Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thoughts

Okay . . . so I'm knitting like some sort of deranged elf slave . . . and I just obsessively drove to three different places to look for new lights for my tree . . . and two places for a Mr. Crabbypants gift . . . and I needed to go to the other "side" of the mall but just couldn't bring myself to do that . . . I have all weekend, right? . . . except for all the time that I have other stuff to do this weekend . . . like kidnapping my mother's embroidery machine . . . and I bought the Christmas CD sung by Kristen Chenoweth . . . thus being more like my father than I'd like to admit . . . and quite frankly . . .

if you won't tell anybody . . .

I would really, really like a snow day tomorrow . . .

Saturday, December 13, 2008

List

My sister complained on Facebook that her siblings had not given a clue about their wish lists. I will point out that I have an Amazon wishlist, but I don't really keep it all that updated. And it's mostly for when I have disposable income and have to remember "oh yeah, I really wanted _______."

So for my sister:

a red cashmere sweater

home depot gift certificate

new duvet cover

that scent sampler from Sephora . . . has ten different perfumes and a gift certificate for a big one once you decide . . . really I just think it's cool

perfume from that place in Paris . . . they have a website

a good referral for someone to refinish my floors

something pursey . . . you know how I like handbags

a trendy cookbook . . . something like "Baked"

pajamas

a gift certificate for a massage

wine glasses

booze . . . you could get me booze

Cold War Kids . . . it's a band, Dad . . . not really kids

Truthfully, it's hard because I don't NEED anything. And I feel really ungrateful for making a list. And publishing it. If I were a better person, I would say make a donation to . . . well, someplace nice . . . the Michigan Humane Society.

Or snowboard lessons. No. Think of the kitties . . . the cute cute kitties.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

There was Something Mentioned about a Colon

So I managed to do everything I wanted to do yesterday . . . hairs are a different color, cat was fed, Noel Night was attended, dinner was eaten, and shadow art fair was attended. Spider Monkey was called into work today, so I am grappling with a large block of unplanned time.

Should I go Christmas shopping? Take down the ceiling fan? Move a bunch of stuff (old Fisher Price toys . . . no, my mother lovingly saved them . . . I can't give them away) up to the attic storage space that I found one night while looking for vermin? (Who knew that my humidifier makes scritching noises if you set it on high?) Wash some walls? Go to IKEA to get some window treatments? Have a cocktail? Do some laundry? Go to Nepal? The possibilities are endless.

Right now, in my very warm Mom-ish looking sweater, I have to go fill up my tires. I hate paying for air. Or more correctly, I hate paying for someone to compress air so I can put it in my tires. For 50 cents, a little man should come out and fill my tires for me. And then I think I will go to Coney Island and then . . . ooooooh, Trader Joes. Haven't been there in months.

Yay! Sunday.

Friday, December 05, 2008

F-Book

I was an early adopter . . . I just didn't do anything with it.

But now, the Spider Monkey is addicted to Facebook. "Hmmm" I said. "I think I have a Facebook account." And now I am guilty of causing others to use their Facebook accounts. Other people who also had lives before I made them friends and wrote on their "walls". I'm so ashamed.

And I have to log in and check it everyday. And there is this feed of what everyone said . . . to anyone and everyone else. Like peeping into other computers, but it's okay because everyone is your friend, right? Maddening. And yet, so irresistible.

So I'm on Facebook. My picture isn't. My friends are very screened. And now I need to clean something . . . because the voyeurism is making me feel all dirty.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

I will not tie you to the chair

"So we can just get up and LEAVE?"

I have all new students and I now have to do the "class expectations" speech all over again.

"Yes, you are all young adults. I will mark you absent, of course. But I certainly won't stand in your way, should you decide to leave."

He had never considered this option before. Just getting up and walking out. And now that I had listed the consequence, which seemed minor, well . . . ah, the joy of working with adolescents.

So my voice is tired. I'm exhausted from trying to entertain these rascals and it turns out the most interesting part to them is that they can exercise a tiny bit of free will. Now, mind you, if the office catches them skipping, there are consequences other than being marked absent. And there are cameras all over the building. But the thought was very exciting.

Heck, some days I daydream about walking out myself.

Monday, December 01, 2008

De-Clutter

"And . . . why do you need three coffee makers?"

I attempted to explain that they were all for a different purpose. One was for large pots of coffee, one was for espresso and one was for just one cup of coffee. And I hadn't paid a dime for any of them.

"And how often do you make coffee for large groups of people?" Well, there was that one time . . . in the five years that I have lived here.

"And how often do you make espresso?" I'd like to think all the time, thus not throwing my money at Starbucks. Or maybe just some of the time. But really, I like someone to hand me the latte. I don't want to make the latte. I certainly don't want to clean up the latte mess. So I use it next to never . . . but I could start using it. Really. I could. Anytime now.

We comprimised. I took the large coffee pot to school. And a flat surface was cleared, if only in a minor way.

My mother has no idea how much she should love the spider monkey. Except that he has eyes on my yarn piles.