Diary of a Metal Mommy

Started out the day as a puppeteer once again for our church’s Vacation Bible School. No Davey and Goliath this time–just an unidentifiable Elmo-lookalike guy. Tomorrow ought to be interesting…I get to act out with another puppet (reuniting with Char once again as the puppeteer! Yay!) who is Lazarus, the guy who J raised from the dead. Lovely. Then the kids get to decorate grave cloths. Such an up-lifting summer theme, wouldn’t you say? Should be an interesting week!

The other night I went out with my friend Sarah, we had a great time. She’s a friend I met in Missoula, back when we were living there. She and her then-boyfriend were regulars at the Atomic Grind, our coffee shop. To make a long story short, she ended up moving out here and is now living in Saint Paul. It’s one of those ridiculous things that even though we are only across the river–and she works downtown Minneapolis–we rarely see each other. When we get together, though, we fall right back into place and have a great time. This time was no exception. We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen at Southdale. We laughed, we cried, we shopped. Good fun had by all. There was even an Orlando sighting at B. Dalton’s book store. I found a book of Pirates of the Caribbean reusable stickers! Ooooo! Of course my first question was, where shall I stick him?! Hmmmm.

I get another fun girlie night tonight, as I meet my friends Darcie, Sara (different one!) and Anne for dinner and chat.

Whew, it is darn hot out there. (notice I said darn, and not damn. already practicing up for the FM107 show…!) Believe it or not, I started out this roasty-toasty day in an early morning run with Kim around Lake of the Isles. Even though we were out by 8:00, alas, it was not early enough…it was already bloody hot. We ended up walking as much as we ran! But, we made it around, and then over to Yum Bakery for some breakie and chat about our upcoming Undiscovered Divas show. YUM is a great name for that place–the food was excellent, coffee superb–and served in the coolest insulated tumblers! I think I may have to get me some of those! We had a great time coming up with ideas for the show–I feel pretty confident that it will go well.

No sooner did I get home than Coreman said we were running to the Super Target out in Minnetonka. Sweaty, stinky me, with no shower. Ah well. That’s 40, people. You just don’t give a darn. (did you catch that? again, darn.) As we drove a guy passed us and threw the heavy metal salute out his window to me–I kid you not! He must have been showing me his approval of my rear window pimping. I honked back at him. Hilarious!

Meanwhile, the dog obsession continues. Since the Cavalier fiasco I’ve been looking into other breeds that may work with poor Vivian’s allergies. After talking to Vivian’s doctor, I did regain a little hope that maybe something will work out. Sadly, the Cavalier thing is definitely done, (at least for now!) but Dr. Garvis said it’s very possible that there could be another breed that she could be just fine around. ! So of course I’ve been running with that one. The latest ideas are Cavachons, Cavapoos, or Cockapoos. The first two would be so great because as you can probably guess by the name, they are both Cavalier mixes. Of course this could mean that the Bichon Frise or Poodle mixed with them may still not cancel out the allergy-inducing Cavalier part, but I figure it’s worth a try. To make a long story short, we got a hold of a woman who has a Cavachon in Minnetonka, and we went out to visit him today. (what is it about Minnetonka and the dogs that I love?!) His name was Bentley, can you stand it?? The very same name of that adorable Cavalier puppy I put on the previous listing below! Maybe it’s a sign?! It was hard to tell how it went with Vivian, to be honest. She did have one part on her face that seemed itchy, but I didn’t see any hives, and we were also outside in 101 degree weather today. Bentley didn’t lick her much, and I don’t even remember if he even licked her in that spot. She certainly was not sniffly at all. He didn’t shed any hair that I saw, which is the thing with that breed and is AMAZING–so that would definitely help. But we rubbed a shirt on him like we did on the Cavaliers, and we’ll see how Vivian does with that. At least these are a little less money than the Cavs…but not much…! So all hope is not lost. I am not giving up yet. This guy sure was adorable.

Got home, played Scooby Doo, made dinner, and then FINALLY washed my stinky bod. Tonight when Kim and Brian pick up Emily from her play date with Viv, they will stay for a beer or two. Nice. A little bit o’ Kim in the mornin’, a little bit o’ Kim in the evening. Ain’t we got fun?

Last night Kim and I had our orientation for the FM107 Undiscovered Divas thing. We had to be there at 6:00, which was a source of stress being that we had to get onto 94 during rush hour. At 5:45 we were panicking, because even though I had picked her up at 5:15 we hadn’t even gotten off of 394 yet. Yikes! Luckily tho, once we got through the tunnel it was smooth sailing. We ended up getting there with a few minutes to spare, but all of the doors were locked! We had no idea how to get in. Lucky for us we saw another pair trying to get in, and they knew about some security entrance around the back of the building and let us ride with them around to the other side. Whew! Nice Divas!

So we got in and were greeted by some behind-the-scenes people, all very nice. We were immediately handed a sheet with all of the FCC regulations on it, explained in detail by a lawyer whilst we all sat around some huge conference table. Of course the first two rules are “Don’t Talk Dirty” and “Don’t Swear”. I couldn’t help but think to myself, what ever will we talk about?! This guy was anything but stodgy, though, and it was fun and interesting to learn all about it.

After that they took us down some winding hallway to get copies of our driver’s licenses (probably so they can sue us if we break an FCC regulation and they get fined…!) and then gave us a quick tutorial about how to work the mics. We went right into the broadcasting room to see how everything goes. Fun! One person has to sit in front of the window, so they are in site of ‘Rob’ the producer, who basically oversees the show. This person is generally in charge of the commercial breaks and so on. Kim immediately looked at me and said, “That will be you…” eeeek! What have I gotten myself into?! Here’s an interesting thing…I guess radio (at least FM107, don’t know the specifics of all of them) is actually on an 8 second delay. So if you drop the F Bomb, you have to press a red button (the big shiny red button–a little Ren and Stimpy reference there) appropriately called the Dump Button. This will erase your boo-boo and save you from that big-ass fine. Ooops, I should say big-butt fine, as the lawyer suggested watching our swearing in these next few weeks so it doesn’t slip out on air. Dump Button, here I come…

It was fun meeting everyone, although un-nerving to size up the competition and get a taste of what they may have in store. We have no grand plans for our show. We are just going to be us, chatting. The sky’s the limit it seems, with the station…they say we can have call-ins, themes, contests…as long as everything is cleared with them, of course. And that kind of stuff may be fun if we actually win the long-term show. But we both agree that for this first one, we’ll just keep it simple, and hopefully that will be enough! It’s so exciting! I get Pssst, the FM107 newsletter, and here is an excerpt from it:

***Excitement filled the halls of FM 107 this week when all of the Undiscovered Diva finalists stopped by for their Radio 101 orientation. They got a crash course in FCC rules and a brief tutorial on the set-up in the studio. Tune in beginning Monday July 17th through Friday July 28th, from 6pm to 7pm to hear a different pair of radio-host-hopefuls give it their best. Lori and Julia will be in charge of welcoming the Undiscovered Divas into the studio on the tail end of their show, and offering some helpful advice. You can bet this will be interesting.

Check out our website to meet the finalists and hear a clip from their shows. Then when all the on-air try-outs are over make sure you go online to vote for which pair of hosts you think should get their own show.***

So there it is, people. July 26th, from 6-7, we’ll be live, on the air! Listen and vote for us, please! Talk about a dream come true it would be, to win that contest and get that 8 week show. Does that mean I’ll have to stop swearing and talking dirty from then on, though? The horror!

Remember the Magic 8 Ball? Well, question-answering has gone to a whole new level now. Now you can Ask Me Jesus. A week or so ago I was shopping in Patina and came across this gem. So far I’ve bought one for my friend (and Pastor’s wife!) Nancy for her birthday, and then I just had to have one for myself. One never knows when they will have to Ask Me Jesus…and now we don’t have to wait for some mysterious sign! We can get an answer right away! All one needs to do is flip Jesus over and take a peek under his robes. I whipped him out during our latest podcast, we had a lot of fun with him. Of course, we always have fun. Here’s Kim having too much fun on our patio after an afternoon with Lord Fletcher.

Tonight Vivian went downstairs and discovered Ask Me Jesus. She was like, “what the heck is this?” When I told her she immediately asked it, “Is my Mom for real?!” to which it answered, “I died for this?!”

Today I mourn the loss of a dream. A puppy dream. You’ve read how all of a sudden I’ve been inflicted by a serious case of Puppy Fever. Don’t know how, don’t know why, but lately it has been an obsession, a total craving. I am the first to admit that I’m sure it’s a hormonal thing, but hey! Hormones are real, too. And they must be a-ragin’! I know I don’t want another baby, but man. The puppy thing has come on strong.

So even though we hadn’t even gone through the family decision making process as to whether or not it’s really a good time for a puppy right now, I thought it would still be a good idea to bring Vivian to a breeder to see how her allergies would hold up around the Cavaliers, just in case. She’s been just fine around many other dogs lately, so we started to think that maybe those allergies were waning. Sunday afternoon we took a drive to visit Kris at Mystic Knight Cavaliers, where we were greeted by no less than 12 Cavaliers off all ages and colors! Oh man, I was in Cavalier Heaven. The kids were totally delighted, there is nothing better than the sight and sound of puppy-induced giggles. We had brought a shirt and blanket along at Kris’ suggestion, something for Vivian to sleep with and/or wear in the days to come to see if she reacted. Well, there was no need to even experiment with that. By the time we left about a half an hour later, Vivian was itching a spot on her face and I saw that hives were developing. She went through an entire travel-sized Kleenex package on the way home, blowing her nose. (and if I had let myself go, I would have used the entire travel-sized package of Kleenex as well, from crying!) So needless to say, I don’t think a Cavalier would be the healthy choice in our home at this time. Maybe it was the fact that there were 12, but still, chances are…not a good idea.

The next step will be to see what the allergist says. Of course we couldn’t get in until August. At that point we’ll talk to him and see if we have any options at all–possibly one of those ‘hypoallergenic dogs’‘ that I’ve heard about? Don’t know if there really even is such a thing, as often the dog’s saliva can be the culprit, not just the fur or dander. Of course I’m so glad we did all this before we had our hearts broken even more by owning a puppy and having to get rid of it. And of course nothing is more important than the health of my little girl.

But damn. I’m sad. (so sad in fact, that even my dear friend Stephanie was moved to dedicate an entire entry on her blog about my puppy blues! Awwww, what a friend!) When we returned, upon seeing me my lovely husband who understandably doesn’t quite get the idea of spending that ungodly amount of money on a dog, told me that someday when Vivian moves away I can get my Cavalier. Sigh. That’s a long time to have puppy fever. I know these things wax and wane, however, and that’s helping me through. But can you stand that face up above?? Wouldn’t you know, as soon as we found out it was a dying dream a breeder sent me this photo attached to an email saying this little guy was available right now for a very affordable price. Sigh.