Styx is going through a small revival among teens. My street cred increased dramatically when my students learned that I attended the STyx Paradise Theatre Concert, and I brought in my souvenir T-shirt!

I agree about the Disney Channel. I can only just bear The Suite Life, but I do like Hannah Montana, and I ADORED Lizzie McGuire. My boys and husband got hooked on The Amazing Race, but I just couldn't get into it.

Lorie:

Journey - Greatest HIts
Supertramp - Even in the Quietest Moments
Bob Seger - some of his older stuff
and just for fun Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell

Lorie,

Is the ribbon candy you mentioned the striped variety? If so that's the flat version of a kind of candy I used to hate as a kid. I always called it pillow candy because the pieces were striped and looked like pillows you see on a sofa. Only our Yankee friends had that kind of candy out during the holidays. And when you tried to pick up a piece the whole pile would come with it because in Georgia humidity all the pieces would stick together.

Jon,
The stuff I am talking about is not flat. It looks kinda loopy and has a really good flavor. Some pieces have a hot cinnamon taste and others have a bit of anise or clove thrown in. At least that is what it tastes like to me. The stuff we bought at Cracker Barrel was packaged with each individual piece separated by coated corrugated cardboard to prevent breaking (since this was the thin variety) but also, I suspect, to keep it from sticking together.

I was telling a friend over the weekend about the girls enjoying Foreigner and Styx and he said all the twenty somethings he worked with were into 80's rock and were impressed when he told them he saw Def Leppard when the drummer had two arms. Pyromania was one of my favorite CDs. I still play it from time to time, as well as Journey's Greatest Hits. Those were two CDs I bought shortly after getting my first CD player for Christmas one year.

We started a new New Years day tradition in my home. It is a play on the old saying "When life deals you lemons, make lemonade".

What I do is buy a bag of lemons, each member of the family uses a market to write something on a lemon that they didn't like about the previous year. Then the lemons are cut and squeezed to make lemonade.

So in that way we turn the unpleasant things from the previous year into an enjoyable treat on New Year's day as a way to put the past behind us and get the year off on the right foot.

Say, Lorie,

Just what Foreigner songs do your daughters (and the rest of your family) like?

Could it be that one with the verses, "I'm hot for you, child," and "Are you old enough? Will you be ready when I call your bluff?" We can be sure that such a song promotes the abstinence you want to instill in your youngsters, that is, abstinence from any prudish, antiquated self-restraint.

Or maybe your family's favorite is that song that reminds us all why Bush disobeyed a direct command from his superior to undergo a physical exam when in the National Guard, you know, the song with the verses, "seeing double, double, double vision" and "my double vision always seems to get the best of me"? Who knows what can show up in blood and urine samples, right, Lorie?

Herman is definitely one of the scummiest trolls. Here's hoping he joins muirgeo in no longer being here.

This was very much a family post, with opinions included but no politics. And then Herman has to come along and dump the fecal matter of his thoughts on it.

Hey all! I just have to say that my daughter loves hannah montana too, but I've come across an amazing new television program called the Secret Slumber Party Girls. It airs Saturday mornings on CBS and has everything from music to arts and crafts. Your kids will seriously love it! Check it out at www.secretslumberparty.com too.