31 May 2010

Dey's so purty!

Well, Happy Memorial Day, people!  If there is anyone reading this who is either a soldier, past, present, or future, or a husband or wife of one, my hat goes off to you!  Thank you so much for your service!  You are the reason for this country being great - you and BBQ ribs.  But mostly you!  :-) 

Jenny and I got up this morning and figured we should probably work in the yard.  The lawn really needed a haircut, and Jenny wanted to get rid of all of the weeds in the garden areas, so we launched the "Weedeater Offensive"  Unfortunately, many brave flowers were killed during this offensive, but they did not give their lives in vain - the yard looks a helluva lot better than it did!  It almost looks like we know what we're doing!  :-)

We got the yard done just in time, really - there was a bad looking storm rolling in!  We ended up not getting too much rain, but the wind was blowing to beat the band!  I took a couple of minutes as the rain was starting to take a few pictures of my wife's favorite flowers in our yard: her hydrangeas.  They really are absolutely gorgeous, as you can see!  She's so proud of them, because for the longest time it seemed like we couldn't get them to grow.  I guess she finally figured out the magic words!  Today's stroke is based on the colors of her beautiful hydrangeas - enjoy!

30 May 2010

Noticing the days hurrying by/ When you're in love, my how they fly...

Well, today I played a couple of great sets at church!   I really had a blast playing this new funky tune Jason wrote, called "Taste and See".  I'll see if I can get a recording sometime and put it up.  Both services were pretty well attended, as we had a few baby dedications this morning, including one for my niece, Savannah, during second service.

After church, I came home and got ready to go to my sister (Savannah's mom) Erica's house to stuff myself silly with hamburgers.  As I was getting ready, I looked outside, and realized that the sky was as clear as all get-out - almost looked like the sky in that scene in Ferris Bueller when he's justifying "taking the day off".  It immediately inspired me to do today's stroke, so I started rummaging through my paints.  I came across an absolutely beautiful blue - one that really reminded me of that particular "Ferris Sky".  It just happened to be one of the colors that Jenny picked up the other day for 2 bucks!  A "Two-Buck Blue", if you will!  And I will!  So, anyway, I slathered a bit of that on the canvas, and went on my way.  Happy Day-Before-Memorial-Day to ya!

29 May 2010

Protect your chicken from Dokken...

Ya ever have one of those days when you start out thinking you're going to do one thing and end up doing something completely different?  Yeah, that was my day.  I woke up and played some hide and seek with my niece, Atala.  Then we went upstairs and did some coloring in one of her Barbie coloring books.  Got to use her Crayola Glitter Crayons™, which was pretty cool - we didn't have anything fancy like that when I was growing up!  :-)  After we all took a little trip to the St. Louis Library, Jenny and I dropped Ma and Atala off at my sister Erica's house, and came home.

I had originally planned on going on down to the Rib America Festival downtown to see some music, but ended up running some errands, grabbing some new clothes, and watching the baseball game at home - figured it would save money!

A band I know from Chicago, The Steepwater Band was playing early, then a bunch of 80s hair metal bands were gonna play: Jackyl, most known for their ridiculous blues-rock number "The Lumberjack", during which the lead singer "plays" a chainsaw solo, L.A. Guns, who are kind of a raunchy-bluesy rock band from the Sunset Strip in Hollywood (an offshoot of Guns and Roses).  Next was Dokken, which was one of my favorite bands back in high school - I was definitely "Rokken with Dokken"!  They had a few minor hits, including the theme song to A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, cleverly titled "Dream Warriors".

Finishing up the night was the Attention Whore Of The Month, Bret Michaels.  Yes, I know he's been in the hospital, etc.  I do, however, question how bad he really was, since he's already back out on tour, despite warnings from his doctor.  Of course, this all could have (to a certain extent) been a major PR move on his part to A) help him win The Donald's Super-Has-Been-Apprentice thing, and B) sell tickets to what was probably only a half-way-decent selling tour.  I have nothing more to say about him. I will now step down from my soapbox. :-)

Anyway, tonight's yellow and black stroke was inspired by the only band I really wanted to see tonight, Dokken, stars of probably the funniest commercial for anti-virus software ever.  BOOM!

28 May 2010

You got some syrup with that?

Hey, it's finally Friday, and whats more: it's Memorial Day weekend!  Three-day weekend, baybee!  You could tell as soon as you walked into my particular place of employment that even though there were a few warm bodies present, there was really no one there!  We ended up shutting down the whole place by 2 pm.  Woo hoo!

So I came home and started cleaning some stuff up, because we've got some company this weekend: Ma came up with my niece, Atala, for the dedication of another niece, Savannah, at church this weekend.

One of the first things Miss Atala asked me about was this painting, and if she could contribute to it in any way (she didn't put it quite that eloquently, but you get the general gist).  I told her she could, of course, do a stroke, so she picked out this nice little light purple.  Since it was a last minute thing, and it didn't really correspond with anything that happened today, I figured I'd just give you this picture to ponder:


27 May 2010

It's in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills. It's in somebody else’s name.

Well, so Jenny had the day off and was running some errands when she gave me a call this morning.  She said that Joanne's had a massive sale on a bunch of different paints, in the brand that I use and wanted to know if I wanted any.  I figured for a bunch of paints that were normally $8 or $9, on sale for $2, even if I don't use them that much, it still expands my palette, and ya never know when I'll be able to put it to great use. 

Today, for instance, I immediately went for a particular color she bought - one that I'd thought about buying a few other times, but just couldn't justify buying it, since I didn't know how often I would use it.  I think it could be a lot of fun, though.  It's called Iridescent Light Gold, and yes, it's all shimmery and stuff - OOH, LOOK, SOMETHING SHINY!  I may try to do a whole other painting showcasing that particular color at some point, but I've got a lot on my "to do" list at the moment.

And right now I need to get going - got band practice, then I've got to get to bed asap.  I've gotta be at work at 6 am!  That just may kill me!  I still, after all of these years of getting up early, hate mornings!  Later!

26 May 2010

Do bears bear? Do bees bee?

I know I'm likely going to start sounding like a broken record, but there are just a few things in my life that I really love enough to talk about on more than one occasion.  Tonight I actually went down to the library to get a couple of movies.  I was just in the mood to watch a movie - preferably a scary movie (I had my mind set on "Drag Me To Hell") but it wasn't in.  I did, however, grab a couple of different movies.  When I got home, though,  we were hungry, and Jenny got a phone call, and in all that time being side-tracked, I got out of the mood for other movies, and instead got in the mood for a little "Moonlighting". 

Now I know I've talked about this before, but I really love David Addison!  I always did.  He was just so much of a smartass - I wanted to be (and, I guess to a certain extent did become) like him!  I like to think I got some of my timing (comic or otherwise) from watching him.

Well, it's late, and I've gotta watch the rest of this episode and get to bed!  Tonight's stroke (which was originally supposed to be a kind of light blue-ish-grey-ish purple-ish kinda thing) ended up being more of a brown-ish grey, and for that I'm truly sorry.  It seems to work, though.  You don't like it?  Boy, are you a tough customer!  I bet you didn't even clap your hands to save Tinkerbell!  (this is a line from the show, by the way!)  G'night!

25 May 2010

This is a really volcanic ensemble you're wearing, it's really marvelous!

There's this book that I'm almost finished with called "You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried", by Susannah Gora, which is all about the John Hughes movies of the 80s (think "Sixteen Candles", "Breakfast Club", and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") and the effect those movies had on not only pop culture, but society as a whole - how we began to think about life after watching them.  I wasn't really that fond of her style of writing - she seemed way too much like a "fan-girl", or someone writing for a teen magazine or something.  I did, though, enjoy the behind-the-scenes stories on all of the movies she did cover.  There were a lot of things I already knew ( just because I'm a movie/music/pop-culture geek), but then there were a lot of things I didn't know at all, and that was kinda fun!   I guess all in all, I would recommend the book if you are a huge fan of that particular genre of movies.  Just don't expect some sort of masterpiece in literature - or even correct grammar and punctuation in a lot of it.

Okay, enough griping!  The book did, at least, inspire a nice little pink stroke!  I tell you what, I'll never forget the night I first saw "Pretty In Pink"!  I was a member of one of those "BMG Music Clubs" or something like that - one of the ones where they send you 8 cassettes (!) for one penny.  I finished watching the movie, watched the credits, and as soon as I turned off the VCR I ran into my room and filled out the little order card, ordering the soundtrack to the movie!  The film itself just made that much of an impact on me, but the soundtrack itself was absolutely brilliant!  I still listen to it to this day, at least once every month or two!

By the way, I always thought Andie should have gone with Duckie.
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You're still here?

24 May 2010

...But then my homework was never quite like this...

Yes, folks, it is definitely that time of year!  Summer In The City.  And for those of you who don't live here, St. Louis is notorious for their hot-and-humid-as-all-get-out summers!  Today was the first really hot day at work, too.  Hopefully I'll get the boss to get me a fan soon - there's no circulation whatsoever in "the cage" where I work!  It's all good, though - at least I've got a job!  Plus, I'll take the heat over the cold any day of the week!

It's a short blog tonight - nothing really that impressive happened today!  :-)  Just figured I'd throw a little bit of red and orange down and give you guys a few "Hot" songs, and now I'm gonna watch a little TV with my lovely wife!

23 May 2010

Waiting for Freedom Williams to come along and start rapping...

Man, did I get a rude awakening today!  It's been really nice, temperature-wise, all week, and then yesterday and today, BAM!  Hotter Than Hell!  Yesterday it wasn't quite so bad - we went to the game, but we were in the shade.  Even when I mowed the lawn after that it really didn't seem so bad. 

Today, though, we finished up the whole moving process for Jenny's dad - loaded up all the boxes, washer and dryer, deep freeze ( I wanted to get in there and take a nap!), dressers, etc.  It was so darned hot and, of course humid (this is St. Louis, after all!) that we were all just miserable!  We were all just dripping with sweat!

All of us were talking all day about how wonderful it would be if the swimming pools were open, so I figured I'd do a nice little cool-pool-blue stroke today!  Hopefully we'll get to jump into one pretty soon!

22 May 2010

The farm team ain't *that* bad...

Well, hey hey, folks, it's been a heckuva day!  Thanks to my friend Sam from church, I got to take 3 buddies to the Cards game in amazing seats (see pic)!  We didn't win, but the "farm team" as we were calling them (Tony had most of the regulars out of the game - Yadier Molina, who's normally the catcher, ended up playing 1st base in place of Albert Pujols towards the end of the night even!) really tried to rally in the 9th inning, coming back from a 10-3 deficit to at least make it 10-7. 

Anyway, after the game, I came home, mowed the yard, and then while I was getting cleaned up, Sweet Pea came by with her mom to say "hi".  I was so glad, too - I hadn't seen her in quite a while!  We played Poptropica for a little while, and just generally had a great time!  She asked if I'd already done my stroke for the day (she likes to keep up on my painting) and, since I hadn't, she asked if she could do it tonight.  Of course, I said she could!  She picked out the red, so I squirted some on the canvas, and she just scraped it across a little bit.  I thought it looked pretty good!

21 May 2010

Game: Blouses!

So tonight Jenny and I were out running some errands when we decided we were hungry - and we didn't feel like trying to dig anything out to cook!    So we headed on down to Lemay to go to Cusanelli's.  It just sounded really good, and we knew it would be a good meal, relatively inexpensive, and quick.  Jenny got the barbeque chicken and I got the fillet of sole - that's one big ol' piece of fishy, lemme tell ya!  It was really good, though!  So we came on home, stopping by the DQ on the way home, because it's on the way, and I'm pretty sure there's a local law that says that if you've had dinner and you drive by a DQ, you have to stop in and get some ice cream.  We didn't want to be on the wrong side of the law, so we stopped in, and indeed got ourselves some ice creams.  They were very yummy, thanks for asking!  :-)

After we got home I was kind of wondering what I would do again tonight (I've been in kind of a slump the last few days - I think it's just a normal phase, though) so I asked her what I should do.  She actually suggested that I merely slap some plain medium on the canvas for some texture, but I didn't want to do that, so I decided I'd use some Clear Tar Gel.  I didn't do it clear this time, though, like I did a couple of months ago - I mixed some purple in there, mostly because I love purple, but also because I just love Prince!

I'm actually not sure why I thought of Prince, or purple, for that matter.  It just kind of popped in there, kinda like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man did in Ghostbusters.  It just happened!

20 May 2010

Whoa--o-o-o-ohhhh! Who-o-o-o-oo-o-ohh!

Tonight is a much happier night than last night - if for nothing else, than just the mere fact that the Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, and the Cards won, so we're back on top in the National League Central Division!  Woo Hoo! 

I actually feel the need to apologize - I feel as if I've kinda cheated on you guys tonight.  The biggest thing on my mind this evening was not this particular paint stroke, but another project, which I wanted to do pretty much to relax; to take my mind off of my tics for just a little while!  They've been extremely bad the last few days, and I just really wanted to do something to distract myself, and this is exactly what I needed!

So,anyway, I got that outta my system (for tonight, at least) and I decided that since I was so happy with the Braves helping us out, that I would dedicate this evening's stroke --a red with a teensy bit of purple in it --  to the Tribe (wait, what? - dass nachos!).  I'm man enough to root for my competitors if it means that it benefits my guys!

So anyway, that's what's going on tonight - now to finish up watching the Grey's Anatomy with the wife.  Don't know why she watches this stuff - I'm usually at band practice.  I'm not a fan of this drama stuff - there's enough drama in real life, ya know?

19 May 2010

Let me take you down, cause I'm going to...

So I'm in a real hurry - gotta take care of some stuff tonight, so I'll tell you that I was excited to find out I had some strawberries in our little garden!  We planted them a couple of years ago, but this is the first time we've really gotten any, so - YAY!  They're really great, too!

Since it's a short blog tonight, I'll give you a few strawberry things to listen to, for my red stroke:

Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter 23

Deana Carter - Strawberry Wine

Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints

So enjoy, and I'll talk to you tomorrow! :-)

18 May 2010

A Møøse once bit my sister ...

Mynd you møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...

We here at "365 Strokes" would like to apologize for the beginning of this particular blog entry.  Those responsible have been sacked.  :-)

Well, we just got back from Jenny's dad's again to load up (hopefully) the last of the stuff we "inherited".  Yup, I got my big-ass TeeVee!  :-D  Jenny may be right - I may not ever leave this room!  It's got heat and AC, the computer, and now this monstrosity!  I wonder if there's a way we can put another bathroom in here - it could be like a mini studio apartment!  HA!

Jim (her dad) had a coupon to a place called Indigo Joe's out there in Wildwood.  The food was great, as long as you like pre-made stuff warmed up to make it look like it was fresh.  It was kind of like that scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation where the family is at a Parisian restaurant and after they order they cut to a shot of the kitchen and the "cooks" are just warming up TV dinners and putting a little plastic French flag in them.  Well, at least we had the coupon.

The best part of the meal for me was this dessert I got.  I don't have to go to the doctor for my next check-up for 6 more months, so by dern I'm gonna eat some sweets!  I got this triple-chocolate-something-er-other with layers of chocolate mousse and chocolate cake.  Man, was it ever rich!  But it was just yummy enough to inspire tonight's stroke.  :-)

17 May 2010

Cards 'n' ice cream 'n' smelly thangs...

Well I tell you what, I'm in a pretty darned good mood today, despite the fact that it's still grey and narsty outside!  My brother-in-law, Jimmy, is taking Jenny, their mom, Carla, and me to the Cards game tonight!  Hopefully the rain will hold off, like weather.com says!

It was a pretty good day at work, too - everyone kind of left me alone, and I got to get stuff done.  Then one of the guys I work with, who's been out for almost a year because his kidneys pretty much shut down came in to say "hi" and told me he's going under the knife in October - they've found a donor!  That's awesome!  They really thought it'd be a couple of years before they found anyone, but a co-worker of his wife happened to be a match and wanted to donate!  He's been doing dialysis 3 times a week since he went into the hospital.  Turns out that all of his life he'd been living on one kidney, and then the one that was working was only functioning at about 5%!  I'm so glad he got this - you can tell just by looking at him he's got a new lease on life.

Well, like they say, life is short - better stop to smell the roses, live life to it's fullest, eat more ice cream, hug everyone ya love, all that  kinda good stuff!  Mmmmmm, ice cream!  Oh - speaking of which, that's what I based my stroke on today.  See ya!

16 May 2010

Orange you glad...

Boy, do I need a pick-me-up today!  It was nasty out once again (I swear we're living in Seattle!), the Cardinals lost again, knocking them out of first place in the National League Central Division, and one of my heroes from my metal-head days, Ronnie James Dio passed away.  He was one of the original metal dudes, in bands going back to the 60s.  He was in Black Sabbath for a while, replacing Ozzy Osbourne (who ever thought Dio would outlive Ozzy? :-D).  Also, he was pretty much solely responsible for popularizing the devil horns sign.  Dio said that his grandmother used to make the hand gesture to ward off the evil eye, which is very common among superstitious Southern Italians. The "horns," or "Corna," themselves are used both to scare away and give someone the "Malocchio" (the Evil Eye).

Well, enough heavy metal (and Italian superstition) history.  I needed a little sunshine today, so I decided to put down a little bright orange.  It reminded me of an album by a guy named Todd Fancey.  Not sure why he put a big ol' orange on the cover, but the songs inside are so wonderfully happy and sugary sweet they just can't help but to make ya happy!  They're like good old fashioned cheesy 70s AM radio pop hits!  I'd post some on here, but I honestly just can't find any online.  I did, however, find this little gem from another band he's in, The New Pornographers.  Enjoy, and have a sugary sweet, wonderfully happy day!

15 May 2010

Grey. Gray. Greigh?

However you spell it (yeah, I made that last one up - but I would definitely use that!  It just looks cool!) that's how I describe this day.  It's grey outside, and I feel a bit greigh on the inside - just a bit blah in the stomach.  Probably all the drainage caused by allergies, caused by the grey-ness outside!  It's all a vicious cycle!  :-)

So today we went out and got some more stuff at her dad's house.  Tomorrow we get the fridge.  I'm starting to feel very claustrophobic in here, lemme tell ya!  This move has almost made it to where we've outgrown our house and need to move, too!  :-)  I guess you could just say our house is just that much more cozy!  :-D

So, since all this gray stuff was happening I figured I'd mix up a bunch of different colors and make a little greigh myself. 

Oh, and here's a nice little song by Junior Senior to take all of this grey away!  Enjoy!

14 May 2010

It's not easy...

We woke up this morning and started getting ready, like always. Once the sun came up, Jenny looked outside and said,"You know, everything's just so green!"  She was just really impressed at how wonderful everything looked outside.  Since we'd had so much rain the last few days everything was, indeed, very green.  Unfortunately this means the weeds, too! :-/  We've gotta find a way to get rid of all that crap, and then we'll have a yard just as good as the little old lady across the street who gets up at 5 am every morning and is out there literally sweeping the yard with her broom, and picking up every single leaf by hand!   Boy, does her yard look good, though - maybe even Hank Hill good!

So I thought about this all day, and I figured it's been a while since I did anything with green (yeah, this one may make ya need a hanky)  - or at least a real Green (this is one of my favorites of all time.  Jenny and I have two songs that are "our songs" - this one and "More Today Than Yesterday" by Spiral Starecase.  That's the one we had our first dance to at our wedding reception.  Both of these will always hold a special place in my heart!  Love you, Jenny!  :-)

Any way, I kinda got off on a tangent there - I meant to tell you that I did a nice little stroke of the green stuff, in honor of our lush, green yard!  Just squint really hard at the picture, and maybe you'll see our front yard!  Okay, prolly not, but it's fun to do, anyway!

13 May 2010

I have to push the pram a lot...

So Jenny's dad is moving, and so he's getting rid of some furniture - just doesn't have any room for it, doesn't need some of it anymore, etc.  Therefore we're inheriting some cool stuff.  We've got a new hutch to put more dishes and whatever else we want to in there.  It's got a couple of shelves in the top part, with glass doors and a light - just perfect for our set of plates commemorating potatoes that resemble famous polka stars.  No, we don't really have those.  But they would be interesting. 

We also got something we really wanted - a new dining room table!  We had a great one that I received from some friends of my family's down in Cassville, MO, where I grew up (I actually grew up in Washburn, about 8 miles south - Cassville was the "big town" where we went shopping, went to church, and where we teenagers would go to "cruise the square" on Friday and Saturday nights).  It is a great table, and we'll most likely keep it, but we wanted something a little different.  So we got Jim's table, which just happens to be round.  Yup, it is, indeed, a round table.  I feel a bit like some important dude - maybe even a king or something.  Maybe his name is Arthur.  Yeah, let's go with that.  :-) 

So now we've got it all in the house and situated.  The only thing left now is a TV and refridgerator, so we've got some more heavy lifting coming up this weekend!  (yay.)  It's all good, though - the house looks completely different!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that I put down a light brown stroke this evening, to go with the light brown round table (enjoy this bonus footage - it's awesome! :-D)

12 May 2010

BYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....

There have often been special guest hosts who went on to host major television shows: Ryan Seacrest was a guest host on Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" before Kasem retired and Seacrest took over.  Jay Leno (who was arguably much funnier at the time) guest-hosted for the mighty Johnny Carson before he beat out [the better candidate] David Letterman to take over that top spot (a spot which he had to fight tooth and nail for over the years, occasionally yielding to Letterman's better numbers).  Yeah, as you could probably guess, I'm much more a Letterman fan that Leno.  I also liked Conan a lot more, too.  Truth be told, though, I'll take Craig Ferguson over the lot of 'em. This is a brilliant monologue he delivered a couple of years ago - kind of serious, but he's just so damned funny every night!  He and Conan O'Brien were the only talk show hosts who stayed in production over the writer's strike a couple of years ago because they write their own stuff!  So, yeah, I'll take that over the watered-down corporate crap on the other shows any night (not that I ever get to stay up to see 'em, but ya know)!

Anyway, I decided tonight that I'd like to have a "guest painter" for the night.  I was asking Jenny for her advice (she's definitely my muse in all of this, as she is for pretty much anything creative that I do) and she asked if she could possibly do a stroke.  After I grilled her a minute or two on her aspirations and intentions, I decided that she would be a worthy guest host tonight. 

She picked the color (yellow), but I asked her not to use the big-ass brush she originally had in her hand.  She did, however, pick the location.  I can't remember exactly why she picked that particular spot, and neither can she, other than "it just looked like it should go there".  Good enough for me.  Regular scheduled programming will resume tomorrow.  Until then, good night, and good morning.

11 May 2010

Gimme some-a-dat 'mater sauce...

I like the simple things in life.  I'm a sucker for Scooby Doo,  just sitting around talking and having a beer, watching movies most people think of as too stupid to even think about watching.  I love ice cream.  Even if it's just vanilla ice cream I love that (of course it helps a bit if there's chocolate syrup on it!).  And I love Cusanelli's restaurant in Lemay.  It's right down at the corner of Bayless and Lemay Ferry, and it's just really good!  It's a little mom and pop Italian restaurant (ironically a couple of Asian descent bought it a few years ago and they run it - still really tasty Italian food!). 

Jenny got home from work today, and she looked and sounded like death warmed over.  We don't know if it's a cold or that allergy-type cold/flu/whatever thing that I had all through March.  Sounds like a lot of the same symptoms.  Hopefully it won't last too long - like maybe she'll get better overnight!

Anyway, she looked miserable, and we didn't have anything that was able to be prepared easily (yes, for the record, I could have made something, but she didn't want to have to defrost anything), so she suggested picking up a pizza at first, then, for some reason, that thought quickly turned to going out to Cusanelli's, which is what we did.  The nice thing about that place is that you don't have to dress up.  I mean, it's not like White Castle or anything, but you don't have to have on your Sunday best. 

So we got there and sat down, and didn't really even have to look at the menus very long.  She wanted the pizza, which is probably her favorite thing on the menu, and also maybe just about her favorite pizza, period - and that's saying something!  She really loves her pizza! 

I had the fish sammich and a side order of cavatelli with a red sauce.  Man, is that good!  And, by the way, the red sauce is just about the color of my stroke today.  Coincidentally.  Right.  :-)

10 May 2010

Well, it *was* 80°, now it's 50°...

Man is it cold - again!  It ain't s'posed to be like this in mid-May!  It's (comparatively speaking) colder than a well digger's behind, lemme tell ya!  I just don't care for it one iota!

Well, today went by pretty quickly.  After work I had to go by Dr. Coon's office again to file down a crown that cracked a little bit yesterday.  It really wouldn't have been too bad, actually, if it wasn't constantly cutting the tar outta my tongue!  Man, did that hurt!

Anyway, I got home and Jenny and I decided that the heat needed to go on temporarily.  It's not what we would prefer, but we would rather not sit around trying to watch The Big Bang Theory while our teeth are chattering.  Jenny especially doesn't mind because the weather reminds her of autumn, which is her favorite season of all.  She feels the best when she can just bundle up and snuggle, ya know? 

So since it's so chilly out (comparatively speaking, of course) I decided I needed a nice little blue streak again tonight.  It's not just plain freezing, so I just made it a light blue.  Well, off to get warmed up! 

09 May 2010

Love ya, Ma!

So Happy Mother's Day, all you mothers!  We had a pretty good day all around - went to church with Jenny's mom out in the county, then came home and got ready for her brother's big "Mother's Day Pork Steak Extravaganza"!  Man, was there some good eatin' over there!  He had two kinds of chicken wings for appetizers: teriyaki and Jamaican Jerk.  Love it!  Aside from that, we had Jenny's famous fruit dip with strawberries, pineapple and bananas, some really awesome deviled eggs, and, of course the pork steaks and some of the biggest bratwursts I've ever seen in my life!  They had to be 15" long!

So we feasted on all of that (I'm still full!) and watched the Cards wallup the Pirates.  I also got to play with our little cousin, Sweet Pea, who was also there.  We played hide and seek, threw the frisbee around, and then I taught her how to hit the wiffle ball!  She was an absolute natural at it!  We may have to start thinking about college scholarships already, I'm tellin' ya!

Well, tonight's stroke, though, really has nothing to do with any of that.  I was looking at the piece this morning, and I took off my glasses to clean them.  When I did that I looked at the pic and could swear I saw Janice from the Electric Mayhem on the Muppet Show!  So, I decided then and there to keep my glasses off and to put a little light-orange nose on her!  So there ya have it! 

08 May 2010

What's with this cold crap?

It's almost the middle of May, folks - it's supposed to be warm!  It was just downright cold today!  Well, it was in the low 60s, at least, and that's about 15 or 20 degrees too cold for me!  :-)  I tell you what, it's liable to be a little chilly tomorrow at my brother-in-law Jimmy's "Mother's Day Pork Steak Extravaganza"!  I'll brave it, though, because Jimmy is one heckuva cook - my mouth's already watering just thinking about it!

Well, I tell you what - I'm not gonna last too much longer this evening.  I just got home from playing drums for about 5 or 6 hours!   We had a thing over at my church called the "Boiler Room".  It's about 2 hours of nothing but praise and worship music.  It's an absolute blast, really, just seeing how all of these people are so moved by this music!  We practiced for a few hours beforehand, too - that's why it was  5 or 6 hours, by the way.  :-)

So since my day comprised of cold air and music, I decided to do a little blue 1/8th note.  Right now, though, I'm gonna watch a little bit of the Betty White SNL and drag my butt to bed!  "Night, all!

07 May 2010

Crunch!

My wife is a funny gal.  She really does make me laugh a lot - and not in a bad way!  We actually really have a good time together, making each other laugh, making fun of each other, etc.  One thing that always cracks me up is that she has to have something crunchy to eat with whatever meal she's eating.  That's easy if it's cereal in the morning, but not so easy if it's pancakes, or soup.  Anytime she has something like that she has to have either some crispy toast, or crackers for her soup, or potato chips, or something!

And it's not just the crunchy thing - she's just somewhat particular about what textures she likes and doesn't like to eat.  I've gotten her to try some things, such as fish and crab meat, but she still won't even think about touching shrimp or lobster!  Oh, well - more for me (that is if we ever get to have it :-D)!

So, tonight it's a bit of a shortened blog - we went out to her dad's place to help him move some things around, so we didn't get back until late.  I didn't really know even what I was going to do.  I was sitting here at a complete loss, really, when Jenny suggested that I just add some texture - no color, and that I could talk about her love of all things crunchy.  I do love crunchy.  And her! (all together - AWWWWW!) :-)

06 May 2010

Say what? I wanna ride...

So wow, this day has been a true emotional rollercoaster today!  I went to work really pretty groggy, but I was determined to make it a good day.  And it was: everything was relatively quiet (or as much so as it can be in a metal shop!), so I was happy there.  It was really nice out - sunny and about 76° out (ya know I love that!) and then I got a "greenlight" on an article  I submitted on fark.com!  This may not mean anything to most of you, but it's pretty cool to me - the headline that I submitted was chosen to be on the main page of this website, to be read by literally thousands of people worldwide!  That's just pretty darn cool to me!

Anyway, that "high" was kinda brought down by the news that the sale of  KFUO, Classic 99, the only classical music station in the entire area (and only one of about 20 or so in the entire nation) has been approved by the FCC.  This really hurt me.  I'm a HUGE fan of classical music, but more importantly I'm a huge fan of people being able to have exposure to classical music, and the arts in general.  The station was sold to Joy FM, a contemporary Christian radio station.  Now I do consider myself a Christian, so just the general fact that it was a Christian station does not bother me.  What does bother me is the fact that Classic 99 is (was) the only, ONLY station in town broadcasting classical music, while there are several contemporary Christian channels, as well as gospel and other religious channels.   This was the only exposure a majority of people had to classical music and the arts, really.  I mean I can listen to different stations online, or a few stations on XM satellite radio, but a lot of people don't have those options, and KFUO was the only outlet for classical music, and that kind of education, period. 

So, after that down, I got a call from my sister, Jo Beth, who lives in Chicago.  She had some really big news!  She's decided to go back to school to get her masters in counseling, and also, just a little side note: she's getting married!  This came as a complete shock, really!  So, this news did two things - 1) put me in a better mood again, and 2) gave me the idea for my stroke today!

05 May 2010

I'm sinkin' my mayo...

Well, hey there, folks, howya doin'?   Are ya out gettin' your drink on along with the rest of the yayhoos out there celebrating a holiday that most of Mexico doesn't even celebrate!  I guess any excuse to drink beer (although I'm curious as to why Bud Light seems to be the official drink of Cinco de Mayo - give me a Pacifico any day over that!).  :-)

If I were to partake, I would probably be down at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Maguey, where Jose and crew could serve us some tasty, tasty grub ( I  love the huevos rancheros) and, of course, a friggin' fishbowl-sized glass of their amazing margaritas (doesn't that look fabulous? Yeah, it is!)!

Jenny and I are actually going to have a scrumptious uber-Mexican dinner tonight: hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans and corn on the cob!  :-)  We'll go for Mexican after the crowds die down - maybe this weekend.

Today's stroke actually started out to be a color that reminded me of all of the nasty green pollen that's been absolutely covering everything - I have to run my windshield wipers to see!  My allergies have been just kicking the crap out of me today (along with half of the people I know)!  After I smeared it on the canvas, though, I didn't think it looked quite that color - but more like a margarita, which was quite appropriate for today.  Muy bien!  Adios!

04 May 2010

John Stamos, George Papadapolis, and Aquafresh...

They're everywhere!  There are a lot more famous Greeks than I thought!  Most people know that Jennifer Aniston is, and of course Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder (that's kind of a given), but I didn't realize that Tina Fey, Marilu Henner and even Bob Costas are of Greek descent!  I swear, if it weren't for the whole "country going bankrupt" thing (which really sucks, by the way) I'd think that they're taking over!  I was looking at the wikipedia List Of Greeks, and it just kept going and going!  Especially the athletes - man, are there a million of them!

My mom (the famous "White Hair" from last night's blog) is in town, so Jenny and I went out with her to dinner.  I asked where she wanted to go, and she was in the mood for some Greek food.  So, we went on down to Olympia Kabob House down on McCausland.  If you haven't been there, I highly recommend it!  It's really not too expensive, and boy is it good!  We had a table-full: Taramosalata, hummus, babaganoush, tzatziki, dolmades, and so much more!  We got absolutely stuffed!  But (and that's a very big butt!) we did save enough room to go by Ted Drewes for some frozen custard!  Gotta do that, ya know!

Anyway, in keeping with the theme of Greek tonight, I threw some white and blue down and swiped it across the side.  As soon as I did it, I looked at it and thought one thing - it looked like a squirt of toothpaste from a commercial back in the 80s!

Well, gotta go get some real toothpaste goin' and get to bed!

03 May 2010

El Pelo Blanco

Today was another beautiful day outside!  I just wish I could actually go out and experience it!  :-)  On my way to work I saw a row of the most beautiful, billowy - yet dark - clouds up against a light blue, sunny sky.  In some places way out to the west, every so often you could see that it was raining, and it looked like the rain was literally just dragging the grey right out of the clouds.  It almost looked like sand running out of a grey pillow or something.  Why you would have sand in your pillow is beyond me, but if you did, and you held it up and sliced the bottom a little bit, I'm pretty sure this is what it would have looked like. 

Anyway, I got home after a fairly uneventful day at work and decided to mow the lawn, despite the fact that my allergies were already acting up.  I just wanted to get it done because I figured it would rain tomorrow.  It was supposed to today, and it didn't, so I felt I should probably take advantage of the reprieve. 

So now I'm finished, and I'm worn out - my head's killing me.  I really don't know how all of you people who've had allergies all of your life have coped!  So I got all cleaned up, and now it's time to finish this up and watch the "80s guilty pleasure of the night": Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment.  Oh, yeah - Steve Guttenberg goodness!  And who didn't love Michael Winslow's plethora of sound effects?  Actually I did until we saw his "stand-up" performance in New York a few years ago.  Just a few sound effects jokes go a lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong way, lemme tellya.  I do love the movie, though - especially Bobcat Goldthwait!  I do love his stand-up!  This guy is hilarious!

Well, I should probably get back on track here - my stroke tonight was inspired by my lovely Ma.  I was talking to her last night and told her that sometimes writing this blog was difficult, because some days nothing happens and I don't know what to write about.  She suggested that I do a white stroke and say it was for her hair.  For those of you who don't know, my family very lovingly refers to our mother as "White Hair".   I really shouldn't make too much fun, because I'm definitely on my way to having the beautiful white locks that she possesses.  We both thank her mother (the Queen of the White Hairs) for that. 

Well, here's to the stock of "Loreal" and "Just For Men" going up!  Cheers!

02 May 2010

Bah-b-b-bah-bu-dangy-dang-dang...

...Ding-a-dong-ding, Blue Moon.  I always liked that song - just makes me smile for some reason.  It also reminds me of one of my favorite all time TV shows, Moonlighting.  I'm pretty sure I've talked about that before - I just loved how cool David Addison was (hey, I was 13 years old when it began, gimme a break!), and of course I loved Maddie Hayes.

I always thought it was the most fun when they did "theme shows", like when they did their own version of Shakespeare's  Taming Of The Shrew.   I watched that show every single week - until the last season or so when David and Maddie had the whole love triangle thing going on with the dude from NCIS.  They just lost me after that.  Of course by that time it was also up against Married...With Children, and Al Bundy was, for some reason, much cooler than the whiney dweeb Addison had turned into.

Anyway, it's day 3 of my blue mood, so I went with another lighter blue.  Don't know how many of these I'll do, but I'm kind of enjoying it - helps me work on my shading, anyway.

01 May 2010

Kind of Blue...

 Blue. Blue. Blue (this is my favorite one).  I love blue.  There are so many different shades that just draw me in, and make me stop and look at it, thinking how gorgeous that particular shade is - kind of like the 3 pieces of music that I posted here, which are so different from each other,each one beautiful to me for different reasons.  It all depends on your mood, I guess.

I'm not really sure why I was feeling blue again today - guess that was my mood today.  If you haven't noticed, I'm just a moody kinda guy when it comes to what I want to listen to, what movies I want to watch, and, I suppose, what colors I want to paint.  I want to listen to/watch what I want, when I want.  I suppose that's why I have so many blasted CD and DVDs.  :-)

Who knows - maybe I'll stay on this "blue kick" for a while.  Then again, maybe it'll be something completely different.  Ya never know with me.  I'm just wacky like that!

P.S. - I know it looks like I did two strokes today and missed yesterday - I started yesterday's after I got home from seeing Nightmare On Elm Street with my buddy Brian, and I guess I finished it after midnight.  It was technically yesterday to me, though, since it was before I went to bed!  :-)

Hello, everybodeee!

So don't ask me why, but for some reason today on the way home from work I started thinking about children's television shows, and the different things that make kids happy - I think I just saw a few kids playing in a yard or something - and I immediately started thinking about the PBS shows like Mr. Rogers, Electric Company, and, of course, the incomparable Sesame Street.

Do you remember some of the more obscure kids shows like The Letter People or The Great Space Coaster?  Actually, I never saw the Great Space Coaster at home - guess the coaster track never made it to southwest Missouri - I only saw it at my Aunt Phyllis' house in Pittsburgh,PA on Channel 53 (I'm pretty sure it was just an independent TV station at the time; I believe the tag line was "TV Fifty-three, we're something to see").

Anyway, the show I think of first when I think of kids' shows is Sesame Street, and when I think of Sesame Street, my favorite character is not Big Bird or Snuffie, but Grover!  I love Grover!  I remember wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay back in the day when I was little we had a book called The Monster At The End Of This Book, and I just absolutely loved it!  He was just so out there and hilarious, but also very "cuddly and adorable"!

So, today's stroke is inspired by Super Grover - just a nice blue swirling around a bit until he crashes off the page.  I think Jim Henson would be proud.