From Thanksgiving to Christmas Greetings

I just completed my newest version of our annual Christmas letter. I have to say I think this is my favorite so far, I didn't only write it, the verse just sort of appeared, I also designed it so I don't have to go buy any ridiculously expensive, fancy Hallmark computer paper. I'm feeling pretty smug about now. However, when I think about the fact that I have to decorate, wrap, watch Christmas movies, print out the Christmas letters and prepare Christmas cards this weekend, oh and don't forget writing three performance reviews (why would I want to only do things I enjoy?), I may just have to forego sleeping. I have to get it all done this weekend though because I want to enjoy the holiday season for a change and if I have to cram any of this into that I will be majorly stressed. I've lined up alot of entertaining dates at our house this week and I expect to enjoy them all.

It all starts with a baby shower then a brunch at a waterfront hotel with an old friend, brunch here with friends the next week, my manager and coworkers and their spouses here on Wednesday night, the 17th, the entire family over on Saturday, the 20th for Christmas Eve Eve (an annual event), out to my friends early afternoon on the 21st and back here for my, mother-in-law and stepson and his family that evening, then of course the typical Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities. We still have one more date to make with my good friend and her family and then we'll be set. I love this time of year!

I watched some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade today and was amazed at how high tech it is now compared to "Miracle on 34th Street" days. The event was jam-packed with high-powered performers, it is so much more commercialized now. A Macy's commercial played a number of little snippets from classic movies over the years where the characters were talking about shopping at Macy's, it was very clever and really reinforced how much has changed.

But my favorite commercial was 8 silver Mercedes Benz sedans driving down both sides of a two-lane highway about 50 mph through the middle of a forest at dawn through the mist with Santa in a red Mercedes Benz sports convertible bringing up the rear, chuckling, "Ho, Ho, Ho!" Very clever although I can't imagine why they think they need to advertise; I don't know anyone who buys a Mercedes because of a commercial they saw on tv.

I'm just thankful we live in a country that recognizes the importance of making a day of thanks a holiday.

S'not

Do you realize how much liquid leaves your body via your nose when you have a cold? I figure there are mountains of it, especially on those Kleenex box and a half days like yesterday and today for me. So, I wanted to know where all this slime comes from. I'm pretty confident it's not sitting up there day after day behind some kind of a dam just trying to break out. No, somehow it's manufactured by your body so I decided to do some research. (And yes this picture is exactly how I feel and probably how I look!)

Here you go:

- Mucus (uncountable) - also spelled mucous
(physiology) A slippery secretion from the lining of the mucous membranes.

- Mucous membrane (anatomy) A membrane which secretes mucus. It forms the lining of various body passages that communicate with the air, such as the respiratory, genitourinary, and alimentary tracts including the mouth, nasal passages, etc.

So have you ever thought about the lining of your nose "communicating with the air" and how in some way that causes spontaneous combustion into thick, gross, never-ending liquid? This is one bizarre phenomenon as far as I'm concerned. Whoever decided what part was going to do what in the body went a little sideways on this one.

So this then led me to what is a sneeze? Are you ready for this?

• To sneeze - To expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.

So here's the question. How can a slippery secretion irritate your nose? I don't know either but that does it for me more than anything, except maybe black pepper. And no, I'm not getting sidetracked.

So here's the definition of slippery:

• Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc.


• Viscous - Having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid; having a high viscosity.

Is it just me or have we just come full circle? I can't think about this anymore, it's too much like a story problem and those have always shut my brain down. Suffice it to say, merely looking up a definition s'not all it's cracked up to be.

On The Verge

So here we are, on the verge of the final holiday season of 2008. Where in the world has this year gone? For the most part, it's not a year I'd want to repeat other than watching grandkids grow up. The good news is, we're all in a good place now for which I am thankful making this subject especially pertinent to the holiday coming up in just four days (sweet potatoes would be me).

Obama has now named the majority if not all of his cabinet members. All I've seen so far in the way of ratings of his choices are two thumbs up. My husband asked today if these early announcements are going to finally calm down investors and Wall Street and I said I thought not. The problem is, there are still two full months for Bush and Cheney to continue to screw the American people with nary a thing Obama can do about it other than to send strongly worded messages to the White House. I don't remember ever seeing the release of this information as early in other presidential transitions and I'm sure it was done in an effort to try to stem the outgoing tide. The question is, who is going to stem the current administration?

I'm looking forward to two-year old assistance this year with decorating the house and grounds, as well as the help of the older children and extended friends and family pitching in of course. I'm thinking baby boy's really going to get into it but hopefully he won't sensory OD in the process. He has a need to be constantly moving and exploring that makes it hard to maintain his interest in much of anything. How many two year olds do you know who can name all the planets as well as Jupiter's moons? When he has compulsion, it's very strong. He never ceases to amaze me.

We saw "Quantum of Solace" today. I was mediocrely whelmed. It had some amazing stuff in it, like all Bond movies do but I don't care if I ever see it again. It's getting more and more difficult for me to track the plots in these late releases, if there even was a consistent one throughout this movie. Mainly he seemed to be hell bent for leather upon saving the women, that was about it. He is an interesting caricature of the Bond phenomenon though, I think he's growing on me.

It was, however, shown in a newly remodeled local theater, the Roseway, which we thoroughly enjoyed. There are so few of these around anymore, I hope they get a great deal of support so they can keep going. I gave City Search my two thumbs up and hope others will give it a try.

The photographs throughout this blog have absolutely nothing to do with it but I just ran across them on Google Images, they had just been added so I couldn't pass them up. From Walt Disney to pre-Princess Grace in profile to Bogie/Lauren to the original "funny face" herself, Audrey Hepburn. Just because.

Concerto in F Major for Piano and Orchestra

A relatively innocuous title for an amazing piece, played with full body energy by the infamous Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini fame with The Oregon Symphony last night. Watching him, you literally could feel the music from each area of the orchestra not to mention from his keyboard. He literally shot off the bench when he started each new measure. I was going to ask him if he'd ever fallen off the bench but I thought it was just too juvenile of a question to ask a world renowned performer. Regardless, his performance was phenomenal. He was wiping the sweat off his face and head every time he had a measure or two of rest.

It was one of those times when you wished the composer could have been there to see and hear this rendition of this amazing orchestration. I would have loved to watch George Gershwin's face while he watched Thomas perform. Of course, that would have been tough to accomplish since he's been dead for 71 years (he died at age 38 of a malignant brain tumor).

Thomas received an easy 10 minute standing ovation before the intermission began. Portland loves him to put it mildly. I would really love to have a video of that performance. If you've ever heard of Victor Borge, he used to do crazy stuff like fall all over the piano, twirl around on the bench or fall completely off the bench and he never finished any of his pieces (I hated that part since I wanted to hear the rest of the songs). Anyway, Thomas reminds me of Victor and his antics except that he's completely serious about his music while thoroughly enjoying himself.

Watching and listening to him reinforced the fact that I will probably be stuck in my Great Composers intermediate solos piano book for the rest of my life.

At some point I need to purchase "Clair de Lune" since that piece is my ultimate goal and I need to know just how many eons it's going to take me to actually play it.

Nighty-night.

Timeless

Some things in life are simply timeless. I'm thinking about composers like Gershwin, playwrights like Shakespeare, authors like Austen, sports like baseball, movies like Wizard of Oz, holidays like Christmas, amusement parks like Disneyland, food like mac and cheese or tomato soup/toasted cheese sandwiches, sports cars like the 450SL Mercedes, tuxedos, ball gowns or cocktail dresses, classy boots, diamonds; you catch my drift. It doesn't matter how old you are, what your background is or what your tastes, these are all things that appeal, even if it's just to appreciate from afar.

In this time of serious cutting back and crossing your fingers you won't be directly and adversely impacted by this debacle we call our economy, all of these special things take on an even more appealing ring.

It probably seems very odd to include tuxedos and a 450SL Mercedes in the same sentence with tomato soup but I think it simply shows what a broad palate I have and share with so many others. It's nice to dress up once in awhile but it's mostly nice to dress down.

One area I'm especially concerned about is the Arts. If you are having trouble paying your mortgage or you lose your job or any other kind of dire financial impact, participating in the Arts will likely be one of the first areas of sacrifice. But you know what they say, "music is one thing that separates man from beast". Or they say something like that anyway. It would be criminal to see our symphonies or art museums have to close due to this colossal mess but I do know anything is possible at this point. I thank my lucky stars I wasn't trying to retire this year or any time very soon. That would have been a disaster. I very well there are many, many Baby Boomers in exactly the same boat. I'm guessing this will mean that in 3-5 years, when the economy has recovered, you will see a mass exodus from the workforce. That will be the time to have any type of technical or specialized training because those of you in Gen X, Y or Millennium will be able to name your price.

I would imagine baby boy (I'm going to have to come up with a new name for baby boy number II after April) is going to be waking up any time now so I'd better close. He and his family are expecting to move into their newly remodeled house next weekend so that's going to be a busy one for sure but a huge reason for celebration. They have put in an unbelievable amount of this work themselves and it is really gorgeous. Not only that, it will provide them with a lifetime of additional projects. No end of work for them from now on, including the elimination of the cement in-ground pool structure some time in the future. I don't think I'll be raising my hand to help with that one.

Short and Sweet

So there will be a new little baby boy in our midst come about April 8th or so then our current baby boy will instantly be the big brother. I think he'll be such a cute big brother, it all just feels right to me. Both baby boy and I called this one. In fact, he wouldn't hear of anything other than a boy. He was absolutely insistent even though I'm sure he didn't really know what we were talking about. I guess we'll never know how he would have handled a baby sister, I think he would have been psychologically traumatized or something. He definitely had kind of a "no girls allowed" attitude.

Kids are so funny, who knows where his whole mindset came from. Now if his little sister had looked like "Uniqua" on The Backyardigans, he would have been fine with that. I do think everyone else would have struggled though with the purple on pink polka dotted skin and antennae. Cute but not quite right.

Anyway, looking forward to babydom again in just a few months.

On The Brink

Now that the astonishing, the groundbreaking, the history-making, the visionary, and by all means the necessary presidential election results we all desperately hoped for have occurred, the speculation, second-guessing and pundit advice begins. And that's okay because I think it's the first glimpse of hope we've seen in eight years of unbelievable waste, greed, abuse of power and very public and repeated presidential and Wall Street stupidity.

All I hope is that the world, but more specifically this country, was listening to the continuing message or theme of Obama's campaign; turning this massive vessel we call the United States around requires all hands on deck, the hands of every American, not just the few elected officials we have placed in Washington, D.C. or in our state governments.

The massive network he was able to create and develop throughout the last two years must not only remain intact, but must continue to grow and mobilize in national support as the government works to correct the many wrongs and abuses we have all witnessed on almost a daily basis. No one man can fix this mess but together, the millions of us sitting watching from our living rooms can. I sincerely hope the excitement, the energy and the commitment I've seen and heard in the ranks continues and is continually reinforced over the next eight years. Without that, success will not be ours.


In the words of another history-making, Irish Catholic president, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Barack Obama and the United States will need our help now more than ever.