Show and Tell catch-up: treasured art

It's Thursday night and I'm usually scrambling to take S&T pics. Tonight, however, I put together my new Target purchase: a lamp! (to replace the one you saw in last week's S&T) and am now downloading some "catch-up" S&T pics. It's Thursday night and I'm usually scrambling to take S&T pics. This first one is Charles, a painting that has made me want to recreate it my entire life and has given me a fascination with branches, a fascination I share with Babelbabe. People always assume Charles is some well known artist. Truth: my parents paid $8 for it at or in front of a Kmart soon after they got married. As the oldest, I call dibs on it.
This one is one I inherited from my grandmother. It is a print of a painting that I think hangs in the Met. It has always been in the room that my parents slept in when they visited my grandmother, and been a favorite.


One may not load, though...we'll see. Y'know what, I need some popcorn!! Oooh, it loaded. This is a still-life that I drew when I was in 5th grade. My parents won't hand it over, so it's theirs till they die. Luckily, I get to visit it often. My teacher was Mrs. Drown, and she wrote me a personal note on the back. She is the granddaughter of one of the stained glass artists for the National Cathedral, where my dad is a docent (tour guide).

Sam the Eagle makes me laugh!!

This is the best thing since sliced bread--it's the balcony guys from the Muppet Show doing movie reviews. You have gotta see Sam the Eagle do a review of Walk the Line--it's priceless!

Thanks Tasha!

Happy New Year minus a few days!!

I'm very excited about the changing of the calendars--I have a page-a-day that is of "Fabulous Broads" for the desk (and it has an online feature!) and my wall calendar is of books!! I get one every year from the American Bible Society--2005 was calligraphied verses, which I loved, but I think this year will be nice too.

Off to the P.O.--I need stamps and stuff. Apparently stuff is dirt cheap at Target and Old Navy...and I don't have to be at work until 4!!

Later...

Firsts, Lasts and stuff

A bunch of firsts:

First Best Friend: Julianna in Kindergarden. We were going to go to NYC and be ballerinas. Our favorite color: Pink, of course!
First Kiss: In a dark auditorium my senior year of high school. Started a doomed quasi-relationship with a guy who was “dating” 5 other girls.
First Screen Name: The city where I lived, my gender, and my age at the time. First Pet: Two goldfish, Guitar and Vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaner ate all the food so Guitar died first. They lasted less than six mos., I’m thinking.
First Piercing: Ears at 13 at a booth at Tysons’s Corner Mall. First Crush: Troy Zepeda. I was in 3rd grade, he was in 6th? I almost disowned my best friend when she ratted me out—I found out the day before she moved to China. I watched a black and white movie on TV and heard John Lennon’s Imagine that day. I have since always hated that song.
First CD: The Chieftains Bells of Dublin. Purchased for me by a friend who thought I owned a CD player.
First Car: Maroon Lancer. I totaled it within a month, right after discovering I’d have to replace the radiator.

7 Lasts.

Last Alcoholic Beverage: cherry soda and rum.
Last Car Ride: today, to work, weaving in and out of traffic to make it to work by one pm.
Last Kiss: Do I have to answer that?
Last Movie Seen: Narnia: the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: ADORED IT!!!
Last Phone Call: From another library, wondering if we had a particular book. No, it hasn’t been out since last summer, so we think it’s missing.
Last CD Played: Dive 3, a CD of worship music by the chapel at Hope College, where my brother graduated from last year.

6 Have You Evers.

Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Friends: No.
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Define break the law.
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No.
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: No.
Have You Ever Been in love: Yes.

5 Things.

5 Things You're Wearing: Ring with three amber stones, khaki’s from Old Navy, new lavender sweater (Christmas from mom: Liz Claiborne, new!!), two earrings.
5 ThingsYou Did Yesterday: Had lunch with an old friend; had a good discussion with my mom; rode the DC Metro; flew from DC to Pgh; took a really long nap.
5 Things You Can't Live Without: Music, Laughter, Hope, Books, and Oxygen. (This reminds me of GK Chesterton’s answer to what books he’d want on a desert island: boatmaking manuals and an atlas!)
5 Places You've Been: Warsaw, Poland, Orebro, Sweden, Butte, Montana, Niagara Falls (both US and Canadian sides), Belem du Para, Brazil.

4 things I like to eat: (cause I can make up categories)
Pizza, Pies (especially Pumpkin and Lemon Merengue), Ice Cream, and Popcorn.

3 People You Can Tell *Almost* Anything To (in no particular order).

1. Susan Fry
2. Babelbabe
3. Lilly

2 Choices.

1. Black or White: Black.
2. Hot or Cold: Cold.

One thing: I'm watching it right now: the Santa Clause 2. Right about now, Santa is falling for the principal, hmmm....

Leaving, on a jet plane....

This is a little weird.

Background: last year when I flew from Michigan to Pittsburgh, after my brother's graduation, the weekend my grandmother died, I sat next to a woman whose mother had just died, she was just coming from the funeral, etc. We talked and it turned out she was neighbors with the secretary at my library.

Last night, on my flight from IAD (Dulles International) to PIT (Pittsburgh International), I sat next to a woman whose dad had died that morning, in Pittsburgh. I chatted with her, telling her I had a book and could read, if she didn't want to talk.

Her dad had been a truck driver. His name was Larry. He was 77.

I wanted to comfort her but didn't know how except by just talking to her, sharing my experience with my grandmother's death last year and listening to her experience. I told her how great Narnia had been and she said she might take her daughter, who is 18.

I doubt I'll ever see this woman again, but I hope that the conversation we shared helped her. It certainly took my thoughts off Christmas.

Home sweet garret

Alright, I'm back, and I can't believe no one loved my coat or at least was amused by my lamp solution. There's a comment box, so use it!

I came home, turned on my computer and it promptly crashed. I set it back to an earlier "save" point but unfortunately that date was before the date when I updated my virus control. It's a bruhaha that I will save you from.

And now it's the time I thought it was when I was awoken with a wrong number. So I'm phoning BB and getting some breakfast and off to therapy!

Here are some previously unpublished snippets:

insomnia snippets:

We had a lovely matinee of the Narnia. Some parents hadn't realized how scary it would be...so we had a four year old chatterbox Cathy...alas. But I loved it, it was such a wonderful movie. When it was over, we all clapped. We are in a golden age for children's cinema, I think--we all clapped at the end of Harry Potter 4 too.

I see symbolism, yes, but not a Jesus/Father=Aslan translation that so many of my Christian brethren seem to want to peg. I'm in there that these are wonderful stories that EDUCATE the larger more beautiful story, but allegory, no. Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory. It is word for word meant to symbolize the pilgrim's trip to heaven, ie the Christian life. Narnia is just a good story told by a guy who happened to be a Christian, and while the story does emphacize good over evil, anyone who wants to analyze it more than that will have this in their ears when they talk to me: la la la la, I don't hear you! My mother said, but it is allegorical, yes, mom, it has qualities of an allegory. My sister, dogmatic as ever, said I'm sure I've read whatever research you have and blasted into a full story of the Magician's Nephew, with spoilers, but what the heck, now I want to read that book. As I say often to dear Bep, TAKE A CHILL PILL.

Lewis himself didn't want to create didactic 1=1 stories, but stories that spoke to the fairy tales he loved as a child. (see Surprised by Joy) Tolkien too. (no, I still haven't read LOTR, but I've read the criticisms...) Lord save us from the parents who think Narnia is going to make their children better Christians (and hence bring four year olds!!)

I am grumpy and insomniac...I wonder what else I can grub up to eat...cold mashed potatoes. I wish to be in my own kitchen where blindfolded I can find a spoon. Here I find knives, forks, ah, yes, a SOUP spoon...oh here they are, the normal size spoons.

A list, for blackbird: 5 signs it's time to go home: (from DC to Pgh)

1. You start checking when you can go to a Penguins (hockey) game and think, ah, the one against the Washington Capitals looks good! (Go Pens!!)
2. You have a discussion with your mom about your future which ends with you in the bathroom.
3. You have a discussion with your dad about money (ie your future) which ends with him saying "I don't want to be your Jiminy Cricket"
4. You have a discussion with your dad about your cholesterol (which by the way is great!)
5. You think of last year's tsunami as happening when you were in DC so you want to go back to Pgh where you don't listen to public radio news programs. (And when did American Public Radio become American Public Media????) or read the Washington Post or any newspaper.

I regret that I didn't get more sibling time, but as we are two families (the SL+parents, then the Irish twins+parents) I often get more parents time than siblings time when I visit. A sad commentary on something, I'm sure.

Also, I took lovely pictures (few, but lovely) which I will download when I return HOME!!!

This is a test...

of the insomnia alert system. If you are awake and in need of food, there are cold mashed potatoes, ham, and corn souffle.

Stay tuned...

A book I would mail to everyone I knew if I was really rich

The other day I was Christmas/Birthday shopping in the local Borders. I prefer Fox books for the nostalgia factor, but this particular Borders is in a mall that our library used to "live" in, for about a year, when we were renovating. I also get my hair cut at this mall. Anyways.

Oh, Birthday/Christmas is a true season in our family...mine begins the season on Nov 28 and my brother punctuates the pre-Christmas season with his on Dec 20. My sister punctuates the post-Christmas/post-New Year season with hers on Jan 3.

Anyways, I have rarely allowed myself anything at Borders or Fox books in past years, but this year I've had a windfall and so I allowed myself one trade paperback. And dear reader, it was this one, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life.

It is a true gem. I am currently on p. 143, which features, "More Miles,'' "Movies," and "Mr. Koch."

I am at my parent's house, where the keyboard always wants to give me double '' or ''"". It is annoying and yet a little endearing, because I am at home in the imperfection of it all. It reminds me that it is nice to be here and nice to be there.

"I was interested in your blog," my mother said as she wiped the counters. She was worried that I was suicidal since I mentioned it in my "Christmas address." (note the use of quotes...each time, I get double.)

We are listening to Amahl and the Night Visitors. My mother is informing my father that the kings have arrived. I do that too--tell someone something out of context, expecting them to get it, and sometimes they do.

My mother is talking to the phone, as in "Hello phone, annex" (which is the name for where my brother lives, 3 (count em) blocks away.) He didn't spend the Christmas eve with us (which I so dearly wanted) because there is no bed for him and Santa wanted more time in the living room for him to be able to sleep on the hide-a-bed there. (Which I did, many years, when Grandma came to us for Christmas.)

"This is my box, I never travel without my box," sings the king.

This is the second Christmas without Grandma. She died last year on the day my brother graduated from college, Dec. 7. She was 99, shy 100 by two and a half months. I love the fact that both my grandmothers had the same birthday: February 18. It's as if all the differences my parents have, they have this one glue. My dad's mom died when I was ten, after Beppe came to us and while my mom was preggers with James.

Right now the kings are describing the Christ child. I love Amahl so. My mother and I went to see it one year at a church when I was in junior high. (That was when there was junior high, not this intermediate stuff.)

Alright, I think I need to go get dressed. We're having pancakes Chicago time, my mom tells my sister, which merely means an hour later than the nine o'clock that was broadcast as the pancake time last night.

Next time, about my relatives who went to China--we saw 5 of 9 packs of pictures. She was a photographer as a teen and uses a 35 mm and is an art teacher now, so it was not dull at all. I adore it that I love my famliy--I hope I marry a man who feels the same way, a) and b) that I love his family--I don't want this whole "in law" pressure that my friends talk about...

"Thank you Thank you" sing the kings. Ah, how I love Amahl.

I was suicidal for 10 minutes on the drive home on a Tuesday before Christmas, the first such occasion in many years. My mother was grateful, as am I. Happy Boxing Day to all, and thank you for leaving a comment, it warms the cockles of my heart. Blackbird, I will remember that you like lists!

Happy Boxing Day

This is not the day to get rid of boxes. According to a source I read yesterday (The Washington Post) it is the day churches empty their alms-boxes and gave money to the poor.

(Also, I'm showing my dad how quick blogger is.)

What Christmas does: short and longcomings

• It turns children into nervous wrecks
• It turns adults into nervous wrecks
• It turns can turn people into crying machines, at moments [see "being single at Christmas"]
• It brings up all those inadequecies people have about being with family, be it their actual family, their in-laws, or someone else's family [see "being a single or an International at Christmas"]
• It makes people who don't drink, drink
• It makes people consider, or attempt suicide
• It makes people go into debt over gifts that are known/unbeknownst to them returned for store credit

BUT, it also does these beautiful things:

• It makes people buy coats for strangers who don't have them
• It makes people really wonder what their friends might like (and sometimes they get it right)
• It makes people make amends with people (sometimes relatives) that they've been in conflict with
• It makes people who all year use Jesus' name as a curse word smile, when their favorite carol comes on the radio
• It makes everyone say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" days before, because you may not see that person on the actual day--so for a whole month, instead of not saying anything, you say "Have a nice holiday" to the person at the drycleaner, the gas station, the library
• It makes people string their houses (for 122 years now) with beautiful orbs of many colors that light up at night
• (and it makes strangers drive around and oooh and ahh at them)
• It makes people buy trees and decorate them with ornaments from Hallmark, their mom, and various other sentimental outlets
• It makes Unitarians put up nativity scenes in their houses
• It makes all sorts of people go to see their children perform songs at their schools
• It makes people travel 15 minutes or 15 hours to see loved ones [see "being an International at Christmas"]
• It makes people wear silly sweaters and silly hats and weird earrings
• It makes people throw parties where other people where sparkly clothing
• It makes people smile when snow is predicted

In short (or long) it is a magical time, with its own very noticeable shortcomings (or longcomings?). Over two thousand years ago, a teenage bride gave birth to a baby in a stable because their was no room at the Inn. Shepherds and kings came to visit him because of angels and stars. Whether or not he is the Savior of your life, the baby that was Jesus affected the world two thousand years ago and affects the world today. I hope it is in more of the longcomings than the shortcomings, but please do not ignore the signs of

• overspending
• suicidal tendencies
• nervous wreckage, by adults or children
• singles or Internationals or strangers

As Tiny Tim once said, God Bless them, every one! Happy Christmas to you and your kin! May the end of this year bring you hope for the year to come. And DON'T spill my coffee!

2 single ladies out on the town, eve of "The Eve"

Lilly and I went to Gullifties for dessert and then drove around Morningside looking at Christmas lights. Cause them Morningsiders know how to string em!! It was very nice. Now I'm going to nestle all snug...tomorrow I'll pack like a fiend--but it only seems prudent to sleep now as I am

EXHAUSTED!

Babelbabe and Co. fed me lovely pasta for dinner when rang their doorbell (well, if you had a 3 month old, would you answer the phone) so I got my pre-Christmas hug. Friends are a good thing.

Merry Christmas everybody!!

Books Books Books (15 things Sarah Louise says about them)

From Babelbabe>Gina>Joke>Badger...

1. I re-read books, especially when I'm under duress. My copy of Dicey's Song got me through many a tight spot into high school, college and beyond. I like books about people who are worse off than I'll ever be: the hero in Bright Lights, Big City. Right now my "comfort book" is Eat Cake, by Jeanne Ray.

2. Movie vs. Book: I often like both equally and sometimes like the movie more. I see the movie as another translation--I get to see the director and screenwriter's view, which is often different from my own. I always say that Kevin Sullivan did L.M. Montgomery a great service when he filmed the Anne of Green Gables series. He went too far with the last one, but Anne of Avonlea is a much better film than the books he compiled (Anne of Windy Poplar, etc.). Movies and books that are both on my favorites list: About a Boy (Hornby), Persuasion (Austen)

3. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Harry yet--I was a children's librarian at least a year before I read the books. I had to get them in audio, in case I didn't like them. (I don't feel like I have to finish a book I don't like, but often an audio will do something to grab me that the text can't). I adore Rowling's writing and hope she continues writing after she is done with Harry's #7. I listen to them all on audio. Jim Dale is amazing!! I retain more since you can't speed read an audio book.

4. Audio books in general: my favorite is Jacob Have I loved (from which my alias is derived). I have listened to it over 20 times. I have listened to Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies over and over and over and over. Jay Leno’s autobio is a must listen!

5. Most of my friends are also avid readers, and some of them have become friends as a result of book related events/places: Babelbabe and I had coffee after hearing Margaret Atwood, which cemented our friendship, and from 1994-2000, all my boyfriends either worked or were customers at Fox Books.

6. My organization system is based on frequency of use: my dictionaries are above the computer, my fiction is in the bedroom, my biographies are in the stairwell…I need more bookcases…

7. It’s a good thing I don’t accrue fines as a librarian because I constantly have at least one or two items overdue.

8. I collect books and videos about hockey. I got turned on to Hockey in 1997? A guy in my Bible Study was rejoining the CMU Club Hockey Team and we all went to support him…I kept going for weeks after. I have since become a Guins fan and will be very sad if Lemieux and co decide to leave da Burgh oh right, we’re talking about books!!

9. For almost a year I was working on developing a web site that would promote and sell chick lit books. I love most chick lit, except the snarky ones like Sophie Kinsella. My favorite chick lit…hard to say, but I really liked Honeymoon by Amy Jenkins.

10. My favorite book related memory (aside from my dad sitting in the red chair reading The Big Orange Splot to my siblings) is when my sister read Julius Baby of the World to me, over the phone.

11. I prefer Children’s and YA books. My favorite YA is of course Dicey’s Song, but My life as a girl is in the top five.

12. Authors I have met and have photographs of: Kevin Henkes, Madeleine L’Engle, Cynthia Voigt. Met only, no photo: Peter Sis, Richard Peck (while sitting at a lunch table at ALA Toronto) Authors I have seen in person: too many to name but the notables include: Katherine Paterson, John Sciescza, Petra Mathers, Margaret Atwood, David Sedaris. Authors whom have sent me actual (not form) letters in response to my letters: Cynthia Rylant, Cynthia Voigt, Paula Danziger (it was covered in stickers), and before she was famous, Caroline B. Cooney.

13. Authors/illustrators I would like to meet: Stephen Gammell, Cynthia Rylant, JK Rowling (duh!), Katherine Paterson, Kathleen Norris, Nick Hornby…and many others…

14. My favorite vacation was the year I took about eight books to visit my parents in Brazil, among them the Wizard of Oz, The Three Musketeers, Better than life (translated from the French, how could I have missed that?)

15. My real addiction is magazines.

Show n tell--my coat and my lamp!

Now, I realize coat was what was asked for, but Joke broke the rules last week and this is just the funniest thing I've done all week, I had to share it w'yinz. First off, isn't it a great coat? I got it at the Red White and Blue (a thrift shop) down on Rte 51 for $7 over 10 years ago. It has a MTM new satin lining and the pockets are huge--they fit my hat, gloves, cell phone, keys, a small rodent....you get the idea.

Now for the lamp. Whilst I was on the phone with Emily, I discovered that my lamp had come unbalanced. Somehow, the pole was disconnected from the base. So, florist that I sometimes am, I thought, what I need is a bucket and something to fill in the space. Librarian that I am, I had books. The pole is being balanced by a part of my vacuum cleaner. So hey, it's a little bit of "necessity is the mother of invention." I'm rather proud, thoughI think I'll be getting a new lamp soon.

I spy: can you name any of the books pictured?

AND AND AND: on the way home I finally heard Dominick!! AND Susie Snowflake.

AND: My friend Sally gave me my birthday gift, a lovely cross-stitch ballerina and my Christmas gift (Gift Certificates to go to the movies!) See, Christmas wishes do come true. Tomorrow Emily and I are having lunch--I think I might suggest Chinese!

Sarah Louise's Favorite Christmas Movie

Home Alone, is by far, my absolute favorite Christmas movie. My Aunt Hilda, who died a few years ago right before Christmas, gave it to one of my siblings one year. I now own my own copy (I had a moment a few moments ago, I couldn't find it!) (But it is now safely in the VCR and I'm listening to previews for Wallace and Grommit)

I spent years listening to the soundtrack...now, finding that in this apartment will take some time, and since I have the actual movie on and I plan to start packing soon, I'll keep typing away.

If I had the DVD, I'd find the scene where Kevin says, "I'm not afraid anymore."

"Hey, I'm not afraid any more! I said I'm not afraid any more! Do you hear me? I'm not afraid any more!" [Old Man Marley approaches Kevin and stares at him - Kevin runs back inside, screaming like a maniac]

Kevin just did his "When I grow up and get married I'm living alone!" tantrum. I can't believe imdb doesn't have it in their memorable quotes. I don't really want to join imdb--another password to remember, another online identity to keep track of...

So why am I telling you about my favorite Christmas movie, on the 22nd of December? Because this week I had a moment. Well, actually, more than a moment, I had a two days, a changed url, a new online name, and a new profile pic. I was living my own created nightmare. I was 24 again, dating a man I haven't spoken with for at least eight years. Last night on the way home, my friend Emily listened to me kvetch. I came home, had a rum and cherry soda, a crab cake, the rest of the banana bread loaf from one of my co-workers, wrote the last post (the one about Christmas music) and then tried some personal writing. I found old diaries from college, and finally, exhausted, I went to bed.

It's amazing what going to bed at 10 will do for the soul. I woke up and discovered that I am still Sarah Louise, and I am not afraid anymore. I will be a little more careful about my Christian name being connected to my blog, but I will not hide behind a rose colored curtain. So, if you couldn't find me for a few days, welcome back!

(at the moment, Kevin is celebrating that he "made [his] family disappear!")

(and now, he is sliding down the stairs on his sled)

(his mom just realized she forgot him.)

Mom: "What kind of a mother am I?"
Uncle Frank: "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses."

"For weeping tarries...but joy comes in the morning..." I'll have to bug Lilly again for the scripture reference.

And now, off to prepare for Christmas...

Sarah Louise goes to the theatre for her Christmas songs...

Well, BB's done it, Joke's done it, and I gotta do it too: it's the Christmas song post!

When I was sitting on the couch enjoying my cherry soda and rum (Yes, I'm done with my pain meds now!!) I heard this one, and I couldn't imagine that I didn't know what show it was from. It was so familiar to me...but I've never seen Mame!

For we need a little music
Need a little laughter
Need a little singing
Ringing in the rafters
And we need a little something
Happy ever after
We need a little Christmas now

It sounded like it could be from Annie (that's a New Deal for Christmas) or Hello Dolly (which happened entirely in the summer).

It's funny, I don't even love "Dominick the Donkey" but last year, like "Baby, it's cold outside" it was everywhere, and it doesn't seem like Christmas without him.

And yes, I liked the Christmas Shoes song, but when it was a country song, not when it had that chorus of children at the end, I agree it is horrible now.

There is someone on some station--it's ohmygosh Focus on the Family!! But it was a woman comedienne describing Betsy Ross as the first Martha Stewart. I mean, I expected it to be WDVE--which I'm sure I'm listening to now, with Jerry Seinfeld talking about late night infomercials and the Ginsu knife...

Now here's a rousing tune, "The Boys are Back in Town." Maybe, instead of prepping my life for Christmas I should watch "The Knight's Tale" again.

"I'm having a Blue Christmas" should only ever be sung by Elvis. "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" can be sung by anyone. And I do love that silly Hippo song. I heard it last week as I left Target after having dinner with bobbie.

Bells will be ringing...their sad sad song, oh what a Christmas, to be alone, Please come home for Christmas, Please come home... which I know by heart (well almost) because I own the soundtrack to Home Alone (the first one) on cassette!! It is the best Christmas album I own. I wonder where it is...

Now, how can two stations be "Pittsburgh's official Christmas station"? And how come Vince Valiant sounds like a thirteen year old girl? (All I want for Christmas is you, made famous to me on the soundtrack of Love, Actually.)

What do I want for Christmas? Peace. Whirled peas, a piece of quiet, and a ticket to the movies!

testing 123

testing...

Check out this link...

for one church's reasoning for having services on this Sunday (Christmas Day). I wholeheartedly agree, although I don't know what my family is doing.

Phillip Yancey, keeping things, and Christmas

I keep things. This can be a problem, especially if you haven't *really* moved for ten years. Alas. I pity the fool that marries me and my stuff--oh, but I'm so cute!

This is one of the things I've kept, forever. It usually hangs out on my fridge; it is a quote from a book by Phillip Yancey, a writer who is always asking questions about Christianity. I trust him because he keeps asking questions and he sometimes answers them...anyways, he also writes like a dream.

"I have the sensation of stepping off a ledge in the darkness with no idea where I might land. That is up to God." --Richard, from the book Disappointment with God, by Phillip Yancey.

The other half of the sheet of paper is a letter from a college friend, who was responding to a lesson I had given at Bible Study that week. From alumni news, I know he has gone on to do missions, get married, and probably has bundles of kids. (One child is a child, two or more are bundles, just like you would have a gaggle of geese.) (See, you learn things from this blog that you never knew before!)

He was two years behind me, and I pined after him. Alas. I try to keep this blog upbeat but darn it, today I was playing playdough with a girl who said her mom was 31. The girl was about 5. My friend Lilly and I (she's the one who got the second job and yes, she has my blessing, and no I won't go into it, but I understand her reasoning now.) spent the evening together. She is 47 and a divorcee (do they use that word anymore?) and a real blessing to me. She has family in town--her mother and her brothers, both of whom are married and have kids. She does a lot of babysitting.

We talked for hours, about the Emerging Church (we both have misgivings about the movement, but she allows that if I'm growing at the OD, that's what counts); about the Bible (that woman has more Bibles than I do--and I have a collection of at least six. She showed me her Thompson Chain Bible, which takes a topic all the way through the Bible using these four digit code numbers in the margin. She has software that allows her to do word studies and is doing a word study right now on the word "gospel." She prays fervently--every day!! I could only hope that one day I could come near to the devotion she has for Christ--I love spending time with her 'cause I hope maybe some of it will rub off. Laughter--she laughs at work when it gets to the high stress level. We laugh together--and we cry. (I don't understand people that don't have a Kleenex box in every room--and I only buy, you guessed it, pink.)

And gorgeous--usually when we get together, she's in her casual clothes, but tonight she was wearing her work clothes, and when she put on her fur hat (probably faux, since she bought it for $5 at K-mart), I swear she looked like a model. She's tall enough too, that she probably could grace the runways.

Not sure where I'm going with this post, but I just wanted to share. It is lonely, being a single woman at Christmas, and this week is the worst, everybody is going somewhere or already gone. I'm in town until Saturday, so Lilly and I plan to catch up on Friday (she works Weds night, I work Thurs.) I have so many friends, but I guess I wish that sometimes it wasn't someone else's child whose diaper I'm changing, or someone else's child I'm playing play dough with. Like bobbie, I guess I'm feeling a litte melon-collie.

In March, I am going to Boston to the Public Library Assoc. Conference and I'll get to see my dear friend Susan Fry--who will be famous one day, just you watch. She is my oldest friend (we've known each other since the second day of eleventh grade when her niece Kelly was born) and I'm so glad that I'll see her soon. I've never met her daughter Sarah, who is four, and who will be getting an Easy Bake Oven in a few months (we both agreed it would be silly to mail it since taking it on the plane is free!).

So thanks for being out there in the blogosphere, dear reader. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that jazz. Hug your honey real tight--time on this earth is too short to keep a distance between those we love.

Emily's runaway imagination

So my friend Emily (she's the one who went to Louisiana to help w/Hurricane Katrina efforts w/the Red Cross) has been so excited about my Christmas present. I mean, jumping up and down, so I thought I'm going to have to open it now so she get the glee of the look on my face.

Are you ready? Get ready.

She gave me...an Easy Bake Oven!! And mix for two recipes. When I went up to visit her back in October, I must have mentioned at one time that an Easy Bake Oven was something I always put on my Christmas list but never got.

What did I get her? A map to Louisiana (so she knows she has my blessing if she goes back, which she is dying to do), a journal to write in, and a Frog and Toad book.

Emily laughed. She said "What age is our friendship if I give you an Easy Bake Oven and you give me Frog and Toad?" Well, hey, I'm in my third childhood, I don't want to ever grow up!!

I did leave it in the car overnight though--this garret is full of getting ready for Christmas--I'm not ready to set up my Easy Bake Oven yet. She cracks me up! It is so much fun to have friends. For awhile, I thought she and I were goners, but we weathered the storm, and I imagine I can put her in the friends for life category.

It's 9:41 and you know what, I think I'll go to bed....to make up for the deficit from yesterday...although I had a 2 hr nap this afternoon--but I gotta do MOPS tomorrow, so I should be rested for those running around kids. At nursery today, you could tell the kids were getting the stress vibe from their parents--two of our steady always happy pre-toddlers were clingy--I carried Amelia around for at least ten minutes. "Do you want to get down?" "No." She just wanted the attention, so I gave it to her. Kids, they just want to be loved.

G'nite.

Insomnia, thy name is Anticipation

I finished my Christmas shopping (or "elfing" a term used by Mrs. X in the Nanny Diaries)!!!
But now I am so keyed up from a day of just doing doing doing that I can't turn off to sleep.

Highlights:

• Shopping for my secret Santa at Walmart
• Reading Jane Austen's Book Club, my reward, at my reward dinner at Abate, an Italian/Fish restaurant near my house
• talking to my sister
• talking to my friend Alice
• talking to my friend Kerry
• spending some real quality time praying and getting deep into the Bible
• WATCHING THE FAMILY STONE! If you have a chance to see a movie, go see this. It is about this totally screwed up family, but it is soooo beautiful!!! I was sobbing at the end, because of its beautiful-ness. Some guy sitting near me said are you okay and I said yeah. Beautiful movie, he said. Yeah, I said. Take it easy, he said. It was sweet to have someone want to know if I was okay, even if it was a wierd strange man.

I'm still not tired. And not sure I want to email my friend about why I think two jobs isn't the answer for her...although drafting an email to send later might at least clear my mind...

I hope y'all are fast asleep.

Here's some wisdom I gleaned from the Word today:

• "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the earth. (1 cor 4:11-13)
• Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife (prov. 17:1)
• A man of many companions may come to ruin but there is a friend who sticks like a brother. (prov 18:24)

This, from the Women's Devotional Bible, a devotion quote: "Need waits for longing for the familiar entrance of dear ones who pad barefoot through the soul on ordinary days."

I love my friend--I want the best for her. I want to communicate, not like a bull in a china shop, but not quiet as a mouse as is my norm. Off to draft an email...