It's a No-Brainer

How did this happen?

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

NotAboutCake had this quizzie  on her blog and I thought, 'what the hell, why not?' I thought other stuff too, but my brain is apparently too complicated to allow me to express myself with appropriate verbiage, er, words. That and I don't feel like recollecting the leaps in logic from Point A to Point 138. You understand.

And then I find out:

IT'S A TRAP!

Care to understand? Okay then, but beware:

The Alternative to Dimples.

I'm playing along with TGN because I like her and hope all she does endeavour is successful.

The Storytellers Blog Hop.

Dimples, my car, is on extended holiday. Naturally, the next best way to get around town is via bus. There's two stories today. Neither are very long, very short, or very interesting.

What I'm listening to and a JEM of a find.

Anyone else a fan of The xx?




C'mon. It's only 2 minutes and change long. Watch it. Let me know what you think. Ah... if it sounds familiar, it's because it was used in a few commercials:

The xx's song "Intro" was extensively used on television: most recently in the first episode of HBO/NHL series 24/7 Pens-Caps Road To The 2011 Winter Classic, as well as in an AT&T commercial featuring Apolo Anton Ohno; often during NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada;^[13] during the series Cold Case; for the BBC News Newsnight coverage of the 2010 general election;,^[14] on Mercy ("The Last Thing I Said Was" episode) and also in Law & Order on the Dutch television network Net 5. It was also used as the opening theme of Next Top Model. 

Here's another if you don't want to do a bunch of leg work.




This (and other songs too) is what I've been listening to as I've been working on a rough draft of the story I've had kicking around in my head for about a year or so.

Hey, here's a blast from the past and by past, I mean the 1980s.  We went out looking at the charity shops here on the High Street of the village I live in. Found a DVD with five episodes of My Little Pony, Jem, Charmkins, and Moondreamers. I had lots of MLPs when I was little but I also had a Jem Doll! Anyone else?  So getting to watch it with kiddo is kind of fun. Who doesn't like them some crazy pink eyeshadow that covers the cheekbones?

So, yeah. Fabulous, fun-filled fairy tale adventures that help me remember kindergarten. It's a great day!

The Five Second Rule is a Lie.

The Malteser fell to the floor. She picked it up and proceeded to rub it between her hands.

Me: NO NO NO!  You either pick it up and throw it away or you put it in your mouth. We do not rub chocolate all over ourselves.

Yeah kiddo, if you want to rub chocolate all over yourself, be my guest. Don't let me get in your way. Oh? You were wiping it off? That's a whole 'nother story

If I'd've gotten there first, I'd have just blown on it before popping it my mouth. More hygienic, I think.

And may I please say that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic AbFab? Case in point:

The target demographic for this show is not in fact 7-10 year old little girls. It is in fact, 18-26 year old males. In my house, we heart this show superhard. So does a redditor in his "My Little Pony Broventure". It was inspired by this particular rage comic. [Of course, reddit is how I find most cool stuff nowadays. By the by, I've been seeing a lot of rage comic characters as blog avatars. Sweet]

Honestly, I have felt that way many times. If you didn't click on either of the hyperlinks above, then you don't know what I'm talking about. Once you have, and you've read it...and frankly, you have to live in a country with participating McDonald's or other toy-hawking restaurants...But McD's is definitely at the top of the cheapo toy market... Have I gotten off track? Yeah. Once you've read it, you'll recognize that little stick figure in you.

Evey: "He was Edmond Dantès, and he was my father, and my mother, my brother, my friend. He was you, and me. He was all of us."

So, that's a little heavy for a stick figure, but maybe you'll see the everymannishness of it. And later, after munchkin had gone off to bed, I was taking some laundry upstairs. Wedged in the limbo between a folded sleeve and the floor rug, was a Malteser.

Blew on it. Popped it right in. 

She has the beginnings, dammit.

I have a kiddo. She's three. 

She's developing an accent that neither one of her parents have. 

It's there, I can hear it. So can SciMan. It comes and goes but it is most noticeable when she asks questions.

We knew it would happen. I just didn't think it would happen this quickly. It hasn't even been a year yet. Sure, she attends Nursery and is immersed in that manner.

Anyway, if asked "What's a loo?", she replies, "It's an ocean."  I asked her, "What's a biscuit?"  She said, "It's for children." A lorry is "for shopping" and a water-closet is "for drinking".

Me: Kiddo, what's tea?
Kiddo: For eating.
Me: (SPLUTTERING in my head) Srsly!?

She knows that she lives in England and that she used to live in Oklahoma. She's going to know things I never did and most likely won't wish to. She's going to be a pretty interesting kid.

Especially if I continue to sound like Dolly Parton.

Drumroll please...Drumroll!

I got married after being engaged for 18 months. Result: I was pretty sure about the deal.

So Lauren. Well done. Go get that Memetastic Award. It's the one that says "Memetastic Award". You can't have Insanity Wolf. That was the impetus placed for motivation. And I made this for you too.

For the uninitiated: Moltar is a being made entirely from lava. He's the smartest of the quartet from SpaceGhost.

I've been sitting on this post for a while now. Probably because I'm pretty darn ungracious. Which makes this award even more ironic. 

In Muppet Baby Miss Piggy's voice:

"And so..."

I am indeed again, a winnah winnah of some chicken dinnah. That's two this week, well...that's like wearing the two crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. I'm sure I've got some Ptolemy in me in here somewhere..I mean, who doesn't nowadays? Think they'll pick me as Mubarak's successor? I'll tell them I love them more than they hate Mubarak. That's good value, that is.

Rule 1: Acknowledge blogger who gave you the award.   Umseti @ Stupid America
She's a Studio 30 Plus member, like moi, and we fell in with the same crowd. She called me 'stylin'. Hmm...that's because of TGNLindsey...has nothing to do with me. Drat! Umseti isn't even a follower of my blog, I don't think. Hunh. DON'T CARE! She chose me! AHAHAHAHALSDKJF. suckers. Imma take dis here award and run wit' it.  Sorted.

Rule 2: List 7 unknown things about me...But I just saw another blog who received this same award and it was tell 5 things that you love and 5 blogs you love. Mmph.

I'm Type O positive. In college, I liked to give it away at the blood drives just so I could have the cookie.

With the sound off, I can recite The Princess Bride.

I like to sit in the sunlight outside to read. My husband called it basking when we were dating, and it stuck.

I'm good at remembering names, like scarygood eidetic, but am crap when it comes to remembering dates.

I am 10 and 11 years older than my brother and sister....so for all intents and purposes, I'm still an only child. I do love J and K though.

I've been driving since I was 11.

I have no real fashion sense. I've been wearing the same damn style of clothes I wore when I was 14. Jeans, khakis, t-shirts, button-downs, sneakers. The hair's pretty much the same too. I think have no real need or desire to be "fierce". Certainly can't afford it.


Rule 3: Share with 15(!) bloggers who are just now starting out. MollieEdit: Who the hell came up with the number fifteen for this crap? Damn you, I'm sharing with ones that I've just now started following. And I'm only doing THIRTEEN! 

Lauren @savvy?  Real life friends. They make one feel nice and fuzzy like a polite cat.
Jessica @sassy sippy cups Positivity is always attractive.
Lesley @ IrelandEverAfter Fairytales can come true, it can happen to you. Like it happened to her.
K-T@KT's Refinishing School DIY guru for pennies on the dollar.
Colie @The Colie Chronicles Funny. Always deletes posts. I never get to read anything she writes. Just kidding.
#7 @ Narragansett No. 7 Even with the kids, she probably brushes her teeth before leaving the house. I like that.
Erin @ MyLittleCorner Cakes. Beautiful cakes. And Chuck Taylors.
Annah@ WhenRedMeansGo Hot mess. Funny. Irreverent. I'd like to think that I'd've been as cool as her if I hadn't made all those decisions that got me where I am as of now.
HockeyWife @ Tales of a Hockey Wife Of course she has this already...post hoc, ergo propter hoc.  I kid.
Aimee @ Pleasantly Demented Bruisingly beautiful, a sledgehammer in a rosebush.
Tara @ Kind of A Sideshow  If life was the movie Notting Hill, I'd be Honey and she'd be Anna Scott and I'd meet her by babbling about how awesome she is. She and her siblings are amazing and you know what I mean if you've ever seen a Donny Vomit show.
The Twin Spin @TheTwinSpin Artisty Mummy for three girls...two are twins. She has a series. That's stylin'.
Rachel @ TheMeanGirlDiaries Her header is Roy Lichtenstein-ish. It makes her look like Kate Winslet from The Holiday. Absofuckinlutely gorgeous.

I guess I should let them know. That'd be stylish of me.

Insanity Wolf

Currently listening to Doves and Coldplay. Kingdom of Rust and Clocks, to be more specific.  I'm having a blast, but there are times when I wish Coldplay was a little more metal. I think they tried to be with "Violet Hill". Mom, thanks for taking me to that concert. I think that was the most 'much' experience.

From Jaxie

Rule 1: Tell you four lies and one truth. You have to decide what's what. 

I have one blue eye and one green eye.

I was engaged for 18 months before I got married.

I was a runner-up for College Jeopardy in 2002.

I remember the Alamo.

I don't have TV.

Rule 2: Share the Memetasticness.

If you laugh at the graphic below, you can have the Memetastic Award. Let me know if you do laugh at it. If you don't, why are you still with me? Are you family? Potential employers?

see more Memebase


no, I'm kidding. I'm going to give the Memetastic Award to the person who guesses correctly from the list above. If there are no correct guesses, THEN I'll throw all y'all to Insanity Wolf. Somebody's going to Insanity Wolf, one way or the other. I got the rejection email from a school I applied to... One of the many. 70 people applying for the one position. Like Insanity Wolf, I could have cheerfully beaten all pedestrians I passed today with a shit-eating grin on my face. At that point, I don't think I'd've minded the subsequent arrest and sentencing. Thanks Head Teacher X and a happy steak and blowjob day to you too.

For Valentine's, I gave all of the kiddo's teachers and helpers a grab bag assortment... There was a gift in each bag, toiletries, mugs...something nice, but cheap because there's a lot of them. I was in the pissiest mood writing out the tags as I lined them up on the counter, "To You, from Kiddo". And I'm anxious that I didn't get enough for everyone and I was thinking that these women better like this crap. Only, I didn't use the word "women" in my thoughts. Even so, I was happy to make this small gesture. SERIOUS!

Spent the day wandering around DCity with Dan. Had conversation and shopped. Things happened and were said that made me think I'd blog about them. Meh. Nothing bad, fairly good...I just don't think writing about my husband sniffing my neck makes for good storytelling.

And then there was the pickup late this afternoon. I walked in and one of the helpers looked like she teared up as she said thanks. And that made the day for me... ashamed me for feeling bitchy and full of antipathy this morning, but it made me happy that I did something that made others feel appreciated when they least expected it. Who knows if those girls don't or do have fellas? Either way, all the bags were gone and there were smiles beamed my way.

Happy Valentine's Day to you if you like it. Happy Whatever Un-Day if you don't. I love you realhard no matter what.

Writing Exercise

The street scene outside of the shop window was percolated by droplets of side-swiping rain.  It was a bitchy sort of rain, she thought.  The kind that caused people to pop into the shop just to get out from the weather's assault.


And so it did. He came in, eyes and cheeks bulging.  He hacked once, then twice, into his closed fist.  Wheezing, he beelined for the bric-a-brac, stuffing gloves in his pocket. The hat was left on. She was glad he came in. She had started worrying if he would come in today. As she helped others at the till, she surreptitiously watched him as he browsed. Sometimes he would buy a trinket from the shelves. Most times, not. She scanned his coat-covered tummy for a glimpse of  a new brooch or pin, counting as she did. Fourteen. Not as many as last time, she mused. 


The shelves held the man in their particular sway, a siren song for the hole he was trying to fill. His hand reached out, hovered, and settled on a pint glass. He brought it to the counter, eyes never wavering from the prize. 


Why did he pick that particular pint glass, she wondered, as she turned it over looking for the price tag. Homer Simpson stared glassily up at her. "Ninety-nine pence, please.", she said.  A pound was handed over, a pence was placed back in his hand.  Into the pocket it went, with the gloves. The hat, having never been taken off, was Russian. 




The writing exercise was to write a short vignette (short, impressionistic scenes that focus on one moment or give a particular insight into a character, idea, or setting).
Check out Erin's and Aimee's.