Been busy running around buying last minute gifts, having visits with old friends, changing diapers, wrapping presents and baking cookies, so I haven’t had time to update this blog - a good kind of busy! So I will leave you all with one of my favorite YouTube videos.

Paul Potts is a regular guy works at a cell phone store, who you wouldn’t look at twice if you saw him walking down the street. His dream is to sing opera. When you look at him, you don’t expect much, you might snicker at his teeth, or even roll your eyes like Simon Cowell did. But what happens when he opens his mouth is truly magical.

Makes me misty every time!

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• Up wrapping presents…Foil wrapping paper is much easier to use than cheap paper. I never knew! #

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• One hour of my life wasted working on something that I find out later has already been done. I need to really read my emails! #
• Oh man, I think that Ben just put some granola in his ear! #
• We’re heading to Todai for dinner.Its at the mall. Oh no! #

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The tree has been decorarted, 98% of the presents have been bought, 99% of the Christmas cards have been sent out (which is a record for me). But even with that done, I still feel majorly unprepared for Christmas. I still have cookies to bake, TONS of presents to wrap and food to prepare. I know that I still have a weekend to get all of it done, but I know it’s going to be a pretty busy weekend. Well, at least I have Christmas Eve Day off!

Even with all of that said, I’m feeling the Christmas spirit. It gives me something to concentrate on other than work stress. Having Ben around has made it all the more wonderful. Every night we have our own little tree lighting ceremony (too lazy to find the timers in storage) and there’s a dramatic countdown, the tree lights are plugged in, and Ben says, “Wooooow! Tree!” When we drive around at night, whenever he sees a house lit up with Christmas lights, he points and says, “Ohhhhhh!” and then babbles for minutes after that, no doubt telling me about how cool the house is. Moments like that I realize how wonderful and precious life is, and how much I adore my little boy.

So even though I’m not prepared for Christmas coming, I can’t wait til it gets here. Things will be a little different this year - don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but I guess life changes and you just gotta go with the flow. Another positive thing with Christmas - no one does crap the week of Christmas, so I should be able to breathe easy and get a little R & R next week.

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• 3:35 am and I’m off to bed. Not doing too well on that "at least 5 hours of sleep" resolution. #
• there’s a stack of unsent christmas cards on my kitchen table. How sad! #
• ok, the world has officially ended. i have run out of cereal and i still have half a bowl of milk. #
• I just purchased Dave’s Christmas present to me. What would I do without Best Buy?!?! #
• One of my favorite X-Files is on - "The Unnatural", where Jesse L. Martin plays an alien pretending to be a black baseball player. #

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Saw a really nice story about a donation to the Salvation Army:

$10K donation goes in Salvation Army pot

EXTON, Pa. - An Army veteran who remembered getting free coffee and doughnuts from the Salvation Army decades ago gave a $10,000 check to a dumbfounded bell-ringer.

“The $10,000 is to help pay for my coffee and donuts,” he said in a handwritten note signed, “P.F.C.” “Seems fair to me after 40+ years, with inflation and everything.”

The man gave the check to a volunteer outside a department store at the Exton Mall on Friday, said Capt. Gerald Morgan, a spokesman for the Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia.

The man remembered being given coffee and doughnuts while serving in World War II and wanted to return the kindness, Morgan said. His name was on the check and he has given large amounts in the past, but he asked the Salvation Army not to identify him.

I love hearing stories like that. As you might already know, I love to donate to the Salvation Army during this time. I’ve actually been giving more this year since I no longer work downtown and don’t pass by my favorite bell ringer as much. I don’t even know if he’s still there, but I hope he is, because he makes every day a little brighter with his singing and kind words, and I hope he stays warm.

Barry the Bellringer

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My cousin Melanie has a bunch of cool old pics on her Flickr account, some of which I’ve used on this site. This has given me an itch to complete one of the things that’s always been on my “to-do” list - scan all my childhood photos. They all currently reside in a not-so-safe wall shelf in the corner of our basement. It hasn’t been easy to do - nowadays it’s a challenge to find time to do something as simple as taking a shower, but when I’m listening in on calls for work I can get a couple pages done.

It’s a wonderful, bittersweet feeling to go through these pictures. Seeing them bring back so many memories, memories hidden long ago under the pressures and busy-ness of my current life. My mind wanders back to days long ago, my mother springs back to life, my father laughs, my sisters are as cute and bratty as they look. It’s a good escape, even if it is for only a couple moments.

So here’s one of my favorites - a picture from mine and Fatima’s birthday, ten twenty years ago. See if you can find us!

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• Just got back from the Bulls vs. Lakers game. We lost. Boo. #
• @daysies I have yet to cook a Filipino dish! #
• I’m starting to feel a little sick. *cough* #
• Four hours of meetings…eight hours of work i can’t do while in meetings…hmm #
• Damn you, Aquaman, for calling during a conference call and distracting me! #

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Everytime I pass a McDonald’s, I need to resist the temptation to buy one:

It’s about two dollars less than its counterpart at Starbucks, and tastes about the same. I can ask for an extra shot of vanilla and I don’t get charged. I always buy one on the way to Milwaukee, and by the time I get there, I feel like I’ve got 10 gallons of pee in me. But it tastes soooooo good!

The ads for it said, “For a limited time only” and it saddened me to know that, like the McRib, this might be a once a year thing. But it’s already December and it’s still around. Yay!

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• ON THE WAY HOME FROM mILWAUKEE. #
• Ben has learned how to clap my hands, and he just won’t stop! #
• I am the master of the 5 minute lunch. That’s not a good thing! #
• I’m pretty crabby today. #
• @msdina Mmmm….nilaga! #

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