Fog

I kid you not! I truly believe I heard the girls ahead of me in line at the movies this afternoon say "Let's paint our faces black and go as black people!"!!
But only now is it occurring to me to ask why they were dressing up at all. I still feel like its Halloween. I am so disoriented!
The movie I saw was The Pursuit of Happyness: an absolute must see! Triumph in the face of adversity, inspirational courage and strength of character.
I live in a very "have" neighborhood. I'd say even more so than my hometown, which is pretty swanky. Not only do people here seem to have a lot, they seem more entitled. On occasion you'll be reminded of the have-nots. Sometimes when you walk on the beach there will be a homeless person sleeping against the cliffs.
I don't fully understand where I am or who these people are that I've landed amongst. I think its worth exploring. (Of course Waldorf people are Waldorf people; silk scarves, sensible shoes, social inaptitude.) Someone told me before I came here that the land here does not actually belong to this continent. It is a sliver of India that fused onto the Americas in pre-ancient times. It makes me want to do yoga.
Tomorrow my soul sister Shay arrives. I think we both carry around an ancient sliver of each other. I am overjoyed to have a kindred spirit to share Christmas with!

Break!

There is nothing quite like knowing that you have your life back for 2 weeks! I have just tidied up my classroom and schlepped home my Christmas spoils and had a lunch of gingerbread men and Mozart kugel. Ahead lie visits with much missed beloved ones, mornings spent in pajamas, a side trip to Mexico, much festive eating, movies, and adventure!

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

I am faced daily with proof that it doesn't matter where you go on earth or what you do; the challenges that will help you grow are like the shell on your turtle back. Although I can't figure out what being cold is supposed to teach me. Frost advisory again tonight. Draughty house. Scary energy bills. Sleeping in wool socks with a hot water bottle.
This afternoon I looked out the window to see a chicken foraging in the front yard. I don't know where he came from. Just minutes later I went to the kitchen to find two enormous hot air balloons taking off right behind the house.
Makeover update: my hair is fabulous and my legs ache, but in that "I'm alive" way.
2 more days 'til Christmas vacation!

Freak Accident

The other day when I took the trash out I saw a small bird fluttering around my car. "What a sweet little bird!" I thought to myself. Later I went to my car and found the weirdest thing! It looked like someone had thrown a mudball at my passenger-side mirror. On closer inspection the "dirt" appeared to be the excrement of a very confused bird who had apparently been having a pretty intense rumble with his reflection in the mirror, which took more than a few permanent beak scratches. How weird is that?!
In other news, I'm getting a makeover. No, there's nothing wrong with me just as I am, but I'm uncomfortable and I don't feel like myself. Plus I've been having a bad hair day since, like, July. So, in about 45 minutes I have an appointment for a free orientation at a gym nearby, after which I will be stopping in at Supercuts, because hey, how could this mop get any worse, then I'll go grocery shopping and finally buy myself that Nature's Gate perfume that I have to smell every time I go to Henry's. I will update you on the progress of my transformation.

Holiday Cheer

I suppose I'm a bit of a holiday snob. The overplayed tunes in stores make me mutter to myself. Giant inflatable snow globes in your front yard? What the hell! Why don't you just where a t-shirt that says "I'm tacky".
I feel strongly about the way things should be done. Actually I strongly believe in everyone's right to their own opinion, but I have a delicate aesthetic sense which is easily offended.
The number one all time trashy, un-informed holiday offense is "counting down the 12 days of Christmas". The 12 days of Christmas don't go down. They go up. They start on the 25th and go until the end on the 6th with Epiphany or 3 Kings Day. Technically, Christmas lasts 12 days, just like Hanukkah lasts 8. I don't require people celebrate all twelve, just please don't put them before the 25th!
I was yelling at the radio on just this subject in the car on the way home today, wishing for a way to educate people on this finer point, and then I remembered the blogosphere.

OK so that was not very cheery and arguably a little intolerant. Here's a Christmas Meme I nabbed from Marisa

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate for snow days, Eggnog for the hols. I love the extra thick store bought kind right from the fridge. Hot eggnog is too rich. Alta Dena makes a honey sweetened nog that is quite tasty but even sweeter than the original!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Most of our presents were wrapped under the tree as kids, although occasionally a showcase item was sitting on the hearth under the stockings. When we got older, the wrapping slagged a bit and my Mom would sometimes use grocery bags. Every so often we'd be sitting there in the sea of ripped paper and she'd look around and realize something was missing and run out of the room, returning with said item behind her back.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White. No contest. One year I did real candles on the tree. I loved that, but I also just like to be able to turn on the lights a moments notice.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I love the idea of mistletoe, but we never had it growing up and I have sadly never been caught under it. Who doesn't like an excuse for kissing?
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Never before the beginning of Advent. Usually little by little, building the anticipation!
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Food was a HUGE part of childhood Christmases. Christmas eve was shrimp cocktail and fettucini alfredo with a white Pepperidge Farm cake for dessert, a dime slipped into it somewhere for good luck or dish duty or both. Christmas morning is controversial in our family. We always used to have sausage and the stollen (German Christmas bread) that one of my Dad's business associates gave him every year. Then one year we had eggs benedict. That was the year my sister's memory kicked in and that is what she feels the traditional breakfast must be. There have been tears over these two meals on more than one occasion!
7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Uh, if I reveal to you my true opinions about Santa, I may find myself institutionalized. I don't remember the year I found out he wasn't responsible for the presents we got, but one year I got dolly bunk beds and exclaimed to my mom "Now I know Santa is real because you wouldn't let us get these!"
8. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I love it if there's enough to force me to stay home and watch movies and drink hot chocolate, and its not going to cancel anything fun. I consider myself an awesome snow driver and get really irritated when other people wimp out about snow travel.
9. Can you ice skate?
I did a few times when I was a kid, but I am guessing it probably wouldn't go well these days. Too bad! I love the idea of it!
10. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Singing to the cows. Ever since my mom went into the barn at Seven Stars Farm and discovered the Advent wreath hanging there, we have gone to sing carols with a few other families from the community. It is an absolutely sacred experience. You enter from the cold outside to the building warmed by breath, lit only by the candles held by the singers. The barn smells sweet and earthy and by the candlelight, you can see the child in every face, young or old. It is holier than any church service I have ever been to.

I hope everyone is enjoying their own way of marking the season. Just don't count down!

Needs supervision

I am sitting in a crowded cafe and on two consecutive sips of my chocolate rum rooibos (it's tea, not a cocktail) I over-tipped my cup and dumped a substantial amount into my lap, then pretended nothing had happened. This is classic me; don't react and maybe nobody will notice you are not only not perfect, but frequently very flawed.
I seem to have within me a monk (with whom I am well acquainted) and a freedom-lover (who has been trying to get my attention for ages). They have been fighting my whole life and I am currently playing matchmaker, trying to get them to make peace and get hitched. The monk would quietly have dabbed his lap with a napkin. The wild woman (I haven't really found her the perfect title yet) would have laughed uproariously, taken off her skirt and hung it out the window to dry. How am I even supposed to get them to sit down for coffee?

Round Two

I don't know that I have ever posted two blogs in a day before. I usually just slop it into one colorful post, but I wanted to update you on the desk.
I went to look at it, it checked out. I said "I'll take it if it fits in the car!" It didn't. So the former owner offered to throw it in his station wagon and bring it to my house. I had considered trying to bargain with them over the price, but I figured that with delivery thrown in, it was worth the asking price.
I have pinched a chair from the kitchen (that's my next prey on cl) and am now sitting at said desk (which doubles as a vanity table) and listening to Sufjan Stevens crank out the Christmas tunes. I think I'll go get a glass of eggnog!

Back in the Saddle

I just went grocery shopping; real, three-bag grocery shopping. I stocked up on ingredients for a number of fun recipes like stuffed zucchini and chicken salad as well as plenty of veggies, some staples like mustard and almond butter, and some treats like honey sweeted egg-nog and a Green and Black's chocolate bar. When I got home I finished off some dregs in the fridge by making a pot of carrot soup and some roasted green beans with olive oil and lemon, sprinkled with pecans and golden raisins. I am also prepared for school snacks with things like yogurt, granola, and whole wheat crackers.
I used to prepare all my meals myself and they were varied and healthy. Somewhere around the time that I moved out of the Bowman, I lost the ability to think more than an hour ahead and started eating whatever I could get my hands on. I am glad to be back in the role of a kitchen creative.
I am also working on becoming a person who doesn't need to shower every day. I take my inspiration from my sister. So far its going pretty well.
I'm off to Carlsbad to check out a desk from Craigslist. They want $40 for it and I'm feeling like I'd rather pay $25. Am I a huge cheapskate?

Good Day! Good Morning!

I couldn't wait to get up this morning; its been a while since I felt like that! Its getting warmer and I did not turn into a popsicle in the night. This is always a good start. And I had good dreams last night. And I had a phone date with healer/friend Nina first thing, after which I always feel like a million bucks.
I found out about a Saturday morning open life drawing session at the Art Academy of San Diego online a couple of weeks ago and today was the first opportunity I had to check it out. It had been the dangling carrot that got me through the rocky end of last week; that and the latte I had promised myself I could get on the way.
It was bright and warm as I flew down the freeway. I found a Starbucks only blocks from the studio. There were less than ten people drawing and the space was quiet and peaceful and filled with the nostalgic smell of turpentine, which will forever remind me of my high school painting teacher who was not only talented, but very kind and extremely handsome.
After a couple of hours of drawing, I drove back north and, after a detour for provisions, which I will not detail because it doesn't really go with the theme here, I went over to Lori, the 1st grade teacher's house to help prepare parcels of oranges and nuts for St. Nicholas to deliver to the children of the school when he passes by on his birthday, December 6th. Lori has a huge, clear view of the Pacific from her living room and the afternoon sun baked us as we went about the cheery work.
I went home via Joann Fabrics for some classroom supplies and talked to my family on the phone as I drove. The 1st weekend in December is the annual Kimberton Craft Show, which is always a family production, starring my mom. When I talked to them, they were having a well deserved post-show dinner at Mom's favorite Chinese buffet.
I treated myself to a Trader Giotto's frozen pizza and watched tv. I burnt my hard pallet. The magic is running out so I'd better go to bed and refuel!