Michelle's Musings

26 December 2010

Harry Potter

I finally succumbed to the power of Potter. I shall blame it on Universal Studios Florida. As I entered Hogsmeade, I fell madly in love with the castle and its turrets. The snow everywhere was lovely too. Then there were the town's streets...all lined with excited people pointing here and there. People clamoring for wands, waiting in line (long lines) for butterbeer and pumpkin juice, trying on robes and screaming with excitement over a Griffendorf. I knew what none of this was! I was lost, confused, but excited about the village. We entered a place called Honeydukes...candy as far as I could see, but the meaning was lost on me. We saw the Hogwarts Express (i knew what this was), Diagon Alley, the Dragon's challenge, tons of wands..lost on me. ( I did snap photos like crazy though.) Here we go into the castle. It was dark, damp, and spooky; just what I expect a castle to be...there are moving portraits on the wall...the meaning is lost on me. People are snapping photos like crazy of these portraits, tables, and a talking hat. The hat told us we would be chosen and we follow that choice. We were chosen at that point to enter the ride. Hermione (I knew her name) said count backward from 3 and cast a spell on us...BAM! We flew back and twisted around...WE WERE FLYING! Harry said that Hermione made us fly. Hagrid (I knew this too) asked us if we had seen a dragon and we continued to fly. We passed a scary creature with a skeleton like face, I now know its a dementor. He was very frightening! Then we met a giant spider (Aragog...but I had no clue then), and Hermione told us something then they took our picture. Oh my, there's the loose dragon....and a blonde boy starts teasing Harry about us and then Harry yells about something closing in...we "fly" straight down and save something cause the Hogwarts kids start clapping and a bearded man says we may come back anytime we wish. We took him at his word and got right back in line. We did this 5 or 6 times because it is the best ride EVER! The Flight of the Griffindorf was a family coaster, perfect for someone like me. I rode it twice. Then we saw a musical group and everyone was watching them...we headed for the butterbeer line....$30 later we had 2 butterbeer s and 1 pumpkin juice. We sat under this roof and I fell in love! In the rafters were many owls! All types of owls, barn, screech, horned, grey...oh my! They move and they pooped all over the beams! This was amazing! After experiencing this world, I had to read the books.... I have to say the books have nothing on the real-life Hogsmeade and Hogswarts! I really want to go back!

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Red robins

I had a bad experience at one today and thought "I have been to more than anyone I know." Hey let me list them.

1. 2006 Cleveland Ohio (first one)
2. Mason Ohio (4 times)
3. O'Fallon, Missouri (2 times)
4. Chesterfield, Missouri
5. Mt Juliet, Tennessee (at least 5 times)
6. Jackson, Tennessee (at least 5 times)
7. Nashville, Tennessee (3 times)
8. Castle Rock, Colorado
9. Louisville, Kentucky #1(St Matthews...2 times)
10. Louisville, Kentucky #2
11. Florence, Kentucky
12. Fairview Heights, Illinois (2 times)
13. Fenton, Missouri (2 times)
14. Murfreesboro, Tennessee
15. Cordova, Tennessee
16. Lexington, Kentucky
17. Evansville, Indiana

See RR, I have to drive a long way to see you. I have been to many of your stores. I expect a good experience...boo Evansville!

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16 December 2010

Pink Oink

Well, a hero of mine has begun to earn his hero status in a new way...Mr. John McCain has taken to telling us all the ways that our leaders are adding necessary spending to our government. I hope that you take the time to read some of this waste and realize what I do....lawmakers are NOT frugal with OUR money. 100,000 for syrup. 1,000,000 for the installation of a camera. Millions for textile research...whatever .....

My point is...why can't you create a budget and live within the realms of that budget? We could only have money for cow TB research and pig waste management research if they did a fundraiser to pay for it. Do you know how long it has been since we had a balanced budget? One year is too long. How can we expect our citizens to live within their means if they very people that lead them chooses to ignore this advice? What can we do? Speak up! Let your leaders know how you feel...praise those that try to keep us living within our means, that are not wasteful, and those that get it. Keep those people in the office at election time too.! For those that are wasteful, hold them accountable! Vote them out! Tell them how you feel! Be a voice!

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07 December 2010

My vocabulary words

Here are words and phrases that I use often and their meanings....

1. SHUT UP!-stop right now..that is unbelievable.

2. Flavor-a word used to describe a scent of air freshener..."what flavor of spray do you want"

3. Tootmister-someone who passes gas a lot.

4. Evil cat-a cat that bites for no reason.

5. J.R.-ed--meaning someone has messed you up like J.R. Ewing would do to someone.

6. Oh no you didn't-i should not have to explain this.

7. Whatcha talking about Willis?-borrowed from Arnold Drummand, an oldie but a constant goodie. I shall use this forever.

8. Amazing-epic...very good, the best.

9. Fendfer-when your family members prepare their own dinner!

10. Someone better be dead-what you say to someone who calls after 9pm and before 3am

11. No noticer-someone who thinks I can change my plans at a minutes notice...like schools who tells you the day before about a program....last minute meetings...people I an a planner...even plan my book reading time.

12. On crack-an expression used to explain NUTTY behavior, not a person actually on crack.

13. Old elvis-my elvis, the 1970's elvis.

14. Death day-The anniversary of the death of someone....usually used on conjunction with a celebrity.

15. Duos pumpkin-what you say to the carnival waiter on pumpkin soup night...other times you day tris pumpkin...even have said quarto pumpkin.

16. Travel folder-my dear little wonder woman folder that always has some type of travel stuff in it. Like an upcoming trip, boarding passes, trip itineraries, shore excursion plans, etc......

17. Kleenex-actually is a puffs plus with lotion and I always have some.

18. Tcb- taking care of brushing...i brush my teeth a lot.

19. Have you been dropped?-trevors therapy drops...i never can remember if we have applied them.

20. Bed-what I am doing now...night

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Dear Conan

My dear Conan,
I have watched you for the utmost part of 20 years. You have made me laugh, you have made me cry, grossed me out and maybe.... just maybe made me almost pee my pants. I am writing you this letter so that you know how worthy I am of a Team Coco t shirt. For starters, I am worthy just because I am breathing, but no, I shall not stop my reasons there...even though it should be enough. No, I shall go on....I shall go on to tell you that I have stalked you over the airwaves for years, I have followed through skits that were for the record books and some that kind of sizzled. I have loved the falsetto voice and your mad guitar skills. I have had to explain to my children who the crazy giant leprechaun man on the tv is and why he makes me laugh and even explain to the them the concept of a man in jeggings (that was a hard one dear Conan). You might be saying "she deserves this shirt no more than any other fan"...that may be true to some, but Mr Conan O'Brien I am above that. I am way cooler than the others...Oh YES, I am. I can make you laugh, I can make you cry and I can make you think "ok this girl is strange". I have supported you in the bad times, in the good times and even through the "New Jersey" times. You see Conan, you and I are good friends, you just have not lived up to your side of the friendship. Now Conan, all of this could be corrected if you would grant me, your dear friend Michelle a Team Coco tshirt. Yes Conan, I would forgive you for not sending me a Christmas card, and for not giving me a baby shower gift, and for not being there when I needed a friend....if ONLY you would give me a t shirt!

Friends forever.....
Michelle Champion

12 September 2010

So in love with you, my love am I

The more I think about you, the more I love you. The more I long to stare into your face. You are carved completely out of a cold substance and I hate to be cold. Why then do I love you? Just look at you...you can see why I am in love with you...

I love to read about you, to view photos of you, and I long to climb on your crevices.

For those that don't know what you are, you are a glacier. A massive piece of ice that moves. Yeah, it moves...it leave in it's path moraine and a U shaped valley. When you start down a fjord (an inlet of water that was formed by a melting glacier) the vegetation will be larger more lush, as you travel down the fjord closer to the glacier face it will appear smaller and in most cases you will see NO vegetation. Instead what you will see is a large sheet of ice with crevices indentations and possibly icebergs. You will experience colors that may be indescribable....a topaz blue, granite gray, pure white, ice blue, azure, black, teal blue or teal green...and the list goes on and on.

the John Hopkins Glacier

The Mendenhall Glacier 2008

a glacier close up

now you can imagine the size of a glacier

Glacier Bay National Park and Reserve....the Majorie Glacier

The Sawyer Glacier (North) Tracy Arm Fjord

The lovely Majorie Glacier (GBNP&R)

all that is left of a glacier that is now part of the fjord

the mendenhall 2010

The Marjorie and the Grand Pacific (the GP once filled glacier bay

Marjorie glacier

Who's your hero?

Did you know that kids can develop their imagination by reading a book? THey can lose themselves in a world of space, espionage, intrigue, history, fantasy, science...oh forget it this list will NEVER end...all they need from you is a book and a reading friendly space.

Reading in front of the tv is not a good idea...Reading in a crowded LOUD room is not a good idea either. Think about this when you send your little one to read.

"But my kids have too many books"...NONSENSE! A child can never have too many books. Maybe they love to read! Did you know that Thomas Jefferson once sold the Library of Congress 10,000 books at one time? And he thought that was not enough books. Look at me, I have 3 book case, some under my bed, some at work, some in the cars....and I want MORE!! I read them all...most over and over. And if your child does not, maybe it's time to donate the books they don't like to a school, charity, friend or sell them at a consignment sale. And replace them with books your child wants to read. Generally, I don't like the books people pick for me, maybe they don't like the ones that you pick for them....ever thought of that.

If your child does not like to read maybe you are buying the wrong subjects. My son did not like to read until he discover shipwrecks and now he reads all the time...mainly about shipwrecks, but he reads.

Think about the subject matter, the age appropriateness, the length, and not just look at the cover. I have a book with a spring green cover (ugly) and it just says the title on it "Gone with the Wind"...ugly ugly cover, but what is within those covers is one of the greatest books that I have ever read. I have read it 38 times since I started counting in 1994!!! I have it on my phone now so that I can read it every day if I want to and in any location.

Well, I can tell you a great place to find books!!! The OBOE book fair, from Sept 20-24, 2010. I can promise you that a super hero may come by to visit as well.

Be a HERO to your child...make them a lifelong reader!!!