Candy has created a monster.

Halloween 2009, the year our sweet boy turned into a freaking candy eating crack rat. Wow. Who knew. Last year he couldn't be bothered with actually eating the candy--he just enjoyed an opportunity to take something from a stranger and put it in his bag (this year we upgraded him from bag to pumpkin--maybe that was the beginning of the problem). LAST year when we tried to entice him to pick something out of his stash (we thought it would be cute to see what candy he liked, what he disliked), he just played with the wrappers and we ended up eating it. I went on the South Beach Diet about a week later...coincidence?

"Want go home and eat Halloween stuff?"

This is his new mantra. I took him to the playground today, as it was sunny and apparently there are 'big changes ahead' weatherwise for us in Tacoma. Usually this occupies him totally--running around, slides, pushing swings (he doesn't like to actually get on them), etc...but today he ran up to me in between each fun and seemingly token activity to beg to go home and...eat candy. He has lost love for his favorite of all time, Morningstar Farms Veggie Sausages. This is huge. This is all he has eaten for the past year, basically. It seems he's figured out that they contain zero percent chocolate. Luckily I also love the Veggie Sausages. Luckily because there are about six boxes of them in our freezer (Fred Meyer was having a sale). I TRY to avoid the 'if you eat your dinner you can pick something out of your pumpkin'--I don't want him to get the idea that this will always be the case, right? Last night, though, I was weak. I was tired. It just...came out. Today when I set his lunch before him he piped up with 'If I eat this can I pick something out of my pumpkin?' Fast learner.


On the bright side, the first thing he did this morning was swipe a Granny Smith apple off the counter. He walked around the house and ate the whole thing--so proud to exhibit the fact that he is a big boy and no longer needs the apple either peeled or cut. And he still likes his mac and cheese. Just not as much. See before and after shot below. That's my boy!

Never Buy New

We've needed a new car for some time now. We were thinking about getting a new one when we were pregnant, until it occurred to us the foolishness of getting a fresh shiny new car just before embarking on a new life of Cheerios and spit-up and sticky peanut-butter fingers etc. One poor decision on my part to give Ellis Strawberry Quik on a road trip (yes, I did it) and it's all over for that new car smell. That's one thing I love about our Jetta. It is so cosmetically imperfect, stains and scratches

mean nothing. And when we do buy, I doubt we'll buy new, for that very reason.

However, you don't have that luxury when it comes to your child's face. You get this perfect beautiful little human, and hard as you may try, you can't keep them fresh from the factory. I've gotten used to the knee scrapes (ever present) and he did get a little puncture wound on his lip from a sharp corner of our coffee table a few weeks ago (which looked unpleasantly and unfortunately exactly like a cold sore), but nothing prepared me for the epic chin-splitting episode we experienced on Monday.

I had a meeting in Seattle, and Erik and Adeline were in town and agreed to come to Seattle with me and play in the park with Ellis until my meeting was over. Once finished, I joined them at the park and watched how carefully Ellis was walking in circles, balancing on the cement curb that bordered a sandbox with a shiny chrome dome slide type thing. Adeline was there, holding his hand. He was very focused. "He's done that about twenty times," Erik said. As Ellis approached me, I swung him up into my arms for a hug, but he clearly wanted back down to continue his new obsession. THE MINUTE I set him down, he fell smack on his face, audibly hitting the cement curb, scraping open his knees and splitting open his chin.

Blood everywhere.

Adeline had the smart idea to run over to some Park Maintenance guys to see if they had a First Aid kit (They did, and told her they had just put it in the truck that morning!!! There's Ellis's guardian angel at work again!). Erik fixed his little godson up while I held him and sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider (he'll probably hear that song in his nightmares hereafter--good thing I chose one that's already kind of creepy). We determined ultimately that he didn't need stitches, though I wasn't totally sure. I could tell that it wasn't life-threatening, and I didn't want to traumatize him further with a trip to the ER. One thing I am sure of is that he will have a pretty big scar on his chin. Scars are cool right? Look at Scarface? Oh, wait. Bad example.

So, I guess I have to get used to it. I can't keep him a little pristine perfect baby boy forever, but I'll do by best to protect him. And I promise not to shave his hair into a mohawk or give him a rat-tail. What more can I do.

Oh yeah....

Whew! I almost forgot I had a blog! How on earth do the weeks and months fly by the way they do...I think Ben Folds said it best with 'the seconds pass slowly and the years go flying by.'

I'll do what I can to keep up.

Let it Snow

If one goes to http://www.seattlepi.com/ and clicks on the 5-day forecast, one finds many different ways to politely say "It's %&*-ing FREEZING!" You've got today, Tuesday, 'Quite cold with sunshine', Wednesday, 'Cold with snow at times', Thursday, 'Cold. A snow shower', Friday, 'Very Cold', and Saturday, 'Clouds and sun (hope-giving, but then:) Very Cold.' The HI on Saturday is 26 degrees. I'm trying to figure out the best way to break this to my dear friend who is unwittingly flying into icy cold hell, all the way from sunny Los Angeles. I guess this is that way, since she gets an email alert every time I post a blog. Please, please do still come to visit, Erin.

The bright side is how incredibly beautiful everything looks with a fresh white blanket. Mt. Rainier, which you can see if you stand on your tiptoes in the corner of my living room, is striking and massive, and easy to see because of the cold clear skies (oddly enough, the best view of Rainier is from the Target parking lot on Union Ave). It's fun to watch Ellis discover chilly wind--he was laughing uncontrollably as I rolled him in his stroller, wind whipping around us, to the bus stop the other day. I looked up to see all the drivers in line at the red light laughing at him--his eyes were wild and he was flailing his hands. Hands that he refuses to keep mittened, although he seems to be giving in a little bit as he learns that they will keep him warm.

All the snow and cold surely add to the Christmas vibe--and remind me how incredibly fortunate I am to have a home. I was barely able to walk to the shed, about a fifteen foot 'walk', last night. I couldn't imagine trying to survive in this bitter cold without my family and my home. I am so lucky.

So, Happy Holidays everyone! Remember all that you already have...and let it snow! (Just don't make me drive in it).

Henry Miller knew what he was talkin' about:

"The task of genius, and humanity is nothing if not genius, is to keep the miracle alive, to live always in the miracle, to make the miracle more and more miraculous, to swear allegiance to nothing, but live only miraculously, think only miraculously, die miraculously." —Henry Miller

***blogger's note: if you haven't seen 'Henry and June', Netflix it NOW.

The Lunch Box

The (West Coast) Boran family tradition is to put the Christmas tree up the morning after Thanks-giving Day. See color photos. This involves coffee, some sort of leftovers-inspired omelette and maybe, just MAYBE, a mimosa. And Christmas Music. This year we started out with The Chieftains 'Bells of Dublin', then moved on to Yo-Yo Ma and Friends, 'Songs of Joy and Peace' (thank you Dad!), then moved on to Pandora, an excellent music/project site that allows you to enter a few songs you like, they then personalize a 'radio station' for you based on your selections (see http://www.pandora.com/).

All of this Christmas joy reminded me that, just a few years ago, I spent my Christmases serving booze to patrons of The Deadwood, a charming and lethally smoky dive bar in Iowa City, IA. I left a tiny filthy piece of my heart in that bar when I left IC. In fact, Chad and I MET at The Deadwood. Because all of my family was either on the West Coast, in Colorado or in Tennessee, I always used to volunteer to work Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Those were long strange lonely days. Although lots of people used to drift in and out on those holidays, it always seemed oddly empty, and a little dreamlike. Patrons showed up for a variety of reasons. For some of the regulars, we were their family. Others would just show up when they were sick of dealing with their families. Some were just people who used to hang out at The Deadwood in their 'heyday' and were in town for the holidays, swinging by to see how much, if at all, it had changed. That's us now, up there in the black and white picture. Now Chad and I are the people who show up every year or so and annoy the waitstaff by insisting 'HEY! I used to WORK HERE!'.

In honor of The Deadwood and all those who love it as much as I do, I thought I'd include the 'recipe' for the strangest drink I made during my nearly four-year tenure there, The Lunch Box.

This sounds disgusting, but ends up tasting just like an Orange Julius and gives a nice harmless Christmas buzz:

In a shaker, gently shake:

12 ounces Miller Lite
2 ounces orange juice
2 ounces Amaretto

Pour into a chilled pint glass and enjoy!

The ultimate gift that keeps on giving!

If you live in the Seattle or Portland area, the absolute best gift you could give a friend is a year member-ship to the fabulous Warren Report http://www.thewarrenreport.com/ . Warren Etheredge is the most intriguing interviewer I've seen in person--he has a special talent of making anyone seem smart even if they seem perhaps not so (to remain nameless, but it rhymes with Schmames Schmey), look approachable, if they're Salman Rushdie, seem funny if they're dull (to remain nameless and rhymeless), seem outgoing even if they're creepy genius-shy (Charlie Kaufman). My personal observation; Warren's talent stems from his ability and desire to understand every one with which he comes into contact. This in addition to his dedicated time, research and experience with film and literature makes for a combination that can't be beat. Oh, and throw in the dozens and dozens of free movie screenings that come with the membership...and the blog...and the contests on the blog. And the podcasts. Etc. Etc. Etc. And all this for $20!!!!

Warren was an instructor (and remains a mentor) to me last spring at TheFilmSchool http://www.thefilmschool.com/ . Here we are celebrating my graduation from the grueling-but-worth-it 3-week-intensive.

Go to http://www.thewarrenreport.com/ for more information and to join.