mother roads, advertising and a happy new year to you, too!

i love a good road trip. not the four hour, 'are-we-there-yet?' while having the back of your seat kicked by your offspring and listening to radio disney kind. i mean a good road trip, with friends and blaring tunes and an ultimate goal that really isn't the goal, because getting there is all the fun.

last night i caught a documentary on tv called the mother road. its about a journalist who drives with her 80-year old mother from chicago, il to santa monica, ca along route 66, where the great american road trip was born. the road and the mother are the same age so much of the documentary dishes about aging and mother-daughter relationships. but in watching this, i realized i was born far too late in the last century. i missed one of the greatest american eras that ever was. i would have loved to have vacationed along this road, sleeping in wigwam motels, visiting barbed wire museums, cadillac ranches, drive-in theaters, seeing neon vacancy signs, eating in roadside cafes. of course today its called 'kitsch' but i would have loved every minute of it.

as suspected, a quick search on google for route 66 information revealed an entire subculture devoted to preserving, remembering and reveling in all things route 66. apparently, three-week road trips along the remains of this historic highway is quite a popular thing to do.

one of the things the husband and i do best is a road trip. we travel well together when we are unencumbered because we both love of seeing anything quirky, historic, noteworthy or geographically significant. i think once the kids are a bit older, we are going to have to convince the mother in law to hitch up the rv and take us along the mother road.




i guess sending sheets of return address labels wasn't cutting it anymore. st. jude children's research hospital is bringing out the big guns now. bald kids.

now, don't look at me like that. i think childhood cancer is a scourge and i support doing everything we can to eradicate it. but when we drove to the zoo yesterday, i saw a billboard for the hospital that said 'give thanks for the healthy kids in your life' with a picture of a childhood cancer patient staring right back at me. how can you win with advertising like that? it's a one-two guilt punch: they show you a picture of a sick child while reminding you that your own kids are healthy. you can't just go home and forget about it. the only way out is to send them money to clear your conscience after looking at your own kids and thanking god for their health.


while i'm on the subject of advertising, if you didn't own a calendar and your only link to the outside world was the television, would you know what day today is? you would based on the commercials alone. i'm nursing a cold so i watched a lot of tv today. during every commercial break is a spot for either weight loss programs, smoking cessation or execercise plans/equipment. sometimes all three. so, without a calendar you would have to know that today is the first day of the rest of the lives of many people. the day they vow to change their habits, improve their overall health and start anew with a better lifestyle. if you have made a resolution for 2007, i wish you all the best in your endeavor.

we try to take our kids to church on sundays in an effort to instill values in them or something like that. well yesterday, while we were kneeling at the communion rail, our pastor put his hand on the boy's head to bless him but our darling son just yanked his head away and said "ow! no touching!" out of the mouths of babes.....

bribery works

we were able to get a pair of earrings into the girl's earlobes after trying for about a half hour yesterday. the negotiations started out with my daughter thinking she'd go to mcdonald's first, then put the earrings in but i let her know that bribery doesn't work that way (not in so many words, mind you). so after many deep breaths, i was able to dress her ears in pink crystal studs, and i am wearing my matching pair that the husband gave us for christmas. i made good on my bribe. i took her to mcdonald's to replace the toy poodle she lost but they were out of toy poodles! i had to promise i'd to return the toy she got for the "proper" one.

we went to the zoo and the kids loved it. the girl's been there tons of times but this is the first time the boy's been and i loved watching him watch the animals. he loved the little mice in the mouse house that ran around and around and around and around. they loved the tiger and the girl was fascinated when a zoo keeper came out to feed some crickets to some birds. i couldn't get her to budge until the demonstration was over.

on tonights menu: turkey divan. i've never made this before but i really need to try to use up the last of the christmas turkey. it has butter, cheese, broccoli and more cheese in it. what could be bad?

smarter than the average bear

we have fruit growing in our yard and in the yards surrounding ours so we get a lot of birds visiting us throughout the summer. everything from cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves and mockingbirds to sparrows, starlings, woodpeckers and twice a hummingbird.

it is only right to continue feeding the birds throughout the winter when the fruit all but vanishes so every morning i put a handful of birdseed out for them. this week's been great for birdwatching.

this morning, as i was typing my previous post, i heard some chirping and then a thwack against the metal screen door. "what could that be?" i thought. i looked out the window and saw feathers. everywhere. wtf?

it seems there is a cat. a smart cat. he has a plan. he hides behind our barbecue and lets a squirrel come and eat the seeds in the bird food. this is a good sign to the birds because they get along with squirrels and they think "hey, if the squirrel is there it must be safe." they are wrong. the squirrel is bait. when the birds come to eat the seed, the cat lunges out at them. today he must have come close to getting one because there is no body, just feathers. i will need to move the seed to the patio area where the cat has more visibility and i can clear my guilty conscience.

i am not above bribery

the girl was "dying" to have her ears pierced awhile back so in late september i took her to have it done. she was so brave and loves loves loves having her ears pierced. she even remarked to me that you could see her earrings in the picture we took for this year's christmas card.

so, what was the number one gift for the girl this christmas?

the girl received four pairs: garnet hearts, double hearts, pink stones and smiley face studs from one of her uncles. there's just one problem. she's too freaked out to change the earrings.

we managed to remove one earring yesterday. that was it. there was a little blood (they've been in for three months) and much drama, crying, hiding and pleading to not ever touch her ears again. what's a mom to do? bribery, of course! what? you read that like bribery is a bad thing. it happens to be a very effective negotiating tool, for your information.

we ate lunch at mcdonald's yesterday. the girl got in her happy meal one of those littlest pet shop toys, which she promptly lost when she took it ice skating with her yesterday afternoon.

in my attempt to get her to let me either remove the remaining earring, or replace the one already removed, i reminded my daughter that she really, really, really wanted her ears pierced over the summer and that it took a lot of convincing on the part of her dad to allow her to get it done. i also mentioned that to come all this way, only to let the holes close up was a shame. especially when there was a new littlest pet shop animal in it for her if she would just let me put the earrings back in her ears. "sleep on it," i said. "you might change your mind."

as of this morning, she decided to put the pink earrings in. before lunch, which seems like a pretty arbitrary time but is just her way of gathering up some more courage.

today we decided to do something as a family so we're going to the bronx zoo.there are plenty of gift shops there with cheap plastic toys if the aforementioned bribery fails. wish me luck!

celebrity death pools, bacon and fish

rather morbid but you can bet on which celebrities will die in the next twelve months. the younger and more unexpected, the more points you earn.

=

we avoided questions on the origin of everyone's favorite breakfast meat after seeing charlotte's web on tuesday. i really thought after seeing this movie that my daughter would put two and two together about the relationship between cute little pigs and bacon and that we'd have to start keeping kosher. but since the pig gets to live, i guess she didn't make connection. yet.



our fish appears to be better although his outward appearance is more or less the same. at least he is not floating upside down. we bought antifungal and antibacterial medicine. he will need to be given this medication for a week. but he is still not eating, so today's menu will feature shelled peas and chopped spinach. this fish is eating better than my own kids!

fish tales

i have been trying to figure out what is wrong with our fish nemo for three days now. he has some red streaks on his head, a fuzzy white spot on his tail and redness at the base of one of his fins. of course, it's been so crazy around here that i didn't notice any of it until i realized he was swimming upside down. even that was more of a casual 'hey, look. nemo's swimming upside down' rather than a 'omigod! this fish is swimming upside down! what do i do? what do i do?'

the background on this fish is this (and pardon the repitition if you've heard the story before): in august of 2003, my daughter won a fish at the new jersey state fair. she didn't get the ping pong ball in the little fish bowl but the kind carnies that were working the booth said "oh, she wins whether she gets the ball in or not." i hate those carnies.

so, i spent $2 to play the game, $5 on a bowl kit that came with a 30 day supply of food (which only lasted two weeks). he survived a car trip to pennsylvania from the fair and then traveled to brooklyn in an inch of water the next day. i thought that would surely kill him. it didn't.

we continued feeding him, changing his water every other day, convinced that his days were numbered. he continued living. a month later, we bought him the fish equivilent of a one bedroom apartment: a one gallon tank with aeration and an under gravel filter. add another $20 to the list of expenses. he continued living. and growing. last year, we moved him to a two bedroom: a 2.5 gallon tank. for $30. we are now out a minimum of $57 for a fish my daughter really didn't win, plus food and aquarium supply expenses which is probably pushing our totaly monetary layout to over $150.

nemo is now about 5 inches long and until recently a healthy, beautiful brightly-colored orange goldfish with a fan tail. not the typical fish you win at a state fair.

after reluctantly caring for this fish it now kills me that he is sick. i have it narrowed down to one of three things: a fungal or a bacterial infection or swim bladder problems (or all three with my luck). apparently, dry floating food is great for keeping a tank crystal clear but terrible for their digestive system so today i need to peel peas and feed them to nemo in an effort to clear his digestive tract and help his swim bladder, plus i need to hit the aquarium store for medicine to treat his skin ailments.

have i mentioned how much i hate those carnies?

christmas recap

wanted for kidnapping:

santa delivered a nintendo ds lite for my daughter on christmas eve. she hasn't been seen since. if you see a red-headed little girl with freckles who stands just under 4 feet tall, completely engrossed in the above toy (either dogz or horsez), please return her to us. we miss her!


we had a lovely christmas, despite the boy being sick with a cold and ear infection. we are slowly regaining floor space that was lost to boxes, wrapping paper and toys but i keep finding those annoying clear twist-ties that keep every toy they sell from moving one millimeter in their packaging all over the house.

weather-wise, it rained on christmas. it even rained in our apartment. the toilet tank in our upstairs neighbor's apartment broke, so at 11:30 on christmas night the husband and i were up putting buckets and pails under all the leaks because, you know, who needs sleep? somehow, their brand new toilet up and broke. just like that. the plumber seems to think there was some sort of stress that the toilet was exposed to. like someone bumped or ran into it hard. words escape me to explain this phenomenon.

today the girls are planning on seeing charlotte's web: me, the girl and the nana. i have a feeling there will be much discussion about pork and it's origins once we see this movie. if i just say it comes from the supermarket does that count as an honest answer? its not like i'm going to be slaughtering anything on my land in the near future....

sawyer says

"once i take care of those 'others' and get us rescued,

i have to remember to send andie a birthday card."

big shout out to andie on her birthday!

here's a link for ya berfday:
could lost be returning early?

you should get out more

here are some holiday links to give you something to do. what? i can't entertain you all day, every day. go. see what else it out there. you'll thank me.

make snowflakes: old fashioned paper and digital

crafts you don't need: now i have officially seen it all.

are you ready for the a christmas story marathon? don't shoot your eye out!

huh. i didn't see these toys at toys r' us this year.

happy winter solstice!

miscellany (for when i can't decide on any one thing to post about)

holiday music
each year i (re)discover a christmas song that i can't stop listening to. two years ago it was 'here comes santa claus' because the girl had learned it in school and hearing her sing it made happy. last year it was 'home for the holidays' for some unknown reason. this year it's andy williams rendition of 'it's the most wonderful time of the year.' andy williams: you totally rock.

so, what are you listening to this year?


a request for subway riders
people! please. for the love of god. if you must bring packages (shopping bags, boxes, etc.) could you please remember to take them with you when you board the train? i've been delayed and evacuated three times in three days from stations in which there has been an unattended package. i appreciate the mta taking my safety seriously but i have things to do and places to be. thanks a bunch!



proud mama
the boy has learned a new word. 'chocolate.' there is no prouder mother than i.



that's a wrap
my wrapping, is all, er, wrapped up. i hunkered down last night and wrapped and wrapped. and wrapped. if you don't own one of these, you should. it shaves time off wrapping and saves your wrists from the repeated motion of cutting the paper with scissors.

i have always wanted....

to make a gingerbread house. this year i will! we received as a gift from a good friend at work a gingerbread house kit. the best part is that the house is pre-assembled so all we have to do is decorate it. how cool is that? (shit. now i sound like rachel ray.)

i am officially sick of wrapping. i've been doing the wrapping piecemeal and it is grating on my last christmas nerve. it isn't even really the wrapping per se. it's the retrieving of gifts from every nook and cranny of our apartment, wrapping it and then stashing it away all over again. remind me to leave all the gifts out in my bedroom on christmas eve right before we leave for christmas eve shindig at my dad's so i'm not tearing the house apart at 1am and swearing up a blue streak.

on friday, my daughter had a party at her daisy scout meeting for the holidays. they had someone dress up as santa. when i asked her about it, she told me "he was just a pretend santa."

"how do you know? i asked.
"he was wearing sneakers," she replied in her best don't-you-know-anything-mom? voice.
"what's that got to do with anything?" i said. "doesn't santa wear sneakers?" i began to wonder if this was the moment the whole lie would be revealed.
"mom, everyone knows that the real santa wears boots."
whew.



a good clean joke for you:

an man and woman, married thirty years, have a conflict. they can't agree who should make the coffee in the morning. they argue and argue.

the man's argument is that since the wife is already in the kitchen cooking breakfast she should do it. she disagrees and insists that he make the coffee. "it's in the bible," she says.
"where does the bible mention who should make the coffee?" he replies.
"right here," says the wife. "there's a whole book about it: hebrews."

you've been elfed!

take a look at my little elf

the best of 2006

every show, network, magazine, etc. come up with a best-of around this time of year. why not me?

here's a list of my faves. not that you asked.....

best new store
without a doubt: red hook, brooklyn's fairway
this a grocery shoppers dream. they offer everything from organic vitamins to whole beef tenderloins to english specialties (spotted dick, anyone?) to junior's cheesecake. and everything in between.


best network
abc
despite still being angry that they moved grey's anatomy to thursdays, abc is the best network this year. period. not only are they home to lost, desperate housewives and the aforementioned gray's, they replay the shows you love the following day for free on their website, they listen to their viewers (hello lost-aholics....isn't it great that we have two mini seasons within which there are no repeats this season?) and they have also dedicated tuesday and friday evenings to holiday shows for the kids. they are really gilding my lily by replaying charlie brown christmas this coming sunday.


best show you're not watching
gilmore girls
and you ought to be ashamed of yourself for not watching it. the pilot for this show was underwritten by the family friendly programming forum, the first television show to ever reach the air with the help of this organization. the writing is brilliant. the cast superb. this will probably be the last season, too. start watching it now, kick yourself for not watching it sooner next year.


best movie you've never even heard of
the prize winner of defiance, ohio
based on a true story of a 50's/60's era housewife who becomes a professional jingle writer/sweepstakes player who endures her louse-of-a-husband's drinking. charming. the book was written by the prizewinner's daughter. now on video/dvd.


best news story of the year...quite possibly the decade
hands down: the death of alexander litvinenko from polonium-210 poisoning
it is sad and a bit disturbing but really, its got all the ingredients for a great story: espionage, international crime, drama, finger pointing, murder, intrigue, ex-wives, sofas and political heads of state. jerry bruckheimer, are you paying attention?


best new toy of the year
wii
forget tmx elmo. move over playstation 3. the toy i secretly covet yet don't really want (i'm like, complex, ya dig?) is nintendo's wii, the interactive video game that gets you up and moving.


best switcheroo/failure
katie left today to fill the vacancy at cbs's evening news, which allowed meredith vieira to leave the view which allowed rosie to stage a comeback and it is all failing miserably. which i love.


best movie
cars
kids movies are really all i see these days so this is really the one area i am not at all qualified to judge. but cars was great and it appeals to both my kids and me.


best justice
borat v. frat boys
have you see borat? besides bathroom humor, there was a scene in which borat hitches a ride with frat boys who are drunk and go on a tirade that make michael richards and mel gibson look good. seems the frat boys were ok with making racist and misogynistic comments when they thought it would only be shown abroad. now that their fellow citizens see them for the bigoted jerks they are, they are suing. but a judge has refused the removal of the scene from the dvd. it'll be on shelves before you know it so you can see for yourself.


coolest justice
da vinci code
in the uk, justice smith ruled the idea for the da vinci code was not stolen and did so in a 71 page ruling in which was embedded a secret code for his ruling ("the smithy code").

best example of being overexposed
rachel ray
need i say more?

best things to eat and drink
they're not new but i found out about some interesting things this year that you should try:

white rabbit candies
imported chinese taffy-like milk confections that are addictive (and hard on your teeth. if you lose a filling don't say i didn't warn you.) note: when you click the link above, make sure to click on the rabbit icon. it'll bring you to page which has the chinese-to-english translation of these delectable things, along with the fact that they are "hot in the USA and you can buy them at walgmart"
joy
half green, half black tea available only at christmas time from starbucks
pimm's cup
gin drink with fruit and soda. delish on a summer afternoon.

best "best of"
craigslist
especially 17 May 2006, 6 Jun 2006 and 19 Sep 2006

happy new year!

weekend recap

saturday morning, the husband and i brought the kids to our friendly local grandparents so we could drive to dc to visit his friend tom. in case you didn't know, tom is recovering from a sniper shot he took in the left hip while serving as a civil affairs officer in iraq.

the first patient we saw when we arrived at walter reed army medical center was a soldier missing half his leg. the second patient we saw was a double amputee. this was all before we even made it into tom's room.

we had a great visit and i am happy we got to see tom. his next step is to complete his recovery and then head to Tampa where he will go through rehabilitation to repair nerve damage he suffered.

we were sorry we missed this event while we were in texas for the thanksgiving holiday but a benefit was held to raise money for tom to continue helping the children in iraq. over $20,000 was raised. donations are still being accepted. address is in the link above.



what else did i do this weekend? too much, as usual. i decided that i hate my kitchen curtains so i changed them but the curtains i hung look silly because they are just valences. the windows are very long (84") which is great for things like natural light. but i need to find curtains that match the scale of the windows. preferably under $20/window. whaddya think about these?

i came down with a cold and i'm not liking it one bit. blahhhhhh.

just say no

nancy reagan had it right in the 80's. just say no. of course, she was talking about drugs. i'm talking about saying no to people and requests. sounds easy, right? it isn't.

it all starts innocently enough. all our weekends are free in december. wanna go to this party? sure, we have nothing else going on. then, we tack on another event. then one of us volunteers to help someone out. then we agree to go someplace which results in a grand orchestration of travel plans, babysitters (you know who you are and we are eternally grateful) and arrangements which only the most sophisticated algebra equation could possibly illustrate to an outsider (and who the f- remembers algebra anyway?). before you know it, the snowball effect happens and we find ourselves scrambling to get it all done while still maintaining the rest of our crazy schedule.

then come in the other requests: from school, church, extra helping-out at work, would you mind doing me a favor, could i ask you to do something for our organization? could you kindly donate a pint of blood? got a spare kidney? are you using all of your liver? (yes i am. there is much wine in my future for the rest of the year so bugger off!)

lest you think me a whiner, today i did say no. i sold cookie dough last month for the 5th grade at the girl's school so they could take a senior trip this spring. a trip my kid isn't even going on. this afternoon they are raffling off holiday baskets for additional trip funds. so as we were racing to make it out the door, i stopped to fill out the tickets. i filled the first one out, then tore up the booklet. i'd finally had enough. i raised $158 dollars for the fifth grade to visit philadephia. if that isn't enough of a difference on my part, then i don't know what is.

i feel liberated!

desperate times

working in an ad agency, i get to see all sorts of magazines. today someone handed me the new york times style guide, which presents its holiday 2006 gift issue.

along with ads for couture jewelry, perfume and designer duds is an ad for jdate, the jewish online dating service. here's the copy:

"this chanukah, give the gift of jdate, and give the gift of love."

because nothing says 'we're desperate to marry you off' like a gift certificate to an online dating service!

remember when?

last night at work, a colleague was helping another load music onto her new ipod. it is amazing that they can fit four gigabytes of information into this tiny little thing. i happened to mention that when i was a kid, they'd talk about about the technology of the future and how i thought it was always cool to hear about what the scientists were working on. i just never thought i'd see the advances they have so early.

everyone agreed that yes, we've seen technology advance very quickly. remember vinyls? 45's? 8 tracks? one asked. that question didn't make me feel old, as yours truly bought 45's and vinyls when they were being phased out. (i had cassettes! the truly creative made mixed tapes and watched friday night videos!) here's what made me feel old:

a younger colleague also happened to be standing there. he'd heard of a 45 record. "but what what it really?" he asked.

i explained to him that it was a small record for a hit single. it was a way for artists and record companies to sell just one hit from an album to their audience.

"how many songs did the record hold?"
"two," i said. "an a side and a b side."
"that's it?" yes, frank. that's it.

it made me nostalgic, which is a nice way of saying i felt old. so here's some nostalgia for you, dear readers. all three of you :)

remember the little yellow adapter thingy that allowed you to play your 45's on a "regular" record player?

remember when you were the remote control? dad would say "go see what's on channel 4. now see what's on 7. wait go back." there were only about four other stations to go before you were back to where you started!
remember rabbit ears? tin foil for improved reception?

remember busy signals?
remember bench seats in cars?
remember those reflective boards you held under your face for a better tan?
remember baby oil and iodine mixed together for an authentic orange tan?
remember when coke came in glass bottles (it just doesn't taste the same to me now)
remember the milk man? remember when soda was delivered on a truck and the seltzer bottles that came with it?

c'mon. take a walk down your own person memory lane and send me a comment about something you (vaguely) remember!

no pain no gain

just returned from the dentist's office. what a workout!

first, the elevators were so crowded at the lexington avenue station that i had to walk about seven flights of stairs to make my connection to the number 6 train.

i actually arrived early for my appointment. so after finishing my su doku and half of a crossword puzzle, we began the consultation for invisalign.

the first thing they do is take pictures of you. just you, not smiling. just standing against a wall, one shot full on and another in profile. "piece of cake," i thought to myself. (note to self, once you think something is a piece of cake, it usually gets much, much harder.) then, they have you sit in a chair while they retract your lips with an appropriately named tool called a lip retractor. after a few shots like that, they stick a mirror in your mouth along with the lip retractors (two of them) for some more photos.

the next thing they have you do is sit in the dental chair. for more pictures. with the lip retractors, bigger mirror and a couple of fingers holding anything else they could cram in there out of the way for the photo. then it got worse. they had a hard time get the proper angle for my uppper teeth. they called in a third woman to help. so i had two large lip retractors, a large mirror, two fingers. and i was upside down. yes, upside down. they had to position the chair so far back. not a normal position to be in at the dentist. and yes, they took more pictures.

but wait, there's more! the next step is to do impressions. i've never done this before. i had a feeling it would be kinda gross. it wasn't too bad except i kept thinking that some of the impression material was sliding back down my throat and i thought i would surely choke to death all in the name of vanity. but i didn't. i did, however, have a mini freak out when they pulled the impression out of my mouth for the upper teeth. the material is rubber-ish, so it creates a tight seal that needs to be broken. i thought she was going to pull the bonding right off my broken front tooth. the lower impression was much easier. then there was a third impression that was the easiest of them all.

because i am a glutton for punishment, i had them do my cleaning after the invisalign torture chamber. i wan't upside down, but there was much scraping and checking, poking and prodding and examining. i hate when they take that little hook thing and pull at the fillings. i swear they do it just to make trouble. which they did because they found two older fillings that will need to replaced eventually.

for the grand finale, they polished my teeth. not with the usual gritty mint tooth polish but with a pressurized baking soda solution. it is like sandblasting your teeth. and it gets everywhere.

the good news is that i didn't have a cavity!

after the first of the year, i'll go back and see a video of how my teeth will look once the procedure is completed and i'll probably get the sticker shock of how much it will cost.

something to smile about

right before i left to get lunch, i got a call from the dentist's office. i thought they were just calling to remind me about my follow-up (i broke a front tooth in august) and check up i scheduled for tomorrow. plus, i need to schedule my invisalign evaluation appointment for january.

that's not what they were calling for. it turns out their invisalign rep is going to be in their office tomorrow. the office wanted to know if they could possibly move my appointment up. if i move the appointment up by 4 hours, the rep could do my impressions and take the photos for the evaluation. at. no. charge.

how cool is that?

the man in the yellow shirt

so the wiggles are losing their front man. greg page, aka the man in the yellow shirt, has a condition in which he gets dizzy and lethargic from too much jumping around.

the new york times reports:

"...when Greg Page, 34, the band’s lead singer since its
inception 15 years ago, announced on Thursday that he was resigning after
being diagnosed with a serious illness that leaves him frequently
lightheaded and unable to dance and leap to the group’s most energetic hits,
it was the equivalent of John Lennon or Paul McCartney quitting the Beatles."

um, no. not really. but whatever. the times went on to say:

"That comparison is not so far-fetched considering Mr. Page’s high visibility
within the band, which estimates it has sold more than 15 million DVDs and CDs
in the United States alone in less than a decade..."

that's an impressive sales number by any standard. but the comparison is still far-fetched.

the band has already introduced greg page's replacement, operatically trained sam moran. what, no reality tv show to search for a replacement?

this is your official reminder to count your blessings! the ones you have, not the ones you want.

i got this just in just under the wire. you may have noticed that i added a button to this page commemorating world aids day.

today is the day when we remember those who have suffered because of this dreadful disease. the news tonight featured the work of a photographer who documented african children living with the disease. some of the stories were heartbreaking; the pictures were...i don't know what to say. harrowing. most of the children she photographed are no longer living.

watching it got me thinking that the problems i have aren't bad. my life, with all it's ups and downs is pretty darned good compared to the lives of others. i'm lucky, very lucky. and so are you. take a moment-take two, take five-take as many as you need and count the blessings you have. husband driving you crazy? believe it or not, it's a blessing. kids driving you up a wall? thank god they are healthy enough to do so. money tight? boss a jerk? holiday stress? exhausted? that means we have money to worry over, a job to go to, and something worth doing is present in your life. if that makes you tired, all the better. these are problems we are lucky to have.

take the time to appreciate your problems. count your blessings. pick your battles (most aren't worth the fight). tell someone you love them. help others (forget about charitable giving now; give in june, when most donations to charities dry up). call your mother. hug your kids. kiss your partner. smile more. say 'god bless you' when someone sneezes, even if its a stranger. stop worrying. and above all: love one another.

i'd like to thank the academy....

i didn't have to give a speech, thank goodness, but today i won an award at work for my crazy manifesto project that had me working over the weekend before thanksgiving. i am now a "pillar of the universe" or so they say here at the agency. i was nominated by my boss for going the extra mile and really, the praise couldn't have been better if i'd paid her off. which i could do with my small monetary bonus that came along with the certificate. i was totally surprised by this but grateful for recognition. hopefully, more people in my group will be recognized for their contributions in the future.

weird news
a man was pulled from the jaws of an alligator in a Florida lake at 4am. the deputies said it was not clear why the man was in the water at that hour. my question: why was he naked? at some point after he was saved mr. swim-naked-with-the-gators fessed up that he'd been smoking crack. of course! it all makes sense now.

the most exciting thing to happen all week
the girl lost her tooth!!!!!! her first tooth to fall out, my first time playing tooth fairy. i forgot to do it before i went to bed. can you believe my husband reminded me? luckily, the girl slept late this morning and i was able to go in and retrieve the tooth and leave the cash before she woke up. whew!

i piss on your time out!
the terrible twos, they are upon us. last night we had the boy run around without a diaper to help air out a little rash he's developed. he got out of hand with the hitting (which he is very fond of these days). he began to throw one of his whirling dervish fits when i tried to reprimand him. so i put him in his crib for a one minute time out. guess how the little devil got back at me?

later on he tried to give me a kiss, which he is usually very stingy with. i had to be tough mommy and tell him i didn't want to get a kiss because he hurt me with his hitting. the little devil then gave me the best hug ever after i told him that, complete with little pats on my back from his tiny hand. and a kiss, finally. with boogers (he has a cold).