Foo Fighters, Puberty Books, Van Halen & Mardi Gras

Admittedly I've been a naughty bird. Being naturally comprised of a very sturdy guilt-laden constitution, I feel bad when I've been "blog neglectful". That's just my nature I suppose, but as a friend (thank you, Susan) pointed out, if you blogged all the time, you would miss out on life. So true, so true!
So. What have we been up to since last I wrote?
We went to see the Foo Fighters. That was fun. And quite interesting to take a 12 year old to. Matthew heard more of the f word in four hours than he's heard in his lifetime. Dave Grohl introduced his band as one bad M-F after another and then topped it off with a p*ssy magnet reference. Now, hmmm. How do you explain that one? I plan to be much more open with my kids than my parents were, but still. Some things are better for little ears not to hear (if you can help it). But, once you enter the realm of rock-concertdom, there's no turning back. Be prepared! :-)

Let's face it. I learned about sex & puberty from my middle school peers and by reading Judy Blume's "Are You There God It's Me Margaret?". Although I was dreadfully confused by her odd "belt" references when it came to matters of monthly feminine hygiene. I just couldn't quite conjure the image up in my mind no matter how hard I tried. Especially having seen the more modern day (circa 1980) devices in my mother's bathroom cabinet. It just didn't all match up. Interestingly enough, recently while listening to NPR they were interviewing Judy Blume and I found she has gone back and updated her feminine hygiene references to make them coherent with modern day. What a relief! I am a bit surprised it took this long, frankly. Imagine how many other baffled unbelted souls there were straggling around like me, worried.

Additionally, where we live, we celebrate Mardi Gras. So this weekend, we attended parades.
(Sorry for the bad photos, but my new camera is on backorder. Ugh!!!!!! And in all honesty, it's not really the camera's fault, but the operator's. :-) Also, important to note, I took these while holding 37 pounds of (mostly) pure joy (Amelia, that is), while being jostled by the crowd. )


We are considering heading over to Mobile or New Orleans on a spontaneous whim to celebrate Fat Tuesday...but since we will be heading over to New Orleans again Friday to see Van Halen, we will probably not make two trips in a single week.
This make will make two pilgrimages to see bands that I loved in my middle school days but was too young to go see then. My parents were still listening to The Carpenters, so it never would have crossed their minds to drive to a town large enough to have a civic center to attend a rock concert (we didn't get one where I grew up until the ninth grade). Now I am playing catch up, albeit many years past their prime, seeing those bands that were near and dear to my heart when I was the same age as Matthew is now! We saw The Police last fall and now Van Halen reunited with David Lee Roth. Too funny!
I do have to say that I wish they still looked like this: