Some Letters

Dear Summer,
Why you gotta go by so fast? I was just getting good and settled into your non-routine routine when you snap me out of it with home visits, and professional development and other "the rest of the year" hum drum.  Harsh summer, harsh.

Dear One Piece Bathing Suit I Bought on Clearance,
Thank for being more flattering than I had anticipated and for showing me that while I am not quite to the body that I want, I like the one I have a whole lot more than the one I had 8 months ago.  I vow to be far to small to wear you by next summer.

Dear Zucchini Bread,
I should never have learned to make you.  You are going to undo all the good One Piece Bathing Suit did. The only solution is to continue to make you, but to give you away.  I'm sorry, but this is the way it has to be.  It's not you, it's me.

Dear Malone's of Lexington,
God Bless your salad, bread, crab rangoon, and blackened chicken penne. Yum.

Dear Back to School,
While I do not welcome your early start times, I am more than ready for your routine.  As it turns out I do much better with diet and exercise while on your rigid time schedule.  One point for you-but only one.

Dear new Kiddos,
Let's learn lots, be good to one another and have a fantastic year!

Dear School Lunch Bunch,
I have missed our time together and look forward to it starting up again soon-point two for Back to School-dangit.

Dear Mazers,
The upcoming early mornings will be as hard on your as they will on me.  I will miss lounging in bed with you till much past an acceptable hour.  I hope the chain link fence I am installing for you in the backyard will soften the blow. 

Dear Blog,
I've sucked lately but frankly, I'm becoming bored with you.  Perhaps you could do something to renew my interest?

Dear Old Musicals,
You never fail to make me smile and sing along and feel better.  And think of my Dede.  Bravo.

Dear Bed,
I hear you calling my name-I'll be there momentarily.

Sincerely,
Love,
As ever,
All my best,
XOXO,
Lindsay

ABC's

I'm bored, it's late, I'm out of blog ideas so in the spirit of random radomosity that is this blog I give you, the Random Alphabet:

A-ab-I think I felt one beginning to form in my stomach area-what a thrill!
B-Big Bang Theory-what's playing in the background as I type away.
C-couch-where my Mazie dog is snoring at the moment.
D-dreams-always in color, and always present.  And people I have some doozies.
E-eggs-I enjoy mine with a little salsa and cheese.  And preferably with whites only.
F-fence-got an estimate today on one for my backyard.  Seems very grown up but the pups will so enjoy it!
G-garden-waiting anxiously for my parents to being yielding things.  The drought is not helping this.
H-hair-trying desperately to grow mine out.  Slow going folks-any tips?
I-ice cream-summer makes me crave it pretty much constantly.  We made homemade banana the other night-Fan-tas-tic!
J-July-it's barely begun but to me signals the beginning of the end of my glorious summer vacay.  Sniff sniff.
K-kaboom-as in the fireworks that although it's the 10th still go off at random-it's over people!  Give it up!
L-laughter-it is absolutely the best medicine which I believe unequivocally.
M-male-I need some male in my life.  And I mean that in the most non-dirty way possible.  I need a man to flirt with me, tell me I'm cute and possibly ogle me. 
N-nights-mine are increasingly later which should make it increasingly harder to get back to waking up for school
O-owls-love them-bought the cutest little bracelet today at a boutique in town for cheap cheap
P-pasta-I could eat it every day of my life if possible and if it didn't go straight to my hips, thighs, butt
Q-quickly-the method in which I like things to go and the opposite of how my current cross stitch product is coming
R-rain-finally got some the other day but could seriously use more-the grass is crunchy people!
S-salve-as in Rosebud-seriously loving it on my lips!  Also loving the vintage look of the tin.
T-tomatoes-assisted in canning 16 quarts today.  Makes me wish for fall and a big pot of chili to put them in.
U-USB-the drive that went missing with several new school documents on it today, giving me a heart attack until it surfaced.
V-vat-the amount of cookie dough I could consume if only...
W-Wednesday-we're almost to hump day which is far less thrilling when you don't work all summer.
X-Xtra half hour of Zumba last night that absolutely killed me...I'm hurting people.
Y-yell.  What my mother asked me today to stop doing.  She should realize after 28 years that I am loud.
Z-zzz's-what I'm about to go catch.

Peace out homies.

Where I come from...

Rain is a good thing! And after about 10 days of temps of 100 degrees or better and twice as many with no rain-it's raining! Woo hoo!

Sunshine and Summertime

God Bless America.  And summer's off for teachers.  And Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw.  And Nascar races.  And time with family here, there and everywhere.

This weekend (of course it's now Thursday and the weekend is over, in fact the next one is practically upon us but whatever) was a whirlwind. In the absolute best sense of the word.

It started on Friday with me and my cousin heading to Hamilton Oh to my aunt and uncles house.  Visiting and eating commenced.

Saturday kicked off the big events.  My two cousins and I went to the Nascar race at Kentucky Speedway.  To say it was hotttttttttttt would be an understatement.  To say it was hotter than the face of the sun may also be an understatement.  It was freaking hot people.  Our lives were saved by the portable water mister my cousin Ryan bought that hooks to a pop up tent.  There aren't words. 

Now, as a told my cousins, avid race fans, my prior knowledge of Nascar consists of "Days of Thunder" and Disney's "Cars".  And let me just tell you-Disney?  They got it about right!  It was more fun than I expected considering it was hotter than the fires of hell.  Highlight?-the walkie talkie headsets that allowed me to beep my cousins and say "He he he, Allmindinger" every time that particular drivers name was announced.  Come on that's freaking hilarious-say it and see if you don't laugh! We made it home (after getting hit in the parking lot) at about 2:00.

Up and at em at about 10:30ish the next day to prepare for the Kenny Chesney/Tim McGraw concert in Cincinnati at Paul Brown stadium.  We left at about 1:00 to pick up friends and tailgate-the concert started at 4:30-a fact we found confusing until later.  It was again, hotter than you can possibly imagine.  Our seats were up high and all through the two opening acts I truly thought I might die.  Then my boyfriend Tim McGraw came out and things were magically and mystically better. 

I can't imagine why that might have been....sigh. And God Bless tight jeans, and well muscled men.

And then the heavens opened up, the winds begin to blow, Tim told us he'd be right back and the powers that be at the stadium decided to inform us and 55,000 of our closest, sweatiest friends to seek shelter as severe weather was on the way. 

About an hour and a monsoon of rain later Tim came back. Then Kenny.  Then Tim and Kenny.  And 7 hours after the concert started it ended and we all understood why it started so early.  It was fantastic.

Another in bed by 2:00 night and the next day a pool party and food and fun with family.  The perfect bookend to a whirlwind, wild, hot and incredibly fun summer weekend that has carried over through today with more pool time, 4th cookouts and lunch and movies with my girls from school.  This weekend may be used simply to recover.  :)

I've Been Bad

Really bad.  Maybe the worst blogger on the planet.

Summertime will do that to you.

That's not entirely true.  Summertime, working out a lot, horse shows, swimming, new puppies and frustration will do that to you.

Yes my name is Lindsay and I am a frustrated blogger.  I think I had grandiose imaginings of how this would go.  That people would read this and be enchanted by me and I would be rocketed into blogger superstardom.

Yeah that's not happening-I have very few readers, very few comments and I'm not really sure what to do about it.

So that is my question for the day-it's really more like a series of questions:

What do you like to read about on blogs?
How can I spice things up?
What kinds of things draw your attention to blogs?
What are some ways to get out there and reach and hopefully gain some more readers?

Any ideas will be much appreciated-as are those of you out there who are reading this.

:) and his brother ;)

So I have been watching TBS's new show Men at Work.  Pretty funny, clever writing and a glimpse into the minds of men.  Some background: On last weeks episode, Milo, having just gotten out of a 5 year relationship, is trying to re-enter the dating world and is struggling somewhat with texting a new girl he's dating.  His lady killer friend Tyler is helping him deconstruct what Milo views as an open invitation from the lady.  Their convo goes a little something like this:

Tyler: "In the hetero-textual world everything is safe if you have a smiley face at the end.  They're like...conversational condoms."


Milo: "Really?"


Tyler: "Absolutely man.  You can say the naughtiest, filthiest stuff to each other and its all in fun as long as you end it with that bad boy.  Or his brother...the winky smiley face."

Milo: "Good to know."

You can watch it here:
Men at Work-Hetero-textual Male

The conversation made me laugh out loud while I was watching-which is something I generally reserve for New Girl or Psych (haven't watched either? Step away from the computer and go do so IMMEDIATELY!)
It was just so....true!  I could literally think of dozens of times that I had softened the blow, or added some levity to a text with a :) or ;) 

Uh oh-don't want him to think I'm being too flirty--:)

Whoops hope he gets that that is sarcasm---;)

Want him to understand beyond a shadow of a doubt that yes, you ignorant male, I am flirting--;)

And they're so right-these little emoticons are conversational condoms.  They make you feel safe.  For me, comments I'd never post or texts I'd never send are instantly made "ok" by adding a :) or ;)

And you know what?  Thank God.

I mean seriously-being single is freaking exhausting.  And thought I don't often advocate for the male side of things I am sure they feel the same way.  You feel like a psychoanalyst 99% of the time.  What did he/she mean by that?  What do I do/say now?  And on and on with the questions and second guessing and uncertainly and doubt.

And while I often bemoan all the game play, the rules and regulations that often make dating so very tiresome, in this case I find it perfectly ok.  Comforting even.  Because without our little conversational condoms there are texts that would never get sent.  I realize they are just in fact punctuation marks squished together to attempt to illustrate an emotion or tone and I'm pinning a lot on them but they sometimes give you a little added boost of confidence. They power sometimes to push send-ummm don't know if I should say that.  eh-I'll add a :)  Yes the addition of a colon and parentheses makes it all ok.

It's a dog eat dog world out there kids.  And this girl?  I'll be practicing safe text.

The Lost Art of Lyrics

It occurred to me this week whilst (yeah, I say whilst. Try it, you'll like it) we were driving home and jamming to the radio that lyric writing is quickly becoming a lost art.

At the very least it's playing hide and seek. It's face is on a few milk cartons. That's all I'm saying.

This thought came to me while we heard two currently overplayed tunes that are, ahem, on the iPods of a few, ahem, friends of mine. They'll argue that Willie Nelson is on mine, but I maintain that he is, in fact, a working mans poet.

But I digress. The songs in question are One Directions "What Makes You Beautiful" and 'insert random pop princesses name here's "Call Me Maybe".

Sweet lord. Is this what we've come to?  These are our modern day troubadours? 

We've gone from this:

"Maybe I didn't love you, Quite as often as I should have.  And maybe I didn't treat you, Quite as well as I could have, If I made you feel second best, Girl I'm sorry I was blind.  You were always on my mind." -Elvis/Willie (had to include some Willie ;)

"Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down." -Simon & Garfunkel

"Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they're here to stay.." -The Beatles

"In my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be." -The Beatles

"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose, Nothing ain't worth nothin', but its free." -Kris Kristopherson

"Imagine all the people, Living for today." -Lennon

"Freedom? Well that's just some people talking.  Your prison is walking through this world all alone."
-The Eagles

"There are places I remember all my life, though some have changed.  Some forever, not for better.  Some have gone and some remain." -The Beatles

To this:
"The way that you whip your hair gets me overwhelmed"

"I just met you.  And this is crazy.  But here's my number.  So call me maybe."

This is a sad commentary on our times.  And not only are MANY of today's lyrics insipid and uninspired they are also repetitive.  Over and over and over.  Same words.  Oy.

I'm not saying I haven't fallen prey to bubble gum pop.  (I was in high school during the rise of boy bands for Pete's sake) It's catchy, the beats are good and the lyrics, however mundane will burn themselves onto your brain.  But in 10, 20, 50+ years are people really going to remember where they were when they heard these songs or how they made them feel.  Doubtful.  Very doubtful.  But the old standards I've listed above will stand the test of time and thankfully, there are artists out there that strive to meet some basic standards.  That try for some meaning, feeling and, dare I say it, poetry.

Some current lines that pass the test, for me, and leave this listener feeling or thinking or (yes, I'm a sap) crying?

"I got a gypsy soul to blame and I was born for leaving." -Zac Brown Band

"You and tequila make me crazy.  Run like poison in my blood.  One more night could kill me baby.  One is one too many, One more is never enough." -Kenny Chesney

"The stars are blazin' like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun." -The Killers

"All of this around us'll fall over, I tell you what we're gonna do, Hey you will shelter me my love and I will shelter you." -Ray LaMontagne

"Next time I'll be braver, I'll be my own savior, Standing on my own two feet." -Adele

"A man needs something he can hold onto, A nine pound hammer or a woman like you, Either one of them things will do." -Ray LaMontagne

They give me hope.  Perhaps lyric writing is not dead.  But I think sometimes, like so many other things in our lives, the rush to make the CD, to make the money, produce the records overshadows the artistry.  I'm glad there are some artists and songwriters out there that still strive for...art. 
What are some lyrics or songs that speak to you?  That get to you?