Why should Snow White get all the love?

I don’t have kids. My family is full of late procreators….and quite a few non-procreators as well, come to think of it. Grandmama was almost 40 when she had Dad in 1947. Dad held out until he was 30 until I was born. My cousin Billy was pushing 40 when he and his (rockstar awesome) wife Amanda had Jack. So I figure there’s no hurry, eh?

Instead of my own kids, I have quite a collection of other peoples’ kids who I dearly love. Years of babysitting will do that to you. Of course, a few of the older kids have now married and two even have their OWN children now. I’m only 31. I don’t know if I was the world’s youngest babysitter or if they just are early breeders.

Most of “my” kids are late-high-school /early-college age now, and I get a kick out of seeing who is cheering and who is playing baseball and who chooses to go where for college….and of course all the girls get a recommendation for Phi Mu if they Rush. And I love them all.

But today I’m giving a big, fat, bloggy hug to the One, the Only, my girl MaryLiz.

MaryLiz has been my best girl since I ran into her Mom (one of my former teachers) at the park when they were on a playdate along with her brother, Zach. I broke out the ol’ Mary Poppins umbrella and moved into their world. And much fun was had. MUCH fun. Swimming lessons, dance classes, soccer practices, boy scouts, birthday parties………oh, and Harry Potter. We are all about some Harry Potter.

Somehow, and I’m still not really sure how this happened, Zach has gotten halfway through college and ML is about to graduate from high school.

And I am still driving the same car. But anyway…..

ML told me not too long ago that she had earned the part of Carabosse in the local ballet production of Sleeping Beauty – probably in large part due to all the dance classes to which I drove her! (Just kidding, doll.) So I told her I would most definitely be there to watch.

So the Todd and I put on our grown-up panties and went to the ballet last Sunday afternoon.

Sidenote: One of the things I really enjoy about my little hometown is the importance we place on the arts. For a town of our size, we have a very influential little artistic community. We have two museums, a local ballet company, a local symphony and multiple choral groups. And that’s just under the aegis of the local society of the performing arts. There are also extremely well-executed programs coming from the local high schools, churches and the college. We are lucky, lucky folks.

Y’all. When ML just tossed out “Yeah, I’m dancing Carabosse.” I just figured it was just some role. Some average, everyday role. It turns out I should actually study up on my fairy tales rather than assume Walt Disney is checking his facts.

Because Carabosse? Yeah, that’s MALEFICIENT. My baby girl had the big, bad, villain role. You know what that means? She got the rocking costume too. Everybody else looked like Easter Peeps and ML was swooping all around them like Stevie Nicks with point shoes and a crown. It was very black and purple and veil-ish. She spun delightfully.


So props to my wonderful, beautiful girl. She was splendid. I was so proud of her I cried. The Todd was so impressed that he said…..well, he said a word that caused the lady in front of us to turn around and give us the fisheye.

So, Mary Liz, you were fabulous. I love you, beautiful girl!

Just call me Miss Piggy

You know, love comes in many different forms.

My first loves were all green: The Incredible Hulk, Kermit, and this giant statue of a green knight that stood in front of a bar in Destin Florida in the late 70's & early 80’s.

No kidding.

I think I somewhere misconstrued "a knight in shining armor." And NO, our parents never took us INTO the bar…..it had a little crappy shop attached to it where we bought kites. Gaaah, people.

Later, there was Kirk Cameron, OF COURSE.

Then came the general string of crushes and involvements with various heartbreakers who really existed and that I actually knew. And now I have The Todd.

However, I am thinking of leaving the Todd, striking out for LA and falling madly in love with Jason Segel. I just think he’s precious, and pretty cute, to boot – even when he played the slightly gross friend of Seth Rogen in Knocked Up. In fact, it kind of freaks me out that I found him even the slightest bit attractive in that role, but it explains a lot about a lot of those heartbreakers I mentioned.

However, my Jason Segel love really has come to fruition thanks to a bit of trivia about “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” No, NOT the naked breakup scene. The Muppets. In the movie, there’s this whole thing about the main character (Segel) and his quest to write a vampire Muppet musical. And I thought, “Hmm. I could get into that. Like a musical about the Count from Sesame Street.” And then I promptly forgot about it…until I watched the commentary stuff.

It turns out that the whole vampire puppet bit is in the movie because Jason Segel….the real person, not his character….had the dream of staging a vampire Muppet musical! Now THAT, my friends, is a man after my own heart.

So I was poking around the Internet today, trying to find a clip of the vampre bit to cheer up Chuck the Girl, and I stumbled onto some fabulous news…..Jason Segel is bringing back the Muppets. Chud.com (That stands for Cinematic Happenings Under Development. I know, it got me, too.) interviewed my future main man about the film: “Hopefully it will fall right in the pantheon of The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Muppet Movie. You know, we're trying to make one of those.”

He says they even have a cameo for Charles Grodin. Every time I used to see Grodin on his political show, all I could think of were his wretched dealings with Miss Piggy over the Baseball Diamond. They got you in the end, Nicky Holliday.

So I sat down and weighed out Jason Segel vs. the Todd with a Pro/Con list. And it was running pretty neck-and-neck until I saw this clip, in which I found out that Segel and Neil Patrick Harris randomly break out into duets from Les Miserables when they are bored on the set of How I Met Your Mother.




Muppets AND Les Mis? The Todd is Toast.