Is the Zombie Apocalypse upon us?

Remember last November when I asked what you would do if the Zombie Apocalypse actually happened?

Well, after the events of last weekend, you might want to start coming up with a plan if you haven't already!

I'm sure by now, you've heard about the "Miami Zombie attack" where a naked man (whom they're saying was believed to be under the influence of drugs similar to LSD called "Bath Salts") attacked a homeless man in broad daylight and was feasting - literally eating! - his face for a good 18 minutes before police were alerted and arrived on the scene. They told the crazed man to stop and he didn't and ended up shooting him 12 times before he finally died.

The victim is in critical condition at a nearby hospital and there's talk that if and when he wakes up, he might not recognize his own face, as his nose, eyes and ears among the flesh on the top portion of his face and head were chewed up - his chin and gotee are the only parts that reportedly remained untouched!

That's crazy stuff!

A witness who gave his account to a local news reporter in Miami described the man as insane and zombie-like, saying the closest thing he could think to describe it was like something right out of AMC's The Walking Dead!

That's just freaky!

I'm hoping the victim makes it out of his critical state okay and I really do hope this is an isolated incident - otherwise, you better be prepared! Wouldn't hurt to have a good weapon, some non-perishable canned goods and some bottled water on-hand, just in case! Or at the very least, brush up on some zombie apocalypse survival tactics by playing some zombie shooter games, reading some Max Brooks (like his Zombie Survival Guide or World War Z) or studying zombie shows like The Walking Dead or any of the George A. Romero "...of the Dead" movies.

Straws, sippys, spurts and more

Jay can drink from a regular ol' plastic straw now. We've been working on that one on and off for almost 2 months now and out of nowhere he got it - mom said he drank half her lemonade she got at McDonalds the other day through a straw and then today I put a plastic straw into a few of his cups and he drank from it.

Good thing too - he's been refusing his sippy cups as of lately and for some reason he doesn't seem to get the soft straws... put the plain ol' regular plastic ones he's good with.

Only problem is that he still likes to toss and throw his cups around like they have a sippy lip, which doesn't work well with straw cups.

He also wants to drink from a "real" cup and can do it if you help him, but the problem is, he doesn't want the help. He wants to do it himself. And makes a huge mess as half the contents from the cup end up on the floor or down the front of him. ><

We think he's on the verge of a growth spurt too. Yesterday I made a dozen Jiffy blueberry muffins to go with our breakfast. Jay at his usual bowl of oatmeal, a cup of yogurt, and then polished off 3 muffins all by himself! Mom said yesterday for lunch he polished off an entire thing of Easy Mac by himself and on Sunday he was eating everything in sight too! Tonight for dinner he ate an entire single serving chicken pot pie, a handful of Goldfish crackers and a decent amount of applesauce. Then, he led me to the pantry, I opened it and picked him up and he reached for the Teddy Grahams. So I let him have some. And he ate several my-size handfuls of them! Seriously, where is he putting it all???

Hubby says to get used to it - as he's a growing boy and in his family, they eat. A LOT. I told Jay, daddy better sell a lot of his books to cover the cost of Jay's crazy eating habits, lol...

We watched Crazy, Stupid, Love the other night. When we rented Horrible Bosses a few weeks ago, there was a preview for it on the DVD and hubby and I were both laughing at it so I eventually talked him into watch it, despite it being more of a rom-com. He seemed to enjoy it and we were both laughing throughout it. The teenage babysitter was a bit... creepy though! So wrong... 17 Again was on TBS after we got done watching Crazy, Stupid, Love and even though I own the DVD (yay $5 bin at Walmart!) we got sucked in as hubby hadn't seen it and the geeky Neal character had him laughing. Those 2 movies have several things in common - both main characters are going through a divorce, with their wives whom they married very young. And both star alums of The Office (Steve Carrell/Michael Scott in CSL and Melora Hardin/Jan in 17 Again).

Oh and if you missed it on Twitter, I got some nasty heat rash on the front of my shoulders and sides of my neck! It's seriously gross - the right side is the worst, it looks like I had a huge pimple outbreak that only pre-teen girls going through puberty would get. It's like pimple-city. Yuck!

Phone Photo Fun Monday 05.28.12

A few days late, but given the holiday weekend, it was expected!

Anywho, this weekend was busy for us!

 Jay watching his new Wiggles DVD - I had to buy him another one as, well, watching the same one over and over and over was driving me nuts, lol...

 Drinking from his sippy cup with no hands - one his "regular" tricks

 So, Monday, we ran some errands, like going to PetCo to get some kitty food. I want him to get used to the idea of walking and holding hands and since that parking lot isn't very busy during the weekdays I decided it would be a great opportunity to let him walk from the car to the store holding my hand. He did great on our way in, but on our way out, we got just feet from the car when he lost his footing and fell on his knees. One just got dirty, but the other got skinned! I cleaned up and sprayed some neosporin on it when we got home later. Poor baby! I took this the day after to make sure his 1st scraped knee was documented!

 Moments before this was taken, he was walking around with burpie over his head like it was a hood, lol... then he started walking around with it like this, like it was a cape!

 A pretty little moth just chillin' on the otherside of our sliding glass patio door.

 Friday night was the start of our busy weekend! We saw hubby's brothers' band (The Broken Fall) play their 1st Friday night gig since they started playing shows again. Two of hubby's brothers are in the middle - the one playing the guitar at the mic and the one on the drums. It was a good show, but very loud (my ears were ringing the rest of the night!)

 A hard rock cover band went on after them and this was their drumkit - holy cymbals Batman!

 Saturday I worked the opening shift as my parents were out of town Friday and most of Saturday as dad took mom into Chicago and that was the only time hubby was around to watch Jay so I could get a shift in. I had some time to kill after before needing to get home so I stopped a few stores out at the mall there and found this butterfly hair clip for $1! I like it, but can't really wear it around home as I can't put my head back when it's in...

 Sunday we went to the local rock music festival that was called Rock Monkey Ruckus this year. I wrote a few years back about the annual tradition of the local Wing Ding festival. This is basically the same thing, only for whatever reason they're not calling it Wing Ding anymore (last year it was just simply "The Concert"). After a friend on Facebook mentioned pre-gaming before the event, hubby and I stopped and got some booze of our own. They didn't have any of the mini-Malibu's so I got this baby, and mixed it in with the large Pepsi I got at lunch beforehand. I drank most of it and was feeling pretty good by the time we got from our car to the gate.

 We parked our car and soon after this kidnapper-looking van pulls up and these teenage looking people climb out. This one dude in particular totally looked like he could be a member of the group LMFAO!

 This was during Taproot. I saw them at the House of Blues Chicago back in July 2003. They played some of their well-known songs, but it was soooooo hot (98 degrees and bright hot sun most of the day!) we only stayed out there for about 10 minutes or so before retreating to the shade under the bleachers at the Speedway there.

 This year's banner

In case you didn't know, Rockford is the birthplace of those crazy sock monkey dolls you had as a kid. Rock Monkey is a badass rocker sock monkey and the local rock station's new mascot.

 Where we spent a good bit of the afternoon - underneath the bleachers. Someone started a game too where you toss rocks across the walk way and try to knock a beer bottle around, lol...

 I ran into a few friends I knew from back in the day and keep in touch with via Facebook.

 NONPOINT!!!

These guys never disappoint - I used to come home and see them play one of the local clubs quite frequently back when I was in college.

 The sun finally started going down a bit and cast some shade on a part of the Speedway track so we sat out there for a bit and listened to All That Remains. I recognized some of their songs from Guitar Hero and my college days.

 Maybe a little hard to tell, but that kid was awesome all day - he had an awesome mohawk going and just spent the day rockin' out!

 The crew setting up the stage for headliner's Volbeat. Their speakers had some neat designs on them!

 A crappy pic, but that's Volbeat on stage. Personally, I think they're the best "new" rock band of last year (2011). No autotune or electronic/computerized messing with their sound - they're just pure, hard rockin' rock! And I LOVE it!

 Jay spent his Memorial Day afternoon playing in his water table as it was in the upper 80s most of the day.

 Hubby was doing some editing on one of his stories on the deck there while waiting for the grill's charcoals to warm up. Jay pulled up his seat and sat down by daddy too! I was shucking corn at the kitchen table and looked out and saw this and had to get a picture!

 Grilling with daddy!

 Enjoying his cookout of cheeseburger, bun, corn off the cob, and potato salad!

 Our feast!

 That stinker, he scooted his picnic table to the middle of the deck and started dumping his plate on the table, all while making his "I'm not doing anything, mommy..." face at me, lol...

And his hair needed a trim so I attempted it myself... yeah, not such a good job - he's kinda rockin' a mullet as we kept it long in back. Doh!

{Not So} Shameless Plugs!

If you aren't reading my posts via Google Reader or some other reader (or in mobile format for that matter), then I'm sure you've noticed 2 things by now.

<------ On the left hand column here there are 2 things:

1) At the top is my blog button with code, as all the "cool" kids in Blogland have these now

and

2) If you scroll down a bit there's a bunch of buttons with some {perhaps familiar?} faces on them. These are peeps I have "swapped" blog buttons with in a way to help promote each others blogs!

I LOVE the idea of "sponsoring" other blogs as it helps get the word out about various awesome bloggers. And well, frankly I love the idea of button swapping because it's free and I'm cheap. Some bloggers charge for adspace, which is great and dandy and all, but not everyone can afford to pay on a monthly basis and some of us don't use Paypal anymore either so that kinda nixes that.

If you'd like to swap blog buttons with me, feel free to grab mine, add it to your page (tweak the size if need be - I don't mind!), and lemme know so I can grab yours and put it here on my blog!

Anyways, I figured I should probably share a bit about these awesome bloggers, even though some I have mentioned previously around the blog here!

First there's Nikki Darlin' from Southern Mama, Bad Mouth. I don't remember how I came across Nikki but after following her blog for some time and eventually her Twitter, I've learned that her and I share a lot of common interests, which is awesome! Nikki is down in the great state of Georgia and has a super cute little girl - we've sorta bonded over the fact that our kids both have unique names. She also has an Etsy shop - Southern Survival Charms - which specializes in military-style bracelets with fun charms! Be sure to check her and her shop out!

J, from An Unstyled Life, is a mommy and a blogger (ie: not JUST a mommy blogger, as she blogs about other aspects of her life as well) from Texas that I believe I came across during a huge blog link-up last summer. She is also a mommy to a toddler not too much older than Jay I believe so we've bonded some over mommy-stuffs on the Twitter. She's an awesome person so be sure to check her out!

Vicki, from My Vickilicious Life, is one of those bloggers I kept hearing being mentioned around Blogland and amongst fellow bloggers on Twitter. Eventually I checked out her blog, started following her on Twitter and have really enjoyed getting to know her! She also is a co-host of the weekly Friday blog link-up "The Nail Files." She's a fun gal, so be sure to give her blog a visit and link-up on Fridays!

 

I came across Celia, from unSimply Celia, due to various Scentsy giveaways of hers that were being held on various blogs I read regularly. Realizing that hey, she has a blog, I decided to check her out and eventually got to know her a bit on Twitter! She really is a sweet girl from Texas and is engaged to her love of 7 years! She is currently in the process of closing down her Scentsy biz, but if you're interested in the products (which are great by the way!) she can definitely make some recommendations for you and point you to a good consultant to order from! She also often co-hosts various blog swaps (like for nail polish and Valentine's Day goodies!) so you definitely don't want to miss her blog!

Gigi, from Sweet & Sassy Texan, is a fairly new blogger in Blogland, and as she puts it, she is "sweet tea drinker, sassy talkin Texas Lady! A housewife of 3 boys - 2 teens and one husband whom refuses to grow up." I definitely know that feeling on the last part (just kidding, hubby! Well... kinda, lol...). I actually just came across her recently, as she found me on Twitter and started following me. I get notifications sent to my email whenever I "gain" a new Twitter follower and reading her profile description, she didn't seem to be one of those obnoxious "spam-bots" (if you're familiar with Twitter, you know what I mean!) so I checked out her page and blog and really liked what I saw! Help a new blogger out and give her a blog a view - hopefully you'll enjoy it like I did!

And last, but not least - the wonderful Ms. Neely from A Complete Waste of Makeup! I actually just recently added her button as an extra entry into her 1500 follower "15 Favorite Things" giveaway, but I gotta be honest, I love her blog's name as it's too true - some days really are a complete waste of makeup! Like Vicki, she was another blogger who's name/blog kept popping up around Blogland and amongst various bloggers I follow on Twitter. Neely is from Dallas (one of my favorite places thanks to football!) and hosts the weekly Thursday link-up known as "It's OK Thursday." Her blog is full of fun and snark and wit and I love it! Be sure to visit - you'll find some posts that'll really make you smile!

Fall-Spring TV Wrap-Up!

Sadly, there is no more Boob Tube Babble link-up, but I'm still sharing my TV thoughts this week now that all of my Fall-Spring shows are done for the season.

Once Upon a Time

Holy finale, Batman! Yes, it was predictable for the most part (didn't see the Maleficent part coming until it was right there), but it was epic too! I would like to know what happened to August, as last we saw him, his true form (trying to avoid spoilers here) was killing him - did the curse break before it killed him? The 1st season comes out on DVD days before my birthday - I'll definitely be adding this one to my birthday list!

The Office

This one still works as an ensemble show and I'm sooooo glad that it sounds like James Spader won't be back (or at least not as present) in the next season as I just wasn't a fan of his Robert California character. The Dwight-Angela storyline is back, with Dwight finally getting DNA from her and The Senator's baby to see if he might be the father, as he suspects. I hope those 2 end up together - they're quite good for each other. Also glad that Andy and Erin are back together too - those 2 are a perfect match!

Glee

First I was mad that when I turned my TV to Fox at 7pm American Idol was on and not Glee. Then I was a tad confused as I didn't realize there were 2 episodes last week! The last episode I saw ended with them getting on the bus, heading to Nationals in Chicago. Then this week's episode took place after, and was focused on graduation! Oops! Looks like I need to go back and watch the Nationals episode, even though I already know the outcome... Graduation, it was a bit of a sad episode. I liked some of the songs performed, the dedications were sweet. I was confused about why the principal was announcing everyone's names in no particular order - um, every graduation I've attended (for myself and others) it's ALWAYS been alphabetical by last name. Curious to see who of the seniors are officially staying on as a regular next season, who won't be back and who will just make the occasional guest appearance.


In other news...

Is anyone else kinda excited about the new Dallas premiere on TNT in a few weeks???

It's original run was kinda before my time (I was really young when it ended) but I think my mom watched it and over the years everyone's heard about "Who shot JR?" and then the whole dream cop-out... I'm not sure why, but I definitely wanna check out the "new" Dallas - it has Larry Hagman back as JR (and man did he get old! I grew up watching his younger self in I Dream of Jeannie reruns on Nick at Nite!) as well as Patrick Duffy who I grew up watching play the dad on Step by Step. They're reprising their roles as the Ewing brothers in the original Dallas, only this time their sons seem to be the main cause of the majority of the drama. Various other cast members from the original show will be back, reprising their roles in this continuation, which makes me think it shouldn't be half bad if they're all willing to come back. At least it should be interesting and worth a view!

Do you plan on tuning in?

Peaches Come From a Can...

...they were put there by a man. In a factory... downtown."
A friend on Facebook posted the other day about liking something called "Naked and Famous" and of course the 1st thing that popped in my head was The Presidents of the United States of America's song "Naked and Famous" ("Everybody wants to be just like me, I'm naked and famous!").

Can you believe that in 2015 it'll have been 20 years since their self-titled debut was released?!

I remember my childhood best friend got ahold of the CD and we used to listen to it the ridiculousness of it for a good while when we were in... 5th/6th grade! Eventually I got a copy myself.

Even now, I still enjoy it - the songs are fast, catchy and mostly upbeat. I still find myself singing along!

Everyone remembers their hits "Lump" (or its Weird Al parody "Gump") and "Peaches", but the whole album was pretty good! Other favorites of mine include "Kick Out the Jams," "We're Not Gonna Make It," "Backporch," and "Kitty."

Thanks to my brief obsession with the stupid song, Peaches became my nickname in Junior High and was eventually part of my 1st ever internet handle. I also incorporated it into my license plate for some dumb reason (I swear, one of these days I *will* change it... someday. Or so I keep telling myself).

These guys definitely come to mind when you think of mid-90s rockin' jam bands!

My Must-See Summer Movies of 2012

Now that summer movie season is in full-swing, I thought I'd share my "must-see" ones.

Must See In Theaters

• The Avengers - This one is a no-brainer - Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Co all together in one huge, epic movie? Yeah, definitely needs to be seen on the big screen!
• Rock of Ages - Since I don't go to a lot of Broadway musicals in Chicago these days (hubby's not into that sort of thing), I think seeing a big screen adaption of this one would be satisfactory (I just wished they had Constantine reprising his Broadway role as the main character). I'll probably end up seeing this one with my mom or sister since I know hubby won't go (he's really not a fan of musicals).
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - I sorta reviewed the book a few years back, which hubby and I both read and it was a pretty good book, really blurring the line between fiction and history, almost making you doubt what you know (despite the fact I have issues reading books that are a bit historical). I hope they don't change too much, but looking from the trailer it seems they did add in a character I don't recall being in the book... I just hope they didn't leave out Honest Abe's interactions with Edgar Allen Poe - the few scenes with Poe were quite memorable (and comical) in the book and some of my favorite parts!
• Dark Knight Rises - Another no-brainer, the final installment in the Batman reboot trilogy, heck yes!
• The Expendables 2 - This is a must for me - so many great action stars, including my man candy Jason Statham and Chuck Norris has a role in this one too which is just awesome as he hasn't done much acting in recent years! And of course it comes out 12 days before my birthday so you can bet what we'll be seeing!

Will Probably End Up Renting

• The Dictator - While we skipped seeing Sacha Baron Cohen parade around as Bruno, Borat was pretty funny and The Dictator looks to be more along the lines of Borat humor. Not sure if it's worth spending money on to see it at the theater or going out of our way to get a sitter but I'm sure I'll be worth renting!
• What To Expect When You're Expecting - Considering the book/site is promoting this one a lot, and given the ensemble cast, I'm sure it'll be predictable, but it looks cute and funny and being a newer, 1st time parent I know we'll be able to relate to it plenty! Again, I doubt we'll go out of our way to get a sitter to go see this one in the theater, but it's definitely one I wouldn't mind renting!
• Men in Black 3 - Most likely worth seeing, but again, don't think it'll be worth spending the money in the theater or making the time to get a sitter.
• Prometheus - Hubby will make sure we'll see this one eventually, as it's the Alien prequel and I know he really wants to see this one.
• Brave - This year's Disney/Pixar animated flick... to be honest, I haven't seen or heard much about this one yet other than it's the 1st Pixar film featuring a female lead and that she apparently has @thenerdybird's likeness lol... I'm sure it'll be worth a rent, but doesn't seem to be one I'll rush out and see.
• The Amazing Spider-Man - To be honest, I'm not ready for a Spider-Man reboot. It's been a decade since the Tobey Maguire one came out (I saw it with some classmates on my senior class trip!) and only 5 years since the last installment of that version was in theaters. Just seems too soon. I'm sure it'll be good and we'll rent it eventually, but I'm just in no hurry to go see it.

What are your "must-see" movies this summer?

There's no shame...

...in admitting that I crush on older men.

And by men, I mean celebrity-ish men (no need to worry, hubby!).

But it's true - I can't think of any actor, athlete or musician that I find attractive that is my age or younger. They're are older... by like 10 years if not closer to 20 years.

Let's have a look, shall we?

• Johnny Depp - 48
• John Cusack - 45
• Jason Statham - 44
• Nicholas Lea (aka Krycek from the X-Files)- 49
• Alexander Skarsgard - 35
• Brad Pitt - 48 
• Gavin Rossdale - 46
• Wayne Static (of Static-X) - 46
• David Draiman (of Disturbed) - 39
• Spider One (of Powerman 5000)- 43
• Lenny Kravitz - 47
• David Beckham -37
• Bret Michaels - 49

And the latest "victim" of my attraction: Anthony Field (yeah, you know, the blue Wiggle from The Wiggles) - 49

And I know I'm not the only mama out there who thinks so if you saw a certain Twitter convo last week ;-)

I'm sure if I sat and thought about it, I could name even more attractive celebrity men over the hill!

Do you also have this "problem" - being attracted to "over the hill" celebs?

Lucky Boy Lost- RIP Joe

At work last week, checking Facebook on my break while waiting for my dinner to microwave, I came across some sad news on my newsfeed - Joe Sell, guitarist for Lucky Boys Confusion, had passed away.

I don't know about your college town, but when I was in college, Lucky Boys were HUGE on the college circuit. All the schools within x-radius of Chicago knew who they were all. Like other college-town bands such as Mike and Joe and Evenflow, Lucky Boys Confusion made the rounds several times a year in DeKalb - I went to several of their super high energy shows (seriously, things got crazy!). They were also pretty big in Chicago too, having played regularly at the Metro for years. 2003 was when they got really big as they released a major-label record titled "Commitment" - you've probably heard their song "Hey Driver" in various movies and commercials. I also recall hearing it played during televised NFL football games in the background. "Killians (Do You Miss Me?)," "I'm Gonna Steal Your Girlfriend," and "Fred Astaire" were other popular songs from their indy debut.

Apparently Joe found dead in Chicago last Tuesday, and so far the cause is not 100% known. They said he had been battling pancreas problems in recent months, having been previously hospitalized for it and had also suffered drug and alcohol addiction in the past too.  No one knows for sure though what the cause of death was.

I didn't know Joe personally, but I did know a handful of people in college who did - a former roommate's then-boyfriend whom I hung around with for a few years had gone to school for years with some of the guys from Naperville (including Joe) and was part of their original street-team. And my ex... Joe grew up around the block from him and was even my ex's babysitter for a few years when they were younger (Joe was 4-6 years older than us) - I remember him taking me past the house just to prove it, as it was his little "claim to fame" that his former babysitter was part of a semi-famous band.

It's still pretty sad though - he wasn't that much older than most of us. I recall hearing Joe was one of the nicer guys in the band. I also think it was Joe who did an awesomely hilarious cover of "Part of Your World" from Disney's Little Mermaid!

RIP Joe - you'll be missed and remembered!

Phone Photo Fun Monday 05.21.12

 We had quite a downpour last week while we were in Red Mango, but it cleared up by the time we were ready to leave. I noticed this rainbow while I was waiting at a nearby stoplight.

 Being cute, sitting on the couch, watching The Wiggles.

 I was trying to get a smiley picture to show off all his teeth...
instead he stuck his tongue out at the camera, lol...

 There's a smile!

 I made myself a smoothie with frozen blueberries and strawberries.

 Reading in the shopping cart at Walmart is serious business!

 Our little reader - he likes flipping through his books. My mom was watching him the other morning and went to check in on him as she heard him "talking" in his room - turns out, he was laying on his back, book up in the air, "reading" it out loud to himself, lol...

 There's a good teeth shot! At least of the bottoms...
hubby taught him how to go "ahhhhhhh" this week.
Yeah, my 15 month old has 16 teeth... some say it's a tad creepy that someone
so little has that many chompers, lol...

Should note, Jay's been talking a bit more - he now says "Tie-guh!" for Tiger (our kitty) and "gog" for dog. When my mom was watching him over here one morning, he started getting restless so she asked him if he wanted to go over to her house and play with the dogs. He instantly perked up and took off running towards the door saying "Gog! Gog!" before my mom could get his shoes on, lol... he's also been saying "hi" more frequently and hubby heard him say "dad" yesterday too!

 We went to my baby cousin's birthday party yesterday. Here's Jay watching her open presents.

 Birthday girl! Hard to believe she's now officially a teenager!

 LOVE this photo - such a cute one of my boys!

 Another cute one, and Jay's in his "party shirt"!

How we spend our Sunday nights in the spring.
So sad there's only 2 episodes left this season!