HDWFW

How do we feel about....

Me never posting anymore?

I know, I'm so so sorry but things are super busy. They really are. I'm enjoying some free time here and there but haven't really posted anything.

So for the four of you that still read this, here is some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that today will be a super lame post.

The good news is that as soon as my three research papers,two book reviews, one book response, one presentation and one final are submitted and the 5 presentations, 30 essays, and 30 debates are graded, there will be a plethora of posts.

Things to look forward to:

-Mom and Abba's visit to Idaho

-my new place (both of them...)

-various birthday parties

-some more Flashback Fridays

-some more HDWFW

-thoughts about my students in both Effective Studying and Intro to Teaching

-thoughts about my classes (and at that point, being DONE with them)

-other various and sundry videos of my current favorite music and TV moments

So, friends, Romans, country-men, be patient with me while I finish my semester and then come on back from some crazy Michal life blogging action.

Flashack Friday

Today's Flashback Friday is all about videos of my childhood. Specifically Wee-Sing. My sisters (and Danielle) and I loved Wee-Sing. They are these great stories all about friendship, laughter, good values and of course, lots of singing. Here are some of my favorite clips.

This one is for Shiri. Fast forward to 8:25 to see Mark and Clark do a weird dance. Then go to 8:37 and watch Mark/Clark (who can really tell them apart....) so this odd jumping thing which clutching his ankles. Then enjoy Mark/Clark almost breakdance it down. Then the twins solo it up. And if you're REALLY patient, the Kool-Aid guy shows up..... Except now that I think about it, it might be a tea-pot. They sang "I'm a Little Tea-pot earlier." No, screw it, it's the Kool-Aid Guy. And if you fast-foward towards the end, suddenly little Sally is dancing on pointe. Something doesn't compute....

Oh my heavens, then I found this gem. Oh Mark and Clark, you're our favorite.

This is my FAVORITE song in Grandpa's Magical Toys. I still sing this song... and I know all the words. I just want to know who slides down rain barrels? (Yes, I KNOW it's rainbow but I always sang it as rain barrels. My way is more fun...)

And Punchinello never scared me but that Cookie Jar.... terrifying!

Sillyville is always great but there's something about this song that I just love. Maybe because it's so odd. Boom, boom, yes, it's great to be crazy.

I also really enjoyed this song... maybe because it's kind of like a House that Jack build kind of song. It's silly but you need to remember the order of everything. It takes concentration and lots of practice. My favorite bit: Grrr, arf, arf, whoooosh, rumble rumble.

And I HAD to include the Wump for Roni. You're welcome.

I loved Musical Mansion- and Alex was soooooo cute..... when I was 9. And can we say Clarinet? Oh she is hysterical! And I totally wanted to be Kelly....

Mostly because she got to sing this song.

But out of all the Wee-Sings, King Cole's Party was the best. I can still recite most parts of this. There was nothing I did not like about it. I wish the entire thing was on youtube. I guess that this will have to do. Mary and Blue totally have crushes on each other. The King is hysterical and I love how he calls his wife Peaches. Polly and Sukey are so fun and the Jester has the best costume. Jack and Jill are freaking adorable too and I love how the kitten just climbs all over the place (and all over the Queen). As I said, there is nothing I don't like about this movie. Well, except maybe Humpty-Humpty. He's a little creepy... Verbal prestidigitation!

HDWFW

Today's topic for HDWF is the Presidential Race. Thoughts about the following:

Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney

Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart

I would only vote for one of the above. Guess which one that would be... I'm sure you've got it...

Day in Downtown Nampa

Last Saturday, Brooke brought Bailie out to the Flying M in Nampa so that we could go use a groupon that I had. While I waited at the Flying M, I found this great book. Birthday present anyone? :)

Bailie and I drove around so that we could find the ceramics place. Well, we found where it was but the address was not a ceramics place but it was this bizarre Mexican place with a huge poster of Jesus and lots of saint candles in the window. So we threw that plan out of the window and decided instead of hit up some of the random thrift stores and bookstores in downtown Nampa. At one of them, we found some Wee Sing books. I still own all of these tapes. No joke.

One of them have these odd ceramics inside the cinder block sections.

And we had to take a picture inside the stacks.

At one of the bookstores we found all of these old school books that I used to read as a kid. I haven't thought about this book in YEARS!

Bailie met a new BFF. She didn't like the monkeys though...

This was an incredibly uncomfortable pencil drawing. Explain to us what you think it means.

We tried on hats and bagpipes and stoles. It was awesome. We bought everything.

It was certainly a bizarre day in downtown Nampa but there was no one I would rather spend my time with!

The Great Adventures of Kate and Kathryn

Kate and Kathryn take on the Sun Valley Film Festival! Niki and I always have our names misspelled so we have decided to give ourselves fake coffee names (I've actually done this for a while and Niki picked up on it as well). On Friday morning, the two of us drove up to Sun Valley in lots of snow and rain, listening to a random collection of music and of course chatting about everything from class and classmates, history stuff, family life, etc.

When we got to Sun Valley, we parked, bought tickets to the two shows we wanted to see, and then headed out to wonder around Ketchum. We stopped in a couple of old antique and firniture stores, a bookstore or two, some thrift stops and of course, a huge chair.

We stopped at a restaurant called the Kneadery which sounded like it had awesome sandwiches but it was so busy and we wouldn't have gotten our food on tme to make it to the movie so we took a picture of the moose on the wall for my JAMers and then headed over to a quicker sandwich place and brought ours into the theater.

Just like at the LAFF, the movies were all inside the Magic Lantern Theater, which had movie posters lining the walls and a pretty cool bathroom (pictures on my i-phone... there will be a post on that... stay tuned...). We found out seats and ate our lunch while waiting for the movie to start.

The first movie had a short film that preceded it, which was called "Cabbie" and let's be honest, I kinda dozed off a little bit. The movie we watched was actually a pilot of a new TV show called Imagine This! Eoin Bailey (who was on ER and Once Upon A Time and some movies) hosted and led this crew of architects, environmentalists, artists, etc., in this Extreme Makeover Home Edition, International Version type show. It was absolutely incredible. I was in tears for 95% of it. The trailer below is the episode that we watched and I loved it. I want this show on TV- I will watch it every week. And probably cry a lot. Adrian and Ben and Dingo were my favorites.

The second movie was called the Phantom Wolves of Sun Valley, of which the trailer is below. I think this would have made more of an impact on me if I were either a hunter or a farmer or a sheepherder. But since I am none, I certainly trailed off a time or two. Before the movie were two shorts. One was called Crosshairs and was my favorite short of the day. It was about these two brothers who poach a sheep in Australia and get caught. One brother runs off, the other is held by the farmer who catches them. It was a fascinating look at relationships and fear and integrity. We loved it. The other one was this odd look at ants who were wandering around and carrying leaves and such and then all of a sudden start carrying around leaves in the shape of the letters that spell out "We Rule". I didn't get it. It reminded me of "Death of an Insect" from the LAFF.

After the movies, we went into this rock and jewelry store were you could look out their display window onto the street and Niki bought some cool stones. Then we headed into the cellar pub for some fish 'n chips and chicken fingers for dinner.

The drive home was a lot better than the drive out. It was a lot clearer and we had some gorgeous views of the sunset. And also we snorted with laughter at David Sedaris and his parents. Love it.

Thanks, Kathryn, for an awesome day at the Sun Valley Film Festival!

St. Paddy's Day

On St. Patrick's Day, I ran my first 10k! I beat my goal time of 80 minutes, which was great. It was freezing and honestly, I didn't feel too bad afterwards! Plus, because it was at the winery, we got free wine at the end and green sugar cookies. Delicious. So proud of myself and am kind of excited but still nervous for the Lake Lowell 1/2 marathon in May!

HDWFW

This weeks' HDWF topic is Book Trailers.

What are your thoughts about this? I think it's wonderful. I love the visualization of a beloved book, that at the same time, doesn't give too much away. It's a great teaser and especially in a world that is becoming far more visual, it's a quick way to see if you may like/dislike a book. Sometimes the synopsis on the back or online just doesn't cut it- this is far more creative.

How do you feel?