Sordid Blog

It’s a little after 9:00 a.m., and we’re putting the finishing touches on leaving for the slopes @ Peek’n Peak.  I expect to be running down a hill by 10:30 a.m. at the latest!  Jackson is now dressed, one shoe on and one off, and he has his Luvie, so yes, this whole trip is planned around his sleeping time: we leave around 9:30 so that he will sleep the hour there and be refreshed for playing while we’re skiing; then he sleeps all the way back when he gets tired.  Good times.

How cute is a 14 month old in his little jeans? You have no idea … I love it.

We’ve begun the countdown …

On the way to campus today, where Susie sang as I played piano and Jackson beat his drum, I caught this pic of the little cutie, bundled up in his car seat, and with the sweetest little hoodie on.  He’s a total thug, right?!

I think I’m definitely much much happier with the blog platform upgrade and the new theme. This one is a bit “boxier” than I think I’d have initially liked, but it works.  The colors are subtle and peaceful, and that seems good for the new year.  I also like the useful integration of my Facebook photos here.  Some of the new plugins and widgets for WP2.7 are excellent, and I’m looking forward to doing some more back-end housecleaning, deleting unused and useless plugins and adding some fresh ones.

In the meantime, I’m sitting in Reed Library at Fredonia State with Susie and helping her to work through an essay she has planned to submit to English Journal.  I think it will be a big hit, because essentailly, she’s telling EJ readings that they’re total losers whne they teach Shakespeare … well, not exactly that, but that’s my translation in my head.  Perhaps that says more about my thoughts on the typical EJ reader than on what Susie’s really trying to do … go figure!

Back to work …

The time had come, as it does each Christmas, to rethink what I want to do with the blog and to update both the blog engine and the theme.  I have been running WordPress 2.5 for a year, and the major shifts that have happened in the last two platform updates have been amazing: more AJAX resulting in smoother flows on the back-end, a better interface for creating work, and most important, the ability for plugins to auto-update and even for the platform to autoupdate, which will make future updating of the blog much much easier.

I’m unbelievably pleased with this version of WordPress (2.7, “Coltrane”) … it’s just so beautiful on the back-end.  Amazing and wonderful …

Now to finish reworking the current theme (”Fervens”) to function as I want it to.  What do you think?  Do you like the theme?

Well, so much for Fervens … it had a weird javascript in it that just didn’t work at all. I spent hours yesterday working through it and just couldn’t find the issue, so I dropped it and picked up this new theme, “LivingOS”, by Tim Hyde.  Good last name on that designer, so naturally, this is a good theme, yes?  Let’s hope so.  I like how it’s going.  I don’t like the listing of subpages on the pages template, but I can change that eventually.  Just have to find the code …

So, how do you like this theme?

I didn’t so much miss the official release of Rachel Spangler’s new novel, Trails Merge, as I kept meaning to write about it and then got sidetracked.  Well, it’s official: Rachel’s new book is out and going great.  Bold Strokes Books & Amazon.com have plenty in stock, so be sure to get your copy now.

From the publisher’s website:

 Every skier knows that anything can happen when trails merge.

After a devastating ultimatum from her lover, Campbell Carson returns to her childhood home, Bear Run Ski Resort, seeking her family’s unconditional solace and support. Parker Riley escapes to the mountain after the high-powered world of Chicago’s political machine leaves her questioning her judgment in both life and love. Despite their initial wariness, the women find their budding friendship snowballing toward romance. The idyllic mountain resort is the perfect setting for them to learn to rebuild trust, and perhaps to find a second chance at love. However, when Parker’s past resurfaces, Campbell is forced to face her own hard truths. As barely healed wounds reopen, the unexpected obstacles in their path threaten any hope for a future together.

Sounds like a fun read!  I, however, have not read it yet … no early preview copy or anything for me, which is a double shame since I helped out with the cover picture.  You may remember a picture from skiing in 2007  …

Joseph texted last night to see if I wanted to go ice skating with him and Kate. I couldn’t possibly turn down the chance, particularly to see if I could still do it.  But, I forgot two things about ice skating, since I haven’t been in about 6 years:

1. Falling hurts like a mo-fo!  I fell twice today, which is twice as many times as I’ve ever fallen while skating, and my knees will soon no longer be working. I’m already have trouble climbing the stairs.
2. There are these muscles that you only use when skating, and since you don’t use them otherwise, they hurt after skating.  Oops …

Maybe ice skating a week before skiing was a bad idea: if my knees aren’t better by next week, I’m going to be one unhappy camper!  I live for my yearly ski trip, and as tight as money is these days, this might be my only chance to ski this year.

Now, for lunch, movies, and rest.

This morning, I’m at Bruegger’s, trying to get back to work on things.  I got my course website set up for my grad course, and now I have to get busy planning what we’re doing and how we’re going to organize things.  I want to start this semester ahead, if at all possible, and since I leave on Tuesday for New York, I need to be busy.

Of course, I also stepped out of the house this morning to a muggy 68° and the weatherman’s promise that we’ll get to 75 or so today.  WTF?  I can’t believe we just had Christmas.  It felt like being in Florida in the morning. Ugh.

The dogs are surviging, though, and for a while, it was kinda hit-or-miss with Gwennie.  She was abandoned by her beloved Steven during Christmas, took up with a new beau, Eric, who then left, as well.  Will no one love the bulldog? You can’t imagine the difficulty of being Miss Gwennie …

Well, back to work.  This course will not plan itself …

While I was really uncertain if I would be utterly depressed at Christmas, it turned out that I was wonderfully happy all day.  I got to entertain Kelley Mae (one of the “London kids”), her sister, Faith, and her brother, Eric … whom Gwennie has taken to calling “Prince Eric” and whom Gwennie is madly in love with.  See picture …

From Gwennie JC

The day started with Kelley joining me for breakfast: blueberry muffins and scrambled eggs. Kelley was a bit ill, but started to feel better through the day. It probably helped that Max spent some quality snuggle time with her early in the morning.

From Max

Kelley  even brought presents, which made Gwennie and Max happy since they got treats.  Gwennie, however, also got her own very special ornament …

From Christmas 2008

Then we met her brother and sister at the movie theater to see Marley & Me. DO NOT go see it; it will rip your heart out of your body.  I tend to avoid movies and books like these because let’s face facts: if the movie or book is about a dog, that dog is toast.  They do NOT fare well in print and film.  But I went anyway and was fine all the way through, but then I go to thinking, one day, Gwennie will die and then I just couldn’t imagine the world without her in it.  And then I thought of my Max being such a doofus and being so lovable and then I saw him old like Marley and well … like I said, rip your heart out.

After the movie, we returned to the house and I made chicken and dumplings for these tragic Vermonters who had NEVER had them.  How sad!  I forgot to boil egs to go with them, but we suffered through.  Since I had practiced blueberry muffin recipes all week, I had around 20 muffins doing nothing, so I chopped them up and made a blueberry bread pudding out of them for dessert.  Awesome … Joseph & Jerome even stopped by for a minute or two to visit … and have a little dessert.

The rest of the evening was spent watching Love Actually.  And lots of cuddle time for the dogs with their guests.

From Gwennie JC

We all LOVED our guests and wished they could have stayed longer …

And what have you done?  Well, not much so far.  I’m at work, at the office, pushing through 3 manuscript reviews I promised to do and haven’t yet finished.  One down, two to go now.  What else?  A whole lotta nuttin’.  I was just thinking the other day that I haven’t, as yet, bought one single present. Isn’t that strange?  I’ve not even done my Christmas baking, a few cheese-sausage ball and Neiman Marcus bars aside.  I just am not in the Christmas spirit for some reason.  I’m not morbidly depressed or anything, but I’m just not really feeling it either.  Sure, I’ve tried unsuccessfully to buy Jackson a few presents, but I hate the idea of shipping them when Susie and Rachel are out of town, so I have had a failure to click the “checkout” button.

My poor tree is so naked right now … well, at least, underneath.

Luckily, I have Max and Gwennie around.  We’ve spent the last two nights with no lights on but those on the Christmas tree, watching movies.  I’m making that push from light tears to full-on bawling, which for me starts with The Holiday and moves through the Narnia movies and ends with Love, Actually. I’m not sure why The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe makes me cry, but it does: every time Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter get crowned at the end, I just get a little teary-eyed.  Maybe it has something to do with how much I loved the cartoon as a child.  Don’t know.  But Love, Actually, well, that’s just a tear-fest.

And until you’ve lain on the couch with Ms Gwennie and had Max lie on top of you and snuggle for 2 hours, well, you really just haven’t lived.  Max may be, hands down, the sweetest, most wonderful dog ever created … you just have to push through his crazy hyper times and enjoy him after 8:00 p.m., when he moves into snuggle-sleep mode, and wants nothing more than to be touching you.

Enough for the blog distraction: now back to work …

While my friends could probably attest to the fact that I like to cook and bake @ Christmas, I just haven’t been feeling it this year.  There’s any number of possible reasons, but that’s not important.  What I HAVE been feeling is the creative-decorative urge.  This year’s tree is the same as last (I tend to do fully new trees only ever 3 - 4 years), but it was fun to put together; I decided to stick with my iridescent look and feel, but added a few sharper pieces for balance and then threw white poinsettias in for good measure: the combined feel, I think, is charming, warm, with a brief hint of whimsy.

From Christmas 2008

More impressive, however, was the mantle I decorated for Michelle & Shane.  I know I’m tooting my own horn here, but I can’t help it: the mantle looks amazing.  At Michael’s, Michelle liked these shiny red glass ornaments that were all together in a box, a few of which looked like disco balls.  I grabbed them, unsure what to do with them.  Then, I found these wonderful birds in truly lovely colors: off-white, yellow-gold, cottage-blue.  And it came to me: Southern Decadence.   The theme would be “faded Mardi Gras” since Michelle’s from NOLA, and since Southern Decadence is a gay-pride parade and party in the area, it all seemed to speak to me.  I think it turned out unbelievably beautiful.

From Christmas 2008

Since I had already done the tree, this year I had decided to make a wreath for the front door.  But what to do?  I just couldn’t get it together, so I decided to follow the same pattern I’d used with the mantle: show up to Michael’s and see what spoke to me.  Glad I did!  Michael’s had everything 60 - 70% off a few days ago, so I just grabbed all the stuff that nobody seemed to have wanted.  Oh you poor, tragic, tasteless folks!  The things you left behind for me to snatch up!  I spent about $50 on about $150 worth of stuff I’d never pay full price for anyway, but the resulting wreath is, IMHO, gorgeous:  blues, whites, tarnished silvers, mercury class, and a gem-studded bow.

From Christmas 2008

Here’s a slide show of all three decorative events.

What do you think?