Idle Blog's shiny new year

So, what did Santa bring you this year? I got both of the cd's I wanted, plus the new Ok Go album as a bonus, the second Invader Zim dvd (I had disc 1 & 3 - #2 was a little harder to come by), some lotions, and the two books I asked for (finished most of the first one on Christmas day...), all from my husband. My in-laws got me some stuff...some pretty good, some that had me scratching my head with wonder at how they pick out gifts (apparently, even after more than ten years of knowing me, they still haven't figured out that I'm not into tchotchkes and other dust collecting baubels, and they gave us a set of plastic picture frames, too...?). But it's the thought that counts. Right? We spent Christmas day at my husband's grandparents' house on a branch of the Withlacoochee river. It rained for part of the day, but when it cleared up some of us attempted to fish (with varying degrees of success), and my husband made a fire in the fire pit. We go see my parents this weekend. Having to split the holidays between two families can sometimes be kind of hectic, but it reminds me to be grateful that I have so many wonderful people in my life that I can't find time to see them all on one holiday. Besides - it prolongs the gift-giving experience.

It's that time, again. Resolutions are upon us. Personally, I never make any... but if I did, they'd be: to start going to the gym regularly (again); be early for work every day (like that's going to happen, anyway...); and review my budget to see where we can save money (and save the money). I'm actually looking forward to New Years Eve this year. Previous years were spent hanging out at home waiting for the ball to drop, which is fine by me - it's comfy, and you avoid all of the after-party drunks on the roads. But since we were granted a four day weekend coming up, I will be ringing in 2007 by running around one of the local coasterland theme parks (the one owned by the beer company), thanks to my husband's affiliation with one of the local radio stations. Sometimes his hobbies actually come with unanticipated perks!

Best wishes to you and yours for a safe and wonderful new year!

Hark hear the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, ding dong mkay...

I challenge you to not have a seizure while watching this...

I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas

Just to give you a feel for the current environment: I am sitting here in the semi-darkness, typing by the lovely glow cast by the illuminated Solstice tree, eating Pringles chips with french onion dip while my son stays up well past his bedtime watching the old Rankin/Bass special Santa Clause Is Coming To Town in the living room.

Today marks the first of five days off for the holiday. I finished up my shopping. The goal was to find "two small schoolbuses" for my son, since this is what he told Santa *nudge nudge, wink wink* he wanted for Christmas. So, mission accomplished. It's supposed to be warm and rainy for pretty much the next three days, right through Christmas day. Not very festive, is it?

We had scheduled what was originally only supposed to be a physical for my son's pre-k school records, but the doctor noted that since he starts kindergarten next year that doing his immunizations today made sense (MMR, DDPT, polio, and a flu shot just for good measure). Judging by his reaction to the shots, I'm sure he thought it was decidedly not a good idea. We also confirmed what I had suspected for a couple of years - that my son has a mild hernia (what I believe to be an umbilical hernia, due to the position of the little bump and the lack of pain or discomfort). The doctor did not recommend surgery at this time, but now that I know for sure what it is I will keep an eye on that little bump. It's funny. He was a few weeks premature, but had well developed lungs and only had to stay in the neonatal unit for a week. It was discovered when he was an infant that he had a urinary tract condition known as Vesicoureteral Reflux (there are two types - he had what is known as primary VUR, which an individual is born with, is quite often genetic, and, according to the urologist, is most common in fair-haired girls), but thankfully it was determined at his last checkup a couple of years ago that he had outgrown the condition. Aside from those couple of little blips, he's pretty healthy. His height is average, his weight is just a tick above average (but certainly within the normal range for his age and height). He seems to be developing normally intellectually (he's very bright, even if he sometimes spouts gibberish for the heck of it - he can count to upwards of fourty, knows all of his shapes, colors, easily grasps concepts such as opposites and rhyming and can read and write his own name) and emotionally (this is the age of resistance, how fun!). And he has no allergies that we are aware of. I am always grateful that he's relatively healthy, espcially at this time of the year. Actually, I'm thankful that we're all healthy...Okay. Reflection and warm-fuzzy time's over now.

This part is for M: Remember what you said about the Christmas gift you gave me? How my son would claim it as his the minute he saw it? I think I owe you a dollar. He walked in the door yesterday evening, stopped in his tracks when he saw what was sitting on the couch, and squealed "A costume, Mommy! Is that for me?". He loves it, so I caved in and agreed to share it with him. Now I get joint custody of plushy Jack Skellington. I get visitation at night and on weekends.

A gift that just needs givin'

A present, from me to you - don't say I never gave you anything (this is the UNEDITED version):

And I guess NBC finally got with the program and is actually releasing content directly onto YouTube - and allowing users to post without issuing those ridiculous cease & desist orders. Everybody wins! So, who wants CUPCAKES!!

'Twas the week before Christmas...

This weather is just not right. While the Pacific Northwest is dealing with a massive snowstorm of blizzard proportions, we here in the Southeast are met with unseasonably warm weather. One week until Christmas and I'm sending my son to school in shorts.

And this Decemberween present of tubesocks totally sucks...

Yo. 20 second T.O.

I'll make this one real quick:

Ah, SNL. See how much funnier you can be when you really try. Still not great, but getting better. I thought the junk in the box skit was funny.

1. Cut a hole in the box

2. Put your junk in that box

3. Make her open the box

Well, I guess I know what I'm getting for Christmas this year...And Hip Hop kids was cute, too - "You gotta recanize your sedimentary rock formations." True dat. True dat...I love Amy Poehler's Nancy Grace. It's not really funny. It's just spot on.

Speaking of Amy Poehler - I watched Mean Girls tonight, for the first time, and it occurred to me how cute Lindsay Lohan used to be. Used to be, I said. What happened there? I mean, beside the underage drinking, drug use, tanning addiction, serial sex-partners, rehab, possible eating disorder and rumored self-mutilation?

Oh, by the by, here's a fun fact: In Scotland, it is traditional to leave out haggis and mead for Father Christmas. Just in case, you know, you wanted to offer Sinter Klaus something other than the old standby of cookies and milk this year. For the sake of variety. Just be sure to keep the Jack Daniels under lock and key. We wouldn't want a repeat of last year...

Bah. Humbug. And Happy Hannukah!

M wanted to have an office party for the holidays, which we all decided was a good idea. Notice I said and office party - not an "invite whoever the hell you feel like" party. So one of the managers from our office invites his staff who do not work in this office. I found it to be rather presumptuous, although everyone else seemed okay with it so I must be the only one who thinks it sucks. I bought enough food for the five of us. Now there will be six or seven more people, potentially, and I had to buy more stuff to decorate the ornaments I decided to do in lieu of gifts this year. I just hope they all bring food. 'Cause if they show up without food and expect to be fed, they've got another thing coming. I'm not in that much of a giving mood.

And the co-worker who will be taking over my old position temporarily starting today has apparently decided that she doesn't need to answer the main phone. Even though that's a big part of the job she's now assigned to do. But I'm not either one of her two bosses, so I'm not going to be the one to tell her to do it. Apparently, judging by the reactions of some of the staff, what I say holds no weight anyway. Especially one in particular, who is also getting some BS stipend for doing - well, a lot of people are asking what she is doing. But the people asking the questions are obviously not the right people. I'm about over some of these fools and maybe the boss and I are going to need to have a serious talk about some things.

Wow. Comparing these last two posts, you'd think I'm manic depressive or something.

"I'm happy!" -- "I'm pissed!" -- "Oh, joy!" -- "&%#@!"

I think I'll find the happy medium of being a begrudging curmudgeon...

Quaffable, but uh... far from transcendent.

Last night, while mulling over a small glass of wine (Beringer White Zinfindel, to be exact - aka "the Pepsi of the wine world", since we aren't really wine "people" in my house), I came to the conclusion that I'm actually pretty content. On the verge of happy, even. Things seem to be going pretty well these days. Not too much drama, the stress has kind of peaked and then plateaued and the holidays loom large in the near future. So things, for now, are good. This is such a strange feeling for me, this sense of universal okay-ness, that I find myself not knowing what to do with all of those reserves of anxiety I've built up over the years. So, it's still there - sort of free floating in the miasma of my emotional soup. But in the background. Where I hope it will stay.

ONIOCHALASIA* it was not.

Poor SNL. It's just a downward spiral of suck. A swirling vortex of crap. It's pretty telling when Mad TV and SNL cover the same material on the same night, with equally dismal results. Namely, riffing on Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (which has been getting some really great reviews). Neither sketch was funny. Mostly because they were just horribly predictable. Note to the writers of both shows: if you all have the same joke, it's a sign that it's going to be a bomb. At least Mad TV even attempted a real sketch. SNL didn't even try. Wil Forte is their only saving grace. And Gwen Stefani is an amazing performer - I just wish she'd ditch the leopard print one-piece. It's not flattering to anyone.

I managed to pretty much finish all of my Christmas shopping tonight. I went way overboard with gifts for my husband. I mean, he got a 40" lcd tv this week, and add to that everything I got him tonight. Overboard, for sure. And I have to say, I loathe the mall. Truly. I was physically accosted by an overzealous kiosk girl - she actually approached me (it was my fault for pausing when she started to talk and asked a question about my fingernails, but I was trying not to be rude), and then grabbed my hand and started to pull me toward her kiosk of lord-knows-what (I think it was over priced all-natural products, maybe). Oh, that pissed me off. I jerked my hand away and started walking the other way as she called after me. I was already a little edgy because the mall was crowded and I was trying to finish up my list. Then I had to go to Wal-Mart, which I hate even more. By the time I got home I was exhausted and a little cranky. But dinner was ready, and the house is fairly tidy, so I think I'll settle down with the book I'm reading and relax a little. I have a feeling it's going to be a long week coming up with the new job and all that comes with it, so I'll try and enjoy my "me" time as much as possible right now.

Clark: Our holidays were always such a mess.

Clark Sr.: Oh, yeah.

Clark: How'd you get through it?

Clark Sr.: I had a lot of help from Jack Daniels.

*Definition: Buying as a means of mental relaxation.

Goodies. And whatnot...

This is some good stuff... some dialogue from the cast of Scrubs dubbed over A Charlie Brown Christmas:


We finally got our carpet installed! It's lighter than I thought, and is a similar color to the walls, so the rooms are pretty neutral. We also got a new couch - it's sage green sueded microfiber, and so comfy! We went out and got a tree yesterday and after all of the running around today I decorated it. Now it feels like Christmas. And speaking of Christmas, my husband got his new lcd tv finally. It's pretty nice. Now all we need is the HD satellite box - but that's one of the things that will have to wait until after the holidays. So I'm off to watch some shows on the new tube and eat some peppermint stick ice cream.

Don't come in here with no peanut butter cookies -

- Because she prefers pecan sandies. And don't you forget it.

We went to SnowFest downtown over the weekend. Plenty of Fest. Not enough snow. Lame Santa. My son got a kick out of the sledding (as evident in the picture above), and we went for ice cream afterward. He did make a new friend who taught him to holler "Pee-pee" in public. Thanks little girl, wherever you may be...

I still don't know what's going on with this work thing. My boss hasn't talked to me about a lot of the details (he doesn't seem very clear on the details, himself), and my co-worker has extended her employment another week. Although that other week will be her using the rest of her vacation leave. We took her out to lunch at the Columbia today for tapas. We had parking misadventures, and a fisherman asked Megan to help him with his hood. We ended up being there for two hours, but when we got back no one said anything. I have Christmas shopping to do tonight. If I can work up the enthusiasm...

Lets get festive

It's December 1st. Yay! That officially marks the beginning of the holiday prepration season for my family. So tonight, despite the total lack of suitable furnishings to cushion our tender bottoms (and the notable absence of a tree or any other decorations at all), my son and I watched Frosty. We also watched part of The Polar Express, and during the scene where they hand out cocoa to the kids, I made him some hot chocolate. I did put up our tree at work. It's bare, though. We'll fix that next week. We always do a theme - one year was Green & Gold (the school's colors), last year was blue and white (colors of the Israeli flag), and this year is multi-colored and will represent multi-cultural and multi-ethnic celebrations. I will also be contributing a menorah as a reminder that there are other holidays besides the most gaudy one. Update: The tree at work is all decked out in all its bright, shiny finery, and I've gotten a couple of compliments on the menorah this week.