sillybooks.net (this title is the link)

I almost wish my kids were little again, this is so cool!

WINTERSLEEP

A great canadian band I reallyreallyreally want to see.

Saturday, Feb.16 @ the Commodore in Vancouver

GUESS WHO JUST GOT 2 TICKETS!!

skating day!

a little game of Christmas tag!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
wrapping paper, though admittedly, I am the SLOPPIEST wrapper ever.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
I tried to talk Kurt into an artificial last year, and almost won, but when the kids heard of our devious almost plan, they were instantly up in arms outraged. I suggested that we could get a fake tree (pre-lit, of course) and one of those pine-scented plug-in air-fresheners, and the fire-on-the-hearth-dvd. A real old-fashioned Christmas without the mess! Perfect! Of course, the kids understood, intuitively, that joy isn't really joy without a little mess to follow. :)

3. When do you put up the tree?
early December sometime. December 1st would be perfect, but rarely ever works out with schedules and such.

4. When do you take the tree down?
January 2nd.

5. Do you like egg nog?
blech. who's idea was it in the first place to drink raw eggs? too lazy to cook your scrambled eggs?

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
huge barbie camper van when I was about 5. even though I did sneak into my parents bedroom and discover it in their closet pre-Christmas.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
yes, but not one that I love. Just one that will do until I find the perfect creche.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
my husband. he's picky about clothes and only reads weird books that all look the same to me (read: theological books or strange science fiction/fantasy)

9. Easiest person to buy for?
My boys. Lego. Cars. Basically toys of almost any variety they love. Books. Clothes even!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
mail bien sur! especially when I have time to make my own Christmas cards.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
a crock-pot. yes, I am of that girly variety of women who believe that you shouldn't receive household appliances as a 'gift'. What does that say? "We need this toaster anyway, so I'll kill two birds with one stone and buy it for my love for Christmas." Swell. Maybe I should resort to buying him toilet paper and macaroni.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
Too many to name an absolute favourite. The Grinch. Elf. ALL of those old claymation movies. It's a wonderful life.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Usually the 23rd and 24th.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
no. just what kind of person does that? ;)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
those cute little quiche appetizers that people buy in the freezer section and bring to your house because they don't really bake or cook much at Christmas. :)

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
clear. and 'LED' should be added. Because they're almost all that is available now, and they're awful! I hates them.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Carol of the bells. And Silver bells. For some reason, they really bring Christmas to me. As soon as I hear them, I start feeling 'Christmasy'

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Travel if you can do it with everybody. Mexico, anyone?

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
yes, but why would I want to?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Kurt made a cross for the top of our tree years ago and it's sort of become our tradition.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
my dad is french-canadien, so I grew up opening everything on Christmas eve (sadly without Midnight mass preceding this), but Kurt's family always did it Christmas morning. So we do stockings on Christmas Eve (after we get home from Christmas Eve Vigil) and the rest on Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
that the Christmas decorations go up in all the stores on Nov 1. A day after Halloween.

23. Favorite ornament?
the tree, I guess. But I hope to have a creche someday that I love that will become my favourite ornament.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
roast beast with yorkshire pudding.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
a camera. sigh. a pentax k10d

treats from a friend and sao-meng in a rocking horse chase...

hockey night in our lil'ol town!

this little light of mine...

want one!!

today.

halfway through my holidays. it's been good.
a week or so of being a complete slug, and then a week or so of small daily projects.
dreaded Christmas shopping done. yay! we blitzed the mall the other day while the kids were at school and got ALL of it done in 2 hours!! the less I am compelled to be at the mall on my holidays, the better.
we downscale a little more every year for Christmas, to my relief. There is nothing worse than spending a bunch of money you don't really have to buy everybody things that they don't really want or need. It's wrong on so many levels.
Vespers tonight was great. There were tons of people there tonight. The pre-Christmas confession rush, no doubt. I saw a bunch of people I don't get to see so much.
It's shaping up to be a nice, calm and blessed Christmas.
God is good.

what people eat around the world (this title is the link to the website)

from Germany to Ecuador,
North Carolina to Bhutan...
It's very cool.

a fine Canadian tradition

If you have never read these books or listened to this show on the radio, then do it now. The Christmas shows are among the best (especially 'Dave Cooks the Turkey', it's become something of a Christmas tradition in our house). This show is just so classy. It hearkens back to the day of good radio. It's comedy, music, letters from listeners, and the star of the show, stories written and told by master storyteller Stuart Mclean.
They're podcasting now so I download the show once a week. The last show I listened to had the musical guests The Great Lake Swimmers. I was so excited! I had no idea they were going to be on. And they played 5 songs during the show!! I love being Canadian.

canned vegetarian fried chicken?! I am not that hungry.

what we watched last night:

San Francicsco. Population: 186

The only thing to fear is people.

Twelve years after a devastating plague has emptied the world of people, two San Francisco filmmakers traverse the nearly deserted city with a camera and a microphone. In a series of encounters and interviews with a ragtag handful of fellow survivors, they explore the harsh realities, the day-to-day challenges and the tough - sometimes shocking - choices facing everyday people struggling to build a community on a large and lonely planet.

Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends. - J. R. R. Tolkien

it's snowing today!

another crazy morning in the j. household. some of us take longer to get off the runway than others. two lunches left on the counter after the dust has settled. hmmmm. whose can they be? I guess we'll find out by who comes home the hungriest.
Christmas is so close!

from St.John of Damascus

What, then--shall we keep silent, cowering in fear, because we cannot praise her [Mary, the Holy Theotokos] worthily? Not at all! Or shall we stretch out our foot over the boundary, as they say, and ignore our own limitations? Shall we shake off the reins of fear, and boldly reach out to the untouchable? Never! Mingling, instead, fear with longing and weaving from them both a single wreath, let us, in holy reverence, with trembling hand and yearning soul, pay gratefully the humble first-fruits of our minds, as we must, to the Queen Mother, the benefactress of all nature! [1]

[1] From Daley, S.J., Brian E. tr. On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. Crestwood, NY: 1998.

From Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman:

For until this moment he had lived in a state of pure possibility, not knowing what sort of a man he was or what he must do, and supposing therefore that he must be all men and do everything... Lucky is the man who does not secretly believe that every possibility is open to him.

why?

is it so much fun embarrassing your children?
I picked up a. from study hall this afternoon, and I had some fun music playing and was doing some groovy car dancing. she was horrified. "mooooom!! stop it!"
my response? to turn the music up and dance harder as she ducked down in her seat so as to avoid being seen with me. why was this my automatic response? I don't know. somehow her mortification made it so much more fun.
maybe I'm demented.

digital children's library

There are books from all over the world, in many languages.
The artwork it what caught my attention. Also, I wanted to practice my french by reading some of the children's books. what a great site.

where the wild things are

the skeptic in me is scared to see this movie.
but the kid who lovedlovedloved this book is so excited!

lazy days

Today we are watching Christmas movies. I love Christmas movies.Frosty the snowman. the old claymation movies about the origin of Santa Claus, which inevitably get it all wrong, but have become something of a tradition anyway. A Charlie Brown Christmas. A true classic, and actually closer to the truth of the matter. Elf has become something of a tradition. It's hilarious. Leftovers for dinner. A lazy evening. A good evening. Tomorrow I will organize my sewing room and sew a bag. I will bring my serger to the shop so they can re-thread it for me. Then I will be off and running. ah the life of a slug. it's a nice break.
I've been listening to the soundtrack to Amelie all day. It's beautiful. Yann Tiersen. I found some sheet music for it too. Miss A wanted to try and play some of the pieces. lovely.

o Lord how You have blessed me, let me count the ways...

 

Processed Meats Declared Too Dangerous for Human Consumption?! great.

"The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has just completed a detailed review of more than 7,000 clinical studies covering links between diet and cancer. Its conclusion is rocking the health world with startling bluntness: Processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption. Consumers should stop buying and eating all processed meat products for the rest of their lives.

"Processed meats include bacon, sausage, hot dogs, sandwich meat, packaged ham, pepperoni, salami and virtually all red meat used in frozen prepared meals. They are usually manufactured with a carcinogenic ingredient known as sodium nitrite. This is used as a color fixer by meat companies to turn packaged meats a bright red color so they look fresh. Unfortunately, sodium nitrite also results in the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the human body. And this leads to a sharp increase in cancer risk for those who eat them."

the paradox of choice

merry christmas from sufjan

it's that time of year again

yes, the Christmas concert. The fear and dread of all parents. The ultimate challenge: how to escape discretely as soon as your own child has finished playing? But actually, it was a really good performance this year. The performers were well rehearsed, serious, and talented. It was a good show.

christmas tree finally!

zerohouse

ZeroHouse is a 650-square-foot prefabricated house designed to operate autonomously, with no need for utilities or waste connections. It generates its own electrical power, collects and stores rainwater, and processes all waste. Shipped to a site on two flatbed trailers, it can be field-erected in less than a day. The house, fully air-conditioned and heated, is configured to comfortably support four adults with two bedrooms, a full bathroom, a kitchen/dining room, and a living room. In addition, two elevated exterior terraces and an outdoor shower extend the living spaces.

fulll article here.

Eight rules for writing fiction:

by Kurt Vonnegut

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

-- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.

raisin pudding: serve w/whipped cream

STIR:
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup raisins
THEN ADD:
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Spoon into the bottom of a greased 8" square pan.

FOR SAUCE,
BRING THE FOLLOWING
TO A SIMMER IN A POT:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla

When it has simmered, pour over the batter and bake for 30 min. @ 375*C

cleaning out the random memory drawer, and I found this:

I went to preschool in Vancouver in the basement of St.John's Anglican Church. I don't remember much about it except snack time, because I sat next to this kid named Jesse who had the coolest red-plastic cowboy-boot mug ever!
I wanted it so bad.

"...Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand..." (the Skin Horse in The Velveteen Rabbit)

a day out

I heart thrift-stores

some awesome finds today. an old polaroid for $2. only to discover that film costs $27. some funky print old blouses. a lovely cotton duvet I think I will turn into a bag. thrift-storing is so satisfying on a rainy december afternoon.

so ingenius!

covet-covet-covet

this is somebody's craft space.
un.
real.

snowy days at st.hermans