Simply listening to a wonderful Christmas song (Why I Like "Wonderful Christmastime")

Something happened between last year and this one. I don't know what the sociological shift was, but it made everyone decide they *hate* Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Chirstmastime." Maybe they already hated it, though. But it was this year it seemed those people decided to post about it on social media. At least once a week, a status would pop in my feed about hating the song. Even my beloved Simple Mom posted about it. It was as if my friends realized, "OK, YOLO (or some other Carpe Diem-esque statement), I can now admit that I don't like something one of The Beatles did without looking like an ignorant child saying I hate mommy and daddy's music generation."

To those people, all I can say is, "Come on! That's your least favorite Christmas song? Really? Of everything out there?"

Failure to Laugh

So, if you've seen my blog in the past week and a half, you've noticed I haven't posted anything. Unfortunately, when it came down to it, I picked the wrong year to try to participate in the 31 Days challenge. All week, I've had Kirsten Dunst's voice running through my head from "Elizabethtown" -- coincidentally another Cameron Crowe movie, the writer/director of "Almost Famous" from where the photo used in my 31 Days button comes from.

"You failed! You failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed ..."

31 Days: "Does anybody remember laughter?"

When was the last time I laughed?

I asked myself this question yesterday midway through my shift at work. And I couldn't answer that question. It could have been that morning over something silly my boyfriend did. Or it could have been the day before with some coworkers. But I honestly couldn't remember having a "fit of laughter" in some time. At least not one memorable enough to look back on and laugh about later.

Actually, that's not true. I did get reminded of the "Saturday Night Live"  with Will Ferrell and Norm McDonald in a "Celebrity Jeopardy" skit in which McDonald plays Burt Reynolds and changes his name to Turd Ferguson. Something about that skit made me laugh uncontrollably at my desk last week and I couldn't stop. THAT'S the last time I memorably laughed.

(Until a few minutes ago when I decided to find the clip of that to post and ended up laughing so hard, I began coughing, a leftover side effect from my recent cold.)

It's good to know I have at least one trigger to incite my laughing. And, after watching that clip, I took stock of how I felt after. My shoulders let go of some of the tension; my mouth perked up on the sides, as if expecting to laugh again; my mind seemed less focused on "I must, I must, I must get this blog post written" and more on "What else is going to make me laugh this month?"

Here's where the challenge comes in.

Why I Like Little People

The boyfriend's mom saved all of his and his sister's Fisher-Price Little People sets. I guess she realized how much toddlers loved these sets so the ended up with about seven or eight. When she brought out the tub last week, L. went silent. She spent about an hour playing with them. I had never seen her so focused on one activity for so long.

When an idol falls

My daughter is 2 1/2. She turned exactly 30 months this past week. I normally don't count months anymore. But I liked the idea that for one month, she would be the same age in months as I was in years.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to plan anything crazy, like my #30for30 Challenge. But, I must have been channeling it when I took this picture.

Quite similar to the photo taken the morning of my birthday before setting off to do 30 good deeds.

Best birthday ever, I think.

One of the reasons I enjoyed doing those 30 good deeds was, despite how young she was, I wanted L. to learn what it is to be a good person and, hopefully, find something admirable about what I was doing and maybe achieve something like it one day.

I'm not saying I want to be her idol. But how does a parent have influence on what kind of idols are admired in the house?

Getting to know ... me

This being my 18th post, I guess I should do an introduction of sorts. Also, being a fan of Simple Mom and, especially, the Simple Mom Podcast, I feel it would only be appropriate to answer Tsh's questions she asks her guests at the end of every podcast.

(Please let me know when I'm turning into a scary Simple Mom groupie. I fear I'm almost at that level.)

"Tsh, Simple Mom, I love you.
I loooooooove yooooou!"

So, before I turn into this stalker praying mantis, let's get started.

Why I Like Dumbo

Let's be honest for a minute. I'm going to lose my few readers, probably. But I have to finally admit it.

I hate Disney.

I HATE DISNEY.

I don't know if it's leftover jealousy from never having gone to a Disney them park as a kid. Or if it's when I realized "Happily Ever After" leaves too much left to chance and I really questioned how those princess marriages actually worked out, considering the princes usually only just met the women and were married quickly after. Or maybe once I saw how much commercialism went into the damn brand, I boycotted it.

BUT ...

Our new addition

We're proud to announce an addition to the Self-Evident Supermom household. Meet Biff the Basil Plant.

Appropriately named after Marty McFly's archenemy in "Back to the Future." Not that the basil is a bully, but because one of boyfriend's friend will seem to see Biff everywhere. Wherever we go or whatever we watch, he's convinced Thomas F. Wilson plays a role in life in general. He will then ask, "Is that Biff?" and we've just started saying yes.

It all comes down to yoga pants

* Warning, I drop the F-bomb when I finally realize I have to do laundry.

I also should note that I will do laundry when L. needs a load done. But, usually that just means I throw my yoga pants in with her stuff.

Progression of a kids song ear worm

Earlier in the day, I had been listening to L.'s CD of nursery rhymes and toddler songs. "Little Bunny Foo Foo" was one of her favorites so we had sung it probably four or five times that day.

Later at work, I found myself still hearing the melody in my head as I was working.

(Also in this picture, next to the bottle of generic Aveeno, you will see my Simple Mom Daily Docket, the closest thing I have to a personal assistant. More on that in a future post about the Simple Mom podcast and website and my love for Tsh.)

How I reclaimed Facebook for FUN

* Made while procrastinating cleaning. 

Guest Post from L.

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