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Go to skirt! Houston now and check out my first published feature story on Gwendolyn Zepeda and her first novel, Houston, We Have a Problema.

Why Humans Reproduce

We reproduce for several reasons. I think one of the main reasons is the joy that we receive in seeing our child grow into a creative thinking creature. I felt this last night and this morning. I fell asleep earlier than my daughter, with my son, and my daughter came and woke me up and showed me a poem that she had written. Even in my half asleep state I was able to read and appreciate the poem.

When I woke up this morning I read it again and I appreciated it all over again. I remembered that she had said that she was inspired by the little crocodile poem in Alice and Wonderland. First I went and read that poem to see what she was talking about.

`How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

`How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!' - Lewis Carroll, Chapter 2 of Alice in Wonderland

My daughter's poem was entitled "The Green Baby Grasshopper." It is such a wonderful poem full of creative imagery. To add to it she added her own little illustration. She drew a little grasshopper in bed, with the covers drawn up, and a little dresser with a lamp on it.

This is why we reproduce. I love my daughter! I love my crazy, wonderful, loud, creative, intelligent children. With that thought I end my last post of the year. Four years after starting this blog!

SEVEN Hours with FIVE Kids Ages 7 & Under

We spent the day with my cousin's wife and their 5 children. Their children were wonderful, it was my kids that drove me a little crazy! We went out in the ministry first, then lunch, and last two hours at the Children's Museum.

I would have a drink except that I need to go work out.

Speaking of a drink. I did not realize that the recipe for a Bloody Mary was this simple. I tried this last night and the only ingredient I was missing was the Tabasco. It was yummy none-the-less.

I found this recipe online at this great Bloody Mary website.

Here's the classic Bloody Mary recipe. Enjoy!

1 1/2 ounces (1 jigger) vodka
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Tabasco to taste
1 celery stick for garnish
1 lemon wedge for garnish

Combine the vodka, the tomato juice, the lemon juice, the Worcestershire sauce, the Tabasco, 1 cup ice cubes, and salt and pepper to taste, shake the mixture well, and strain it into a tall glass filled with ice cubes. Garnish the Bloody Mary with the celery stick and the lemon wedge.

Three More Days Until Vacation

But who's counting? Me? Nah! Of course it's really only one more full day of work until vacation. Woo Hoo! I am so out of here. I can hardly wait! I hadn't gotten so excited because I don't think I had really thought about it much. But now as the days get closer I'm making plans and looking forward to not having to wake up early for work for a whole week.

The other thing I am starting now, before the crazy mad rush to the gym by half the city, is working out again. I have so fallen off the wagon it's not even funny. So today is my first day back and I am going to pummel this body into shape! I've lost 45 lbs but I sure need to do some reshaping and firming up. Watch out!

I'm getting excited about doing a few fun activities with the kids. I wrote about some of them on skirt!

Speaking of skirt! I will hopefully have something publishing on the local Houston page very soon! And I will definitely have a give-away on there of a great new book. Stay tuned!

Handbag Fetish

I think I am quickly developing a fetish for handbags as bad, if not worse, than my shoe fetish. Actually I really need some new black shoes and I have not bought any. True, I have been to at least two different stores to look at black shoes, but I haven't found anything I am really happy with.

Today I took the kids to buy nice dress shoes and I fell in love with a big giant bag. I want to wear it to work tomorrow, even though I really don't have anything to go with it. But really it's one of those purses that can go with anything so I shouldn't fret.

I can't believe we are at the end of another year. I'm on vacation the last couple of days of the month and the first couple of days of the year.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me with a two day assembly and I'm trying to be proactive by doing something each day in preparation. Today it was the shoes and tomorrow I'm buying groceries and making sure that our outfits are all ready to go. I think I know what everyone else is wearing, but I don't know what I'm wearing one of the days. Friday night I just need to make lunch for Saturday and I need to make sure we all go to bed at a decent hour.