Champagne Friday: A Walk on the Random Side

Hooking up (it would be linking up, but I don't actually know how to do that) with Shana for Random Musings Friday today. I really love RMF...such a lovely way to end the week...with all of the tiny tidbits of crazy that has happened.

1. After Thanksgiving, we spent a day driving to Chicago, 2 days there, and a day driving back. That's sort of a lot of time in the car. And it can't all be spent jamming to holiday tunes or there's a good chance Neal will drive us head-on into a steep embankment just to make it stop. So we tuned into CNN, MSNBC, and the BBC (thank you XM Radio for not going bankrupt). But Neal had also downloaded episodes of 60 Minutes and Face the Nation on his phone. As we were listening to the most recent episode of Face the Nation, we heard an interview with Ron Paul. At one point, he was asked why he is in favor of dismantling the Department of the Interior and what his plans for the land in the national parks if that were to happen. He answered...and I quote..."I am one of many who thinks that land should be saled off."

I can't decide if I'm more appalled that he wants to sale off our parks...or that he didn't use the correct verb tense during an interview that was given to promote his status as a presidential candidate.

2. Last night, Neal and I were filling out advent calendar activity cards...another Pinterest project. Because we have some Christmas events that have to happen on certain days (like going to a Christmas play tonight and attending a black tie gala next weekend), we decided to just pick what we were going to do each day. As we inched closer to the 25th, finding creative ideas that didn't cost a lot of money became more difficult. We had already covered touring the Christmas lights around town and watching Christmas movies. Neal's next suggestion was to tie antlers to the cats and chase them around the house. The sad thing is, the girls will never properly thank me for not allowing this to happen.

3. Amazon Marilyn is currently straddled outside of the Chicago Tribune. And yes...she's wearing underwear.

More photos from Chicago and the tales of another 101 item crossed off the list coming next week!

4. If Neal is not visiting friends or family, he is lounging about in his PJs. This has been going on for about 3 weeks now. At one point, as he walked into the full light of the master bedroom closet, I got a really good look at them. The shirt was crusted with...I don't know...maybe bbq sauce and ice cream?? so I said, "Let's wash your pajamas today." To which he replied, "Why? They haven't walked off my body yet."

I didn't realize that was the goal.

5. After having ridden the Chicago rail system from the suburbs into the city last weekend, I now understand how Shana and Robyn have so much blog material from their commute. It's a free-for-all of crazy. While we were sitting in the train station, a guy about Mama Virgo's age was playing air drums with actual drumsticks (which was one of my favorite past times...when I was 14) and on the train, I listened to 2 granddaughters try to explain iTunes gift cards to their grandmother...who was about 55 years old. My mom is...er...slightly older than 55 and she definitely knows what they are and how to purchase and use them. She could probably do it with her eyes closed. I wonder from which rock this lady had just emerged.

6. The Mustache Envy necklace that I donated to Cathy's Movember Campaign went up for auction last Monday and bidding ended on Tuesday night. It was so close to $30 and I was trying to figure out how I could bump it up to that nice round number. Since I was lunching with one of my childhood BFFs and fellow drama club junkies, I knew she would be game for some stache fun. So, I suggested that if the bid hit $30, I would let my lunch companion draw a mustache on me. It totally worked. And Wonder Woman's mommy just happened to have a Halloween face paint pencil in sky blue...the representative color for prostate and testicular cancer awareness! I got a few looks, but no one said anything...mostly because that's probably not the most outrageous thing they had seen all day. Three cheers for hippy restaurants! Many thank yous to Robyn for bumping it up to $30 and to Monique for matching it! Congrats Cathy, on a successful campaign!

I think that's it. I'm sure there's more. I really need to start taking better notes. Happy RED Friday, Happy Champagne Friday, and have a great weekend!