My Wish for the New Year

My Grown Up Christmas List - Kelly Clarkson

As of tonight both the holidays and the year are over. I am sure there are a good many people who are saying good riddance to 2008. This has been a difficult and challenging year. The economy has affected every social and economic strata. I believe that every one of you reading here has felt the pinch. Even on the brink of this new year, we all face uncertainty of what it might bring. Yet, each of you is also blessed. It may not feel that way, but by the simple fact that you are reading this, I know you have a computer and a place to plug it in. Not everyone is so lucky. Hard financial times have another effect. Donations to shelters and food pantries are significantly decreased. The number of people needing services from them is greater than ever. January is typically the leanest month as far as donations are concerned. I am only asking that you don't forget that the need does not go away after Christmas, it continues year round. Please address it in the way your heart and your resources will allow.

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Domestic Goddess

That's me these past few weeks. I am lucky enough to be in the middle of two weeks off (holiday time, combined with vacation). I'll be honest, going into this, I had a to do list as long as my arm. The first part of it involved getting ready for Christmas (which I did, with a scaled back approach). But mostly though, I have been lazy. Playing with the grandchildren, futzing around the kitchen and way to much computer time is what has occupied my days.

Well, today I looked around at my terribly neglected house and I got busy. I took the books off the shelves to dust and rearrange them (this was really an attempt to fit more books back on). I cleaned the refrigerator. I wiped down the kitchen cabinets. I knocked down cobwebs. I cleaned the bathroom and replaced the toilet seat. I dusted my furniture and then oiled it down with furniture oil. I did laundry, lots of laundry. It may sound like I was reacting to incredible boredom, but I was really trying to overcome the months (years) of neglect. I am not nearly done, but I am quite proud of myself.

Last week is when I shopped for the toilet seat. If you all recall, I do not have a car and rely on the kindness of strangers (okay, friends and family) to drive me around. Therefore, I found myself at one store, that had the tackiest and ugliest toilet seats imaginable. Padded ones, all different colors, with embroidered seats. Not to be discouraged, I decided to choose the absolute tackiest one there was and buy it. (Well, not really, the worst one was pink with a swan on the seat.) It is orange, sort of, maybe more peach, with shells on the seat. So now it graces my bathroom in all its tacky glory. I think I may love it! At least it makes me giggle each time I see it.

Many pieces of my furniture are antiques, they used to belong to my grandmother. My bedroom and dining room sets are 94 years old. I know they are valuable (though their value to me is not monetary). I love having them, but they have been sadly neglected. Old wood dries out, plus having three dogs in the house leads to lots of dust and grime. Boy, the wood really soaked up that oil, but tonight it is clean and gleaming!

I thought I had kept up with the laundry, but then R (youngest son) cleaned out his car. He kind of lives out of his car, he goes from school, to work, to friends', to home, to work (or some semblance of that). In the interim, he changes clothes and throws the ones he took off in his car. He carried in three arm loads of clothes, announcing, "I found out where all my clothes went." Now, I know he is old enough to do his own laundry, but I'd rather he didn't. Call it control issues, perfectionism, whatever, but there you go. (I will say that he, or at least one of the boys living here at the time, broke my old washer by over-loading it.) He is also a chef, he wears a uniform. Certain restaurant kitchens (usually the more upscale ones) tend to be a bit militaristic. His chef's jacket is white, and it has to be white. No stains, spots or dinginess are acceptable. Of course, the same jacket has black trim, so it cannot be bleached. Let's just say, I am a pro at getting out stains.

I am still not done around here, I am on a mission. I know that the clean will not last, I sweep up mounds of dog and cat hair daily, but I am determined. Maybe it is time I got back to work!

For those of you who celebrate Chanukah, I know I missed it, but happy belated. J sent me this link, I had forgotten about this song. I am posting it here, enjoy!

Christmas morning and squirrels

This morning I awoke, not to sleigh bells or children's excited voices, but to dogs barking. Apparently squirrels do not take Christmas off. I am also realizing, that my own squirrel obsession is beginning to rival the dogs'. My suspicions are leading to the development of a conspiracy theory, I believe I have discovered the mastermind.



Perhaps Homeland Security is monitoring me via squirrel surveillance. The inauguration can't come soon enough.

On an even lighter note, I am posting this clip for J. Just remember, you may be a millionare playboy to everyone else, but, to me, you are a superhero. (You slip into the super suit, while I get the super sauce.)

Tis the night before Christmas

I am sitting here thinking of holiday seasons past. Tonight I am alone, my oldest son and his family stopped by a little earlier. We will have our family time together on Saturday, they have enough to do tomorrow with her family and the little ones. My youngest son is working, this is a very busy time for a restaurant and he is now their primary sushi chef.

When the boys were both at home, they both had their own trees and ornaments for their rooms. When N married, he took his with him, R has not put his up for a couple of years. Tonight, for a surprise, I put his tree up in his room. It brought back wonderful memories as I hung each of the ornaments.

Today, I baked and wrapped presents. R and I agreed to only get a few things for each other so we could buy more for the grandkids. N and his family have had a hard year financially, I know that Christmas added to the stress. Though, between myself and the other grandparents the children will not be disappointed.

This is a reflective and grateful time of year for me. I have been listening to Christmas music all day. My favorite Christmas albums are by Mannheim Steamroller. Their music is so upbeat and happy. I am also a sucker for light displays. Here's a little of both...



Listening to Handel's Messiah has been a Christmas tradition. My father used to play the whole thing every year, three records in a boxed set from Reader's Digest. He was a sucker for Reader's Digest boxed music sets. We would always sing along when he played it. I have also performed it in a choir several times. When N was young, from 3rd grade through 6th grade (when his voice changed), he was part of the Cincinnati Boychoir. It was an honor and a privilege, I was quite proud of him. They traveled extensively and performed about 40 concerts a year. In order to audition, the boys must be referred by their school's music director. They performed at Disneyworld, the Crystal Cathedral, the Cincinnati May Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, as well as many other local venues. I always loved hearing them sing the Hallelujah Chorus, especially when they were performing in one of the local, historic cathedrals. This is not them, but I still have a soft spot for boychoirs.



I am happy, content and peaceful this evening. I hope that you all are feeling a similar peace. Happy Holidays, however you celebrate them.

traditions in food

I have cleaned up the kitchen and am about to embark on my annual cookie baking enterprise. In past years, I began shortly after Thanksgiving, this year I have scaled things back due to time and money. I have many memories from my childhood of baking and cooking with all the women of my family. Certainly, at Christmastime, we mixed, rolled, and baked dozens of cookies. My kitchen memories are not reserved only for holidays though. Summertime was spent canning, often after we did the picking. My grandmother always made applesauce, which was then frozen. Our German heritage allowed me to develop certain tastes not shared by my friends. Sauerkraut and Goetta being two of them. I'm not sure if it was the decade I grew up in, or my family heritage, but casseroles (or hot dishes) were week night staples.

My father grew up in Minnesota, it was summer visits there that introduced me to the foods of my Czech heritage. It is also those memories that sent me googling for recipes today. I will write to my aunt (in Minneapolis) for the family recipe, but I wanted one right now. My recipe quest today...kolaches. For those of you poor souls not familiar, these are Czechoslovakian pastries. Similar to small danishes, traditionally topped with prune, apricot, poppyseed or cheese filling. I am not sure what spurred my memory, except I just received a Christmas card from my aunt and began to reminisce about summers spent in the land of a thousand lakes and a million mosquitoes. Kolaches are part of those memories. With several recipes off of the web, I will purchase ingredients in the next few days and I may start a new Christmas morning tradition. (Though for the many previous Christmases, I have always made Monkey Bread, so I may have to just add a new tradition, rather than replace an old one.)

It's funny, the comforting value of the food we grew up with. My first husband was a country boy (read: redneck). When we were newly married he asked me to fix soupbeans. My suburban self fixed bean soup. That was when I discovered that they were NOT the same thing. I am a pretty good country cook now, thanks to his mother. I also learned that when cooking for him, we had to have potatoes at every meal! It had to be potatoes, pasta didn't count.

When my father was alive, he always asked me to fix Shepherd's Pie. My oldest son still asks me to fix Cowboy Chow. That was actually a cheap beans and rice dish, that I gave a kid friendly name to so they would eat it. Any time my youngest (the one in culinary school) sees a chicken in the fridge, he asks me if I am going to fix chicken and dumplings. While they were growing up, I got very adept at cheap meals that could stretch the budget. I can still get three meals out of one chicken. Even if the last one is chicken soup (with little chicken and lots of noodles and veggies). I still don't dare offer up a birthday cake with canned icing, only home-made buttercream will do.

As far as Christmas baking...Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Crinkles, Santa's Whiskers, and Candy Cane cookies. Don't let me forget the fudge and the cracker candy (that would be saltines covered with toffee and chocolate - don't judge until you have tasted it!).

Oh, if any of you have a good kolache recipe, you know where to find me!

The saga continues...

Little did I know just how obsessed the dogs are with squirrels, until I spent the day at home with them. This morning two city trucks came by, one for leaf collection and then the street sweeper. Both of them were incredibly loud and slow moving, yet the dogs did not even perk up one ear among them. An hour later, they were all at the window, growling, barking and going crazy. I thought maybe someone was coming to the door. Then I spotted it, one house down and across the street, a squirrel! That was the object of their attention and the source of their agitation. It does make me wonder if the dogs know something about squirrels that I don't. I do wish the squirrels would relocate though.


moar funny pictures

Brrrr...

I live in Ohio. You know what they say...If you don't like the weather, just wait a few hours. In a twenty four hour period, the temperature has dropped from 50 degrees to 19 (feels like 2) degrees. We had a little bit of freezing rain last night, not enough to make a difference, but today the wind is brisk and biting. I'm so glad that I waited until this morning to go out and run errands. It would have been a shame to just hide out in my nice warm house. No fear though, by the end of the week it should be 50 again.

Wintry mix

In these days, as the rest of the country has been slammed and immobilized by mounds of snow and ice, our temperature soared into the fifties. The forecast had predicted a wintry mix, that's forecaster talk for ,"we have no idea, so expect anything." Of course, I had just mopped the floor again, so that clinched it for rain. Mopping my floor is akin to washing your car, it is a simple act that can amass rain clouds quicker than anything.

My house has gone to the dogs again, mud, dirt and dog hair have settled on everything. The furniture cushions are torn and chewed. Dakota's babies lie all over the floor, muddy and eyeless. Tucker has no interest in toys, other than to steal them away and try and rip off their heads, while Dakota stands by in a state of anxiety, afraid to take them back. (No matter that Dakota is 100 pounds and Tucker is 40 pounds, they both know who is boss.) My job as the dog mommy is to mediate the sibling rivalry and to keep Tucker's alpha nature in check, by asserting myself over all of them. Their jobs, as my four legged children, are to be cute and loving and to keep reminding me why I have sacrificed money and cleanliness for living in a kennel. They are much better at their jobs than I am.

Christmas is in less than a week and I am sadly unprepared. I do however, have the next two weeks off, at this point I am hoping to be more productive than lazy. Friday, at work, we had a Christmas party for our group. Though I have tried to keep a professional detachment with our guys, I recognize the fact, that for a couple of them, Christmas is a sad and lonely time. At least two of them will spend Christmas in their group home, with no family interaction and few presents. This is a fact that may prompt a home visit from me, with presents that I really can't afford.

I often wonder if they will win the battle. Their issues and offenses will always follow them. They live with the stigma and the labels that overshadow their talents and intelligence. Even within the professional agency I work for, they are viewed as undeserving, unsalvageable. They know they are pariahs, outcasts. As much as I shouldn't, I take it personally. Their battle has become my battle, their successes are my successes, their failures are mine as well. When they ask me why I am hard on them, why I ride their asses? I tell them it is because I know what they are capable of, I know they can do better. I want to say, "Because I fight for you, I stand up to your team and put myself on the line. I push to get you opportunities, privileges, work, inclusion." I may be their biggest critic, but I am also their biggest fan. Working with them is a lot like being a dog mommy, I manage the pack, I recognize the pecking order and I assert myself as the alpha. The forecast for their lives is a wintry mix. For some of them, the sun will eventually shine, but some of them will never escape the storm.

Christmas eating tips

This is from an e-mail I received. This little gem has been circulating for awhile, I seem to remember it from last year. Good advice in any case, after all, aren't excess and gluttony what the holidays are all about?



Christmas Eating Tips.....

Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano.
As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat, have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have SOME standards.

One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Another Christmas memory

Okay, it seems this daily posting thing is not working for me. It only contributes to frustration and writer's block. For that reason, I will post as much as possible, but, obviously, it won't be everyday.

I was thinking about the holidays of past years and a wonderful memory popped up. It involves my youngest son. First a little background on him. He is now twenty, working full time in a restaurant and going to school for culinary arts. He is seven years younger than his brother, he grew up without his father being around. He is definitely all boy, he has always excelled at sports, he loves the outdoors (hunting, fishing, camping, etc.), he is a very hard worker, he has a lot of empathy and an extremely soft heart, he has always attracted the ladies.

To expound on some of these things, he has had more squad runs and emergency room visits than any mother should have to endure. He has had broken bones, concussions and once was even impaled on a piece of metal (that is its own story - too long for this post). I have had more than one phone call at work, informing me that he was en route to the hospital in an ambulance. He has held different jobs and has worked pretty steadily since he was 15 years old. He loves animals (even more than me) and has brought home more strays than I can count. We have raised baby birds, bunnies, possums and adopted many dogs and cats due to his efforts. He has always befriended and stood up for the underdog, even when he didn't always agree with what they stood for, but he always fought for their rights. He does not pursue the girls or always pay attention to them, but they are always buzzing around him, hoping. Of course, currently, he has a long time girlfriend of about two years, who will probably become my daughter-in-law. He is not a perfect child, far from it. He's had (and overcome) more than his share of problems and I'm proud of him for that and for who he has become. This really isn't a mother's praise post, so I will get on with the memory.

When he was 12, he often brought home treasures that he scavenged out of other people's garbage. One of those things was a large, light-up, plastic Santa. At Christmastime that year, I placed the Santa in the front garden for a decoration. I always did tons of decorating inside for Christmas, but sadly neglected the outside. About a week before Christmas I came home from work, only to have him meet me in the front yard. He was all excited and told me that he had decorated outside for me. I looked around and saw nothing. He told me to look up. There on the roof, duct-taped to the chimney, was the plastic Santa, complete with an orange extension cord trailing down to the outlet. It was one of those moments, as a mother, that I didn't know whether to smile or yell. I had visions of him climbing a ladder, Santa in tow, with no one to make sure he didn't fall. Pushing the lump in my throat back down to my stomach, I hugged him and told him it looked great. Then I told him to never get on a ladder again when I wasn't home.

White Christmas

Okay, I got nuthin'.

Except this...

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I honestly don't remember ever writing to you before, though I am sure I did as a child. Let's face it, I think you owe me. We both know that any Christmas wishes I had as a child were fulfilled by my parents. As an adult (especially in my post-mother years) I have been a pretty good elf to you. The presents that have appeared under my tree, may have bore your name, but it was written in my hand-writing. So, I am not trying to be selfish, but I just want my due. Here is my list...

• I really want to lose about forty pounds, without dieting or exercise of course.
• I know your elves are very busy right now, but so am I, so if a couple of them could make a trip to my house and do a little cleaning and sprucing up that would be great.
• I still have a lot of shopping to complete, but no money. Either a prepaid Visa or a deposit into my account (hey, $500 should do it), pick whichever option is easier for you.
• Another couple of hours tacked onto each day until Christmas would help with my time crunch. I know you can do this, after all, you fly all the way around the world in one night.
• I'm in the Secret Santa gift exchange at work. You know how much I hate that shit, so just deliver three more presents for me, on the appropriate days. $5 limit, $10 for the last one. I trust you to pick out something good.
• A little magic on Wall Street would be great, I have a few more stocks to sell (to pay for my son's school bill) and I'm really tired of losing money. An 800 point recovery for the Dow would give many people a better holiday.

There are more things I could ask for, but I don't want to be greedy here. At least I gave you a list that is much easier to achieve than peace on earth. I know that would be impossible, even for a holiday icon, such as yourself.

Oh, and put a hold on that pony request from 40 years ago. I already have three dogs and I am having trouble feeding and cleaning up after them.

Thanks, Alice

Christmas past

Okay, so much for posting daily, but sometimes life gets in the way. I was going to write about my most vivid Christmas memory, but I couldn't narrow it down, so here are memories of Christmases past.

When I was a little girl, my mother would bake and decorate Christmas cut-out cookies to hang on the tree to supplement the ornaments. I also did this when the boys were young, before I had so many ornaments. The boys always thought it was great fun to be able to eat the ornaments off of the tree!

On Christmas mornings of my youth, my father always took home movies. We were never allowed to begin opening presents, until he had the lights and the camera set up. I remember many Christmas morning, begging him to hurry up. Of course, we had to then open up presents, one at a time, and hold them up for the camera.

When I was newly married (in my first marriage), we lived on the fourth floor of a tenement building (no elevator). We were pretty strapped for money, so my husband told me not to buy a Christmas tree. He told me that we wouldn't even be home for Christmas (we were going to both my parents' house and his mother's). I was appalled to think we wouldn't have a tree. The week before, I walked three blocks to the tree lot, while he was at work (we were sharing a car at the time), bought a small tree, dragged it the three blocks home and up four flights of stairs (considering all, it held up pretty well). My aunt had given me a tree stand and some old ornaments that I used. We argued about it when he got home (one of our first fights, but not the last), since I had defied his wishes. However, we had his daughters on Christmas morning and he thanked me for it then.

The first Christmas in our first house, was actually spent at my mother-in-law's house. Our furnace went out on Christmas Eve and our house was freezing. Due to the holiday, we couldn't get a repairman out until the day after Christmas. (Despite the way it sounds, we really did have some lovely holidays together.)

When the boys were still both at home and I was a single mom, we always went to the candlelight service on Christmas Eve. When we got home, it was usually after midnight and we would open one gift apiece before we went to bed. One year, I bought us all laser tag vests and guns. I made sure that those were the gifts that everyone opened that night. We ended up running around the yard after midnight, in the snow, playing laser tag. I think we finally got to bed about 2:00 am.

I have a lot of European glass ornaments that I have collected over the years. One of them is a pickle. The tradition is that after all the gifts are opened, there is one more surprise gift. Whoever can spot the pickle (hidden somewhere on the tree) first, gets the extra gift. They still expect me to have a "pickle" present.

The demon cat, that we still have now, has a bow fetish. She stalks the presents under the tree, stealing the bows and ripping up the paper. I now wait until Christmas morning to put the gifts out. But, the first year we had her, before I knew, we woke up Christmas morning to find that she had "unwrapped" all of the presents.

So...what is your favorite Christmas memory?

About me

I intended to participate in Holidailies this year, but when I checked the site on December 1st, it still said to check back soon. Apparently, they had things up right after that, scheduled to begin on December 5th, but I didn't see it until December 6th. It is now the 7th and I am going to try and play along with the home version, even though I haven't registered. I will see how it goes. Today, I am using one of their writing prompts, it said to introduce yourself. Since many of you have been reading along, you may already know something about me, but I will try to fill in some of the blanks.

I turned fifty this year, I guess that is middle age (and since I probably won't live to be 100, I suppose I have been there for a while). Yet, I do not feel middle aged, I feel like I am in the beginning stages of so many things. There is still so much I want to do, so many things I have yet to finish (or even begin), so much I am still learning. I hope that I never stop learning and evolving.

I live in Ohio, I have my entire life. I have been married (and divorced) twice, I have two sons (both now grown) that I primarily raised by myself. I now have three grandchildren, ages six, five and (almost) three. I also have three dogs (my surrogate children) and one cat that my oldest son left behind. I am trying to finish my college degree, but am currently on hiatus from school, due to money and transportation. I work in a day program with individuals who have disabilities and/or mental health disorders. I am sure that there are a lot more of the incidentals that I could include here, but my memoirs or biography would take up much more room than a blog post.

I always thought that life would get easier as I got older. I thought that things would slow down and I would have time for all of those someday things. I also thought that I would be much more financially secure. Those things might have happened, but I have made certain decisions in my life that impacted that. Some of those decisions I regret, most of them I don't. I sometimes wonder how I will ever be able to retire and since I don't know, I plan to work forever. I do enjoy working though and just staying home, for whatever reason, just does not work for me. I still am determined to finish my degree, I still hope it will happen in 2009, but even if it takes longer than that, I absolutely will do it (I am very close). I still plan to go for my Masters after that, and maybe another undergrad, since my interests and goals keep expanding. Heck, if I can go to school for a really long time, eventually I will die and stick the government with my unpaid loans.

I love to write and I will continue to do it. I know I could be much better at it and that is my goal. Maybe, with much luck and work and commitment, I may get published someday. I have a couple of short stories that my sister keeps pestering me to submit, but I don't think they are good enough, though I am flattered that she does. At the very least, I want to write something for my children and grandchildren (and whoever comes along after that). Some thoughts, traditions, family history, parts of my life that I don't ever want them to know until after I am dead, that is what I want to leave behind for them. I want to show them who I really was and why, though I might not have those answers yet. Writing is something that I make time for, regardless of how busy I become.

There are so many things that I love to do. I don't know if I would call them hobbies, because there are too many of them and I don't devote enough time to any of them. Some of those things are: quilting, sewing, cooking, gardening, various art projects, volunteering, reading, camping, hiking, travelling, entertaining, there's more, but isn't that enough? When I was younger, I owned and showed horses. I always thought I would, someday, do that again. Now, I don't have any idea where the time, money or energy for that would come from, but then again...

I sort of live my life with a someday attitude. No, I am not putting things off, I am actually very busy. There is just so much I want to do, and rather than tell myself I can't, I tell myself I will do it someday. What I ever get to actually depdends on how long I live. If I rely on family history to predict that, I will make it into my eighties (and be active until the end). My personal history, as a smoker and a cancer survivor, may negatively effect that. But when I am gone, I am gone, until then I am going to keep at it and do as much as I can.

Spiritually, I classify myself as a Christian, but others view me more as a Universalist. Whatever label I wear, I know what I believe, but I am also constantly seeking and open to other theologies. I do have a strong faith and it has seen me through a lot. Though other Christians might think I am a heretic. I do find wisdom and value in all sorts of religions, beliefs and philosophies and I don't have a problem incorporating pieces of it all together. Maybe all of us are wrong, but in the end, I just don't want to have led a hypocritical life.

Politically, I am very liberal, maybe a Socialist, but I am also practical. What that means is that I won't start a revolution, but I didn't say I wouldn't support one. I have a global sense of responsibility, we are citizens of the world. I know there are needs within our own country, but the poverty and injustice outside our borders makes me cry. I think we all have a responsibility to do something about it, and if that means someday (there's that word again) flying halfway around the world, I will. My favorite quote: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. ~ Horace Mann

That's what I really want, for Google to actually have the answers to all the hard questions. Other than that, you have me in a nutshell. Oh, except for the whole kink/sex/submissive part, for that read my other blog. If I've left anything out (and I've left a whole lot out) feel free to ask me about it. I just might tell you, and then again, I might not.

bilingual

My grandchildren are here tonight, their parents are out celebrating their anniversary. The older two are sleeping, they went to bed hours ago. The youngest is still awake, fighting sleep and softly singing to himself. Even though it is very late, I am sure he will be the first one up in the morning.

Earlier this evening, the dogs were whining to go out. After I let them out, I waited by the door, it is in the single digits here and I didn't want them to stay out too long. When I came back to the living room, H, the six year old, asked me a question...

"Grandma, do you speak dog?"

"What?"

"How did you know what they were saying? Do you speak dog?"

"Well...I guess I do."

"Wow, I didn't know you were bilingual."

So there you have it, another one of my amazing talents!

My two sons are extremely different from one another. Growing up they never seemed to get along. They do not fight now, but they are not close. This week they touched my heart. In several small ways, they showed much love and respect for each other. That is the kind of thing that makes a mother smile. It was nothing they said to each other, it was a few acts of kindness that they both did, I guess they are bilingual too. Their communication is rarely verbal.

I'll wrap this up with my all time favorite music video. I have definitely been in an Alanis mood for a while.