This post by AWTM really got me thinking. She says this is the first Christmas in 5 years where she is at home.

She says:

The last 5 Christmas's have been hard for me.

I won't go into specifics tonight, because honestly. I am too tired for it. Let me say this, the last five years are filled with death, illness, new babies, and deployments.

This year is the first year my tree is up in OUR HOME. I haven't seen any of this stuff for 5 years.
...
The phone rings, and it is my Dad.

"I miss you, and love you and sure wish you would come home this Christmas."

He doesn't understand I am already home......

I know how she feels, in a way. When DH and I were married, we knew that he'd be leaving soon for Basic, and that we wouldn't spend Christmas together. So I didn't bother to put up any of my Christmas things, didn't get a tree, and made plans to return to CA with the Princess, who was then about 6 months old. Just before Christmas, however, we found out that his basic class (the last of the year) would be released for 2 weeks over the Holidays, and we managed to get him a ticket on the same flight as the last leg of my journey home.

That was the last time all of us were together at home for the Holidays.

For the next 5 years, DH and I decided that the trek to CA was more of a pain than it was worth. Forget flying a dog in cold weather, and we weren't paying a $400 boarding fee on top of flights, gifts, etc.

So we would nest at home. Almost never leaving the house the years he was still in the Army, just enjoying the time we could spend together, sitting in front of the tree, playing with the dog.

But something was missing.

I realized it last weekend as we were choosing our own Christmas Tree. This year we really will have Christmas at home. Yeah, my house is all decorated (although I can't find my Wreaths. Scumbag movers) and we have a lovely tree, but all of that will sit alone for a week as we load the car up with presents and make the trek home. For the first time in 5 years.

I'm sure there will be years when we won't want to make the drive, but not this year. Even if Dad hadn't been sick, we'd still be going. As my mother said the other day, I'm looking forward to opening presents without trying to balance a phone to my ear!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 455 words, total size 2 kb.

After several days of working at home (who wants to make a stressful 40-55 minute commute only to discover that their office is bereft of the internet), I braved the traffic to tie up loose ends at the office and discovered that my internet connection is back on line, meaning I can download grant stuff and send email and get images for my lectures. Yay!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 73 words, total size 1 kb.

The 30 second version of A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life, by Bunnies

And if you're not in a Christmasy mood, click here for more! Especially my favorite.

h/t Kathy

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

I ran across this idea today while reading through some new (to me) blogs.

Code Red Women for the Troops has a mission as well: To show the troops we support them and their mission. It's is our responsibility to teach our children that freedom is not free and comes with a great price. Our military men and women are to be honored and respected. It's repulsive that an organization such as Code Pink would use "peace" as a facade to degrade and disrespect our soldiers. Our troops are the only chance for peace that we have. We want them home too, but not until they finish what they started.

Drop by and let her know if you agree, visit the CodeRed Blog, and perhaps even pick up a Code Red T-Shirt.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:12 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 136 words, total size 1 kb.

Poor Barney. His little sister Miss Beazley is such a star, it's almost ruining Christmas for him, even in the White House.

Check out this year's WH Christmas video here.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

I get to work at 9:30. Strangely enough, there was a kick-ass parking spot open. Yay! So then I walk into the office, only to be greeted by "Yeah, uh, we don't have internet". So I sat and did what I could, then went and told our business manager that I was leaving. And left.

Got on the 110 N coming home, and (for a change) it was not bad. In fact it was wide open except for the I-10 interchange. I fly through downtown, and coming through the last tunnel in the RIGHT lane I see it all stopped ahead of me. DEAD stop. Shit. Can't get over for the exit. STUCK.

Arrrgh.

At least the right lane appears to be moving reasonably well compared to the other 2 lanes......

Then I hear "honk!!!! honk!!!!" behind me. Here comes the fire truck. SO I had to squeeze over for him to get through. Nice thing, though, I got back behind the fire truck, which cut off a lot of traffic.

Eventually we see what happened, a white Acura trying to take that first curve too fast (probably >80) flipped in the left lane and landed upside down in the right. These people should know, if the sign says 40, 80 ain't gonna do it.

Just before the exit. Grrrr.....

Anyway, the FD and ambulance were leaving as I got there, and the rest of the ride was uneventful.

Until....I get over to the right lane to turn right at the end of the freeway, and there's orange cones everywhere. Right and middle lanes, so I had to fight my way back left just to go right.

At least I made it home. Better than I can say for the dude in the Acura......

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:46 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 302 words, total size 2 kb.

After a few false starts, strangely unremoved central lines and drains, and an extra day to drain fluid, Dad finally came home around 7:30 tonight!

As I write this, he's probably in his own bed for the first time in 3 weeks. Snoring so loud he's shaking the house

He's still taking the pancreatic enzymes and has one drain left, but that was supposed to come out today, and will come out when he sees the doctor next, either the end of this week or beginning of next.

Oh, and because I am built just like my Dad, further proof why I never see diet results: The man has lost about 30 pounds and his pants still fit!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:55 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 123 words, total size 1 kb.

1 So glad to hear that he's home, that's wonderful news!

Posted by: Amanda at December 07, 2005 05:01 AM (ay+rD)

2 Glad to hear he is home, and seems to be doing well. This is great news, and a great (if early) gift.

Posted by: Laughing Wolf at December 07, 2005 05:32 AM (zI0Ey)

3 Hip Hip Hurray!!!! Home for the holidays!

Posted by: vw bug at December 07, 2005 08:32 AM (BAHyt)

4 Yayyyyy Daddy! Shake that house! Happy, happy, sweeties.

Posted by: Margi at December 07, 2005 10:09 AM (nwEQH)

5 That is great news! Snore-on, CTGDad!

Posted by: Marie at December 08, 2005 05:26 AM (JfXX4)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I scored us tickets to Barenaked Ladies!!! We kept missing them in Raleigh and Chapel Hill. I found out they were coming entirely by accident, and I snapped up a couple of tickets. Yeah, they're in the back, but who cares.

Yay!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:23 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

Working from home today so I could run a few errands and do some cleaning in and around grant reading and prepping for my class next semester.

I just wanted to point out that I love Target. No really. Beyond all bounds. I found just about everything I was looking to get for DH for Christmas, and the printer we picked up for $17 on Black Friday just paid for itself by printing the address labels for the Christmas Cards!

Not to mention that that was the EASIEST printer install of all time. Yay!

Now to label the envelopes and then off to the PO!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:28 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 113 words, total size 1 kb.

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Good God I hope so! It would be sad if they could give you a PhD in science without being able to pass the 8th grade...

Minor quibbles:
1) It's nucleus. Not "nuclues"
2) 8th grade is PHYSICAL SCIENCE, so questions 2,4,5,and technically 6 (see below) don't count.
3) Question 6: What is the charge of a neuron? Umm? As if? The right question for the correct answer is "What is the charge of a neutron?". However, as asked, the correct answer is: depends on the ion concentration and the firing state.

Stolen from a Baboon with an eyepatch

UPDATE!!! Answers below the fold! more...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:37 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 321 words, total size 2 kb.

According to this BBC article, parents spend more money on their sons at Christmas than on their daughters.

Some 3,500 parents with children under 16 were surveyed by the retailer in the first week of November.

The poll found parents spend an average of £223 on presents for boys, compared with just £127 for girls.

The top five boys' toys for Christmas add up to £428.95, but just £162.45 for girls.

The Beeb thinks that this is because dollies and board games and books cost less than video games and electronics. I dunno, I think there are just as many girls who want an iPod or an XBox360 as those who want a Pink Glow-Doodle Bear.

In my experience, my parents and my friends' parents generally had a budget for each kid, and if Kid #1 got a big ticket item (like a Nintendo or a bike), the other presents were smaller or there were fewer of them than the other kids got. So they spent roughly the same amount on each kid.

In one foul and evil case, budgets being what they were, a friend got a Nintendo for Christmas, including 2 controllers and the obligatory Super Mario, but the siblings got all of the rest of the games, so the SuperNES lived in the living room and he had to ASK one of the others if he wanted to play a different game

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 250 words, total size 1 kb.

According to this BBC article, Knitting is the new Yoga.

Stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Julia Roberts, Uma Thurman and Madonna have been recently revealed as knitters.

John Lewis haberdashery buyer Lucy Wright said chunky knitwear was featuring on catwalks and knitting was "being referred to as the new yoga".

Heh. Although I've moved on to crocheting, now that I figured out how to hold the hook. Crocheting is easier on rheumatic hands since you're never holdign up the entire weight of the piece, as you often do while knitting.

And I'm up to my ears in big pieces (hint, hint)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:54 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.

1 and it's harder to drop-a-stitch with crocheting. :-) I just wish I had more time for all those needlecrafts I did when my kids were in school. hee hee "new yoga" I hope I'm not the only one who remembers the NFL player Rosie Greer and his passion to needlepoint!

Posted by: Darleen at December 05, 2005 12:28 PM (FgfaV)

2 w00t! I knit, crochet, cross-stitch, and needlepoint!! ; ) I'm still one of the most Type A and highly stressed individuals you will *evah* encounter. Yoga my achin' a$$.

Posted by: Chrissy at December 05, 2005 01:50 PM (zJsUT)

3 I've been crocheting since a neighbor taught me how when I was 12 or so. I am so very distressed to discover that I am trendy. Heh.

Posted by: Deb at December 05, 2005 02:14 PM (ip0hZ)

4 Phew. Good thing I stopped doing it about 7 years ago. Otherwise I would be 'trendy' and that would scare me.

Posted by: vw bug at December 05, 2005 03:12 PM (BAHyt)

5 Am I the only one wondering about this: "And I'm up to my ears in big pieces (hint, hint)?" Isn't pilates the new yoga? ;-)

Posted by: Marie at December 06, 2005 07:09 AM (JfXX4)

6 I used to crochet. I want to pick it back up again. When Baby Girl was visiting from Japan, she taught herself to knit. She watched DH's mother do a couple of stitches and then she marched over to the crafty-people store and got yarn (DH's mom gave her all of her knitting needles) and started making something right there. People like that really piss me off. (wink) I'm kidding. Sorta. With my carpal tunnel, I think I'd have to hold off on the knitting and get back into crocheting. I used to do a mean chainstitch. LOL

Posted by: Margi at December 06, 2005 07:48 AM (nwEQH)

7 Crochet is one of the few things I do right handed. My mum gave up on knitting cus I always went backwards.

Posted by: Ith at December 06, 2005 08:05 PM (n4GLL)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

We don't do the Weblog Awards around here. Too much of a popularity contest for our liking, and without any significant bonus (such as a nifty graphic), as in Aaron's contests.

We don't nominate, endorse, or vote, but if you want to, please do. You'll make another blogger very happy.

So, just a reminder that if you're interested, the final voting starts today, and you should click over and vote for your favorites.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:40 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 77 words, total size 1 kb.

This just nauseated me. I mean presumably some adult had to have looked at the card and ok'd it, right?

During our visit to Walter Reed, we all piled into a room of a young soldier who had just come out of surgery. His parents were there to take care of him. His room was decorated with autographed photos...one from Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac who had visited the previous day...others of professional football players. There was also a card from a child...a get well card...

..or so one would think.

It was actually a "I hope you die" card. Think I'm kidding? I'm not. We were all speechless. Now I gave my word to the Public Relations officer of Walter Reed that I wouldn't publish any pictures of the soldiers that I took. I'm not sure if that covers pictures of cards, but until I get clarification, I will only quote the card for you and tell you that the handwriting looked like it was from a child in the third to fourth grade.

Here's what it said....

Dear Soldier,

Have a great time in the war.

And have a great time dieing in the war.

From,

Miguel G

P.S. Die

(there were bullet holes drawn around the word "Die")

Unfortunately the envelope wasn't kept so the origin of such a heinous act is unknown. Luckily, this soldier and his parents decided to hold on to the note because you will be seeing more about it on Fox and Brian Kilmeade.

Several folks are going off about baby moonbats and what are the politics of the parents and yadda yadda. I can't help but wonder if this is just a kid being a kid in a sad, misguided way. It's like something Bart Simpson would do for shits and giggles (like last night's episode where he tried to split Milhouse's parents up again so Milhouse got more attention and $$).

The kid's not the issue. The problem is the parent/teacher/responsible adult that didn't preview the card before sending it off to Walter Reed Hospital. The fact that either the adults didn't care or didn't disagree wth the messge makes me ill. Just because there's an American Flag on the front, that doesn't mean the message inside is appropriate. Look, what if (like Bart might) the kid had written about farting? Just as likely from a boy, just as inappropriate, but in a different way.

Now, If little Miguel turns out to be big Miguel, not a kid, but an adult posing as a kid to get their hate message through, that's just too sick and twisted to discuss, but certainly not above the loonies on the left.

Drop over to Two Babes and a Brain for a more thorough discussion of the topic.

(h/t La Malkin)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:18 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 469 words, total size 3 kb.

96% done (I need 2 more addresses from my Mother) and my tongue is tired and immune to the taste of the envelope glue. Yecch. Ptui.

Good thing DH is making dinner

If I have your snail mail address already, you're getting a card, otherwise I'm sending the same thing via email

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:16 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 58 words, total size 1 kb.

Trojans Win!!! 66-19

Sorry, (f)UCLA fans, but we all knew this was gonna happen today.

See you all here in Pasadena for New Year's!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:09 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

What Your Underwear Says About You

When you're bad, you're very bad. And when you're good, you're still trouble! You're sexy, in that pinup girl, tease sort of way.

But, as SF says, how can you resist the "Underwear Oracle"?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:52 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 53 words, total size 1 kb.

At first I thought this was another fine piece of Harvey's IMAO humor. Wrong.

Amazon.com is deleting bad reviews of Cindy Sheehan's upcoming screed, in which she pretty much wipes her ass on her son's grave. Several, according to IMAO's count.

I understand that they may have done this when Michelle Malkin's latest came out as well, and that after some complaints the practice was stopped.

Let's see if some complaints from the other side stop the deletions in this case.

Either way, it sucks. Let people read all the opinions and decide for themselves.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:12 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I seem to recall Amazon being buttheads over "Unfit for Command" as well. IIRC, they were allowing a free-for-all in the comments with that book. So NOW they moderate comments? How telling.

Posted by: Margi at December 02, 2005 02:14 PM (nwEQH)

2 Yeah, like I said, waiting to see if the complaints work both ways

Posted by: caltechgirl at December 02, 2005 02:23 PM (uI/79)

3 I went to look at the reviews and saw this: "Inspirational from a woman who has helped spurn the movement for Peace!" And it gave the book 5 stars. Ha ha ha ha.

Posted by: Laura(southernxyl) at December 03, 2005 08:01 PM (uI/79)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Advent is my favorite part of the church calendar. Maybe because we get to sing Christmas Carols.

Anyway, the BBC has a great online advent calendar you should check out!

h/t ith

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

Two recent hits, one right after the other from search engines:

1. "halal kosher wtf"
2. " fficial_s&q=nc+pork+barbeque+recipe+%2Bcrock+pot&spell=1">nc pork barbeque recipe crock pot"

I agree.

Heh. Also, I'm #4 for this one. And I think this person was looking for Ith.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:04 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 44 words, total size 1 kb.