Letter B

F*ck Yeah, Forty!

So I woke up forty today. Still not happy about it, but it's great to get presents and the big fuss. (One note about presents on your fortieth: people do not screw around. Got some niiiice stuff including a Nikon D5000 so, well, just expect a shiteload more photos around here.)

But the day went kind of south after the morning because Lowell got sick enough overnight to require a trip to the doctor today. And then a subsequent trip for a chest x-ray to be sure he didn't have pneumonia (he doesn't). Although it was not the way anyone would want to spend their birthday (we were, in fact, supposed to go ice skating) it was a good reminder that when life feels a little scary it's best to just take a deep breath and face it with this kind of bravery:

After you get through it you have no idea what rewards lie in store. Like maybe a fistful of stickers and getting to see your heart and your bones.

F*ckYeah Dioramas!

Here’s one for all you college freshmen!  A Che diorama?  Yup, it’s at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana

via fuckyeahdioramas.tumblr.com

If this isn't the greatest diorama of all time, I'll eat my beret. This site is fantastic, by the way, but I'm sure you already figured that out.

Sounds Completely Reasonable To Me

"Mr. Yamaguchi, the double survivor, was among the advocates of a simple plan to end nuclear war, Mr. Pellegrino writes. That plan went like this: The only people who should be allowed to govern countries with nuclear weapons are mothers, those who are still breast-feeding their babies."

via www.nytimes.com

Holiday Mashup

Happy Hanukkah! Merry Advent! It's just a Judeo-Christian wonderland in this house. This year Lowell has taken QUITE the interest in this Baby Jesus guy and really not a day goes by without some kind of question or insight on who he was and why we celebrate his birthday. I've been explaining the Christmas story to him and answering his questions about Jesus as best I can but he is at a trees-instead-of-forest kind of age so he usually can't get past things like why Jesus isn't a zombie if he came back from the dead. (These things usually come out of his mouth when we're in the car. It's a Christmas-Hanukkah miracle that I haven't driven off the side of the road yet.) Also there has been some wondering as to why Hanukkah isn't someone's birthday since we light candles. (Willa also was confused and started to sing "Happy Birthday" on the first night when we started saying the prayer.) He knows the Hanukkah story but I can understand the confusion. The really interesting thing is that I notice he's starting to ask why people don't celebrate both holidays like we do. We've been talking about beliefs and I am now getting grilled on a daily basis about what I believe. So far I am only committing to Santa. In the meantime though, we've been having fun cutting snowflakes, making ecumenical cookies, and dancing to non-Jesusy sad-core carols.

Fail Is Just Bail With An "F"

So I bailed on NaBloPoMo. I didn't forget, I made a conscious decision not to post and then woke up the next day feeling sad and upset about it. I even thought to myself "but NaBloPoMo is the only worthwhile thing I do for the entire year." Yeah, post a sentence at 11:55 PM about how I hate posting. THAT'S ART, PEOPLE. See how crazy my mind gets when it perceives failure? Anyway, I'm fine with it now. And you are too, no doubt. I do plan on commenting as much as possible on other blogs, though. That I can do. And I know how much the odd comment helps when you're doing this marathon. If you want to read some other great blogs who are still doing NaBloPoMo please check out these lovelies:

Feral Mom
Chookooloonks
Laurie Writes
Mocha Momma
Belgian Waffle
Fluid Pudding
Fussy (but of course)

I know I am forgetting people who are also NaBloPo-ing it so please let me know if I forgot you or if you have another good one to add.