Little does he know

AB watched Monsters, Inc. for the first (and second) time today. As he does with each of his pop culture mini-obsessions (Cars, superheroes), he played casting director and began handing out roles at the dinner table.

AB: I'm Mike. Daddy, you're Sulley.
NSAH: (pointing to ALB in the bouncy seat) He has to be Boo.
AB: Yeah, he's Boo. Mommy, who are you going to be?



APL: (in my best "Roz" voice) Can I be Roz? I want to be Roz.
AB: No, you can't be Roz.
APL: (still in my Roz voice) I want to be Roz; why can't I be Roz?
AB: Because ... you're not angry.

Happy New Year, all.

iTunes overload

I have to stay up till 12:15 a.m. so that I can give AB another dose of Motrin (he's been needing a dose every 6 hours, poor dude). I decided to keep myself awake by browsing iTunes and filling up my shopping cart, since I got a couple of gift cards for Christmas. Here's what's in my cart (make fun if you will):

1. "Truly, Truly" by Grant Lee Buffalo [because he was awesome in concert]


2. "Love My Way" by Grant-Lee Phillips


3. "So. Central Rain" by Grant-Lee Phillips


4. "Honey Don't Think" by Grant Lee Buffalo


5. "Two of Us" by Aimee Mann and Michael Penn [heard this cover over the speakers in a Kohl's years ago and kept meaning to purchase it]


6. "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley [what can I say? It's catchy as hell.]


7. "The Saints Are Coming (Live)" by U2 and Green Day [I got goosebumps when they did this in N.O., and the video nearly makes me cry, especially at the 1:38 mark.]


8. "Let's Get It Started" by Black Eyed Peas


9. "Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow [I've been watching Cars since AB got it for Christmas, and I'd forgotten how much this song rocked.]


10. "City of Blinding Lights" by U2


11. "Vertigo" by U2


12. "Dim" by Dada [Had forgotten about this song's existence till I heard it on XM a couple of days ago.]


13. "I Do" by Lisa Loeb


14. "Nuthin' But a G Thang" by Dr. Dre


15. "Misery" by Soul Asylum [ALB likes it when I sing this to him.]


16. "Vindicated" by Dashboard Confessional [I'm not big on "emo," but I love the chorus.]


17. "See the World" by Gomez


18. "Mary Jane's Last Dance" by Tom Petty


19. "Light & Day/Reach for the Sun" by Polyphonic Spree


20. "Freedom" by George Michael


21. "Bring tha Noize" by Public Enemy and Anthrax


22. "There Goes the Fear" by the Doves


23. "Radiation Vibe" by Fountains of Wayne


24. "You Could Be Mine" by Guns 'n' Roses


25. "Fire Water Burn" by Bloodhound Gang

Once a Free Stater, always a Free Stater

How Maryland Are You? Your Result: You're 80% Maryland No doubt about it, you're from Maryland. You have a beach house (not a SHORE house)in O.C. and have the Preakness marked off in your calendar 6 months ahead of time. But let's not get carried away here, you're definitely not STUCK here.

How Maryland Are You?

Not bad for someone who hasn't lived in Maryland for more than 30 years. (Of course, the proximity helps.)

Bullets of a lazy Friday

• AB's home again today--his fever went up almost to 104 this morning, but it has since come down to 100. We're lying in my bed, watching the animated Charlotte's Web (a Christmas present from Grandpa that he requests we watch every day) on the TV.


• I've been tagged for a meme by LawMummy but I can't think of 5 things you don't already know about me. Well, 5 things that I can share with you all, anyway. I'll need some time to think about this....


• Can't wait to start using some of my Christmas present gift cards. Especially the one for the Container Store. Jealous?


• One of my favorite Christmas presents has been put to good use already: NSAH got me a labelmaker. Now, I know there are some women who would be angered to get such a practical, unromantic gift from their husbands. Not me! I love it! (Of course, I'm also the type of woman who would love to get a new bathroom scale for a present.) I've been using it to label ALB's bottles. Once I go to the Container Store, I'm sure I'll be labeling even more stuff. Huzzah for organization!


• I started reading Lewis Black's Nothing Sacred last night (got it from my dad and stepmom). It's fast reading, and I'm really enjoying it. I even laughed out loud a few times. One of the reasons I really like it, though, is that he writes a lot about growing up in the DC suburbs, and how that can warp your views on politics. He's completely correct. The first time I lived away from the DC area, I was amazed that people didn't talk about politics at parties, that people didn't seem very interested in congressional goings-on. It was refreshing, actually.


• So, can I start getting excited about my man John Edwards? Or is it way too soon?

My poor guy

Angry Boy (who has been asking that I call him "Mickey Mouse" or "Iceman" or "Will Turner," depending on his mood that day) has been diagnosed with strep ... which explains his high-as-hell fevers last night and today (he was up over 104 earlier today). He was apparently very brave at after-hours care when they drew blood. Poor little man.

He should be fine once he starts his course of antibiotics, but please keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't pass to ALB.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight

It's 8:19 on Christmas Eve as I type this post. It was a wonderful day in the Angry household. In the morning, AB and I watched Charlotte's Web, the version I remember from when I was a kid. Then around 10:30, I helped AB get dressed for his first visit to church. NSAH and AB went to the 11:00 service, which included a children-performed nativity story. Apparently AB was very good during the entire hour-plus-long service. I later asked him what his favorite part was, and he said, "When the baby Jesus was crying." (There was a real baby playing the part, and he or she needed to be escorted out and soothed, NSAH told me later.) My son, the sadist.

Their return home from church coincided nicely with the brief visit of some family members, who came bearing gifts from Krispy Kreme:

Aren't those the cutest? We each had one, and we're leaving one out for Santa tonight (which means I'll be fighting NSAH for it).

During AB's nap, I baked some amaretto brownies (gift for my uncle). And when AB woke up, I melted a bag of dark chocolate/raspberry chips and we dipped in Animal Crackers, sugar wafers, and dried apricots. Well, mostly I did the dipping, and AB decorated the chocolate masterpieces with his shaker of nonpareils. ("Sprinkles," he called them.) He was very serious about his job, too. He didn't try to sneak any of the goodies, and he was even cautious about having one when I offered it to him.

And now he's in bed. And ALB is in bed. And NSAH is in the basement wrapping my presents. And I am in bed watching Love, Actually, one of my favorite Christmas movies. Not in bed for the night, though. Around 10, we'll put the presents under the tree and stuff stockings. (And there is the matter of that lone remaining snowman donut....)

Merry Christmas to all. I leave you with this parting wisdom from my movie:

"No one's ever gonna shag you if you cry all the time."

Nooooooooooo!

Who's gonna be my best friend and whack Bobby Knight before his next game? C'mon, it can be my Christmas present.

All I want for Christmas...

...is a stable Internet connection. Yeah, it's been out again.

Tonight, my dad and stepmom came over and we exchanged presents. AB made out like a bandit, with a huge stuffed T. Rex, a baby T. Rex, two dinosaur books, a cool animal puzzle, the Word Whammer, and the DVD of the animated Charlotte's Web. I promised AB we could watch that tomorrow. If he likes it, I'll probably take him to see the new one out in theaters. Still on the fence about whether to take him to Night at the Museum. Waiting to hear back from my cousins as to whether it will scare him (they're good judges of that).

Thankfully, they didn't go overboard on gifts for ALB. He got a teddy bear and a cute Christmas outfit (which was perfect timing, because his two other Christmas outfits are in the hamper with spit-up stains).

Tomorrow is a day of rest, with NSAH taking AB to church for the first time ever (I hope it goes well!), and me doing some baking, possibly with AB's help. I don't think we're doing anything fancy for dinner, especially since I made a nice dinner for the family tonight. I'm tempted just to heat up some frozen popcorn shrimp and maybe make my cheesy arborio rice. Does anyone do a big Christmas Eve dinner?

Have yourself a merry little Christmas concert

Things I learned at last night's Aimee Mann Christmas Show:

• Grant-Lee Phillips is really cute in person.


• Grant-Lee Phillips does a mean Johnny Cash impression.


• Saddam Hussein talks just like the guys in Spinal Tap.


• Fred Armisen can really play guitar and, like fellow SNL-er Dana Carvey before him, the drums.


• The Hanukkah Fairy enjoys pulled pork and Heineken. Who knew?

The show was amazingly fun, like the "acoustic vaudeville" show she and Michael Penn did with comedians a few years back. It was staged like one of those old Christmas specials, a la Bing Crosby and David Bowie, with "guests" stopping by and folks engaging in inane but sweet (and completely scripted) chatter as a means of introducing each Christmas song. Grant-Lee, though, reminded me not so much of Dean Martin in those specials, but of Tom Hanks's Dean Martin impression on the Global Warming Christmas Special from (again) SNL.

I'm off to iTunes to purchase some old Grant Lee Buffalo songs and some newer Grant-Lee Phillips tunes.

Well, Aerosmith did cover "Come Together"...

NSAH, AB and I were watching one of our Simpsons DVDs the other night.

AB: (pointing to some long-haired animated characters) Is that the Beatles?
APL: No, honey, that's Aerosmith, but good guess.

When I played my hand, I looked like a joker

The weather has been so nice, so this is my strolling around the neighborhood with ALB Ten:

1. "9 Crimes" by Damien Rice


2. "Lonesome Loser" by Little River Band*


3. "New Day" by Kate Havnevik


4. "Precious" by Depeche Mode


5. "Remember Me as a Time of Day" by Explosions in the Sky


6. "Winning" by Santana


7. "You and I Are a Gang of Losers" by the Dears


8. "Saint of Me" by the Rolling Stones


9. "Life is Short" by Butterfly Boucher


10. "Look at Her Face" by the Coral Sea

*OK, Gary didn't stop being my friend after the Christopher Cross admission. I wonder if this Little River Band admission will push him over the edge.

Year in Review

As seen at Everybody Knows, what follows is the first line of the first post of each month:

1. Last year's resolution was out by February: to see at least one movie in the theater each month.


2. Is there a popular song right now that samples from Paul Simon's Kodachrome?


3. Hectic, wonderful week is over.


4. I think someone from work is reading this blog.


5. I'm fuckin' Yoda, that's how swamped I am.


6. Last night, I had a dream that, while I was in the federal courthouse, I received a fax from Halloweenlover.


7. Whenever I watch the English soccer team play, and they play the national anthem, I find myself singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee."


8. Regular price of 3 fancy-but-disposable razors: $8.99.


9. So Ernesto wasn't even a hurricane, yet we lost power at home for more than 24 hours.


10. Angry Boy is going through a Thundercats phase.


11. My favorite author has died.


12. I now know that blogging about my sleep--or not blogging about it, as the case may be--in no way affects how much sleep I get the following night.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I've been without Internet service for 11 days, minus a brief 2-hour window on Thursday. I'll be putting up a ton of posts just in case it goes away again!

Really, REALLY hating my ISP...

Hating my ISP

No, I haven't been ignoring you. I've been locked out of the Internets since Sunday night. Not sure how long I'll have a connection, either.

I had a dozen posts in my head, too, and I neglected to write them down. And now I can't remember what they were. So here's some diarrhea of the mind:

• I am a whirling dervish (is there any other kind of dervish?) in the kitchen these days. A few nights ago, I made tilapia with a side of stuffing, and tonight we had chicken piccata with sauted green beans. YUM.


• AB went over to Grandma's house and made sugar cookies and a gingerbread house. Well, my mom made the house, but he decorated it. He did a really good job, so I feel really guilty about the fact that I've been eating all the shingles (gummi Lifesavers) off of the roof. Seriously, have you tried the gummi Lifesavers? They rock my socks.


• NSAH, ALB and I went and got a real tree today. I think the last time we bought a real tree, it was $40. Inflation's a bitch.


• The weather in DC has been wonderful. It's been up over 60 for days, and will continue to be nice over the weekend. Which means I've been able to get off my fat ass and get some exercise with ALB. Now if only I could stop eating everything in the house...


• Are you watching Friday Night Lights yet? Because it really can't get any better. And I can't decide who I'm more in love with: Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor) or Connie Britton (Tami Taylor).


• Who's going to see Charlotte's Web? I'm sure AB will want to go, but I don't know if my heart can take it. I get weepy just reading the book. I'm much more excited about Night at the Museum, which will probably be too PG for AB, but if I see it first, I can decide if he'd like it. He loves the movie posters, which show the T Rex.

Let's hope my Internet connection doesn't crap out again. I haven't read any of your blogs this week, and it's going to take a looooooooong time to read them all.

A break from the kiddos

Grandpa to the rescue last week! He came over one midday to babysit ALB so that NSAH and I could go out and have lunch together. We hadn't had lunch, just the two of us, in ages. We had the best burgers in Washington, and then we split up and did some shopping. I got NSAH's present (he knows what it is, but I still won't spill the beans here), and then exercised much restraint while shopping in the Store of the Mouse. All of the Pirates merchandise was 40% off, so I bought AB a shirt I think he'll like and a few stocking stuffers.

I also bought myself a couple of magazines (Cooking Light and Real Simple) while in the bookstore. While I was in the magazine section, I saw--for the first time--Cookie magazine! I'd never seen it before and had actually forgotten all about it.

And, though I saw the December Rachael Ray magazine, and coveted some of the recipes inside, I refrained from buying it (because, you know... she punches unicorns).

Internet's been out for a few days, hence the light posting. And the fact that we've been entertaining AB by repeated viewings of that sexist, nose-ist claptrap, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Saw it twice before naptime today, actually. At least the weather's not so frigid anymore--NSAH is going to take him to the playground so he can run around and get the snot rolling later this afternoon. Hurray!

Say my name, bitch*

I've decided that the new kid's been around long enough to get his own pseudonym and acronym. I appreciate all the suggestions. You folks are creative.

After discussing the matter once again with NSAH, I've decided to go with Angry Little Baby, or ALB for short.

And so it begins. I will now start thinking about him, little blog fodder baby that he is, as ALB, even in real life.

*This is an appropriate title for today, because NSAH came home from work and announced that Alyson Hannigan should be in his Top Five. He cracks me up.

Number one with a bullet

• Six: Number of holiday parties we've had to turn down for the December 15-17th weekend alone.


• Three: Number of events we've got planned for that weekend.


• One: Number of those aforementioned events that do not involve either Angry Boy or the baby (NSAH and I are going to my favorite fancy restaurant).


• Zero: Number of nice outfits that currently fit me. Hopefully I can lose a few pounds in the next two weeks.


• Three: Number of pounds I lost over the past two days because I was sick to my stomach and feverish. Feeling much better now, though.


• Two: Number of new matters/clients I've brought to the firm while on leave. Not bad for an absent employee, eh?


• Five: Number of people I still need to get presents for. My stepdad, a stepsister, a cousin, my secretary and NSAH. The good news is I already know what I'm getting three of them. And if my mom doesn't get back to me on what stepdad and stepsis want, I can always get them beer (I mean good beer, but still... yes, we're that kind of family. Jealous?).

I call bullshit...

... why can't you?

Excellent piece (hat tip to Lex) by Dan Froomkin:

What is it about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert that makes them so refreshing and attractive to a wide variety of viewers (including those so-important younger ones)? I would argue that, more than anything else, it is that they enthusiastically call bullshit.

Sleep, glorious sleep

I now know that blogging about my sleep--or not blogging about it, as the case may be--in no way affects how much sleep I get the following night. There is no jinx. So: last night, for the second time in more than 2 months, I got 5 straight hours of sleep. That's five in a row, baby. Felt like a million bucks for much of today.

In fact, today was the first day in ... well, in for-freakin-ever that I woke up on my own. Just calmly, peacefully stretched and shook off the sleep. Normally I am woken up (1) by AB yelling for assistance because he's dropped one of his gazillion toys out of his bed, or (2) by the baby hollering because he's hungry or because he's having gas issues. It's not like they let me sleep in or anything (I woke up at 7:30), but it still felt wonderful.