The Burrow

It's sunny and warm and I'm in shorts and Chanukah begins next week. I have had ample time to prepare.  I just haven't used it wisely, it seems.  Little Cuter's bedroom is awash in unwrapped, mostly un-sorted, presents. I have pretty paper for all relevant holidays, I have gift tags and scotch tape and bows that won't get crushed in the shipping.  What I don't have is the desire to do anything with or about or for them. It just seems too early to start. ***** I found a wonderful read aloud book for boys and girls of all ages. Jean Jennings  sent me the link, and I was happy to participate in the process.  Dwight Knowlton used Kickstarter to raise funds for the project, and the goodies I received for my contribution are awesome. I've got stickers, I've got a personalized dedication (recognizing my status as "Official Side Seat Driver"), I've got a thank you note, and I've got the book.  I read it aloud to TBG, who got a kick ou...

I kept summer alive until September 23rd this year; I wore bedazzled pink Converse to Little Cuter and SIR's wedding, and pink is definitely a summer color. True, their wedding day was the first day of Fall; we simply elected to honor the solstice on the morrow. The flowers were yellow and blue, the temperatures were in the 90's, there was no dissonance at all. I kept anything remotely seasonal locked away; the decor was wedding-centric and time had nothing to do with it. Then it was October and we made the scarecrow and GRIN went to Prince for Trunk or Treat and now it's time to take down the goblins and the black cats and the jack-o'lanterns.  The pumpkins can stay; they are seasonal items and can be stored in either the Halloween or Thanksgiving box with impunity.  I like to mix up the decor.  Now that I've streamlined it down to the essentials, switching the combinations and the candles keeps it fresh and new for me.  No one else notices, I'm s...

Amster let me use her house and her guest list.  All I had to bring were the supplies.  It's a shame that Little Cuter and Elizibeth aren't in town, but we somehow managed to soldier on without them.  It's Hanukkah in the Old Pueblo, and I am the mistress of ceremonies. It started innocently enough, with Amster asking if I was making latkes this year.  Like most of my projects since January 8th, this party grew from family only to half the western hemisphere.  I'm not complaining.  I'm just sayin'.... as Big Cuter has opined from time to time this week. Costco made dinner and provided the potatoes and the vegetable oil and I brought the cuisinart and the plastic bowl and every Hanukah decoration in my possession. It filled the back of the Schnozz. Chanukah-themed Go-Fish, thanks to a timely gift from FAMBB, was a big hit. G'ma and the Littlest Little One kept one another amused while I peeled and sliced and shredded and Amster pret...

We were happy to share Little Cuter and SIR with his family, though we missed her reading The Night Before Christmas last night. Using pre-printed holiday boxes leaves a much neater living room on Christmas morning, although they present fewer opportunities for ridiculous wrapping by the boys of the family and thus fewer opportunities for giggles by the girl(s). Holiday breakfasts of multi-grain french toast and crispy bacon are things of the past.  My guys heated up a frozen pizza and were quite pleased with themselves.  G'ma enjoys gifting more than anyone I have ever known.  The 25 decorated candy canes for the caregivers at the pod castle were dispensed with such glee, such joy, such love and connection that I had a hard time not tearing up. Asking for something you'd like to see me wear results in a full day of "Doesn't she look great?!"   This is a prompt I will remember for next year and anon. Hoarding empty boxes for the might-someday-be-purchas...

My favorite parts of the holidays hearken back to the past.  Sometimes I reach to my childhood and sometimes I go back to last year.  This is the post I wrote in 2009 as I was waiting for the kids to arrive.  Life was simple and my worries revolved around keeping G'ma safe and secure as she recovered from bi-lateral broken ankles.  This year is a bit more complex, with emotional issues taking center stage at a once-again-family-only Thanksgiving dinner.  I'll be busy prepping and shopping and wedding planning.... I'm going to be recycling posts and hugging my children. Here's how I felt back then: I've been thinking about family and friends, as The Cuters make their way to the desert southwest for a family-only Thanksgiving. They're at their respective airports hours early, as befits a TBG-spawned human, and if the weather holds out they'll arrive in Tucson within an hour of each other. The Little Cuter will be arriving first and promises to be hungry; I...

How dressed up are you getting for the reunion itself? I bet you went to a lot of other places in your mind before you got to clothes for the party , didn't you? Well, I didn't. In fact, I'm just back from checking to see whether my Yearbook will fit into the purse I've tentatively decided upon. It does. What with President Obama being awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace when Arizona State University didn't think he deserved an honorary degree last spring, I wonder that anything could surprise you. So I hope that you won't think me trivial when I say that this is, in fact, an important question. It is also a question that everyone is reluctant to ask. I, however, have no boundaries between my brain and my mouth, so I've been asking everyone. " How dressed up are you getting?" is how I phrase it, and the responses have been uniform - everyone laughs. Giggles on the phone and LOL on Facebook messages and behind every smile I am also detecting (project...