American Idol Top 6-Carole King

We'll see if I can keep up with this tonight. It's been a day around here tonight. (And no, that's not a typo.)

Jacob- Oh No Not My Baby- Dude. What is he wearing? Jacob's time is up. Nice guy, I'm sure, but not the American Idol. Bottom 3 again, and possibly gone.

Lauren-  - She is great. Period. She looked fantastic and sounded fantastic.

Scotty- You've Got A Friend- Way better than last week. I can hear this on his album.

James- Tonight You're Mine- Jen was right. He is consistent. And good. And could win this thing.

Casey- Hidy Hidy Ho- Not my favorite from him. Maybe it was the song choice, maybe the way he sang it. It was definitely "Casey" but not my cup of tea.

Haley-  -Yeah, I'm over her, too. And I do NOT agree with the judges.

Best of the night: Lauren, Scotty and James
Who's going home? My guess is Jacob or Haley.

What do you think?

Housewife Porn

(Can't wait for the Google hits on this one. Heh.)

Is there nothing more exciting than brand new appliances? Especially when I've spent the last 6 months wondering if my washer would let loose again, and the last 2 months taking the laundry to the laundromat to dry. I've earned these suckers.

But don't be jealous. Like Amy said on Fa*ebook, it just means more work for me.

At least I'll get to do it all in my own home!

Just Curious: Killing Me

I know all the quack talk about "prices are higher in Europe" and that other things that we buy are way more expensive, but, Seriously? This is the most I've ever paid to fill up my van...by $10 or more! And this was taken last week. Luckily, I only have to fill up every 10 days or so.

So, what are gas prices in your area? I'm seriously considering moving just because of the high gas prices here. Convince me that I should be your neighbor.

Answers, Part 2: Colorado

Back to finishing what I started.... (Slow, yes, but I still get it done. Quite indicative of my life, actually. Ahem.)

Nadine asked: "When are you going to visit Colorado again?"

Oh Nadine. What a can of worms.

Obviously you've figured out that I'm from Colorado. I suppose that it's pretty obvious that I love it there. Truthfully I'd love to be there right now. Spring snow is my favorite!

I try to get back to Colorado once a year, twice if I can swing it. This year is also my 25th class reunion so my trip will coincide with that, (Duh, I'm one of the organizers. Don't ask.) I prefer to go in the summer. It's easier to travel in the summer, whether we're driving or flying, and my nieces are also out of school so the boys have someone to play with. We have lots of friends there so there really is no downtime. We stay with my parents, which is always lovely and relaxing. I usually have the boys there for 10 days to 2 weeks, and HD comes out for around 7 days or so depending on his schedule.

If you can believe this, after learning to ski when I was about 6, and going all of the time when I was in junior high school, my boys have never been skiing. I would love to take them to Colorado to learn, and it is certainly on the "list" but so far it hasn't happened. OK, they want to snowboard. Semantics. Maybe this year?

So Nadine, there you go! Thanks for your comment. I'd love to link to your blog if you have one. Make sure to email me or leave a comment with your blog address if you'd like me to add the link.

If anyone has another question leave it on the other post or here is fine too!

Unplugged

I'm taking the day, and possibly the weekend off. I need to unplug.

The lack of sunshine in sunny Southern California has zapped my mojo for anything other than clicking from this to that and back again without making any click count. Hey Mother Nature? Bring back my sunshine, would ya? This reminds me of my freshman year in Knoxville when I didn't see the sun from November to March and decided that, No, I couldn't spend 4 years in a gray fog.

We are getting my new washer and dryer today. Exciting to no one besides me. And maybe, just maybe, all of you that have had to listen to my endless Fa*ebook updates about heading to the laundromat yet again. I will say, however, that that is the cleanest laundromat I've ever seen. It deserves a post of it's own.

I have a dozen other urgent things on my to do list as well. The first being to take a shower. Maybe I'll find some mojo there? At least I'll have clean hair and freshly shaven legs.

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen, indeed.

Wordless Wednesday-Blooming

Laundry Room: Before and After Painting

Before:

After:

Next: Ceiling, cabinets an baseboards. Don't hold your breath for all of it.

It's Too Bad They Didn't Have Fun

And if you believe that, I've got some ocean front property to sell you.

My boys banging it up in the bumper cars.

It's been a long day, friends. After I posted that we were going I had some work to do. I decided to eradicate another room of the PINK and, of course, I have to do it this week. (Well, we got the tile in and since the dryer is dead and no longer in the house, we I have plenty of room to get the laundry room painted. I even told my contractor not to put the door back on so that I don't just close it and forget. I walk by that room a hundred times a day, if I do it once, and for once a 'get-it-done' strategy is working. Albeit slow, but getting there, nonetheless.) So I slapped a coat of primer up on those awful pink walls. (And yes, it will take another coat or 2 before I can put my color up But! It looks awesome already!)

Once I had showered and gotten dressed I ran down to the school at 11 to get the boys. They had NO IDEA. It was awesome. Once they both made it to the office they were dying with curiosity! I asked them what they thought we were going to be doing and #1 actually thought he might have a dentist appointment, and #2 was just confused. If you don't know my boys these thoughts about what we were doing are e.x.a.c.t.l.y like them. #1 over-thinks and #2 just goes with the flow.

We had to come home for a few minutes to drop their stuff and to grab my stuff and lunch, but we were out the door in less than 30 minutes. Amazing what a little motivation will get you.

Anyhow, we were at the park by around 12:30, got our passes, and were on our first roller coaster by 1 or so.

Funny story: My boys are not really roller coaster riders. There seems to be a year that it clicks with most kids and this is definitely it for #1, for sure, and maybe #2 as well. They have never been on anything more crazy than the Matterhorn or the Log Ride, and were super nervous. So what did we do? We rode the Ghostrider first. ((The link has stats.)) Thank goodness we got on too fast for them to think about it too much because they may not have gotten on it if they had. Both of them emerged with giant grins and remarked that they loved it. Surprised?

Honestly, I think that it was a good thing that it closed at 6 pm tonight because by 5 we were wiped out, and when we got on the road at 5:30 it took us an hour and 20 minutes to get home. (Yes, it was more than double the drive home with traffic. Stupid SoCal traffic.)

That was a good day, my friends. And now I'm going to fall face-first into my pillow. Roller coasters are exhausting, yo.

Shhhhh! It's a Secret!

Later today I'll be taking the boys out of school early. I never do this. We'll come home quickly for a pit stop, then we're going to head to the OC.





We're getting season passes this year-the first time that we've ever done something like this. Honestly, for season passes, they're really reasonable, and it's a place that if their friends don't have their own pass it doesn't break the bank to just go for the day, either.

I'm so excited, I'm jumping out of my skin!

American Idol Top 8-Movie Songs

I'm getting right into this tonight...you know the drill.

Paul-Old Time Rock and Roll-Yuck. I honestly don't know what anyone sees in this guy, and the rose suit has GOT to go. Thanks, Paul, for butchering one of my favorite songs.

Lauren-The Climb- She gives me chills e.v.e.r.y.d.a.r.n.t.i.m.e. I am surprised that she didn't bring the power notes, but it still worked. Snark alert: Lauren's mama needs a new hair dresser.

Stefano-End of the Road- While I still can't stand to watch him Over Do It All, he did sound better tonight than he has. Dude, get rid of the high tops. They're so 1984.

(Has any other judge had to be bleeped before? Jennifer. Niiiiice.)

Scotty-I Cross My Heart- This is one of the greatest country love songs of the 90's and unfortunately I don't think that he did it justice. He really shouldn't have changed songs. {Aimee, you were totally right about him. Totally cocky.} This was not great and I think that he is at risk this week.

Casey-Nature Boy- I WAS COMPLETELY MESMERIZED. Honest to Pete, when you do something this good, it's the right choice to change songs. Sorry Jimmy, but Casey had it right this time. Dude is single-handedly making the stand-up bass sexy again. Best of the night by a mile.

Haley-Call Me- She's just so awkward, bless her heart. I don't think that this was the right song for her and I don't think it sounded any better than just "a'ight".

Jacob-Bridge Over Troubled Water- He sounded nice, and very controlled, but I'm done. He sounds the same every week and while I know that he will sell records, they just won't be to me.

James-Heavy Metal- How many flashbacks did you have during that song? I had several, thanks. James definitely made the right choice in going with this song. He knows who he is and what he can get away with.

Top 3-Lauren, Casey, and James.

Bottom- All the rest. I really don't think that anyone else did anything that will for sure keep them safe.

So, do you agree?

Wordless Wednesday-Above 500

My Phillies had a win on Monday that puts them back above .500. Both of my boys had hits!

Answers, Part 1: College

Last week I asked you to ask me questions to answer here. The beautiful and fierce Carmen asked:

What did you study in college? Would you recommend that to your high school self? Why or why not?

When I was entering college I was bound and determined to be an elementary school teacher, with certification for deaf ed. I wanted to eventually teach in a school for the deaf. Seriously. (Why I wanted to do that is a whole other story that I won't go into now. Besides, it's not all that interesting.)

The first year for any college student is primarily general ed, so that is what I took at The University of Tennessee. In a nutshell, I was pretty homesick, so I went home and transferred to the University of Northern Colorado. I had every intention of continuing to study elementary education and then figure out the 'deaf ed' part later but fate, or whatever, had a different plan.

At the time, all education majors had to take ED 101, which was an introduction to all levels of education. As part of the class, we had to do 4 observations: 1 in primary, 1 in upper elementary, 1 in middle school, and 1 in high school.  I don't really remember the order that I did them but distinctly remember my feelings after sitting in a first grade classroom: OH HELL NO. I also remember being in the middle school class and realizing that age was perfect for me. Thus, I changed my major to Middle School Education.

(Side note: My graduating class would have been the last class to even be able to major in Middle School Ed. which I don't totally agree with. Kids from 5-9th grade have such a unique set of circumstances to deal with that I think that it takes a uniquely gifted and educated person to be effective for this age group. But I digress.)

So over the next couple of years I did a few Ed classes and also took English and History classes, since that's what I wanted to teach. At the end of my junior year I went in to get a grad check and found out that it was going to take me 3 MORE YEARS to graduate. Thus, my second OH HELL NO moment of college. I then had my advisor run the grad check with an English major/History minor, and lo and behold I would only need 2 more years to get that one. Yep, I took the easy(er) way out. And, yes, if you're doing the math, I was on the 5 year plan.

Would I recommend this entire scenario to my high school self? No. However, knowing what I know now, getting out of education was the best decision I've ever made that I didn't plan at all. Saying that, though, who really knows at 18 what they really want to do with their whole life? Yes, there are a few, like my dad knowing around 3 that he wanted to fly, and my darling Headless Girl that decided at 7 that she wanted to be a doctor, but most of us don't come to those decisions until much later in college, if at all, and many people have a job/career dropped in our laps and we just take it and run with it. I am disgusted with the education system in general. (Don't get me wrong, I love the school and my boy's teachers.) I think that the standards and benchmarks for students are out of whack, I think that the 'business' of education in our states has gotten way out of hand, and I know that it has got to change drastically if we are going to effectively educate our children.  /soapbox

I do think that my degree was a good decision. What it has given me over my adult life is: knowing what dedication and persistence is, I am able to express myself clearly in writing, and I'm the most kick ass helper when it comes to my kids language arts homework, among other things. (Like 3rd graders having to write 5 paragraph essays. What's up with that?)

So Carmen, did I cover everything? ;-)

Also, if you would like to still ask a question, leave it in the comments of Riddle Me This... Thanks!

High School Reunion

Originally published on Inland Empire Family, April 4, 2011.

Springtime always takes me back to my senior year in high school. My whole life ahead of me, I was going to go far away to college and reinvent myself.


Reinvention is hard work and, like most college students, I didn’t really have it in me. I did enough to get by. I graduated with a decent GPA. I got a job; I moved across the country. Then it was time for my 10 year high school reunion and my ‘big reveal.’I guess the joke was on me. My name tag kept falling off and I was worried about it until someone that I hardly knew in school told me “Oh just throw it away. Everyone knows who you are anyway.”

All these years later I’m not so sure that I’ve changed that much, either. Yes, I’m married now, have children, a mortgage, drive a mini-van and have a 3-car garage, but inside and out I’m amazed at how much I haven’t changed.



And while I’m no longer an insecure 17 year old that wants to radically change who she is, I’ve grown to (mostly) love who I am. I still love jamming out to cheesy ’80′s techno dance music, drinking margaritas (where I lived, the drinking age was lower then!), going to parties with my friends, and taking a day off to get lost in a great book.

This summer I will plan and attend my 25th class reunion. I will stress out over the perfect outfit and that I haven’t lost these pesky 10 pounds that I found this winter. I will smile and laugh and hug all of the people that I haven’t seen in 25 years, some who will be attending our reunion for the first time. I’ll squeal over the ones that we aren’t expecting and shed a tear over the ones that won’t ever be able to join us again.

What I won’t do is try to reinvent myself this time. I like me just the way I am and always have been.

Where I've Been In The United States

List of states, the ones that I've been to in red, the ones where I've lived have a star:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California *
• Colorado *
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina *
• South Dakota
• Tennessee *
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

40 out of 50 (OK, 51 if you count DC, which I totally am for this exercise) What about you? Tag, you're it! You may include air travel layovers and drive-throughs. I did! Make sure to leave me a link so I can come see where you've been.

Top 9-Rock and Roll Week

I'm following the developing Dodger's story over at Draft Day Suit. Make sure you head on over and check it out.

Now. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame week can either be great or terrible. With this group of kids I'm guessing that we are in for quite a show.

Jacob-Man in the Mirror- Jacob is predictable. While he technically sounded good I don't think that we're learning any thing about him from week to week: he does the same type of songs and controls them in the same kinds of ways. I suppose that it works for him but I feel like I can go do the dishes instead of watch and I won't miss anything. I loved that he got to sing that song with the songwriter. What an awesome experience!


Haley-Take Another Little Piece of My Heart- I thought this was awful from the very first note. I also think that she was way too smiley for a song like this. She needed to look a little more bad a@@, a little more angry. Still not a fan.

Casey-Have You Ever Seen The Rain- YES! I love the playful spin that he put on this song....and it was mostly with his eyes. Definitely had the perfect Casey-Spin, without going too far. And yes, the stand-up bass is rockin'.

Lauren-Natural Woman- She gave me the first chills of the night. She sang this really well, but it was not one of her stand-out performances. Sidenote: Gwen Stefani styled the women tonight? OK, it looks FANTASTIC on Gwen but poor Lauren looked like she was on her way to a costume party. Awkward.

James-While My Guitar Gently Weeps- Chills, Take 2. James really nailed it by going slower when everyone else went fast and upbeat.

Scotty-That's All Right, Mama- He is so darn cute! This showed so much more personality than we have seen before out of Scotty. Nicely done.

Pia-River Deep, Mountain High- I know that we've all been busting her chops about singing something more upbeat but I thought it came out very cruise ship-y, and thus boring. Disappointing.

Stefano-When A Man Loves A Woman- Could someone please tell me what the judges see in this kid? I found this painful, actually. Not that his singing is awful, but it's the entire performance that I can't get into. He is OVER-emoting, OVER dramatic, OVER done.

Paul-Folsom Prison Blues- I like this better than his usual squeaky voice. The more rockin' he gets the better he sounds, apparently.

*****

This is really an amazing group of kids and beyond my bottom-of-the-group pics, we are finding it really hard to choose who to vote for. But. I'm voting anyway because they didn't save Casey to have him go home 2 weeks later.

Best of the Night: Casey, Lauren, James.

Safe: Scotty, Pia

Should be in the bottom 3: Jacob, Haley, Stefano, Paul (Yes, I know that's 4. They deserve it. If I had to guess who will not be in the bottom 3 of these 4 it would be Paul since he closed the show on a rockin' note.)

Who was your favorite tonight?

Riddle Me This....

I've decided that since I have quite a few new readers around here that it was time to do this again.

What have you always wanted to know about us? Me? I'll answer your questions, assuming they are appropriate. Want a recipe? Want to know something else about the flood that I forgot to add?

Hit me.

Versatility

Not necessarily a word that I would have come up with if asked to describe myself, but according to Holy Mama, I'm a Versatile Blogger! Thanks Kelsey!

Now, according to the rules, the first thing I'm supposed to do is tell you 7 random things about me.

1. I recently got my nails done...for the first time in over 2 years. The budget opened up just a little for me to be able to do this again and I'm so happy! The stress of the flood/floor had gotten to me and I was biting my nails again so they totally needed it. Let's hope I can bowl tomorrow!
2. I prefer to do my own pedicures, but won't turn them down, either. And, yes, when I got my nails done I treated myself to a pedicure too!
3. Speaking of bowling, I've been doing really well lately. Last week I had a 163, 157, and a 153, and our team won 4 games!
4. My house is closer than ever to how I have envisioned it from day 1. I will continue to post pictures as rooms get cleaned and done. Our tile is going in this week! Yay!
5. I have a love/hate relationship with Fac*book. Love to keep in touch with people, hate the way I get sucked in every.darn.day.
6. I have a mad love of Twitter, though, and actually, I'm trying to spend MORE time there.
7. I cannot, for the life of me, stop breaking my red wine glasses. I still have 1 from the 12 that we got for our wedding, but have gone through 2 or 3 boxes of cheapos in the last couple of years. The latest count is 1 really nice glass, and 3 cheapos. Any bets on how long it will take before I'm headed to the store for more?

Part 2: I'm supposed to pass this award along to 15 other bloggers. Which I will do, but I'm not writing commentary on each of them. It's late, and I'm tired, and this is already super long. So there. If you're on this list, rest assured that I heart you long time. You should read them and learn to love them too! (And it goes without saying that this is in no particular order.)(Right?)

• Mommy Needs Coffee
• Better 2 Me
• This Full House
• Laurie Writes
• BusyMom
• Rocks in the Wash!
• Blogtations
• Especially Heather
• Jodifur
• Woulda Coulda Shoulda
• Scribbit
• Issa's Crazy World
• Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step Child
• Just Margaret
• Mom to the Screaming Masses

So, pass this along as you all see fit. Or not. I just didn't want this to pass without thanking Holy Mama for including me!

10 Guilty Pleasures

We’ve all got them. Things that make us feel happy, alive, satisfied.

Here are 10 of my guilty pleasures:

1. 1-Reading a really good book. One that takes me away from my real life and immerses me in a whole other world.
2. 2-An uncommonly hot shower, long enough to make my fingers wrinkle.
3. 3-Drinking an ice cold Coke over crushed ice.
4. 4-Watching my favorite daytime soap.
5. 5-Taking a long walk in a new neighborhood, gazing at new landscapes, flowers and designs.
6. 6-Margaritas with salt, and chips and queso.
7. 7-Or a glass of a fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon.
8. 8-Reading blogs on a rainy Saturday afternoon instead of doing chores.
9. 9-Thick, warm sweatshirts on cold winter days.
10. 10-Holding hands with my sweetheart.

So, what are your guilty pleasures?

Originally published on InlandEmpireFamily.com, March 28, 2011. 

About Me

In 2007 when I started this blog my kids were all in school (a new thing) all in sports, I was team mom, room mom, this mom and that mom. My husband had just herniated a disc in his back. Each day I would wake, run from school to the hospital to doctor’s appointments, pick up a kid, go to a sports practice, pick up another kid and then attempt to get them fed, bathed and asleep before I had to do it all over again.

So it’s logical that I would start a blog amidst all of the craziness, right? And logical, too, that our name, The Headless Family came out of that time.

I suppose that my days now are not quite as harried as they were then, but like every American family we’re still busy. I think that’s the new American Way and we’re no different.

My daughter, Headless Girl or HG, is a recent college graduate and will be getting married soon. Her goal in life is to be a medical missionary and travel to Africa. Although she is technically my step-daughter, I feel like her mother in every real sense of the word. I snuggled her to sleep when she was young, was her Brownie leader, dried the tears of teenage heartache, and continue to try and be the mother that she needs as she steps gingerly into adulthood. 

The Headless Boy #1, or HB1, is 13 years old and is changing so much. Last year he found music (piano and sax,) and is incredibly gifted. I am constantly amazed at his tender heart and crazy smarts. (The kid has a memory like an elephant, no lie.) He has his own YouTube channel, loves video games, and can push my buttons like no one else. (There's gotta be one, right?)

Headless Boy #2 is almost 11 and is our resident football player. Standing at 5'5", and 130 lbs, he is poised to be the next high school phenom. He's the clown, that one, a very smart clown. Sometimes he's hard to read, but he's sweet, easy-going, and has a long fuse. It's hard sometimes to remember that he is only 11, my baby, and is still a little boy at heart. I try to get snuggles out of him and am only occasionally successful. I guess my days of snuggling are numbered.

When I started referring to Headless Dad as HD here on this blog, it was before I realized that “dh” in blog-speak meant ‘darling husband’. Sorry for the confusion! But I think we’ll stick with it. Most days he has a perfectly normal job in the power industry-one that involves words like ‘transformer’, ‘sub-station’, ‘KV’, and ‘bus duct’. Sometimes those things blow up, our phone rings, and I then don’t know when I’ll see him again. Before we met and got married he had been a single dad for several years and has a unique perspective on stay-at-home-parenting that few men seem to have. That means he’s amazingly supportive of me, and this blog, and I’m one lucky woman to have him. Don’t get me wrong, he leaves his socks on the floor just like most husbands do, and I throw my hands up in response, but in general there is no one I’d rather be headless with.

So I guess that brings me to me. I’m Kendra, or Headless Mom as I’m known around the internet. I’m a 40-something, SAHM, who spent her youth thinking that she would marry her high school sweetheart and live happily ever after. That dream died with the lack of a high school sweetheart. So I went to college, got a job, and then another, and then another, and finally went on the business trip that would change my life forever. Almost 15 years ago I finally got my dream: A husband that adores me, 3 great kids, and the life I always wanted.

I also like queso and chips, cool weather, wine, Jimmy Buffet, and blogging about the chaos that is our Headless family. Welcome!

Contact me at: headlessfamily5 (AT) gmail (DOT) com

(updated August 2013)
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