Festivus

So the other day, I ran a software update, like I do every other Monday, and something magical happened! I now have spellcheck everywhere-- on the internet, on my desktop-- everywhere! Cool huh?

Sorry no updates lately. Have been very very busy. Which is not true, but whenever I am procrastinating or stuck or just generally frustrated with some aspect of my project, I freak out and stop doing anything because I feel so overwhelmed by the absolutely NOTHING I am doing. The thing is, my chapter is just not coming together like the previous ones have. I still have no argument, I am still puzzled by my primary documents. I have ingested a wealth of secondary literature, and I know what everybody else thinks about Judeo-Christian morality and Planned Parenthood (or, more precisely, birth control/ abortion in general), but I still don't know what I think.

So, yeah. Bummed about my chapter. Bummed about the snow. Joined a gym. Fell down on the ice and dropped Harry. Gained a bunch of weight since my last OB appointment (and don;t go back until January 17th, so plenty of time to gain even more).

Luckily for me and my Scrooge McDuck attitude, it's Hanukkah! Harry learned the word present really fast, and he says it all damn day, like mama, where's my present. Oh! He heard Ben say Jesus (and not in a "somebody has a birthday coming up really soon" kind of way), and he said that for a while. More like cheesus, but still really funny.

Here he is telling me how many candles to light on the first night

Watching the candle burn (and he tells me no fewer than 6 thousand times a day that the menorah is hot. Also hot? My coffee, the Yankee candle tart warmer in the powder room, our empty fireplace, and the fireplace from which Santa emerges in his The Night Before Christmas book, which we read at least 3 times a day. Also? In that book, Santa wears mittens on every single page, and Harry will show them to you. One "mimmen" on each hand for twenty pages. That's a whole freaking ton of mimmens.)

Opening his dustbuster

Just wanted you to see that he not only insists on wearing this swim vest all the damn time, he also likes it to be fastened properly.


Oh yeah! Today at 4:00, we have an ultrasound, and we are (hopefully) going to find out the sex of the baby!!!! So I'll keep you posted.

Harry The Builder: Can He Fix It? No. Absolutely Not. In Fact, He Probably Broke It.

Luckily, Harry does not watch Bob the Builder because I babysat for a little girl like 7 years ago, and she watched that show everyday (good work, babysitter-- just passing the buck to the TV babysitter), and the theme song is still jammed in my head, hence the title of this post.

Now Harry can buildeth towers and taketh them away! He still likes the takething awayeth part better, but he's pretty proud of his building, too.



Sorry about the unkempt bathroom in the background-- must have taken these on a Sunday.

Harryella Returns

You know what sucks? Cleaning my own house. Sucks sucks suck.

Remember our cleaning lady who went missing in July? Yeah. She never came back. Ben and I found other uses for the cash (like lattes! and the consumerist orgy that is Chrismukkah! and groceries!), so we started cleaning up after ourselves again.

First, we did it Wednesday nights after Harry went to bed, but soon the days got too short, and we realized that we needed light to clean effectively. How'd we realize that? Finding cobwebs in our kitchen. Which? Nothing new for Ben- he had maggots in hs sink in Muncie. Yeah, not going to forget that anytime soon, even though it was 6 years ago; we didn't even live together, and he's a really good cleaner now.

Now we clean on Sunday afternoons. Usually during Harry's naps, only sometimes he doesn't nap enough, and he gets to help.



Which, you can see, he really enjoys.

Enjoys so much, in fact, that he cries and cries when the vacuuming is done.

He really takes his work seriously.


One thing that our tenure of not cleaning up after ourselves taught me? Cleaning is not my problem. Seriously, I used to spend HOURS a day cleaning up after all of since I guess I figured since I was the one home all day, it was my job. Then we got help around the house, and I could use my down time to work on my dissertation. The result? Amazing progress.

Now I don't clean during the day, except the kitchen after meals. And I make the bed of course (or Ben does) After dinner, one of us folds laundry and cleans up all the toys upstairs and the other one of us does dishes, runs the dishwasher, sweeps the downstairs, and mops the kitchen. And you know? I barely miss the cleaning lady after all.

Except on Sunday afternoons, but luckily, I've got Harryella.

Holiday Photos You Won't See on Our Chrismukkah Card

Or, as Harry calls them, "What the eff am I doing in my skivvies all wrapped up in lead-covered lights? Haven't you heard that lead is bad for babies, and by the way these lights are HOT. I look like Chernobyl Baby. Put some damn clothes on me! I'm not an infant! Waaaaah"









Clearly, he was disturbed by the amount of time I let him fondle the lead soaked lights, and he had to flee.

We both, however, loved the post-shoot donut break

For a Jewish Girl, I Sure Love Christmas

From the moment we opened the box, Harry was in love. With the tree. With the stockings. With the glittery, non-breakable ornaments we bought especially for him to touch. He kisses the tree every time he leaves the living room and says bye bye and waves with both fists.



Me, too.

I totally dig the holiday season. I love wrapping gifts. I'm a huge fan of those cute red Starbucks cups (and the gingerbread lattes that go in them). I enjoy getting holiday cards and arranging them on the mantle. I love snowman jammies, not to mention A Christmas Story on TBS. Lighting the menorah is cool. Latkes are cooler. Take away any and all religious significance, and I am a happy secular camper. Rudolph good. Drummer Boy not my cup of tea (or peppermint mocha, whatever the case may be).
So I say Ho, Ho, Ho (and so does Harry, by the way-- it's really cute).

Let the orgy of commercialism and consumption (like buying things, not like TB) begin!

This is What World Domination Looks Like

Ben and Jon spent the Saturday night after Thanksgiving playing Risk-- with no physical violence this time. Lots of verbal abuse, of course.

Jon won. He now rules the world. The Napoleonic-era world.

Thanksgiving. What can I say? It was really fun, and the food was delicious. We enjoyed seeing the whole fam as always, and we were all very thankful for each other, which is the point of the holiday, right? We braved the Black Friday crowds, and I may or may not have made us all buy the same crazy striped sweater from the Gap-- only forthcoming holiday photos can tell for sure.

We were too busy to take very many pictures, but here's what Harry did over the weekend.

The drive, as usual, was pretty boring.


Harry liked most of the food, espeically chopped liver and his daddy's cheesy potatoes. His eating style, however, went from surprisingly civilized to ridiculous. Note that he's eating matzoh ball soup with a peanut butter cookie floating in it.



Harry did some major vacuuming.


And he heard some books, natch.

He also let his Uncle Ben toss him around

And hung out with this huge platter... Weird, I know.