HEAVEN IS.....

doing some post christmas shopping, and walking away with an amazing assortment of fun ornaments for next years tree(on sale of course), then coming home to a gourmet cooked breakfast of eggs benedict with prosciutto, perfectly poached eggs, home made hollandaise, mimosas with prosecco. all prepared by the best husband in the world (and the mess cleaned up by him too!)

it was a great christmas, and a better morning after...santa was nice!

cheers everyone!

NON SEQUITURS AND MERRY CHRISTMAKWANZUKKAH

a civilized evening
tonight, bc3 and i got to have a quiet meal by ourselves in our own home. this is how it went down.... we played till 7pm at my sisters apartment. i fed them mac n cheese there... don't feel sorry for them.. it was laced with delicious chunks of prime rib! i got them home, and tucked them into our bed to watch their current favorite movie, annie. while they were chilling, i cooked dinner for bc3 and i. i put them to bed at 8:30, then we had a lovely dinner without screaming, threats of murder and death, food being flung, and bribing with vats of ice cream and fudge sauce.

tomorrow... tomorrow!!!
annie is their current favorite.. we moved past wallace and grommit, we're coming out of babe the pig, and we are smack dab in the middle of I-O-D-E-N-T. we've watched it so many times, i'm sure i can recite it by heart. they beg, "watch annie, watch annie!" it's pretty cute. pearl has actually started to sing along to tomorrow... in the immortal words of burt heally,
"you're never fully dressed without a smile!"

speaking of dressed....
lily has been unbelievably difficult to dress these days. she insists on pink.. while i myself love pink, i do know that is a fashion faux pas to dress in head to toe pink, a lesson which my dear girl of 2 does not know yet. every morning, she screams, "i pick, i pick.. i want pink." she runs up to her wardrobe and picks out two articles of pink clothing.. many days it's two pink shirts. then comes the arguing and explanation that she can not wear 2 shirts and no pants... and when i try to force her into something neutral on the bottom, she will kick and scream and tantrum until i am defeated. i either fish out a pair of pink pants, or run to the (dirty) clean laundry pile to find a pair. last week, i decided to make my life easy. i went to carters and bought 5 (yes 5) pairs of identical hot pink pants...i went for low cost and pink as you can get! folks, you can't get any pinker if were to coat yourself in bottles of pepto bismol. when i used to design children's clothes, i snottily argued with my merchant and refused to design pink pants, thinking what moron would dress their kid in pink pants. we would argue, compromise, and argue again..
guess who's the moron now?

on the subject of staying...
i've blogged nonstop about moving in the past few months. i don't think i've addressed the decision that we're staying put. in the end, i really couldn't see myself without my friends and family, and living in dodgeville wisconsin. for example.. this weeks weather alone calls for heavy snow, and temperatures ranging from -2 degrees to a high of 27! i don't own clothes that would keep me warm enough...i would have certainly gotten frost bite, some part of my foot would have fallen off..yes, maybe just a pinky toe.. but i happen to like that toe.. it was the one that went wee, wee, wee all the way home....it was really a decision that benefits my health, in the end.

the ghost of chistmas' past
for some reason, most christmas days, bc3, the girls and i have nothing to do. the tradition is to spend christmas eve with my immediate family- big dinner, wine, booze, dessert till we can't see or speak coherently anymore, and we're all lying across the floor, moaning and groaning despite our elastic waistband pants.

then comes christmas presents..inevitably we'll be waiting on someone to get out of the can (as a result of the previous feasting) and we scream and yell and rush them out because we are all 7 years old and can't wait the 5 minutes to get to our presents. then the systematic handing out of gifts.. everyone gets theirs in a pile, then we tear them to shreds like the animals we are, all together...total mass chaos of paper, ribbons, pajamas, toys and the 5 pair of panties my mother gives to each of us girls every year(the boys get sweaters.) it's great fun. our past used to involve midnight mass, then opening of presents, but those pesky kids and "their bedtimes" got in the way of that real quick.

another traditional present from my mother includes a box of ferraro rocher chocolates.. we look forward to them every year.. no, they're not godiva, yes, you can buy them at a drugstore.. last year we were all had.. she must have been fooled by the gold foil and look alike boxes, because instead of getting our beloved ferrero rocher's we got "ferrari rocher's." some knock off, wannabe.. they were awful. we never let her live that down.

so back to the nothingness on the 25th. after the christmas eve festivites, my sister goes her own way, to spend the day with my bil's family, and same for my brother. this leaves bc3 and i with nothing really to do... i don't think spending the day staring at my parents is the way to go, either.

we'll skip over xmas 2003.. that is a post i am not prepared to write at this moment.. i might have to have a guest post from bc3 to completely convey the folly of that years christmas.

xmas 2004 was strange(pre lily and pearl). not imagining that supermarkets would be closed on christmas day, we left our meal up to chance, and ended up with nothing to eat. we correctly surmised that the chinese(as a people) never close for any reason(we figured, who feeds the jews on christmas day? the chinese do!!), and we got ourselves to flushing, queens to go to the market there. we feasted on homemade buffalo wings, and kraft mac n cheese. we had decided on a white trash, comfort food menu that year. the "homemade" part made it all gourmet like...

so xmas 2006, when the girls were a mere 2 months old, we packed them up, and dragged them into the city for a late lunch. thinking we were going to find some place fabulous to eat, we ended up in this really strange polish restaurant on 2nd avenue in little poland... one of the only places open on christmas day. it was also colder than we expected so we had to duck into the only duane reade that was open for really cheap stretchy, one size fits all gloves and knit hats. bc3 still wears that hat to this day! it was a christmas miracle...

so that leads us to.....
this year. i'm hosting my families christmas eve feast. so the burden isn't entirely on me, it's sort of pot luck.. my mom bringing the prime rib.. my sister bringing lamb. i'll make all the sides, and bc3 has decided to make a traditional english triffle for dessert. this is something his grandmother used to make and it brings back fond memories for him. so i've decided to let go and let god...i won't interfere, it's all his to make. with that said....

i wish everyone a christmas, chanukah, kwanza, festivus, or voodoo day free of food borne illness!

i wish everyone could be with their families for the holidays. (a tall order these days) and if you've got nowhere to go on christmas eve, and you know where i live, and i know you(and just because you're my friend on facebook, doesn't automatically qualify you.....sorry for all the strict conditions) you are welcome to spend christmas eve with my family!! remember, it's potluck... don't be a scrooge and show up all empty handed!

i wish everyone love, health, happiness and especially peace in the new year!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

AND THAT MAKES ME A COUGAR

i've been thinking alot about my age these days. i still feel like i'm 21, but i know that i am 33!! my 2 kids give me away, the wrinkles starting to show under my eyes,but....my lack of maturity is most concerning! the other night, i spent 1 hour arguing with my bff, sandy, about our "lists." (also my need to use the term bff doesn't help the case.)

so back to "the list." as far as i know, the term was made popular by friends.. when ross makes a list of famous women he would get a free pass with, if he ever were to run into them. the point being that most ordinary people would never, ever get a shot at anyone on their list!

i thought about my list, weighed out the pro's and con's, and discovered that:

1) one person on my list is a fictional character out of a teen novel.... sandy and i argued for a long time on this one.. she was convinced that i liked the star of the movie, but really, no, it's the character from the book. i have the mind of a 13 year old girl. this "(fictional)person" is only 17.. cougar territory.
2) one is under 30... not so bad in the age department, but he's got a girlfriend who i like to describe as "man-ish."
3) one is a recovering addict.. i don't care, i've loved him since...well, way before he went to prison..
4) one is most likely gay....
5) and the last one, i love mostly because of the role he played in a certain jane austen movie...

can you guess my list? who's on your list? (sandy's not allowed to guess!)
i know....i told you! immature. that's me! this is what happens when you're unemployed and have too much time on your hands.

A SADNESS HAS FALLEN OVER THE NEIGHORHOOD

so i have been lamenting all over facebook, publicly outcrying and protesting the move of my next door neighbors to the other side of town. my cries have fallen on deaf ears, as they are now gone. taylor and madison are favorite playmates of lily and pearl. i had dreams of lily, pearl and taylor being bff's, going to grammar school together, and ruling the schoolyard with their good natured rivalry and fun personalities. but that dream is dashed as they will be attending different schools, and they will have to reunite in high school. at best, they will be indifferent acquaintances, their social circles already established from grammar school. they will pass each other in the hall or english class and faintly remember that they played together as toddlers.

i am being quite dramatic, i realize, if only to continue to inflict guilt on lisa and john for leaving us so desolated.

now, new neighbors have moved in next door, the very next day, as if lisa, john, taylor and madison where never there to begin with.

but alas, i'll stop complaining, and be resigned to the fact that i'll have to pack lily and pearl into the minivan and get myself across town, so the girls can have their old friends. (and mommies can have a playdate too!)


a video of the last afternoon of easy, carefree playing...