O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!

So now Thanksgiving is over, making it officially the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

We went back and forth on what to do about a Christmas tree this year. Last year we got a real one, but it just seemed so sad that first week of January, sitting in the gutter. So then we thought of an artificial tree, but found out that they're made of PVC. Ummm ya. That's not biodegrading like EVER.

So Mr. Johnson had the best idea! Getting a live tree! Per TreeHugger (and you know they got the tree love), "if you’ve got the space for it, getting a tree with roots and replanting it is obviously the most eco-friendly solution". Well we don't have a yard, but the nice lady at OSH told me it well be good in a pot for at least 5 years. Then we may need to think about transplanting it.

I loooooove my little tree! And we've picked out the perfect place for it on the patio once Christmas is over. Now let's just pray I don't kill it.

Thanksgiving is for Lovahs.

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and obviously from my lack of posts, I've been quite busy. So thought I would bring ya'll up to date!

First, Mom & Daddy came on Wednesday. Mom and I went for a hike, and came back to find Daddy nugglin' with the grandkids.

Then we had sushi for dinner. Daddy recognized that the server was Korean and started spittin' some Korea geography knowledge (No, my dad isn't Korean. He just knows everything about everything). He must have made an impression, as the husband and Daddy got some Kirins on the house. Not that this surprised me. Things like that happen to Daddy all the time.

Next day, Thanksgiving at Sissy and Keith's in Oakland.

First I made Tristan pose for me.

Renee made super yummy apps. Yum. Yum. YUM!

Keith took pictures. I took pictures of Keith taking pictures.

And Brother got kisses from Tristan.

Sissy did a Martha-riffic job of setting the table.

And here it is folks - the piece de resistance. Our first Tofurky!

Isn't it gorgeous??

Well it smelled like ass and tasted like nothing. Neither of us really cared for turkey when we were meateaters, so it was kinda destined for failure. Oh well. We tried. Next year just straight "tofu" minus the "rky". Thank goodness we had lots of these:

But everything else was wonderful, and I ate waaay too much. Dur.

So then the sun started to set, and made some bitchin shadows on the wall. Keith was jealous he didn't have his camera close by (and apparently walking up a flight of stairs is impossible after a Thanksgiving binge).

Game time! YAAAAAAAAAAAHTZEEEEEEEEEE!

Ahhhhhhh yaaaaaa. That was me biotches.

How my sister-in-law slept while we played Yahtzee I'll never know. Girlfriend was tired (or maybe drunk, but we'll just say she was tired).

And then Marie Claire proclaimed it was time for all of us to leave. "Out thee minions!"

To quote the great Ice Cube, "I gotta say it was a good day."

Friday was more eating and drinking and a 6 hour marathon of Rock Band. Papa Bear - AKA me (on vocals and bass), Mr. Johnson (on lead), Brother (on vocals and drums), Sissy (on vocals and bass) - made their first appearance in Campbell and rocked it. Keep an eye out. We're going to make it BIG. In our imaginary Rock Band world.

And then it was game night at our house Saturday night. Fun times. Lots more drinking and eating. Brother and I put together a puzzle of the Biltmore Estate - one of our NC summer vacation stops. Cat was not helping.

Mr. Johnson, Miguel, Chris, Steve, Amii, Nay, Jackson and Sarah all played Yahtzee. And apparently doodled.

Sunday was laying on the couch recovering. All day. It rocked.

And now here I am back to work and blah blah blahdiddy blah. Sad.

Amen.

"If you want to be happy, be."

-Lee Tolstoy

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. And wish you didn't have to take out the garbage.

I have always considered myself a feminist. I have always thought a woman should NEVER depend on a man.

Well it's been about nine days now since my beloved husband has been out of town, and it made me (sadly) realize how much I do depend on a man. <sigh>.

So with him leaving, naturally I was left with a to-do list. We don't have a set list of chores, but over the years we have kind of fallen into responsibilities. I pay the bills, get and sort the mail, plan our meals and make the grocery lists. He takes out the garbage, cleans the cars, maintains the fish tank. And then we have our shared duties - feeding the cats (this tends to be more him than me), cleaning the litter (this tends to be more him than me), watering the plants (this tends to be more him than me), and of course cleaning (this tends to be more him than me).

Okay, so now I have to all all those things?

Oops. I forgot to feed the fish one day, on their every other day schedule. What do I do? Do I feed today and start a new cycle?

Do I have to pull the car out before I put the garbage cans out, or is there enough room?

And then there was the issue of moving heavy things. We had the deck redone and all of our planters and furniture need to be put back in place. I'll need help for this one. Hey - I am just a little bit of a thing after all. (Thanks Adam and Amii!)

So here I am, nine days later, the night before he comes home. I can't wait. CAN'T WAIT! I've cleaned the house. Put out the garbage cans twice. Fed the fish. Did all the laundry. Watered the plants. Paid the bills. Moved the outdoor furniture around (wasn't quite right). I even changed the battery in the fire alarm.

So maybe I'm not a sad excuse of a feminist. Just tiny and lazy with the memory of a fish.

And excited to not have to take the garbage out anymore. <smile>.

The Greener Google Alternative.

Ideal Bite had the best tip today!

Can you help the planet just by searching the web?

The Bite
We don't just think you can. We know you can. Little search engines that could support your fave causes and save energy - and are as free and as easy to use as Google.

The Benefits

• The same good results. These search engines pull their results from the Google or Yahoo databases.


• Donating to charity. Get on the donation train - each search you do via a charity search engine generates about $0.01 for good causes (the money comes from the ads on search-engine sites).


• Saving energy. Some engines have a dark background color instead of white, which when viewed on older, CRT monitors - consumes 20% less energy than typical engines.

Wanna Try?

• GoodSearch - powered by Yahoo, it donates 50% of revenues to a charity you choose each time you search.


• Blackle - an unofficial black version of Google that uses less energy than the white version on some screens (for a more colorful option, try The Green Spider).


• CatchTomorrow - customizable news, weather, and search options; donates 50% of revenues to the public school district of your choice.


• Green Maven - though it's not for charity, this Google-based search engine yields results from green-related websites only.

If 10,000 people use GoodSearch just twice a day, in a year we'll raise $73,000 for good causes!!

Shameless BlogHer Plug.

Hey ya'll (Mr. Johnson leaves for Charlotte tomorrow, so I felt the need to speak in a Southern accent).

So BlogHer is a finalist in the 2007 Weblog Awards for Best Online Community. Of course we're against Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs and FARK, but it would be cool to at least have a good showing.

So vote for us here.

You can vote from one computer once a day. So log onto every computer in site and vote. Even that guy next to you at Starbucks. He won't care.

Why I love Japanese People So Much.

This is FANTASTIC.

I love how serious they are. They mean business.

And you have to watch all the way until the end.



You know that second guy is badass.