My New Year's Resolutions

1. I resolve not to smoke this year (I make this resolution every year and so far I've had 100% success).
2. I resolve to ride my motorcycle as much as possible and read a bunch of books.
3. I resolve to enjoy life, not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.

Hope you have a great evening tonight and a truly fabulous New Year that brings more laughter than tears and events that will bring delight when remembered.
If that is aiming too high, well, here's to hoping it won't suck.
Cheers!

It is possible my husband regards me as

mildly retarded.
While I have been known to call from the store to ask, "Why did I come here again?" I am a reasonable intelligent and self-sufficient human being.
Due to his previous career in the military I have in fact maintained our household in his absence for up to six months at a time, all by myself! It is true that I lack his attention to every fricking minute detail of life but that is ok. If you had two people who were that uptight in one house the resultant tension could rip a hole in the time/space continuum, and then where would you be, or when for that matter?
Now see, I can remember completely useless trivia. The immediate usefulness of any information evidently dicates how my brain processes and stores it.
"Spouse's cell phone-toss it, it's crap!"
"Cultures responsible for Cuniform, Linear B, and Hieroglyphs- queue for critical retention."
I swear I don't do it on purpose! I have other little foibles as well.
I've tried to convince him it's all just part of my charm. The extent to which he is charmed seems inversely proportional to the amount of aggravation said tendencies are currently causing.
Anyway, we are working on year 17 of this marriage, so clearly we are successfully negotiating all this so far.
The reason I even bring it up is because I got an email asking me to do a couple errands and this was at the end of the mail...

PRINT THIS PAGE PRINT THIS PAGE PRINT THIS PAGE PRINT THIS PAGE PRINT THIS PAGE PRINT THIS PAGE PRINT THIS PAGE PRINT THIS PAGE
O.K., drive careful and I'll see you when I get home. Love ya lots.

In BOLD, underlined, red text he informed me he thought I would benefit from carrying the list with me.
Isn't that sweet?

We got the coolest, easiest game evah!

It's called Shut the Box.

It's fun for the whole family! The kids get to practice their math and the grown ups get to bet.

I whomped my brother in law by shutting the box when we had both bet our whole stack of chips. I had been down to one chip at one point then came back with a vengence and KICKED ASS!

Not that I am competitive or anything, it's all just good clean fun, especially when I win :D

Cards I did not send this year.

See how well behaved I can be?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

OK, so the esteemed elder sister made a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner.
Oh em gee! That is a nice hunk of cow, mmmmm.
The roads were mostly empty so our trip to see the family on Whidbey Island was quick and painless.
Such good food, and I whooped @$$ at a new game we received.
The neice and nephew quite enjoyed their Walter the Farting Dog book and stuffed animal.
Now I am tired and must get to sleep.
Nanight!

Christmas Eve means...

good food! At least when Mr. Logo is around.

We adopted some Italian traditions during our three years in Italy and The Feast of 7 Fishes is among our favorites,

even though we are not Catholic.

Here is an article from a local paper about the tradition.

We've invited some friends to join us this afternoon.

We'll start eating about 4:30 and finish up at about 9:30.

Here is a reprise of last year's feast.

This year we are having homemade crab ricotta ravioli with other little nibbles for starters.

We are also having frutta di mare insalata (you can never have enough squid, octopus or cuttlefish in your diet).

For primi piatti we are having fettucine al salmone.

There are also clams and mussels in a red sauce and THEN

a mixed green salad with pan seared scallops.

For dessert we will have caffe and assorted holiday cookies.

It should be YUMMY!

Happy Festivus!

Today is the day for the eating of comfort food, the airing of grievances and feats of strength.
The thumb wrestling championships were after dinner and then the good bit...
"I got alot of problems with you people, and now you're gonna hear about it!"

Ah, the holidays, a time of peace and love and all like that stuff there.
Tomorrow, 7 seafood dinner for Christmas Eve! Yummmm
Given that we celebrate Festivus, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day I find myself rather busy.

Heifer project total...$600!!
If you want to contribute you have until the 25th to follow the link over there >>
Hope you had a happy Festivus!

Here, read this meme and pretend I said something interesting, please

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Gift bags whenever possible (I believe in energy conservation) but they don't work so well with something, and some PEOPLE, gift lookers!!

2. Real tree or artificial?
REAL! Must be real, always! You hear me, Mr. Logo?? ALWAYS!

3. When do you put up the tree?
As soon as I can talk Mr. Logo into it Usually around the 15th

4. When do you take the tree down?
After New Year's or Epiphany

5. Do you like eggnog?
Eggnog is lovely, especially with Capn Morgan

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
A Barbie dream house from my gramma, ooooooo, Barbie was stylin'

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yup, if you lived in Naples and don't have Il Precepe of some kind I think you get a fine or something, at least a very stern lecture from an Italian grandmother, be afraid

8. Hardest person to buy for?
I dunno, I figure if you can't decide what exactly someone would want you get them food. Everyone likes food, and now its so easy to get people gift cards, there is no such thing as hard to buy for anymore!

9. Easiest person to buy for?
The kids, they are very clear on what they want and therefore I am very clear on what they want

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail, and late

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A sweater with huge embroidered flowers and sequins. Kill me now, my step-mother-in-law must have thought I would wear it

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Charlie Brown or Christmas Story, oh, or the Muppets Christmas Carol, or...

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
When I can no longer ignore Mr. Logo's urging to get the present buying taken care of

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Nope

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
My sister's cheesecake, mmmmmm

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
I prefer clear, Mr. Logo prefers colored, we have colored lights on the tree but NO ICESICLES!!
This far and no further, dang it!

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Stop the Cavalry by Jona Lewie

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
At home for part, and with local family for part

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Probably not, am I allowed to Google?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star, with lights in it

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One on Christmas Eve, the rest on Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Commercialism

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Penguins, I love my penguin ornaments. Ive been sort of collecting them for years but I keep it quiet because I don't want a bunch of stupid, ugly penguins given to me which I would then be forced to use

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
We all love the appetizers and the desserts, so we focus on those Christmas day. The 7 Seafood dinner on Christmas Eve is always a big hit. Although this year the esteemed elder sister is making a standing roast, ooooooo

25. Leave cookies & milk for Santa?
Nope

I have a time deficit

Too much to do and not enough time to do.
I think the time bandits have been raiding my stash.
I'm going to be gone till tomorrow night.
If you start missing me too much feel free to dig through the archives till you find a pic and then talk to it.
Just don't do anything creepy, or if you do, don't tell me about it.
Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999.
Is that still passe, or is it long enough for it to be retro?

A deep dark secret

Despite not watching TV much,
and in fact, none at all for a majority of my life,
I have a confession to make.

Late at night, when the mood was right,
when I was all alone,
I would sometimes watch The Tick.

The sayings of The Tick amuses me even still.

"The night is young and we have umbrellas in our drinks."

"Yes, destiny has her hand on my back, and she's pushing."

"Eating kittens is just plain... plain wrong! And no-one should do it, ever!"

"And so, may Evil beware and may Good dress warmly and eat plenty of fresh vegetables."

"Gravity is a harsh mistress."

"Well, folks, there you have it. A day in the life of a superhero and his sidekick. It's a very long day, the tights are uncomfortable; I think we covered that before. Map light, convenient and essential. A lot of working of villain motifs. Crime has a Bossa Nova beat. Leap before you look. Remember denouement. Other French words: inconvenient, nonessential... oh... I could go on and on... But time's a-wasting and evil's out there making hand-crafted mischief for the swap meet of villainy. And you can't strike a good deal with evil. No matter how much you haggle. We don't need to look for a bargain; goodness is cheap because it's free, and free is as cheap as it gets. Cut. What was that pig about?"

One Word

This meme was stolen from Snavy.

This meme is designed to be answered in one word.

Describe ...

1. Yourself: Ineffable

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse: Effable ;)

3. Your hair: Unruly

4. Your mother: Ruly

5. Your father: Phlegmatic

6. Your favorite item: Unutterable

7. Your dream last night: Forgotten

8. Your favorite drink: Wet

9. Your dream car: Fast

10. The room you are in: Family

11. Your ex: Informative

12. Your fear: Carnies

13. What you want to be in 10 years? 45

14. Who you hung out with last night? Family

15. What You're Not? Reversible

16. Muffins: Marvelous

17. One of your wish list items: Llama

18. Time: Flying

19. The last thing you did: Mediate

20. What you are wearing: Cozy

21. Your favorite weather: Fall

22. Your favorite book: Multiple

23. The last thing you ate: Cereal

24. Your life: Complete

25. Your mood: Capricious

26. Your best friend: Fabulous

27. What are you thinking about right now? Finishing

28. Your car: Functional

29. What are you doing at the moment? Answering

30. Your summer: Fast

31. Your relationship status: Married (and dating exclusively)

32. What is on your TV? Nada

33. What is the weather like? Windy

34. When is the last time you laughed? Recently

35. What do you think of memes with missing or odd numbered questions: Frustrating

Seasons change with the scenery, weaving time in a tapestry

It's hard to believe it's not officially winter yet.

It feels like winter.

I'm ready for Christmas break and eagerly anticipating the winter solstice.

Come on, December 21st! I want those longer days.

Whenever it gets close to the winter solstice I think of my visit to Newgrange, In Ireland. It was a fascinating place.

This is the opening to the structure and that rectangle (roof box) above the main door is aligned so the sun shines through it directly only from the 19th to the 23rd of December.

It's estimated Newgrange was built about 3200 BC. Ancient humans in Ireland built this enormous thing and aligned it perfectly to sun's course in the sky. An amazing feat accomplished without surveyors, retractable measuring tapes, compasses, telescopes or building code inspectors.

We will not be building anything, but I will let the Things stay up all night, the idea being to watch the sunrise after the longest night of the year. We will oooo and aaah over the astronomical wonders included in our "Round the Sun in 365 Days adventure cruise (no expenses included, void where prohibited, cruise length is indefinite, see participating dealers for details)."

In other news,

we have $200 toward out Heifer Project donation!

Well, after a full week and an additional Monday

the verdict is in. Mr. Logo is a

and he LOVES it!!

I want to get him that patch from Archie McPhee's along with some Cubes ™ for him to play with when he hits a slow moment. In other new, he also has a laptop and carries a cell phone these days, who knew? He is a reformed Luddite. He even downloaded applications to his phone!! I'm so proud.

Ok, and to finish off this post, I have another poll.

Ok, the scene,

Logo has gone to meet the esteemed elder sister in a town about 30 minutes away from home. She has gone in Mr. Logo's commuter car (the crappy lil car in Logo lingo). Unlike her reasonably up-to-date vehicle this one does NOT automatically kill the lights when you turn off the engine. Can you see this one coming?

That's right, I drained the battery.

I checked the trunk- no jumper cables. So I called Mr. Logo and told him I needed a rescue.

Mr. Logo was disinclined to acquiesce to my request.

He suggested I have my sister take me to an automotive center and purchase some booster cables.

I did so, jumped the car and all was well.

There appears to be a difference of opinion regarding Mr. Logo's behavior.

Some regard his decision not to come to my rescue personally as an offense of the most egregious nature.

Now, I have dealt with car issues in the past. In fact, I've dealt with car issues in Greece and Italy. I have, due to necessity, known how to pop-start or jump an engine since shortly after I could drive.

So I regarded it as mildly annoying, but the big problem as far as I was concerned was not having cables in the car in the FIRST place. We fixed that though, so it was all good (I even got a bag for storing them).

Anyway, men, what would you do?

Ladies, what would you expect?

So, I have this thing

I have an extensive list of things I don't care to do.

That is the polite way my children and I tell each other we hate something.

Thing One used to get it all confused.

"Thing, would you like broccoli and banana bisque?"

"No, mommy, I don't forcare it."

"Good call, lil dude, let's have ice cream instead!"

But I digress.

On my list of things I don't forcare there is:

1.) Attend office parties featuring no one I know

2.) Getting all dressed up

3.) Going shopping

Well, guess what I am doing? Go ahead, guess, I betcha you'll get it!

I will be attending an office Christmas party for my husband's new place of employment at which the dress is "holiday cocktail attire."

If you were paying attention to the list you would have seen that item two (2) means this is not my dream evening and that I lack the wardrobe for such events which leads us to item three (3).

Friday I went to Seattle for the joint purposes of lunching with my beloved (that would be Mr. Logo!!) and shopping.

There were some little snags.

I sorta kinda lost my wallet temporarily,

AND

I was shopping with two small boys.

Needless to say,

I didn't find anything.

But that was ok, because the very next day I went on the Batan Death March,

no no no,

I mean, I went shopping with my esteemed elder sister,

who occasionally reads this blog and will be in no way criticized at any time.

She managed to find me a dress and the bits and pieces these dresses require.

So I present to you now,

Logo a la party dress mode.

The whole thing...

the fancy lil hemline with strappy heels...
the shiny lil doo-dad and a close out of the velvet burn out fabric, and.. OMG!! Did you see that?? I have CLEAVAGE!

The girls are quite happy in their booster seats and I guess since I will look ok and be comfortable I can survive a Christmas party, besides, it's going to be at the aquarium, that could be cool, right?

Sheesh, you men have it easy, stick on a tie with a tree and voila, you're done.

There's simply no justice in the world.

A little of this and a little of that

Here is a pic of our bird feeders during the snow.

Our lil feathered friends were very busy eating during the cold snap.

The snow is totally gone at this point but there are places on the road where the sand is still really heavy.

This may not seem significant to you, but as a motorcyclist, it's pretty important to me.

I LOVE living in the NW by the way.

Last week we had ice and snow everywhere but this week we are back to normal and that means I went out for a ride this evening on my new bike

:D

I cruised through the neighborhood where I got to see some lovely Christmas lights then headed out to the main road where I opened it up a little bit, yay. And even though I was only wearing a pair of jeans when I returned home I was not anywhere near being an ice-pop.

You have to love that, 50 degrees at 7:00 PM.

Next pic is the table Thing One set for his dad's birthday.

He got out the etiquette book and he did the whole thing himself. The everyday table cloth was not good enough, we had to use the Norataki china from my gramma, the crystal from Mr. Logo's mom, he brought out the candles, and made and decorated place cards for everyone. He even handwashed all the china himself. How awesome is that?

Next we have a gift I got from my Susie Qoo. A mini coffee pot!

Is it not cute?

Is it not precious?

Oh, and on my ride I determined something. My bike is definitely a girl.

I'm thinking we may have to go with Red Molly.

Jury's still out on the name though.

That's for you, Dan, I know how you love the movie links.

Now, whose life did we say it was?

When in the course of canine/human events it becomes necessary for one dog to reclaim the web log which has connected her with others and to assume among the bloggers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle her.... in short,
Ariella here, and dang it, they are at it again. If it weren't bad enough they bogart the couch, the blog, the bed and the chocolate they also deny me the call of the wild. So fine, they want to feed the birds, ok, too much Mary Poppins in the formative years would be my diagnosis, but whatever. However, they could have the decently to let me chase away the non-avian interlopers who insist on invading my yard and stealing the food they put out for the birds!

The filthy little theives actually ripped open and stole the entire suet block on this other post but am I allowed to chase them away? Tear their nasty tiny tails from their sneaky little bodies? Ooooh nooo, because they are" sooooo cute!"

Whatever!

Color me displeased.

Other than that, everything is fine.

Ariella out.

Happy Birthday, honey!

It's a BIRTHDAY QUIZ

For a guy who's a star!

Well, he is in my book anyway.

Here is a pic of him letting a dozen kids on a sugar high chase him with water balloons.

This year he also coached Little League, took his older son to Montana on his motorcycle, changed careers, and bought me a new motorcycle.

Here's to hoping it's an even better year that coming!

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

This year Thing One and Thing Two (along with their parental units) have requested family and friends help us donate to familes in need rather than give us gifts. We are doing this through The Heifer Project.

Our page is also available now through Christmas at the top of my links.

If a charitable gift has not been part of your holiday celebration I hope you will consider joining us. If you do this kind of thing regularly but have not already donated your allotted amount to another organization I invite you too.

Thing One is hoping to raise enough to donate a water buffalo,

Thing Two wants to donate a llama and a hive of bees.

(Links to songs included especially for Dan who has a weird nipple)

Donations of $10 are options under sheep and seedlings but of course there is no pressure.

Anyway,

Hope everyone has a very nearly painless Monday.

Now I really have the power!!

Yesterday the Logophile family went out to catch up on snow delayed errands. While we were out we stopped at a Yamaha dealership. As anyone who reads this blog more than occasionally will know, I've been wanting a Yamaha V Star 1100. And as fate, karma, chance, or an incredibly benevolent supreme being would have it, there was a candy apple red model with silver shadow flames sitting on the showroom floor, and they wanted it gone.

So we bought it.

It is sitting in my garage.

It is sleek and smooth,

it has a lovely purr that deepens up to a roar,

it shines and glistens,

and it is all mine.

Thanks, Mr. Logo, you are the BEST!

By the way,

opinion poll here,

do you think vehicles ought to be given names and assigned genders?

If so, what are your suggestion for my brand new bike?