar--I love the simplicity of it! Easy to read, easy to post, and I love how 'networky' it is.  (excuse me whilst I make up a word.)  So once again I'll hang some pictures and get settled in--I hope you'll visit me often!! :-)

How was your Thanksgiving?  We headed up to Park Rapids again to spend it with Coreman's mom.  The kids love hanging out at Grammy's and the small

town is definitely a nice getaway.  The problem is I usually feel so slug-like when I'm there..I tend to do a lot of sitting around and eating, even if it's not the holiday to have the excuse to do so!!  Luckily we do get out onto our friends Wengers' tree farm to get our Christmas tree.  That has become a very fun and special tradition, taking a lovely walk through the woods to find the perfect one.  The kids always take turns sawing to cut it down.  There is nothing quite like a tree that you cut down yourself and set up the very next day--talk about fresh!  The house smells great, and once again it is Instant Christmas around here. (complete with presents under the tree that my mother sent to me in June...)  I'm trying not to be too humbug about the decorating.  It seems every year I get less and less excited about the Christmas clutter that comes along with the holiday. I admit it's all my fault, of course--I started it by acquiring all of the stuff--and you know how kids are...once they are used to seeing stuff they always want it to be the same.  So now everywhere you look there is some sort of holiday tchotchke.  At least I keep it interesting with putting up both Santas and mehorahs. What else would a Jewthran do??

On the subject of holidays and eating, I watched Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street last night, starring our lovely Johnny Depp.  Of course in that story they weren't eating pumpkin pie, but meat pies made out of the poor victims of disgruntled Sweeney's close shaves.  What a cool movie--I loved it, even though I had to hide my eyes at the gory parts. (and there were plenty of those.)  It was 

fun hearing Johnny sing, he did amazingly well.  The story is lovely in a sick and twisted way--I love it when Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are singing a duet about how each person they see out their window will taste when they decide to open their new business.  I love movies that make me run to Wikipedia to read about them when they are done.  I was interested in some of the lesser-known actors that popped up in there.  (and who wouldn't love Alan Rickman, none other than Severus Snape from the Harry Potter films) In doing a search for the adorable unknown that played the young sailor, I came across this hilarious web site that he is pictured in--Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians. (of course this guy was in the 'young' category)  I never thought about that before with many of these dudes, but by George I think this blogger is right.  How very Planet Dan-like!  Love it.

OK!  Off to work I go.  I worked yesterday on 'Black Friday' but was positioned over in our maternity part of the store and actually avoided any craziness. It was quite quiet over there, I just got some shipping labels printed and folded boxes.  I guess pregnant ladies are the only sane people who don't have to rush out at 4:00 AM to get a few dollars off of something.  Did you read about the poor worker at Walmart who got trampled??  There is so much that is wrong about that, I could blog for hours on that one.  You know our country is in a sad state indeed when we're that desperate to get into a Walmart.

So if you do any holiday shopping this weekend, be careful my friends!  Or maybe do what Steph does, only shop online in the comfort--and safety!--of your own home!!

Check out this new look!  I guess I'm still experimenting with my new apartment here.  I'm not even sure this will be a permanent move, I'm checking out Stephanie's new blog and thinking that's pretty darn cool.  I may have to be a copy-cat and follow her over there.  hmmmm.  Guess I'll play around a bit more and see.  

I'm sitting here typing in my new kick-A Frye boots.  I've never owned a pair in my life and I have to say, I think me likee.  I've been on The Perfect Boot search for a while now...those of you who know me, it's always something.  But I was having the hardest time finding a pair of boots that are in between dressy and casual, not too high and look good on my short little legs.  I originally wanted brown but of course when I finally found the style that I think will work, they only had black left.  Ah well, nothing wrong with rock and roll black, of course!  I'm wearing them around the house to see if they really will move in and not get sent back to the store like the other pair that came along.  I'm sure you're all quite thrilled to know that I may have finally found my Perfect Boot. :-)  It's good to be a working girl!  

And speaking of rock and roll, who emailed me the other day but my old guitar player Rand from The Charm School Dropouts!!!!!  This was the band that I put together after I left Warbride, back in the L.A. days.  After dealing with girls and their catiness (sorry Lori, but I know you would agree that back then we were not on our best behavior!) I was more than ready to front some dudes for a change.  Naive me put an ad in the local Hollywood rag along with a big photo of me....and then wondered why I was getting creepy responses, one from a notorious guy who wanted to give band girls foot rubs. eeeu.  Luckily Rand answered that ad---and he didn't have a foot fetish---and I pretty much knew as soon as we met that he was the guy I wanted in my band.  We were immediately like brother and sister, we definitely shared the same sick sense of humor.  (and in case any of you are wondering, NO, it never went beyond that!)  Rand and I lived in a few different places together, we even had a studio apartment that we shared, our mattresses on the floor across the room from each other.  Crazy times, to say the least.  It has been great fun to be back in touch, catching up and learning what's been going on in his life for all of these years.  I have to admit I'm glad to hear he's not only still alive (!) but doing very well.  Never underestimate the feel-good power of reconnecting with a dear old friend.  (sorry Rand, did I just call you OLD?! ;-))

This morning I went over to Vivian's FACS class to help out.  FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) is the new term for Home Ec.  It sounds much more sophisticated, doesn't it??  hilarious.  My job was to iron the seams on the pillowcases that the kids were working on.  All I can say is, CUTE!  It was such a blast to be a part of 7th grade again for a while.  (and not have to REALLY be a part of 7th grade, mind you!)  Since we are new to the community I really didn't recognize any of these kids.  I was amazed to see how polite and quiet they all were in class, wow.  Of course Vivian would be totally embarrassed with me whenever I'd try to strike up a conversation with anyone, which of course was often.  heh heh.  What fun would there be in life if you couldn't embarrass your kid???  It was pretty funny to have me iron, I have to say, since I barely ever get mine out.  That's the most ironing I'll do all year.  I remember when Vivian was little and in her ECFE class.  They had the room all set up with different activities, one corner all set up like a play-house.  In that area was a kid-sized ironing board and an iron.  I totally remember Vivian picking up the iron with this dazed and confused look on her face...she had never seen one before in her life, since her Mommy never ironed!!  That GOD I didn't have to actually sew on a machine or give any advice about using one.  It's pretty darn cute to see a 7th grade boy work away on a sewing machine.

Another busy week coming with work, a cleaning at the dentist, a meet-and-greet with some lovely-sounding ladies that I'm doing a holiday boutique show with, with my Silpada jewelry.  Before we know it it will be Thanksgiving and we'll be driving back down from Park Rapids with our Christmas tree!!!!  Total craziness.  Are you ready for the holidays??

Wow, what a week.  Needless to say I am THRILLED with the choice our country has made in Barack Obama.  It was quite the emotional roller coaster, I tell you.  

I started out my election day saying goodbye to the kids as they got onto their school buses but instead of heading right over to my voting place like I wanted to, I made my way over to the Kare 11 studio to shoot a TV commercial!  I've been involved in this cool web site for moms called MomsLikeMe.com, as a paid moderator.  

My job is to bring up four topics a week and answer four...the way I love to get my two cents in, this is no problem for me.  (it's still hard for me to believe I actually get paid to give people my opinion.  nice.)  One day Cindy, the woman in charge of the site, called me up and asked me if I'd like to be in the commercial they are making to promote the site and a contest they are running.  We didn't know at first if I was going to be what they had in mind...I mean, they could have set their sights on a blonde.  (and in the words of William Shatner I say, but why?!)  Luckily a brunette would do so I made the cut.  

It was a fun and frightening experience, I have to say.  There was a very long sentence that was going to be shot in one take so I had to memorize it.  The main thing I worried about tho, was the muffin top.  How to hide the muffin top?!  I had no idea what I was going to wear.  Luckily in the last moment they told me to wear my 'MomsLikeMe' fleece jacket that Cindy had sent me, so that totally saved me there. Nobody looks good in one of those, so I was off the hook. After doing something like that I totally have a new appreciation for the normal Joe (or, Jolene?) that does those commercials. It is quite an art to talk as fast as you can whilst annunciating and at the same time sounding--and looking!-- natural. Don't know if I quite pulled it off, but hopefully it was good enough! It was quite fun to be at the studio, I could definitely get used to that. I still have my talk show dream, you know...maybe Moms Like Me can become one some day??? ;-)

From there I finally got to go cast my vote. I waited in line for 45 minutes but didn't care one whit. That was the mood I got from everyone, actually...there was a general feeling of excitement in the air and it was so cool! Of course the waiting was made nicer by the 60+ degree weather we were having, so being outside was a pleasure. And like everyone that night we were all planted in front of the TV, watching history be made. Like so many others, I was completely moved by the whole experience. I cried big-time when Obama made his speech. I think what touched me most of all was seeing that crowd of people around him--every  color, every religion, even celebrities--they were all One. For two hours, we really were all  created equal. Nobody cared that Oprah was in the audience, and she herself leaned on a  completely unknown guy--to us or to her!--as she listened and cried. For the first time in my life, I care about the president of the United States. He is someone I would actually want to meet, and I feel like we can start being proud of our country again. I am ecstatic and relieved. whew.

Are you going trick-or-treating tonight??  I am.  Okay, technically I'm not, but I'm going with Sullivan so to me that counts!  Plus I'll get to have all of the things he doesn't like (bring on the Almond Joys and Mounds bars!!) and the sticky stuff that Vivian can't have because of her braces.  Good thing I recently bought a shaper from Hot Mama, good grief.  The muffin top is going to be out of CONTROL.

So yesterday I'm at Macy's and stopped by Estee Lauder to take a whiff of this perfume I read about in my favorite perfume blog, Now Smell This.  I had tried the new David Yurman at Nordstrom and was reading about it on the blog, where author Robin mentioned that she thought Estee Lauder's was similar. (and cheaper. of course I really liked the David Yurman scent and of course it was $120 a bottle.  It even smells expensive--which is probably why I like it.)  Before the woman leaves to get me a sample she hands me this tube of something-or-other and tells me to twist the cap.  ??  I do, and it starts vibrating!!!! (and I put it in my pocket.  just kidding....;-))  Just as I'm about to start looking for the massage oil she then explains it's a vibrating mascara.  Excuse me?!  What will they think of next?!  Supposedly this is to separate your lashes, making them more defined.  All I know is that I won't spend $30 on a mascara, especially not one that I'll also be buying batteries for.  Ridiculous!