Jan. 1: I’m busy today

Today I plan to alternate between two activities: reading and beading, even though I hate rhymes.

Victor’s at work (booooo), the kids are still in bed and probably will be for a while, and five minutes ago I decided I’m going to do whatever I want today. I guarantee that a half second after posting this, something will happen that changes my plans. OF COURSE.

Reading

I got this book for Christmas:

Amy Poehler is smart and funny, which is the exact combination I look for in a friend. We’re approximately the same age, and she tries to learn from her past, which is something I like to do too. That’s probably where the similarities of our lives end. But sometimes she says (writes) things that I would totally fist-bump her for, were she standing in front of me. Here’s an example:

“Going from crying to laughing that fast and hard happens maybe five times in your life and that extreme right turn is the reason why we are alive, and I believe it extends our life by many years.”

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that I one-hundred-percent-believe this is truth.

She wrote some really wonderful words about self-image that I love too:

“I had already made a decision early on that I would be a plain girl with tons of personality, and accepting it made everything a lot easier. If you are lucky, there is a moment in your life when you have some say as to what your currency is going to be … Decide what your currency is early. Let go of what you will never have. People who do this are happier and sexier.”

“Currency.” I like that.

Later she tells a story about a time she should’ve apologized but didn’t, and when she was given a chance years later and finally took it, realized how much the experience had eaten away at her all that time:

“Shame makes people abandon their children and drink themselves to death. It also keeps us from true happiness. An apology is a glorious release … a huge gift.”

Ugh. Shame does hang on when we let it, and it causes so much hurt for those affected when it goes unacknowledged. And… that’s all I’m gonna say about that here.

Right now I’m about halfway through Yes Please, so I’ll probably share more pithy bits and pieces before I’m finished—I’m almost to the chapter titled “Humping Justin Timberlake.” :) This last quote is actually from Hillary Clinton, from a letter she wrote to Amy’s newborn son:

“I know that your arrival brings great joy to your parents and entire family and I am pleased to join with them in welcoming you to New York and our nation. Best wishes for a lifetime that includes lasting friendships, boundless curiosity, a love of learning and a future that is shining and bright.”

Best. Welcome-to-the-world letter. Ever.

Beading

OK, I was gonna show a picture of my current project, but it’s a custom order and a gift, and I don’t think I should be tossing photos around just yet. So use your imagination… I have lots of these:

… and a bunch of these:

… and these are all around me:

There. That’s what’s I’m doing today. Thanks for asking.

Feb. 12: Stuff Jen Makes

Pretty please, I gots a favor to ask of you.

Since my upcoming medical treatments are still a mystery (but will most certainly zap me), I’ve stopped looking for full time work. Instead, I’m spending my days being creative, and I’ve opened an Etsy store to sell my handmade gemstone goodies: Dear Girl ~ Jewelry with Intention. Feel free to check it out. You’re even invited to shop. But here’s what would really help:

• If you have an Etsy account, mark my store as a favorite. You can also mark individual items as favorites, too.
• Tell your friends about Dear Girl ~ Jewelry with Intention (more on that below). Send them a link to my store, or pics of the jewelry you like most.
• “Like” the Dear Girl Facebook page. This will get my store updates in your news feed, which you can then share with your Facebook friends because you’re so awesome. Then they can like it and share it with their friends, and so on and so on. Yes. I love you for doing that.
• This is the big one: PIN my store items on Pinterest! It’s a great way to help people find my store.

So, here’s the deal with the jewelry I make… I use gemstones in most of the pieces, and I choose gemstones that will be meaningful to the wearer. Of course, everyone has a birthstone. Some moms wear the birthstones of their kids. Garnet isn’t just January’s birthstone; it’s also considered “The Gem of Friendship,” so if you’re looking for something to share with a dear friend, I would definitely recommend a piece made up of garnets. There are metaphysical properties for every stone, like how they’re used in crystal healing, their folklore, their traditional symbolism, etc. Every one of the stones I use is supposed to “do” something. Whether you believe it can actually “do” anything is up to you, but isn’t it more special to wear jewelry that has associated characteristics, especially when they’re chosen just for you?

I think it is, and that’s why I started being creative with gemstones. Now I make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, lanyards, pendant watches, bookmarks, and more. You’ll find a good selection in my Etsy store, but I also welcome custom orders. Let me know what you want and we can work together to create the perfect piece for you.

I also try to keep the prices affordable. I saw a Smithsonian catalog at the doctor’s office this week and was shocked to see $260 necklaces—one had about $3 worth of gemstones in it! Yikes. The least expensive Dear Girl items are those made with glass or acrylic beads—those are the ones I make just for the pretty of them. :) The priciest Dear Girl items are multi-strand necklaces made up primarily of gemstones, or items with precious-er gems. :)

Here’s the text of my store description:

I've always loved sparkly things, but I became fascinated with researching gemstones after my father died. He had worn an onyx ring, and I wanted to get a piece of onyx jewelry in remembrance of him. I was surprised to read that onyx is commonly used by crystal healers for grief therapy. Wearing that onyx made me feel a stronger connection to my dad.

I studied further and discovered that most gemstones have a variety of healing properties and ancient uses associated with them. Some of those metaphysical properties are common--a diamond represents constancy in a marriage, which is why diamonds are traditionally used in wedding jewelry--but more are known for their historical uses by ancient civilizations and advocates of crystal healing. Wait, CRYSTAL HEALING??? Does that sound like voodoo and witchcraft to you? It sure did to me!
Here's the thing: you don't have to be a wack-a-doo to believe rocks have power. I mean, clocks run on the energy from quartz crystals, so there's *something* in them. Like the idea of keeping a positive attitude to make yourself feel better, or carrying a lucky charm, the jewels you wear can make a difference. And if it turns out there really *isn't* anything to them, you've still got something pretty to wear, right?

Unless clearly stated otherwise, my gemstones are genuine. Many are still in their rough, natural state, but some have been cut and tumbled for sake of the pretty. I like the pretty. Occasionally I use glass beads, but will always say so.

My creations are combinations of stones that I feel represent something for the wearer ... bracelets of morganite (sisterhood) and garnet (friendship) for women on a girls' weekend (maybe throw in a little amethyst, which ancient Greeks believed protected them from drunkeness!) ... malachite and sugilite for a friend facing cancer treatment ... ... azurite and white quartz for students (mental clarity) ... for book clubs or other gatherings of like-minded people, fluorite and spirit quartz (positive group interaction) ... emerald and topaz for someone feeling the effects of age ... peridot and citrine for new business owners (prosperity and fortune) ... jade and moonstone (mood-balancer) for the new mother ... green garnet and onyx for someone making their way through a divorce ... birthstones, of course (January=garnet, February=amethyst, March=aquamarine, April=diamond, May=emerald, June=pearl, July=ruby, August=peridot, September=sapphire, October=opal, November=citrine, December=turquoise or tanzanite) ... mothers' jewelry containing their children's birthstones ...

I'm glad to make custom items--just email me your ideas and we can come up with something together.

Disclaimer: I am not a physician, nor am I a crystal healer. The properties and purposes of the stones I use in my jewelry pieces are shared here for entertainment purposes only. I have collected the data from books and numerous web sites. Folklore and reputed healing powers of these gemstones should not replace proper medical attention.

I have a small batch of pieces I’ll be listing later this week. Here are some of my current favorites:

This is a close-up on a multi-strand necklace made of rose quartz and pink opals.
It’s sparkly and love-y and will make you smile.

 

My “BFF bracelet” is made up of garnet, peridot, iolite, and morganite—stones that represent sisterhood and friendship.

 

Here’s a close-up of a necklace made of aquamarine and black onyx beads.
I love the combination of colors, and the shiny onyx twist beads are especially unique.

 

This is one of my favorite pieces because of its varying textures and gorgeous colors.
The green chips are peridot, the dark red saucers are garnet, and the light blue beads are aquamarine.
Together, these stones are perfect for someone who’s dealing with an extra big pile of stress.

 

OK, I’ll shut up now. Any way you can help me promote my creations is VERY much appreciated! Thanks so much!

Jan. 31: Month in review

January 2014 is almost over. I’m kinda glad.

I’m also glad that today is Friday, because we all need a little Ponch now and then, right?

You’re welcome, Fancy Lori™. I know you like the Ponch pic. ;)

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• New Year’s Day was celebrated in high style here at the House of Manullang. Three of the four of us were sick and napped throughout the entire day. Wheeeee. We’re the funnest.
• Jenn K’s birthday! We went to a wine bar, where I tasted a wine I actually like. I took a picture of the label so I can look for it in stores—so far, no luck. Figures. Time to place a special order, and I don’t even know how or where to do that because I’m so wine-stupid. After the wine bar we checked out a new local place, Valley Growlers. Big thumbs up for their fab selections! I think Jenn K had a good birthday, but none of us really remembers for sure, including her.
• I went to a baby shower for Erin, my niece. So fun to celebrate a new baby, even though he made me a great-aunt and that makes me old. More on Baby below.
• There was a celebration in our family when the Seahawks won the NFC championship, and there will be more celebration this weekend when they compete in the Super Bowl. As I am neither a Seahawks fan nor a Seahawks hater, I was not a celebrator nor a throw-things-at-the-wall-er (Loveliest Lori, I’m looking at you…). It sure is nice to have such happy boys in the house though. I also like seeing happy Seahawks-adjacent Facebook posts from happy Kim F’n, happy Melodie, happy Jordan family, happy every Manullang/Nienhuis, and happy neighbors. Happy is good.

I saw things with my eyes:

• Downton Abbey and Sherlock have started up again on PBS, and that makes for some happy Sunday nights here. The If-Downton-Abbey-Took-Place-Entirely-On-Facebook summaries that appear the next day at this site are priceless.
• I watched, for the first time, Mommie Dearest. Wow, I say, both for Joan Crawford’s awfulness and Faye Dunaway’s ridiculous over-acting. Still, it was oddly entertaining. One of the best things about Amazon Instant Video is having access to lots of movies (mostly trash) that I’ve never gotten around to watching.
• Last year I watched (and kinda loved) the documentary Grey Gardens, and this month I finally saw the Jessica Lange-Drew Barrymore movie version of it. Both were fascinating in that train-wreck/I-can’t-look-away way.
• Who needs to wait for the DVD release of Frozen, like a sucka? It’s online! Bootleg video, anyone?
• Armistead Maupin’s final tale from his Tales of the City series was published last week, and he was at Powell’s the other night for a reading and signing. He was as entertaining as always—I love that man. I’m thinking about re-reading the first eight books before I start the new one, just to experience the whole series in one great big delicious bite.
• I read Amy Tan’s latest novel, The Valley of Amazement. It contained a bit more detail about life as a courtesan than I really needed to know, but was beautifully written, as her books always are.
• I’m not entirely sold on e-books; I like holding actual books in my hands, turning pages, the eyestrain, all that. However, if a book is interesting enough, I’ll attempt to read it on my iPad. I just finished When You were Older, by Catherine Ryan Hyde. The story is set in the months following 9/11; I thought the author did a good job capturing the emotions of that tense time. (Someday I hope NOT to associate certain books with whether or not I read them on my Kindle app, but this was the second I’ve read start-to-finish.)

This month’s good and bad:

• NEW BABY NEW BABY NEW BABY NEW BABY!!! Erin & Kevin’s son was born four weeks early, but he’s doing well. I met him when he was two days old, and OMG, I forgot how lovely it is to hold someone else’s newborn! What a little sweetheart. Picture proof:

Baby Max (with Erin’s piggies in the background)

I love this pic of a very tired Erin and her sweet boy
(Totally stole it off their blog, but with permission)

• Debi visited! We need to see each other more than once a year. Boo.
• I opened an Etsy store and am going to sell my gemstone jewelry creations. I’ve been beading like a madwoman—it’s a very fun creative outlet. I’ll post the store info here when it’s all ready for shopping and sharing with your friends. I feel like I’ve been asking a lot of favors lately, so I apologize in advance for yet another.
• There aren’t enough creative new ways to use four-letter words that convey our frustration with the results of my PET scan. The cancer is back. I have a biopsy next week, and will meet with the oncologist soon after to decide on our next course of action. I’ll do my best NOT to turn Stuff Jen Says back into an all-cancer-all-the-time blog, but will also try to share news as it happens.
• And while I’m on the topic, I’d like some credit for not using more of those four-letter words on my blog. They sure come out of my mouth more than they end up here. Somebody praise me for my restraint RIGHT NOW.

I likes to share the silly stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to enjoy some February. You should do it too. Laterz.

Jul. 1: June in review

Shoulda posted this yesterday. Oops.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• The last day of school on June 14. From what I remember, it was a good time.
• Mother Mary’s birthday. We took her out for lunch but that’s about it. Bad Jen.
• Father’s Day. I don’t remember how we celebrated. Wow. I’m a terrible daughter and wife.

Gifts I gave and/or received this month:

• End-of-the-school-year parting gifts from friends. Such sweet surprises!
• Mother Mary’s birthday gift was a slightly customized version of this bracelet. I got myself a matching one. The etsy seller has some really fun items—she’s my new favorite. 

Books I read this month:

• Why Moms Are Weird, again, by Pamela Ribon. I so enjoy the way she weaves stories.
• Forget About It, by Caprice Crane. Very light, but cute.
• Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown. A page-turner.
• The Girls’ Guide to Hunting & Fishing, by Melissa Bank. Fun read.

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• Katie and I saw Brave. Loveliness.
• I Redboxed Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Great cast, so-so movie.

New recipes or restaurants I tried:

• The kids and I had breakfast at IKEA. I like some of their regular food, but had never tried their breakfast before. It was delicious. Totally cheap and way yummy.
• I made key lime cake balls. More accurately, they were cookie balls. Or truffles. Yes, truffles sounds better. Key Lime Truffles. Here’s the closest thing to the recipe I ended up using. They were pretty good, but I will definitely add more lime juice next time to cut the crazy-sweetness.

Special or unusual purchases I made:

• We bought two tents for using at Relay for Life this year. I never thought I’d own a tent, since I hate camping so, so, so much, but THANK BUDDHA the North Clackamas Relay isn’t in the wilderness. With air mattresses and my favorite down comforter, I be way cozy, but JUST FOR ONE NIGHT. Then I go back to having a nighttime restroom closer than a half-lap away.
• I bought the supplies for our Lap Beads Relay for Life fundraiser. My fingers are sore from adding jump rings to eleventy billion charms and lobster clasps.
• Floats! I floated! I’ve pre-purchased four more floats; just the idea that I have them available to me at any time is relaxing all by itself. That’s weird, isn’t it?

This month’s disappointments:

• We had to send Oliver away. Sad face.
• June 7, the anniversary of my dad’s death, is always a tough day. It’s been seven years.
• The weather. Ugh. We’ve had a few perfect and gorgeous days, but they’ve been unpredictable, with way, way too much rain and cold.
• Sunshine visited, but then she left again.

My accomplishments:

• My office is in a usable state again! Lucy’s got roaming rights to the entire house now, so I don’t have to be downstairs all the time and that means I’m pretty much living in my office. I like. I like very much. It’s a happy place.
• I made planning calendars all pretty-like. Picture proof to come.
• I lived through the school year. That’s big.

Anything else noteworthy:

• Katie and Jack had their piano recitals—Katie’s fifth, Jack’s third. They’re both doing so well and really enjoy it—though if you ask Jack, he’ll deny it. Katie is starting guitar now, and I’m sooo glad it’s not violin. Early guitar practice, even when the notes are wrong, is much less likely to make my ears bleed than anything as vile as a violin. Vile-lin. THAT’S what it should be called.
• One of Katie’s electives for the last term of sixth grade was Musical Theater. I don’t know why they called it that, because there was nothing musical about it. The class went to a high school play—not a musical, just a regular ol’ play—and their big performance at the end of the term was changed from an evening program to a during-class performance; most parents couldn’t even be there. We took off work to watch, and I was surprised at how unprepared the students were—they didn’t have props or microphones when they needed them, didn’t know their lines, and the whole thing was as though they were doing it for the first time. I don’t expect perfection, but I don’t see what guidance the teacher gave them at all. I was disappointed with what could have been a very fun learning experience for them.
  
  This wasn’t the only meaningless middle school elective, though… my friend’s daughter took a sewing class in which the only project was one of those no-sew fleece pillows. WTF???
• I finally figured out how to get Jack to clean up his room: ground him. Unfortunately, he thought it was kinda cool to be grounded, so it took him a week to clean enough to be set free. Whatever… it’s done. We had to go through his garbage carefully, though. Where Katie keeps every scrap of paper EVER (oh, how I wish I were exaggerating), Jack throws out old yearbooks, pictures, books he wrote in first grade, and clothes. Sheesh.

Here’s to a sunny July! Smell ya later, doods.

Mar. 28: Daybook

Today…

Outside my window... there are tons of new blooms in the front yard—the daffodils, crocuses (crocii?), and hyacinths have all popped open, and the tulips are well on their way. It’s so cheery and lovely that even with the grey skies today, it seems like spring is on its way.

This weekend, I… enjoyed Poker Night with friends. It was a blast, as always. I remember a lot of loud talking and grabbing of Val’s boobies and way too many kids downstairs and at one point I looked down and all my chips were gone. Someone stole them, I just know it, because how else would they have disappeared? I spent all of yesterday recovering from Poker Night. Yep, this girl overdid it just a bit, but it was worth it. **

**It wasn’t actually worth it. I still feel like someone kicked my head in.

I am thankful that... we went to Medford last week. It was good to get away from home—it almost felt like being on vacation. Thanks for having us, Mom! We found a new bead store that we loved, and got to visit with Uncle Paul and Claire, Nana (stories later, I promise!), my favorite cousin Deanna, and GILLY GILLY GILLY.

I am working on... some new décor ideas for my office. See, I have these IKEA boxes:

…and I want them to look less boring. I found this paper (the photo is a super-duper close-up of the teeny-tiny print):

…that has the new wall color in it, and I hope to combine it with other colors to pretty up those plain white boxes. I’m not sure yet how it will all come together, but if it looks even halfway purty, you can be sure I’ll share a photo or seven.

I need to tell you about something I love: stamped metal jewelry. You know what I mean:

etsy has tons of it, and I am going to learn to do it too. I don’t think metal stamping can really be just a hobby—the supplies are far from cheap—so I might just have to start my own etsy shop. That’d be a darn shame, right? I found this site that tells all about metal stamping, and I’m very excited to get started! Can you just imagine how satisfying it will be to pound out letters on metal? The hammer! The noise! The dents in all my furniture! I predict my anxiety levels will decrease dramatically with the first strike.

I am kind of excited because… Fancy Anthony™ is talking about creating a Stuff Jen Says iPhone app! I have no idea what it’s supposed to do, but it sounds way cool, because, um… STUFF JEN SAYS IPHONE APP. Hello! Suggestions friends came up with while playing poker: a drunk Facebooking translator, a keyboard that creates gibberish, a breathalyzer that locks me out of Facebook if my blood alcohol content is above “legally shit-faced,” and I just realized all of the features have to do with me being a drunk. Hm. Not so excited all of a sudden.

A few plans for the rest of the week: work, a visit with Sarah Vowell tomorrow night, PTO thangs, more work. Tentative plans: daily naps. One can hope, can’t one?

Here is picture for thought I am sharing: It’s more art from Curly Girl Designs. I just can’t get enough of her creations.

Have a good week, my pretties.

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Dec. 30: Sparkles

Yeah, I know I just got a pretty great gift, but nothing’s ever enough for me and I suggested Santa could bring me a little sparkly somethin’ too. And guess what? Santa did not disappoint. He brought me somethin’ sparkly, alright. He brought me these:

Gorgeous, aren’t they? I don’t think I’ve ever had an emerald before, and these are such a beautiful green. In fact, Vic said he chose them because they’re green, sort of like a constant reminder that we kicked cancer’s ass. I love the sentiment. I eagerly tore out the crappy earrings I was wearing at the moment and put these beauties in. They looked like… well, I’ll be honest: they looked like happiness.

Later that evening, I changed into jammies and started to take off my jewels. I noticed that the emerald studs looked like they were falling out, so I checked to make sure the backs were tight. They were. The only thing I can figure out is that the emeralds were too heavy to just lay there in my ear holes; they were so big that they couldn’t help falling forward. Sometimes gravity is an asshole. I took the earrings out and tried them again the next day. Why did I think that would make a difference? It didn’t.

I loved the gift, and the meaning behind it, but I knew I would never wear these earrings if I was always worried they’d fall out and I’d lose one. I explained it to Victor and he suggested we return them and I choose something else. Last night I started looking around online at the many, many options I had to replace my emeralds. Vic said I could get a ring or necklace; that I didn’t need to get earrings if I didn’t want them. But I do want earrings—I need them with this awful hairstyle in order to look less man-like—and I also knew I wanted to stick with green. I expanded my search to include peridots, since they’re also green, and actually closer to the lime-green lymphoma awareness color.

I use peridot a lot in the jewelry I make because it’s pretty and not a very expensive gemstone (relatively speaking). This made it difficult to shop for earrings, since I saw most peridot earrings as something I could make my own damn self. I got lots of ideas for future projects, that’s for sure. But today I finally settled on these to replace my emerald studs:

Yes, I know they bear little resemblance to the emeralds Vic chose for me. But here’s why I chose them:

• Um, duh: they’re way pretty. I love the delicate swirls and the heart shape.
• They’re dangly and girly. With my current hairstyle, this is good.
• I suck (SUCK!) at wire work. There’s no way I could make these earrings my own damn self.
• The dark stone is onyx. This always reminds me of my dad because he wore an onyx ring in the last few years of his life that he really liked. After he died I discovered that onyx is often used to treat grief in crystal healing. It became one of my favored stones then. Like peridot, I use onyx quite a bit in my jewelry-making. Love.
• The little green stones at the bottom are peridot. I like the idea of Dad’s stone stompin’ on the lymphoma.
• My favorite part: these earrings are handmade, and the designer calls them “Dearest Heart.” How sweet is that? Very sweet, that’s how sweet.

Here are some of the metaphysical properties attributed to black onyx:

Black onyx helps to overcome grief, banish old habits, and encourage happiness and good fortune. Comforts in unfamiliar surroundings. Helps overcome feelings of loneliness. It helps with wound healing and increases stamina and self-control. Assists with challenges in life, in particular those caused by a drain of energy.

And here are some for peridot:

Peridot is said to help slow the aging process, physically and mentally. Strengthens and regenerates all organs, stimulating new, healthy growth. Acts as if one had just taken a health tonic. Promotes sleep. Aids physical detoxification. Excellent for health care workers, care givers, veterinarians, counselors, spiritual leaders and mothers. Many believe it to increase patience, confidence and assertiveness. It is said to be very useful in relaxation and the release of nervous tension. Emits a warm and friendly energy; thus called the “Stone of Friendship.” Crystal healers use peridot as a good all-around producer of positive energy and healing. It also eases adjustment to large life changes. It is given as a symbol of fame, dignity, and protection. 

I know it seems kinda first world problem-y to complain that the gems were too heavy to wear. Oh, poor me! My jewels are dragging! Although I wish I could have stayed with the emeralds Victor chose for me, I think these earrings are more practical and will still be very meaningful.

Either way, I gots me a good Santa—he’s my Dearest Heart, for sure.

Dec. 24: IDCEAYWTPFriday

It’s Friday, and that means you get a post called I Don’t Care Enough About You to Write in Transitioning Paragraphs Friday.

• Hey! It’s Christmas Eve! I love today.
• Today my iPod has been playing everything from the “Christmas” genre on shuffle. I have a lot of Christmas music—I don’t know if I realized exactly how much until I put it on shuffle—and I’m actually getting a little tired of it. I’m also remembering why there are a lot of songs I’ve collected but opted to leave OFF our annual CD compilations because there is some really bad Christmas music out there, and it starts and ends with Mariah Carey. Pretty sure. 
• Have you elfed yourself yet this year?
• Big bummer: we had to cancel Poker Night last night because one of the Chris boys couldn’t make it. It would’ve been weird with just one Chris, right? Yes. We’ll try again for some evening next week, with a new invitation or two extended (ahem, Fancy™ Family, we’ve got our eyes on you…). We’re excited to use the way-cool poker set Val and Chris gave us for Christmas—how card shark-y do we look now? We are totally gonna fool people into being a-scared of our mad poker-playing skillz.
• Speaking of Fancy anyone, Fancy Lori™ is incredibly skilled in the knitting arena. If any part of you is cold, she can whip up something that’ll warm you up right quick. Pretty sure. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.
• Ugh. I am completely addicted to Pictureka. Dammit! I love the iPhone app, and after playing the board game at Sunshine’s last night, I love that too. And I just found out they have a Disney edition and OMG I have to have it! If I don’t post for a few weeks, just assume that I got Disney Pictureka and have no time to do anything else. And remember that once upon a time I was sane(-ish). That game’ll make you ca-razy.
• This song makes me happy:

I keep trying to comb Pat’s hair but he won’t stop moving.

• Here’s another Christmas song that I’m enjoying this year. Thanks for sharing, Sherilee!

Brrrr.

• I heard that I went caroling the other night. News to me!
• It’s not just me, is it? You’ve got excessively dry skin and static in your hair and clothes too, right? It’s always a little strange when that happens around here, because it’s usually humid enough that we don’t shock every single thing we touch. Apparently it’s not so humid right now. I do not love it.
• What Santa really does when you’re asleep. Now you know.
• Sunshine got me a super-cute “you-know-me-so-well” gift for Christmas. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it gives you an idea of how awesome this necklace is:
  
  
  The copper disc says “weapon of choice” and the charm is a typewriter. Perfect, right??? It also has me thinking two things: (1) I’m going to start making more jewelry with copper, and (2) I want to try metal stamping. I mean, have you seen the awesome metal stamped stuff on etsy? I could totally do that.
• (I actually am not all that confident I could do metal stamping very well. But I could invest hundreds of dollars and lots of energy in it and try and fail and shove all the tools in my “depressing attempts” closet. Yup. I could totally do that.)
• On the opposite end of the spectrum from the loveliness that is Sunshine, here is a woman I very much want to punch in the face, hard and repeatedly. You don’t even have to watch the whole thing before I’m pretty sure you’ll want to slug her too:

She may be a hand model, but she’s no George Costanza (pre-iron burn)

• We’re going to a wedding tomorrow! April’s mom is getting married to a man she re-connected with on Facebook last year. I’m so happy for them—what an exciting thing.
• Which reminds me, why isn’t anyone asking me to perform their wedding ceremonies? I’m thinking maybe it’s time for me to take this personally. I mean, first Kim F’n gets all engaged and asks HER DAD to do her vows, and then my friend’s mom gets engaged and (probably) asks her church pastor to officiate. Why do all the people I know use the excuse that they already know someone who they want doing their wedding? Maybe I need more friends who don’t go to church or know people who go to church. People who aren’t allowed near the holy water. People like me.
• Alright, we’ve got 13 people sitting at our table for dinner tonight, so I’d best get busy preparing. In case I don’t get around to posting tomorrow, please accept very big and most sincere happy holiday wishes from this branch of the Manullang family!