Thanksgiving, Oxford Christmas Lights, A Weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon

And I'm not going to talk about any of it.

Exhaustion has finally hit.

But in the meantime, you can check out the photos on Flickr. All except Thanksgiving, because I was an idiot and forgot to take any pictures. argh!

Uggs are ugly

Uggs are the Crocs of winter.

As I'm sure everyone has realized by now, I know dip about fashion, and what I do know, I can't afford to buy. But, seriously, if my options this winter were Uggs or bare feet--that would require a long hard think.

Gawd, I know this is so obnoxious

BUT,

I just have to post some Jay moments.

I said "Holy-shamoley" and Jay laughed so hard he snorted. Not a common phrase in the UK, I guess.

Favorite Jay quote so far--"Bugger off, Nani."

Nani (aka Rani) claims that she never uses that phrase, and therefore is not to blame. That same afternoon somebody said "bugger off" in a phone conversation. I won't say who, but she's the grandmother of an impressionable two year old.

Just had to post this

'cause, hey, AIDS--smile!

As the Christmas shopping begins

I'm not going to spill the beans and blab what we're getting everybody for Christmas, but I will say that there are two of them and they love each other. (This is not a reference to us.)

A reminder that much Christmas shopping can be done ethically and in an environmentally friendly-like manner. Oxfam is a great place to buy stuff. (Ahem, one excellent item in particular in the gadgets section might suit that gadget obsessed brother who has everything and apparently wants more.)

As for us, you know the drill. I'll have the girls' list out soon.

I am in a HUGE Christmas mood already. This started in October I think. What the heck?!? It must be England. I've been pretty numb to the whole Christmas spirit thing for several years running, but now I find myself sneaking around to listen to cheesey Christmas music--God bless the Carpenters--and thinking about buying a small tree. We'd only be able to decorate it with foil though. I'm not investing in Christmas decorations when I have no idea where we'll be living next year.

The other day I had tea that looked like this

And I felt special.

I'm sorry--but who stands like this--ever?

Ugh, brand new piano piece next door

Very painful.

I haven't posted in far too long so this will be full of condensed outdated material and odd bits of insight.

And we begin.

England, breakfast cereal should not be paired with warm milk. The Coco Pops monkey(?) urges us to try it with warm milk. Ew. And feeding Jay soggy cornflakes in hot soy milk is enough to make me spew. Breakfast cereal should be cold. That's it. End of discussion.

And, fit man running down the street, I don't care how nice your legs are, NO ONE should wear bright blue spandex jogging tights. No one.

Guy Fawkes Day is standing around and watching shit burn. Can't say no to that.
The Wolfson fireworks were . . . precious compared to Fourth of July standards but still fun. I was just amazed that so many of us chose to stand outside like idiots in the rain in order to see fire. Hehe--fire.

The other day Jay peeked down my shirt and said, "Boobs." Cheeky bastard.

We're all sick because some kid snotted on Jay at nursery and he chose to share the love. This part of childcare I could do without.

My fingers are covered in dried glue.

I have so many e-mails to send, it's ridiculous. There are many people who think that we're ignoring them, when really we're just sick and bad at communication.

Called Anita last night. I thought she wasn't calling because she was busy, but it turns out she's just tech . . . can't think of an inoffensive word . . . whatever. She couldn't do skype or the e-mail and she didn't know my phone number and no one was helping her and she's somewhat passive anyway. Anyhoo, she had an awful, AWFUL October and really wanted to talk to me and I wasn't calling 'cause I thought she was busy and just kind of dissing me. Ugh. Anyway, I'll go into the horrors of her month later. But it was a good talk. And I really, really miss her.

Went to see Nizlopi with Ben and Sam. The show was awesome despite having to stand the whole time. I'm not young anymore, people! I had to get out of the tight crowd and get some air on the stairs for a bit toward the end. Before that Ben and I stupidly tried to walk down Oxford Street in London not realizing that it was the switching on of Christmas lights night complete with fireworks and portions of the street cordoned off and masses of people taking photos and . . . it was awful. I have never been literally been crushed by a moving mass of people before. It was gross. I managed to not panic though, so nobody got to add a hysterical American to their Christmas light experience. But we finally made our way to Sam by following the cop's detour instructions--"Go left." Yeah, that was helpful. He treated us to another pub meal and drinks, which means we are SO in the hole with him. He did express his intention to freeload off of us when Ben's lucrative Jewish Studies career takes off, so I guess it'll all be even in time. When we came back from the concert sans Sam, we got to see some guys get kicked off a bus and then start beating on it. Seriously kicking the shit out of the thing. The people we thought were cops and would protect us and restore order . . . weren't. Either that or they were just cowards. Then we crossed the street underground in (to me) extremely threatening mazes. There was a homeless dude sleeping down there and many corners that thugs or minotaurs could have come around. For the record, I thought it was a bad idea. But we survived and got a nice nap back on the a surprisingly comfy, clean and non-urine smelling bus. Rani and Maya babysat the girls overnight and had them ready for school in the morning. What the heck?

Love the open market on Wednesdays. Feels so earthy. I don't wanna ruin it by finding out that these guys aren't farmers at all and they really just shoplift produce to sell on the streets for cheap. So nobody inform me, 'kay. They look like farmers and refer to parsnips as 'Snips-- and that's all that matters.

Meanwhile the weekly organic veggie bag from the girls' school has been somewhat disappointing. It's fun being forced to cook vegetables you've never heard of like cauliflower romanesque--

but disappointing when you get carrots covered in dirt (which to me says, Hey--Fresh!) and then realize they're old and rubbery. Not cool.

Anyway, this post is far too long and I have cheese and wine to eat for dinner. Must go.

Dude, for your own safety

go nowhere near Tony Blair.

I was standing here and this guy--

Obama win causes obsessed backers to see how empty lives are

Watching Obama's acceptance speech again

to the deafening sounds of Guy Fawkes fireworks. Sweet.

First reaction to this picture of a Prop. 8 celebration

Sad.

Second reaction: Guy in the suit to the right showed up at the wrong Proposition 8 gathering.

YES WE CAN!

Stifled snickers, smothered snarfs (alliteration runs amok)

Today I took Jay to his Monkey Music class. It was literally one of the most mental experiences of my life. I'm so glad Jay was sitting in my lap so I could hide my smirks behind his head. The woman who led it had this really elastic, overly-emotive face and was so completely insincere. It wasn't that she was faking being excited and into the experience (because she was WAY into the experience), it was more like she was on some weird autopilot setting and if the class wasn't full of people, she'd still be doing these weird songs and activities all by herself just for the love of her own voice. Maybe in front of the mirror. With clowns.

Anyway--freaky half hour spent trying not to to laugh out loud and/or cry. Jay looked like he was witnessing an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Then later when I was walking to pick up the girls from school, I saw this round, little old lady looking grumpy despite her bright pink sweater. She was walking across the street, but she was moving sooooooo slowly. Where a normal person would have taken one step, she was taking ten. Seeing her little feet in black socks and shoes taking those itty bitty steps and realizing how long it was going to take her to cross that street, let alone walk anywhere else, almost had me rolling. I had to create mental images of tragic news stories in order to repress a smile. Once I got past her I was able to release it. I'm sure everyone who saw me was wondering what could be so funny about traffic.

Speaking of old ladies, I swear I have seen Delilah (from Jam and Jerusalem) riding her bike around town several times.
And then even later I called the doctor's office to get the results of some blood work I had done. Seriously--I got Carol as a receptionist. I guess my reaction to that one doesn't quite count as a snicker (more like a dazed 'Did That Just Happen' response) but I'm still including it in this post.

So basically . . . surreal day.

The end.

I found out today

that Rani is friends with Clive Roberts. Driver Clive. OUR Clive!

Small world.

Any family that celebrates a 2 yr. old's birthday with champagne

is okay with me.

Just got back from Jay's birthday party. The big 2. I expected a really awkward gathering that Ben and I would be eager to flee. But it turned out to be a very pleasant evening. We were the only non-family members there. Again, *sniff*. And everyone was very welcoming to Ben. Ranjit really perked up when talking about Ben's degree and his own. And Priya was full of her usual interesting insights into . . . just about everything. A glowing/radio rubber duck somehow branched into a discussion on shamans, 'shroom use, and spirituality. She never disappoints. I seriously think she deeply considers everything she encounters in life. Nothing is cursory. Rani and Ben bonded over their belief that everyone can't have evolved from apes when some people so obviously resemble other animals. (Rani thought that glowing rubber ducky looked like Penelope Cruz. No one else saw the resemblance.)

So altogether there was Rani, Priya, Ranjit, Maya, Jay, Joe (Jay's dad), Joe's mom, dad and step-mom, and his sister. And us. And, yes, there was champagne. And tea and coffee and cakes and candies and buns and cupcakes and cookies and--it was just about ridiculous. Then they sent most of it home with us. The kids are going to be high on sugar for weeks.

Some pics--
(in no particular order)


There is no explanation for this picture.

Maya (pouting about getting her picture taken) and Rani

Still not looking thrilled.
Jay with his favourite present--mini Henry hoover.
I'm not sure who Joe bought that guitar for.

Lookit! I'm in the picture!
Rani, Ranjit and Ben discussing the migration of Syrian Christians into India. The balloon had nothing to do with the conversation.
Priya trying to get Jay to eat cookies. Sadly, he blew out the candles on the cake but couldn't eat any because it had egg in it.
Look but don't eat.

Never do lines before shooting a YouTube promo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z5zwTYPEWI

Cold, wet and dreary

Welcome to Autumn.

But I'm sitting here wrapped in my sweater, eating a soft boiled egg with buttered toast and tea.

So life can be good--even in November.