The latest entertainment news that is sure to excite my daughter is that the band KISS is planning a tv show for children. My daugther loves KISS. And Bon Jovi. And Guns N Roses. And Elvis. All of these artists and many more make up her ipod listening.

MSN Entertainment

Ready for your kids to "Rock and Roll All Nite"?

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, co-founders of KISS, are developing a children's show based on the band with Canadian production company E1 Television, the company announced Tuesday.

In a press release, the currently untitled program is said to "create a comedic half-hour kids television series that galvanizes the band's iconic personas for its young fans." Both Simmons and Stanley will serve as executive producers, along with E1's senior vice president of kids and animation, Frank Saperstein.

"KISS continues to be the juggernaut of licensing and merchandising, from KISS M&M's to KISS Dr Pepper," Simmons said in a statement. "KISS is a band, but also the only music BRAND. Continuing in our 35-year history of going where no band has gone before, we are proud to partner with E1. Like all things KISS, we intend to make this a very special show for our fans."

No other details about the show have been released.

Saturday found us in the mood to eat German food. There is a place in Houston that we have been meaning to try for some time now but we never seemed to find the time. So on Saturday we went to Rudi Lechner's on Gessner.

The ambiance was nice. The decor was typical German-restaurant decor: pictures of the motherland, lots of  beer steins on display, and a great European beer selection. We had to walk through the bar area to get to the restrooms and I liked the looks of their comfortable-looking old-world bar. I would defintely go back to have a German beer at their bar.

Danny got his usual dish: Jaeger Schnitzel. But he proclaimed that it was not as good as our local Lake Jackson German restaurant, the Wurst Haus. I had the cabbage rolls which were fairly good. The mashed potatoes they served alongside were outstanding.

But my favorite item at the restaurant was the bread plate they brought as soon as we were seated. They included some apple-spice bread that I simply couldn't get enough of and some homemade white bread that was excellent also.

On Wednesday evenings they have live music and a full buffet. Perhaps we will go there again on a Wednesday and give that a try.

A few years ago I was in Los Angeles for work. A group of us coworkers and some spouses went to the Japanese area of Los Angeles for dinner. Just let me say right now that I cannot use chopsticks. Cannot. I have tried many times over the years. I have been coached on the proper technique by actual Japanese people. I have honestly given it my best effort but to no avail. I simply can't get it.

So of course, everyone wanted to eat sushi and drink all sorts of saki. I was nervous. The people in my group were so cosmopolitan (as opposed to us country bumpkins from Houston.) They knew proper chopstick usage and were quite knowledgeable about saki brands.

We ordered our food. I made an effort to use the chopsticks. I drank the saki. Finally someone rescued me from my dilemma. They announced to the entire table that the traditional way to eat sushi was with your fingers. So that is exactly what I did. And to this day, I hope they were right because that is how I continue to eat my sushi.

But the really good part of this story is that I discovered a wonderful store in the Japanese shopping center that sold the most amazing erasers. I kid you not. Erasers. I bought my daughter a few packs. And so her eraser collection was born. And here is what her Japanese eraser collection looks like today (with a few other eraser thrown in from other parts of the globe):

Yes, that is her manual typewriter in the background. She found that at a garage sale several years ago for $3 and I ordered some ribbons for it that cost considerably more than $3. She loves to use that typewriter!

My friend and I used to go to the Dallas Trade Mart/World Trade Center to go shopping a couple of times a year. This place is not open to the public (or wasn't back then). You have to be registered as a business to get in and shop on floor after marvelous floor of everything from housewares to furniture to clothing. The first of each month is called Market Days and the vendors there have fantastic deals that are mostly cash and carry rock-bottom prices.

So here's my story: one day we were at the Trade Mart. I was about 6 months pregnant. We were pulling our little cart around behind us and loading up on good deals. In one part of the market there are escalators. There is a small sign that says no carts on escalators. But we were in a hurry to get to a particular vendor's place on the second floor. So we ignored the sign.

My friend gets on the escalator first pulling the cart. I am behind the cart. We ride up without incident. But at the top, the cart suddenly becomes wedged in and can't get loose. I started to step back down the escalator because I obviously couldn't go up. There were people behind me and they started stepping back down too. But I wasn't fast enough and the moving steps kept bashing me into the stuck cart.

Meanwhile my friend was frantically pulling the cart and I was pushing from my end. It was getting to be a bad situation with people piling up behind me on the escalator. Genteel southern ladies were starting to raise their voices behind me because the steps were bringing them up but they couldn't see what was going on to stop them from getting off.

Finally my friend hauls off and kicks the crap out of that cart. It dislodges and goes flying up in the air but luckily, she still had hold of the handle. She hauls it out of the way and me and all those ladies came tumbling off the escalator. My friend takes off running and pulling the cart behind her. I'm waddling along as fast as I can with my enormous pregnant belly and swollen ankles.

We end up hiding in a shop down the hallway where we collapse onto the floor. We were actually crying and laughing at the same time. I think we had some sort of hysterical laughing fit going on. We were hiding because we broke one of the sacred rules of the Trade Mart about carts on escalators and we almost got caught. Under no circumstances did we want to get kicked out of there and miss out on a whole day of good shopping deals.

Today I was driving my daughter home from school and she was telling me that they were talking about spiders at school. She reminded me of an incident we had with a spider years ago at our house in the country:

We were sitting on the front porch of our house. We had a few people over visiting. Plus there was my daughter who was about 5 years old at the time, my sister, and myself. So we're just hanging out, talking, maybe having a couple of beers and it was late in the afternoon.

Suddenly Toot said, "Mommy look at that big spider!"

I looked and sure enough, it was a huge spider. Probably the biggest one I had ever seen in person outside of a zoo enclosure. Everyone kind of froze and stared at the spider sitting there on the porch.

Someone said, "I think that is one of those wolf spiders." This spider was amazing and scary looking. It was one of those fearsome things that you can't stop staring at but know you should get a shovel or something and take it out swiftly.

And then suddenly we didn't see the spider anymore. It apparently moved at the speed of light because one moment it was there and then the next moment it wasn't.

Of course, all hell broke loose with people running and screaming and slapping at themselves to make sure the spider wasn't on them. I grabbed Toot and we ran down the sidewalk and I sat her down some distance from the house to carefully check her over, making sure the spider wasn't on her.

Finally a couple of us ventured back up onto the front porch to look around for the spider. I believe someone actually grabbed a garden rake or something to kill it with. We didn't even want to open the front door because as fast as that thing moved, we didn't want to chance letting it into the house.

We never found that spider. Can you just imagine the horrible squishing noise it would have made if someone had flattened it with a garden implement?

I came to the Project Runway love-fest rather late. I did not watch the first seasons of it. Every once in awhile as I was changing channels, I would happen upon the show and watch it for a few minutes. But something made me start watching it a few seasons ago and here I am: a full-fledged Project Runway junkie.

My favorite designer this season is Anthony Williams. It is not because of his designs though. It is his hilarious personality. He throws out these one-liners and quips throughout the show and really livens things up. Plus, he is a southerner from that great city of Birmingham, Alabama.

I can't wait to see how he fares this week on Project Runway. I wish they were filming and showing it in real-time or at least filming weekly. But they film months in advance so the ones who were eliminated already know it but can't say a word ahead of time.

Since yesterday, Facebook and other social media avenues have been covered up with comments about that big football game that happened yesterday. These comments came during and after the game. To tell you the truth, I still haven't figured out why people keep saying "Who Dat?"

Here is a smattering of comments that have come across Facebook. I am not attributing these to anyone since some people wouldn't want their private thoughts on view to the entire internets, just their circle of friends.

1. is still in 'shockey.' What a grand finale!!! Dat's how you do it.
2. Since New Orleans won the Super Bowl, does that mean all the "refugees" from Louisiana will FINALLY go home now???
3. Do You Feel The BREES!!!!!!!!!!
4. They are giving all of us off tomorrow since they won and being paid... WOO HOO
5. WHO DAT!!! Enjoy your day!!!
6. Someone has to help. We don't know what to do. Call FEMA asap.
7. is sad the Colts didnt win but I got to see that good looking man on tv!!
8. Careful. The guns are about to start firing!
9. PEYTON IS CRYN LIKE A BITCH RIGHT NOW
10. Omg.... What a sucky year for football

Today we attended an awards ceremony at the University of St Thomas in Houston. It was to recognize students in grades 3 thru 12 for their entries in a writing contest the university sponsored for all of the Catholic schools in our diocese. Our daughter won an award in her grade categoryt. It was a very nice ceremony but also very long.

When we arrived, we parked a few blocks away from the university, right beside the Rothko chapel. Now call me crazy and uncultured, but I've never "gotten" the Rothko chapel. I've been there a few times. It is soothing and meditative. It is also filled with a bunch of world-class paintings by Mark Rothko. These are a series of large canvases painted black. That's it. Plain black. Something basically anyone at all could paint. But the obelisk out front is fairly interesting.

Moving on now.

We walked the few blocks to the university. It was really chilly outside. Normally when our weather forecast here says 60-something degrees and sunny, you should dress for warm weather because it usually gets fairly warm in Houston even in the winter. But not today. So I was freezing!

The ceremony and mass lasted three hours. We sat in folding chairs that were jammed up against each other. I was claustrophic the entire time. I am not normally claustrophobic at all. But today I was and it made me really grouchy and, well, short-tempered. I also couldn't get my purse to sit right in front of my folding chair and I finally leaned over and jammed it sideways under the bottom rung of the chair so I wouldn't trip over it with all the standing up and sitting down that we were doing. Then I tried to somehow arrange the paperwork they gave us, my camera with the huge lense, and my cashmere wrap (in case of frigid temps), under the seat.

By the time the three hours was up, my claustrophobia had gotten the best of me and I couldn't wait to get out of there and walk the three frigid blocks back to the car parked by that damn boring Rothko chapel.

And now I am off to take a bubble bath and recover from my uncharacteristic grouchiness.

The End

Today I was standing in line at the CVS. Directly in front of me was a petite woman wearing jeans, high heel boots, and a cute jacket with a scarf thrown over her left shoulder. Her hair was dyed a perfect blond with highlights and cut in a bob with the ends flipped up.

Then she turned around.

And OMG! She was probably 70-ish years old. With all the wrinkles to prove it.

I think I stood there with my mouth open. I even turned and looked at the woman behind me and she had the exact same stunned look on her face. Here's my take-away from this incident:

1. On the one hand, I think more power to ya! to this woman for not dressing like a grandma and for keeping her hair looking so nice and groomed.
2. On the other hand, I think this is just deceiving the general public. I don't like standing around with my mouth open. A fly could happen by and end up flying into my gaping mouth.
3. And just think if this woman went to a bar: she'd be standing there leaning against the bar with her back to the pool tables. Some young buck would spy her and saunter up to offer to buy her a drink. Then she'd turn around. And the poor fellow would have to figure out how to get the heck out of that situation.
4. This reminds of one time when I was in San Francisco. I was walking down the street behind this woman who was perfectly dressed in a elegant wool coat with killer-nice heels on and a great hair style. She was navigating the San Francisco hills with great skill considering the heels. Then she stopped at a red light waiting to cross the street and I caught up with her. Turned out it was a man. Dressed as a woman.
5. This tells me I should stop judging people by how they look from the back.