Bah Humbug!...or is it Bah-Ram-Ewe?

So, Poor Deby obviously hasn't been inspired enough to write anything here in a good, long while.  (Or else she has been living a super-secret high-profile exciting life as a Bond Girl and simply hasn't had the time.)  Whatever.  What brought her here tonight was a quaint little discussion with Hubby Dave about the upcoming Annual-Christmas-Season-Gift-Giving-Ritual, and how Poor Deby would like to "opt out" of the whole production this year.  Poor Deby simply mentioned that she is growing increasingly weary year-after-year-after-year of the ever increasing commercialization of the "Christmas Spirit."  Trying to figure out what useless thing she can buy for someone that they never knew they needed.  Or, inquiries from well-meaning friends and family about what she may or may not want when all she really wants is less clutter in her life, not more crap to donate to the Goodwill.  Whatever happened to the simple days... the "hanging of the Christmas stockings by the chimney with care"... you know, "SIMPLE" stuff like stuffing a couple of Satsumas in the stocking (or a lump of coal if you were on the Naughty list) and a few walnuts.  And maybe a hammer.  Follow that up with one or two gifts from the Sears catalog, along with the obligatory new pairs of socks and underwear, and hey, you're good to go for another year.  But, no, now it's gotten way too out of hand.  Gifts are more expensive, more electronic, less personal.  Poor Deby wonders how she might go about "opting-out" of Christmas this year.  It seems one can opt out of email lists, snail mail lists, telephone telemarketing lists, you-name-it-lists.....but, how does one "opt out" of the Santa List?  How about you tell the people that normally give you a gift to take that money and stuff it, er, I mean, to send it to their favorite charity? Or, to send it to "your" favorite charity? (the Tasmanian Devils in Tasmania still need my ongoing support!  See the above photo...what a cute little face!)  Christmas has become a media circus event.  Poor Deby remembers way back in the day when the Christmas decorations didn't dare go up in the stores until the day-after-Thanksgiving.  Now they go up pretty much right after the 4th of July, along with the t.v. commercials for all the latest toys and gadgets you never knew you were missing.  It's not about the actual "Spirit of Christmas" anymore.  It's about who can go into more debt buying more stuff for more people who have more than they can use.  It's time to go back to the simple version. 
The Jimmy Stewart "It's a Wonderful Life" version.  Not only at Christmas, but at Life in general.  Less is More.  Go back and watch the movie "Babe"... you know, the one about the cute little pig who thought he was a sheepdog.  The pig learned the simple secret of the connectivity of all life was "Bah-Ram-Ewe."  The farmer learned that the only necessary response was "That'll do Pig."  Simple.
Have yourselves a Merry LITTLE Christmas...

Follow Up to the "How Michael Jackson Gave Poor Deby Her Balance Back" Post (Oct. 5, 2010)

Several posts ago, Poor Deby talked about how learning to dance the Michael Jackson     "Thriller" routine gave her a renewed sense of purpose.  Here is a link to Poor Deby dancing "Thriller" with the Redmond Zombies last October (Poor Deby can be seen on the very right hand side of the group, about 5 rows back.  She is stylishly dressed in a black dress and wearing pearls.  She may have been channeling Coco Chanel herself!):

http://youtu.be/sC-0LScwkfE

And, as if that wasn't a great enough experience for Poor Deby, she and the Redmond Zombies were asked to join the Seattle Thrillers to perform the "Thiller" routine on Halloween day at Quest Field in Seattle for a crowd of thousands at the opening game of the Seattle Sounders!  Complete with fog machines and everything!!  Here's a link to that performance (and, once again, Poor Deby is wearing her stylish black dress and pearls, and can be seen towards the right of the group.  She is to the right of the Zombie with the long, fluorescent pink hair, and behind the Zombies with the purple hair and cape and the one wearing a cowgirl suit with fringe): 

http://youtu.be/wrkXkrnot7w

Here's a picture of Poor Deby at Matt's Oyster House restaurant with her good friend, Robin:

(Can you tell who is who?)








And here's a photo of Poor Deby visiting her stepson, Sean, while he is working at R.E.I...












(Look how proud and happy Sean is to see Poor Deby!)







Poor Deby looks forward to participating in the 2011 performance of "Thriller" this coming October.  She will start rehearsing with the Redmond Zombies in September, but on the day of the actual "Thrill the World" event, she will be away on vacation.  But, since this is a world-wide event, she will be able to dance with her fellow Zombies wherever she is.... which will just happen to be in Hawaii.  Poor Deby!


***Click on photos to view them in larger "Zombie vision" size!

The Redmond Zombies waiting to perform "Thriller"               Oct 23, 2010





Family Photo at Quest Field, Seattle                                      Oct 31, 2010

Cocktail of the Day: 

 

ZOMBIE: 

1/2 oz Bacardi® 151 rum

1 oz pineapple juice

1 oz orange juice

1/2 oz apricot brandy

1 tsp sugar

2 oz light rum

1 oz dark rum

1 oz lime juice

Blend all ingredients with ice except Bacardi 151 proof rum. Pour into a collins glass. Float Bacardi 151 proof rum on top. Garnish with a fruit slice, sprig of mint and a cherry.

Read more: Zombie drink recipes http://www.drinksmixer.com/cat/3236/#ixzz1MMLgR6yk



Don't settle for being petted with a stick...

Several years ago Poor Deby read a very funny book, "the Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love" by Jill Conner Browne. This was one of her favorite sections and she still finds it to be sage advice:


"...Anyway, a stranger came to their door one day. He was singularly unattractive- very little hair covering his hideous, sore-wracked skin, just generally ratty and nasty looking. But as is often said of the unbeautiful of the world, he had a great personality. He came to be known as "Funkdog," because he was, in fact, a dog, and he was really funky. He came around regularly, and the boys would feed him and talk to him, but no one could quite bring themselves to actually touch him. And so they started this thing of petting Funkdog with a small stick. He would come and sit at a respectful distance, I guess knowing himself to be unclean, and eagerly await being petted and scratched with his stick. That image always just made me want to bawl, and now I think I know why.

I think Funkdog being petted with his stick is a perfect metaphor for what can happen to any of us in this life if we don't pay attention. In any area of our lives, things can go from great, to not so hot, to downright unspeakable, and do it so gradually that we keep downshifting our expectations to correspond with our current situation. We settle for less and less and tell ourselves, "It's not so bad" until finally one day we wake up and we are in effect, hairless and scabby, just hoping to get petted with a stick for a little while. You can forget what it used to feel like to feel good about life; feeling rotten - or just a low-grade funk - seems normal and therefore acceptable. I just don't believe that God intended for any of his creatures to be petted with sticks. If some area of your life sucks - do something else. Life is too short -- and too long -- to spend it being miserable. Life may indeed be short, but it is, for a fact, wide. It's high time we started settling for more."

So, Poor Deby says don't settle for waking up someday, hairless and scabby, just hoping to get petted with a stick for a little while. 

Cats Playing Patty-cake, what they were saying...

Reality Check about that New Year's Diet resolution:

Django: "Food is fuel. You get picky about what you put in the tank, your engine is gonna die. Now shut up and eat your garbage." 
(From Poor Deby's favorite-movie-of-all-time: "Ratatouille")

Talk Like an Egyptian

Poor Deby and Poor Hubby Dave have both been sick with stupid colds now for much longer than necessary.  When Poor Deby was in junior high school history class learning about the ancient Egyptians, she came across the following "ancient Egyptian cold cure" and she would like to share it with you now:

Depart cold, Son of a cold.

Thou who breaketh the bones,

Destroyeth the skull,

Maketh ill the seven openings of the head.

Go out onto the floor.

Stink.

Stink.

Stink.

Poor Deby must have thought these were some pretty powerful words to have remembered them for, oh, lets just pick a nice round number and say over 40 years later!  (Either that, or she was just a weird warped kid who found words like "stink. stink. stink." extremely funny.)  So, for all of you poor readers suffering from winter colds, Go out onto the floor.  Stink. Stink. Stink.

HAPPY 2011 TO EVERYONE!!!



Photo by Itsuo Inouye, Associated Press 2010