Saying yes...

Showing Thundra the bird...

Not to detract from Mr. Handsome down below, or ZRM, but I had to share a photo of some cute leetle birdies that were hanging out just outside my living room window.

Grizzled and the lamblets were off for his sister's 12th Night celebration... While it's always a good time, I've created my own 12th Night celebration... staying home with the dahgs and deholidayizing the house. Yeah, I know, I'm sure most of you would rather continue celebrating instead of undecorating a tree/house, but to me, it's a welcome break after a month of yuletide cheer.

It was another sunny, warm, unseasonal day yesterday. Our main Christmas tree is placed right by a bank of windows so tree goodness can be seen both inside and out. While defestooning the tree, my eye caught movement in the bush directly outside. It was full of cute little juncos and sparrows, basking in low-angled afternoon sunlight! I ran for the camera, knowing any shot I took would have the challenge of window glare, but I tried anyhow. There were probably 7 in the bush (not sure of the value of this to one in the hand), with the gentle glow of afternoon sun on their poofy little birdy bodies. I was able to catch 4. They looked very content.

I just took a closer look at the photo, and think I caught 5. There's one that is camouflaged towards the bottom right.

Click to enlarge and find all of the hidden birds! Extra points for anyone who finds the crocodile.

2012: The Year That Does Not Suck

EL just told me that 2012 will officially be the year that does not suck. How she knows this, I'm not sure, but I'm going with it. While I'm fond of odd numbers, and held out much hope for 2011... it was trying on many levels, most of which won't be discussed here. I'm ready for an upswing.

Happy Almost 2012 to everyone! May we all enjoy the year that does not suck!

Onward!

Subliminal Messages

I had Christmas music on while the lamblets were decorating cookies... while playing "ZRM's 2007 Cookie Contest Christmas Mix Bribe CD", I noticed a bizarre cookie on the table. I asked the youngest lamblet what it was... She said it was a zombie! YL did not know the provenance of this latest CD so no suggestions have been made. We can only assume the worst... ZRM embeds sekrit messages in his music...

And speaking of his music, when I finally told the lambets what CD this was, EL said, "It's a heck of a lot better than that holiday crap they've been playing on the radio!"

Oh, she doesn't know from crap!!! She has not yet been introduced to 3B Rahdio!!! HA!

Happy, Merry, Happy whatever it is you do or do not celebrate!! Be nice to those you love. Be even nicer to those you don't.

It lives...

Those of you who were around here back in late '06 might remember this post:

I can't even begin to explain

You know how sometimes you are so deeply involved in your daily existence and are probably not smiling as much as you should or thinking enough about people you adore and then out of nowhere, one of those people, from miles and miles away, does something so silly and so unexpected that you laugh like a hyena and suddenly feel 15 years younger??? That happened to me last night when I went to bed and heard something crinkly underneath my pillow. Yes, Grizzled helped with the plan, but the plan was formulated by someone else I lahve, someone who lives thousands of miles away.

I went to bed with a big honkin' smile on my face, a silly feeling in my heart and a vow to return the favor...

Laugh, did I laugh!

Those of you who were around here back in late '08 might remember I returned the favor:

Some of you may recall a post I did a couple of years ago about being the target of someone's twisted, yet much appreciated, humor. I vowed to get him back as I have done so many times over the past 22 years.

I did. :)

It took 2 years of patience, but the window appeared, the plan fell into place, and with catlike stealth, I lobbed the crinkly package back in his court. He was caught totally off guard and I am now officially back on guard.

It's been three years since I lobbed that crinkly package... I even ran across an old email the other day, the one I sent to his niece, asking if I got the package to her, could she slip it under his parents' tree in Detroit since he'd be going home (he lives in LA). Yes, it had been 3 years, I wondered if maybe it was done.

Last night Grizzled and I went out to dinner with longtime friends... friends we don't get to see enough of these days. It was fun, as it always is. After drinks, and dinner, and another round of drinks, Barb pulled out a wrapped gift. Crap. I had not brought anything, thinking gift-exchanging was not happening... but she assured me it was just something they had happened upon on, perhaps I could open it and we could share it for dessert. She pressed me to open it, which I did.

It was peanut brittle... not exactly what I would have thought of Barb to bring. I glanced across at Barb, who looked like the cat that ate the canary... I scanned my brain for any missed peanut brittle jokes that might have permeated our history, but could not come up with one. I continued to open the package... the factory-sealed package. I popped the plastic shrinkwrap with my fingernail and ripped it off, lifting the lid to see...

THE CRINKLY PACKAGE!!! (It doesn't even matter what the package is anymore... but it's still factory-sealed as well, and thus... crinkly.)

The restaurant was dark. It actually took me a moment to make sure I was seeing what I actually thought I was seeing. I was. I started laughing, veering directly into laugh/crying. Fortunately there was no peeing... Grizzled spied what was in the package and started laughing. Yes, the crinkly package had found its way back to me in the sneakiest of ways... in shrinkwrap no less! That weasel actually had the decoy peanut brittle box shrinkwrapped! I was awestruck, and filled with lahve...

So, it is in my court again... I will wait. I will wait years if need be... until the perfect time and method shows itself... and I'm thinking the peanut brittle box might have to be included... In the meantime, it's going on my shelf, in my office, so I can laugh every time I see it.

holiday notes to self:

A fresh tree is much heavier and unweildy than it will be in 4 weeks when you take it down. You might want to remember that when you get all crazed because the clock is ticking and decide the tree must go up NOW... and go careening through the house with 8ft of springy, sappy goodness. Either that or start working on upper body strength sometime back in September. You're not 27 anymore. You're not even 37 anymore. Oh hell, you're not even 47 anymore. 

Sap is hard to remove. Paint thinner residue is hard to remove. People don't like sap, or paint remover, on the freshly baked/decorated cookies you said you'd make them. Finish time-consuming cookies that others are meant to eat before handling the virile tree.

Take a valium before starting cookies instead of drinking 4 cups of coffee. Shaky hands don't work well on small details. However, pat yourself on the back for no longer taking orders and making hundreds. Your life and sanity have been prolonged.

Yeah, I know, I know... I've posted a photo of these for years now, but I'm always relieved when they're finished... and I'm happy. Who was it who said they didn't like writing, but they liked having written?? That's how I feel about these anymore. I dread doing them, but I'm always happy when I see their finished selves... and they make people happy, even if they don't eat them.

HEY!!! THEY DON'T EAT THEM! So who cares if they have pine sap or paint thinner on them!?!