The Velveteen Doggy

Seesa has a pink stuffed dog, named "Soggy Doggy". Grammy gave it to her when she was born. He is just a simple toy from a drug store, but the story her Daddy tells Seesa is that Grammy found him in the woods and brought him home for her.

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Soggy" got his name because Seesa would gnaw on his ears and tail when she was a baby, so he was always wet and soggy.

"Does it hurt?" asked the rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

From the time Seesa was a baby, she has not gone to sleep without Soggy Doggy. She carries him around everywhere, sharing her every moment with him. Even today at 5 years old, wherever she is, generally so is Soggy.

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept."

This Christmas, Seesa asked for another Soggy Doggy. Not a replacement, mind you. Just another one. I thought about trying to repair her Soggy by adding some stuffing to his limp body and dying his now grayish fur to a shade closer to it's original pink color. Then one night, my husband deciphered the toy maker from Soggy's very faded tag, and he miraculously found the exact stuffed dog on ebay. In keeping with the story of Soggy's emergence, my husband and Seesa took a little hike in the hills behind our house, where they "found" the new Soggy Doggy.

The beautiful thing is, Seesa has not tossed the old Soggy Doggy to the wayside. Quite the contrary. She now totes both of them around everywhere. The two Soggies even "play" with each other. The other night, we went out to dinner and Seesa asked me if she could take the Soggies in to the restaurant with her. I told her I thought she should leave them in the car, and she said,

"But Mom, new Soggy hasn't seen the world yet!".

When I compare the old Soggy Doggy to the new Soggy Doggy, it's apparent to me just how real Soggy has become.

It is also apparent to me, that I am learning from my five year old, just what it means to be real.

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Twas the day after Christmas

...when all through the house, not a gift left unwrapped, every toy was espoused.

The stockings still hung by the chimney with care, look sort of barren with no gifts in there.

The children contented with all of their load, tummies so full of candy canes, they might just explode.

And Daddy in his slippers and I in my sweats, sit exhausted on the couch, the clean up we fret...


Before and After




















Here are some fun scenes from our holiday festivities. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, how ever you celebrated, and who ever you celebrated with.

Checking out Santa's route on Christmas Eve with cousins Em and AJ.












Leaving milk and cookies out for Santa and carrots for Rudolf.




















Milly and Seesa eating candy canes on Christmas morning.


Milly taking a nap with Grammy (who fell and broke her nose doing last minute shopping on Christmas Eve...tough crowds...)










The Daddys reading a bedtime story to the girls on Christmas.


...and to all a Good Night!

C is for...

I saw this fun meme on Melissa's blog, Taking What is Left, where you list ten things you love that start with a certain letter, so I asked her to assign me a letter. She chose "C", because she was eating a cookie. Shoot, that was going to be one of my favorite things that start with C.

Ok, so here are 10 other things that I love that start with C:

1. Christmas. Come on. You know that had to be #1. It's Christmas Eve for goodness sake. I love Christmas. Not as much as I love Halloween, but it's a very close second. I think I love Christmas eve even better than Christmas day. The getting together with family for a nice dinner. The Christmas lights. The tree filled with decorations and beautifully wrapped presents underneath. Making cookies and leaving them out for Santa. Watching the kid's anticipation of what the next morning will bring. For me, it's one of those times where the journey is even better than the destination.

2. Curry. Every Christmas day, we go over to my sister's house. Her husband and his family make the yummiest Indian food for Christmas dinner. We call it Curry Christmas. All the cousins play together while the smell of wonderful Indian spices simmer in the air.

3. California. I love living in California. I could spend my life just exploring California's natural beauty. The beaches, the mountains, the desserts. Almost any climate you are looking for, you can find it somewhere in California.

4. Camping. One of my favorite things to do in California...is camping! I adore camping. Getting out in the wilderness. Pitching a tent (although now that we have kids, we have a small RV for our outdoor adventures). Taking hikes. Roasting marshmallows on the campfire. Getting dirty and not worrying about it. Staying up late and talking or just staring at the stars.

5. Cabins. We usually take a trip to the snow every year, and stay in a cabin. I love a good, sort of rustic cabin, preferably decorated with campy looking pictures depicting bears or moose. There is nothing better than a sitting in a warm cabin, in front of a roaring fire, sipping hot cocoa and watching the snow fall.

6. Cable Cars. I think it's so cool that they still have cable cars traversing the hills of San Francisco. Except when I'm driving up California Street trying to get somewhere, and I'm stuck behind one. I don't love them then.

7. Cafes. I don't really drink coffee, but I love the smell of it. There's something comforting about sitting in a cafe, drinking a hot beverage and reading a paper or chatting with a friend. This is a very rare occurrence, so when it happens, it's even more special.

8. Hot Cocoa. My hot beverage of choice is a hot cocoa. Peet's is my favorite. Especially around the holidays when they serve their Peppermint Hot Cocoa. Warms the soul.

9. Calendars. That one sounds weird. Who loves calendars? I like making a photo calendar every year, using pictures from every month of the prior year. I love reminiscing every time I turn the calendar to the next month, thinking about what we were doing that same month the prior year. It also reminds me of how fast the kids are growing, and how precious time is.

10. Calm. This seems to be in short supply in my life these days. The craziness of life usually has me spinning around in circles. That is one of the reasons that I love blogging. It's a way to find calm in my life. Writing and reading other's blogs brings me calm, and laughter, and somehow, understanding.

When I first started writing this meme, I didn't think I was going to be able to think of ten things that I loved that started with C. It turns out, I had to par down the list, because I thought of way more than ten. This ended up kind of being my Thankful Thursday reflection for this week.

If you are interested in doing this meme too, just leave me a comment and I'll assign you a letter!

Like Going Home

Before moving to the Bay Area, we lived in Sacramento. I went to college there. That's where I met my husband. We were married there. Bought our first home there. Had our first "child", a Golden Retriever dog named "Chester". My life in Sacramento brought me some of the most amazing moments of happiness, as well as moments of some of the deepest sorrow of my life. I found myself there. We loved that town.

There were a lot of reasons that we ultimately decided to move to the Bay Area. One of the reasons was the climate. Sacramento is HOT during the summers. One of the reasons was to be closer to our families, as we were going to be starting our own family. Of real kids. Not dogs.

I really haven't gone back all that often, even though I still have very close friends who still live in the Sacramento area. After we had kids, there just never seemed to be enough time. I used to go up regularly and visit a group of my friends that all had kids around the same time as I did. We'd get together with all of our kids, but the more kids we added to the mix, the more complicated it was to coordinate a time to get together.

So when I went up to Sacramento recently for dinner with two of my very close friends, D and R, it was a real treat. I drove up with one of my good friends from work, SJ, who is also friends with D and R. We took off of work early to beat traffic, hit the outlets on the way up (Santa's bringing me some nice items from Banana Republic!) and then met D and R for dinner.

We relived old times, caught up on the latest gossip and talked a bit about our lives now. But mostly, we laughed. And laughed. And laughed. If laughter is the best medicine, then I should be good for the rest of the cold and flu season.

As soon as I got off the freeway at that old familiar exit, passing Old Sacramento, where my husband and I were married, driving past the building that I worked in for so many years...it was like going home. The memories of that town that I loved so much came flooding back to me.

I remembered the warm summer nights that were the reward of surviving the hot summer days. I remembered the vibrant colors of Fall on the tree lined streets. I remembered taking walks in our old neighborhood, and feeling so safe. I remembered the feeling of living in a "city" that felt like a small town. I remembered falling in love. I remembered my wonderful friends who left such deep impressions on my life.

I remembered the reason that I moved to Sacramento in the first place. I grew up in the Bay Area, but decided to stay in Sacramento after college to start my career, and my life, there. I wanted to be someplace new. Fresh. Without history of my childhood. Not that my childhood was at all bad, it's just that I wasn't sure I could develop my adulthood in the same place.

So for me, Sacramento was independence. It was coming into myself. It was mine. It was home. I think it always will be.

Losing my mind

I thought I was organized and ahead of the game this year. I had my tree up Thanksgiving weekend, my decorating was finished by the following weekend. We visited Santa, made cookies, watched the Nutcracker, ordered my Christmas cards... Then I remembered that I'm only fooling myself to think that I can be organized without writing down everything I need to accomplish. If I'd only done that, I probably would have saved myself from spending the last weekend before Christmas running all over town with all the other last minute shoppers.

I've never been naturally organized. I have to work at it. I tend to kind of live in the moment, and I really have to think about planning ahead. Something that is the complete opposite of my husband. That man has a filing system for everything. If anything ever happened to him, I would not be surprised to find a note somewhere obvious saying "if anything ever happens to me, here is where to find anything you will ever need...". He even surprises himself with his organizational skills. When I was hanging the stockings on the fireplace, I asked him where the little hooks were that we had used last year. He didn't remember. But knowing how good his organizational skills are, I decided to look in his tool chest. Bingo. There they were.

The director at my girls' preschool recently asked me if I'd serve on the Board of Directors as the Treasurer. Clearly, they are under the mistaken impression that because I work in Finance, I'd be up to the task. Ever hear the saying "the cobbler's family has no shoes"? Well, the financial professional's family has no budget. Needless to say, I'm going to have to turn down this volunteer opportunity, as much as it pains me to not be able to help out. I think it's better that I stick to volunteering for things on a one-off basis.

Look like a monk this Christmas

Be jealous, because I found it.

The perfect Christmas present.

It's the Snuggie! (You've got to watch the little video that plays when the page opens, at least to the part where the person slides on their "Snuggie".)

Because everyone knows there's nothing snugglier than a monk!

Happy Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange!

From our family to yours...


To see more bloggy holiday cards, click this link!

Shrinking Jeans update: be happy anyway

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with my blog religiously, what is wrong with you anyway! Just teasing, that's not my point. You may not know that I've been doing this weight loss challenge called Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.

This week, I've been thinking about things that bring me comfort and joy, and are not food related. My kids. Family. Friends. Nature. Flannel sheets. Blogging. Raindrops on roses. Whiskers on kittens... Things that make me happy.

I read this great article about happiness on butwhymommy's blog. It was called Be Happy Anyway. It's basically about the fact that the things that make us the happiest, also cost no money at all. And about how the state of our economy might prompt us to focus on the aspects of our lives that research says contributes to real happiness - time with families and friends, civic involvement, exercise and creativity.

So, I wanted to share this with all of you.

Go forth, and be happy!

Survival Tactics

The Christmas surprises just keep coming... As I was getting the kids ready for bed last night, my husband casually says, "hey, you know the Survivor Finale is on tonight, right?". Excuse me? Tonight? I had no idea. And let me tell you, this news is like Christmas has come early for me!

Why do I love this show so much? Maybe it's because I like watching the psychological aspects of survival. With layoffs looming at my firm, I've decided that people at my firm are taking on one of the three most common survival tactics that I've seen people use in the game of Survivor, just before tribal council.

• Shameless self promotion. People who make a point of telling everyone around them how valuable they are. In the game of Survivor, these are the people who provide fish for the tribe, collect fire wood, get water - and let everyone know how they would all be lost and starving without them. At work, these are the people who continually send emails to large distribution lists detailing the great job they did on XYZ project, eliciting kudos from management, when they were essentially just doing their job.
  
  
• Deferring attention. People who throw everyone else under the bus, in order to defer attention from themselves. In Survivor, these people talk about their tribe mates behind their backs and take every opportunity to place blame on others. At work, pretty much the same thing.
  
  
• Flying under the radar. People who try not to get noticed. In Survivor, if these people can get into the right alliance in the beginning of the game, they are golden. The alliance just drags them along as an extra vote and they've actually got a good shot if they can pull out all the stops once they make it to the final four or five. Even if these people don't get into an alliance, they can sometimes make it simply by not being thought of as a threat. They end up in the final few people, and everyone looks at each other and says, hey - soandso is still around? what the? At work, it's not all that different, except that the "alliance" usually involves kissing the right a$$. It's the same reaction though, when people figure out they still work there...

I guess that's why I really like watching the game of Survivor. Or maybe it's Jeff Probst. Yes, never mind all that other stuff. It's all about Jeff. Could he be any better at inciting verbal combat at tribal council? Could he be any cuter?

Hold on a minute. My husband just said something about a successor for Jeff. Hello? There can be no successor that lives up to the Survivor host prowess of Jeff Probst. Ok, wait a minute. He's suggesting Boston Rob and Amber, and that they could co-host. Ok, yes. Good idea.

So, I hope I make it through the tribal council of my firm. If I don't though, I really hope they say "the tribe has spoken" when they douse my flame.

On the 12th day of Christmas, Ruby & Roja gave to me...

A beautiful new blog design!

This weekend, I've been working with Beth from Ruby and Roja on finalizing the new design for by blog. She was so wonderful to work with - the process was so fun, like getting a little present in my inbox with every email about the design.

Merry Christmas to me!

I'm tickled pink ;-) with my new look. Hope you like it too.

A few questions

I'm still kinda new to blogging, so I've got some questions.

# 1 If someone has me in their "reader", and I play around with a post, publishing it and then going back in and editing it numerous times so I can fix how the pictures are laying out, does that make my post show up again and again in that person's "reader"?

If the answer is yes, and this has happened to you...oops, sorry.

# 2 Is it helpful to put labels on my posts? Who uses these and when?

I'm more of a live-in-the-moment girl, than planning for the future - but I can see where at some point I may want to find something I've written, and just like my filing system at home, it will be pointless without labels of some kind.

# 3 If I make my blog cute by adding buttons using plays on the word "heart", because I'm a sucker for themes, and I easily amuse myself - will people not take me seriously as a blogger?

And should I really care considering I'm doing this for me?

# 4 How the heck does Twitter work? Do you have to add each person you want to tweet with individually by email address, or do you join groups or what? When you tweet, does everyone you've added see your message, including everyone within a group?

Before reading instructions, I always like to ask "experts" first. Saves me a lot of time.

Thankful Thursday

Today, I am thankful for moments that bring back great memories.

My husband is in France right now for work. I know, poor him. He texted me from a restaurant where he is eating French Onion soup. All the sudden, I was transported back in time, to a trip we took to France. Way before we had kids, we went on a European vacation with another couple (my husband's best friend S and S's wife C) to Italy, Switzerland and France. It was so amazing and so much fun to be there with friends too.

We have so many memories from that trip. One of them was, on our first night in Paris, we had dinner at this restaurant very close to the Eiffel Tower. They had the best French Onion soup EVER! It was seriously so good, that we all had the soup for dessert too. And then we went back to the same restaurant for that soup the next night. And the next night. Quite the worldly travelers we were...going to the same place over and over again, when we were in Paris for God's sake!

After our fourth attempt at going back for dinner, the little place was closed that night. My husband and I were actually a little relieved. At that point, as good as the soup was, we were ready for something different. Our friend S, however, was not at all pleased. He had his heart set on that soup, and was then on a mission to find somewhere else in Paris that served French Onion soup. When S gets something in his head, there's no stopping him. That's probably one of the reasons he and my husband are such good friends. They have that in common...

No problem, right? It is France. Doesn't every restaurant serve French Onion soup? Apparently not. We walked all over Paris that night - laughing our head's off - looking for a place that had French Onion soup on the menu. The only place was this all seafood restaurant. Suffice to say, the soup there was not the caliber of the little place next to the Eiffel Tower.

My husband is sitting at that little place right at this very moment, eating that wonderful soup, and I can almost taste it myself. He says it's exactly the same.

Shrinking Jeans Update - two chickens plus two chickens

Status:
Week one, good.
Pounds lost, 2.
Attributed to, eating a good breakfast and being distracted from sweets.
Confronting emotional issues around food, still composing that post.

Having kids, food seems to always be in the forefront of my mind. What are we going to have for breakfast? What should I pack in their lunches? Do I have all the food groups covered for dinner? What do I have around that makes a healthy snack? Have they had too many sweets this week?

Dinner is usually the meal that presents the most challenge. What can I make that the kids won't totally balk? I'm not one for creating meals only the kids will like, or making the kids something different from what we are having. What's for dinner is what's for dinner. I've also been really lucky to have kids that are "good eaters", so I'm pretty confident that they're not going to starve when I say if you don't like it, then don't eat it. However, they can't have any kind of special treat unless they eat a good amount of the actual dinner.

Tonight, my friend Lish came over to visit me, and we were having dinner with the kids. Seesa wanted another piece of bread, but she hadn't eaten very much of her chicken. I told her she needed to eat two pieces of chicken before she had more bread.

She said, "But I already ate two pieces of chicken and now you want me to eat two more pieces of chicken and that's FOUR pieces of chicken!!!" Good math honey, now eat your chicken. This argument went on for a while, with Seesa going over and over the two pieces of chicken plus two more pieces of chicken, and how she did not want to eat four pieces of chicken.

My friend Lish had to leave the table because she was cracking up. Then she posted on her Facebook that she was adding two chickens plus two chickens.

The point of this little story? I often wonder how I'm forming my children's attitudes towards food.

Do not try this at home

Little tip for ya... if your department at work is having a pot luck get together because your firm isn't having a holiday party this year, and you decide to make a candy cane cake as your team's contribution, be sure that you've actually made said cake successfully at least once. Also, be sure that you don't make the cake while your husband is out of town on business travel, leaving you stuck at home with sleeping children, unable to run to the store for a plan B, after both of your attempts at making the cake result in disaster.

Behold

Attempt # 1
Angle food cake, whip cream frosting (what the hell was I thinking?) that is unable to hold up the weight of the crushed candy canes.

Attempt # 2
Angle food cake, frosting made with powdered sugar - not thick enough to stick to cake after addition of second round of crushed candy canes.

Try to contain your laughter.

A warning I will heed

I was in this boutique store this weekend, and saw the best sign ever.

It read:
Unattended children will be given an espresso and a puppy.

Priceless.

Welcome to the Holidays

It's official. The holidays are in full swing at our house.
Come on in. Have a cookie.

I finally finished putting up all my Christmas decorations - I knew it would take me at least a week, with the kids "helping". We spent the weekend making Christmas cookies, watching Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and scouting out Santa so we could get our requests in early! We even roasted marshmallows on the fire one night. Ok, so it wasn't chestnuts, but same idea. I was on a baking kick, so I tried out this great muffin recipe from my friend Devoted Mom to B's Luscious Life blog site. She was right, they are so yummy! I made them mini-sized, just so that I could fill my Santa cookie jar.

How about that quintessential Santa picture? I've been pretty lucky that both my kids have never really been afraid of the guy, so I always end up with pretty cute Santa pics. Although, there is something weird about letting your kids sit on some strange guy's lap, who offers them candy and tells them to "be good". Who the heck made up that tradition? Creepy! I tell you though, the promise of candy canes work to get them to sit there and smile. That's their main motivation - it's all about the candy.

An unexpected surprise this weekend, was getting a babysitter at the very last minute, so that we could attend a friend's holiday party. It was a nice treat, especially since neither of our firms are having holiday parties this year. There nothing like dressing up a little, socializing with adults and consuming some good holiday libations to really get you in the holiday spirit.

I raised a glass to you all this weekend - Happy Holidays!

Groundhog Day

Sometimes being with my Mom is like being in that movie Groundhog Day. Remember the one, when Bill Murray keeps living the same day over and over and over.

My Mom's short term memory is - ok, I'll just say it - it's shot. As a result, she often repeats things only a short time after she just said them.

Over Thanksgiving, I was kicking back watching Survivor (die hard fan) with my Mom and my husband - who graciously pretends that he still enjoys the show, just for my benefit. If that's not love, I don't know what is. He even adds commentary, and throws out the occasional "who are they going to vote off tonight" theories. I know he's just making it up.

Anyway, we're watching the show, and my Mom says "I didn't know this show was still on!". Then, about 5 minutes later, she says "I didn't know this show was still on!". Same inflection and everything.

We started cracking up, and told her that she had just said that. I then told her that she often does that, and did she realize that she called my sister twice yesterday and had the same conversation with her both times.

Then, about three minutes later, she says "I didn't know this show was still on!". And she was not kidding. She ended up saying that two more times before the show was over. I know, because we counted.

It was seriously like Groundhog Day.

I know this is actually a serious aspect of growing old, and it's actually a sad topic. But if I don't laugh about it, I will cry. So, I choose to laugh. And thankfully, so does my Mom. I love her.

Thankful Thursday

As I was inspired by Thanksgiving to express my gratitude more frequently. This is my first Thankful Thursday post.

I am thankful for Peet's Peppermint Hot Cocoa during the holiday season.

I've never been a coffee drinker. I know. Crazy. I don't even know how I get through parenthood without caffeine. I just don't really like the taste of it. I love the smell of it though. So, have a cup of coffee with me any day, and I'll be having hot chocolate. But not too sweet. Which is why I like Peet's hot chocolate. Just the right amount of sweetness. And the added peppermint flavor during the holidays is such a special treat.

Warms the soul...

Shrinking Jeans update - my ace in the hole

Today is the first weigh-in day of my Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans challenge, and so far I've lost a grand total of ZERO pounds. Hey, I've only been doing this since Monday. I'm still trying to achieve all four of my goals each day!

I do however, have an ace in hole! My friend Devoted Mom to B, is a Pilates/Yoga instructor, and while I can't tap into her talents in that area by joining a class - since she lives two hours away, I can tap into her healthy living expertise. She's started a blog site called Luscious Life, dedicated to health, happiness and making life a little sweeter.

I was struggling with breakfast ideas, and asked for her advice. She wrote a post on her luscious blog with a great suggestion. I can't wait to try it!

Oops, I guess I just gave away my secret. Then again, this is a Sisterhood, and the point of the challenge is to support each other - so I'll go ahead and publish this to share with all (three readers of my blog).

My pretend Mommy

I'm kind of paranoid about my curling iron. I'm so worried that one of my kids is going to burn themselves on it. Even when it's cool, I don't let them near it. The other day, my little Milly was in our bathroom, and checking out the counter. She saw the curling iron and I said "This is very dangerous. Don't ever touch it. It will give you a big owie. It's only for Mommies."

She said, "But I a pretend Mommy."

You've got to be kidding me with this cuteness.

Here's the skinny

I've finally gotten to a place in life where I am happy with my body - whatever it looks like. Really. I'm not just saying that. How can I not love the body that carried two beautiful and healthy babies (much to it's despise apparently... even though I actually loved being pregnant, my body did not).

So, now that I've reached this level of enlightenment, I'm joining an online weight loss challenge called Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. Not because I'd like my jeans to be a bit less tight, although that is admittedly a nice side benefit, but because I want to be healthier, have more energy and protect myself as much as possible from health related problems that run in my family like diabetes and heart disease.

I don't have a specific weight goal I'm trying to reach. My goals will be:

• Eat a healthy breakfast every day.
• Pack a lunch for work (side benefit, more $ for Christmas presents!).
• Avoid all the sweet snacks around the office.
• Exercise a few nights a week at the gym I joined recently, started going and then got sick and never got back on the wagon.

I'll blog my progress weekly - any tips appreciated!

Update: Day One. Not the best start... I did eat a good breakfast and brought my lunch to work, but then someone brought peppermint bark into the office - I didn't pass, and I won't be exercising tonight unless you consider decorating the Christmas tree and then writing a post about Thanksgiving a workout. Ah well. Two out of four. I'm going to go ahead and see the glass half full today.