It’s all JK Rowling’s fault. (Well, kinda.)

You guys, sometimes blogging is just too hard.  There, I said it.  Sometimes it seems like the only way I could ever possibly get done everything I want and need and have to do is if I had a Time Turner.  AND severe insomnia.  But I don’t have either one.


(Okay, fine.  I do have a Time Turner. Happy?  But that little f*cker has NEVER worked, thankyouverymuch.  *grumble*)


(But I digress….)


The last several months have just simply been batsh*t crazy.  What with the Ohio trip; the Washington trip; all the photo editing and organizing from the zillions of pictures I took on both trips; the court crap; the post-court crap (including a two-inch thick stack of receipts and coordinating papers I am presently getting ready to mail to comply with a post-court order—oy, please don’t ask); my eBay selling and all its required running back and forth to and from the post office; juggling all our various appointments and schedules; my quest to lose the weight I’ve put on since moving to Chicago; trying to help poor Wednesday through a very, VERY difficult emotional time (*sniffle*); and having JK Rowling publish a brand spankin’ new book in the middle of it all—*whew*—well, I guess the blog just kinda got lost in the chaos for awhile.


(There there, poor, neglected blog.  Mama still loves you, I swear.)


To those of you who contacted me and Scope to ask if I am okay, thank you. I really do appreciate it.  Yes, I’m fine.  Frazzled and tired, but fine.  However, the more time that has slipped through my blog-ignoring fingers, the more I started to worry how the hell I would ever catch up on what’s been going on the last few months….


Ummm….


Hmmm….


Nope, no clue….


And then suddenly—*BAM!*—it hit me like a phone in Naomi Campbell’s house: Project 365!  I can tell you the whole whoppin’ tale in bits and pieces as I update my take-a-picture-a-day project!  Yep.  I’m still taking a picture every day, and I am only…. ohhhhhhhhhh…. four freaking months behind on posting it all here.  So, before I get even MORE behind, here is another long, lonnnnnnnngggggggggg overdue update on this year’s Project 365 with little stories of what we have been up to along the way….


Day 161 (2012-06-09) ~  “Hey! That sculpture looks like sh*t!”  Scope and I went for a quick walk along the North Shore Channel Trail on June 9th.  While on the trail we spied this monstrosity, which I'm sure inspires many a poop joke.





Day 162 (2012-06-10) ~  Scope, Wednesday, and I celebrated an early Father's Day before hitting the road for Ohio.  We went to the park for a picnic which was fun and relaxing.... until the evil pigeons showed up.  *shudder*





Day 163 (2012-06-11) ~  I just shot a quickie of a patch of mini daisies I passed while on my way to the train station to meet up with Scope after work.





Day 164 (2012-06-12) ~  Another quickie of flowers.  Oy.  I know. Sorry!  But, look, I posterized it to shake up the flow a little bit.  That was nice of me, huh?





Day 165 (2012-06-13) ~  When Wednesday was little, I used to draw faces on her oranges.  For no reason, really, but she LOVED it.  As she got older, the habit died off, but this particular day I surprised her with one again, which made her giggle.  Hey, even at 15 years old, an orange face is still awesome!





Day 166 (2012-06-14) ~  The 7th (I think….?) shot of my retro Strawberry Shortcake doll series.  This is Lemon Meringue and she still smells incredible!  Mmmmmmm.





Day 167 (2012-06-15) ~  This is a complete throwaway shot.  (Duh.)  We were hurriedly packing up our things for our vacation to Ohio and it dawned on me that I hadn't taken a picture yet that day, so I shot a super-quick snapshot of the messy scene in front of me and went right back to packing.  Just pitiful.  I know, I know.  *hanging my head in shame*






Day 168 (2012-06-16) ~  Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to Ohio we go.  This was the view somewhere in Indiana.





Day 169 (2012-06-17) ~  Our first full day in Ohio, we went to Ghostly Manor Thrill Center's haunted house (which was SPECTACULAR, by the way!!!!)  This dragon was lurking outside the building when we arrived.  CreeEEeeEEeepy.





Day 170 (2012-06-18) ~  Our 3rd day in Ohio, we went to Nickel Plate Beach where we saw this lanky bird slowly creeping through the water.  He crept several yards out into the lake as if he was stealthily stalking something and then inexplicably just turned around and walked right back to the shore.  Bizarre.





Day 171 (2012-06-19) ~  This was from our 4th day in Ohio where we took a boat cruise right past Cedar Point Amusement Park.





Day 172 (2012-06-20) ~  This was from our 5th day in Ohio when we toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and saw this massive moving puppet of the "teacher" in Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall" music video looking down on us.





Day 173 (2012-06-21) ~  This was from our 6th day in Ohio when we took a look in an antique store.





Day 174 (2012-06-22) ~  This was from our 7th day in Ohio when we got up close and personal with dinosaurs inside Cedar Point Amusement Park.





Day 175 (2012-06-23) ~  This was from our last day in Ohio as we said goodbye to the beach early in the morning before hitting the road back home.





Day 176 (2012-06-24) ~  Our first morning back home in Chicago, Scope and I took a walk around the park and saw this VERY bored film crew across the street.  *snicker*





Day 177 (2012-06-25) ~  I saw this cutie playing ball at the park and couldn't resist snapping his picture.  :-)  (Okay, okay, I cheated a bit on this picture, which was taken on the 24th, not the 25th.  I was soooooo busy organizing and editing all the pics from our Ohio trip that I forgot to take a picture on the 25th.  Whoopsie!)





Day 178 (2012-06-26) ~  Yeah.  It’s a Lego genie.  And?





Day 179 (2012-06-27) ~  I thought I'd go old school with the picture this day with an old Depeche Mode record.  (And, yep, I cheated a bit on this picture too, which was taken on the 28th, not the 27th.)





Day 180 (2012-06-28) ~  This is a dragon that guards a local shop.  I love (LOVE!!) his flame-like eyebrows.  (Another cheater pic.  What with all the Ohio trip picture editing I was doing, I somehow got my days all jumbled up for a bit.  This was taken on the 29th, not the 28th.  Grrrr!)





Day 181 (2012-06-29) ~  A tornado?!  Nah.  It was just a funky cloud that passed by our deck.  It startled me for a second though, I admit it.  Yeesh.





Day 182 (2012-06-30) ~  My lovely, handsome hubby and I went out to dinner at Isla Pilipina to celebrate our 2nd anniversary a couple of days early.  (I had the teriyaki chicken and it was incredible, by the way!)  Can you believe it’s been TWO YEARS already?!





Day 183 (2012-07-01) ~  Our anniversary cake.  Mm-mm-mmmmm.





Day 184 (2012-07-02) ~  I stumbled upon this sunflower growing on the corner of a city street.  Someone's garden is conveniently in the background, making it look like this pic was taken in a field, not the streets of Chicago.





Day 185 (2012-07-03) ~  Okay, so I *CLEARLY* had the camera on the wrong settings for this shot of the moon, but I dunno, I kind of like it.  It makes the moon look like it's made of cheese.





Okay, that’s it for today.  I’ll be posting more pics soon, including shots of our summer trip to Seattle.






© Coracabana

Excuses, excuses, excuses….

So.


Clearly, I’m a bad, bad blogger. I’ve hardly been by your blogs at all recently and it’s taken me a month to tell you merely just a pitiful half of the tale of our trip to Ohio. Wow. I am truly sorry about that. A lot has been going on. Seriously. In fact, I haven’t been home in two weeks. I’m in Seattle right now (kinda sorta against my will) (it’s complicated) (just roll with it) and I will be until mid-August.


You’d think I’d have more time for blogging, bumming around my mom’s house like this and all. But apparently not!


*sigh*


Don’t worry. Things are fine. Scope and Wednesday are here with me (at least for part of it), there’s literally TONS of cake floating around, and all of this will be explained some other time after I get around to finishing our Ohio stories.


….Hmm?


….What?


….The tons of cake?


Oh. Well, in the fourteen days that I have been here, there has been a constant stream of birthday parties, one graduation party, and it’s not nearly done yet. My brother-in-law’s birthday is next week, and—taadaa!—mine is today. And it’s a big one too.




Yep. I’m 40. And I’m absolutely 100% happy about that. :-) Rumor has it that two kiddos I know have spent hours in secret decorating not one but two birthday cakes for me for later on today. Awww.


Anyway, that’s my list of excuses Blogaritaville. I hope all is well with you. I will be back in full bloggidy swing once things settle down, swearsies!






© Coracabana

Tuesday’s Treadmill Tracks…. yeah, this one hurt a bit, dammit!!!!

Welcome once again to Tuesday’s Treadmill Tracks. As usual, I put my iPod on shuffle yesterday and it served up a slew of songs for me while I was on my 5.75 mile walk. However, as UNusual, my earbuds started malfunctioning and were actually giving me zappy, little static electric shocks in my ear (WHAT THE--???? No-one told me earbuds could do THAT!!!! OUCH!!!!) so a big portion of the walk was not on the treadmill, but to and from Target so I could buy new, non-shocky earbuds. And, yes, because of Tuesday’s Treadmill Tracks, I still kept track of all the songs, even as I was being electrocuted! How’s that for devotion, people?

But anyway….

So, let’s have at it! (Just clicky the song titles to catch each song on Youtube if that’s your thing.) Enjoy!


1. Behind The Wheel - Depeche Mode

2. Binary Love – Blake Lewis

3. Cool – Gwen Stefani

4. Blue Sky Mine – Midnight Oil

5. Lovesong – The Cure

6. I Hear Motion – The Models

7. F**k You – Cee Lo Green



8. Hit – Sugarcubes

9. Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-A-Lot (Shut up.)

10. The Reflex – Duran Duran

11. Comfort Eagle - Cake

12. Ebay – Weird Al

13. The Great American Melting Pot – Schoolhouse Rock

14. Wind It Up – Gwen Stefani

15. It’s Oh So Quiet – Bjork (Oooooooh, I love this one!)



16. Hey, Headmaster – Pet Shop Boys (This song always reminds me of Dumbledore. *sniffle*)

17. Stay Up Late – Talking Heads

18. Permanent – David Cook (*sniffle* again.)

19. Fun Fun Fun – The Beach Boys

20. Forget You – Cee Lo Green (Ha! Both versions of this song in the same walk. Nice.)



21. Holiday – Allison Iraheta

22. Something’s Always Wrong – Toad The Wet Sprocket

23. Josie And The Pussycats – TV Show Theme Song

24. One Of The Boys – Katy Perry

25. Pets – Porno For Pyros

26. Detective – No Doubt

27. You Sexy Thing – Hot Chocolate

28. Harry Potter – Harry And The Potters

29. My Sharona – The Knack

30. Barbarella – The Bongos

31. Danke Schoen – Wayne Newton





© Coracabana

Tuesday’s treadmill tracks…. from The Violent Femmes to a theme park ride

Welcome once again to Tuesday’s Treadmill Tracks. As usual, I put my iPod on shuffle yesterday, and here is what it served up for me while I was on my 5.5 mile walk. (Just clicky the song titles to catch each song on Youtube if that’s your thing.) Enjoy!


1. Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols

2. Spelling Bee – Meryn Cadell (Aww. YouTube fail. Couldn’t find a link to this one. Boo.)

3. Locked Out – Crowded House



4. Copacabana – Barry Manilow

5. Gone Daddy Gone – The Violent Femmes

6. Short Skirt/Long Jacket – Cake

7. Dancing Queen – ABBA

8. I’m Just A Bill – Schoolhouse Rock



9. Night Fever – Bee Gees

10. Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life – Monty Python

11. If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman

12. Hey Baby – No Doubt



13. More Than A Woman – Bee Gees

14. Love Is Wicked – Brick & Lace

15. SuperScratchaVocalisticTurnatableLicious – Blake Lewis

16. Solid – The Dandy Warhols

17. Haunted Mansion Holiday Ride-Through Mix – Disneyland Theme Park Soundtrack



18. China Girl – David Bowie

19. Billie Jean – David Cook

20. Headstrong – Ashley Tisdale

21. Great Southern Land – Icehouse

22. Bump In The Night – Allstars

23. Harajuku Girls – Gwen Stefani

24. Everybody Needs – Oingo Boingo



Happy Valentine’s Day, to my hubba hubba hubby, Scope, and to you, Blogaritaville!!

© Coracabana

The one where I take you through the carwash

My Project 365 is still going splendiferously. (Yay!) Everyday I take a picture and, most days, I try to attempt something I haven’t really dabbled in before (like levitation!) (And bokeh!), so I’m learning a lot about my camera, its lenses and editing through all of this. Here is the latest update….


Day 31 (2012-01-31) ~ Valentine’s Day is coming and, Hubba Hubba Hubby, this one's for YOU!




Day 32 (2012-02-01) ~ I was in a cartoon-y mood this day, I guess. :-)




Day 33 (2012-02-02) ~ Ohhhhhh, the danger of living next door to a bakery! I have concluded that this is a bad, bad, BAD thing!!!!




Day 34 (2012-02-03) ~ I didn’t have a lot of time to play around with picture taking this day, so I just shot a quickie of my old Kodak Hawkeye folding camera.




Day 35 (2012-02-04) ~ Scope and I took our car to a DIY car wash. As I climbed out of the car to help Hubba Hubba Hubby wash it, he insisted I stay inside so I wouldn't get wet and cold. (Awwww.) So, I sat in the car watching him washing the windshield. The sun was bright, so the soapy streaks across the glass became dark silhouettes against the blue sky. I started snapping pictures of them. This one is my favorite and was taken right as the water came shooting across the window to wash all the soap away.

The project is about 8% complete now. Still many more to come!


© Coracabana

Because Sometimes Facebook Is Just Easier

Hmm.

So.

I was over on my hubba hubba hubby Scope’s blog the other day when—*gasp!*—I saw it. Something shocking. Something disgusting. Something big, burly, zitty, unshaven, and downright ugly!

*gulp*

I shielded my eyes. I pulled my hoodie over my head. And I curled my flexible self into a cramped, uncomfortable ball in my chair, bellowing, “GAWD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” out into the merciful universe.

*sniffle*

On Scope’s sidebar was this:

Five weeks, people. I haven’t posted on my blog (nor religiously haunted YOUR blogs) (*guilty squirm*) in five weeks….? Really? Wow. I’m—I’m sorry. I guess life got the better of me lately.

However….

Five weeks is long enough. Too long, actually. And since I still don’t have my bloggidy groove back yet, Blogaritaville, I’m going to give you my Facebook status updates instead. Here’s what’s been going on in the Land o’ Cora the last five weeks:


May 11:

A new neighbor moved into the 'hood. I don't like him. At all. He kept giving me the stink eye as I walked by.

May 13:

Marizpan cake makes everything better. EVERYTHING. Swearsies.

May 17:

Clearly, my hubby still thinks it is April Fools Day. He has been leaving fake spiders EVERYWHERE for me and Wednesday to stumble upon. Wednesday found one in her sock yesterday, and this is what I found when I opened the fridge this morning. MUST. GET. REVENGE.

May 18:

Holy shi tsu! I think I just had a heart attack. I opened our door to let air in and then suddenly *BAM!!* there was a big car crash right outside our house. Luckily everyone is okay, but I think I left a dent in the ceiling, I jumped so badly. Yeesh.

May 20:

‎*hic* I have had the hiccups all morning long. *hic* I had to run errands in three different stores while sounding like a harbor seal the whole dang time. *hic* Totally embarrassing. *hic* Holding my breath didn't work. *hic* Weird, 'cuz it usually does. *hic* So, I'm about to go drink water from a cup upside down. *hic* Wish me luck. *hic* *hic* *hic*


May 20:

I spent all morning cleaning the house because my mom and nephew are flying in to visit today. My lovely daughter just got home from school, promptly announced, "Wow, Mom, it looks beautiful in here!" and then immediately dropped a scoop of ice cream. INTO. THE. SILVERWARE. DRAWER. Really, girlie? Really?
:-P


May 21:

Just got back from the aquarium!

May 24:

Hubba Hubba Hubby wasn't looking so peppy tonight. I summoned all my ninja-like nanny skillz and promptly attacked him with a thermometer and, just as I suspected, he has a fever. :-( Now I've drugged him up and tucked him in bed. Seriously, fevers of the world, what are you thinking?! I can spot a fever a mile away, you know, so don't mess with me and my loved ones, got it?!?! Jeez.

May 30:

I don't know why these strawberries I'm growing are taking so long to ripen. There are just green berries as far as the eye can see. Hurry up, dangit! I wanna make a shortcake out of you!



May 31:

"I don't know what I'm training for but I hope it never happens" - LOL!!

June 2:

I haven't eaten chocolate in over a month. I know! Who am I and what have I done with the real Cora?! New vice: marzipan cake. Mm-mm-mmmm.

June 2:

Right this very second Scope is giving Wednesday lessons on how to shoot a rubber band at me more effectively. But I'm not worried because she keeps getting the rubber band stuck on her own thumb. Yep. These are the people I live with. ;-)



June 10:

Okaaaaayyyyyyyy. Wow. I have no words.

June 12:

We have a harvest of strawberries! Mmmmmm.

June 15, 2011:

Dear 14 Year Old Daughter; The term is "BUCKET seats", okay? Bucket with a "B," not an "F". And, no, that was not an "inappropriate" song I was listening to. But thank you for the laugh! *snicker* :-)

June 16:

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I don't even know what it is yet, but I am SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!! http://www.youtube.com/JKRowlingAnnounces

June 18:

Just saw a firefly for the very first time. Wowza! Soooooooo cool! I was squealing like a pig on the sidewalk watching it light up and fly around. Too bad dogs and cats can't light up their butts like that. Think how handy that would be in a power outage....

© Coracabana

Playing Catch-Up: Snow Day!

Okay, so last I showed my bloggy face around here, I promised you a stupendous slew of stories, didn’t I? Ohhhhhhh, I’ve got stories for you, alright. Mm-hmm. In fact, dare I say it?—EEK!—I just might have too many stories. I can’t even really decide where to begin, so I keep putting it off and neglecting the blog, and then the problem just grows bigger and hairier and soooooooooooo much worse.

Kinda like moldy cheese in the back of the fridge.

Or Kirsty Alley.

Whatever.

The point? Much has gone on in my wee wittle world the last month or two…. hence the fact that I only blogged a pitiful, inexcusable three pointless posts in December.

Three!

Pfffft! Sad, wasn’t it? I know.

*cough slacking-good-for-nothing-clown cough*

It may take me a little while to blog it all, so bear with me. However, God forbid, if I’m still slogging my way through it and still blogging about Christmas in June, someone slap me. Okay? Okay.

Anyway, on with the stories….

Snow.

I used to dread snow when I lived in Seattle. Stupid sucktastic snow. Every time it snowed there—*POOF*—the whole city turned Stone Age. No cars, thanks to the rollercoasterish hilly streets being lacquered in an inch thick layer of ice, forcing everyone to ditch their cars and attempt to hoof it like we were in the dang Ice Capades! No electricity, thanks to the snow-encased trees all choosing to fall on the power lines, leaving everyone shivering by candlelight in their chilly homes for days on end! Basically, life would come to an abrupt halt and we’d all turn feral. And, my friends, THAT is NEVER pretty.

Snow was a terrifying monster which I feared all winter long.

But here in Chicago snow is a tame and docile beast. More of a pet, really. The kind that follows at your heals when you go out for a walk, licks your face, and occasionally leaves puddles on your floor. Not the least bit threatening.

Snow doesn’t bring this city to a grinding halt; snow doesn’t seem to impact anything here much whatsoever. It’s just kind of there. And for the first time in my entire adult life, snow doesn’t stress me out.

In fact, I think I like it. Whodathunkit?

Our first big snow day here was at the beginning of December. We awoke one Saturday morning to a scrumptious-looking city which seemed to have been generously frosted with Marshmallow Crème….

And Gwen was THRILLED!!!!….



There was a Bake Sale/Christmas Fair at Gwen’s school that day, but, unlike it would have in Seattle, the newly fallen Chicago snow did NOT take a steaming poo on our plans to go. Nope. We bundled ourselves up and walked a block and a half to school, hucking snowballs at each other the entire way. (Heh heh heh.) I may have also attempted an artsy fartsy snowy picture or two as we went….



The Bake Sale/Christmas Fair was fun. We sampled some delicious treats (my favorite were the “Oreo Balls”) and looked at lots of crafts and handmade trinkets. But my favorite table was “Santa’s Gift Tree” where I won myself this marvelous monster finger puppet, which I thoroughly enjoyed taunting Gwen and her friends with! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!….



After Gwen’s friends bailed (was it something I or my finger puppet said?!?!), Gwen, Scope and I took a whack at the Cake Walk where Gwen won the first prize: this uber-yummy chocolate M&M cake….



Then Gwen, Scope, and I ventured back home to nosh on cake and rush up to the roof of our condo to see our winterized neighborhood from above….



Up on the roof we made a snowman, which Scope (always the gentleman) so gallantly gave his hat and scarf (awwww)….




….and we had another big ol' snowball fight. Duh.

Then to top of the perfect Snow Day, we piled into the car and drove a few streets over to take pictures of ourselves outside the Family Matters house (think Steve Urkel) (or, eww, don’t)….



(What?!)

(Doesn’t everybody take mini road trips to cheesy sitcom houses on Snow Days?!?!)

(No?!)

(Oh.)

The moral of the story? People might tell you that Winter in Chicago is a big. bad, ugly thing, but I’m here to tell you that those people are ignorant. So there. :-P

© Coracabana