She Lives

She Lives' Best of 2008

Note:  The following list of posts isn't necessarily in ascending or descending order.  I'm not that good. 

'Nother Note:  Some of these were auto-closed to comments along the way.  I've tried to re-open comments, but it's not working.  If you'd like to leave me a little feedback on any of the posts listed below, feel free to do so here. (I would flat out love it if you did!!!)

Here are my Top Ten Posts for 2008 according to ... me!

10.  The post in which I Die.  Which, it turns out, was really just a near death experience involving definitively dead mice.

9.  Part One of my interview with legendary bassist and musician, Carol Kaye.  You can follow links from there to the other four parts of that week-long session with The First Lady of Bass.  (Still can't believe she granted me an interview!!!)

8.  Live Music: Hanging By a Thread -  Do you like music?  Really?  You're certain?

7.  101 Things About Elixir - What can I say?  I love my band!  101 things seems like a lot, but it's worth it.  (I'll do 101 Things about my other band, Church Chix, one day soon.)

6.  Interview with Judy Davids, author of Rockstar Mommy; My Life as a Rocker Mom.

5. Uh-Oh!  She's Been Reading Again - 13 book reviews.  Some great, some good, some...so-so.  Now you, too, can add to your TBR piles!

4.  13 Books You May (or May Not) Want to Read Some Day - 13 more book reviews.  (What am I to do without the Thursday Thirteen meme, people?!?!?!)

3.  This one's a two-fer:  13 Ways to Get Kids to Practice Their Instruments and Tips for Choosing an Instrument for Your Beginner  - I think the titles are self-explanatory.  I hope someone finds the posts helpful.

2.   I Am the Teen Clean Queen - A WMFW submission containing my top secret, patented, scientifically proven methodology for getting older kids to clean their rooms.  I'll sell it to ya for cheap!

1.  And my #1 post for 2008 is...[C'mon, baby! Get that drumroll going!]

This post right here!!! 

'Cause what on earth could be better than a post that gives me ten linkbacks!?!?

I know you want to leave a comment on my best post of the year, don't you?  How about a link to one of your best 2008 posts?  I'd love to check it out!

I See What You're Saying (take one)

So, I agreed to do Linda's meme thing.  What!  It's cool.  She's a friend.  I can go vid-e-o for a friend. 

Thank you to my videographer daughter and to my techno-video-Hero Hubby for doing all the work here. They rock. Because I can neither operate a video camera nor can I upload video files to YouTube. That's what they're for, right?

Y'all should play next time. It wasn't so bad. Okay, okay. It was kind of fun.

So!  Funky Emo or Minimalist Mom?

I Die

Warning!  This post contains graphic photos.  Pregnant women and those suffering from heart conditions or ataxophobia should not read without first consulting a physician.

Today, I want to talk about death. I've been thinking a lot about death for the past...oh...day or so.  Ever since Saturday morning when my coffee maker died.  Before my first cup.  Creating a situation in which the thought of something ending in -cide first began to germinate and sound really good.

My caffeine-deprived state also left me vulnerable to victimization.  Hence, I was shanghaied into helping clean out the garage.  Garage-o-cide sounded like a much better option than garage-o-clean.  When humans are faced with extreme situations coupled with java-jonesing, we are capable of just about anything.  Even garage-killing.

As an aside, there was, at the height of autumn, which was, here in Texas, last month, a rather menacing and potentially life-threatening infestation of rodents.  Hero Hubby, like a true suburban Iron Man, eradicated the vermin, single-handedly and with the strategic use of rat bait because he has serious anti-fieldmouse skillz.  He just makes me tingle.

So, we're cleaning out the garage and...

Okay, one thing I forgot to mention.  When the mice eat the bait, they die.  Wherever they happen to...you know...die.  I think it's really bad.  Involving internal hemorrhaging and neuro-paralytic seizures. 

I dunno.  I might have made that up.

So, we're cleaning the garage and, in my de-caf state of mind, I really don't tolerate finding wee Stuart Little carcasses in various states of decomposition behind every bin and shelf.  That's just more death than I could handle in my weakened state.  Despite my -cidal obsession.

Another thing I should mention here:  The garage hadn't been cleaned out in over two years.  It was a mess, people.  I'm talking a big mess.  Mess-amphetamine.  Mess-rhoids.  Mess-athon.  Mess-o-cide.  The kind of mess you do not want to mess with alone.

<--Big, fat, garage mess.

But I had Hero Hubby to totally take advantage of my foggy brain help me.  Which also made me think about death.  (His.)

We went out to buy organizing bins.  During which time we also bought a new coffee maker.  Which we didn't plug in.  Because, when we got back home, we cleaned the garage.  While sweeping up dead mice.

<--  More terrible, horrible, no good, very bad garage mess.

It was hard work.  It involved ladders.  And power tools.   And poisonous chemicals.  And batteries. And rolls and rolls of industrial strength trash bags.  The BIG, BLACK, ones. And... *sob* ...brooms.  Lots of brooms.

Trip to Goodwill tomorrow. 

Except I won't see tomorrow.   The coffee-less garage cleaning killed me.  It was a very painful death.  Seriously painful.  I severely injured myself several times including dropping that big, green, very heavy trash bin in such a way that the edge of the handle gouged my shin.  And I broke a fingernail.  Which is VERY serious because I keep my fingernails short. There's not a lot to break off, okay? 

And when you're as dead as I am, you think about death a lot.  There's not a lot else to think about.  Just death.

And caffeine. 

The good news is that I'm a Christian.  So when I die, I go to heaven. Guaranteed.  In my case, Saturday's heaven looked a lot like a hot shower, a clean, mouse-free garage and a new coffee maker.

Oh, but heaven's going to rock a lot harder than that!  Can I get an Amen!?

Maybe I'm only mostly dead?  I think the coffee from the new coffee maker may have revived me.  I'll let you know after my next cup.

Me? Twitter-pated? Huh!

Yes, I know it was just a few or fewer weeks ago that I totally dissed on Twitter.  And yes, I started doing that twit thing a few days ago.  Quite frankly, I'm not ready to eat my words quite yet because I'm still deciding whether I should be twitter-pated.   Whatever.

I firmly believe, for example, that I have no clue what it's all about.  Seriously.  I toss out a bit of twittish verbiage and read that of others and...there it is. Reply @ or DM?  Okay.  I'm...lost.

And I'm still trying to figure out how, suddenly, people I have never met before in all my life are following me like I'm Verizon's newest wireless customer or something.  Hello. I use AT&T.  And twit from my new iPhone.  Nice to meet you.  Maybe.

The people I do know? They're a little tough to find.  You have to know their Twitter screen name or find them accidentally as you check out who is following whom.  It's more complicated than my Christmas card list!

Do you know, some of my long-time blog buddies are Twitter super-stars?  Or Twitter super-snobs.  I'm not sure which.  But if they're blog friends, they can be snobs if they want to.  I said so.

Does Jack Bauer tweet?  I'll ask him next time we take on terrorists together.

I figure I should to learn Twitter-fied etiquette because I'm all about etiquette. So, I go to the twitsperts, which is pretty much anyone who has been tweeting longer than me - which is just about everyone.  I'm slow like that.

I have no idea what this guy is talking about.  Still trying to figure it out.
I think this lady makes sense.  But I can't be certain.
Don't be a Twitter spammer seems like good advice.
A very helpful post.  (Thank you!)
This one's a little more specific.    Very helpful!

Okay.  I'm beginning to get it now.   I think.  I'll keep working on it.

Meanwhile, if you read my blog and want to follow me or want me to follow you, or even if you're totally indifferent to the whole twittin' thing, let me know and we'll follow each other.  Which makes for an interesting visual. 

 SheLives on Twitter.  (Let's hope that's not prophetic.)

The Gift That Keeps Getting Given

The most memorable Christmas gift anyone ever gave you.  Name it.  C'mon, quick!

I'd like to say it was something all sentimental and sappy that meant so much and blessed my heart and brought tears to my tri-focaled eyes and made me want to write something about it for one of the  Chicken Soup books, it would so stir the hearts and emotions of readers world-wide.

It wasn't.

The gift I most remember receiving for Christmas was...oh, man. This is crazy. 

An ugly sweater.

That's right.  At the end of my life, I will be eulogized by someone dear to me who said the pinnacle of Christmas gift-receiving in my lifetime was an ugly sweater.

It was 1999.  Sweatshirts with ribbed collars and cuffs, puffy painted country characters, and pithy little quotes about hearth and home were not only out of style, they'd actually been outlawed.  That's how horrible they were. 

But, somehow my mother managed to find a red one and a blue one.  One for me, one for my sister.

As soon as she got the box, my sister called me from Atlanta, where she was living at the time. Dumbstruck.  We both were.

"Maybe she picked it up at a convenience store somewhere?"

"Yeah?  Like those truck stops that sell bill caps and eagle figurines?"

"What was she doing at a truck stop?"

"I don't know.  Has she driven anywhere?"

"It's more likely she bought them at a 7-11."

"Yeah.  Or Big Lots."

"Yeah.  A black market Big Lots 'cause you know these things aren't legal anymore."

"Can we take them back?"

"Doubtful."

"Highly."

When my sister next came to visit me, she tried to push her sweater off on me, saying I'd be more likely to wear them.  I disagreed. Vehemently. It was quite a tussle.  My family ran for cover.  All except my son who was only two and thought it quite amusing that his mom and his Tia were in a serious cat fight.

Nevertheless, after she'd gone back home, I found she'd left her sweater behind.  Strategically hidden in my home.  I'm sure that's a violation of some sort of human rights issue or something.  Totally against U.N. diplomatic policy.  Has to be.

So, I declared war!

The next time she came, I hid both sweaters in her luggage just before she left for the airport.

When she moved to Seattle, she drove through Texas and left them hidden in my home again.

And so it continued, with the sweaters being hidden in each other's homes over the years in a contest to see how long it would take the hostess to find the guest's hiding spot.

One rule:  If you got busted before departure, you had to take the sweaters home with you.  Hey!  Wars have rules, man.

Over the years, we've lost track of the red sweater.  Either it's hidden in my sister's house and she hasn't found it yet, or it's in mine. 

The blue one, however...Holy smokes, she really got me good this last time!  The blue one is stuck inside my deep freeze.  That's right, she wet it before cramming it in there at the bottom in a corner under the boneless, skinless thighs.  I tried chipping it out, to no avail.  I'll have to defrost the freezer before I can get it out.  What to do with all my Costco booty during the defrosting process, though?

My sister is 10 years younger than me, shorter by a few inches and weighs about 30 pounds less.  I can take her out, man.

I need a really good idea for "re-gifting" the hideous blue Christmas sweater.  I mean, it's only right that I should return the favor and, hopefully do so in a way that completely, totally, thoroughly ticks provides an equally nice presentation for my spoiled, rotten, irritating, bratty, darling sister.

Can you help? What can I do that's better than the deep freeze?  Think hard.  Y'all are so much smarter than I am so I'm hoping you're also more devious.  I need a REALLY good plan.  (No, she doesn't read here anymore.  At least I don't think so.)

Meanwhile, here's a different ugly red sweater.  I wore it yesterday morning to open gifts.  It's okay to do that because only my family sees me in my goofy Christmas morning ensemble.  I'm sure if I wore this in public, I'd get sued. Or incarcerated. So, I'll just post it here instead for all the world to see.  It was a gift from my MIL a few years back.  It has little Christmas tree buttons and all the little images on it are 3-dimensional.

Do you think she also gave my SIL one?  Hmmm....

(Jennifer, my Christmas ensemble is not nearly as memorable as yours despite the 3D nutcracker hovering over my left boob.)

What's the most memorable Christmas gift you ever received?  Do NOT say sweater.  I'm already traumatized.

Hallelujah!

I love this arrangement for so many reasons.  It rocks, for one thing.  The bass player seated in the middle of the choir for another.  (Scroll past the solo to get to the really good part.)

Did you stand?   Did you get that whole thing about how the Lord omnipotent reigneth?  Hallelujah indeed!

A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours from She Lives!

Fabulous, Dah-ling!

Well, Brenda Jean over at In the Treetop thinks I'm fabulous.  There's something I've never been accused of before - being fabulous.  So I'm trying it on and thinking it fits rather nicely. Won't have to stand in line to return this little gift.  What do you think?  Very chic.  Kinda posh?   I like the pooch.

Here are the rules: 
Copy and paste the rules and instructions in your post. When posting on receiving the award, make sure you include who gave you the award and link it back to them. Post five winners and link it back to them as well. Post five of your addictions. Add the award image. Let your winners know you gave them an award by leaving them a comment on their blog.

Five of my addictions!?!?!?  How many addictions must one have in order to be fabulous?  I'm not sure I have five addictions.  I gave up all the fun stuff years ago.  I'm pretty addition-free, right?

Whaddya mean, "No, no. uh-no?"

What is an addiction, anyway?  Here are some definitions.  (Okay, so a few of them fit.)

1. The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.
2.  an abnormally strong craving 
3. Habitual psychological and physiological dependence on a substance or practice beyond one's voluntary control.
4. the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming . . .  to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

Trauma?  [shudder] Okay, I think I understand now.

1. Brushing my teeth.  I refuse to floss, but I brush multiple times each day.  I don't know how many.  Every time I wander anywhere near my toothbrush, it just sort of calls to me.  "Carol, use me.  Scrub me all over your teeth and gums. You know you want to."   Yeah.
2. Caffeine.  In the form of coffee and Sonic Cherry Vanilla Cokes.  To the extent that I cannot rehearse or perform music without a Sonic CVC.   I'm certain there are rehab facilities that deal exclusively with Sonic CVC addition, but I'm just not ready to give it up.  Rock bottom is still a way away.
3. Kissing my kids.  On the temple and the forehead are my favorite spots.  They're so used to it, they don't even notice it anymore.  (I love smelling my kids' skin!)  I think I may be having withdrawals as I type.  Hang on....

Okay, I'm back.

4.  Reading.  I honestly can not sleep without spending some time in a book first.  That's some serious dependence right there 'cause I definitely need my sleep, people.  And if I wake up in the middle of the night with hot flashes - I'm not saying I do that, but *IF* I were to - I grab a book.  Gotta have it, man!
5. Blogging.  But you knew that, right?

Five Fabulous Bloggers?   No prob.

1.  Robin - Pensieve just has all the makings of a great blog.  Robin and I only recently reconnected and girlfriend just gets better and better!

2. You know how sometimes you find a new-to-me blog and you think; I want to get to know this blogger better?  Amy at Our Bumpy Road is a new-to-me blog.   I'm tickled that she and I both have Syds that play bass in rock bands. 

3.  Jenn's little peeks into the palace at Happily Ever After Land are a hoot.  You'll want to tune in for her Christmas morning get-up that she's buying through the BoxTops 4 Education marketplace.  It'll be boxtop posh, no doubt!  I'm thinking I may give y'all a peek at my fabulous Christmas morning ensemble as well.

4.    Susanne.  Who is Living to Tell the Story through wind chill factor of -47F. I mean, it's painful just thinking about it, okay?  And she's living it.  And doing a nice job of it as she extends hospitality and friendliness in every post.

5.  Lidian.  Kitchen Retro.  Love this blog!  Lidian shares vintage advertising from back when life was simpler that makes today's advertising seem...almost intelligent.  Almost.  If you enjoy peeking into the past, Kitchen Retro gives a glimpse that you'll not find in the history books.

 Now go do what you do best, ladies - Be Fabulous! 

Merry Christmas!

Got Phone, Will Blog

When you get a new iPhone the week before Christmas, but it's not a Christmas present because you made it very clear to your techno-geek family that you didn't want any electronics for Christmas this year, you just have to see if you can post to your blog with it.

It's a rule.

The War on Christmas

In a country where more than 70% of the population claim Christianity, and a huge chunk of the others seem to enjoy Christmas anyway - or at least acknowledge that its celebration in our nation pre-dates the nation itself,  we have this?

What do you think?  It the media hype doing more to perpetuate the problem this miniscule troop of Christmas-haters is instigating? If the media ignored it, would it go away? 

What about us?  What do we do with the Scrooges and Grinches?  How did Tiny Tim and the Who's down in Whoville handle it?

Putting Christ Back in Christmas

So, I'm listening to a sermon podcast, which is nothing new for me - I listen to a lot of sermons.  This particular pastor is bit new to me, though.  Pastor Pete the Blowup Snow Toy Guy is new to me.  I figure I'll check out his sermonizing and see how it goes.

It was good.  It's the only one I've heard from him, mind you.  I'll need to hear more, of course.  (Note:  I am very picky about sermons.  God gave me a measure of discernment and armed me with a Bible and I'm not afraid to use either one.)

Pastor Pete's sermon was about putting Christ back in Christmas which is not a new concept to me - been hearing all my life about keeping Christ in Christmas, reason for the season, staying focused on Jesus and so forth.  No clue how many times I've seen similar sentiments expressed in God's blogdom this past week as I virtually toured all the beautific-ally decorated homes. 

Can I just stop here for a second and say I never, in all my life, ever -DREAMED- there were so many different varieties of nativity scenes, y'all.  It's outrageous!  I saw them from Egypt and Central America and Russia and all over; homemade ones and 'spensive ones and heirlooms - even one with decapitated wisemen - and some just like mine with the wisemen's heads still intact.  They were all very cool. I had a blast looking at them, I truly did.  So fun! 

Where was I?  Oh yea, reason for the season...

So, Pastor Pete challenged me to go deeper than the nativity scenes.  Deeper than Joy to the World and The First Noel.  Deeper than saying, "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays."  Deeper than the advent calendars and reading the second chapter of Luke as season-reason traditions.  Pastor Pete's challenge is to dig so deep that we actually uncover Christ and who He is and what He's about.

If we want to put Christ back into Christmas, do our lives communicate that, "Everybody is welcome" and "Nobody is perfect?" 

It's easy to like people who are like us.  It's easy to like people who do everything the way we think they ought.  It's easy to like people who say all the right things and don't say the wrong things.  It's easy to like people who share our values and  traditions. 

"Everybody is welcome."

It's not so easy to love those who deviate from what we think is good, though, is it?  But that's what Christ commanded us to do; to love our neighbor.

"Nobody is perfect."

Jesus came to that little manger for everybody.  He came for the world.  Even those who reject Him. He loves and welcomes everyone to approach Him.  Even to those of us who are not perfect, He beckons.  And He went from the manger to the cross and beyond the grave for everyone, still calling us to follow.

Everybody is welcome.  Nobody is perfect.

What does that mean for us as bloggers?  What can we do as we seek Christ in Christmas, to reflect Him in our lives?    How can we carry this through into the upcoming year and in all we do both online and off?  How can we welcome everybody, keeping in mind that nobody is perfect?  How can we welcome everybody 365?

(Thanks, Pete.)