Effortless Effervescence

Pssssst! There’s more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary. Check ‘em out!

Take 1: Greetings from sunny lovely Virginia Beach, VA! Perhaps you heard about the Nor’easter that slammed the mid-Atlantic coast last week? Well, it was everything the weather channel says it was and more - high winds, tons of rain, and a general pain in the butt for people who want to, say, leave their houses to go to work or buy groceries. I ended up taking the day off on Thursday and getting a ton of chores done around the house, which felt heavenly, but I was twitching with cabin fever by the end of the day. And I didn’t realize until I woke up on Sunday and was stunned to see a big, brightly shining orb in the sky that we hadn’t had any real sunlight for four days. Now that’s depressing. Mental note: never move to Alaska.

The storm managed to provide some entertaining moments, like when our neighbors’ trampoline ended up in our tree, but it wasn’t without casualties: my brother flooded his car on Saturday, totalling it, which really bummed him out. Now, that car, a Saturn Ion, belonged to my older sister for ten years and my older brother for two or three before it finally ended up in my younger brother’s clutches. It had 260,000 miles on it, so it’s not a big loss. Still, it was sad to see such a faithful friend go to that great junkyard in the sky. *hums TAPS*

Take 2: So according to Sarah Palin’s recently released memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, all those rumors about tension within the McCain/Palin campaign (which, IIRC, Palin herself denied at the time) were true after all. After reading that, I think I finally understood one of the reasons that I was so adverse to the idea of voting for McCain. I had other reasons of which I was wholly certain, but I also felt a latent uneasiness about McCain and Palin and couldn’t quite figure out what was causing it. Now I realize that the rumors of discontent coupled with the insistence that, “No, we’re one big, happy family!” that came from campaign officials, PLUS McCain and Palin’s forced smiles and overly affectionate banter reminded me very much of my time in the cult.

When I was working at Christ Church, nearly everyone who brushed shoulders with my pastor and his minions (which included me and all my friends) noticed that there was something Not Quite Right in the way that he treated us, in the way that we catered to his every whim, in the way that we insisted, “We’re one big, happy family!” Our forced smiles and overly affectionate banter didn’t hide the fact that there was something Not Quite Right (actually, make that something Gravely Wrong) and I remember getting the same feeling from McCain and Palin. Any time something reminds me of those cult dynamics, I take that as an indication that I should run in the opposite direction.

Now, that is not to say that Obama and Biden are BFFs or that they were so much more genuine and honest and real than their rivals were. I’m not even getting close to alleging that one candidate was perfect and the other was the antichrist (but there’s lots of other blogs out there that DO if that sort of cow patty floats your boat). All I’m saying is that something inside me didn’t like the Republican ticket last year because they gave me the willies. And now I know why.

(Book cover image released by HarperCollins to the Associated Press)

Take 3: Do you guys realize that Christmas is just weeks away? I realized it yesterday, and I had a small panic attack. I love the holidays, but I feel wholly unprepared for them this year. I have to figure out what we’re giving folks - I have some ideas, but not a lot - and then, oh yeah, I have to buy or make the things we’re giving folks, and that requires spare change and time, both of which are in short supply right now. I always tell myself that it’s okay to not spend a lot of money, that it’s the thought that counts, and I shouldn’t let my holiday gift-giving choices be dictated by guilt - but still, I have a hard time doing that!

I will say that I’m VERY proud of myself for deciding to scale my Christmas card list waaaaaaaaaay back; last year I sent over 100 cards, and now that stamps are what, 44 cents apiece, that means I’d spend $44.00 on just MAILING the cards, not to mention the cost of the cards themselves! It occurred to me that spending that much money to send cards to loads of people I don’t know that well OR know very well but talk to every single day makes no sense. I’ll send cards to family members and old friends that I don’t talk to often but with whom I want to keep in touch, and call it a day. GO ME.

Take 4: Another source of holiday stress is that I tend to agonize over what to buy for my stepson. For instance, do kids still like The Berenstain Bears? Now that CJ is in kindergarten, I feel it’s my duty to line his bookshelf and turn him into a tiny little nerd, and I love the idea of giving him some of books that I enjoyed as a kid - but I’m not sure if he’ll like the books as much as I did! Unfortunately, I usually find myself spoiling the dickens out of him because I can’t stop buying seriously awesome stuff and because I have stepmommy guilt because we live so far away and can’t see him very often. I have to remind myself of the valuable piece of information I learned when we visited for his birthday in July: he thought pretty much every present we gave him was The Best Thing Ever, but he actually played with the action figures we picked up at the dollar store waaaaaaaaay more than he did with the more complicated (and more expensive) toys.

Take 5: I do have ONE Christmas present ready to go! Take a gander at my second finished crochet project: skinny pom-pom scarves in black and gold (of course) for one of my Pittsburgh in-laws, and modeled by yours truly. (I make ‘em look good, don’t I?)

Take 6: And while I’m cleaning out my digital camera, I might as well post some pics of my furbabies, right?

Please note that the five-month-old puppy is now bigger than her 2-and-a-half-year-old brother. Please also note how torn and stained my couch is. This is the price of having a small zoo in your home.

And here’s a pic of three of the five cats doing what they do best: EATING. I fill up four or five bowls with dry kibble every morning, and less than 24 hours later, they’re all empty. It is possible that Indy (the orange tabby bowling-ball-shaped guy on the right) is eating more than his share, but the kittens are definitely putting a dent in the food stores. Especially A.C. (not pictured, sorry), who compared to her brother Randall (he’s on the left in the pic) is quite a little butterball.

And in case you’re wondering, the cat in the middle does NOT have a tail, just that little nub you can see in the pic. He was adopted at age 4 by Jon’s ex-GF, so we have no idea if he was born that way (possibly a Japanese Bobtail or a Manx) or if he had an accident and lost the rest of his tail. It’s just part of his mystique. (And let me tell you, he has lots of mystique!)

Take 7: Audience Participation Tell me, what are you looking forward to about the holidays this year, and what’s giving you some serious stress? Do you have any strategies for eliminating holiday stress (like my slashing-the-holiday-card-list)? If you do, please share!