Man, it's been a long time since I've had a Tunes Tuesday. I'd say it's about time we had some music.

The Twittah is a great place for finding new music. When a band mentions another band I'm not familiar with, I'll check them out. This is how I found Dawes. Counting Crows mentioned them last month and since CC knows music, I went to the You Tube to see them. Shortly after that I saw Dawes on Letterman. 

Dawes is a 4-piece band composed of two brothers and two others. They hail from California and reminded me a little of Jackson Browne when I first heard them. Then I read that Browne does backing vocals on their new album, Nothing is Wrong. Weird and fantastic. They have a great sound and that's something I can get behind.

Here's "When My Time Comes" and two other songs I super like. Enjoy.

 

 

 

Happy Independence Day. Y'all stay safe and if you live in my subdivision, don't be setting off fireworks late tonight or you will have to deal with me and my leaf blower. 

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers. I hope y'all enjoy doing Canadian things today — having free healthcare, eating gravy and cheese curds on your French fries, and going to Tim Hortons for Timbits and coffee. It's a good thing you have free healthcare because all of the doughnuts and fries with gravy and cheese curds can't be good for you, but what do I know? I'm not a doctor, I just use the WebMD. Canada has free healthcare, but you have to put a quarter in your cart at the grocery store to use it. That's something I pondered each time I went to the grocery store when I lived in Alberta. If you go to the grocery store without a quarter — no cart for you. If you go to the hospital with an empty wallet you can get treated. Sure, the hospitals don't have soap in the showers, but you can get any sort of operation (provided they have enough beds and that you're sicker than other people).

It's an odd system. The middle child was born in Alberta. I was 10 days overdue and had to wait to be induced because there weren't enough hospital beds. I was finally induced after they ran a non-stress test and thought the baby might be in be in distress (luckily a new mom had just been discharged). She had breathed in meconium and had to have a tube placed down her throat numerous times throughout the day and night to have the junk sucked out of her lungs. It was scary. I can't say this wouldn't have happened in America, but I never had to wait for a hospital bed to be free in order to be admitted to have my two other children either.

The other thing that was not awesome about being sick in Canada was trying to get a doctor appointment. We lived in a small town. There were two gynecologists, one dermatologist who only visited the town a few days per month, a couple of pediatricians, and family doctors. Two dentists. Exactly zero of the doctors my family saw in Alberta were Canadians. They were from South Africa and other parts of Africa, educated in London. When I had bronchitis, there was no "we'll squeeze you in" when I called the family doctor's office. I had to go to the emergency room to be seen. This also happened when the oldest had an ear infection. I knew neither one of those cases were emergencies and I felt weird about being in the ER when a child was rushed in, having half of her face bitten off by a dog. That was an emergency. 

I think there must be a happy medium. There must be a way to have less expensive healthcare for the people and for doctors to be paid well for the jobs that they do. Every doctor I saw in Canada seemed to be just doing their duty for the length of time they had to do it. My doctors in America (save for one bastard in Macon, GA who handed me a pamphlet on recurrent miscarriage after my second miscarriage) have mostly seemed genuinely interested in my well being. I can only speak for my experience, but my Canadian doctors had patients on a conveyor belt and punched the clock.  It made being sick worse. I couldn't help but feel like I was a foreigner for expecting something different. I was a foreigner, but I didn't expect to feel that way in a medical professional's office. As an American, I expect the best. What I came to expect in Canada was the minimum. The thing is, Canadians don't have the luxury of expecting any different because that's their system. I was the weirdo for thinking it was bizarre to go to the ER for an ear infection. To everyone else it was just life.

Happy Canada Day!

 

I've been in a funk all week. UGH.

One of the Magee children told my oldest child that there is a real movie based on Veggie Tales "Lord of the Beans." Wonder what that movie could be.

I ordered a bra online the other day and UPS says it was delivered yesterday, only IT WASN'T. When I called the company, they said they would launch an investigation. An investigation. I'm launching my own investigation, I just hope it doesn't turn out that my UPS man is a cross dresser and is wearing my bra.

Yesterday I had to buy new landline phones for the house. Now I'll have to enter all the numbers that were saved on the old phones. Maybe I'll just wait for peeps to call me and then hit "save." 

My scrapbooky friends and I will be spending next weekend (my birthday weekend) in a cabin at one of the state parks of the Mosquito State. This would be the state park that has signs warning of alligators. Lucky me.

Update on the bra investigation! Ok, UPS.com said that my bra was delivered yesterday at 3:01 pm, but it wasn't. Fast forward to today at 3:01 — doorbell rings, it's the UPS man. WEIRD. Was UPS.com having ESP about my bra delivery and just got the date wrong? It would suck to be clairvoyant and only get half of things right. 

At the grocery store today, there were two guys in the deli section talking about Sexy Sax Guy. Have you ever wanted to jump in on a conversation and say, "I can tell this story better than you…"

Duran Duran was on in the store when I overheard their conversation, then Joni Mitchell. You can't follow up "Rio" with Joni Mitchell. That's just wrong. After Joni Mitchell it was Johnny Cash. My grocery store smokes crack.

Also, at the grocery store, the deli woman would not sell me dark meat only fried chicken and looked at me like I was asking for something crazy. It's not like I was asking for fried ostrich (though I bet that would be tasty). My children only like dark meat chicken and I wasn't eating it, so I thought I'd ask for all dark. It was not to be. 

Also, my grocery store no longer carries risotto rice (aborio) in the big container I like. Now it's only in a small bag-type-thingie, which isn't what I like. Was I the only one buying it? Target isn't carrying my mocha coffee for the Keurig anymore. Not happy. 

Do you know of the Michael's Arts and Crafts? When I go there it's just like Cheers. The problem is that I want to go somewhere nobody knows my name.

So, I went to the nail salon yesterday. This is not news. I go there every two weeks. The news is that my nail tech told me her entire life story, including a story about a woman she grew up with in Vietnam, who, as an adult, had a DIY Caesarean section and died. It was just the light conversation I like when I visit the nail salon. "Hi, how are you? Do you like your nails squoval? Would you like to hear the most horrible death story on earth?"

 

As I'm sure all of you know, last week was men's fashion week and top designers put fancy duds on male models and they all did their best Zoolander for the catwalk. 

Let's take a look at my top three picks for what to wear this fall.

I love it. This could be THE look of the season for all the gay beach weddings. So chic.

I love it. This is for all the men who have wondered what to pair with black leather hot pants for a dressy occasion. 

I love it. Here we have Joaquin Phoenix in the latest in Mafioso wear. Please note: the fishnets are runway-only. If you wore those on the street it would make the outfit look ridiculous. On a side note, I think my Christmas shopping for the men on my list is o-vah.

So, there is a site that takes your photo and finds your doggleganger (in case you've ever wondered what your dog lookalike is). Because I'm bored, I uploaded my pic.

I'm a Mastiff Cross. I always thought I was more of a Cocker Spaniel, but ok. Just for fun, I uploaded the hubs' pic that comes up when he calls my iPhone.

He's some breed I've never heard of. They practically have the same smile. Spooky. 

She might kill me for this, but here's my friend Melissa.

I think it was matching the bow to the dog's ears. I'm not sure. Melissa is much prettier than that bitch.

Alec Baldwin, how did you get uploaded from my computer? Don't know how that could have happened. Alec and this dog have the same steely gaze and liberal views. I can tell.

This may be my oddest post yet. I think the heat is getting to me.

I dreamed last night that we moved to a place in the mountains and there were owls everywhere. One owl tried to attack me. It was scary. The owl was reddish-brown and had those feathers that sprout from they spooky eye area. The dream woke me up. Seriously.

Also dreamed I went out in public in my slippers.

I was watching Rachael Ray today and woman put shredded carrots in a sloppy joe. What the hell? I haven't had a sloppy joe since, like, 1987, but ew — carrots? I suppose I should also tell y'all that I only like carrots raw or candied, the way my great-grandmother made them. I love vegetables, but I'm weird about carrots. 

The oldest child asked me never to make whole wheat pasta again and made a face like she was going to die.

Among the many things I've done this week, I've given a friend tattoo advice. No, I do not have a tattoo myself, but that doesn't matter.

Rachael Ray also said that EVOO gives you a healthy coat — is she cooking for dogs now? Sorry I keep writing about Rachael Ray, but the woman confounds me.

Mommie Dearest is on right now — the hubs won't let me watch it. He's never even seen it! Like I've always said, one can learn a lot from Mommie Dearest — even men. The board room scene is great for learning on how to make a business meeting go in your favor. 

I'm pretty sure I have a sinus/ear infection. I had this last month too. When you have a sinus infection in sort of feels like a hangover, but without the pesky calories of alcohol. 

Now I'm hopped up on Sudafed, which feels even weirder.

Can my sinuses make my neck hurt? Just wondering.

My nails are too long to type well. They're slowing down my usual super-fast typing skills (which are second only to my super-quick wit).

I may live blog Julius Caesar tomorrow night from Tulane. Who knows. I'm bringing the iPad. 

 

One of my favorite times of the year, the Royal Ascot, was last week in England. Why is this one of my favorites? Crazy Ass Hats. I've been doing a roundup for the past couple of years and I think we may have the best crop of crazy yet.

Bet that took all year to grow.

 

Rapunzel never looked so good.

 

 

Somehow I don't think she's a jockey.

 

Black swan.

 

I prefer the pink flamingo.

 

This guy is the life of the party.

 

it's all about pie and coffee (or tea).

 

Damn. That's not even an iPad 2.