As requested by the Juj

Julian and I are now on vacation until the first week of January, and we are making the most of it! The family had an incredibly lazy Sunday, where we didn't even get dressed until almost four in the afternoon - and that was only because we wanted to go to the "travelers Christmas eve" service at Cathedral of Hope. (How thoughtful to celebrate in advance, for those who will be out of town!)

Anyway, this was the telling of the Nativity that was used in the service. Very fun, and the Juj has been after me to post it here. Enjoy...

Of Energy, Food and the Muppets - a placeholder

So, my version of the Happiness Project. Suddenly had real homework. Not just writing. And while I knew in my heart of hearts that was coming, I wasn't ready. But it's OK because

• It's all about getting more energy
• I'm starting another huge personal improvement project, uh, lifestyle change, that should tie in quite nicely

But I still don't have time to write about it right now.

Tonight's Sunday supper (thanks Martha) - last one before I start my new diet, uh, lifestyle change (more on that another time, too):

• Pork Tenderloin & Mustard-Wine Sauce
• Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta & Lemon Zest
• Baby Spinach with Warm Olive Oil & Walnuts
• Pear Crumbles (diced pear sauteed in butter & liquer, fiinished in the oven with a ground pecan, rolled oats & maple syrup/butter topping)

And finally, speaking of synergy (NOT!), I was so intrigued by the snippet of the Muppets doing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody that Disney XD has been using as a bumper, that I made G-man go out to YouTube to see if the full version is out there. And it is! And it looks great full screen in HD. AND there were several other fun little recent MuppetsStudio clips to watch as well: MuppetsStudio.

A fitting tribute to George Bush

While the Juj is already showing signs of cabin fever, after schools closed early yesterday and remain closed today due to our "ice storm" (which isn't stopping my office from opening, albeit a couple of hours late), G-man was out surfing the web and found me this:

I think there's another ObamaMama out there who will probably enjoy this...

Duel of the Fates

This one is for Juj -- although I think someone else may appreciate it too:

Better, or worse than this, apparently the real lyrics are a Sanskrit translation of a Celtic poem - scroll down to Cie Sharp's additional lengthy comment on 5/12/03.  Apparently some people have too much time on their hands (including my husband, for finding this, and myself, for posting it here!)

At Juj's request

So, in that way things have of snowballing--
I check Twitter...
...Mrs. F5 has an intriguing tiny url link...
...which turns out to be to my favorite Schoolhouse Rock song -- on YouTube...
...J hears me watching it...
...asks to watch a few...
...finds HIS favorite...
...and asks me to post it to the blog for him.

Is it any wonder I never get him to bed on time?

Amusing

G-man got up early this morning (too much rich food last night -- more about that later), and found me stuff to share. This video is the best cover of Hey Jude we've ever seen (well, the most amusing):



And for those who live in, or have ever lived in, corporate cubicle land, try this on for size Ten Cubicles That Are Cooler Than Yours.

Not sure I should admit this

I guess it may be somewhat obvious from previous posts, but I am becoming a much bigger Weird Al Yankovic fan in my old age than I ever was in the early days. And yes, I was aware of Al from those first appearances on the Dr. Demento show, back when I was still in high school in the late 70s-early 80s (no comments from the peanut gallery), so I'm no Johnny(-ette) Come Lately where this accordion-playing rocker is concerned.

But it's taken my fairly recent "discovery" of YouTube to really light my fire (ok, I can handle some mild teasing on that front). The guy is a genius; the live videos remind me of Zappa. (I know it's heresy, Chuck -- but the tight musical transitions and comfort in so many styles? Come on, admit it's a little impressive at least!) And now I've found the Newgrounds Weird Al collection -- will the wonders of the intarweb never cease?

On a totally different subject, I think the Guerreros are now officially late on the whole Christmas season thing -- no tree, no lights, and at the rate we're going, thank goodness I'm taking Julian to San Francisco in a week to see the S.F. Ballet's Nutcracker, as it may be the only holiday tradition we keep this year before we hook up with the San Antonio clan on the 23rd!

And what a tradition -- my mother and my grandmother have been waiting ever so impatiently for Juj to be old enough to participate in this, the most constant holiday activity in my life (more than Grateful Dead New Year's Eve concerts, even). My mother used to go as a child with my grandmother (SFB Nut, not the Dead), I've been at least 20-30 times I would guess (and that does not count all the Nut productions I worked on for other dance companies in my previous career - Tandy Beal, Los Angeles Classical / Long Beach Ballet, Donald Byrd's Harlem Nutcracker - what a walk down memory lane Google provided on this subject!), and now, finally, the moment has arrived for the J-boy to join the ranks. Hope he doesn't fall asleep! ;-)

People with too much time on their hands...

OK, no Sunday supper club this week -- my BF from college and beyond was in town with Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy, so we went over to see it at Bass Hall. Julian seemed entranced but then was a shy contrarian and didn't admit he'd enjoyed it -- or getting to go backstage, which I hadn't done in years. (Looks, ma -- real stage hands watching football after the show -- I remember that!)

But anyway, on Saturday, Julian and I had one of our celebrated "mom & Juj" days (he loves Saturdays for that reason), and I (can't say this with anything but guilty shame) allowed about 30 minutes on You Tube together. We revisited old pals -- Weird Al's song about "Yoda" to the tune of the Kinks "Lola" (you may remember that from a previous post) and Mom's Overture which had been making the rounds lately but I still love it -- and found this gem, that my brother will especially appreciate (I hope). OK, this guy definitely has too much time on his hands (he admits on the post that it took >9 months to do!), but it's even more brilliant than Weird Al's original version. Enjoy!

O Canada!

Now, I am as patriotic as the next U.S. citizen, but I do love Canada. I'm here in Ottawa for some meetings this week, and it's bee-yoo-tee-full fall weather, sunny and crisp in the morning, warm during the day. And the corporate campus has big grey Canadian geese, and there are fat happy black squirrels running around near my hotel, and my commute is against the traffic. So, I love Canada, although I wish I had a bit more time to spend outside -- maybe during lunch today?

(and with apologies to my Canadian colleagues, I do find this Weird Al parody too funny - a good comment ont he U.S. to me!)

P.S.
You know you're a mommy when...
You find a plastic "Lightning McQueen" novelty ring in your purse. How (and when, given that I haven't used this purse in ages) did that get there?

random thoughts...
OK, we're cooking away this morning in preparation for our co-dinner tonight and to keep Julian amused, we're listening to XM Kids. And Weird Al came on, singing "Sling Us a Web, Mr. Spiderman" (to the tune of Billy Joel's "Piano Man"), which made us go out and find this:

That guy can really rock!!! (especially like the scat-Indian-doo-wap bridge towards the end...)