Trade Offs

So, I'm really NOT ready for the 4 months shy of 3 year old to give up her naps for good, but this week + at home with mom has not been encouraging on that front. She napped her normal 2 hours last Saturday, then not again until yesterday aside from the few minutes here and there in the car. Yesterday, she wailed in the crib for 15 minutes or so, then did sleep for 2+ hours, so she clearly still needs them, BUT, she was awake until 11:00p.m. last night! 11:00p.m.!! This is not going to fly when school/work resume Wednesday! I'm almost inclined not to force the nap, because then she's passed out by 8:00 p.m. or close to, but she's a whiney mess by 5:00 or so when she hasn't napped. For purely selfish reasons, I like to have her down by 8:00 in the evening so I can have a conversation with the husband, watch some tube or read and unwind with some wine, but I don't want to do anything detrimental to her healthy development, and now, it's 2:15 and we're not napping of course....

Ummm..Old Much?

So, My boss gave me a nice little Barnes & Noble gift card and I decided, what better use for it than the Twin Peaks Gold DVD set. Well, when I got it home, the entire plastic case was shattered and I had to return it for a fresh, special order set. When I went in to pick it up today, the clerk said, I can't ring up an exchange, but I'm going to call my manager if you can wait. I said fine. So manager, who is all of 22, comes back and clerk asks me, "what's Twin Peaks anyway?" And I say, 'oh, it's this cult show from the early'90s - like '91-'02...oh, but you're too young for that...and he says, yeah..I'm a 1988 baby..and I just say, 'oh, crap...' b/c that's about all I can muster...

It's an Official Record

I have now seen two movies in the theater in the span of one week. Something I have not done since well before the kiddo was born.

Massi and I saw Atonement last night and it was lovely, so very lovely... I mean, it's hard to not be lovely with James McAvoy and Keira Knightly, but it was technically beautiful as well with flawless cinematography and sound and it was very true to the book. I read the book about 5 years ago, so it's not the freshest in mind, but the only discrepancy I picked out was that the end, when Briony reveals her writing process, was somewhat condensed in the movie.
Cesar and I also saw Charlie Wilson's War Saturday, which was quite entertaining and well played as well, but may be most entertaining to a "Washington Insider" (i.e.: all the jabs at Congress and the CIA cracked me up throughout.) Aaron Sorkin's touch was evident and brought back some West Wing nostalgia and Philip Seymour Hoffman was a trip, so don't rule it out just because you're not a big fan of the Hanks/Roberts marquee names.

Some Xmas Pics

The (momentarily) angelic one:
The haul:
The Xmas morning joy & love:

Radio Silence

Sorry. Neglecting the Blog for Santa duties. Will try to get some pics of the kid and her dozens of gifts up tomorrow. Hope everyone's enjoying the holiday!

So. Ready. To. Get. Out. For. Christmas.

It's too bad the Old Executive Office Building isn't just one block closer to me. Perhaps I could have been evacuated for its fire. But seriously, it is such a grand building that holds such fond memories for me that I hope it didn't sustain too much damage.

And I suppose I need to start talking to Leila about safe-sex in the next year or so with this Jamie-Lynn Spears shenanigans. Lily Allen too. She's not quite so young and fresh as JL, but have people never heard of condoms or oral contraceptives? I know happy accidents happen even when consenting adults are taking precautions, but that wouldn't appear to be the case here. And clearly Mama Spears has made all kinds of bad judgement calls over the years, but what mother lets her 16 year old daughter LIVE WITH her 19 year old boyfriend. Regardless of whether her children bankroll her, that's just all kinds of wrong.

Anyway. That's all I've got.

Who Knew...

I'm reading this fascinating book now, 'The World Without Us'. The writer speculates about how long it will take nature to reclaim the planet if human beings are wiped out. And about how irreversibly changed the planet may be as a result of our time here as humans. It's taking me a while to read, as does all nonfiction, but it is really thought-provoking stuff.

As metro crawled through residual delays this morning, I just learned that most exfoliants are composed of plastic beads. Plastic! I'm not so concerned about my skin as I am about the environment and all those little creatures in our waterways that are going to end up consuming those plastic beads for thousands and thousands of years to come. These polymers don't break down easily. Check your make up drawers to see if your products contain some form of polyethylene!