#61: Eight years of freakishly fun tours...and yes, he's still the one!

[shortyjill]

Another one who loves your post Couchie.

Fear touched on parts of my childhood too, just a couple things. I lived with my mom and her parents my whole life, up until both of my grandparents passed away in '09 and '10. Mom never had enough money to live on her own and raise me. I didn't see poor either for the same reason, there was always food on the table. My grandparents, especially my grandpa, loved to spoil me. I was an only child so that made it easy too.

Since they're gone though and I certainly don't have the means to be on my own, I'm stuck at home. We're also now moving to one of the wealthiest counties in the state, and on my mom's salary we are on the low end of the wage scale for that area. The only reason we're going there is because of my mom's work. It'll be interesting to see how far we can stretch a dollar there.

[Carolina Clay]

School started today at the academy where I teach music lessons, so it was a big day. I started at 1:20 with two students not in school yet and went straight through to 5 p.m. Don't know about the kids, but I am pooped.

Late last night I uploaded a new Carolina On My Mind blog that showcases SueReu's montage and screen caps, the "National Inclusion Project"'s Pepsi campaign (including queenmama's wedding reception report - 180 group texts at once!), and the phenomenon of searches -- clay aiken end bullying -- that hit the blog all Monday afternoon.

Many thnx for your hits, comments, tweets, FB posts, etc., that help keep Clay blogs in prominent search positions.

The NIP Voting Widget is at the top of Carolina sidebar. In case anyone is having trouble leaving a comment for the reciprocal charities, here's the road map so you can also vote for four partners and leave a comment. After you vote, look for the link at the upper left corner that takes you back to the "idea page." Once you do that, just scroll down and copy/paste your comment in the appropriate box. Took me a day or two of trial and error to figure that out.

I wonder if power codes from Canada or other countries will work in the US. If so, we are missing a whole planet of bonus votes!!!! Anyone in Canada have a yellow cap so we can try it out?

I recruited lots of texters while teaching today. Many were already texting, but those are single votes. Several moms were planning to swing by CVS for the 88-cent two-liter bottles of Pepsi and then email me the codes. I have another family whose dad drinks Pepsi, and they have codes to send.

Have an awesome evening, all!

Caro

[FearofH2O]

I hope your move is life changing shortyjill.

Caro glad to hear you are well and back on the job.Thanks for all you do for Clay, the National Inclusion Project and Claynation.

[ldyjocelyn]

I think the only movie I fell asleep at was "The Matrix" -- which I saw at a friend's house, who had a great place to stretch out. Anything I see at a theater, I pretty much am totally psyched about going to, so I never fall asleep!

This discussion about dialects in literature reminds me about the whole brouhaha that came about with the new version of "Huckleberry Finn" that came out a few months ago. You know, the one that censored the "n" word. (Hee, and I just censored myself!) The novel is supposed to evoke a certain time and place, and in my opinion, that was taken out of the equation with the new version.

couchie, I'm gonna have to read "I'm Down." I love memoirs like that!

I hope Clay is reading some good books now too!

[shortyjill]

I hope your move is life changing shortyjill.

Thanks, I hope so too.

[Couch Tomato]

Well I finally got half a day off work .... because my back lower molar split in half and I had to go to the dentist! So the pain that started in Napa two months ago has culminated in needing to have it totally pulled. Looks like it may be too bad even for a root canal. The only halfway decent news about this whole thing is that as of July 1 I have some sort of dental insurance. Not great insurance but at least I won't go completely broke and was able to walk into a dentist office today.

Fear it is amazing how siblings will see things so differently. My sister and I have some conversations that blow my mind. I'm like where were you living?

Shortyjill, I know all about stretching a dollar.

The NIP Voting Widget is at the top of Carolina sidebar. In case anyone is having trouble leaving a comment for the reciprocal charities, here's the road map so you can also vote for four partners and leave a comment. After you vote, look for the link at the upper left corner that takes you back to the "idea page." Once you do that, just scroll down and copy/paste your comment in the appropriate box. Took me a day or two of trial and error to figure that out.

LOL and I fear it would take me that long to install any sort of widget... so to kill two birds with one stone I'll post the link to your website every day so that people who are so inclined and don't have access to one at other sites can give you hits and vote at the same time.

Carolina's blog - VOTING WIDGET

You'll love I'm down LadyJ. My sister read it first and it has been read by me and my mom...and 3 of my cousins. We keep passing the book around. I loved it so much that I emailed the author to let her know. Anyway her name is Mishna Wolff and I think you can read like the first few pages here to see if you like it. I know it drew me in right away.

So my Aunt Betty went to see The Help. Her opinion was she didn't want to see it since she lived through it. But ultimately she liked it.

[aikim]

65 Days until The Gala!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[aikim]

64 Days until The Gala!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[Couch Tomato]

One step closer to Friday!

[shortyjill]

...and packing. We haven't done much here and plan to get stuff moved on the weekend. I hope we can do it all in a couple days. LOL

[ldyjocelyn]

In my case, three more days until the college students come back! This week, the faculty are back -- so my week has been meetings, meetings, presentations, and more meetings!

This, of course, means I come home and crash at night.

I hope Clay is having meetings. Or not, depending on what he wants to do. *g*

[KAndre]

A little late on "The Help" discussion - the reason I couldn't bring myself to read it or see the movie is the fact that the author's brother's maid (real name Ablene Cooper) sued her because she feels she used her life without permission (Ablene vs. Abilene, dead son, etc etc etc) and she felt her privacy and dignity were taken. It feels exploitive and a judge just tossed the case out just because of the statue of limitation - which really feels like this woman got hit both ways.

As for the dialect, it's a very fine line and to be honest, in an interview in a British paper, the author crossed it for me - it doesn't even seem to occur to her that other speech is just as much a dialect (as the reporter quoted her "accent".

But then again, this is the type of "inspriation" chick-lit that doesn't do it for me anyway.

-----

My office is moving 4 blocks away Friday. I'm tired, my knee and back hurts and I'm looking for my offer letter which I swear makes no mention of this much manual labor. And my boss is working on my last nerve - he must touch every piece of paper before I box it up and I swear they are going to dedicate an entire episode of Hoarders to this man (contact lens whose expiration date was 2004 - a business card from a pager repair company - a couple of dead sea scrolls...humph!), only he doesn't have time to do that at the end of the day, so instead of me having finished packing yesterday, I stayed past 7 tonight and will be in the office by 7 tomorrow...

[Couch Tomato]

KAndre, your boss sounds like my mother. When she goes away next month I'm going to tear this house apart and get rid of so much stuff. I hate moving, be it office or home. My condolences KAndre and Shortyjill.

Didn't know about the lawsuit. Googled it. I found it interesting. Unfortunately for her to even have a chance she should have read a page or two sooner. Funny about the chick lit. I mostly read history books but I borrowed my cousin's The Other Boleyn Girl and I swear I am for now hooked on trashy historical fiction. I want to line up all the author's books and read them until they start to sound all alike. And when my mom hits the road I will start watching full seasons of The Tudors. Did anyone see that?

[aikim]

64 Days until The Gala!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[FearofH2O]

KAndre and couchie, you both gave me my laugh of the day. I'm not too crazy about chick lite flicks either. In my old age I've become a fan of documentaries. Ugh!

Speaking of hoarders, yesterday I spent about an hour going through Mr. Fear's boxes of papers. I kept cracking up as he once had an addiction to the candy fireballs and just about every receipt had some fireballs charged on it, not counting those with Jack Daniels charged to them. He also hoards change. Since he can't do much of anything with the cast on his leg, I've been finding change for him to sort and wrap. So I guess it all balanced out: the change vs the charges.

[shortyjill]

KAndre, your boss sounds like my mother. When she goes away next month I'm going to tear this house apart and get rid of so much stuff. I hate moving, be it office or home. My condolences KAndre and Shortyjill.

<snip>

And when my mom hits the road I will start watching full seasons of The Tudors. Did anyone see that?

Heh, believe it or not the gallery I work at is moving too. CityLoft, the experimental, 3-days-a-month-July-through-September, high-end shopping boutique downtown, has decided to buy our space and turn it into more square footage for them. We're moving half a block down into an old Avis car rental place. I like our gallery's space, but when it comes to development in Detroit, if someone's willing to pay, they get it.

(And just a short side-note on our city, the news had a good report the other night about how an NYC real estate agent is looking into developing more downtown, especially residencies. Apparently they're selling like hot cakes, and the Brodrick Tower which is currently being renovated into lofts is expected to sell really well. Next up possibilities are high-end hotel chains and more national retailers!)

---

I've wanted to see The Tudors for quite a while now. Very interesting sounding if you ask me!

Our phone got disconnected today. Our internet was supposed to be cut off too, and yet here I am. It might be at a different time though. We won't have internet at home again now till Tuesday, but in order to vote for NIP I'm still trying to scramble and find a place where I won't need a library card or drive an hour to where I can use one, or feel obligated to buy a beverage at least.

[Couch Tomato]

KAndre and couchie, you both gave me my laugh of the day. I'm not too crazy about chick lite flicks either. In my old age I've become a fan of documentaries. Ugh!

In your old age? I love documentaries and also tv shows like frontline.

the experimental, 3-days-a-month-July-through-September, high-end shopping boutique downtown

they are opened 3 days a month?

[shortyjill]

the experimental, 3-days-a-month-July-through-September, high-end shopping boutique downtown

they are opened 3 days a month?

It's like a trial run. Somerset Mall has brought in over 40 retailers to set up shop in a boutique downtown. They're testing the waters to see if the shops work, then perhaps those retailers can start looking into vacant spaces to set up permanently downtown.

[FearofH2O]

Just thought I'd say hi! I hope shortyjill's move is going okay. And I hope aikim is okay. Hopefully she is babysitting.

Got home from the gym a while ago and saw a message on my cell which I had forgotten to take with me. A friend was on her way out of town and couldn't remember if she shut off the coffeepot. I changed out of my sweaty shirt and drove to her house. Sure enough the pot was turned off.

[Carolina Clay]

Here are the specs on the new Carolina blog from the the email I send to several readers. Several fans appear in this entry from recent Pepsi power code/voting idea posts. Hope you will drop by and share new suggestions, which I will promptly move into the blog proper:

Carolina Blog: Clay Aiken Fans Pursue Power Codes, Votes

The NIP needs to move up three or more positions to secure the funds by Aug. 31, so new and veteran voters are of utmost importance for the charity. Not a Pepsi drinker? Not a problem as this entry includes 51 creative ways to utilize the cola purchased for power codes.

Thank you for your blog comments, tweets, Facebook posts, links, etc., all of which aid placement in Google/other search engines. The NIP Voting Widget is at the top of the Carolina sidebar.

Have a wonderfully productive weekend, all!

Caro

[aikim]

62 Days until The Gala!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

Did everyone have a good weekend?

Well....did ya? Clay wants to know!

*g*

[FearofH2O]

My weekend was okay. Our neighbor across the street was robbed yesterday morning. As usual, I didn't see anything and only found out when the police came to our door to ask questions in the evening. She is new to the neighborhood, recently divorced and has two young sons. School starts back this week so she must have taken them on a vacation. According to the police only "silly" things were taken.

I hope Clay is enjoying his "year" off. We'll be seeing him in October.

[aikim]

I had a very busy week-end; had the baby Friday and Saturday and then we spent yesterday running around catching up on things. Will have the baby next week-end too..so it will be busy again. Start my next class tonight..this one on cataloging which I do as part of my job so the class should be pretty easy.

61 Days until The Gala!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[luckiest1]

I sometimes feel like I come to work for a rest. This weekend my mom came out to visit and we hosted a bridal shower for one of my daughter's friends, who is getting married in September. Saturday I shopped and prepared food for a BBQ dinner whilst my kitchen was taken over by the girls who were making 'cake pops' for the shower. Sunday I cleaned and organized and chopped up fruit and veggies and made a salad before everyone arrived. Then, social butterfly that I am , I hosted a bunch of women in my backyard, most of whom I'd never met. I was amazed that my dogs behaved, and other than one woman who was a bit leery of them if they even looked at her, there were no incidents at all. They didn't bite anyone, jump on anyone, or pee on the presents!