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(Picture of the wall in my parents' office… ah, the memories.)
Been taking some time off the old blogger. Working through those post holiday whatever they ares. Will be back with gusto soon. When I manage to find a bit more…gusto, that is.
Peace and be safe tonight.
From me (at 2 and at 41), and my family… (and my freaked out brother in 1968!)
Just returned from four days in Las Vegas, to spend an early Christmas with my family there, and now we are home, and guess who's at our house this Christmas Eve Day?
What a nice treat that is, to have a little furry friend to share the holidays with.
Hope you all have a very merry Christmas.
love,
cathy
I really miss Steve Perry. Not the pants or the shirts. But the voice. And DEFINITELY the hair.
I'm what you'd call an unapologetic 80s corporate rock whore. And by "whore" I mean "Super Fan!"
Happy holidays. Don't you go stoppin' believin', y'all.
It's fun to look through old layouts. Sometimes, I come across one that I think, 'Hmmm. Not my best work, design wise' and yet, the sentiment still holds up.
Back in the day of ought-2 (is that '02?) i would scrapbook every day just because it was there. Today, not so much. Although there are stories passing me by as I sit here typing.
Came across this layout, which I used to read aloud in my lecture classes. Some of the journaling feels a little contrived. Just a bit. But the photo of Cole. It's not so much that I took WAY too many photos of my kids in front of white, wrinkled bed sheets. Or that it was about as uber posed and bribed as could be. But what is killing me is the fact that he was three. Three.
Oh my God. Where does it go? The time?
No. I'm not getting all Oprah on you... wouldn't do that. But I wanted to post about some of my favorite things (and refer to myself just this once in third person!) that don't cost any money. Well. Okay. Maybe some will cost a little. But this one? Not a dime, and right now, it's one of my most favorite things.
1. Cole's drawings
He's way into drawing right now. WAY into it. He is also WAY into space conservation, squeezing the majority of his artistic endeavors into the bottom two horizontal inches of any given space.
He makes tiny drawings. Page after page after page of tiny illustrations. OH. MY. HECK. (Side note: I have to say 'heck' now, because Aidan thinks I swear too much and that is a post for another day.) Every single time I see a finished drawing, I want to squeeze him, just like John Malkovich squeezed those puppies in that particular version of "Of Mice and Men."
And most of the drawings are re-creations of various World Series victory celebrations. Page after page after page. Tiny World Series' celebrations. Krakatoa! Seriously. The cutest livin' thing you ever saw.
So the next time I'm moody, and sad, and generally feeling unpleasant and sorry for myself, i need to remember to go look through his stack of tiny illustrations. I mean, anyone (namely, me) who looks at the little guys, with their little arms upstretched in victory, and doesn't stop for even a split second to wonder what it's like to paint the world this way, is a robot.
2. This set of lists from jonlajoie.com. (Please do not click if you are offended by non-pc humor. I'm just sayin'.)
And a further note: I just saw some stuff by this guy (not included in this link), and it is very, very not for kids, or, not for adults who are offended by swearing or humorous portrayals of violence and drug use. However, considering I am on the verge of being banned from swearing by my own child, and seeing how I haven't smoked a cigarette in nearly two years, I am SO justified in enjoying listening to inappropriate humor. Right? Somebody? Anyone? Back me up? No? Okay. Sorry.)
(And a further note, if you're not offended by excessive swearing AND rap music, "Everyday Normal Guy" under his video links, made me laugh out loud. (thank you, Krista !)
3. Raising Sand.
This one will cost you money. I am mesmerized by this collection of songs. Especially this (not a real video) song, Killing the Blues. Who knew they would be so magical together? It's no Kashmir, baby.
4. And finally…I STILL can't not watch this and fall in LOVE with simply being alive and having internet access:
Three things: an iPhone, a puppy, and monkey.
I'm actually joking on ALL three, people. I think readers from the days of yore will remember a time that I can't actually link to, and wouldn't even if I could, but I have to share my new official website: Daily Puppy. (thanks alot, Dan)
Now normally, while I think puppies are cute and all, I'm really not charmed by their mini-canine wares. I know what they really are—small, fluffy packages of evil. However, I cannot stop looking at wee little Maximus and feeling like someone had better chain me to my desk, or I will be the proud owner of a Welsh Corgi by day's end, come hell or high water. (And of course, you have to pronounce it, "max-i-moose.") Look at the little sausage body. It's the most adorable thing since the iPod Nano. No one has told little Maximus that the only part that will continue to grow are his ears, and the length of his little body. OH FOR CUTE.
I am taking a day off from work today. I'm ridiculously excited about that.
And even though I know that the iPhone and the puppy are SO not on the real list, I'm still holding out hope for the monkey.
Finally taking out Christmas decorations would, for most, fall under the subheading of 'good.'
Trader Joe's Roasted Plantain Chips, for me, fall under the subheading of 'evil' because have you ever calculated the points in a whole bag?
And yet they also fall under the subheading of 'good' because when I eat them, it's that old saying, "There's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited!" Um…or something like that.
The cryptic post from yesterday is confusing to some of you and i'm sorry, i cannot clarify until after St. Nick drops by our house. For all of you who didn't read prior to 1 p.m. CST yesterday. It will all become clear eventually.
But that could be said for most of what i write, yes?
Thank you. All of you. Every last one of you.
But most especially, Jill, who is my new best friend (sorry, Molly!)
I have to be very cryptic here, as you understand.
But seriously? the response? You guys ROCK.
i am not worthy.
Thank you.
First off, thank you so much for all your comments yesterday. I appreciate reading how you handle this time of year, and to a few of you who have some trials right now, I'm sending positive energy your way.
We did get a tree last night. I wanted a little tiny sickly looking tree. Everyone else wanted a huge, robust tree. I was out-voted.
I really, really have the tendency to be blue in December (it has become more and more pervasive as I get older) so I'm going to try and combat it with the stupid stuff i normally fixate on, in the other 11 months. Like my hair. And my new look for 2008.
And I'm fairly certain this is going to be a really good fit—emotionally, socially, and fashionially.
The only part i'm not doing is the blackish nail polish. That's just creepy. But the rest is going to be great, especially because i won't have to wax my chest to the extent that Criss does.
Nothing like a church Christmas Pageant to get you in a better mood for the Christmas, right?
The kids' Christmas play was on Sunday. Aidan was in the role of the Hollywood-lovin' mayor of Angel Town who had to be convinced to bring Christmas back to Southern California.
Cole played the part of both a furniture mover and a surfer dude. I was a little shocked when he was the first kid out of the gate to sing by himself. And perhaps even more shocked at the length, or lack thereof, of his pants.
I'm not trying to be a Scrooge, but i'm curious about something… some of my friends and myself find Christmas to be, how to put this… not as fun as it could be? or, maybe a little stressful? or maybe between work and life, hard to fit in?
Do you know of what I speak? and if yes, how do you get around it?
I guess I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that we don't even have our tree up yet, and part of me is already looking forward to taking it down.
