In the early morning dark, when you shouldn’t really be awake, I reach over and feel Dave’s temporarily-bald head.
“You feel like GI Joe,” I tell him, referring to those really great GI Joe dolls of the 1960s that looked like Rock Hudson and had this short, fuzzy hair. Dave has 2 days’ growth.
“You can be my Barbie,” he replies, referencing the fact that when I played Barbies with my friends as a young girl, I let the others have Ken and opted to use my bothers’ GI Joe as my particular love interest.
In totally unrelated news: And, by the way, I got to see the colorful, bright and delightful Carol Channing star in “Hello, Dolly” in the 90’s. It was soooooo cool!
Dave with hair, in the kitchen; Dave without hair for his performance in Annie, onstage.
NOTE: He is rumored to have been advised to start growing his hair long, really long – which he is able to do easily, for a possible starring-pirate kind of role next year. People, I implore you! Did Carol Channing ever have to change her hair this much?
1982 when I was pregnant with Stephanie. I’d never had more than a cheeseburger and small fry at a fast food, but Dave insisted I try it and I LOVED it! I actually got addicted to them. Now I just get Whopper Juniors, but, mmmm…charbroiled!
First Big Mac
NEVER! Two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame-seed-bun? It’s the onions. I cannot take them, plus McDonalds? Ick. And-I consider this the one thing that makes me unique in any way. I have never had a Big Mac. And I never shall.
First full sentence
“I’m gonna go to church!”
I don’t say that nearly as much now – to the great concern of my grandchildren who have asked their parents, “Why doesn’t Nonna go to church?” And to the amusement of Rocky and Tristan who said to me a few weeks ago when I arrived on a Sunday morning, “Good to see you here. This is the result of a lot of people praying.” Yuk-it-up, boys.
Once a church girl, always a church girl. No worries, people.
First plane trip.
I was a senior in high school. I went back to Louisiana after our family had moved to Gary, Indiana because my HS credits didn’t transfer correctly and they were going to make me go all year long. So I finished up back in Hammond. I hung out with Cheryl Bardwell. And Ginger. I met a guy I almost ended up marrying (breaking it off 3 weeks before the wedding is “almost” right?) and I had my first taste of living far away from Ross-the-Boss, Mrs-Moss and the-rest-of-the-Little-Landers. I worked at The Sonic Drive-In for 1 day and finished high school.
First poem I ever wrote
I love my daddy
I want my daddy
I go to see my daddy
He picks me up to love.
~by me at barely 4. It was my first and probably my best. Ever.
First shoes with heels
3rd grade. I started young. They were 1 1/4″ high, navy blue with a cute bow. The first of many. I do not love all shoes like some women, but when I love them, when I have formed the strong emotional connection, they will forever remain in my heart. I will know where I was was when I got them, what the occasion was for looking and the special places they carried me. Oh, yes, I will.
First…(you may not want to know)
Ok, disclaimer. If you are easily embarrassed, don’t read this girly fact. My first period (as in menstrual, not high school schedule) started on David Cassidy’s21st birthday.
First speeding ticket
2 1/2 years ago. I said to him, “Seriously? I am 47 years old and I have never had a ticket!” very decidedly implying he was not going to get away with giving me one because of my very clean record.
The officer very coolly replied, “Only Jesus was perfect.” How did he know that was the one thing I wouldn’t argue with? I still totally disagree that I was going 32 mph over the speed limit. Totally. Disagree.
First job
Working at the church day care center watching pre-schoolers. Unless you count babysitting church people’s kids as a young teen. Which really wasn’t much more money than I’d made gathering sparkly rocks from a shared alley and selling them to my neighbors for candy money when I was 7. So that was it, I guess. Selling rocks.
First movie in a theater
“Gone With the Wind.” I got in so much trouble. It was a school trip tied in with our Civil War series in Social Studies. And I wasn’t allowed to attend movies (church rules, you know), but I did and doggone it if a man from church didn’t see me and tell my dad. Big trouble. But I don’t regret going now. I so appreciate the accuracy with which the Civil War was depicted, the raw and realistic portrayals of Rhett and Scarlet and how I still look at nice drapes for the amazing outfit I might be able to get out of them. Yes, I attribute my above-average resourcefulness to “Gone with the Wind.”
First kiss
Jimmy Green behind the North Pine Church of God in Davenport, Iowa. 1972. And for you inquiring minds? I kissed him. He didn’t know what hit him.
First time in the mountains
I was 11. My parents, my 4 siblings, my aunt and uncle and my 6 cousins and I drove from eastern Iowa to Colorado and camped in the cold Rocky Mountains. There were flower children and hippies everywhere and I loved it. The flower children and hippies are still here getting their Rocky Mountain high, but they are very old now.
First time in the ocean
Spring 1977. My dad let us skip school and we drove to Gulfport, Mississippi (Let your love flow…was playing on the radio) where I remember beautiful white sandy beaches and an ape that spat on my sister in some gas station animal viewing place. Good times. And yes, the Gulf counts – it is still part of the Atlantic.
The First Time Ever I Saw His Face
August 1978 when I first went to Northwest Bible College. I met him by the fountain and he was very shy and I liked to tease him about the girls he liked so I could see his dimples. Though we wrote friendly letters for a couple of years, he didn’t officially ask me out until May 26, 1981. It took him awhile. But we got married less than 2 months after the first date, following the Biblical admonition that it is better to marry than to burn.
First blog post
November 29, 2006. It was so scary. I was afraid to hit the post button. I was afraid to say anything because some one might actually see it. But after about 4 or 5 months, the graphomaniacal tiger in me had been released, never to be recaptured. And on it goes. Everything and waaaaaaay more than you can possibly believe is Mod-Podged onto the collage that is my thought collection.
Valentine’s Day is Sunday! As you prepare to EXPRESS your love, I submit these tidbits for inspiration:
Tweet Me!
Conversation hearts, they are a-changing. For all my growing up years they just said things like, “Be mine,” “Kiss me,” and “Sweet talk.” But as of this year, 1 in 80 hearts will say, “Tweet me.”
You’ll still find the traditional, “Be true,” but also the ones added in the late 90s like “Call me,” or “Email me.” Last spring they even produced special Twilght-themed hearts, which my little grandbebes seem to adore, that said things like “I {heart} EC,” “Lion and Lamb,” and “Dazzle.” “Bite me,” is also an interesting addition, now interpreted romantically (Thank-you, Edward) rather than as a vulgar insult. Times have changed.
Your Kiss is on my List!
I posted a whole list of KISSING-QUOTES previously. You may read them here. But please BE SURE to read the comments from others because they added some wonderful KISSING sentiment, too! That Tredessa knows her kissable literature and movies! AND SHARE YOURS!
“How did it happen that their lips came together?
How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts,
that the rose unfolds,
that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill?
A kiss, and all was said.”
~Victor Hugo
Music and passion were always the fashion…
Remember “mixed tapes?” People would create their own, personalized playlist of love songs for their true amour on something called a “cassette.” Back in the day…{sigh} Now you can can just do it online, no-muss, no-fuss: FREE playlists. www.playlist.comThey are playing our song…
THE RULES: In no particular order, limiting this list to 20 {because I can be quite a crybaby} and allowing only one per artist, (although I must admit certain artists and bands could have their own lists full of songs) here are some songs that can makeme cry. They are not necessarily the top 20, just the first 20 that came to mind when I decided to make this list. WHY? Because, like Elton sings, “Sad songs say sooooo much.”
“Still” by Lionel Richie
“But then most of all, I do love you, {spoken softly} s t i l l…”
“At this Moment” by Billy Vera and the Beaters
I cannot explain why this song did me in, but when it came out in the 80s, I cried my eyes out every single time I heard it. I was amazed at the idea of loving some one so much you’d be willing to give up “20 years” of your life to have them stay, have them not leave you. I know that is impossible to achieve, but he sang it so well, I really believed he was willing. Still kills me.
“The Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me” by Gladys Knight and the Pips
I sang this to Dave walking down a street in Dallas, Texas in 1982, just after our first anniversary. After almost 29 years of marriage, he has no choice but to be “there, between each line of pain or glory,” whether he wants to or not.
“Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro
She dies. There is a tree that grows (you know how I love gardening). He misses her. I hope to be sorely and grieviously missed when I die. After I am at least 87.
“Superstar” by the Carpenters
It’s about song bringing love…”Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby..” {those lyrics!}
“He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones
I don’t want to spoil this for you if you haven’t heard it…boo hoooooo….
The raw pain in her amazing voice, “I will lay down my heart, and I’ll feel the power, but you won’t…” Whyyyyyyyyyy? Why can’t he feel the power of it? Is he absolutely just an unfeeling, cold-hearted jerk?
“Whiskey Lullaby” by Brad Paisley and Alison Kraus
“She put him out like the burning end of a midnight cigarette, she broke his heart…” Brad has the words. He writes the songs….
“Vincent” by Don McLean
I guess I love this because I suffer for my sanity, too (just kidding…sort of).
“How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” by The BeeGees
“I can think of younger days…” You just run out of resiliency when you get to the middle…and past it.
“If” by Bread
“And when my love for life is running dry, you come and pour yourself on me…” That? Is being loved. That is loving. (BTW~I super hate the slides on this video…this is posted purely for the song)
“Weekend in New England” by Barry Manilow
Eyes meeting, touching, strong yearning. Don’t be critical of Barry, now. The man can tear your heart out with his songs. I had trouble between this one and “Even Now” or “Somewhere Down the Road.”
“I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton from the early 70s
I was 14. She was leaving Porter Wagoner (I have to admit I loved that Saturday afternoon show sponsored by some powedered laundry detergent). I didn’t know what they were going through, but that woman’s pure voice expressed words so powerful that I knew, even then, I was hearing a song I’d never forget and would love my whole life through. And oh, I get it so much more, now. It is one of the greatest songs of all time. One of THE greatest. Ever.
“I Wanna Run to You” by Whitney Houston
From “The Bodyguard.” The lyrics reveal our feminine vulnerability. We’ve learned to take care of things ourselves, be tough. The truth is we need to be covered, protected. We need heroes.
“My Eyes Adored You” by Frankie Valli
I was 14 when this came out, too. Being 14 was a big deal, apparently, in my romantic notions. I just daydreamed about somebody adoring me, I guess. Such a pretty melody, sweet words, innocent and lovely. Remember when?…
“You’re a Part of Me” by Kim Carnes and Gene Cotton
Longing. Don’t leave me, and if you do: come back. ”You’re a part of me I can’t live without…”
“Rest Your Love on Me” by Olivia Newton John and Andy Gibb
Deep down, I am a caring person. I am an INFJ – a “protector.” That is what I like to do.
“Sunshine on My Shoulders” by John Denver
The soundtrack to the ABC Movie-of-the-Week, “Sunshine,” the fall of 1973 (I had just turned…can you believe it? 14!). I think it was based on a true story of a young woman married to a struggling musician who has cancer and as she is dying, she talks into a tape recorder to be able to leave her thoughts and story behind for their baby girl. John Denver sang the title track. Beautifully. His voice was very important to me during this era – all of his words and melodies touched something deep inside me.
“I’d Do It All Again” by Corrine Bailey Rae
Love does hurt sometimes. But this girl is not going to let it stop her faith in love. Me, neither!
I recently announced my apparent connection to both 2010 Super Bowl teams.
You can read about that here. Not that I am taking credit for either team making it to the top, but I did live less than an hour away from both Indianapolis and from New Orleans at various times in my life. I am just saying, I seem to be a common thread for football greatness. Not the only one, but a common one.
So, the question is posed, “For whom will Jeanie root during the Super Bowl?” I know this has caused much concern for many people, especially since everyone knows that not only do I not get football, I don’t ever even watch it except long enough to pass by and say “Those are some stinking tight pants,“…AND in light of the fact that I once had life-threatening food poisoning following a Super Bowl party. Yes, there has been great speculation about my loyalties. Which is really a moot point since I don’tdofootball, for crying out loud.
Really, the question should be: who willwin ~ And whether I have the ability to influence that outcome, and it is obvious I do and I shall. So,my choice is?…
Well, people, come on. I wrote that previous Super Bowl post, which was the first time in over 800 blog posts football has e-v-e-r been a topic, right after the Saints beat the Vikings in that fairly spectacular overtime win (the field goal ring a bell?). And I added gold letters to the black font to leave a little trail, a clue as it were, for the future.
THEN this week, an old family friend* from like ~ 30-gazillion years ago (who once played Jesus for my dad’s Palm Sunday and Easter productions, first by riding up to the church wrapped in a white sheet on a donkey and later, hanging on the cross in possibly the same white sheet, before going on to utilize that divine-wig plus a red bandana at a church dinner-on-the-ground to emulate a Willie-Nelson-type character)sent me a Saints shirt {annonymously} in an effort to sway me. Additionally, my brother Joe-the-pastor has been telling me the Saints are God’s team and very persuasively backing it up with scripture:
1 Sam 2:9 He will guard the feet of his SAINTS, but the wicked (Colts?) will be silenced in darkness!
Psalm 16:3 As for the SAINTS who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
Psalm 149:4,5 For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the SAINTS rejoice in this honor and sing for joy…
Daniel 7:18 But the SAINTS of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever- yes, forever and ever.
Rom 8:27 …the Spirit intercedes for the SAINTS in accordance with God’s will.
1 Cor 6:2 Do you not know that the SAINTS will judge the world…?
So who is it going to be?
Well…The Saints have that cutie-patootie, Drew Brees. But the Colts have Peyton Manning. I don’t know a darn thing about him myself, but several sportscasters seem to adore him. I liked a lot of people from Indy when I lived there, though Louisiana boasts the most interesting of characters. Hoosiers are good, middle American people. The mosquito rules in the Bayou. All these things must be weighed in the balance.
But the deciding factor for me? The food! Seafood Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Roast Beef Po’ Boys, Jambalaya, Crawfish {pie…which I have never actually had}~Omygosh (or me-oh-my-oh, like the song says). Hands down, the SAINTS are winning the Super Bowl and I give them my full support! Yes. Because of the scrumptious food. I have spoken. I may not watch the game. But the common thread has decreed it so.
The crowd goes wild with approval (or whatever).
PLUS – no one from Indiana sent me a t-shirt. That hurts.…Jeanie…WHO DAT?, indeed…
*”A Saints fan” from Robert, La-you know who you are…Thanks for the EXTRA-LARGE t-shirt.
Pictured: Guini modeled the shirt in matching shoes. There is a full roster on the back. I have never heard of these people.
I wasn’t allowed to listen to this kind of music when I was a kid. This was “hard rock” to me in the early 70’s and I was, you know, the preacher’s daughter. So, I am not going to try to explain how I still know every word and the entire arrangement of this little Osmond treasure. Huh-uh. Never-you-mind about that. Just watch. Check out those great [Mormon] moves and listen for the whoop, now!
NOTE: Yes, there was some Puppy Love over Donny and he had to sing Go Away Little Girl to me in a way that I would understand his agony in our relationship (and naturally They Tried to Tell Us We were Too Young), but my true love and total allegience remained with David {I Think I Love You} Cassidy at all times. This is a true statement.
“In all my travels past and all my travels yet to come, I’ll never find a better friend.”
~Mr. Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street (1995).
I have a strong emotional response each time I hear that line in the this classic Christmas movie remake by John Hughes. I mean ~ Kris Kringle had to have had a lot of friends and we know he travelled extensively, right? I thought the quote must have come from classic literature, but I am unable to find any reference to it anywhere else (meaning Google).
It just makes me wonder…
How many people in a lifetime do you think you really, actually get to say this to and mean it? And how many people could even say it to you?
{By the way, I MET Santa the other night myself at the Parks and Rec Board Meeting where he received an award for his generous service to the community. And guess what!??! He said he’ll be at Heaven Fest!}
True. Although I am very fond of my vintage orange kitchen accessories from Steph and fam. And my new work-out pants have revved up my power-walking. I adore the o-so-flattering jeans Stormie bought me: they fit!…did my legs just get longer? Did I just get a lift in a certain region? And DP and Tara and the I-POD Touch…omygoodness. Just waiting for my life’s best song list to get to 7000 or so (well on my way).
Rocky and Jovanie know I need my medium-rare steak and plenty of it. Off to The Outback I shall go, several times (plus the “Jeanie green” coffee cup? Lovin’ it!)! Tre Tre is going to do a photo shoot for me – of anything or anyone I want! It will be a shoot of my kids and grandkids, of course ~ what else?? Little brother, Joe sent me a book on how to talk southern (they do have their own way) that was a family fav in the 70’s and a 2-set LP by The Rambos, THE Moslander-family music-of-my-life. My husband loaded me up with clothes, but I am trying to decide whether the skimpy Miley Cyrus tops and short shorts are for me or him?
I got showered with lots of great, thoughtful, sweet, beautiful gifts for Christmas. There was way more than I deserved, but I sure love it all.
But really? It is when I have been blessed with something of the giver, a portion of their heart ~ in thoughtfulness, sweet words, a shared secret, a common memory, treasured moments and especially their time - that I know I have been gifted beyond my ability to ever repay or comprehend. To receive something that reveals a part of another person’s heart to me is the greatest gift I could ever hope for.
Thank-you to all of you who share yourselves with me (your dreams, your fears, your hopes and love…and just ~ you). My heart is enlarged in the receiving. And I am…gifted. Grateful.
So, she has won some Oscars: first for her performances in the heart-rending Kramer Vs Kramer (1979) and another for her performance as a concentration camp survivor in Sophie’s Choice (1982). She was a melancholy outcast in a doomed affair with Jeremy Irons (The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1981); she played a worker at a plutonium plant possibly murdered for whistleblowing about worker safety (Silkwood, 1983) in a movie based on a true story; a Danish baroness/plantation owner in a torrid love affair (Out of Africa, 1985); an Australian mother who said a dingo took her baby (A Cry in the Dark, 1988). She was in The Deer Hunter, Marvin’s Room, Postcards from the Edge and nailed the role of the farmer’s wife in The Bridges of Madison County.
When she decided to do Mamma Mia!, a musical set in the Greek Islands with a weak story held together by remakes of Abba songs, I heard a lot of criticism and people wondering why she’d stoop to karaoke.
Mamma Mia!
But – wow. I watched Mamma Mia! (the exclamation point is their deal, not mine) the other night again for the first time since I saw it in the theaters right after Heaven Fest ‘08. And when Meryl Streep sings “The Winner Takes it All,” mamma mia, seriously! (That was my exclamation point) It isn’t about her being a singer. That isn’t her day job, it isn’t Pierce Brosnan’s, either (so lighten up on them, people). I do think her singing was way above average and I had forgotten how important Abba was to my personal development and life’s soundtrack. There was just some darn fun singing in this movie.
But the song, THE song & how well Meryl Streep communicated it, for crying out loud!
She interpreted the lyrics and used the melody from the barely whispering and the crying out to her body language and that coral-colored wrap she was wearing and she told us something. We understood Donna and what she had held inside all those years. In an interview Meryl said she took the role because, “ It’s a film about women and their whole [life] experience in being hopeful and youthful and older and suffering the regrets that you have over a long life. It’s visceral and I love that.” And in the singing of the song she explored Donna’s pain, examined her sorrow and gave us all a taste of her experience and lonliness.
She proved herself. She did it well. She sang a song beautifully and in such a heartfelt way that I finally really understood it in a way I couldn’t have when it came out so long ago. The song, “The Winner Takes it All” written by Abba band members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The singer, interpreter world-class and award-winning actress, Meryl Streep.
THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL from Mamma Mia! sung by Meryl, of course!
Based, I guess, on the songs I select to watch and listen to on YouTube.com, they ever-so-kindly make “recommendations” for me – videos they think I will like based on things I have viewed.
I get having them suggest “La Vie en Rose” by Edith Piaff or Dido’s “Here with Me” from the Love Actually soundtrack. I am appreciative of the new Patridge Family stuff they make me aware of and am only somewhat baffled by the constant re-occurence of the Eagles’ “One of These Nights,” since I do indeed adore The Eagles (but there are other songs by them, right??).
But why on earth do they keep suggesting things like the WWE’s Smackdown Theme Song or mini episodes of “Different Strokes”? Why? Or anything having to do with Monster Trucks? That I do not get. Huh-uh. No. What the heck? That’s not me.
But, wow o wow. They suggested this and I am in love with it.
This is Corrine Bailey Rae. She is British. She is soulful. She plays a beautiful guitar. She’s Billie Holiday, but so modern. She is breezy. She is deep and she communicates the song so beautifully. Great video. Haunting melody. Loving it.
And when I told Tredessa? She reminded me that she told me I would love her about a year ago when she gave me a song for my Itunes, “Put Your Records On,” and Tredessa, as always, was so right!
Corrine Bailey Ray, I’d Do it All Again, official video
