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The Giving of the Gifts
Now that it’s officially ‘holiday season’, with Thanksgiving behind us, Hanukkah here, Christmas coming, and New Years not as far away as it seems, many folks start thinking of gift giving…of all of the shopping and gifting and so on that comes at this time of year. I’ve read two blog posts recently that, while speaking in very different ‘voices’, both said pretty much the same thing. First, Quee, in for Beenzzz over at Stealthy Bean, has a cautionary tale of someone in search of the perfect gift. Next, Quinn Cummings over at the QC Report comes up with the perfect description for about 95% of the stuff that gets…
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A Random Post About Not Much…
This picture is of a Christmas Stollen, which is supposed to look like the swaddled baby Jesus, and which you enjoy for St. Nicholas Day, December 5th or 6th. (The 6th is St. Nicholas Day, but the eve is when you maybe eat the stollen? Not completely clear, though I do know it’s yummy.) Not much to write about today, but I thought I’d say hi to let you know I’m still here. Last night was nice, went to dinner with my friend Neva, whom I’ve known since 6th grade. It’s funny to be two women in your 40s when you’ve known each other since you were in your early teens, because you…
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Don’t Look Behind You
When I was a little older than Maya is now, I discovered the semi-creepy world of Lois Duncan. She writes young adult fiction, and her books all seem to dwell on the darker side of life. You may recognize her name from one of my favorite of her books, I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was made into a slasher film starring the Gorton’s Fisherman as the arch villain, which I never bothered to see because heck, there was no Fisherman in the book, and it wasn’t a slasher book. That book is the story of the aftermath of a tragic evening, when four high school kids are…
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Rhett Butler’s People
While preparing for this post, I discovered that a new book was being released in the Gone With the Wind family. I knew I had to read it, knew I had to find out more about my favorite characters, and what might happen with Rhett and Scarlett. Last week, we walked to the library, where a fresh copy was being held for me. Pant pant. (That’s my eagerness to get home and dive on in…) I have a couple of different thoughts on this book. First off, I really liked it. I found it to be well written, much better than Scarlett, and I liked how the author took characters…
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This Too Shall Pass
When Maya was an infant, the baby books said that if you want your child to go to sleep easily every night, put them in their crib full, clean, dry, burped, and slightly awake. Be careful what bedtime routines you start, because the child will associate them with bedtime, and while you may enjoy rocking your child to sleep at bedtime every night, you may not wish to do it every time the baby wakes up during the night, often every 2 or 3 hours. What they don’t tell you is that they will soon grow out of the phase of wanting to be rocked to sleep, and you will…
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Almost finished…
Loyal readers know that we’ve been trying to sell our condo for almost 7 months now. You know that we had it on for just over 3 months, took it off the market, put maybe 10k into updates, and put it back on the market in late September. In all this time, we have had exactly one offer. One offer that was so crappy it was insulting. One offer that, had we taken it, we would not have been able to afford a big enough down payment on a new place, and thus would not be able to move, so what’s the dang point anyway? So here we are, going…
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Hold the Door…
This post, by Deb over at Punctuality Rules!, has had me thinking for a few weeks about holding the door. Back in July, I wrote a post about women who eschew the term feminist, because to them it divides us as women, or because they don’t like the stereotype of women who are unfeminine man haters, and wish to distance themselves from that idea altogether. I’m not sure why Deb’s post got me thinking again about my previous post, and the comments in that post, but it did. Whenever the issue of feminism comes up, the issue of holding the door open comes up. Some men were raised to believe…
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‘Tis the Season for Sharing
Dee tagged me for a timely little idea she had. I won’t call it a meme, though I’m doing it for meme Monday anyway. Dee wants me to help get the word out about a charity that she is passionate about, which got me to thinking about the charities that I am passionate about, and people I love are passionate about, and how at this time of year, some folks do some end of the year giving in the name of loved ones or so on, and heck, maybe someone might not know about one of my favorite charities. So, not only am I going to tell you about Dee’s…
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I suspect they think you have to be Redneck* to be truly ‘American’. Me no likey that…
You Are 51% American Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there’s no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one’s going to take it away from you! How American Are You? I mean, really, isn’t it our job as Americans to disagree sometimes with the decisions made by our leaders, to continually want our country to live up to its ideals, to try to make it the best country on earth? I know this is a silly blogthing, but I suspect I lost American points for not…
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Once More, With Feeling
We had a bit of a Buffy-thon last night, watching several Buffy episodes, and I have to say, I miss Buffy. I wish there were something on TV now that I liked as much as I liked this show…something as funny and clever and poignant all at the same time. The last installment to any good Buffy-thon, if you want to end on a high note and you’re not going for closure (that would be the end of season 7, right?) is ‘Once More With Feeling’, the musical episode. I have this on my beloved iPod, actually, and I listen to it more often than I should admit. For you…
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An evening with the boob tube…
 First off, who amongst you goes out shopping on Black Friday? I have some family memebers who run out at 6am to get the best deals, and are home and toasty warm before we even get around to breakfast. It’s a fun tradition that they cherish. Other family members consider this a day to stay the hell home, safe from the hoards of crazed shoppers. Then there are others, like me, who could go out, maybe, if we take BART so I don’t have to park anywhere, but could easily be convinced to stay home with a good book or a few episodes of Buffy. Now, here’s a stupid…
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Thanksgiving, Past and Present
photo found here The first few years that Ted and I were dating, he would go to his family’s house for Thanksgiving, and I would go to my Grandma’s house. I had a lovely time at Grandma’s house, even with the talk of diets and the dry dry turkey and the taste of cigarretes, and it was nice to see my family, as I was living in San Francisco now, and saw them mainly on the holidays. But as time went on, Ted and I decided we wanted to spend our Thanksgivings together. So, one year, I invited Ted to Thanksgiving at my Grandma’s house. I think he was in…
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Enchanted
Monday evening we were fortunate enough to get tickets from Ted’s work for an advance screening of Enchanted, the new Disney movie. The premise of the film is that a fairy tale princess, ala Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, falls in love with her prince charming, and on the way to get married, is duped by his evil stepmother, and she finds herself in Manhattan. The fairy tale parts are in 2D animation, and the Manhattan parts are real life, with just a bit of CGI for animals and such. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Disney has a big hit on their hands this…
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Stupid Tire
Have you ever noticed how difficult it can be to see a black tire with no rims on a black road on a dark night on the freeway? How if there are no other cars around you to shine their headlights, and no streetlights, a tire might just sit in the middle of the road, waiting for you? No? Me neither. Until Monday night. On Monday night, Maya and I were taking Jackie home after Enchanted, and I was going about 70 mph (practically the slow lane around here), when I heard and felt a huge BANG!!!, and then I saw a tire go flying off to my left, and…
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The Ghost of Thanksgivings Past…
I’m sure that we must have celebrated Thanksgiving when I was a child in Alaska, probably with lots of friends, music, and laughter, but I don’t have any specific memories of Thanksgiving during those years. Halloween and Christmas, yes, but not Thanksgiving. My memories of Thanksgiving are of holidays at my Grandparents’ house. My Grandparents’ house was a place where you had to walk on eggshells & be careful what you said, because my grandfather (whom I loved dearly) had a very sarcastic tongue, and a perfectly innocent conversation could quickly turn ugly. Add to that some pretty divergent political and social beliefs around the table, and it’s a recipe…