Friday's Random Ten

Horseshoes - Moxy Früvous
Let's Make A Mystery - Spirit Of The West
A Spoon Full Of Sugar - Harry Connick Jr,
One Love - Prodigy
Break Your Heart - Barenaked Ladies
Desire - Toad The Wet Sprocket
Every Breath You Take - UB40
Converge - Mars Hill
Boadway - Goo Goo Dolls
Something - The Beatles

2005 In Review/Looking Ahead To 2006

2005 In Review

A Book You Read: Why I Hate Canadians (Will Ferguson)
Favorite Tv Show/Movie: House
A Place You Visited: Bow Falls in Banff
A Big Event That Happened To You: Had a baby, bought a house
A Thank You To Someone: Cate, for the wonderful quilt. It makes me smile all the time.
Something You Would Do Differently: Take more pictures
Favorite Pop Culture/Sports Event: Edmonton Eskimos win the Grey Cup
Favorite Song This Year: Smile Like You Mean It - The Killers or Collide - Howie Day
Something That Made You Laugh: Watching Grampy try to dress Elijah in his jammies.

Looking Ahead To 2006

No resolutions really, I just am looking forward to...
the trip out to CA in the spring
the birth of my new nephew or niece, and subsequent meeting of said baby :)
the births of the Schmidt & Herbert babies
hopefully reading some of the books from last Christmas
possibly a trip to D.C. to see Kelly

Family Activity

Last night the Armstrongs took in Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo. I imagine it's similar to the display that the Calgary Zoo also puts on. It was a little nippy, so we made sure we bundled up. It was a lot of fun, and incidentally Elijah's first trip to the zoo. We had some discount coupons from Chick-Fil-A so it was only $10. We grabbed some dinner, and then walked the park. The animals that are lucky enough to have inside/outside habitats were hanging around greeting guests. The first ones we saw were the elephants, which seemed to be Elijah's favorite. He smiled at the huge elephant stretching out his trunk to touch people. Geoff's favorite were the hippos, and mine of course were the giraffes. There was one giraffe who stopped eating long enough to stare right at Elijah. The place wasn't too busy, but we also shortly after it opened.

It's a pretty cool thing to check out, if your local zoo does it. We may try to find something fun like that for next Christmas, or we go back. It was pretty awesome. See for yourself.

Activism

I don't think I'm an activist. I'm not sure I'd want to be, given that the word seems to have negative connotations to me. I guess there was a vigil/protest/whatever last night in Denver regarding the execution of Tookie Williams. Who was in attendance? Well Ward Churchill of course! (and you all know what I think of him) And this guy who thinks the Denver Police is out to get him & his family (he's on the news a lot). I dunno, it just seems weird to me. There is a gathering of people who didn't think Williams should die, and the stay of execution was denied, so what's the point of people in Denver meeting, when this guy is being killed in CA? What does it accomplish? It doesn't change what is going to happen, it's done. I would understand wanting to hold a vigil to honor a life of someone who has died, but to have megaphones and signs just seems so out of place to me.

I have opinions and beliefs that I feel strongly about. But I've never been to a protest or made a sign to express my opinion. Maybe I should. But frankly, I'm afraid to. I'm afraid physical violence would be bestowed upon me, because I don't share the opinions of the other people. And isn't that funny? Because aren't a lot of protesters trying to promote peace?

Anyways, I'll close with a quote from PCU.

President Garcia-Thompson: You passed out cigarettes for a smoke-a-thon on Earth Day. You installed speed bumps on the handicapped ramps and, most recently, you dumped 100 pounds of... MEAT on a peaceful vegan protest!
Droz: Oh, come on! That was way more than 100 pounds.

A Perfect Sunday

Despite not getting a good night sleep on Saturday night, Sunday turned out to be a perfect day.

We had Elijah dedicated to the Lord on Sunday. Let me run down for you what exactly a baby dedication is.

It's a promise that Geoff and I will raise Elijah to know Jesus, raise him in a Christian home, instill in him the values and morals we hold. Once Elijah is old enough to understand Christ's sacrifice for his sins, he can choose to be baptized. We look forward to that day. But it was a lovely little ceremony, with Pastor Ron and our small group.

I had a wonderful 2 hour nap, we took a walk around the neighborhood after dark to see the lights people have put up, and after Elijah went to bed, Geoff and I enjoyed a fantastic roast beef dinner. Ended the day with watching Red Dwarf on the couch in our jammies.

Ah, that all days could be filled with such simple pleasures.

I'll close with a quote from Red Dwarf (something I could totally see myself saying).

Rimmer: I just want to say: over the years, I have come to regard you as... people I met.

Christmas Party

We had an awesome time with our Christmas party, 10 adults, 3 kids (including us), and a ton of tasty treats. We had cookies, meatballs, bread & spinach dip, pears (from Harry & David), Rice Krispie treats, veggie tray, chips, salsa, Coc-Cola, wine and beer. Highlights were Elijah growling and scaring one of the girls, playing Clue-Great Museum Caper, and everyone digging both the trees.

Pics of the event for you:

Elijah checking out the Christmas crackers we gave everyone.


My little St. Nick. (the hat didn't last too long.)


This is Curt & Jan Jones, the wonderful people who have us over for holidays.


Shots of the guests.


The hosts with the most. :)

I Usually Don't Put Much Stock In These...

But I think it has my number.

*Thanks to Melanie & Mike for starting it*

Your Birthdate: January 11

Spiritual and thoughtful, you tend to take a step back from the world. You're very sensitive to what's going on around you, yet you remain calm. Although you are brilliant, it may take you a while to find your niche. Your creativity is supreme, but it sometimes makes it hard for you to get things done. Your strength: Your inner peace Your weakness: You get stuck in the clouds Your power color: Emerald Your power symbol: Leaf Your power month: November

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Friday's Random Ten

No Reply At All - Genesis
Three Times A Lady - Commodores
Superstar - Easily Amused
Why Georgia - John Mayer
It's Alright - Huey Lewis & The News
Monkey Wrench - Foo Fighters
Start Me Up - The Folksmen
Orange Crush - R.E.M.
The Future - Leonard Cohen
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2

Odd Week

With the weather take a turn for the yucky, and dealing with being annoyed/angry/whatever, it's been an odd week.

On the good side of things...

Colin got a promotion at work! He's pretty happy about that.
Colin & Dawn got Dylan a puppy for Christmas. They've been wanting to add a four legged friend to the family for a long time, and now that they have the house, it was time. He's a little black pup (cross breed of poodle and Shi Tzu I think) named Snoop. Yes that's right, Snoop Dog.

My mom got a kitten. He's smoky grey with white paws and a white chest. She named him Snuggles. They are both very happy together. :)

Elijah had a good doctor's appointment this week. He goes back in March. He likes the Christmas lights. I want to try to take a family walk around the neighborhood to check out everyone's lights. I really want to take a picture of the house on the corner, so you can all see how they went ALL OUT!

Tomorrow is the Christmas party here. It looked like we might cancel, but then yesterday was the day everyone RSVP'd. Some people are even cutting short other parties just to come to our house. That makes me smile. It's nice to be loved (and I needed that this week). I still haven't baked my cookies, and Geoff hopes to bake tonight. That leaves me today to do it. Yikes!

Geoff put up the real tree last night, and I decorated it this morning. I'll take a picture tonight or tomorrow for you all. It's great to smell the pine all throughout the house. And Geoff was right, we do have enough ornaments for 2 trees. But I love adding new ones. He refers to Cornelius (fake) as the modern tree, and Irene (real) as the old school tree.

Getting married means trying to blend traditions, and one of Geoff's is not putting gifts under the tree until Christmas Eve. I hate this, I love looking at the gifts. But I don't want Elijah opening them early, so this year I'm okay with it. Actually, there is one gift under the tree, it's Auntie Lisa's to Elijah. It's in a bag, and it's flat. Elijah sorta plays with it, tries to look inside, but he can't see anything. Then he'll get distracted by Honey and move on to something else. It's gonna be fun Christmas morning. :)

Well, I guess those cookies aren't going to bake themselves. :) I also need to go out to Rite-Aid, so I'll bundle up Elijah and I and plow. I'm closing with a quote from A Christmas Story.

Narrator: In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.

No Reply At All

I've been busy trying to deal with some issues I have, so I haven't really been blogging. Been spending a ton of time on the phone with Lisa & Athena. And while I was able to vocalize to them & Geoff what was bugging me, I think I will ultimately decide to not blog about that.

I've been obsessed with the song No Reply At All (Genesis) the last few days, so here are the lyrics. Something about the song speaks to me. I just love it.

Talk to me, you never talk to me.
Ooh, it seems that I can speak.
But I can hear my voice shouting out.
But there’s no reply at all.

Look at me, you never look at me,
Ooh, I’ve been sitting, staring, seems so long.
But you’re looking through me
Like I wasn’t here at all.
No reply, there’s no reply at all.

Dance with me, you never dance with me.
Ooh, it seems that I can move,
I’m close to you, close as I can get.

Yet there’s no reply at all,
There’s no reply at all.

I get the feeling you’re tryin’ to tell me,
Is there something that I should know?
What excuse are you tryin’ to sell me?
Should I be reading stop or go, I don’t know.

Be with me, seems you’re never here with me,
Ooh, I’ve been trying to get over there.
Ah, but it’s out of my reach.
And there’s no reply at all.
There’s no reply at all.

I get the feeling you’re trying to tell me;
Is there something that I should know?
What excuse are you trying to sell me?
Should I be reading stop or go, I don’t know.

Maybe deep down inside,
I’m trying for no one else but me.
Too stubborn to say, the buck stops here.
It’s not the one you’re looking for.
But, maybe deep down inside,
I’m lying to no one else but me.
Oh but my back is up.
I’m on my guard - with all the exits sealed.

Listen to me, you never listen to me,
Ooh, and it seems there’s no way out,
I’ve been trying, but we cannot connect,
And there’s no reply at all,
There’s no reply at all,
There’s no reply at all,
No reply at all.

Is anybody listening - oh oh,
No reply at all...

Three Things

Three screen names that you've had: Melissius, phil, Melissa_in_denver

Three things you like about yourself: My wit, my smile, my faith

Three things you don't like about yourself: My body, pettiness towards certain people (I'm working on it), lack of motivation

Three parts of your heritage: Scottish, Ukrainian, Yugoslavian

Three things that scare you: Anything horrible happening to my family, insects, lizards

Three of your everyday essentials: Kissing Geoff & Elijah, watching the news, checking my email

Three things you are wearing right now: Jeans, Disneyland shirt, slipper socks

Three of your favorite songs: Return To Me (Dean Martin), Boogie Oogie Oogie (A Taste Of Honey), Sullivan Street (Counting Crows)

Three things you want in a relationship: Someone who makes me laugh, trust, honesty

Two truths and a lie: I get motion sickness, I never lie, I love my friends like family

Three things you can't live without: Jesus, people I love, potato chips

Three places you want to go on vacation: Scotland, New Zealand, Italy

Three things you just can't do: Play an instrument, cut straight, eat fresh fish

Three kids names: Elijah James, Patrick Hugh, Noelle

Three things you want to do before you die: See Elijah get married, go on a cruise around the world with Geoff, be in a movie

Three celeb crushes: Harry Connick Jr, Robert Sean Leonard, Will Smith

Three of your favorite musicians: Harry Connick Jr, Michael Bublé (he sings), Geoff

Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeals to you: Smile, eyes, pecs

Three of your favorite hobbies: Reading, playing games, blogging

Three things you really want to do badly right now: Eat some Ruffles, soak in a hot tub, get out of town

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy: Hate clothes shopping, love MXC, enjoy playing sports

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl: I like going to the salon/spa, I love children, I love romantic comedies

Crafty

I went out and bought some supplies to make a Christmas craft. I probably should consider finishing one project before starting another, but that's never been my style. The stocking is well on it's way, and this craft I have in mind shouldn't take too much. (insert laughter here) I also hope to bake some cookies this week. If they turn out, I'll take a picture for you.

We took Elijah to see Santa yesterday. I posted their picture together on his blog.

Scrubs is coming back to tv on January 3! And we'll get two new episodes. Whoo-hoo! The only problem I foresee is it may end up airing the same time as House, which means I'll be using the VCR for the first time since we moved.

I would like to get out to the theatre to see a movie, but I'm not holding my breath on that happening anytime soon. It just seems like a lot of trouble to get a sitter and go out. We didn't go out to movies often before Elijah, but the things we did do, were much more convenient by being so close to Cherry Creek. Aw, the downside of living in the 'burbs.

Last night we watched Surviving Christmas ('cause I think Affleck is the bomb yo!), and it was alright. Geoff said he liked the parts that didn't suck. :) It was very similar to Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. But then Hollywood doesn't really do original, doesn't it? In any case, I liked both movies (but Dickie Roberts is better).

I was going to post about this a while ago, but then forgot, and then my friend Ashley did: I'm really disappointed that Nick & Jessica broke up. I had hoped they would have stuck it out. I feel there are only a few things that can't be fixed in a marriage, and I doubt those issues were present. Marriage is hard enough, but then to add prying eyes and world-wide gossip, it must make it that much harder.

I'll close with a quote from Surviving Christmas.

Drew Latham: Folks, my firm's done a tremendous amount of marketing research and we've discovered two critical things, one; most Americans feel that Christmas is a time for family. Two; most Americans feel that in order to stand being around their family, for even one or two days, they need to swill as much alcohol as humanly possible.

You're A Mean One, Mr. Moore

Hopefully Elijah's first trip to see Santa won't be like this. :)

Friday's Random Ten

Kindness - Todd Agnew
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - Neil Sedaka
Someday - Sugar Ray
Confessions II - Usher
Ladies Night - Kool & The Gang
Give Up The Funk - Parliment
Disappear - INXS
Hot In The City - Billy Idol
Rotten Apple - Alice In Chains
I Love The Nightlife - Alicia Bridges

Birthday Week

Last Friday - Dylan's birthday
Sunday - Dawn's birthday
Today - Colin's birthday

Happy Birthday You Guys!

I love you, I miss you, I can't wait until I can see you again.

A Bunny Christmas Story

To A Friend

Sometimes people are so caught up in themselves, they don't see how hurtful they are being. In a society that tells you to be selfish, "it's all about you", we are told no to feel guilty for hurting others. Because you should only be concerned about yourself. But how many of these incidents could be avoided by just TALKING to someone, instead of lashing out when they don't understand you.

I take theses things and I hope I learn from them. To be honest, to speak the truth in love, to stand up for what I believe, and to call people on their stuff.

This is my blog, I can say what I want. It's a forum for my feelings and my experiences. I would hope if I said something you took offense to you'd take the time to ask me about it. If you said something I thought was hurtful, I would probably ignore it, because it isn't worth getting myself worked up over something that I may have misunderstood. Or maybe it's a pattern, and I've learned not to take that path. I just hate lying, I try not to do it, and I hate when I feel like someone is lying to me.

I had a good Mom To Mom meeting today. It was meaty, it was small, it was everything I wanted it to be. Except it could have been longer.

We just finished watching Newsradio Seasons 1 & 2, so I'll close with a quote from that.

Joe: Seven times. I flunked this test seven times, you know. I mean, I don't want to say 'conspiracy,' but...
Lisa: Well actually, I am starting to see a pattern here."
Joe: Ah. Uh huh. Uh huh.
Lisa: One of last year's questions was: 'In the following circuit, the potential is blank volts.' And you answered: 'I refuse to answer the question on the grounds that the design of this circuit is totally sucky.'
Joe: Yeah. I don't know how that dumb bastard ever got to be a professor.
Lisa: Oh. Well you know, that would explain why you answered the next question: 'If you want to build a thermostat that won't be affected by humidity, try this you dumb bastard.'

Decking The Halls

We're having a Christmas party on Saturday, December 10. You out of towners are welcome to come, please wear something festive (red, green, Christmasy).

Christmas Q & A

I know y'all are going to copy this from me, so please credit me for starting it. :)


* When is the best time to open presents? Always open one on Christmas Eve, then the rest go early Christmas morning.
* Have you been naughty or nice this year? Mostly nice.
* Real tree or imitation tree? This year both.
* Favorite Christmas cartoon character? Hermey.
* Did you ever write Santa a letter? For sure!
* Buy any Christmas presents online? Naturally.
* Save the ribbon and paper or rip right through it? Rip rip rip.
* Sharing Christmas with family this year? Just immediate family.
* Ever ride in a one horse open sleigh? No :(
* Ever roast a chestnut on an open fire? No
* Favorite Christmas pie? Not a fan of pie.
* Favorite Christmas movie? Come on, A Christmas Story! (but for a non-traditional movie, I have to say The Ref)
* Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night, Angels We Have Heard On High.
* People on your Christmas list; more or less than ten? I'd say it's 10 exactly.
* Will you have a white Christmas this year? Most likely.
* Do you believe in Santa Claus? Santa's got the spirit of Christmas, so I'll say yes.
* Who would you like to kiss under the mistletoe? My hubby, and Elijah. :)
* Who gives the best gifts? Geoff
* Do you send Christmas cards? Yes, a ton of them!
* What color best represents Christmas? White
* Do you own any Christmas music? You bet.
* How many Christmas parties will you attend this year? Maybe 1
* Does the postal worker get a gift this year? Maybe, he's pretty friendly to me. I used to share cookies with my UPS guy.
* Giving a present to a pet? Of course.
* Your shopping: All done, half-way done, just started, not yet started? Half-way.

For My Canuck Peeps

If you aren't reading Rick Mercer's blog....
A letter from Stephen Harper
(warning: may contain bad language, but it's funny)