1984 Kids Incorporated Theme Song

This blog entry is dedicated to my little brother, Richard, who quite worshipped this show and everyone on it when it first aired 23 years ago. Who knew that Stacy would become the fabulous Fergie we know today?! I still remember my brother taping the shows when they aired each week so we (yes, I kind of liked the show too despite its very bad acting) could watch it all week! Ahh, memories . . . !

(originally posted 1/7/08; reposting due to 'technical difficulties'!)

I Found a Guy

. . . whose blog is deemed worthy of mention! In writing my previous post, I realized that I gravitate towards the blogs of other women. I couldn't remember ever reading a blog by a guy. But I discovered a male-written blog yesterday! I had actually visited his website before, but had not taken the time to read his blog.

Rick Riordan is an author that I've glommed recently. He is a native San Antonian, so I already feel a certain affinity toward him, and until recently was a middle school teacher, so I definitely admire him! He writes the wonderful Percy Jackson and the Olympians series of books for children. I love these books, and like so many thirteen year olds, I can't wait until his next one comes out! So I was perusing his blog, Myth & Mystery, which has many entries about school visits, book tours and interactions with his fans, but also some really thoughtful entries about writing, teaching, education, children, success and censorship. I especially liked his views on censorship.

I was lucky enough to hear him speak at the Texas Book Festival in Austin last November, and he was so lovely with the kids, who were the majority of the standing room only audience in a gymnasium-sized room. And these kids really knew their stuff-- they knew his books backwards and forwards and were just so excited about reading them. How many kids get excited about reading anything? Especially books about Greek mythology?!

So I am proud to add Mr. Riordan's blog (another one by a writer!) to my growing list of favorites, and pleased to read about a guy's take on the world as well.

Blog Envy

When I first started this blog in 2005 (and yet I only have a handful of entries!), I'd only ever visited a couple of other blogs. Recently, I noticed that all of my recent 'Favorites' on my browser are blogs. Because *everyone* has a blog. It certainly seems like every stay-at-home-Mom has a blog! Every business (mine included) has a blog. There are fake blogs too. It's like everyone has a diary online and is begging the world to read it! I will say that I am impressed by the quality of writing on so many of these blogs, particularly the Mommy-written ones. Might English teachers throughout the country be breathing a collective sigh of relief that all is not yet lost?!

Today, while doing research for an upcoming Girl Scout meeeting with a music theme, I stumbled on this lovely site called Mama Lisa's World. In addition to free lyrics and MP3s of world music and stories for children, which was too hard to find online by the way, she has a great blog with great information about songs, books and other things for kids. Loved the discussion about American Girl dolls. Made me feel a little bad about having just bought one for my daughter!

There are blogs that I must visit regularly, even daily. Some are written by people I actually know. Check on Steve has been such a gift to all the friends and family of Steve and Tyra Damm, who are going through the toughest challenge anyone could ever imagine with such bravery. Steve was recently diagnosed with a lesion on the right side of his brain stem, and has handled it all so far with such grace. I am humbled by his courage.

I also read blogs by people I don't know. In fact, I read more blogs by total strangers than actual friends. I am particularly drawn to blogs by writers. I am loving former-actress-and-now-writer Meg Tilly's blog for its honesty, homeyness and awesome recipes. I have laughed out loud and also cried at her posts. Now how I came upon her blog in the first place is an entirely different and also interesting story! I will have to post that sometime.

I also love reading about the writerly life through the eyes of some kick-ass romance writers on Word Wenches. I found out about this blog because one of its writers is my all-time favorite romance writer, Mary Jo Putney. I actually know little of the other six writers, but I enjoy their blog posts.

I just discovered the funniest blog site last week, by a teacher and home-schooler who is also an awesome writer. I found out about this one from another blog, so it's a discovery-by-association kind of thing. Love that about the Internet, that free association of clicking from page to page, kind of like reading the World Book Encyclopedia as a child (yes, I was a total geek and I really did that) and going from volume to volume looking up the SEE ALSO: topics. But I digress, and Derfwad Manor is just too entertaining! And others agree because she gets in the neighborhood of at least 50 comments per post.

I just now realized that I only read blogs by women! Is that a crime?! hahaha I never thought about it before, but that's what I like to read right now-- the world according to other women. By the same token, my own hubby has never read my blog, so maybe it's a Mars/Venus thing.

So after discovering so many talented writers online, I know now that I will probably never be a writer, at least one who publishes anything that someone else would read! I envy those who write with such wit and candor and humor and honesty online, and I thank them for making my spare moments during the day (and middle of the night) richer.

So Enchanted

Carys is ENCHANTED! Thanks to magical Disney.com software, she has been transformed into Princess Giselle and Evil-Almost-Mother-in-Law Narissa. The image is supposed to move back and forth and wink and smile, but it wouldn't upload properly.

My girls and I have a favorite new movie! We finally saw Disney's Enchanted during our mini-vacation in the Dallas-Ft Worth area, and our entire family loved it! It's so appropriate for kids, families, anyone! It's a clever homage to every Disney Princess movie ever made, and at the same time, full of twists and turns and enough adult-ish humor to keep it from being saccharine.

Last night, we three piled on my bed and went online to the Enchanted website. We watched all the trailers, TV spots, behind-the-scenes videos, clips from the film and music videos. Then we played all the online games, including one where you can "enchant yourself." You upload your head shot and the email you some cool software where you can turn yourself into any one of they Enchanted characters or some of Disney's classic heroes, heroines or villains. It was great fun!

Finally, we did the Enchanted sing-along, where we watched the music videos again but this time the words appear for you. Thalia and Carys LOVE the Ever Ever After song by Carrie Underwood, and Carys said she was so beautiful in the video!

It was fun to cuddle with my daughters and do something really "girly" while Dylan watched basketball in the next room . . . !