For anyone who's having a 'blah' day...

Hey you! Yeah you, the one reading this blog post. You are Great! Really! I mean, you have the nicest eyes.
Watch this, because YOU.... YOU are amazing!

dang straight

hmmm sounds like me

You Are Cute-Sexy!

You are definitely attractive, and you have an interesting mix of sexiness and cuteness. You are both hot and quirky. Gorgeous and silly. Charming and natural. You are not so in-your-face sexy that you're unapproachable. You tone things down a bit. More than anything else, you are real and genuine. And that makes you truly captivating.

Are You Cute or Sexy?

The Tale of the Verbal Bitch Slap

Last night i had the rare opportunity to verbally kick someone in the ass, who totally and completely deserved it. Chances like this only come around once in a lifetime, and the circumstances around it are what made me decide to go and meet him in the first place.

The backstory is, we had been really close friends for over 13 years - meeting through a friend of a friend. He became one of my closest pals, my confidante, and one of those friends that you make the effort to keep in touch with after high school and college, even through moves to different provinces, i sang at his wedding, the whole works.

Last year, he hurt someone i love very very deeply and went - well, he essentially went kinda crazy. He stopped calling, he stopped chatting when we'd see each other in person, he avoided me 100% when he could. He took me off facebook, which i didn't even know until i tried to contact him this summer to tell him that i had gone into labour 2 months early and had had a son who was preemie and in the hospital. Well, i didn't take that laying down; and i sent him a message saying "This is how it ends? After Thirteen years of friendship I never thought it would end with you unfriending me on facebook"

He re-friended me and there were a few more online exchanges - he said some hurtful things and it essentially ended with seven months of silence.

a few days ago, i had decided enough is enough and i was ready to take him off my facebook because i didn't want to see his status updates. So i had the page open, and i was ready to delete him from my friends list, but i just couldn't do it (ah Taurus', loyal to a fault).

Then, yesterday morning i get a message from him in my inbox saying: "Hey, can we go for coffee and talk?"

it was weird, it was out of the blue, it was unexpected... and i didn't know what to do. My first initial reaction was FUCK NO. But i replied saying that yeah, we could meet. I had no idea what he wanted to talk about, and the last thing i wanted was for the crazy to come out of him and for me to spend an hour on the defensive listening to how much of a shit friend i was to him for not supporting his 'life altering' decisions.

i was still so angry with him. So I wrote a list, a FUCKYOU list and i thought of every mean and hurtful thing that he had done over the course of the last year, and i wrote it down. There was no sugar coating. And by the end, i was fuming, but i kept writing.

I told him to meet me at the local Denny's for a few reasons. 1) it's always busy so things wouldn't be able to get too heated 2) it's 3 minutes from my house 3)if i needed to get out of there in a hurry, i could have lots of witnesses. i was prepared for anything.

and so it came to pass that on one of the bloody coldest day ever, i - sniffly sneezy laura - went to meet him. i was a few minutes late, thank B-rad for that one. He said i should make him sweat a little. So i pulled into the parking lot looking for his car and didn't see it, but when i turned to pull into my parking spot i laughed out loud. There i was, trying to avoid his car, and i ended up parking nose to nose with his.

I walked up to the restaurant, and i stood outside thinking i could still leave... i didn't have to walk through those doors. I saw him sitting at a small booth, and dammit, he looked so nervous and everytime someone would walk in the restaurant he'd look up expectantly. As much as i kind of wanted to, i couldn't stand him up. So, i walked inside and sat down.

the details of what went down aren't really important. the gist is: i read him my list, i told him everything that had been bothering me, and halfway through i thought: "This is NOT making me feel any better." but i decided that it was now or never. if i ever wanted to tell him this stuff, i had to do it now.

More than that, i was sick of carrying all that garbage inside of me. so i continuted. The man looked broken. And he sat there, tearfully taking the shitstorm that i rained down on him. It was not pretty. i reminded him of every cruel thing he had said, of every asshole move he made, of the hearts he trampled, of the friendships tragically ruined. I told him that i was prepared to wash my hands of him and walk away, after thirteen years, i was ready to just write it off as a failed relationship.

When i had said my peace, i felt like i was visibly shaking. I felt similar to when you spend an entire night vomiting with the flu, and you lay your head down on the toilet seat and your body is exhausted and you feel weak and kinda dizzy. i had spewed out all my emotions onto that table at Denny's.

i took my list in my hands, and i sat there across from him, ripping it into tiny little pieces. THAT is what made me feel better.

It's funny, i kept thinking over this last year; "If i ever get a chance to see him face to face, i'm going to tell him whatfor!" and sometimes i would think about it and play different scenarios out in my head, different ways it would go. In reality, it went nothing like how i had imagined it.

I don't know what his game is right now. i really don't. i know i don't trust him as far as i could throw him, and if he's serious about making amends with everyone he's hurt this last year, he's got a loooooong fucking haul ahead of him. He has a list, y'see. And i was the first person he contacted (aside from the person he hurt in the first place), which made me feel; well, i want to say honoured, but that's not the right word....makes me feel validated. That our friendship actually meant as much to him as it did to me.

There are a few things i am feeling right now.
i'm hopeful for him. i can't get the look on his face out of my mind, and i really REALLY hope that he's smartened up. He's going to therapy, which is a good first step, and he's trying to make up with lost friends. He says he's a changed man, that he never makes the same mistake twice... but i don't fucking buy it. Not yet, anyway. And until i do, our relationship is at a standstill.

I'm not opposed to forgiving him someday, because we all fuck up at some point in our lives, right? but i'm not just going to roll over and say: "Yeah, good talk there buddy, let's be pals again". No siree. He is going to have to work for it. And i most likely WON'T make it easy, but if he is really interested in fixing what he's broken, he WILL work for it. and if he doesn't? well, then he wasn't really ready to rebuild anyway. He has a lot of growing up to do.

so, here we are. And time will tell. Only the Universe knows what will happen next. But i am hopeful. After all, there must be a reason why i didn't delete his friendship on facebook, right?
anyway, the moral of the story is.... vengence isn't really all that sweet. It's kinda sour and bitter and makes you feel worse than you did before. Let go and let God, right?

Here's hoping he means what he says.

365 Days of Grace - 11

it's been one long crazy week over at Casa Diva. I have been waging an all out war with the sinus cold and cough that's been going around - as well as B-rad. And on top of that, B-rad had his wisdom teeth pulled Friday and Chewie has been teething (still no teeth) which in and of itself is exhausting, but on top of THAT i think he has also come down with the cold that's been dragging itself behind me like some crazy ball and chain.

Let me tell you. i am muthafucking exhausting.

So, i apologize for the lack of posting, i barely come up for air most days.
Currently, i am a wheezy and sneezy and covered in baby vomit, unwashed, tangled hair, sniffly, hormonal wreck (who just got all teary at the end of The Water Horse, i kid you not*).

*hangs head in embarassment...

But i will still lay down a few things i am thankful for, on this snotty sinus-headachey day.



1. Scottish accents
2. steamy hot vegetable soup with alphabet noodles
3. Amy Poehler
4. Going to see Chicago with Saviabella in March
5. Days like today when the sun is shining and the sky is baby blue, it almost lets me forget that it's - 45C (-49F) with the windchill.

quickie

could you imagine working for Jim Henson in the Glory Days of the Muppet Show??
the man was a genius.

just trying to keep warm up here, have a great weekend everyone!

365 Days of Grace - 10

1. sorel boots
2. scratching an itch
3. lazy sundays in bed with b-rad and chewie
4. olives - green, black, stuffed with feta; whatev
5. cracking my spine.

Join the war against embitterment

365 Days of Grace - 9

1. grilled cheese sandwhiches
2. children's tylenol
3. watching my cat play with a twist tie
4. remembering a book i read a long time ago, and owning it so i can read it again.
5. the gipsy kings

365 Days of Grace - 8

1. Chocolate Brown 600 Thread count Egyptian Cotton Sheets. Delicious.
2. Hearing B-rad laugh out loud.
3. Nights where the lovin' JUST DON'T STOP!! and a baby who goes to bed early so mom and dad could get their freak on.
4. Tegan and Sara
5. Using the word Fuck at the most awesome time and in the most awesome context.

Sexy Sexy Vampire....

This is part of my Christmas present from the B-rad, it is the handiwork of one Fourleaf Clover

HOT DAMN, i don't know what it is about the sexy undead, but they have some kind of appeal that i can't explain.... makes me hot just thinking about it... uhm.... yeah..... hot.... .. . . . . . .

....

.....



....



...i gotta go......

(Slyde, this is one of those posts i was telling you about.... )

Reason 1093489 Why I Love Him - Addendum

Impromptu Dance parties in the shower to the music playing in my head.

"Shake that body, Shake that body, Shake that body"

Okay, so as Teeni pointed out, this is a fairly vague post.. so to clarify - here's the story:

B-rad and i were in the shower together (saving water, nudge nudge) and he turned around after washing his face to see me dancing quite merrily to the music in my head. When he asked what the fuck hell i was doing, i said: "i'm dancing!" and then i proceeded to tell him that i had "Move this" by Technotronic in my head:



So we had a laugh and finished up with the shampoo and cleansing and whatnot... then as we pulled the shower curtain back after we were done, i started singing the song again and shaking my boot-tay all around the bathroom, and without a word - the B-rad danced right along with me, singing. He's cool like that.

And THAT is what went down that day. Hilarious.

Post-Op blues

It's been over three weeks since i had laparascopic surgery to have my gallbladder removed. i have to say that it has been HEAVEN being able to eat what i want without the fear of an attack that would cripple me into a ball rolled up on the bathroom floor. A somewhat pleasant side effect has been all the extra stomach gurgling. I don't know the exact reason for it, but it gurgles ALL the time now.

Some unpleasant side effects have been the bloating. See, they pump you so full of CO2 so they can look around inside your guts. This photo was taken only a few days after my surgery, and i had already 'deflated' quite a bit by then. But, as you can see - (please ignore my stretch marks) i look like i'm six months pregnant AGAIN! Not so. Just uber bloated.

I kept hoping that it would just go away... and maybe it still will... but here on the 3.5 post side of the surgery - it's still looking pretty preggo. Maybe not six months, but there is a hardness in my belly, where giving birth and not eating fatty foods for the gallstones combined with diet and exercise had left my belly soft and squishy....and ALMOST FLAT! well, i could see my toes at any rate.

i have hopped on the scale since the surgery - and what with Festivus and all the binge eating, i've only gained 2-3 lbs, in weight that is. But all this bloating has given me a few inches! Which looks like i've REALLY put the weight on, when the truth is, i haven't. It's very frustrating.

So, someone, anyone who has had this type of surgery, please tell me that it will UNbloat itself? I'm tired of looking like i'm pregnant... i did that for nine seven months already, and it took a lot of work to get my body size down. sigh....

oh yeah, and another thing is the change in me bellybutton. Not that i've ever really had a particularly cute belly button before, but now... i mean, i used to be able to put my finger in there. (Don't ask, it's a thing i do, since i was a kid) but now all the prime real estate is taken up by bulky scar tissue that ITCHES.... i miss my old bellybutton.

I miss my old body too.

And to top it all off, i am a complete space cadet a lot of the time, like just now when i was trying to upload pics off my camera, and i tried several times, almost rebooted my photo software... and i just got frustrated instead, only to realize that i hadn't plugged the cord from the camera INTO the computer. it's the little things, like that, that i find so very frustrating. I am not myself. Well, not 100% of myself anyway. Big Bloated Belly, Uncool bellybutton, Foggy brain. Will i ever feel like the real me? i hope so.

and now to cleanse your eye palate, here's a photo of the sky this morning - and also please note the amount of snow on my patio table. It's cold up here.... COLD!! (canada sucks for weather, but the cold makes for some pretty awesome sunrises)

Tasty Red Lentil Curry

i don't often do this, but i just made the BEST Red Lentil Curry, and i want to share it with y'all!
As there are only 2 of us (who are eating complex solid foods) i halved this recipe... and it still made a crap load!

Red Lentil Curry

• 2 cups red lentils
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry paste
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ginger root, minced
• 1 (14.25 ounce) can tomato puree

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash the lentils in cold water until the water runs clear (this is very important or the lentils will get "scummy"), put the lentils in a pot with water to cover and simmer covered until lentils tender (add more water if necessary).
2. While the lentils are cooking: In a large skillet or saucepan, caramelize the onions in vegetable oil.
3. While the onions are cooking, combine the curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, salt, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a mixing bowl. Mix well. When the onions are cooked, add the curry mixture to the onions and cook over a high heat stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato puree and reduce heat, allow the curry base to simmer until the lentils are ready.
5. When the lentils are tender drain them briefly (they should have absorbed most of the water but you don't want the curry to be too sloppy). Mix the curry base into the lentils and serve immediately.

The hardest part was rinsing the lentils! (I recommend a strainer with teeny tiny holes, cuz i spent a good five minutes de-plugging my strainer with a steak knife afterwards) It practically makes itself!! And it's delicious, i'm on my second helping as i type this one-handed. i served it up over some rice, i wish i had some Naan bread, cuz that'd be soooo tasty.

It's a REVOLUTION!

Ya say you wanna Revolutions, well, y'know... we all wanna change the world.

And i choose to start with my little world of the blogging kind.

It all started with Teeni over at the Vaguetarian Tea Room when she posted about being at a Loss for Words when reading other people's posts:

I mean, I usually have no trouble commenting even when the post topic is something that is not in my general area of interest. And my lack of chatter isn’t necessarily due to the fact that the blog post is boring or badly written. In fact, it’s usually the opposite. And sometimes I find myself enjoying the read but then, before know it, wham! I’m at the end and I’m speechless. It usually isn’t because I have no clue about what is being discussed (for those posts, I just bullsh!t a comment and hope nobody notices - if you DO notice, just indulge me. It makes me happy).

Can't you relate to that? i know that i sure can. I mean, how often have you been lurking reading your favourite bloggers, and they write something so beautiful or profound that you're just not sure what to say - or maybe it's short and there's really not much to add. Well. What if there was a code word to signify “I read your post, it was awesome, and you totally rock - but i don’t know what to say”.

my friends, i propose such a code word. today. and who knows, maybe it will start a revolution? when i left this comment on Teeni's original post, i tried to think of the perfect word - something nonsensical and easily recognizable. for that, i went to the source.... A. A. Milne, from his poems...

the word is Tiddlypom (actually two words, but one code word is better than two). Use it when you have nothing to say, but you wanna tell the writer: hey! i was here!!

what say you? if you think this is a good idea, i say spread the word (with a little linky love for your friendly neighbourhood Diva, of course). Let's see if we can change the world! the blogging world, anyway.

Next, we'll take Manhattan, then we'll take Berlin.

Yum Yum

Today Chewie got his first taste of solid (well, somewhat solid) food.... Sweet Potato Puree made at home by yours truly. pssst... the secret ingredament is Love. ;)

Mmm, this looks tasty mom!

It IS! It IS tasty!!

I love Sweet Potatoes.

Reason 1093489 Why i love him

Impromptu Dance parties in the shower to the music playing in my head.

"Shake that body, Shake that body, Shake that body"

Interview with a Vampire Lover

Psst... to see super cute pics of my baby check out the new post on my baby blog here

A while ago, my dear blog friend Earl posted this meme (as he said in my comments: It's been around forever. This iteration of it was started by Adam over at Avitable.com) and put out the call for those bloggers who wanted to be interviewed. I answered that call, and what follows are the five questions, and my five answers.

Earl: Believe it or don't, but you are one of the very first handful of blogs that I started following back in the day. Besides the obvious addition of the little one, how has your blog life changed in their past three years?

Diva: Well, to be honest - i've been doing this blog thing for six years. There are a very minute handful of people who have followed me on the long trek from Diaryland to Blogger. And just the move from there to here has changed my blog life by allowing me to easily upload photos.

But aside from that junk, over the last three years since my move i've really developed a relationship with my blogging friends, both on line and off. As my audience grew, so did my devotion to the world of blogging and it gave me the incentive to update more often, and also to strive to write things that are entertaining and not just what i did all day. I don't know if that's something i've actually achieved, but i sure am trying.

Another huge change in my blogging life was family discovering and reading my blog - which has caused me to inadvertently censor myself in ways i wouldn't have done before. I find i write less about masturbation and my sex life because of that - and i KNOW that's the dirt that everyone really wants. So, maybe i'll get back on that track. lol. Who knows. i'll try. For you Slyde. ;)


Earl: What would you suggest for a night on the town if a rude New York City boy were ever to visit The Skatch?

Diva: Hm, that's a tough one, cuz really it would depend on what time of year you visit. Currently there's not much to do out of doors because it's so goddamned cold outside. it was -40 yesterday, which i believe is the same amount of rediculous cold in Celcius OR Farenheit. If it was warmer, like -20 C (or -4 F) then maybe there would be some kind of fun outdoor activity like snow shoeing or dog sledding (there must be SOMEONE out here who'd rig up a dogsled for a rude New York City boy) but you'd be more likely to find some folks who'd take you out for some snowmobiling. Or, we could stay inside and drink beer. Truthfully, that's what i'd prefer. We Skatchewanians are big on hangin' out and drinking. At least, anyone over 24. Anyone under 24 likes to imagine that our small little city has some kind of 'clubbing' scene, but we don't.

Y'know what we could do Earl? We'd drive out into the middle of nowhere (about 10 minutes from my house, lol) and you could see all the stars. I'm still amazed at how many stars you can see out in the middle of a farmer's field. And maybe if we're lucky, we'd smoke some reefer and watch the Northern Lights while listening to jazz on the CBC radio (Canadian Broadcasting Company). 'Course, that'd be more of a fun activity in the summer so you could lay on the hood of the car instead of huddled inside it, freezing, but then there's the Mosquitoes to contend with, the Provincial Bird. (They're ginormous and hungry in the summer)

I doubt that anything we had in the actual city where i live would be entertaining to someone from NYC. Except, you might find the size of our city cute.

Earl: Have you picked up the new direct sequel to Ender's Game yet? If not, what are you waiting for?

Diva: What the fuck??? Holy Hell, where have i been?? i will purchase it and read it immediately. I can't believe i let that slip by me... i could have asked for it for Festivus... come to think of it, WHY didn't YOU buy it for me Earl??

Earl: You still rocking the Rock Chick? ;)

Diva: What is it about boys and toys? Yes. Yes i am. And it rocks.

Earl: My baby sister had her gall bladder removed after her first pregnancy also. She now has problems with rich, creamy foods. Do you miss your former organ? Like...do you wish they kept if for you and dried it out so you could wear it as a funky necklace?

Diva: I don't miss that thing one bit. And y'know, they never even asked me if i wanted to keep it, or see it, or whatever. I don't know if i would have said yes. I've seen pictures of gallstones on the web and so i kinda have an idea of what they would've looked like, and hey - maybe they WOULDA made some cool beads... but i'm glad it's gone. So far i haven't had any problems with food except that i feel bloated more than i did before, and...uhm...i feel gassier *blush* but no more attacks.

As a side note, i DID keep my placenta. It's in my freezer.

Ok, so to continue on in the same Earl fashion....to play this meme follow these instructions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

25 things you didn't know before

i was tagged for this meme over on Facebook, but i thought i'd put it up here cuz i'm sweet like that. But i'm finding it difficult to come up with 25 things that aren't already on my 100 Things list. So, here goes.

25 Random Facts about The Diva:

1. I had my first McDonald's Hamburger in six months yesterday - it was just as delicious as i remember it.

2. I hate cold weather, aside from the COLD factor - it makes my skin, hair, and lips dry so that even when i'm indoors, i'm still fairly uncomfortable.

3. Since i had my gallbladder removed last week, i've gained 3 pounds.

4. While i was in surgery, they also repaired an umbilical hernia which i was totally unaware i had.

5. Morphine makes me very ill. The upside is that i will never be addicted to it.

6. I love cigarettes. Sigh. I know they're totally bad for you and cause cancer and other fun things, and that you smell afterwards and you get yellow teeth and fingers.... but.... i still remember the taste of the smoke in my mouth, the way my lungs twinge when i inhale, the smell of a freshly lit cigarette, especially one lit with a match, and while i haven't been a smoker in over 10 years, i still miss it.

7. when you tell me to pick a number between 1 and 10 i will almost always pick 7.

8. i have read the book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal at LEAST 5 times, and as i just recieved the Biblesque Bound version for Festivus, i'm reading it again. my fave book of all time??? i think so.

9. i have recently found myself a little hot for vampires.

10. B-rad and i quote back and forth to each other every day. It's like another language.

11. We're always very sure to say "bless you" after one of us sneezes soley because of the Seinfeld episode where George sleeps with that married woman because her husband never says "God Bless You" when she sneezes anymore.

12. B-rad likes to tell people that his wife is a pervert. it's true, i am.

13. i love peanut butter.

14. I come from a large family, my dad is the oldest of 6 children, and my mom is the oldest of 7.

15. I am on the quest for the perfect purse. I don't know exactly what i want, but someday i hope to find it.

16. For a while there, in my university years, i was alllll about the thong and wore nothing but, but now i like the boycut briefs, yeah.

17. In church, when i was about 16, my mom was teaching the girls a class on homemaking (a popular Mormon Female-Gender Topic) and she taught us how to darn socks. She said that darning socks was a good skill to have so you could save money by not buying new socks. The next sunday, one of the girls in my class brought us a big shopping bag filled with packages of New socks, thinking that, because of last week's class, we couldn't afford any. I was so embarassed.

18. i actually don't remember how to darn socks anymore.

19. i kinda wish i did.

20. My mom is cool, and as i'm getting older i'm realizing this more and more, and that she has a lot of information - she just talks A LOT, lol, so it's hard to get the info you're looking for without hearing a 20 minute tale about her day, or people she knows from work. I love her.

21. Thankfully, i'm more like my dad that way. I'm very sarcastic and don't like the small talk - whereas my mother can smalltalk till the cows come home....and often does. This is why, wherever she goes, she has no problem making friends.

22. i owe a lot of my musical tastes to B-rad, but he owes a lot of his to me. We're cool like that.

23. i can't stand random fidgeting... B-rad does it, and now so does Chewie. Awesome.

24. learning to knit was another one of those homemaking skills my mother thought useful, and i could knit nothing but scarves for years - but only just started learning to knit from patterns this year. A skill i'm glad i have.

25. i love the clackity clack of my keyboard, and my laptop could only be made cooler if it was an old school typewriter attached to it. click click click click click click DING!

365 Days of Grace - Part Seven

1. warm slippers

2. hot chocolate

3. Baileys

4. hot chocolate AND Baileys

5. comfy pj's.

The History behind this thing we call New Years

I was thinking about the tradition of setting one's self a list of resolutions, so i looked it up on the old trusty interweb and found some interesting facts about New Years in general.

I learned a lot on the subject over on this site, but i'll paraphrase for you and give you the 25 cent tour:

Back in the olden days, New Years wasn't even celebrated in January, but on the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox - or First day of Spring. Makes sense, doesn't it? Spring being the time of rebirth and renewal - seems natural to have that the beginning of the new year. It continued to be celebrated in late March up until around 46 BC. See, the calendar kept changing all the time depending on which emperor was ruling, and eventually somebody just said: "That's enough. Let's just make one calendar year and stick to it already.... let's make the start of the new year....uhm.........HERE!" and thus January first became, arbitrarily, the start of the New Year.

So, they just picked up this pagan ritual of celebrating the New Year and stuck it on some day that had no pagan, astrological, astronomical, or agricultural meaning to it... just some random day that some random dude thought would be a good day to party.

I don't know about you, but i'd rather have my New Year start in spring... if only for the milder weather - and being less likely to be stuck in a snow storm between your house and the party - but maybe that's partly because i'm Canadian and we got 20-25 cm of snow New Year's Eve (or 8-10 inches)

ANYHOO

Those cooky polythetic Romans continued to celebrate in their own way until the Catholics (those killjoys, lol) said: "And lo, you guys are totally going to hell you crazy heathens." So, they put the ol' kiabosh on the holiday until they, conviently, put their own twist on the holiday like so many other Pagan Holidays turned Christian (the heavyweights being Easter and Christmas). But really, the first of January being celebrated is still relatively a new holiday - for the last 400 years or so in the Western World.

The image of the Baby bringin in the New Year is pretty straight forward, rebirth etc etc, and again those zany Catholics were agaisnt the Pagan-ness of it all, but the baby was so popular that they eventually caved and adopted it as well, writing it off as the birth of the Baby Jesus.

So, why do we do the big countdown and have big parties that last into the night? well, other than the booze and the possibility of perchance getting laid - it was said that what you ate or drank in the first few minutes of the new year would give you good (or bad) luck for the year. For example, if you drank a bottle of wine and ate some Cheese and Bread you would be merry and most likely get your freak on, drinking motor oil and eating Head Cheese would most likely kill you or at the very least leave you standing by yourself in the corner of the party wondering why no body likes you.

Also, the first person to visit your home in the new year was considered to be lucky - even more so if it should happen to be a Dark Haired Man. I guess there was no lovin' for blonds or gingers. Sorry dudes.

As for the Midnight Kiss, well - it's supposed to set the mood for the year to come... So, i guess if you're into big wet sloppy and somewhat uncomfortable years - be sure to stay away from the dude who was eating the Head Cheese, and maybe try to get close to the Dark Haired Man.

Apparently the tradition of making a big laundry list of things that you probably won't do in the next year (like lose weight, or get a new job, or FINALLY ask out Mary Sue to the Homecoming Dance) dates back to the Babylonians who's main resolution was to give back farm equipment they've borrowed.

I think i might adopt that, and resolve this year to make sure that i get that dvd back to my brother. No stress, no mess. Easy as that - and i'm a success for a whole year. The one resolution checked off. nice.

So, whatever you resolve to do this year, and whatever you ate, and whoever you kissed - i hope you all had a great time, and here's to 2009.

365 Days of Grace - Part Six

Ladies and Jellyspoons,

five things for which i am grateful:

1. The start of a new year and all the wonders that it holds.

2. yoga pants

3. life sans gallstones

4. the man who constantly forgives me when i fall asleep before business time.

5. smiley giggles. My baby's a moviestar

seriously, is not the our little Loin-Fruit the cutest? you can hear the movie Wall.E playing in the background

2009 is here!

Dear 2008,
Thanks for stopping by, but it's time for a new dawn, a new age.... welcome the Newer Improved, Younger Sexier version....2009! Fuck yah.

Love Laura

Another year here and gone, and what a year it has been. Time, I say, for my Annual Year in Review Blogging First Sentence Of Each Month's Post Meme. Or, A.Y.I.R.B.F.S.O.E.M.P.M. for short. So, in case you haven't figured it out - you go through your posts for the year and lay down the first sentence of the first post for each month. Here we go - The Diva, a year in review.

January: Do i dare do a list of resolutions knowing my track record of sticking to such a list is less than perfect?

February: - i've been staring at this blank screen for a long time.

March: Given my general lack of anything to say - or the energy to say it, its really the perfect time for these survey type dealies... this one in particular was stolen from james.... i hope he doesn't mind.

April: Goats are evil scary creatures - they have weird pupils, and they eat tin cans. They're part robot. Cyborg Goats.

May: Your older sister was way cooler than you, but didn't want to play with me because she was older than me too.

June: My little boyfriend.

July: Happy Birthday Canada.... The radio tells me you're 141 years old young today, and you are lookin' good!

August: Three MEME posts in a row, am i crazy? no, just sleep deprived and blogging deprived and really wanting to post something good but lacking energy time and motivation to do so... also, i have over 250 unread items in my reader and i'm trying desperately to catch up, but y'all are such diligent bloggers that i'm having a hard time keeping up

September: hey all, it's me!

October: Laura: Our baby is so perfect

November: Oh you astute and clever readers of mine, you may have noticed that little doohicky doodad at the top of my main page that states that i have, perhaps foolishly, signed up again for NaNoWriMo after my failed attempt last year when my laptop was stolen when our house was broken into.

December: Holy Shit.