The baby wouldn't sleep last night, so I hit the net looking for recent episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Because yes, really, it helps her sleep. CBS.com has the most recent ep up there with *sigh* some ads, including a set in which a deeply creepy guy suggests that if I want to get "my woman" the perfect holiday gift, I could... call her doctor and schedule her a pap smear.

I hear that it's the gift that says "I care about what's inside you," so if you think it's romantic and festive to say "I want to make sure there's no genital warts up there," go for it.

I don't know if any of you have seen the wonderful cartoons of Simon and his cat (the one with the baseball bat), but if you haven't, here they are. Simon has a website with a new toon (the cat discovers snow!), his public service announcement for overfeeding animals, and his adventures with the cat (watching television, closing the door, the fly in the house, and of course, the original, it's time to get up and feed the cat).

I love these toons, and I think you will too (if you haven't discovered them already)!

(And there's now a new iTunes game with the cat! I have it on my Touch! ::doin my Snoopy dance::)

My thanks to everyone, belatedly! It's wonderful to have so many well wishers!

It's the day to light the flames and keep them burning through the long night. The light can banish the dark, as long as we remember to tend the fire.

Okay, whose bright idea was it to buy people round plates for Christmas? They're devilishly hard to wrap.

However, also on that note, whose idea was it to buy STARFISH SHAPED plates for people for Christmas? They're even HARDER to wrap!!!

Squares and rectangles and boxes are oh so much easier!

In this entry, I talk about babies and excrement. You're warned.

( Cut for the squeamish. )

"Goodnight!" I've said a dozen times.
And yet she lingers near.
"I wonder, Mother, will it rain?
Why can't I wear that blouse again?

And is it true,
For I've heard it said,
That each man finds his mate?

And can you tell me
How it is
That x must equal 8?

She's getting older, that I know.
She used to ask for water,
And one more kiss, and one hug more,
Til Sleep crept up and caught her.

Water... kisses... now are past.
Her mind's a broader sweep.
And yet it's only camouflage.
"Do I have to go to sleep?"

FDS

We're lovers still. His hand
Holds mine in warm, familiar clasp.
The rusting gate is slow to close.
I must repair the hasp.

We're sweethearts yet. His arm
Around my shoulders holds me near.
This room is chill. The months
Fall on to the bottom of the year.

We're grown so old. His eyes
Hold love as he turns round to me.
"Sit down, my dear, and rest awhile.
I'll brew a pot of tea."

- FDS

Just used an immersion blender for the first time.

I have this feeling like I have conquered my soup. I used to spend ages ladling from pot to blender and back, but no more baby!

Okay, yeah, I'm a dork.

Wishing you (a day late for the beginning) a Hanukah filled with celebrations, blessings, and light!

Wishing you (a day late for the beginning) a Hanukah filled with celebrations, blessings, and light!

I thought I'd share this AIDS cartogram, which I found courtesy of the blog of the ever-thoughtful Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic. No big pulpit-pounding message from me today, no wild gyrations or bitter jokes. I just thought it might make y'all pause, as it's made me pause:

I went out with my mom today, and she very gently dropped the bombshell on me that I am going to have to fill Danger Lad!'s stocking this year. ANd probably Hotspur's too, although Hotspur is probably not going to notice.

The only thing I can think of to put in his (gigantic by family tradition) stocking is an orange. And maybe a candy cane on top.

Hit me, folks. What goes in a two year-old's Christmas stocking?

Hotspur is getting lots of socks.

The snow got me an unexpectedly free day today, and it was a much better, much easier day than yesterday.

I started off promising myself a day to be lazy, and I'm not sure it happened. My lazy day somehow resulted in split pea soup, and there are uncooked bagels in the fridge, to be boiled and baked tomorrow (when the gravlax I've been curing should be ready to eat). Hotspur napped at all the convenient times - once in the morning, when I started the sponge for bagels, chopped vegetables and picked over the split peas; and once in the afternoon, when I needed to pay attention to the soup and shape and proof dough. In my corner of the multi-verse, stir crazy involves a lot of food.

Danger Lad! went to bed early (he didn't nap at daycare), and danceboy wasn't all that far behind him. At eight, I put Hotspur in my lap so I could surf with one hand and give her a bottle with the other, and fifteen minutes later she was snoozing like a baby angel.

I have disassembled the "Free to Good Home" box, and I do believe we'll be keeping Hotspur after all.