So much to be thankful for

There just really is no way to express it.

The bird's in the oven.  Li'l sis Katy is chillin', catching up on old Buffy comics.  The boys are in the back playing video games (of course) and Soph and I are watching a little Kung Fu Panda on the telly.

Janz brought along his Viking helmet to wear while devouring the feast.  I guess I'll go ahead and let him wear it, as long as he also puts on a clean shirt.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Because I promised myself I would...

here is today's blog.

Blogging is the closest thing I have to a hobby (sad) so I'm determined to spend some time at it every day.

(Sits and waits for inspiration.)

(Considers feeding Sophie a Kid Cuisine for dinner.)

(Gets up and microwaves least healthy meal known to man for Sophie.)

(Returns)

(Wonders if should admit that daughter is eating dinner in front of the TV.  In her room.  No.  Don't tell them.  The frozen dinner is enough.  Combined with the tv, in the room no less, crosses the line from "keepin' it real" to "admitting defeat.")

(Casts about for something.  Anything.)

(Twilight?  Would they think I am a total middle aged teen romance reading/watching freak?  It wasn't TERRIBLE.  Fine cinema, no; cheezy, yes; vapid, at times; entertaining, well, yeah.  And I did say Cedric Diggory was super hot YEARS ago.  YEARS.  Except for those times when he looks like Pete Doherty.  But they probably wouldn't believe me.)

(Should I mention E's colon issues?  No way.  He'd shit.)

Well, apparently I have nothing to say today.  Here's hoping that tomorrow Sophie says fuck in front of her grandma or something.

Yes she can!

After I told her for the 100th time that no, she does NOT have a boyfriend, and that she and Aiden can be good friends, but not boyfriend/girlfriend, Soph answered,

"Well mom, Barack Obama is president now, so that means we have FREEDOM!"

20 minutes to myself...

and no idea what to do with them, other than waste them.

I think I need a hobby.

Does blogging count as a hobby?

I guess it might if I did it more than once every fiscal quarter.

I'm looking for the passion people, and am not exactly sure where to find it.

In less self absorbed news, (actually, not really) this year I will be cooking my first official Thanksgiving dinner.  My folks will be in Logan, and E's don't have firm plans, plus E has wanted me to cook him a turkey for 12 years now, so I guess this is the year.

I have provided everything but the turkey at many, many Thanksgiving feasts.  I make a mean pumpkin pie (my secret ingredient is real maple syrup) and can do sweet potatoes, cranberries, and whatever else with no problem.  But I've never stuffed and cooked a turkey.  Ever.

I hope I don't fuck it up.

I'll only be feeding 5, myself included, so hopefully, I'll be able to find a fairly small bird.  Li'l sis Katy will be there (thank God, as she is a very good cook and even better company) and because I'll be in my own kitchen/house and not mother or mother-in-law's, this year I can decree, "Let there be cocktails" and there will be.  Sweet.

Riveting, ain't it?

In first grade news, the saying "Easy-peasy-cotton-cheesy" (said when a request has been made that is too easy to even justify.  As in, "Soph, could you please clean up the mess you made with the frosting and peanut butter?"  "Sure Mom!  That's easy-peasy-cotton-cheesy!")has been officially replaced with "Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy,"

That is all.

The Bird

Ahhh…the bird.

Who doesn't love flipping the bird? I do. My students do. My daughter does.

That's right. Sophie Gene loves the bird.

Where she learned the bird, I can only guess, but she explained to me recently that she has become a surreptitious bird flipper.

That is to say, she knows she shouldn't do it, but it's just so fun she can't help it, so she often flips the bird…

• In her pocket.
  
• Inside her desk.
  
• Under the covers.
  
• While in the bath-tub.
  
• In the back seat where I can't see her.
  

She knows it's not NICE to flip the bird, but isn't really sure why, and doesn't seem to care. It's the actual action of poking that little middle finger up that she likes. In addition to the covert bird flipping described above, she often "accidentally" flips the bird when counting, pointing, and otherwise gesturing.

My favorite was when she shot me a kiss (you know…you kiss your pointer finger, and then make a gun and shoot the kiss to whomever) on her middle finger. When I calmly inquired, "What the hell?" she explained, "Mom, that was a love bird!"

Jump Back!

Damn it's been a long time.  Let's pretend it hasn't; shall we?

So.  Halloween.

Like all 6 year olds, Soph had been planning Halloween 08's costume since Halloween 07.  She considered Annie, Pikachu,Tinkerbell,and about a hundred other characters.  Then, as October rolled around, she had narrowed her choices to either, ahem, "Grave Yard Fairy" or "50s Librarian."

I'm pretty sure she saw the grave yard fairy in a costume magazine, but I still was pretty confounded as to how to pull it off.  As for 50s librarian, can I just offer, what the fuck?

Long story short, I came across a 50s soda fountain girl costume, bought it, and told her it would have to do.  Amazingly, she was ok with that.

Behold.
  Of course, she went to 2 parties, plus trick-or-treating, and wore a different costume to each event.   She decided to be a princess for the first one.  I broke down and let her wear a little make-up; I mean, it was Halloween, after all.
Frankly, I don't think I took a picture of the actual trick-or-treating ensemble.  I should have.  She went with "50s princess" for that one, and was wearing a baby blue princess dress up with the pink cat glasses and a pony tale.  I thought of talking her out of it for about 2 seconds, then realized that was absurd.  It's her damn costume--why should I do anything but make sure she's warm and reasonably decent?

I'll close with 5 points of interest regarding me, as, apparently, I am a bit more than "Sophie's mom."

• I'm making Thanksgiving for the first time this year.
• I just bought new walking shoes.
• I love pumpkin pie ice cream
• I just read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
• I think it might be time to look back into the anti-depressant meds.  14 hours of sleep a night might be pushing it just a tad.

Oh.  I'm on Facebook.  Mostly for the Scramble.  Which I'm surprisingly bad at, yet still enjoy playing.   So drop by and challenge me to a game, if you so desire.