All Things Shiny

Sorry, I really couldn't choose just two.

Merry Merry!

Out spending that Christmas money and playing with my new toys! Have a wonderful holiday!

Today's Good Behaviour

Just because it is Christmas does not mean that I am allowed to eat popcorn for breakfast. Even though the butter is nice and melty.

Kids and their toys

Howl vs. La Basket!

The favorite toy at our house is the transport laundry basket. It only comes out when there is laundry to be done and it rarely ends up on the kitchen floor. But when it does chaos ensues! Last night was no exception. I turned around and someone was peaking out at me.

Could that someone be a Howl?



*blink* *blink* "I loooooove my basket!"



"So much I want to eat it! Grrr!"



"A basket is also the perfect place to take a bath."



"Or to get tangled up in."



"Or to take a nap."



There was more chaos later that night when Howl pulled the basket out. He and Sophie continued to fight over who gets to hide in the basket for the next hour. It was a great night.

This is a pint!

I believe everyone should own there own ice cream lo-jack. Now you can thanks to Ben & Jerry!

Tell Harold

Miracle of Miracles! I found it! Nirvana! Heaven! Atlantis! This is it! THE PURPLE STORE!!!

Laugh of the Insane

When things don't go your way, laugh the laugh of the insane.
When you find your own path, laugh the laugh of the insane.
When you spend more time with a kleenex box than your friends, laugh the laugh of the insane.
When something is funny, laugh the laugh of the insane but louder and more crazy-like. That way people will know when you're really happy.

Mutiny on the Mistletoe

My skin is a-leaking! Technically, my eyes. Holiday allergies have run amuck! AMUCK! So lets cheer us up by listing off Col's favorite Christmas movies!

• A Charlie Brown Christmas: a pathetic Christmas tree, a sad song and annoying friends and relatives. What could be better?
• The Grinch: a green guy steals presents from the fairie folk and then ends up slicing everyone turkey.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas: it's Halloween and Christmas mixed into one!
• A Christmas Story: annoying little brother, bullies, bunny suit, dead duck, turkey eating dogs, a dag who could fix everything, a leg lamp-jealous mother. But best of all is that it usually runs 24 hrs on Christmas and you still end up watching it about five times that day 'just because.'
• White Christmas: random songs, patriotic-fatherly love, comraderie, annoying partner who will never let you forget how he saved your life, and a really fast foot tapper.

Expected? Typical? But I think Christmas should always be classic. The only thing missing are pirates.

Living Surrealism

I'm really starting to believe that chat rooms are surrealist plays. Talking to complete strangers (as far as you lead them to believe) and relating on serious issues (serious being a relative term in today's media) to arguing over the most mundane things (like the importance of whether or not Buffy is the greatest show of all time ever and don't you even argue with me). It's one of many things in a very short list of highly entertaining things to do while mind numb. Especially when you combine it with chopping onions in the kitchen so that you are running to and from the computer with every *ping* sound of a message received. And how the British margarine 'Utterly Butterly' relates to all of this, I will never know.

Kind 'n Simple

• Seeing this picture made me giggle.
• Feeling relieved at mailing off last minute gifts and cards.
• Watching both kitties flick their paws while dreaming.
• Glad that there is plenty of tissues.

Thanks Jen!

Da What?

Howl got out again yesterday. But luckily Glenn caught him before he got to for. You really should stay inside the house Howl, you're a lot more safer. Even if it is on a plate.

Wednesday Wellness

• Not quite back to normal, but I'm feeling optimistic.
• I'm DONE!!!
• The thought of a chocolate donut makes me happy.
• Helping a friend make up rules for her new planet is very uplifting.
• Watching Sophie blink when you turn the lights on when she's been napping.

Two Positive Lies Before Christmas

I am not sick. Nor do I think I might lose my voice soon.
Quick! Someone get me my footies, a blankie and some animals now!

Behind Every Door

One of my favorite seasonal treats as a child was an advent calendar. What can I say? I'm a chocolate fiend! Well, I found a much more healthier one online!

In Kind Things

• smell of fishy cat breath when I wake up in the morning
• finding a tube of Carmex
• knowing that I have enough sweatshirts and turtlenecks to keep me warm this week
• an overflowing box of hot chocolate mix
• falling asleep to a really good book
• sudafed
• finding fun feathery things at Hobby Lobby

Now an image from my past.

I Dream of Sophie

Last night I was having a weird dream about a family that left their burning home and went to a house on the seashore. Sadly they ended up being attacked by samuri warriors in a dragon float, but the point is how I woke up. Something was pulling me, like sand sliding under my feet. I could almost feel the prickliness of the seashells. When I came to I discovered that Sophie was laying on my chest, licking the inside of my forearm. I guess I started to drift back to sleep mid-pet when she decided that I *really* needed to wake up and so began to nibble on my arm. Please note that the inside of the forearm is quite sensitive and had it not been for the benadryl that I took earlier to help me sleep, I do believe that I would have yelped.

A Love Story

There has been a tumultuous love story going on around here folks. Between Sophie

And Howl

.

To best explain this rocky love affair, I shall badly quote Shakespeare forthwith.

"Hark! I see a glimpse of the fair maiden!" So sayeth Howl.

"I shall climb the lofty tower and woo yonder fair maiden." And so climbeth Howl.

"Go away! I vant to be alone!" Shrieketh Sophie.

"But I am in love with thee! Here, I shall tenderly kiss your paw!" And Howl then maketh his move.

"Sorry, but you're not my type." And so Sophie departs to her room.

And so Howl watched as his beloved departed.

Distraught, he leaped.

And moaned on the floor, realizing he chose the short cliff.

Sophie at this point peered down from her balcony.

"Alright," she said. "You may sit on the perch beneath mine."

The End.

A Roaring Mouse

Today's Question: How Do You Eat An Elephant?
I was talking with someone today about how to calm down during stressful situations. My answer has always been to organize and get a plan. Big problems are easily solved when they are broken down into smaller problems. Do what needs to be done now, don't worry about the rest. If you know what to do to fix a problem, then why spend time worrying about it? Just plan out when you will do it and do it then. The hardest problem comes when you know what needs to be done but you don't want to. And that has more to do with facing your fears than anything else.
So, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.