The Caught In A Yule Tide Edition

Ho, Ho, Ho... Christmas has left us, yet the memories, and the reams of shredded wrapping paper, are still here. With far flung friends and family the best place to spend Christmas morning was in our own little country house with our new little baby. I don't think Ginny Grace quite understood the concept of course, and we had to help her unwrap her presents, but she sure enjoyed all the colorful toys that she got from us and, it seemed, the rest of the globe. I can't believe how generous our extended family was to Gracie. She got so much loot it was absurd, but she's so far enjoyed everything- which in her case means quite literally drooling over it. We got up early in the morning and had some cereal and then opened our presents. Shell got me a couple of big presents including Season 4 of 24 on DVD (nothing says Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men quite like Jack Bauer torturing and killing terrorits!!!)...on the less blood soaked gifting was a framed picture of Tiger and Mike Weir from Weirsey's Masters victory...it's just what my golf room needed!!! One of Gracie's big gifts from Mommy and Daddy was a Tigger (not to be confused with Tiger). It dances and does cartwheels, however it does them unfortunately to the tune of Hammer Time/Super Freak...I'm still puzzled by it)...as was she, she seemed much more interested in a teething ring my sister sent... After all the carnage was over here, we headed out to Mom and Dad Snyder's for a few days...and yet more presents (woohoo!). They were, as always, incredibly generous to us and amongst other things I got the new Al Franken book (which I proceeded to read that night...very funny) and also one of my favorite Woody Allen movies- "Radio Days". Boxing Day we went to Barb and Earl's for the Amos family Christmas where we finally got to see the newest edition to the family, Tyson. The smiles on the faces of Renee and Jeff were wonderful to behold and Tyson is so sweet. I had to fight for a chance to hold him :) He and GG looked so cute together... Here she's trying to tell him all the secrets she's learned in her 3 and a half months...such a veteran... After everything was over we're finally home awaiting Maria's baby and the New Year whichever comes first. We had a great holiday thus far and we're fairly exhausted, so this is a short TGIF this week...but there's always more pictures :) "Let me get this straight....the reindeer FLY??? I'm just not buyin that Daddy"... This is my belly...this is my belly button... Snoozing with Willow... "So you've heard the one about the flying reindeer right? Incredible isn't it?".. "What?!? There's another one with a bright shiny red nose?? Am I on Punk'd or something??"... Ginny and Dixie... GG and Great-Grandma Snyder... Grammy makes me laugh and smile... Daddy just makes me sleepy... Jenny and Ginny... This Christmas stuff is tiring... Uncle Greg gets the drooly, snoring baby at the end of the night... Gramps' lap is comfy... Well that's all for now. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that your New Years Eve is happy and oh so safe. Until next time, Cheers!

The Einstein I'm Not Edition

There's no getting around it- I have a pesky little quirk about me- my gigantic ego...when I fly Southwest they make me purchase an additional seat just for my ego. It's just all about me. Sometimes you never know when the lightning will strike- the sudden crash of recognition, the knowledge revealed. For me it was timestamped 11:14pm, Sunday December 18th, 2005. There I was standing in the Shopper's Drug Mart, staring at the cans of baby formula when it happened. See we've reached an impasse in Ginny Grace's brief life. She has learned ever so eloquently the lesson of Alfred Marshall, the partial equalibrium of supply and demand. Her demand has temporarily outrun the supply of her mother and therefore, subject to the great and powerful free market forces, she is now to soon (and too soon) have her first taste of foriegn substance. But back to me, me, me and my personal moment of enlightenment... Staring at the cans I'm attempting to decipher the packaging (this is an 'unwritten' economic law apparently, shiny wrapping makes consumers purchase...it works in the cereal aisle at least). Trying to remember the instructions from my wife, which were rather simple and direct, yet these cans...written in some sort of 'mommy code'. I'm so perplexed. This is of great import. This is my child this stuff is going to go into- but the dilemma is still all about me at this point- 'don't screw this up and make the wife mad' Frustrated and awaiting the moment when I'm sure drug store security is going to start checking me out, I thrust my hands into my pockets to hunch my shoulders over and think harder (it's stage two of my concentration process...stage three is the pacing stage...it's not pretty to watch, or so I've been told). Anyway, there I am...staring, struggling, afraid...and my right hand closes over something in my pocket... It was Ginny Grace's hair barrette that she wore the previous night to the Snyder Christmas party. It had fallen out as I picked her warm sleeping body up out of her carseat when we got home. (When she's zonked out she does this little body arch curl that just melts me like Frosty in the hothouse). I didn't even have to pull it out of my pocket- it took about a nanosecond to realize from touch what it was and that's when it hit me. It isn't about 'YOU' anymore you dumb jerk. Your wife being mad at you is the least of your problems and if you screw up, you'll just have to lug your hump back down to the store again and fix it. Of course I knew all this before, somewhere inside my coconut, but there it was so clear, so profound...in its little plastic claspy glory. So we've now got a can of formula in the house. Our own private strategic milk reserve- for the days when she's super hungry and mommy is just all pumped out. And as much as we might feel like we've failed somehow, the important thing is that HER needs are taken care of, rather than our fragile egos. Today my parents and siblings had their Christmas. My brother and his ever growing Brady Bunch brood is heading down to FLA for some sunny Christmas climes and so they gathered to have dinner and presents. My parents now have, essentially, 7 grandkids: GG, Samantha, Nick, Tina, Kayla, Natalie, and Nathan...whew... We sent presents down to them and miracle of miracles the varied post offices managed to get them there intact and on time. So I called this afternoon and listened as they opened the presents we sent, and chatted with them and somehow it made the hundreds of miles seem a bit less distant. As a small and early present to all of you here's a special little clip of Gracie's meeting with the big red guy...(it might take a minute to load for you, and if you are on a Mac it might not play since its in Windows Media file, but just click the link below and enjoy...) Ginny Grace and Santa We're getting excited about Christmas here. We'll be heading to Mom and Dad Snyder's house Sunday and looking forward to spending some quality time in their warm and comfy house in the sweet embrace of family. We still have a few things to tidy up this week, some loose strings and of course Shell has to work this week as well. Today though she was able to get Dixie girl all trimmed up and bathed. I could tell right away this evening that Dixie girl had gotten a bath because she was assuming her sleeping spot of grumpiness on the couch- the place she goes when she's been horribly treated to a near drowning...with soap. But she smells good- at least to us. This last week has also seen some big blessings in our world. Renee and Jeff brought little (well not so little) Tyson Russell Harrison Reid into the world. Apparently his mommy and daddy knew he was going to be a big boy so they gave him an extra name! We are so looking forward to seeing them all on Boxing Day and share new parent stories with each other, and compare and contrast the relative sizes of the bags under our eyes. Today we also got news that has us over the moon. It seems Santa has heard our most important Christmas wish, and little Elisa looks like she's going to be able to go home with her new mommy and daddy for Christmas. We are just so happy for Mike and Laura and this little miracle baby. They are going to be wonderful parents! So this just leaves Maria and Andrew's little one still a-brewin' and the 2005 Babypalooza will be complete. Also two of my favorite women in the wide world had (or will have) birthdays this week... Our darling Lauren, the Aussie dream, had a birthday last week and the woman I'd personally fight a war with Troy AND Sparta over, Laura has a birthday this Tuesday. These two ladies are very special to me and I love them both very much. Well let's see what we have in the photo bin this week... Getting ready for the studio Xmas party, this little diva is wearing a lovely blue gown with white blouse...her smart ensemble says 'don't touch me or I'll cry for an hour in Uncle Tim's office'... But fussy fits do have their rewards...like slumbering cuteness in the morning aftermath... Yes my smile may say "I love you Daddy" but my eyes say "I'm going to cry later until your head spins around, Daddy"...the calm before the storm... Mmmmm....plastics...it's what's for dinner... Signaling a touchdown... Enjoying her morning while mommy and daddy fight off the flu that ravaged the house last weekend... "Dear God, please don't let me catch whatever plague Mommy and Daddy have"... "But maybe to be on the safe side I'll just hide..." In non-pukier times... (mostly for Auntie Tara...) Dixie is just over to whole sad ordeal...little does she know she's getting a shave and a bath soon... "I don't mean to be a critic but I find Piglet to be rather banal, whilst this Pooh and Tigger are quite capricious..." In case some of you are away from your computers until after the holidays, let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas (and/or Holiday of your religious faith) and a Happy New Year (unless you are from China in which case you have to wait 'til February). Til next time Cheers Ron

The Do, Or Do Not, There Is No Try Edition

Confucius wrote: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling but rising every time we fall." I have to be honest with you...if I somehow passed my Egyptology final it's because elves switched my grade with someone smarter. I failed miserably. It's simply the worst test I've ever taken. I'd take the SATs naked in the pouring rain 5 times in a day before I'd take that test again. When I got the exam and turned it over to begin, it was as if it had been written in sanskrit, but considering it was an ancient Egypt test I thought an exam written in the dead Hindu language would have been a misfire. So I sallied forth into the abyss. Now I don't mean to pat myself on the back, but I'm a reasonably intelligent person and in the past I've received very good marks in all (or most) of my schooling (there was the senior year in high school that my brain took an unexpected hiatus but that had more to do with laziness, boredom, depression, and the occasional Michelob- yes I now out my teenage drinking to my parents and will be forthwith grounded retroactively I'm sure). My point is that I'm generally a good student. But for some reason all the frustration I've had with this course, which I never really wanted to take to begin and is out of my focus and interest, came out in the blinding flash that was the sudden realization that I was not only in way over my head, but sucking the last breath I had at the bottom of a vast sea. I gave it my best shot, but, as Homer J would say, it sucked more than anything that has ever sucked before in the history of things that suck. They'll need to invent a new alphabet for the grade they'll give me. So afterward, Shelley greeted me and I slumped in the chair in Lash Miller's Chem Lab leather oasis of a lounge area. I sat. I sulked. I probably cried. I was sickened to my stomach. As we eventually got up to leave, my ego stayed behind to keep my wounded soul company. I was a ghost figure driving back home. Shell tried to cheer me up- to encourage me that all was not lost, but it really was more like the last rites of the condemned. Dead GPA Walking. I still couldn't shake it as I read through my notes for my Espionage final. Shelley went out of her way to make sure that I was bucked up as much as she could muster and when I got into town today she just kept giving me encouragement as I droped her off at Les' house and drove to class. I did very well on this one. But really this was in my wheel house so I should have smoked it over the fence anyway. I hope I get an A, but since people get an A at Toronto like they find gold in the parking lots I'll probably get a B and count myself blessed. Even if I did get an A, and lots of others in the future, I'll never fully shake this ridiculous one semester Egyptology class. But its over now I suppose. I have an entire month off before I go back. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and my exam will be like the season of Dallas where Bobby was dead and it was all a dream, a horrible dream...but probably not. It felt real enough. (but I keep checking the shower for Patrick Duffy nonetheless) Still it's on to Christmas and hopefully some happiness, joy, yule ti...aww crap...nope not working...stupid Egypt. If anyone needs me I'll be in the bathroom...on the floor...weeping. Okay wait...I have to snap out of it. Must remember Confucius. So yeah Christmas, rah rah. I've nearly finished Christmas shopping, I've done almost all the Christmas cards, the tree is up but undecorated as of yet. The house needs a thorough holiday cleaning and I'll be working on that AND in a few days I'll cautiously start working on my spring Espionage paper to try and get a jump start. I have a long list of things to do, people to see, stuff to mail, places to go. And with a bit of luck I'll even forget this horrible exam...no I won't. Yes I will!! not really Cake or death? [some people are laughing about now..a few are phoning the authorities] So to keep them busy I'll post pictures... My little doodle bug lounging in her jammies... This week Gracie earned a new nickname- Fish I was changing her and she was rather covered in well...there's just no way to say it gingerly..POOP! I was holding her legs aloft trying to make sure she didn't squirm around too much in it and she started to really thrash like a hooked marlin. I kept lifting her higher and higher in an effort to keep her clean AND keep her from sliding off the change table when, still with her feet in my hand, she became airborne, dangling there like the little floppy fish she is. It was funny and scary all at the same time...but mostly funny...except for her mother who slapped me when I told her the story...no she didn't. yes she did no not really. She's such a little flirty girl...14 years, I'm buying a shotgun. We went to Maria's birthday party this week and everyone loved Gracie. Big old blue eyes... sleepy girl... doing yoga with Dixie... give us a kiss... after a long hard day, mommy gets some sleepy love... hanging out with daddy... in the comfy chair making faces... a kiss on the hand from Willow...awww.... That's pretty much all for now. As a word of warning, if you should find a large number of strangely out-of-sorts type people in the near future, and you think that perhaps there's been a rash of insanity sweeping the land...it means I've probably summoned a queller demon from season 5 of Buffy, so just forgive me in advance...and call the slayer, STAT! Until next time Cheers