some chores are better than others

this morning i took the garbage out without any problem or hesitation... but the pile of clothes on my bedroom floor is still there and it just keeps growing as the days go by.

things i do not like to do:

1. fold up my clothes
2. put my clothes away
3. wash the dishes
4. put the dishes away
5. put most things away (i'd rather make piles all over the house)
6. clean the hair out of my hair brush
7. unpack after a trip (camping or otherwise)
8. clean the bathroom floor

things i do without any objection:

1. take out the garbage
   
2. laundry: phase 1 (put clothes in the washer then drier)
3. grocery shopping
4. make the bed
5. water the plants/yard/garden
6. cook meals
7. scrub the kitchen sink (it's porcelain)
   

things i do without any objection - but rarely do:

1. vacuum
2. sweep
   
3. dust
4. clean the bathroom (except for the floor)
5. iron my clothes

once i read a magazine article with all these great ways to keep a clean house; crap like, 'set a timer for 20 minutes everyday and clean until the timer goes off'. what does that even mean? the only one that made sense was: plan parties and get togethers at your house... then you'll want to clean/straighten up. not a bad idea, but i can see one flaw: what if you aren't embarrassed to have people over to your unkempt house? then what?

TGiF & T.G.I.F.

i know it's not Friday - it's Tuesday. but let's take a minute to remember not one, but two TGIFs. of course i am referring to ABC's hilarious block of sitcoms, TGiF and the restaurant with flair-to-the-max, T.G.I. Friday's*. the founders of fun.
*warning: the website plays a rockin', unsolicited song on the homepage - big surprise.

first let's start with TGiF. who could compete with the incredible line up when TGiF was first invented? i mean, it was one kicker after another: Perfect Strangers, Full House, Mr. Belvedere, and Just the Ten Of Us. okay, okay. Just the Ten Of Us was kind of lame but hey, it was the first year of TGiF. Mr. Belvedere was soon replaced by Family Matters and it wasn't long before Full House was bumped out of the TGiF schedule to be shown during a more prime spot during the week. no major objections there. fortunately Going Places only lasted one season and Step-By-Step took it's place. the full two hours of comedy and life lessons continued.

it's Friday night,
and the mood it right.
come have some fun,
show you how it's done: T-G-I-F!

for a few years the catchy TGiF jungle meant fun and excitement... (air guitar) 'weekend!' (air guitar). but between the ages of 14 and 16 the jazzy number meant your friends didn't call and you were a loser. the bait-and-switch of TGiF.

as for T.G.I. Friday's, it was equally - if not more awesome when it was invented. i think it was one of the first restaurants to clutter the walls with crazy crap. they had license plates from like, 43 of the 50 states - and they were all rusty and stuff. plus, the waiters weren't stuffy jerks who were on-the-job. these people were your friends... pals... old chums! 'those chicken strips are pretty darn good, wouldn't ya say? the honey-mustard dippin' sauce it where it's at! can i gitcha another Dr. Pepper there? no prob!' a completely new kind of dining experience... with flair!

but pretty soon the waiters were nothing but obnoxious and the crazy crap plus the freaking loud music, not to mention the decline in flavor and texture of the chicken strips, added up to a lousy dining experience. what gives T.G.I. Friday's?

once the two TGIFs were like beacons in the darkness of a fifth-grade school week. now... well, why should we dwell on the way they are now? instead let's sing theme songs and dream of ordering the Loaded Potato Skins.

standin' tall on the wings of my dream.
rise and fall on the wings of my dream.
the rain and thunder, the wind and haze,
i'm bound for better days (ahhh-ahhh)
it's my life - it's my dream,
nothin's gonna stop me now...

you be the judge

English and i have a 'difference of opinion' every four, five months or so over whether the set of Sony headphones that we now share were his or mine (for we both owned a pair prior to our eternal commitment). the 'discussion' never amounts to much but that fact that we keep having it makes me wonder how i can prove to him that they were in fact mine and it was i who contributed them to the marriage. after all, this is important information. now you may be thinking to yourself, 'how can she be so sure? how does she know one set of Sony headphones from the next?' those are great questions, and now i will answer them for you...

first of all, i have been using my set of Sony headphones on a regular basis for the past six years. i got them when i purchased a new Walkman so i could listen to my mix tapes while i painted (oil on panel mostly). now this is critical evidence: there is a small amount of white paint on the left ear piece and a bit more phthalo blue paint on the right ear piece. the same paint that appears on the Walkman itself (that i still own, by the way). hard evidence people - hard!

now for English's argument (from my point of view): 'but i had a set of these headphones too. don't you remember i used to listen to music in between classes and...'

'yes, yes, yes. and you'd wear them upside down so the band that's supposed to go over your head hung down by your chin like a helmet strap... i remember.'

'so i had a pair too.'

wow. that's some case you've got there. oh, and by the way, remember how you left the country for a couple of years and all of your stuff, including the headphones were available to anyone who could get into your house and stick a bent hanger in the doorknob to your room? yeah.

so why would he assume that i would have a harder time keeping track of my set of headphones, that i lost them some how, and that the ones that are sitting on the shelf are his? not that it matters or anything. we do share them. but i get first dibs - 'cause they're mine.

frozen yogurt: taste it again, for the first time

as temperatures rise and summer comes into full swing all of us will have more opportunities to eat more ice cream. whether it's 2 for $5 pints of Haagen Dazs, a slightly melted ice cream sandwich at the neighborhood BBQ, or a scoop of some homemade, ice cream and summer go hand in hand.

but what about frozen yogurt?

sometime in the early 1990's the frozen yogurt craze swept the nation. people went nuts over the endless list of flavors that could be swirled together and topped with crushed oreos or gummi bears. but the best thing about frozen yogurt was that it was low fat! all of the guilt associated with consuming sweet, frozen treats was abolished. and as a result, it became a national past-time for a generally overweight population. it also became the 'comfort food' for several individuals who weren't fitting into their jeans from the previous year. (i'm not making an assumption here - i worked at the Golden Swirl in Fashion Place Mall).

however, what most people failed to realize was that frozen yogurt, though void of fat, was loaded with calories and therefore did nothing to help you stay/become slim or trim. it was another Snackwells all over again.

since then, frozen yogurt has been overshadowed by smoothies, over-priced ice cream mixed on a cold stone (gimmick to the max) and even old fashioned ice cream cones. people have turned their backs on frozen yogurt and all because they refuse to accept it for what it really is: another delicious, creamy, frozen dessert (that when consumed often by people who adopt a sedentary lifestyle will add pounds).

but it doesn't have to be this way. there is still one place - besides the TCBY at the airport and Hogi Yogi (but who would go there) - that you can get frozen yogurt: Maverick. and it's good.

highly reflective

remember that movie Mask (not to be confused with The Mask starring Jim Carrey)? it's the one based on a true story where Eric Stoltz plays Rocky Dennis and Cher plays his mom and he has a rare disorder that causes his skull to grow at an abnormal rate and his face is disfigured so all the jerks at the middle school say mean things like, "why don't ya take your mask off?" and terrible things like that. maybe you remember watching it on t.v. as a little kid... i do.

well, about three months ago English started listening to Jens Leckman, a musician from Sweden who has a song called Rocky Dennis Farewellsong to the Blind Girl. it wasn't until we'd listened to it a few times that we recognized the lines about when Rocky tried to explain colors to his blind girlfriend: this is blue (frozen rock). this is green (refrigerated rock). this is red (hot rock). this is billowy (cotton balls). needless to say, our interest was re-sparked so to speak. we both knew we had to watch Mask again.

so we did - thanks to Netflix - and did you know that Sam Elliot plays one of Cher's boyfriends? he was great! one of the scenes that i remembered right as it was starting was the part where the motorcycle gang goes to the fun house at the carnival and Rocky looks into one of those crazy fun house mirrors and he sees what his face would look like if he didn't have the disorder.

anyway, i could go on some more about the movie but last week while visiting my sister in Chicago we went to see an installation/sculpture titled Cloud Gate and it was kind of like a fun house mirror, but no Rocky Dennis.