Jazz Fest and I'm not there :(

Jazz Fest starts today. Love Jazz Fest. Jazz Fest was one of the main reasons I wanted to move back home . (OK, the cold weather, high housing costs and lack of great food were up there too, not to mention being around family) Jazz Fest is so much better than Mardi Gras. Great music of all types - jazz, gospel, rock, zydeco, Cajun, kids and so on. I love it all. I especially love the gospel tent. The music coming out that tent is so rich and encompassing. And so many of my favs are coming this year. OK I have odd taste perhaps but I love Joe Cocker, James Taylor, Dave Matthews, Emmy Lou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Neville Brothers and The Radiators. Is Marva Wright going to be there? Love her. Jakob Taylor, The Robert Cray Band, Los Lobos will all be there. Erykah Badu, Rebirth Brass Band and the Imagination Movers. And oh so many more. MANY. Check out the line up http://www.nojazzfest.com/ .

$50 a day.

Now I am NOT saying this is not the best deal in the world - all these bands (and there are too many to count) for $50 a day. (Oh - they are playing on 5 days, not all on one day. Cher. That would be too much.) But $50. That is $110 for the 4 of us (kids $5 - now that is a DEAL). I can't pick what day I would go. And see that is another issue - parking. They do have parking in some spots but it is mostly hit or miss or park and ride.

And then there is food. The food is spectacular. And the crafts -oh the crafts are out of site. Some crafts people are history lessons of themselves and their art/trade.

Then there are the posters, the shirts, and so on.

And the weather is to be picture perfect. Hot now but no rain which means no mud.

Now if I could get free tickets, darlin' that would be sweet. Still not sure when I would go but it would make it all easier. Anyone have free tickets they want to share?

So I guess I will have to admire from afar - and I mean afar. I can go on the website and get the simulcast on 5/2 and 5/3 I suppose. Crack open a cool beverage of some nature. Break out the watercolors or clay. Stand in the sun in the backyard. Park the car 20 blocks away and go get it. That could give me some of the flava.

So here's to the 40th New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Guess the Nevilles will have to close without me - unless any Neville is reading and wants to donate some tickets?

If you can go - please do and let me know how it was. Just don't rub it in! Don't forget your sunscreen.

Happy Candy Day

Can someone explain to me why every holiday has to have some sort of candy associated with it? Is the candy industry secretly running the country? I mean every time you turn around there is candy - the same candy mind you but wrapped in a different color or designed wrapper.

Start with Halloween. What is Trick or Treating without candy? Nothing. Sure you can pop some popcorn and buy some erasers and pencils but candy is meant to be handed out. OK. I get that.

Then it's Thanksgiving. OK, candy is not priority but it is available say for hostess gifts. Then Christmas. You name it and it is available, for stockings mostly but also for gifts and candy dishes.

Valentine's Day holds the market on candy I think. Say you just want roses or jewelry but candy is king.

Easter is also a big candy holiday. I happen to know that the Easter Bunny also gives out sports balls, dolls, knick knacks, gizmos and chips. But he prefers to distribute the sugary stuff. Oh and edible grass.

Mother's Day. There's a big candy holiday.

And then we rest for awhile. Guess the candy manufacturers go on vacation in the summer.

Maybe the dental association runs the country. Or Jenny Craig?

There is some candy I can just do without. Anything with marshmallows. Yuck. Anything with liquid goo inside. Yuck. Fruit flavored hard candy. Yuck. Fruit flavored hard candy with some jam like substance inside. Oh yuck. Floral flavored candy. Yuck. Jaw breakers. The dental association must be behind this. Sticky candy. See?

Now notice chocolate did not get on the list. Chocolate is the bomb and there is no substitute. Dark is preferred however milk is very good as well. Now to throw a kink in there - white chocolate. Back to yuck.

So now we have to purge this home of the evil stuff. I know I have a weakness for it. Hard to "be good" and have kisses and Dove bars around.

So happy belated candy holiday. I hear a malted milk ball calling my name. Shut up!

Y'all.

(First off I love using that word. Secondly I am always wondering if I am spelling it correctly. I used to write it this way - ya'll. But about 5 years ago I learned that it was wrong. So now I question myself when I write it. Anyway...)

I think I have see it all and then something new comes down the pike. The other morning on the Today Show they were showing gadgets. We always have the tv on in the office while we are working and turn it down when we need to talk on the phone. Otherwise we have on the news, the Today Show, House, Law & Order, stock (yawn) news... something. Occasionally we put on concerts. But in the a.m., we watch Matt, Meredith Ann and Al.

So they show this gadget. It is for a tombstone. It has a video screen. One can play the video when visiting the grave site. This is the best link I can find right now - www.vidstone.com.

Now really. I do think this ices the cake. They have them for pet memorials too.

People, maybe I just see things differently. Scratch that. I know I see things differently. I feel like I am from another world sometimes. This is a bit off. I find it a bit creepy to view a person and lots of photos of the deceased after they are gone at the grave site. Hey that's what scrapbooking is for.

If you have one of these do-hics and I have offended, I apologize. But seriously. Why? Who takes care of it should it go crazy - too much sun or rain? Or just it having the effects of time on it. I know my computer needs care every so many days so how is this thing-a-ma-jig going to hold out? And who puts the "show" together?

Ok. I have wasted too many moments of potential sleep on this. I must sign off. Need to get my rest so I can find something new to crown this.

Capers of all sorts and sizes

I love my children. God has shown me what unconditional love is. He has it for me and I have it for my kids. God is patient with me and I am not so patient. I mean I wonder what in the world makes these girls tick. God already knows.

Tonight we are getting Katie to bed. Now to tell Katie to clean her room is like telling her to mess it up even more. You have to stand there and point by point tell her what to do. Here is where the no patience comes in. I either get more upset, or I walk away or worse I go in and take over. I have to. If I do not, the room will be a danger zone. Seriously. If you are missing something, go to Katie's room. Somewhere in there you will find what you are missing squirreled away.

So back to tonight, I hear Paul telling Katie to clean off her bed. (Sarah also has a room issue and the bed is my bane of contention with her. How can one sleep under books, blankets, clothes - clean and dirty - shoes, toys and who knows what else? Don't even think I approve of that but sometimes at day's end, I just want them in bed.) Katie is walking into the kitchen with crazy straws by the handful. Several trips. I decide to go in the room - even after being forewarned by my caring husband. (Today I had a long talk with God and asked Him to help me as a mother. I decided I would not let things get to me so much. I knew Satan would be all over that and throw as many curve balls at me as he could. Paul must have received a clue that I was trying to maintain today.)

I go in and it is not bad and not great. I start picking up and pointing out stuff on the bed. She has a boxed marble candle stick holder on the bed. She has a box of Aveda soaps that I got as a Christmas gift on her bed. 3 soaps. One is under her pillow unwrapped. Of course she has a sundry of toys and clothes on her bed and when I turned to the closet I looked down because something odd catches my eye. A jar of capers. A brand new jar that I bought yesterday. It has been opened and a quarter of the capers and liquid is missing.

Now, maybe this does not seem so odd but I have to say I am awestruck. I live with a pack rat. The rat from Charlotte's Web. I look to my husband and we start laughing in utter disbelief. Paul tells me he has nothing. He does not know how to manage this. I am past that.

I take the capers and leave. Kiss the child good night and walk to the refrigerator to put away the salty berries. And then I decide to type. Because frankly besides pray with which I will be doing in a bit, I just don't know.

I love that child.

I am missing a black cooking spoon. Bet it is in there. Think I'll hold off until tomorrow to look.

Post and win

Hey. Go to this site and post and maybe or maybe you may win a spot at ScrapEtc.'s event in Atlanta in May. Don't forget to mention I sent ya. Maybe I can get the chance to go too!

http://www.scrapetc.com/

Reality TV - really?

Finally. A day to take a breath. I need to go to the grocery. No coffee in the house. But no, I can't even get to the Walmarts. Work is keeping me busy. Now if I can just close some deals. I am not a sales person by nature. I don't like sales people calling me so I equally don't like calling others. But hey, we have to pay bills.

So, I have been working tonight and have the TV on. The amount of junk or odd topics on TV is staggering. I had on a show on the Travel network on buffets or places that serve large meals. There is a place in the SW that serves a 15 lb. hamburger. It was gianormous. Four guys were going to eat it. Think about that. If equally split that would be almost 4 lbs. a piece. 4 lbs. It had 20 slices of cheese on it. I have never seen such a thing. That burger could feed a village in a third world country.

Then I saw a show on little girls competing in a beauty pageant. Who in their right mind takes a gorgeous natural beauty and turns her into Tammy Faye Baker to compete in a "beauty" contest? These kids had dyed hair, fake eyelashes, makeup to stump the anchors of the Today Show and fake nails. What in the world? BTW - interesting piece of info. I saw a woman on the Today Show this a.m. She wrote a book on girls self esteem and self image. She stated that she went to Africa and studied young girls there. They do not get the same media coverage of what a girls should look like, be like, etc. and she found their self esteem levels were higher than our girls here in the USA. After watching the beauty pageant I can understand the study a lot better.

I saw a show topic on the guide - why weight gain is in fact better for you. Thought about watching that but then felt the extra tire on my waist and chose not to, so I would not have another excuse to lean on.

Then there was Dog. You know Dog the Bounty Hunter. I enjoy the show but am so intrigued as to how good Beth looks. She has lost weight. Her chest is less chesty. Her hair is loonngg. I think she looks good. If I looked like her I would wear tank tops and leather pants, too, I think. Don't you find that would suit me?

After Dog was a show set in Louisiana - The Exterminators. It's a family business and they say dude a lot. These dudes go to places and rid the premises of rates, bugs, bats, whatever vermin may lie. Tonight it was raccoons and raccoon poop. Also they found a mummified rat. Nice.

Paul now has on Myth Busters and I am ignoring it. He told me that there is a new reality show coming on with Billy Mays. You know the OxyClean guy. It's called Pitch Men. I think it's about inventors and how to pitch their products. Paul says the tag line is Stop the Yelling and Start Selling. That's almost as sad as the show on the loggers. Or the Exterminators dudes.

Now I love Dirty Jobs. Mike really makes the show. And I like Biggest Loser. And I think that is it for reality. American Idol just doesn't move me. Hasn't really since Taylor won. Whew.

Think I will start a show. Here's the idea. A couple works together day in and day out together - have been for over 18 years (in computer years which is like dog years, that's like 105 years), have a business with craziness all about, 2 wild and unpredictable children a house in constant need of something and dissarray with a landscape that looks like a weed museum, with no time to do much of anything but remain stressed and rushed. Sounds like a loser which means it will be a winner. Don;t know if I could take the cameras though. How do Jon and Kate take it? 8 kids and cameras!

Now we have on a show -a real show. Trust Me is the name of it - about an ad agency in Chicago. I like it very much. Hits that creative side of me that is screaming to come out. Yeah yeah - after the accounting, the sales, the laundry, meals, school prep, blah, blah, blah.

Ok. Now the ExtenZe commercial is on. Need to turn off the tv. Dude. Shut up!