It's officially the Christmas season!

Thanks to the good weather we had yesterday, hubby got the lights on the house! Unfortunately the icicle lights weren't all working, so we didn't have enough to stretch across the entire front. BUT we have some multicolor C9s that we've never used, and they were long enough. So for the first time, our house has multicolor lights. I was looking at the house across the street, with its three windows upstairs and two downstairs, with a wreath on each one. I love that. They also have the icicle lights, lights on the shrubs, and a Christmas tree made of lights. I want my house to look like that! Would it be wrong to select our next house based on how I can decorate it at Christmas?

With the lights on the house, the tree up (lights and ornaments today--woo hoo!), and Christmas music playing throughout the house, we're now full-on Christmas! I wish it wasn't too early to start baking. But since I've almost finished shopping for the kids, I can start wrapping soon! Maybe hubby and I can enjoy some time together on Christmas Eve this year that doesn't involve wrapping presents until 1:30 a.m.

So maybe I am a Christmas nut. I admit it. Don't care who knows. My daughter and I have already watched It's a Wonderful Life, and we're making plans to watch Miracle on 34th Street. I missed How the Grinch Stole Christmas on TBS the other day, and I was so bummed! (Even though I own it.) I love sitting down with the kids and watching the same shows I watched at their age.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Total implosion = good management?

This is what GM CEO Rick Wagoner said regarding the bailout the big three automakers want:

"I'll always do what's right for the company," Wagoner said, regarding the possibility of him stepping down. "But even more critical during a difficult time period is having the best possible management team. We have a good team at GM. That's not what I would recommend."

Of course not. Why would you recommend replacing the management team that has brought you to the brink of implosion? Is it just me, or should an industry asking for a multi-billion dollar assistance package oh, I don't know, apologize for screwing up so badly that only the government can save them? (Which is not true--the automakers could file bankruptcy, they just don't want to, apparently.) I think the last thing I'd be saying if I was asking someone to save my butt would be that I was doing a great job--it's just that I'm about to go under. Right.

Not even a teensy little inch

I've always found it frustrating that even though I am a complete play-by-the-rules, do-it-by-the-book, respect-the-law (okay, you get the idea) person, I can never get away with anything. I mean nothing. Some people I know openly flout rules of any kind. They never seem to get caught. I obsess over following the rules. I can't even think about skating close to the edge of approaching a little bend in the rules, or I get completely busted.

Yesterday morning, I pulled into the drop off zone at school to let the kids out. Being me, I'm familiar with all the rules and protocol of this procedure. The road is three cars wide, with parking on the other side. To drop off, I pull into the marked zone, right up against the curb. I happen to be the first car in line. A couple cars pull in behind me. The kids get out, I wave, and watch them start to walk in. As I prepare to inch forward very slowly (the crosswalk is just ahead) I let my foot off the brake as I look in the side mirror. I see a car coming (a little too fast) so I brake again. I have moved, I swear, three inches. Against the curb. Not steering out into the road at all. At 0.5 miles per hour. In the drop off zone where cars are constantly moving forward. There is a cop sitting in his car on the other side of the street. He gives me the grandmother of all dirty looks. I roll my window down, because I see he's upset about something. He looks at me and says, "Yeah, ma'am, if you put your turn signal on, then people will know you're about to pull out." Then he shakes his head and rolls his eyes. Like I'm a total idiot and menace on the road. I look ahead of me, to the car that passed me--did I mention it was going maybe a little too fast for a school zone? Right past the cop? It's now pulled over ahead of the crosswalk in a NO PARKING zone, marked with signs and brightly painted yellow curbs. Blocking traffic from moving either direction. I'm wondering if the driver used a turn signal to indicate she was pulling over to the illegal spot.

When did we decide it's okay to act like children?

I am soooo sick of politics right now. Yeah, I voted for McCain and I'm bummed that he lost, but I'm more upset that I'm rapidly losing all respect for the way we Americans behave when it comes to politics. I don't see many people expressing themselves with dignity and pride--it's more like indignation and playground taunts. "MY candidate is a self-sacrificing hero--YOURS is an idiot." We've gone back to the "my dad is better than your dad" mentality here, folks! It didn't get us anywhere on the playground and it's not going to accomplish anything in the big leagues either.

And now that the election is over, some people are acting as if all our problems will soon be over while others are preparing for four years of gritting teeth. Can't we learn to accept that no one person is going to fix our problems on his/her own, and no one person can ruin us forever? Are we going to spend our time fighting and finger-pointing, or are we going to find a way to get things done? The only way it can work is if there is some cooperation between the two parties. Didn't we learn that on the playground too?? Why is it so hard to act like grownups when it comes to politics?

Free chocolate, anyone?

I've never heard of this company before, but for free, I'm willing to try their chocolate. Just to be nice. If you want to be nice too, go here:

http://www.haydeechocolatier.com/sample.php

Nice feels good, doesn't it?

Obligatory intro post, bullet-style

Things I like:

• Raking leaves
• Bonfires
• Any song written and performed by Paul Simon
• Tab
• Convertibles/sunroofs
• Spontaneous hugs & kisses from my kids
• Holding babies
• Jane Austen and Bronte novels
• Small dinners with good friends
• Going back to places I remember and finding them relatively unchanged
• Autumn
• Chocolate-covered pretzels
• Champagne
• New York City
• Going to movies with my husband while the kids are in school
• Freelancing
• Lyle Lovett concerts
• Paul Simon concerts
• Romantic gestures
• Reading with my kids
• Grammar
• Gene Kelly movies
• Driving to parts of the country I haven't seen before
• Good coffee
• Mountains
• Oceans
• Lighthouses
• The Muppets
• Schoolhouse Rock
• The Electric Company
• Yearbooks
• The Office

And there I am, in bullets.