1973

 

Today is all about 1973 .. you know, 40 years ago, when I was born. 

 

 

 

The Fantasy Island Car was popular...

 

 

Music was a bargain...

 

 

Or you could just skip the kitch and go with something really good...

 

Oh the theater, the theater, what's happened to the theater?  The 1970s were not kind to Broadway.  Sondheim saved it, sort of.

 

 

 

Or if the theater was not your thing you could go to the movies.  Of course, you might fall asleep in this one...

 

But happy in this one, because you know Ron Howard AND Harrison Ford...

 



 

And if you got hungry during the show...remember Soylent Green is people.  No, really, it is.

 

 

And of course, this is my favorite...

 

 

 Back in our living rooms we were watching the final season of this family...GROOVY!

 

 

 I tell you what I love, that lollypop, Kojak.

 

 

 

They say he was Six Million Dollars, but we all know he was much more...Lee Majors!

 

 

And these were your best friends...

 

 

 

We did our book reports on this...

 

Or this.  Of course, I love Uncle Bulgaria the most.

 

 

 

Naturally, we wanted to look super cool and groovy...

 

 

And our homes were well appointed...

 

 

 

Our toys were super crazy and reflected pop culture:

 

 

We had Poloroid cameras and Dodge Darts...

 

 

We ate Super Sugar Crips, back when they had decent prizes in the box, drank Shasta Cola and made our own Barbie clothes...

 

And of course if my uncles had, had their way, I would have been named Liberty, so they could sing this jingle to me:

 

 

And there is me, your 1973 Special:

 

You can retweet this if you want

Look at that picture above.  Read what old Uncle Albert said.  Think about it a minute.

Ok.  Let's talk.  Well really, I'm going to rant a bit.

I'm disappointed with the smart phone and its use in polite society -- that is, of course, if polite society even exists anymore.  After this week, I'm not so sure.

Just a few days ago, Mark Zuckergerg, the founder of facebook, said, that's total ok to check your phone with dinner guests around.

Um, no Mark it is not.  I am not even going to explain why.  Because you all know why.

It is also not ok to facebook in Sacrament meeting, or to play angry birds in sacrament meeting. Two things I witnessed today in my ward. And if you were wondering, it was adults.  Can we not just leave it alone for 3 hours?  I get it, bringing a device with the scriptures and lessons, and assorted gospel accoutrements is way easier than schlepping all of that in your bag.  But if you can't just leave the "entertainments" alone for a small fraction of your week, maybe you should put on that hair shirt and drag your big old boxy scriptures to church.

Then there was the time, just this past Easter, that we went home to Mesapotamia to see the folks and the family.  (Blogs to come soon on this).   We had a family lunch on Saturday at Uncle Cam's house with all of the extended McKays.   How disappointed was I that everyone sat there with a phone lolling in their hands, like dangling cigarettes in the mouths of a spaghetti western cowboy, waiting, just waiting for a ping or a text, or to check whatever.  We were not having good conversations that way.  The only one I had a meaningful conversation with was Marian.  I'm sure it's because neither of us have a smart phone.  We just talked.    Because of this, I'm not sure I want to drive all the way to Arizona and see my extended family anymore.  Why bother if all we're going to do is sit and text each other across the room?  Perhaps they all need to appreciate the fact that we are together, some of us more often than others, and cherish those times.   I would have liked to have had a nice family chat, which used to be filled with laughter, jokes, funny witticisms and all the answers to the questions of the universe.

I get it, we have technology, we should embrace is and love it (always and forever), but we also need to focus on our human interactions when we have them, because those more important that a status update or a retweet or being the high scorerer in the game of the month.

And with that my rant is over, and you can totally retweet this if you want.

Chemistry Humor

This is for my husband, because he doesn't have a facebook and needs to have chemistry humor, because he is a chemist.

2012

It's the end of the world as we know it.....

Was it Really the Hootenanny I'd Hoped For?

I found my January 1, 2011 post (see HERE) the other day. I re-read it with a bit of laughter and a bit of tears.

Let's ask the question again, shall we? In one word, how do you feel about this year?

Remember how I said, HOOTENANNY?

Oh my gracious, has it ever been -- but not in a fun "let's do it again" kind of way.

I'd give 2011 the award for Celestial Living.

It's been a whirl wind to say the least...

Frozen water heater on New Year's Eve
James in the hospital with croup
My feet in revolt for the first half of the year, with trips to phys-therapy and 4 electro shock treatments
Fire evacuation and not knowing if we'd have a home to come home to.
A very much wanted baby on the way, but oh-the-humanity-was-I-sick for-that-first-part.
My child turning into a full on TV addict


And I will stop there.

But there were some good parts...

I got to see WICKED finally.
Many tender mercies shown to us during our times of trials.
Not going to 20 year high school reunions and realizing that you are totally ok with that, and probably always were.
James learning how to talk...and become my best helper.
A new brother on the way.
Cars that work and a house that didn't burn up.
Joseph doing everything that I can no longer do for myself.

And the list could go on...

So here we are on the verge of 2012. I'm not sad to see 2011 go. I have no word for 2012 yet, perhaps I won't need one if the Mayans were right?!

Red Shirts

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!



"I'm wearing a RED SHIRT! Didn't you guys every WATCH the show?" -- Guy from Galaxy Quest.

What smells in here?

You know, us gals have better senses of smells than the men in our lives. That's why men can sit around and fart and scratch and camp for days and no be bothered by each other. Women on the other hand....

Then we conceive and our sense of smell goes from HIGH to NITRO-BURNING FUNNY CAR CHARGED and we suffer.

People, the world smells too much and I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Normally I love Swiffer/Febreeze "fresh air scent" in my cleaning products. Not right now. No not right now. Gag-me-with-a-spoon.

The gangsta boy that came with his baby mama to the OB's office the other day...dude LAY OFF the Drakkar Noir, that's so 1989.

Old Ladies at church...(pretty please)...lay off the Chantilly Lace, Eau de Whatever-it-is...seriously, it's hard enough not fitting into the pews, but having to smell that perfume, then to smell the clashing perfumes. I'm beginning to understand tribulation and long-suffering.

And while we're talking about church, I have to say, our building smells like a GIANT dirty diaper from the planet Manky-Poop. Not! Even! Kidding! Is anyone taking out the trash on a regular basis? I know the members are 'in charge' of cleaning the buildings and here is my whole point about just hiring a cleaning service....so things get clean and garbages get taken out. Honestly -- Manky-Poop.

Then there is the Piggly-Wiggly, which is really not a Piggly-Wiggly, I just call it that, because that is so much more alluring that Smiths. Really, it is. The sample lady should have just looked at me, and my pregnant waddling self and known, she should have known that those nasty hunks of BBQ'd "meatballs" were going to be noxious balls of stink...I don't want a meatball, I don't want a coupon for a meatball...take my word for it lady, I have got to get out of here quick or my cookies are going to be tossed, and that would really stink.

If I believed in Santa I would ask him for a non-smelling nose for Christmas, because right now sans-olfactory would be bliss, I'm sure.

Before social media...

"You can learn all the truth from facebook."

"Oh, ya, I'll follow you on facebook."

"You don't follow on facebook. You follow on twitter and friend on facebook."

Or so say the kids in Sunday School...

But before, back when we were kids there was...

Shark infested hot lava on your family room floor
Aquanet bangs
Acid wash jeans
Pegged pants
Stirrup pants (oh the inhumanity!)
Combat Doc Martins worn by Gothy kids
Friendship pins
Friendship bracelets
Universal love of Duran Duran (ok maybe that was just me)
The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music on TV being big "events".

And we all knew about all of this, in Arizona and in Washington....without social media.

Take that 2011!

Dear Daylight Savings Time

Dear Daylight Savings Time (The Universe, Congress, and Ghost of Benjamin Franklin included),

As you know, Saturday was the last day of Daylight Savings Time. Thanks for the "extra hour" of sleep, it was super fantastic. No really it was, please tell me about it some day, because this is what really happened in homes across America, Arizona and Hawaii excepted...

The new 5:30 was the old 6:30 and since I'm pregnant I get up all night long to use the potty, and also since I have insomnia most of the time I'm pregnant I get up anyway to check on things. So when the new 5:30 which was the old 6:30 rolled around I was hungry and needed to get up and use the potty and check on everything and EAT, but I can't eat till I take my thyroid meds so then I had to wait 30 mins before eating (kind of like waiting 30 mins to swim after you've eaten), so I got ready for church and was totally ready for church -- I mean make-up and coiffed to the fullest extent of the AquaNet by 7am.

Do you hear that Universe....I was ready for church at 7am....THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED EVER!

Speaking of church....

Might I say the native were a *tad* bit restless?

"Why yes, you may say that" quoth the Universe.

And the Congress replied, "Wait, what? Church? We haven't outlawed that yet? We better get on that!"

Kids were playing musical chairs chairs and parents. Moms had submitted to their fates and were no longer chasing their kids, the eyes of Dads were glazed over. James was snow-plowing his face under the chairs and doing his best "scary monster" growl at full volume. The little girl sitting in front of us totally moved in and was eating James' snacks (which I was ok with, but it was still funny), babies were crying, old men were snoring, and testimony meeting went to the precipice of running over, but thankfully the bishopric councilor jumped up before that last rush of "I've been sitting here all meeting" folks that always come up right when we should be singing "If you could hie to Kolob" and getting on to Sunday School. Oh yes, the natives were restless.

I only mildly felt guilty for eating during Relief Society as well, when the new 11am was the old Noon and I needed SOMETHING in me so as not to fall over in hunger. Sorry all you fasting sisters.

The day dragged on from there. No literally dragged on, because we all could have gone to bed at the new 7pm which was the old 8pm and been totally fine.

Now, it's Monday, and at least Joseph got to go to work with some sunlight today, however he will be coming home in the dark. So we switched one for the other. Did I mention that all the lights in the whole house are on as well, and since I refuse to use CFLs all the bulbs are incandescent, which I'm sure is sending our carbon foot print and Algore's blood pressure to the stratosphere? So much for saving energy. I think I'm going to run the dishwasher empty today just for kicks.

And, Congress, this is just for you...what's with changing the DST start and end time? Do you know how confusing it is for the Mormons? We used to have to change our clocks on General Conference weekends, which was so convenient, but now, who knows when things change. Seriously....seriously...can we go back to the way it was?

Finally, this morning when I rolled over at the new 5:30, which is the old 6:30 because of the aforementioned pregnant lady reasons, I panicked because Joseph was not yet up and I didn't want him to be late for work, which robbed him of 10 mins of sleep, because he had it covered. Sweet Baby James is also flopping around in his bed, and I'm sure he'll be awake soon, which presents a problem to our morning schedule. Curious George is not on for another hour -- there is no way I can make his breakfast last a whole hour!

So, Dalylight Savings Time, Universe and Congress....I just want to thank you for the insanity you've added to our lives it's super-non-stop-great!

Sincerely,
The Atomic Mom

Rick Roll

You have just been blog-Rick Rolled....

That's because I love you so much.

Pure Chip Bliss

The Piggly-Wiggly has had these retro taco Doritos on sale the past few weeks. It's been the siren song of my youth howling at me every time I'm in there. Just opening a bag is like opening childhood. And yes, I've opened a few bags these last few weeks. Pure, chip, bliss...

Now where's my aqua-net and sno-cone pink lipstick?

An Easter Treat

An Easter Treat from Lincoln Hoppe and Kirby Heyborn. Yes, the guys from The Singles Ward. They have a website called KerBlink, it's pretty funny.

Happy New Year

Christmas Gift Guide, part 1

Now that all the community Christmas stuff is over, I have "time" to think about my own Christmas. So, I've been thinking about gifts. I've picked out some winners:


The Auto cup with bonus smokeless ashtray


Who doesn't need a Hair Wiz?


Everyone loves SLUSH! But don't eat yellow slush!


To liven up all of your Christmas parties, Mr Microphone...


For the phone enthusiast in your family:


For the crafter in your family, then you can go to Kinney for shoes to match that flower serape you just loomed:


But seriously, I could use this one:


And finally, for those of you that want to be the envy of your friends, I give you:

Seriously, I've got a pile of sweaters I'm going to gem up with this one right now.

Didn't find what you wanted for Christmas on this list? Oh just wait, there is more to come!

Worst Nativities

Creche Show starts today, I'm co-captian of Team Kitchen. So, I'm going down in a while to get things going in there. I just hope everyone shows up that signed up to help!

But to get you started, here is a virtual tour of the world's worst nativity sets

Worst Nativity Sets

Thanks to Marie C, for the link.

Holiday entertaining

Gary and Elaine of Catalog Living have some GREAT ideas for Holiday entertaining today be sure to check them out

A fancy lunch

I don't know why, but lunch is always a dilemma for me. It just is. What to have? The options overwhelm me most days. Not that I have anything THAT great in my pantry, but I have to make the most of my midday meal, it's the only thing I eat till 5:30.



So today I sat pondering my options and the following conversation ensued:

Joseph: What are you having for lunch?
Me: I don't know. I'm thinking about it.
Joseph: Why don't you have a sandwich?
Me: I don't like sandwiches for lunch. They're not fancy enough.
Joseph: So you want a fancy lunch?
Me: No, I'm saying, if I have a sandwich I want it to be fancy, and we don't have any fancy stuff right now.

Minutes pass....



Joseph: So did you decide what to have for lunch yet?
Me: Yes. I'm having Top Ramen.
Jospeh: WAIT?! So, having a sandwich is not fancy enough, but somehow Top Ramen is?
Me: Look, I don't expect you to understand, but it makes sense to me.
Joseph: You're going to make this into a blog aren't you?
Me: Darn right I am.

And I will end by saying, I'd still eat Top Ramen every day if I could, because it is a fancy lunch to me.

Coffee Talk

You may or may not have noticed a change in my facebook picture:



Yes, it's Linda Richman of Coffee Talk fame. (Cwaffee Twalk, for those of you who are into accents). Once I taught a whole hour of class as Linda Richman. Surprisingly the children were into it and insisted that I be Linda Richman the rest of the year. Had I enough gem-sweaters, I would have.

Here is the thing. This week I've been a bit verklemt. There's been a lot of schipilcis in my ganextagazoink. Pretending like I'm a guest on Coffee Talk helps me improve...it's like butta to my soul. It's like two sticks of butta, lashed together in a rough hewn manner.

Here is Linda and her friend Liz Rosenberg and Liz's mother from Scottsdale meet Barbara Joan Streisand:



Sadly, this is the only clip of Coffee Talk on the youtube?!! I'm a little emotional....twalk amongst yourselves. There it passed.

But what made me happy was when Barbara invited Linda up on stage at her concert:



I'm just spitzing because I'm so happy!

Raisins and Pennies for Halloween

These are the ladies behind every rasin and crappy treat you've ever gotten at Halloween:

A weird week

I am not dead, nor have my eyes fallen out. (See also my previous post). Yes, Allyson, I am THAT blind. How do you get around in the night being so devoid of sight? I just put everything in a place I can reach and know where it is. I also make sure there is a clear and unobstructed path to the potty.

But back to my original point. I am not dead.



It's just been a few weird days in a row.

Sunday: It was typical. James was mostly good. We've become the default assistant nursery helpers. Not that I don't love other's children, because the kids are very sweet, but Sunday there was something in the water. We had several incidents of body checking, pinching, little boys lifting up little girls' skirts, intentional drink spilling, snack throwing and then there is the play-do. I'm just not loving the play-do. I was happy to pop off to RS for a bit, which is saying a lot since I'm not a big RS fan and very happy to send everyone home to their own parents at the end of the day.

Monday: Columbus Day. Joseph is off. MUST! GET! THINGS! DONE! And we did. I get more done with Joseph is home. He also is willing to do household jobs that I put off. The upstairs floors are finally un-dusted.

Tuesday: Joseph's car had to be taken in to the Fix-it, to get fixed. Which meant James and I were up at an un-holy hour and parading out and about in our jammies. I realize that for some of you that might have seen a recent facebook update about not going out un-done this is highly ironic. Like I said, it was an un-holy hour. But that was not what made Tuesday a bad news day. Joseph literally works in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). One can only get in with proper identification. Joseph got me in, right up to the front door and then I had to get myself out, undetected. So what do I do? Hmmm? I ran a red light because I was so nervous. It really put me in a funky-funk the rest of the day. He called me at 1:30 and asked to me to come get him. He'd spend the better part of 2 hours trying to figure out how to get himself home, and just to the edge of the DMZ. It wasn't working. We called it a day and ate potatoes for dinner.



Wednesday: It was 5 AM...also an un-holy hour. Things that should not have been beeping were beeping in our house. Joseph got up to investigate. And a darkness enveloped the land, and yea there was no electricity and the lights did not switch on into light. And also the alarms that were beeping were telling us that there was no electricity. I'm not sure why the power was out. But it was out till about 8:45am. Can I tell you how upsetting it was for Sweet Baby James? He just wanted to watch Curious George and Cat in the Hat. He kept pushing the ON button but nothing happened. To see his little tortured face was tragic indeed. The lack of power also meant we got ready in the dark. Joseph in the total dark and me in the partial dark. All things considered, my blindness included, I looked mostly alive.

Late update: Apparently our local rag the LA Monitor has an update on the power outage. HERE. I'd just like to make a few corrections....the power went out before 5am. It stayed on past the school start time. We finally had full power that stayed on for good at 8:45. I'm not surprised that it was a bad line that caused the outage. This town is as old as dirt and is falling apart. But you know, what? We need more "art in public places"...who cares about powerlines that work.

Today is Thursday. I'm hoping to have an uneventful day and to bake my pumpkins. I'm going to deliver some grumpy cookies to Julia because her car died and she had a funky day yesterday too. Not to mention on Sunday her 4 year old daughter asked when I was going to bring James over to play. Emmy loves James.

Happy Days!

Weird and weirder.