Fun...Not Fun

Fun: Hanging out with your sister on a Saturday
Not Fun: Running into your gay ex-boyfriend at Starbucks

Fun: New sweaters
Not Fun: Frost and cold toes

Fun: Making yummy chicken curry salad for dinner
Not Fun: Finding out your pantry is out of Craisins

Fun: Having your son walk around saying "Obama won!"
Not Fun: Him refusing to say it when a camera is around...

Very Little

I have very little to say and too much in my head. It's been a great week and sad. It's been a worrying week and grateful. Too much. And when there's too much and nothing to say, I always turn to music. Aztec Camera has a quality to always make me happy. And this song seems appropriate today...

Wasted Paper or Treasured Tradition...You Be The Judge

Ok. Now that the election is over and life will return to some version of normal, let's move on. It's cold here today. In the 30s, snow is in the mountains and I fear winter is here for good. Which turns my thoughts to the upcoming holidays.

Christmas for Sammy is done. Completely. Isaac's list is done and will be bought in the next month. Extended family gifts are decided on and will be taken care of before Thanksgiving. Money has been set aside all year for this, so the budget is done. I know where the tree will go and I just bought a new advent calendar at Target (I love Target...).

I found a remote control train that goes around the tree that I'm excited to get for Sammy. That and the Little People nativity . It's truly a toss up on which I'm more excited about.

However. Every year I swear I'm going to mail Christmas cards to everyone I've ever known since birth. And every year I do not. I have finally chalked it up to one of those things I'm not very good at (you know, like diets and visiting teaching and goodbyes) and I think this is the year I'm going to fully embrace that trait. I am going to embrace the fact that I don't get behind Christmas cards. I'm going to embrace that I hate form letters that try to make you sound like you are one-upping your friends. I'm going to embrace non-conformity! So if you don't get a card from me, don't feel unloved. Look forward to the "festive" email instead, checking in on you and yours and wishing you nothing but holiday goodness and blessings. I'm on a one-woman mission to convince people it's JUST as good. I promise! Ooooh...or maybe a festive blog post? Possibilities...

(Did that sound convincing at all?)

So Stinking Excited

"All odds--all odds--said I shouldn’t be standing here. But I am because of love and education and lots of hope. . . . Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside of us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that there is something greater inside of us. . . . They say I need to be seasoned; they say I need to be stewed. They say, 'We need to boil all the hope out of him--like us--and then he'll be ready.' . . . If you will work with me, like you've never worked before, then we will win. And we will win America. And then we will change the world."

--Barack Obama, new president-elect, on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Jan. 5, 2008.

I can't remember a time I have been more happy for an election result. More excited. More hopeful - definitely more hopeful. More proud of this country and where we could be headed. And no matter your affiliation, it was a night to witness history and be proud of how far our country has come. Proud. Hopeful. United. Blessed. His acceptance speech last night brought tears to my eyes. Both of our eyes. I am buoyed after eight years of heartache. I have hope that is replacing the despair. After elections that divided us and didn't feel clear in terms of winner / loser, last night's clear win and decisive voice was welcomed. I feel our country is a little more unified. A little more focused on what is important.

I Have Hope. Cautious, Cautious Hope.

Happy Election Day, everyone.

I Swear That's What He's Going For

Sammy is begging to see my head explode and tiny brain shrapnel lodge in unfortunate places around the house. Simply. Begging.

We are now seeing evidence of more talking (the other day: "Thank you Mommy" clear as day and then a few handful of new words a week) but will not do it if he a) thinks about it too long, b) on command, c) if it's sunny or cloudy or some other weather system he's not in sync with. He reminds me a lot of Lorelei's dog on Gilmore Girls, actually. Very, very particular.

However, since he won't talk unless it suits him, the whinning for something he wants or needs has started. And the whinning is about to drive me mad. The boy needs to USE HIS WORDS! We've made a little headway be repeating (over and over and over and over and...) "if you need something, come down and tell us; don't whine". But, of course, that's not his first line of defense. The whinning is. I'm thinking there might be air raid sirens less annoying. Not that I want to try it out or anything...

One day until my 24 hours of sitting and watching MSNBC nonstop (or, election day...whatever). So excited and so very nervous.