And onto December...

I do hope you all had a most spectacular Thanksgiving...I enjoyed a delicious dinner with friends, followed by a rousing round of Apples to Apples. I've mentioned we play a lot of games around here...

Friday I ended up going to the doctor, who said I did, indeed, have bronchitis. Ugh, anytime someone brings a cold into the house. I am feeling better, though.

Yesterday (Sunday) the kids and I decided we were sick of sitting around doing nothing, so we decided to take advantage of one of the last nice days of the year, and went to the zoo. I love those last minute, let's just go-type excursions. The zoo was practically empty - it looked like rain, and the holiday lights didn't come on until 5PM, so we had the place to ourselves, and right after feeding time, so the animals were extra active. It was way fun.

Tomorrow starts the countdown to the holidays - we don't really subscribe to any particular religion in our household, so we treat the whole month of December as a time to honor several different religious traditions in an effort to teach diversity and respect. Christmas is our big family celebration, but I will be sure to post our other observances this month. We try to do one holiday-type activity a day, and one of our favorites is driving around looking at lights. I've done this since I was a kid, and now my own children enjoy it as much as I always have. Tonight, as Monkeybutt and I were driving home from the orthodontist (good times), we saw tons of holiday light displays, and some good ones, at that. I look forward to a few trips out to see the lights.

I'm going to make an effort to photograph more this month - look for some pictures of our daily goings-on to come.

Hoorah! This just made me so happy, I'm going to embed it elsewhere

Ok, so I rarely check D-Listed, as I have only a passing interest in all things Hollywood, but my celeb-obsessed, awesome chick friend A knows me so well, and knew that this Muppet loving girl would love this - watch it, love it:

Not so thankful Tuesday - a list of vents and whines

Just for today.

1. The husband had a cold all weekend. Which meant a lot of lounging and whining and asking me for stuff. Also, he doesn't cover his mouth when he coughs. Who taught this boy manners?

2. The Girl came home from school with a fever of 102 today. She was feeling better before bed, but she can't go back until next week.

3. I'm not breathing well. Unfortunately for me, if I get a cold, it goes directly to my chest. Wish me luck.

4. I missed V tonight. Argh.

That said, this is funny. Watch it.

The Mellow Show

Not feeling so chatty...

Which is certainly unusual. No bites in the job search, but still searching. I finally finished "The Mists of Avalon", which I've been trying to read for 3 years now. It was a good read, and went very quickly once I got into it. I borrowed my nephew several times this week, and we had a good time playing. Tomorrow A and I are going to the Ryle craft fair, which should be a enjoyable.

And now I'm feeling sleepy, so g'nite.

Random Weekend Ramblings

I'm feeling lazy today. The idea of actually accomplishing something really has no appeal for me. I did, however, want to get on here and write, just a little...

My friend A came home from Cali this week with the loveliest little presents for me, including a green owl to hang on my kitchen wall, which looks ever so sweet. Thursday I went to her house for coffee, and we made holiday cards. Her's are significantly nicer than mine, but I was letting Gorgeous nephew help, so they have a bit of a "modern art" look going on. Friday morning I got the "Happy Birthday Archiver's" e-mail, so we decided to haul rear up to Mason - I finally found that Hero Arts "Big Owl" stamp I've looked all over the area for (yes I could have ordered it online, but it's so much more fun to be able to walk in somewhere and pick it up.) I also found a gnome stamp I wanted, and got several sheets of Bazzill cardstock, which I love, especially their swiss dot line, which is super cute. I had two little pumpkins with me, both of whom wanted to be held most of the time, and when they didnt' want to be held, they were helping by filling my basket every time my back was turned. I'm pretty sure I burned several hundred calories dealing with those two, but I enjoyed them nonetheless (they're not mine, so they're more fun, you understand.) Anyway, the happy note of the story, besides the yummy lunch at Red Robin, is that I got a buttload of stuff for free, and I stocked up on Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix, which is my favorite. Friday was a good day.

Can you believe how fast the end of the year is going? I was planning out my week and realizing, I'm going to have to get the turkeys soon. Thanksgiving is in less than two weeks! Insanity.

I finally got my college transcripts in the mail, so I will get those into the school district this week, and hopefully I'll have a job by the beginning of December. Keep your fingers crossed, friends, we could really use the cash.

Anyway, it's time to get back to accomplishing nothing.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am grateful for:

1. Fuzzy furry sweet purring kitties who love me.
2. Very cool textured Star Wars decorative paper.
3. My patience. It was tried, and successful, today.
4. Several happy hours with coffee and a good friend, and snuggle time with my gorgeous nephew.
5. Dove Chocolate Brownie ice cream. Speaks for itself.

What are you thankful for today?

Corners of my life

This is not my idea - I think I first saw this on Soulemama's blog, and then somewhere else - anyway I just love to share the more mundane, and yet blissful parts of my life and space. So here is one of my favorites:

This is my chaise lounge. I inherited it from my grandparent's home - where it happily occupied a corner of the screened in porch, providing an ideal napping space for years. It is on my back porch, and is one of my favorite spots for reading, napping, thinking, snuggling. My Girl and I dragged it onto the driveway and watched the Perseids together. When it's chilly I wrap myself in a blanket and drink hot tea on it. I hope it gives me many more years of comfy service.

The hat is a great source of embarrassment for my brother, as I wear it to do yardwork, go to the pool, etc. My kids don't care, and my son is in middle school - the time most ripe for embarrassment caused by parents. So, too bad for my brother.

Stuff to talk about.

Ya know, sometimes I just feel like writing, and I don't have a lot of pictures or a planned post...and that is when I give myself permission to simply write a rambling "here's what I did today" entry, and hope people read and like it.




Today was this perfect, sunny, 70's fall day. I spent a part of it unpacking my van from our trip to Chicago this past weekend, and part of it reading on my back porch, and part of it burning some lawn detritus and leaves. I'm sitting near an open window right now and it smells crisp and cool, with just a hint of rotting vegetation and campfire. I love the smell of fall. So warm and brown. My husband likes to remind me that I'm actually deeply inhaling and enjoying the scent of decay. See, this is why I love him - always ready to give me that kick in the rear of reality. Well, bud, I already knew that, so this time the jokes on you. Hah!



Trip to Chicago - my dad got married to this fabulous woman we all love and we drove up for the wedding. Earlier this year she asked me to sing in the wedding. I have terrible stagefright - I simply do not sing in public anymore, it's too stressful, but I couldn't say no to her. I sang two songs, and my voice didn't crack or sound awful, so that's good. I was very visibly nervous, as evidenced by my first conversation with sister R's new fiance - "wow, you were really nervous, weren't you? I mean, you started to relax at the end there, but you were seriously freaking." Yeah, thanks. Anyway, it was a nice trip, although I packed for November in Chicago, and it was more like spring in Texas, so we spent a lot of the wedding and after stuff very very hot. The reception dinner was held at an Indian restaurant, much to the delight of my kids, husband, and me. Yum. Later we hung out with the sibs, playing Rock Band and swapping photos off our various memory cards (love the digital age) and Sunday we went to Chinatown for dim sum. This was a first for me on a few fronts - I lived in the Chicago area for 30 years and never went to Chinatown. It was this whole convergence of languages and people and smells - we definitely want to go back next time we have some time in the city. The dim sum - my kids loved it. (I love the fact that my kids will try almost anything.) Monkeybutt and sis R were bonding over all sorts of steamed whatevers, and the Girl Child spent much time in her own little blissful world of shrimp and crab balls (and who doesn't love to say 'crab balls.') Admittedly, I did not much enjoy the food - the texture didn't sit right with me. I didn't really go for the food, though, I went for the experience, and that was worth every minute. Plus I got to bond more with my baby niece, who is absolute sweetness and light.





We went for Thai tonight at our favorite place (Mai Thai on Rt. 42 in Florence - so so so good, if you live in the area, you must try it.) Studmuffin and I spent the entire ride over discussing books. This is such a rare occurance, I felt I should jot down for the future. We did not discuss money, or the kids, or health, or anything - books. Namely, Crime and Punishment and Catcher in the Rye - both books he loved and urged me to read, and I have written about in this blog before, so I won't bore you with the details again. He doesn't understand why I need to like, or at least, be able to slightly relate to, the main characters - this was the subject of our discussion, which was actually a discussion, and not an "I'm right, you're wrong" lecture. The kids were actually quiet for the whole thing. Maybe they learned something. Or maybe they were plotting a hostile takeover of the family unit. Who knows. What I do know is I've had enough of eating out for the week - I will definitely be cooking the rest of the week. I want to make soup, but nobody here ever likes my soup. I'll have to find some good soup recipes.

I wanted to add at least one pic today, but I haven't uploaded any from the past weekend, and I felt a need to go back a few years - this was July of 2006. The Girl was not 4 years old yet. We were on our way home from the zoo and she fell asleep - sweaty and loving her new hat. She was so freaking cute.

I should be getting to bed...or at least go read some other blogs, play some Bookworm...etc...

The end of October

See my little Halloween kitty? She was a cutie-pie, and she had a great Halloween. Class parties, trick-or-treating, parties with cousins - good times. And I refuse to turn this blog into a rant on our school's refusal to allow costumes, or Halloween parties, or the district's ban on the word "party" (it's a "celebration" or "festivity".) We have "vocabulary hats" - pick a word and design a hat, then they have a parade. I was irritated - at first - but we had fun decorating the hat, and I didn't have to send her costume in. More candy than could possibly be eaten was collected (and thrown away, but don't tell the kids), and I dressed up as a gypsy fortune teller and told fortunes in my driveway as I handed out candy for an hour.

Then I got bored and went to the party.

The Studmuffin and I celebrated our lucky 13th anniversary on Monday. Wow. And it only feels like 12 1/2.

I have a lot on my mind right now, and my ability to string sentences together is beginning to fail, so I'm going to cut my losses and go for now. Happy dreams!