If the Person in Bed Next to Me Had Been Wearing Pants, They Would Now Look Like This

but let's be honest...I own a few pairs of these too.

WANT

http://www.6pm.com/sanita-professional-vegan-quilt-purple

I Make My Own Rules

I know the traditional time to count one's blessings is Thanksgiving and I like Thanksgiving because of that (and the pie), but I think the end of the year is a good time too.  And a weird side effect of running for me is that, even though I hate almost every second of the actual running, I also think lots of happy thoughts while I'm doing it.  Weird.

So anyway, these are some of the things I was thinking this week while my thighs were threatening to burn a hole in my under armour pants and my chest was heaving (and not in a good way):

I am thankful for:

my husband

Yes, that's him. 

(in college) 

And if you know me well, you know I started dating him in spite of

his propensity for face-painting.

In spite of the many ways in which he makes me INSANE,

I can't imagine my life without him. 

He will drive me crazy until the day I die.

That's my version of a love note.

and,

these two

He mumbles and occasionally smells like something

that would be at home on a French cheese plate.

He drives me insane because we seem to speak different languages right now.

And he should be speaking MINE.

She is growing up too fast and wants to bend every rule I make.

She drives me insane because it's like living with Sybil. 

I never know who is coming down the stairs in the morning.

But they remind me every day of the value of patience.

And that a hug or a kind word not asked for is the greatest gift.

and,

alcohol

kidding!  This photo represents

My friends

I think one of my favorite parts of having a party is when HH and I

break it down after everyone's gone.

How all our friends are just such awesome people.

How cool it is that everyone comes from such different

areas of our life but seem to blend seamlessly.

How lucky we are to know them and count them as family.

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Now, since blogger is taking an irritatingly long time loading pictures,

here's a probably-incomplete list of other things I feel grateful for,

in no certain order. 

1. Netflix --I know this is shallow and materialistic, but it represents HH having a JOB.  And there are few things that give me a day-to-day thrill as seeing one of those red envelopes in my mailbox. Will it be a French film I can't get at Blockbuster?  Will it be another Buffy episode???

2. Movies--See above.  I luuurve movies.  I love being transported.  And I have no snobbery.  I enjoy a good zombie movie as much as a documentary (who am I kidding?  maybe more).

3. An occasional rainy day off in which I feel no guilt about lying around reading a book.

4. School--I love it.  Even the homework. I know it's sadly cliche of me as a "nontraditional student."  But it just feels good to be where I am right now and I can't believe I've done it.

5. My home--Even though it doesn't measure up in the decorating department to some of the homes I see on all the blogs I follow, it is cozy and very "me."  I like my stuff.  I like to be here.  In fact, I'd rather be here than most places.  How lucky is that?

6. The furry children--I just threw up in my mouth a little, writing that.  I am NOT one of those people who sees her pets as furry people.  A dog is a DOG.  BUT, how great is that I can leave a room for 5 minutes and be greeted when I go back in like I've been gone FOR YEARS, over and over again?  They're dim but so lovable and they never tell me I'm UNFAIR or ask anything of me but the occasional rub between the ears.  Nice.

7. The nephews--I don't see them enough but when I do, they make up for it.

8. Food in the fridge and the time to make it for my family.  I know it sounds trite, but I get such a great feeling from baking my own bread or making homemade soup or something else homey for my family.  It gives me a ridiculous amount of pleasure when I can take my time doing it.

9. Flannel sheets-- I love bed.

10. Memories--Some of them are pretty sucky, but the ones that aren't are so wonderful. 

What are you cherishing?

How to NOT Write a Paper

• Make yourself toast even if you're not hungry.
• Make yourself a cup of tea.
• Send family to movies and then think about how weird it is that you wish you were going to see Edward again.
• Make another cup of tea.  And another one.
• Go to the bathroom 5 times.
• Brush your hair while in there.  Each time.
• Go to the bathroom again and put on more blush while in there even though no one is at home and you're not going anywhere.
• Go outside for firewood because you are cold.
• Watch dogs play outside in first snow of the season and realize that since your children are older and not as darling (bendable to will), you have replaced them in your heart with your pets just a little.
• Go get a sweatshirt with the name of your grad school on it so it not only makes you cozy and lethargic but also mocks you with its collegiate attitude.
• Start to write an outline.  Get distracted by the cool way you can bullet each item (ooh! daisies!).
• Go online to "research" more.  Get lost on Facebook playing Scramble.
• Blather incoherently about your topic and realize halfway through that your topic has magically changed.
• Quit and barely remember to SAVE even though it's crap anyway.
• Blog about it.
  

It's On, Baby!

how cute is THIS? Just an idea...

Happily, I got a GREAT response for the Winter
Gastronomy Swap, despite it's ridonkulous name. Yay!

::I do have one swapper who is all on her lonesome
because I don't have an even number. SO, first one to comment and say they'll
swap gets in on the fun!!:: WE HAVE ANOTHER SWAPPER SO EVERYONE WHO ORIGINALLY SIGNED UP IS IN (as of Tuesday).

Now let's keep the good vibes going and go over The Rules one more time, swappers.

1) Email your swapee and get the 411 on them (mailing address? food allergies? bad childhood experience with plaid....whatever. You get the idea).

2) SHOP/CREATE! Remember: we all know it's better to give than to receive, blahblahblah, but make sure you give like YOU would like to receive. In other words, don't skimp out. $25 should be spent.

3) Remember that since this a food swap, all items should be FOOD or FOOD-RELATED. It's totally cool to have stuff for pooches included but remember that you are sending something to the humans too. Otherwise this would be a Pet Food Swap and I'd have to come up with another stupid name.

4) Package it up cute and SEND IT OUT by no later than Monday, January 11. I can feel the utter lack of douchiness from all of your comments so I KNOW no one's going to wuss out and drop the ball here. Because you VOLUNTEERED to do this. Because it is FUN.

Because Laura and I will praise you to high heavens if you do the right thing and talk shit about you if you don't.

(AHEM)

If you need some ideas of what a nice swap looks like and aren't familiar with Laura's blog, click on THIS.

THIS is cute too! And you get to keep it for yourself

instead of giving it for *RamaHanuKwanzMas!

SO, here are the partners **(and I'll be emailing you with each other's e-ddresses):

Laura and Slack

Tracy and Lynn

Tracy and Doreen

Jenni and Bev

Jodi and Katy

Jen and Stephanie

Amanda and Kellie

Michele and The Perfect Details

Moi and Mamacita

So have fun! And don't forget one more thing--when you do get your package, please take pictures. It's fun to see what everyone got and I would be more than happy to post them here!

Happy Swapping!!

*I just think this is funny. No political crap here, people.

**EDITED TO ADD: I'll be getting out your emails by Wednesday. Sick in bed today. YUCK.

Is Anyone Out There? Wanna Swap?

Holy crap, has it really been a month and a half since I've posted?? Wow. I'll be amazed if anyone but me and my two loyal friends (hi Patti! hi Audrey!) are actually reading this. So, what's been happening, you ask, Patti and Audrey? WELL! A hell-of-a-lot. And it's ALL GOOD.

Can I get an A-MEN?! Even I was tired of listening to myself moan before, during The Summer of Suck, and my mother always told me if you can't say anything nice.... you know the rest. But the truth is that I did have some pretty great things going on at the end of the Summer Suck. In fact, I was having a ball. But I felt guilty about it and didn't want to gloat because my man was still Stuck in the Suck (okay, that's the last time I work that in, I swear).

WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?

Well, I had started grad school and the most fun job I've ever had to date. I was getting into the groove of an office full of fun and crazy and inviting people and meeting like-minded students and talking about cool stuff.

And then I was going home. To worry. To sadness. To my Handsome Husband who was trying so hard to make Things Happen on the job front. And I felt bad about being so happy. I would dance off to work in the morning, not being able to WAIT until I left the Sad House. And I was sad that both of us weren't having a career ball.

But that's all behind us because HH is employed. WOOT! Who knows if it's the job of a lifetime, but it's a job. And a good one. And one that he can excel at because....he's awesome.

YAY!!

Now I'm not going to go all philosophical because, hey, I'm not that deep. But I AM going to say that now that I don't have to worry ALL THE TIME about things like shopping for food, life is pretty fucking awesome. I have a GREAT LIFE.

Like I said, AWESOME.

So, to celebrate life's awesomeness (and the fact that I can shop, with only the normal amount of restraint now), I have decided to do something I've never done.

I'm hosting a SWAP.

The lovely Laura hosted one during the Suck time (sorry, it's a habit now) that I couldn't participate in but because SHE'S awesome, she included me anyway without any reason at all. I didn't have to buy her anything in exchange. She just sent me a beautiful package for me and my pooches that made me smile and get a tear in my eye. It really did.

Here it is:

nice, right? so so so nice... it made my whole week.

So when she mentioned she wanted to do a holiday or winter one, I thought I'd offer to take the job on for her so she could think about one less thing until said holidays are over, what with all her cookie and cupcake madness going on.

So, here are the rules:

1. Comment if you want to get in on some wintry fun.

2. Agree to put together a package of goodies for the person you are given to swap with.

3. Don't spend more than $25.

4. PUT TOGETHER A PACKAGE OF GOODIES AND MAIL IT by the determined date (to be determined)! Seriously, don't be a douche. If you say you're going to do it, do it. OR at the very least, let me know if something comes up and you can't. Wouldn't you hate it if you were the only one who didn't get something?

4. Either post a picture of your goodies you receive on your blog or send me a picture to post on mine if you don't have a blog of your own. Here's Muttel sniffing the pumpkiny goodness of the Doggie Biscotti Laura sent:

note the insane, hungry eyes

It's really that easy. Our theme is going to be Winter Gastronomy. That means 'food,' people. Since I hate the word "gourmet," I picked the other G word (even though it sounds even more pretentious. Whatever.) And I picked Winter because I AM A JEW and you can *keep your Santa shit to yourself.

Happy Winter! :o)

The theme is LOOSE. You're supposed to have fun on both ends of the swap. You can include anything you want and it doesn't have to be expensive. You can include homemade stuff (awesome) or you can buy goodies (great) or a combination of both (fan-tastic). Just have fun with it because chances are if you do, the person who receives it will too.

So let me know if you want to get in on it. Don't make me hunt you down!

*not really--I kid! It's totally up to you and your wacky Christian ways!

I spend a lot of my conscious time thinking about people in my life. I'm not talking about my children or my husband, although yes it's true that they take up a huge part of my heart and my mind. I'm talking about the people in my life I'm lucky enough to call friends.


One of the reasons I'm always thinking about them is because I'm often hoping against hope that I haven'tn ****ed up our friendship by something stupid I've said. While I'm rarely worried about stuff I've done, I am often inwardly cringing about something I've remembered that came out of my mouth only minutes before. It's not because I'm insecure, really, that I think so much about it, but because, as Audrey, one of these friends has told me, sometimes my edit button gets stuck.


My intention is never to be mean or insensitive. Often, I mean to be completely and utterly sensitive when I say, for instance, that "no wonder your mother-in-law said something so stupid to you! It's because she's an *******!" Out of the moment I am completely aware that only YOU can say she's an *******. She's YOUR mother-in-law. My role as friend is to say something benign like "That's terrible" or even "I'm sure she didn't mean it." 


But therein lies the problem: when it comes to my friends, I can't hold back. Because the other reason I'm thinking about my friends so much is because they are my rock, my soul, my family. I am so very fortunate that I know a lot of quality people who--lucky me!--think I'm not only worth their time, but worth their love and friendship. And every one of them (some more than others!) will hate someone who's wronged me, almost without question. They just probably won't say it to the person in question like I *oops* might.