good morning, seattle.

what i woke up to on xmas morning.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

merry christmas, z.

I'd like to thank
for making my sister's christmas a memorable one.

thanks to brilliant inventors
she can stay warm while using her hands
to doing her hair
or playing nintendo
but not with the dog on her lap
it sheds
she can blend colors
with blendypens
but best of all
she can now clap twice
to turn on her lamp
(mom says she will try clapping from her room in the mornings)

one lesson i've learned
is not to spend too much
she was happiest about her gift of

pancake batter in a can
or as dan calls it
cancakes
ew.

in which she wants to claw her ears out.

still couch-surfing and feeling sorry for myself. i had lofty goals this morning of working in some cleaning, dusting, vacuuming so that i could at least be cooped up in a nice clean home, but i guess it's supposedly not a good idea kicking up crap into the air when you're dealing with sinus/ear nonsense.

so i plugged my laptop and one of kid sister Z's christmas playlists into my stereo system and stuck the christmas tree scented candle and planned on pretending i'm all current on christmas spirit.

it was nice.

right up until j-simp's, uh, rendition of "breath of heaven" came on.

oh the pain

oh the horror

i couldn't cross the room fast enough to skip the song.

it's seriously that bad.

turns out the pesky sore throat, croaky voice and congestion i've been battling all week is an ear & sinus infection.

i've been spending a lot of time with rolls and rolls of TP (stay classy, rach!) napping and catching up on some reading i've been wanting to do (thank you, seattle public library!)

i've also been working my way down an endless hulu queue and among other things, found this awesome trailer:



basically, i adore johnny depp and i think this is a film even i could stay awake through. wow.

"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think."-Horace Walpole

when 4pm sunset isn't entirely depressing

they're not all evergreens in the emerald city.

where does rain come from?

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."
-Jack Handy (Deep Thoughts)

seattle public library

i like this place.

Someone once told me that the power in all relationships lies with whoever cares less.
And he was right.
But power isn't happiness.
I think that maybe happiness comes from caring more about people rather than less.

quote found via thisisme

in which she feels semi-sweet (or is it bitter?) relief.

this weekend is the birthday one of my very good friends (and one of my favorite people in seattle). she decided to celebrate it right, by heading to palm springs. sadly, the past 15 months has been a string of big ticket repairs one after another (roof? surgery? condo lawsuit? brakes? tires? 50k service?). i had to say no to the trip, and in general, i've been feeling pathetically sorry for myself and my steadily declining savings.

on monday in preparation for all of the bills due at the beginning of the month (pretty much every.single.one.) i looked at my bank account and did some quick math in my head. mortgage payment? dues? car payment? car insurance? home insurance? phone bill? it was the closest i've ever come to living LITERALLY paycheck to paycheck. i sighed and started logged into my 401k and lowered the contribution, transferred a couple hundred bucks from savings, and then left my wallet home every day. it was complete deja vu from college days, all the way down to the oatmeal.

and then late thursday i got google calendar note on my phone. "reminder: payday, all day, december 4".

hey. um. what's that bright thing up there in the sky?

i am very happy today.