Music Monday : C

You know picking songs by alphabet letter is actually really hard. But As I have been working on the project I've found some letters are much easier than others. And because we're doing the alphabet challenge I decided we should get a word that starts with the letter, to help us learn some new things.

Cacodemonomania - pathological belief that one is inhabited by an evil spirit.

There, now that's something you know. Have a magical week.

Cheetah Girls - Cinderella

Cake - Pretty Pink Ribbon

Cutting Crew - Died In Your Arms Tonight

Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

The Coasters - Poison Ivy

Music Monday : B

A wasn't so hard. So here we go with week 2 of the Alphabet challenge and the letter of the day is B! Now just so you know, I'm trying to stick solely with the music in my own personal collection. So this is a little harder than just typing a random idea into google. I want to share the music that I listen to and enjoy myself with you. As I have for the past iterations of music mondays.

So without further ado! Here is week 2 of the alphabet challenge, I hope you feel inspired and have a magical week.

Bryan Adams : Kids Wanna Rock

Brad Paisley : American Flag On The Moon

Blind Guardian : Hall Of The King

Beccy Cole : Shiny Things

Bad English : When I See You Smile

Life Update : 2018 is off to a...start?

Let's be honest, after the way 2017 went, 2018 should be a piece of cake. But that's being overly optimistic I have found. Not because anything specific to me is of concern immediately. In fact things are getting rather interesting in general. It is going to be a rather eventful year.

As of today I know I'll be attending 4 weddings this year. Two of them being those of my brothers, and the others for close friends. To be honest I still haven't found my dress for the August wedding, and in fact am figuring to alter one. Nothing like a little needlework to bring out the best in someone.

Christmas will be coming around again at the end of the year, and with a 42 person list (plus a few others but I'm not counting them in the head count) I have to start early. I have decided though that from here on in children will be receiving books instead of toys. This is to help save my own sanity and help them to expand their reading horizons.

My brother has been ill for a while now. He has recently been told much to our sadness that he's going to need to have a liver transplant. Something in his liver has stopped working properly. His eyes are extremely yellow, and it's a little scary to be honest. It might not have been such horrible news, except for the icing on the cake is his blood type. O isn't necessarily the most common.

Adding to this saddening event, is that their family dog has to be put down. The town is requiring it because he has taken to biting people. His first offense wasn't really his fault. But his second was his fault. It makes me sad that the kids are going to be sad. But in a way it's a blessing with everything else that's happening currently. It would be even more heartbreaking if he bit one of the kids.

All in all things aren't completely positive or negative. But I'm definitely looking at some complex situations.

Oh! One good thing is that we applied to hopefully have a table at an event in June. As of now no answers, but it's neat to try.

Anyway that's a short update with a little information. I know I am not sharing everything, but right now I'd rather you not worry that much. Have a great week and we're working on getting back on track.

Addendum : My Cousin passed away yesterday. So among everything else, this is turning out to be a smashing new year. (that's sarcasm in case you are uncertain)

Music Monday : A

Alright so we've been doing Music Monday for a while, and I'm afraid that it's possible that I've shared some songs twice or left out some musical artists that I enjoy. So that I've decided is that since the alphabet has  26 letters, and there are 52 weeks in a year (well fewer in this year already),we could have an alphabet challenge. Basically this means that we're going to attempt to do Music Mondays where the band names start with the letter of the week. Sort of like how Sesame Street has their "This weeks show brought to you by the letter ... and the number....". Hopefully you'll enjoy it and maybe things will seem cohesive, but I'm going to enjoy the challenge.

So for our first letter, we start with the letter A. Enjoy and stay magical!

Alli Simpson - Notice Me

Abandon All Ships : Heaven

Ashley Tisdale : He Said She Said

Aztec Camera : We Could Send Letters

Amy Martin : Raven's Wings

On Screen : Netflix

Let me be a little bit honest. I'm not really big on watching tv at home. In fact I like the quiet. But I've had company here for a bit and that's ALL they want to do is watch tv. So Netflix has actually been a big help in providing them entertainment, and also saving my sanity. Why do I say this? Because listening to the same movie or show over and over drives me crazy.

Netflix has a wide variety of shows currently that offer a variety of options to choose from. My father keeps picking shows with lots of blood and fighting, and my Mom, well she is stuck on The Ranch which my dad keeps complaining about. But there are more similarities than he realizes.

He keeps complaining about language in The Ranch, but it doesn't have fighting or blood and gore. He seems to think that swearing and murder and other miscellaneous not for kids activities are fine. My Mom is annoyed because he seems to have this double standard.

They've been watching:

Stranger Things

Marvel's The Punisher

iZombie

The Ranch

This is only listing the serial type shows they've been watching not the movies. I haven't really been watching them, but I've been listening to them argue about them. But unlike when they're at home or where Netflix is not, at least they're not repeating the same few episodes over and over and over. So I guess that's a positive thing about Netflix.

To be honest I'm really tired of listening to people argue.

Anyway, that's what they're watching around here. Now I'd give a more opinionated look at them, but to be honest I haven't been really watching along. It's hard to keep up with a story when they watch episodes when you're at work so you have no idea what's going on. But I can say that after the other three, The Ranch is a nice change.

Music Monday : Oldies are Goodies

2018 seems to be starting off slowly, with some not always happy news. I won't get into that today but in the not too distant future (wednesday maybe?) I will explain. But today is Monday and we need to start our week off on the right (or left depending on which one you start with) foot.

So with no further ado here are five wonderful songs to help boost your Monday and hopefully bring a smile to your face.

Chris Montez : Let's Dance

Cliff Bennett : Got to Get You Into My Life

The Bedrocks : Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

Buddy Holly : It Doesn't Matter Anymore

The Shirelles : Mama Said

Off the Shelf: Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man

Yeah, the title is a bit off-throwing, but I promise it's not anything x-rated.

Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man
Tim Allen
210 pages

Honestly, I don't actually know much about Tim Allen as a stand-up comic, but I grew up watching Home Improvement as a kid, and I've also seen his Last Man Standing, so I was intrigued as to what kind of book he would write.  Starting off, you have to keep in mind that this man is not a professional author.  If you're looking for a clean-written biography, look for something else.  This is more an autobiography mixed with a bit of diarrhea of the mind/keyboard.  While not overly long, the fact that he seems to be a bit of a stream-of-consciousness writer does tend to complicated the reading a bit, so I just took it slow.

However, he is a comic who uses real-life situations to find the funny, and it shows in his book.  While I can't say I agree with everything he has to say, he does give some interesting insight in the male mind, using comedy as an offensive/defensive tool, and he puts an interesting spin on it.  For instance, just in the intro, you'll get to see such interesting things as saying the main reason he finally got off his duff and wrote the book is that his publisher kidnapped his cat, and this wonderful quote:

"The truth is that writing is a challenge.  It's great to see your stuff in print.  I also desperately wanted to see the words "fart lighting" and "sack" on a page." ~ ... Naked Man, pg 4

This book is an interesting mix of male/female worldviews, autobiography, comedy, history, parenting, and growing-up.  It's not all in chronological or even subject-cluster order, so that can be off-putting to some readers, but the honesty and hilarious first-person view is great.  I would recommend this mostly for adults, mainly those into autobiographies, or those with any interest in Tim Allen at all.  Also, if you're looking for just a glimpse into a male mind (as a female, that was intriguing to me) and what puberty and awareness can be like, it's not bad.

Is the book for all audiences?  No.  I think males may get more out of this book than women, though I do think it opens an insightful door that makes it good for either gender, and this book is definitely better suited to adults, or maybe college-level young adults.  Do I think it was worth the read?  Yes.