We Have A Winner!

Lee Ann of Castles of Nannbugg was this week’s quiz winner.

Foreigner’s album ‘4’ and Shania Twain’s albums have all been produced by Robert “Mutt” Lange. Twain later married Lange. Later they made lots of money and a baby.

"Got Stars In His Eyes"And Once Again We Face The Weekend

I know a lot about stuff that doesn’t matter. As such, I need to invest my time more on game shows. I used to run Jeopardy categories in college. Of course, I was all-alone and there was no pressure. I did great as long as they weren’t talking about English literature or presidents.

One thing I can do is pick out the type of electric guitar from a song. Yep, I can do it. I guess it was all those years of lessons. If I could I would like to do a little education on guitars. I’ll cover 2 companies, today is Gibson and Monday or whenever, I’ll cover Fender. Both made in the U.S.A for the most part.

The Gibson Les Paul “Sunburst Pattern”

The Gibson Les Paul, made in Nashville, Tennessee, is a bastion for the 70’s rock sound. You will hear it played in lots of Zepplin tunes at the hands of Jimmy Page. You will also hear it’s name sake Les Paul playing one from a long forgotten era. In my own words, I would describe the sound of a Les Paul as very mellow and “buzzy”. Lots of sweet, rich mid-tones. Not like a good chardonnay! From the modern rock era you will hear Slash from Guns N’ Roses playing one and even see him playing it in videos specifically “Sweet Child Of Mine (Watch)“. In the video Slash plugs into his Gibson and pontificates.

Guys who play the Gibson “axe” or guitar are after a wide range of tone and versatility. I have a knock-off of a Gibson Les Paul from Sears. It was my first guitar and I really enjoy working on it and modifying it to my desire. Gibson’s have a wider neck – that’s the part where the strings are – and are harder for me to play as I have shorter fingers; a down side for guitar players. Others who play a Gibson: Alex Lifeson in early Rush workds, that’s for you “D”, Eric Clapton ( although he is now a pretty strict Fender guy ), Jimmy Page, Slash for Guns N’ Roses, Steve Miller, Pete Townsend and Paul McCartney.

So the Friday quiz is an easy one to Google and win. First one to email me at this address with the correct answer wins a buffalo head nickel. K is not eligible since he won last week’s quiz. And the question is:

WHO do the Albums “Foreigner ‘4’” and “Shania Twain ‘Up'” have in common? I would focus on the producers to make it easier. Artist Direct is a good place to look.

Foreigner “Juke Box Hero” Listen

The Lighter Side Of Cooking

We’re shifting directions away from divorce/affair/infidelity talk for a while. Thanks for all the comments and conversations. I hope to hear from more of your soon regarding the books mentioned. AI is correct, I’m a comment slut! How about food talk?

I learned to cook watching my mom and grandmother and PBS on Saturday afternoons. You want to learn to cook? Watch more TV or your relatives. I’m going to give you this super secret recipe. Why is it so super secret? Because I haven’t met anyone yet who can make it taste like my version. My wife has given up. But here it is. Specifically for our cooking friend Allison ( BBBB – is 4 b’s like two d’s? b=2nd letter so bb = 4 so bbbb = dd … who knows! )

Spicey Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients

Two cans Campbell’s Tomato Soup
Chopped or ground basil ( no leaves )
Creamy Blue Cheese dressing
Course ground black pepper
Milk
Tabasco sauce

Instructions

Pour two cans of tomato soup in sealable plastic tub. Add 1 soup can full of milk to mixture. Shake tobasco into soup 5 or 6 times. Add about 1 tablespoon to 2 tablespoons of blue cheese dressing. Add pepper by shaking to cover about half of top of liquid. Shake basil to cover entire top of liquid. Cover plastic tub well and shake mixture. Let sit ( seasonings will strengthen with time ) over night in fridge. Or heat immediately and serve.

Serve with course french bread. Steam zucchini or squash in summer and add to soup or as a side.

Let me know how your experiment goes.

"Come Back To Texas"A Follow Up On Yesterday

Isn’t it funny how things come full circle? The song quote today is from Ohio (Come Back To Texas) by Bowling for Soup. It references a guy whose girlfriend runs off and cheats on him. The band is from Denton, Texas, how spooky. Life imitates art.

I wanted to do a little follow up on yesterday’s post and tell you a portion of the story that is the practical application of what I learned through my ordeal. After everything blew up I wanted to get married, but not anytime soon. I wanted to have a great marriage and not a crappy one. The odds were stacked against me.

I remembered the first book I read after I became a Christian. It was a Sunday school topical study at church for seniors. It was over a book entitled His Needs, Her Needs by a guy whose last name is Harley. When I become a pre-marital counselor it will be required reading for the couples I counsel. I suggest it to everyone that I hear is getting married and give it as a wedding gift.

The Pop Eye ( better known as beckeye on the comments ) had a good man bashing post. My response to her was what I wanted most people to know about men and women. If you know these things your marriage/relationship is so much more likely to be successful. I made A read the book with me before we got married. We had both had experience with infidelity in our lives.

So if you are single or single-again or want to really know how men and women work. Read my post to beckeye below.

Click here for:
Original Post

---

Well, at least you were honest about Travolta. But as a guy I’ll chime in. Keep the gun holstered.

You are absolutely right that these celebrity men are out of control. Nothing stops them and they have no one or no internal mechanism to control themselves. Actually, they do have that mechanism; they just choose to turn it off.

As far as beauty equating to self-esteem, that’s a lie the media loves to propagate. There are lots of men who do “trade up”, but there are many more scenarios that men have affairs with less attractive women.

Wow! Why? You won’t like this, but the normal average everyday man has a part in an affair, but so does his wife/girlfriend/fiancé. Before we get too far I have been cheated on quite severely and I had my part in pushing her away.

We have no idea the kind of woman Sienna (sp?) was to Jude. Not defending him because he WAS guilty by admission and action. But in the normal world, both parties are responsible, one for the affair and the other for the pushing away.

Personally, if my girlfriend was as hot as Sienna or Sierra or whatever, I would probably not stray. She’s hot, but that isn’t the only thing that attracts me.

If you really want to know what men want, I’ll tell you the secret contained in a book that talks about this subject EXACTLY! Below are the 10 needs of every man and woman in a relationship. I bet you can guess which are men and which are women.

admiration
affection
conversation
domestic support
family commitment
financial support
honesty and openness
physical attractiveness
recreational companionship
sexual fulfillment

If you can find out your partner’s top five needs and meet them, then you run a very good chance of not letting an affair creep in.

I think you have very valid points and I would really suggest the book His Needs, Her Needs By Harley. Read Chapter 1

I loved this post. Well written and thought provoking.

~Jef

Bowling for Soup “Ohio (Come Back To Texas)” Listen

"I only wanted to catch your attention"Appropriate Share Time

This weekend we watched “Spanglish” with Adam Sandler and Téa Leoni. I love Adam Sandler comedies and I really like his more dramatic stuff he has been getting into, like “Punch Drunk Love”. It shows growth, especially if you ever looked at the cover of “Going Overboard”.

I hope not to spoil the movie, but there is a scene that really doesn’t sit well with me and since so many have spilled their guts lately, I wanted to let you in on a secret.

There is a scene where Téa Leoni tells Adam Sandler she has had an affair for 11 months. Every time I see a movie that has that theme I get a nauseous pit in my stomach because I remember a day in 1995 when my fiancé told me she had an affair the day before we got engaged. What made it doubly bad was that my dad had an affair with a woman 5 years earlier and left my mom.

Hopefully, none of you will ever experience that, or if you have you will have recovered and moved on. I remember it being the worst I have ever felt. I contemplated suicide and got pretty close at one point. There was little or no hope.

How did I recover? I got myself back into church and renewed my commitments. I had a lot of close friends and made new ones and re-mapped my plans. Lots of therapy; lots and lots of therapy. It was hard. It was even hard hearing the ex was getting married a couple of years later. She has since divorced. I had a chance to talk to her a few years back. Her explanation was he just left one day, but knowing her, I had other assumptions.

I grew up a lot. The naivety went to the wayside. It made me slightly jaded and a little hard, but with a touch of thankfulness and sensativity. I’m cautious of so many people and circumstances as a result and I really want to finish my masters in counseling so I can be a pre-marital counselor. That’s the only fun counseling out there! Well, maybe sex therapy has it’s bright points!

I still feel that cringe when I remember how it all ended in Denton, Texas. It was lonely. I remember those feelings. I also remember that there is always hope and death is the only thing permanent. I would be lying if I said that I never entertain the possibility of that happening again, because none of us know the future. And once you fall off a bike you fear falling off again. But success is getting up one more time than you fail. I just work really hard to make my marriage a place that A wants to stay. I don’t want to put my daughter through what her grandfather put me through and I don’t want my step-kids to have to re-live it again with their mom.

Thanks for letting me share.

Toby Keith “How Do You Like Me Now” Watch

We Have A Winner

I think K has fixed the method of hit counting. This time he hit it exactly with 2000 hits and a verifiable screen shot. I’ll have to go to the bank and get the nickel. That will be fun.

"If The Grapes Don’t Sell, I Dry ‘Em Up And Sell Raisins"The Weekend Recap

What a weekend. I’m sore from all the painting. My wife finished a’s room and I finished painting her “big girl bed”. I’ll post some pics later with her in the shot. What a major feat that was. The bed was my old captain’s bed. So it has shelves under a basic bed. I made myself sick Thursday night taking it out of the 140 degree attic heat.

Saturday morning I sanded and primed it while A finished painting the walls. Little a was sleeping in H’s room. She was really ready for a big girl bed. Once I finished painting I moved it into her room and assembled it. I think she likes sleeping in daddy’s old bed.

There were fire trucks and what not all last night in our hood. A and I always wonder if there was a gang shooting after the incident the weekend the Pope died. Either way, I kept getting woken up from Spider and Spook howling at the emergency vehicles.

A and I actually got to go on a date by ourselves. I wasn’t much of a date. My mind was on a conflict at work. We ate at Rockfish and went to see “Wedding Crashers”. I enjoy seeing my wife laugh and I got a years worth Saturday night! If you haven’t seen this movie, don’t go expecting an animated Disney family movie. After the 4000th “F” bomb I quit counting. There’s enough sexual innuendo and boob shots to rival a porn video. But DAD-GUM if Vince Vaughn isn’t funny! It’s a good movie though at lest it’s the best one out right now and there’s not much around the corner.

One funny story, as we entered the foyer, A needed to visit the ladies room and said I should get a seat. So I went in the theater and there were almost no seats. So I chose a pair as far up as possible. Mind you were are in a theater in a town with a very high African American population. A didn’t come in for a while. Then the trailers started and I noticed that all the movies were very … mmmm … ethnic in their theme. Movie studios usually use the trailers to market to the demographic of the movie you are seeing. This couldn’t be trailers for “Wedding Crashers”.

And I waited and waited and got more and more worried about A. So I got up to go outside and noticed I was in “Hustle and Flow” and not “Wedding Crashers”. The doors to the theater are all lined up together and as A turned off to the potty I looked at her and went in the last 2 doors instead of the first 2. That was a good chuckle. There were plenty of seats in “Wedding Crashers”.

Don’t forget the 2000th visitor contest. If you’re number 2000 take a screen shot ( ALT + Print Screen buttons ) and past it into an email and send it to me. You get a free Buffalo nickel.

Lil Scrappy “I’m A King” Listen

Monday School – 07-25-05

Today is an interesting Monday School. It’s just a simple question. I’d like to hear your answers; post anonymously if you like.

How do you get to heaven?

You’re from Texas if………..

This is sad that I post this, but I found it to be too true, but only if I post some of the answers will you know how true it is. And for all of you who have “driven through Texas” by passing through I-40 on your way from OKC to New Mexico, you haven’t driven across the state.

You’re from Texas if………..

1. You can properly pronounce Corsicana, Palestine, Decatur, Wichita Falls,
San Antonio, Burnet, Boerne, Mexia, Waco, Amarillo, Lancaster and Waxahachie.

Cor-si-can-uh
Pal-uh-steen
Du-ca-tur
Witch-ih-tah Falls
Bur-nit
Burnee
Me-hay-uh
Way-co
Am-uh-ril-uh
Lan-cust-ur
Wax-uh-hatch-ee

I hate new weather men in the state. And if you see this town – Pecos – it’s Pay-cus not Pee-cose

2. A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.
Done that

3. You’ve ever had to switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day.
Every spring and fall for about a week.

4. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.
Every day at my office.

5. Stores don’t have bags, they have sacks.

What else do they have to put things in?

6. You see people wear bib overalls at funerals.

7. You measure distance in minutes.

Very true in my part of the state. To my university it was 2 hours. To Abilene and San Angelo, 2.5 hours, to Dallas 6 hours, to El Paso, 6 hours. To the next closest town, 20 minutes. I still don’t know but a couple of distances.

8. Little Smokies are something you serve only for special occasions.

Especially, with bourbon in a crock pot.

9. You go to the lake because you think it is like going to the ocean.

It’s a lot closer too and there are no waves.

10. You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.

Every day in the spring and fall.

11. You know cowpies are not made of beef.

And don’t even mention calf fries.

12. Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.

That would have been my BIL.

13. You have known someone who has had a belt buckle bigger than your fist.

Known many like that.

14. You aren’t surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.

Used to have the pizza delivered there as well because Pizza Hut didn’t deliver that far out. And that would be Bennett’s in Kelly Clarkson’s home town, Burleson, Texas.

15. Your “place at the lake” has wheels under it.

16. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Ford F350 4×4 is.

For some, … yes.

17. You know everything goes better with Ranch dressin’.

That would be H and M’s favorite condiment.

18. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.

I had a gun by 3 was shooting targets at 4. Still hit targets better than I multiply.

19. You actually get these jokes and are “fixin’ to” send them to your friends.

It shocked me when I learned at 18 people didn’t say fixin’ to.

20. Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this
conversation:
“You wanna coke?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind?”
“Dr. Pepper

Yep!!!! It’s all in the capitalization of the words. If I want a coke, I would rather have a root beer. Had that conversation my whole life.

"It’s Alabama Left And Alabama Right"The ‘Hey Man, What’s Up?’ Rodeo

AI and I celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago at Golden Corral. Good times, good times. We met in a parking lot and carpooled over to the endless buffet goodness of the GC. We feasted and feasted until colons swole.

On the way back I dropped AI off at the parking lot and noticed that he had backed up into the spot. Jokingly, I said, “Are you a member of the ‘Hey man, what’s up,’ rodeo?” His blank look told me he had no idea what I was talking about. Followed shortly by the obligatory, “No, what’s that?”

If you are a Ticket listener, you will know the lore of the HMWUR. For those who are not, I’ll expositate – hey, I like that – as I did for AI.

There’s a radio station, The Ticket that is very close to a park in a very homosexual part of town. The indicator you were gay and wanted to have gay-sex at this park was to back into the parking spot and sit there until propositioned with the words, “Hey man, what’s up?” All this came from an explanation a few weeks ago by one of the radio show hosts.

So as a bit – or stunt -, the station would send someone down to the park, park the car backwards and see how fast someone would proposition with, “Hey man, what’s up?” And thus, the HMWUR was born.

I finish my explanation and AI screams, “I pulled through, I pulled through!!”

Good times, good times!!!

Go visit AI as he is putting together a very soulful and honest story for you to read. Honestly, AI is one of the best guys I know and I think you should hear his story. Make sure you start at Part I.

As another aside, please go visit Mashuptown. Great concept. Good music, good times, good times!

Gary Lee “The Rodeo Song” ExplicitListen