Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve in Pics

… on my ancient point and shoot and Blackberry, but you still get the point.

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Making the kids go for a walk.  It’s a beautiful day and you will appreciate it, dammit!

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Creating sugar cookies for Santa.

Tracking Santa on NORAD, killing time with electronics,  tortiere, laying out the goods for Santa and chillin’ . 

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Merry Christmas all!  Have a wonderful holiday.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Starbucks Love

Not only do they present me with perfect coffee with soothing jazz or something in the background, but they also have free WiFi so I can tweet or whatever as I sip.  I embrace my overpriced comforts!

And then there is the staff.  They take care of me.  They see the dazed look in my eyes and make it all go away.  Or we have a conversation like I did today.

Me: Ummm,  hmmmm, I guess I'll have a gingerbread loaf and, um, a Tall Italian.
Female Barista: If only we had some good tall Italians...
Male (cutie) Barista:  I'm a tall Italian.
Me: Then we're set!
FB: I would go on but it may become inappropriate quickly.
MB: Next time...
Me: *giggle like a school girl*

Now how can you have a terrible day after that?

Cheers!

Friday, December 16, 2011

A Poll! Twelve Days of Christmas...

If asked, Owen will tell you that his favourite Christmas carol of all time is "The Twelve Days of Christmas".   The full version too.  If he begins, the WHOLE thing must be sung from start to finish with no omissions.  It makes for a loooonnng song, I tell you.  However, his enthusiasm makes up for it (the first time around) and we smile and go to our happy-place when he sings.

Others have done some versions of "Twelve Days" that are bearable.  These are three of my favourites:

1. The Canadian standard, eh?! Beauty!



2. A fave from my childhood.  The video quality isn't the greatest but 'tis a classic.


3. Love this one too!  These guys are amazing and do a creative interpretation.



So which is your favourite?  Please comment and let me know.  But if there is another version that outshines these, do share!

Monday, December 12, 2011

My pen won't go

I have always sucked at writing with pen on paper.  It is like my thoughts don't want to be expressed this way.  From time to time I still have to take notes - at a meeting, jotting down information off a sign, or relaying a phone message - but it comes out in chicken-scratch and disjointed.  I can hardly make sense of the bits of paper afterwards, relying on my sporadic memory to fill in the gaps and act as translator. 

Today I sit here, thinking I ought to get started on my Christmas cards.  It seemed like such a good idea at the time.  Just jot down a few friendly words, address the things and pop them in the mail. Who am I kidding?  It's not that I don't want to stay connected with friends and family over the holiday.  I really do!  I just can't seem to get into action.  The logical answer would be to use the computer to whip out some clever Christmas letter, fill the card up with pics of the kids and say the same generic thing to the list.  So what's stopping me?

Perhaps I am secretly a perfectionist and I need to feel like I am having a conversation with the recipient that is real.  Maybe I simply don't like my hand writing.  I know I don't write (well, speed print really as I suck more at any sort of elegant script) nearly fast enough to complete my thoughts before they get jumbled up.  So I opt for nothing.  Well that's stupid.  Are people going to know that I am psychically thinking of them?  Um, no. 

I've lost touch with too many friends before the days of e-mail.  I was terrible at returning letters or remembering to send birthday cards!  Thankfully some have been patient enough with me to reconnect via Facebook and other e-communications.  It is a whole different process for me to type out a connection on the computer.  So much easier!  I feel I express my true self more easily, my thoughts flowing through the keyboard with little effort.  I'm sure a therapist would have something to say about that!

Will the cards get mailed?  I don't know.  If they do they will be late, be stuffed with a photo or two and have some brief friendly message about holidays, new year and stuff.  The cards themselves are nice and hopefully anyone who gets one will be pleased and forgiving.  If the cards don't go, I hope people don't feel slighted.  It's not you, it's me.  And it doesn't mean I don't care, just that, well, my pen wouldn't go. 

Are there blog Christmas cards?  I'll work on it.  It seems to be what works for me and I won't have to factor in mail time.  Or maybe I need to pour a double rum eggnog, crank the Christmas tunes and get into the card writing spirit, dammit! 



Friday, December 9, 2011

Cat = 1 Tree = 0

I think I am just SO smart sometimes.  I love my cat but Molly is, well, a cat with cat instincts.  As much as I try to reason with her, she gives me the look that says, “If you wanted a stupid dog, you should have got one.  I am so above you.”   That doesn’t keep me from trying. 
So we got this lovely artificial tree we like to put up for Christmas.  Molly likes her new climbing structure and all the doo-dads we put on to amuse her.  Humph!  Time to engage my engineering brain and come up with a contraption to keep her down.
Here it is
  Here it is.  My engineering wonder – a layer of garbage bags (empty) between the branches that she can’t get through.  And it worked!  I am SO brilliant!  I should patent this thing!  Well, at least share it with the bloggy world or something.
Um, my cat is persistent. 
New ornament
Bugger!  OK, it is kind of cute.  Enough so that I grab my camera instead of wrestling her out of the damn tree.

 

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Then this happened.
Aaaarrrrggggghhhh!!!  That would be the ornament that was Owen’s favourite, the one he wanted to inherit and pass down through the generations. 

So when he got home from school, I told him that Molly had outsmarted our cat-baffler.  Owen responded, “Back to the drawing board, mom!”  Love that kid!
So now I have to hunt down another world globe heirloom ornament and re-engineer the cat baffler.  Christmas is exhausting!