Rock Street Xmas #3

Our third holiday in this house -- and more fun with Roman, who really got into the Santa concept for the first time this year. Of course we don't have a chimney and he did ask why Santa doesn't just use the door. Hee hee.
Here are a few Christmas Eve pictures to make your day merry and bright. And no, the fake tree hasn't been disassembled and stored yet!

(above) Roman, "asleep" and ready for Santa . . .
(below) Laney and our infamous tree, Roman in his reindeer headgear

Baby Book DOUBLE!

Oops I forgot one special note in this morning's blog. I took Laney to Idaho on 11/30 and stayed with my family for the weekend. A little snowstorm came through that day, so she took her first plane trip AND saw her first snow on the same day -- baby book DOUBLE!! See photoevidence below . . . then read on.

a new acronym: NAGUOT!!

LoSpace
Holidays! Holidaze!
We are all there. You're so busy, you don't even have time to read this. So I'll make it fast and funny. Here are some of my holiday time-savers. Use them all year round!
Well, one that's holiday specific is to get all shopping done as early as possible in December (or after Thanksgiving) so you have the rest of the month to party! Yeah, right -- it actually gives you the rest of the month to catch up on buying the stuff you forgot when doing all shopping "as early as possible." Here is a list of happy little time savers, or tasks I have deemed NAGUOT (which means Not A Good Use of Time, not to be confused with nougat, the mystery fluff in candy bars).
Folding washcloths and baby pajamas (cram them in a drawer for dang's sake, they're just going to get wet eventually)
Mailing gifts at the post office (anybody on my list who needs a gift mailed is going to get something sent from a website, and believe me, there are some good websites sending stuff these days!)
Writing a return address (I loved those free labels we got for awhile but the charities are on to me and quit sending them when I didn't donate)
Watching commercials (unfortunately we had to invest in a digital recorder to avoid this one but it is easy to set and play back)
Reading junk mail (I put it in the recycling on the way back into the house)
I'm sure there are many more great ideas I've had, but was just too busy to make a note of them.

In other great news, I downloaded the last 5 months of digital photos from the camera to my computer. There are about 100 pictures of Delaney in varying degrees of cuteness, but the real keepers were taken by our patient and talented friend Marcy Modrick (she also digitally edits and sends them back to you the same day -- now that's a good friend). Just one sample below -- see what I mean?














One hilarious shot from our camera (I call it Still Life, Roman with Tomatoes):















In kid news, Roman is doing very well being house trained and Laney is starting to eat rice cereal at "dinner" time (I think it is more accurately described as gruel but that just doesn't sound as appetizing . . . ).

So one week to go til Christmas Eve and we still have those last minute gifts and errands to finish. I have come to the realization that no, it will never end. Good luck with your own last minutes and happy holidays anyway.

Bad Spam

It's that time again!
I got this email recently with the following "subject, " and I quote:
"Tiered of being passed over for that job promotion because you don't have the proper DEGREE?" Huh. After all my degrees and everything. Then I thought, "No! I'm TIERED of getting solicitation emails that aren't even spelled correctly!" Someone should give me a "job promotion" to Lead Spam Checker. I could ensure these emails are spelled correctly, grammatically appropriate, and have subject-verb parallelism. Whatever. Now I'm boring even myself.

What's happening at Rock Street? Well, I am eyeing the prefab prelighted Xmas tree nervously. It seems like it gets heavier every year, and who knows what kinds of vermin and arachnids took up residence whilst it was stored in the garage over the past 11 months. On the upside, I love its prefabbiness! We don't have to get rid of a giant brown shedding inside-out pincushion every January! It is blanketed in cheerful and tasteful white lights, which have mostly worked for the past 3 holidays. So wish me luck deploying this 200 pound piece of American abundance, again. Hopefully this year we'll also be able to disassemble it, not like in 2003 when sections 2 and 3 became inextricably locked together . . .

Here's a preview of our Xmas family pictures. Roman is 3.5, which means he doesn't like to pose for family portraits. We have to take what we can get.

I seem to remember my parents having about 3 years worth of pictures where I was grimacing like a Where the Wild Things Are outtake, so I guess it's the old cosmic reconciliation I keep hearing about . . .

Also, stay tuned for the second annual Griffenzuela Xmas pdf! Once again we will try to conserve paper and postage with an e-greeting. And again, anyone who wants a traditional printed copy please email me and I will send you one!

Happy Day After Thanksgiving Day to all, and to all a good night. You know you'll need some rest to get through the next month!!!

Falling Falling Falling

Well, it's fall! That means Arizona rewards year-round residents with highs in the 70s and 80s and relatively crisp evenings. The stores with really good buyers stock real Brachs mellowcreme pumpkin candies. I'm not speaking from personal experience mind you, but eating a whole bag can give you a bad, bad headache. I heard that somewhere. Never mind where! On the other hand, they are fat free!

I am back at work, Mondays through Wednesdays, and it's going well. That means four great days with the kids, and more time to talk with Roman (nicknamed The Little Mayor by one friend of mine). Four-day work weeks mean I get to have experiences like the following.

A conversation with Roman:
REV: I have a really great joke for you.
Me: What is it?
REV: Why did the train cross the ravine?
(I am already cracking up on the inside, because if he says "to get to the other side," I am going to fall over laughing. But no . . . read on).
Me: Why?
REV: Because (pause) he was there. Then the freight cars fell in.

Now that is almost as funny as "to get to the other side," but in a Zen way. Never a dull moment with Roman in the house! And don't you love how little kids always have the random pause when they tell a joke? Well, don't you love it sometimes? Oh, right. Maybe it has to be your own kid. Well, whatever.

Simultaneously, Delaney is charming and adorable in her own gurgly way. She is sleeping up to 8 hours at night, yessssssss (pumping arm victoriously)! We could not ask for or find a sweeter, nicer, cuter, more agreable baby and are definitely keeping her!

Happy fall to all!

Lo Lashes Out!

On eyelashes and more . . .

Roman told me yesterday "Hola is Spanish for Hello!" Yes, he's probably spending too much time on pbskids.com, but I keep telling myself "It's educational!"

Now for this week's topic: eyelashes! Delaney's are coming in great (see pics) so she can keep up with her brother. She is also very competitive in the cute department (more pics below)! Because what girl in the history of the world wants to be less pretty than her brother?!?!

While we're on the subject of eyelashes, may I say I had the pleasure of participating in an on-line poll about mascara . . . an entire poll about 1 particular brand of mascara. Who knew there were so many qualities to mascara (mostly invented by advertising folk I'm sure): clumpiness, separateness, long-lastingness, and yes, the all important BRUSH! Moreover, can you believe I spent over 5 minutes actually completing said survey? Don't worry, I'm going back to work next week.

And speaking of mascara, I have long felt that just as bare armpits are banned from deodorant ads, false eyelashes should be banned from mascara ads. That's absolutely cheating. What's next, luxurious, flowing wigs in shampoo ads? Thin body doubles in Jenny Craig ads? These marketing people will stop at nothing!!! By the way, I'll be working in marketing when I go back next week . . . I guess we'll see how that plays out . . .

Until next time!