I’m SO feeling the Libertines this afternoon.
Here’s I Get Along from their debut album, Up the Bracket performed at the 2015 Reading Festival.
I always sing this part to Sundance to make her chuckle.
“I get along singing my song. People tell me I’m wrong…
F**k ’em!”
But seriously, I’ll do me and everybody else can just mind their own.
Took Thing C and Thing G to lunch then got Thing G’s hair cut. (Barber shops are fascinating places.)
Champagne cocktails with my neighbor this afternoon. Now I’m watching my Washington Nationals winning on TV.
What a great Robynbird day!
The painters are here again this morning. They’re Spanish speaking and the foreman has a little radio on his belt while he paints my front door. The morning DJs are speaking Spanish but they just played Will Smith’s Men in Black. It made me giggle.
That movie came out the summer Thing 2 was born. My precious sister in law had Thing 1 with her while Thing 2 was born. They came to the hospital to visit and Thing 1 sang the Men in Black song to me. It was the first time I heard it. And though I’ve seen (and loved) the movie, I always think of that moment in the hospital when my three year old blonde pigtailed girl sang me a song to cover her sadness that she couldn’t hold her baby sister because she was in the NICU.
I had plans to go the farmer’s market this morning with my neighbor, but I can’t leave the guy kneeling in the doorway painting the front door. So we wait…and perhaps a farmer’s market trip turns into afternoon cocktails when her kids wake from their naps. They’ll paddle in the baby pools on their back deck while they’re mommy and I enjoy champagne cocktails.
The lula launch was a success! So many ladies in our basement going through and trying on clothes for about three hours. It was a fun estrogen fueled evening. When the trying on of clothes went on too long in the bedroom, there were flashes of undies and bras as they decided not to care and just began trying on clothes where they stood. Reminded me of high school.
There was a great deal of “Oh girl, YES!” and “You NEED that!” and “Your ass is perfection in that skirt.” as encouragement. We offered opinions and compliments and ideas for new and different outfits. I had a ball!
AND I had great sales, booked one online party and had one friend ask questions about becoming a consultant.
Overall I’d say it was a success!
I interviewed for a job at one of the local elementary schools yesterday, it’s a part time position as a “cafeteria hostess” this means I get to spend four hours a day with young children without the rigors and responsibilities of running a classroom. The AP and I got on beautifully, she was impressed with my passion and experience for early childhood education. I was impressed that she feels so strongly about learning through play. It felt right. I want it to be my new school family.
I was offered a position at my old, old preschool. Three days a week in the classroom I originated. I met with the director, liked her, and put a great deal of thought into the offer.
But that was telling. I put thought into the offer, but I felt nothing. I didn’t know it in my gut. I had to think about it. And that means it’s not right for me.
Of course I never considered the practical things: The ridiculous commute. The tiny salary.
I just waited for my gut to know. And because it never did, I’m going to turn down the offer. This will create sadness at the school, especially for the individuals who suggested I “come home” in the first place. But if I’m not true to me, how can I give those children and their families what they need?
I’m thinking of a line from Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity:
“I’ve been thinking with my guts since I was fourteen years old, and frankly speaking, between you and me, I have come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.”
I always trust my gut.
My gut does not have “shit for brains”.
When my brain tries to logic and my heart simply feels, my gut tells them to get it together and makes clear the right choice.
I trust that.
Tonight is the big night!!
My lularoe launch party!
A “sip and shop”.
Wine, nibbles, and so many adorable clothes!
I’m ready to kick off this new enterprise!
Lindsay cardigans and three dress styles: Julia, Nicole, and Amelia
OS (one size) and TC (tall and curvy) leggings
Cassie skirts and outfits designed by me.
outfits designed by me and Azure skirts.
Randy (baseball tees) and Perfect T.
Irma tunic.
I’m so excited!
I’m such a clothes whore.
Wish me bonne chance!
I completely replanted the beds in front of our house. Had everything ripped out and started new. Lots of new shrubbery, and I’m simply waiting for it to fill in.
But a curious thing keeps happening. My butterfly bushes keep losing their leaves. There’s no real rhyme nor reason to it, some days there are leaves and blossoms too. Later that same day they’re gone.
Something is eating my butterfly bushes.
A family of bunnies lives in our woods, but Thing C saw a deer walking through our yard into the woods early one morning so I thought we’d found the culprit.
Thing 2 and I were texting about this phenomenon while she was on the train up here two weeks ago. It started because I told her I was going outside to spread mulch before the sun moved round to the front of the house.
I reported the news I was back in the house.
Thing 2: What shade of mulch did you scatter?
Me: Black. Like your soul.
Thing 2: Hehehe!! I thought it and you beat me to it!
Me: I redid the front beds. Everything is growing in nicely. But some f**king deer is eating the leaves of my butterfly bushes. YBW asked me if I wanted him to shoot the deer. Hahahaha
Thing 2: What a good husband you have! So caring, so loving. So willing to spill blood for your beloved leaves. That’s real love right there, get the guys who write legends over here, stat!
Me: Might be Little D’s bunny family instead of a deer, but Thing C saw a deer walking through the yard so that made me thing deer.
Thing 2: Nope. No way it’s the bunnies. Impossible. Crazy talk. Gotta be the deer, you gotta kill ’em. Front yard ain’t big enough for any leaf eating Bambis, ya hear??
That was two weeks ago tomorrow.
In that time, there was a gorgeous pink blossom just beginning to show it’s color.
Thing 2 left here this morning right before the guys came to paint the exterior of the house.
I walked around with the foreman going over the contract. As we came around from the back of the house one of the bunnies was hopping across the yard from the driveway into the woods.
When I rounded the corner there were no leaves on the butterfly bushes. No blossoms. Just green sticks poking out through the mulch.
When I came back inside I sent this text to both Thing 2 and YBW: GAH!!!!!!!! It IS the rabbit!!!! There were leaves on the bushes when (Thing 2) left but I walked around the house with the painting guy and the bunny was going from the garage door area to the woods and THERE WERE NO LEAVES ON THE BUSHES!!!!!
Thing 2: What a little f**ker!!!
Me: I KNOW! I’m so pissed!! Cute and fuzzy little bastard!!! Ate the f**king blooming flower too!! Dick.
YBW: Oh yeah!! I saw the little f**ker run away this when I went out this morning.
Me: That rabbit is a dick.
YBW: Bunny stew?
So apparently YBW is all about getting rid of my pests, first the deer (who, it turns out, didn’t deserve it) and now the rabbits.
Where are those legend writing guys anyway?
We’re such foulmouthed human beings, but I don’t care. That rabbit is an asshole. The whole damn rabbit family is a bunch of assholes.
I’m trying to do a good thing here, planting things to attract pollinators. And those damn rabbits are thwarting me at every turn.
I’m about to research to find out how to discourage the dick rabbit from eating my plants.
Never a dull moment. It’s always an adventure.
I’m a complete and total narcissist and without question or doubt, the world absolutely revolves around me.
Just kidding.
Or am I?
Thing C and I were talking about movies yesterday when we went to lunch. It started with MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and kind of morphed into what movies we love most and why.
I spent more time considering this than I probably should have. It took the better part of the afternoon, but I’d already run errands, accompanied Thing C to get his hair cut and done all my laundry, so what the hell? Right?
I maneuvered the movies back and forth on this list, wheedling it down to the absolute bare minimum.
I’ve organized them by release date because I simply couldn’t rank them from least to most favorite. Though honestly, Butch and Sundance is my absolute favorite movie.
Robynbird’s all time favorite movie list:
Please watch responsibly.
1939 The Wizard of Oz
This was my favorite when I was a little girl.
I see it now through jaded eyes, but it doesn’t change how I feel about it. The Scarecrow is the character I love most and not just because he has the best song. Margaret Hamilton is deliciously unnerving as the Witch of the West. It takes a stubborn girl not to be frightened into giving up her shoes.
There really is no place like home.
Years ago, I had a VHS of this movie on the shelf. When Thing 1 was small, she would stand underneath it and say: I want to watch the witch and the shoes.
This was the tiny picture at the bottom of the box.
1940 The Philadelphia Story
This is sophisticated “screwball comedy”. Not as slapstick like Bringing up Baby, (which I dearly love) the humor here is in the dialogue. The wit and delivery of the words bring every bit of fun! George Cuckor’s direction makes what could be a clunky movie from a stage play perfectly delightful. One of my favorite and often quoted lines is the “hearthfires and holocaust” speech.
P.S. Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart on one screen? Yes please!
1955 To Catch a Thief
I love every moment of this movie. Hitchcock had a brilliant plan and executed it perfectly.
Cary Grant as sassy as he can be. Grace Kelly’s Francie is as cool as a cucumber, but you know she’s wild on the inside. Jessie Royce Landis steals the show as Francie’s mother, Jessie.
It’s a little trick of a story, Hitchcock himself called it “lightweight”. But it is engaging, you know John Robie is innocent and you want to see him clear his name. Oh! Not to mention the setting is it’s own character! And the costumes!
To Catch a Thief has my favorite Hitchcock cameo appearance of all his films.
1959 Some Like it Hot
Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in drag might be one of the comically grotesque things in the history of film! This movie is a hilarious romp of comedy and gangster movie all rolled into one. Tony Curtis with that Cary Grant-esque accent as “Shell Oil”! Too much.
One of my favorite movie lines. “It’s like Jello on springs.”
But Joe E. Brown takes steals the show with the blindfolded tango and the very end scene. “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
1961 The Parent Trap
I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it when I was a little girl! Haley Mills was just precious as Susan and Sharon. Maureen O’Hara is a Goddess! Brian Keith is the kind of dad everyone would love. I especially adore their grandfather, Charles. He susses out the switch and aids and abets in not only getting the girls back together again, but lights a fire under his daughter Maggie to update her image before going to California. (Maybe I just have a soft spot for grandfathers.)
I’m mad about the costumes! And how cute are the opening titles? Those little cherubs! I just can’t!
This movie has some issues with script, but the cast makes up for it. I love it now with the same love I had the first time I saw it. It’s just precious.
1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
“Who are those guys?”
Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
I don’t even know where to begin. This is, without a doubt, my favorite movie of all time. It’s a movie about best friends, brothers even. Sure, it’s based on real people, but it’s kind of a ‘road trip’ movie. These two guys have genuine affection for each other. They will do whatever it takes to have each other’s back. Even when they’re injured and out-gunned, they’re still making plans about where to go and what to do next…together.
It has some of the best lines in all of movie-dom!
Boy I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals. ~ You know, when I was a kid, I always thought I’d grow up to be a hero. Well, it’s too late now. ~ You just keep thinkin’ Butch, that’s what you’re good at. ~ Don’t you get sick of being right all the time?
I honestly say, “Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?” at least once a week.
1985 Out of Africa
It’s long. It drags. It sugarcoats Karen Blixen’s memoirs. But my God, is it gorgeous visually! I love the way it looks. Meryl Streep is extraordianry. Robert Redford is, well, Robert Redford. But I love him, so what are you going to do? This movie at once overwhelms and disappoints, but it’s still one of my favorites.
1993 Dazed and Confused
I think Richard Linklater is terribly underrated. He has a knack for getting to the heart of his characters. This film is all about the characters and the way they relate to each other. I love character heavy movies. I love seeing the way all the people relate to each other. In this movie, the people are high school students on the last day of school 1976. Rising seniors wreaking unholy hazing havoc on rising freshmen. Parker Posey saying, “Wipe that face off your head, bitch.” always amuses me. Sports politics regarding drug culture. Beginnings and endings of relationships. The origin of Matthew McConaughey’s “Alright alright alright.” And Rory Cochrane as Ron Slater is not to be missed. His comic timing is completely on point.
This is my favorite scene.
I knew boys like this growing up. Only their vice was Jack Daniels “cleverly” disguised in Pepsi bottles.
1997 Hercules
Who put the “glad” in gladiator?
Hercules is my most beloved Disney animated movie, and that is saying so much!
I’ve always loved Greek Mythology. I love gospel music.
The story doesn’t quite match up with the myths the way we know them. But that doesn’t matter, because we’re rooting for Hercules to get back to Mt Olympus.
James Woods as Hades is the sassiest Disney villain ever! It’s hard to watch him lose.
I can quote this movie from start to finish. I know all the songs. It is a staple in my daily life, not a day goes by that I don’t use some quip or quote from Hercules.
1998 Spice World
Yeah, I know. But I’ll just sit here and let you judge me.
It’s a hot hot mess of a movie, but it’s just good fun! I love these playful girls. I love their music. The costumes are great. The Spice Bus makes me want one. I’m always amused by the laundry list of celebrity cameos.
Girl Power never looked so campy.
1999 Dogma
Here’s why I love this movie.
Kevin Smith has a sense of humor about religion.
Alan Rickman as the Metatron.
Jason Lee’s fabulous turn as Azrael .
Alanis Morissette is God.
Chris Rock.
Bartleby and Loki. (Was Wisconsin really that bad?)
And last but not least, the Buddy Christ.
2003 What a Girl Wants
The cast is better than the script provided. It is decidedly early 2000s. It’s completely predictable. It’s nothing but cute clothes and a fun soundtrack, but I love it. I’ve seen it more times than I can even count. It was a staple in the young lives of my girls.
Amanda Bynes at her most adorable.
Colin Firth playing Colin Firth…until he’s in those leather pants rocking out to Rick Derrigner’s Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo.
2003 Pirates of the Caribbean
The Curse of the Black Pearl
When I saw the first trailer for this movie, I was like, ‘oh HELL no!’ But then I saw it at home on DVD and the moment it was over, I watched it again.
Johnny Depp makes the movie. Without Captain Jack Sparrow it’s absolutely no fun.
It could and should have been a one off. There was no need for the sequels.
2006 Casino Royale
Two words: Daniel Craig.
This new Bond is a more physical being. Can any of us imagine Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan parkour-ing all over Madagascar? Maybe Sean Connery…but probably not.
Daniel Craig shows us an entirely new Bond and I like it!
2012 The Avengers
Written and directed by Joss Whedon you know it’s going to be great! All these actors portraying these iconic comic book characters could have been a hot mess waiting to happen, but they pulled it off. It was a perfect combination of comedy, drama and adventure. The story is engaging even though it’s a little far-fetched. It’s a comic book movie, of course it’s far-fetched. The witty dialogue is what sold me. How many different pop culture references can Tony Stark use as names for the other Avengers?
honorable mentions
1964 Mary Poppins
I don’t remember how old I was when Mommie and I went on a date to see this movie. But I remember being frightened to see it. I distinctly remember standing in front of the movie poster on the side of the Jefferson Theater trying to decide to go in. I don’t know why I was so afraid to see the movie because I fell in love with Mary Poppins in that theater!
1966 How to Steal a Million
This movie has it all! Art caper, romance, humor and some of the most fabulous costumes in movie history! It’s got the feel of a screwball comedy but looks stylistically modern.
I loved every moment of it.
Audrey is absolute perfection. Peter O’Toole is suave and sassy all in one. Young Eli Wallach cracks me up.
2001 The Anniversary Party
Another movie about how people relate to each other.
It’s a fairly common story…group of friends get together for a dinner party, wackiness ensues, secrets revealed. It’s not quite an ‘Exterminating Angel’ scenario…but these friends and lovers crack under pressure and their soft underbellies are exposed. Not one of them walks away unscathed.
It doesn’t hurt that I adore Alan Cumming.
always quoting
1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1988 Bull Durham
1989 When Harry Met Sally
All I can say here is that every single day of my life I say one or more things from each of these films. My girls grew up quoting these movies before they ever even saw them. Thing C and Thing G have begun quoting these films and have only seen one of them.
These words are a part of my daily lexicon. I’d like to thank they Pythons, Ron Shelton, Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner for providing such great one liners.
I’m curious.
What are your favorite films? What movie lines do you use in your daily life?
Let me know.
Watching ponies with Thing G made me feel the need to share my all time favorite Pinkie Pie song.
Beware: It’s so catchy you’ll get it stuck in your head!
Late last night there was a timid knock on our bedroom door.
YBW was dead asleep.
I went over to the door and Thing G was standing there.
Me: Are you OK bud?
Thing G: I just threw up.
Me: Are you OK now?
Thing G: I threw up in my bed.
Me: OH!
We stripped his bed, started the laundry and I got him set up in the guest bed. (After I removed the quilt my grandmother made and replaced it with a old blanket just in case of more vomit.)
What y’all don’t know about me is that I absolutely don’t do vomit. That’s why my kids had a dad…to handle the vomiting. It’s the only bodily fluid I just can’t handle.
So what I did last night was a pretty big deal.
But I’m a mom…that’s what we do…mom stuff.
Even though I’m not his mom, I had Thing G’s back when he needed me.
That’s what moms do.
YBW emailed me this morning: Thank you for taking care of him last night.
I replied: You’re welcome. That sounds dumb to say because you shouldn’t have to thank me. I was just being his mom for a little while.
I love that kid.
He needed love last night. He needed someone to take care of him.
I was on it.
Thing G is right as rain this afternoon…I think he ate too much junk yesterday.
We’re snuggled up on the sofa catching up on all the MLP episodes in the DVR right now.
That’s what moms do.
Lighthouses stand stalwart and true where land meets the sea.
An important navigational aid to guide ships into port, That light was the only thing standing between a ship and disaster.
The legend of Nags Head in the Outer Banks of North Carolina tells of land pirates hanging a lantern around the neck of a horse and walking her along the huge dunes at Jockey’s Ridge. This was to trick ship captains into running aground on the shoals so the ship could then be looted.
My mom loved lighthouses. She collected little lighthouse tchotchkes, anything from pictures to candles to actual replicas of lighthouses.
YBW loves lighthouses too. He also has a (much smaller than Mommie’s) collection of lighthouse tchotchkes.
I asked him what he loved so much about lighthouses and this is what he told me:
Lighthouses represent adventure. They make me feel like being on vacation.
Now, this fascinated me! He loves lighthouses because to him, the represent the freedom to travel.
This quick conversation lead me to consider what a lighthouse might mean to me, and here’s what I came up with:
A lighthouse is a beacon, a guiding light to keep you safe.
I see how differently my husband and I view lighthouses. To him it’s adventure and travel. To me a haven. These views are absolutely influenced by the way we grew up. He grew up sheltered in a safe and idyllic family, I grew up abandoned by one parent and discarded by the other.
But together he and I create the complete lighthouse concept. At the edge of land, at once sending you off on adventures and welcoming you home again.
I would love to know why my mom loved them…I wonder why it never occurred to me to ask her that question?
Lighthouses continue to stand long after outliving usefulness.
We explored such a lighthouse on our honeymoon.
Harrison Point Lighthouse
St Lucy, Barbados.
This lighthouse was built of concrete in 1925.
It was deactivated in (approximately) 2007 and has been abandoned since (approximately) 2011. We visited the lighthouse in 2015 and this is what we found.
The red steel door torn from the hinge.
Ruined motor and electrical panel. 
Starting up the steps.
Curling up higher and higher.
No more concrete.
Rusted metal steps to the service room.
At the door to the service room.
The floor here is beginning to rust straight through. We tread with great care.
This panel is worse off than the one downstairs.
I crawled with hands and feet up these rusty ladder stairs to the lantern room.
A look back at the lantern room door.
The lens was long gone. Most of the lantern room glass too. We found the broken bits on the ground at the base of the lighthouse. Some huge chunks of Fresnel lens mixed in with so much window glass. (YBW brought some home and keeps them on his desk at work and here at home.)
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
The door to the outer ring around the lantern room was open and as I leaned the top of my body out, YBW urged me to stay put. He saw the rusty railings, knows I’m a bit klutzy, put two and two together and said: If you fall, you will die, I can’t be a widower when we’ve been married less than a week. Please don’t.
He was scared for my safety. The more I looked out at the very thin railing rusting at all the important joints, I was compelled to stay where I was. The warm afternoon light gave me the gooseflesh.
I wrote about lighthouses because I read a post early this morning about praying at the edge of the sea.
I was moved by the visual created by those words. The sea carrying a prayer to the far reaches of the world then returning it magnified.
What if that’s what lighthouses really are?
What if they continually send and receive prayers?
What if they are the “guiding light” of all the seaside prayers? Or love? Or adventures? Or safe havens?
And even after they no longer light the sky they never stop sending and receiving those all-important intangibles?
(...and some I have)
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