Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2009

Just in time for the new year, Wednesday's New Year's Eve Freewill horoscope (Virgo) . . .

In 2009, you'll receive a lot of help, some unexpected, whenever you phase out your trivial desires so that you can better pursue your truly important desires. The coming months will also be an excellent time to shed unrealistic fantasies so you can be freer to concentrate on the realistic kind. While these are not quite once-in-a lifetime opportunities, Virgo, they may be the once-in-a-decade variety. Why not draw up a plan for how you can take maximum advantage of the specific luck that will be flowing your way?
Trivial desires and unrealistic fantasies . . . ouch, that stings. And I can't get help until I phase them out, huh. Well, I think I know the latter, but I'm not sure about the former. Believe it or not I don't actually like introspection which I this seems to require. What are my trivial desires?

Okay, how about a real question for you . . . I need pronoun help. What is "these" referring to . . . "these are not quite once-in-a lifetime opportunities, Virgo, they may be the once-in-a-decade variety?" I'm really not sure but it seems intriguing.

I am curious to learn what type of help I'll be receiving if I can become more realistic. Sounds petty, but . . . I could especially use some help in getting my house clean and keeping it that way. I could also use some super-duper professional help with my pack of basenjis. A certain someone would like the herd culled sooner than later and this notion out into the universe returns in the form of injury and disease. That's not cool. It's not cool for my furkids or for us. Our one basenjis is on so many pills it's ridiculous. How did my parents manage to have nice elderly pets who seemed to never be on any meds? He's got opiates, muscle relaxers, antibiotics, anti-diarrhea, steroids, and thyroid (I think that's it). Goodness that's a lot and so no wonder he's not himself but instead a big jerk. Off the meds he's mopey because he's in pain. Ugh. Again, the pets I had growing up never had any issues like this! WTH!?!?!

Well, even if I'm still clinging to fantasy for now, at least I do have the plan. I have my vision board done. I did one last year but never got it printed off the computer. This year I have a poster board on my closet door. I used a 9-square feng shui bagua as a back drop this year and categorized all my clippings accordingly. I love it. I keep looking at it, which I guess is part of the point. The rest of the point? Not sure, but I guess just to get those ideas into the universe as well as into my consciousness and subconsciousness.

Happy New Year!

Friday, December 26, 2008

2008 Holiday Season

We like holidays. In fact, most anything (other than illness) that means extra time can be spent at home vs at work has to be good. The season starts with the Winter Solstice which we celebrated asmidge early. The weather reports stated the weather would get colder and colder as we passed over the solstice weekend. So we opted to make a trek to the zoo on Saturday evening. We bundled J up in his cozy bunting and yak-wool (a gift from T's time in Nepal - I assume yak wool but I could be wrong). TheWildlights were wonderful. I wish we'd gone before! We'll definitely make it a yearly trek.
J wasn't thrilled about his stroller, but that's becoming the norm. We held him and alternated walking around looking at the lights with visiting indoor exhibits. J really liked the fish and the elephants most. It was quite cold so we stayed just over an hour and then headed home. The wind was really picking up when we left so it was good timing. J slept like a champ that night - we need to get him outside more often. I remember longingly how he slept through the night every night June - August when we'd take nightly walks.

We traveled "home" to western PA for Christmas. We were house guests/sitters which worked out wonderfully. Our first morning in town we battled ice to visit a high school friend with a brand new baby girl. I think we'll try to make that a regular visit; it was a lot of fun. They also have a 4 year old girl. And while Billie is still on maternity leave and only has 1 dog she gets way too much accomplished! A 2 month old & 4 year old but she makes her own bread, jam, etc. I'd love to do that but I can barely even get the dishes & laundry done. I need to get this figured out.
The first holiday event was Christmas Eve at my aunt's home. It replaces the good ole days of parties at my grandparents' - all night parties complete with makeshift bar on the washer & dryer. Gotta love that! J got to meet his cousin who is 4 weeks younger than him. It was the first little one his own age that he's gotten to meet. They were intrigued with one another but before they could play gifts were brought out. J's favorite . . . the blue ribbon on one of the gifts. I kept it and used it to appease him during diaper changes the whole time we were there. That was a late night but J slept the whole way through to morning and then we headed out to my mom's. My niece and nephew had been up since 6am staring at the gifts Santa had brought. I didn't even see my nephew open his - he was too fast. J got a newcarseat and of course toys. We returned home on Saturday to pick up kitty, then the pups on Sunday. How quickly we went back to normal (aka hectic). You'd think the holidays would be more hectic than day-to-day.

New Years was uneventful. While we were up around midnight with J, we did not see the ball drop or have a drink or anything like that. It's not like we are normally big party goers or anything but we normally at least stay up to welcome in the new year. We tried everything in the 'No Cry Sleep Solution' book so we've moved on to some crying solutions for J. He's had to cry it out a few times. Last night was the worst (probably for me more than him) but he calmed down and fell asleep and stayed asleep all night. My mom insists that this is better for everyone but I'm dubious. I feel evil. I'm working on getting over it though. I can attest that J is not sad - he's mad. Last night we went in, rocked him to sleep (3x for D followed by 1x for me) but he'd wake up every time he was placed in his crib. He would kick his legs and yell. He was just mad so I kissed him and said goodnight and left. Why must learning to sleep be so difficult?!?!?

Anyway, overall the holidays were very nice. I was concerned J would not travel well but he was awesome. He got a new tooth while we were out-of-town and even with teething he was super. I'm looking forward to being more social and outgoing with him this winter and spring.
I wanted to include photos from Wildnights, Christmas, etc but I forgot my card reader at my mom's in PA. She is in Vegas until next week so it'll be awhile. I could find the cable to my camera and connect directly but finding that may take as long. I will upload photos, they'll just be a bit belated.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Winter Solstice

I love Winter Solstice. It's the first holiday of the group that we celebrate this season. I hate that it's the shortest day of the year, but there is a silver lining. The following day is longer, and so is the next and the next and so on.
We normally celebrate the holiday with lights. We had a wine tasting party a few years ago and our entire house was lit only by candlelight. It's surprising how much heat a hundred or so tea lights produce. We eventually had to turn off the furnace and open a window.
I cannot recall what we did last year. If the weather is decent perhaps we'll go to the zoo this year. Or maybe D and I will manage to have a nice candlelit dinner someplace. We'll see. Either way it is the beginning of the holidays and I'm excited. I'm not ready at all, but I'm excited nonetheless.

I'm bringing up Winter Solstice in part because it was mentioned in my omen this week.
"My deepest emotional wound has also been the source of inexhaustible blessings." I'm not going to tell you why that statement is true for me -- it's way too personal -- but I assure you that it's one of the fundamental facts about my destiny. Could you make a similar assertion, Virgo? Is it possible to interpret your life in such a way that you could see how a painful experience you suffered in the past has also given you tremendous insight, inspiration, and vitality? Two thousand nine will be an excellent year to make that leap of understanding. And the time around the solstice -- right now! -- is a perfect moment to get started.
I have not spent much time pondering my "deepest emotional wound" and feel lucky that it doesn't jump right out and announce itself. Lucky because while we all have emotional wounds I don't think I have that many let alone many deep ones. Is that lucky? Some may say it's not, that perhaps I cannot have proper growth or "inexhaustible blessings" without the flipside. I don't think that is completely true. Everyone is different.
In part I've not spent time pondering this because of it's negativity. However, I think I may take some time with this anyway because like the winter solstice, there is light on the other side of darkness. I would love to be able to be less negative and interpret negativity in a more positive way. I think that would be a wonderful way to spend some of my time and energy in 2009 - starting now.

9-months

Today baby J is 9 months old. Happy Birthday, baby J! :)

Yesterday he had his check-up. He's surprisingly down in his percentiles (25% height & weight). I was surprised because he's wearing really big sizes and out-growing them so fast. Dr. M said she sees this drop at 9-mo in about 90% of her patients. She said they get mobile and don't eat enough. I didn't realize that veggies, fruits and cereals had more calories than formula and milk. So I had been encouraging more of the latter but need to switch it as he begins the homestretch towards the 1yr mark. Maybe it's not the homestretch but he's surely nearing or rounding third. We started giving him 2 more ounces of solid food at each meal yesterday and to my surprise he woofed it down. Hmmm. Guess the poor lil guy was hungry after all. He's gaining about a pound a month but maybe he'll gain more with the added food and jump back up to average. Oh how we love that 50th percentile!

He's still not babbling, well not the sounds the pros say are coming. There's no mamamama or bababababa or dadadadada let alone mama, baba or dada. He surely has a lot to say though in the sounds he has decided are cool and fun.

We've also found out we have a climber. He wants to climb everything and was recently caught standing on the stool next to his crib. Next he tried to use D as a ladder to climb onto the chair in his room later that same day. He's ready to explore new heights! All I foresee are a whole new crop of bumps and bruises on his noggin from the falls. We've finally moved past the falling from his learning to stand and cruise.

He's still teething. The front top teeth are slowly but surely coming down. It's been two months of off and on with those things and I really wish they'd just come down once and for all. We're pretty certain there are more on the horizon. I'm guessing late January or early February they'll appear. He's been super drooly which is normally about 2-months out from new teeth. The rash he'll has been getting seems to mark about 2-weeks out from the teeth breaking the skin. Weird but so far predictable. I'll keep everyone updated on these subtle clues.

He's ready for his first holiday season. This weekend is of course Winter Solstice. We're hoping to get a baby sitter so we can go out to dinner (though I got an email about a meditation event too - I just don't think I can sell D on it). Then we go to see family for Christmas but return for D's birthday and New Years. We'll also be celebrating "little Christmas" in January (the 6th I believe) as J will have way too many items to open all at once. We'll space them out a bit this year. We just haven't found a way to work Hanukkah into the mix. We like celebrating all the holidays, not because we give gifts for them all (we don't) but just to honor them all. We're not religiously tied to any of them so it's nice to spend time enjoying the non-secular meaning each brings to the world.

I've sort of gotten off the topic of J. I don't think I have many more updates. Though I am leaving out two small items I learned over the past couple weeks . . . .
  1. Buy blueberry baby food because making it at home is ridiculously messy. Everything was blue. As D said, it looked like we killed Barney in the kitchen. I also learned that 1-2 cubes of blueberry mixed with other fruit or some cereal is plenty. Any more than two and again everything become blue, including baby J.
  2. J loves Norah Jones or at least her voice and well maybe even more specifically her singing Come Away With Me. The other day the song came on and he stopped playing and just turned and stared at the radio. He'd go back to playing for a moment and she'd start the chorus again, and again he'd stop and stare her way, listening. D mentioned months ago he thought J liked this song. In early summer he noticed the song calmed J and would often put him right to sleep. It is a lovely song.
I've actually been gathering cds from the library like a crazy woman. I have Disney Classics which were an accidental reserve. I thought I was getting play songs but there songs from the movies. Some are good but most I've never heard of before - somehow they escaped my notice when I watched the movie(s). I also got some RockABye cds which are lullaby versions of rock songs (I reserved Coldplay and U2, the Beach Boys and for my own curiosity Nine Inch Nails and Green Day). I also got him some early rock and roll collections (1950s stuff and early 1960s - he loves Rock Around the Clock). Lastly I reserved the correct Disney cds - Children's Favorite Play songs. I hope J likes them!

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

kisses

I would have added this somehow to my "thanks" posting had I known.
I walked upstairs from writing the post to have D say that J had started giving kisses. I asked for a kiss and got one too! It's one word I'm consistent with saying ("kisses") so he can match it with the action. This is the first word we've been able to tell that he really knows what it is.
I can't wait for morning - a whole day of kisses. I'm tearing up. :)

Thanks

My last post seemed a bit more negative than I'm actually feeling. Though our feng shui is surely off and little things are continually popping up to throw a wrench into one or more aspects of our life, I'm still very grateful. I had wanted to post a gratitude list - some may call it giving thanks or perhaps even Thanksgiving - for a few days now so here it is.

I am very grateful for:
my very best friend of more than a dozen years and hubby for ten - D.
our nearly 9 month old baby boy, J who has changed every molecule of our lives.
our home which every year is truly more and more a home and less just a house.
friends - all of them, all over the world.
family and the more prominent desire to share them with J.
season though I'd really prefer longer spring, summer and fall and less winter.
my pets - though all of them are a challenge, they've enriched my life and I have learned a lot.
the opportunity to stay at home and start two businesses.
the space & support to try new things.
family - they deserve another nod.
D - he deserves at least three mentions.
J - he deserves every mention as he exists somewhere in each and every blessing.
the 51% of the US that believes in America and the potential greatness of change.
savings.
independence.
being needed.
being appreciated.
being loved.
acceptance.
a good haircut.
physical therapy that IS working.
friends - again.
D & J again and again and again. :)


Namaste.

as if

Here's this weeks horoscope:

Virgo (August 23-September 22)
In 1952, renowned modern composer John Cage created the infamous "4'33"." It's a "song" that consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of pure silence. Recently a San Francisco performance artist, Jonathon Keats, did a remix of that tune and made it available as a ring-tone. I'd love for you to be inspired by those two geniuses in the coming week, Virgo. It'll be an excellent time for you to come to a perfect stop, fill yourself with stillness, and bask in the healing power of undiluted nothingness.

And all I can say is AS IF. I don't have time to do nothing, let alone bask in undiluted nothingness. I wish. It's the holiday season. Even though D & I have always done very low-key, low spending holidays we still have family to buy for and some members expect gifts so there's no card or sweet cost-free sentiment that will suffice. I have an elderly insane dog that I must continually clean-up after, be it accidents in the house or a flood of water from her dancing in the water bowls. I have an almost elderly dog that was spry for his age but now appears to have a bulging or ruptured disc in his neck. He's been to the vet twice already this week and it's only Wednesday. Then there is the very mobile J. The other day I ran downstairs because I thought I heard water-bowl dancing. I was mistaken so I was back upstairs in 30 seconds - J had left the far side of his room, ventured across the hall and across the guest room to the computer and he was tugging on all the wiring he could get his little hands on. He's fast now!

In addition to tending to the souls residing in our home, I have a hubby who has decided to compete with me for the number of friends we have on Facebook. I'm rather non-competitive so I think I'll be able to keep from joining in this silly, potentially time consuming game. I also have two businesses I'm trying to get started. So I spend a decent amount of time at the computer working on those. Unfortunately we're having major internet connectivity issues these days so anything online is frustrating and stretches out into what at the time feels like eternity.

In the next three weeks leading up to our holiday travels I must finish shopping, baking, etc like everyone else. I must also finish my wrist physical therapy, do family photos, and get to a handful of other appointments for J and/or I.

I realize this to do list is like most everyone else's this time of year (sans dementia-ridden dog probably) but unless you are also a Virgo you probably do not have a horoscope suggesting you bask in undiluted nothingness.

I recognize filling myself with stillness and basking in nothingness would be a great tonic for this time of year. But unfortunately I just don't have time and this week my freewill is opting out.

Sigh. Nothingness DOES sound lovely.