When It's Time To Change Then It's Time To Change

Don't fight the tide, come along for the ride, don'cha see?

Folks, I've had it. Bloody had it, I tell you! I have dealt with enough comment spam to last me a while and I'm sick of it. Tired of the constant rebuild rebuild rebuilding after rebuild. Thus, I have decided to end my days here in Munuviana.

Yes, I know, why do this when I was so thrilled to be here in the first place? Tech issues, mainly, but mostly the comment spam shit that's been the thorn in my side for a while.

I pondered just shutting things down entirely, getting out of the blog thing, but somehow you damn people have gotten in my blood, and after three years I find I can't quit you!

Last night I messed around with exporting three years of posts over to the new place, but the YouTubes didn't transfer, and for what ever reason some of the posts were duplicated. I tried deleting all that stuff, but when I realized I had to wade through over 3000 posts I said "Fuck no!" and just provided a link in the new sidebar that will bring you back here.

Yep, I'm lazy, and I don't care. The new place is free and easy to work with, and that's all I really care about right now.

So! Update those blogrolls and bookmarks to fiddledd.wordpress.com.

Don't be surprised at the sparseness of the new place. I wanted something clean to start with, and I've talked with a couple people about prettying the place up....I'm not in a hurry, though. Scarlett's there now, waiting for you.

I've Made My Choice

In the "Who Wore It Better?" category we have Luke Perry vs. John Travolta.

Although I watched and swooned over them both when they were TV, I'm going with Luke Perry on this one, even though I really loathe that Fu Man Chu look.

Thankew Agent Bedhead for supplying the link

Snort Worthy

I'll probably get booted out of the Republican party, but I laugh every time I see this:

"You'll Be Sayin' Wow..."

"..every time you use it."

Man, if you're spending $20/week on paper towels...you're a pig...and use a rag!

This commercial is a constant source of amusement for my family.

I'm A Bitch

You may or may not have noticed that I've been in a bit of a mood lately. Yeah, these past few days have been a source of irritation for me, amplified by the necessities of womanly nature.

Without going into incriminating details, I'll just say that I can't figure out how two people could be so ill-equipped to deal with life that their children have to consistently come to the rescue. All the damn drama, is it any wonder I take cases and cases of alcohol with me to holiday gatherings? I mean, who needs soap operas, I've got in-laws.

But they aren't as good looking. Not by a long shot.

And why is it that classmates get their panties in a twist and actually think that because they didn't receive reunion info that they're being blown off? Has it ever occurred to anyone that after twenty years, keeping track of people I barely knew back then is pretty difficult? When someone moves they don't notify me, so what the hell am I supposed to do? Hire a P.I. to find them?

F*ck no.

I'm going to admit right here and now that, in some sick, twisted way, I enjoy planning the reunions. It makes me feel like I'm doing something...but then all those effing phone calls and e-mails come in and I'm right back to flipping these assholes the double bird, just like I did twenty years ago when I graduated.

Can you believe I actually had someone ask me who was coming before he would book a plane ticket? Like if just the right people weren't there, he wasn't coming.

Well, shove your thumb up your ass and stay the fuck home.

I'm in a shitty damn mood.

It's A Lovely Sight

The younglings and I went to le Mart de Wal today and I spied with my little hazel eye the school supplies that are being set out.

Huzzah!

I love school supplies if only for their collective meaning: kids returning to school.

I know, I'm a horrible person, but Daughter did pick out a cute little backpack...for $5!

A History Lesson

Know anything about Copperheads?

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Copperheads nominally favored the Union and strongly opposed the war, for which they blamed abolitionists, and they demanded immediate peace and resisted draft laws. They wanted Lincoln and the Republicans ousted from power, seeing the president as a tyrant who was destroying American republican values with his despotic and arbitrary actions.

Some Copperheads tried to persuade Union soldiers to desert. They talked of helping Confederate prisoners of war seize their camps and escape. They sometimes met with Confederate agents and took money. The Confederacy encouraged their activities whenever possible.[1] Most Democratic party leaders, however, repelled Confederate advances.

Huh....interesting.

More interesting still is the write up for one Clement Vallandigham:

He denounced "King Lincoln," calling for Abraham Lincoln's removal from the presidency. On May 5 he was arrested as a violator of General Order No. 38.

In February 1864 the Supreme Court decided that it had no power to issue a writ of habeas corpus to a military commission (Ex parte Vallandigham, 1 Wallace, 243). However, President Lincoln, who considered Vallandigham a "wily agitator" and was wary of making him a martyr to the Copperhead cause, ordered him sent through the lines to the Confederacy, and he was taken under guard to Tennessee.

What peaks my interest here is that there were just as many vocal opponents to war 140 some years ago as there are now. But, and correct me if I'm wrong, but President Bush hasn't had anyone, oh, arrested or banished for speaking out, has he?

Or am I not watching enough PMSNBC these days?

Oh, shut up. I'm feeling extra bitchy. Just check out the links and learn something.

Make It Stop!

I don't care how "hawt" people think this asshat is, to me he'll always be the fatass on Drake and Fatass.

Is that hair or a helmet, jackass?

"The Wackness", yeah right! More like "The Geekness."

Asshats!

H/T: Socialite Life

The Latest In Men's Beach Attire?

This stuff has been around for days, and I'm still shaking my head over it.

Apparently My Kids Are Racist

This just in: saying "yuck" is now racist.

I call BULLSHIT!

So, I guess my kids are racist. Abso-fucking-lutley great.

I say "ick" a lot, what does that make me?

Thankew to David Drake, who always calls BULLSHIT first

Tick, Tick, Tick...

No, I'm not referring to my biological clock (please, ugh), I'm talking about the damn tick infestation that sees to be overwhelming my home.

On Sunday I found one of the little bastards crawling up Husband's shirt. I snatched a plastic sandwich bag and got the little shit in there, whereupon we doused it with rubbing alcohol and gleefully watched it die.

Here's the thing, though, he and I had just been sitting on the porch swing. Sitting on the porch. Not hiking through the woods around our house, but sitting on the porch.

I, for one, was not shocked, as about a week and a half ago I found a tick on my pants leg while sitting on that same porch swing. I suspect the raccoons are waddling up on our porch and camping out at night.

Anyhoo, last night I was washing Daughter's hair and, you guessed it, a tick. This time I grabbed the Vaseline, which killed the little f*cker and Husband was able to tweeze the thing out of Daughter's scalp.

Look, we're a clean family! Clean to the point of being anal retentive! Husband found some Permethrin spray at work and has instructed me to spray our clothing, NOT our skin. He's going to go douse the cushions on the porch swing as well.

But this is getting a bit asinine; it's almost as if we're trapped in the house!

Dammit!

Does anyone know why Daughter insists on making a mess wherever she goes?

Anyone?

Would someone please tell me why Husband seems to be the only one in his family that can rationally talk to anyone? Why he's always the go-to guy?

Or why I can't ever seem to be alone, not even on my class reunion weekend?

Husband tells me he got the 25th off and wants to know when I'm taking off. I don't know, says I, why don't you tell me what you have in mind and I can give you a better answer.

Well, he says, I want to take the kids up to visit my parents.

Dammit!

I said, well, I'd planned on going up alone, maybe farting around at the mall, crap like that. And why can I never be alone?

Fine, says he, and declares he and the kids will drive separately.

I have no problem with him taking the kids to see his folks, for all that they pay no attention to my kids whatsoever, but GODDAMMIT why can I never go anywhere alone?

I mean, somewhere other than the f*cking grocery store.

I am in such a mood right now...

My Husband, My Hero

You know, Husband can really surprise me sometimes. Yesterday I came home from the tanning beds (yes, I'm actually fake baking again) to find him hard at work picking the wild raspberries the surround the perimeter of our property.

Got to get them before the deer do, you know.

And then last night he made a cobbler. He also made a mess in my kitchen, but he made a cobbler, cooking down those berries all by himself.

That's not all! This morning he fixed our CD player!

I knew I kept him around for something.

Thanks For Nothing

Yesterday, July 4, was a wash. Literally! When it wasn't raining pitchforks and tomcats it settled into a constant mizzle that caused a few towns around here to either postpone or cancel their fireworks.

I spent most of the day deleting comment spam, closing comments on posts, and rebuilding this effing blog over and over.

Damn the spam. Damn the spam!

Since the Fox Movie Channel was showing Independence Day overandoverandover, we watched that. Believe it or not, I'd never seen it before. I love Harvey Fierstein and Mary McDonnell; I was so sad when they died. I actually yelled "They killed Stands With A Fist! Bullshit!"

Yeah, so, with the rain there was no cooking outside, so we had our oven broiled burgers in the house, after which I bored the younglings to near insanity when I pulled out The Civil War.

And that was only the first tape! Imagine how they'll get when they watch the rest of it!!!

Shut up.

Instead of watching live fireworks, we tried to watch them on TV. The Travel Channel screwed to pooch, IMO, with their coverage of the fireworks at the National Mall. We watched the Macy's display from NYC instead.

On television.

Oh well, last year we sat in a cemetery trying to catch the festivities from surrounding towns!

Happy Fourth of July!

Because it's the Fourth, and because I was singing this song last night, I found this:

Soldiers Return

Footage from the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg:

Footage from the 135th anniversary. Who ever took this video must have literally been right next to me.

Husband was a Confederate that weekend and made the fateful march:

Day 3

Two words: Pickett's Charge.

Was it folly? Valor? Did the Union troops, shouting "Fredericksburg!" avenge the crushing losses suffered the previous December?

If you've never been, I urge you to visit Gettysburg and see this field for yourselves. No matter how many times I'm there, on either side of the field, I just... I don't know. I can't describe it.

This Is Perfect

Thankew to Socialite Life

At A Loss

What to do, what to do?

You all know I'm helping plan our class reunion, and I've been pondering some kind of gift (or as I like to call them, "booby prizes") to give away at the reunion. I'd like to keep it simple and tasteful, especially after the debacle five years ago when, out of the blue, one couple brought in door prizes that were, um..*cough*...pretty adult.

Therein, sort of, lies my dilemma. I'm trying to figure out what people would like (personalized candy bars?) that would be in keeping with our alma mater...but trying to find anything related to our mascot, a bison, is kind of like finding a needle in a haystack.

More to the point, there ain't a lot of money to spend...because I'd be the one spending the dough and Husband, understandably so, isn't too crazy about me spending money (his money) on my high school class.

But...t-shirts? Would you now want a t-shirt that had your high school name on it and the year you graduated?

And, for the record, I tried to do those neat-o custom M&M's, but you can't print on a dark blue candy.

Adopt a bison?

Huh, maybe I should call the high school and get someone to come out in the mascot outfit. They'd probably be pummeled at the door.

UPDATE: I know you all have been sleepless with worry about this, but be assured that Ultimate Driving Machine and I talked about this and have come up with something.

Day 2

July 2, 1863 is most remembered for the Battle of Little Round Top and fighting in and around Devil's Den.

Many will probably say, "Oh that 20th Maine," (I actually had one woman swoon over Jeff Daniels) but I say poo to that and remind everyone about Strong Vincent and the 83rd PA!

Yay!!!

But trying to find anything on YouTube regarding Strong Vincent only yielded clips from Strong Vincent High School in Erie, PA; I found this instead:

"Keep a tight hold on the 83rd, on old Pennsylvania, over there."

Llamas On The Loose!

Oh noooooooo!!!

Thankew Wyatt Earp

I'll Believe It When I See It

Well, I don't really want to see it, but you know what I mean.

Nicole Kidman, the envy of pregnant women everywhere because she barely even looks pregnant, has made a mix tape to listen to while she gives birth.

Sorry, I meant to say "compilation CD." Do the kids even know what a tape is anymore?

So yeah, it makes me laugh. When I was preparing to have Son (and I looked vastly more pregnant than Ms. Kidman, I assure you) all those childbirth books and what not said "have soothing music to listen to."

I call BULLSHIT on that one. I was going to take in a Led Zeppelin tape (it soothes me, shut up), but know what? I was so scared and nervous because, you know, I'd never had a baby before, and HEY I was in f*cking pain beyond belief that I wouldn't have cared if Jimmy Page himself was standing at the foot of the bed strumming his Les Paul.

Maybe Nicole can keep it together better than I did, I don't know, but all I can say to her is EPIDURAL!!! I mean, hell, after all that Botox she jammed into her forehead, wouldn't she want to numb her hoo-ha too?

Thankew Mr. Atoz

Knock It Off

Stop picking on Jessica Biel. So what if she doesn't have that many MySpace friends and blogs about her dogs.

I have eight friends on MySpace...and I blog about Gettysburg!

Leave Jessica alone!!!

(Not that I care about her getting picked on as much as I hate the geeks being singled out.)

Punks!

Some dirty little band of punks vandalized my f*cking mailbox last night.

Little a$$holes!!

I Mean, Really

Who cares what this woman is wearing?? She's married to Colin Firth, for f*ck's sake!!

Husband's Favorite Line

The First Day

Well, here we are, July 1.

Today saw action around Herr's Ridge, among other locales:

At about 8:00 the next morning, Heth and his 7,461 men reached the crest of Herr Ridge, about 1.5 miles from Gettysburg, and saw Buford's 2,748 dismounted cavalrymen deployed for battle along Willoughby Run below. Rebel skirmishers moved straight down the hill into a hail of lead delivered by the troopers' rapid-firing breech-loaded carbines and a battery of artillery. The Rebels were stalled but a short time, until reinforcements could arrive to add pressure to the assault.

Info on the first day found here.

Or if you want something visual:

It's a long clip, but good. Husband hates the music towards the end of the clip, and this is always the time when we yell "General Reynolds! Your beard!"

I miss reenacting!!! *sniff*