friends · of · le · Costumier

Dear World,

Never before have I been this far ahead of the game! I may be too sick (sorry to party people, I thought symptoms were allergies!) to make anyone cobbler for Christmas, but all but ten presents are wrapped for tomorrow and Christmas day. (Gwyn helped.) All but 10. That's huge, considering the seasonal disease inherited through my maternal grandfather that requires no less than a dump truck's load of presents be offered to each child in the household.

We only need to buy some lamb and veggies for our Christmas day dinner, wrap those last 10 presents, hang the stockings, and then we're I'm done! The adults in my family (sans parents) will just have to suffer without my scrumptious and delightful prezzies. (Have the packages arrived there in Germany, mom?)

Also, I managed to not kill my child tonight. She will, however, be making a visit to Laughing Buddha after the holidays to purchase an earring to replace the one she lost, and is forfeiting allowance until she's covered the cost for it. I commended her for not losing it for almost three years. That's a fairly big accomplishment for a child who runs through new tights in a day, and loses expensive jewelry in an afternoon.

But yeah, almost done with holiday prep, and still 32 hours left to me! Ha! I'm sleeping in tomorrow morning. Suck it, bishies!

Oh yeah, and happy winter holiday of your choosing.

Jingle All the Way,
Raven

P.S.
I might be sleep deprived and high on lavendar tea. Maybe. Bishie!!!

So Holden is really into legos. He's also really into Bakugan right now (yeah, don't worry if you don't know what it is, it's like Pokemon ten years later kinda, cards and action figures blah blah, this generation's crap). Anyway, he decided to create his own creature out of legos today.

It's a combination between a rhinoceros and a helicopter. So what does he decide to name it?

"Heli-horny."

Yeah. Say that out loud and let it sink in a bit.

All day long I have been hearing my eight-year-old talk about being hella horny.

I also had the dumbshit idea to explain to him how static electricity works, so for the last 2 hours he's been running in place on the carpet in his socks and then shocking me and his dad. WTG, mommy. I am a fucking idiot.

(That's about all the snow I need this year. Whatever I see on YouTube.)

I hope everyone who celebrate Solstice enjoyed it. Our event turned out rather well, despite my own (lack of) health trying to drag me down. I met someone new, shared some gnosh with good friends, and crawled into bed at the late hour of 9:30!

Tomorrow is the big Reavis family gathering complete with Dorito's, oysters, and various meats I don't eat. I already know what I'm getting from my father, and I can't wait to bang on it all winter long. Much wrapping to begin today, and I still have to get a couple of small errands done before the day gets underway.

Still not well, but hopefully I'll be able to breathe clearly by tomorrow night. Something tells me, though, that I won't be able to sing with the others around the piano. :(

Oh yeah, and this is win. ^_^

I was going to post this in the marriedlife community but fuck it, lj is being an asshole to me and I can't get it to work. So what the fuck, general for anyone.

I was just thinking about this conversation Josh and I had the other day. I was reading about Henry Purcell (the composer) and his piece "Dido's Lament" so I asked Josh about it (being a composer and music student and all) and he pulled it up on his computer so I could listen to it and we talked about it for like two hours.
I realized that there are parts of our marriage that I don't always notice or appreciate- we get into routines with the kid, work, etc- but over time there have been so many ways I have been enriched just by knowing him. I have a VERY deep love for Mahler's fifth symphony (especially the fourth movement), and Elgar's cello concerto in e minor.

It literally makes me HURT inside to think of the possibility of not ever hearing this music- or not having a musician's ear to go by. I've been in love before- several times. But I can't imagine being with someone who can't amaze me every day, and Josh does. He is so smart and funny and talented. I only sing in the shower, and I managed to snag a brilliant composer.

Has your partner ever done anything that you know you wouldn't have if they weren't there? If so, what?

ETA: it's not just musical stuff he showed me. On my first visit out here, back in '98, Josh took me to a clearing in the middle of nowhere so that I could REALLY see the stars. Living in Maine has also taught me to appreciate a MUCH more simple way of life than I led in San Diego. I miss being there for SO many reasons, but I feel so grateful to be here for SO many more. Everything works out in the end. I have a SON, who goes out to make SNOW ANGELS in our front yard at the first snow, and I feel so, so grateful.

Moving sucks. In some ways it's easier since we are just moving to the other half of the duplex rather than across town or over state lines or something, but that also makes it more tedious because we're kind of just... moving armloads of stuff over rather than having the absolution of boxes and tape to have to fit our possessions into and deal with. I know, I know, First World Problems.

I don't think I would feel so irritated and tired with it all if it weren't right around the holidays and I hadn't so recently gotten over nearly 2 months of swine flu. If I didn't have this recent surge in energy I've had in the last week or so, I'd be hating it even more.

And might I add, I am still royally pissed at the ex-tenants for skipping out with 12 fucking days notice. They lived over there for SEVEN YEARS and they knew that part of the reason we were buying this place was to keep our kids together. Whatever. This is why I have like three friends. People suck. They still owe us $115 and I know we'll never see a dime of it, not to mention all of the shit they left over there. HEY, THANKS FOR TRYING TO HELP OUT BY HALF-ASSEDLY SPACKLING LIKE FIVE OF THE 20 HOLES YOU LEFT IN THE BEDROOM WALL WITHOUT A PUTTY KNIFE SO THAT IT'S ALL CRUSTED LIKE LITTLE MOUNTAINS COMING OUT OF THE WALL, APPRECIATE IT.

Okay, got that out. Back to moving and cleaning. I might even make some dinner! Today all I have had to eat is an apple and half a cup of potato salad (and 2 diet cokes and 2 liters of water, at least I am doing okay on water). I have lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks. Not healthy I know, but hey what are you gonna do, you know? When I get into DOING STUFF I don't think about eating sometimes.

I sound like Andy Rooney.

Last night was Josh's work Christmas party. I don't think I have ever been to such a Grown Up Party in my life. I mean, there were a few kids there (including Holden) but it was at this niiiice restaurant in downtown Portland, with beautiful waitresses coming around with plates full of beautifully presented hors d'oeuvres, asking if we wanted drinks, open bar, etc. I am sure if I had asked for a moist towlette or something as weird as an ottoman to put my feet up on, these servers would have found it for me. As it was, though, I had 3 decent mai tais and one margarita which was THE MOST DELICIOUS AND PERFECT MARGARITA I HAVE EVER HAD. That is saying a LOT from a person who is transplanted from San Diego to Maine. I have had so many margaritas in my life, and I grew up half an hour from Mexico, so I've had some damn good ones. But I can't even describe how good it was.

ANYHOO, on the way down we blew a tire on the freeway. Yeah, fuck. Driving along, whoop de doo, and then THUGGUDA THUGGUDA BUMP BUMP BDUMPPPPGHHH and me being ODDLY calm, saying 'flat tire, pull over.' So Josh did. We were already running late (long story short... my boss didn't get back to me on whether I could have the ONE HOUR I was scheduled for yesterday off, I dug her phone number up from my email, Josh had to call New Zealand and talk to a million operators to get through while I was in the shower etc). So we were already going to be late, but then we get the flat tire. Josh went out to fix it (front driver's side, nothing like being RIGHT NEXT TO the cars and freight trucks speeding by at 75mph while you're trying to change a tire, I'm sure) and that took about 20 minutes. I got out of the car at one point to see if he needed any help, and I was lucky that my knee-length dress didn't whip up over my head between the strong winds and the vehicles flying by. As it was, me getting out of the car did more harm than good, me screaming "HEY BABY NEED ANY HELP?!" just broke Josh's concentration I think. Well, I tried!

So we got there and the food was incredible. I actually ate a lobster cake and it didn't kill me (I am allergic to shellfish but for some reason this was fine?! That happens sometimes), I kind of want to punch myself in the face though for eating some beignet with foie gras on it, I didn't know what it was until the server was walking away and was telling someone else what it was. I felt it was more acceptable to swallow it and move on rather than hack it up at Josh's work party, but I haaate the idea of foie gras). There were incredible pot stickers and egg roll slices and strawberries with fresh whipped cream and OMG OM NOM NOM. So good.

We ended up with a great haul from both the raffle and the yankee swap- in the raffle Holden won a flippy picture frame that holds like 20 pictures, I won a tote bag and Josh won a notebook (which Holden promptly took over and proceeeded to draw in for the rest of the party). In the yankee swap, I ended up with 2 sets of Shamwows, haha. I haven't actually tried them out yet to see if I will SAY 'WOW' EVERY TIME I USE THEM. Josh is very much a strategist in these things, he kept getting and losing various gift cards in the game, but ended up with a combo back-massager mp3 player which is pretty cool. We also got a few things that other people gained in the swap and didn't want so they gave them to Holden, he got adorable Santa and Rudolph decorations and a Santa soap dish.

Josh and I talked a lot to the wife of the newest guy who works in Josh's department. She expressed the sentiment we had when Josh got hired on with this company- such gratitude and relief. Josh was in such an abusive situation in his last job, we are both just SO thankful that he found this company, and the best thing is, talking to some people in his department last night? I know they are feeling just as lucky that they found HIM. It's amazing and something I will never take for granted, I know Josh won't either.

I think that the last egg roll thingies I was eating had some sort of clam or mussel in them somewhere because my throat was itchy and swelling a bit, but hey I am still alive and it was worth it. Josh had to work from home today so that he could go get a new tire. OH and apparently the cure for a sprained ankle is to walk for four blocks in shitty Target flats on cobblestone and brick in Portland?! Because my ankle feels FINE today. I'm baffled, but I'm not complaining.

Yep. And, yep. And might I say, DUH.

I imagine he would be hella hella bored. I have tons of email lists about religious and vocational matters, I mostly write about art and applying to jobs.

However, I also would be pretty mad, and would likely threaten to destroy his computer.