Michelle's Musings

29 December 2010

2010 a review

First of all the celebrity deaths (in no certain order)
Blake Edwards
Kathryn Grayson
Jean Simmons
Elizabeth Edwards
Don Meredith
Ted Sorel
Leslie Nielson
Jill Clayburgh
Tony Curtis
Tom Bosley
Eddie Fisher
Dennis Hopper
Gary Coleman
Art Linkletter
JD Salinger
Corey Haim
Dixie Carter
Peter Graves
Lynn Redgrave
Barbara Billingsley
Irvin Kershner
Teddy Pendergrass
Merlin Olson
Fess Parker
John Forsythe
Eddie Carroll
Lena Horne
Rue McClanahan
Jimmy Dean
George Steinbrenner
Ilene Woods
Patrica Neal
Ted Stevens
Gloria Staurt

some of the books that I read in 2010 (some of the best books):

The Pool of St Branok (Philippa Carr)
Wonderful Tonight (Patti Boyd)
The Changeling (Philippa Carr)
A Walk to Remember
The Notebook (it kind of is my grandparents death story)
The Black Swan (Philippa Carr)
A Time for Silence (Philippa Carr)
Rainwater
A Farewell to ARms (Hemingway....love this book)
Beaches (another good book)
Short life of Bree Tanner
Eclispe
Twilight
New Moon
Breaking Dawn
Travels in Alaska (John Muir)
The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
STicken (John Muir)
Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter (in print and audio book)

Wish I had kept up with the number of scrapbook pages made in 2010! It would be in the hundreds (more than 100, I would say less than 300). Maybe not, I just did 23 today.

Number of photos taken in 2010 9,438

Places visited in 2010:
Cincinnati Ohio/Great American Ballpark
St Louis MO/Busch Stadium (2 times)
Jackson TN/Red Robin
Nashville TN/Red Robin
Columbus Belmont Park
Graves County High School
Ketchikan, AK
Skagway, AK
Victoria, BC
Juneau, AK
Seattle, WA
Dallas, TX
Mineral Wells, TX
Little Rock, AR
Bowling Green, KY
Atlanta, GA
Orlando, FL
Daytona, FL
Evansville, IN
Airports in Albuquerque, NM and Des Plaines, IL
Louisville, KY
Lexington, KY
Santa Claus, IN
Lincoln's boyhood home
Cave City, KY
Memphis, TN

Big Events of 2010 (to me):
Meeting Peter Facinelli
Going to the baseball parks
Going back to Alaska (I am so enthralled by those glaciers)
5 visits to Archiver's (the most ever in one year)
Big Texas wedding
Hanging with Lauren Champion
Eating at Doe's with the hubby
Making my first ever batch of dressing and it was good!!!
Submitting scrapbook work, even if I haven't been chosen to be published yet, I have tried!
Hogsmeade!!!!!!!!!
Getting to spend more time in EPCOT (still not enough but I made it through MOST of world showcase)
Tyler Hall visit
BON JOVI
Justin Bieber (just because I got to hang out with Tammy)
Taking the kids to Mammoth Cave (their first time)
Finally having my picture made in front of the welcome to Alaska sign on the Klondike highway!
Discovering Tim HOltz's distressing products (I can't get enough)
Seeing my boy score a touchdown AND pitch an inning in baseball!
Hearing that my daughter is amazing at the flute and gets to attend those fancy district thingys
Eclipse (and taking Hannah to the midnight show)
discovery of the e-reader!!!
discovery of the audio book (yeah, I know I am behind)
the getting of the best phone ever, the Droid X (I love everything that it can do)
Having the OBOE staff to my house!!!!
Discovery of peppermint dark chocolate lindor truffles
Prima flowers!!!!!!
Lambert's with the kids!!!
Makay's bookstore, I could spend DAYS here!!!! DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

News events that I want to remember from 2010:

Big earthquakes in Haiti and Chile

Winter Olympics and Evan winning the first male gold medal in figure skating since Brian Boitono

Volcano eruption in Iceland

Record set for a painting sold at auction (a Picasso)
Favorite apps of 2010:

oh yeah I must list some of the apps that have proven to waste my time!!

Bubble Popper
Blogger-droid
Bic concert lighter
droid forum
dish network
facebook (duh)
gas buddy
Key ring
kindle
laputa
millionaire
quickoffice
ringdroid
tmz
twilight in forks
word up
crossword
team coco
IMDb
twitter

There are many things to be thankful for:

what makes it all happen....God
My son bordering on that 20/50 line
the good health of my family
food and shelter
family and friends
the ability to see (by far my favorite sense)
this is a never ending list...and for that I am grateful!

Here's to a great 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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.