Archive for December, 2005

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The stocking were hung by the chimney with care with hopes that mini bottles of Grand Marnier, lotto tickets, and deodorant soon would be there.

The ladies were nestled all snug in their beds,while visions of Amazon.com wishlists danced in their heads. The tree was packed with paychecks well spent, on things to keep us warm, like fleece jackets with armpit vents.

I should probably stop this rhyme while I am ahead, but I think I will just keep typing instead. I am no Slim Shady, I am no Dr. Suess and it is doubtful if I can even find my muse, who is still somewhere out there on the loose.

Watches, knifes, jackets, and more – all the things we wished for from the store. Even a toilet training book that went flush – so many presents, Christmas is such a rush! Zoe took not one nap but two – so many toys and gifts what is a one year old girl to do!

We watched Ralphie do his best, with 24 hours of the Christmas Story, on TBS. We ate, drank and were merry – Mom even taught me the proper technique for eating a chocolate covered cherry.

Well, Christmas Day is done and we had way to much fun. Zoe’s in her crib, Mom’s in her bed, Kaca snoozing and me awake with all these words in my head. As I turn off the tree and the lights, I’ll wish you a very Merry Christmas and a dream filled good night.

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P E A C E

I don’t believe that anyone truly appreciates parenthood until their child projectile vomits due to a combination of teething, influenza, and lasagna. Zoe has been fortunate enough of not having a cold or anything for the first year of her life. It is hard to watch your daughter first start to realize that there is a darker side to life, that it is not all cookies and cartoons. This coughing-aching-never-gonna-let-my-parents-sleep position that she is in, is not because she was bad, but just because. The sad look on her face that says “What the HELL is going on, make it stop!”, just breaks your heart. I felt the same way the first time she face planted while speed crawling. She doesn’t let this kind of shit phase her though, and I respect that.

Kaca and I just went to the mall to get a present for a friend. We got caught in the “buy four get the fifth for free” scam at Walden Books. Originally, we had only four books-one of which was only $1.99. Because we were entitled to a free book we had to pick another. Then we realized that our “free” book was going to be the $1.99. That wasn’t worth a “free” book. We had to pick a more expensive book than the $1.99 book so that we could get our $10.00 book for free. So I picked a book for $14.99 and she picked one for $14.99. After it was all said and done we still ended up getting the book for $1.99, but it didn’t have to be our free one (wink, wink). So our “free” $1.99 book ended up costing us $16.98. Huh? After driving away from the bookstore we had to go back because the cashier forgot to give us our $10.00 book for free.

Just remember that nothing is free unless you are willing to pay for it

I don’t know if it is the weather or because I have the flu, but the the imposition of winter is getting me down. I shot a lot of photos this year but I feel like I didn’t get to shoot everything that I wanted. With the gloom of winter, dark coming so early and damn near freezing tempertures, the thought of going outside in the attempts of finding subject matter sounds daunting. Some of my fellow photobloggers are die hard and will do some winter night shooting, but I don’t think creatively when I am that cold. I think about hot toddies and fireplaces when I am that cold.

I guess this is a challenge I face every year at this time, and suppose so do other photographers that live in the more artic regions of the world. What are you gonna do? The Daily Shooter is going to keep me busy, and I have some other writing projects looming. I don’t know how I am going to keep the photo skills sharp. Hmmmpfff.