Oprah ain’t the only girl with some favorite things. (By the way, did you happen to catch her Favorite Things show? It was “homemade” and “cheap” this year, so people were getting stuff like pipe cleaner picture frames and bedazzled belt buckles. I woulda been like, “Where the heck is my flat screen and Smartcar?!!”)

Anyway, a lot of people had a horrible 08, but thankfully and gratefully, I had a good year! Here are some of the things that made my 2008 so swell.

1. The Sharpie pen.

This has replaced my favorite from last year (and previous years) to become my new pen of choice. Since I’ve been chained to a computer the last few years (who hasn’t?), my writing is HIDEOUS. I vaguely remember having decent hand writing. Now my writing looks like it came from a 95 year old arthritic hand. Does this pen help? Not at all. But I still like it.

2. Sweet potatoes. Who knew I liked these things? I already blabbed at length about having to follow a strict diet (having to and doing are two very separate ideas, but I always have stellar intentions), and so this year I cut out white things. No white bread (or bread at all), no white potatoes (unless they came in a little bag with golden arches on them), no cereal (might as well cut my heart out). So in one of my many new cookbooks for “freaks who can’t anything and nobody really knows why,” I found a recipe for sweet potato fries. Not the fancy kind dripping with praline sauce. But just cut up and baked sweet potatoes. And I like them! I had no idea. I hadn’t ever had them in all my life. I don’t typically eat orange mushy things. And I definitely don’t eat a vegetable that has to have marshmallows to earn a respectable place on the table at Thanksgiving. Sweet potatoes, I’m so sorry I wronged you for so long.

3. Fritos. Fritos are my downfall these past six months. The worst day of my life was finding out Fritos didn’t have wheat. Because now I eat them all the time. It’s just too easy. And I keep them stocked in my house like I’m Sam’s Club or Costco. And they may not have wheat, but Fritos sure have fat and calories. Just ask all the jeans I can’t fit into anymore.

4. Speaking of jeans, I love my favorite jeans by Gap. Gap’s clothes this winter looked like something an 80s hobo would wear. But I did find one item to love this year. Trouser jeans. They’re jeans…but they’re trousers. So we all know what that means. I wear them to work.

5. Saturday Night Live right up to the election (but NOT after). Sure, they’re horribly biased. But it’s still pretty funny. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are HILARIOUS. Great writers and Poehler is a great comedian. (And Baby Mama was funny too.) I still just LOVE this sketch and think it’s one of the best written moments. And Poehler just GOES for it.

6. The Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series. I want to apologize to all 100,000,000 of you who have told me over the years to read her. Once upon a time I couldn’t STAND a first person narrator. Once upon a time (like last year), I didn’t read mysteries. But I decided to give old Evanovich a try. So glad I did. I about cried when I got to number fourteen and I was done. But 15 comes out this summer! (Books not suitable for anyone under 21, anyone who doesn’t think overweight retired hookers are funny, or anyone who thinks War and Peace was a riveting piece of literature.)

7. Walnuts. Another food item that I used to hate. But if you get the right kind–they are good! And no wheat! But again…led to a new size in jeans. Darn their nutty goodness.

8. Joyce and my iPod. A few years ago when I handed Best Buy my wallet, turned, and coughed, I just knew I wouldn’t get my money’s worth out of my iPod. I was SO wrong. I use that thing more than my toothbrush. In my endless quest to make my 5 mph commute to work bearable, I have found Joyce Meyer’s TV podcasts, free on iTunes! It’s just the right amount of time. By the time my 28 minutes of Sister Joyce are through, I’m usually three lights away from work. Joyce is funny, honest, and has really changed my thinking in terms of pursuing joy and peace. I would share a bag of walnuts with her any day.

9. Old Navy Polar fleece. Um, I pretty much live in these sweat shirts. I have like 10 of them in all colors of the rainbow. I run in them. I write in them. I nap in them. And when you’ve put on a little extra cush from too many Fritos, they are super forgiving.

10. Apples. I eat apples all the time. At least one a day. I recently read they have a high sugar content, so that explains a lot. I didn’t like the fruit on the “low sugar” list. Dates. Who wants to eat dates? Gross. Can you dip dates in caramel? Um, no. Can you stick dates in a pie and throw ice cream on top? No. Or at least you shouldn’t. But even when apples were 4.99 a pound, I was still faithful to my favorite fruit. I was also favorite to chocolate donuts, but there’s really nothing redeeming in that story.

11. My CD pick of the year…still Chris Tomlin’s Hello Love.

Words cannot describe how I felt when I read the CD title. Hello to you, too, Chris.

12. Lint rollers. I have a cat. Therefore I have a lint roller. In my car, in my desk, in my backpack, in my purse, in my bedroom, in my office… I have only one pet, but I swear if we could get fuel from Miller’s shedding, I could power a nation. Next time I’m totally getting a guppie.

13. Chuck.

He’s the secret. She’s the agent. How can you NOT like a show with that tagline? I just caught this show this year, season two. It’s not riveting. I often read AND watch it. But there’s some good chemistry and Chuck’s dorkiness is so endearing and funny. I mean he’s a Geek Squad worker who has to moonlight for the CIA. What a cool setup. Impossible, yes. But fun nonetheless.

14. Speaking of dorkiness. Brace yourselves for this one.

Super Callanetics. This is a DVD of a workout that came out in the early 80s. It is as uncool as you get. You can see a clip HERE.  For the last few years I’ve read reviews on this ancient workout where people swore results and said they kept dusting it off and using it despite how dated it was and despite the fact that the leotards were skimpy and scary. For whatever reason I tried it. And it really does work. I swear by this thing. Or at least I would if I hadn’t have quit using it. See winter came on…and there was the Christmas shopping…and the writing…and the orphans to save… Seriously, if you do it like 7-9 times you will totally see a difference. But it’s lame. I’m warning you. It’s LAME. I have to plug in my iPod on Chris Tomlin and tune the blue eye shadow completely out.

15. But when I don’t feel like sweating to the oldies and I’ve had a few too many rounds of fajitas, I turn to this favorite item.

I don’t read it. I just keep it on my coffee table. I know I don’t work out, but there’s no reason OTHER people have to think that.

16. Finally, my last and most important one is emails and blog comments from readers. Omg, totally makes my day. So thank you for stopping by here and hanging out with me on the blog. Or for the comments on Facebook. OR for taking the time to send a friendly email. I have had some GREAT emails this year that have totally warmed my non-exercising, chip eating heart. To quote a Dixie Chick, “Y’all are awesome.”

I would love to hear any finds of 2008 you have. I know it can’t top the thrill of walnuts and turquoise leotards, but you can try.

Happy New Year and see you next Monday!! 2009 is gonna be fabulous!

JENNY

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We are days away from 2009. Ugh. I cannot believe it.

2008 has been a good year, but there were a few things that I could’ve done without. So here is my list of “Things That Stink of Zero Eight.”

1. Book four in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. You know sometimes when you read a book or watch a movie, you dislike it, but after you think on it a while it grows on you. Breaking Dawn isn’t one of those. So many things disturbed me in this book, but mostly I was bored. And let down. And don’t even get me started on the movie. . .

2. Glasses. I wore contacts for YEARS. Then ten years ago this cool new surgery came on the scene promising to change my life. And it totally did. . . but for a rare few it was temporary. Guess who’s one of them? (If only I could apply those odds to a Power Ball ticket.) Why can’t everything have as much staying power as a tattoo? So in the early days of 2008, I had to get glasses that were “just to wear in the car at night.” And now of course I wear them all the time. If I had known I’d be living in them, I probably wouldn’t have gotten them at Wal-Mart optometry…in the kid’s section.

3. Braces redux. Do I really have to say anything more? And I thought the perk here was that my orthodontist had gotten an ice cream machine since I had been there the first time. But it was always gross ice cream! Probably laced with fluoride or something.

4. High Cost of Gas. Having to sell a major organ before filling up this year was a little bit of a drag. But at least I don’t drive a huge SUV. I would’ve had to sell the cat.

5. Election Year. TV is just obnoxious during election years. Commercial after commercial of “I approved this message.” (No, really?)  Then there’s the mud slinging. The name calling. The lies. The gossip. The punches thrown. Oh, wait. That was my family reunion.

6. Purchasing tires. It is a local mystery why I’ve had my car six years…and had to purchase four sets of tires. I do all that rotation maintenance stuff! I air them up! I get them balanced! We don’t know what I do to them. It’s not like I drive my Honda like I’m Knight Rider. Well, at least not on Sundays.

7. Wood peckers. They are a blight on my life and home. Omigosh. I have been fighting the battle of the mighty wood pecker for over seven years. . .and they’re winning. I patch, I paint, and they return and drill holes in my house like they have AK-47s for beaks. Apparently it’s illegal to shoot them, but…I might be willing to do a little time.

8. No snow. So far I have not had any school closing snow. Normally I can count on one “fake out” that falsely gets my hopes up before the real thing. But so far I’ve had FOUR fake outs. While we got squat, people around us got glorious snow days, ice, and the raw treachery that should’ve gone to me!!!! ME!!!!  (But I have already printed out, charted, and cross-referenced the latest Farmer’s Almanac prediction for the next few weeks…my hope is not dead yet.)

That’s it. That’s my negativity purging for the day. But my list of faves for 2008 is twice as long, so stay tuned for that Wednesday.

But in the meantime, anything about 2008 you’re glad to see the last of?

JEN

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Merry Christmas everyone!!! Much has happened this week. Britney’s dad got a raise. I want his job! Can I get 75 bucks an hour plus an office to babysit Brit? How hard could it be? And then there was that Denver plane that caught on fire. What a miracle ALL escaped, eh? I wonder if the emergency exit people REALLY were the last to get off. Anyway, if I had been on that plane I would’ve been like flame-proof because I would’ve been PEEING MY PANTS the entire time. Omigosh. What a Christmas those people are having. Can you imagine going into 2009 with THAT kind of new perspective. (The perspective of your life almost being snuffed out. Not the image of me peeing myself.)

And it was announced that up to ten people a week are being sent to the hospital with Wii injuries. I don’t know if that’s per hospital, per nation… or per family. But there is now Wii-itis, which doctors are treating with cortisone shots. So glad this is getting global recognition. I was so sick of talking about cancer. . .

In other “Merry Christmas To Me” news, Joss Whedon is coming out with a new series!!! This is big stuff to those of us you who watched Buffy and Firefly. You can see the promo here.

The last shot was a little creepy, but it didn’t look too bad. I miss Joss and his weirdness. Even if he did totally trash Buffy in the last few seasons. Not that I watched it…Religiously.

I saw this clip on one of the morning news shows. Fast forward to second 35.

Can you imagine? Last summer I went to Hawaii. We went on a whale cruise and didn’t see a whole lot. But when we went back in to sit down (because the whales were totally ignoring us), one HUGE one pops up RIGHT NEXT to our window! And of course. . . I had my back to it. So I saw this blur out of the corner of my eye.

Speaking of Christmas, let’s be honest. Not everyone gets all chipper and excited over the holidays. For some, this is a sad time. Whether it’s from a loss or distance from loved ones or just the “I didn’t get those house shoes I wanted” blahs. So if you find yourself dragging during this time, I have the perfect remedy! Sister Act clips!!! Because nobody understands tragedy, triumph, and shaking your groove thang more than Deloris Van Cartier.

For example, in Sister Act II: Back in the Habit, Deloris has to turn an inner city Catholic school choir around.

I also love this clip from Sister Act I. Deloris has to convince Sister Maggie Smith that she truly is a nun and she can build a nun choir with class AND impress the Pope! Now, I’ve had to endure a lot, but I have NEVER had to impress a pope. Never. That thought always cheers me up. Watch Kathy Najimy’s face as she hits the high notes. OMG, gooood stuff!

Well, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas. On Christmas Eve I will be sitting with family and friends at my church’s Christmas Eve service before heading to Event Number One. Going to this is a fairly new tradition for me, and it’s been a great (and much needed) reminder of what the holiday is about. Sometimes I get so wrapped up I forget Christmas isn’t about food, cookies, annoying people with my camera, stressing over family, food, and cookies. When I was a little girl, there was a street light that would shine in my window from a distance. And every Christmas Eve, I would open my shade and just stare at it before going to bed, and I would imagine it was God showing me the star that drew the Wise Men to Jesus. So take some time this Christmas to allow yourself to stop and be drawn to Him as well. “Lights please!”

Merry Christmas, y’all.

JEN

5 comments

I cannot believe Christmas is like this week. It’s crazy. I still have some gifts to pick up, recipes to decide on, a kitchen to burn down.  Seems like lately every time I try to cook, something gets destroyed. A few months ago it was a salt shaker. (Those things need to be a little less melty.) And then a few weeks I scorched my new stainless steel skillet. But that wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know it would get so hot so fast…when I went to check my email. Anyway, that pan will never be the same. And I might’ve singed a towel last week in the oven when pulling out a casserole. But whatever. Trifling details.

So I was supposed to work allllll weekend on book three in The Charmed Life series, but that didn’t happen. For some of us weirdos, we don’t get fevers like normal people. No, we get the opposite. As in the temp goes down. So when your temp is like 96 or so you feel just as crappy as if it was 101ish. You’d think if you felt like poop when it was high, you’d feel great when it was low! But all you get is a big hankering for a nap. LOTS of them. So me and my couch have had some serious together time. Saturday night I watched Elf, which was time well spent no matter how you feel. And then Sunday I watched Laws of Attraction, a FABULOUS movie starring Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. Here’s the old trailer.

If you haven’t seen Laws of Attraction, you have to! I love that movie. And then I watched the last 30 minutes of Never Been Kissed, a cute movie with Drew Barrymore.

And THEN I watched the last 45 minutes of The Note, a Hallmark movie based on a book by Angela Hunt.

How cool to have your book made into a movie by Hallmark! AND with Happy Day’s Ted McGinley! The ending was good, so I’m sure the rest of it was too. And I can tell just by looking at The Note‘s Genie Francis’s hair that she also knows about low temperatures. And so does Oprah, even though she’s in denial. But anyway, by this time, I was feeling better, and my attention span for watching a movie was fading. I actually don’t like watching movies at home and never do it unless I’m feeling too icky to read or I’m with a bunch of people who will let me comment and narrate the whole way through.

Speaking of reading, right now I’m reading this interesting YA book, The Mysterious Benedict Society. It’s written by a guy in Little Rock, AR!

So far it’s really good. A little bit message-y, but good. It’s about these four orphaned kids who are geniuses in their own way, and this Mr. Benedict assembles them together to….I don’t know what. I’m not there yet. But it’s gonna be good. And they’re already in grave danger, which is always fun.

So one of my favorite sites, TitleTrakk.com, asked a bunch of authors what their favorite Christmas tradition was. I got to play along. You can find that HERE. Do any of you have a favorite Christmas tradition?

My new tradition is to wrap like a maniac on Christmas Eve AFTER going to my dad’s and BEFORE going to my mom’s. I always turn on some Christmas movies and just go to work. I’m a very slow wrapper, so I usually go through a few movies (or watch A Christmas Story about three times in a row). And up until last year, I also had a cat who would undo everything I had wrapped with his bare teeth in a matter of seconds, so that never helped. But it was entertaining. Up to a point. But old Christmas movies are my favorite (besides Elf, which is just in a league of its own). Last year I stumbled upon Christmas in Connecticut, a movie with Barbara Stanwyck. I’ love old movies, but I’ve never been a fan of hers. She’s always in some serious role, and serious movies bore me. Especially serious old movies, where they sure seem to do a lot of staring. Anyway, this movie was AWESOME. It’s the only comedy role I’ve ever seen her in, and she was amazing.

Even the DVD cover is fun. She plays a Martha Stewart type of lady who writes a home column about advice for being the perfect wife, mother, homemaker, and cook in the paper. But yet…she’s no Martha! And she’s not married. But when the paper publisher comes to see her, the poop hits the fan, and she puts on this big farce of her pretend life so the publisher won’t fire her, complete with a “borrowed” baby. It’s so good! So if you find yourself wrapping until your fingers bleed, grab this DVD. And a bottle of Diet Coke. And chocolate chip cookies.

Merry Christmas week!

JEN

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This is my last Friday of school! For two weeks anyway. Bring on Christmas break! I’m so excited. I don’t even know the date of when I’m supposed to return because I don’t want to think about it. So in a few weeks I might be stretched out on the couch, eating a bag of Fritos, and reading a novel and get a call from school wondering where I am. It’s worth the risk.

I am proud to report that I will not be painting this break. I tend to get the painting itch every time I have more than a few days off. Then I will somehow mess up that paint job, and have to repaint and maybe paint again. So no painting this time. A few months ago our counselors’ office wing got repainted, and the painter was there for weeks. This is an office area I pass through like 10 times a day. It was everything I could do not to completely abandon my classes and just hang out with the painter. He really did need some of my tips. And my edging brush. And my wicked paint eye.

Anyone else on vacation this coming week? What are your plans? I’m going to shop. Because apparently Christmas is Thursday. Nobody told me. Then I’m going to panic over the things I ordered on the ‘net last minute. Then I’m going to read my new collection of old Susan Elizabeth Phillips novels (only appropriate for those over 16 with a sense of humor) write, write, write. Next I’ll watch my new DVD of Veronica Mars, Season One write, write, write some more.  Then I’ll probably eat lots of chocolate clean my house.  And maybe dedicate some more time to Facebook go caroling at the nursing home. Followed by some Will Ferrell movie watching extra reading of the Lord’s word. And I might through in some raking of the leaves into the neighbor’s yard baking cookies for my elderly neighbors. And of course, I will take lots of naps time to reflect.

For those of you who like to know where Santa is at every moment, here’s the site for you. Norad.com will show you where he is in 3-D. When I first pulled up the site, I about had a heart attack because it has a running timer on how many days ’til Christmas. I immediately shut it down and clicked on something that didn’t make me want to bawl, like etonline or benandjerrys.com.  (And had I not done that, I wouldn’t know that Tom Cruise is no longer glib. Good to know.)

Did you know Vegas got a rare snowstorm, so bad it even grounded the airplanes? WHAT THE HECK IS THAT ABOUT??!!! That was supposed to be MY snow! Mine! And people say global warming isn’t a problem. WHATEVER! As if I needed anymore proof. I’m so donating some money to global warming research. It’s affecting my snow days.

I almost hate to bring it up again because I’m tired of seeing it, but I must say that President Bush’s shoe ducking was probably the most brilliant thing of his career. Seriously, when I first saw it, I was like, “Oh, my gosh. He’s the freakin’ Matrix!” That first duck was just poetry in motion. Those were ninja reflexes! That shoe would’ve beaned me right in the schnoz. The second duck was not a perfect ten, but that first one…a thing of beauty.

Isn’t Tyler Perry the coolest? You can read his latest message HERE. I cannot WAIT ’til his next movie, Madea Goes to Jail, comes out. The character of Madea was part of my inspiration for the character Mad Maxine in my Katie Parker Production books. Except Maxine isn’t as busty as Madea. And doesn’t have her rap sheet. Yet.

Well, I must go to an ornament party. Or ornament throw down, as we call it. I have soup to make and ornaments to steal. I hope you have a great weekend. I know I will! Cause I don’t have work on Monday! Because every day is a good day.

JEN

10 comments