This little treat is via STFU Parents -- a website that has made me terrified to post anything about my children on Facebook.

I went out for a last minute purchase this morning and came home with three -- this always happens to me. Someone requested a new copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar as she has loved her old one to bits. Since Borders has been very generous with their 30% off coupons, I headed that way.

As I drove down St. Charles, I took in the Christmas decorations and noticed how someone had meticulously hung shiny plastic beads on the Oak Trees past Napoleon (ok, not really but it was funny how my mind usually blanks them out as I drive by and I re-noticed them today). Quite often as I go along this stretch I pretend that I am forced to make the choice of a house on the parade route or a house bordering Audubon Park. To be faced with such a quandary would be more than my plebeian mind could handle and is one best left to the wealthy.

At Borders I headed straight to the gluttonous caterpillar display and then picked up a Princess and the Frog book for Daisy as she was too young yet to accompany Addy and I too the movie. Next I hopped a couple of aisles over to the tiny physics section hoping to find a book on the Large Hadron Collider (who's name I found by Googling "Sweden black holes" which goes to show how little I know ... it's in Switzerland). I didn't find one but I did chose a book that sounded remotely like the same subject matter that The Husband* watches on PBS.

It was in the physics section (did you know that there is a book devoted to the physics of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?) that I remembered why I married my husband. Sometimes I need to be reminded. It's that he is very smart and although it is difficult living with someone who knows everything about anything before I tell him, I wouldn't have it any other way. Dating dumb boys was never any fun.

We are spending the rest of this balmy day watching Christmas shows, listening to 65 versions of Jingle Bells and explaining to a disappointed Adelaide just why there is no snow on the ground.

Later we will pack a plate full of cookies and shuffle the kids off to bed so we can stay up late unpacking cardboard boxes and wrapping many presents. Fortunately there is eggnog and brandy in the house.

I wish y'all a merry Christmas,Festivus,belated Chanuka, peace on earth and all that jazz.

I meant to write a post about how I have decided to unabashedly (re)claim Christmas (or Yule) as a solely secular holiday but it'll have to wait until next year.**

*Fortunately he does not read this blog so I am not spilling any secrets.

I picked up my uniform for my unit at A.P.E. complete with NOPD patch and incredibly unattractive BDU pants and police shirt. At least it's free. Pictures to follow if you are lucky.

I made this for dinner. No one liked it except for me.

 Judge Hunter sucks but we've been aware of this for some time.

The rain sucks too. I've been patient thus far but today's weather just made me miserable.

How was your day?

My laptop is in the shop -- trying to beat the warranty expiration of 12/11. We are left with using our dinosaur desktop which will or will not start depending on the day. My work, shopping and bill paying is suffering. The Husband is suffering too now that he can't play his Facebook games.

Over the weekend Adelaide and I went to an event sponsored by the French Consulate where we watched several French animated films and ate cake (insert revolution joke here).

The first film that we saw was the one that stuck with both Adelaide and I the strongest. I nearly cried at the end. Les 3 Inventeurs by M. Ocelot. Here's a clip:

Hello internet! I just took a brief vacation sans computer and it was great. I had Thanksgiving at my brother's house which keeps kosher so that meant no milk with meals and I literally had silverware snatched out of my hands at one point because I plucked them from the wrong drawer. I offered to bury the offending fork and knife in the backyard but they said it wasn't necessary. If only someone would have explained the rules to me beforehand ...

It's difficult navigating through a Jewish household when my primary exposure to Judaism is Larry David.

***** *** ***** *** *****

I haven't felt right in the head since having kids -- who does, really? In retrospect, this could have been going on for longer but I can't seem to remember life WITHOUT kids. Anyway, I woke up one morning about a month ago and felt NORMAL. I wanted to listen to music again, buy new clothes, get out of the house and talk to people (well, some people).

I stopped yelling, stopped wanting a divorce every other day and started breathing. My day was no longer something to get THROUGH but rather something to enjoy.

This was a pretty minor transformation -- this was not a personality change, I'm still cranky and introverted but the switch in my head got flipped and it definitely felt chemical.

I'd been exercising for several months so although I know there are benefits from that, I don't think it caused the lights to come on. All I could contribute it to was the fact that I started taking supplements. I have been taking vitamins D3 and some Omega 3 every day to ward off the flu for a few weeks.

What I didn't know was that both vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids are suspected affect the brain and mood. Taking these are the only changes I've made within the past few weeks. I am now a believer and I wish that I had tried this sooner.

I am not one to pop pills and follow strict vitamin regimens. The bottle of acetaminophen in my medicine cabinet is expired and I pretty much 'suck it up and deal' with ailments that come my way. If it hadn't been for the flu paranoia this year, I wouldn't have even picked up a bottle of vitamin D3.

So after all this babble, I guess that I'm trying to say that if you don't feel "quite right" in the head, pick up some vitamins. It can't hurt.

Y'all Carrollton is finally getting a Mexican restaurant in what was formerly "Streetcar Sushi" and then "Big Shriley's" at 1434 South Carrollton.* 

I cannot tell you how happy I am to see this. The Husband and I are keeping our fingers crossed for good food and low prices.

Daisy has really been protesting naps the past few months. I had given up with Addy by this point but I'm insisting that Daisy continue her afternoon snoozes.

I wish that I could convince her that she's not missing much. It's not like I sit on my butt for two hours watching TV and eating brownie sundaes.

Oh wait, yes I do.

I got leered at twice last week. This, I am ashamed to admit, is not as unwelcome at 33 as it was at 23.

The fact that I am holding the extended glance of cashiers and public works employees tells me two things: my stomach is slowly shrinking and unfortunately, my boobs are not.

I'm still T-Tapping away but after frustration with my slow inch loss (I'm still not down a size after six months), I contacted the office for some of that "customer support" that comes with the DVDs. Well, customer support I did get. I was kindly told that essentially I have not been doing the exercises to their full extent for the past six months. I was taking an easier road to complete the workouts when I should have been pushing harder (kinda like my academic career).

Anyway, I have added some tweaks and can barely get through ten minutes of the workout now which is *good* but also leaves me feeling like a failure. [I know I'm not a "failure." I'm getting my ass off the couch, blah, blah, blah.]

SO, maybe big things are in store for me over the next few weeks like shopping in the juniors section of my favorite department store or ordering from the J. Crew catalog. You know, the finer things in life.