Musings of Lanna Lee Maheux

Today is my father’s birthday. He’s 68 years young. And very sassy. Here he’s pictured as a young lad, but don’t let that innocent grin fool ya! Here is a pictorial I did just for his birthday.

One of the earliest photos of Me, my brother Bill and Dad

A trip to Washington D.C., with Mom, Bill and Dad pictured, obviously I am wielding a camera. Dad is lighting a cigarette. (This was before it was illegal to smoke. Ever the rebel, Dad still smokes.)

My Mom (Dottie Maheux) and my Dad (Walter Maheux). Indicative of their relationship.

A rare photo of my brother Bill, Dad, and his father, also named Bill, who we called Gramp. My Dad would say “I’m the runt” because he was only 6’2″, both Bills were taller.

Picture taken early during my first semester of college, right before my parents and brother moved to upstate New York State. Funny thing, Bill is kneeling in this picture and I believe I am standing. Yes, he is that much taller than me.

Dad, Mom, Me and Edmund. The first Thanksgiving Edmund spent with my family.

Me and Dad at my wedding to Edmund.

And the picture I shared with you all the other day, taken last summer. The birthday boy, Walter Maheux. May you have many, many more birthdays!

Trying to write not one but two different posts for today and failed. I’ve got nothing people. So here is my post about having nothing. Or my bitch-rant about nothing.

I’m tired. The thing is, it’s my own damn fault for being tired, I stayed up too late too many nights in a row. So the ideas I have for writing a blog post stop before they can start. My brain no worky. And that pisses me off.

Also, I have some personal stuff going on (too personal to share in public, mind) that makes me a little anxious and grumpy. And I’m grumpy. Grump, grump grump.

The light in my life right now is that I  beat Edmund in two out of two games of Dominion tonight. FTW! [I didn't play a third game partly so I would be able to keep my one night winning streak.] Pretty cool, but not enough to cheer me up.

So all of my most geniusy ideas for blog posts have gone flat. And I am sucking even at ranting. I can’t even get that right, dammit!

Maybe it’s because of my decision not to swear on my blag or on Twitter or Facebook. Well, I swear a bit, but  I don’t drop F-bombs*. It’s my personal policy, that may have failed at some point in the past, but for the most part, if you want an f-bomb out of me, you’ll need to hang out with me in person. And then get me angry.

You won’t like me when I’m angry.

Well, maybe you will. I can be quite amusing as I spread my invective and spite.

And. I can’t do it. So I’ll change subject. Hey it’s my blag, I can do whatever I want.

Awesomeness for your day: Stationary Unicycle

Okay, let me point out someone who I think is KICKING ASS** at her blog. Margaret at Stationary Unicycle. She makes me laugh out loud. Sometimes I don’t comment on her blog posts just because I can’t think of anything good or clever enough to say. She has a over-18 policy because she writes F-bombs, and wants to make sure people are aware of the content going into it.

Check out Stationary Unicycle by my pal Margaret.

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*I personally don’t have an issue with f-bombs, I choose not to use them for more professional reasons. I can get in plenty of trouble with out f-bombs, why push it?
** Apparently I have no problems saying ASS on my blag. Whatever.

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AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?

Had a nappy media day today. Watched Sherlock on my Kindle Fire. Sherlock’s a British television series, a modern retelling of Sherlock Holmes stories. I saved $5 by buying the digital version on Amazon rather than getting the DVD. Another bonus, it had instant gratification.

Also today I read from Stephen King’s On Writing. A great way to get my self prepared for the coming year.

And I watched several Absolutely Fabulous episodes.

I took a nap, and when I woke up, I made lasagna, from this recipe. [I change it a little bit, but not too much.] When I was done we had 15 containers for lunches (we’ll soon be sick of lasagna, I tell you.)

Within the next few days I will start the engine on my crazy plan year. Or year of stupendousness. This year will have a name by me and this name will be a delight.

Posting now to get it in before midnight.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Having a low key evening.

Wishing you and yours a great evening and much happiness and prosperity in 2012!

I’ve always been a reader. I read before I went to school, and one of my proudest achievements was finishing a chapter book about Hellen Keller when I was in the first grade. I read the whole thing in one day.

In Jr. High and High School, whenever we were assigned books to read in class, I’d read the whole thing the first weekend. (And then neglect to do any of the homework, but that’s a different story.)

I’m the person who needs to bring a book with her everywhere she goes. Before I had my Kindle, that meant I’d always have a large purse or backpack with me (depending on whether I was reading a paperback or hardcover.) On week-long vacations, I’d bring at least 5 books with me, just in case.

If I don’t have a book to read, I get twitchy.

So you can imagine what I mean when I say that the Kindle is a product designed just for me. Now I can carry hundreds (thousands) of books with me all the time. If I don’t feel like reading any of them, within a minute I can have a brand new book appear on my home page.

Sometimes I overdo it. I glut on reading. Like this week. I read three books in three days and stayed up way too late to do it. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. In the aftermath I don’t seem interested in reading any more books. Yet. Which is fine, I can get laundry together, watch videos, write – all the things I was not doing when I read these books (The Hunger Games Trilogy).

Edmund has this thing he says, “Reading is FUN-damental.” I think he got it from a public service announcement, a poster, a commercial, and he always stresses the FUN*. Reading is fun. I love to go into another world and live life as another person, to be rooting for the protagonist, to be transported to a land of delight. Fun is fun. Fun is reading. But it is also important. Everyone should read a book every now and again.

*Okay, I just Googled it. Reading is Fundamental is a non-profit agency that promotes reading (duh). Reading is FUNdamental was their slogan.

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What are you reading?

Went to so Bob Marley’s Holiday Show at Merrill Auditorium tonight. It was great! George Hamm opened, and both Georgie and Bob delivered the goods. You know it’s a good show when you leave exhausted from laughing so much.

I was going to post about when I used to do Stand up – rest assured, I never had a big show like this. But my brain stopped working. So I’m going to bed and will write about my time doing stand up later. And post some more pix from the show. Good times.

So if you want to go to the show, here are the deets:

PortTIX.

And the flyer:

Okay. This post will be short and sweet. Why? Because I’d rather be reading.

As you may have deduced from the picture to the left, I am embroiled in The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I read the first one on Monday, the second one Tuesday and the last one I am reading right now.

And yes, I am saying that if you haven’t read these books, you should. Like the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, great books for teens and adults.

That is all. Back to the book I go!

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What are you reading right now?

Edmund noticed it last week, and I’ve noticed it too. I’m in a funk. A little maudlin (without the alcohol.) I suspect that even though the only thing in my life that changed was that I’m not going to school anymore, it’s because of this major life transition, i.e. I’m not going to school anymore. I’m not going to school anymore! Yikes!

Part of it is that this whole life transition thing really hasn’t sunk in. We are still in a time of year I wouldn’t normally be taking classes, I’d be enjoying a break before the spring semester begins. It isn’t real yet.

I have lots of projects I want to do, but I am plagued with insecurity and doubt. What if they don’t work out? What if I fail? Soon I will remind myself that it doesn’t matter if I fail, I just got to do it. [And then I think, what if I fail?] I know I need a bit more time off. This weekend will be for laundry (yes, I’ll do the laundry, jeeze) and office cleaning and vegging. Starting at the first of the year, I’ll start working on those projects again, and work on some goals:

1. My goal. To be in a funk:
   
2. Or a funk:
   
3. How about a funk:
   

Okay, that worked. I feel better already.

Today was for naps, kitty snugglin’, and a trip to the movies (by myself) to see the new Mission Impossible. Today was supposed to be for laundry, but I was able to postpone it due to an understanding husband. My reason: overwhelming laziness. He bought it!

Now all of you people with in-house washers and dryers, stop being such judgy-judgersons. When we do laundry we need to take it to a laundromat. Which requires preparations. Putting clothes in bags. Throwing bags down the stairs. Putting bags in the car. Driving to laundromat. Jockeying for a big washer. Finagling for enough dryers. Folding all the clothes and stuffing them back in bags. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. And I couldn’t be bothered. We take turns doing laundry, and it’s totally my turn – since Edmund would often do many weeks in a row during school. But I wanted my day off to remain a day off. Doing laundry seemed too much like work.

If we had our own washer and dryer, it would be so awesome. Because if we needed clothes we could do just enough laundry to get by. But since we go to the laundromat, we need to do them all in one fell swoop.

My day started off with the best of intentions. I woke at 9:45 am, thinking about doing laundry. I laid down in bed and played with my phone. Then Squiggy decided to snuggle between my legs. Clearly a nap was in order. I woke up later, after extricating myself from Squiggy without disturbing his rest, and went online. It was after noon. The tide had turned. Instead of thinking about doing laundry I was thinking about how to get out of doing laundry. A quick text conversation with my husband determined that he would purchase some new underwear and socks, and I was off the hook until Saturday. [Note: he does need new underwear.]

Then, pumpkin pie for brunch, movie and now I am gearing up to play one of Edmund’s Christmas Gifts with him, Dominion Hinterlands. Good times.

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What did you do today?

Merry Christmas everyone. I took a day off from the internets, and it was fine. Good food, awesome family, naps, gifts and Doctor Who made for a great day.

Tonight Edmund shaved Dot’s head. Wait a minute, let’s start at the beginning.

Today Edmund and I got up first thing (8:15 am) and got ready to pick up Dot (my Mom’s BFF since forever) in Hallowell. We left our house at 10:15, got some MickyD’s for breakfast and sped up Interstate 95 toward Hallowell. We grabbed her from her apartment and drover her back to the WB (Westbrook) and my parent’s house. In the mean time, Bill (my younger brother) drove down from way up North, and we met well. And ate many things. Like cheese and meats and cookies and chocolates and such. And things like this:

And this:

I talked Bill and Dot into going to see the new Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows movie with me. And we saw it and it was fine. Then back to my parent’s house for more food. Mmmmmm.

Dot wanted her head shaved. She just went through some chemotherapy and it’s falling out, so she wanted to help mother nature along. My brother brought his clippers and the intention was to have him do it. Bill asked Ed if he’d do it and Ed said sure! And I helped. By whipping out the camera!

Now I’m home and getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow we will be going back over to my parent’s house for more food, to open some presents and tease each other senseless. It’s a beautiful thing.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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What are you doing for Christmas? If you don’t celebrate Christmas, do you treat it as just another day?