Dear Flabby,

See I have this friend.

She is a great person. She listens patiently, has a special way of asking how you are and really meaning it (which sometimes that makes me burst into tears), and always ALWAYS comments on my blog posts.

But I’ve let her down.

How do I say I’m sorry to the one person who has never let my blog down? Who is always there to cheer me on when I am down, who calls me to see how I am doing when I don’t keep in touch, and who sets such a real life Godly example of how to be a woman and Mom?

Do I send a card? Flowers? Shoes or jewelry?? Please help!

Signed,
Blog Blunder Betty

Dear Blunder,

You really can’t aplogize enough for the hurt and pain you have caused your friend. If you were really her friend, you would have sent a fruit basket with two plane tickets to Aruba or a backpacking trip thru the Ozark Mountains or something! You should be ashamed of yourself. You call yourself a blogger. You call yourself a friend!

Go pack your blogging bag and get the heck outta here. Go on!  Shoooo…

Signed,
Flabby

Dear Flabby,

That was really mean. I am a good friend. I am a better friend than I am blogger, I’ll grant you that, but really? Pack my blog bag? What kind of advice columnist are you? I know what I’ll do. Thanks for nothing!

Signed,
Blogger Flogged Betty

Dear Debbi,

I’m sorry for not including you in my last blog post. It was wrong. You read my blog also. Also, you comment regularly and I always look forward to what you have to say. Let’s make each other a deal: You blog more and I will too? What do you say?

Love ya,

Angie (aka Blog Blunder Betty- I couldn’t think of anything that ryhmed with Angie)

American Idol Predictions

We didn’t get to watch it on Tuesday, but because I stayed home from work today, I got to see it finally. Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber night with only 6 left.

This is American Idol! I know you were expecting Ryan Seacreast just now, but sadly all you get is me.

Here are my predictions for Wednesday.

Top 2- Carly Smithson and Sayesha Mercado

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I enjoyed Sayesha and she was definitely in her element with the musical style of singing. Like Diana DeGarmo, if she doesn’t make it in the pop scene, she has a place on Broadway.
Carly always just makes me wanna rock. I just like her style and her range. This was perfect for her and I like that she didn’t try to go with a song that she thought would be more demure and like what Sir Andrew would want her to sing. She tried that and he stopped her!

Middle 2- David Archuleta, and David Cook

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As always, these boys deliver great vocals and arrangement but like Simon, I wasn’t jumping out of my seat or feeling all welled up with excitement inside, unlike when Carley sang, I clapped. Alone. They’ll move on.

Bottom 2- Jason Castro and Brooke White

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I watched the piece with Jason and Sir Andrew and when he started to sing on stage, I got up and went to make lunch. It was that forgettable. Same with Brooke, I was making something to eat and heard Brooke. Then I didn’t hear Brooke and I assumed it was part of the song. When I came back in, I heard them all talking about her forgetting the words. I will have to go back and see that again. While I was in the kitchen, I didn’t hear anything to get excited about.

As the show moves on, I’m not going to be too sad to see Jason and Brooke go. I think they are out of the other’s league with the exception of Sayesha. I think she is good, but I don’t know that she’ll be the next Carrie Underwood. I think any one of the top 4 could take the prize at the end tho. Who knows.

If I only blog once a week…

Then American Idol night is the one I pick! Same version as last week…Let’s doooo iiiiiittt!! Oh wait. Wrong show.

5701 Amanda Overmyer: Sang: Back in the USSR. The band was louder than she was and so were the backup singers. She did ok. I don’t really have a whole lot of love for her. She knows how to do only one thing. Stand there with an open stance, bend forward and gravel out the chorus. Not good.
5702 Katy Lee Cook: Sang: You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away. Booriing! Simon was right. She has as much personality as a wet noodle and her legs are wet noodles.
5703 David Archuleta: Sang: The Long and Winding Road. He remembered the words!! Good job! Awesomeness! I’m all warm and fuzzy inside…should I feel ashamed? He’s only 17!! OMG!! Hotness! LOL Simon said he was amazing. I agree.
5704 Michael Johns: Sang: A Day in the Life. Off the Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album. A favorite of both Jon and myself. I thought it was good. The judges didn’t like it one bit. Ouch.
5705 Brooke White: Sang: Here comes the Sun. Her voice is so smoky and rich. She dances kind of awkward though! LOL It almost sounds slightly country. I like it. It was simple and that seems to be her thing. (Randy said she was awkward and she agreed that she moves awkward! LOL) She is a little too self-depricating for my taste. You picked it Brooke, have confidence in what you did and take their criticizing for what it is. Their opinion. The people still like you an awful lot!
5706 David Cook: Sang: Day Tripper. I don’t think I know this one. White Snake did a version? Um yeah, that is why I don’t know it. (Ha! Now that I hear it, I do know that song. I guess I didn’t listen close enough when I heard it before. )
(** As a side note** He plays guitar left handed and well, I tried playing with Brenna’s guitar yesterday. Try tuning it with a string missing, by the way. Anyway, I have no idea how he plays as a lefty because the strings would be upside down. Or do they string it for left handed peeps? ) It was good. I’m not sure about the synthed vocals, but it was good.
5707 Carly Smithson: Sang: Blackbird. I really like her voice. I would buy her album. I liked that version. It was controlled and well done. Yay her!! (I totally said controlled before Randy did! I swear!!) I seriously think Simon is just trying to be the one who disagrees. Why can’t he just say she was good? Harumph!
5708 Jason Castro: Sang: Michelle. My belle? I have to say I don’t like him. So I guess it doesn’t matter if he does well tonight. Ok, so it’s not that I don’t LIKE him for his voice, I DON’T like his hair. It’s akin to not being able to look at Sanjaya’s hair every week. You know what I am talking about! sanjaya.jpg Anyway, he was OK.

5709 Syesha Mercado: Sang: Yesterday. It was tender and soft. She had one off key note, but overall, it was good. Definitely her best performance so far.
5710 Chikezie Eze: Sang: I’ve just seen a face. Sounds like a love song you would hear on the radio. He sounds great. I like him. He is a little further down on my list of favorites, but he’s growing on me. Nice harmonica action there! That was a surprise!
5711 Ramiele Malubuy: Sang: I should have known better. …….than to fall in love with you…now love is just a faded memory…?? huh?? LOL I obviously don’t know this song…. She has a strong voice, but I don’t think she has as much stage presence. She seems scared to really pick dynamic songs and sing them with what vocal range she has! I’m bored. Moving on!

Oh.. she was the last one. Pretty good tonight. Looking forward to seeing how gets voted off tomorrow.
My bottom 3 are: Ramiele Malubuy, Jason Castro, and Katy Lee Cook. They were the weakest out of the whole bunch. Who knows how it will go in the end. I voted for David A., Carly S., Chikezie E., David C., and Brooke W. Multiple times for most of them.

On a family note. We have a sick girl. Strep throat. Poor little Bree-Bree. She hasn’t felt good since Sunday. I missed a play date with MJ’s friend because she wasn’t feeling well and had fever. I seriously hope I don’t get it. I don’t want to expose my dad to that with all that he is going through. I am flying up to MO to see him and my Sis on Thursday night. Pray for Jon and the kids. LoL! See you on the flip side!

American Idol Live

So the start of the show promises big changes. Ryan shows off the new stage and lights. Everyone all together now, OoooOooooohhh! The band is in their very own penthouse and the audience is in “bleachers”. Yippee! Annnd the judges, Randy, Paula, and hairy chest Simon. Yum for Ryan! LOL

AMERICAN IDOL TOP 12!!! WOOT!! Here they come…..Lots of clapping. The top 12 perform one song each and the theme tonight is Lennon/McCartney song book. David Archuleta did Lennon already. I wonder if he’ll do that one again?

I’ll go through each of their performances in one line, and then at the end, I’ll recap who I think did the best.

Syesha Mercado: Her register seems too low in this song. I didn’t like it in the beginning. It’s just aiight. The end was ok. Meh.
Chikezie Eze: Zowie…she’s a rockin woman singing in falsetto. Hmmmm..full of energy and it was pretty good! I liked it!
Ramiele Malubay: Sweet and tender, not sure it show cases her voice, but it was safe.
Jason Castro: I can’t stand his hair. Didn’t wow me. All this heart feeling is stupid. Get a hair cut.
Carly Smithson: Wow…she is good. I really like her! Come together baby….
David Cook: Rockin’. Like Daughtry, been there done that. I like him ok.
Brooke White: She plays piano well, enjoyed her version of let it be. I wasn’t knocked off my socks tho. Apparently Simon was…go figure.
David Hernandez: Not his best. A little Broadway performance-esqe for me or somewhat country fair-ish. Or as Simon said, “a little rabbit in the headlights” LOL I didn’t care for it. “Not feelin’ it”.
Amanda Overmyer: Better than some of her performances, but she still forces it into her upper register and then it sounds too Janice for me. I’m not a huge fan of her.
Michael Johns: He did ok. (I was talking to Jon while he was singing, so I wasn’t paying attention! LOL
Kristy Cook: Country is her thing, not sure if I like this version of 8 days a week. Seems too fast..sort of like weird al’s polkarama version of it in country form. LOL if you even know what I mean….
David Archuleta: They saved the best for last ( I hope- I’m writting this before he sings) I think I would like anything he does! :o) oh my gosh! He forgot the words! Poor baby is nervous!! I’m scared for him. The judges are going to eat him alive..it’s never good to forget any words. I will make sure to vote extra so he can stay on redeem himself.

I especially liked Carly tonight and second runner up, Chikezie. He was fun and had a good time. Ok, so my lowest picks tonight are: Syesha Mercado and Kristy Cook. I think even tho David A. forgot his words, he will stay until next week. Carly is as good as in the top three. I really like her. I can usually pick them for the top 3, but the last two years I didn’t predict the winners. They should have won, Kat McPhee and Blake Lewis, but alas, they didn’t.

Well, it was a good night. I won’t be having AI at my house this week. We’ll watch it together at home and enjoy seeing who gets the boot. Syesha or Kristy Lee? Only the votes will tell. Who did you vote for?

American Idol Results Show

The first 4 casualties of Season 7 are (drum roll please): Plus Size Model Joanne, Angelina’s Twin that can’t sing, Colton “The blond eyelashes” dude, and Garrett “throwback from the 70’s bad hair” guy. See, I can’t even remember them they were so unmemorable! I even tried to look up pictures, but I was too tired to wade through the American Idol website slide show with all 123 pictures. Ok, I found a pic of them, so I stole it! Shhh… (hat tip: idolbloglive.com )

It’s been a while since I posted. Since most of my readers are family anyway, they know what has been going on with our family. My Dad was diagnosed with Cancer recently and of course it’s been devastating for us all and we are learning to cope with it all. My Dad is a strong man and I know he’ll get through this the same way he got through many other issues in his life, with humor and strength and US!
So anyway, lots of stress, work, family, feeling funky my own self, and then my Mom ended up in the hospital! When it rains it pours! She was having trouble breathing, so she is there until she is better.

Upward Basketball is almost over and so we will get our weekends back starting next Sat. Yard work and spring cleaning are in the works. I might even finish painting my bathroom from 3 years ago! My friend Laura is working on a house they are renovating and last week I went to help out for a while. I noticed what a transformation a simple coat of white gloss paint can do, so I am inspired to grab a paintbrush and paint the trim all over our house because it is so yellow from age and wear. It will give our house a clean fresh look for not a lot of money.

So….I guess that is all I got for an update. I hope the bone crushing fatigue and the foggy fog will lift from my body and let me get back to doing what I want and need to do, life. I’m smiling on the inside, way deep down, just waiting for it to come to the surface. :o)

Extreme Makeover:American Idol Edition

After America voted to give Sanjya the boot, he applied to be on Extreme Makeover. He felt like his career wasn’t going anywhere unless he radically changed his “look”. As unique and original as his previous look was with the fauxhawks and numerous other crazy hairdos, he took the criticism to heart and decided that the only way to please the judges was to become one!
Transformation after the jump….

Continue reading “Extreme Makeover:American Idol Edition”

Friends = Family

Happy New Year!
This year promises great things. The continuation of a job I love, time with friends; both new and current, more web cam chats with my Mom and Dad, and precious time with my husband and kids. At first it was hard to have Christmas without my Sister, Dad and Mom but I came to the acceptance of it and made the best of the situation. We spent time on the web cam, online, and through phone calls. It made it less painful to miss them.
As I worked through the vacancy of our home, I began to have a sense of purpose and the need to get the house in order not just for company, but for my family. These 25 days off of work for school break has given me back some time and energy to do the things that I have neglected for so long. It feels so good to be on top of my house instead of it consuming and overwhelming me. There are still a lot of little things to do, but I have full confidence that they will get done and I will keep up with them.
Debily talked about her New Year’s Goals and think that is a great way of looking at things. Goal setting instead of resolutions, as they tend to feel insurmountable and every year they go undone anyway, why set yourself up for failure?

My goals in 2008 are:

  1. Keeping up with my home and cleaning tasks. I know they are attainable with some time management.
  2. Keeping my marriage fresh and fun. Taking the time to spend with my husband and committing to a study time together or a renewal time for just us.
  3. Being more involved with my children’s activities. Too often I am there, but I am somewhere else in my brain. Turn off the world more and connect with them one on one and in what they are doing so I can support them and their endeavors.
  4. Blog more. Be more revealing and structured in my thoughts, instead of spewing out my laundry list of things I do each day.
  5. Work on our debt management. With discipline and focused attention, we can reduce our load and make the improvements to our home that we so badly desire.
  6. Work on my relationship with Christ. He and I need to spend more time together and I am committed to studying his word weekly.

I think that is a short but sufficient list of goals to work toward in 2008. Who am I kidding? They probably won’t all get done, but that is the best part about goals. They are what you work for in striving for excellence, not perfection.

We had a great time over at Matt and Debbi’s. It was like being with family except they like us <wink> and want us to stay more than 1 night! No seriously, they are the next best thing to having family live close and we enjoy them time we spend together very much. Friends are family and I am so grateful for them. Happy New Year Y’all!

Oh, and in true Texan tradition, I ate Black Eyed Peas for lunch for “good luck” and I feel lucky alright! Lucky that I can’t smell my own gaseous emissions. They are after all beans. Poor Jon. He didn’t eat any and he wasn’t so “lucky”. Honk!!