Welp, my husband got a new Mustang. I was so thrilled when he told me on the phone that he got it at the price we decided on…till I saw it, that is. There’s some bad news. Very bad…My husband told me on the phone that the Mustang is white. He failed to mention that it has blue metallic racing stripes. When I saw it, I almost fainted and/or vomited. All I could think about for the first three days we had it was the Dukes of Hazard. This is because the car made me feel very at one with the Duke boys and their orange car, the General Lee.

I guess that’s not such a bad thing. After all, I have always felt a certain kinship with the Dukes. The Dukes were Southern. I’m Southern. Uncle Jessee made moonshine. Some of my relatives made moonshine. (Not to sell, to give to children who were sick–which is probably more harmful than selling it, but that’s all in the past now.) Okay, so I’m Southern, the moonshine thing, and also I now have a car that in my opinion resembles the General Lee. Realizing how much I have in common with the Dukes of Hazzard, I’ve been thinking a lot about them. Unfortunately, this has lead me to a lot of questions that have gone unanswered since my younger years:

1) Why would they name a character Enos? Is that a real name? It kind of makes me feel dirty to remember this character even though he was really sweet and really in love with Daisy Duke. It was so cute how they were going to get married, but he broke out in hives due to being so excited and had to cancel the wedding.

2) Remember the character Cooter? Now there’s another odd name. Who thought up the names for these characters? Also, I always thought Cooter looked like this family friend. That confused me because the family friend was really handsome, but Cooter was kind of like an ugly version of him–yet Cooter was the one on TV with the hot Duke boys.  It seemed unnatural. He seemed unnatural. He was always waving out of his truck window, never walking around or sitting in a room like a normal person. Always in or under a vehicle (repairing it). His name was strange, and he was just strange. I didn’t know what to make of him. Did you?

2) Is it my imagination, or was Boss Hog always eating chicken? And, if he was always eating chicken, why would they name him Boss Hog? Was this supposed to be ironic? I mean, personally, I would have named him Boss Hog, but I would have made him eating pork ribs or other type of pig (aka, hog) meat…His name just makes no sense. Also, his white suit makes no sense.  Didn’t he (or at least the costume designers for the show) know the thing about how dark colors have a slimming effect? Obviously not…. Finally, why would you always wear white if you’re going to eat chicken all the time? It’s not smart. Boss Hog wasn’t smart. And he was mean. And he had a strange car with horns on it. I didn’t like him. I wanted him to get kicked off the show.

3) Luke Duke. These names won’t stop. It’s fine that it rhymed I guess. But why did everyone think of Luke as the “ugly Duke”? Luke was NOT ugly. But even I thought of him as the ugly Duke boy. I wonder if that hurt Luke (I mean, Tom Wopat who played Luke)? Or was he just happy to be famous and rich? Well Luke, you were just as hot as Bo. Well, okay, not really, but I mean, you were definitely handsome. Also, you were the smart one. The one who looked before you leapt. (By the way, Is leapt a word? You were the smart one, so you probably know. Bo, on the other hand…doubt it. )

3) If Bo was a Duke, why did he look so different from the other Dukes? Look at Daisy and Luke–total brunettes. Bo…bleach blond hair. Kind of like Uncle Jessee (Diasy’s dad). Is it me, or is something’s not fitting together here? Hey, and why are three cousins living together in the first place? I mean, come on. If you need to live with someone, you move in with your brother, not your cousin. And definitely not with your female cousin if you’re a male. The whole family set up…just really bizarre.

4) Roscoe P. Coletrain. I really liked the way he coined the mean name “dipstick.” Did everyone use this term to insult people in the 2nd grade, or was this just a Southern thing? I have to say, though, other than this, I felt Roscoe contributed very little to the show. I mean, the town had like five people in it. How could you be a police officer (as Roscoe was) and never manage to catch two people in a town with a total population of five? Also, Roscoe talked way too much on his CB. Wouldn’t that be like an officer constantly chatting it up on his cell phone these days? Roscoe, cops don’t chat constantly on the job. Perhaps if you’d put your dumb CB down, you could have caught the Duke boys at least ONCE or TWICE. I wanted Roscoe off the show along with Boss Hog. I wanted it to just be Daisy, Uncle Jessee, the Duke Boys, and Enos (except with a normal name like Jeff or Randy).

5) How did someone think of a song THAT good for this show? The song could be a hit country song to this DAY. It rocks. It seriously rocks. I’m singing it right now. “Just a good ole boys, never meanin’ no harm”…well, those words don’t make sense. Did I get the words right? Whatever, it’s a hot song. Someone needs to remake that thing.

6) Am I wrong, or did only three characters on that show have a job? I don’t recall Bo, Luke, Uncle Jessee, or Boss Hog having a real job. I think Boss Hog was a politician, but local politicians for places like Hazzard County don’t make enough to live on. So this means Boss Hog would have to also have another job…but he didn’t now, did he? Maybe I’m wrong about Luke and Bo and they did have jobs. Can someone please let me know? This is really bothering me because all I remember is them riding around in their car all the time. Life isn’t like that. You need money for food and gas, especially when you’re always getting chased by police officers.

Well, I think this covers my questions for now. Unfortunately “getting them out” didn’t help me feel any better. AND as I was thinking through these issues, I somehow started remembering the show “The Love Boat” (I think because at one point it came on the same night as the Dukes–on Fridays)…and then “Fantasy Island”…that show didn’t have issues–it pretty much was just one big dark void of eeriness and confusion, but I loved it for that reason. Also there were good love stories on it, unlike on the “Love Boat,” which SHOULD have had good love stories but didn’t.

Well, thank you for letting me air these concerns. I do hope at some point I can resolve these questions and just kind of move on with coping with the car I now have that has racer stripes.

But not my husband. He suddenly not only decided that he needed a car. He needed a big car. He actually got over the whole BMW or Mercedes type car…He always felt afraid of scratching it or something like that. So he decided the next car will be tougher, a more standard brand, and big.

That would all be fine, except that he can’t just have a big car. It literally has to be the biggest car in the world. Which one? Chevy Tahoe. I think those cars look great. They are very comfortable. But hi, you need to have space to park it. Space is something we don’t have.

So I refused to agree with this purchase. It’s too big. It will use too much gas (my husband’s commute is over an hour each way). And who would be paying for this thing during the months my husband doesn’t work? Me. But not me. Because as I said, I refused to agree with this purchase.

Every time we were out, I kept pointing to other cars, trying to find cars that are big, yet slightly smaller than the biggest car in the world. For example, Toyota Highlanders. Those things are huge. I was ready to compromise. I could have gone for a Highlander. But nooooo. No. Not big enough. How about a Ford Explorer? Those are pretty big. Nooooo. Those aren’t made anymore; also, they don’t have the 3rd seat in back like mini-vans have.  We need that so we can fit our family in the car, plus other people. (What? Who? Why?)  How about a smaller Chevy? Like an Equinox. Those things are hot. And they are big. But nooooo. No, says Husband-With-Void-That-Cannot-Be-Filled-No-Matter-How-Big-The-Car-Is, the Equinox is just like our Impala. Hey! Good idea! Let’s just get another Impala! A used one for like $10,000. Talk about a great idea. But again, no.

Then I got fed up with trying to negotiate. We didn’t talk for maybe 3 weeks, and I wanted to divorce him and move back to Tennessee. Those were some very exciting weeks for me. And I think for him as well! However, as fate would have it, we began speaking again. And I will not be moving to Tennessee as I’d fantasized. And I will not be marrying Hot Boss as I also fantasized. Oh well. Those dreams were fun while they lasted.

Then a miracle happened. The car conversations suddenly took a turn for the better. In fact, it was pretty much a 360-degree turn that made me go from feeling disgusted and sad to really excited. My husband said these magic words: “What about a Mustang?”

What about a Mustang, it IS. I instantly loved the idea. And you know, literally any Mustang will do. I think he’s going to go for the most expensive possible Mustang, probably some type of collector’s edition (is that the right term) mint type gem. Whatever. We determined the price limit. Whatever he finds in that is GREAT. I can’t wait to own that thing.

But wait–then I told him I’m going to drive it. His face fell so fast I thought he was going to faint. Get outta here. So I run cars into walls when I try to park. Big deal Buddy. Mustang’s are tough. That’s why you get them!

And I realized something…I think I’m going to need my own Mustang.

Did you SEE him perform “Hallelujah”??? Oh my goooosh.

And then last night, he sang “The Boxer.”  I’m so all over that song after this competition. It’s the best song ever!

More soon! Sorry so short…Crazy times abound. (In a good way, I mean.)

If you’re not careful, you can get all deep watching American Idol.  I like the show for the singing. But more than that, I like it for the dreams people live and the incredible talent and potential that is uncovered over the course of the show. Often, contestants who succeed on the show are like Adam Lambert–by this, I mean, they were already quite confident and had pretty thoroughly developed their style and vocals prior to even competing for a spot on the show.

But every here and there, a contestant like sweet Lee Dewyze comes along.

He looks like the boy next door. Well, no…Actually, he looks like the boy from a rough neighborhood who probably got into trouble a lot over the years. We don’t know much about him, except that he was a paint salesman at one point. After one performance, Ryan Seacrest quizzed Lee on some extremely strange-sounding colors, and Lee proved himself to be a thorough expert on paint colors. That was pretty awesome. We also know he got fired from a job–maybe the paint selling job–because when asked what he’d given up for all the time spent on the Idol competition, he said not too much, as his lease had run out, and he’d recently gotten fired from his job anyway. Fired. There’s definitely more to Dewyze than meets the eye. He also shared that he’d gotten kicked out of his high school–and added that he’s not that kind of person now. Mhm. A man with a past.  I see.

The thing is, these characteristics–cute, somewhat sketchy past, outstanding voice–actually describe many, if not most, contestants on the show…so what makes Lee stand out? Well, there are his baby blue eyes. They stand out quite a bit. And then there’s his exquisite, clear, perfect pitched, one-of-a-kind voice that in itself is music to my ears (and apparently music to many, many other people’s ears as well!) His genuine modesty and mild-mannered disposition in interviews doesn’t hurt.

So there’s all that…but Lee has one additional trait that sets him apart–his vulnerability. He knows he’s talented, of course, how could he not when he’s made it to the Top 10? Yet, he still doesn’t quite understand the effect he has on the audience and judges. He is already a star. People LOVE him. The judges LOVE him. Usher was the coach on tonight’s show, and after Lee performed for him and left the room, Usher looked at the camera and said “Wow.” USHER. Yet after Lee sings on stage, his face reveals an expression of hope that accompanies a degree of uncertainty that’s somehow unfittingly intense. Hope is no longer a factor in this story. It’s very, very clear that he will either win OR he’ll be a star anyway–like Chris Daughtry or Adam Lambert. Why does he not yet understand that he’s in that league?

He’s still vulnerable. I wonder how long he’ll maintain this sweet and gentle exterior? Will he be like Adam Lambert and become notoriously diva-fied and difficult to deal with? Or will he, heaven forbid, be like David Cooke who turned into an uncontrollable ego maniac? I say he won’t. I am thinking he might be like David Archuletta who is so wildly famous but still seems as genuine as he was on the day he tried out. Of all the contestants I have liked, sweet, mysterious Lee DeWyze is one of my very favorites.

This post won’t be lengthy…As a result of learning about beautiful boy in the above photo, I have been thinking rather than writing–contemplating life, the afterlife, time, and the precious gifts we all are so very lucky to have here and now.

This little boy was James Bulger, and he died almost 20 years ago. He was only 2. His death was not accidental, and the story enraged the local community. Photos and videos of James have touched the hearts of people all over England (his home) and the world. This precious little boy is being officially commemorated through a project:

Here is information about the project and the precious little boy: http://www.justgiving.com/jamesbulger

The project will help save the lives of children whose lives are at risk through a school in England as a safe haven for children who are bullied–specifically those children who are harrassed to the point of serious physical (and psychological) danger. In this shelter, the youths can continue to learn in a supportive and safe environment until they are ready to transfer to mainstream schools again. Classes are set to begin this spring. The project is run on donations.

Please visit this website and see if you feel this is a cause you would like to support. I visited and used PayPal to make a donation. It was very easy.

PS. All donations are in pounds, so if you enter the number “20,” that means 20 pounds, which equals roughly 40 dollars! If you want to donate $10 dollars, enter “5″ into the blank. And so on.