Please just stop the music

I had an epiphany while I was driving into work this morning...

Music sucks these days.

I can't even get through fifteen minutes on my XM's 20 on 20 station without wondering why these people have record deals. Seriously, wtf is a Waka Flocka? Is that a character from Fraggle Rock? Is that English they're speaking in that song? I doubt it.

Then, of course, I get my morning dose of Ke$ha. It's pronounced Kesha. In case you were ever confused and thought her name was Kedollarsignha. Which wouldn't surprise me, I've seen stupider names people give their children, but we'll save that for another post... My favorite thing about Ke$sha? Her uncanny resemblance to John Travolta:

Boom. Told you.

Plus she was the inspiration for "Sing Talk" and, well, that's just plain funny. Her music isn't tho. That's just bad.

Then I switched over to The Heat and thought I was saved with a little Rihanna and Drake. I do love me some Rihanna, and really that song isn't too bad, except for this lyric that makes me laugh out loud every time I hear it:

"The square root of 69 is 8 somethin'. Right? Cuz I been tryna work it out AWWWWWWWWWWW"

Why yes Drake, in fact the square root of 69 is 8.3066238. What that has to do with a song called "What's My Name?", I'll never know.

Back to 20 on 20. Which brings me to the real treat...

Britney Spears.

Ugh, God......... I loathe the fact that I own three of her CD's. Although, in my defense, they're In The Zone, Blackout, and Circus, or as I like to call them - The Britney Spears Loses Her Shit Trilogy. And let's be honest - everybody loves a crazy Britney. Although now, girlfriend's just plain lost it. That new single of hers is awful. Really. Awful. The beat sounds like something out of a poorly dubbed eastern European version of Night at the Roxbury, the lyrics were most definitely written by an 8 year old, and that psuedo-sexy, really just the early signs of Emphysema "breathing" is the icing on the half eaten Twinkie.

Then I gave up. Screw it. Just leave it on. And one after another after another was just painful. But I can't drive without some music. And I can't work without some music. So as I'm sitting here typing this, I'm sadly listening to Jasooooon Deruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuulo (you know how he does, feel free to sing it too) and not doing a damn thing about it, except thinking...

Turn. it. off.

Read more »

Here we go...

Let's be clear before we begin... I'm an Eagles fan. I have been my whole life. However, in light of recent events, I made no commitments this season to any particular team. Part of me was still rooting for the Eagles... and the other part of me was still rooting for Donovan. But my husband is a Steelers fan - pardon me, a Stillers fan. So I made the decision, for the betterment of our marriage, to devote myself to an AFC team, and an NFC team. It's not cheating. I can root for the Eagles and the Steelers, simultaneously, unless of course we get an all Pennsylvania Superbowl one year. In which case, suck it Pittsburgh :)

So this past weekend we went up to Pittsburgh with Chad's folks to see the Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs... and it was awesome. We went up in 2009 for the AFC Championship (my husband reminded me that it wasn't 2010, like I thought... so disregard my shout out in this nostalgic post) and it was the most amazing football experience any of us had ever had. So when the opportunity presented itself to go this year, we jumped at the chance. Here's some of the highlights:

We got there around noon and started tailgating. These guys got there about 5 minutes before we did. And 5 minutes later they had their kegerator out, flags up, music blaring and grill going. It was impressive.

By 1:30, this is what it looked like.

All of us.

The Towel.

B and me, Eskimo style.

Heading into Heinz Field.

Game time.

The game was awesome. It was freeeeeezing, there was snow coming down the entire time, and even though everybody got a little worried in the first quarter, especially after that second (bullshit) touchdown the Ravens had, we knew they'd bring it back for the win. And man, I'll tell you what... that stadium is never quiet. Fans are screaming and cheering the entire time, and even when it dies down to a lull, the music starts up again, the chants get going, and everyone gets riled up again. And every time they made a touchdown, the whole place just erupted. I mean, you could FEEL the stadium shake. There's seriously something to be said for driving five hours to watch a team with six Superbowl trophies behind them, versus diving an hour and a half to see a team that has no pride, no REAL fans (because you don't count when you're talking about being Superbowl bound preseason, and then three games in, you're back to telling everyone how much they suck), and most definitely no team spirit... I'm looking at you Haynesworth. I heart you Donovan, I really do, but please dear God go anywhere else next year so I can root for you again. #eaglesfanforlife

So all in all, it was another fantastic trip. So good, in fact, that we'll be back again for the championship this Sunday. Look for me on TV, I'll be the one dressed in black and gold ;)

Here we go Steelers, here we go...

Read more »

Homeowners

I love my home. It's warm, it's cozy, it's exactly where I want to be at the end of the day. But owning a home takes a lot of work. Nobody ever tells you that between the cleaning, the maintaining, the painting, the decorating, and all the other little unexpected things that come along with a home, it can be pretty exhausting. Thankfully, aside from all the regular stuff, we've been pretty lucky not to have anything unexpected. Until recently...

So a few months ago we were in the basement watching a movie, just like we do any other Friday night, and I got up to go to the bathroom. I walk in, flip on the light, and... uh oh.

Ladies and gentlemen... we have our first leak. 

Obviously, we immediately start freaking out. The basement bathroom is along the same wall as the guest bathroom and the master bathroom, so our first thoughts go to "holy shit... this is gonna cost us a fortune". Plus it's also against the partition wall, the wall that we pseudo-share with our neighbors, and now we start worrying about whether or not the leak is possibly coming from their side too.

So that Monday morning we call a plumber and he comes out right away. He gets maybe 20 minutes into the inspection and figures it out... We had installed bookcases into our breakfast nook about 6 weeks before this whole situation, and the wall happens to be right above the bathroom. The wall also happens to have a pipe running right down it. A pipe that we drilled through when we anchored the bookcases to the wall.

Sonofabitch.

So our awesome plumber does his thing. Drills, shows me the hole, repairs the pipe, and then tells me about the drywall repairs that we'll have to have done now.

The hole.

So he tells me that obviously the drywall will have to be repaired to cover the pipe, but that we'll also have to rip down the two walls and part of the ceiling in the basement where the leak dripped. And we also have to microban inside (aka spray some disinfectant so we don't get any mold). Joy. Although he makes me feel a little better when he tells me that he's been out to 80% of the homes in our neighborhood fixing the exact same pipe for the exact same reason. Apparently our neighborhood's motto is drill baby, drill. Ugh...

Long story short, the drywall guys came out this past weekend, tore it out, sprayed, put new drywall up, sanded, painted, and voila. Good as new. 

Now I can go into the bathroom and not wonder what, if anything, is going to start crawling out of that gaping hole in my house. Yay!

Read more »

And on to the next one...

2010 is over. Damn.

I spent the weekend trying to think about where this year went, and with the exception of a few things, couldn't actually remember what, if anything, we did this year. So naturally I headed to Facebook and started rummaging through my pictures (thanks fb... I really don't know what I'd do without you), and it all came back to me...

Let's recap:

 Last year's New Year's Eve... Las Vegas. We finally saw a Cirque show, ate bacon wrapped dates for the first time (ohmygodbaconwrappeddatesmmmmmm), saw the fireworks from The Strip, and Holly Madison shimmied her bleached blonde naked boobied self all over my husband. Nice.

 

January - Pittsburgh Steeler's AFC Championship Game... Football in the freezing effing cold, just the way it should be.

May - First Disney World Trip... It was awesome. I wanted to ride Space Mountain all day. I giggled like a fool every time Mickey came around. I oogled the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. I almost simultaneously cried and wet myself when "Part of Your World" came on as Ariel made her way through the light show at the end of the night. Thumbs up, Walt. Good job buddy.

May again - Celebrated our 2nd anniversary. 2 down, only like 60 something to go.

June - Foot surgery. Add drugs, subtract some bone, add some screws, add more drugs.

July 4th - Lady Gaga, Boardwalk Arena, Atlantic City. Best show I have ever seen, by a mile.

August and September - Weddings... I heart weddings.

October - More specifically Halloween. My husband won his first costume contest ever. I think you can see why.

November - After three amazing seasons, some blood, a lot of sweat, and some tears, the Teabagz Varsity Dodgeball Team took home the 4 1/2 foot tall championship trophy. Victory never tasted so sweet.

December (in order) - We went to New York for a winter getaway. We ate at Gordon Ramsay's Maze, watched a guy propose to his girlfriend in Rockefeller Center right before it started to snow (good luck living up to that for the rest of your marriage, punk), wandered through the insanity of 34th St Macy's, and saw the Radio City Rockettes. It was cold. It was Christmas. It was awesome.

We made a gingerbread house... Anybody who's ever made a gingerbread house will recognize that this in itself is an achievement.

We hosted the First Feast... A full weekend of drinking, cooking and eating with great friends that will be a tradition for many years to come.

And finally...

This year's New Year's Eve... The Chelsea, Atlantic City. Great friends, a whole lotta shenanigans, cupcakes, and tons of memories. You can't ask for much more than that.

So all in all, 2010 was an absolutely amazing year. Part of me feels sad that it went by in what felt like the blink of an eye, but I'm also excited that now we have a whole new year to fill with pictures and memories... and food :) Happy New Year everyone!!

Read more »