Thanks to Blue-Cat!
Right now I’m working both jobs. I’m working my old job a lot and my new job a very little (kind of a getting to know you period). This means that I’m busier than usual, which is already kinda busy. I also put three four freelance projects to bed last week but I don’t have any more coming up before the holiday, thank goodness. Like most of my in-state blog friends, I’m also going to be blogging at the yet-to-be-launched Ohio Moms Blog (from these good people) so I need to get going on a couple of posts for them. I’m telling you all this to explain why I’m relying on a tired old xmas meme for this entry. I have no time. None. (I am, however, done with all my holiday shopping though — almost, one more gift — so that’s good. No holiday cards to send out this year though. Yet again. Someday.) But this is temporary and by the end of next week, thins will be slow and easy to the end of the year. I plan to take it easy. And also when I’m officially done with my old job, I’ll talk more about what my new job is and where I’ll be doing it.
This is a Christmas meme because I may be a Jewish person but I grew up in a secular, interfaith household and so Christmas is still important to me in a secular way and also the mere suggestion of skipping Christmas (a subject that I broached cautiously when I was first converting) was wildly unpopular with my spouse and my relatives, both Jewish and not.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags for birthday parties. Wrapping paper for all else.
2. Tree–Real or Artificial? I have never had a real tree. Not as a kid and not as an adult. Every year Brett talks about getting a real one (he grew up with them) and then changes his mind. This year he almost had us all convinced and then Pennie started talking about what a nuisance they are and he decided she was right so we got the old artificial one back out again.
3. When do you put the Christmas tree up? The day after Thanksgiving, usually. The way I see it, it’s such a bother to put up that I want it up as long as possible but I don’t like it up anytime after Christmas. I like to see it down on December 26th.
4. When do you take the tree down? See above.
5. Like egg nog? Yes but not excessively.
6. Do you have a nativity scene? As a matter of fact, we do. We got one last year from Abby. Her mother-in-law used to work for Sarah’s Attic, which unfortunately went out of business. Abby got us lots of African American figurines including a bunch of Christmas ones, most notably Black Santa. Madison loves Black Santa. She also loves the quintet of angels who look just like her. Part of the collection is a nativity set. Madison likes to pretend that Baby Jesus is actually Baby Madison.
7 . Hardest person to buy for? This year everyone has been pretty easy.
8. Tinsel or Garland on the tree? None. When I was a kid we had one of those snakey lines of silver tinsel that look like a feather boa. Now we don’t have any because first we had a little kid then we had a puppy and then we had another little kid and now we’re out of the habit.
9. Worst Christmas gift - The generic kind you get from people who don’t know you.
10. Mail or email a Christmas Card? None. Seems like I send them every three years or something like.
11. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf! Papa Elf is my hero. Except for keeping the whole transracial adoption thing secret. But still, he trusts his son’s love enough to let him go. (sniff) Plus, smiling’s my favorite. (Not really but I’d like it to be. In fact, over-thinking is my favorite.)
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November.
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only generic kinds for other generic people at other generic events. You know, the crystal candy dish Brett brings home from work and that he brings to work the next year because there was a lay-off in between.
14. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? As a kid, my mom used to buy a box of chocolate covered cherries and put them on the Victorian hall tree in our entryway. I always mean to get some for my kids and never do because I know there’s a good chance I will eat them all.
15. Colored or clear lights? This year we have both.
16. Favorite Christmas Song? My favorite growing up was We Three Kings. I liked the up-down melody. As an adult I’ve got a soft spot for Judy Garland’s definitive Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. So much pathos in one small song!
17. Travel during Christmas or stay home? We moved back to Ohio in part to guarantee we’d never have to travel.
18. Can you name Santa’s reindeer’s? Of course. “You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen (I know Donder but I draw the line at Blixem). But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?”
19. Star or Angel on tree top? Angel but I don’t like it. It’s just what we have. I want an African American angel for Madison.
20. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? In the morning. Except that now my inlaw’s go to Florida each year and we don’t see them for Christmas so the kids open their gifts from them right before they leave, which on this year was Thanksgiving.
2 1 . Most annoying thing about this time of year? Traffic. Seems like rush hour is worse and inbetween rush hour is worse.
x-posted from Facebook
Inspired by Dee who has done some serious good stuff in the past decade!! In the spirit of all the Top 10 of the Decade lists, list the top 10 things that have happened to you or that you have learned during the last decade. I TAG YOU ALL!!
1. I’ve been blogging for nine of those ten years, which is a little nuts. But blogging has taught me how to be a better writer, how to write anyway (and to be never be scared of the blank page), introduced me to one point two million fabulous people including several who have become very important friends and gotten me some work.
2. I gained a daughter in the last decade and through her also gained a more extended family than I ever thought possible. Her arrival and her presence has lit up our world in so many, many ways.
3. I learned that “this too shall pass” is true of bad times, thank goodness, but also sometimes of good times. Learning to cope is apparently a life-long lesson.
4. I learned that parenting is hard on a marriage even when the marriage is good and that it’s important to like the person you’re married to because otherwise it will be awfully hard to love them.
5. I built a writing career, got my name in magazines, got my name in books and figured out that success is in the eye of the beholder.
6. I also figured out that I don’t find the actual achieving of my goals all that satisfying all by itself and that I will always find something else that looks better just a little bit further off in the distance, which has taught me that I better learn how to enjoy the journey because the destination is never going to be the point.
7. I discovered that homeschooling is very important to me and that we will sacrifice a lot to be able to do it. Given how reluctantly I came to it, this is a little surprising.
8. I quit fighting my introversion and began to accept it (and so figured out how to live with it), which has ironically afforded me a broader and busier social life. Go figure.
9. I struggled painfully with the loss of my identity as a crunchy, granola earthmama when I realized I was never going to birth another baby but then slowly grew to understand that life is more interesting (if not any easier) when we embrace paradox and learn to live with complication. I also appreciate the lesson in compassion even though it was hard and ugly going.
10. Oh and I converted in the last decade! I just realized that! And here I have a child who will become a bar mitzvah in 2010! Whodathunk?
Snagged from facebook.
****20 years ago***** (1989)
1) How old were you? A babe in the woods — a mere 19
2) Who were you dating? I wasn’t really dating anyone although I was kinda running around with Chris T (co-worker at Katzinger’s) and was just about to meet Brett the very next year.
3) Where did you work? Katzinger’s Deli and I was in school for part of the time but dropped out to the tune of a nervous breakdown brought on in part by working full-time and going to school full-time and babysitting on the side and basically not having any time to stop and think for a minute.
4) Where did you live? First part of the year, I was living with my roommate Spike (not her real name) and Wendie (her real name) and then that summer I moved out to my own tiny place.
5) Where did you hang out? Crazy Mama’s and Mean Mr. Mustard’s.
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? No although technically I had glasses. I just never wore them.
7) Who were your best friends? I was making friends with the retail women at Katzinger’s — Kimmb., Shari, Judit and Ann Henderson — and pulling away from my then best friends — Wendie, Spike and Teresa.
8 ) How many tattoos did you have? None.
9) How many piercings did you have? Just four — one in one ear, three in the other.
10) What kind of car did you drive? 1982 Datsun 310
11) Had you been to a real party? Why I’d even hosted a real party or two.
12) Had you had your heart broken? Oh yes. Twice.
13) Were you Single/taken/Married/Divorced? Single.
14) Any Kids? Nope.
***10 YEARS AGO*** (1999)
1) How old were you? 29
2) Who were you dating? Married to dear old Brett!!
3) Where did you work? I was home with Noah and had just started freelancing.
4) Where did you live? We were here in Ohio and let’s see, if Noah was two then we were living in Georgetown Apartments and then later that year started renting in Upper Arlington.
5) Where did you hang out? La Leche League, natch.
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? Only at the computer (glasses)
7) Who were your best friends? Liz (the woman who watches my kids nowadays), Ann Henderson, Lu, Janice
8 ) How many tattoos did you have? None
9) How many piercings did you have? Two because I’m sure the other two were closed up by then
10) What car did you drive? For part of that time we didn’t have a car and then we inherited a 1983 Monte Carlo from Janice
11) Had your heart broken? Not that year — broken hearts have not been part of my picture for a long time (thank goodness)
12) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Married — often even blissfully!
13) Any Kids? A skinny little Noah with barely any hair and sweet slanty-up blue eyes
****TODAY (2009)****
1) How old are you? 39 (and a half)
2) Who are you dating? Still married to Brett
3) Where do you work? a preservation non-profit
4) Where do you live? Worthington
5) Where do you hang out? Seems like I end up at various coffee shops for meetings an awful lot these days
6) Do you wear contacts and/or glasses? Have been needing my glasses more and more
7) Who are your best friends? Homeschool potluckers
8 ) How many tattoos do you have? NONE — it ain’t never gonna happen
9) How many piercings do you have? Two
10) What kind of car do you drive? Either a very old little Honda (can’t remember the make/model) or a minivan
11) Have you had your heart broken? Not since pre-Brett
12) Are you Single/taken/Married/Divorced? Still married to Brett, still often blissful
13) Any Kids? A sturdy stomping Noah with too-long hair and the same sweet slanty-up blue eyes and a curly twirly Madison with sparkling brown eyes who sings her way through the day
Name your top 10 most played bands on iTunes (Or Last.FM):
This was hard to do because iTunes doesn’t show you most played artists — just songs. So I chose the artists whose songs showed up most often in the top of the most-played list and they’re not necessarily in the right order here.
- Elbow
- De Phazz
- Nitin Sawhney
- Beastie Boys
- Sufjan Stevens
- The Decemberists
- Alison Krauss
- Everything but the Girl
- India.Arie
- Kylie Minogue
What was the first song you ever heard by 6 (The Decemberists)?
I had a bunch of songs from The Crane Wife on iTunes from the mp3 blogs but didn’t really hear any of them. I listen to iTunes on shuffle and I tune in and out as I’m working. Well, I noticed that there was a song I kept stopping to listen to whenever it came on and that was “The Island” (it’s a trilogy of songs) because at first it was bugging me but then I was stopping to listen because I loved it.
What is your favorite album of 2 (De Phazz)?
Death by Chocolate.
What is your favorite lyric that 5 (Sufjan Stevens) has sung?
I don’t know that I have a favorite but this song stops me cold in part because of the last lines:
And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid
This song (and the video I linked to above) is so disturbing and disconcertingly lovely.
How many times have you seen 4 (Beastie Boys) live?
Never, alas.
What is your favorite song by 7 (Alison Krauss)?
Well, a few years ago I kept hitting repeat on “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” over and over again .
What is a good memory you have involving the music of 10 (Kylie Minogue)?
I listen to her while I work out — it’s why she’s on my most-played list — and I like to work out so I guess that’s a good memory, right?
Is there a song of 3 (Nitin Sawhney) that makes you sad?
Yes. This one. Not for the lyrics so much
What is your favorite lyric that 2 (De Phazz) has sung?
They are not so much about the lyrics, De Phazz.
How did you get into 3 (Nitin Sawhney)?
I can’t remember how I found him but it was this song (linked many times) that really got me hooked. I love this whole album — Beyond Skin. I think he’s absolutely brilliant.
What was the first song you heard by 1 (Elbow)?
Not sure but the first one I really heard was Mirrorball, which is my ringtone.
What is your favorite song by 4 (Beastie Boys)?
Ch-Check it Out.
How many times have you seen 9 (India.Arie) live?
Never.
What is a good memory you have involving 2 (De Phazz)?
Again, they’re good work-out music but also, just fun music. I mean, really — how fun is this?
Is there a song of 8 (Everything but the Girl) that makes you sad?
“Ugly Little Dreams”
There’s some ugly little dreams
For pretty girls to buy
It’s enough to make you mad
But it’s safer just to break down and cry
What is your favorite album of 5 (Sufjan Stevens)?
I’m still getting to know him but right now Illinois is the one rotating most often.
What is your favorite lyric that 3 (Nitin Sawhney) has sung?
And I dream of places far from here
And I call your name to the wind
And I wish the night would take me to another world
Where no one knows a face or has a name
What is your favorite song of 1 (Elbow)?
Mirrorball (natch) and One Day Like This, which is on some movie soundtrack so is probably going to hit radios if it hasn’t already and really is a wonderful, uplifting song (listen to it next time you’re feeling gloomy)
What is your favorite song of 10 (Kylie Minogue)?
Oh gosh, see the thing is she’s a great work-out songstress but I don’t really listen to her. But I guess (thinking) I like working out to Slow best (I have a different mix though) and I’ll admit that I get a total kick out of In Denial
How many times have you seen 8 (Everything but the Girl) live?
Never, which is just so so wrong.
What is your favorite album of 1 (Elbow)?
The Seldom Scene
What is a great memory you have considering 9 (India.Arie)?
Leaving the Obama rally and hearing “There’s Hope” piped through the stadium speakers. (Great bass!)
What was the first song you heard by 8 (Everything but the Girl)?
“Shoot Me Down” and it was love at first listen
What is your favorite cover by 2 (De Phazz)?
I’m not sure that they’ve done any covers.
