AtoZ Theme Reveal at Tongue In Cheek

I bit the bullet and decided to join the AtoZ blog hop this year, and I can't wait. For the past few years, I've diligently gone to visit the participants and enjoyed discovering so many other cool cats out in the bloggerverse.

This year, I've even gone so far as to join the Theme Reveal! So be sure to check out all the other cool kids joining in!

And now without further ado, I give you my AtoZ Theme "She Actually Posted That?-The best reruns this blog has to offer."

Why does Ava talk about sea monkeys so much? Why do the demon rhythms of the polka strike fear into Ava's heart? What exactly is a Polkapocalypse? When did Ava attempt to be a super villian? How long was her reign as the local county 'Possum Queen? Why did she write about Karaoke in the Pokey (prison)? Just how much does she love rummage? Will she entertain us with her musings on mullets or mutton chops when it's the day for the letter M?

The answers to these questions and many more will be revealed during the month of April. I really wanted to participate during this extremely hectic time of year, so the way I could do it was by tapping some of the six years of bizarre posts I have. They'll be all new to anyone who hasn't stopped by before, and for my followers now, there are plenty in here you ain't seen yet. So it's a win/win all around.

 I'm looking forward to meeting new friends to come and visit me in the asylum, and going out to other blogs to check in on the goings ons. Can't wait until April first! Until then, citizens!

The Irish Have Had Their Say...

(Or as much say as those particular Muppets could manage.)

Now it's time for the Scots. This is probably not a workplace video. There's no foul language, but it's bawdy. (I don't think I've ever written the word bawdy in my life. huh. Guess that just shows there's a time for everything.)



Hope this brought a smile to your face!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, y'all! I love that they put these three together for this song. Classic!



Enjoy your day!

The New Computer Came!

I'm using it right now! All the keys on the keyboard have their letters on them. (Several of the keys on the seven year old laptop I'd been using were completely typed off.) It opens a w.i.p. on a dime and will give you nine cents change.

Best of all, no more swirling beach ball! I'm psyched.

It's almost completely set up with the documents and applications I use. I've imported my email settings, but lost my folders, so I need to go through and organize them a little better. But other than that I'm good to go.

So to celebrate, I'm calling an "All Skate". So grab your friends and lace your roller skates. And enjoy your choice of skate song.

Freeze Frame


or Double Dutch Bus


What good stuff's goin' on wit' y'all?

To A to Z Or Not to A to Z

So I was talking to the awesome Susan Gourley at our monthly writer's meeting last week. (Always great to see her.) And I asked her about A to Z. I've been hopping along for the last two years, visiting the hep cats who sign up, yet I haven't participated. But this year, I'm very much on the fence.

April is a bad month for me since it's crunch time for the two environmental field days I run at a local state park for my daughters' schools. It is an undertaking of immense proportions. I did it to myself, so I can't really complain.

(I write two different grade level appropriate curriculum, aligned to state science and environmental standards on the same theme-this year animal adaptations-generate/buy all the materials, coordinate with the park naturalist, organize over 50 parent volunteers who have very little science background to run the activities, and oversee and sometimes run a station for 150 kids who are bused from school to the park. Twice. Without reusing any activities either day.) I know. I'm an idiot.

So I'm in the middle of writing up station lesson plans in a way that will be easy for parents to run, but still get a good dose of science in every part. Plus I'm still writing with the aim at publication. And I'm thinking about applying for a second part-time job. Because really, working with 27 three year olds just isn't enough for me. (yes, I know. Idiot.)

But I wanna play at the AtoZeeee. (can you hear me whining?) So I asked the wonderful Susan if she thought it'd be okay if my theme were re-runs since I have 6 years of them. She said yes. And since she's a Ninja Minion this year, the way I figure it, her word is gold.

But what do you think? Would a "Back When I Was Funny" rerun theme be copacetic?

Are you participating in A to Z this year?

What craziness is going on in your life?

Conking Out Computer

My MacBook, which is about seven years old and has been being very crotchety this past year, is really starting to crap out. Which makes doing any social media a chore.

I've developed a long and harrowing relationship with the stupid spinning beach ball. It's becoming my trigger, like Pavlov's bell. I see that thing and in ten seconds I'm enraged with impatience.

It puts a big damper on my writing as well. It takes literally ten minutes just to open a wip. Then more of my hair is torn out in absolute frustration quality time is spent with the spinning beach ball with every command I give. Don't even get me started on saving said wip.

I've been backing up my computer daily, which, you guessed it, takes even more time to do now than ever before.

So I'm feeling badly because I haven't been getting out to the blogs I love (see sidebar for all the cool cats to visit). It just takes up so much time that I don't have much of.

To help me chill out and get through, I'm dedicating this song to the swirling beach ball. Enjoy some Funk on this Funky Friday. I hope it takes you into a fantastic weekend.

Public Restroom Conversation W/ Youngest Urchin

One thing to know about the Urchins at Chez Quinn is they insist on having either extremely deep, soul searching or utterly bizarre conversations while in the stalls of the ladies room. I'm not sure what it is about public bathrooms that inspire such deep thoughts, but apparently in my girls, it does.

So on Valentine's Day, while at a local restaurant, The Youngest Urchin (who is now six) and I had the following conversation while jammed in the bathroom stall together:

Y.U.- I don't like sensors on potties.

me- Yeah, I know. Your sister couldn't stand them when she was just learning to go.

Y.U. They always flush when you don't want them to.

me- I guess they do when you're small.

Y.U. *contemplative silence* I wish toilets could read your mind. Then they could know when you wanted them to flush.

me- Hmm. I don't think I'd like a toilet to know what I was thinking. That would creep me out. (*Major interior struggle to keep in the dirty mind/toilet joke*)

Y.U. *somewhat exasperated at my limited vision* Well you'd only tell it to flush.

me- Yeah, but it'd still be in my head. I'm not crazy about that. What if you used The Force instead?

Y.U. Yes! The Force! That way it would flush only when you told it to. That's what I said.

me- Oh. Okay. Then I guess I'm fine with using The Force to flush.

The person in the next stall came out at the same time we did. She washed her hands pretty quickly and didn't make any eye contact at all, then scurried out of there. Not sure why. As Urchin Bathroom Conversations (c) go, that one was pretty amusing.

Dear Preschool Mom

Dear Preschool Mom,

Please don't give me your baby to hold so you can help your child with her Valentine project during the party, come back ten minutes later and tell me said baby has a fever and a rash that you think *might* be chicken pox. You know, better yet? Don't bring the baby to a party full of sugared up three year olds at all and expose them to any of it.

If you do that again, I'm going to raise your child's tuition to cover the costs of installing a decontamination shower just inside the door of my home. 

You've been warned.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Quinn

Man, do three year olds know how to party hard. Apparently to them a party isn't a success unless you've gotten icing up to your elbows, a kickin' juice mustache, and paste in your hair. Anything beyond that is bonus.

As you can tell, the parties are planned and run by the parents. So then why am I exhausted? I'm supposed to be writing now since we're going to be buried in a foot and a half of snow by tomorrow. No writing gets done on snow days over here at Casa de Quinn (or Chez Quinn for all my French Canadian silent lurkers).

So as I type, I'm taking a page out of the three year olds' book and juicing up on caffeine. If only I could get a sweet juice mustache going, I know it would make all the difference.

This would be a kickin' diet coke mustache, dontcha think? (picture from yahoo celebrity ca.)

Hope you're getting lots of words on the page, or whatever it is that you love to do- done.

Until next time, Citizens.

Dealing With Loss

ALS is a horrible, cruel, crushing disease. For two years I watched as it eroded my good friend day by day, and the experience changed me. The loss of this creative, vibrant woman has hurt me in ways I've never been hurt before.

At her memorial, as I walked around the displays of her artwork, calligraphy and photography, I saw the woman I knew. As I looked at pictures from her life, we remembered the woman that she was. But I found out some things that I hadn't known before as well. For instance, she could sing like Janice Joplin and would rattle the windows with her rendition of Another Piece of My Heart.

There's always more, isn't there, to friends? Something that never comes up in conversation. Something they only show to certain people. 

The Youngest Urchin, who is six, hasn't taken my friend's death well. She's become more clingy and has anxiety now about me dying. Which is hard for me to take. I've talked with her, but this is her first experience with the death of a person she knew. So we're stumbling our way through together.

For now, I'll send us all off with Janis.



Are there things mourners would find surprising about you at your memorial? Would you want to change that?

One Last Re-Run To Get Me On My Feet

Last Wednesday, my very good friend died of a terrible, wasting disease, ALS. Her funeral was yesterday, and I'm still trying to come to grips with the terrible loss of such a wonderful person.

So between that and the snow day today, I needed another re-run. So here it is. The first of the Polka Apocalypse entries from back in February of 2012. The apocalypse ran through March of that year and into April. I'll have a serious entry after that for my friend, but then hopefully I'll be able to drag myself up out of the pit I've been in and resume some of the zaniness this place is known for. So without further ado, I give you this.

 *****

Remember that polka intervention I had last year for my parents? Well, it turns out that I ticked off some pretty scary people. Apparently there is an underground organization out of Europe who took offense to some of my comments.

And now they've found me.

The terrorizing began innocently enough. Just a random polka heard from a passing car now and then. I started to get suspicious when a schnitzel truck began driving by Chez Quinn at regular intervals. Then they started coming en masse, blasting their polkas and *shudder* yodeling.

I got some footage of them. Keep an eye on that red car, because he's out of control.



Needless to say, I'm concerned.

But they aren't the only ones part of an underground organization. The Gnome Defense League leaves gno Gnome behind. So I started calling in some favors from my wet work days with them. And they stepped up. In spades.

First to show up was Ivan The Enforcer. Known for his Kneecap Knockout.




Then, Timmy Top Shot.

The rest of the crew hasn't arrived yet, but they've assured me through the Gnome Underground Network (G.U.N.) that reinforcements are on the way.

As for now, I'm keeping a low profile since we're still outnumbered. I've been warned they may try to take over here at Tongue in Cheek remotely, but the blog is sacred. That would mean all out war. I'm sure they don't want that.

My sources are still putting out feelers to find out their agenda. But it won't be long.

Power to the Gnomes, Citizens!