Because the baby is in the other hand!

1. In the spirit of other posts today - I miss normal blogging too - everyone come back to LJ!! you can facebook *too* you know!

2. God bless the inventor of mylicon.

3. I'm surprisingly not stir-crazy despite leaving the house only three times in the past 13 days. The cold weather helps, if it were warm and balmy i'm sure i'd be out more.'

4. Grand plans for finishing my garb....on hold until i can clean my sewing nook and find a rare time when i;m not holding, nursingm or changing Lilli. or sleeping

5. Shane is replacng our front door today. I'm excited by the prospect of being safer AND draft-free!

Christmas day was lovely and quiet. We had dinner with retiredmaj and family, and it was lovely. Amazingly good plum pudding, as well as much yummy that preceded it.

So now it's St. Stephen's Day. After morning caffeine, we headed to town to pick up main course for tomorrow's guests and catch a film. On our way in we got a call from emt_hawk and the fair svan_1004 . We were able to meet them in New Hartford for a lovely brunch, quite serendipitously. Delightful way to start the day. Did a bit of shopping, then went to see Holmes. Marquee was insane, so we went off to the Uptown. We enjoyed the show (most satisfying Guy Ritchie movie I've seen, though I think Snatch! is a better film). As one friend said, sometimes the FX intruded, sometimes it dragged a bit, but I really liked Law's Watson, and it's becoming a surprising truth that Downey is demonstrating an amazing depth of talent--profound talent.

Then home. Quiet evening watching Shrek the Halls and The Lost Christmas Eve, then the beginning of the end of one of the best Dr. Who runs ever (and as a fan of Baker and Pertwee, that's quite a concession from me).

Tomorrow is cleaning up for guests and cooking. :-)

There is a rightness that on what would have been her 79th birthday I watched a new film of one of my mother's favorite fictional characters.

Just waiting for the kids to wake up.  I can't wait until they see all the presents piled up under the...er..."tree" (6 banana boxes stacked up, covered with a green sheet and hung with Xmas lights because Ben didn't figure out til yesterday that he had thrown away our old fake tree because a connector was "broken" --sigh),  It actually looks OK, but he wouldn't let me put a pineapple on the top for the star! Heehee

Merry Christmas!!

There's something disconcerting about being able to do a huge chunk of the Christmas gift purchases at the grocery store by buying gift cards, even when it is, in fact, what the recipients specifically requested.

Feels a little like cheating, ya know?

So right now I'm at the computer because there is no place for me to sleep.  Both kids had a rough night with stuffy noses, and the end result is Otto and Ben in bed, Carl on the long couch, the cat on the basement couch.  So unless I want to cram myself into a crib, here I am.  I assume I will kick the cat out when I'm done.  So a couple of fun Things That Otto and Carl Said:

( Poop... )

( Horse.... )

( More Poop.... ) ( And Santa Claus! )

• 12:46 For reasons unquantifiable, I felt the need for a McDonald's milkshake at lunch. #
• 12:47 Had to kick it into 4wd in the McD's slushy and ice riddled parking lot. Doesn't seem right. #
• 12:58 Huh. So the NBC Washington article was removed. (That's good!) I'd love to see some message or something (apology?), still. #

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'dicea has a wonderful icon pic of the beautiful Katie looking sternly over her glasses. Imagine that picture to really appreciate this post.

Duchezz and I were talking about the Dec. 24 Mass schedule, which one I would go to, etc. I was kvetching about the tendancy to use the Midnight Mass liturgy for earlier masses (which is just...wrong). Well, our church is having Mass on the 24th at 6:30 (Christmas Vigil). Duchezz thought I would be upset. "No," I said, "there's a Mass for that!"

Beat. Beat. Wicked Duchezz smile. "There's a Mass for that?" she said, using the iPhone ad inflection. "You realize," she said, "you got the inflection exactly right, don't you?"

*head* *desk*

That'll be 10 "Hail Mary"s and an "Act of Contrition."

Doh!

• 14:13 Even though bringing attention to the obnoxious NBC Washington article gives the site more traffic and $; better than being silent. I think? #
• 14:15 RT @kitchengeeking [...] "NBC Washington Mocks WV, Shows Enormous Ignorance" bit.ly/70F5JZ #

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So on Lana's birthday Sean gave me my Christmas present, a new camera. It was very much time, as my old camera had begun failing (corrupted jpgs, arghhh!) or at least its storage media was failing, and it was old enough that I would have had to order the memory stick from Amazon to even find out, and I had been unsure what to do.  Anyway, he got m...

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Read more at Escapism. Please leave any comments there.

I was thinking maybe we could do the Polar Bear Swim at Frostburn as a fundraiser for the Susan Komen foundation. We could get folks to sponsor us either for a flat fee, per minute spent in the water, or so on. Anyone that sponsors me can get the name of a loved one put on a list, and I'll recite the list whilst neck-deep in the creek.

I don't think this violates the Burner principles, as we are not selling goods or services, and are not making any profit.


What do you think?

1) Surprising my *sister* at her bakery in Fort Edward and having a couple of lovely hours with her, her sweetie, his son, and their amused and bemused employee Edward.

2) Exercising some (though not much) self-control as the cider doughnuts were put onto the trays.

3) Surviving Crossgates and finding the prezzie we weren't able to get at a similar establishment in Syracuse on Thursday.

4) Slow-cooker recipe a success (beef, whole berry cranberry sauce, onion). Next time will add a touch of horseradish. Would be especially yummy on Heidlberg Bakery rolls, topped with Momma Stamberg's cranberry relish. Yum.

5) Finishing the novel the wonderful wyz_azz loaned me back in August. In four days. Go me! (We'll just ignore those 4 months it sat waiting for me to get to it, shall we?)

6) Not killing any of the stoopid-hedz.

• 09:28 @kitchengeeking Lana says thanks for the bday wish! #

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First, the good! Kelly (oushi ) had the baby!!! A new baby niece (sort of)! I'm an Auntie (kinda) again!! Kelly is a hella woman for that long labor! Whoooo Doggies! Here's the quote from Facebook from her and Shane:

Lillian Martha Blais was born this morning, 12-17-09, at 11:10am after nearly 33 hours of labor. She weighs 8lbs 2oz. head 36cm, chest 35cm, length 20 inches. Big blue eyes and an apetite like daddy's. Everyone is healthy and safe at home. We have many, many pictures to share, but for now we all need sleep. Thank you... all for your kind and inspiring words! Have a great night.

Next, the bad: Ben's Dad had a minor heart attack today. He's just fine, resting in the hospital and going to go home tomorrow to a giant house full of people. Yeah, that will help. Honestly, why wouldn't they stay home? There will be eight more people than normal, 4 of whom are children. Five, if you count Ben's whiny grown sister. We're going out to visit tomorrow, too, because Ben's mom wants us to, but jeez! I'm worried, too, but I want him to rest and get better, not overwhelm him!

And the ugly: I'm getting a cold.... BOOO! I wanted to hold Baby Lil. New babies smell so good! Oh well, it can wait a week.

Our listing as a theme camp is up of the Frostburn homepage, and the GPS hunt, the snowball siege, and the polar bear swim are up as well. What else shall we host while we're up there?

http://www.frostburnpgh.com/2010camps.html

A hearty shout out to Kelly, Shane and their little Lillian! Mazeltov!

• 15:36 @kitchengeeking Got a recipe for paneer butter masala from an Indian GA who works with me (she just graduated). She made it for us, was yum. #

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I'm making progress in my triathlon training. It's slow and it's little, but it's mine. For me, it's another message from the powers that be ....

Today from the Daily Om:

Competing with Yourself
Winning Isn't Everything

The urges that drive us to compete with others tend to be straightforward. Years of both evolution and societal influences have shaped us to pit ourselves against our peers. The needs and desires that inspire us to compete with ourselves, however, are entirely personal and thus far more complex. A need to outdo our earlier efforts—to confirm that we have grown as individuals—can motivate us to reach new heights of accomplishment. We are capable of using our past achievements as a foundation from which we venture confidently into the unknown. Yet if this drive to compete with our former selves is the result of low self-worth or a need to prove ourselves to others, even glowing successes can feel disheartening. Examining why we compete with ourselves enables us to positively identify those contests that will enrich our existence.

There are many reasons we strive to outdo ourselves. When we are ambitious in our quest for growth, we are driven to set and meet our own expectations. We do not look to external experiences of winning and losing to define our sense of self-worth. Rather, we are our own judges and coaches, monitoring our progress and gauging how successful we have become. Though we seek the thrill of accomplishment tirelessly, we do so out of a legitimate need to improve the world or to pave the way for those who will follow in our footsteps. Be careful, though, that your competitiveness is not the result of an unconscious need to show others that you are capable of meeting and then exceeding their standards.

Consider, too, that successful efforts that would be deemed more than good enough when evaluated from an external perspective may not satisfy our inner judge, who can drive us ruthlessly. In order to attain balance, we have to learn the art of patience even as we strive to achieve our highest vision of who we are. When we feel drained, tense, or unhappy as we pursue our goals, it may be that we are pushing ourselves for the wrong reasons. Our enthusiasm for our endeavors will return as soon as we recall that authentic evolution is a matter not of winning but of taking pride in our progress at any pace.

Went into labor this morning!! I'll post photos in the next couple of days!

Kel