Half-woman, half-muppet is seduced by pudding

I took screenshots of the above pictures on my phone this afternoon and posted them to Instagram with the caption, "Stay tuned for my story 'George Brandis' uncanny resemblance to Dr Bunsen Honeydew'."  

I went back in the photo gallery on my phone later and was greeted with this: 

I'M HALF WOMAN, HALF MUPPET!!!!

That top photo is me admiring the majesty of my high quiff (although I don't think the true majesty is captured in this photo). 

I went out this morning for a muffin, but I got sidetracked by a small gourmet market that had set up near the ATM I'd visited for muffin funds. I was seduced by pudding at the Pud stall and spent $18 on a selection of chocolate coated pudding balls. 

Cranberry and white chocolate pudding ball 

Bloody expensive muffin substitute! Not that I ate the whole packet of six pudding balls in one go - they were far too rich for that - but I did eat five of the tiny puddings over the course of morning and afternoon tea and I actually saved one pudding for Luke (please admire my restraint).

I'm not a massive fan of Christmas pudding or fruit cake generally, but once I tasted a couple of the samples at the stall, I had to have me some pudding. They're made in Castlemaine in central Victoria from a secret family recipe. 

I love the word pudding. And pud. Luke thinks it's funnier if you pronounce it to rhyme with mud, but I disagree. Pud is good. Gotta love a good pud. Or you should. 

I'll go now.  

More Muppets...and wuv, tru wuv*

I laughed so hard today that I cried a little bit. I went to see Muppet History 101, a series of clips of Jim Henson's early work, one of which was the first appearance of those pink and orange tubal creatures dancing to the jaunty Java tune. It's ridiculously hilarious (like most Muppet skits really!) and I laughed and laughed til I was wiping away tears. I remembered a later version of the skit from The Muppet Show when I was a kid so it had nostalgia value too.

Here is the modern version.

I love it - especially the way the big Java (as they came to be known) takes it so seriously. But it doesn't tickle my funny bone quite as much as the original black and white version where the big Java dances a little more manically (it's rare footage - not lying about on YouTube).

Muppets and sex v2.0

If you thought I couldn't work Muppets and sex into another post, think again! My favourite Muppet is Grover. He's nerdy, kind and well mannered...similar traits to those I look for in a man now that I think of it. Hmmmmm. Anyway, I have a plush Grover who sits on my bed and the last thing I do when I make my bed is to plop Grover down against the pillows.

Sometimes, to my never-ending amusement, he lands in quite a saucy pose. He reclines against the pillow with his legs parted and his arms out in a gesture of invitation. I imagine he's saying, "Oh, hello there ladeeeeeeeez. Come on. Come and get some furry blue monster loving. I know you want me." (It helps if you read that in Grover's voice in your head).

Here he is....

Love and sex

I don't normally read the letters to the editor in the Sunday newspaper magazines, but today I'm glad I did. This is what a woman from New South Wales wrote -

"Sex is awesome when you're young but real love is so much more than that ("Sex and the Suburbs", August 17). My partner of 28 years and I were washing up at the end of a long day. Nat King Cole came on the radio, singing "When I fall in love, it will be forever", and we danced closely around the kitchen with our aprons on. My head was on his shoulder. He is in his late 70s and we don't know how much longer we will have together but we prize every minute and go to sleep holding hands. Real love is a beautiful and tenuous thing - and unexpected. Hold onto it with both hands wherever and from whomever it comes."

We hear so much about marriage breakdown these days and not enough real-life love stories like this one, I think.

My fave word family welcomes two new additions

Puppet. It's just a funny, cutesy word. I heard it a lot today during Muppet History 101.

Cumulonimbus (the fluffy cloud - see comments on Hatches, cool clouds and spaving). I love the way it rolls off the tongue. Sadly, it's not a word you can slip into everyday conversation (unless you're a meteorologist, I guess).

* I'm quoting from The Princess Bride there just in case you thought it was sickening schnookum-wookums talk.

What are your fond memories of The Muppet Show? Who's your favourite Muppet and why? Am I the only 30-something with a stuffed toy on her bed? Got any tru wuv stories to share (yours or others')?

Sunshine, Muppets and soft-porn

Mother Nature turned on a textbook sunshiney morning for the first day of spring. I woke up to warm yellow light flooding in my windows. It was still an hour before my alarm was due to go off though and I was very cosy and comfy in bed, so I rolled over and had a little week day "sleep in". Aaaahhh. I love that.

I walked to work under a perfect blue sky and I got nearly all the green lights on the way, too. It pleases me when the little green man appears just as I reach the curb, and I can cross the road without breaking my stride. I don't know why. Maybe it allows me the brief illusion that the world around me is running on my schedule?

You know that silly song Mahna Mahna from The Muppet Show (and numerous ads since)? Mahna mahna do-do-do-do-do and so on? A friend told me yesterday that it was originally from a soft-porn movie. Haw haw! I googled it on my lunch break today, and it's true! A song sung by furry puppets on a family show was first heard in rudie movie!

It was written by Italian composer Piero Umiliani for a 1968 Italian mondo movie about life in Sweden called Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden, Heaven and Hell). According to IMDb, the movie "shows contraceptives for teen girls, lesbian nightclubs, wife swapping, porno movies, biker gangs, and Walpurgis Night celebrations. It also examines Sweden's purported drug, drinking and suicide problems." Whoah!

I'd post the clip from Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso if I could figure out how to, so click here if you want to see. Despite the subject matter of the movie, this snippet is pretty tame - a bunch of fully clothed Swedish women gambolling through the snow and sitting be-towelled in the sauna. No boobies.

Hmmm...Muppets and soft porn. Maybe not an auspicious start to this blog.

Anyone else have any little moments of glee to share?