I'm Back! - kinda

Wow. I don't think I've logged into this blog for nearly two years? It's been a long, long time... and I've realized that without taking some time to write about it, whether it be to share some forgettable dithering, or my personal epiphanies, time is passing by quickly. I don't remember as much as I had before, when I used to take time to write, to reflect in writing.

For the last two years, so much of my time is spent doing for others, namely, my darling family, but I need something of my own beyond Facebook time.  I do enjoy Facebook, but it's not as, um, sufficient. Here, I can tout my opinions and be silly and be this or that, and it's not for all my 'friends' to see... not unless they, or anyone else, chooses to come here.

Lately, I feel the need to renew some past 'selfish' practices, to recreate something of my own in my life that's for me. Although blogging is a public format, I always felt it was for me.

We'll see how this goes, I guess.  And have a Happy New Year!

Holiday Cheer & Happy New Year to Y'all!

Signs you've had a little too much holiday cheer (hee, hee):

1. You take off your shoes and wade in the potato salad.

2. You hear a duck quacking and it's you.

3. You refill your glass from the fish bowl.

5. You hear someone say, "Call a priest!"

6. You complain about the small bathroom after emerging from the closet.

7. You ask for another ice cube and put it in your pocket.

8. You tell everyone you have to go home... and the party's at your place.

9. You have to hold on to the floor to keep from sliding off.

10. You pick up a roll, and butter your watch.

Halloween Humor

An extremely modest man was in the hospital for a series of tests, the  last of which had left his bodily systems extremely upset. Upon making several false alarm trips to the bathroom, he decided the latest episode was another and stayed put. He suddenly filled his bed with diarrhea and was embarrassed beyond his ability to remain rational.

In a complete loss of composure, he jumped out of bed, gathered up the bed sheets, and threw them out the hospital window.

A drunk was walking by the hospital when the sheets landed on him. He started yelling, cursing, and swinging his arms violently trying to get the unknown things off, and ended up with the soiled sheets in a tangled pile at his feet.

As the drunk stood there, unsteady on his feet, staring down at the sheets, a hospital security guard (barely containing his laughter) who had watched the whole incident walked up and asked, "What the heck is going on here?"

The drunk, still staring down replied:   "I think I just beat the shit out of a ghost."

Kiss with a Gaze

"The soul that can speak through the eyes can also kiss with a gaze."

- Gustavo Adolfo Bequer

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mmmmm, Cranberry Fluff

Just sneaked my 1st spoonful of Cranberry Fluff!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Cheshire Cat Costume!

Although we had a kind of late in the game switcheroo with our original planning, coordinating the Halloween costumes of the angel boy-O and our sweet potato girlie, I luckily found something acceptable and just in time! It should ship out shortly and arrive barely in time for our departure for Utah, Wednesday of next week. But lemme' tell ya, it was harder than I'd expected to score a toddler-sized Cheshire cat costume. The Disney Store doesn't even carry an adult version?!? One thing a bit amusing in my search... I found plenty of adult 'sexy Cheshire cat' costumes online, most including little enough fabric, they could maybe have fit our little baby girlie just fine! Instead, I went with this one: Just imagine this lil' blondie kitty as a little brunette and you'll have a good picture of what our lil' kitty-cat will look like.

Halloween Costumes for The Future, Present, and Past

Absolutely certain we'll have to dress our sweet potato girlie as Princess Leia at some point whether she'll want to or not... other Halloween consume ideas on her mommie's "Wish List of Halloween Costumes for The Future" (NOTE: I began writing this post the 8th of October):

Bumble Bee
Ladybug
Cheshire Cat
Pocahontas
Cowgirl
A Cookie or a Donut (and one of us parents can dress as a carton of milk!)
Witch
Red Devil
Tiger
Bunny Wabbit
Scarecrow
Dorothy from Wizard of Oz
Raggedy Ann

Hmmm... the above list requires she be willing to dress up for Halloween until she's 16 years old! We'll see about that.

She was a dragon last year (Smaug!) and the costume still kinda fits (just barely), so we were planning to reuse it, as the angel boy-O is certain - - make that was certain-- he'd be Frodo again for this Halloween. UPDATE: Just as I suspected, her big bro just returned home from a weekend at Disneyland with plans to be something else than Frodo: The Mad Hatter! Which is a fantastic idea... cuz perfectly enough, I now get to cross something off the lengthy "...Costumes for the Future" list: She'll be the Cheshire Cat!

Halloween Costumes of My Past: Note, I don't remember Halloween before my last year of preschool - - and the person who could tell me, who would remember, she isn't around anymore.

Age 4 or 5: Geisha girl wearing vermilion kimono with a floral and maple leaf printed pattern, and my hair spun in buns round on each side of my little head, complete with coral pink paper fans pinned therein.
Age 6: I'm really not sure - - I have no memory of either my Halloween costume, nor of trick-or-treating my kindergarten year. I would guess I was either a clown or a witch. I'm leaning towards circus clown. I do remember watching the older kids in my school's Halloween parade held in the upstairs gym though, and I remember thinking there sure were a lot of kids dressed as McDonald's 'Fry Guys.'
Age 7: I think I was either a clown or a witch -? Probably a clown again.
Age 8: Witch, I'm sure of it!
Age 9: I'm almost certain I was a witch again.
Age 10: Pat Benatar/Punk rocker - - far too much detail to explain this one. It was great and ridiculous all at once!
Age 11: Scarecrow - I hadn't liked this one at first, but by the night's end, I thought myself that I was freakin' adorable.
Age 12: At the time, I was going for a 'bum' look, donning old over-sized clothes and a scruffy brown hat, and I had a thin layer of Vaseline spread about my cheeks, chin and jawline, rubbed with coffee grounds (which were supplied by a neighbor, who's daughter, Kathleen, was also dressed as a bum as my trick-or-treating partner that year). The grounds were meant to inspire an unshaven look. We were out on our own until nearly 10pm. We thought we were the coolest.
Age 13: I was a Paisley Ghost - and my pillowcase of candy was stolen by some 15 year olds who rushed me. As I turned around to defend myself, it became utterly pointless with a stupid paisley bedsheet over my head, unable to see much detail.
Age 18: I'm fairly certain I did something, but I can't remember - - I should ask Mikie if she remembers.
Age 19: This one, only fellow Ricks College graduates would understand: I dressed as an early-married, early pregnant, Mormon Ricks College student, complete with a teeny, fine print floral patterned Sunday dress and a fake preggers belly - - Mind you, I didn't make it out the door dressed like that(not enough guts to do it), although 3 of my roommates with the same 'costume' went out and made a night of it that year.
Age 20: Zan, the boy-half of the Wonder Twins duo. This was the same Halloween a roomie and I decided to deck out all our friends from our apartment complex as superheros and villains, utilizing all sorts of creative arrangements and treatments of colored tights and long underwear, using both original purchase colors and dyed versions to match our needs, and various felt and/or satin appliques... We had Green Lantern, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, Cat Woman, Supergirl, Superman, Spiderman, Flash, Bat Girl, and Jayna, my other Wonder Twin half, roommate and fellow costume creator. And we all went out in public together as a group, each dressed in character, also behaving in character... like Chris, as Spiderman, who actually sprang atop a grocery cashier's checkout, looking out for Dr. Octopus, or James, as Flash, who ran 'Flash-style' up and down the grocery aisles when we had descended upon a Smith's grocery store in search of 35mm film when I'd run out. At check-out, film in hand, 'Flash' was nowhere to be found and the cashier actually used the store's PA system: "Flash to Checkout 10, Flash? Would Flash please return to the store front to Check out 10, Flash to check out 10." We also had dinner together at TGIFridays before our evening festivities truly began... Humpht. I guess by now I could have easily described the Pat Benatar costume from A to Z after this long-winded portion of my recounting costumes of the past.
Age 21: a Nerd from the 60s
Age 22: a Death bunny, all pasty faced with thick, black eyeliner, fake lashes, and black lipstick, wearing a long, straight, black-haired wig, a short, black velvet shift, and torn black pantyhose over burgundy tights, and a pair heavy heeled, black platform ankle boots. I was dressed like that all day long and it really freaked out a number of Provo, UT locals while I drove and walked about town.

This year I'm gunna be a witch whether the rest of the parents wanna dress up or not! So, I've got a little less than a month now to work on my witch cackle!

AGAIN: I began writing this October 8th...

Sooo My Witch Costume UPDATE: I have acquired a black gown with a scoop neck, elongated sleeves, and a hacked up hemline with a slit. I've also scored a black, kind of see-through cape with a hood that has a glittery purple-plum colored spider's web pattern printed all over it, and I've got some dark green and black striped tights to be worn with black, high-heeled ankle boots that don't reach beyond my ankle so that the tights will be more visible. The dark green of the tights is meant to compliment the green sheen seen in the plume of black feathers atop my witch's hat, which is a satiny black with a plum colored sheen to it, and also has 3 satiny plum colored fabric roses, front and center, and a black netted veil that hangs with little black plastic spiders here and there. The hat is what inspired this whole effort: It was my Grandma Joanie's witch's hat. I also have kind of Lady Liberty green costume makeup (more on the gray side than on turquoise) to be applied to any and all visible skin. Ohhh, and direct from Hong Kong (no really, I'm not kidding: post-marked from Hong Kong), I've got some long fake lashes that have a bit of purple feathers set to be aligned with the outside corners of my eyes. And then black lipstick.

Oh, Wait, That Was an Inadvertent Lie

CORRECTION: There are a couple major unfinished projects yet to deal with. I have about, oh, a hundred or so holiday cards that haven't made it to the mail yet because I still haven't finished addressing 'em. Yeah, but I figure if they make it in the mail before this year's end, that's WAY better than last year: We never sent any last year. Annnd, well, so there's the cards thing, and well --this one makes me feel bad, but I know I gotta cut myself a break or I'll melt into a whiny puddle-- I failed to finish our presents for the grandparents and siblings. See, due to a restricted budget this year, we'd opted to take advantage of the cuteness we have on hand and to make Christmas gifts for our friends and family. Excellent idea, right? No really, it IS an excellent idea, but like I said, I'm operating a week behind schedule.

SOME BACKGROUND INFO: The angel boy-O used to 'collect' pine cones galore, but his collection had to been restricted to a very tall, very large glass canister-like jar kept at the bottom of our stairs. Mind you, although restricted in size, what he'd collected could have easily filled a couple paper grocery sacks, and that's a fact... Well, he has a rock collection too, which is also restricted in terms of its size, also stored in large, lidded glass jar. Over this past summer, he wanted to add more rocks to his already full jar, and I'd told him he'd have to pick and choose which ones he wanted to keep in order to make room for the new ones. [SIDE NOTE: If this 'pick-n-choose-which-can-stay-and-which-will-go' approach sounds mean, please believe me: If we didn't restrict his collections somehow, they would take over every nook n' cranny of our home! The boy would keep every rock and every bottle cap he sees!] So, rather than have to go through his rocks at all, he decided to sacrifice his entire pine cone collection, a collection I'd grown fond of, I gotta say. So yeah, he bagged up all his pine cones and headed for the trash, and then, after he'd gone to bed that night, I removed them from the garbage before the trash would be set out for garbage day -he never knew this, by the way.

So anyhow, I was trying to figure out how we could make something meaningful to give to our friends and family, and I wanted it to represent not just our baby girlie, but our angel boy-O as well despite his absence from our home. And I could not think of anything, at least not until our baby sweet potato girlie was sent home from preschool one day with a baby-hand-painted pine cone Christmas ornament, including a photo of her attached to it, taken when she was in the midst of her paint-covered creative efforts. And voila! I instantly knew what we'd do for everyone! Baby-painted pine cone ornaments, and soooo, our baby girlie has been helping mommie paint her big brother's discarded pine cones over the last couple weeks now, which we will give as lovely lil' holiday ornaments! Brilliant, yes!? --except she can only manage painting 5 pine cones at any one time, and we've learned the most it can happen is once a day, only every other day at most. We've had FOUR "painting of zee pine cones" sessions so far (more like three n' a half), and the last session, she was like, "What? More of these pokey things? Again? Are you kidding me?" and she didn't last more than 5 minutes.

Yeah, so it's taking a while....

The Eve of Christmas

Wow. So we've determined our household has been operating about a week behind the calendar. Yup, a solid week behind schedule; it should be Christmas a week from now, not tomorrow!?! Don't get me wrong, it's not that we have a ton of stuff left to cross off our to-do lists. We're actually in okay shape compared to previous years come the holiday time; the house is all decorated and all clean; mopped and vacuumed, dusted, etc., and the laundry all caught up and put away. Every holiday candle holder in he house is loaded n' ready to burn a candle, and we'd located the 20-odd Christmas albums we own several weeks ago, so there's been a steady rotation going for the last couple weeks. All the presents are wrapped and under the tree --something that's so not our norm by Christmas Eve night. And all the shopping that could be done is done, including our grocery shopping, but man, it can't be Christmas already!?! I haven't done any baking yet, but that's because I'm only taking stuff to Utah, and that's not until next week. Otherwise, we don't need the sweets this year, so yeah, no bakin' or candy makin' this week. Even still, we're just not ready. I don't know how to explain it, but, we're just not ready. [A related 'corrective' post included HERE]

My honey-man normally creates a grand French Canadian inspired meal for Christmas that has him in the kitchen for a day, cooking away, but this year's holiday really snuck up on him -or us rather- real super fast. I knew yesterday morning when we got up that he had NO IDEA what the following day was, and when I told him, he looked like he'd been struck dumb, utterly confounded. This morning we decided to hold off on the Montreal feasting tradition and wait until the angel boy-O joins us on Sunday the 27th.

I think this year is just so new and different for us. For instance, this will be our first Christmas spent in Vegas, which isn't a shocking piece of trivia for my honey-man, but for me, well, I've lived here for TEN years now, and I've never spent Christmas here, nor in my own home, not ever! And of course, this will be our baby girlie's first Christmas, and that's very exciting, even though we know she won't ever remember a bit of it. It feels a bit odd though to celebrate the holiday season with our new darling babe now, but without our other darling babe included.

Bring on the Cranberry Fluff!

We Can't Help It: We Miss the Boy-O Horribly

Man, I can't wait for Thanksgiving week to get here, dammit! We miss our angel boy-O sooo badly - - Tonight, after dinner, cleaning up around the kitchen, as my honey-man washed the cooking pans and dishes, it just hit me so hard that I yelled out loud at the ceiling that I miss him so much.

Late last month, I'd written over at our family blog that I wasn't going to write anymore about how much we miss him:

"...At the beginning of the October month, [the boy-O] had a 'fall break' from school, which allowed him to fly into Vegas on a Wednesday night and stay through to Sunday afternoon. IT WAS SOOOO WONDERFUL to have him for more than just a couple nights!!! We REALLY, REALLY loved having him for 4 nights and THREE WHOLE DAYS plus half of Sunday - - And of course, we were totally heartbroken when he had to leave us, as usual...

I'm not sure we're ever going to get used to the pain we feel when [the boy-O] leaves. We basically miss him all the time, and for the few days following his return home to [his mom n' step-dad], we actually feel a bit under the weather. It's emotionally and psychologically challenging, gotta say. I think that from now on, it should go without saying that it's ALWAYS hard to let him go EACH AND EVERY TIME, but that's the way it is, and I'm just not going to write about it or mention it anymore."

After the summer's over, we go month to month with one chance per month to see him, and each time we see him, it's just sooo freakin' bittersweet - - long enough to serve as a refresher as to what we're missing out on each and every day, yet never long enough to build upon any kind of family routine or to influence his daily habits. It's hard to find a good balance and the right attitude to take when it comes to our ability, or rather, our inability to parent him and be a family. And for me, it's hard to find my role in it at all, especially now, as he sees how involved I am with his baby sister and makes his own comparisons, although we've tried repeatedly to explain she's a dependent, needy little baby, and she does live with us everyday, so her life is about living with us, etc. etc. Hard stuff.

Man, this is such a loaded subject, I don't know where to go with it really, especially here, blogging, so I'll stop and leave it at this: I'm very happy the angel boy-O will be here for Thanksgiving. Although we saw him in UT for Halloween, he hasn't been to our home since that first weekend of October. It will be wonderful to have him here, sleeping in his bedroom, singing in the shower, getting popcorn all over the couch, hanging on the open refrigerator door, playing with the kids in our development, riding his bike with his dad... and to spend more than a flash-in-the-pan weekend together.

Off to Ootah for Halloween with the Angel Boy-O!

We're leavin' in the morning, EARLY (hopefully...)! Our aim is to hit the round once the wee one rouses... depending upon when she has her midnight wake-up, that could be anytime between 5:30 and 8am... On second thought, we'll wake her up at 6am, and she can sleep in the car. Sorry, thinking via type here.

Everyone have a Happy Halloween!!! boo!

O' Christmas Tree

This was meant to be shared on Dec. 18th: This year's Christmas tree has got to be my favorite yet! See, my honey-man, he favors colored tree lights, and for the last 3 Christmas trees we've had together, our tree lights have always been in color... until this year! Yes, our 'every-other-year Christmas tree lights swap' has officially begun, as of Christmas 2008. Yup, this year, I finally got to have my way: White tree lights! I'm totally cool with using colored lights in the windows and outdoors, but for the Christmas tree, I absolutely favor the white lights because they better feature the actual colors of the ornaments with greater clarity than the colored tree lights.

This here is the quite darling tree ornament Wendy's sister, Leslie sent me.
(click the image to enlarge)

I'm proud to say neither Otis or Owen have ever terrorized a Christmas tree in their lil' furry lives. Instead, they like to right beside 'em, and sometimes, right beneath them, staring up into the tree, totally zoning out, as my lil' Owen is seen doing here.

Noooo, yer Not Mistaken, You ARE in Vegas

This post was meant to be posted on Dec. 17th - -

This pic is meant to feature the western Vegas Valley snowfall, taken Dec. 16th.On the way home from work, stuck in wheel-spinnin' traffic.

The main loop through our development...

Anyone for volleyball?

The snow cover lasted for 5 days!?! The day we had our pre-Christmas celebration with the boy-O and his mommie, Wendy and her lovin'-man, on the 20th, there was plenty enough snow to make snowballs! And we have two of 'em sitting in our freezer still! - one from the 17th, saved for the angel boy-O, and the 2nd, he'd made on his own once he was in Vegas.

And We're Off, Before the Crack of Dawn!

UPDATED: 1/6/09 - My grandma's prognosis has taken a fantastic turn for the better = They were wrong; no malignancy found! She should be fine. Best news of 2009!

We're headed north tomorrow morning, hitting the road by 5am, that's the plan (and I'm VERY attached to it). The last few days have been a blur, much of it good, but most of which dominated by some recent family news. My Grammie Joanie was in the hospital last week, and a few days ago, the diagnosis was determined; she has a malignant cancer and she will not have much more than a year ahead of her.

I don't know what to say. I feel overwhelmed in general, but this, I absolutely don't know what to say. It just feels awful.

We'll be foregoing Christmas cards this year... I just have too much on my plate and have been unable to get a number of things under control, like Christmas cards. I did manage to bake 6 batches of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins the other night, but it nearly killed me... [slight exaggeration, yes].

I'll soon hafta share my new list of pregnant moments... lots of broken glass involved. But that'll have to wait a bit. However, I do hope that EVERYONE has a wonderful holiday season! Merry Chrimpus and Happy New Year to you all! Mmmmwah!

I Feel So Wicked!

We were off to LA again this past weekend to take the angel boy-O to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood as our Christmas gift to him and each other as a family. The boy-O's been singing along to the original broadway cast recording for over a year now, since I'd seen Wicked in London last year. Even my honey-man, who's not big into musicals, he had "high hopes" for the evening! We were lucky too that we made up our minds when we did, just in time to score tickets (and good seats!) before it sells out ~ The last showing of Wicked in LA will be January 11th!

And so, did Wicked in LA meet our expectations?

We all had a WONDERFUL time and the angel boy-O couldn't have been more freakin' adorable! He got to see the clarinetist do his warm up in the orchestra pit and several of the other musicians warming up. He was absolutely fascinated by the spotlight operators, and all the rigging, totally awestruck by the stage presentation and the knock-your-socks-off singing. And at the end of the show (although I don't want to give it away for anyone), he was so thrilled with the ending. He loved it! It was quite a treat - -

I am absolutely certain he'll remember this year's Christmas present from us for years to come!

99 Days until I'm Due!?!

I can't believe how fast the time has been flying by. It just blows my mind! Only 99 days left? Wha? That's only a little more than 3 months' time?!? In fact, I have a regular OB appointment next week for my "6 month check-up"... yes, SIX MONTHS!?! I can't believe it.

Until the week of Thanksgiving, I was feeling really good. My energy had been up for a while, and as long as I took the time to score a good 2-4 hour-long nap at least once on the weekends, I was dandy. This last week was only 'okay' - - I'm already having sciatic flare-ups, my left side. It's particularly bad come the end of the day and the very worst in the early morning. Throughout the mid-day, I never know if I'll be just fine or if I'll suddenly get my ass kicked if and when I make the wrong move! And I haven't yet been able to consistently identify the 'wrong moves.' Kinda sucks. Yeah. It caused everything to move in major slow-mo this past weekend. I had SO MANY PLANS and none of them were finished as hoped. This past weekend, along with my insistent honey-man, taught me that my expectations must be modified: Once again, I can't expect to get everything done that I would normally accomplish. You'd think this would be a welcome realization in a way, lightening my load, but right now, for today, considering the approaching Christmas break, I'm really just annoyed. I gots alotta of stuff to do, peoples!

Yet, I don't want to rush things either or get upset about it... I recognize that this is an invaluable time in my life. More and more, each day, I find myself staring at my belly, grinning like mad, watching the thumps and bumps, while ignoring everything else. We were comped a pair of tickets to see The Importance of Being Earnest last Saturday night, and more than once during the play, I found myself watching my belly instead of watching the performance on stage.

Political Turmoil vs. Giving Thanks

I've been stalling on this one... as to what I should say, if anything, regarding our new President Elect...

First of all, before I say anything more, I must say that I do recognize there are A LOT of different perspectives out there, each with their own legitimate and personal issues at stake, and I also recognize many of which do not pertain to me.

Because of those in my family who came before me, foremost, and the efforts of my own parents with their combined educations and cultural and familial backgrounds, their places of employment and their earning power, we could always afford to live in places with good neighborhoods, where I always had access to a backyard and plenty of playmates to run around with, and I always had a parent at home with me during my school years. And because we always lived in good neighborhoods with a mother at home, I had no problems achieving a solid education via the public schools I attended in Salt Lake City, UT, Billings, MT, and Cedar Rapids, IA. Nor did I ever have any problems seeking and attaining a higher education, including a masters degree.

Not ever was I denied proper health care as a child. As an adult, I have never been unable to seek and attain proper health care, always able to afford it, having always reaped the benefits of fantastic health insurance programs via the places of my employment. Overall, I have never been unable to receive the care I need, whether it be medical or therapeutic or psychological in nature.

I have also never been denied public services of any kind based upon either my ethnicity or my socioeconomic status, nor because I simply did not know what was available to me.

I have never been unable to feed myself. I have always enjoyed clean drinking water and clean bathing water and proper sewage treatment. I have always lived with a roof over my head, cool in the summers and warm in the winters, with more than enough clothing to cover my backside however way I want to cover it.

I have never had to give up a child out of wedlock or for any other reason, nor have I ever had to raise a child by myself.

I have never been a victim of violent public crime.

This list could go on and on and on... My point thus far is this: I count myself to be a very fortunate person in this world; ALL of my basic needs in life, they have all been met.

Moreover, I have more than enough in my life, so much so, I can actually acquire things I WANT, beyond basic need... I call these things the 'Luxuries in Life,' such as the following: Cars, cell phones, TVs, DVDs, mp3s and CDs, music players, make-up and nail polish, smelly bubble bath and scented body scrubs, books to read, paints to paint crafty things, knitting supplies, a hefty, an impressive heavy duty sewing machine, THIRTEEN different pairs of black shoes [flat mary janes, Dansko clogs, flat sandals, 2 pairs of wedge heel Sofft sandals, sling back high heels, 2 different pairs of dress wedge heels, zip-up ankle boots, lace-up boots, and a pair of winter-weather Goretex boots], trips out of state, ski trips to Keystone, airfare to anywhere, multiple hand bags and multiple purses [I can't even attempt to count those], a gazillion jackets and coats [paisley ski coat, plus an extra red ski coat, black pea coat, red pea coat, blue raincoat, orange windbreaker, denim jacket, khaki jacket, red trench, woolen tweed trench, light cotton gray hoodie, dark gray sweatshirt hoodie, woolen Irish hooded cardigan, blue pullover fleece, red fleece vest, pink fleece vest, black quilted ski vest, wine-colored blazer, etc. etc.], new light fixtures to match our living room lamps, a 6-cushion couch that has a queen size hide-a-bed, matching wool-woven couch pillows, a Kitchen Aid mixing machine, a blender, a food processor, a mini-food processor, a waffle iron, a heart-shaped waffle iron, a potato ricer, a lime squeezer, a nutmeg grater... you get the point? This list, it too, could go on and on and on... And none of the aforementioned items are in any way essential to life. They are all WANTS; none of them are truly needs. Have I earned these luxuries? Well, I can afford them, yes... and so, does that mean I've earned them? I've worked hard to be able to afford these things. Mind you, many have been given to me as well, and my honey-man and I, we have bought some things together... so I certainly haven't acquired all these things all on my own, and I wouldn't have any of them without certain basics having come first. But I DO gots allll the basics: those are not an issue for me, see? And do we make more than $250K a year? Hell no.

So, about these proposed tax hikes that may come via Obama to those making $250K or more a year? These tax policies won't pass unless won with a majority vote, right? Yet those making $250K+ in the U.S. are not amongst the majority, which is why an affirmative vote is plausible. Simply put, there are more people out there who are living 'without' than with.

SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: When I was an active Mormon, I paid 10% of my income as a tithe to the LDS Church, no questions asked. I used to think of it as my way of helping out, doing my part to better society and my fellowmen and fellow church members. And now? Although no longer active in the LDS church, I still think I should be helping out, especially when my own needs are met well beyond need. Now, about taxes, they have always been a part of how I contribute to the 'general effort,' so they're a given; I have no other choice, and I don't have control over how my tax dollars are spent, although I never had control over how the LDS Church spent my tithing money either. Am I getting off point? My point: I don't mind paying taxes = It's how I contribute. I do more than that to 'contribute' though, directly dolling out a couple thousand $ a year to charities I choose, plus the volunteer time I give to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the American Cancer Society. But the tax money? I can't mind the taxes when my own needs are met.

I have tried to imagine what my life would be like if we made $250K a year... and man, the excess is truly hard to imagine, although I'm certain we'd find ways to spend it, especially if and when we have another child after this one on the way. It's easy to spend money when you have it. It's hard to say how we would feel about a higher tax rate if we made over $250K, even though that amount would place us in a totally different tax bracket anyhow, levels above where we are now. I think we honestly couldn't mind it though - -the higher tax rate, I mean-- and that's because, fundamentally, speaking of myself and my honey-man, we believe that people are meant to take care of each other, and we should help take care of others, and that means EVERYONE who's in need whether they're working hard for their daily bread or living off the system. Even if it means taking more away from what I've worked so hard to earn for myself, that's fine with me because I already have more than enough.

This Thanksgiving and hereafter, I hope to truly focus more and dwell daily upon how grateful I am for all that we have, and all the good fortune of my family and friends. I'm hopeful that such focus will further lighten my load.

oh yeah, and Obama? I'm hopeful about him too.

Puhleeze Pass Me the Cranberry Fluff, RiGHT nOW!

It's that time of year again! And although we're just a week away from Thanksgiving, I want me some Cranberry Fluff RIGHT NOW!

I've got a lil' nasty green-gunky cold right now. I've definitely had worse, but my body aches, and I haven't been sleeping well the last couple nights [SIDE NOTE: Although poor sleep is nothing new these days, now that I'm sleeping with a pillow between my legs, I can no longer enjoy my two favorite sleeping positions: Back and Stomach. And just last night, dis' wee babe in my belly kept thumping and bumping around in there until 2am!?!]... not sure I can get myself to the grocery store tonight. I may have to send my sweetest second in command, armed with a lengthy grocery shopping list, including food stuffs for next week's Thanksgiving 's cooking event! But really, all that could wait until the weekend or next Monday. I just really want me some Cranberry Fluff! No mind that we've run out of skim milk and eggs and bananas and lunch meat and... I just need the ingredients for some Cranberry Fluff!

Did I mention already that I want some Cranberry Fluff?

P.S.Right HERE is a blog post featuring a picture of cranberry fluff, and HERE is the recipe!

Three Months Away, Not like I'm Counting Already...

Some friends of ours in Glendale, CA, they throw an absolutely fantastic white elephant party each year before the Christmas holiday... I think last year's party, they were well over 40 people in attendance? Well, I just realized today that the next one upcoming is 3 months away from now! Yup, already looking forward to it. In fact, soon after last year's party, we were cooking up white elephant gift ideas on Christmas day, and scored the most incredible groan-inducing white elephant gift fathomable, given to my Grams as a gift last Christmas. We've had it wrapped up and stashed in our linen closet for the last 9 months, awaiting the time of its grand unveiling at this next party! I'm totally stoked! When the time comes, you can count on pictures being posted!

This following picture was taken for the angel boy-O's mommie, Wendy and her lovin'-man, and when they see it, they'll know exactly its relevance.