The Farns: Word to Your Mother...

Monday, 9 November 2009

Word to Your Mother...

I have a secret.

It's one that I don't share with people (however, I realize I am now sharing it with a lot of people).

Charles doesn't even know.

I only think of it or listen to it while no one else is around.

Yes, it is a song.

I have it all memorized.

Its an oldie but it still ranks high on my list.

I listen to it secretly on the iPod while I am working out.

The song is: Ice Ice Baby by who other than Vanilla Ice!

In fact, this morning it was the first song on the iPod as I was getting on the treadmill. I started dancing/running and hopping. I got so into it that I was waving my arms around in my funky Vanilla Ice dance so much that I knocked the iPod right off it's perch. It crashed onto the belt of the treadmill and rode to the floor.

Listening to the song reminds me of when I was in ninth grade and I went to the Vanilla Ice concert with my sister Eileen (Denise) and some friends of ours. The concert was really crowded but somehow we managed to get to the front by the stage. It was body to body and constant pushing throughout the whole show. I remember because my sister almost got in a fight with a Mexican chick who kept pushing us with her rear end. She was mean but my sister fought back. Vanilla Ice came out on stage, I screamed and danced. Nothing could be better. We jammed to all our favorites and even got to touch his hand at one point. I bragged to the whole ninth grade the next day at school. It was the best day of my life.

I really wanted Charles to be Vanilla Ice for Halloween this year. I think he could pull it off nicely. But no surprise, he wouldn't do it... maybe someday!

13 comments:

Chellese said...: I wanted to go to the MC Hammer/Vanilla Ice concert earlier this year, but no one wanted to go with me. Charles would make a great Vanilla Ice. Make a deal for next year!; 9 November 2009 at 13:14:00 GMT-8
ishybeanie said...: stop calibrated and listen, ice is back for a brand new addition. something grabs a hold of me tightly moves like a harpoon dayly or nightly. will it ever stop yo I don't know glows like a candle..... or something like that. I love it also; 9 November 2009 at 16:09:00 GMT-8
Kristen and Co. said...: LOL! Such a hottie!; 9 November 2009 at 21:37:00 GMT-8
ern said...: michael made me SWEAR i would never post my birthday video from this year on the blog, but someday we will show it to you guys...michael did ice ice baby on karaoke and knew EVERY SINGLE WORD. i have never been prouder.; 10 November 2009 at 07:16:00 GMT-8
Dan and Patrice said...: I hope you're sitting down for this one...you will be SO jealous! I met Vanilla Ice. Yep, it's true. I met him at a party in Dallas....how silly is that. Haha!!!; 10 November 2009 at 08:41:00 GMT-8
Kam said...: Wow. Who knew?! Closet Ice fan, eh Joyce?? I love that song too. Every time that new song "under pressure" (I don't even know if that's the name, but you know what I'm talking about, right?) comes on, I hear the opening, and think it's going to be Vanilla Ice. Then I'm disappointed.

Wish I could have seen the treadmill scene. Sounds like some good entertainment!; 10 November 2009 at 10:45:00 GMT-8
jennejohn said...: I love it! We all have our secrets, right? I can just see the treadmill scene - that's hilarious! You look fabulous by the way. Congrats on sweet Alexandra. I hope we get to see you guys soon.
Lots of love,
Rebecca; 10 November 2009 at 13:31:00 GMT-8
Jen said...: I love that song!!! In fact, your post is inspiring me to add it to my collection.; 10 November 2009 at 22:15:00 GMT-8
JennaK said...: We love that song here. I know we're bad, but even our kids know the words!; 11 November 2009 at 17:38:00 GMT-8
Elieson Family said...: I totally echo Kamber - I think of it every time I hear that song that is something along the "under pressure". And I'm a closet Vanilla Ice fan too. Was not into the hair thing, but still think he was hot.; 12 November 2009 at 06:06:00 GMT-8
PC said...: I am confident that Charles could pull it off. I look forward to the day he dresses up like Vanilla Ice!; 12 November 2009 at 11:00:00 GMT-8
Our Family said...: And I thought I was the only one with the same deep dark secret! I love listening to it as well and still have most of it memorized! Charles really should have dressed up like him! Maybe next year! Jill; 18 November 2009 at 12:45:00 GMT-8
Mike, Jess, Elijah, Julia and Amelie said...: Shocking news! My lands what are we going to do without you guys? Missing you already!; 18 November 2009 at 23:26:00 GMT-8

Books I Have Read Recently

(Let me know what books you have read recently or what your favorite book(s) is. I am always looking for a good book. Here are a few I have read.)

-The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

-Pope Joan by Donna Wolfolk Cross
(Definitely one of my favorites)

-Men to Match my Mountains by Irving Stone

-Life of Pi by Yann Martel

-The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

-Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor of Jordan

--Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
(This is one of my favorite books.)

-Those Who Love by Irving Stone
(This is a book about Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams. It was an enlightening read.)

-I Love You Ronnie by Nancy Reagan

--The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
(I didn't like this book.)

--The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
(I liked this book when I read it several years ago but when I recently re-read it, I did not like it. I guess my tastes have changed.)

-The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
(Begins in 1885, with the British invasion of Mandalay and the capture of the Burmese king and queen, and encompassing over 100 years to modern-day India and Burma (Myanmar). It was a great read.)

--The Peddler’s Grandson; Growing up Jewish in Mississippi by Edward Cohen

-Brick Lane by Monica Ali
(I liked this book a lot except for the middle part where you are reading a bunch of letters written in poor English. I could have done without that.)

-Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks

-Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
(I saw the movie and loved it. It stars Queen Latifah as August and she is great!)

--Power and Glory by Adam Nicolson

--How To Run a Traditional Jewish Household by Blu Greenberg

-Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

-The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

-Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake

-The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
(This is a very thrilling read. I could not put it down. It may not be for everyone though.)

-Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior
by Kate Fox

-The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and John Scherrill

-Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

-Atonement by Ian McEwan
(A very intriguing book and I loved the movie, even though Kiera Knightley was the star.)

-Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

--The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
(Great book about Katherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII's first wife)

--The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
(A book about Ann Boleyn - King Henry VIII's second wife)

-The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
(This one is about King Henry VIII's fourth and fifth wives - Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard.)

-The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
(This book is about Queen Mary, Katherine of Aragon's daughter, and the Queen-to-be Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn's daughter. There is also a fictional character Hannah. I loved it!)

-Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

-The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
(A great overview of recent Afghan history. Check out the bookseller's rebuttal book published this year.)

-Virgins of Paradise by Barbara Wood
(I loved this book. It focuses on an Egyptian family from the 1940s to the present. It was a really good look at Egyptian culture and politics as they have changed through the years.)

-A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

-The Chosen by Chaim Potok
(This is a good look at Jewish life. I liked reading the history of the formation of the state of Israel and the different reactions of various Jews throughout the book.)

--The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

--The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

-Children: The Challenge by Rudolf Dreikurs, M.D.
(I am still in the process of reading this book)

-The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
(I admit, I skimmed this. It was long with too much political rhetoric for my taste.)

--The Hours by Michael Cunningham
(I didn't like this book, I wouldn't recommend it.)

-The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
(This was an amazing book. I could have read it in one night, easily. I could not put it down. It is about an innocent boy living outside the fence of a concentration camp.)

-David O. McKay and The Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory Prince and WM. Robert Wright

-The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
(I loved this book!)

-1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas W. Phelan
(I have been doing this with Abby and it works like "magic!" I even went to a lecture and heard the author speak about the method and it is great!)

-Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

-They Dare to Speak Out by Paul Findley
(A book about an Illinois congressman who lost his seat to the Israeli Lobby.)

---“The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” by John J. Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, and Stephen M. Walt, a professor of international affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
(This is an excellent paper.)

--A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
(I must admit, I did not finish this book. I found it very slow moving and a bit boring. I read about half and gave up.)

--The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman

--Stasiland; Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder

--These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881 - 1901 Arizona Territories by Nancy E. Turner
(This was a great escape. I loved it!)

--Escape by Carolyn Jessop (This is a disturbing book but a good read. It's all about a girl who escapes from a radical FLDS polygamist cult.)

--Tall Grass by Sandra Dallas

--The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
(Doctors took her cells without asking; those cells never died. They launched a medical revolution and a multimillion-dollar industry. More than twenty years later, her children found out. Their lives would never be the same.)

--FREE RANGE kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) by Lenore Skenazy

--Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam by Asra Q. Nomani
(I loved this book. It is a very detailed account of the hajj and her take on Islam.)

--The Year That Changed The World: The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall by Michael Meyer
(Meyer is a myth buster. The myth he tackles in this book is Americans' idea that communist regimes in the Cold War fell because of the United States' involvement. He is an excellent historian. I really enjoyed this book!)

--Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World's Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb
(This book is now on my list of all-time favorites. It was thrilling and so fascinating. I highly recommend it!)

--Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez
(I loved this book. It was adventurous and inspiring!)

--Someone Knows My Name By Lawrence Hill

--The Great Fire of London in the Apocalyptic Year 1666 By Neil Hanson
(I knew of the great fire in London but nothing else. This was very informative and kept my interest. It did get a little too detailed in parts though.)

--Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue and Unthinkable Choices By Mosab Hassan Yousef
(I like this book)

--Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
(Excellent book on the history of China and how it has changed over the century.)

--Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine
(I would read this to my girls one day. It is a good look at the holocaust for children.)

--The Flying Carpet of Small Miracles by Hala Jaber

--Mengele: The Complete Story by Gerald Posner and John Ware

--Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese

--In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

--The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

--The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

--Faith: Behind The Fences: A True Story of Survival In A Japanese Prison Camp by Kelly Dispirito Taylor

--Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

--We Were Not Alone: How an LDS Family Survived World War II Berlin by Patricia Reece Roper

--The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

--Pillar of the Earth by Ken Follett

--Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

--The Cultural Revolution: A People's History 1962 - 1976 by Frank Dikotter

Books I Want to Read

--Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill by Jessica Stern
--Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown by Paul Theroux
--Through a Glass Darkly: A Novel by Karleen Koen
--Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
--The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones
--Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
--The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master Counterfeiter by Jason Kersten
--An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah - A Memoir by Farah Pahlavi
--Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West by Benazir Bhutto
--City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre
--East of Eden by John Steinbeck
-- The Agony and the Ecstacy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone
--One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
--Year of Wonders, a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks
--Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography "Infidel"
--Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke by Patty Duke and Kenneth Turan
-- The War against the Jews: 1933-1945 by Lucy S. Dawidowicz
-- Alicia: My Story by Alicia Appleman-Jurman
--Vintage Sacks by neurologist/author Oliver Sacks.
--Helen Keller's "The Story of My Life"
--I Thought my Father was God (a collection of peoples' stories from NPR's National Story Project)
--Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
--I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles