The Bloggy Bunch...

(click for larger image)

Here’s the story of a crazy Kiwi,

Who was blogging with some others over time.

All of them had blogs of fun, like their cohort,

The bloggers shared in crime.

 

Here’s the story of a man named Wukky,

Who was busy with mischief of his own.

They were bloggers, blogging all together,

Yet they were all alone.

 

Til the one day when this blogger met this fellow,

And he knew that he was much more than a chump.

That this guy was much more than some huhus,

That’s the way they all became the Bloggy Bunch.

 

 

The Bloggy Bunch...

The Bloggy Bunch...

That’s the way they became the Bloggy Bunch...

 

(okay maybe I shouldn't be left alone when I am really bored)...

 

 

Guilty as Charged.....

 I am being stalked by Girl Scouts....

Okay it was only one Girl Scout, but she showed up at my door late this evening. I was surprised, it was unexpected. It was cold, it was dark and it had been a snowy day. Thin mints and coconut thingies hadn't even crossed my mind, and I did something I have never done before.... I said "no". Well I did turn her down a little more kindly explaining that I had already bought cookies from another Girl Scout. She turned and left back into the cold darkness and as I shut the door, it hit me....the guilt.

Why is it that turning down a kid selling cookies can wrangle so much guilt? I was tempted to throw the door back open, beckon the little Girl Scout in and buy cookies, extra cookies, to make up for my callousness in saying no. It's just something I haven't really done before. I have blogged before on my weakness for little kids sent door to door to sell stuff. I never say no, I always buy something. I have bought cookies, cookie dough, pizzas, candy, nuts, gift wrap, candles, popcorn, beef logs, cheese tubs, ornaments, bread braids, cookbooks, raffle tickets, magazine subscriptions and almost anything else that those two legged creatures can carry on their return trip to exchange for my money.

I still felt guilty though, and adding to that guilt was the fact I knew this particular Girl Scout. I knew her mom, her dad, her other siblings who had sold me stuff in the past. I knew her grandparents, and pretty much everyone ever related to her. I mentally cringed. I just know the shockwaves would be reverberating off of her parents, her grandparents, and her siblings, and all those other relatives. For the first and only time I had refused to buy anything. All of those purchases in the past I knew would be overlooked in this one moment. It wouldn't matter that I have spent enough in my past purchases to put their other kids thru college...(okay maybe just a junior college)..... I had said no...and it bothered me and still continues to bother me.

I am not even sure why I said no to begin with.... It might have been that it was late and I was tired. Part of it might be the fact that expenses are rising and I need to cut back on non-essential things. It might just be that I am tired of seeing little creatures at my door asking for money for things I don't particularly want or need.

I was tempted to call....call up her mom and say ...Yes! yes, I have found room in the freezer I can take some Girl Scout cookies after all, and then proceed to buy boxes of more cookies to cover my obvious faux paux. It's ridiculous, this guilt feeling. It use to be I would feel guilty for eating the cookies, now I have the added guilt of not just eating, but also not buying the cookies. Guilt can work on you, and it does. Without even leaving your home or doing anything.... guilt will find you. Just saying "No" opens up those floodgates of guilt. It just doesn't cover cookies either, it covers everything, or at least it does for me. I hate saying 'no' when someone asks me for something. Whether it is my time, or a favor, or even just cookies, denying the person who requested something of me, makes me feel guilty. It shouldn't, but it does. I am not sure if it is some deep seated feeling that by saying "no" to them, that I am somehow failing them.

At this point you are most likely mumbling under your breath and rolling your eyes, and thinking..."Vic, it was just a box of overpriced cookies". Call me a sap...a sucker...I know it was only cookies.

I can't help but think of the little girl in dark and the cold and the snow, trudging door to door to ring the bell to make the same plea while I sit at my computer and sip hot cocoa....

A steaming cup of rich hot cocoa with gobs of sugary marshmallows...




...that is a whole other guilt trip all of it's own.

Alligators, and Some Bits of Insignificance

 It's been pointed out to me it's been awhile since I have written a new blog entry. I guess the new year is not fairing much better than the old year in my blogging habits. It's not that I have been lazy...well maybe a little.... but I just haven't had much to blog about. My world has been pretty quiet with only little bits of insignificance to blog about. I just haven't had much to report, or much to report on that was interesting.

It's cold... I think you all know that.

It snowed.... I think you all know that or have the white stuff too.

I am all out of Christmas goodies, but according to Sue and Mike that is a good thing. I still wistfully hope that I will find some chocolate stashed in the cupboard I didn't know I had put there. All is not lost though in that the Girl Scouts found me. Soon thin mints and those coconut thingies will be on my doorstep. You didn't read that though Sue.... they are for the homeless. Okay maybe not for the homeless but for the cookie-less. I will be good, no more than two cookies a day Sue....promise.....finger cross, etc,etc....

Judy has asked about my cat Stink Pot and the little stinker continues in all of her bad habits. No amount of training or attempts at training have had much of an impact. She runs, she claws, she bites when feeling ignored. Who needs kids, I have my own ankle biter. She lives to annoy me most days and most often succeeds. It's subtle, but I know it's on purpose. She will perch on top of the desk or buffet, or anywhere she can.......pat at an object with her paw, pushing it closer and closer to the edge and then watches it fall on the floor. She then sprawls out and hangs her head over the ledge to watch it for any signs of movement or trying to mentally will it back on top so she can push it off again. It's like our playing fetch game, I am doing all the work and she is watching me do it. Yes I will admit it, I think I am being outsmarted, but I always thought it would take more than just a cat.

**UPDATE**Christmas continues....argh. My aunt has called this week to inform me that the extended family Christmas get together has been rescheduled for the third time for....February 2nd. It would be so funny if it wasn't so ridiculous. I am toying with the thought of handing out Valentine's cards on all the packages. I am just quirky enough to do it too.

It's a blog about a whole lot of nothing of importance. Little stuff that makes up our days, that fills our weeks, and adds to our lives. This week I happened to visit my old chat room for a few minutes and learned a chatter of long ago had passed away. Most won't remember her from the early chat days, some will just think of her as being Hands_talking's mom. But I remember her from the beginning of my chat days, when I first stumbled into a chat room. I remember Aunt Molly, or "auntie" as she was known to most of us. She was a welcoming, right-wing, pistol-packing Texan with an outspoken clarity that left little doubt as to where she stood. She was the reincarnation of Annie Oakley. She hunted, grew roses, lived for her family, wrestled alligators, and allowed no cussing in the chat room. Okay maybe the alligator stuff was just a rumor, but I am sure given the opportunity she would have given it her all.

It's been several years since I had caught her on-line to chat. A lot had happened in her life over the years,..the death of her husband "Uncle Andy", sickness, moving to a new home.... but that is how life is, it's always changing things, and changing people,...myself included. 

I am thankful for the footsteps,... those significant imprints that each of you make and leave behind in my life,...even the alligator ones.



We will miss you Aunt Molly.

Living in the Past....

 Happy New Year! I know it is already the 3rd of January but for me it still feels like I am living in 2007. I know I am a bit of a procrastinator but I swear that this time it was not my fault. Christmas really didn't arrive till just two days ago on Jan. 1st. That is what I get for whining on a previous blog that December of 2007 was going to be a busy month with 5 different celebrations and parties to go to. Factor in the weather, conflicts of schedules and I only made it to one of those celebrations. Christmas was officially canceled.

I didn't have to worry about finishing shopping, I didn't have to worry about unbaked cookies, I didn't even have to worry about putting up the Christmas tree. Christmas day came and went like any other ordinary day. I didn't even make it to any after Christmas sales to stock up on next year's Christmas. I was being a Christmas bum and I have to tell you......it felt nice.

Well that is til, the very end of the month of December and it was decided to have Christmas on the 1st of January. Then a mild panic took hold, and it was back in the kitchen to bake, back to wrapping presents, and thoughts of putting up the Christmas tree. I did finally get it up and decorated...on the 1st, and it came down the next day. Christmas not only came late it stayed for less than 24 hours.

I have to tell you that celebrating Christmas on the 1st of January of 2008 made me feel as if I was living my own version of a Christmas Carol, and that I was being visited by the ghost of Christmas past... , while presently celebrating Christmas.... in the future New Year. I didn't have any visions of ghosts though, even if at times I seemed a little scrooge-ish.

The whole Christmas seemed odd and out of place, as if we were left behind while others were off and into new and exciting things. It got me to thinking how much we change as we get older and we no longer have that excitement and wonder of Christmas that a child still has. Christmas can seem like a chore, something to live thru, bare with until it passes. We moan and groan about the hassle, and time involved and the unappreciated costly gifts that could have been money better spent. No matter how much sparkle and bling we have on the tree, we can't seem to find the spirit of the holiday.

Thinking back on Christmas's past, I can't remember all of them, only small pockets of memories that stick out. I can't remember every toy I received or what everyone else had gotten from Santa. Those memories are there in the back of my mind with a brightness of a mellow glow that only time can give it a true luster. Present day Christmases can't compare. Those celebrations contain people no longer with us, times we can't recapture. It has to wait it's turn to join those other past Christmases and leave it's own footnote. It has it's advantage of being savored at that very moment it is happening, but there is also that feeling of knowing it is time that is fleeting. Future Christmases have that element of the unknown. Children growing up, family dynamics changing, not knowing the time or place or who will be there for that next Christmas.

I felt a bit of all three Christmas ghosts on Jan. 1st. No Christmas is ever the same even if the same people are present. Lego's sprawled upon the table among some chex mix crumbs by an anxious 9 year old boy. Complaints of 6 year old girl that all of the old people were eating too much food as they sat with their slices of pie and coffee. It was time to open presents, and old people take too long. Chats with teenagers on music, videos, clothes, while a frog-duck puppet quacked in the background. Grown adults playing catch with a child's new toy, while trash bags of torn gift paper sat around.

It was Christmas on the New Year. What happened to the New Year holiday I don't know. I got to thinking what if how we spend the New Year was a prelude to what the upcoming year would be? If a person was laughing on New Year's would that mean they would have a year of laugher? Would it be the same if they had been crying? It made me giggle to think of all those people who fix big pots of beans for good luck on the upcoming year. I know what they would be doing the rest of the year (grin).

Was I still behind and living in 2007 finishing up a holiday? Would that mean that the rest of the year I would be behind and be playing catch up? I do have one or two things left over from 2007 to attend to yet. A small part of me wondered though, if I rang in the New Year celebrating Christmas, would that mean that every day would seem like Christmas in the New Year? For all my griping and complaining about the holiday, that didn't seem like such a bad idea after all...

Merry Christmas...Happy New Year....and everything in between...