American Idol – Top 3

May 17, 2012

in Time With My TiVo

It is 11:00 PM and I just spent the last twenty minutes crying my eyes out. For days (weeks even) I’ve been working on memory books for every single child in Alex’s Kindergarten class. I have spent quite a bit of time volunteering in his classroom, so I know each of the kids personally. It has been so much fun looking over their artwork and deciphering their stories. It’s hard to believe my sweet boy is just five days away from being a first-grader.

Are you ready?

THIS! Is American Idol, and THIS should be a great night of singing. We’ll hear songs chosen by the judges, songs chosen by the contestants and then songs chosen by Jimmy Iovine.

Round 1: Songs chosen by the Judges.

Joshua Ledet (I’d Rather Be Blind – Etta James) Well, it’s no surprise that Joshua is singing the heck out of this song. It sounds strangely familiar to me, but then, why wouldn’t it? Joshua seems to have found his niche singing The Blues. It fits him like a glove and I think Randy made a great choice in choosing this song for him.

Oh, there’s Colton. Dang, I just remembered that he got robbed.

Jessica Sanchez (My All – Mariah Carey) – For starters, this song seems way too low for Jessica. I am not the least bit impressed and I’m wondering why Jennifer wouldn’t have picked Vision of Love to showcase Jessica’s pipes. This song is just blah for me, which is unfortunate because I know that Jessica is capable of so much more.

The judges are falling all over themselves with praise. I don’t agree with any of it.

Really? Am I the only ONE who doesn’t get this performance?

Oh well. Let’s move along little doggies.

Phillip Phillips (Beggin’ - Madcon) – This song is PERFECT for P Squared because he leaves me beggin’ for more each time he sings. I don’t know this song or the group who sings it, but I am enjoying it. To me, that translates to awesome entertainer. Way to go P, round one goes to you!

Round 1: Phillip

—-

Round 2: Contestant’s Choice

Joshua Ledet (Imagine - John Lennon) – Oh my heck, I absolutely love this performance. I hope with everything in me that I hear Joshua rockin it out on KLOVE someday. His big ol gospel voice thrills my heart. Absolutely beautiful.

Jessica Sanchez (I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing - Aerosmith) – Well, this performance is much better than the first. By miles. Still, I feel like something is missing. It’s missing the wow factor for me.

These hometown visits always make me squall like a big baby.

Phillip Phillips (Disease – Matchbox 20) – If I’m being honest, this song was just alright for me. I liked it. I thought he did a good job on it. It was no different from any of the other songs he’s ever done on the Idol Stage, except that this is THE FINAL THREE YO! Phillip, dude, you need to BRING IT in the next round.

Round 2: Joshua

—–

Joshua Ledet (No More Drama – Mary J. Blige) – Y’ALL. THIS IS THE TUNE from The Young And The Restless. OH MY SWEET MOSES, I love it already. Yo, I’ll still be talking about this performance tomorrow, probably when I’m in the workroom at the school binding memory books. It’s funny to me that I’m hearing the Y&R theme, and the words NO MORE DRAMA together. I’m gonna have to do some researching, but I love, love, love this song. He is ON IT tonight.

I just realized I used all kinds of capital letters up there.

Jessica Sanchez (I’ll Be There – Jackson 5) – This song brings tears to my eyes because it reminds me of McDaddy going to Basic Training. The night before he left, I declared this “our song”. Now granted, it was Mariah Carey’s version of the song that I really remember from 1992 – but still, every time I hear it, I am reminded of the six-weeks he spent in San Antonio, Texas. This is a good song choice for Jessica, and it is easily her best performance of the night which is good because this is the one she’ll want “the voters” to remember. I think Mariah’s version might have been a better fit for her voice, but whatever.

Phillip Phillips (We’ve Got Tonight – Bob Seger) – As I sit here with my eyes close, I can hear a touch of Rod Stewart and I LOVE IT! In fact, this is my favorite performance of P Squared EVER in the history of the season. He held back. He did this thang. And I was lovin’ it. HEY PHILLIP, awesome, awesome, and more awesome. Or just awesome cubed.

Round 3: Phillip (with Joshua right on his heels)

—–

Best Performance of the Night: Phillip

Going Home: Jessica

Totally going out on a limb here. And crossing my fingers that P Squared and J-Dawg are battling it out in the final.

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A Day In The Life…

May 16, 2012

in Because I Like To Ramble

Before I ever had my own blog, I would read blogs written by other women and wonder if their lives were all shiny and happy and wrapped tightly in a nice, neat package, as they would have their readers believe.

I guess I’ll never know.

All I do know is that what you read here on this blog, is exactly as it seems.

A hot mess.

Take this evening, for instance.

After unloading drinks from the Jeep into the camper, I came *thisclose* to running the Jeep over our steep driveway. Or rolling the thing. Thankfully, my daddy was here. As I sat in the Jeep, and prayed that I wouldn’t roll it over the hill, I called my dad who was inside my house, and asked him to come outside. (Y’all do know that I’m the queen of run-on sentences, right?) After dad assured me I wouldn’t roll backward over the hill, I shot the juice to it, and got it up out of there.

It’s worth mentioning that I strung mud and grass for miles, but the main point is that I did. not. flip. my stupid self (or my beloved Jeep!)

Not more than one hour later, I discovered my TiVo had lost its mind. It was “stuck” on a screen and no matter which button I pushed on the remote it would not go away. I was just about to gnaw my arm off, when McDaddy called, instructed me to pull the plug on the TiVo for two minutes and then plug it back in. The only problem is that I pulled the wrong plug and nothing happened. So I pulled another plug, and waited another minute. This time, it worked.

And just as I got that squared away,…

I came dangersously close to stepping right square in this nastiness.

So yeah, if you show up here at From Inmates To Playdates wondering if my daily life is shiny and happy and wrapped tightly in a nice, neat package, um, I think this picture answers your question.

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What I Learned This Week

May 15, 2012

in What I Learned This Week

It’s Tuesday.

Around here that means I’m watching Dancing With The Stars while writing this week’s “What I Learned This Week” post. I’m still finding it difficult to believe that my boyfriend Maks got the boot. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

Derek Hough is next on my list, so I’ll be voting for him and his abs partner. And speaking of Little Derek Hough, this week I learned that as of May 17, 2012 he’ll be 27 years old? Now you know I called him Little Derek Hough. He’s a baby compared to this almost-40 year old mama. Still, he is, (and I’ve said this before) in my humble opinion, the best choreographer on the show.

Some other things I learned this week:

  • Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s middle name is Aleksandrovich.
  • Watching hamsters scurry all over their cage just before bed is never a good idea, unless you enjoy dreaming of the little critters multiplying, getting loose, and running all over the house. (Shiver!)
  •  A cricket, on the loose, chirping like mad in the dugout can drive a girl batty.
  • A cricket, on the loose, chirping like mad in the dugout driving a girl batty will be quite entertaining to young boys.
  • Once a glue stick appears to be empty, there is still quite a bit of glue in the base of the stick. You’ll need a plastic knife to get it out, but worth it once you see just how much is in there.
  • Facebook has changed the outlook on high-school reunions.
  • The young kid at the grocery store couldn’t care less about smashing my bread.
  • Little League Baseball brings out the, well, never mind.
  • I function better when my house is tidy.
  • My six-year-old is a flirt.
  • The word mulct means to extract money from (someone) by fine or taxation.

Now, what did YOU learn this week?

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A Hot Mess With A Baseball Bat

May 13, 2012

in Unclassified Crazy,You Capture

We had a great weekend here at the McResidence.

For the first Saturday in who knows how long, the sun decided to shine. The boys and I enjoyed a full day, half of which was spent at the ball field. Alex had a successful day at first base and made quite a few outs. Now granted, he plays T-Ball, but still… impressive none-the-less.

Stevie’s team played beautifully and ended up winning their game 12-7. The bad news is there was another game after ours, which meant our team only got to play three frazzlin’ innings. After we got home, we enjoyed an evening with friends and a surprise early return from McDaddy who had been working out of town all week. I didn’t mention that little tidbit last week because, well, McDaddy fears that someone reading my blog might decide that would be a good time to rob the joint.

I don’t really get scared when McDaddy is gone. To be honest, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. McDaddy travels a lot and I am a bit of a drama queen (ahem!), so thinking about being robbed would probably be enough to put me over the edge. Now that’s not to say I don’t have a backup plan, because not having a back-up plan would be irresponsible and downright stupid because this world we live in is full of straight-up crazy people. My back-up plan came in handy early Saturday morning.

I was awakened by a rustling noise at 4 AM. The noise was continuous and it was close to my bedroom. I was sleepy and disoriented and pumped up on adrenaline. I rolled over onto McDaddy’s side of the bed and retrieved the ball-bat from beside of his nightstand. I cocked that sucker back and crept through the hallway like I was about to go all Freddy Kruger on some unsuspecting soul.

Now this is the point in the story where I could give you the horrific details of a home invasion and subsequent attack. Instead, I can only blame the noise on a five-ounce hamster and a squeaky wheel. Just to make sure I wasn’t all the way crazy, I crept downstairs to check the basement doors to make sure they were locked. As I rounded the corner into what will soon be my mud-room I just about jumped out of my skin when I saw a reflection in the sliding glass doors.

My own.

Folks, I am a hot mess. A hot mess with a baseball bat.

I probably wouldn’t have been so dramatic, had it not been for the call I received last weekend. Thankfully, there weren’t any irate callers on my telephone line this weekend.

And speaking of lines…

This week’s You Capture challenge is lines.

I just love the lines on my sweet fancy rocking chair.

Even though my iPhone camera appears to have taken this picture in a smoke-filled room.

My next stop in my quest for lines was our dining room table.

I have no idea why the pears are the color of lemons in this picture. I am assuming the wires in the iPhone/Editing software got crossed and somewhere we lost the true identity of the pears.

I say it all the time people, “GET OUT THE CANON FOR PICTURE POSTS.”

Or at least I think it.

And speaking of lines, wouldn’t this be the sexiest little thing in the school pick-up line?

Yes, I think so too.

Never mind that I’d only be able to pick up one kid.

Details, details.

Tagged as: McDaddy, The Saturn Sky

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American Idol – Final Four

May 9, 2012

Ladies and Gentleman, THIS! is American Idol. I’m pretty excited that we’re down to these four contestants. And if you stop by here each week thinking you’re just reading another post from a nosey girl with an opinion on this show, I’d like to remind you that I called it last week when I made my prediction [...]

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Keepin’ It Classy

May 9, 2012

I have been asked by BlogHer’s Life Well Lived panel to answer the following questions: What are your favorite ways to dress well for your size and shape? How do you make your wardrobe work through transitions? First of all, the only transitions that come to mind, was the transition from employee to stay-at-home-mom, and [...]

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McDaddy’s Other Side

May 8, 2012

I rarely answer my home phone anymore. And with good reason. For starters, I am sick to death of the political recordings. In fact, when my curiosity gets the best of me and I answer one of these calls, I press buttons and yell into the phone like a crazy person. Not that any of [...]

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Keeping It Simple

May 6, 2012

Some decisions in life are tough. Deciding which book to check out from the library is not. If only every decision in life was as simple as this one. This post is linked to You Capture, where this week’s challenge is Simplicity.

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As I Sit In This Room….

May 4, 2012

My mind is at a loss today as I sit and type these words. At this moment, I am sitting in a spacious hospice room watching McDaddy’s precious grandmother sleep. There is a bird feeder outside the window and a chubby, bright yellow bird is perched on the pole. It is a beautiful day and [...]

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American Idol – And Then There Were 5

May 3, 2012

And then there were five. Two themes this evening. First, the contestants will sing songs from the 60′s, and after that, they’ll sing some Brit Pop. The contestants will be mentored by “Little Steven” Somebody who sings with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band. Hollie Cavanagh (River Deep, Mountain High) – Hollie looks so cute [...]

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