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There's a Christmas book my kids love, called Are You Grumpy, Santa?  At the end of it, Santa roars, "I'm a GRUMPY Santa Claus!"  I feel like him right now--  what the heck?!  Bad mood, BEGONE!

A Vacation Alone

Holy toledo, it looks like I'll be going on a little vacation to Utah-- ALL BY MYSELF! Shocking. The last time I did overnight girl stuff, I believe, was 7 years ago, when my dear friend-sister Sarah had her first baby. Her parents rented a couple of little beach-side suites (cottages maybe?on a pier, if I remember correctly) for some of us family friends to stay the weekend in, and have a baby shower for her. Lynley and I drove together down to San Diego and somehow instead of meeting at the rooms, we got lost, unknowingly drove out to Coronado Island, and found our address there-- right on top of a man-hole! (No really, it was in the street-- there wasn't anything there!) Eventually we made it, though, and had a lot of fun. When I returned home on Sunday, one of Ryan's old friends was at our house, and somehow she'd thought that I had left him and then changed my mind and came home! Haha! For anyone who knows me well, that would never happen in a million years. If I ever disappear, you can be 100% certain that it was foul play!

Anyhow, my friend Kerri is getting married in Utah, and I've been telling my sisters how much I wanted to come out and see where they live..... so I'll kill a bunch of birds with one stone, 'cause I have no idea how many old friends and family I'll get to see! My one-and-only is taking time off from work, and has agreed to brave it with the kids all by himself! Yipppeeeeeeeeeee!

No One Else Can Laugh My Laugh...

Eccentric: A word I wonder if people might associate with me, if they knew even half my thoughts and habits. Egocentric: A word I would REALLY HOPE no one would ever relate to me. Concentric: A word which makes me think of ripples in a pond, which in turn reminds me that everything I do affects someone else, and I'd darn well better be nice to everyone.

I have a slight obsession with white noise. There's a machine specifically used for creating this in every bedroom in our house, and there's even have a brand I prefer (Sleepmate-- it's marketed under the name SoundScreen for offices). I've always thought it helps keep my sleeping children asleep, knowing how loud other members in this family have a tendency to be. One could accuse me of training my children to be light sleepers due to excessive use of the noise machines. I can't really defend my continual use of them... I find white noise soothing.

I love baking to a fault. At the beginning of our marriage, one day Ryan asked me (very delicately, so as not to hurt my overly-defensive self) if maybe we could start having more healthy food than dessert in the house. I may have begun cooking "real food" only to shift attention away from my true love-- sugar.

I am happy to have imparted a love for chubby baby buns to my daughter-- a love I inherited from MY mother. There is a huge part of me that understands the Duggar family and their willingness and desire to have millions of children... but, fortunately for Ryan, there's also a huge part of me which feels it's wrong to have children parent their siblings (and so it looks like we won't be trying to outdo them!). I adore my children.... sometimes like a crazy person.

I love books. I have hundreds of them-- suspense, romance, self-help, horror, fantasy, children's books and juvenile fiction-- yet have never read any of the classics-- with the exception of Oliver Twist and a couple others. This year I will read my first Austen book. I will.

I love tv. I keep up with tons of shows, and find that watching something enjoyable while folding Mt. Laundry is the only way I'll ever actually fold much of anything. Ryan mounts a shelf for me in front of the treadmill, at my eye level, in our home so I can put the laptop or dvd player on it and watch shows while running. Isn't it more interesting to, say, watch all the seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I only allow myself to view while exercising) than stare at a blank wall?

I love to talk to people-- learn about others' lives, their likes/dislikes, how and why they do what they do, learn about how certain events have shaped them, made them who they are. I like to discover similarities in thought and shared hobbies in new friends. I love reconnecting with old friends and seeing how they remain basically the same, years after last speaking with them. There's an old song I listened to as a child, and part of it says, "No one else can laugh my laugh, 'Cause it only belongs to me..." We are all individuals and I love the fact that no two people are exactly the same. I love how each one of us is important, and how every single life on this planet has value. It's wonderful to feel that, even on our worst days, there is someone up above cherishing our unique souls.