OMG. So much screaming, crying, and yelling from the 3 year old this year. She must be gearing up for some crazy developmental thing because she has gone INSANE.

Just normal development stuff. Still, drives you FUCKING INSANE. Owen's a screamer and it's really, really hard not to just scream right back in his face. It's not even about Big Stuff. It's just STUFF. Everything. Anything can make him scream. *shudder*

Fiddlesticks. The day after Christmas is NOT the day to embrace being a girl. Not enough people around to beg for Midol.

Matilda is so cute! It looks like she had a great Christmas.

Too much cuteness on the Matilda front. Too much, I say.

In Arrrgh! news, it appears they do need me to work five hours on Saturday, after telling me they had someone else to cover those hours. I can't remember the last time Daniel and I had a whole weekend off together.

popping in to say Cute! Ded from Cute! Grace & Matilda and clingy (NSM) Santa Monkeys!

Also, hooray for awesome and fantastic guests like D. Please to suggest that everyone needs to sample her holiday deserts. Also, she resisted the urge to log on as me... at least I think so...

Headed your way DCistas! (+/- a few detours)

Sincerely yours,
Prickly but Festive
(alias brought to you by a last minute trip to Longwood Gardens - [link] )

Greetings from the calm after the Christmas storm. Ham, stuffing, corn casserole, pie, and assorted other goodies have been consumed. I bought barbecue this morning, but I think my hometown place has gone downhill and wish I'd only bought one pound. (I bought two pounds of chopped pork and sauce to snack on during the week, since we're here till Monday, but I may toss it out and roam a bit farther afield to satisfy my pork cravings.)

Biggest news items: I'm going to be a great-aunt again in another 8 months or so if all goes well--my oldest niece, whose daughter is almost a year older than Annabel, is pregnant again.

In less cheerful news, my oldest nephew, the one who served a tour in Baghdad with the National Guard, is going back into the military, this time into the regular Army as a captain (he was a 1st lieutenant before). He hates having a desk job and misses army life. He's going to be a Ranger and expects to be in Afghanistan in '09. It's definitely the life for him and I think the Army will be lucky to have him, but I sure hope the next president is less inclined to waste the lives of men like Nathan on fool's errands.

Susan --congrats on pending Great Aunt hood!

I'll be praying for your Nephew and hope that he's safe.

I just sent off my resume to a job, we'll see what happens.

I'm glad people like your nephew want to serve, Susan. I hope he can serve a long and disguished career.

I'm leaving Saturday. It's only Wednesday and I'm losing my will to live.

shoves Fernet through the intertubes

a neighbor gave a us a bag full of treats including a some packages of hot chocolate. nom nom nom . On the package of hot chocolate I just had was the information " even better with whipped cream" . i can't argue with that information. However, it seemed obvious to me. Now if had said add a small scoop of eggnog ice cream - that would have been new information. and yummy.

now I need a nap