Holidays
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Happy Birthday Mom!
Today is my Mom’s birthday…You may think you have a good mom, but my mom will trump her in almost any category…and since today is her birthday, we’ll just take out the ‘almost’ and say, Any Category. She rocks. She was a single mom, who somehow managed to take care of two young children, go to school (Berkeley), and work to support us. She moved us up to Alaska when she was but 27 years old, still single, living out in the woods on a homestead with no running water and no telephone. She worked so hard to get us whatever we needed when we were growing up…I’m not talking…
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Happy Earth Day!
Happy Day to our Mother Earth, who supports us and gives us life in all of its many forms. How will you celebrate? I know someone who is going to clean out the gutters in her neighborhood, and someone else who’s thinking of killing a rodent. Me? Not sure…I’m thinking maybe I’ll go get some flowers and plant them, and do some cleanup in our postcard sized yards. 🙂 But first I have to get dressed and walk the dog, so she doesn’t poop in the house. So get outside, say thanks to the Mother, and enjoy!
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Misc…
Just a few things…First, today is the first day of Passover. Happy Passover everyone, and if you celebrate with a Seder, enjoy! We’re only Jewish for Hannukah, so we won’t be celebrating…but we wish everyone who does a lovely evening. Second, today is national D.E.A.R. day. DEAR stands for Drop Everything And Read. Maya’s class does this in the mornings when they get to school every day, which is nice. If you have time in your day, sit down today and read for 30 minutes to celebrate. Why leave all the fun for the kids? 🙂 Lastly, I’m getting a lot of SPAM email. Blech. Comes in looking like this:…
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Happy Birthday Monkey!!
My first plan was to have a post, with 10 pictures, one from each year of Maya’s life. But the pictures grew unruly, and though I loaded them all into blogger, because of different sizes, etc, it didn’t look that great. Plus, it kind of took away from the post, rather than adding to it, because I was focusing on the captions, rather than the thoughts that I want to express. Then Ted came in with his Mac, and made a slide show in about 2 minutes, using all of the pictures I had scanned. So I will direct you to view my beautiful baby, as she goes from about…
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Happy International Women’s Day!
I just found out here that today is International Womens Day. I also found out that some of my friends count on me to keep them up to date on the weighty issues of the day, issues that do not involve cheerleaders or their injuries. To bring the two together, allow me to point you to a column by the always brilliant Molly Ivins, in which she discusses the abismal abortion situation in the ‘great’ state of South Dakota. Lest you feel that South Dakota is alone in their goal of outlawing abortion, similar laws are being considered publicly in both Missouri and Mississippi. For more reading about International Women’s…
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Happy Valentine’s Day
Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day? Is it so Hallmark, FTD, and See’s can make money? I think it’s right behind Christmas and Mother’s Day as big money makers for the retail industry. You can’t turn on the radio without hearing ads telling you to buy your wife a pearl, diamond, or ruby. If you’re not married yet, the pressure is to get engaged, NOW, on Valentine’s day. Mostly, though, it’s a completely manufactured holiday, full of all of the pressure of shopping and buying, reservations at fancy restaurants and romance. Now I know these things don’t have to be stressful…but for many people, they are, and the burdon seems…
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Happy MLK Day
So today is the day we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr….an amazing man in so many ways. Of course, some companies don’t give MLK day as a paid holiday…companies which shall remain nameless. My interesting MLK factoid is that my father was in DC visiting some friends when King gave his famous, “I have a dream” speech, and my dad was so moved that he went and became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. I believe he was down south registering voters, mostly. Also found out recently that he was convicted of a felony once, for draft evasion in Viet Nam. I knew he had resisted the…
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Happy Birthday to Me!
So here I am, 40 years old…crazy. 🙂 But so far, it’s GREAT. Ted threw me an AMAZING party at Massimo’s Restaurant last night, and so many friends and family were there. It was truly great. Having a birthday right after Christmas means often that people are broke and partied out by the time your birthday comes around…Having a birthday on New Years Eve means that if you want to go out to celebrate, there is a bigger expectation that it be amazing and fun and crazy and expensive. So my birthday has always been kind of quiet and nice, but not that amazing, with the exception of a few…
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Who’s Spoiled???
Maya, for getting her doll? Me, for getting a nice ‘dock’ for my iPod? Or Ted, for getting his DVDs that he requested? I’m thinking, ME. Most spoiled. That’s as it SHOULD be. 🙂
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Chloe and her Christmas Pig
This is my niece, Chloe, and her wooden pig that she got for Christmas. Maya made the pig in carpentry class, and we tied a ribbon around its neck so Chloe can pull it around. Apparantly it was a big hit, as my sister Maya said that they had to stop opening gifts for quite awhile while Chloe played. 🙂 Nice.
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Who Knew Santa likes to Dive, and Festivus is sort of real?
Have a Merry Christmas Everyone! Also, Happy Hannukah, Happy Festivus, Happy Solstice, Happy New Year, Happy Happy!
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War on Christmas?
This whole “War on Christmas” thing has gotten a lot of stupid press this year…and it’s just lame. I’ll put in my two cents, and then we can all forget it, OK? Please? Who in hell REALLY thinks that Christmas is in danger in this country? The religious holiday may be in danger of being overrun by rabid secular (and religious, to be fair) shoppers, but how does wishing someone “Happy Holidays” threaten anyone? Seriously, have you been overwhelmed by Pagan Winter Solstice songs on the radio? Hannukah specials on TV? Or is it Christmas Christmas Christmas everywhere you look, with Santa and lights and trees and wreaths, candy and…
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Happy Anniversary!
So 18 years ago tonight, Ted and I went on our first official “date”. We had pizza once before, but we never counted that as a date, because it was just an after school thing and we didn’t really hit it off too much…. Anyway, 18 years ago, Ted came to my house on Fulton Street in SF, and we went to a party at his friend’s house….I don’t know who the friend was, or if I actually ever met him/her, because another friend, whom we’ll call….Tim….because his name was Tim, came out and told us the party was pretty much over and we should go get a drink. So…