STAY-AT-HOME-DOG: Stay gold, Ponyboy... stay gold.

Are there any fans of the 1983 Francis Ford Coppola movie, The Outsiders, out there? If you're a Patrick Swayze fan, then I assume the answer is a resounding "Oh, yes!" Based on the S. E. Hinton novel of the same name, it's the story of the Greasers, a gang of young men growing up facing hard times when they have little going for them. Two opposing groups, the Greasers and the Socs (pronounced SO-shehz), continually fight against each other and their "turf". The Greasers are the greasy-haired poor kids from the wrong side of the tracks, while the Socs are the snobbish, popular, rich kids from school. Ponyboy and his pal, Johnny, are younger Greasers who are on the run from the cops after Johnny accidentally kills a Soc during a street fight. Anyway, this weekend, Claire decided she wanted to become a Greaser after she found a jar of vaseline in the bathroom and decided to rub the stuff in her hair. Two days and two baths later, Claire still looks like a Greaser. Lord knows there are probably plenty of Socs to be found in Chaska, but hopefully Claire will grow out of this rebellious stage before too long and turn into a Soc (and the starting point guard on the Chaska Girl's Basketball team). Here are a few more pics of Claire modeling her new hairdo...

In other news, Claire was supposed to pose for some pics so we could send Valentine's Day cards to our grandmas and aunts. Unfortunately, Claire was not in the mood for a photo shoot, so I'm just going to post what I have here.
Also, you might recall my Momma is quite the goal-setting machine. In fact, you can't walk around our house without finding a whiteboard hanging in pretty much every room, complete with tasks and "benchmarks for success". Lucky for us, Stew used to sell high quality whiteboards at a modest price, so he still gets a good deal on them from his pal, Candyce (office manager at his former company). Basically, she gives Stew whiteboards if he promises to stop dropping by the office to say "Hello". I guess she doesn't appreciate Stew's ability to turn a two minute story into a drawn out 90 minute tale. And just imagine being one of Stew's old customers... forced to sit through a meeting listening to Stew tell you about why you need to buy his furniture. Speaking of which, Stew says "Hi!" to Katie, Karla, Emily and Sonia... the four interior designers from his favorite Minneapolis architectural firm. These poor ladies had to sit through monthly hour-long lunch presentations while a nervous, monotone Stew who would drone on and on and on about the benefits of the passive ergonomic features of the KI Piretti seating line (all the while having random thoughts popping into his head, such as "I wonder if it's obvious I have no idea what I'm talking about..." and "I hope I don't have a booger hanging from my nose..." and "I can't believe these gals show up for this meeting every month..."). At least they got a box lunch out of the deal... unfortunately those lunches didn't come with a "meeting after" pill they could take afterwards to help them forget what they just went through. Anyway, it appears I've gotten a little off track. What I was going to tell you is that we recently added a whiteboard calendar to our household goal achieving toolbox. The calendar helps Stew remember when to take Claire to school, to the library or to the gym (community center), plus there's a section for listing grocery needs and "to do" items. Here's what February looks like (click the pic to enlarge it).

Finally, here are some video clips from Talk Show with Spike Feresten, a show on Saturday night that replaced Mad TV. I find these clips amusing because they highlight a couple of my favorite TV shows. I hope you enjoy them...