Big Leather Couch

Today is the birthday of my most excellent friend, JULIE!
If you want to make JULIE smile, go visit here HERE

It is also the birthday for my niece Amelia. She hits the big 21 today. I wish I could be with her today, but she is surrounded by her dad (Brother Richard), mom, sister, aunt (Sister Lynn), uncle and two cousins.

Did The Woz get eliminated? What about Steve O? Was Jewel worth listening to? Any other celebrities end up in an ambulance? All you need to know about the Dancing With The Stars Results Show can be found by checking out TRAVIS of "Trav's Thoughts".

WOOOO...Please do me a favor, and head over to wish JULIE of "Julie's Jewels & Junque a most wonderful BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

Julie is a wonderful friend and she brings joy into the lives of those she meets.

She also likes MILK DUDS! more than anyone I know...

Also, head over to my niece's blog (though she rarely posts there anymore), and wish her a big old HAPPY BIRTHDAY! She is AMELIA from "Mad Moons & Tarnished Spoons" fame...

Happy Birthday AMELIA!!!

Friendship is that road we travel that is, all at once, paved with new blacktop, pockmarked with small depressions, littered with garbage left behind by past relationships, destroyed by large craters left behind by those who have passed this way...and finally, at times, completely unrecognizable as a road and more closely resembling a forgotten trial of rocks and fallen limbs.

Yet, as humans we are drawn to friends. those we have known for so many years, those we have met in recent years, those who have just entered our lives and - in the 21st Century, those we have never met before and only know from words on a computer screen.

About 3 years ago, I became a member of a large group of fans of one Mr. Taylor Hicks from the show American Idol. As many of you know, this was the beginning of my blogging life, as I wrote - first on the AI site, and then here - weekly reviews of the shows and the contestants. Think Travis with DWTS only without the flowing literary style.

That experience brought me to all y'all here on blogger. Many people I feel like I am close to, but whom I have never met. As I work on the invite list for my wedding, I am going back and forth between family (only close relatives this time), and friends (real life and cyber life) and trying to decide who goes on the list.

I honestly thought about just saying if y'all want to come let me know and I will send an invite!

You see, this is more a party than it is a 'wedding ceremony'. Both Nancy and I have done the big thing and we just want to enjoy our guests this time.

There are some of my AI friends who I am still very close to and I am hopeful to be able to include as many of them as possible. Then there are some who I was very close to and over the years, that closeness has disappeared into one of those pockmarked craters I mentioned above.

I think about why it has happened and it confuses me. I try not to discuss the disagreements, even when they allude to it constantly when they write posts or emails. I sit and wonder "Should I still invite them?"...because I would like the relationship to be better, I really would. But I am also not going to allow someone to come to the party and make me wish they were not there.

A year and a half ago I had a 'disagreement' with someone on the web over a silly bet. I was furious at the person for a long time, because I felt like I was disrespected by them. Then, things happened in their life and I wanted to accept them as a friend because it made the most sense.

With little fanfare, we were able to put aside our differences from that one bet and now I consider this gentleman a friend.

I am not perfect. I am not the perfect friend. I do things that a good friend should not at times. I do believe I am a loyal friend and I will go out of my way to assist a friend in need.

But I am also not a person to take a slap lightly. If I bring up a point and people want to disagree, that is great.

It is when they refuse to accept my side of the situation seriously, because they are always in the right, well then, I seriously consider walking away from it all.

A wonderful Wednesday Ramble...

It does not settle whether I invite this person or not...but it gives me something to contemplate...I do know that your life can move forward without your having to close the doors of your past...IF YOU WANT. It seems some think they are mutually exclusive...I am not one of those.

One of those days...begins with a smile and ends with me shaking my head...wish I could discuss it here, but the details are just not sharable at this time.

Let me just say that adults need to take responsibility for their children and themselves and sometimes you need to sacrifice for your children...no scratch that you ALWAYS have to sacrifice for your children and not think that someone else is going to bail you out of your haphazard life style.

Thanks to Mother Nature, it appears I have some fixin' to do on the lights at Nancy's home. Yesterday we had thunderstorms, torrential rains and high winds all day and some of those lights are now no longer on the home. dang dang dang...and Heck-a-doodle!!!!!!!!!

Only one person noticed I dropped the f-bomb the other day...well, not in my writing, but in one of the photos I posted...I wondered if it would be mentioned in comments and it took until the last comment from my sweet friend JULIE from "Julies Jewels & Junque" to mention it...

YET...many wondered about Heck-a-doodle...I found that amusing....giggle...YES I giggled!

Getting ready for this weekend. Nancy and I get to fly to Durham for her company's Christmas Party. All expenses paid! WOOOO! Should be a blast.

Y'all I think I have mentioned the New Year's Eve Dinner Party Nancy and I are hosting. It is going to be a blast with a 6-hour dinner being served.

I have mentioned this before, but in case you are new, we begin with Appetizers at 7:00pm and serve one course per hour until Dessert/Champagne/Celebration at midnight!.

I finalized the menu today and I am pretty happy with it.

What? You think I am telling y'all what it will be? No way! You will need to wait and see pictures after it is all done. I will say the courses are, Appetizer, Soup, Pasta, Salad, Main Course, Dessert.

The guest list is Nancy's good friends from Atlanta, her friend from Tupelo, two neighbors (they might not be coming, I am still not totally sure) and TURNBABY from "And As The World Turns" and her main squeeze MR FAB from "Pointless Drivel".

I am sooooo looking forward to it! Last year Nancy and I got to celebrate with Turnbaby and had so much fun. We are thrilled we get to do so again.

Got a little press this week on the web site for the PR firm that sends me music...unfortunately, I did not pass it along to my two editors, DAD VINCE and ANNDI from "Transition" as I now see MANY grammatical errors...OH Well! You can see it HERE

My friend PATTI from "Late Bloomer Boomer" asked if I were taking requests yesterday and requested Mr. Bennett's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", so we will honor that request today.

ENJOY....

Well the last 10 weeks or so, I have reminded you to check out Travis from Trav's Thoughts for Dancing With The Stars updates...but...boooo hooo, the show is over - congrats to Brooke on her win - but maybe today Travis will have his recap post...so check him out anyway!

HEY...did you hear???

Amazon.com and MySpace Exclusively Premiere New Bruce Springsteen Single and Music Video, "My Lucky Day"; Single Available for Download Only on Amazon MP3 and MySpace Music for One Week

Bruce Springsteen's new song "My Lucky Day" - from the album Working on a Dream (January 27 / Columbia Records) -- will be available on Amazon MP3 and MySpace Music for one week starting today.

Additionally, Amazon.com, Inc. and MySpace today exclusively debuted the music video for "My Lucky Day," the first time that the two sites have collaborated on streaming video. Fans can visit the Amazon Bruce Springsteen Artist Store, and the MySpace Bruce Springsteen Artist Profile page, to watch the video and download the new single. As an added bonus, fans can also check out an extra two-minutes of behind-the-scenes footage of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band preparing to record the song.

Springsteen's new album 'Working on a Dream' has been set for January 27 release on Columbia Records. 'Working on a Dream' was recorded with the E Street Band and is the fourth collaboration between Springsteen and Brendan O'Brien, who produced and mixed the album.

For more information on Bruce Springsteen, please visit http://www.brucespringsteen.net.

Julie from Julie's Jewels & Junque tagged me with this meme...so since I LURVES her so, I will do it now...

The Rules Are As Such:

Pass it on to five other bloggers, and tell them to open the nearest book to page 46. Write out the fifth sentence on that page, and also the next two to five sentences. The closest book, not the coolest, or the one you think will sound the best. THE CLOSEST.

I am not reading anything at the moment, but the last book I read is right here, so....from Vince Flynn, the book is "Protect & Defend"

Garret could sense the anger in Rapp's voice. "It was bad. It was wrong. I should have stopped him."

"You're damn right you should have, you f**king sociopath." Rapp withdrew the blade from Garret's throat and put it back in its scabbard. With his left hand still holding on to Garret's hair, he said, "And that's why I'm going to kill you."

HA! A great tease for a great book...does Rapp really kill Garret? Go pick up the book and find out!

Click on the logo above to head over to The Teach's blog to see all the entries this week. Folks, RUBY TUESDAY has exploded across the Bloggosphere... THANKS MARY!

Second day of December...last year I got to help Nancy and the boys decorate their Christmas tree...this year - this coming weekend - we buy a tree and decorate their home.

I did bring a bunch of Christmas lights with me when I moved, but they have stayed in their container for the last two years...

Let's break out the box and see what we have...

Coming up this week on DR. BLOGSTEIN’S RADIO HAPPY HOUR:
(Live on Tuesday December 2 at 9PM ET and forever archived at BlogTalkRadio.)

Do you ever wonder how the likes of Andrew W.K., Lamb of God, and Slipknot can perform night after night without blowing out their vocal chords? Its an art. An art taught by Melissa Cross, the “Queen of the Scream.”

According to Entertainment Weekly: “Cross is a cheery, red-haired, classically trained voice teacher with a peculiar niche: She caters to the most extreme segments of the metal, punk, and hardcore scenes, teaching performers how to growl like grizzlies, bark like pit bulls, and bellow like tortured children of Beelzebub. All without blowing out their vocal cords.”

She’ll join Dr. B, Dangerous Lee and Vinny Bond to teach us all how to scream like a rock star.

Then, the economy may be bad now, but if some scripture is correct, the upcoming Rapture offers a series of amazing opportunities for financial gains for those of us that will surely be left behind.

Steve and Evie Levy, authors of How to Profit from the Coming Rapture: Getting Ahead When You’re Left Behind, will join us to instruct those listeners who will certainly be left behind (Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, less ardent Protestants, and many more) on how to exploit the inevitable demise of the world in order to make a tidy profit, for as the authors say:

“Sure, the rivers and seas will run with blood, locusts will swarm, mountains will move all over the place, and famine will strike. But for the five billion of us left behind, the post-Rapture world will be a time of even more unique investment opportunities.”

All that plus, plus Vinny sits on his Big Leather Couch to chat live with the listeners, Shawn Amos returns with another GetBack.com Pop Quiz, Justin the Weatherman may come back, and we’ll take your calls at 646-652-4804.

Join us live every Tuesday night at 9PM ET. The Radio Happy Hour Lounge-a live, interactive chat room during show time! It’s the show within the show!

Our dear friend MIMI handed us this award yesterday
and it tickled our belly like a bowl full of jelly...
THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS AWARD





Coming up this week on DR. BLOGSTEIN'S RADIO HAPPY HOUR: (Live on Tuesday November 13th at 9PM ET and forever archived at BlogTalkRadio.)