Prolonging Christmas

There's a lot of people out there who can't wait to yank down all the Christmas decorations and let their normal lives resume. Then there's people like me who wish it were Christmas all year! I will not even THINK of pulling anything down until after Epiphany. With my Mexican heritage, I have an excuse! The three wise men will visit our house and leave something in our shoes on the morning of January 6th. I have to keep it Christmasy for their visit!

Here are a few festive snapshots to keep the Christmas spirit going a little longer!

Gift tags

Every year, my husband and I overindulge our children with numerous gifts. It's not that we spend a lot, we just like to see them open presents! In the past, we've had enough for them to open one every hour all day on Christmas Eve. This year, the presents aren't quite as numerous and that tradition will end (no matter how many tears my seven year old shed this evening). With so many gifts, it just seems too boring to make them all from mom & dad so, each year, we get creative about who they come from. It's influenced by whatever is important to them at the time. We've had gifts from ghosts of our dead cats (macabre, I know), Bernard the elf (pictured right) from The Santa Clause, superheroes, and beloved stuffed animals.


My favorites this year are one from a dead mouse that my daughter found in a glue trap on the driveway last week. It says, "To Katie from the ghost of the dead mouse on the driveway." Another one is from the deer that frequents our back yard with a bad leg who we've named "Gimpy." The kids love getting these gifts from the most unlikely of givers and my husband and I amuse ourselves with what we make up! We're such nerds! It's definitely a win-win!

Thoughts on prayer

I came to the conclusion recently that I don't believe in the power of prayer. My thought process went something like this: A. God is omnipotent. B. Good things happen to bad people. C. Bad things happen to good people. D. Both B & C seem to happen randomly. Therefore, if prayer had any impact, wouldn't good things happen to good people more and bad things happen to bad people more? Also, wouldn't it be safe to assume that millions are praying for starving Africans yet they keep starving. If God is omnipotent, and prayer worked, wouldn't starving Africans be seeing some kind of relief by now?

Here's the problem, though. I've been praying all my life. I can't just stop. I can't just quit saying bedtime prayers with my kids. My husband is currently out west in all that crazy weather. I can't not pray for his safe return. I know it's crazy to be so ambivalent about prayer but I don't know how to move on to the next step and be at peace.

I wish everyone but do not pray for everyone to have peace this holiday season!

Small tokens

I've been very busy today with getting gifts wrapped and out for shipping as well as putting together teacher gifts to send with the kids tomorrow - their last day. My inspiration was "A Christmas Story." Do you remember when Ralphie put that HUGE basket on his teacher's desk in hopes that his theme would get a good grade?

Well, I bought two baskets - one for each of my kid's teachers - and filled them with assorted goodies. In them, I put some citrus from a ginormous crate I bought from the HS band fundraiser, a lottery ticket (an idea I got from Kindness Girl) , a cracker, a bag of popcorn, a miniature Kahlua that I got from buying the gift box that included a mug and 3 minis for only $2 more, and a homemade card from my children. I bought plain baskets at Walmart and hot glued the ribbon on. Tomorrow, I'm going to add some fresh cuttings from the yard to fill it out and I think it'll look really nice.


In a smaller version, I bought a funky snowglobey kind of cup and put in another lottery ticket and a clementine in tissue paper for the janitor of the school. He's our secret pal for the year and is diabetic so I didn't want to put in candy.


Hopefully it'll make them all smile!

UPDATE: Adding cuttings from the yard when your husband is off on a ski trip and you have to shower, dress, fix breakfast, pack lunches, put a crockpot on the front porch for someone to borrow, throw toddler furniture in the trunk for someone who is willing to take them off your hands, pop a bag of popcorn for your daughter to have at school when she watches her Christmas movie, and get the kids to school by 8:15am is not a realistic expectation......

Rick is spending Christmas with me!

Finally! My Christmas is complete! Rick Springfield has recorded a Christmas CD. Is it good, you ask? How could it NOT be? Its got Rick in it, doesn't it? He could be singing with a bagpipe and a banjo (he didn't) and it would sound awesome! All proceeds from the recording of "Christmas With You" are donated to support the US Military Veterans Organization American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. Rick is so cool!

Decorating!

I made these pretty orange and clove ornaments to hang outside. The Crafty Crow gave me the idea. They were fun to do and the kids loved decorating them with the cloves! I'm thinking it'll be an annual tradition.

Lego drama

About a month ago, my seven year old son got it into his head that he HAD to have a Lego Boba Fett. He came to this conclusion after trying to alter no less than three Lego Clone Troopers with a Sharpee (pictured on the right) and not being satisfied with the results. The problem with wanting a Lego Boba Fet is that Lego does not sell them anymore. That makes them only available through third parties who charge crazy inflated prices for discontinued/rare items. We located one on brickninja.com for a mere $34.98. That the price.....for ONE, ONE INCH Lego guy. My son thought that was totally reasonable and forked down his entire lifetime savings in front of us and pleaded for us to order it. We thought, "Wow! He must really, really want this!" So the order was placed.

He seemed happy about his purchase until last week when he decided that what he really wants is 99,999 Clone Troopers to form an army (this has actually now been requested in his letter to Santa despite my warning that greedy kids end up with coal). He asked my husband if it was OK to trade his Boba Fett for a Clone Trooper from Jeremiah. My husband said no way and then made a tactical error, in my view. He offered to buy back Boba Fett and let our son have the money to buy more Legos! My son did this one other time when he got the Transformer Helicopter guy and then, after playing with him for awhile, decided he really wanted another Transformer and got my husband to buy him another one in exchange for giving the helicopter guy to Scott.

Today, he LOST Boba Fett! He posted this sign on his door:


He was inconsolable surrounded by his thousand of Legos MINUS the Boba Fett. I had zero sympathy for the guy. Seriously. Does this not sound spoiled to you? I wish I had the guts to actually go through with the coal threat (I don't). What I do have to do is get my husband to quit making it worse. We have since found Boba Fett after he got stepped on by one of my daughters friends. I think I'll kidnap him tonight and hold him ransom......

Parade planners note

Marching camel in a nativity - bad idea.....

Ask the planners in Delaware, OH. It was front page with a headline along the lines of "CAMEL CHARGES CROWD."

Here's the picture I snapped!

B KND

That was the license plate in front of me as I drove to work today. It struck a chord. It's something that I need to remember to do no matter who I'm dealing with. I think too often, we get into a mindset that we should only be kind to people we like. If there's a stranger or someone who annoys us or someone we genuinely dislike, we don't feel obligated to be kind anymore.

I was having a beer with my husband before the Buckeye game and the bar was completely packed. In the midst of the wall-to-wall people, there was a table with about 12 open chairs around it. There was an attractive couple sitting at the table but the rest were empty. I went up to them and asked if we could sit at their table and the girl said they were saving them for their friends. My husband and I leaned against the wall and drank our beers. During the twenty or so minutes it took for us to finish, their friends never arrived and they sat there as content as could be while a bunch of us found places to perch with our drinks. I saw them turn a few more people away after us. Would it have killed them to let us sit there until their friends arrived? It was a very small thing they could have done for the sake of kindness but it never occurred to them.

Back in October, I was waiting in line to buy an apple pie. In front of me was a woman with about four really big, really heavy pumpkins. The cashier next to the one we were waiting behind opened and the lady told us we could move over there to pay. The pumpkin lady didn't want to because she had small kids and was having trouble managing them and her pumpkins so I thought she was going to wait where she was until the first cashier came back. I took up the second cashier's offer and went over there to pay for my pie. My brother was standing behind the pumpkin lady and heard her say something bitchy about me cutting in front of her. Honestly, if she would've starting moving her pumpkins over, I still would've finished paying for my one pie WAY before she finished so I don't see how I inconvenienced her any. After my brother told me, I thought, life is too short to get that pissed off at a stranger and made a mental note not to send bad thoughts towards anyone that gets in front of me in line.

Yesterday, someone advised me that since I can't control any one's actions except my own, the best I can do is to be kind without expecting anything in return. I think that's good advice. Today's license plate reinforced that message. I will be working hard to achieve that goal - especially through the holidays.

Peace!

Oh! The people that I met!

I just took a quick weekend trip by myself to Chicago for my nephew's baptism and met a few new people. I am fascinated by all the different people in the world and their backgrounds and what makes them tick. Here's a few encounters from my trip:

Old Man vs. City Girl - I was walking down the sidewalk in Park Ridge, doing a little shopping and an ancient old man was wobbily walking out of the pharmacy with his cane. If I blew on him, I could have knocked him over. I said hello to him and he stopped me. "Hey!," he said, "C'mere!" I hesitated but thought I could take him, if he tried anything, so I followed. He walked over to a fall sidewalk display and pointed to this picture on the right. "What is this?!" he asked. I looked at him thinking this guy doesn't know what planet he's on and said, "Um, a bale of hay????" He said, "Wrong! You city girls don't know nothing! This is a bale of STRAW. It's not good for anything! You can't feed cows with this! You can't feed horses! It's useless!" Alrighty, then. He continued on. "Here's something else you city girls don't know! See this ear of corn?" (There were corn stalks tied to the lamp pole.) "You will never find a cob of corn with an uneven number of corn rows! NEVER!" I smiled and said, "Thank you for teaching a city girl a few new things." He smiled back and said, "You're welcome! Have a nice day!" I almost asked him if I could take his picture but I was afraid I'd set him off again so we went our separate ways.

Here's a bale of hay. See how different they look!? NOT!

MS Guy in the Airport - While I was sitting in O'Hare yesterday, a guy in a wheelchair rolled over to me and we talked for about 45 minutes. His story made me sad but, at the same time, I didn't feel sorry for him. Marco introduced himself to me and told me he was on his way to Arizona with his parents for the winter. He's forty years old and was diagnosed with MS in 1995. He told me all about his divorce, his subsequent relationship with his ex (totally for the sex - TMI!), his beloved Pit bull, Lucky who recently died from cancer, his aversion to voting because he doesn't want to be called for jury duty (I told him he should rethink that one), and his career as a tool and dye tradesman. He seemed to have a kind of George Costanza type relationship with his parents and they all looked very similar to the Seinfeld characters. He didn't complain at all about his bad luck in developing such a horrible disease. In fact, I think it made him a bit more likable. The way he talked, it sounded like he was a pretty big jerk before the diagnosis. He called his wife all kinds of horrible names, he drove a Camaro and thought he was hot stuff, he declared himself a racist to get out of jury duty, he hated kids (still does). I told him I might blog about him and he had no idea what a blog was. He said he doesn't go on computers anymore because he accidentally bought a bunch of porn without knowing it and he's afraid it'll happen again. I guess he just keeps magazines under his bed now.

Bottom line, though, is he's lonely living with his parents and has no other social outlets. The MS has taken away his independence, his career, and his ability to have a normal relationship. I was glad to spend a little time with him in the airport and make him feel like a worthwhile person.

I met some others too (all without even making it downtown where all the interesting people are) and have a few more stories but this post is long enough, I think!

Thank you.

This Veterans Day, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and the Ad Council are launching a campaign to help the men and women who have served and are serving in these wars. Go to http://communityofveterans.org/ to find out more.

Everyone please remember to take a moment today to thank those who have served or are serving in our military. Here's a video to show you how:

He still has his hand out!

Alright, I volunteered to help the Obama campaign. I put in time and money to help the cause. Throughout the whole process, I received weekly emails asking for more money. I would then turn to the TV and see a barrage of ads from my candidate (some good and some bad) and think, do I want to help fund more of this?! I stayed firm for the most part, but did fall for the "dinner with Barack" bait. My chances of winning were probably smaller than playing Powerball. I DO think that all my time, energy and monetary donations were worth it in the end and I have no regrets.

But, TODAY, almost a week after the election was called, I received in my inbox ANOTHER request. In it, the campaign says,

The Democratic National Committee poured all of its resources into building our successful 50-state field program. And they played a crucial role in helping Barack win in unlikely states like North Carolina and Indiana. We even picked up an electoral vote in Nebraska.

The DNC took on considerable debt to make this happen.

Then they ask me to donate $100 and I'll get this t-shirt.


Does this look like a $100 t-shirt to you????? It sure doesn't look like it is to me! Do I feel beholden to the DNC for spending money they didn't have to help out? No, I don't. Do I find this email way tacky? Yes, I do! As far as I'm concerned, everyone who helped out in the campaign should get this t-shirt for free and Barack Obama should make campaign finance reform a goal before the next round of elections.

Other than that, I have no complaints and think President-Elect Obama is doing a FINE job!

UPDATE - 11/12/08 - I just received another email informing me that you now only have to "donate" $30 for one of these fabulous shirts......Nah!

I'm kinda like this.....

I laughed at this but the bullet hits pretty close.....

Another package from my punk rock knitting pal!

My package from Dawn arrived Thursday but I'm just now getting to post it. Dawn is such a talented, creative person so I feel very lucky to have been matched with her! Let me tell you about the goodies I got!

• DPN's
• A tiny treasure box
• Pom Pom maker
• Tape measure
• Marzipan Chocolate which my kids watched me eat with puppy dog eyes
• Fun magnets
• Face oil made by Dawn that smells so good!
• One skein of Rowan felted tweed
• Three skeins of Lion Brand wool in lovely lemongrass (can anyone recommend a good pattern for a cabled bag for this?)
• Turkey with a hand knit scarf by Dawn

Thank you, Dawn! You're the best!

It's a sunshine day!

I'm still so very happy! This is the song that's been in my head all day.......

Missing out

As you might have guessed, I am on cloud nine right now. The sun is shining. The world is good. Humanity is good. There is hope.

What's starting to dawn on me is that, while there are millions out there who are feeling the same way, there are also people out there who are feeling scared, angry, and hopeless. I have friends and family who are experiencing the same historical moment in a total alternate universe. They are afraid that we are moving towards socialism, that scary Democrats are in total power and we will all suffer, that Barack Obama will pull out his turban and yell, HA!

I'm at a loss. I will not let them burst my bubble but I feel sad that they can't share the elation that I'm feeling. My husband reminds me that Barack Obama cannot live up to the expectations I have of him. Maybe so. Still I am overjoyed. We have turned a corner and things can't not get better. I'm going to tune the naysayers out for a little while and bask in the special moment in history that we are all living. I hope that the dark cloud will lift for those of you out there who are not happy with the election results and that you can see things through my rose-colored glasses soon.

Election excitement

Yesterday, the kids and I hung door hangers in the neighborhood to remind people to vote. After I finished my packet, we all stopped by Democratic HQ to drop it off and the place was buzzing! Peeking around the corner, I found out the source of the excitement because Terry McAuliffe was sitting right there! That man cracked my husband and I up during the final stages of the Clinton campaign when he'd get on TV and act like they had all but won! The whole family got to shake his hand and hear about his exploration into the possibility of running for governor here.

Today I went out canvassing with my friend Beth for the first time. It was cool to see everyone so excited about the election (we didn't look too closely to see if the guy who answered the door in his underwear was excited). After I voted, I started walking out and was stopped by the photographer of one of the local papers to see if I was willing to pose for a picture. If I get in, I'll post it so you can see what a celebrity I am! I can follow in Joe the Plumber's footsteps!

Now it's time to sit and wait for the results! I have no fingernails left to bite off so it's time to move to the brown paper bag......

GO OBAMA!!!!!!!

Vote!!!

A video postcard from our fellow Americans in Alaska:



DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

What should I be???

There's a Day of the Dead party my husband and I are invited to on Saturday and I haven't decided what I should go as. I bought a giant Whoopie cushion costume which is easy. Or, I could borrow my daughter's Mother Nature costume that I'm currently assembling. I'm still toying with the Sarah Palin idea but don't want to kick the poor woman while she's down and don't have the $$$ to dress like she does, so that one is probably out! In the past, I've been a carrot, a gypsy, an alien, Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas, a devil woman, and a hippy so I don't want to do a repeat of any of those. I could just go as the character that my family has type-cast me as which is a drunken, belligerent, provacatively dressed Obamamaniac...... maybe not. Suggestions?????

Hippy Ellie - Halloween 2005

Me as Sally - Halloween 2006

Keeping busy

This activity was a hit this weekend! It kept my and the neighborhood kids occupied for an hour or so. I just bought these foam pre-cut pumpkins and let them decorate with Sharpies, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes. They used glue dots so there was no messy sticky glue to deal with! We stuck self-adhesive magnets on the back and they're going all over my refrigerator.







We also did these baked apples which were quick and easy. I found them on The Crafty Crow blog which linked me to Little Momma and Company . This is a blog worth visiting just for the fantastic playlist she's put together for you to listen to as you peruse her blog!

If I make them again, I will have the kids pre-mix the ingredients in a bowl before stuffing them into the apples and add oatmeal.

I love the fall!

Letter to a fake plumber

Dear Joe the Plumber,

I’m used to politicians misrepresenting themselves, but you?! A blue collar, nine-to-five, hardworking father out playing football with his son in northern Ohio? I didn’t expect YOU to be a fake! What a slap in the face to find out 1) you’re passing yourself off as a plumber when you’re not licensed, 2) you’re passing yourself off as undecided when you registered Republican and voted in the Republican primary, 3) you don’t make anywhere near $250,000 (unless you significantly bumped up your earnings since 2006 when you made $40,000) nor (by your own admission) do you have the money to purchase this plumbing business as you told Barack Obama, 4) you OWE back property taxes which means you can’t even pay your fair share under the CURRENT system.

To steal a quote from Ms. Palin, who stole from a White Sox fan, “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”

Sincerely,

Life Junkie

So good!!!!

Just finished this yesterday. What an awesome read! Even though I'm forty-three and this book was written for young adults, I highly recommend it. This is the perfect month to read it too because of the vampire theme.

Now I'm excited because the movie is coming out November 21st. Here's the website.

I watched a few clips and the character casting looks right on the mark - especially Edward.

I'm going out and buying the next one in the series right away!

Do I want a smart president? You betcha!

On CNN, Paul Begala recently called George Bush a 'high-functioning moron.' Far be it from me to argue with his judgment on our sitting president. Can we all agree that G.W. will probably not go down as the most intelligent president in our history? If so, and seeing where his leadership has taken us, can we also agree that our next president should be a little more intellectual? That would be a good thing, right? With that being said, here are the four candidates and their educational accomplishments:

John McCain - BS. Ranked 894th of 899 in his class. No post-graduate degree.

• United States Navel Acadamey. Class of 1958.

Sarah Palin - Degree in Journalism. GPA not released by the campaign. No post graduate degree.

• Hawaii Pacific University - Fall 1982.
• North Idaho College (2 year college) - Spring 1983 & Fall 1983.
• University of Idaho - Fall 1984 - Spring 1985.
• Matanuska - Susitna College - Fall 1985.
• University of Idaho - Spring 1986 - Spring 1987.

Barack Obama - BA Political Science. Concentration in International Relations. Law Degree (Magna Cum Laude & President of Harvard Law Review).

• Occidental College - Fall 1979 - Spring 1981
• Columbia University - Fall 1981 - Spring 1983.
• Harvard Law School - Fall 1988 - Spring 1991.

Joe Biden - BA - (Majors: History and Political Science) Ranked 506th of 688 in his class (not quite as bad as McCain). Law Degree. (where by his own description he underperformed - but still... he completed and graduated on time)

• University of Delaware - Class of 1965.
• Syracuse University Law School - Class of 1968.
  

Now I know education is not the only factor in measuring intelligence nor is intelligence the only factor in the making of a good president. It is interesting to compare, though.....

Dustin is HOT and VOTE!

Muslims are just people!

So I just watched this clip of a bunch of McCain supporters talking about crazy stuff. They all are convinced that Barack Obama is a closet Muslim or something (he's not). What really gets me is that, in their minds, Muslim = Terrorist. McCain and Palin KNOW this and are feeding this frenzy. I find it completely disgusting and feel sorry for them.

I just want to share a few examples of nice Muslims. Just in case anyone else is thinking Muslims are scary.

Benazir Bhutto - First Muslim female head of state for Pakistan. Assasinated on December 27, 2007. She was a brave woman. She had been exiled twice and came back to again run for public office. She knew her life would be in danger but she did it anyway. Now THAT is putting your country first!

Kareem Abdul Jabbar - I guess he's a famous basketball player or something. I've seen him on TV (not playing basketball). He seems nice.....

Dave Chapelle - Now he's a funny guy! OK - he looks scary in this picture but that's only because he's playing the artist formerly known as Prince. Prince is a scary person (not Muslim, though)! His music is awesome, but he gives me the heebie jeebies! But, back to my point. You see?! Muslims can be funny too!

Keith Ellison - Congressman representing Minnesota. Has anything blown up since he's been if office (he started January 2007)? NO. That just goes to show you that Muslims can be just as ineffective in congress as Christians, Jews or Atheists. Rep. Ellison doesn't flaunt his religion much but can you blame him with the climate out there?

I think everyone who is scared of Muslims should go to therapy where they have to sit in a room with a Muslim and see that they're normal people who share many of the same beliefs as the rest of us.

Everyone say it with me, "BEING MUSLIM IS NOT BAD OR SCARY."

A fall walk

After picking up the kids from school, we all went out with the dog for a fall walk. Here are the highlights:

Learn about gasses

My kids love inhaling helium! I better not show them this video.....

Well, he has imagination.....

A story by my 2nd grade son:

Todd and the Magic Surfer

One day in the 1580's, a boy named Todd, well he's not really a boy, he's an onion, met a magic surfer. They met on the battlefield in the desert. Todd and the magic surfer said hi and they started to fight. They made a bunch of people start fighting. Then, somebody said, "Will you hang me?"

Everybody said, "YES!"

So Todd's friend said, "Ahhhhh! I am hit!" Todd tried to kill the evil monster that hit his friend.

"Hiya," said Todd.

Superman fought and fought and fought. Batman came out of nowhere...BOOM... POW... KICK... CRASH... DONK... DESTROY ... KILL... BOOM... DESTROY... CRASH... BOOM! Then Superman turned to the dark side. Batman said, "No, not again!" BOOM!!!!!!!!!! Batman killed Superman? "Yes," said Batman, "I did!" Catwoman hurt Todd.

The End.

I love it!!!!

No thanks...

My son came home from school the other day begging to go to this:

He has a little friend who doesn't believe dinosaurs existed who was handing these cards out in class. It was a tough explaining to a seven year old that as cool as it would be to see a strong guy rip a license plate in half, it was a trick to get him to go to church. You could see the wheels turning. How come we don't have any WWF wrestlers standing next to Father Joe on Sunday and squeezing washcloths (what exactly is that guy doing???). All our lame church does is sing and pray and stuff! I was more thinking, "What kind of bizarre church lures people in with greased up muscle men?" I looked 'em up online. It's very cryptic. I can't determine a denomination. I guess this Power Team spectacle is their way of not being "a bunch of bologna."

I don't think this church is the answer to all my religious uncertainty, though - muscle men or not.

Homer wants change!

Feeling lower than the stock market...

At the beginning of this school year I volunteered to be a literacy tutor at the high school. It is part of a pilot program that re-teaches literacy skills one-on-one using a proven method called The Barton System. I went through a few training sessions and some DVD’s and I was ready to meet my student.

My student is a male, seventeen year old, with a literacy level of a first grader. How could this happen?! This student is now a Junior in high school and CAN’T READ! I don’t think there is any dyslexia involved but I’m not sure. The more I learn about him, the more hopeless it all seems to me. He has a full time job. He is chronically tired, ill, and underfed. It seems like he has no academic support at home and that education is not valued by anyone in his family. In fact, I think there is a general attitude that school is the enemy.

It all came to a head last week when he showed up thirty minutes late. He overslept. When he sarcastically told me he was sorry, I lost it and laid in on him. I wanted him to understand how important it was for him to learn how to read and how it would impact his entire life if he threw this chance away. I might as well have been talking to myself because he didn’t want to hear any of it. He just got really angry and shut down.

Since then, we’ve met twice and the animosity in the air is off the charts. He’s cooperating but it’s apparent he hates me. It’s been hard enough to carve this time out to go over to the high school three times a week and keep up with my work, kids, and other volunteering. Why should I do it if 1) he has no interest in learning how to read, 2) he thinks I’m the Wicked Witch?

I am so mad right now! What kind of parents does he have that don’t make sure he’s fed, well rested, and are constantly fighting with the very people who are trying to help their son? What kind of school system keeps promoting a kid to the next grade without addressing this serious problem? How many more of these kids are out there?

The whole situation is making me very, very sad…….