I'm still full.

Happy Black Friday!
I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends yesterday,and I hope those of you who brave the crowds today come back with treasures.

Me?

I plan in knitting, watching movies, reading a book, and maybe playing Sims 2. And eating.

Maybe I'll even open my own book and put some words down, but frankly, I'm not sure I have it in me. I tried to write while the turkey was roasting yesterday and couldn't remember the main character's name. I'm halfway through the book, it's not like I just started the story.

So, I've given myself a four day holiday to just enjoy all the things I work so hard for.

How about you?

Fave Thanksgiving Traditions

It's nearly 2 pm as I write this. (Sorry, I got a slow start today.) The turkey is being heated in the oven. Just need to heat up the sides soon. I'll probably start in a minute or so.

Mr. Brice is putting together our baby's dresser/changing table so we can start washing baby clothes and put them away. (Right now our living room is overrun with bags and boxes of baby gifts because my friends here in DC threw me a baby shower on Sunday...wow, I feel so honored with the overwhelming generosity. Amazing! And I'm so very, very thankful.)

Anyway, I'm banging away at the keyboard, trying to get some revisions done while Thanksgiving dinner cooks.

This morning I've been engaged in some of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions, such as watching the Macy's Parade and the National Dog Show. I *love* the dog show!!! It's asbsolutely one of my favorite traditions.

Just seeing all those dogs is so fun. They're so sweet. My little Bailey is so intrigued watching them. My only complaint is that it's only purebred pedigreed dogs. OK, fine, those are nice. But give me a shelter mutt any day.

As far as I'm concerned, the Chow Lab should be an official breed eligible for the Dog Show. Of course, Bailey is pretty enough to be a show doggie, but he's DEFINITELY not well-behaved enough. LOL!

Anyway, a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving to you and your family and friends.

Christmas Burnout!

I was gonna post about Thanksgiving since it's tomorrow, but I decided to mix things up a bit and talk about what's on my mind right now. And that's Christmas Oversaturation, which has been getting increasingly worse every year. Signs of Christmas Oversaturation include:

--holiday items in the store on October 1 (or sometimes earlier)
--Christmas CDs put out by every freaking artist ever known to mankind
--bombardment of Christmas music on the radio right after Halloween

As you can tell from my tone, haha, I'm super tired of Christmas being shoved down our throats so freaking early in the year. Whatever happened to enjoying fall, and Thanksgiving (hah, see, I did tie it in!), and then moving into Christmas? Why is 1 month of celebration before Christmas not enough anymore?

Now, don't get me wrong--I LOVE CHRISTMAS. I think it's magical, and I adore that this is truly a season for giving and sharing and caring about others. But the commercialism and oversaturation of the season is just too much for me to handle anymore.

I don't know about you guys, but by the time Christmas actually arrives, I'm totally suffering from Christmas Burnout. Symptoms include:

--avoiding all Christmas aisles in stores (which is increasingly hard to do)
--writing snarky blog posts (hahahaha)
--not wanting to hear any new Christmas CDs (I'll stick to the classics, thanks)
--turning the station away from Christmas music (I don't want 24-hour Christmas songs!)

So, am I Uncle Scrooge here, or do you feel the same way too? Do you too suffer from Christmas Burnout, or do you dig getting started on the holiday celebration as early as possible? Share!

Black Friday

Black Friday seems to be one of those days that people either fully embrace or shy away from like a disease. Personally, I love to shop but the idea of getting up at 4 AM so I can be in line somewhere for a $3 toaster by 5 AM smacks of crazy.

That's not to say I might not go shopping on this day, I'm just not one of the people who show up before the sun.

In fact, I think my mom and I are planning on doing some shopping at one of the local retail villages. I'm thinking it should be pretty quiet as the stores are all boutiques and none of them are selling 97" TV's for $398.

Are you going shopping on Black Friday? Do you get up with early birds?

Mel Francis: The 10 things I try not to take for granted

We celebrate Thanksgiving here in America this week. All over Facebook and the blogosphere people are posting the things they're thankful for like family, job, friends, kids, spouse, etc. And while I agree that those are important things to be thankful for, I also think they can go without saying. Because seriously, if we have a job (whether we like it or not) we're thankful for it in this economy. Even if our families are totally tool sheds, there is at least one person in our family that we're thankful for. And would we even have friends if we didn't appreciate them? Exactly.

So here's my list of 10 things that I take for granted but am truly thankful I have in my life:

1. Music: a day without music is a day not lived
   
2. My computer (not just for being able to stay in daily contact with my friends in other states, but for also providing me a creative outlet on a daily basis)
3. My legs so I can walk: I walk about 20-25 miles a week. It started out as exercise and has turned into a necessity
4. Rivers, lakes, oceans, etc: Water is a calming force for me which is one reason I walk along the banks of the Arkansas River so often.
5. My pets--especially my sweet faced pug Ruby: yes I just picked a favorite. Get over it.
6. The health of my family: this one isn't so weird, but it is something I know I've always taken for granted in the past.
   
7. The fact that we FINALLY sold our house in Oxford after almost 2 years on the market.
8. My sense of humor: if you don't find me funny, that's okay. I'm only trying to entertain myself anyway.
   
9. Four-leaf clovers: I find them and they make me smile.
   
10. The maid: Oh wait...that is the one thing I'm thankful for in the future...if you looked in my kitchen right now, you'd definitely know Alice ran off with Sam.

So what are some of the things you take for granted but would really miss if they were taken away?

Pride and Passive Prejudices

I am going through a little bit of a struggle these days, and working hard to be positive and cheerful. But one of the issues is confidence, and another is focus. When I look terrible I get a bad return-vibe from people; and under good circumstances people usually feed me with positive energy. And when I feel really sick I tend to wind down and want to do nothing; so my writing is negatively impacted.

But the crux of the coming dread is hair. As in, I've already started to loose mine again and will most likely be bald by the end of the month.



I'm not vain. I've never been beautiful, but can pull off cute. I actually like being scruffy, boyish, and average-gal most of the time. While we all fall victim to occasional bouts of "man I look like poop," I actually think most of my life I was very nearly immune to that syndrome. But I have to say... the first time I lost all my hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes I noticed how terribly the general public treats people who show signs of severe illness.

Ironically, I can't think of any medical condition that would require the kind of treatments with these results that is contagious or economically specific. Yet every time my hair has gone away I was treated as if I were poor, dirty, and contagious. Rationally I know this is a knee-jerk reaction based in fear: she has something that terrifies me on a visceral, primal level-- I must run from it. But the degree to which it really does change my mode of moving through the world is a little scary.

For instance, last baldy-round I was in a jewelry store with the money I'd been given for my birthday, wanting to purchase a bracelet I saw. I was in immaculately clean jeans, with a nice knit top, and a Red Sox cap covering what was obviously a very bald dome. After fifteen minutes of clearing my throat, standing ignored, and even being told to wait after vocalizing a request for help, I left. The only other customers in the store were a couple. There were three people behind the glass counters. I finally just left. I also noticed that cashiers who saw me on a regular basis around town became careful about touching me when returning change or receipts. Many stopped making eye-contact, though I think this is probably more based in pity than anything else. It's not easy to know somebody is sick but not want to offend them with questions or stares.

Still, the prejudice is always there and always baffling. And if anything, my normal, instinctual reaction-- which is to be determinedly cheerful and joking about the whole mess-- doesn't seem to work.

Anyway, I'm considering getting a tattoo on the back of my head just to have some decoration. And maybe I'll dress kind of tough and bikery. Like it's on purpose. Because frankly, if I'm going to scare you, I'd rather it be that kind of fear.

That's right-- I'm bald, I'm bad, and I'm brooding. You wanna make somethin' of it?

*crickets chirping*

Well... maybe not so much bad as... err... cranky? *sigh*

Roses are red...

Let the count-down begin! Rhonda Stapleton's Stupid Cupid releases on December 22nd, just in time for Christmas! She's kicking off her Stupid Cupid book launch contest! Here's what's up for grabs:




--a copy of Stupid Cupid, signed by the author

--a $30 bookstore gift card to the store of your choice

--a $30 iTunes gift card

--a $30 Starbucks gift card



That's a $100 value!



So, what do you have to do to enter this incredible contest? Simple--write Rhonda a horrible love poem. The more purple-prosed and nauseating, the better. Visit her blog for more details and be sure to spread the word! ALL DETAILS AVAILABLE HERE!