I feel like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix

There's a scene in one of the Matrix movies where the Keanu Reeves character  either catches and/or slows down bullets coming at him  at break-neck speed.  I felt like I cheated death, too, today when I got my "no news is good news" report regarding the state of my head. 

Lots of blood product where there used to be brain. 

When I get good news, or no bad news. I always hesitate to get too excited about it.

After all, the law of averages may kick in.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today's my mom's birthday. She has sort of lost interest in celebrating them, but she is special to us, so we have forced the issue.

I cannot say enough great things about my mom. I obviously wouldn't be here without her. She has been a big support to me on my journey with my illness.  She is a woman of tough German stock, who is nurturing at the same time. In  her day, she was a heck of an athlete, could bat a softball out of the park, with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in her mouth.  That's tough.

I did not get the athletic genes.

She is also an artist and carpenter.  One of my favorite Christmas gifts as a little girl was a kitchen hutch, with table and chairs that she made with her own hands! She also drew a frame from a Peanuts cartoon freehand, and turned it into a jigsaw puzzle.

She raised to kids while going to nursing school and then working long hours as an RN.

Finally, she is beautiful, inside and out.

So here's to you, Mom! Happy Birthday!

I'm Pregnant!

Now that I have your attention, I will explain the new baby in question-- is a kitten. Our son has wanted a cat since he visited his aunt and her cats, but we had hamsters and we're unclear as to whether our son is allergic (to cats).

The hamsters have gone to meet their maker, so we decided to explore the notion of adopting a kitten.

Thankfully, we found a place that will let you bring a cat back if things don't work out. But we are sincerely hoping we can keep her.

We will get the kitten Monday.  Her name is Sprite, a gray and white fur ball. When we had cats before, we had to find other homes for them, on account of the fact they were peeing on the carpet and we had a baby ready to crawl.

I would like to say for the record that I was not altogether on board with the adopt a kitty idea. I don't want our son to get attached to a pet we can't keep. I'm hoping for the best--that things will be different -- that we can be better pet owners than we were the first time.

Let it snow 2008

It looks like this will be our first very white Christmas in a long time.  Today we got some pictures our our son playing outside with his friend and her baby sister. As of this writing, we have 12 inches. Here is a slide show I made of 2008 snow.

Merry Christmas!

Sign Up For Total Drama Island!

 One of my son's favorite cartoons is called Total Drama Island.  It's like an animated version of Survivor.

His goal is to make enough money to buy an island and produce his own show there.  He plans to make the money by either playing lottery scratch-its or winning a puzzle called Eternity.

I wish him luck with that.

He's so confident of  his plan reaching fruition, that he's drawn up a contract for potential participants.  It goes something like this:

To get in, you must be 6-12 years old and do the following:

1. Get a parent signature to let you go to an island for 12 weeks;
2. make a video that is five minutes long and show your best skills (Simon, are you reading?);
3. bring NO technology or pets;
4. bring clothes and bedding and finally
5. bring your drama!

If your audition is one of the best 20, you can go! Please give your tape to Austin Jones.

Here are the signature slips:

Dear Parents:

If you sign, your girl or boy will be gone for 12 weeks. For more info  you can call------and get your kids off your hands!  

____________________________

Signature

Also bring clothes and bedding and no tech whatsoever!

Sounds tempting doesn't it parents.

Eden--the plumber and fire-starter

Today's lesson, boys and girls, is on how NOT to treat your in-sink garbage disposal.  I learned this lesson the hard way. I was attempting to put coffee grounds down our disposal, when the sink started filling up with this brown sludge. I did what any intelligent person would do--I kept the water and disposal running.  

Then after about two minutes, I looked down below to find the pipes spewing coffee. I screamed for towels and buckets--and a number for a plumber.

The plumbers, even in the bad weather, came the next day. They installed new pipes and a garbage disposal, but not without giving me a lecture, and a $700 bill.

"Ma'am, I don't want to insult you or anything, but you shouldn't be putting coffee grounds down your disposer.  I mean, you can, but just a little at a time."

Now somebody tells me! My husband tells me the disposer is my Christmas present. That seems fair.

Meanwhile this was not my only kitchen disaster. I was making bacon and eggs for my son and his friend. I microwaved the bacon and put it aside. Then I fired up the pan to make the eggs, and the flame caught the paper towel on which the bacon was. Son and friend freaked, but I found everything I could to smother the fire and finally put it out.

You may think these are accidents, but really I'm just trying to get out of cooking Christmas dinner.

A 12-year-old's perspective of the opposite sex

Call me biased, but I find our nephew Simon quite entertaining.  He's an expert on a number of things--including surviving school dances. 

I was born a dork, and will probably die a dork, so at my first school dance, I wore purple headgear--yes purple--knee-highs and a band-aid on my knee.

SiGuy's first dance went better, but it still made an impact.  Watch as he gives advice.

Simon's other piece of wisdom--no "kissies" until 7th grade.