muskifest

jmh....glad you had a good day with your mom. We brought Mom over here for dinner and then to give her her presents---just some chocolates and the picture I described earlier. She was fine...but good grief, her short term memory is really, really deteriorating. Twice before she left, when we'd mention something about the picture, she'd say something like, "What picture? I haven't seen that before." And then when I took her back to her place and was helping her inside and told her I'd put her picture up on her wall tomorrow, she said didn't know what picture I was talking about and when I showed it to her, she said she hadn't seen it before. But the main thing that upset me was that her hair was really oily and she obviously hadn't showered recently. I've already talked with the damned assisted living staff about this---they're supposed to help her take a shower twice a week. Fuckers. Sorry. This is Christmas. Such language is NOT appropriate. The only thing missing from my Christmas is listening to Clay sing Christmas songs. But I've been listening to them for a couple of weeks before Christmas, so it's all good.

HO!HO!HO! Merry Christmas, FCA! Presents are unwrapped, trash picked up...Alex went back to bed, Carrie's busy loading her new iPod, hubby's braving the nasty weather outside to go get some bagels and coffee, log's burning in the fireplace, Luther Vandross is crooning some Christmas songs on the stereo, and I'm sitting here in my new cozy socks and a verrra, verrra snuggly, soft throw (courtesy of hubby)....checking in with my peeps. I hope everyone finds peace and joy and happiness---or at least a warm hug from someone! We'll pick up Mom a little later and bring her over for a while. For a present this year, I bought one of those big picture frames that have multiple places for pictures. Then the girls and I went through pictures of them and chose some to put in. I figure we can change the pictures for future occasions---birthdays, Mother's Day, etc. And that will mean more to her than any things we could buy. Got her her usual Whitman's Sampler box of chocolates, too, of course! For Clay? I'm happy for what he seems to have found---love in a thousand different ways!

And I just noticed that on that very same page there's a link for "Want help? Need a stylist? Call....." Oh YES! PUH LEEEEEZE, Clay! Call....CALL!

However....I wouldn't mind Clay trying out these pants from the same designer.... Oh yeah.....

Someone on CV found Clay's uber fugly sweater (IMO)...Actually, it looks good on the model in the ad....with the black tee shirt underneath...That would most likely improve the overall 'presentation' vastly from the combo with the bright button down sweater Clay chose. Please...NOW you can choose a tee shirt, Clay!

BWAH! Lotus! I read ldyjocelyn's post out loud and my hubby said, "Well...he shouldn't have left it in his pocket if he wanted his pants washed." I've trained him well.... I'm sure you can find a way to make it up to him, ldyj...

Hmmm....you sure about that, Thankful?

akim...loved your post. I was in a store yesterday waiting for a sales guy to help me pick out an inexpensive digital camera for Alex and my cell phone rang. It was my mom calling from the assisted living residence. She...was confused, said I'd never given her my number and so she'd had to get 'everybody here' to help her 'find' it. I found myself feeling so impatient listening to her. I just wanted to hang up. And I know it's because I haven't visited her recently and I feel guilty. I was supposed to take her to her doctor's appt. last Wednesday but ended up having the visit to the endodontist from hell that afternoon, so hubby took her. There have been other opportunities to visit, though. As I sit here at work listening to Clay sing holiday songs "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...now", I think of how the holidays must feel like for my mom and for other elderly people with even more advanced dementia...What do the holidays MEAN for them? In San Francisco this weekend, the family did some shopping. We were on a city bus and a guy started doing that 'guess which cup the button's under' thing. Carrie was fascinated and was calling out the answer and the guy gave her a dollar! She thought she was hot shit. So a little later after we shopped for Christmas gifts, she and I were waiting outside a store waiting for hubby and Alex, and a very down and out man in a manual wheelchair pushed himself by us to stop at nearby. He was breathing hard from the exertion of pushing and his shoes were hardly in one piece. He had smiled, though, when he went by. I turned back and waited and then Carrie said, "Mom, is it okay if I give my dollar to that man?" I said, "Sure, honey, if that's how you'd like to use it." So she did and when she came back, she said, "That felt good!" So I talked with her about the idea of 'pay it forward' and she was a happy camper. When I think of that---That little dollar won't buy that man much, but I bet it made HIM feel warmer, too. So maybe I can't be everything to my mother, or do everything right or be able to make her happy all the time...but maybe just a little bit now and then will be good, huh? [/schmoopie post]

oh. heh...yeah. sure. I knew that. heh.

justclay....I've been thinking along these lines, too, for awhile! Oh, and those balls? They sound familiar. Anybody ever heard of an establishment called "Good Vibrations"? It's a store of...adult items and knowledge. Not that I'VE ever crossed the doors, of course. However, I do know that there are some shiny balls available for purchase there...they---according to what I've HEARD---are meant to be....er.... worn, in a manner of speaking, inside one's body as one goes about one's normal day's activities. SUPPOSEDLY, doing so can keep one rather....alert. Rats! I'd love to tell you more, but I really must get to work....

And evil shall reign over the holiday season! Pass those cookies, woman!

annabear...your situation reminds me of one very cold winter when I was in college. I was doing my student teaching at a nearby high school and it was so freaking cold that when I opened the door to my 1964 Chevy Belair (a huge navy blue box with pink rust freckles), the latch didn't move and I had to hold the door closed with my right hand while I steered with my left! Fortunately, I didn't have a stick shift, but those right turns were hairy! :lmaosmiley-1: It's weird thinking of having to get some proper winter clothes for my NYC trip. We just don't DO that kind of thing out here!

He can call it any damned thing he wants to!

Weather woes? Hmmmm...well, it rained really hard during the night and it's been purdy danged cold for this area---30's during the day! ausdon, a coworker of mine is going to Brazil for the holidays so he and his family will be sweating just like you are! Leaving now to get my stitches removed at the Endodontist from Hell's office. Wish me luck..... pssst PSST! YOU! over here.....did you hear the latest? Clay Aiken is pregnant! You heard it here first second third tenth fiftieth after every rag has already declared it so!

Couchie....promise me that you will do everything possible to find family and friends to spot you with the caretaking of your mom while you go to NYC as planned. You owe it to yourself, and you know I'm right. Work with the whole insurance thing to supplement your family members' time availability with a home health care person---at least until you get back from a vacation and you can plan things more completely. Tahoe....NYC...be good to yourself. You sooooo deserve good stuff. And give couchiemama a hug from me and tell her I'm thinking about her.

Hmmmm....that's quite a lot of....wiggle room between those two measurements. And quite a difference between getting one or the other.

merrieee, you might want to ask Clay where he put that one that he said had been in the room with his friends when all the tabloid crap of 2006 was churning... Pretty sure it ain't there now....

Well, wanda...I don't know to whom you are referring, but I know that when I rant and rave about smut, I know lots of shit.

Ouch. I stayed home today with my puffy cheek and sore mouth. But I'm not crying any more, at least. Hmmm....wanda lives around here? And now smitten? Couchie, sounds to me like there needs to be a Bay Area hootinanny (how the HELL do you spell that word? ) after the holidays once people are settled.... keepingfaith--those pictures are CMSU! I visited with a friend for a few hours before I got on my plane to come home Monday and she has two 10-week-old puppies. Cute as all get out, of course, but still pooping and peeing and chewing and knocking stuff over and...whew! If we ever get another pet (I still miss Shadow.) it'll be one that's already grown up!

Great news, Couchie!

WARNING! WARNING! The first part of this interminable post relates to Clay and the most recent tabloid NEWS. The second part is solely an exercise in self-absorption and venting. Please scroll at will... PART A: I will claim drug induced delirium if my following comments start a roll of indignation, condemnation, flagellation, frustration and other 'ation's', but 1. I don't for a minute believe that Jaymes and Clay would do this again and 2. If they indeed HAVE done this, I'm afraid I'll be totally unable to deal with it for some time and will, most likely, retreat from the fandom I know and remain a loyal and forever fan of the man, his voice, his good works and his place as my favorite entertainer. I won't, however, trudge through a) another round of online fan treatment of alleged second pregnancy and child (conceived of course by artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization via frozen Clay Aiken sperm or otherwise through means currently undetermined or researched); b)the various factions of the fandom that will inevitably ensue from such an event; c) the bombardment by 'entertainment news' shows, talk show hosts, radio disc jockeys and other 'experts' in the entertainment industry of slams, snide remarks, name-calling and other 'mentions' of Clay Aiken; d) the newest list of prophecies of Clay's future, be it personal or career, by the usual suspects who will grace us with their vast experience and expertise in such things Or all the other stuff that comes with the fandom of this particular man when the focus on him is of his personal decisions instead of his talent. Just.Won't.Do.It. I'll just listen to him sing to MEEEEEE! on my iPod, in my car, at my desk at work, at concerts when he graces us with them, on my teevee when it's something fun and/or interesting or is about his singing/acting/talk-show-hosting and not about his latest alleged GASP! behavior. Yep. You heard it hear first, folks! Why? It has nothing to do with how many children I think Clay should have or whether or not Parker should have a brother or sister, etc. I'd be surprised if Clay does NOT have more kids, although I actually imagined those additional being adopted. It only has to do with me and how I would choose to adjust my fandom profile. My personal opinion re: the 'rightness' or 'wrongness' of this story, IIT, isn't important actually. And all these words I'm spewing aren't really important to anybody but me, either! Just wanted to get them out there. PART B And now I shall get back to putting ice packs on my face and trying to forget how--even after multiple novacaine shots, I sat in the dentist chair yet again (treatment number 4 on same tooth) and actually CRIED (and I gave birth TWICE without one freaking drug!) while the fucking endodontist sliced open my gum, slashed a swelling that I'd innocently gone to his office to ask about, found a cyst, cut and drained it to remove as much visible infection as he could (gross) and then sutured my tortured gum back together with the cheerful words, "Evidently, the strain of bacteria that made your root canal necessary is quite a virulent one. Let's hope we got it this time, huh? If there's a continued problem, I'm going to have to do surgery." Huh? What the hell did he call what he did to me today? :asshat: Fuck you, Dr. Endodontist who watched "Marathon Man" too many times, evidently, and admires Sir Lawrence Olivier's style of dentistry. :glare: Now, you'll be happy to read that I'm going to take another Vicadin already--yes, I realize I just took one, but I'm going to take another one. You gotta problem with that? :5271627lilsis:

You know, merrieee...it's interesting. The first time I really THOUGHT about the gay community (other than sorta 'wondering' about a guy in my high school chorus class and thinking he might be 'queer'...but it wasn't talked about among my friends, I know that)...anyway, when Freddy Mercury's story was told and then the talk about Rock Hudson when he fell ill due to AIDS related reasons--that's probably when I ever really thought about it. In Hudson's case, the women in his public life were evidently all part of the movie studio's management of the movie stars' lives in that time, but I know that I never even considered him to be anything but the handsome hunk he presented himself to be. (I never really cared that much about him, either, so my interest and information was of the superficial kind.) I've since learned about other closeted movie stars in those decades (ie, Montgomery Cliff) and how the studios pretty much owned both the person and his/her image...but you're right, it was all NOT for public consumption. The Hollywood community might have known but it efforts were made to keep it local to that community. So unlike today. God, I know celebrity has its perks (money mostly, in my opinion)...but the rape of one's LIFE it also means makes me actually sympathize with those who sincerely do NOT seek such exposure--just because in our world now their career choice forces them to include opening EVERYthing to people they will never meet. Sigh....I certainly would NOT want to be a celebrity and wonder when various things about my past might be unearthed and spun and embellished or just plain presented incorrectly to the world. (shivers) heh....but THAT'S another fanfiction story, for sure...

Oh, be still my heart re: Dr. Kildare! And have you SEEN this 74-year-old man? I googled him last night (I hope it was good for him, too, even though he's gay.... ) He's in amazing shape and seems to be living a full, happy life--which makes me happy. And incredulous at the fact that he lived the huge majority of his years in the closet, hiding himself from his 'public' (but hopefully out and free to those closest to him? Has he written a book about all this?) And The Thornbirds? Gah... The book is a killer, too. I always had a bit of a girl crush on Rachel Ward, too. I'm such an equal opportunity smutter...

I want to ditto this and also to say COUCHIE! Honestly, if you need anything let me know because I'm right here just minutes away, okay? I mean this. And please give lovely couchiemama a big hug and tell her I'm really, really sending good stuff her way through the airways.... :thbighug-1:

WOot! I'm already going to Jan 4th closing but now I know for sure I'll be at the Jan. 2 matinee with a friend. She's not a Clay fan per se but is a music person and I can't wait to be with her when she pops her "LIVE! Clay!" cherry! I'll be looking for chances for other shows, too, between then and the Sunday show, of course.