So, I didn’t get to post the video of our decorating prowess the other day…mark and I spent the weekend in Canada for our 10 year dating anniversary…so it got put on the back burner.

For your viewing pleasure…

The tradition continues…we decorated the day before thanksgiving…

One of the many bonuses of living in someone else’s house is not only using all of their furniture but also…their PRE-LIT CHRISTMAS TREE! How cool is that?!?! I got to fluff the branches and everything! So, we ran out and bought our own decorations [i saved a whopping $56...take that Santa!].

A video’s a coming where’ you’ll see the three hours of our christmas tradition joy packaged nicely in but 7 minutes!

[you also get a snid-bit of my ocpd traits...i think i rearranged the mantle at least 8 times...wait, maybe 9...]

post-post question: any traditions you’d like to share my fellow christmas elves????

hooray for christmas! I guess it’s turned into a little tradition here at me.com to post this little bit of sufjan stevens christmas cheer on this here blog. So, seeing that I’m wrapping up multiple papers at one time for finals next week instead of wrapping up multiple gifts, treats or smiles, this is the best you’re gonna get for now! Merry Month ‘Till Christmas…deck the halls and deck the angel w/ the cowboy hat…he’s an impersonator, for sure!

We’re following Sufjan’s advice and visiting the grandmother of my hot slice of cheese!

I’d love to hear who you’re visiting for Christmas! Do share…

since this week has been full of craziness, cold and a good dose of reality, we’re going back to a video we created at my parent’s house during the ginormous snow storm of last year…enjoy and drink an extra cup of chai for me!

and this weekend’s vlog goes to yet another submission from miss mandy mac…

And what do you do in your spare time?

i’m considering all proposed questions and allowing moments of creativity to freely flow…although sometimes i get clogged.

TODAY’S THE ACTUAL DAY - THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE TAMINATOR‘S SCREAMING, CRYING, DRAMATIC ENTRANCE INTO THIS WORLD!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMINATOR!

And today’s proposed question comes from one of the most influential men in my life…my dad, aka “daddy dear darling”.

Why does bread always fall jelly side down?

you may have noticed that today’s vlog was a fraction longer than 30 seconds…that is my attempt to make up for the previously missed vlogs from this past week…thought it would be my penance of sorts. Restoration Capitalization!

i summoned the expertise of my little peace pie of a niece to help answer the vlog challenge question from miss mandy mac…

if you were an elephant, what kind of elephant would you be???

my regrets for a weekend of no vlogs - we’re closing in on the end of the semester, where cathi and multitasking are in quite the opposition with one another.

I have a few videos ready, but in honor of Veteran’s Day, today’s vlog is a tribute to our veterans and their families.

No worries…the vlog challenge will be back in full force [feel free to submit more questions, for I like to be ahead of the game], but for now, here’s to our nation’s heroes.

Kudos to miss mandy mac for today’s vlog challenge contribution…

Have you ever been in a hurricane?

If you’re really interested…here’s the antithetical, divergent entry to my 500 word per post limit…I wrote this in October 2005 after we experienced hurricane Wilma. This was my non-traditional coping mechanism of sorts…

We didn’t want The Big Bad Wolf to come over for breakfast, lunch or dinner!  We even placed huge metal barricades over our doors and windows to keep her from coming into our concrete house or even stepping foot onto our lawn.  However, people started calling and telling us she’s coming anyway—it was even on the news!  An uninvited guest is no fun, one as obtrusive as The Big Bad Wolf…that’s a complete drag!  Mark and I decided that there has to be safety in numbers, so we headed over to his parent’s stick built house to hunker down while The Big Bad Wolf intruded our entire city.

I woke up around 4:30 am and heard her strong voice in the distance.  In my mind, I figured she was just a figment of everyone’s imagination…let me just pretend she’s not coming and we’ll be fine—a realist at heart.  I grabbed my earplugs and went right back to sleep.

Well, needless to say, The Big Bad Wolf came to the house.  At 8:30, I woke up, took out my earplugs, removed my facemask (I’m a princess sleeper) and saw she turned the electricity off and the house was no longer silent.  The Big Bad Wolf was at our house, knocking on our door.  She was indeed huffing and puffing…we feared the worst.  The entire family gathered in the living room, including our kittens.  We had two views of the outside world.  One was the teeny, tiny black and white battery powered television with an antenna 2 feet long, and the other was a section of the French doors that wasn’t covered by a shutter.

Her voice was deep for a woman.  So deep it felt as though it shook the entire house.  We could watch the trees break like toothpicks when she blew.  I heard a loud crash and went to the window to see that she crabbed the concrete block which was over the fireplace flue and threw it at our house.  Oh the nerve!

“She’s coming in very strong now,” said the somewhat effeminate anchorman. “If you feel your home is too weak to stand her force, go into your safe-room and remain there until you’re out of harm’s way.”  This was certainly not the comforting news I wanted to hear.

She was relentless.  Her breath pounded on every wall in the house.  The entire family walked around the stick built house, flashlight in hand, checking all of the windows and doors…water was coming into the house.  We grabbed every towel, washcloth and rag and placed them around each leaking crevice.  As I was helping my mother-in-law place towels under the front door, we heard the sound of cracking wood.  The two large wooden front doors were bowing against her incessant pounding.  We knew if the doors would open and let The Big Bad Wolf into our house, the pressure of her presence would rip the roof right off of us.  Just pray.

Soon silence came.  It seemed as though she got our message and left town.  However, by this time, I believe I knew The Big Bad Wolf pretty well, and she was persistent.  She’ll be back.  We opened the back door and hesitantly stepped outside to survey the damage she managed to wreck on the property thus far.  It was bad.  Trees completely uprooted and tossed to the other side of the acre.  The metal shed was picked up and thrown like a toy into the neighbor’s yard.  The metal fence was no longer standing upright.  Entire sections of roof tiles lie scattered across the lawn.  Yet, we could look to the sky and see she was surrounding us.  Though the sun was shining, but we could see her body undulant dancing in circles around our city.  We knew we only had minutes until The Big Bad Wolf returned to make an effort to enter the house one more time.

Same story, same song…her strong voice, destructive blows and raunchy breath seemed to overcome all hope!   “She’s trying to get into our truck!”  Mark said.  I ran to the window and saw that she grabbed the gutter from the house, came into the carport and was beating our truck with it like a baseball bat!  Mark just wouldn’t take that kind of audacity.  He and his dad opened the back door and crouched down low, to avoid being seen by The Big Bad Wolf and getting blown away.  They grabbed the gutter from her grasp and tied it to the truck so she couldn’t beat it any more.  I was watching through the French doors and saw that she wasn’t too thrilled that they took away her toy.  Like an angry child, she picked up a handful of sand and threw it at Mark and his dad.  The sting of the sand and rain made them run faster into the house.

She must have been irate, because her second attempt at entering the house was much stronger than her first.  We grabbed the flashlights and towels and did the rounds again, checking each window and door for more water.  “Get some Tupperware; she’s come into the attic.”  Mark’s dad grabbed the dishes from each outstretched hand and strategically placed them under each saturated section.  The Big Bad Wolf was determined now.  We continued our survey of the windows and doors.  The French doors leading to the master bedroom were beginning to bow to the breaking point.  Mark and his dad came to the rescue once again and held their weight against the doors until about 2 pm, when The Big Bad Wolf finally got the message and left our city.

It was silent once again.  The fallen trees now lying helplessly on the ground, the metal shed which was once in the neighbor’s lawn was picked up an thrown into someone else’s backyard.  Complete havoc.  It was the overwhelming feeling of being buried alive.  You know you have to do something and you’ll even die trying.  The family walked as a battalion to the place where the shed once stood and grabbed rakes and shovels from the rubble.  The grinding hum of chainsaws filled the air and the hard work began.

The Big Bad Wolf did come to our city, she did overtake the yard and the house…yet she did not come in.  She ran away with her tail between her legs and was soon overtaken by the cold Atlantic water to be seen no more.

thanks to miss sara for today’s vlog challenge contribution…

Q: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?