My Thankful List by My Guest Sister Whitney

My Thankful List - Whitney, Age 23

A Apples. Especially Honeycrisp.
B Beer, Beatles, the Beach.
C Cooking, Caffeine, Chocolate, Cappuccino, mmm.
D DC, my current home! My perfect city for now.
E Egg Whites.
F Friends, friends, friends. I can't say this one enough. Mine are pretty freaking awesome.
G Girlfriends, an especially wonderful kind of friend.
H Huckins, my summer home & Hamilton, my college home. And I do love a good hug.
I iPods… keeping the soundtrack of my life on at all times!
J Jeans -- specifically 7's, Citizens of Humanity and Paige. I will spend entirely too much money on just one pair of jeans.
K Kashi, Kisses.
L Lattes, Laughing a lot, LOST.
M Maine, Music.
N NO homework on Sundays for the rest of my life. I honestly feel a wave of relief about this every Sunday evening.
O Older siblings… they are full of wisdom & support.
P Puppies.
Q Quentin (age 3) & Sophie (age 1), my Tuesday night dates.
R Running. My afternoon run everyday keeps me happy & healthy.
S Sunshine, Spain, Sarcasm, Salsa, Soft Serve.
T Trashy tabloids. Nothing better!
U UGGS! I don't care if the trend is over, they are pretty damn comfy!
V Vitamin water -- it works wonders.
W Wine, Wit, Woody Allen, WW.
X Xanax. No, I'm kidding. I don't know!
Y Youth -- taking advantage of it while I still can!
Z Zeppelin (Led) -- everyone needs to rock out from time to time.

Five Days And Counting......

Five days and counting.... another holiday program, a trip to Target, some shopping at my favorite local haunts "The Wee Loft" and some surf shops, a few hours working as a "travel agent" (thanks to my friend giving me some home office work) and one more day of school for my second grader and my sixth grader (my five year old finished today as of 2:30 p.m.) Now I'm mentally preparing myself to finish my two stories, creating some kind of family holiday card and finding time to bake cookies for a cookie swap, that I may or may not be able to attend due to church obligations and a football game starring my fantasy man Tom Brady. The game is at 1 p.m. and the cookie swap is at 4 p.m., so I may be able to do both, but if I can't find time to bake cookies, then I am out!

Time is what I need! Is it too late to ask Santa for a little extra time? I figure my Christmas wish list is used up on my big request. I really have been a good mother and wife this year and feel I deserve that special something or someone in my case, the very best, best quarterback that is.... "All I want for Christmas is a quarterback, a quarterback, a quarterback! All I want for Christmas is a quarterback, a quarterback, a quarterback! Tom Brady!" Okay, if he can't come for Christmas, then tickets to a playoff game or the Superbowl would be acceptable. Fifty yard line, Patriots side! Thank you! One dedicated mom! NO MORE PROCRASTINATING! 5,4,3,2,1!

Nothing To Do But Start What I Haven't Finished

What am I doing? Six days until Christmas and I am spending time in kitchen making Chicken Parmigiana from scratch, squeezing tomatoes into a pot and making a big mess, and baking Mississippi Mud Cake for the fifth time, when I should be writing my Spectacular Christmas Story and running and SHOPPING! A week ago I started writing my Christmas story and was pleased with my beginning, but a middle and an end, I can't seem to come up with..... Oh, and I have not written any Christmas cards either, something I usually pride myself on finishing by the first week of December. At this point, I will be lucky to have New Year's Cards and if I don't do those, then I may as well consider myself off many people's Christmas card list next year. What am I doing, I ask you? As a good friend put it yesterday, "My friend, you are procrastinating! Anyone that would spend their morning blanching tomatoes and squeezing them into a pot is avoiding starting something else!" Or in my case, finishing my Christmas story and finishing my Christmas shopping! HELP!

My Holiday Spectacular

Okay, this is just a quick blog to let my readers know that I am not on some kind of early Christmas vacation from the Mother Lode. I am actually focusing my energy on my "Holiday Spectacular," spectacular story that is, and running four miles a day to avoid looking like I should be sporting a Santa suit for Christmas. I hope everyone is well (avoiding the pre-Christmas flu) and not too stressed by the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy and to-do lists. A Mother Lode of warm holiday wishes!!!!!

The One Leg Lamp

All I want for Christmas is a leg lamp (and Tom Brady)! Only the coolest leg lamp from one of my all time favorite Christmas movies, "A Christmas Story." It was a few years ago around Christmas when I saw my first authentic leg lamp. My three older kids and I were in the car and we drove past a store with a leg lamp in the window and my oldest daughter started yelling as we drove past, "The leg lamp, the leg lamp! Mom, its the leg lamp!" Since I was driving, I missed it. We were on a one way stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, so I had to turn around and drive around the block to see if she was right about seeing the lamp, and lo and behold, there was one in the window of one of my favorite local surf shops, Girl in the Curl! I was in shock, I couldn't believe these leg lamps actually existed. Oh, what fun it would be to own one, but I have four children and leg lamps are "FRAH-GEE-LAY!" Oh, dare to dream!

My Review for "Mothering Heights" and BVHE

LOST: The Complete Third Season/ The Unexplored Experience

Created by Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof
Starring Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Michael Emerson (Ben), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) and Terry O’Quinn (Locke)
ABC DVD
Amazon $59.99
Reviewed by Liza Marchant

LOST is probably one of the most, if not the most, cerebral series on television today. LOST is more than just a series about a group of people being stranded on an island, but a show about a group of people who are metaphorically and philosophically “LOST.” The show challenges the most well-read viewers with parallels to literature as well as questions the bounds of good vs. evil, fate vs. freewill, black and white, life and death, rebirth, redemption and salvation. My advice: Get LOST on your couch with this seven-disc DVD box set and discover or rediscover the secrets of the island, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, the “others” and the bonus features.

LOST: The Complete Third Season is the LOST fan must-have! As any true LOST fanatic knows, each episode contains subtle clues that can easily be missed the first time around. I was more than thrilled to receive my pre-release DVD box set (as was my husband if only to free up the 23 hours of memory I had used for LOST episodes on our DVR) and continue my Post-Thanksgiving malaise “crashed” on the couch watching all 991 minutes of the seven-disc set.

For me, it was a great recap of what may have been the most pivotal season of the series in answering questions about the island and who the so-called “others” are, as well as shedding more light on the “Dharma Initiative.” I would have to say my favorite episode is “The Man Behind the Curtain” (a reference to one of the my favorite stories "The Wizard of Oz") where we see how Ben the leader of the “others” arrived on the Island and how he became the leader of the “others” with a shocking ending (I don‘t want to be a spoiler for those who haven‘t seen it.) I know fans were disappointed by the slow start of the series last fall, but all twenty-three episodes are worth a second watch.

What makes owning this collection priceless is the viewer’s access to the bonus features that aren’t shown on television. As a writer and avid reader, I really enjoyed the bonus feature “The Lost Book Club” where the creators and actors discuss the show’s special relationship with literature and the connection with books like "Of Mice and Men", "The Turn of the Screw","A Wrinkle in Time," and "Watership Down". To the observant fan and viewer, this only enhances one’s view of the plot and subtleties of the show. The other bonus features or should I say “juicy tidbits” include deleted scenes and behind the scenes discussions about the plot and clues from various episodes that make this DVD set a key companion to the true “Lostie.” I really enjoyed the glimpses behind the scenes. Of course all would be "LOST" without having all twenty-three episodes at one’s fingertips.

I recommend that all LOST fans add this collection to their holiday wish list! If you have never seen the show, I recommend purchasing season one and two which are also available on DVD (a key note mentioned several times on the season three DVD!)

10 out of 10 Binkies

The Mother Lode on the Baltimore Ravens

Apparently the Baltimore Ravens have stopped trying to win football games since they failed to beat the New England Patriots last week. After watching Peyton Manning score the first touchdown in last night's game against the Ravens, my husband and I decided to watch a movie together. When I checked the score later and saw that it was 44-7, the Indianapolis Colts lead, that pretty much confirmed my initial feelings that the game was a no-brainer. The Ravens really saw no reason to win knowing they have no shot at playoffs and beating the Colts, what would that mean anyway? If they had beaten the Patriots last week, that would have meant something. That would have proved the Patriots were "beatable", but trying to beat the 10-2 (now 11-2) Colts, what would that mean? Nada!