All Righty Then...

We survivied Christmas... always a good thing.

Everyone's mellow and just playing out the end of the year. We all have our new toys to figure out and play with. For me it's the Blackberry 8700C... for the teenager it's the Sidekick (another smart phone) and for the husband it's the XBox 360.

Yes. Santa was good to us this year and frankly I'm glad it's over. It's not that I don't enjoy it and it's not that I get over stressed, I just find myself wanting to move on. Deal with it. Get it over with and forge ahead. I feel the same way leading up to an election because of the way they bombard us with political ads.

Doesn't it seem like the whole magilla of Christmas is just another string of political ads... or is it just me?

Whooshhh...

You hear that? That's the sound of the month screaming by at like Mach 10...

It's not that I haven't thought of my blog since the last post of December 7th... it's just that I have not yet mastered the art of writing in my sleep. (If I had, my blog would be full of posts and the manuscript I promised to have FINISHED this month would be sitting, neatly printed, on a stack at the corner of my desk. )

Instead the blog is empty and the manuscript is about halfway there. Hey, I'm an optimist. The manuscript is half-finished as opposed to hmmm... what would be the empty side of that? Half-unwritten I suppose. Yes, it's definitely half-written.

On the home front... the good news is my Christmas shopping is entirely finished even though I'm half-wrapped, half-decorated, and half-prepared for the holiday that is whooshing toward me.

Is this different from any other year? Not really only that I'm not freaked out about it this year. Basically, you could say this is 'just the NEW me!'

It's All A Matter of Degrees...

We have a white board in our office where we post the teenager's work schedule... cell phone numbers we might forget and jokes and other barbs aimed at each other.

Today I posted 98.6 degrees (Body Temp) 48 degrees (Pool Temp). This is because maintaining the pool is one of the teenager's chores... his most hated. Especially when the water is cold. Right now with all the wind we've been having, the pool needs a great deal of attention because of all the leaves. He puts off doing the pool until it's dark outside.

And last night, he fell in!

Fully clothed. Sweatshirt, jeans, shoes, cell phone, wallet. I was out there. I was going to help him by skimming the pool while he vacuumed up the leaves. Instead I sent him in to a warm shower and I finished the vacuuming last night and the skimming this morning.

He didn't plan to fall in. And he sure as hell didn't like it. 48 degrees is way freakin cold. But he wore shorts to school this morning because it's going to be 80 degrees today.

80 degrees? In December?!!

Good thing we're taking care of the pool, at this rate we may need it before New Year's... Don't blame me, blame Al Gore!!

(signed: Honest, it isn't just me!!)

Walking on the Wild Side...

I've done my share... but I don't really want to talk about downing shots of tequila first thing in the morning. (only kidding)

Actually, the impetus for today's blog is something far more somber. I just read that the body of the missing father in Oregon has been found. I've been following this story for days. And I am devastated and saddened beyond belief at the outcome.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that being lost in the wilderness is #2 on my fear-charged list of The Worst Possible Things. My 'what could go wrong' paranoia is likely linked to my childhood passion for the Reader's Digest 'Drama In Real Life' stories.

Still, for a basic city girl I have logged hours in the great outdoors -- not recently. But it's sort of like riding a bike, right? From age two to 17, I spent every summer in The White Mountains in Northern Arizona -- a landscape not much different from the trek James Kim and his family took over Thanksgiving weekend.

My wilderness time served was the FULL summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day) and was not in a cabin with running water and electricity (or laptops, iPods and WiFi), but in a campsite. Trust me, I have mad wilderness skills. In the early years we all slept in one tent. Then my grandparents got a sleeper trailer and my sister and I had free reign to fight over the tent. Then the grandparents got a slightly bigger trailer and I graduated to sleeping in the bed of the pick up with a camper shell ceiling. The pro to sleeping in the truck was that I wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn when my grandmother did. The con was that when I did crawl out in the morning I would be in plain view of the entire campground. (Be still my bed hair.)

(Sidenote: I was a lazy teenager then who didn't understand the concept of burning daylight. Now I have a lazy teenager who burns daylight at such an alarming rate nuclear winter has become a concern. See how this goes? )

The point of my blog is that my lazy teenager has lived his entire life in the city. He may know how to bust an ollie on his skateboard... or forage for fast food with his ATM card. But if he goes off the suburban reservation... he's likely to be Mortuus Bestia (roughly dead meat in Latin)!

And here's where I think we get into trouble. We're mobile, global, teched up and even toned from working out in gyms, running or climbing on pre-fab climbing walls. We have paved four-lane access right up to the turn off to Wilderness. So we just forge right in with little or no preparation or thought. What happened to James Kim was a freak accident, but it's an accident that happens ALL THE TIME. In fact, there was a very similar episode on the Discovery Channel Series I Shouldn't Be Alive. Holiday trip, mom, dad and baby + storm = disaster. In that case everyone survived... but not without some heart pounding drama.

(Sidenote: if you think I'm wrong that this happens all the time, just consider the fact that there are enough of the situations that I Shouldn't Be Alive is in it's third season!!)

My point here is show Mother Nature the respect she deserves. If you're going somewhere by car pack some 'just in case' supplies. One bag won't bog you down, you don't even have to take it out of the car. Have some power bars, food, water... socks and sensible shoes, some of those paper thin thermal blankets. And most importantly let someone know where and when you're going and what route you plan to take. And if your plans change, let someone know that, too. They would have found the Kims a lot faster if they knew their route.

Wouldn't you be happy to take a late night call from a friend or family member telling your their travel plans have changed, than to suddenly find out you don't know where they are... or, is it just me?

RIP James Kim... it will be a long time before I get the image of the photos of you with your beautiful little babies out of my head!

When MEDIA speaks directly to you...

You know you are in tune with the cosmic universe.

Then... when your horoscope tells you it's time to get back to work... you better listen.

Men in Trees

I LOVE this show.

Anne Heche is adorable and the men are so ummm... manly!

I think this is one of the few shows on TV which portrays men as being ok just as they are. And while I admit that I often don't totally get men and what motivates them. I do love the men in my life just as they are, too.

Having a terrific husband, two great sons and an adorable grandson give me a vested interest in guys getting the best possible shake. And it's no secret the media has a tough time making regular guy look good. Every now and then the universe sets me up in a front row seat and plays out an unforgettable scene, one that stays with me. There was one such scene that showed the intrinsic and inherent goodness of men.

It was a Sunday afternoon my husband and I were off doing our weekly grocery shopping. The weather had been a little tumultuous. It wasn't raining when we went into the store, but when we came out it was POURING. The rain was coming down so thick and fast water from the parking lot was flowing over the curbs. It was easily ankle deep or more. Just getting the groceries into the car was going to drench us both to the bone. So he offered to let me stay with the groceries, under the overhang by the door, while he got drenched and went to get the car.

I was thrilled. And while I waited I was treated to an amazing show.

It was the weekend grocery rush. Couples were pouring in and out of the store. Couples, really! Men and women SHOPPING together! Sharing the load. Young ones... old ones and ones in between. What was so cute (and notable as an observer of human nature) was the lengths the men went to to protect the women from the torrential downpour. The young men carried their best girls piggy back. The older ones tucked their favorite lady under the wing of their jacket. Some held the umbrella over the woman's head, denying themselves any protection at all. The point was they all tried something. It was crazy, amusing and heart warming all at once. It was unforgettable, like a scene out of a Nancy Meyers' movie.

So, take my advice and check out Men in Trees. It might warm you up to that man in your life because I'm pretty sure these feelings are universal and... that it isn't just me.

(You might want to tune in quick, however, because Men in Trees is on ABC and they just moved it to 10 PM after Grey's Anatomy, which would be a good time slot except for the fact that it's up against ER and Shark.) But we'll see.