Order is restored...

Kellie has left the building. Thank you....thank you very much.

The judges actually all offered up an apology to Kat too. My night was complete.

Hairy Chloe...

Wonder what kind of Google searches I'll get with that title??

Chloe is in dire need of a haircut. She has an appointment at the "beauty parlor" on May 12, so I'll post some "after" shots then. She really does have eyes in there - big beautiful brown eyes. Maybe you'll be able to see them soon!

I am a bit concerned about her cut. Cockapoos (or spoodles - whichever you prefer) are not supposed to be cut like cocker spaniels or poodles. They have a cut all their own and I hope the person we take her to for her first haircut doesn't make her look like this freak. Best in Show, my ass. What show? La Cage aux Folle?

Okay, enough is enough...

Kellie has to go.



Paris was horrible. She actually thought that "The Way We Were" was good for a 17 year old. It's about long lost love. She's an idiot and she slaughtered the song. Taylor was not his usual self and - I hate to say it - rounds out my bottom three this week.

Does anyone else think the judges were unfair to Katharine? I thought her song was great. For them to say that Paris was the best female vocalist tonight was absurd. It was almost like they wanted to criticize her because Andrea Bocelli and David Foster were so complimentary of her.


I repeat...Kellie has to go. Please make it stop.

Prom...

The high school prom was this weekend and I realized that this is all a big dress rehearsal for a wedding. Don't get me wrong - Jake and his date went as friends. That's not really what I was getting at.
There's the dress. It must be the perfect dress. Much angst is thrown about over the thing. There is the tux rental. It must be the perfect tux. There is concern over whether the tie will match the flowers and the perfect dress. There are the flowers. They must match the perfect dress and the perfect tux. There is the limo (or the Hummer, or the BMW, or whatever). The "carriage" must make the perfect statement and be waxed to a high sheen. There are the pictures - hundreds of pictures. There must be pictures of the perfect dress, the perfect tux, the perfect carriage, and of course the couple with all of their friends. There is the prom walk-in. The couples arrive in their perfect attire in their perfect carriage, have a "footman" announce their arrival and stroll through a gauntlet of photo snapping parents and other interested parties. There is the itinerary. Social hour (shower/bachelor(ette) party), dinner (rehearsal dinner), arrival (wedding procession), dance (wedding ceremony), after-party (reception).
Yes, Saturday was a huge success. Fun was had by all. Jake looked fabulous in his tux. His date had an exquisite dress. No one spilled any dinner on their perfect ensemble. It's all over...until next year.

Now I'm really confused....

Okay...Ace went home. Not a truly bad pick - although I think he has more talent than either Elliot or Kellie. The part that is really confusing me is the bottom three. Elliot and Kellie were not in it!
I truly hope that this isn't the work of votefortheworst.com. They claim to have enough support to sway the vote and it's beginning to appear that maybe they do. Kellie started her song out beautifully and I thought, "Wow. She is going to be really good." Then the middle hit and she got off the music...and she couldn't get back on...and she ended up with a mousey little finish because she knew she was not on the music. At this stage of the game, that shit sends you packing. Not only didn't she get voted off - she was in the top FOUR. WTF?
If the people at votefortheworst don't like Idol - I have a suggestion for them. Quit watching. If you want it to go away, quit making it the most popular show on TV.
If they are just blowing smoke and don't have enough support to sway things, then America needs to step away from the crack pipe and put down the phone.

Idol musings...

Wow - competition is really getting tough! It's getting tougher every week to try to pick out the bottom three.
My predictions for this week: Kellie (she screwed up the second half of the song) and Elliot. The third is a real toss-up for me. Chris doesn't do well when he's not yelling a rock song. He had some iffy notes in there and the song was just boring. He could lose his voting group. Paris doesn't have the fan base that she thought she did. People were getting sick of her and she toned it down some. She sang pretty well but had a weird tone to her voice on the low notes. The song choice sucked. She may not pull in the votes. Ace did a good job, but he hasn't had the fan base that I expected he would at the beginning of the season. The only ones I think are completely safe are Katharine and Taylor. I think Katharine won the week.
Overall, this was the strongest week for the group as a whole. My prediction for who's going home...Kellie should go - she messed up, but I think it will be Elliot.

Glorious Saturday...

The first half of today is absolutely fabulous!!!! It's a bit breezy, but temps are in the mid 70's and the wind is warm. We are cleaning out our building (garage sized, but no overhead door - shop and storage) and that means the deck furniture, lawn mower, and garden tools are all seeing the light of day after a long winter.
I've cleaned out my only "official" flowerbed. It's the only one left that has a real plan to it (lights, an accent rock, mulch). The silver mound is trimmed back, the leaves are raked out of the lavender, and the few early weedies are pulled. We got some dark brown bark mulch last weekend and it's all primed to apply that.
I have plans for another planting bed by the stairs going up to the deck. Last year's window of opportunity for purple cone flowers came and went and I want those at the back of the bed against the decking - so it had to wait until this year. It's a great corner for some color. It gets fantastic light, but is protected from any bad winds.
My hostas also really need dividing this year. They are in the front beds along the house and I would love to add another bed of hostas along the yard side of the sidewalk.
It's supposed to storm later, so I might head to the garden center for some container plants if the weather doesn't get severe.
The bad weather and tornados that hit Iowa a couple of days ago really left a lot of damage. The University of Iowa got hit really hard. They were showing video from Iowa City on the news this morning. It's really a miracle that they didn't lose any lives. Some of the student houses were in really bad shape. One shot showed a sorority house that had lost it's entire side. Bunk beds were balancing on the edge with the sheets blowing in the wind. Incredible what Mother Nature can do in just a few seconds.

Hillary's at it again...

Mrs. "I've never met a hot topic that I wouldn't take advantage of" Clinton is at it again.

In a November 2004 interview Hillary said:
"I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants...People have to stop employing illegal immigrants. I mean, come up to Westchester, go to Suffolk and Nassau counties, stand on the street corners in Brooklyn or the Bronx. You're going to see loads of people waiting to get picked up to go do yard work and construction work and domestic work."

This was written about her position at that time on NewsMax.com:
"More than any other leader of either political party, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton has been focusing on immigration reform and border security — taking hard-line positions that appeal to frustrated Republicans in a move that could guarantee her enough support in red states to win the White House in 2008."

Fast forward to April 2006...
Hillary speaks at the immigration rally in New York. She embraces illegals as fellow Americans. She spouts about how we can't live without them. She panders to the crowd. Any surprise that she won a HUGE Hispanic vote in New York? She is completely talking out of the liberal side of her mouth again after taking a conservative (some would even say ULTRA right wing) stand on immigration over the last couple of years and complaining about how the administration wasn't doing enough to stop the flow of illegals into the country. There were accusations of Bush being soft on illegals from Mexico because of the Hispanics in his family.

Hold it...political winds shifting...immigrants (read brand new voters in 2008) an oppressed minority???

Hope the axle on the bandwagon holds up. Lots of folks jumping on.

Travels through the countryside...

There are days when my hubby and I like to travel around looking at houses, acreages, and checking out the For Sale signs. It's not that we are looking to move. It's like window shopping. We often get ideas for our own house (landscaping, paint schemes, etc) as well as a few "don'ts" by cruising the countryside.
Yesterday was a beautiful day so we cruised around west of Des Moines.
I saw what is a new trailer-trash low. Someone had an old rusty gas barbeque grill that they were using as a planter. Of course, it is a bit chilly for any new plants yet, so last year's brown sticks were populating the pots that had been placed in the belly of the grill and along the rack at the bottom. Yeah...a definite "don't".

What a quack...

Yikes! What a quack we have here! He claims to be able to perform chiropractic adjustments for people through email or over the phone. I know there are other services available over the phone (at 3.99/minute), but this is a new one.
His website is a testament to this steaming pile of crap and even includes a testimonial from a DOG!
He says on the site that if it doesn't work it is either because you don't really want to get better or because the pain was sent to you as a lesson. How about because it doesn't freaking WORK?? What a couple of options for excuses - it's all the patient's fault or it's all God's fault (or karma, or whatever this quack believes in). Convenient! Maybe the weather man should use that as an excuse. "It's raining because you don't really want the sun to shine. The thunder and lightning have been sent as a lesson to you for your evil ways!"
Claiming that he isn't crazy, he is fighting to keep his license to practice. How about his license to live on this planet? I think he should phone home.

Idol Shocker....

Wow, I really didn't think it would happen. As I commented on Chuck's blog I really thought that Taylor, Mandisa, and Bucky deserved to be in the bottom three. Taylor and Mandisa had rough nights. On the other hand, they seem to have such a following that I really didn't think they would end up there after the vote.
Ryan pulled them out in three groups and each of the three was in a different group. Just like the NCAA - my bracket was blown.
Of course, they left us guessing as to which of the groups was truly the bottom three. I completely figured it was the group with Bucky, Katharine, and Ace and that the Taylor and Mandisa fangroups had kept them in the running. I thought it was a done deal that it would be Bucky saying goodbye.
I could hardly believe it when it was the Mandisa, Elliot, and Paris group. It did my heart good to see Paris there. She didn't deserve to be there for this week's performance, by any means, but she is just so damned annoying. It was good to see her get a little scare because she always seems to act as though she thinks she has won (at least from my perspective it seems like that).
America sent Mandisa packing. Her song choice was not stellar this week and even though she can really sing, she pretty much butchered the Shania Twain song. She would have been much better off with a Faith Hill or Trisha Yearwood or Martina McBride power ballad. I was really surprised by her choice and she just didn't pull it off.
With the exception of Bucky, those that are left can sing. Kellie and Chris are challenged because they are one dimensional singers and don't do well outside of their genre. It's going to be interesting right up until the end.

Australian spiders - fighting back!

Holy cow! This is scary on many levels.
First off - keep the gasoline away from the naked people.
Damn!
Apparently spiders are offended by nudists. They are fighting back.
In a related story...Uganda and Rwanda are in a tiff over a naked guy.
People! People! Keep your damned clothes on!

Spring has sprung...

I felt the need to change up the look of my blog again - must be a change in the seasons.
We got a deluge of rain over the weekend and now my yard is a brilliant green. It always amazes me how retina piercing that first spring green is. I'm not sure if it is because we are so accustomed to drabness or if the new tender grass is really a different shade of green this year.
The grass turning and the trees starting to bud really have me itching to garden. I used to be an avid gardener and just haven't had the time to devote to it. I plan to change that this year and put in some great flower beds. We added a big deck to the back of our house that spans across a large hillside. We dug out part of the hill underneath, added a retaining wall and made a parking spot. The area along the side of the deck going down the hill really needs some landscaping help and I have some cool ideas. Now to get rid of the mud and warm up the nights just a bit...