Everythings rockin' - me - I'm just tryin' to roll...

We had grand plans to get down to the Cape this Saturday to see my sister-in-law sing. If you're ever in the area, check her out - The Somers-Frost Band rocks!

Unfortunately this ended with two parents on the, um, ill side of the street. (Ack! Not the flu! NO!). Ever try to drive hours back home with a 2.5 year old and two feeling pretty punk parents? There was a moment of serious contemplation of paying for an extra hotel room night. It's a good thing we crawled our way home, as the saga ain't over yet. And I've officially lost track of being under the weather this season, which is extremely exasperating. Both H and I hope to get further than two feet from the bathroom soon. Here's hoping you have all managed to stay that way. Because this, is miserable.

An unexpected song

Out of curiosity I sometimes start cruising the shopping websites before upcoming holidays. Biggies like Amazon, smaller spaces like Etsy and lots of things in between. Part of the fun of gift giving for me is finding that perfect something that just reminds me of the person I'm shopping for... like the Star Wars notecards that just absolutely reminded me of Pamela.

And I'm always a little amazed at the "perfect gift lists" that are published, pushing iphones, flat screen TVs, expensive jewelry as the must-haves for those people on your gift list.

Valentine's Day is a low-key affair around our house: nice chocolates, romantic cards, maybe some flowers. It was a wonderful surprise that H gifted me this year with two tickets to see Teddy Goldstein at Club Passim at the end of this month. It has been ages since I have seen some live folk music - and Club Passim, around for more than 40 years, is a wonderful venue. I can't wait!

Soundtrack

E and I are longtime friends. We've known each other since high school, and through tons of moving around and "life events." She encouraged me to move to New England when I was unhappy on the West Coast, and conversely now that I am pretty firmly rooted here she is now on that other coast herself.

One of the many things E introduced me to while we were roomies is the live music/folk music scene in this area. There are fantastic small venues where one can go to hear - really hear - some wonderful performers. You can check out my sidebar for a collection of favorites. I also wanted to take this opportunity to share a video from Anne Heaton and Rose Polenzani. Beautiful voices - and how can you beat a pink ukulele?

Peeved

As long as I am on a roll:

I was blog-surfing recently and read a funny post about Dunkin' Donuts having it out for the author... I'll be darned if I can remember where I saw it, and I'll be back to link to it if I can figure it out. If it's you, drop me a note and/or just know that you tickled my funny bone. We've been visiting DD on a regular basis this summer as the two year old has developed a real yen for their smoothies or "hobies" (?) as he calls them. Our order is nearly always the same, only the price constantly changes. Can't figure that one out... But with an antsy kid in the backseat I'm not gonna argue too loudly, particularly when it's in our favor. What I find particularly irritating however is the fact that I place my order over the "squawk box" only to reach the window and have the person ringing me up say: Now what did you have? Why do I bother? And there is always at least one thing not right. Today's order was: a small tropical smoothie, small iced tea with sugar and lemon, a glazed donut and six munchkins (2 plain, 2 glazed, 2 sugar). What I got was the smoothie, the tea minus the sugar, a powdered sugar donut and 4 munchkins. Go figure.

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I am, shall we say, a bit lax on the issue of the two year old and TV. The whole "No TV Before Two Years Old" movement is great in theory, but it just didn't work out that way around our house. And part of my whole "Dirt Makes Fat" philosophy is all about ditching the Mommy guilt, because goodness knows I certainly don't need any more.

I do, however, try to keep an eye on what is on TV. Nothing too violent or racy, and our lack of stereo equipment sometimes means that we have the country videos on in the background for a little music around the house. Daniel and Trace Adkins, Gretchen Wilson, Rodney Atkins and others are really becoming best buds.

There should be the same restrictions on commercials as there are on TV shows, though. We will have something pretty innocuous on the tube and suddenly there is a commercial for Halloween or The Ring II or some such movie on... and the commercials are just as bad as the flicks. They have their place, but I shouldn't have to go diving for the remote to keep these images away from my kid.

That's all I'm saying.

I been watching you Dad, ain't that cool?

Would you believe we are raising a country music lover? It's actually pretty cute. Daniel has chosen certain songs on the country music channels that he just LOVES. There is one called Watching You by Rodney Atkins that talks of a little boy watching his Dad and learning things as varied as picking up cuss words, and how to pray. Check it out for a tug at the heartstrings. Last night H referred to this as "Hey! It's our song!" And Daniel grabbed his blankie and came running to sit on his lap and watch.