Random Brain Droppings

…because tying it all together is beyond me right now.

My iPod playlist is SO smart!  A fresh shuffle for today brought up “Christmas in the Caribbean” first!  A perfect mood-setter and Christmas-spirit energizer.  Of course, now if only I could work out the ‘Caribbean’ part for real.

Today was the evil genius’ four-year-old well checkup.  She is (surprise) a healthy, normal kid, although we left with an order for a blood draw to check for anemia since the kid doesn’t really eat anything.  That’s going to be fun, after the preview she gave us today for needle drama.  She was pretty brave while waiting for the medical technicians, but the fact that they did three separate shots was just too undignified for her taste and she cried up a huge storm.  She was also afraid to go to the bathroom later on because she was worried it would somehow make the needle ouchies hurt again. (?!) 

I had the best Eggs Benedict EVER today.  This dish, prevalent on menus far and wide, is one of those deceptively simple things than can either be heavenly or totally bad, depending on the technique, ingredient freshness, and skill of the chef.  When done right, it is one of the most delicious egg recipes known to man.  And today I found that elusive pinnacle of deliciousness: perfectly seasoned/textured hollandaise, perfectly poached eggs, perfectly grilled lean canadian bacon, and perfectly toasted muffins. YUM.

Not to go all Xena, warrior feminist or anything, but WTF is up with online merchants that have sortable toy lists by gender?  Not that I object in general to sorting, but specifically, come on, when did boys corner the market on Lincoln Logs and Toy Story figurines?  Really, Sam’s Club?  REALLY?  My little girly-girl plays with her tool bench and dump trucks just as much as her baby dolls, dress-up, etc.  And how about this marketing pitch: “Every little girl loves to play dress up, and her dolls should be no different!”  Well, I’m not necessarily representative of the general girly population but I say, hey, you can just take your dress-up doll stereotypes and shove them up your chimney.

However, am pretty pleased with self for figuring out Santa gift for evil genius: uber-cool art desk/easel thing.  OK, it is conceivably true that this gift is as much for her poor parents as for her.  Because we are so tired of all her art supplies over-runnething (yeah, I just made that word up) the whole house.  But seriously, she is all hands-on/messy art girl these days and I think this will give her a great “home base” to center all her creative projects.  Did you notice all that STORAGE?!?!  It seems that when you are a parent trying to manage 5,209,381 toys, the oddest things begin to excite you!  Now, if Santa could just figure out what to get for FF….

Weird reflection regarding last paragraph: it won’t be much longer before I can no longer incriminate myself regarding gifts in written form, because she’ll be able to READ.  Crazy.  Someday soon I’ll actually have to start writing that weird inward-focusing post about my thoughts on blogging about a kid that can actually go read my every gory written ponderance.  Not that I’m saying she’ll be comprehending everything right away, but still people.  Are all the times I’ve wondered out loud [well, out loud in text, anyway] whether I’m scarring her, going to SCAR HER?  Well, that’s an interdimensional rabbit hole for another day.

I’m SO SO SO excited and happy that as of 11:59PM tonight, I am DONE BABY DONE with the Fall 2009 school semester.  Must…dredge…up….motivation…for…one…last…small…assignment…tonight. (groan)  But yeah, I survived another torturous 6 credit hours, woohoo!  I am sure this will (temporarily) increase the volume, quality, and potential wittiness of all forthcoming blog efforts.  You’re welcome.

K has had a cold for the last couple weeks.  Well, actually I think it was 2 separate bugs that overlapped.  I got in on the 2nd round action, and started getting sick last Friday.  Fortunately it seems to be not much more than a pesky head cold, with some general fatigue, achiness, whininess (just ask FF!), and sore throat/scary voice.  It kind of tanked my motivation/progress/Christmas spirit over the weekend, cause I’d hoped to finish decorating & cleaning up the inside of the house.  And get the tree up.  In reality, all we got done was painting the last purple accent wall in the dining room/kitchen, and an evil 2-hour fight with the fake tree to get all the built-in lights working.  The tree won.  Oh well, we will seek reinforcements at Lowe’s tonight and once more into the fray, dear friends.

YAY PURPLE!

That’s all for now, folks.  Stay tuned for a photographic biopic on all things Cookie & Juno, and a “Christmas decorating insanity” post that’s sure to boost your holiday spirit.