The newspaper says - Say it's true it's true...

Tomorrow is the day that is even more crazy-busy than Christmas, for me. New Years Day is all about cooking. Lots o cooking. You have to eat specific 'good luck' foods to insure for a great year. For a more thorough explanation, I direct you to a friend of mine. Personally, I don't believe the hype, but the people coming over do, so you best believe I have to make sure it's all ready for them in the morning.

As for tonight, I've never really been one to go out on New Years Eve. I just prefer the comfort of my couch. Believe me, I've had more than my share of 'noise' today from the Kid throwing a tantrum one minute, to him banging a drum the next. (Whoever gave us that music set, oh you'll get yours, you bastard.)

I'm looking forward to this year. I'm hoping it will be the first time in two years that I WON'T be pregnant. Let's all keep our fingers crossed, thanks.

Happy New Year!
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I think of you when you're sleepingOf all the secrets that you're keeping

Does anyone remember the Catherine Wheel? Probably not. Ok, just me then.

Well, for any shoegazer who cares, imagine my surprise when I was listening to Indie - don't get me started on how much I love me some Dicky Barrett - and a commerical came on for a free show with Rob Dickinson. Rob Dickinson? For free? Tonight? Darn this whole, 'I have a newborn to take care of', blah blah blah.

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to settle for listening to Ferment while I fall asleep tonight.
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I like big bundts

If you know me, you know I am ANTI-box cake. I must make everything from scratch. However, to show that I am able to adapt to anything, here's a recipe that partially uses a box cake mix.

I am a fan of Mexican hot chocolate. The warm yummy flavors of chocolate, cinnamon and coffee - you just can't go wrong. This bundt cake tastes pretty close. It also gives me a reason to use my new sili-brush.
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And you may ask yourself

Today. Today I wondered how my life got to this point.

I stood there cleaning exploding baby poo off my arm, meanwhile my sis-in-law got ready to go to dinner at THE IVY.

Not that I wanted to go there, the point was - I was standing there cleaning baby poo off my arm. Did I mention there was poo? On my....arm.

Getting back to the word "point" - at least I have new "pointy" boots. Merry Christmas to me. I'm the best gift-giver ever!
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So this is Christmas...

This is how I set my table for Christmas. I got these very cute Santa place settings at Pottery Barn Kids last year. Of course I am 4 short, and they don't make them anymore. Oh well. Anyway, they still looked great on the table. Santa's holding your fork!! Come on, that's cute.
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mr. pibb + red vines = crazy delicious

My mother in law. She's quite the compliment-er, with the words.

MIL: "This new baby looks like your side of the family. The first Kid looks like our side...SKINNY."

My son is officially one month old. Surprisingly, I am 5 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. Breastfeeding, I tell ya. Better than a work out. Those 20 extra pounds disappeared in just 3 weeks.

Yet somehow, my pants still don't fit. Maybe my ass has taken on the weight from somewhere else. Maybe I have extremely skinny elbows now. That or my diet of root beer and peppermint patties is the new South Beach.
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Feel it, feel it

Went to Costco today. My father in law bought the dvd for "Four Brothers." We get home and he opens the box, takes off the shrink wrap, pulls off the stickers and hello...no dvd. What - the- hell. All that trouble for nothing.

That is ridiculous. So now I have to go back down there and explain to them that there was no dvd to begin with. Sounds like a hokey story to me. Even I wouldn't believe it. However, why the hell would I want to steal a Marky Mark movie?? Now a Marky Mark cd, that, I can see.
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HEAD! PAPER! NOW!

I think the stork dropped off the wrong baby. Seriously. This boy...can't be mine. He's HUGE. Compared to Kid1 - this baby may surpass him any day! He no longer fits into his clothes, he's gone all the way to the 3 - 6 month outfits. WHAT. Dude, you are only 4 weeks old!

Let me give you some perspective. There is a chart that pediatricians rank your kid on, as far as growth. 100 percentile is the largest kid in the universe for his age, and 0 is the smallest. The first Kid was always in the negative 10th percentile. Seriously. This boy? He's in the 50th. That may not sound like much to you, but for a Japanese baby - that's high.

While looking around online, I found this "height predictor" for your child. Awesome. I should screw with the calculations and put in my husband's height as 7 feet tall.

This baby also has a giant head. Ok, maybe he is mine.
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red 5 standing by

Godammit.

I'm careening off the freeway exit at 80 miles and hour and I think I'm seeing things. Could my lack of sleep be causing delusions? Could that actually be an old Toyota Celica with a M*THERF*ING R2D2 in the back, a la an x-wing fighter??

Yep. There it was. And me without my camera phone. Dammit.
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Hudson Hawk

I like to style my kid's hair in faux-hawks.
Perhaps this makes me a bad mother.
Or perhaps it makes me just like Angelina Jolie.
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My name's Jeannie, but people call me Shauna

In the mail recently, I received several things that caught my attention as far as asking for my cash-ola. Seeing as how I no longer work, I need to spend my money wisely, thinking fully, about what I put on my 'must buy' list.

First off, I received info for next year's San Diego Comic Con. Good lord, didn't I just go to this? Oh well, they want you to plan ahead, I guess. At least next year I won't be pregnant and walking around uncomfortable. I'll just be uncomfortable in general. I mean cause of all the walking, not cause of those old guys dressed like Sailor Moon...or, yeah, it's because of them.

January 10 I'll be parked in front of the tv, cause Ferris Bueller's Day Off is being released in a double disc dvd. I don't care if the second dvd is just Ben Stein saying "Bueller? Bueller?" over and over, I'm buying this and watching every boring minute of it.

I just renewed my subscription to Giant Robot. I can't tell you how much I love this magazine. My postman must love it too, cause I'm not getting my issues on time.

Finally, I saw a lovely pair of boots that were calling my name, however I just can't bring myself to wear boots trimmed in rabbit! EW! That's just gross. Plus SHE would probably kill me. They are very cute, though. It's the pom poms. You just can't resist pom poms.
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Everyone around me is a total stranger

Who is crazy enough to get up and stand in line at the grand opening of a new Japanese market, before 9am? Crazy ass Japanese senior citizens that's who. Oh. And me. Hi. I'm lame.

Seriously, I was the only one there under 60 years old. There were a lot of specials, such as 60 cent eggs, and nori (seaweed) for 78 cents. There was also...drumroll...Beard Papa cream puffs. Which, after all the hype I've heard - yeah, they're pretty darn tasty.

I was standing with my kid, when this guy with a huge video camera on his shoulder approached us and started going off in Japanese. After I stared at him blankly, he said in English, "Interview?" I told him I was sorry but I didn't speak Japanese. He looked disappointed, so he nodded and left. I'm sure we were approached because my son and I were the only young people in the damn store. How funny would it have been if I just faked answers to his foreign language interview? Ok. It wouldn't be funny at all. Except to me. I'd be laughing. But then I'm evil like that.


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David Brent:"If you want the rainbow you got to put up the rain. You know who said that? Dolly Parton. And people just thought she was a pair of tits"

Today I took the kids to Disneyland. It gave me the opportunity to use Disney's Baby Center, which is a nice, clean, private area they provide for nursing mothers.

There is a general area for breastfeeding - basically just a bunch of chairs lined up, or there is a curtained off area if you want privacy. When I had my first kid I waited for the private room. This time I could care less and just wanted to get the kid fed and out of there. It's weird how the second kid gets such a 'whatever' attitude from the parents.

I don't even hide anymore. I just sit on the couch and nurse the kid, visitors be damned. Much to the dismay of my father in law who stands behind a wall while I breastfeed, yet still continues an hour long conversation with me. Huh. You'd think he'd just leave entirely.

When I had my first kid I was very discreet and self conscious, about breastfeeding. Now it seems I'll just whip it out anywhere.
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So for once in my life - let me get what I wantLord knows, it would be the first time

File under, YAY!:
TOGETHER AGAIN: Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and bassist Andy Rourke agreeing to perform together at an English charity event Jan. 28 for the first time since the band split up in 1987. Though rumors of Morrissey's participation have circulated, he is not slated to perform at this time.

File under, YAY!, part 2:
CABLE DEVELOPMENT? Showtime considering picking up Arrested Development after Fox passed on reupping the Emmy-winning series, per the Hollywood Reporter.

you can't catch me, bitches

I am now a fan of Warren Brown's "Sugar Rush" on the foodchannel. While his segments are boring, when he goes out and about - now that's interesting. I am also impressed that he quit his high powered lawyer-ing job to bake cakes. I would love to do that.

When he hosted "Winning Holiday Cookies", I couldn't wait to see what they came up with. They featured this2 foot tall gingerbread man cookie cutter, which of course, I am dying to have. I went and looked, the thing is $125. Sure it's made by hand and all...but that's insane.

I can't even afford the "huge", let alone the "enormous." Damn. And I was all set to make this giant gingerbread man attack my gingerbread house village, Godzilla style.

here is the house, where it all happens

Gob: Illusion, Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money...

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I try to laugh about it,Hiding the tears in my eyes

Does anyone else find it highly ironic that my newborn is screaming bloody murder in the backseat of my car as "Boys Don't Cry" comes on the radio? Strangely enough, turning the volume on super high and singing along, doesn't quiet him down. Go figure.
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And every day's like Christmas Day without youIt's cold and there's nothing to do

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hello nasty

I went to Macy's Home today, and the guy in front of me was returning pillows. No biggie right? WRONG. They were brown, as in used, as in dirty, as in here's me puking up a lung. Here's a recap of the conversation with him and the saleslady:

grossdude: "I want to return these pillows."
saleslady: "Um, they're used."
grossdude: "Yep."
saleslady: "Were they used when you bought them?"
grossdude: "Nope."
saleslady: "How long have you had these?"
grossdude: "You tell me."
saleslady: "How do you expect to return USED pillows??"
grossdude: "You tell me."

I'm not freakin' kidding you, that's how it went down. How disgusting is this guy? I didn't stick around to see if he actually got to return them.
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My home is where the heart isSweet to surrender to you only

something's afoot...


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Happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party's so lame

So on the Office - what was in the letter that Jim was going to give to Pam? Did he tell her he loved her -- or what?? Damn these tv shows. Sucking me in. I read somewhere that John Krasinski, who was one of People magazine's 'sexiest men alive' by the way, has brothers that are 6'8" and 6'9" tall. Yikes. That's one gigantor family.

Seeing as how it's the Christmas season and all, I have to have a tree. HAVE TO HAVE A TREE, you hear?? However, with a 22 month old and a newborn, I just don't know how safe is safe.

I mean, perhaps a smaller "real" tree, that I could stand on a box, so the Kid won't touch everything. More than that, I am looking for ideas for "safe" ornaments, you know, not glass, not breakable, etc. I like this idea of a breakfast cereal garland, but we have do have an ant problem. More so, I know I'll wake up to find the Kid munching on the damn thing.

Any ideas?
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These are minor, but important changes...never get angry at the stupid people

My husband stays up all night with me for every feeding of the baby. That's love, right there. It's nice to have someone just sit and keep you company at 3am. You feel less 'alone', when the kid is depending on you and you alone for nutrition.

For these all-nighters I also get to watch what I WANT to watch, i.e. not football or anime. Thank god. I think it's just so he can close his eyes and hope I won't notice. Anyway, the outcome is hours and hours of food network on tivo.

Sometimes though, I run out of shows and am forced to watch the woman I hate most - Rachel Ray. Good lord. Why don't I like her? Well, here's an example - let me give you her brilliant "recipe" for ice cream. Shiieeet. Can you imagine her recipe for fried chicken? "Drive to KFC. Order."

Someone needs to give ME a book deal.
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weather you like it or not

Today I went to Trader Joe's. I asked the salesperson, "Where's the bottled BBQ sauce?" She said, "We don't carry that in the winter."

Who here thinks that's retarded? I mean, this is Southern California. We can bbq year round if we so desire, and Trader Joe's is BASED in Los Angeles.

I was planning on using the sauce in a crock pot, anyway. I wasn't going to go outside to grill - it's like 65 degrees out there! Ha.
All you east coasters can hate me now.
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When's it gonna stop, DJ?Cause you're keepin' me up all night

insomnia + cranky baby + crankier Kid = unhappy me.

chocolate chip cookie + robbie williams + 4am = happy me.
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little, yellow, different

The baby looked a little yellow, and since he had a slight case of jaundice before we left the hospital, as a precaution, we took him to the doctor to get checked. Her response? "Well, HE'S ASIAN."
Nice.

She also had this to say, "He won't look so yellow if you stop dressing him in yellow clothes."
Got it.

Anyway, the jaundice is mild, but still, ew. I hope he gets over it. For now, I gotta go put him in some blue jammies.
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