I See STaRS

Do you remember the episode of The Brady Bunch where Greg has to make a movie of the landing at Plymouth Rock for a school project, and there's a big fuss because Marcia and Jan both want to be the same role and Peter keeps sprinkling cornflakes painted white to look like snow and Mike and Carol and Alice all want to make changes to the script and....

Well the SAME THING happened at ChezVeasey recently, when CBoy was given the task of rewriting a classic fairy tale. EXcept I didn't have an Alice to clean up and fix dinner afterwards *sigh* so much to do, so few people to do it for me.

Without further ado--here is Cboy's first foray into film. LITTLE RED FIGHTING HOOD. I probably would not watch this at work with the volume up.

FRee STuFF.....for me

This whole "slacking on the blog" thing has really been paying off this month, Chickens.  Last week it was that 256 page spiritual tome, and today it is a package that appears to have arrived in JANUARY and languished in the Mud Mailroom! I have a fab reader named SALLY who sends me wonderful letters and tons of goodies and she sent me a box of cat toys for Lenny & Elsie from the Etsy shop K. Grant Designs! 

How adorable are these?  And accurate!  They predicted that Elsie would sleep all day and that Lenny would scratch up my couch.  How did they know???  And look at these:

These are MEWberries!! Too sweet!  The fab Sally also sent me these kitty canolis:

Leave the gun, take the cannoli--K Grant say sthese are a nip filled whack to the head.

So it is the Mother Load of catnip for Lenny & Elsie tonight.  What usually happens is that they both get into it, and then they get really, really hungry and they laugh at everything,  and then they fall asleep.  

Well, not really Elsie.  She is 21 years old.  That makes her the Miss Jane Pittman of cats.  She is completely deaf, and completely blind, and likes to spend her nights walking across my pillow, meowing into my ear that she would like treats.  

Thank you so much Sally (and Frederick, Jennings Peter, Antoine, Lamont, Montel and Stanmusical!)  and KGrant designs! 

All you other readers out there: my birthstone is a saphire.  Just sayin.

Tell me in comments what your cat's name is.  And if you don't have a cat...WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?  I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE ALLERGIC, THAT'S WHY GOD INVENTED BENEDRYL.

My DoG aTe iT

Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis (Hi Nonnee!  Hi Dad!) know that I occasionally run a feature called: One Sentence Book Reviews, in which I do annoying things like critique the jacket art or give away the ending. Because Irreverent is How I Roll.

ANYHOO...apparently the big Search Engine in the Sky does not actually read what I write, because a publisher contacted me and asked me to officially review a new book in exchange for...wait for it... A FREE BOOK.  And since I will pretty much do anything for free stuff, I said YES!  YES! YES! Send me that book now and let me get cracking!!  And then the book arrived.

Let me say from the get go that I am not a stranger to the self help section of Barnes and Noble.  In fact, I believe I spent 1987-1989 dabbling in self actualization and finding the me that I love.  I have read I'm O.K., You're O.K. and even though I didn't understand 3/4 of it...I knew that I was O.K.

So here's the thing about this book: SPIRITUAL PARTNERSHIP The Journey To Authentic Power by Gary Zukav....it's kind of hard.  Like, here's a random paragraph:

Commitment to creating authentic power is the prerequisite for a spiritual partnership.  The benefit of a spiritual partnership is creating authentic power.  The two come together.  Authentic power and spiritual partnerships are different facets of the same jewel.  When the jewel (multisensory perception) came into being so did its facets.

And then my head exploded.  Because where are the heaving bossoms or the vampires?

But because I had accepted this FREE BOOK and also because the book publisher began to email me daily about the fact that I was AN ACTUAL STOP ON THE BLOGGED BOOK TOUR I felt like I absolutely must read the thing cover to cover.  Which I did, finishing 5 minutes ago, officially one day late.

And I can tell you that I learned this from reading this book:  I don't want to grow up and become a Book Reviewer.  That Would Be A Hard Job.

So here is my one sentence review: The author writes "the world now pivots on a point and that point is in you" but to be frank, I am really working very hard to teach both my children that the world does NOT in fact, pivot around them...and they should put their dirty clothes in the hamper. If I want to give my children a real lesson in authentic power in relationships, I'll pack an extra ring ding in their lunch box.

SO....enter below to win a FREE COPY of Gary Zukav (author of The Seat of The Soul) new book.  Winner chosen at random on Tuesday, May 18.  The copy I will send you looks brand new.....

UPDATE:  May I also recommend this fabulous self help book from a favorite fellow blogger?

MoTHeR oF aLL MoTHeR'S DaYS!

I had the most fantabulous Mother's Day!  I was brought breakfast in bed, presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers, and showered with cards and gifts!!  Here is CBoy's card:

  I wonder if there was a moment when he was going through M words like magnificent, marvolous, magical, and had an "aha!" moment when he came to MATURE.    I really like that he has incorporated me.  Perhaps that means a tax break?  

Here is my card from The Banana:

Banana loves me MORE THAN LIGHT... but it is not possible that she could love me more than I love her!!! She is my very best "Secret Edmierer."  

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you moms out there!! I hope your special day was as great as mine was.  

GiVeaWaYs GaLoRe

Happy Thursday Chickens-
If you know anybody who lives in NEW YORK CITY or the surrounding regions, you'll want to be in touch with them this week and let them know about an event that's happening on Saturday, May 8th--because you can win $500 worth of prizes just by spreading the good news.

Join over 100 local artists and craftspeople as they gather to celebrate the very best of handmade goodness. Partial proceeds from this event benefit a great public school, and there's a bake sale, so for gosh sakes-help spread the word.  If you do: look at some of the stuff you can win:

Look at these gorgeous candlesticks from Romi Ceramics!

Or how about this beautiful topaz necklace from Loella Medina?

How about this stunning pillow from Elements For Inspired Living? 

These items and SO MUCH MORE are available to win all week long right HERE .  Giveaway packages that total over $500 smackers will be offered all week long and all you have to do to enter is tweet or blog or send out a facebook invite--in other words, go tell it on a mountain people.  So head on over to The New New   and enter a different contest every day through Friday (tomorrow) to win really Great Stuff.  

oNe SeNTeNCe BooK ReVieWS

It's that time again, folks.  Break out the wine and let's start the book club.  Here are my one sentence book reviews for April:

UNDER THE DOME By Stephen KIng
Reading this I was thinking "It's no longer true that since Steve went walking alongside that road in Maine and got smoked by a truck that he can't write a decent book"  because it took me right back to the good old days of THE STAND; a classic end-of-the-world-good-vs.-evil long story except in this book people have cell phones.

SHANGHAI GIRLS By Lisa See
A great book about two sisters who leave Shanghai in 1937 and come to Los Angeles in arranged marriages-- begins with a POW! WHAM! ZAP! but ends with what should have been a page that says TO BE CONTINUED......

THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY By Heidi Durrow
I absolutely loved PRECIOUS and I thought this book would be somewhat similar: girl succeeds despite all adversity but sadly she does not so it was like PRECIOUS  except it had absolutely none of the uplifting stuff and for gosh sakes I hope that's the last book I read for awhile in which everybody I love dies.  (You're Welcome.)


I would have read more, but the Stephen King novel weighed 50 lbs. itself.

What are you reading?