Wow. It’s only 5:30 on the evening before Labor Day and Jim’s already on his way home. And! He has tomorrow off. I don’t think we’ve ever had Jim home on Labor Day. He’s in the car business and Labor Day is not a day that the dealerships are closed. He switched his day off from Thursday to Monday this week, I’m not sure why. I know he told me, but I guess I wasn’t listening. I’m getting the kids together now and we are going out for dinner. That’s right, out for a family meal on a Sunday, before 10pm. That’s huge for us. Maybe we’ll even run to Publix tonight so that we don’t have to leave The Compound™ at all tomorrow. And maybe, just maybe, if I’m really good and say my prayers and eat all my vegetables, we’ll have some sunshine tomorrow.

While most of the rest of the country is mourning the end of summer this weekend, those of us way down south are thrilled at the prospect of days in the high 80s rather than the low 100s.  I know we’re a couple of weeks off, but there’s hope now of actually going outside without melting.  All we need to do is get through the height of hurricane season (Sept.) and then we’re on easy street.  And all that pity that you feel for us now will turn to envy as the blizzards draw nearer.  Have a safe holiday!

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About a hundred and fifty years ago, I happened across a little movie called “Hairspray” and fell in love with it.  It was dark and funny and uplifting and I love to watch people dance, so it really worked for me.  When it was made into a musical, I was already living in Florida, so I never got to see it, but a friend sent me the soundtrack and the music was terrific.  

In the interest of full disclosure, I must interrupt here to tell you a truth about myself.  I love John Travolta. Really, truly, love John Travolta.  Not like in a crush that I have on some celebrity, not some object of lust that I fantasize about, but more a true and abiding love that I have had since I first heard him say to Mr. Kotter, “I’m so confused”, in that adorable, dumb guy voice.  I was hooked from that moment till now.  I know that some day I will run into him (hey, it could happen; he lives here in Ocala), our eyes will meet and I’ll be all sparkly and witty and say just the right thing that will capture his attention and he’ll be so drawn to me that he’ll follow me out to my car and say, “I must see you again”. And I’ll toss my hair and laugh and he’ll laugh and then we’ll become best friends and share our homeschooling adventures and our night owl tendencies and we’ll fly to Oprah’s to drink tequila.  

I’ve had two near misses.  Once at Blockbuster, I got there about an hour after he left and once at Pier One, where the employees were almost catatonic, so it must have been mere moments.  And that’s a good thing, because until it actually happens, I can pretend that I’m not going to say something like; “uhhhhh, I love you” and then burst into tears.  Anyway, back to my review. 

I decided not to see the movie version of Hairspray, because I didn’t really agree with the casting of John in the lead role.  His portrayal of Edna would be too sweet, too watered down.  I really felt that you need Divine, or Harvey Fierstein or some great big, larger than life drag queen.  And I was pretty vehement about that.  And like any good best friend, I didn’t want to see something that John had put his heart and soul into, knowing as I did that I wouldn’t like it. 

Last night, it was on HBO and I didn’t have anything else to do, so I decided to watch it, against my better judgement and I have to tell you, I loved it.  It’s such a great story and even though it’s much lighter and more uplifting than the original, it was done so well that I was delighted all the way through.  My misgivings about John in the lead, were not unfounded and it was a very light and almost syrupy portrayal, but in a good, kitschy way.  The entire cast was phenomenal, the music was terrific, the dancing was delightful and I had a great time watching it.  Nikky Blonsky was perfect and Elijah Kelley and Taylor Parks stole every scene that they were in. John Waters’ cameo rocked.  It so fit with my imaginings of who he really is and I cracked up.  I’m so glad that I decided to watch it and I DVRd it so that I can force my kids to watch it during the week. 

“You Can’t Stop the Beat” :silly:

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Really, anymore rain and I think I’m going to scream.  The pond has crested, the pool is overflowing (we drained some out tonight) and the rain is incessant.  I have Chimney Swifts and one got into my fireplace tonight.  I’ve named him Jonathan… get it?  Anyway, he tried to get into the living room so I did some quick research which gave me the advice to darken the room and be quiet and hopefully the Swift will find its way back up into the chimney, following the starlight and the street lamps.  It seems to have worked, but I was shocked at how unafraid this little, tiny bird was.  Hopefully he won’t be flying back in.  As an aside, he sure was cute.

The storm has passed, and it really wasn’t much in the way of wind.  We had gusts of up to about 45 m.p.h., but not for very long.  The problem is all the rain.  Some places down south had up to three feet!  Anyway, I can hear that it’s still raining off and on so I’ll leave you with one of my favorite songs, never more appropriate than tonight.  Grab it while it’s hot. 

I Can’t Stand the Rain by the Commitments

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Looks like we’re going to be just fine.  The new track shows us completely out of the path. Yay!

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Mmm, Universe?  Can I get a break here? kthksbai.

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