Well

My attempt at NaBloPoMo was an epic fail. That's okay, though. I can transition to Holidailies, which posting is more fun and interesting, anyway.

The holidays are well and truly upon us. Thanksgiving came and went, and the Advent season begins tomorrow.

Thankfulness

Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.
16 to him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever.
17 who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever.
23 to the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever.
25 and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

Disneyland picture!

A few weeks ago, Dan and Jennifer took Nathan and me to Disneyland for Nathan's first real trip there. Nathan appreciated a lot of it, but more than that, he enjoyed getting to know his Uncle Dan and spending time with his Aunt Jeffie. They really have a special relationship, because even while Uncle Dan was serving overseas, she was a big part of Nathan's life. She even came to visit him in the hospital when he was just a few hours old!

(Photo credit: Dan)

Nathan says it in his own words:

Deer ant Jeffy,
I luv yu. I miss livving neer yu. Tank yu for takeing me to vizzit diznylan. I reely liek yor nue hare kut. I wil sea yu sune.
Luv NATHAN yor nefew

Horror

I was watching TV earlier tonight, and was exposed to a truly horrific advertisement. And apparently, the horror is proliferating throughout the nation.

The drug company (Merck) is trying to market an anti-HPV vaccine with the slogan "One Less". What?! Where is the outrage? Obviously, this is a job for the panda (the one, of course, who eats, shoots, and leaves). The panda deals directly with punctuation, but I'm sure he's willing to branch out into other grammar issues, as well as the field of proper syntax.

[Next up: I address Starbucks' slogan for their new piadini (pricier breakfast sandwichy thing): "Wake up to a new toasty warm and savory delicious." Aaaaaaaaugh!!!]

Signing off, I remain ONE FEWER woman who will tolerate this sloppy slide into linguistic imprecision.

Tempus fugit

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away.

I know I'm thankful for a roof over my head, and plenty of food to eat.

I'm thankful for baby teething aids like Orajel and Hyland's teething tablets.

I'm thankful for Starbucks java chip frappucinos. It remains to be seen whether or not Starbucks will keep the faith and remain true to our relationship, though.

Bummer

I already fell off the NaBloPoMo wagon. Oops.

Nothing really exciting going on. This weekend, I visited Redondo Beach with my parents, where they were cat-sitting. I went to Starbucks. I didn't sleep much, because Nathan is teething.

I've been tutoring an SAT prep class, and while I really enjoy doing it, and enjoy the students, I feel bad because my professional assessment is that for the most part, they are not ready for the SAT, and I'm afraid I won't be able to work miracles to get them ready in time. And if I can't, I feel badly about charging the parents money for the lessons. I'm doing my best, and I hope the students are doing their part (but I have no control over that). I guess I just want everyone to succeed.

I haven't read any good books lately.

Quick one-shot

Since I don't have anything of note to write for a post, here is a somewhat recent photo of Nathan and me to keep you coming back to my blog. Aw, he's so cute!

Strange Bedfellows

It's not as if I spend my time hiding from political bloggers, but here is a development I didn't see coming (or even see when it arrived): The Hillacrats hate Obama (and his followers, labeled Obamatons, heehee) and really really like Sarah Palin. Despite these people's devotion to liberal ideals, they admire Palin's ability and decry the "misogynist" treatment afforded her by the mainstream media (I do not know if it was inspired by misogyny, but the media coverage of Palin was definitely unfair, to say the least). I wonder if there will be a move, a few years down the road, to try to put together a Clinton-Palin ticket.

At any rate, some Hillacrat bloggers have a lot to say about Obama's lack of ability or experience, and furthermore, they firmly believe that Obama's African-American voter base in CA were responsible for pushing Measure 8 through, and boy are they POed. Much speculation on how BO positioned himself to manipulate people to help him to achieve his goals. Read about it here.

Tackle-It Tuesday

Sherida often posts about how she takes on difficult tasks on Tackle-It Tuesdays. I thought I'd try the same thing.

Today, I started moving my work on the Willow's Cottage website into high gear. I'm researching hosting companies, fiddling with html, and looking at options for working the business end of things. In the meantime, keep on reading at the current home of Willow's Cottage.

XOXO

My friends and family know that I spend a decent amout of time breastfeeding my hungry little Nater-bug. He is a healthy boy with a healthy appetite, and I am a passionate advocate of breastfeeding, so I'm more than happy to invest that time. I spend about 5 hours nursing Nathan every day (at least it's better now than when he was a tiny infant, when I actually clocked it and confirmed that he spent 8-10 hours/day just nursing: yes, being a new mom is more than a full-time job), and I'd get bored just sitting there, so I'm always trying to find things to do to fill my time. I can read, but it is difficult to handle a book or magazine one-handed. I occasionally watch TV, but there's usually nothing good being broadcast on most stations. I spend a lot of time on my laptop, since I can work it with just one hand, and I've been known to IM, browse online, post on my blog, and even play WoW that way. Sadly, I find it really hard to do anything serious (job-hunting, updating my resume, planning lessons) while nursing, because I don't have the necessary focus while doing two things at once. Frivolous pursuits are always best.

My lovely BFF Sara came to my rescue a few weeks ago when she introduced me to Surf the Channel. Awesome! Almost every TV show ever, just waiting to be watched! No commercials, no need to adhere to some stupid cable company's arbitrary programming decisions (no, no, I do not need to see endless re-runs of Will & Grace)!

Being me, I promptly began watching through the silliest and least appropriate thing available: Gossip Girl. I started because I saw it listed on the front page as one of their most popular shows, and I thought, "Oh, I've heard of that. I wonder what it's about." So I clicked on it and was swept up into a land far, far away. After viewing several episodes, I still wonder what it's about, although it seems to be roughly analagous to Veronica Mars, being a dramatic and extremely improbable chronicling of the lives of overly experienced teenagers, though Veronica Mars is salted with gritty SoCal attitude, while Gossip Girl is definitely flavored with the tony NY Upper East Side. In a lovely bit of symmetry, the title character of both shows is portrayed by the outstanding Kristen Bell! Anyway, if/when I actually figure out what GG is about, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, I mix it up with NCIS, and I've recently started adding Dark Angel for my sci fi fix.

And am I watching anything else of note? That's one secret I'll never tell. You know you love me!

My apologies

I forgot that November is NaBloPoMo* and requires** at least on post each day. Sorry! I'll work on this.

*National Blog Posting Month
**Although a month cannot actually require anything; it's a specified length of time, not a being with emotion, will, or intellect. I'm imposing the requirement upon myself.

Remember, remember

Oooh, I forgot to post on the fifth of November!

Guy Fawkes Day!

Happy Lunaversary!

Nathan is nine months old today!

Yay, democracy.

Yesterday was a historic day, indeed. A large number of the people in the United States seem to have decided that the best option for the head of federal government is a communist with little experience and lots of identity issues.

At least the next four years will not be boring.