I’ve been in hibernation. It’s been wonderful.

Rodney and I spent the holidays with our family and friends. I have no complaints. Good times, good laughs, and lots of good food. You know I love good food. Yum.

I even did my part to stay away from the computer, from the news, from the blogs. I think it’s great to have so much information at your fingertips. But sometimes I get obsessive, and spend too much time on it. So I stepped away…

This is the most comfortable I’ve ever been in my own skin. I can be so introverted at times, especially at Christmas. But not this year. I talked to people, I told them how I really felt. Do you ever want to tell someone how much you love them, but hold back? Me too.

I told one person that I’d been praying for her. She had the early stages of cancer growing on her eye lid. She had to have the skin cut off and replaced through plastic surgery. I hugged her tightly and told her she was strong and the worst was over. We’re not even that close, but I did it because I felt it.

I listened as another person opened up and told me all about her stress as a mother of two teenager girls. She cried. I’ve never seen her cry before. I put my hand on her knee and just listened.

I also hugged people I’ve never hugged before. Isn’t it awkward when you aren’t sure exactly where you stand with someone, so you don’t know whether you should shake their hand or hug them? Oh, who cares! I hugged them all. Men, women, children. I hugged everyone. They all hugged me back.

I also spent a full week playing the New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS Lite that my parents bought me. It was like being in the 1980’s again. I beat Bowser. Yay!

Anyway, I’m rambling. It’s been a lot of fun. I am refreshed and ready for 2008.

Bring on the good times!


Picture it…

Christmas dinner, everyone in the family is piled in the room. There is coughing, runny noses, and food right in the center of it all. Hardly anyone has washed their hands before eating, and now you’re all sharing plates, silverware, food… It’s a hot bed of germs, and the snot to air ratio is overwhelming. If you aren’t sick yet, you’re going to be.

So this is just a friendly reminder about a post I wrote last summer, which stated if you take zinc tablets every day, and then take echinacea whenever you’re around sick people, you will be much less likely to get a cold or flu.

It’s not too late… stop by the local grocery store or drug store on your way to see your family and friends. Trust me, this really works. I’ve dodged some pretty bad colds this year already. In fact, Rodney was pretty sick for about 3 weeks, and his doctor said he couldn’t believe I hadn’t been sick too. It was the pills people.

There you have it. Zinc pills and echinacea. You’ll thank me.

Oh, and wash your hands before you eat (which you already do, right?).

So on that note, I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas. Drive carefully and with compassion.

Happy Holidays everyone!


What makes Christmas so special? Is it the love we share with family and friends? The festivities, parties and decorations? The snow, the gifts, the holiday cheer from Old St. Nick? The peace on earth and good will to men?

No, silly.

It’s the food!

godivaCookies, brownies, cakes, breads, candies… Yum yum yum. I have been eating sweets non-stop since last week. Some many delicious sweets. I love them all. ALL OF THEM, I tell you!

My favorite thing about Christmas is the food. I’m in heaven. I haven’t started on the crackers and cheese yet. I love all kinds of cheese. I am always up for some of that.

But what’s the secret to my heart?

What one little item could make me love you forever???

Godiva Chocolate. There is no chocolate like Godiva Chocolate and even suggesting that there is such a thing is like blasphemy. I love Godiva. If you give me a box of it, I will eat everything. I don’t care if it gives me a stomach ache later, it’s like crack to me. Mmmm…

Rodney gave me a box of 4 Godiva Truffles today. I tried to pace myself and spread them out. I devoured 2 of them as soon as I opened it. I ate the third one a few hours later. I planned on saving the fourth one until tomorrow, but it was gone before Midnight. Mmmm…

My private fantasy is to swim in a pool of Godiva Chocolate. Yes, I realize that would be highly unsanitary. But ohhhh it would be nice.


Oh the things we do to our pets for a picture.

Rodney’s laughing, Petey… not so much.


How many readers are a fan of Showtime’s series Dexter? When it debuted in 2006, there were a lot of readers who commented to say they loved it. I’m wondering if you maintained your interest until the end of season 2? The season 2 finale airs tonight on Showtime.

If you are a fan, you’re probably quite excited to see how it all unfolds after being left with the cliffhanger of last week’s episode. What will happen when Lila discovers James? Is Dexter really going to turn himself in? And what about those pesky internet rumors that Dexter kills himself and Lila takes over in season 3? (Okay, I made that one up… or did I?)

I have all the answers. The last episodes were leaked early in December, and I was surprised to notice there wasn’t more buzz about them, at least not on sites I’d expect. And there’s heavy speculation that Showtime is responsible for the leak. The network made no effort to have the leaks taken offline, and they were actually very easy to get. So maybe it really was a clever marketing ploy.

So what happens… who dies… do you really want to know?

Visit the comments section to get the scoop.


It’s on! Watch as Nathan and Purr Purr take on Rodney, Prissy, and Petey in a snowball fight over Santa’s toy shop.

Don’t send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

(Inspired by Jason’s video.)

Oh, and by the way… look for the flub near the end. Jib Jab got the characters crossed and I end up with breasts in the last scene! haha!


Yahoo! has a community called Yahoo! Answers where people can post a question and ask for advice from the readers. I find the “Relationships” section to be particularly active, mostly with confused girls and women who aren’t getting along with their boyfriends or husbands. I rarely respond, but decided I’d repost this one to see if I could give a good answer.

Her question:

My boyfriend doesn’t respect me.. but why does he stay with me?
Everytime I tell him my feelings about something that bothers me that he might do for example I dont agree with my boyfriend going to strip clubs - i’ve heard it all about how boys will be boys etc and how many women dont care if their bfs go to those places but i do - i think its very disrespectful and i dont like the idea of him coming home to me after that to take it out on me like many other women - puke! anyway, so he promised me he wouldnt do such a thing cuz he knows it’ll hurt me but i found out that he went many times with his buddies and told me he was going to the bar instead.

I feel like its like this with everything, if he puts his mind to something he’ll find a way to do it even if its thru lying and that hurts me and we talk about this stuff so much and he promises me the world and doesnt do any of it.

if this is the case and he doesnt love me or whatever why does he still stay with me and say i love you?

5 yr relationship by the way

My Answer:

I’m sorry to hear that you don’t feel respected after 5 years together with your boyfriend. It sounds as if there are two distinct topics at hand, which you’re merging as one. The first is love, the second is respect.

Love and respect do not necessarily go together, though both are important in making a relationship work. So getting the easiest part out of the way: Does he love you? If he says he does, he probably means it. I don’t know if he would be with you for this long if he didn’t.

The problem is that most couples think love is all you need. It’s a great concept in movies and songs, and Hallmark makes millions off it. But in reality, love is just the tip of the iceberg. When I read stories about couples who’ve been together 50 years, I don’t think any of them say that love is how they made it that long.

Trust, respect, and communication are the secret ingredients of a lasting relationship. Love loses its bloom sometimes, passion loses its flame. But if you trust, respect, and communicate, you will make it through the hard times.

Unfortunately, you and your boyfriend are missing all three of those. And it can’t just be a one way street. You’re both going to have to work on it together if you want it to improve.

The first step is that he has to come to terms with this and realize that what he’s done is unacceptable. It doesn’t matter if other women say strip clubs aren’t a big deal. You can’t worry about the way they manage their relationships, you can only take care of your own. And in your own relationship, you and your boyfriend made a verbal agreement that he would not go to strip clubs. He has broken that agreement and lied about it.

The next issue is lying. This is never acceptable and needs to be addressed immediately. You will never be able to trust him if he is lying, and the disturbing part is when people become comfortable with lying. This opens up a whole world of mayhem, and if he can lie about one thing, he could be lying about all sorts of others.

It’s not about him saying “I won’t lie anymore”. It’s about him developing an internal conscious that really believes lying is a bad thing. It can be destructive in relationships, in jobs, in friendships. It’s just not a good habit, and he needs to break out of it.

Finally, on the topic of communication, there seems to be a lot of this missing. A relationship takes two people to work. I think now would be a great time to sit down and really evaluate things together. Is he completely satisfied with this relationship? If he isn’t, find out what you can do to improve things. Make sure he still wants to be together and make it work. Also, make sure he understands the things you are dissatisfied with. You also need to make sure you still want to be with him.

Best of luck to you. Remember, it’s not about love. That’s just what gets you through the door. It’s about trust, respect, and communication.


Dear Snow,

Hello, you might not remember me, but when I was kid, you loved me. And I loved you. What changed?

Whenever you rolled into town, I gladly welcomed you. I would bundle up with my thick clothes, gloves, scarf, and all that good stuff. I’d run outside and play with you until I couldn’t feel my toes anymore.

Somewhere along the line, you changed. I guess we lost the passion, I dunno.

My first bad memory with you was January 3rd, 2002. Do you remember that day? Oh, I’m sure you do.

Rodney and I had rented a moving van, and drove from Illinois, through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, all the way over to Raleigh.

That’s when you thought it would be cute to come along and dump 8 inches of snow on us, which was extreme for Raleigh weather! In fact, I don’t think they’d had snow like that in years, maybe decades.

You picked a grand time to show up. We had to move all our furniture up to the apartment in 8 inches of snow. And the fun part was that the 3 flights of stairs were outside. Yay.

Let’s fast forward to December 4, 2002. Same year, same city, same apartment.

You came again, this time mixed with extreme ice. The power lines snapped, and we didn’t have heat or electricity for 5 days! Our apartment was 40 degrees inside. All of the hotels were completely sold out. You have no idea how cold 40 degrees is until you live in it for almost a week.

Again, thanks for being a pal.

I’m not even going to bring up the time you showed up in 2005, causing the whole city of Raleigh to panic and leave work early. Everyone was on the road at the same time, causing a city wide traffic jam. It took me 10 hours to get home that day! I only lived 10 miles from work. That’s 1 mile per hour.

So now it’s 2007 and we live in Tennessee. Half the country is covered in snow. Meanwhile, it was 75 degrees and sunny in Nashville earlier this week. Snow was nowhere to be found.

The rumor is that you’ll be showing this weekend. If you do, please be gentle. I still love you, but don’t get all extreme on me.

Love,

Nathan


This is why I shop online…

Rodney loves Yankee Candles. There were some winter themed candles that were being sold at TJ Maxx for $10 less than retail. For those of you not familiar with TJ Maxx, it is a chain that sells items at reduced prices because they are outdated. For example, a pair of jeans that was on store shelves in 2006 would be sold there in 2007 at a reduced price.

So I went there today to get a candle he liked. I walked over to the Yankee Candle section that’s always been there and it was gone. So I walked up to the Customer Service desk.

“Excuse me, I can’t find your Yankee Candle section that’s usually at the back of the store. Do you still sell Yankee Candles?” I asked her.

As if it would be too much effort to speak, she only shook her head. That’s all I got, was a head shake to tell me “no”.

“Okay, thank you,” I said, walking off. I didn’t believe her.

I walked to the back of the store again and found someone working. I asked her about the candles and she said they had been moved to the front of the store (which was just inches from where the customer service desk was).

I went back up and grabbed the candle, then waited patiently in line for the woman who had shook her head at me. There were plenty of lanes open, but I wanted HER.

“Hi, do you remember me?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she said.

“This is a Yankee Candle. There is a whole display of Yankee Candles right over there.” I told her.

“Oh, well they must be new,” she said.

“No, you carry them year-round. You’ve always had them here,” I said.

“Oh, so you like Yankee Candles, do ya?” she asked.

“Yes, they are the best,” I shot back.

“No, they aren’t. Such and Such candles are the best,” she said, arguing with me.

“I’ve never heard of Such and Such candles. Do you sell them in the store?” I asked.

“No, but I sell them online.” she said, revealing her true reasons for why she’d lied to me.

She wouldn’t tell me where the Yankee Candles were because she only wants people to buy hers? Unbelievable.


During his ongoing series of Favorite Albums of 2007, Howard featured Mika’s video for “Love Today” from Life In Cartoon Motion.

Mika’s music is like crack, and I am his crack whore. I usually don’t like this style of music, but I must admit that Mika became quickly addictive. I got the CD as a birthday gift from 2 very good friends, and I’m so glad they sent it to me.

But now I can’t get the music of out my head and “Love Today” is one that particularly gets stuck in my head. Here is the video. You’ve been warned, you might become a Mika crack whore too…

[ Editorial Note: Nathan does not condone the use of crack and no crack whores were harmed in this making of this post. ]