Friday, May 20, 2011

A Rose is a Rose...

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

"You say 'poe-tAA-toe.'  I say 'poe-tAH-toe.'"

Much has been said (and sung) about what we call things. 
There are differences created by geography, family, culture, etc.
Geography - soda, pop, Cokes
Family - I've been mocked endlessly for calling handing out Christmas presents "opening the tree"
Culture - think of your mom's sister.  Is she "ant", "aaaahnt" or "aahntie"?

And then there are those that are just WRONG. :)

I heard a lady on the news the other day talk about being "FUSS-trated."
I'll be honest.  I died a little inside.
Does she not SEE the R?!?

I once knew someone by the last name Wilkes.
People REGULARLY would read it "Wilkison".
YOU ADDED AN ENTIRE SYLLABLE TO THE END.
Just created it from thin air!!!

Then there's my husband.  He's a middle-namer.  But his first name is Joel.
Good, strong, relatively common American name.
Want to know who telemarketers and spam mail look for?
Juan.
Yep.  That's close.

And don't get me started on people in the south adding S's to store names.
WalMartS, TargetS, KMarts, Krogers
Makes my skin crawl!!!

You've got your "X-specially" and "Let me AX you a question."

But the world's most ironic mispronunciation?

My Spanish teacher, Senor Tic-Tac (bad breath), used to instruct us daily on our need to work on our
"Pro-NOUN-ciation"

Yep.
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Love, Shipoopies, and a Happy Weekend to you All!!!
Leslie


Thursday, May 19, 2011

Lyrics

It's probably no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm a lyrics girl.  I'm sure it's the English degree in me, or maybe it's that part of my soul/mind/heart that lead me to the English degree.  (So many things in life follow the chicken/egg arguement.) 

I'm sure my mom gets sick (and tired - Hello, Bill Cosby!) of hearing me say, "This song has the GREATEST lyrics. Listen to it.....Now be sure to listen closely to this part.  Aren't those awesome?!?  Let's listen again!" Poor thing, I do it to her all the time!!

Why am I telling you this?  Well, The Hubs had his Spring concert at school Tuesday night and one of the choirs did a little Les Miserables.  I've always loved the music, but suddenly, this particular lyric is standing out to me.  Maybe I just never understood the lyrics before now?  Maybe I just never caught the beauty of the words before, but I've been singing it non-stop since Tuesday night.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame

Love.The.Imagery!!!

Anyway, my new attachment to this lyric got me to thinking of other favorite lyrics.

Everytime I think of you, I always catch my breath! 
Still possibly the most romantic lyric every written.

It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy, 'cause every now and then I kick the living sh** out of me.
Never was a truer word spoken.
 
You find this situation just a bit uncomfortable;
You'd rather stay far away from reality.
For you to understand would be clearly impossible;
So you shut your eyes and swear you can see.
Claiming there is a God, but does that mean anything?

So condescending to those that you don't understand;
Just too easy to make them your enemies.
Like an ostrich, you bury your head in the sand,
And then shout about all the things you believe.
But if there is a God, don't you think He can see
What you really mean? What you're doing?

You can't find the answers
Till you learn to question;
You won't appear stupid
Just ask for direction.
You're insecure and it clouds your perception
So stop and listen
And learn a lesson in love without condition.

So place all the souls that you know
in their own little box;
Quite convenient to handle them that way;
You're the only one you know who carries a cross
You don't care what they care about anyway.
And You talk to your God,
Prayin' for those who sin,
For their eyes to be opened.

You can't find the answers
Till you learn to question;
You won't appear stupid
Just ask for direction.
You're insecure and it clouds your perception
So stop and listen
And learn a lesson in love without condition.

I tried to find a clip of lyrics from this song by Ginny Owens, but really the whole song is amazing.  I love the lyrics. Powerful, life changing lyrics.

And then there's my latest ringtone - from back in the day.

We'll keep on spending sunny days this way
We're gonna talk and laugh our time away
I feel it comin' closer day by day
Life would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie...

*Ok, MAYBE it's really "you and me endlessly", but as a kid, my parents TOTALLY told me it was Leslie and I LOVED it.  Still do.* 

Do YOU pay attention to the lyrics?  Do they move you and change you?  Or do you just bop along, never knowing the meaning of those great beats?

What are YOUR favorite lyrics?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Monday, May 16, 2011

Monday, Monday... Can't Trust That Day

People always say Mondays get a bad rap.  I always say if they didn't bring a long, hectic week at a job that I.... umm... less than love, I wouldn't mind it at all.  It's not the fact that it comes after Sunday or something about its name that makes peole dread it.  It's that it signifies the end of family fun and relaxation and the beginning of very little time for family and lots of  busy and stress.  That being said, I try not to actually dread Mondays (though I do always wish my weekends had a little more time in them).  I don't always succeed, but I try to always enter things with a positive attitude.  It helps.

This morning, however, began with my sleeping right through my alarm that was to wake me up in time to get some exercise before the rest of the fam gets up and going.  I don't mean I turned my alarm off or snoozed a little.  I mean I woke up almost an hour after it was set with no recollection of it ever going off.  The hubs swears it did. 

Then I burned my toast.  And when I say burned, I mean it was completely black - except for the orange, glowing part.  Yep, actually set it kind of on fire.  I had to throw it into the sink and run water on it.

That can't be the start my Monday needed. :)

OR, maybe I'm just getting all the bad for the week out of the way from the get go, thus prepping myself for an amazing day. :)

Here's hoping.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Friday, May 13, 2011

Carrying your load

An Unloading.



That’s what I gave my poor friend Ashie as we “played tennis” the other night.


In fact, she gets a good bit of my unloading. To be fair, she’s unloaded her fair share on me as well. That’s what besties are for, right?


And to fess up, I have kind of unloaded the same load on her more times than I care to count lately. I mean, I’m not like sinking into a hole of depression and my life’s not falling apart or anything. I just have this overwhelming – Uuuuugh and Waaaaah mixture boiling right under the surface for longer than I’d care to imagine. I’m certainly not living my day to day life in misery. I am a blessed person and I recognize that most of the time, but that boiling mixture is ever present and comes to the surface more than I’d like it to these days.


It’s why my blogging has been…err…. struggling lately. Anytime I get deep enough in my head to write anything of interest, all my thoughts go to my load. *insert potty humor at will* And, to be completely honest, I can’t unload my load on my blog ‘cause people around whom my load revolves read my blog.


So there. I won’t.


But to the point of my blog today…


I unloaded… all sweaty in the car while the air conditioner dried our sweat in what maybe only Southerners recognize as the most amazing cool that ever is – your sweat evaporating in the car’s air conditioner, that is.
I don’t think I’ve expressed a new thought about my load in ages to her. It’s generally the same old frustrations and fears and worries and stresses. And she listens and agrees and chimes in in all the right places.


She’s a really good bestie.
But then she said, “I’m worried about you.”
I don’t think it was a conversation stopper. We didn’t break down and cry or drive off a cliff all Thelma and Louise or anything. It was just a comment in the middle of the conversation.


But here’s the thing. The next day, I woke up and put that load on my back, but it didn’t seem so heavy. And the boiling either cooled to a simmer or moved further away from the surface.


We didn’t really come up with solutions or any specific plan.


But knowing someone other than my Mama (big shout out there to the ones who worry about us always) didn’t just listen, but listened closely enough to know that it wasn’t just complaining, but a real load I’m carrying with no end in sight… it helped.


So here’s to besties and to really HEARING people and letting them know we hear them.




Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Wordless Wednesdays - Judge Me Not, Lest You Be Judged



Family Night at CFA

Yes, she refused to wear the goggles as anything other than a headband.
Yes, I let her use the hammer anyway.
Don't judge.

Cute pic thought, right?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Uuuuuuuuuugh!


Last night, Ashie (aka my bestie whose real name is Ashley) and I decided we're gonna start playin tennis post T's bedtime as many nights a week as we can.  We both want to lose weight, and though she'll be doubling up with structured exercise in a gym during the day, for me, fitting in one any kind of exercise a day with a partner who will always go with me and make it fun is monumental.

Now, to backstep for a moment, I feel it's only fair to tell you that it's really not fair to anyone who has ever actually played tennis to use that phrase to describe what we were doing.  I use the phrase for lack of better-suited terminology.  There were raquets and balls and a great deal of running and that ever-present Tennis grunt (Uuuuuuuuugh!).  But tennis it was not.

Our rules are basically "If it's still bouncing, it's in play," and "If there's another ball closer than the one you're chasing, it's ok to switch balls."  We've also decided we need to make sure that the adjacent courts are empty when we play, lest we injure some unexpecting tennis player.

It wasn't pretty.  It wasn't regulation.  It wasn't something I'd do in front of anyone who didn't already love me in spite of my flaws, but it was FUN!!!  And MAN did we get some aerobic exercise (and my abs are even a wee bit sore this morning). 

We reserved a court for two more nights this week.  If exercise could always involve that much laughter, I'd do it way more often. :)

I hope you are all doing well (and still visiting my page even through my long absence).

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Big News!!! (Nope, not THAT news.)

Who has two thumbs and has been wearing big girl panties with NO ACCIDENTS for two days?!?

THIS GAL!!!



Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie