Merry Christmas, Everyone

After spending Christmas Eve cleaning like a madwoman, I'm as ready for Christmas as I'll ever be.  The kids decorated the annual gingerbread house, and we're settling in to A Muppet's Christmas Carol with the kids.  I hope everyone's Christmas is calm and peaceful.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Little Drummer Boy

Little Man plays video games like he's never put a quarter in the machine.  Because he never has.  Since he thought my remake of 'Oh Christmas Tree' was so funny (since it was at his sister's expense), I decided to dedicate my latest one to him.  By far his favorite video game is New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  He's the kid who always has 99 extra Marios in his arsenal, and that's because the game won't allow him to collect anymore than that.  We've nicknamed him 'Thumbs' after the most developed muscles in his body.  (Actually, that's not true, we just tell him that)  The 'clickity clack' is in reference to the sound the controllers make as he pounds them furiously during gameplay.  Predictably, Little Man isn't very amused by my remake of "Little Drummer Boy":


Come, it seemed to say, clickity clack
A brand new game to play, clickity clack
Sucked into the screen, clickity clack
using my Wii-mote's beam, clickity clack,
clickity clack, clickity clack.

Who will I be today? clickity clack
When I play.

Mario rules, clickity clack
I am a hero too, clickity clack
Using my super skills, clickity clack
I hit blocks on the hills, clickity clack
clickity clack, clickity clack.

I will make Bowser pay, clickity clack
When I play.

One-up mushroom, clickity clack
This dungeon's filled with doom, clickity clack
The lava I must cross, clickity clack
To face the final boss, clickity clack
clickity clack, clickity clack.

The final boss I'll slay, clickity clack
When I play.

Hollywood Dream Pets and The 12 Days of Christmas

As a child I saw TV shows and movies where the child in the story has a close special bond with a pet.  They'd follow the kid around, slept in their bed, allowed themselves to be put in baby carriages, and other acts of indignity.  The pet was cool with it because they loved the child that much.  Or just had a tremendous amount of patience.  Having grown up with animals all my life, I can't say I ever experienced such a thing.  Now I had good experiences (I wasn't a schmuck or anything), but the sight of a baby carriage was enough to send any animal running.  I learned from an early age that you had to respect your pet, and if he wanted space, it was wise to let him have it. So all those movies and TV shows that depicted differently seemed like a bunch of Hollywood bullshit to me. 

As an adult I still love animals, especially my cats.  My cats adore me because I respect their space, and they know I've got their back.  It wasn't until a few years ago that I witnessed the Hollywood type of bond I've heard about.

A few years ago we adopted 2 female kittens.  They were the last left of the litter, and I couldn't bear to leave only one there alone.  One was a tiny runt.  She wasn't much to look at, but I think all cats are cute, so that wouldn't stop me.  Divine immediately picked up the runt and dubbed her Ariel, after her favorite Disney princess.  Because she was 6, and that's what 6 year olds do.  Ariel became the Hollywood dream pet in Divine's world.  She'd put her in the baby stroller and push her around the house.  Ariel sleeps on her bed every night even to this day, and when Divine carts her around the house in her arms, Ariel is totally cool with it. 

I thought maybe it was in Ariel's personality, just laid back to allow herself to be mauled at will by a little girl.  But as an adult cat Ariel deals out vengeance on her much larger-girthed sister when she's tired of her crap.  Hands down Ariel is the best hunter, bringing us 'presents' of her conquests.  She kicks ass.  But NOBODY has her heart like Divine.

So this year Divine decided to write a holiday ode to her best friend.  She wrote most of it, with a little help.  (it's the condensed version, because the full one would be a little...repetitive)

Divine's 12 Days of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Ariel gave to me:

Twelve shreds of toilet paper
Eleven packing peanuts
Ten cotton balls
Nine plant pieces
Eight bottle caps
Seven chewed pencils
Six twist ties

Five pieces of string

Four ponytail holders
Three hairballs
Two dead mice
And one broken ornament from my tree

It's that time of year again...

Ah yes, break out your caroling clothes...it's time for a sing-a-long!  Just shy of the 12 days of Christmas, (uh, 11 to go).  It's time for a new round of traditional holiday tunes put to real life themes by yours truly.   As you may know, Little T is my youngest daughter.   When inspiration hit for this one, I didn't realize that the English version of this song has 7 verses.  I managed 5, which I thought was pretty good.  Maybe I'll add more later.  Anywho, perhaps you can relate to my re-written version of  "Oh Christmas Tree".

Oh Little T, Oh Little T,
Your whining sure annoys me.
You can't have every toy you see
advertised on our TV,
Oh Little T, oh Little T
your whining sure annoys me.

Oh Little T, oh Little T
that catalogue seems pricey.
Why is the picture that you bring
always the most expensive thing?
Oh Little T, oh Little T
that catalogue seems pricey

Oh Little T, oh Little T
they all have wee accessories.
Look at all those little parts,
Painful when I walk in socks.
Oh Little T, oh Little T
they all have wee accessories.

Oh Little T, oh Little T,
Yes, it sure looks real sweet.
Have you seen your bedroom floor?
all your stuff blocks the door!
Oh Little T, oh Little T,
Yes it sure looks real sweet.

Oh Little T, oh Little T,
We'll not succumb to pouting.
Little toys lost in your room
only get sucked in my vacuum,
Oh Little T, oh Little T
We'll not succumb to pouting.

Do you think she'll like my song?  (Bwahahahahahaha!  Yeah, sure she will!)

The Tassimo Brewbot

Jen over at In One Ear is hosting a giveaway for the new Tassimo Brewbot. The one where it transforms into a really cute looking robot on the commercial, although I don't think that's part of the real deal. That would be totally cool though. Anyway...I love coffee. I do. I do. I do. Like my husband knows to get up before me, make the coffee, then bring it to my nightstand before I even set foot out of bed. Some may call that caffeine addiction, you may have other words to describe it, but in my house my kids told me in a picture:

My kids swear this is what I look like in the morning before I've had my coffee.  And especially when I'm in a bad mood. (That's Stallord from Legend of Zelda:  Twilight Princess)

So needless to say, a sweet brewmaster like the Tassimo Brewbot system with it's cute little individual cups of brewing goodness would surely put me on cloud nine like say, every morning, right?

If you would like to win this baby, the links to the giveaway (and Jen's blog) are above.  Good luck!

A Power Star Tree Topper

When we first got married, we inherited an angel tree topper from a family member.  Due to it's ancient electrical work inside of the 'candles' it held, it nearly caught on fire many years ago.  Since, I've been on the hunt for a new tree topper to no avail.  I wasn't real picky...not stuck on an angel, a star or anything else.  Much to my disgust all the ones I saw in stores were either cheap looking, downright hideous, or just...blah.   So the years rolled by without one.  Because I'd rather have nothing than some cheap, boring piece of crap on top of my tree.  And really, stuffing tree branches up an Angel's skirt is just a wee bit creepy.

This year, inspiration struck.  I had designed and stitched this power star (from the Mario games) for my kids.  After it was done, it sat in a drawer because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  I spent part of the day doing the finish work.  My kids were delighted to see it had become our new tree topper.  Our tree is huge (it hits the ceiling), so I had to make it work.  But I love the finished product.  It's fun and original!

Bitchin Kitchen

I caught Bitchin Kitchen for the first time last night and loved it!  I never thought 'punk' could be married to 'cooking show', but that's what this is.  Nadia G reminds us that we are the 'mistress of our kitchen' and has a fun, playful approach in her show.    I've already talked about redecorating my kitchen `a la Nadia, but my husband seems to be against it.  At least for now...