Monday Musings and Mysteries

Happy Monday to you! The first Monday in December!

Wow! The holidays -- a.k.a. Christmas, Boxing Day, Pagoda Day, and New Year's -- are nearly upon us.

We had some snow and sleet over the weekend. Yuck! I'm such a "Grinch" about the white stuff these days. So couple the bad weather with some coughs/colds, and our busyness this weekend was sharply curtailed. We took the kids to the annual "Breakfast with Santa" held by Stuart's company. It's always such a fun event -- the kids even began the countdown until next year's celebration...right after we'd left this year's.

The 24 - Season 6 DVD set comes out tomorrow. *YAY!* Apparently, it's been out in several other countries since October. Go figure. Bigger fan base maybe? It's a mystery to me... But it's coming out here tomorrow...here...tomorrow... Did I mention how excited I am? *wink*

Speaking of mysteries and breakfast... I was thinking about breakfast foods. I've been wondering who decided that cereal made a good breakfast food. I know from Stuart's travels that the U.S. is one of a few countries in the world that eats cereal for the first meal of the day. Other countries have meats and cheeses and olives and breads...and still others have noodles or rice with stew. In Qatar, he even had the option of chicken wings.

So was it Mr. Kellogg who came up with the concept that eating flakes or "Os" made of "whole" grains with milk on them gives us the best start to the day? I mean, I eat them and about 5 minutes later I feel like I haven't eaten since lunchtime the day before.

What's stopping me from eating dinner-like foods at breakfast-time? Then at least I'd have the rest of the day to burn off all the calories, right?

What's stopping me? Tradition and culture -- two powerful opponents to change. It simply isn't "done" here. Hmmm...more on that later.

Stuart left this morning at 3:30 a.m. for a 3-day trip to Illinois. I decided to get up with him to say goodbye and wave him off. Then I decided not to go back to bed since I often have a hard time going back to sleep. I'm not sure that was a wise choice given the fact that now I'm falling asleep in my morning coffee.

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5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• watching children grow

• goofing off

• old detective movies

• turning 15 years old

• crimson cranberries

* * *

Before I had kids, I wasn't sure I wanted them. Well, I knew that I might one day want them, to be sure, but I'd worked in a daycare center for six months and knew that I could wait. (Best form of birth control out there!)

Then I got married, and we decided to "wait" the prescribed "two years" to "get to know one another" and "enjoy our marriage."

Okay, seven months later...

(We got curious. We didn't know if we'd have any trouble getting pregnant...and we weren't getting any younger...)

So, nine months after that, usher in one little girl named Emily Susanne.

Wow!

I didn't realize how much joy she'd bring to our lives.

She brought a lot of changes with her, too, and some emotional upheaval, but... Wow!

Watching her (and now her little brother, too) grow was amazing -- still is.

Time doesn't actually move any faster than its usual 60-second-per-minute-60-minutes-per-hour-24-hours-in-a-day way...but it sure feels that way since everything this new baby does is a first.

Then they outgrow the baby-toddler-preschooler stage and head into bona fide "kidhood." And you forget for a time that you're still watching them grow.

But a moment comes again, and it hits you...and you look at them and feel the same tears of joy you had when they were tiny and helpless and so sweet and innocent.

You see them in that light again...for a moment.

And you feel yourself loving them even more, wondering if that's even possible.