morning

Morning is a stupid time of day. Don't try to tell me otherwise, for as surely as I'm sitting here I will sock you in the jaw if you contradict me. Morning...who came up with that idea, anyway? I know afternoon would not be nearly as fabulous without the cursed morning to give it perspective but there must be another way.

Morning in winter is even stupider. It's dark outside. The sun has risen and it's dark outside. The sky is grayish white, which in the morning is a hideous thing to behold. The sky is whitey-gray, the ground and trees and cars and playground are covered with snow. Everything I see is the same color. Even the bright, cheery kite that's been stuck in that tree over there for months is white. Stupid morning. Stupid snow. If it has to be morning there might as well be some sunshine.

One of the things I really despise about morning is that I'm awake during it. I'd much rather be sleeping. I would like to experience as little of morning as is humanly possible. But...my sleeping schedule is whacking out from too many weirdly houred Christmas parties, especially that game night with the cousins that got us home at 2:30 a.m.

Darn you, morning. Why can't you start in the afternoon?!

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Oh yes, I'm back by the way. The holiday craziness is over for another year and I'm finally able to sit grumpily at my computer and complain to the world about the petty things in life again. Like morning. Stupid...stupid...hate...morning....

Christmas was basically fabulous. It was all it was hyped up to be...tons of yummy, yummy food, wild family get togethers, even more playing with GooberBear and Munchkin than I had hoped and dreamed. It was a poor (financially speaking) Christmas for us so I wasn't expecting much in the way of presents, but Jeremy got me the perfect gifts (The Life of Our Lord...one of the few Dickens I'd yet to attain, It's a Wonderful Life, a tin with three Charlie Brown holiday soundtracks, and tons of candy). By joining his family I also became related to a wildly sweet and generous aunt and uncle who dumped gifts on us from the sky...fun gifts but also gifts we really needed, like clothes and money to buy groceries with.

It was one of those Christmases that leaves you humble in its wake, one that has you remembering how much God is taking care of you and how blessed you are to have great family and friends to share it with (it does nothing for your feelings about morning, however).

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I suppose if I had any kids at this point I'd be babbling about what they'd done or said or how they'd acted this Christmas, so in their place I'll let you in on what Mutton Chop, the hamster of joy and affection, has been up to.

Mutton Chop, in the second year of her life, has turned into destructo hamster. She had already destroyed one water bottle and we've fixed her wheel with extra bits of plastic and superglue (and most recently, duct tape), so it probably should not have surprised us that she gnawed three gigantic holes in her second water bottle this past week.

Oh Mutton Chop. You can't really be mad at her or teach her a lesson about this since she has a tiny, tiny brain. At least I think she has a brain. Anyway, J has declared that we shall not buy her any more water bottles (they are, after all, $5 a pop), so we've been trying to get her to drink out of a little dish. This has turned into a disgustingly wet, smelly affair because hamsters hate all things wet. Being a desert creature she instantly throws a tons of shavings in the water dish trying to dry it up...so I empty the dumb thing and put fresh water in constantly and I think after a few days I actually saw her drink out of it once. I let out a yelp of triumph and then realized she was drinking water with a turd floating in it. GROSS.

my little tiny snowman

The past week has been a flurry of activity, hence the lack of journal entries. Today, however, things slowed down. We had a 'blizzard' over the weekend and so the maintenance man woke me bright and early by snow-blowing the walk below our window. I stretched, I yawned, I opened the curtains and oh, behold the snow!

I hate snow, but was seized with the irresistible desire to make a snowman on our balcony. After fifteen minutes of flailing in the cold I finally realized it was not snowmanish snow, it was powdery stupid snow. The one time I need snow, want snow, to accomplish the ends to my madness I got nothin'. So I just tied a scarf around the poof on top of the little table we keep out there and threw in some bouncy ball eyes. Hooray!

insomnia and nerd-dome

Blehhhh. I'm a tired girl. Night before last J and I were hit with insomnia. Boring, mind-numbing insomnia - J got three hours of sleep before heading to work and I got four before our neighbors decided to start fighting and wake me up. Needless to say yesterday evening we both sat in front of the TV and stared mindlessly, even though the writer's strike has officially hit and there were only stupid repeats. We did this because we had several conversations going something like this:

"*mumble* hmmanumana"
"Huh?"
"yuhgabadee."
"Oh."
"What?"
"Huh?"

It was a long, confusing night.

Today, however, I woke up (to the neighbors fighting again) and made sure all my Christmas cards were stamped and ready to go (they are, yay!!)...well that's about it so far. My mind is still sort of numb and after a couple weeks of feeling pretty good my FMS is flaring up a little. So...I'm stealing the following thingy from my mama because let's face it...today is no day for original composition.

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What have you just read?

I recently finished a streak of Sinclair Lewis works - from most recent back: Kingsblood Royal, Babbitt, Dodsworth, and Ann Vickers.

What are you reading now?

Stories for Christmas (Charles Dickens) - a collection of long and short stories that appeared in various Dickens publications that I'm finding quite amusing and alternately a little disturbing. 700+ pages of goodness from my favorite author.

and The Brethren (John Grisham) - which I recently picked up at a rummage sale. I don't normally read two books at once since I'm easily distracted and confused, but Stories for Christmas is large and heavy and I needed a lighter, less arm-straining book for my bubble bath reading.

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?

Truman Capote's first novel, Summer Crossing, that we got used at Barnes and Noble (that most wondrous of book stores!).

What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?

Moby Dick. I hate Moby Dick. It's boring and long. And The House of the Seven Gables - curse you, Hawthorne, for putting me through that. And Catch-22 - oh my gosh. BORING. Redundant. Preachy. The kind of book that makes you want to stab out your eyes.

What's one book you always recommend to just about anyone?

I can never recommend just one, but I'll try to keep it short:
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Hiding Place
Jane Eyre
Dracula

Admit it, sadly the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?

They don't because J and I are the book-owning kind of nerds and not the library kind - we prefer to deck our apartment with hundreds of volumes of classic lit, history books, and the like and then choose what's next from our own shelves. Our library sustains us quite well. They do recognize J from when he came as a kid to book hours and things and laugh because we usually only hit up the library to check out movies.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don't like it at all?

To Kill a Mockingbird. I love it to death, it's my #1 fave and for some reason whenever I recommend it people are like 'eh.' - and they either never touch it or say they read it in high school and didn't like it. Foolish people.

Do you read books while you eat?

I have tried for years to master this practice, but have failed. I either end up reading and forgetting I was eating my food or have to close my book and eat first...I just can't seem to keep the book open while I use my fork, spoon, or hand to eat. It's too unwieldy, it's just too hard.

While you bathe?

All the time. I never bathe without a book, and usually if I'm looking around the apartment and can't find my volume it's because I've left it in the bathroom from when I took my bath. I have only dropped my book in the tub once or twice, but I've ruined many a bookmark from this particular habit.

While you watch movies or TV?

TV, not movies. Books are a great commercial-filler.

While you listen to music?

Yep.

While you're on the computer?

Not all the time, but I have been known to sit and check email with a book open at my elbow.

When you were little did other children tease you about your reading habits?

When I was little my friends were even nerdier about books than I...talking about you, Betty and Melissa...

What's the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn't put it down?

I know that this has happened, but if it's night I'm usually wiped out and even when I want to stay up reading I fall asleep. J has closed my book and turned out my light for me countless nights because I just can't do it.

Have any books made you cry?

Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, Beloved (Toni Morrison), East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Jungle, ... I'm just gonna stop and say yes, many books have made me cry.

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Now THAT was a questionnaire I enjoyed. I love books, I just love 'em...it's put me in the mood and I'm gonna knock off a few more Dickens' Christmas stories. :)

nooooo!

Mama just emailed to tell me that Sillyhead, the sister of delight and crazyness tripped and cut her head open this morning at church and has eight stitches...and now the phone is busy and I can't call to calm my worried sister mind!

Nooooo!!!!

a very merry questionairre

It's true. I stole this from my Mama's blog.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Wrapping paper - because if you wrap everything individually it feels like you are getting/giving so much more than if you dump it in a bag. Plus with a bag there's none of the joy of cutting and taping and ribboning...how I love to wrap presents!

2. Real tree or artificial?

Right now we have a two-or-three foot fake tree that J has had since childhood. Hencely most of our ornaments are laying decoratively on bookcases and window sills since not even half of them are small enough to fit on said tree.

3. When do you put up the tree?

This year we made until the week before Thanksgiving...but we couldn't take it anymore and had to decorate and be jolly. :-D

4. When do you take the tree down?

If it were up to J it would probably never come down, but I usually lose my Christmas spirit around February and pack everything away.

5. Do you like eggnog?

Eggnog is the beverage of my soul. I delight in every creamy sip, though sipping is scarce this year...$4.43 for a half gallon is just too much for these poor folks. We've only bought it twice so far - once when it first hit the shelves in October and once last week.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

The first thing that comes to mind is the down comforter my folks got me when I was in my teens (I think). I was SO excited and it was so warm and cozy and I still snuggle into it to keep warm.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

We have two, soon to be three. The first is from J's sister when she went to Venezuela years ago. It's less than an inch tall, but cultural and cute. The second is about the same size, but made of ceramic...from J's childhood. We're inheriting his folk's old nativity (a more 'normal' sized one this year since they got a new one, so that's exciting. The one I unChristianally covet is made by Willow Tree, as you see on the left. Of course I love just about everything I've seen made by Willow Tree, but oh my gosh, I just adore this nativity set. Perhaps one day...

8. Hardest person to buy for?

My brother-in-law. I have everyone else done and so far my ideas for him include....nothing. Everything he likes has to do with hunting and fishing and all manner of outdoors and thus anything to do with those hobbies is pricey, so I've come up with nada. Last year I think all he got from us was an assortment of candy. Poor guy.

9. Easiest person to buy for?

J. I know everything he likes and my biggest problem with him is not buying him a thousand things.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Well. Sorry, Gramma C. One year when she was poor and I was like 11 or 12 she sent me a used spatula for Christmas. It was kind of a let down...

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Mail!!! Yay! I know this phase of card writing will one day dwindle, but I just love jotting personal notes and addressing cards and applying stamps and sending them on their merry way.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?

It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas are tied in my heart. The thing is there are so many different types and styles of holiday movies that I find my list of faves is huge because none of them really compare to each other.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Usually the urge hits me around June...I start scouting for deals and piling things up so the spending isn't a deathblow in December. J adores Christmas so as soon as Christmassy things hit the store shelves he loves to buy little ornaments or crafts for us to do, and we can afford it if I have most of the shopping done by then. He's so cute browsing the aisles and looking at everything. :)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Oh of course. Who hasn't? There's not much else you can do with all those bottles and cans.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Cookies! Nog! Rolls!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?

Every manner of small twinkling lights...and by twinkling I mean not flashing or pulsing or any headache-inducing spectacle. Just little lights all aglow.

17. Favorite Christmas song?


Oh Holy Night.


18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?

This year, being poor, we are staying home. And by home I mean on Christmas Eve we have a get together with the Groovys almost all day, and sometime before that is the Funny Side's Christmas festivities. And Christmas Day we open our presents from each other in the morning and then probably head down to Blondie's for the day. Basically by staying home I mean we don't get to see my side of the family since they are across state borders. :(

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

I admit to you...no. I never can remember all their names, probably because it's very infrequent that I try.

20. Angel on the treetop or a star?

My special, beautiful porcelain tree-top angel is about half the size of our tiny tree, so until a larger tree is procured she graces the top of a bookcase and a kind of corny, shiny star tops our baby tree.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Last year we couldn't wait and each opened a present from each other on Christmas Eve - this year we've been especially horrible. For instance, J let me open a present today. YAY!!! It was the special Charlie Brown Christmas soundtracks - three discs of Charlie Brown music in an adorable collector's tin that I'd been eyeing at Wal*Mart a while back. I'm so happy! Needless to say we've been listening all morning and afternoon. :)

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?

Humbugs. Like my mama. I just love all the decorations and the shopping (only because I do it ahead of time, if I waited until the last minute shopping would not be such a highlight) and the music and the smells and seeing Christmas lights. I'm enjoying it all so much that grumpy people annoy me to no end! (no offense, mommy)


23. What I love most about Christmas?

Everything, but mostly knowing I get to share it with J. He makes it all so fun and bright. Well, and of course, the reminder of Jesus' trip to earth. Pastor Dan has made some great points that hit me just right in his sermons lately to do with Christmas and it's really made me appreciate the real meaning of Christmas all the more this year.

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I assumed there would be 25 questions to this thing, but apparently I was wrong. Bizarre and kind of confusing.

keyboard filth

Everyone lives in squalor to some degree - whether you don't dust for months, leave stuff piled on the floor, never make your bed or...never clean your computer's keyboard. Since I bought this glorious desktop Dell back in...2002(?) I have never once cleaned it. Sure, once or twice I blew at it with a can of air, but that's about it. Five years. Five years of eating over it, drinking too near to it, painting my nails while I typed and swiping dust from the desk onto it.

And by eating over it...I mean constantly. There were a couple years there where I practically lived on the computer and I crumbled all manner of pop-tarts, pizza, sandwiches and cookies. I spilled sodas and water and juice.

My keyboard is disgusting.

So today I finally got around to cleaning it. Carefully I photographed it before dismantling the keys (thanks for that tip, Mama...):

a little dirty.

Then, bowl of sudsy soapy goodness at my right elbow and pile of Q-tips at my left I took a butter knife to my keys, popping them out one by one. In case you think about doing this yourself, I'd recommend staying away from the kitchen sink area since keys can sometimes unpredictably fly off in the most inconvenient directions.

I tossed the keys in the suds to soak and gagged at what I found lying in the bottom of my 'board:

some nice gross crap.

This stuff was nasty. First I tried blowing it out, but it wasn't just dust and yuck. It was stuck. It was bonded to the base with the bonds of all that is gross and ucky. I was able to distinguish at various times such things as jam and sticky soda residue. Most of it was just a mass of unidentifiable crumbs.

nausea-inducing grossness.

So I took a Q-tip to it. I took about twenty Q-tips to it. First there was the once-over...loosening layers of gross and then blowing it out. Repeat. Then the wet Q-tip scrubbing, scrubbing off the guck and sticky gunk. Then the dry Q-tip to wipe away the stuff. Then the wet Q-tip again. Repeat until keyboard somewhat resembles what it looked like right after it was born.

Then there was the wiping and scrubbing of keys. After a good soak the water was brown and full of dust and hair. It never occurred to me that hair would get stuck in your keys, but I found a great population had migrated from my head and into my keyboard, wrapping around everything and getting tangled.

scrub-a-dub.

After the soap-water scrubbing there was the rinsing with hot water and laying out to dry. I can't tell you how shiny and new everything looked!

Soon I was checking my pictures and snapping all the keys back in place. When I showed J the finished product he nearly fainted...that's how impressed he was.

Alright, he was impressed, but it didn't rock his world or anything. It rocked mine, though.

squeaky clean!

It only took me two hours to complete my cleaning project. It's a good thing we're snowed in...

movie time!

Time to pull out the Christmas movies. Ours, of course, have been sitting on top of the VCR/DVD player since mid-November, but since it's December it's now acceptable to actually watch them.

Thusly on Saturday morning we got up and made cinnamon rolls (and by 'made' I mean I popped a tube of them, separated them, and put them on a pan to bake), snuggled up on the couch and watched that most classic of all holiday films....A Garfield Christmas. It doesn't get much better than that, but we also own and intend to watch

Alvin and the Chipmunks
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
White Christmas
Charlie Brown Christmas
A Muppet Christmas Carol
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

and of course will one day (I dream of the day!) own It's a Wonderful Life, one of the very few movies that makes me well up and weep every time, without fail. Even if I just see randomly that little blip of them all signing Auld Lang Sign my face starts dripping and I begin to blubber incoherently.

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J had Friday off so we hit up this bi-annual sale at a church nearby. One of those cosmically huge rummage sales crammed with people and unbelievable bargains. We came, we swooped, we spent $4.75 and got (you'll be shocked to hear) a bunch of books, an Ernest movie, and an awesome picture carousel that holds 12 pictures (you spin it around like a carousel...okay forget it, I should just post a picture of its gloriousness).

ta-da! now i just have to print some pictures...

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GooberBear's family got their Christmas tree from a lot yesterday and he was upset because he "wants a Christmas tree that comes out of the attic like Grammy and Pa's"...Mom and Pa keep their fake tree in the attic, which GooberBear apparently has stored in his little mind all year hoping for one of his own!