MzSerena’s Garden

FABLES OF FAUBUS
Young Edition
Series: Simply Mingus for Jazz Ensemble

This classic Mingus composition is meant to be performed with a sense of an “anger” or sarcasm, and definitely projects an edginess. The bari sax and bass bone will have fun with the opening and there is plenty for the rest of the ensemble to get excited about as well in this medium swing romp.

One thing that I found interesting about the Southern Vampire books by Charlaine Harris is that there was a bridal shower that followed the absolute norm. You would think that in a series of books that features vampires, they would have different things as gifts instead of honeymoon lingerie and appliances.

Sure, the bridal shower was for a girl who had nothing to do with the vampires, but an author as creative as Charlaine Harris is, couldn’t she have come up with something a little bit different as gift ideas. Perhaps it’s because it’s set in the South where things are still a bit more traditional. I just expected something a little bit different.

Also…
New Anita in June
New Sookie in May
New Betsy in June

I kind of need to find a few new series to get hooked on since there are no more Twilight or Harry Potter.

Don’t ask about the subject, it has nothing to do with the post. It’s just the favorite saying I’ve picked up from watching far too much Diner’s, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. I’m a big fan of Guy.

Anyway, I digress. I was going to post about something that I realized about myself the other day. I remember when I was going to college, I took the public bus, since it was an hour trip. I never really wore a watch or paid much attention to the passage of time. I would stare out the window and count the exit signs just to keep from being insanely bored. I used to know just how many signs there were between my bus stop and the exit for the college. Now? They’ve reconfigured the whole thing.

Why was I thinking about this? I have absolutely NO idea. I’m oddly random at times.

So, I took the last $7 on my paypal account to extend my livejournal paid account another 2 months so I can decide whether to shell out the money for a year of paid time. We haven’t gotten our taxes back yet. Hopefully I’ll know more by the end of the week about it.

In regards to my subject, it’s regarding my husband’s shit ass work schedule. Wednesday is the first day of the high school baseball season and there’s a 40% chance of rain. Saturday, when he works 11a-7p, it’s going to be SUNNY. Well that’s a fine fuck you, I say! Not to mention that he has to work 11a-7p the day of the game I really wanted to go to. Hmph! I can’t complain much about that, though, since he can’t really make a big deal out of his schedules, since they’re good about giving him time off for appointments and such.

I seriously need to rearrange this bedroom. It’s damn near impossible, though. I want to move my bed to the other wall, but I need to put down plywood to fix a few weak spots. We had a water heater explosion a few years ago, that left behind some problems. I definitely need a new tv stand if I end up rearranging the room. I definitely would have to figure out how put the room so that everything that is in here would still fit. I’d like to put my desk along the windows, instead of staring at a wall. I have a laptop cart that I need to be able to use for it’s intended purpose, or at least as an accessory for my current desk, but my husband uses it now for his keyboard for his computer. *grumble* What I really need is to put a stretcher on this room. *smirks*

Anyway, that’s enough for now. Peace.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I love scented candles and room sprays and such. I miss my Solas Candle products like no other, but I figured that I should get over it and try something new. So, in trying something new, I had the chance to try the new Glade Sense & Spray product. The scent isn’t one of my favorites, but it’s clean and crisp. Clean Linen is a bit stronger than I like, but most scents are a bit stronger than my preference, so most people would enjoy it. I like the fact that it’s a motion detector and has a 30 minute lock out before it will sense motion. I currently have it on top of my computer tower, somewhere that I don’t think the motion detector will pick up much motion unless I want it too. I need to get a different refill for it, probably the apple cinnamon, since it’s more my style.

One of the things that I really would love to have is one of the beautiful wall fountains that I’ve seen lately. I think the sound of a small fountain would be lovely, as well as work wonderfully to keep the house from getting too dry like it does now. Especially since I woke up completely unable to breath this morning. I’m all about nature and flowers and water, so a wall fountain with some sort of fruit or flower Sense & Spray scent would be a fabulous thing.

There is one thing that continues to amaze me when I go to concerts at the high school. I was a member of band and chorus, so it’s nothing unusual to me, but it still surprises me when I see the band dressed in matching colors. I love it when you can tell that they are members of the band or chorus. Our school colors are red, black and silver, but when it comes to concert time, the dress code is black and white. Standard is black pants or skirt and a white top. It’s always nice to see one of the young men dressed in a tuxedo shirt and crisp black pants.

It’s a definite bright spot in the bleakness that are a lot of teenagers these days. I told my sister that I don’t understand what has changed to make teenagers these days act the way they do. I mean, she and I were far from perfect, even being 8 years apart, we were pretty similar. We respected our parents, we did as we were told, we didn’t back talk often. I mean, I was kind of a pain in the ass my senior year in high school. I rebelled slightly. She did as well. But we never out right told our parents off.

What promoted these thoughts? My nephew. He’s 18, nearly done with school, full of attitude and ego. He told his mother, my sister, to shut her mouth. Only it was slightly more vulgar. Why? She was asking him about going to family court. He doesn’t want to face the reality that he might have a child with his ex girlfriend. The child is 6 months old now and there has to be a DNA test to prove or disprove whether the child is his. He thinks his life is over, he wants nothing to do with the child. I can understand that, since he was the same way with his brother when he was born. He hated him and I think that he still does.

But it’s not just my nephew that confuses me, it’s teenagers in general. 13 year olds having sex, 15 year olds having babies, girls sleeping with teachers, girls dating people who are 21 or even older. I don’t understand their lack of respect, I don’t understand their sense of entitlement, either. I just do not what goes on in the brain of a teenager today.

So, if you know me, you know that I’ve watched The View fairly faithfully since Whoopie Goldberg joined the panel. I watched it fairly faithfully with Rosie O’donnell too, but yeah. There isn’t much about that show that shocks me any more, until today. Barbara Walters actually cracked a jaw dropper of a joke against the comedian, Joy Behar. No one usually can get one on Joy, but Barbara did it.

No one has YouTube’d the clip yet, but the Huffington Post has it on their site. The gossip bloggers and Twitterati have gone batshit over this crack. Why??? It was hilarious, but seriously, the twitterati have really gone nuts, and not in a good way, over it.

Meh, this has been sitting here for hours, I should just post it.

So, if you know me, you know that I’ve watched The View fairly faithfully since Whoopie Goldberg joined the panel. I watched it fairly faithfully with Rosie O’donnell too, but yeah. There isn’t much about that show that shocks me any more, until today. Barbara Walters actually cracked a jaw dropper of a joke against the comedian, Joy Behar. No one usually can get one on Joy, but Barbara did it.

No one has YouTube’d the clip yet, but the Huffington Post has it on their site. The gossip bloggers and Twitterati have gone batshit over this crack. Why??? It was hilarious, but seriously, the twitterati have really gone nuts, and not in a good way, over it.

Meh, this has been sitting here for hours, I should just post it.

So, I went to Sam’s Club with my sister yesterday and she was looking at different things. I’m not a big fan of shopping in general, but it was nice to wander around with her. It’s different than going with just Rob, especially since she looks at odd things like pool toys or baby clothes. It’s fun to have someone to joke around with too. Usually when Rob and I go to the store, it’s in, get what we want, out. So it was definitely a different experience to go shop with someone else.

At least I got everything that I wanted, except a spindle of blank DVD’s. That’s really something I need to get soon, though. I have a bunch of stuff I need to burn and get off my server.

Ah well, time to go watch the NASCAR race and maybe crochet a while.

What I want and what I get are two different things. What do I want in this case? I want a vacation. I don’t know where I want to go on vacation, but I’ve definitely got a few ideas. I’m thinking a day cruise would be a lot of fun. I don’t want to go on a long trip, really, just a few days to relax and rest.

I’m tired, so damn tired that it’s not even funny. Escaping for a few hours just doesn’t do it for me. I thought that it would be enough, but it doesn’t help. I’m so stressed all the time that I need to just get away from it all for a while. I know we can’t take a vacation, really, but I’d love to just get away for a day or two. Perhaps when Rob takes his vacation, we can have some money saved up to go on a day trip. Maybe to Atlantic City.

Anywhere that isn’t here would be fantastic, really.

I can’t wait for the weather to warm up some more, then I can retire my sneakers until it gets wet or cold again. I can’t stand shoes to begin with, so spring is always a good time for me, especially once it gets warm enough to wear my sandals all the time. The only thing is, I need to get a new pair this year. I have a pair that is quite comfortable, but they are the wrong size.

I’ve been looking at Dansko shoes to see if they have anything that I like, since I’m fairly picky. I have to have sandals that cover my toes and preferably a back strap as well. Ah well, spring has sprung, now if the temperature would go up, I’d be a happy duck.

Quack, Quack.

I think all the stress is catching up with me cuz I’m bloody tired ALL the time lately. I slept until almost 11 again this morning, then took a 2+ hour nap tonight. It makes me wish we had a different bed though, because ours is so bloody uncomfortable. I’d love to have a bed that you find in luxury hotel rooms when you take a vacation. We have a feather bed on top of our mattress, but it’s just not the same.

Hopefully Monday, my stress level will plummet. I just really can not wait.

Today was a fairly nice day, overall. I slept in for the first time this week without having to deal with phone call after phone call. It was quite nice, frankly. I finally dragged myself out of bed a bit after 11 and got my act together. By the time I was awake, it was time for the NCAA games to start. Now, let me make it clear, I do NOT watch Basketball. So why I spent all day (when I was home) watching them is a mystery to me. The only game I planned to watch today was the Binghamton vs Duke game tonight. There were some fantastic games, though, so I don’t regret watching any of them. I’m proud of the Binghamton team, they didn’t just roll over for Duke and fought hard to get a decent score. Not bad for the first trip to the NCAA Big Show.

Tonight after dinner, we headed to the Valley to Wal-Mart to take Mom’s new prescriptions down. She’s decided to change pharmacy’s after having too many issues with Rite Aid. I am not quite happy with the local Wal-Mart. They’re in the middle of remodeling, during open hours, during busy hours. They’ve moved almost every single department around and it’s virtually impossible for anyone to find what they’re looking for. I looked around a bit and only ended up buying strawberry syrup and bean dip. Odd combo, I know. I will not be going back into Wal-Mart until they are finished with whatever they’re going to do.

After Wal-Mart, we went across town and ended up at Family Dollar to look around. It’s a new store, so I figured we could see if it’s cheaper than the Dollar General. For the most part, it’s not. I did pick up a new laundry basket and bottle of Spray’n'Wash far cheaper than I can get it anywhere else. I didn’t really plan to buy anything, but yeah. At least I ended up with a Shamrock Shake on the way to the library.

I love the library. I didn’t go in for myself, I went to pick up books for Mom, since I’m too busy atm and already have 2 books I need to read. I’ve been sticking pretty much to Audio books. I’m on book 6 of the Southern Vamp books (True Blood) now and thoroughly enjoying them. I can’t wait for the second book in Phoenix Chronicles. I got the first one as a promotional product from the publisher. Advance Reader Copy books are fantastic. I wish I could find a job where all I had to do was sit and read and review ARC’s.

Anyway, it’s nearly 3am and I’m exhausted. This post is incoherent, so I’m going to sleep.

SÒLAS ANÉ (YESTERDAY’S JOY)
Series: MusicWorks Grade 4
Score & Parts
Composer: Samuel R. Hazo

With a unique blend of flowing lines and lush textures coupled with dynamic Celtic drumming, Sam has created a very stylized and effective setting for wind band. Interspersed are quiet moments with soloistic woodwind lines that contrast nicely with the emotional full band passages. Dur: 4:30

The last few weeks have been complete and utter stress. Today was the worse of it. Meltdown city for both Mom and me. It’s just not getting any better either. The only good point was that I got to get out of the house for a while tonight. I went to the Spring Concert for my alma mater. I quite enjoyed myself. I am not pleased with the new chorus director. He chose music that I didn’t find appropriate for a public school. I don’t mind the style of music that chose, as it’s something that I’ve listened to, but it definitely wasn’t what I’d expected.

The Senior Band and Jazz Ensemble, along with the different quartets were fabulous. I think the band program has done nothing but thrive since the district hired Dan Miller. It is definitely odd not to see the band and chorus directors that I knew and loved up there, but time does go on and people retire. Thankfully, they found someone with the same kind of passion and joy for music to fill the band directors shoes. He’s picked some amazing pieces that truly showcase a lot of talented performers. I have to say that my favorite piece had to be Solas Ane (Yesterday’s Joy). It’s a beautiful Gaelic piece. (See Youtube video below)

It was definitely needed for me to get out for a while. I think another day in this house would have been my downfall, honestly. Especially since my monitor took a crap sometime after I turned it off last night and before I tried to turn it on this morning. So, now I’m using the laptop and virtual desktop to be able to do anything. It’s kind of annoying, but at least it’s fast enough that there isn’t a ton of lag and it’s not using a ton of ram and cpu on the laptop. I need to get more RAM in the sucker so that I can use it properly since it’s at bare minimum for Vista Home Basic. :/

Anyway, it’s raining, I’m tired and a bit cranky, so I shall go to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be filled with good news.

One of the random passing ideas that I’ve had lately is that I want to make crafts for a living. I crochet, but I can’t sew. What would I make? Not a clue. I can crochet baby blankets, but they take forever if you don’t work on them non-stop. Mind you, my favorite pattern is easy and I work it while watching television. I can usually crochet 3 rows during a 1 hour show.

The other idea was to create pet beds. But, that requires sewing and I can’t sew. I just can’t do it. I can’t get the bobbin in right, nor can I thread a machine. It’s kind of sad, really. My mom can sew and crochet. I tried to learn how to knit, but failed absolutely miserably at that.

Ah well. Back to train wreck television.

There is going to be one giant spring cleaning just as soon as we get the dumpster. There’s a bunch of junk out back that needs to go, there’s also a room full of stuff that needs to sorted through. Plus there is a closet behind my desk that hasn’t seen the light of day since ’98 sometime that severely needs to be emptied.

Once the spring cleaning is done, we can set up one of the bed frames that is in there and get a box spring and mattress so Mom can have an actual bed again. I’m tired of her sleeping on the couch, even though she seems to be more comfortable there. I know that most beds are either too hard or too soft. It’ll be difficult to find one that will be just right.

Ah well, I’m watching train wreck television in the form of Rock of Love Bus on VH1. Crazy show. Later I will be watching Tool Academy reunion as well. Why? It’s amusing.

I forgot that today is Pi day! In honor of Pi day, however, I did partake in some pie. I made peanut butter pie today. Screw the peanut butter recall, I’m going to eat peanut butter if I want it. We checked to make sure ours wasn’t part of the recall. It was the easiest pie I’ve ever made, too. Made a simple crust out of nilla wafers instead of graham crackers, creamed together the peanut butter, cream cheese and confectioners sugar. Let it mix until it was soft and fluffy, then folded in cool whip. Filled the crust and put it in the freezer until it was set up. Transferred to the fridge after it was set.

I also decided today was a good day to make chicken wings. That was kind of a bad idea, though. They weren’t thawed completely when I went to bake them so they ended up steaming in the pan I poured off a ton of water when I took them out. They were alright, but not as good as the last batch I made. Guess I’ll stick with tossing them in the fryer from now on, since baking was made of fail.

I am also highly annoyed with my DSL provider. This is the second time in less than a month that we’ve gone without Internet for multiple hours. It went down around 9:30 last night and I have no idea what time it came back. It was still down when I went to bed around midnight or so. I woke up around 8 and it was back up. It’s not cool, really. It makes it hard to look at Sferra linens. Yeah, I really was trying to find new blankets for our bed. It’s time to think about a lighter weight spring/summer blanket and I don’t really have any that match my bedding. The price for the Sferra isn’t bad, but a bit out of my price range. Definitely beautiful and I’d love to have some of their bedding.

Ah well, I guess that since Pi day is over, so is this post.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how ironic life can be. I don’t mean this in a good way either. For instance, the most recent instance of irony is how often I see ads on television for lawyers and lawsuits for different medical conditions. Why is this ironic? Because before Rob’s grandfather passed away, I had never heard of Mesothelioma. Now, there are all kinds of advertisements for a lawsuit of some sort.

It makes me wonder, though, how real these lawsuits are or if they’re just scams to get your private information. You see them all the time. “Did you take XYZ while you were pregnant? Sue!” I hate how sue-happy our country has become. I was reading on Ms. Kat‘s blog about a doctor being sued because he wrote prescriptions for pills that were stolen during a home invasion. The thief then OD’d on the stolen drugs. It’s not the doctor’s fault, he had no way of knowing that the patient’s home would be robbed. People want to sue over nothing.

It’s sad to see how many frivolous lawsuits there are, when there are so many other things in this world to worry about. People who have legitimate lawsuits have to wait and jump through hoop upon hoop in order to get their cases heard. It can take multiple years for a legitimate suit to be heard by a judge, and this I know from experience. Some will never be heard because they will be tossed out or abandoned because of the time. By the time it’s all said and done, the lawyer makes out better than the victim, all because of the time.

Ah well, I’ve had my train of thought de-railed, so I shall now move on to something new.

Seriously, the IRS sucks. I’m tired of having to fight with them year after year to get our tax refund. Last year, they lost one of our forms. Guess what? They did it again this year too. I don’t understand how, though, because I stapled everything together. I have never understood why they continue to lose my forms. It’s really getting tiresome.

I needed that freaking refund. I had plans for it that included buying a new optical drive for my husband’s computer and I wanted to buy memory for our laptop so that it isn’t such a struggle to use it. I also had bills to pay off too. But now, it’ll be another 8 weeks after they get it in the system.

I’m fed up with the IRS. It seems like the only thing that works for the IRS to not to lose things is to let freaking H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt file them. Every year that we’ve filed with them, it’s been flawless. Oh well.

Summit Picks Bayona To Direct Twilight Threequel ‘Eclipse’: Will Fans Say Olé?

I can confirm that Summit Entertainment is telling Hollywood privately that Juan Antonio Bayona will direct Eclipse. It’s a very out-of-the-box choice for the 3rd movie in the “Twilight Saga” series of Stephenie Meyer vampire novels being hurried to the big screen by the start-up studio. (I guess it doesn’t matter that other sources tell me Bayona hasn’t yet met Stephenie, huh?) Known as a horror wunderkjind and Guillermo Del Toro protege, the age 33 Bayona screened his Spanish language Gothic mystery El Orfanato (The Orphanage) to a 10-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. Eclipse is his English language debut. Chris Weitz has already replaced Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke on the sequel New Moon due in November. Eclipse is set for release June 30, 2010, and features battles between werewolves and vampires. Now the question is whether the Twilight fans and Stephenie Meyer will say “Olé”.

Blockbuster will hold Twilight blood drives
‘Pint’ exchanges to take place in 20 cities
By Danny King — Video Business, 3/11/2009

MARCH 11 | Blockbuster will commemorate next week’s DVD release of the vampire movie Twilight by holding blood drives at some of its stores.

The largest U.S. movie-rental chain will let customers donate a pint of blood in exchange for a free pint of ice cream as part of its Twilight promotions Friday night, March 20, Blockbuster said in a statement today. The Summit Home Entertainment title will be released on midnight March 21.

Between Blockbuster, Borders, F.Y.E., Hastings Entertainment, Hot Topic and Wal-Mart, Twilight’s release will be celebrated by almost 5,800 store-front parties, Summit said last week. Hastings also has scheduled blood drives for Twilight’s street date.

Blockbuster will hold blood drives in or near New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, among 17 other metropolitan areas. The company also said “hundreds” of other Blockbuster stores will extend operating hours to 1 a.m. on March 21 to accommodate Twilight fans.

Twilight grossed more than $190 million at the box office after its theatrical debut in late November.

Susanne Ault contributed to this report.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, I just keep on getting older. It’s not a foreign concept, really. It’s what happens. But the older I get, the more I realize that I need to think about my future. My health isn’t fabulous, I don’t deny that. I also don’t deny that if I’m as lucky as my family, I’ll live well into my golden years.

I shouldn’t take that for granted, though. I should have some sort of life insurance. Why? Because it wouldn’t be fair to leave Rob to pay for everything if something were to happen to me. It’s expensive to pay for a funeral and burial, I know from first hand experience. I already know that if something happens to my mother, I’m in a world of hurt because I can’t afford to pay and she has no insurance.

Without life insurance, you have to worry every day about how your family is going to go on, how they’re going to survive without you. There is the constant worry of whether your loved ones will be able to survive financially, worry about the bills you leave behind. The problem, however, is that life insurance isn’t cheap and with the economy in the condition it’s in, it’ll be even harder for someone to keep up their premiums.

That’s where Term Banking comes in handy. Term Banking allows the policy holder to sell their policy two years after purchasing it. Not necessarily a wise choice, but perhaps it can be a benefit. It all depends on what is done in the future. Don’t leave your family in the lurch, make sure you have some sort of life insurance if you can do it. Even if you can’t, do it anyway.

So, I’ve been known to wander through the thrift stores, just for fun. Why? Because you never ever know what you’re going to find. With the economy in the toilet, it’s also a great way to stretch a dollar. For instance, this summer, we needed new lamps for the living room, but new ones cost a minimum of $20 and that was just out of the budget at that point. We were in the city, however, to grocery shop and we stopped into the thrift store and found a beautiful lamp for just $6.

One of the odd things that I’ve found in the local thrift store is a series of Christian videos that have been there every single time I’ve set foot in the shop. That was quite a few years ago and it’s still there. It’s crazy. You’d think that they’d take them down cuz it’s really a bad sign that it’s been there for 10 or more years. Ah well, at least they’re waiting for a good home and not in the trash.

In other news, I’m tired. So I think that’s the end of this post.

So, I’m still a season behind on The L Word, but I have to share a link that I shamelessly stole from a Facebook friend:

Leisha Hailey cast in The L Word spinoff