Archive for April, 2007

My Lips Are Sealed (Thursday Thirteen #14)

Two days ago I got my new TMJ splint from the dentist. While it’s far less bulky than my previous one, it’s still pretty obvious there’s something in my mouth that shouldn’t be there. My mom says it gives me “Angelina Jolie lips”. I’m sure my mother meant it as a compliment. There are, after all, people who pay big bucks for Angelina lips. I wouldn’t, but that’s just me.

I prefer my own lips.

I am feeling very self-conscious wearing the splint (I’ll get over it, I’m sure), my new lips are making me lisp and when people look at me, I can tell they are wondering “What is that thing in her mouth?”

Well, unlike Angelina, I can say with absolute certainty that it is not my brother’s tongue. (eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!)

This is the second time in just a couple of weeks I’ve heard someone make a comparison between Angelina and me. Yes, we’ve both been married twice, we both had four kids in rapid succession and ten years ago, I did kind of look like her carrying two kids in each arm and having two more hanging on my legs. I will also agree that Brad Pitt is hot. I’m fairly certain that’s pretty much where the similarities end, though….lips, kids and thinking Brad Pitt is hot. (Not as hot as Bon Jovi, though.)

Oh, and if I had her money, then I would be out adopting orphans, too. Really.

Today is Thursday Thirteen and here’s mine…..

Thirteen WAYS ANGELINA JOLIE AND I ARE DIFFERENT

1. “Angelina Jolie” translates from French to English literally as “Pretty Little Angel”. My name (Jessica) was created by William Shakespeare for a character in The Merchant of Venice. It’s a combination of two Hebrew words, sakha, which means “to see” and Yiskah implying foresight or clairvoyance. This is a good name for me. I can usually tell what’s going on with people and I see everything. Well, okay, almost everything. Maybe I’ll have to limit it to things I only want to see. :)

2. I have an actual last name. I’m sure she has one, too, but I have to use mine so people don’t confuse me with Jessica Simpson :)

3. Angelina and Brad have that awesome “Brangelina” nickname. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to come up with anything like that.

4. At her wedding to Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina wore black leather pants and a white shirt. She wrote Jonny Lee’s name on the back of her shirt with her own blood. I opted for the more traditional white dress and veil sans bodily fluids of any kind.

5. When she married Billy Bob Thornton, she wore a vial of his blood around her neck. Again, I chose for the more traditional wedding ring. I wanted a sapphire instead of a diamond, though. Very Princess Di of me.

6. I’m not that interested in guys who use three names, like Angelina’s ex-husbands. Two is more than sufficient. Using three names has that whole very bad boy, serial killer ring to it.

7. Angelina tends to sleep with her coworkers. Male, female, married..doesn’t seem to matter. Since I work with my parents and the Human Leprechaun, Goonan, I realize my options are a little more limited but… ummmmm…….no thanks.

8. I asked my kids to think of something different between Angelina and Me, The Rock Chick. My kids have decided she is more “goth” and I am more “ghetto”. I don’t even know what that means. Must be my new TMJ “grills”. (That’s right! I know what grills are!)

9. Angelina has lots of tattoos. I don’t have any. If I had her money and could get one removed when I got tired of it, I probably would get one.

10. I’m not a big fan of flying or heights. Angelina flies her own plane.

11. She has publicly announced her fondness for sadomasochism. I have made no such announcement yet.

12. She may have won Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards, but I won the “Who Leaves The Best Comments Award” at Thursday Thirteen a few months ago.

13. Finally, there is the obvious one. I am THE fabulous blogging Rock Chick and she…. is not :)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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My Lips Are Sealed (Thursday Thirteen #14)

Two days ago I got my new TMJ splint from the dentist. While it’s far less bulky than my previous one, it’s still pretty obvious there’s something in my mouth that shouldn’t be there. My mom says it gives me “Angelina Jolie lips”. I’m sure my mother meant it as a compliment. There are, after all, people who pay big bucks for Angelina lips. I wouldn’t, but that’s just me.

I prefer my own lips.

I am feeling very self-conscious wearing the splint (I’ll get over it, I’m sure), my new lips are making me lisp and when people look at me, I can tell they are wondering “What is that thing in her mouth?”

Well, unlike Angelina, I can say with absolute certainty that it is not my brother’s tongue. (eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!)

This is the second time in just a couple of weeks I’ve heard someone make a comparison between Angelina and me. Yes, we’ve both been married twice, we both had four kids in rapid succession and ten years ago, I did kind of look like her carrying two kids in each arm and having two more hanging on my legs. I will also agree that Brad Pitt is hot. I’m fairly certain that’s pretty much where the similarities end, though….lips, kids and thinking Brad Pitt is hot. (Not as hot as Bon Jovi, though.)

Oh, and if I had her money, then I would be out adopting orphans, too. Really.

Today is Thursday Thirteen and here’s mine…..

Thirteen WAYS ANGELINA JOLIE AND I ARE DIFFERENT

1. “Angelina Jolie” translates from French to English literally as “Pretty Little Angel”. My name (Jessica) was created by William Shakespeare for a character in The Merchant of Venice. It’s a combination of two Hebrew words, sakha, which means “to see” and Yiskah implying foresight or clairvoyance. This is a good name for me. I can usually tell what’s going on with people and I see everything. Well, okay, almost everything. Maybe I’ll have to limit it to things I only want to see. :)

2. I have an actual last name. I’m sure she has one, too, but I have to use mine so people don’t confuse me with Jessica Simpson :)

3. Angelina and Brad have that awesome “Brangelina” nickname. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to come up with anything like that.

4. At her wedding to Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina wore black leather pants and a white shirt. She wrote Jonny Lee’s name on the back of her shirt with her own blood. I opted for the more traditional white dress and veil sans bodily fluids of any kind.

5. When she married Billy Bob Thornton, she wore a vial of his blood around her neck. Again, I chose for the more traditional wedding ring. I wanted a sapphire instead of a diamond, though. Very Princess Di of me.

6. I’m not that interested in guys who use three names, like Angelina’s ex-husbands. Two is more than sufficient. Using three names has that whole very bad boy, serial killer ring to it.

7. Angelina tends to sleep with her coworkers. Male, female, married..doesn’t seem to matter. Since I work with my parents and the Human Leprechaun, Goonan, I realize my options are a little more limited but… ummmmm…….no thanks.

8. I asked my kids to think of something different between Angelina and Me, The Rock Chick. My kids have decided she is more “goth” and I am more “ghetto”. I don’t even know what that means. Must be my new TMJ “grills”. (That’s right! I know what grills are!)

9. Angelina has lots of tattoos. I don’t have any. If I had her money and could get one removed when I got tired of it, I probably would get one.

10. I’m not a big fan of flying or heights. Angelina flies her own plane.

11. She has publicly announced her fondness for sadomasochism. I have made no such announcement yet.

12. She may have won Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards, but I won the “Who Leaves The Best Comments Award” at Thursday Thirteen a few months ago.

13. Finally, there is the obvious one. I am THE fabulous blogging Rock Chick and she…. is not :)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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I’ve Got The World On A String

I thought we were supposed to have had enough of silly love songs. Not me. No, the love songs can stay, but if Silly String were to disappear from the planet, that would be fine with me. I’ve been trying to pick dried up/stuck on pieces of it off my patio since Little Daughter’s 13th birthday party on Saturday night.
Which, by the way, I survived.

They should give out medals or something for that.

Each time the doorbell rang, my normally not-all-that-quiet house turned into a screeching sorority, finally gathering together 18 thirteen year old girls, all of whom my daughter claims is her BFF. One of these BFF brought a BF (boyfriend), too.

Poor guy. He appeared to me making some sort of mandatory accompaniment appearance that I thought only married people were obligated to do.

I tried to tell Little Daughter that it’s quality, not quantity and that was too many kids (no offense, but especially girls) to have over at one time, to which, I got an eyeroll and a promise that all of her BFFs were “low key”. Maybe individually, certainly not in a gaggle.

Within two minutes, the slapping and screaming began. This escalated to pushing, shoving and the girls smacking each other in the boobs. I don’t understand this at all. I know I can give those with the “Penis Gene” a hard time sometimes (haha!), but in its defense, I’ve seen my son and his friends kicking balls around, but never kicking each other in the balls.

Each whack, wallop and wham produced a higher pitched squeal than the one before. I was hoping eventually the sound would reach a level not audible by humans, but that wasn’t happening quickly enough so the hubby and I shooed them outside.

Little Daughter wanted to have a s’mores, campfire kind of party which was fine, but with my emergency inside-out-eye lid surgery the day before, my eye was still throbbing a bit and the light and heat of the fire forced me to do my best Corey Hart impersonation and wear my sunglasses at night. I’m a Rock Chick. I can pull that off.

After four hours and several phone calls to parents who I can only assume forgot to pick their up their thirteen year old children at 11:20 PM (sigh), it was over. Thank goodness.

It was exhausting, but Little Daughter had the time of her life. It was worth it.

I’m a good ranter because I can also clearly see the good in things. I not only have a patio of silly string, I have a great family and the world by a string. Life is not only “rantastic”, it’s a beautiful thing, too. Sometimes the view is pretty good from the rainbow.

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I’ve Got The World On A String

I thought we were supposed to have had enough of silly love songs. Not me. No, the love songs can stay, but if Silly String were to disappear from the planet, that would be fine with me. I’ve been trying to pick dried up/stuck on pieces of it off my patio since Little Daughter’s 13th birthday party on Saturday night.
Which, by the way, I survived.

They should give out medals or something for that.

Each time the doorbell rang, my normally not-all-that-quiet house turned into a screeching sorority, finally gathering together 18 thirteen year old girls, all of whom my daughter claims is her BFF. One of these BFF brought a BF (boyfriend), too.

Poor guy. He appeared to me making some sort of mandatory accompaniment appearance that I thought only married people were obligated to do.

I tried to tell Little Daughter that it’s quality, not quantity and that was too many kids (no offense, but especially girls) to have over at one time, to which, I got an eyeroll and a promise that all of her BFFs were “low key”. Maybe individually, certainly not in a gaggle.

Within two minutes, the slapping and screaming began. This escalated to pushing, shoving and the girls smacking each other in the boobs. I don’t understand this at all. I know I can give those with the “Penis Gene” a hard time sometimes (haha!), but in its defense, I’ve seen my son and his friends kicking balls around, but never kicking each other in the balls.

Each whack, wallop and wham produced a higher pitched squeal than the one before. I was hoping eventually the sound would reach a level not audible by humans, but that wasn’t happening quickly enough so the hubby and I shooed them outside.

Little Daughter wanted to have a s’mores, campfire kind of party which was fine, but with my emergency inside-out-eye lid surgery the day before, my eye was still throbbing a bit and the light and heat of the fire forced me to do my best Corey Hart impersonation and wear my sunglasses at night. I’m a Rock Chick. I can pull that off.

After four hours and several phone calls to parents who I can only assume forgot to pick their up their thirteen year old children at 11:20 PM (sigh), it was over. Thank goodness.

It was exhausting, but Little Daughter had the time of her life. It was worth it.

I’m a good ranter because I can also clearly see the good in things. I not only have a patio of silly string, I have a great family and the world by a string. Life is not only “rantastic”, it’s a beautiful thing, too. Sometimes the view is pretty good from the rainbow.

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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Since everyone knows that my superfascination with supermarket tabloid supercelebrities is some sort of superficial desire on my part to be one of them, it should be no surprise that I am in search of supermodel type superstardom by entering blogging contests.

I’m thinking this supersedes the previous millennium’s superhighway to fame by sleeping with the casting director.

Because, you know, that’s kind of gross.

I found exactly the one I was looking for at This Eclectic Life! Shelly is sponsoring a “This Blows My Dress Up Contest” for blog writers whose main purpose is to cleverly gust up a big dose of giggles. Since there’s no better “Dress Blower-Upper” than Marilyn Monroe herself, you can see how I was all supercharged by her contest. I had to enter.

If you’re looking for a great blog to add to your “must reads”, check out This Eclectic Life. No need for superfluous descriptions here. One word and one word only describes her blog and style. Superb.

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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Since everyone knows that my superfascination with supermarket tabloid supercelebrities is some sort of superficial desire on my part to be one of them, it should be no surprise that I am in search of supermodel type superstardom by entering blogging contests.

I’m thinking this supersedes the previous millennium’s superhighway to fame by sleeping with the casting director.

Because, you know, that’s kind of gross.

I found exactly the one I was looking for at This Eclectic Life! Shelly is sponsoring a “This Blows My Dress Up Contest” for blog writers whose main purpose is to cleverly gust up a big dose of giggles. Since there’s no better “Dress Blower-Upper” than Marilyn Monroe herself, you can see how I was all supercharged by her contest. I had to enter.

If you’re looking for a great blog to add to your “must reads”, check out This Eclectic Life. No need for superfluous descriptions here. One word and one word only describes her blog and style. Superb.

Leave a Comment

Eyes Wide Open

I’m not an big believer in proverbs. “Eye” never believed that every cloud has a silver lining, that time heals all wounds or you reap what you sow. “Eye” am, however, going to have to change my mind about “when it rains, it pours”. “Eye” think that one’s actually more of an idiom than a proverb, but whatever. This isn’t English class.

About the same time my TMJ got really bad last month, my contact lens kept falling out of my right eye and I did notice that when I was reading I’d have to hold the paper farther away to focus. I figured my vision had changed, and I’d go get an eye exam as soon as “eye” finished all this dental work.

About a week ago I woke up and my right eye was all swollen prompting everyone I saw that day to ask “What’s the matter with your eye?”. I thought I had a stye and bought some stye stuff, used hot compresses and really by the end of that day, it looked ok. I did notice that the swelling was higher up on my eyelid than a stye normally is, but it didn’t hurt or anything and there’s nothing quite like denial to get you to ignore something that you shouldn’t.

Thursday afternoon, I went for a followup appointment with the oral surgeon and when he walked in, said “What’s the matter with your eye?”. I didn’t know. It looked fine to me before I left for the appointment. He gave me a mirror. It looked very red and swollen. No denying the unattractiveness of that.

So, I called my opthamologist and asked if I could come in on Friday afternoon. When I woke up on Friday morning, my eye looked ok again to me so I figured I had some kind of eye infection, she’d hand me some eye drops and I’d be on my merry way.

Of course not. That would just be way too easy.

After the how-have-you-been pleasantries, she flat out said that my eyes didn’t appear symmetrical and she wanted to do some measuring along with a vision test. Then she poked and pushed on my eyelid for a while and asked if I noticed that lump in my eyelid.

“It’s not a stye?” I asked.

Of course it wasn’t a stye. If it were a stye, she would have asked how long I’ve had that stye on my eye.

She decided I had a cyst in my eyelid and it had to come out. The cyst itself was harmless, but it was affecting my vision and the symmetrical appearance of my eyes. She preferred to “surgically remove it” right then. It would take about 15 minutes and then I’d be out of there.

I asked if it was going to leave a scar on my eye and she said no, because she was going to make the incision on the inside of my eyelid. Eye Caramba! That didn’t sound very pleasant at all.

It was probably best that I didn’t have any time to think about this, research it and subsequently freak out ahead of time because removing this cyst from my inside-out-eye lid not only sounded like an unpleasant experience, it truly was.

Surprising even myself, I was fine initially. The lidocaine injections into my eye lid hurt quite a bit (no matter how saggy I get, Botox injections are forever now out of the question), but then she tipped the chair back, told me to look down and to the left and started the procedure. Even though it was incredibly freaky, I was breathing, relatively calm and very proud of myself for the first 13 minutes.

All of a sudden I felt really hot and dizzy. The next thing I remember I was listening to her tell me I was ok and to fight the urge to move. She would be done in 30 seconds. I obeyed because she was using a very sharp object on my inside-out eyelid, but I was hyperventilating and that was a VERY long 30 seconds.

I told her I was having a panic attack. She agreed at that I was at that time, but she said initially I had pretty much just basically fainted during the procedure. It happens to a lot of people. Not to worry, she said. Ok, sure, whatever. The eye drops I came for would have been so much easier.

It did open my eyes to the fact that maybe there is some truth to these proverbs. If there was a silver lining in this cloud it was that after the lidocaine wore off, my eye throbbed so badly that I forgot for a while how much my jaw hurt. Time is healing this wound, too. It does feel better this morning and I no longer have to hold what I’m trying to read at arm’s length.

I will, however, need to make a trip to the drugstore to purchase some purple, black and blue eye shadow so I can make my eyes “symmetrical”. Fortunately, dark and heavy Cleopatra kind of eye shadow is back, I think. (If it isn’t, I don’t want to know.) The Queen of Denial is going to have to impersonate The Queen of The Nile for a little bit.

Ok, The Rock Chick concedes. Sometimes when it rains, it does really pour.

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Eyes Wide Open

I’m not an big believer in proverbs. “Eye” never believed that every cloud has a silver lining, that time heals all wounds or you reap what you sow. “Eye” am, however, going to have to change my mind about “when it rains, it pours”. “Eye” think that one’s actually more of an idiom than a proverb, but whatever. This isn’t English class.

About the same time my TMJ got really bad last month, my contact lens kept falling out of my right eye and I did notice that when I was reading I’d have to hold the paper farther away to focus. I figured my vision had changed, and I’d go get an eye exam as soon as “eye” finished all this dental work.

About a week ago I woke up and my right eye was all swollen prompting everyone I saw that day to ask “What’s the matter with your eye?”. I thought I had a stye and bought some stye stuff, used hot compresses and really by the end of that day, it looked ok. I did notice that the swelling was higher up on my eyelid than a stye normally is, but it didn’t hurt or anything and there’s nothing quite like denial to get you to ignore something that you shouldn’t.

Thursday afternoon, I went for a followup appointment with the oral surgeon and when he walked in, said “What’s the matter with your eye?”. I didn’t know. It looked fine to me before I left for the appointment. He gave me a mirror. It looked very red and swollen. No denying the unattractiveness of that.

So, I called my opthamologist and asked if I could come in on Friday afternoon. When I woke up on Friday morning, my eye looked ok again to me so I figured I had some kind of eye infection, she’d hand me some eye drops and I’d be on my merry way.

Of course not. That would just be way too easy.

After the how-have-you-been pleasantries, she flat out said that my eyes didn’t appear symmetrical and she wanted to do some measuring along with a vision test. Then she poked and pushed on my eyelid for a while and asked if I noticed that lump in my eyelid.

“It’s not a stye?” I asked.

Of course it wasn’t a stye. If it were a stye, she would have asked how long I’ve had that stye on my eye.

She decided I had a cyst in my eyelid and it had to come out. The cyst itself was harmless, but it was affecting my vision and the symmetrical appearance of my eyes. She preferred to “surgically remove it” right then. It would take about 15 minutes and then I’d be out of there.

I asked if it was going to leave a scar on my eye and she said no, because she was going to make the incision on the inside of my eyelid. Eye Caramba! That didn’t sound very pleasant at all.

It was probably best that I didn’t have any time to think about this, research it and subsequently freak out ahead of time because removing this cyst from my inside-out-eye lid not only sounded like an unpleasant experience, it truly was.

Surprising even myself, I was fine initially. The lidocaine injections into my eye lid hurt quite a bit (no matter how saggy I get, Botox injections are forever now out of the question), but then she tipped the chair back, told me to look down and to the left and started the procedure. Even though it was incredibly freaky, I was breathing, relatively calm and very proud of myself for the first 13 minutes.

All of a sudden I felt really hot and dizzy. The next thing I remember I was listening to her tell me I was ok and to fight the urge to move. She would be done in 30 seconds. I obeyed because she was using a very sharp object on my inside-out eyelid, but I was hyperventilating and that was a VERY long 30 seconds.

I told her I was having a panic attack. She agreed at that I was at that time, but she said initially I had pretty much just basically fainted during the procedure. It happens to a lot of people. Not to worry, she said. Ok, sure, whatever. The eye drops I came for would have been so much easier.

It did open my eyes to the fact that maybe there is some truth to these proverbs. If there was a silver lining in this cloud it was that after the lidocaine wore off, my eye throbbed so badly that I forgot for a while how much my jaw hurt. Time is healing this wound, too. It does feel better this morning and I no longer have to hold what I’m trying to read at arm’s length.

I will, however, need to make a trip to the drugstore to purchase some purple, black and blue eye shadow so I can make my eyes “symmetrical”. Fortunately, dark and heavy Cleopatra kind of eye shadow is back, I think. (If it isn’t, I don’t want to know.) The Queen of Denial is going to have to impersonate The Queen of The Nile for a little bit.

Ok, The Rock Chick concedes. Sometimes when it rains, it does really pour.

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I’ve Got Your Number (Thursday Thirteen #13)

Last week, the calendar gave us a “Friday the 13th” spawning many informative blog posts about the number 13. Since yesterday was Little Daughter’s 13th birthday and this is my 13th Thursday Thirteen, I thought I would hold off until this week to write about thirteen.

Thirteen years ago, we said goodbye to Kurt Cobain and hello to Beanie Babies, O.J. Simpson took an infamous ride in a white Ford Bronco, Tonya Harding almost took out Nancy Kerrigan in the “Why Me? Whack Heard Round The World” and we all learned that “Life is like a box of chocolates” from Forrest Gump, (which by the way, received 13 Oscar Nominations.)

After a lot of research and a trip down memory lane, I’ve discovered these things about the number 13.

Thirteen THIRTEENS

1. Everyone knows that there were 13 original colonies in the United States and that there are 13 stripes on the US flag representing those colonies. What I did not know was the significant amount of “13” things in the Great Seal of The United States.
• 13 stars (in the crest)
• 13 stripes
• 13 arrows in the eagle’s talon
• 13 letters in the mottos “e pluribus unum” and “annuit coeptis”
• 13 olive leaves
• 13 olives on the branch
• 13 brick levels of the pyramid (on the reverse side of the seal)

2. There are 13 major joints in the human body. Shoulders (2), Elbows (2), Wrists (2), Hips (2), Knees (2), Ankles, (2) and Neck (just one of those :) .

3. The “Fruit of Life”, considered to be the blueprint of the universe because it contains the basis for the design of every atom, molecular structure, life form and pretty much everything in existence, has 13 circles.

4. A period of 13 years is called a tridecennary. This word is rarely seen in print and appears only in the oxford English Dictionary.

5. Speaking of periods, women normally have 13 of them within a calendar year. This is because women’s cycles tend to follow 28 day lunar months instead of the 30 day calendar months.

6. The Beatles released 13 albums in their 13 years together.

7. Michael Jackson had 13 #1 hits.

8. If you see the number 13 on a patch worn by a member of a biker gang, it stands for the 13th letter of the alphabet (M) and it signifies they are a marijuana smoker.

9. NBC’s “ER” is currently in it’s 13th season. The real mystery of this is why I continue to watch it. It’s terrible lately.

10. While Dan Marino and Wilt Chamberlain both had success wearing the number 13 on their uniforms, no #13 car has ever won a NASCAR Nextel Cup Race. In fact, some tracks do not even have a #13 pit stop.

11. There were 13 Popes named Innocent. It’s terrible and I am embarrased, but I didn’t even know there was one Pope with this name, much less 13 of them.

12. There are actually 13 Signs of the Zodiac. The 12 you already know plus one more called Ophiuchus. The Western Astrological Zodiac omits Ophiuchus because a few of it’s stars fall below the vernal equinox…or something like that.

13. 13 is considered by many to be an unlucky or “scary number”. There are thirteen witches in a coven and macabre/ mystery writer, Edgar Allen Poe, has 13 letters in his name. There’s somebody else who has 13 letters in their name and hearing it should scare the pants right off my male readers! More frightening than any “Friday The 13″ slasher movie is the should-be-Ginsu-knife-spokesperson…Lorena Bobbit. (I know a lot of women applaud her, but really….that was gross!)

Well, maybe actually hearing her name might scare the pants right back ON you :)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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I’ve Got Your Number (Thursday Thirteen #13)

Last week, the calendar gave us a “Friday the 13th” spawning many informative blog posts about the number 13. Since yesterday was Little Daughter’s 13th birthday and this is my 13th Thursday Thirteen, I thought I would hold off until this week to write about thirteen.

Thirteen years ago, we said goodbye to Kurt Cobain and hello to Beanie Babies, O.J. Simpson took an infamous ride in a white Ford Bronco, Tonya Harding almost took out Nancy Kerrigan in the “Why Me? Whack Heard Round The World” and we all learned that “Life is like a box of chocolates” from Forrest Gump, (which by the way, received 13 Oscar Nominations.)

After a lot of research and a trip down memory lane, I’ve discovered these things about the number 13.

Thirteen THIRTEENS

1. Everyone knows that there were 13 original colonies in the United States and that there are 13 stripes on the US flag representing those colonies. What I did not know was the significant amount of “13” things in the Great Seal of The United States.
• 13 stars (in the crest)
• 13 stripes
• 13 arrows in the eagle’s talon
• 13 letters in the mottos “e pluribus unum” and “annuit coeptis”
• 13 olive leaves
• 13 olives on the branch
• 13 brick levels of the pyramid (on the reverse side of the seal)

2. There are 13 major joints in the human body. Shoulders (2), Elbows (2), Wrists (2), Hips (2), Knees (2), Ankles, (2) and Neck (just one of those :) .

3. The “Fruit of Life”, considered to be the blueprint of the universe because it contains the basis for the design of every atom, molecular structure, life form and pretty much everything in existence, has 13 circles.

4. A period of 13 years is called a tridecennary. This word is rarely seen in print and appears only in the oxford English Dictionary.

5. Speaking of periods, women normally have 13 of them within a calendar year. This is because women’s cycles tend to follow 28 day lunar months instead of the 30 day calendar months.

6. The Beatles released 13 albums in their 13 years together.

7. Michael Jackson had 13 #1 hits.

8. If you see the number 13 on a patch worn by a member of a biker gang, it stands for the 13th letter of the alphabet (M) and it signifies they are a marijuana smoker.

9. NBC’s “ER” is currently in it’s 13th season. The real mystery of this is why I continue to watch it. It’s terrible lately.

10. While Dan Marino and Wilt Chamberlain both had success wearing the number 13 on their uniforms, no #13 car has ever won a NASCAR Nextel Cup Race. In fact, some tracks do not even have a #13 pit stop.

11. There were 13 Popes named Innocent. It’s terrible and I am embarrased, but I didn’t even know there was one Pope with this name, much less 13 of them.

12. There are actually 13 Signs of the Zodiac. The 12 you already know plus one more called Ophiuchus. The Western Astrological Zodiac omits Ophiuchus because a few of it’s stars fall below the vernal equinox…or something like that.

13. 13 is considered by many to be an unlucky or “scary number”. There are thirteen witches in a coven and macabre/ mystery writer, Edgar Allen Poe, has 13 letters in his name. There’s somebody else who has 13 letters in their name and hearing it should scare the pants right off my male readers! More frightening than any “Friday The 13″ slasher movie is the should-be-Ginsu-knife-spokesperson…Lorena Bobbit. (I know a lot of women applaud her, but really….that was gross!)

Well, maybe actually hearing her name might scare the pants right back ON you :)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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