Holiday Stripdown

You know what really makes Thanksgiving special? Family, thankfulness, good food and, of course, gettin' jiggy with your friendly neighborhood TSA agent. Nothing can make you feel that holiday glow like going through the naked-maker before you get on a plane...except maybe refusing to go through it and having to getting really, really personal with Shanaynay in Airport Security. Nothing says "Happy Thanksgiving" like getting grabbed in the naughty bits, in public, by a complete stranger.

Just like the Pilgrims.

But let's say that you're just not feeling up to public molestation this holiday season (and who could blame you? Especially on the return trip when you can barely button your pants)-you could always opt out. Ride a train, take a bus, drive your car...teleport! Separating, evaporating, and then reconstructing all of your molecules thousands of miles away would be less invasive after all. Plus if you decide to opt out of air-grab-ass on the 24th you could actually make an important social statement about your Constitutional rights at the same time.

If you had no plans to fly anywhere (due to an unnatural fear of flying like I have or if you were already protesting) you can always call or write your Representative and/or your Senator
and invite them to enjoy a free plane ride/public groping...on you.

Welcome to 2010!

May the new year bring

The warmth of home and hearth to you.
The cheer and goodwill of friends to you,
The hope of a childlike heart to you.
The joy of a thousand angels to you,
The love of the Son and God's peace to you.

-An Irish Blessing

Happy New year everyone! Here's to a new year and a new decade filled with peace, hope, and new possibilities for us all.
With love,
MrsM

Top Tens

Tomorrow we start a new year and a new decade-I can't believe it's been another ten years already. This will be the fourth decade I've been a part of (though let's be honest-I don't remember much of the 80s). In this decade I will turn 30, Hubby and I will celebrate 15 years together, our oldest will turn 16 and (gulp!) be mobile, and the girls will go all pre-teen on us. It's going to be a big decade-but before we go forward I want to take a look back at the last eventful decade and give it a good send off. So, without further ado, my ten top lists for the last ten years.............

Top Ten Movies
Love 'em or hate 'em these are the movies that I've watched a million times a piece in the last ten years.

10. Wall-E
What is better than adorable robots in love? This movie is cuter than a puppy snuggling a kitten in a baby buggy.

9. The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
I love the idea behind this movie. It speaks to something I truly believe in-it's the good and the bad times that show us who we are, and we must have both to have truly full lives.

8. The Lady In The Water
Something about this dark fairy-tale-for-grown-ups is compelling to me. I could watch this movie every day.

7. Serendipity
Speaking based on purely anecdotal evidence from my own life, I believe that we all have one true love written in our destiny-and this movie is perfect for anyone who believes the same.

6. A Knight's Tale
I really liked Heath Ledger, I like historical pieces, and I like things with a lot of quirk-this squirrely romantic comedy mixed with arena rock is one of a kind awesome.

5. Run Fat Boy Run
I loved Shaun of the Dead (if this were a top 11 list it would have made it) but I think Run Fat Boy Run was the perfect mix of British Humor and sweet sentiment. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie.

4. Pride and Prejudice (2005)
This is the version with Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFadyen. I have loved Jane Austen novels all my life and this incarnation of my favorite Austen novel is almost exactly the way I've pictured it in my head since I was a little girl. I have actually sat down and watched this 2+ hour movie back to back. Oh, Mr. Darcy how I love you...

3. House of Flying Daggers
Love, honor, and martial arts. This movie is as brilliant as it is beautiful and as stunning as it is tragic. I bawl like a baby every time, but I watch it again and again.

2. Serenity
Confession: I am a sci-fi nerd. I am also a Joss Whedon nerd. Okay, so I'm a nerd all around-but I don't think you have to be a nerd to appreciate the quick humor and great story behind this futuristic western (go with it) masterpiece based on one of my favorite short lived shows (Firefly).

1. The Notebook
With everything you know about me, is this really shocking anyone? The ultimate story of young, true love-it reminds me of Hubby and I and I just eat it up every time.

Song List of the Decade
Are these the undisputed best songs of the decade? No-I won't even claim that...but these have kept me rockin' for the last ten years.

10. Franz Ferdinand-Take Me Out
Who can resist the guitar on this song? I defy you not to tap your foot.

9. Alice Deejay-Better Off Alone
Easily one of the best techno songs of the last decade it's great on it's own or in a mix.

8. Plain White Ts-Hey There Delilah
Yes, I like this syrupy preteen girl crap. SUE ME.

7. Josh Turner-Would You Go With Me
The only man on the planet with a voice lower than Hubby's...YUM.

6. Groillaz-Clint Eastwood
It's just so silly and fun-and an animated band...genius.

5. KT Tunstall-Black Horse In A Cherry Tree
Sure it's overplayed, and you'd have to have some kind of PhD to decipher it's actual meaning, but I just love her voice.

4. Alicia Keys-If I Ain't Got You
Soulful and beautiful-this song always makes me feel swoony.

3. Audioslave-Like a Stone
I'll admit, this is kind of a hold over. I LOVE Soundgarden, but they're from the 90s. Lucky for me, Chris Cornell made Audioslave and carried his voice into a new decade.

2. Lady Antebellum-I Run To You
I love the harmonies for this song. It's just so pure and honest, both musically and in the message. I can't get enough of this son.

1. Death Cab For Cutie-I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Hands down my favorite song in the last 10 years. Everything about it is just lovely-I'm pretty much speechless.


Fads of the Decade
It's in for a minute and then out before you know it, but we'll always remember the ones we bought into.

10. Crocs
The makers of these plastic shoes convinced literally millions of people to adorn them with bedazzle jewels and still take them seriously. Evil marketing geniuses I tell you.

9. Metrosexuality
Dudes got as high maintenance as chicks this past decade-I'm just glad I found Hubby before he got all gussied up.

8. "That's Hot" (as made famous by Paris Hilton)
Oh come on-you've said this at least once, even if you were joking.

7. High School Musical
I have managed not to watch a single one of these, but even I have to admit that Zac Efron is a cutie...does that make me a cougar? LoL.

6. Dance Dance Revolution
Viva la Revolution!

5. Flash Mobs
Ironic? Maybe. Funny? Sometimes. I personally like the musical ones.

4. Low Rise Jeans
This decade introduced the world to both "butt cleavage" and "muffin tops"...yeah thanxforthat.

3. Speaking of Pants...Skinny Jeans
On guys too. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeew. I don't care if your 25lbs, skinny jeans are NOT flattering.

2. Ring Tones
I don't have a cell phone, but thanks to super loud ring tones I can still jam out in the grocery line to another person's favorite song.

1. American Idol
I don't watch it, but even I benefit from it in the form of their more talented alumni (Carrie Underwood springs to mind).


The Biggest News of the Decade
Here are the news snippets I think that I will be telling the kidlets about someday. I'll leave my own editorializing out of it =)

10. The beginning of the new millennium!
9. Mapping the human genome
8. 9/11
7. Hurricane Katrina
6. The wars
5. The rise of China
4. Death of Pope John Paul II
3. The hanging chads
2. America's first black president
1. The New Depression


The Top Ten in Tech & Media
OOOOOOOOOH SHINY!

10. MySpace
The first installment of social networking it hit it's boom, and is just now losing people to it's hip kid brother....

9. Facebook
Now that it's open to the general population, it's exploded into an ever growing social phenomenon.

8. Netbooks
Need a smaller, cheaper laptop? Well now there is one! It's easy on the go and super neato for around $200-300.

7. Twitter
Even I'm new to this one, but hey if I want to know what somebody ate for lunch it's just a click away!

6. GPS devices
Never get lost again! (Plus husbands can ask for directions in secret.)

5. iPod
World before iPod? No. Way.

4. YouTube
Can your cat play the piano? Does your baby have a funny laugh? Would you like to tell off a celebrity in front of a zillion people? YouTube it!

3. Digital Cameras
Being able to look at pictures a minute after you take them is SO PERFECT. I don't think I'll ever use a film camera again.

2. DVR
HOW DID I EVER LIVE WITHOUT YOU DVR?!

1. Wikipedia
The only thing that I use more than my DVR is Wikipedia. It is the Source of All Internet Knowledge and I heart it so.


The Best TV in the Last Ten Years
It's kept me glued to the boob tube for 10 years so it must be good...
10. The Gilmore Girls
You know you loved it-even Hubby did!

9. Scrubs
It's like ER with an awesome sense of humor.

8. Firefly
I mentioned it before but seriously-you must watch it. Then you too can feel sad and ripped off about it's early cancellation.

7. Mythbusters
I TOLD you I was a geek.

6. The Big Bang Theory
Further confirming my geekness but hey-non geeks like it too!

5. Psych
This show makes me pee my pants a little.

4. House
Who DOESN'T like House? Except every other character on the show, of course.

3. Bones
Yep, I think it's better than House.

2. The Daily Show
I have been watching this show since the first day Jon Stewart sat in the big chair, and I'll watch it 'til it goes off the air. HILARIOUS.

1. How I Met Your Mother
This is my list, and this is my favorite show-so there you have it. I know it's not as popular as some others, but I couldn't go a whole week without being told to suit up.




Ten Highlights of My Last Ten Years
The ten biggest things to happen to me this last decade (unlike the other lists though, these are in no particular order)....

I turned 16, I started living on my own, I met Hubby, we had Monkey, we got married, we had Baby Bug, we had The Bean, I started working for myself, and I started this blog!


It's been such a great 10 years overall-I can't wait to get going on the next one! Happy New Year everyone!

My Reason for the Season

For me there is only one best Christmas present...

"For unto us a child is born...and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."-Isaiah 9:6

No matter what you believe or celebrate, I hope that you all have had a blessed season with your loved ones!

A Pinko Christmas

First Christmas, despite involving my in laws, went pretty well. There was only one little glitch; turns out I'm a communist. Here I was thinking that I'm libertarian, but luckily I have my mother in law to inform me that I am in fact a giant pinko commie.

Do you want to know why? I'm a communist because I make my kids share their toys. Oh, she's not kidding. The fact that I require my children to take turns and share toys undermines the foundation of the American political system and liberty all across the globe. After all, making children share toys is the last step before government controlled job placements.

Call Beijing so that I can learn the super secret communist handshake.

Funnily enough though, she's not the only person to recently equate me with the sickle and the sythe. I made the mistake of talking about living wage with my hard-core Republican sister, so I guess it was inevitable. My argument was that the market value of a full time job should be a living wage-that people should require living wages from companies before agreeing to full time work. Living wage, not minimum wage. Living wage is what it would take-based on minimal housing, food, utility, and transportation costs-to live in a certain area. We're not talking about what it takes for families to buy Christmas presents, or go on vacations, we're talking about a roof over their head, food in their bellies, electricity, and getting back and forth to work to pay for these things. Minimum wage in my state is $7.95, but the average family in my state has three people in it and living wage for families of three in my area is $23.23 per hour. I'll tell you right now, we're a family of five and we make a whole lot less than that.

My sister decided that if someone who worked full time at McDonalds made a living wage that it would only be the result of communism since "their job isn't worth that". According to my sister, if you want to be able to earn a living wage then you should have to go to college and get a professional career (you know, like she did). Forget that college is not always an option, if you want to feed your family-according to my sister-that's what you should have to do. All I know is, communist or not (though I suspect not), if a person dedicates themselves to working full time for a company they should also be able to set up an agreement with their employer to be paid decently for their services. A living wage should be the market value of a full time job.

Of course I realize in this economy people don't have much to bargain with-a job is a job no matter how little it pays and it's better than nothing. However, since people don't feel secure enough to ask for living wages, I see it as my responsibility as a consumer to make the lives of people who work low paying jobs easier any way I can. We live just under the poverty level for our family size, but I still round up when I put gas in my car and give the change to the attendant. When I go to the store I don't ask the clerks to stop what they're doing and walk me down the isles to find things. By doing whatever I can do to make their jobs easier, I feel like I am acknowledging that they don't get paid enough for the services they provide...and if I'm easier on them maybe their boss will be too.

I have my personal opinions about how to get our country going in the right direction, but I'll keep them (mostly) to myself. I just want to recognize that there are so many hard working people who can't afford to feed their families. So, so many people laid off and literally losing the roof over their family's head. So many little ones asking just for socks and new jackets for Christmas. The U6 unemployment rate (including people that were laid off and have since given up looking, and people who were looking for full time but took a part time instead and still can't afford their bills) is 17.5% by the Labor Bureau statistics which, if you calculate unemployment the same way they did 80 years ago, is about a 23% unemployment rate (compared to the 25% unemployment rate during the Great Depression). It really is hard times everywhere.

So, as a libertarian-apparently-turned-communist, I say go easy on the person bagging up your Christmas presents--they probably can't afford to buy presents for their own families. Share what you can, give what you can, and above all be thankful for whatever you do have no matter how small.

I hope you all are having a blessed holiday season.

Merry Christmas (The First)

First, can I say how good it feels to be blogging? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah.....It has been INSANE here lately. Hubby got a second job, I'm working, and we've been doing holidays non stop for the last month. With three kids five and under all of this has been no small feat-but more about that later.

I'm too excited to post about chaos-today is Christmas the First! Like most married people, we celebrate Christmas several times-once with my family, once with Hubby's family, and once with just us and the kids. Every year we have Christmas the First, Christmas the Second (Christmas Strikes Again), and Christmas the Third (The Return of Christmas). We always celebrate Christmas day at home with just us and the kids, but the order of the Christmases changes and we just decided last week that this year's Christmas the First is going to be at our house, with my in laws.

OH JOY.

You know what? I choose to be happy about it. Monkey is excited to see Grandma and Grandpa and the girls (my sisters in law, ages 7 and 8) and open presents-and I'm excited because he's excited. So bring on the sniping, bitter comments from my husband's mother and the cold shoulder from my husband's step dad. I welcome their girls' spoiled rotten attitudes and penchant for destruction. I'm going to load up the Christmas play list and blast it and enjoy my kids' enjoying the holiday. Plus, before I know it we'll be spending Christmas Eve (this year's Christmas the Second) at my parent's house and then waking up the next morning and enjoying my favorite Christmas of all-the one we get to spend alone with our little family!

I hope everyone is having a great season so far (a special "shout" to my Jewish friends who just wrapped up Hanukkah!). It's felt so good to blog again, even for just a minute-I think I'll be back tomorrow!

~ Until then~

Oh Christmas Tree

It's finished. FINALLY. The beauteous Christmas tree with all of the handmade decorations. It looks lovely-and it should! It was certainly enough work. I don't want anyone who sees these trees to think for one second that I have some serene, perfect children or a whole bunch of time on my hands. There was no hot cocoa or Christmas carols being sung by dutifully obedient children. Quite the contrary.

While we were making decorations, Monkey had to be put into time out not once, not twice, but three times for fit throwing. When he wasn't in time out he was whining because there was glitter on his hands/in his hair/all over his clothes and he was afraid it would get in his eyes. Baby Bug roamed the floor-too small to help with decorations-waiting until my attention was momentarily diverted so that she could run to the tree and try to rip it down before the ornaments even touched it. The Bean has been sick all day, poor thing, and Daddy was alternating between doing the laundry and attending to the baby.

The house was total anarchy for about three hours but our tree is finished, it is lovely, and (most importantly) we did it together. Here are the pictures!

Traditions Old and New

Since my last post I have gotten several comments and emails asking about our orange cinnamon roll tradition. Like a lot of traditions it started when I was a kid...

When I was little to say that my family didn't have a lot of money would be an understatement. Neither of my divorced parents had any money at all-there was more than one year that our family was the recipient of church Christmas donation boxes, or sponsored by kind hearted secret santas leaving Christmas money in our mailbox, on our doorstep, or underneath our windshield wipers. I can think of at least one Christmas with only hand made (free) presents, and with gift 'spending limits' of five dollars for each person.

I learned from a very early age that Christmas is in your heart, not under the tree (if there was one). I never had a pleasant Christmas with my mother, but once I went to live with my dad he did everything he could to make my Christmas mornings special-and the best, most special part of it all was the music and the food. No matter what was or wasn't under the tree, every Christmas morning we listened to Nat King Cole while we opened presents and had orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast afterward. I remember my dad in his pajamas drinking his coffee and singing along with Nat, and everyone vying for the orange roll with the most icing. It may not sound like much, but for me it wouldn't be Christmas without those jazzy carols and Pillsbury rolls. We still listen to Nat on Christmas Eve when we open presents at my dad's house, and now every Christmas morning our kids wake up to those same carols and the smell of sweetened orange.

It's my very favorite old tradition-and I really like traditions. That's why this year we've decided to make a new tradition with the kidlets. We've been searching for the right new tradition since Monkey was born and I really think we've found it. We've decided we're going to do our Christmas tree Victorian style.

In the Victorian era, Christmas trees were decorated with many home made ornaments and garlands, and families spent time together creating the trinkets together. I think this sounds like such a lovely tradition, and such a great way to spend time together. While I don't plan on making all of our ornaments "authentic" Victorian ornaments-though I think we will be making the cornucopias-I do plan on preserving the idea of making homemade ornaments. This year in addition to the cornucopias we plan to make glitter/jeweled pine cones, a popcorn and cranberry garland, walnut ornaments with our pictures on them, and (maybe) our own Christmas balls. We will of course cheat and use clear lights instead of candles because, you know, that's a fire hazard and stuff and we'll probably buy a Christmas star because Hubby loves them, but either way I know we will end up with a very special, unique Christmas tree and some great memories with the kidlets...I can't wait!

Ho Ho No-Christmas Without Santa

I love the Christmas season-I love the spirit of peace and giving, I love the lights, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas carols, and of course above all I love Jesus who, according to my beliefs, is the Ultimate Gift that I commemorate this holiday. Still-no matter how and why I love Christmas, believe it or not, here in the House of M we do Christmas sans-Santa style. Monkey recognizes Santa, and knows about him, but as far as he is concerned Santa is like Kai-Lan....cool, and fun, but pretend. For obvious reasons our decision is not very popular amongst our friends and family, but what may be less obvious are the reasons that we have decided to forgo the jolly fat man.

I should say first that we don't have anything personal against Mr. Claus-we think the qualities that Santa stands for are very admirable, and we don't "do" the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy or any other imaginary house guests either. It should also be said that we don't have any problem with other people inviting the Claus into their Christmas celebrations-regardless of a person's beliefs he can fit in nicely into any home and create great holiday traditions. We personally just don't feel that Santa works for us.

One reason we don't do Santa is because we feel that he takes attention away from the focus that our family chooses to have during this season. For us, the holiday season is primarily about spiritual gifts, and about our faith, and while Santa is very nice we don't feel that he has a place next to Jesus.

We also feel that it is too easy for little kids to make a connection between Santa and Jesus-after all they are both supposed to be kind, both are supposed to be omnipresent and omnipotent, and both are invisible to kids but supposed to live in your heart...which is all fine and good until the inevitable moment when a kid is told or figures out that there is no Santa. What does this mean for their faith in God, which is based on so many similar ideas as a belief in Santa?

While we would prefer to avoid a major crisis of faith while our kids are too small to really think everything through, we don't ultimately have a problem with our kids questioning their faith when the time comes and they have the capability to-however during that time they spend discovering their faith, and in fact throughout their entire lives, it is important to us that our children trust us to tell them the absolute truth. No matter how pleasant the idea of Santa is, and it is, we wouldn't be able to both be honest and encourage a belief in Santa.

Whenever we tell people that we don't believe in Santa, there are always objections about 'the fun and excitement of Christmas'. I can assure you-the kidlets still have plenty of fun and excitement. We have regular family traditions for them to look forward to, and let's be honest-kids are excited for presents regardless of the occasion. They still learn about the spirit of giving and fraternity and faith, and they still have plenty of joy and wonder in the holiday from our faith. Our kids experience Christmas just like any other kids-we just don't get our holiday spirit from Santa Claus.

And we have plenty of holiday spirit-everyone in the House of M is counting the days until Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving, as is our tradition, we busted out the Christmas carols and everybody had a great time singing along. We plan on getting our tree next week, and Monkey and I are going to string popcorn and cranberries together. I'm looking forward to our annual watching of How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Merry Christmas Charlie Brown and our special family reading of the nativity story, and Monkey can't wait for Christmas Eve at Grandpa's and orange rolls Christmas morning.

We're all geared up for a very happy holiday-what are your family traditions?

A Really Wordy Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving-The Before Picture

It's Wednesday! Normally, just another day-but today also happens to be the day before Thanksgiving. I'm soooo ready:

We're having Rolls, Mashed potatoes, Deviled Eggs, Carrots, Cranberry Sauce, and a fun Spinach Salad (with apple, walnut, feta cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette) all with fudge and coconut cream pie for dessert. Oh yeah...and TURKEY! I had a moment of panic when I couldn't find my old turkey recipe, but luckily I'm not to bad on my feet. We're having an improvised orange-sage turkey. My new recipe looks like this:

MrsM's Orange-Sage Turkey Recipe
Whole Turkey (ours is 11lbs)
1/2 cup fresh sage
1/4 chopped
1/4 whole
3 whole sage leafs (plus some extra for garnish, 'cause I like my food pretty)
1 Orange
2 tsp grated orange rind
4 Orange quarters
1 1/8 tsp Salt
2 Small Onions
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup orange juice
1 1/4 tbsp sugar or 1 tbsp honey
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 475 degrees [Yes, 475! This is to "seal" the juices in the turkey-it's the same idea as searing a pot roast]. Remove turkey giblets. Rinse turkey, then pat dry with paper towels. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.

Grate 2tsp of orange rind off of orange, then cut it into quarters.

Chop up 1/4 cup of sage, mix with rind and 1 tsp salt. Rub under skin of turkey.

Peel and cut onion into quarters. Add orange and onion quarters with 1/4 cup whole sage and put into turkey cavity. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under turkey.

Rub turkey skin lightly with salt and pepper.

Put turkey into a lightly greased/sprayed roasting pan, cover turkey entirely. Cook turkey for 20 minutes at 475 degrees. Lower temperature to 250 and cook, covered, for 20 minutes per pound or until the meat thermometer says the internal temperature on the turkey thigh is 180 (or the red button pops out of the turkey, if you're me!).

Remove turkey and let it sit uncovered for at least 20 minutes to allow the juices to settle. Once 20 minutes have passed, move the turkey to a platter and cover it with foil to keep it warm.

Now we make the turkey's sauce! Take two table spoons of the fat from the roasting pan and put into a boiling pan, then strain the fat out and the drippings into the boiling pan with the two spoons of fat.

Add 1/8 tsp salt, sugar/honey, and 1/2 cup of orange juice to the drippings, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute. Combine 1/2 cup juice and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to drippings mixture. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Serve with the turkey!

This recipe is loosely based off of my old recipe (sorry I can't give credit, I first used it five years ago and have no idea where I got it!) and a recipe I saw in Good Housekeeping...I don't see any inherent flaws in it so wish me luck~I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!!

Friend Makin' Monday: Thanksgiving

Whenever I can l love to participate in FMM with my lovely bloggy friend Amber from aefilkins and this week I'm excited to talk about Thanksgiving with you guys in a fun little meme!

1. Turkey or Ham?
Turkey... gobble gobble! I'm trying a new orange-sage recipe.

2. Favorite side dish.
Hmmm....either twice baked potatoes or deviled eggs.

3. Favorite dessert.
Pecan pie and/or fudge.

4. Black Friday: Are you going or not?
Oh heck no! I hate shopping to begin with, when you make it a contact sport, you've lost me entirely. I'll shop online thanks =)

5. If so, what's on the top of your list?
My plans for Black Friday include sleeping in, being warm, and not being physically assaulted at 6am. Good times.

6. Going out of town or staying close to home?
I'm staying at my house!

7. Hosting or helping?
Its just us this year unless my parents decide to drop by-but I'm cooking either way.

8. Name one family tradition at Thanksgiving.
My parents have always eaten Chinese food and watched Clint Eastwood movies for Thanksgiving. Hubby's family enjoys picking each other into tiny pieces and being generally unpleasant while sitting in front of food. For years we've tried to fit ourselves into their traditions but we have decided this year to start our own tradition - an actual, pleasant traditional Thanksgiving. We'll see if anyone wants to join us.

9. What do you do after dinner?
Don't know yet. A movie? A game? A nap?

10. What are you most thankful for this year?
I have so many things to be thankful for this year...my husband who works so hard and takes such good care of us all. Our little ones, including The Bean who was born happy and healthy just this past May. The fact that my business is finally getting off the ground. My brand new lovely computer!!

My life is blessed and I am thankful.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Join Friend Makin' Monday and share!

Kiss Me!

In honor of St. Patty's Day, I am giving away free Irish kisses! [of varying intimacy, valid only in my household, void where prohibited, not redeemable for cash value]

For those of you not blessed with an Irish Kiss this holiday, there are still some other fun ways to celebrate.

You can learn about St. Patrick-for instance, did you know he wasn't Irish?-and the history of the holiday.

For the culinarily inclined St. Patty's is an excellent excuse to get creative! Try some traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage, or impress your significant other and thrill your kids with some delicious Green Eggs and Ham.

Going with green beer this year? Learn some Irish Toasts! Here are some fun ones:

As you slide down the banisters of life may the splinters never point the wrong way.

An old Irish recipe for longevity:
Leave the table hungry.
Leave the bed sleepy.
Leave the bar thirsty.

Here's to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A cold pint-- and another one!

There are good ships,
and there are wood ships,
The ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships,
And may they always be.

If you're more like me, you can snuggle up with a good book-Gulliver's Travels, The Chronicles of Narnia, Angela's Ashes, and The Picture of Dorian Grey are all written by people from the Emerald Isle.

There are so many ways to have fun on St. Patrick's Day, and you don't even have to be Irish! Have fun, and don't forget to wear your green!

May your blessings outnumber
The Shamrocks that grow
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.