hella year

Launched a business/closed a business, quit taking Xanax, almost gave up guilt, got addicted to World of Warcraft, traveled to far away places in my dreams, traveled outside Ventura’s city limits in waking life, entered a memoir contest/lost a memoir contest, said goodbye to PK, said goodybye to 83 S. Palm, almost said goodbye to Hemlock Lane, had my first mammogram, didn’t write a book, got caught in a sticky web of deceit, cried a lot, became a fan of Ryan Adams, conquered my fear of the mall, threatened my neighbors, baked bread for my neighbors, made cinnamon rolls from scratch, saw Harold and Maude for the first time, attended a wedding reception, a few concerts and a baby shower, learned how to play poker, witnessed the resurrection of my laptop, experienced sweet justice from Apple, got an iPod, revived my fetish for cosmetics, watched too much lowbrow television, reconnected with a few friends from the old days on myspace, made a couple of new friends on myspace, became the “serial comma killer,” when I lost a proofreading job for killing serial commas, discovered and benefited from freecycle, learned a little bit more about love, took leaps of faith, experienced God’s faithful provision, participated in a prophetic workshop and saw some raccoons…

a sort of heaven

Around 4 p.m. yesterday, I had a sudden urge to go down to the beach. When Sam and I got there I was reminded that the surf was exceptionally high. We stayed until dark watching the furious sea and the kooky surfers who challenged her. There was almost no wind and the sky was surreal. When the fog began to move it became a Spalding Gray perfect moment.

level 8 dwarven priestess

It’s official: I’m a geek. I really had no idea what true geek I am until I found myself immersed in World of Warcraft. Sam and I were talking in the car and I said something about wanting to go home and dive into WOW and he said that because I referred to it as WOW, I’m for sure a big geek.

Bed, Bath and Beyond rocks my world

They let me use two 20 percent off coupons today. That’s rad. No one does that.

chaos

 

My favorite new snack for working.

Christians in the news

Those crazy fundies are once again giving the liberal “elite” something to talk about. I never would have known Christ was in the news so much had I not been reading certain secular blogs.

p.s. wouldn’t it be something to see Jesus’ name in the media in relation to something meaningful?

My  response to a particularly venemous discussion about Ted Haggard:

“Oh how we do love a good laugh at the expense of the religious right. While they’ve largely invited the ridicule, doesn’t your condemnation smell just a little self-righteous? Maybe even hypocritical given that their condemnation is the chief reason for yours? Just wondering…”

And to think I used to be one of ‘em.

the most wonderful time of the year

 

Last night Andrea came over to watch Harold and Maude and bake while Tony and Sam were camping. It’s the first year I’ve baked with someone in a long, long time and I must say I like it better. Of course everything is better with Andrea but there’s something to be said for sharing a kitchen and sharing the workload. We made rumballs, gingerbread and sam’s cake but it was really only a test run for the gingerbread and one batch of rumballs.

My tradition for quite a few years has been to make:

rosemary shortbread
rum balls
gingerbread snowflake cookies
pressed butter cookies in assorted shapes, colors, flavors
spiced pecans
chocolate nut balls

This year I’m feeling less ambitious and wondering how to scale it back. Rum balls are a must for their festive flavor and retro appeal. Rosemary shortbread is so delicious and special and everyone LOVES the nuts. Decisions, decisions.

12

Tomorrow is Sam’s 12th birthday! We have a few surprises up the sleeve, mainly that he’s going camping tonight with one of his best friends. He has no idea.