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This week in…: Things from a couch

September 25, 2015 by Jana 21 Comments

Last week I was on Charlotte NC for FinCon15, which is a conference for personal finance bloggers and those in the finance industry to connect and learn and also drink. I mostly did that last one because I am not a finance blogger (obviously). But I did return home with some new friends, great memories, a bag of white chocolate Oreo popcorn (thanks, Tonya!), and a horrible, terrible cold that has been kicking my ass all week.

As a result, I haven’t done much except sit on my couch and so this week, I bring to you all the excitingish things that happened from said couch:

- finished $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America and started Radiant Angel. I also picked up Did You Ever Have a Family and discovered a new bookish podcast, Overdue. Reading doesn’t take a break because you’re sick.
- binge watched “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” so you don’t have to (trust me. The movie? Excellent. TV show? Abomination. Hopefully on purpose). I started “Hand of God” and you should get on that one. And kudos to Netflix for scoring “How to Get Away with Murder” so I can finally catch up on that.
- ordered a whole bunch of storage containers so I can start prepping my weekday lunches ahead of time. Lunch annoys me and I’d rather just take the headache and decision making out of it. Speaking of which, what’s your favorite make ahead lunch? Let me know in the comments.
- booked my room for FinCon16 which happens to be in San Diego next year and also I’ll be doing another mentoring session which I love to do so hooray for that!
- made a list of fall projects I want to work on. They’re easy and not too crafty so I should be able to complete them (I’m obviously still on a completion high from the Literary Ladies challenge). Would you guys want to know what I’m planning to do?
- watched a YouTube video on how to do an upside down French braid because #cheerhair. I *might* have cursed at the child’s coach when she announced this was the style because really, what the fuck? Why is this necessary? They don’t score points for hair.
- read some internet stuff: How to lose weight in four easy steps (it’s not what you think). 10 ways to stay healthy while working from home (really great tips that I definitely need to employ. Especially the one about getting dressed). This story about a man who embezzled $8.7M and hid for 6 years on the Appalachian Trail (there’s a link to the longform story at the bottom of the post I linked to). Why women love crime (guilty. Also, the woman who wrote the article, Megan Abbott, has written a bunch of book, some of which I’ve read. No real point to that fun fact except it is fun).
- laughed at this:

I was more productive from my couch than I thought! Who knew? Anyway, have a great weekend! See you on Tuesday (oh, I think I’m done with Monday posts for now. I struggle with Monday appropriate topics).

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Favorite forgotten hairband songs: A playlist

September 24, 2015 by Jana 29 Comments

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Playlists

Jana of JanaSays.com is in her late 30s, and Erin of TexErin-in-SydneyLand is in her early 40s. #noshame #oldladieswin

Aquanet … Spandex … Blue eyeshadow … MTV … BIG HAIR … all of these things were part of our childhood and teen years. So was the genre of music that gets a lot of teasing (pun intended) and ridicule known as Glam Metal, Hair Bands, Cock Rock….but these bands and songs are beloved by the two of us. In fact, as we got to know each other, we instantly connected with our mutual love of books and hair bands. This is not the list of songs that are played in sports stadiums or classic rock stations. C’mon. Admit it. You guys know Welcome to the Jungle, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and Livin’ on a Prayer. You probably even know Pour Some Sugar on Me, Cherry Pie, and Here I Go Again. (You’re probably singing one of them in your head right now. You’re welcome.)

These are the songs that you have to turn to a specialty station like SiriusXM’s Hair Nation (in the U.S.) for a chance to hear them. Or be an avid fan of this music from days gone by. This list is a combined effort of our favorite forgotten hair band songs.

1. Wait for You by Bonham – 1989 – Do you recognize this name? John Bonham, the drummer of a little band called Led Zeppelin, who died in 1980…he had a son named Jason Bonham. He can play drums too. He had a band that had a song, and this is it.

2. Call to Your Heart by Guiffria – 1984 – Honestly don’t remember anything about Guiffria except this song. And, this is a good song.

3. Edge of a Broken Heart by Bon Jovi – 1987 – Back in the day, pop radio had djs and you could actually call and request to hear your favorite songs. The local Houston station (104 KRBE) had a “Top 8 at 8:00” most requested program. From Erin: “I’d wait for this song to play, so I could record it on my cassette tape each night, so I could have an entire cassette of just this song playing over and over.” The work and commitment we had to give for our favorites…..

4. Burning Like a Flame by Dokken – 1987 – To be honest, we could give you a whole list of Dokken songs of fantastic songs from Dokken, but this is a fave. From Erin: “Is this the time that I tell you about getting my picture taken with Don Dokken when my friend was getting beers or going to the bathroom, and she’s the one that really loved Dokken and she missed the photo opportunity??”

5. Tell Me by White Lion – 1987 – Don’t know many girls
that didn’t find Mike Tramp (the lead singer) pretty dreamy back in the
day. The last time I (Erin) saw him was 2008, and he was still pretty dreamy.

6. Coming of Age by Damn Yankees – 1990 – Once upon a time, a supergroup was formed with a member of Night Ranger, a member of Styx, and Ted Nugent. Fun fact from Erin: “I saw them open for Poison in Fargo, ND.”

7. Bang Bang by Danger Danger – 1989 – From Jana: “They were my
favorite and I was obsessed. Meeting Ted Poley and Andy Timmons was the
highlight of 8th grade.” No other words are needed.

8. Love Song by Tesla – 1989 – Serious now. If you aren’t going to listen to any other of the songs on this list, listen to this one. It truly is one of the greatest anthemic love songs ever created. Yes, we are biased about this list, but we speak the truth about this song.

9. Dirty Love by Thunder – 1990 – This British band has 9 studio albums, 7 live albums, and 22 singles released. Sure, they’ve had a lot of band members in and out during that time…but that’s more albums produced than Taylor Swift or Rhianna or One Direction or many of the other big sellers of popular music.

10. Big Talk by Warrant – 1989 – Awww Warrant. The band known for Cherry Pie. In fact, that song was part of the demise of lead singer, Jani Lane, who died a few years ago from an alcohol fueled death. They really were a talented band. (Feel free to fast forward the first minute of this film clip.) R.I.P Jani

11. One in a Million by Trixter – 1991 – This song hit radio airwaves the same year as Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Poor Trixter was just a little too late for any serious music people to listen to them. Wait. We ain’t about those music snobs anyway.

12. Mad About You by Slaughter – 1991 – Not sure this song made it to the music charts. There were actually some songs on this album that got more airplay. But, we’re rebelling and going with this lesser known gem for our list.

13. Tainted Angel by Southgang – 1991 – We knew this one was a given. Erin loves Butch Walker (he’s the hunk of a brunette guitarist in this video clip). Admittedly, most of the love is for the artist that Butch is now. (No joke. He is a hugely talented singer-songwriter-producer-and yes, guitarist.) Jana saw Southgang in concert New Year’s Eve 1991. Jana frickin’ wins!

14. I’ll Never Let You Go by Steelheart – 1990 – This is Jana’s favorite power ballad, and it was going to be left off the list “because his voice may hurt the ears of others” (that’s actually verbatim), but Erin said “Hell no! I’m totally including Steelheart!”, and here you have it. (Get to the chorus – the vocals are seriously insane!)

You really have no idea how difficult it was for us to narrow down this list. It was like selecting our favorite child or something (even though Erin doesn’t have a child, but she does have step-children, and Jana has one, so obviously, that one is the favorite). So, really, this was more difficult than picking our favorite child. We’re still questioning how
Ratt, Cinderella, Mr. Big, Skid Row, Firehouse, Whitesnake, and others didn’t make this list. But, we wanted to keep it short enough that you may stay with us.

If you’re actually still with us, tell us some of your favorite songs from big hair bands.

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This week in…: Volume 33

September 11, 2015 by Jana 24 Comments

I made the decision to return A Little Life to the library. It’s a wonderful book so I’m going to buy it and keep on the shelf for the winter. It’s just too heavy for me right now. I’m in the middle of Dietland and picked up three new ones–Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes, You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, and $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing. I also figured out that I can borrow and loan books from my Kindle app so now I don’t need a Kindle. Hooray for saving money!
I need to save money because I finally bought a FitBit. I am in love with it and I’m using it to track my sleep as well as my steps. Hopefully this will give me insight as to why I’m so tired all the damn time. The first night I used it, it told me I was restless 11 times. Eleven!!! That’s a whole lot.
Longmire is FINALLY on Netflix (well, season 4, which I’ve been waiting for for what felt like an eternity)! I can’t even begin to tell you how happy that makes me. Also making me happy from TV land? The return of Project Greenlight! Anyone else watch it? Are you as excited as I am about the new season?
You know what I forgot to mention in my post about fall? How much I love fall baseball. You know what’s extra exciting about this year? My beloved Mets are still STILL in first place and someone actually used the words “Mets” and “magic number” in the same sentence yesterday. Barring any epic collapse, my boys will get to hang the National League East Division Champions 2015 in CitiField next year!
Speaking of NY, as today is the 14th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I encourage you to take a moment to remember everyone who lost their lives that day in New York, Pennsylvania, the Pentagon, and the ensuing wars (if you’re curious about my thoughts, you can read my inarticulate post I wrote a couple of years ago).
I finally watched Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time ever. I did not like it. In fact, I forgot that’s the movie I was watching because it bored me so much and this conversation happened:

Husband: Are you even paying attention?
Me: Yes. He stole some shit. Now he’s teaching some shit. I’m all caught up.
Husband: Now they’re talking about the ark.
Me: There’s an ark?
Husband: IT’S “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK”!!!
Me: Oh, right.

Internet reads: Are you Gen X like me (or are you in that weird bubble between Gen X and Gen Y like me)? Then read this post with 29 characteristics of Generation X. Maybe you’re not Gen X but you are creative so maybe check out this infographic of the daily routines of famous creative people. I loved the results of this blogger’s experiment of not complaining for two weeks and it kind of makes me want to try it or one of Gretchen Rubin’s 21 Day Projects (and yes, I’d pay $4.99 for one of her books. I love her). And finally, yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day, so this post from Buzzfeed about the lies your depression tells you is timely and poignant.
Re: Depression. It sucks. It’s the worst thing ever, and if you’re dealing with it, please know you’re not alone. And it might not seem like it now but it will get better. Maybe with medication, maybe with therapy, maybe with time, maybe with all three. But it will get better. And please, if you need help, reach out to someone. A professional, preferably. Especially if you’re thinking about suicide. You can find help at 1-800-273-8255 or via the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website: http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ Your life matters.
And thanks to Ali for sharing this which I’ve unabashedly ~~stolen~~ borrowed:

Have a wonderful weekend! My new couch is being delivered so expect many pictures from my new sitting perspective! You can follow me on Instagram for those.

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This week in…: Volume 31

September 4, 2015 by Jana 16 Comments

Slow news week but let’s recap anyway

Didn’t finish any books this week because I’m having a hard time committing to just one but I did pick up Dietland, Gangsterland, and Galveston because clearly I like one word titles. I have one book left for the Literary Ladies challenge (reading Trust No One for Thriller/Suspense category). SHOW US YOUR BOOKS THIS TUESDAY!!!!
I have approximately no less than 15 pounds of tomatoes that I picked from my garden. Ladies who cook, give me your best tomato based recipe. I can only make so much sauce and while I do plan to freeze a lot, I want to do something with them while they’re still fresh.
My dog has worms. I feel like the worst pet parent on the planet.
Miles logged in my car this week: 239403274. Given that, I’ve been listening to some podcasts and if you’re not listening to Criminal, do yourself a favor and change that. She digs into some pretty fascinating crimes, specifically of the weird and old nature, and each episode is about 20 minutes.
Have you guess heard about the clerk in Kentucky who thinks she’s above the law and has been refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples? Did you hear that she was arrested because there actually is justice? Look, if you want to think same sex marriage is wrong, that’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. BUT. When you hold a public office, or any job for that matter, you are required to follow the rules of your employer, religious convictions or not. If you don’t like the rules, resign your position or face the consequences. It’s that simple.
I started planning my wardrobe for my conference in Charlotte and let me tell you, nothing makes you feel inadequate about your yoga pants and t-shirt uniform more than having to find 4 nice outfits to wear. Not to mention the fact that I’ll be going to bars. WHAT DO PEOPLE WEAR TO BARS??
I’m working on a special post with Erin and I’m very irritated that the songs by one band I need to include are no where to be found anywhere on any streaming service so not only can I not use them in the post unless I use the video from YouTube, I can’t add them to my playlist. #firstworldproblems
Internet reads: Laura Vanderkam wrote about 5 More Time Management Mistakes You May Be Making (I’m definitely guilty of a couple of these). There’s this really cool infographic on Electric Literature with the most popular books of all time. Cracked had a post with the 8 creepiest identity theft cases of all time. And finally, this hard to read chart with the most satisfying and disappointing TV series finales.
In college we called it the suite

Happy weekend! I’ll see you back here on Tuesday for Show Us Your Books! Get your Goodreads ready!

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This week in…: Volume 30

August 28, 2015 by Jana 34 Comments

I liked last week’s list format so let’s keep that going.

I finished Girl Waits with Gun, am halfway through Love May Fail, and am still hanging on to A Little Life. The latter is a great book but so damn depressing I’m just not feeling it right now which is why it’s taking me longer than usual to finish. Picked up Hyacinth Girls and In a Dark Dark Wood. Reset my Goodreads goal to 65 (upped from 50, which I completed).
School starts (finally) on Monday. I’m an underachieving mother so don’t expect any back to school posts on how I’m making my daughter’s lunches exciting or any cute outfits because I let her pick out her own clothes and as long as she matches, I truly don’t give a fuck what she wears or how I’m organized for the school year or whatever else it is that ambitious parents write about. I’ll take some pictures on Monday and that will be it. Then I’ll take a nap.
Speaking of naps, I have been ridiculously, overwhelmingly tired this week. I cannot get enough sleep. I’m wondering if maybe the summer has finally gotten the better of me.
YOU GUYS!!! There’s going to be an SOA spinoff!!! Kurt Sutter is developing it, it’s about one of the other gangs, The Mayans, and I CANNOT WAIT!!!
Another week, another Duggar rant. It’s ridiculous at this point. Today, though, we’re not going to give any more attention to Josh (but Josh? Your “rehab”? I call bullshit. It’s nothing but a calculated move to be able to drum up money and draw back fans with your “redemption story”. I’m on to you and those who spawned you) but we are going to talk a bit about Anna. She’s been making headlines lately, thanks to her brother who’s actively trying to get her out of the house, the fact that she’s absorbing the responsibility of Josh’s actions, as well as that viral Facebook post (which I agree with while adding that, unfortunately, there are too many Annas who need that message but will never receive it). My two cents is this–there is nothing wrong with standing by a spouse who cheated on you (adding that we’re going to pretend it’s all he did because when I add in the molestation, it’s too difficult to continue this train of thought). It is okay to seek counseling and work on your marriage and try to move on from the cheating for whatever reasons you might have. Women do it every single day. The difference between Anna and other women is this: Anna has no choice but to stay. Not only is there immense pressure from her family and church leaders to stay but if she leaves, she will consider herself a failure, that she wasn’t godly enough to make her marriage work. For someone who’s been indoctrinated to believe that her self-worth depends entirely upon being a wife and mother, can you imagine the depression she’d endure if she left? How would that help her kids or her self-esteem (which is probably in the toilet already)? And is it productive to scream that she should leave knowing that she has absolutely no means to support herself or the children? So while it’s popular to say she’s weak for standing by that cretin she’s married to, there’s way more to it and I think, maybe, we should give Anna a break and let her deal with what’s happened (note: this is not at all an endorsement of the horrible way she was raised or the archaic belief system she subscribes to. But those beliefs are precisely why there’s a conflict).
And then there was another shooting by another unhinged nutbag the same week the Aurora movie theater shooter (I refuse to acknowledge their names) gets sentenced to roughly a million years in prison. I’m not saying we need to take away all the guns but holy hell, what is it going to take to make some changes?
I leave for Charlotte in about 3 weeks. If anyone knows of anything free or inexpensive to do, or has recommendations for places to eat or bars to visit, please let me know. I’m at a loss.
The child and I went to the beach the other day. We got there early, staked out our spot, and, while we were in the ocean, a family of 23940937 incredibly loud, obnoxious asshats set up shop approximately 3 inches from our chairs. ON A WIDE OPEN BEACH. There is no reason for that nonsense at all. Respect personal space.
As for internet reads, there were a lot but in the interest of loving my fellow bloggers, the ones you really need to read are Kristen’s post on books and the 7 deadly sins, Ali’s post on the awful way men treat women on dating sites and apps, and Erin’s happy songs (which is similar to a post I did including title because #twinsies). And also this one from Scary Mommy who is not a friend but did share an awesome post about 80s characters I could use in my life right now (hint: John Bender is on the list. So is Duckie. And Mr. Miyagi (oh, guy with the theory that Daniel is the bully? Fuck off. You’re an idiot). And many others. You should definitely read this post).
And your funny of the week:

Have a wonderful weekend! See you back on Monday when we’ll discuss all the things I love about fall.

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This week in…: Things from a couch

Favorite forgotten hairband songs: A playlist

This week in…: Volume 33

This week in…: Volume 31

This week in…: Volume 30

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