Brain Soundtrack

Once or twice a month, I will wake up in the morning with a random song playing in my head like a recording. They don't seem to hold any relevance to any part of my life, except my brain recorded it perfectly and played it back to me that morning. It sounds pretty loud in my head too.

About six months ago, I had the idea to write down each song that I woke up to. Here's my list, the second half of this year, in review.

June: Gloria Esteban - Christmas in Your Eyes.
I actually heard this song last week in the Goodwill, but it's xmas season now, so it makes sense.

July: Sharp Dressed Man
Every girl's crazy 'bout one.

Also in July: Miss Susie Had A Steamboat
This one has more relevance, because I did sing this alot as a kid.

August 23: Chicago - Hard Habit to Break
"Being without you, takes alot of getting uuUUUssed toooo...."

August 24: The Christmas Song ('Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...')
Again, a xmas song playing in my head in the middle of summer

August 31: Jim Croce - I'll Have to Say I Love You In a Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGtR8AJFuqw

September 14: The Beatles - I saw her standing there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzKAHk-jd-Q&feature=related

And to wrap up the year, I guess it's good to get a motivating song that sets you for the new year.
December 6, I woke up to Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All playing in my head.

I was thinking of making a playlist of these. The only problem is that I don't particularly like any of these songs. Maybe next year I can get a better list.

A Long Wait

I was so excited about getting one, I ate half of it before thinking of taking a picture.

McDonalds is selling their Holiday pie again.

When I was 16, I missed it. I thought I would just get one the following year when the season came around again. They didn't sell it again. I tried to check each holiday season, & was disappointed. I really wanted to try that pie. Now 13 years later, I finally got a holiday pie.

I almost thought I wasn't going to get one. When I ordered, I asked if they had it. She said 'No, just apple & pumpkin.' I thought 'oh well' and ordered one of each. But when I opened the pumpkin box, lo, there was my holiday pie. I was so excited.

It's really good. It's like a sugar cookie, only not as sweet. It's moist though because of the custard filling. I'm glad I did not forget about that pie these 13 years.

Foodisms

Jae made Taco's for dinner tonight. She said, when we have taco's for dinner, we don't say "I made taco's for dinner." We say "It's taco night!".
No one says "It's soup & salad night." or "It's spaghetti night." We just say "We're having [this] for dinner". What's so special about tacos that we have to dedicate the theme of our evening to it?

I've said this before, but it reminds me of "french" food. When you add the word "french" in front of something, it's basically just a greedier version of something common you eat.

'French' Apple Pie is just apple pie with icing on top.
'French' Onion Soup is onion soup with cheese melted on top.
'French' toast is regular toast that is dipped in egg and fried.

Also, you can make a "salad" just by adding mayonaise to a bowl of cut up [insert food item here]. Think about it, egg salad, potato salad, chicken salad, macaroni salad are all just the indicated food items mixed up with mayonaise.

Have you ever noticed that something with the word 'cream' or 'creme' in it is just a sweeter version of the normal food item? I got a vanilla 'cream' soda, and it just tasted lighter because it is sweeter. Or those caramel creams? They're not filled with cream. It's a sugar paste in the center. So when something says "cream", they really just mean sugar. I don't know where they made that leap.

So coming up with a good name is important for getting people to like your food, especially if it's a recipe you made up.

Alot of my favorite meals my Mom made were dishes she made up. It's just she never came up with a proper name for it. So she would say "Would you like some of my pumpkin stuff?" You should never use the word ''stuff'' to describe a dish. ('stuffed' is okay, but not 'stuff') I ended up just calling her food 'slop'. I might as well, because that is funnier.

I Better Now

I was pretty sad much of today, because I had a dream last night I was holding baby Silas. Filip walked in on me crying by myself in the kitchen. He asked me if I was sad. I told him yes. So he put his arms around me and kept saying "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry Mommy." He patted my back, ga_e me a kiss and wiped my tears with his fingers.
How could I not feel better after that?

Afterward, he asked me "Did someone hit you?" He said that, because one of his little friends hit him the other day and made him cry. I held him and comforted him much the same way he did to me today. So he thought that someone must of hit me to make me cry.

I told him no, & I was just crying because I missed the baby. Then he told me again he was 'so sorry'. He said ''So sorry, when girls cry, sad with baby Silas.''
What a blessing my son is.

A is for Atom

I'm trying to learn about Atoms and really small stuff.

An atom is made of 3 things: First, the positi_ely charged protons, and neutral neutrons that clump together to make the nucleus. Then, there are negati_e electrons that orbit the nucleus, just like planets orbit the sun in outer space.

The number of protons in an atom determine which element it is. If there is 1 proton in the atom, it is a Hydrogen atom. If there are 6 protons, it is a Carbon atom. If there are 26 protons, it's Iron, and so on. The top left corner of a box in the periodic table (the atomic number) indicates how many protons there are in that type of atom.

For it to be considered an atom, there must be an equal amount of electrons as protons to cancel out an o_erall electric charge. If it is missing an electron, it does not change what element it is (bc the number of protons has not changed) but it will be called an ion, since it now has an electric charge.

On the Bill Nye episode, he demonstrated how much space there is between a nucleus and the electrons that surround it. Remember those 'bumble balls' we had in the 90's? It's a battery powered, shaky ball, about the size of a grapefruit. Anyway, he strapped that to a pole, and ran 500 meters away. Then, he showed a dot about the size of a pencil eraser at that distance. So atoms, are mostly a bunch of nothing. We don't squish into things, because the electrons are mo_ing around the nucleus so fast, it's as if the whole atom is solid.

If you're looking at an element on the periodic table, you can find out how many protons, electrons, and neutrons there are in that atom. The number in the top left corner is the amount of protons, which I said before. For it to be considered an atom, there must be an equal amount of electrons.

The number on the bottom of the element box helps you find out the amount of neutrons.
If you look at the bottom number of atomic number 28 (which happens to be nickel) you will see 58.6934. Round it up to 59, and subtract 28 (the number of protons). There you ha_e it: 31 neutrons.

If that atom actually has a different number of neutrons, it is called an isotope. It is still an atom, but it is a lighter or hea_ier _ersion of it.

I found some great sources for the abo_e. Here they are:

I watched the Bill Nye episode 'Atoms', and also talked to my Dad.

Then there is this great song on YouTube by 'They Might Be Giants' at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-wf8S9vRvo
It's called 'Meet the Elements'.

Found a 'dynamic' periodic table at this site: http://www.ptable.com/

How to read a periodic table:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4716922_read-periodic-table-elements.html

Using the table to determine how many protons, electrons, & neutrons in an atom:
http://education.jlab.org/qa/pen_number.html

Tuco

We're dog-sitting Tuco this weekend. He's a snuggly pug.

I'm amazed at how much he can go to the bathroom. He poops just about e_ery time I take him out, which is 5-6 times a day. But he only eats twice a day. When I bring him in after a decent walk, he acts kind of weird, like he thinks something bad is about to happen. Afterward, he settles down on my lap if I'm sitting.

He's only been here 2 days, but we could figure out his routine from the start. He always waits until we are almost done eating before he eats. He will poop outside after walking for 5 minutes. He also seems to nap once in the morning, and once in the e_ening. For the rest of the time, he just sits.

Since his Mom speaks Spanish, he responds more if I pronouce 'Tuco' in Spanish (duco). If I say 'tew ko' like an American, he just flinches his ears. If I say something he does not understand, he stares at me with his big black eyes and cocks his head to the side. It's cute, so alot of times I gi_e commands to him that he doesn't know. ("Go shine my shoes!")

I'm glad we had a chance to watch him here. It doesn't really make me want a dog, but we had fun nontheless.

Circles

Circles are round, the earth, and our time
I trod on ahead, I cannot rewind
Pictures and memories look back to the past
They bring some comfort, and I will be back
I'll walk 'round the circle, drawn with a straight line

You left my body, your mother, your kind
In hopes that some strangers would help you survive
You did come back, a box full of ash
You drew a cruel circle around

A year is round, I left you behind
In rainy October of 2009
What can I do, but to keep on my path?
Keep on remembering you in my past
When I hold you again, I'll walk a straight line
We'll draw a kind circle around.