Sunday art

Lazy today. I noticed this artist on Blogger Play the other day. Nice, isn't it?

Cristian Iancu - this is his blog; google didn't give me any English results (he is Romanian). So he's a mystery.

But take a stroll through the blog, there are some nice photos. I like Parcul Cismigui.

Big Game

This is for a contest over at http://www.officetally.com/.... go visit if you like The Office

De-funk-ifying

I'm in a crappy mood. Well, I've worked my way up to semi-crappy, with tea and homemade raisin bread. Various reasons for the mood, all of them things I don't want to get into here.

So, today the better eating/ less drinking wine starts again. Enough is enough! No more big piles of cookies, and I'm going to get on the treadmill today at 1:30. (Assuming my garage floor really IS dried out from our recent flood which I won't talk/weep about further, but I will check that floor carefully firszzzzzt.)

Only 154 days until the next Freihofer run. Twenty two weeks. So if I walk for a week, then add 1/7 of a mile of running each week on the days I run, I can do this right? I'm sure that's not a proper training plan but it's kind of funny, isn't it?

We are watching the football game tonight, since we don't have any other plans, and we'll probably have some family over to just to hang out. This will motivate me to clean a few things up (and clean out the fridge, which is scary since everything is completely crammed into it to defend against the mice)

Speaking of mice... we killed four... the traps have been undisturbed for 3 nights. Cross your fingers for me. BLAH.

I need to get back to my cleanup projects. Didn't get very far yet. Still have a few days before the madness of school starts again.

I'm also figuring out some sort of "grid" for the game tonight (like a football pool) that won't involve money but will involve prizes the kids might like (ex: who picks the entertainment we all watch/listen to on the way down to NYC, and back)

Lucky girl

look who is apparently taking off Jennifer Aniston's stockings this Christmas.....

Happy New Year indeed!

This is actually a COLOR photo...

The sky is gray. (Or is it Grey? Nope, no new Grey's again this week. No new Office. Sulk. )

I went through one of my favorite running parks today... you can't see it very well in the photo (which I took on my blackberry) but every branch is slightly outlined on top with a fresh dusting of snow.

My projects for the next couple of days:

• Enjoy the decorated house, drink wine and eat cookies (this behavior shall end on New Year's day! back to the treadmill!!)
• Go through my digital photo folders from this year. Upload any that I haven't printed to Snapfish, before their 9 cent sale ends. Move this years photos into an archive folder and back it up
• Go through my file drawer and pitch the papers I don't need. They're choking the life out of me. My desk always looks horrible, we really don't have enough room for all of the PTA and basketball league papers along with our OWN bills/ etc... I need to get a jump start on this while no little people are demanding attention on their homework.
• Speaking of PTA, I've been playing tag with one of the other officers... we are sending back and forth a list of things we STILL need to manage this year, adding things as we think of them. This includes fundraisers, family fun things, and so on. It's a long frickin' list!
• After that, I get to try to sort through the piles of stuff in my scrapbook area. Things are a mess because we take my card table down to put the tree up. There are piles of things all tossed back there and it's killing me because some of the piles contain folders of very old photos.
• I have new KOTM stamps to play with, along with the distress embossing ink and other stuff I bought recently. Wheee!

Furthermore

Twice in the past week I have found myself brought to tears while contemplating whether a certain relation will still be with us next Christmas. Do I save the cards from them, that were given to my kids? Because these might be the last cards. This is an example of the dark, morbid thoughts running through my mind these days. It's kind of hard to Fa la la la la around that kind of mood.

It's a tightrope on many levels - how much help to offer a fiercely proud individual who is not MY parent, how much to say to that person's children - some of whom are in denial, some of whom are compensating by doing things that I truly believe MEAN well, but are overwhelming and not quite what that individual wants. None of whom are doing things that I really think NEED to be done. (Ramp to the back door. Railings, grab bars - this is where the pride comes into play. Those are things that "Old" people need. I once heard a remark --not directed at me -- something to the effect of "What do you want me to do, sit in my chair and wait to die?") It's so hard to explain risk-avoidance to someone who hears "lost independance".

The party's over

My living room looks like a bomb went off. I haven't quite cleaned up the mess from gifts that we brought home from Brother In Law's. I was slightly disappointed there; it turned into "let's just get these gifts open" and I don't think people got to enjoy the reactions of recipients. So much time shopping and planning and wrapping... whooosh. Over.

Not a lot of surprises for me this Christmas... except for the mice. Four and counting. Everything possible is in tupperware. Dammit, dammit, dammit. In almost 20 years living in this house we have never had them consistently coming up from the crawlspace through to the area under the kitchen sink. Ugh. The worst was the one who got HALF of his little head caught in the trap... the visible eye was bulging and I was SO happy that I was the one who got to pick THAT up. Merry Christmas to me. So much for my faint hope that it was A MOUSE that we had to deal with. It's apparently an entire fucking Rockettes line of mice.

I spent the day barely getting anything done. It shot by... my vacation is over and I don't have anything exciting planned until ... spring. There is laundry to be done and programming to catch up on and a host of PTA-type headaches waiting for my attention.

Bah humbug.

To each his own

Stanley comes from Polish heritage (we occaisionally sing a Polish hymn or two...) and sent me

Zyczem wam wesoly swiat Bozago Narodzenia, i Szczesliwego nowego roku.

which of course I replied to with...

Frohe Weihnachten und glückliches neues Jahr.

Bits-scotti

How to NOT make biscotti... spread the dough out so it's loaf shaped. Logs, dammit, logs.

The "dough" spreads while it bakes. Boy does it spread. And when a foolish baker tries to cut those spread out loaves, even with a great big serrated knife, the slices will break and she will curse.

And then when she tries to turn the slices while she toasts them, a few more will break and that's because she forgot to chop the cherries and so the overall structural integrity is NOT sound, and she will drizzle white chocolate all over more than just the broken biscotti.... oh well. They still taste good.

Thoughts

Is the year over yet? I really sucked at the MSN year end current events quiz. Ooops. Moving on...

• I would have LOVED to have seen this in person - darn. Or even on tv. With all of the billions of CRAP tv shows on (I'm looking at you, Heidi & Spencer) can't we have something better now & then?
• I recruited a new choir member today. Let's see if she shows up. She seemed really interested. And an alto! Yaaaaaaay.
• The soprano with the really REALLY LOUD voice (but beautiful, clear and REALLY high range) who blew out my eardrum the other night is a good sport - she presented me & a friend with a 1/2 set of earplugs each (we stand on either side of her). It was awesome.
• I really love giving little tins full of the cookies I've made, to special people. Stanley & Bette got theirs today at choir. :::checking my watch:::: I think Bette probably ate hers by now.
• Carly 1, Mice 0 (do we give them points for stealing peanut butter off of two traps? Or just me, for KILLING THEIR LITTLE RODENT ASSES... ? Snap!)
• I'm into the punch list stage -trying to remember the last minute little things I need to do today and tomorrow. Luckily for me this includes the "what is everyone wearing, no really" drill. My son brought home ONE good shoe for the vacation from school. We checked and the other isn't at school. I sent him to Target to buy one shoe. Think that will work?

Well, I need to quit procrastinating...

Sunday gallery - 3 hours early

I have to chose Raphael this week because I love this... it's Christmas-y, and I know Suzy LOVES cherubs like the ones at the bottom.

I also want to learn more about him... but, I am soooo tired from making cookies, that I can barely read. (The height of lazy is not mustering the energy to read a wikipedia article)

I am done.

Done with shopping wrapping, baking, and I have to string one lighted garland over my patio door and then decorating is done too. Every bit of food possible from the cupboards is in tupperware. Traps are waiting for Mickey. Eff you, vermin.

Oh, and my penitent son cleaned most of the house. Funny - Santa comes around the neighborhood on the fire truck, but didn't stop by our house. I think they KNOW. (He's not home, don't worry. The incident is over, he's done his labor, and Nana's silver tea set hasn't looked so good in years.)

Sunday afternoon I will sit on my fanny and actually enjoy myself - watching a movie, perhaps.

Enjoy your holiday. If for some reason, this holiday sucks for you, hang in there. Next year will be better. Right? Right.

A story in three nearly identical sentences

"Mouse crap?"
"Mouse! Crap!!"
Mouse: "Crap!"

Christmas playlist

This is what I'll be shuffling on Christmas Day

• Chris Botti - December
• Josh Groban - Noel
• Diana Krall - Christmas Songs
• Manhattan Transfer
• a little Trans-Siberian Orchestra (just a song or two, like Wizards in Winter)
• The New York Catholic Chorale (saw them perform, the director has a phenomenal voice)
• annnnnd.... the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack

You?

D'oh of the day

I watched "The Shot" today while I was eating lunch. If you haven't heard of it, it's Reality TV with photographers, random "judges", etc. I accidentally came across it, and really liked the shot of Joss Stone that "won" the episode.

They mentioned a contest near the end of the show, something about Take Your Shot, and I didn't realize it was a sweepstakes. So this photo popped into my head, and I wasted about 15 minutes finding it, only to realize I can't enter it. So, enjoy it.

I took this picture almost 3 years ago on the first really warm day in March, when I finally got the kids outside to test out the scooters they had received for Christmas. The digital camera was new and I did a bunch of fun stuff that day ( a multi frame of my daughter swinging, that I later collaged onto one scrapbook page, and so on.)

I know it's just the start of winter (brrrr) but think SPRING!

It's 3a.m. I must be lonely

...which would be why my daughter initiated the "go to mom's elbow, pause for brief interim, then run to bathroom to barf" drill

It made for restful sleep from then on, as you can imagine. Who the hell booked them both for 8 am dentist appointments today? Oh, wait.

Yesterday was a vague blur of making projects I should have done weeks ago. A calendar for my mom, with pictures of the lot of us (including my bro & sis whenever possible). A plaque for my son's new cleaning business (gag gift... but he loves the Shark and I have to say it DOES work pretty well... and he will be cleaning all afternoon and tomorrow morning to work off his Santa transgressions this week at school... ) and another gift that involves printing out photos, arranging them on a tray from Michael's, blobbing "ModgePodge" all over, and hoping it really WOULD dry clear.

After that I made cookies (Scotchies, which have pecans, white chips, butterscotch chips, and some scotch whiskey...a family favorite here) and headed to choir. When I got home I had to help wrap presents that had just been purchased within the past couple of hours for friends at school. You can role model all you want, but some people don't take a hint. Sigh.

Today it's wrapping time. I should be done by just after lunch. Then, more cookies, if I feel like it. If not, oh well.

Please come home

Please? Thursdays aren't the same without you....

So this is how the Grinch's mama felt

Apparently my dear, sweet, baby child has been talking a lot in school lately.

About how Santa isn't real.

It's FUN to find this out while you are chaperoning the school choir's annual Christmas caroling. While walking for 90 minutes with wet slush enveloping your toes (despite the boots) and no wine in sight, anywhere.

Oy.

I need to go download the song "I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas"...

Handy bag

I don't have the purse gene. I can't stand carrying a big bloated purse that you could count on to help you survive a lengthy expedition. Phone, debit card, maybe a chapstick.

So I was happy to find this this purse by Chloe Dao. (She won Project Runway, season 2) Actually I noticedthe purse in Office Max. I don't GO purse shopping. I don't roam about Macy's, caressing Coach bags. I'm mystified by that.

It has more than one place to tuck my blackberry, and also pockets perfect for the iPod. (I've been meaning to write a "dear john" letter to my iPod...it's been replaced as my favorite techy gadget, and your comments on this blog now are sent right to the 'berry... but when I get off my increasinly large ass and start running again, it'll be Mr. iPod all the way... )

Four dozen socks

...three of his sister's shirts, two Halloween costumes, and one athletic cup in an overcrowded kid's dresser....

yeah...my attempt at a 12 days of christmas spoof sucks but that's what I got for MY gift today. I couldn't take it anymore, I pulled everything out of his dresser and sorted it. He was jamming stuff into it everyday... andI'm tired of seeing him come home from school and put on shorts.


So... Christmas in a week. Ready?? I'm going through my list of "things" - cards, gifts, cookies, what is everyone wearing... I think I'm in good shape.

Bits of fuzz from my brain's lint trap

Thoughts, in no particular order

• Hell yes... I will see this movie
• A 2 hour delay means the bus will come two hours after it normally comes. So turn the tv off and get your coat on, dammit. Do not argue with me that "it means school will start at 10." I know that. You still get the bus WAY before that.
• If you sleep with a snorer you may find yourself musing, (okay, fantasizing) at two a.m. some morning about being in a cartoon. Your spindly Olive Oyl arm will slide out from under the blanket, reach under your side of the bed, and come up with a gigantic rubber mallet which you will swing with a "BAM" effect (bright colored letters, filling the screen). The offending party will either vanish into a smoking cartoon hole in the floor (leaving a jagged edged mattress) or will be a flat, non-snoring object. Either way.
• On that subject (sleepus interruptus) , who drunk dialed me from Ohio at midnight the other night? All I could hear on the voicemail message you left me was the singing.
• I have now consumed all of the refridgerated cookie dough which I made 8 days ago. That's not good. I never baked ANY of it. I think at some point I knew I'd passed the middle of the tray, uh, the point of no return. At least it had no eggs in it.