Admittance

The Word of the Day for March 27 is "admittance."

admittance: (noun) The right to enter.

Synonyms: access, entree, admission, accession

Usage: Anyone who picked an apple gained admittance into the golden castle, and there in a silver room sat an enchanted Princess of surpassing fairness and beauty.

Relevance to my Life: My kids labor under the misconception that since they are my flesh and blood, they needn't ask for admittance when I seek "special quiet time." Cloaked with a child's self-entitlement, they burst in on me fearlessly, asking, "Mommy, where are you? What are you doing? Are you peeing or pooping?"

Parenthood trailer
Before kids, I used to think that this movie was funny; after kids, I have come to realize that it is screamingly funny, and right on the mark.








Frank Buchman Needs Advice
He's probably right; it never ends.







Steve Martin & the Muppets do Dueling Banjos
That's no joke. Steve's hell on a banjo.








Dueling Banjos
I had to do this one too.








World's Fastest Banjo Player
I think I've posted this before, but it's too amazing to pass up.

Lade

The Word of the Day for March 26 is "lade."

lade: (verb)

1. Fill or place a load on.


2. To burden or oppress; weigh down.

Synonyms: load

Usage: The captain ordered his crew to lade the ship with provisions and weapons before they embarked on their expedition.

Relevance to my life: If my kids had their way, on our trips to Price Chopper, they would lade the cart with nothing but doughnuts, cookies and chips instead of the bags of vegetables I pick.

Evolution of Shopping Carts
This was... odd. I enjoyed his use of back formation to get the verb "evolute." Clever. lol








The Cart Whisperer
Ok, same guy. *snort*






Shopping Cart Fail
Whoops.








Numa Numa Fail
Most Numa Numas are a fail anyway.









Numa Numa
Don't say you didn't see this one coming!









Evolution of Dance
Apparently this is the most-viewed video on Youtube with over 116,000,000 views.








Robert Muraine
As amusing as the previous guy was, this next one kills me. He's just not natural.

Accession

The Word of the Day for March 25 is "accession."

accession: (noun) The attainment of a dignity or rank.

Synonym: attainment, addition, inheritance,

Usage: The circumstance which chiefly availed was the marriage of his daughter with a man of fortune and consequence, which took place in the course of the summer -- an accession of dignity that threw him into a fit of good humour, from which he did not recover till after Eleanor had obtained his forgiveness of Henry, and his permission for him "to be a fool if he liked it."

Relevance to my life: Few events have affected me as profoundly as my accession to the rank of Bitter Divorcée To Be: in this change I have lost money, stability, friends and the more elusive creature, my self-esteem.

You Don't Own Me
Aww, aren't these gals spunky? They make it look so easy.








The War of the Roses
Isn't this closer to the truth? Ok, maybe not the details, but the hate.









The Break Up
After only two years together? How much hate and resentment could possibly have built up after only two yeras?







Death Becomes Her
Oh my. This is so funny and yet... so not funny.

Woebegone

The Word of the Day for March 18 is "woebegone."

woebegone: (adjective) affected by or full of grief or woe

Synonyms: sorrowful, woeful

Usage: Some cling to you in woebegone misery; others come back fiercely and weirdly, like ghouls bent upon sucking your strength away; others, again, have a catastrophic splendour; some are unvenerated recollections, as of spiteful wild-cats clawing at your agonized vitals; others are severe, like a visitation; and one or two rise up draped and mysterious, with an aspect of ominous menace.

Relevance to my life: Upon hearing the verdict, the child looked up at me with such a woebegone expression on her face: huge eyes brimming over with tears and bottom lip trembling. I weakened for a second and nearly relented, but recovering my determination, I repeated, "No cookies before dinner."

I can't hear the word woebegone without thinking of all those Saturday nights listening to Prairie Home Companion on the radio with the family. Garrison Keillor's updates from Lake Woebegon (his hometown) were always my favorite.

Dusty and Lefty
This is a clip from the movie based on the radio show







Coffee
Also from the movie







Darryl Tollerud's Long Day
Here is a bit from one of his updates from Lake Woebegon.

"It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon... my home town."








On Being a Dad
Priceless

Studious

The Word of the day for March 17 is "studious"

studious (adjective) Characterized by diligent study and fondness for reading.


Synonym: bookish


Usage: She was a quiet, studious child and always had her nose in a book.


Relevance to my life: In high school, many of my peers who did not know me well mistook my smart and studious exterior for stuck up and snotty. My friends knew better, but this did not change the relative inactivity of my social life.

In over twenty years, I still have not made it back to any of hte high school reunions. I had been planning to go to my 20th, but I changed my mind because that was the weekend my husband was moving out of my house. I didn't relish explaining why I was attending solo only to see triumphant looks on some people's faces, "Ah, husband's leaving her, so she still is a loser! I knew it! Some things never change."

"They" say that the best revenge is living well.

Sure.

I am not there yet.

Perhaps by the time the 25th reunion rolls around, I'll be in a better place. Until then, I suppose that I can always fake it, like Romy and Michele.




"Businesswomen"

Sometimes clothes do make the part, but only if you know what your business is.








Formula for Glue
Ok, you know that this is a movie, because who really looks like that at a 10-year reunion?
Oh, it's a dream sequence!








Part of the reunion clip from the movie
Romy to Heather Mooney "I bet in high school, everyone made somebody's life hell."

Astray

The Word of the Day for March 16 is "astray."

astray: (adverb) Far from the intended target.


Synonym: wide


Usage: A bullet went astray and struck an innocent bystander.


Relevance to my life: When I left high school I had definite plans for my life, and although they did include extensive travel, none of them involved divorce; on the other hand, none of these future fantasies included children, so my life going astray wasn't a total loss.

All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray (Handel)

My kids think that they're singing "Oh we like sheep."








Oh Thou, That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion (Handel)

Another ditty from Handel's Messiah. This is my favorite aria, usually sung by an alto, but here performed by a countertenor. I love countertenors.







The Stoned Guest (PDQ Bach)

Speaking of countertenors...Peter Schickele's "PDQ Bach" wrote pieces for a bargain countertenor. Here is a bit from one of his classic recordings.

If he ever comes to a theater near you, run, don't walk to go see him!

Permeate

The Word of the Day for March 13 is "permeate."

permeate: (verb) To spread or flow throughout.


Synonyms: imbue, pervade, interpenetrate, diffuse, riddle, penetrate


Usage: An atmosphere of distrust has permeated this administration.


Relevance to my life: By the time I had returned from dropping my younger daughter off at school and walked into the kitchen, the smell of freshly-brewed coffee had permeated the kitchen and enveloped me in a snug haze rife with the promise of caffeine.

Java Jive

Sing it with me!







Coffee Cantata
Even J.S. Bach got in on it. This is too great not to plug. It's a secular cantata which satirizes coffee-addiction. In the following aria, the soprano declares her love for coffee:

"Mm! how sweet the coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, mellower than muscatel wine. Coffee, coffee I must have, and if someone wishes to give me a treat, ah, then pour me out some coffee!"

For a short synopsis of the cantata read this







Latte Art... in Dutch
I may have to try this today.

Prop

The Word of the Day for March 12 is "prop."

prop: (verb) To support by placing something beneath or against.


Synonyms: shore up


Usage: I had to prop my head up with my fist to keep from nodding off during the boring speech.


Relevance to my life: During the labor and delivery with my second daughter, several times I tried to prop myself up on my elbows or even sit entirely upright to alleviate the excruciating pain of back labor, but with little success. Thankfully, the baby punched her way down and out quickly*.


Not to be confused with:

• "Working the props department" - If you've ever had the good fortune to work on a play, musical, opera or any sort of staged performance, even a ballet recital, you may have heard of or even been a part of the props department. This department is in charge of the items of the set which are integral to the plot; they're not just set decoration. Often they will be something held or touched by one of the actors. Here, the "prop" is shortened from "property."



• "To give props to" - this slang expression is a shortened from of "to give proper respect to." Sometimes I've seen people use it together with a "raise the roof" gesture which would seem to add the meaning of "prop up." It's funny how popular language works.

*She really did "punch her way down." I'll never forget what my OB said just before those final two pushes, "Ok, I see her head, and... is that a hand?!"

That child was born, fist curled up against her head, and face-up to boot. It was painful.


Baby propped up

In the second and third "scenes" we see a boppy pillow. I loved my Boppy. It made nursing comfortable and was a convenient way to prop up very small infants







Asleep on the job

We see a guy, propped up against the wall, avoiding his desk job. Tsk. In this economy?!






Don't fall asleep at a baseball game!

Those seats are so low that a sleepy guy can't even prop up his head!









Hey, did someone say "baseball?"

Bonanza

The Word of the Day for March 11 is "bonanza"

bonanza:(noun) Sudden and unexpected luck or wealth.

Synonyms: boom, bunce, godsend, gold rush, gravy, manna from heaven, windfall

Usage: Shop keepers in seaside towns enjoy a bonanza in hot summers.

Relevance to my life: When I was a kid, on Christmas morning my sister and I would race down to the living room at an obscenely early hour, and even though we knew that there would be presents waiting for us, we always looked at each other, eyes agog, dumbstruck at the bonanza.

I'll be singing this song all day now

Don't they all look so young?







"That's like 91 to you and me!"

It's terrible, but when I think of Lorne Greene, Alpo commercials come first; Bonanza comes second.







Little House on the Prairie Theme

For little girls in the 1970s everywhere, Little House was one of the highlights of a bleak tv week. Who among us didn't wish we had those cool pinafores? Also, didn't we each have a Nellie Oleson-nemesis in elementary school? Oh yeah.

And now for the good stream of consciousness trick. Pernell Roberts played the oldest Cartright son, Adam on Bonanza. He also starred in the M*A*S*H spin-off Trapper John, M.D., but it wasn't as good as the original M*A*S*H series, which was great from start to finish.

Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

My second favorite scene from the finale - I couldn't find a clip with the kiss

---

Have a great day, everyone, and please check out today's parenting moment:

Stridulate

The Word of the Day for March 10 is "stridulate"

stridulate: (verb) To produce a
shrill grating, chirping, or hissing sound by rubbing body parts together, as certain insects do.

Synonyms: clitter

Usage: The meadow was filled with the sound of countless unseen grasshoppers
stridulating in unison.

Relevance to my life: As a child, in the summer when we'd go off to play
outside, sometimes the combination of the muggy heat and cicadas' stridulation
seemed to make the air shimmer, and I'd get dizzy.

For those of you who have never heard cicadas, check this out:







I am not a bug person by any means, but I spent some of the morning reading up on the Periodical Cicada,which I've also heard called the 17-Year Cicada and the 17-Year Locust. They're different from the yearly arrivals, or Annual Cicadas. These guys spend 17 years dormant as nymphs underground and then emerge to make all that racket to find a mate before they die.

Sort of a desperate swan song, except they're in little danger of dying out as a species from predators because they can reach a population density of hundreds of thousands to over 1 million per square acre.

No wonder they're so damn loud!

"Many people know periodical cicadas by the name "17-year locusts" or "13-year locusts", but they are not true locusts, which are a type of grasshopper. Their uniqueness has given them a special appeal and cultural status: members of the Onondaga Nation maintain the oral tradition of being rescued from famine by periodical cicadas; early European colonists viewed periodical cicadas with a mixture of religious apprehension
and loathing and modern Americans maintain numerous websites to assist in planning weddings, graduations, and other outdoor activities around Magicicada emergences." -From Magicicada

Dunk

The Word of the Day for March 9 is "dunk."

dunk: (verb) To plunge into liquid; immerse.

Synonyms: dip, douse, plunge, souse

Usage: She instructed me to dunk the garment in the dye for fifteen minutes, but I accidentally for got it in the bucket for an hour!

Relevance to my life: As I made the perfect G and T with Boodles gin, Polar tonic and Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice Cordial, I was nearly salivating as I added the final touch: dunking a hefty wedge of lime in with the ice cubes.

G and Ts are a summer drink for me. There is something about the bright, citrusy lime and crisp, juniperiness gin which scream out "HEAT WAVE!"

I always used to like Bombay Sapphire in the blue glass bottle, both because I'm oddly attracted to square-ish bottles and blue glass. Plus, it features a stern-looming Queen Victoria on it. How can that be bad, I ask you?



Then a friend turned me on to Boodles.

Oh, how my taste buds sang!

Ever since then, all other brands of gin seem harsh, with a definite tang of Pine-Sol.





Tanqueray is no Boodles, but these Tony Sinclair commercials got a snicker out of me.

Back from my hiatus

The holidays sent me spiraling into a worse depression than usual this year.

I am happy to say that I have recovered and that I am inspired, once again, to write.