Like an Angel In Disguise

It is almost Halloween! I am a fan. So I thought I'd make this Choose and Defend Wednesday with a Halloween theme. I looked up what the most popular costumes are for this year, picked out a couple of top sellers and thought I'd let you Choose...and of course, Defend :)

Which of these costumes would you Choose, if these were your only two choices in the world

Duck Dynasty

OR

The Fox

In the event that you aren't familiar with the source material, I have included a couple of YouTube links:

Duck Dynasty

What Does the Fox Say?

Have a fun, festive Halloween everyone! And thanks for playing!

This Musical Message is For My Baby, I Know

I Remember When You Stole My Girl

Life in a busy library's busy children's room on a Saturday. It is a hive of activity. This leads us right into my Saturday Scavenger Shots post! This week's word was chosen by the orginator of this little game, Evil-E. Evil-E stopped blogging at some point, but he has a brother who blogs...you may know him as AlienCG or Jasen @ Swamp Gas & Moonlit Reflections :)  The word chosen is BUZZ.

I've had a couple of days to think about this word. I must have forgotten about it yesterday evening, when I deliberately whisked a bee out of the house as it struggled towards the lamp bulbs. I had a bee and I didn't take a picture of it!!! Drat. 

So, I had to go with the other things that are causing a BUZZ around my place most recently.

Here is sullen teen Handsome Lad trying on his Homecoming attire. I might be a little biased, but doesn't he look like he could get the ladies BUZZing? 

Of course we are all a-BUZZ with our Halloween plans. The parties have already begun. Here is Girlie Girl out last night as a hot lady pirate. She doesn't turn 21 until January, so she better not have gotten BUZZed and yo ho ho-ing on rum!

Ah well. I admit that I stretched for this one. But I love these photos and I figure that must count for something. Give me a BUZZ if you'd like to lodge a complaint. Or if you just want to congratulate me on my mad stringing unrelated thoughts together skills. 

As a bonus incentive to anyone else who chooses a word for next week, Jasen is offering $5 in McDonald's coupons to the first person to suggest a word. Can you really pass that by? BUZZZZZZZzzzzz......

Everybody Said It Was a Shame

I am feeling oh so merciful on this lovely Choose and Defend Wednesday. And possibly hungry. So this Choose and Defend will be easy and delicious. Or maybe not so easy. I personally have noticed fine, intelligent people struggling when asked this question. Let's see how you do with it...

Soup

OR

Salad

I know you'll be tempted to worry about your main course or the weather or how hungry you are, but set those things aside! Go with your heart. Please feel free to get specific in comments and answer the questions that invariably come after, ie. "Which soup?" and "What kind of dressing?" Or not. That is your choice too! Choose and Defend. Thank you.

This Musical Message is For Bringing Darkness From Above

How About a Kiss for Your Cousin Dupree

Saturday. Scavenger. Shots. They're so here. They're so now! This week's word, choosen by me, is BLOOM. I hoped this word could be used in several different ways and it can. Not necessarily ways that I have captured images for, but still. I can imagine the BLOOM of color across your face as compliment your way with words or your beautiful, beautiful hair. My voice could BLOOM into song...it would be some horrible flower, but still.

Anyway, here is what I came up with -

This tree is still in BLOOM outside of my apartment. Seasonally, it seems so wrong, but it sure is purty.

 

This is one dangerous BLOOM. Don't get in her way; she is focused on revenge! I owe this one to James @ Why It Matters

 

 Here is the most lovely flower in my garden. Girlie Girl is truly BLOOMing as she becomes a young adult.

 

Thank you for stopping in to check out what the BLOOM is going on up in here. If you'd like to post a BLOOM photo or photos, please do! Big BLOOM County fan? Let's do this thing. Gardener extraordinaire? Don't just talk it, walk it! Tell me where your post is and I will hop right over to admire it. xx

Here I Am in This Uniformish, Pant-Suit Sort of Thing

Choose and Defend Wednesday is here and with it comes your chance to speak your mind and set the record straight! Or you know...you could just talk about your favorite cereal. It varies.  Today, I have had art on my mind. So, I thought, what kind of an art question could I ask? There is so much art! So many mediums, so many apples and oranges situations. Given that, I decided to narrow things down as best I could to a couple of iconic paintings. We can compare them, Choose a favorite and then Defend your choice.

Let me ask it this way...which of these paintings do you enjoy the most?

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1503-1506)

OR

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (1889)

 

There couldn't be anything much more subjective than your own enjoyment of any work of art. So be bold and state your opinion! I'd welcome any other thoughts you have about art and artists...what you might enjoy creating or just what you might enjoy experiencing.

 

Choose and Defend, you little artiste, you!

This Musical Message is For I Know Your Anger

You Don't Really Want Anymore From Me

Another Saturday, another Saturday Scavenger Shots post! This week's word was chosen by Jasen over at Swamp Gas & Moonlit Reflections. He waited a long time to choose, because we kept hoping for another brave participant to join in. Alas, no one has yet taken up the cause. So...he finally chose the word PRAY.  Wasn't sure how to post for this one. As an atheist, I don't, generally speaking, PRAY. Of course, I do think deeply about my desires and how to let them go if  I need to and about my gratitude for the good things that life provides.

In that vein, here are a couple of the good things in life. In my own way, I give PRAYers of thanks.

I am thankful for delicious food. I might even PRAY over these burgers, if saying "omygawd" as I take the first bite counts :)

There is so much beauty in the world. I look on a scene like this with such gratitude. As I said, that is about as close to PRAYing as I come these days. 

Thank you for stopping in to PRAY, in my own way, with me! If anyone would like to post a photo or two or three on the theme "PRAY", just drop a comment and tell me where it is. Blogs, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter...wherever you like to post things, I would love to see what you have!  If you have a theme you'd like to explore, comment! Jasen and I would love to have some more participants in our small creative endeavor. Thanks again :)

That Clinking Clanking Sound

Oh, yes, here we are again, all up on Wednesday. It must be time to Choose and Defend.  Recently (and always, to some degree) I've had my mind on my money and my money on my mind.  I do my best but there is never quite enough. You know the complaint :) Anyway, I thought we could do a money based Choose and Defend Wednesday.

If you HAD to do one of these two things, for whatever reason, which would you rather do?

Borrow $2,000 From a Friend

OR

 

Panhandle Until You Have $200

 

Rules and asides....let's say you can't immediately pay your friend back. You need that money for a legit purpose and they won't see it for awhile.  And for panhandling, you can make a sign, walk up to people, whatever...but you are out on the street asking strangers for money. 

 

The rules of Choose and Defend say you have to make a choice and then defend that choice in comments. It is as simple as that. So what will you do? Choose and Defend!

Gigantic, Gigantic, Gigantic

Happy Birthday to Honorable Number Two Son, Paul Secret Agent Man!

He's 27 as of 4:02 this morning. 

He is one of those quiet types with a biting sense of humor. Secret Agent Man is such a self-contained person...always has been and I imagine he always will be.

He runs a popular Simpsons Tumblr, which you can find here -  Springfield vs. Shelbyville  If you like The Simpsons he's your guy. (That is also why this week's musical message was sung by Montgomery Burns!)

 He is a big Lakers fan and is one of those guys playing a pick-up game in the park.

He lives in an apartment with his brother, Social Animal, just a block from me, but I don't see him that much. Between work and his friends and possibly not liking me all of the time, I know he is busy. But I love him ♥

 Here is an old picture of my oldest four and my nephew. Secret Agent Man is in the green shirt, all buttoned up :) Happy Birthday!

This Musical Message is For Former Gophers

Have a Snack

Like, you know, maybe some TRAIL mix? Yeah, this week's word, choosen by me at the last instant, is TRAIL. I knew I had some nice TRAIL pictures on hand, as long as we don't choose to mind the most literal interpretation ever. I have pictures of various TRAILs, as hiking is one of my few active activities...and I haven't even engaged in that active activity for awhile now!  But I still have pictures. You may look at them - 

 

This is a little rock bordered TRAIL up at the wilderness park in Arcadia, near where I work. It invites you for a stroll.

Here is a narrow TRAIL through the pretty green growth of the park that DR and I used to hike on a lot. It is near our house. For several months the whole of the property was sort of hard to get to, as a dog park was being constructed at the foot of the little hilly area. Now it is open again and will soon be not so hot, maybe we can begin hiking this TRAIL again.

Here is DR walking the flat part of the TRAIL at the top. I'm just the photographer, along for the views.

 

Hope you enjoyed today's TRAIL mix. Seems I will not get any takers, but I still invite you to pose a word. I'd love the challenge of a fresh new word :) Thanks! 

Friday 5 - ID

Hello from the world of Friday 5  I'm going to need to see some ID before we can proceed any further. Yes, this Friday 5 is about identification. Let's begin -

1. What was the last t-shirt you acquired because it identified you as a member of a specific group? (you know, like a faculty t-shirt if you’re a teacher, or a class t-shirt if you’re a student, or a volunteer t-shirt for some event you helped with…) Every year we get to choose a new city employee shirt. I have quite the collection and just got a new one a couple of weeks ago.

2. What was the last event for which you filled out a HELLO MY NAME IS nametag? The last thing I wore a nametag for was probably a library performers showcase. It has been a couple of years though. Guess I don't get many chances to wear my name on my boob these days :(

3. Besides websites and personal computers, how many things do you have passwords or combinations for in order to prove you’re authorized? The doors that leads to the Tech Services area at work.

4. What was the last thing you wrote your name on so that people would know it belonged to you? The sample art project I did for Toddler Time.  Trust me, if I didn't label it you wouldn't know if it was mine or a toddler's.

5. What was the last thing you put your name on so people would know you supported a cause, or were a member of a side? I believe something regarding legalizing same sex marriage. It would be so cool for each and every state in the union to join the 21st century.

Now my identity is confirmed! Do you Friday 5?  You certainly should give it a try! Hope to see you tomorrow for a Saturday Scavenger Shots post. Just follow the TRAIL.

And If I Had a Nickel for Every Damn Dime

Choose and Defend Wednesday has snuck up on me once again. This week I scoured the interwebs for ideas and found the one I decided to pose to you in a BuzzFeed post.  You only have one, brief life to live....or do you? What if you had this choice?

Would you rather live...

One 1,000 Year Life

OR

Ten 100 Year Lives

What do you think...and why do you think it? Choose and Defend. It is your life (or lives)!