I receieved some bad news today:

My newborn baby nephew, Mark, had a series of strokes last night. Initial radiology reports show some issues with his temporal lobes. He is being transferred to CHOP for further evaluation.

Some good news: he is stable, eating, good vital signs, etc.

Prayers are much appreciated at this time.

I receieved a notice in the mail today that I am GUARANTEED TO RECEIVE A WINNING ENTRY TO THE PCH SWEEPSTAKES WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK!

I, for one, am pumped.

Now, where is that d*mn mailman?

My baby sister had her second son today.

His name is Mark Mitchell (Mitchell was my grandfather's name) and weighed in at 8 lbs even.

Apparently mom and baby are doing fine.

I have gotten into online gaming lately. What with my bouts of stomach pain and all, I've found myself clambering into bed, laptop in tow, and engaging in online versions of...

No, not The Sims, Halo, Resident Evil, or anything remotely related to fantasy/violent/sexy gaming.

My games of choice are Scrabble and Boggle.

(you can stop laughing...NOW.)

I'm not all that good at either but I'm working on sharpening my skillz (which is not a legal word in either game, btw.)

Did you know that "Doh" (minus exclamation point) is a legal word in the version of Boggle I play? Well, now you do...

You can thank me later for imparting that shred of strategerie.

Today it is an uncharacteristic 50+degrees outside so of course I am thinking about how terrible the landscaping looks in my yard. I never realized how great a blanket of snow is for hiding imperfections, like piles of rotting leaves, kid's broken and faded plastic sandbox toys, and patchy pebble-strewn lawn.

Snow: nature's lil' cover-up. Zit-cream for ugly yards. A wig for balding lawns.

I'll not be b*tching about the frozen white stuff anytime soon...unless of course its up to me to shovel it...

For the past 6 weeks or so I have been having randomly-occuring episodes of intense and long-lasting abdominal pain. My GI docs think its duodenal ulcers; I am having an endoscopy next weekend.

Tonight I am in bed again, with just a heating pad to help a bit with the cramping pain. There is no Rx to help with this. It completely sucks, mostly because it is so random and disruptive and there is nothing I can do about it.

So, if I don't happen to "visit" often, its likely because I'm either resting or trying to catch up on the things I need to do when I am feeling ok.

Found inside my New Year's Day fortune cookie from the local Chinese take-out:

As it turns out, my personal faith system offers similar advice; we just don't use the term "karma" (well "we" don't but I do!)

Namaste, everyone!

Dateline: Morning of December 26th, 2007

My 7-yr old Daughter to her grandmother: "Gambaba, the holiday celebrations aren't over yet! Today is Kwanzaa!"

Gambaba: "But honey, our family doesn't celebrate Kwanzaa."

7-year old: "Yeah, you're right. We're not Jewish."

I likely won't have much time to update here or offer any amusing (or nauseating, depending on your point of view) tales of my GI tract, because, like many, I'm in the midst of the pre-Christmas flurry of activities.

We are packing up the Rockin' Van to drive to Philly for the holidays, and I have to pack clothes, toiletries, snacks and activities for the ride, dog supplies, gifts, and a cooler full of frozen pierogies (don't ask!) by Friday afternoon.

I also have many errands to run and tasks to complete (wash, clean house, organize items for pet/plant sitter, etc.) prior to the packing and driving.

Luckily for me, I was able to get someone to care for my 6 tree frogs over the break. None other than one of my parish priests offered to care for my amphibious creatures while I was away!  I hauled the habitat and supplies (cage full of crickets!)over to church today, and received many curious glances as I strolled into the office.

My priest pal is so sweet to help me out with the frogs, as they have to be fed DAILY and have the water level checked. He also has a fish aquarium in his office so more caged creatures doesn't really upset the apple cart over there!

Our pet sitter (for the cats) can only come a few times over the break, but that is fine, as the cats have self-feeder and self-watering dispensing dishes that merely need to be topped-off every 3rd day or so.

Ok, enough typing...I have to get back to my To Do list...

Do you publish and mail a Christmas letter?

I do not.

But, my parents DO and it inevitably contains something about me and my family (as well as my sisters.)

This year I happened to be chatting with my dad who noted that he just finished the Christmas letter. I asked him to email it to me. Not that I was going to play copy editor but...well I wanted to check it out before it went to the presses.

If I recall, in previous years there have been mentions of items that I personally would not have elected to broadcast to my parents' friends and distant relatives.

But then I thought, hell, I talk about my bowels often enough here to an audience I have (mostly) never met so... I guess it would be pretty hypocritical for me to object to my parents offering mild-mannered topics relating to my family, such as real estate transactions, recent vehicle acquisitions, etc.

The one thing that bothers me is that for some reason my dad talks more about my husband than me or my daughter combined!