You Belong with Me

I don't typically watch or enjoy music videos - never have, don't think I ever will as a general rule. However, there are always exceptions to every rule!

Have you seen Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" video? Pretty cute! (I'm not sure about the quality of this video, but you'll get the general idea.)

This could be dangerous

Oh, yeah! Summer's almost here and look what I just got! Added bonus: my district will reimburse teachers up to $250 for professional development. As an English teacher? Yeah, pretty much anything I read counts. I'm downloaded and uploaded and ready to go!

He couldn't have said it better himself

The other day I was driving to work and I heard a song for the first time on the radio. Have you heard Billy Currington's "People Are Crazy" yet?

Yeah, the chorus is pretty much J's motto in life.

"God is great. Beer is good. People are crazy."

If you know J at all, you're probably nodding your head and smiling. He couldn't have summed it up any better if he tried himself.




Here are the lyrics to the song in case you're interested. You can see a video of it and hear the whole song on YouTube if you're interested - it's a pretty catchy tune. I highly recommend it.


PEOPLE ARE CRAZY

This old man and me, were at the bar and we
Were having us some beers and swapping I don't cares.
Talking politics, blonde and red-haired chicks
Old dogs and new tricks and habits we ain't kicked
We talked about God's grace and all the hell we raised
Then I heard the ol' man say;
God is great. Beer is good. People are crazy.
He said "I fought two wars,
Been married and divorced"
"What brings you to Ohio?"
He said, "Damned if I know"
We talked an hour or two, 'bout every girl we knew
What all we put them through
Like two old boys will do
We pondered life and death
He lit a cigarette
He said, "These damn things will kill me yet;
But God is great. Beer is good. And people are crazy."
Last call, it's 2a.m.,
I said goodbye to him
I never talked to him again
Then one sunny day,
I saw the old man's face
Front page obituary, he was a millionaire
He left his fortune to
Some guy he barely knew,
his kids were mad as hell
But me? I'm doing well
And I dropped by today, to just say thanks and pray,
I left a six-pack right there on his grave and I said;
God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.
God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.
God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.

Down the Road

I am obsessed with music lately. Ever since I took my first Zumba class, I find myself listening for the beat in the songs I hear, and trying to figure out how to move to it.

I find that I still have ZERO rhythm.

But I'm having so much fun doing it!! When I am home alone, I might even bust out a few moves for the cats.

They're not all that interested.

Here are the songs on my playlist this week:

1. Down the Road, Kenny Chesney
2. Best Days of Your Life, Kellie Pickler
3. It Happens, Sugarland
4. One in Every Crowd, Montgomery Gentry
5. Sissy's Song, Alan Jackson
6. I Run to You, Lady Antebellum
7. River of Love, George Strait
8. Whatever it is, Zac Brown Band
9. Feel that Fire, Dierks Bentley
10. Lucky, Jason Mraz
11. Live Your Life, T.I. (featuring Rihanna)
12. Just Dance, Lady GaGa and Colby O'Donis
13. The Show, Lenka
14. Gotta Be Somebody, Nickelback
15. Just Go Started Lovin' You, James Otto
16. Don't You Know You're Beautiful, Kellie Pickler
17. Do You Believe Me Now?, Jimmy Wayne
18. She Wouldn't Be Gone, Blake Shelton
19. Love Story, Taylor Swift
20. Sweet and Wild, Dierks Bentley

...and on and on and on...

Man, the list could go on forever. Between J and I we have 8.89 GB of music on our iPods. It's easier for us to just use the one account and plug both iPods into it. I can't figure out how to separate out "his" and "hers" music, so we have same iTunes library and just create our own playlists.

That's 269.7 days of music, according to the dealy at the bottom of iTunes. (**We did NOT purchase most of that...much of it came from cd's we already owned!**)


What songs are you listening to / loving right now?

Semi-Homemade

Have you ever seen the show Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee on the Food Network? It's an interesting show. I LOVE the concept - she shows you how to make food using ingenious shortcuts. That is perfect for me!

The only problem is, I can't stand the show.

The woman drives me batty. She just seems so fake to me. Nobody could really be that excited about food all the time. I know it's her job, but come on, be real. If everything you made was really that good, you'd look more like Paula Deen than a stick.

Here are the things that most annoy me about the show.

1. Every episode she color coordinates EVERYTHING. From her dishes to her cookware to the curtains hanging over the sink. And they are different every episode. How ridiculous is that? Nobody in the real world can do that. And why would they? Sometimes she even color coordinates the food in the meal she's cooking. Seriously. I've had the same curtains in my kitchen for the last five years, and I'm totally okay with that.

2. She uses the word "Tablescape" about forty times an episode. That's the stupidest word I've ever heard. If I am having guests over for dinner, I want my table to look good. But I'm NOT going to go out to buy coordinating decorations that go with the food I'm putting on the table.

3. She dresses like she thinks she's still young. The episode I saw the other day when I was flipping through the channels about put me through the roof. She was wearing some gross blouse with a boustier on the OUTSIDE of it. That's not a good look for anyone at any age. But it would be far more reasonable on a twenty-something clubbing with her girlfriends than a forty-something on a cooking show. (Okay, I know forty-something isn't that old, but it's way too old to dress the way she does!)


I may give her another chance, because her method of cooking is perfect for me, but I'm not holding my breath.

My new favorite thing...

Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature rocks! J and I have had Netflix for awhile now, but we aren't very good at it. We are the type of people Netflix makes all kinds of money on. We get a movie in the mail, and sit on it for a long time before we either watch it or just mail it back because we watched the movie on television. (Yes, that has happened to us more than once.)

I have a friend who has a system down. He signed up for two movies at a time, created his queue, and waited for the movies to arrive. They both showed up on the same day the first time, so he and his wife and kids watched one, and put it in the mail the next day. Then the next night they watched the other movie. The next day they put the second one in the mail, and on the third day, they got a new one. They have an endless rotation, and they see all kinds of movies!! They truly are getting more than their money's worth each month.

Not so much here in the Hocking household.

Anyway, I got online the other day to update the queue, and saw that three of the movies had a little button next to them that said, "Play now". Curious, I clicked on one of them. Did you know that you can watch a movie on your computer? It was fabulous!

J was still sleeping, so I put on some headphones, grabbed a blanket, and curled up in my comfy computer chair and watched "The Game Plan." I wouldn't recommend it, by the way. Unless you have a little girl. I think only little girls would like it.

It was so cool, that I looked at the queue again to see what else I could just watch right then. Turns out there were two more movies in the queue that were most definitely movies I wanted to see, and I figured J wouldn't want to see them. So I also watched "Enchanted" that morning. It, too, was just okay. It would have been more fun to see it with a little kid. By myself it was alright. It was WAY better than if I had watched with J, though. He would have complained the whole way through!

A few days later I watched "Dan in Real Life." Now THAT is a movie I can recommend! It's rather predictable, but worth the time regardless.

The only other movie in our queue that we can watch instantly is some creepy scary something that I am NOT interested in at all. J can watch that and take it out of our queue and it would thrill me!

I have also watched a couple of episodes of other television series to see if I want to borrow the seasons on dvd. Nothing so far has impressed me. I tried to watch "The Office" to see if I "got" it better by watching the first few episodes. Not so much. I just don't see what people love about that show.

Anyway, my new favorite thing is Netflix's Watch Instantly feature. (And I suppose it makes me love my computer even more! We have a great screen, and it's still a super fast computer...and it's more than a year old now! On our old computer, there's no way I could have watched movies...)

I highly recommend checking it out!

Avoiding real work

A few days ago, I was surfing the internet, avoiding real work, when I came across this Twilight spoof.



Why do I find this so funny? Is there something wrong with me? Don't answer that. Just enjoy.

We're going to make America skinny again, one slap at a time

I've been missing in action for the last two weeks, but not by choice. J and I went to my mom's house for the first part of our break, and were so busy there I didn't have a chance to even check my e-mail, let alone create a blog entry. Then, for the second half of our visit, we were at J's folks house. They have dial-up, people. And I am so spoiled with fast internet that I didn't have the patience to even try to check my e-mail, let alone upload pictures or text. My blog is not too picture or graphic intensive compared to a lot of blogs, but it was still too much for my in-laws' slow internet and my short patience.

So, sorry, but I'm back now.

While I was at my in-law's, I got to hang out with my sister-in-law, C. She makes me laugh all the time. Conversations with her are interesting, you start with one topic, and before you know it, you're about a mile away from where you started. It's fun! You never know what you'll talk about.

Case in point: I'm not sure how it even started, but one of the first conversations we had, practically as we walked in the door, was about the ShamWow. Perhaps Mom was cleaning a spill? Or maybe C had just seen the infomercial before we walked in? I don't remember. All I remember is C saying she thought she might have to buy one because the poor guy trying to sell them sounds sort of desperate. For most of the commercial he is pretty upbeat, but by the time he gets to the part where he says it will dry your sweater, he's beginning to get a little needy. Here, let me show you, courtesy of YouTube (I love YouTube!). Listen to how his voice goes up at the end of the word "sweater."





The ShamWow appears to be an amazing product!! But don't be fooled...watch the video again and look closely at the cola spill. See how it's spilled out from underneath the carpet at first? But when he goes to actually mop it up, that soda isn't there anymore. Suspicious?? You be the judge.

So, periodically throughout the week while we were visiting, we had discussions about the ShamWow. Then, this morning, I was in the middle of my crazy Christmas ornament documentation project (more on that later), and I saw a NEW commercial with Vince Offer, the ShamWow guy.

Now he's selling the Slap Chop. Have you seen this commercial? At first I couldn't decide if it was real or a spoof. I'm leaning towards real, but I'll let you be the judge.

See if you notice the line that made my mouth drop in shock...



If you guessed "fredducine" you would be incorrect. If you guessed "Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life" you would be incorrect again. If you guessed "You're gonna love my nuts," you'd be right. Is he for real?


If you own either of these items, let me know how they work, okay? I'm DYING to know how a real person likes them. I'm typically a sucker for infomercials, but this one takes the cake. It's the same old product, with a new name and a crazy infomercial guy...but I can't wait to show it to C! And remember, "guys, we're going to make America skinny again, one slap at a time!"

Every bird

Okay, never thought I would love, love, love a Lotto commercial but I guess I do.

BB10!!!

I have posted previously about my reality television addiction. (You can read about it here.) I still suffer from this addiction. Perhaps suffer is too strong a word...I don't suffer...J might, but that's a different post entirely. And, he's not blameless, either. Just yesterday morning he was reading the newspaper and brought me an article. He said, "You're going to want to read this. Apparently Big Brother 10 starts tomorrow night and they introduce the players in this article." Man, I love that guy.

I had NO idea that Season 10 of Big Brother starts tonight! I would have been so sad if I missed it! My unfortunate addiction is really exacerbated during Big Brother. It airs THREE nights a week, and I still can't get enough of it. After I read the article, I got online and tried to see what I could find out about this season. The CBS webpage leaves much to be desired, but I was able to find out some information.

Many of the players this year come from Texas, including two from J's hometown. One is an openly gay cowboy (who is sorta cute), and that just amuses me. I'm not sure why. He is originally from Dallas, but apparently is living in The Woodlands, TX, which is where J is from. There is also a woman from Spring, TX, which neighbors The Woodlands, and the two towns have recently incorporated.

According to Julie Chen, the host, none of the players know each other this season. I'm wondering if that is entirely true, though. For the past six seasons there have been secret relationships of players going in to the competition. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

If you like this show, let me know...we'll chat about it! Regardless, please don't bother me tonight from 8-9...I'll be busy!

Meet the cast:


Watch CBS Videos Online

Mamma Mia!!

Two years ago my sister L, the one who lives in Las Vegas, invited me to come see her during my Spring Break. She wanted me to visit, and she wanted to take me to dinner and a show as a late birthday gift. When I got there, she told me about the different shows that were playing and asked what I wanted to see. I had a hard time choosing, but decided on Mamma Mia. I am SO glad I did!! While I am not a huge ABBA fan, I LOVED this play!!

We had a blast that evening. Dinner was great, the show was fabulous, and the company was awesome, too. I love hanging out with my sisters.

A few weeks ago I was at the movies with a friend and her daughter when a preview for Mamma Mia! came on. I am ashamed to admit that I did the stereotypical girly squeal of excitement.

Though I KNOW who my dad is, I think I identify a bit with Sophie. I had two dads at my wedding. Seeing this show makes me want to go to Greece and get married all over again.



I can't WAIT for it to come out! Who wants to go with me? Only a few days now...

Read any great books lately?

I have been reading a GREAT book with my seniors, and it has started me thinking about other great books I've read. Mostly because my kids are LOVING this book (The Kite Runner), and some of them have already finished it...several weeks early. Two of my girls and one of my boys have been asking me for book recommendations. That has been so much fun! I think, if I had it to do all over again, I would have become a librarian!

I thought I would share some of the great books I've read recently here. (There are way too many titles to list - I am an avid reader - so if you want other recommendations, please let me know! There are a few that I've read recently that I did not like, and I'm leaving them off this list. If you want to know titles to avoid, I can help you with that, too!)

Books I've read and LOVED:

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

This is a beautiful book about friendship, family, love, and atonement. It's set in Afghanistan, and follows the lives of two young men. Amir wanted to be loved by his father. Hassan wanted to be loved by Amir (like family, not romantic love). Amir does unspeakable damage to his relationship with Hassan, and their lives go down different paths. When Amir is an adult, married and living in America, he is afforded the chance to atone for his sins against Hassan.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

I LOVED this book!! Like The Kite Runner, this book is set in Afghanistan, and follows the relationship of two characters. The two characters in this book, though, are females living under the rule of the Taliban. An unlikely friendship is formed between the two wives of a horrible man. Their friendship is what sustains them, and makes you want to keep reading.


Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

This book is set in 1100's in England. Not the type of book I would normally read, but one of my seniors read The World Without End, and told me about it. He had also read this, and I thought it sounded interesting. This is a real page turner! The prologue begins at the gallows, where a young stranger to the town has been convicted of stealing from the monastery. When he is killed, a young pregnant girl curses the town. The story picks up several years later, and covers several generations of characters.



World Without End, by Ken Follett


This book is not a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, but it is also set in the Kingsbridge Priory, some two hundred years later. Again, you are drawn into this period in history, and it's as if you were there living it. You follow the continued drama of the people, and learn a bit about history at the same time.



Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

WOW!! I had heard about this book for a very long time before I actually picked it up. Every time I looked at it at Barnes and Noble, I was very cranky. It's one of those books that doesn't tell you a thing about it on the cover...just has critics reviews. Who cares what they think? I want to know what the story is about and then decide for myself. I finally had run out of other things to read, and decided to try it. I'm glad I did! It starts off in present times, with an elderly gentleman, Jacob, living in a nursing home. The circus is coming to town, and Jacob is incensed when another resident at the nursing home brags that he used to work at a circus...carrying water for elephants. Jacob gets so mad because he knows that means the other man didn't work for the circus...it's impossible to carry enough water for elephants! Jacob flashes back to his experiences working as a vet for a circus that moved from town to town by train during the Depression Era. Lots of interesting events, Rosie the Elephant, and some drama to boot!


Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult
This book makes you think. A man who is on death row awaiting his execution has decided that he wants to donate his heart after his is killed. There are several problems with this. The first is that his state executes prisoners by lethal injection, which means his heart would be useless. The second is that he wants to donate his heart to the sister of his victim. The third problem is that there are religious miracles happening in the prison where Shay Bourne is being housed. Picoult's books always make you think, and they always make me cry. This one is no exception. It's told from the point of view of several people: Shay, the prisoner; Maggie, his lawyer; Michael, his spiritual advisor; Lucius, another prisoner; and June Nealon, the mother of the victim and the little girl who now needs a heart. This is not my favorite of Picoult's books, but it's near the top of the list! (She has about fifteen books now, and I've read them all. I think my favorites are: My Sister's Keeper, The Pact, and Plain Truth.)


Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See

This is a great book too. It's set in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion. Much like arranged marriages, sometimes girls were matched with another girl to be friends throughout their lives. This is the story of two such girls. It's a beautiful story that follows their friendship. Be warned, though, the descriptions of foot binding are heartbreaking. And if you don't have a strong stomach, they are pretty graphic.

It's All Too Much, by Peter Walsh

BEST non-fiction self-help book I think I've ever read! If you've ever watched TLC's Clean Sweep, you know Peter Walsh. He's amazing! He helps people get to the root of their clutter issues, and gives practical, step by step instructions for getting out from underneath the mess. He inspired me to do some major cleaning last year of the game closet...and it's still clean. It's literally the only place in my house that still is. I intend to dig out his book again and get started on my bedroom and kitchen this spring break!




Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer
This is technically a Young Adult trilogy, but it was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! I don't like vampire stories as a general rule. This series is the exception to that rule! It's set in Forks, Washington, one of the grayest places in the country, which makes it perfect for a family of vampires. Bella moves to Forks to live with her dad when her mom got married. She meets Edward at school, and falls head over heels in love with him. She wants him to turn her into a vampire, and he doesn't want to do it. As far as young adult lit goes, this is pretty great stuff! It grabs you right from the start, and you have to keep reading because you want to know what is going to happen next.

If you want more YA titles, let me know! I read those ALL the time...the list is WAY too long to even begin here! I have to keep up with my kids, though, and have other titles to recommend for them.

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Another fantastic non-fiction book. Elizabeth Gilbert goes through a horrific divorce, and decides that she needs to take some time for herself. She plans a trip to Italy, India and Indonesia. She eats in Italy, prays in India, and loves in Indonesia. There is so much more to her story, and it's a great book. I'm a spiritual person, but not really religious. This book talks about faith in an open an honest way. She doesn't tell you what or how to believe, but somehow, you find yourself thinking about just that. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll find yourself looking at the world through new eyes.

The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson

If you are an English teacher, or just interested in the origins of language, this is a great book. It's actually interesting, not dry and boring. Bryson is a journalist, and he explores the history of the English language.

On my bedside table:

A New Earth, by Eckhart TolleIt's one of Oprah's books...she's doing a whole online class and everything. I thought I might be interested, but it's taking me a bit of time to get into it. I'll let you know if I ever do read it...


The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory

This is in the theaters now, and I'm interested in seeing it. I always try to read the book before I see the movie...it's too hard to do it the other way around. I don't know much about it. I just know that it's about the Boleyn sisters who fought for the attentions of King Henry VIII.





There are still others that I would add here, but this list is already getting too long. If you are looking for a great author, especially for "chick lit" types of books, try the following authors (You'll love 'em, but your husband will most likely hate 'em!):

Jodi Piccoult
Lorna Landvik
Jennifer Weiner
Janet Evanovich
Adriana Trigiani

And many, many, many more!

So wrong, but so funny

I am SO sick today. J took me to the emergency room this morning. Turns out I have strep throat for the first time in about a million years. So far, being thirty sucks. (My birthday was on Friday...) Anway, I was sleeping through the SuperBowl, so I missed my favorite part: the half-time commercials. So, now that the vicodin has kicked in a bit, I thought I would see if I could find the commercials on YouTube yet. Turns out I can't. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorow. However, I did go to Budweiser.com to see what their commercials were, and I came across this one. I don't know if this actually aired or not, but if it did, I am horrified! Talk about innuendo...

It did make me think of my sisters, though....but that may be for another post!

Reality television, why do I love you so?

I pains me to admit, but I am hopelessly and completely addicted to reality television. I can't get enough of it. Everything from The Dog Whisperer to Oprah to Dirty Jobs to the Food Network to Big Brother. If it's on, I watch it. The only sitcoms I watch are in reruns, and only if there isn't a reality show on that I want to see. The only non-reality television shows I watch are NCIS and House...and that doesn't always happen. I started watching NCIS when CSI became too gory, and because it's nice to have a show that both J and I are interested in. We also both enjoy House. Other than those two shows, I only watch reality t.v. I even love to watch infomercials. And, if I'm in the mood for an infomercial but can't find a good one, I will watch the home shopping channels. I don't buy anything, I just watch. (Okay, I do sometimes buy stuff, but it's RARE. In 10 years I've only made 4 purchases, and they've all been good ones!).

I do have standards when it comes to reality television, but what those are I probably couldn't tell you. Basically, I watch all reality t.v. EXCEPT the Bachelor or Bachelorette, Dancing with the Stars, and American Idol. Those shows I studiously avoid. I won't even watch them during commercials. On the other hand...

I've been addicted to Big Brother since the first season it aired. I have no idea why. The show has no redeeming qualities whatsoever as far as I can tell, yet three times a week I'm glued to the television for an hour. And, embarrassing as it is to admit, if I miss it, I get online and watch the complete episode on the computer. My ancient, slooooooow, computer. (Well, it's not really ancient, it's only 5 years old. But in computer years that's about 150, right?) We have DSL, but my poor computer just doesn't have enough memory to stream videos very well. Every 15 seconds or so, there's a 5-10 second pause while the computer rebuffers the video. But I sit and suffer through EVERY torturous second of rebuffering because I have to. I have a compulsion...an addiction.

I know it sounds like I watch a lot of television, but I don't really. I promise. Well, not during the school year, anyway. Last summer was a different story. J couldn't get much time off (read: NONE) because he's the nicest guy in his office, so I did a lot of sitting around by myself, whining. There's only so much cleaning one person can do, and I don't craft by myself very well. And, we bought a new truck, so I definitely had to curb the urge to shop. (I did very well, too, thank you very much! With the exception of books, and I don't think books count. C'mon, I'm an English teacher, it was inevitable!)

My other current favorite is Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe on the Discovery Channel. (Sorry, Cesar Milan, wonderful as you are, you've been replaced!) If you haven't seen it, you have to. It's, in my opinion, PERFECT television. It's an educational show that is laugh-out-loud entertaining. The affable, easy-going, intelligent, hilarious, self-deprecating and delicious Mike Rowe goes around the country to visit people who have dirty jobs. Then, he learns how to do their jobs, often with mishaps.

That's what I tell people when I try to convince them to watch it. And it's mostly true. While I find the show interesting, my real reason for watching is that I have a not-so-secret, GIANT crush on Mike Rowe...much to my dear husband's amusement. There's just something about him. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I am mesmerized by Mike Rowe. But shh...don't tell anyone. That's just between you and me.