What to do?

Didn’t we just pack away the decorations a few weeks ago? Christmas snuck up and bit me this year.

I live for my Christmas break away from the college. This year, it's sixteen days long and in anticipation of my much-needed time off, I made a list of things to do and to accomplish. To say it’s an ambitious list is an understatement.

Wash and scrub every floor in the house. It’s not a big house so I can get it done in a full day if I stay focused and strong.

Hire the plumber.

Seal the granite.

Clean the bird feeders.

Wash bathroom walls.

There’s more...

Christmas brings more work that is out of the ordinary, so I can’t expect to accomplish much before the big day. After all, the shopping, wrapping, cooking, and eating needs to be done – the latter in large quantities.

So here I sit, on my fifth day off out of sixteen and have not crossed off anything on my ambitious list. What am I doing now and what will I be doing later today? Blog, gym, Facebook, Shop, Wrap. That’s what.

I can’t keep myself from admiring the lovely new iMac. To walk by and not stop in for a visit is almost impossible.

And,

staring at the first orchid of my life and expecting to see it shrivel and die overnight. Let us pray…

It’s a powerful and content feeling to have spotless floors and all that. If I go back to work without having immaculate floors, the entire new year of 2011, in my mind, will be a bust. There will be no hope for me and I will continue to procrastinate and continue to have spotty hardwood and sticky ceramic in the bathroom where the hairspray lands.

I will get it done.

However,

for now, all I want to do is this.

Enjoy the weather outside of my windowless office that feels like Christmas. If my fingers sting in frigid air and the sun is hidden behind gray clouds, so be it.

Sigh, and invite the Christmas spirit I once had.

Remember old times and welcome the new.

Watch snow fall, like it did a few days ago while uptown with Gina and Elise. It was a great day.

Have more girls’ days like that one.

Do something I love that I haven’t done in a very long time.

Take my camera along and laugh.

Capture images to share. Good ones. There are none left in my files, a source of grief I feel.

Hold conversations with a badass Mockingbird who has been terrorizing all others at the feeder stations for over a month. Perhaps I should thank him! I’m saving black oil sunflower seeds but the birds are freezing and are relying on my Autumn buffet.

He doesn’t miss anything and is always aware of intruders.

Who is the only bird that laughs at his nonsense?

All of my little Chickies. The Carolina Chickadee is the most tenacious little bird that, without consideration, will go head to head with a flamboyant Mocker.

Mourning Doves feel threatened and show it. Even the Cardinals and Titmice back off.

The nuts are mine. The grapes, too.

You gotta problem, lady? Are you laughing at me? Huh?

******************************************

If I do not visit Mary's View before Christmas Day and the New Year begins,

please know

I wish your

best dreams to come true.

Poop on The Hoop

This is Bella’s story, told in her sweetest Winnie the Pooh’s Piglet voice…everyone knows Piglet, right?

Ugh. It was not a good day. Something happened and I didn’t do it. It wasn’t my fault.

It started when I was outside with my Mother and I was playful. I always bring her a t-t-toy to play with b’cuz I’m her favorite grrrl. I could not w-w-wait to run and catch my hoop. Being the way I am, I was way up over the moon. Then…

Tut tut, it looked like trouble.

Mother made an ugly face, p-p-pointed to a spot on my hula hoop and asked,

“What is THAT, Jelly Belly?

Is that a nugget of poop stuck on your hoop?”

Uh oh. I was a very embarrassed and confused and all flustered and nervous. I didn’t do it.

She called for my Licker Sister Chloe, our official expert poop inspector, and that’s when I knew I would be doomed.

In Chloe’s snappy Winnie the Pooh’s Rabbit voice

she reported,

"Tut tut, it is poop.

Not my poop.

Bella pooped on her hoop.

She's so lame. Only a goof poops on its own hoop.

Heh.”

Oh my, I did not know what to do. I did not know how to fix it.

How could I play hula hoop with a nugget of poop stuck on my hoop?

I could not believe it happened. It never happened before.

I had Sad.

I would not touch it, my hoop, stuck on the steps.

Usually, if I be cute I get what I want. I am not as smart as my Licker Sister but I know what my Mother likes. I sat next to my hoop for a long time. I didn't blink any eyes. I was a statue of black and white.

I love my Mother.

It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t do it.

Dat's all, folks.