I’ve hit the winter blues, despite the fact that it is supposed to be pushing 60 this week. Don’t mind me as I crawl back into bed and pretend I am a hibernating bear for a while…
Jan 5, 2008
Can you say addicted?
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I currently have six Scrabble games going on Facebook. I’m just a wee bit addicted. But if you’re on Facebook and want to play…
Jan 4, 2008
It still cracks me up a decade later
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My all time favorite email correspondence…
The setting:
I am in grad school, buried in a windowless room in the middle of summer. Everyone else in the world has managed to wrangle a vacation day, but yet there I sit, running query after query on my not terribly well constructed database that I know needs to be rebuilt but would require way too much effort for this particular day. Rebecca is, I believe, at the dot-com startup in a similarly windowless environment.
Chichimama: “Yawn.”
Two seconds later…
Rebecca: “Burp.”
I have no idea why this cracks me up so, but it does. So there.
Burp.
Jan 1, 2008
Resolutions
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Last year my resolution was to whine less, or at least balance out the whining with happy thoughts. Yeah. That worked out for me.
This year I am going to stick to the one resolution thing, but I think my resolution for the year is actually doable.
I hereby resolve to be a list person.
“A LIST person?” you ask. Yes! A list person. You know, one of those people that keeps a running tab of things that need to get done on an ACTUAL piece of paper. And then they CROSS the things off that running tab once things are DONE. A novel concept, for me.
I have no illusions that I will become quite the list person that Organized Friend is, as she actually types up her list every night and assigns precise times to each activity (9-9:30, grocery shop. 9:30 to 9:40, put away groceries) just to make sure she can fit everything into a day. I admire that, but I’m also a realist. Not. going. to. happen. But a simple “Put away Christmas decorations, organize hall closet, donate outgrown coats” might improve life a bit.
So there you go. If you need something from me, tell me to put it on the list…
Jan 1, 2008
New Years Roundup
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- We had WAY too much food. And not enough dessert.
- Apparently, this year my friends felt like cooking appetizers, even those who had signed up for dessert.
- Next year I quite honestly think I will be better off doing things myself than trying to coordinate a potluck. The only stress I had all evening was the “Oh my God, is that another appetizer walking in the door, where will I put it” and then the guilt about the fact that no one ate most of what people worked so hard to make.
- On the upside, I have more than enough ham left over to do my all-time favorite meal, ham and squash casserole. By the time I got the main meal on the table, only the kids were hungry.
- Note to myself for next year, skip the baked beans, only get a half ham, and skip the pasta salad. The baked ziti was a huge hit. As were the pigs in blankets and the feta and caramelized onion quiches from Trader Joe’s. And Lovely Friend’s crab cakes were the only appetizer to “sell out.” Must get recipe.
- I have decided that there is no telling what people want to drink. This year there was a run on ginger ale and beer, and almost no takers in the wine and seltzer department. Last year I had to dip into my private wine collection, this year I won’t have to buy everyday wine for a very long time. If we get snowed in, I have no worries.
- Next year Mike needs to be reminded to check the coolers that hold things other than beer and restocking as needed.
- I think I need a clone of myself. Or Rebecca needs to come home. Because I know she will use the bathrooms and alert me if something is amiss in them…
- I haven’t been able to face my basement yet. I have a feeling that several Christmas acquisitions will need to be replaced, including a old-school Hess Truck that is going for a small fortune on Ebay. Most of the children were very well behaved, but there were a few who got a bit hyped up on the frosted brownies and were spotted dragging things up and down the stairs like Winnie-the-Pooh. Thankfully they were children I knew well enough to be able to step in and remove said toys with a minimum of hysteria.
- I am always amazed at how dress-up clothes are really all that kids need to entertain themselves. Well, that and Hess trucks.
- I feel like I was a horrible hostess, I spoke to almost no one for more than 30 seconds. And the couple of folks who didn’t know anyone were pretty much left to their own devices to find someone to talk to…I tried to make a few introductions, but then the food started burning, and the carbon monoxide alarm went off, and 14 kids started chasing Lazy Cat, and things just got away from me.
- 32 kids was an awful lot of kids. I am looking forward to the day when they head down into the basement and watch movies instead of chasing each other around with brooms while in Snow White wigs. Or at least to the day when I don’t have to worry so much about someone getting hurt while they chase each other around with brooms while in Snow White wigs…
- Happy New Year! Would you like some leftovers? May I interest you in some vegetarian baked beans….
