Typing Out Loud: Being More Than

Such nice extension... you could be a dancer if you wanted, sweetie.

Oh Lord, a professional football player opened mouth and inserted foot at a commencement exercise. While praising his stay-at-home wife for maintaining the household while he plays games at an elite level, he basically told the female graduates in attendance that they have been sold a pack of lies in earning their degrees, and that they would never be more fulfilled than becoming a wife and mother. 

I love being Will's mom. For him, I have become a super-volunteer for the marching band, the purveyor of snacks at baseball, and a soon-to-be board member of the athletic boosters. Not to mention being his unpaid Uber driver.

I love being Dave's wife. For him, I am and always have been, a wage earner, provider of health insurance, and chief cook and bottle washer. 

Ask me about managing TWO jobs during a downturn in his industry, all while being told my career was a "hobby." Yeah, that was a burn that still stings 17 years later. One of my regrets was holding my tongue out of respect when I should have corrected swiftly and definitively. That my honor was not defended still grinds my gears.

My point is, yes - I am a wife and a mother. I respect and honor those roles. But I'm so much more than that. So are so many other women out there who deserve the respect of being providers, earners, volunteers, leaders in their community. I just don't understand the sexist tendencies to "put women in their place." 

Cheers to those SAHMs who can afford to do so and have the privilege afforded them to do so, who may also find it fulfilling to do so, if that is their choice. But don't knock those of us who have found fulfillment balancing work and family by necessity or choice as well. 

The Beatles, Ranked! Outside My Top 25, 31-35

The fellas: "I thought you had a higher opinion of me song than that!"

It was a fight for the top 25, and these songs deserve recognition, if not an argument for being considered higher, part 1:

31

Eight Days a Week  I have great memories of shout-singing this while driving along one summer night with Mary and Maria, breaking speeding laws to make curfew. 

32

She's a Woman  Do I have to justify it? I just love it. 

33

Two of Us  You can hear the personal connection between John and Paul singing it together and to each other. It feels like a glimpse into their partnership and a farewell of sorts… let it be, I guess. 

34

Girl  It's lush, it's romantic, it's melancholy, it's conflicting, it's even got an inside joke with the boys in the back singing "tit tit tit tit."

35 TIE

Good Day Sunshine and I'll Follow the Sun  Well, crap. One's bursting with bright orange and yellow dance hall joy, the other is wistful and folky. I can't decide so I tied 'em - my blog, my rules.

Best Meal I Ever Ate, Appetizers

Jim and I: seventeen-year-old gastro thrill seekers.

I'm intentionally out of order with May posts to celebrate May 8 as my promaversary!

We were not fancy, fine-dining people growing up. It was a combination of my parents' work schedules - mom was in retail, dad entertained clients on the road and would rather have a bologna sandwich in peace when he got home. 

Also, there were few options for fine dining in Jackson, and those places were reserved for only the most special of occasions. 

My special occasion was in 1987 at Gilbert's Steakhouse, prom with my date Jim and friends. Feeling adventurous, he and I decided to split an order of escargot. 

It was unlike anything I had ever had before. 

The butter sauce was rich and finely seasoned with shallots and garlic. The snails were tender with just a touch of grit so you knew they were authentic, the flavor earthy and seafoody at the same time. (What are snails categorized as, exactly? A stop at the Asian market and snails were in the seafood section.) We sopped the butter up with bits of freshly baked bread that came with the order. 

The table was grossed out, but we didn't care. I don't really remember what our entrees were, steak or chicken probably. It was the escargot that stood out.

Rethinking Orange

I have a thing for citrus

Orange is...

Taste: candied grapefruit peel that is bright, citrusy, bitter, and sweet

Touch: warm sunshine with a cool breeze under it

Smell: orange blossoms, possibly the most fantastic scent in the world

Hear: the squelch of a wet flip-flop on the sidewalk

Secret Life of Objects: Parrot Magnet

A kitchen mainstay.

I’ve had this magnet since the early 80s and details are murky. I don’t remember if my aunt or grandma made it, but I know I bought it at a craft fair at church for a dollar or less. I have loved it ever since; it has lived in three marital homes and countless apartments. Where did I keep it before I had a fridge of my own... a pinboard, my locker? I don't think it was on my parents’ fridge, as this was something I selfishly kept for my own. I used this as inspiration for a computer art assignment in high school, one of the projects that got me into AP computer science and assigned as a teaching assistant. 

That's It, Just One Line - Landslide

"Can I sail through the changing ocean tides, can I handle the seasons of my life?" 

The Beatles, Ranked! The Bottom, or the Not so Fab

I'm fighting this too.

I said I'd do it, so here it is. First, some "defend the music" just outside the bottom:

Her Majesty - Her Majesty's is a sweet enough 30-second ditty, but the problem is its placement - The End would have been a stellar, mind-blowing coda to The Beatles. Still, Paul can't leave well enough alone and sneaks this in as a secret track, preventing The End from being the end. Couldn't it have opened side 2 instead?

If You've Got Trouble, a Ringo lead vocal that only appeared on the Anthology 2 album. Ringo doesn't remember recording it, and according to the studio logs, they only did one take. There's a horrible guitar solo, ushered in by Ringo's hapless call to "rock on, anybody!" Its redemption came while driving in the car, for the sheer garage band thrashing good time of it. I can hear the punk rock energy and potential - play it loud.

The bottom 10:

-10

The Word - it's one of the tracks that prevents me from truly embracing Rubber Soul as one of my top four albums. Early hippie peace and love movement stuff that sounds dated to me now.

-9

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer - Fucking Christ, it keeps Abbey Road from being perfect. Saving graces to Maxwell is Mal joyfully playing the anvil and Steve Martin as some delirious dentist in the so-bad-it’s-good rock movie musical with George Burns.

-8

All I've Got to Do - You're not Smokey, John.

-7

I'll Get You - I may blame this one on the cartoon. I just remember ugly black birds doing the singalong, and the bridge was a discordant mess. John's quote: "Paul's attempt to write a song that didn't work out." You're telling me.

-6

Every Little Thing -the only thing I like is Ringo's timpani. Even Paul said: "It didn't have quite what was required."

-5

There's a Place - I mentioned before that this sounds garbled and annoying. It's early Fabs, not all of it was golden, just saying.

-4

Little Child - another one that was ruined by the cartoon and the smarminess of it. Great harmonica though.

-3 

Piggies - I usually love me a disgruntled George Harrison - see Don't Bother Me - but the harpsichord and grunting were a bit much, aaaaaaaand it sent Manson over the edge.

-2

Yes, it Is - not the right vehicle for them, and that wah wah wee and bitching about a red dress. John even admits it doesn't work. 

-1

Christmas Time is Here Again - a Christmas gift fan recording and it's awful. I hate it so much I'm startled by my vitriol. Drugs are bad, Paul.