Jan. 8: I’ve been everywhere, man.

Have you gotten hooked on Trivia Crack yet? All the cool kids are playing.

What I like most about the game is that Katie and Jack think I’m brilliant because I know so many of the answers. They don’t understand yet that it’s called “trivia” because it’s “trivial.” My brain is so crammed full of useless information that I forget important things like how fractions work and my own middle name. Knowledge is a curse, folks.

Although sports is my worst trivia category, I’m most frustrated when I miss the geography questions. I think it’s because I expect them to be trick questions but most of them aren’t, at least not in the Trivia Crack game. The geography questions also make me realize how little of this world I’ve actually seen. I have NOT been everywhere, man. Prepare to be sad:

• Highest point in the world: Mt. Everest, Nepal (29,035 feet)
  Highest point in the US: Mt. McKinley (Denali), Alaska (20,320 feet)
  Highest point in the lower 48: Mt. Whitney, California (14,495 feet)
  Highest point I’ve ever been (still touching earth): Pikes Peak, Colorado (14,110 feet). I have a picture somewhere of me and Vic in front of the sign at the summit, but Vic’s giant head is covering the “14” so it looks like we scaled a 110-foot mountain. Yaaaay.
• Lowest point in the world: shore of the Dead Sea, Israel/Jordan/Palestine (1,371 feet below sea level)
  Lowest point in the US: Death Valley, California (282 feet below sea level)
  Lowest point I’ve been to: Probably somewhere in California, close-ish to Death Valley. Memorable, obviously.
• Northernmost place in the world: North Pole (duh)
  Northernmost place in the US: Point Barrow, Alaska (71st parallel).
  Northernmost place in the lower 48: Lake of the Woods, Minnesota (49th parallel)
  Northernmost place in the world I’ve been: Amsterdam, The Netherlands (53rd parallel)
  Northernmost place I’ve been in North America: Vancouver, British Columbia (49th parallel)
  Northernmost place I’ve been in the US: Blaine, Washington, or whatever that space between Blaine and the border is called. (48th parallel-ish)
• Southernmost place in the world: South Pole (duh)
  Southernmost place in the US: Ka Lae, Hawaii (Big Island)
  Southernmost place in the lower 48: Key West, Florida
  Southernmost place in the world I’ve been: St. Maarten/St. Martin (the Caribbean).
  Southernmost place in the US I’ve been: We visited the southernmost point of the US in Hawaii (totally violated our car rental contract getting there), and also the one in Florida, which technically isn’t the southernmost point because there’s a military base on land south of the marker, so pfffftt.
• Westernmost point in the US: one of those Alaskan islands. The one Sarah Palin thinks she lives on.
  Westernmost point in the lower 48: Cape Alava, Washington
  Westernmost point in the US I’ve been: Somewhere on the Oregon coast
• Easternmost point in the US: West Quoddy Head, Maine
  Easternmost point in the US I’ve been: An airport around Washington, D.C.
  Easternmost point in the US I’ve actually spent time: Port Canaveral, Florida
• Farthest from home I’ve been: Brussels, Belgium

I would ask you to share your “-est” places but it would just bum me out even more, so keep ‘em to yourself, ok?

Oh, and download the Trivia Crack app. You’ll probably kill me in geography.

Jan. 7: ♫♬ Every step you take ♪♫♪

Like just about everyone else in the world, it seems, we got fitness trackers for Christmas. Steps, exercise, calories burned, sleep quality—all the device’s collected info is really fascinating to follow. On days when I haven’t met my total steps goal by evening, I’ve taken to walking laps inside the house, which confounds and excites Lucy, and which I’ve decided is just like taking her for a walk, but without me having to bundle up for cold and/or wet weather. Win-win.

On work days, Vic meets his total steps goal with no extra effort. I sit a LOT for work, so I typically only meet my goal on days in which I run errands or am otherwise extra-active. I definitely need to add some additional exercise to my daily routine, and maybe spending a little less time with Netflix wouldn’t be the worst idea ever.

I first heard about how fitness trackers are used when I read this piece by David Sedaris, published last summer in The New Yorker, about his experience wearing a FitBit. Reaching his daily goal became an obsession, then increasing that daily goal, and then reaching that goal, etc. Now that I’ve got a tracker, I can easily see how the obsession could happen.

I doubt I’ll get a garbage truck named after me—I have no desire to walk 25+ miles a day and also, trash is icky—but I do enjoy this little accessory and the incentive it gives me to get out of my chair.

Jan. 5: Sharin’ some Etsy love

For some reason, a bunch of the ads shown to me on Facebook and Google lately have been for items with “I love you, a bushel and a peck” printed on them. It’s been ages since I’ve actually searched for anything like that, so why the ads are showing up now is mysterious. Maybe old cookies somehow surfaced? Is that a thing?

But YES, I’ve searched for the phrase before. It’s a song that both my mom and dad used to sing to me—though never at the same time, that I can remember—so it’s especially special to me. In fact, there are only two songs I can think of that both my parents sang over the years; the other is “A, You’re Adorable.”

One of the coolest things about Etsy is being able to find handmade items with semi-obscure phrases or song lyrics. Today I want to share a few of the fun things I’ve found on Etsy, only some of them lyric-related. If you’ve never shopped Etsy before, let this be a very brief intro to the wonderful goodies available there! (Not to mention the beauties of Dear Girl ~ Jewelry with Intention. Ahem.) Click the image to visit the store and get more info on the item pictured.

So, yeah, Etsy is pretty much the best place ever. You’re welcome. :)

Jan. 4: I guess I’m one of the “kids these days”

Tonight is the U.S. premiere of Downton Abbey’s fifth season. I be soooo excited. Even Victor is looking forward to it, but don’t tell him I told you.

I generally enjoy historical fiction in movies/books/television, but when I hear people say, “Oh, how I wish I lived in that era,” I think they’re full of it. I mean, COME ON. You really want to give up all the conveniences of the 21st century just to live in a world that was ultra-proper, demeaning to minorities, and used the slowest-ever transportation methods?

Uhhh, no thanks. I definitely do NOT wish life now was more like the world in which our ancestors lived (to ripe old middle age). I’ll admire all that stuff from my fort of memory foam pillows, thankyouverymuch.

I love the interesting clothing from past eras, but am grateful I live in an age of yoga pants and oversized t-shirts.

Having to be perfectly-mannered at all times would suck. I’d probably be the woman they insist be institutionalized because she just can’t understand that certain things should not be said or done in front of other people.

And the dirt! Once you’ve left the castles, there’s so much dirt. It’s everywhere, and it’s all the time. What’d they use for Purell back then? Probably lye.

Really, I prefer NOW. I love the instant ways we communicate. I appreciate the technology that has made many parts of our lives easy. Air conditioning is un-live-without-able. I’m thankful for bike helmets, seat belts, and vaccinations. And I like that I don’t have to wear an evening gown to dinner with my family.

But I’ll take a staff of servants, for sure.

Jan. 3: Where I see happiness

I wrote the other day about how eager I was to un-decorate the second Christmas was over, but there’s one thing I leave up as long as I possibly can: Christmas cards.

Update, 4pm… Four new photo cards arrived in today’s mail! Here’s the new pic.
I will not do this every day.
I promise.

The photo cards get taped up on the inside of our front door as soon as they arrive. I walk past them many times a day, for weeks and sometimes months, and I love the constant reminder that we have friends and family and that they sent us cards and might even think of us warmly. I hate taking the cards down. Last year I finally did it while readying the house for Victor’s birthday party—that means they were up until July. I think that’s my record for the latest I’ve put them away.

I was thrilled to notice last year that Val still had her friends/family cards up long after Christmas, and for the same reason; they simply make her happy. Why does that happiness have to come only at Christmastime? That’s what Val and I want to know. And not a single person has come up with a good enough answer to make us take the cards down any earlier than we want to. Right, Val?

The batch was smaller this year. I have theories about why:

• Maybe the holidays snuck up on everyone, not just us???
• Maybe people didn’t have a decent photo to send and decided not to bother with cards??? Maybe they’re ashamed of their children and/or pets??? (That would actually be hilarious.)
• Maybe there just wasn’t enough Christmas spirit to get cards made and in the mail??? I know a lot of people had a rough year. 2014 wasn’t exactly a non-stop carnival for anyone.
• E-cards. I don’t love them, but they sure are convenient. I send out more every year.
• Maybe people don’t like us??? Naaaaaahhh…

There’s at least one photo card that doesn’t show in the picture; the Lassens’ card was so beautiful that I couldn’t hang it because the tape would’ve ruined at least one photo. Instead, it’s propped on a shelf with the pile of non-photo cards. Still perfectly displayed, just in a class by itself, so to speak. ;)

As they do every year, a few more cards will probably trickle in over the next month. The Devitts’ card will arrive in 2016, the photo dated 2013 and the letter from 2015 (I dare you to deny it, Mike). The late ones don’t bother me at all. Keep ‘em comin’!

Your faces? They make me smile.

Jan. 2: Tevye said (sang) (hollered?) it best

Over the past 15 years as a family of 3-4, we’ve created some traditions to help make our Christmas season special and memorable—that’s what traditions are for, right? The kids know they always get new PJs on Christmas Eve, which they open after we’ve finished our Chinese food dinner. Sometimes they get to open another gift, but we choose the gift because I am Controlling And Overbearing Mrs. Claus, or so they say. Actually, we wait to put most the gifts under the tree until the kids have gone to bed (they’re not Santa believers, we just like to see the looks on their faces when they come down on Christmas morning). They know they’re not allowed to start opening presents until Vic and I each have a cup of coffee in our hands. Depending on what other family members we’re with on Christmas, the rest of the day’s activities vary from year to year.

I cling to our long-standing traditions, but I like to try out new ones here and there too. In recent years, I’ve made a point to prepare an extra-yummy Christmas morning breakfast/brunch. We don’t always sit down together to eat, but when each of us gets hungry, I like to have something delicious ready. This year I planned two dishes: my bodacious frit-TATA (originally Debi’s recipe, but tweaked into my own) and eggnog baked French toast. Both required preparation the night before.

Although I can’t seem to find the frittata recipe on my blog, I’m sure I’ve shared it before. Basically, it’s potatoes, cheese, eggs, and sausage. Savory. Delicious.

Here’s the French toast recipe we followed. It was new to us. We enjoyed it immensely, and its very sweet, Christmas-flavored goodness was the perfect companion to the frittata. 

The new part of this Christmas breakfast tradition—and my favorite part, the one I hope stays—is that Katie and Jack prepared the frittata and French toast. The only thing I really did was put them in the oven on Christmas morning. We loved turning the chef responsibilities over to them, and they loved all the compliments from our stuffed moufs. :)

“Tradition!” Those Anatevkans were really onto something.

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.

Dec. 31: Month in review

Buh-bye, December.

special days i celebrated this month and how:

• Well, duh. Christmas. It was pretty great.
• For our celebration with the Nienhuises, Sonya did a Grinch feast—roast beast, Who hash, Who buns, Grinch bean casserole, Grinch salad with artichoke hearts (two sizes too small), and Who pudding… our contribution was the Grinch cocktails, which were green and contained booze and that means they were good and that’s all that matters.
• On Christmas Eve, we did our traditional Chinese dinner. Yum.
• We had a few ideas for what we’d do on Christmas Day, but it turned out that we all stayed in our jammies and spent the day enjoying our gifts. No complaints.

i saw things with my eyes:

• Guardians of the Galaxy. Action movies are probably my least favorite kinds of movies, but I like Chris Pratt and the movie didn’t totally suck. Best part: the Howard the Duck cameo after the credits. Did you know Howard the Duck was a Marvel character? Me neither! Crazy.
• I’ve been watching The Comeback on HBO. The Valerie character drives me nuts, so I spread the episodes out over quite a bit of time. The last few episodes really were well done. It’s a funny show, and deserved its return to TV.
• Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. If you’re not watching it, well, I’ll watch it enough for both of us and I’m totally fine with that.
• We went through the regular Christmastime viewings of A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express, Elf, Olive, the Other Reindeer, Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, and White Christmas. It wouldn’t be the holidays without seeing those movies at least fourteen times each.
• I started reading Yes, Please, by Amy Poehler. Love her.

this month’s good and bad:

• Good: Christmas was fun.
• Bad: we were all sick for way too long. Vic got hit hardest.
• Good: I’m done with physical therapy! I hated physical therapy! I mean, it wasn’t as bad as breaking my ankle, but it still sucked. And yes, it did some good, and yes, my range of motion has improved, but you are totally ruining my cheer over being done so just STAHP.
• Bad: my mother-in-law had her hip replaced. That makes it sound like no big deal—“she had her hip replaced,” like “she got a new blender”—but, of course, it wasn’t just a teensy little procedure. Once they decided it needed to be done, she wanted to get it over with, so the surgery was just before Christmas and kinda messed up their celebration. BUT she feels much better, so the good part is that she’s on her way to dealing with much less pain than she’s had in the past year.
• Good: we got new iPhones. New gadgets are mostly not annoying. I’m loving the camera quality most, I think. Victor likes the bigger screen.
• Bad: my blog design got all messed up. I noticed some weird stuff a few months ago, but yesterday it was completely farked. It wasn’t me trying to tweak things; it was Blogger and that gives me frowny face. I’ll work on it. Eventually.
• Good: Mother Mary and I got a bunch of house projects done while she was here for Christmas. I love feeling productive, but I especially love my extremely clean floors, the new things in our family room, and my very organized kitchen.
• Bad: our kids’ winter break seems especially long this year, and I know that makes me a rotten mom, but I really, really hope they go back to school soon.

i likes to share pics I’ve found on the ‘net:

 

This one’s for you, Dina. (And me.)

 

sooo… what’s next?

I’m going to try to kick-start my blog back into action by posting every day in January. I know, right?! Don’t worry, you don’t have to read it.

This year wasn’t our worst one ever, but it won’t exactly be featured prominently in our memory books, either. Bring on 2015!  

Dec. 29: All about Christmas

I’d like to start this post by sending out birthday wishes to people I failed to say “happy birthday” to on Facebook over the past few days because I’m a big loser-y friend. Also, these people deserve extra recognition because they have some of the suckiest birthdays in all of the possible birthdays:

• Jen E
• Stephanie
• my brother-in-law, Chris
• Lisa H-S
• Fancy Lori™

Here’s your cake. Sorry, you’ll all have to share.

---

I know everyone was talking about SIMPLIFYING this Christmas, but you know what else is pretty great? Getting spoiled rotten. And even better, spoiling someone else rotten. That’s what ended up happening in our house, and each of us loved every minute of it. Soooo… simplify all you want. Maybe the Manullangs will try it next year.

In most other ways, though, Christmas was slightly less festive for us than it is most years.

Our Christmas season is always exceptionally long because we compile holiday music that goes out with a lot of our cards, and sometimes I start gathering those tunes in July. My kids have grown accustomed to hearing “Let It Snow” long before they’ve even dreamed of a day off school. Because of this, I don’t always love listening to Christmas music non-stop from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. In fact, sometimes hearing it makes me Scrooge-y. Not Grinch-y—I don’t want the music to go away, I just don’t want to hear it for, like, A MINUTE IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK OMG IMMA KILL SOMEONE. At least one local radio station plays Christmas music 24/7 from mid-November on, and sometimes it’s all just a little much, y’know? I’m not sure exactly why, but this year it bothered me more than it has in the past.

Victor was sick and energy-less for the first two weeks of December, so our holiday decorating—which is always a family affair, just like the Bible says—was delayed. Jack and I put up exterior lights in mid-December, more for our neighbors’ sake than ours. I put out all our plush singing snowmen but didn’t bother battery-ing them up. And we didn’t even decorate our tree until December 21, which was so late we considered not doing it at all—but ultimately, decided Christmas morning just wouldn’t be the same if we weren’t gathered around a tree. I usually decorate all over the house. This year it just didn’t happen. I had the Christmas spirit, but when it turned mid-December and our house looked decidedly un-Christmas-y, I really just wanted to enjoy other people’s efforts, not my own. I think the kids were feeling that way too. I suggested we go to Zoo Lights or the PIR display, and their response was “why?” Pfffftt. I tried. (Kinda.)

It was the evening of the 25th when I looked at the tree and thought, “Yep, this has been up long enough.” And on the 26th, I undecorated it. I put away all the Christmas gift bags and wrap. I put away the snowmen (and only had to remove batteries from this year’s). The stockings, which were never really hung by the chimney with care anyway, have been boxed up. Christmas is D-O-N-E done.

Pretty much the only thing that happened as it does every year was our Christmas card. Here’s the letter we sent:

Dear friends and family,

Honestly? This year was kind of craptacular. I mean, we’re all still alive, but, y’know, just barely.

Victor turned 50 in July. As expected, he immediately began to fall asleep amid crowds of people, yell at kids to get off our lawn, and misplace his teeth.

Katie is now (pause for effect…) in high school. She took out her ear buds long enough to be a counselor for Safety Town last summer. In February, she’ll turn 15 — she’s both eager AND the right amount of nervous about driving. She’s in her seventh year of piano, and loves being in a high school choir. Feel free to ask her any question — she knows everything, or at least more than anyone else in our house does. Oh, and apparently we embarrass her constantly. Teens are FUN.

Jack, 13, played football again this year. He and his buddies are the best players in all of history. The constant phone calls from NFL scouts have become annoying, and now they’re going to have to compete with the NBA; Jack recently started playing in a basketball league. As the refs can attest, he was a natural at picking up his latest language: trash talk. We pretend he doesn’t belong to us more often than I’d like to admit. Personally, I’m most proud of The Boy’s budding chef skills — he loves to prepare entire meals for us and his friends. He’s still taking piano lessons, but he wants you to know he hates them.

Katie and Jack went with their grandparents and cousins to California for a family wedding this summer. They made time to visit three theme parks, much to our envy. Victor and I will eventually forgive our kids for going to Disneyland without us, but these things take time. (Oh, and we also regret missing Elissa’s wedding. Of course.)

My clumsiness continues to know no bounds; I broke my ankle in May and spent the rest of the year in a cast and/or humiliating physical therapy sessions. I’m convinced that physical therapists are nothing but sadist pranksters. Also in the category of “stuff that sucked this year,” my ongoing cancer testing took us on the least fun roller coaster ever. More scans and pokes will happen in January, and with them we hope for more definitive answers than we were given in 2014. The up-side is that, thanks to my excessive exposure to radiation, our house glows even without Christmas lights.

We adopted a sweetheart of a beagle in June. Maya was rescued from an abusive situation, and we feel honored to give her the love and comfort she deserves. Lucy is happy to have another critter with which to share the blame for the ongoing destruction of The House of Manullang.

After years of making gemstone jewelry for myself, I started sharing more widely by selling it online. Intrigued? :) I’m at etsy.com/shop/DearGirlJewelry.

Other things we had the privilege to enjoy: my new, not at all ancient-sounding great-aunt status (“former step-great aunt,” if you wanna be picky AND I DON’T) … a book reading/signing with the always-delightful Armistead Maupin … trips to see Sonya’s family … being a top fundraising team at our fifth Relay for Life … seeing our niece/cousin, Abby, perform in Pippi Longstocking with Bellevue Youth Theater … a huge party celebrating Vic’s 50th … floor seats at the Justin Timberlake concert (thanks, Sher!) … trips to Mother Mary’s … and local productions of The Producers, Dreamgirls, and Fiddler on the Roof.

As always, I share a few of the things said in or around our house this year:

“We stocked up at the liquor store across the California border. It’s not Disneyland, but if you ask me, it’s still one of the happiest places on Earth.“

Jack: “Dad’s a wifey boy.”
Me: “What’s that?”
Jack: “It’s like a momma’s boy. He does everything you say.”

“No, of course I don’t mind taking Jack to practice today. Totally unrelated, but have you noticed that all of his football coaches have blue eyes?”

[An impromptu Frozen singalong? Don’t mind if we do!] “Hey, where’d the kids go?”

ER doc: “What happened?”
Me: “My Danskos tried to kill me.”

“Well, the surgeon didn’t actually use the word ‘bionic,’ but I’m sure that’s what he meant.”

Dina: “Let me know if you need anything.” 
Me: “I need a walking cast and a house with no stairs.” 
Dina: “I have a cane and a tent.” 

“Today a physical therapist, whose pants were clearly on fire, told me I am ‘very graceful.’ I laughed so hard, I fell off the balance ball, hit my head on the stationary bike, and while pulling myself up off the floor, got to second base with the patient on the leg press.”

K&J challenged each other to say three words that describe their mother. Katie says right away, “She’s pretty, awesome, and tough” (I sooo ? that poor blind girl). Jack thinks for way too long and finally says, “Do they have to be *nice* words?”

“Inspired by my unfortunate lunch out today, my new band name is Pube Sandwich.”

As 2014 closes, we feel more grateful than ever for family and dear friends. Our hope is that you’re spending the holidays with people you can tolerate, and, if not, that you have easy access to the quantity of alcohol you require. AND: may the coming year be your best one yet. 

Jen

(and Vic, Katie, Jack, Millie, Lucy, and Maya)

And the photo card that went out with the letter:

So, that’s it for the 2014 Christmas season. It came and went. We loved the Christmas-y part, but the rest sorta sucked and we’re ready for 2015. Bring it on.