Merry Christmas to me

Santa came early to the Dearing-McCracken household.

Bill found me a brand-spanking-new Gibson Flying V and gave it to me early so I could play it at our show Saturday.


Oh yeah, baby. Watch out, I'm seriously rockin' now! I love this guitar is a way that just ain't right or natural.

The best part is that the Flying V fits me perfectly. It's balanced just right and my hand hits the strings in between the Humbuckers in the perfect spot. There was no transition time from my Daisy Rock to the V.

And I swear that I play better.

Plus the Flying V is the coolest guitar ever designed. Fer reals.

Our show Saturday night was at Fast Eddie's which was our first time playing there. And it was so much fun — such a smooth and great night.

I think I say that after every show, but that's how it is. Playing kick-ass rock 'n' roll is way beyond fun ... doing so with two uber-awesome chicks, a genius dude and my long-suffering husband is more fun than a girl deserves.

Nokia Chronicles

As I mentioned here and here, the lovely folks at Nokia sent me their Nokia 6650 uber-cell phone to demo for a couple of weeks.

They are hosting content on their microsite, Nokia Chronicles, that 19 other bloggers and myself have uploaded using these cell phones.

So click over the the Nokia Chronicles and check out my photos so far. You can see my stuff on Chapter Two.

There is supposed to be text and video as well, but they are having trouble with their site, so it's just pictures. Regardless, this has been a fun project for me and am excited that Nokia asked me to participate.

Monday morning quick shot

Of all the activity that went on over the weekend, this moment was the most precious. Mar in her pajamas working in an educational workbook, doing math and spelling for fun, with her tiny kitten curled beside her.

This makes my cold, mean heart melt.

Markel Farkel Emergency

I had to create a Markel Farkel addendum because he just sent me this and I wanted to warn y'all that you're all going to hell:

Whose left?

Markel Farkel Friday

I love Markel Farkel Friday so much. Markel sends me so many brilliant things from the Internets and I love sharing them with you here. Plus it means that it's Friday and I need this to be Friday more than I've ever needed a day to be Friday.

And the best part of today's MFF is that I get to start it by introducing y'all to KANCHO! — which is pictured in the sculpture below. And if you e-mail me a picture of yourself giving or receiving a Kancho! I will send you an autographed Riveter CD because you're so awesome.

Now onward with the rest of today's most awesome Markel Farkel Friday!


This could be the next Riveter CD cover.

Rockin' it Fast Eddy's style

This morning I jetted out of the office so I could meet Kelley at 95Rock a local rock 'n' roll radio station. We were going to be interviewed by their new morning guy.

After wandering around out front like the idiot that I am, Kelley navigated me inside (how many Riveter girls does it take to get to a radio interview on time? All of them ... doh!).

We had a really good time on air and gave a fun interview promoting our show Saturday night at Fast Eddy's bar. And the best part was that we neither swore nor encourage the DJ to play any of our songs that have swear words in them ... so double bonus score!

We have so much fun music now and we have such a blast playing, we can't wait for this show.

Wordless Wednesday

Holy crap, I'm gonna have to bring my A game

Real quick like, click over to this guy's blog. The lovely folks at WOM World sent him a Nokia 6650 gps, camera, music player cell phone to use and then blog about using their microsite.

Oh yeah and they sent me one, too.

No shit.

So for the next couple of weeks, I'll be uploading photos, video and text to Nokia's site using this sweet phone. (I'll provide the link when it's all functional. They will be featuring my content the week of Dec. 8.)

Did you click over to that guy's blog? Because if you did, you saw this photo that he took with the Nokia 6650:

Here's a picture I took with the cameraphone:
Yeah, I'm going to have to be a whole lot more creative, eh?

Does she fit? Kelley's sweater pocket

Because we weren't satisfied with the FAIL of Benji's pocket, we tried Kelley's sweater pocket. Does she fit?



Oh yeah, Nastia DOES fit in Kelley's sweater pocket. Woot!

Does she fit? Pocket edition

Because I'm all about new content on this here bloggy thing, I've come up with a new feature. It's called "Does she fit?"

And by "she" I certainly don't mean me (because the answer to that question is "no, she doesn't fit"), but Nastia our dear, new, sweet, cuddly kitten.

After Friday's Markel Farkel Friday addendum, where I tried to shove her tiny kitty self into Markel's giant beer stein, I've become obsessed with trying to shove her into things. (When I shared this idea with La-La-Laurena, her reply was "And to think Nastia could've gone to a normal family." — where's the fun in that?)


See? She's all sweet and liddow (that 's baby cat talk for "little"). And she fits into Margaret's dollhouse.

But does she fit into Benji's pants pocket? Let's see:



According to Nastia, she does not fit. I repeat, Nastia DOES NOT FIT into Benji's pants pocket.

Markel Farkel Friday Thanksgiving Edition

Markel Farkel Addendum:

Because so many of you have asked (and by "so many of you" I mean "me"):

Nastia does NOT — I repeat — our new kitten does NOT fit into Markel Farkel's giant beer stein.

You can all relax now and go about your Black Friday.

Oh and a big happy birthday to my brother ... he's old again today.

The day before Thanksgiving

I'm at work, trying not to work because what I really want to be doing to finishing Chelsea Handler's book "Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea."

When I first started watching Chelsea Lately, I thought the announcer said her name was Chelsea Hamburger. This, to me (and only me, I'm sure), is hilarious for a number of completely wrong reasons that do not need to be written even here on the Internets.

So this year I'm forsaking all the truly wonderful and good things in my life. Instead I'm giving thanks for Chelsea Handler-Hamburger.

What?

You got something better to give thanks for?

Say Hello to my little Nastia

Because kittens make everything seem better, we brought home our little Nastia yesterday.

Well, I guess that's not entirely true in that Nastia did not make the fact that our trip to the distillery for one Bloody Mary yesterday turned into four after which we had to call Sean to come get us and then after I got home I cried over something and then spent the rest of the night puking and pooping.

But at least she was good company.

Kittens are neat.

Markel Farkel Friday

On cake and turning 18 years old

I've been waiting to write this post for a couple of reasons. Mostly because Bill has no sense of humor over that which I'm about to write while I find it hilarious.

I don't really want to piss him off. So in the interest of being fair, I'm asking for you to judge for yourself if I'm being overly picky or he's overly ... uh, ... I'm totally going to get myself into trouble with this post, so let's just get to it, shall we?

Last Friday was my stepson's 18th birthday. Yep Sean's 18.

We were planning to have him over for dinner and give him his gifts Friday after work.

Bill volunteered to go to the store and order a cake for Sean all by himself.

I was suspect, but because I'm so swamped these days, I restrained my OCD-self and let me do it. But not without discussing it first:

Bill: I'm going to order Sean's cake. What should I get on it?

Me: Get him an adult cake. No SpongeBob or anything. He's an adult now.

Bill: Yeah, I'll get him something cool.

Me: Get him something adult ... and normal. He's an adult now.

Bill: I know. I know.

When I got home Friday, I saw the massive cake box on the counter.

Bill had ordered an entire sheet cake. Not a quarter or even a half, an entire sheet.

Good thing I like cake.

Then I opened the box.

Oh man.

Do you see it?

Here's a closer look at the guy on the cake:

Does that look like an 18-year-old kid to you in any way?

Because to me that looks like a middle-aged, beer-bellied, balding guy lying on a couch drinking a beer and holding a remote control.

But I've been accused of picking apart the details of the figurine and that this balding, fat guy is totally appropriate for an 18-year-old kid.

I guess if you want the message on his 18th birthday to be: "It's all down hill from here." It totally works.

Really though, I do have to take some of the blame for the balding, fat man drinking a beer adorning my stepson's cake. I did say to Bill to get Sean an "adult cake" without providing any other specifics, like "appropriate for an 18 year old" or "not sad and defeating."

I mean what really did I expect Bill to get?

Sometimes, I'm really slow.

Are you a woman or do you know a woman who has feet?

If so, click here.

The Haute Mamas are giving away a $100 gift certificate to Miss Marie's Shoes.

$100!

For shoes!

All you have to do is go to Miss Marie's Web page, pick out your favorite shoes and then click back the Haute Mamas and leave a comment.

AND if you're local, you can get a second chance at winning by going to Miss Marie's on Main Street next to the Avalon and you can enter to win there.

That's it to win a $100 gift certificate for shoes.

K. Now go click and comment.

Well, what happens at your dinner parties?

Saturday night, Markel Farkel (of Markel Farkel Friday) and his lovely wife, Special K, invited us and three other couples over for a delicious chile dinner.

MF and Special K know how to cook some food. Whenever we get invited for dinner, we do whatever possible because we know we're going to be treated to some seriously fine cuisine.

I took some pictures Saturday night, so others can see what fine dining among those in our circle looking like:







Yes Randy, Kristen is taller than you.

When I had to put my puffy-headed Persian, Bing, two years Christmas, we decided that two cats were enough for us.

Then promptly went out and brought home Frida.

Now, our Frida Nut-Nut is gone.

Again we decided that two cats are plenty.

So today I went to Animal Control on my lunch hour to see the kittens.

Yes, it makes no sense, but that's how it is with me and pets. I don't make any sense. (OK that's how I am in most things.)

Oh, they have so many lovely cats and kittens. If it were just for me, I'd totally take home one of the older cats as they were all so friendly and beautiful. But we want to get Mar a kitten — kittens are the most delightful creatures.

Living with a kitten tempers the sadness of losing a pet. And we only got the privilege of living with our whacky Frida for two years ... not nearly enough. She was the neatest cat.

Now, we've got to move. Luckily it looks like we'll be doing our "moving on" with one of these faces brightening our day:

No more Nut-Nut

Saturday a woman came to our door and asked if we had a cat with a yellow collar.

A young man was crouched down at the corner of our yard petting our dear Frida Nut-Nut.

He said a white truck hit her. She ran to our yard and collapsed.

And just like that our crazy, evil, curious, delightful kitty was gone.

We miss you, Frida Nut-Nut. Rest in peace.

Markel Farkel Friday

Oh how I look forward to Markel Farkel Friday for oh so many reasons.





And the grand finale is the Bush Shocker:

Benefits are awesome

For no other reason than we have a vision plan as part of our benefits plan at work, I got myself some new specs.

For those of you with fine vision, you miss out on getting to pick out fancy new glasses. But then again, you get to see well all of the time. So I guess it all evens out, no?

Two and a half years ago, I got myself red Cynthia Rowley frames a la Sally Jessie Raphael.

This time, I got me some Calvin Klein.

Watch out, Rivetergirl's getting all cute.

Wordless Wednesday

Why having an understanding pregnant neighbor rocks

Saturday night, Bill and I along with our rambunctious posse attended a birthday soirée for a dear friend of ours.

I guess I should stipulate that it was a nice soirée until we showed up, then it turned into a frat party.

We can't help ourselves, I guess.

All the nice people left and we remained being loud and dancing like fools.



Luckily for us, we saved ourselves cab fare as just as our baby sitter was about to expire, our lovely neighbor agreed to drive us all home. Sarah is in a family way and therefore sober.

Of course, we never agreed to act right, so I'm sure we owe her a grand apology and a huge thank you.

So thanks, Sarah, for getting knocked up and for driving our stupid asses home. We appreciate you!

Disapproving Kelley

With thanks to the Disapproving Rabbits.

New Rivetergirl banner

My dear friend, Tracee, told me that the cookie I lovingly decorated for myself would make a good blog banner.



Being that I often like the ideas of others and hate my own, I did just as she said.

I think she's right.