Wow. It’s been a whirlwind few months. Actually, it’s been quite a year. But we won’t go into that, as it’s documented quite well in these virtual pages.
What I really want to say, besides “Happy Holidays” and such is this. Thank you for everyone that has read my ramblings over the years. Whether you’ve commented or not, just knowing that there is someone out there “listening” to my hopes, dreams, heartbreaks and heartaches means more than you’ll ever know.
And my wish is that my writings, my sometimes incoherent babble … somehow touched you in some way. It could have been a silly comment that made you smile. Or an angry tirade that “spoke” those words you could never say aloud. Or perhaps an observation noted or a sentiment stated that precipitated a moment of genuine clarity as to the complexities of infertility or life as a first generation Asian-American.
In any case, I wish you and your family a Very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, a Peaceful Winter Solstice. May the warmth of this holiday season carry each and every one of you throughout your lives.
I realize it’s been over a week since I last posted here … and more that a couple weeks since doing a Sunday Show and Tell. I’d blame it all on the holidays, but truth be told … Hubby & I just started our Christmas shopping over the past week.
And now … here it is, the week of Christmas. Yikes. And double Yikes!
Anyway, today I wanna share with you a photo from last year‘s Christmas with my Dad’s side of the family. It’s been years since more than two or three of our families have gotten together for the holidays. Which is weird, because growing up I found myself either at one of my Dad’s siblings’ home on Christmas or everyone was at our house.
Last year, we managed to get all of my Dad’s siblings together at my Aunt’s house. Not all of the cousins were there, but I do have to say … getting six out of eleven of us there is nothing short of a Christmas miracle.
So anyway … the picture I’m sharing today is a group shot of all the cousins that were present. We wanted to get a picture with our “Nanay.” (Filipino for “Mom,” but us cousins have always called our Grandmother that, instead of “Lola” – which is Filipino for “Grandma. Yes, we’re weird.) Except of course … being the crazy ones that we were, we had to make it fun. And thus ….
Here we are, the Pointer Cousins … doing our rendition of “Jump (for My Love)”.
And just because I love watching Hu.gh Grant shake is booty … here’s an extra bonus clip from my favorite movie (probably of all times), “Love, Actually”
If I don’t get a chance to post before the madness, which in our family begins on Christmas Eve … I hope that every single one of you have an incredible Holiday. May the warmth of family and friends this holiday season carry over into 2009!
What part of me thought that having my cholesterol levels checked a week after Thanksgiving was a good idea?! Oh, that’s right … I wasn’t thinking, that’s why!
Yes, this morning I get to go to El Doc’s office to have my blood drawn. And it’s supposed to see how I did after three months of being on a cholesterol-lowering drug. And if I did well with my low fat diet.
Uhm … methinks that I may have failed this test again. What can I say?! It’s been a stressful three months? Well, at least November turned out to be a good stressful month.
Okay quit making excuses, Em. I should just fess up and say that I totally suck at taking care of myself. Others? Sure, I can take care of them. After all, I’m a frickin’ Registered Nut — oh, I mean Nurse. But like many of my other health care professionals, I have this tendency to worry about others’ well-being rather than myself. After all, isn’t that the reason why I got into my G*d-awful state of depression in the first place? Thinking that my feelings of self-worth and health as it related to my infertility was nothing compared to others’ issues?
But once again, I digress. Perhaps this next year, with all the changes in store, will be a better year. And I can start focusing on myself again.
Which, by the way … I have officially cleared my background check (Yay! I’m not a criminal!) and can now officially announce to my current employer that I’m leaving as of the end of this month.
Doesn't he look like a young To.bey?
Anyhoo … really, what I was going to post about was my Hubby’s 8-year old cousin. Who, as he grows older, reminds me more and more of a school-aged To.bey Ma.guire in Sp.iderm.an (the first one, that is).
We saw this particular cousin on Thanksgiving, along with his older brother (who is 12 and is such a good kid ). He was one of those kids that decided to snuggle up next to me while watching a movie that night. And afterwards as we played Rock.band, I would listen to him tell me about stories at school. How his favorite subjects were science and math.
Holy crap, I thought, at that age my favorite subject was art and recess!! This kid, who has always loved to talk about hurricanes and tornadoes and other “natural disasters,” is going to be one heck of a smarty pants. Seriously. As if he’s not one precocious smarty pants now. At eight.
So that prompted me to ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up. “Uhm,” he said, as he cocked his chin up at an angle and propped his index finger on his cheek. “I wanna be a scientist.” Which I could totally see him being a meteorologist one day. Or a researcher in some university lab.
And then he added, “Or a Le.go designer.”
“A Le.go designer?,” I asked, kinda chuckling under my breath. “Why is that?!”
“Well,” he answered. “I’m really good at designing things with Le.gos and I have some reaally cool ideas!”
L = E+G+O
So there you have it. My Hubby’s cousin is a future Le.go designer. Or engineer. Or architect. Either way … he’s gonna be something special.
As if that wasn’t funny enough, that weekend while we were in suburbs of Chicago we happened to pass by one of the local shopping centers. And what do we see?! Uh-hmm. A Le.goLand store. So we just had to stop in to check it out. And right as you enter the store, there’s this massive face of none other than Albert Einstein, made completely of Le.gos.
Somehow, I think this could have been one of those ideas that Hubby’s cousin would think of, if he was already working for Le.go.
I decided to post my Show and Tell post today instead of tomorrow; mainly because I knew that I’d be seriously busy this weekend. We’re in Chicago again this weekend, which means yet another week of not having done laundry.
Yeah, I know. I suck. I just haven’t been feeling so hot lately. Tired, really. But I digress. Getting back to Show and Tell …
Since this past weekend was the “Stuff your face” type of holiday, where it’s expected that you eat tons of food, I thought I’d share with you a picture of the pigs I had as pets growing up. Ha ha … get it? Pigs?! (Okay I’m trying not to be lame …)
Except they’re not those kind of pigs. They were the guinea pig variety. And they were so adorable!!
Meet Flaffy and Fluffy. The short-haired American Guinea pigs that Dr. Bro and I got when we were about 8 and 10 years old.
By the way ... that's ME in the pink sleeper PJ's. And YES, they have footies!
You see, Flaffy and Fluffy were the family pets that were supposed to take the place of the dog that Dr. Bro and I always wanted. We were constantly reminded by our Dad that he was allergic to dogs, so we could never have one.
Flaffy, the predominantly white one, was mine. While Fluffy, the brown one was Dr. Bro’s. And yes, they were as cute as they look in the picture. And amazingly very cuddly, too. They loved to just sit on our laps, while munching on some fresh lettuce.
Sadly, Flaffy and Fluffy met an untimely death about two years later. A story that I’ll probably share in another post. Let’s just say that shortly after their passing and subsequent funeral in our backyard, our family dog, Muffin came into our lives.
So that’s my Show and Tell story for the week. Make sure you check out all the other Show and Tell blogs here!
That’s it. I’m officially on a Tryptophan trip. I’ve eaten enough turkey last night to hibernate for the rest of winter.
J + J = Just Jidding!!
The turkey we had at my in-laws house last night was delish. I think what made it more tasty was the fact that the Thanksgiving lunch we had didn’t exactly have “freshly carved” turkey. But the company at the restaurant was worth any time spent there.
My 18-year old cousin, the one that recently had her cotillion, was there along with my parents and our other aunt’s (by marriage) mother. Unfortunately, my cousin’s mom and our shared uncle and his wife (said aunt previously mentioned) weren’t able to make it as they were all working.
Let me tell you. The fact that both my aunts still work as nurses in the “trenches” (read: bedside nursing) after more than thirty years is f*cking amazing and I’m so proud that they still do it. Because I sure as h*ll couldn’t do it anymore. But I digress …
It was just a great time, eating and talking, and watching the Lions lose (no shock there) at the restaurant. Which was then followed by going over my parents house to look at some of their recent pictures from their vacation in Greece and Turkey. Believe me, the irony that we were looking at pictures of Turkey on Turkey Day was not lost on all … well, at least me anyway.
Being sandwiched in a "manly" iPhotoBooth pic
After that, it was a quick drive to our house, to pick up our Wii and other fun things and then it was off to the in-laws where we devoured that delicious turkey, watched the second Hulk movie with the boys (which included Hubby’s four younger cousins and our nephew), and finally played Rock Band and Wii Sports for the rest of the night.
Overall it was a wonderful day. The best moments of which were:
Sleeping in this morning and subsequently snuzzling next to Hubby.
Taking silly pictures and playing iTouch Air Hockey and Hangman with my cousin on the couch at my childhood house.
Sitting in my nephew’s room surrounded by all boys; three of which decided at one time or the other to snuggle up next to me.
Those moments … those snippets in time … they’re the ones that make the holidays memorable.
I realize it’s been over a week since I last posted here … and more that a couple weeks since doing a Sunday Show and Tell. I’d blame it all on the holidays, but truth be told … Hubby & I just started our Christmas shopping over the past week.
