Resos

So, New Year's Eve is coming up soon. I am currently trying to decide what my resolutions will be. Have you made yours yet?

I think this year I will resolve to spend less time sleeping and more time cleaning. Ugh. That's the sad truth...

What are your resolutions?

Day 8

Wow. What a great Christmas I've had. Today was the last gift:



A subscription to the Uncanny X-Men. For those of you who don't know it, I have been a nerdy comic book kid for a long time. I grew up reading the X-Men, and I'm excited to start up again. Once a month the Marvel Comic will be delivered to my door. Woot! Woot!

Things are great, and Christmas isn't even here yet!

More to come on the family celebrations tomorrow...

Happy Christmas Eve!

Day 7

I am delighted to tell you I have yet another gift from the Fauf. Today she delighted me with something practical.

I know this is ridiculous, but it will make life easier:



A hair-buzzer--I think that is the name of it. You know, the thing they use at barber shops to buzz the back of your hair. Yup. I got one. Now I will be clean and even when I get a haircut.

Huzzah.

Day 6

Today prepared me for the future. I am simply delighted to say I was given a Harry Potter calendar!



Believe it or not, I actually sit at my desk this year--sometimes for as long as two hours at a time (gasp)!

This will be a great addition to my desk and I'll enjoy it daily.

Don't Judge

I love powerful women. What!? I said it.

At a recent dinner party, I brought up the truth that I admire really powerful women. Everyone laughed at me because they think I am oddly attracted to these women. No, not really. I just really admire them and I like how they command attention and respect. ROCK ON with that! So, here is my list of amazingly powerful women who I love:


Le Fauf

My first powerful woman is my wife. Not the boss-o kind. I mean, I married a pretty powerful lassie: author, cook, beauty, friendly, and she drives a nice car. She's the number one. Who doesn't love Jerry---I mean who doesn't love Farah?


Joan

Foul-mouthed, hysterical, and always relevant. Gotta love that "piece of work." Somehow every-time I see her I am drawn in and appreciate her madness.


Oprah

Sure, I've never sat in her audience. She's never given me a 2012 VW Bug. Nor has she ever given me an "ah ha" moment when I watched her show. But I love her.


Martha

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas I take at least one minute out of my day and say, "I wonder what Martha is doing?" I think she and I would get along quite well. I mean, she likes things done a certain way-- but she, more than anything, enjoys a good celebration. Gotta lover her.


Judy

She lays the smack down on a bunch of idiots daily. I am so thankful CBS has moved her air-time to 4 pm. I try to get home to see her barking at people. You've got to love Judy.


Elizabeth

She has seen it all. She advises the country's leaders, is an icon, and has ruled as queen for nearly 60 years! She is dignity and grace wrapped up in one package. Who doesn't love this amazing lady?


So those are my top list... I could have added Celine, Rosie (the celeb OR my mom), Beyonce, and many others... But I didn't. So... Who are you favorite wonder women?

Day 5

Well, Day 5 was greet with Holiday Cheer. I was glad to finally, and I mean FINALLY, sleep in.

We awoke late and opened presents under the tree. Today's gift was a treat for me to use in my profession.

A great book for me to brush up on the old classics of yesteryear--or the days of yore as Phoebe would say.



At any rate, I love the simple treat and look forward to reading and enjoying it.

Huzzah!

Day 4

Today is Day 4 of the 8 Days of Christmas... Very exciting, I know.

My true love gave to me, a pennant to hang in my classroom. At school we try to promote colleges to attend. Mine is a different sort of school... Well, you can look for yourself:



WOOT! WOOT!

El Dia de los Tres

For those of you who haven't followed my blog for the past 4 years, I wanted to take a moment to tell you about what le Fauf and I do every year.

We started out celebrating Hanukkah, I know--I know-- We're not Jews. But we liked the idea of our faith's heritage getting some shout outs. And, well, let's face it, we liked the idea of 8 nights of fun



Therefore, every year we have 8 Nights of gift giving. We now call it "The 8 Nights of Christmas"--though it always starts the Friday night school is out.

So there's a little history for you. Now to the present's present.

Today is all about tasty treats and holiday favorites.

I was greeted by a giant candy cane--no make that two giant candy sticks of Reese's Pieces and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Delicious!



Today was our "cheap" day, but I'm not complaining.

Here's to Day 3!

Day 2

Well day two was kicked into high gear with a morning discovery of what was in bag number 2--

This time it was the Classic-ish Disney flick "Tarzan"...



Esta bueno! No?

I must say I've wanted to own this one for at least 2 years, so I am happy to finally have it in our collection. Hooray and huzzah for that! I always enjoyed the Phil Collins tribal music. Woot! Woot!

Day 1

For those of you who don't know, I went to the Deathly Hallows premier and enjoyed it to the max--well, I actually hated the very ending. No, not the part with Dobby--I just teared up at that part.

When the credits had rolled, I stood up I lost my iconic Michael hat. You probably would know it if you saw it. The little gray golfer's cap that I wear--strike that WORE-- at least 60 days out of the 365. Well, it was a sad day for the Ig. I went back and tried to get it from the chair, but some sneaky witch or wizard already absconded with it.

Alas, I bring up this depressing news to tell you about the good news that came today...

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me: A golfer's cap, all gray and new!



Woot woot!

Bring on Day 2!

Insert Title Here

I need ideas. I have three or four blogs started but none of them are post-worthy. So people, what should I blog about?

Help.

Christmas Movies You Should be Watching

I know everyone has their own little traditions when it comes to Christmas Movies, however, since you logged on and are reading my blog I believe I have rights to dictate what you watch and don't watch. Sure I could tell you to watch "Miracle on 34 Street" "It's a Wonderful Life" or some others, but I am going to tell you the five movies I never miss during the month of December.

5. The Grinch
Not that horrible Jim Carrey version, no way. I'm talking the Boris Karloff narrating,Thurl Ravenscroft singing, Chuck Jones drawn, Theo Gisel-ed up Christmas version. An instant and important classic to have during the season.

4. Frosty the Snowman
Stay away from the weird Frosty Returns junk and pop in a DVD (or even a VHS) of the original Frosty the Snowman, narrated by the great Jimmy Durante (the same one Lucy Ricardo fawns after). If anything, just watch until the moment the kid says, "Oatmeal." It is worth your time.

3. A Christmas Story
I suggest watching this one with the family when it is on ABC-Family's 25 Days of Christmas--normally it is on all Christmas Eve. Or you can watch it while the younger kids are in bed, on DVD. The TV version is a little cleaner and makes for a good night of Holiday Wackiness. Be sure to suffer through the intro and get to the good stuff--Santa pushing the little kids down the slide, the soap poisoning scene, and the infamous tongue to the flag pole incident.

2. Last Holiday
When I saw it in the theaters, I didn't expect much--but honestly this one is a fantastic tale of last moments during the Christmas Season and New Year. I love the food in it, and if you're like me you'll want to go out to a fancy restaurant after watching. Ah. It is just delightful--and yes I tend to get a little onion eyed during the show.

1. Home Alone 1 & 2 (don't even get me started on 3 & 4)
Can you believe it has been 20 years since this 1990 classic came out? I love these movies. They are magical (thanks to John Williams and Chris Columbus). They are funny (thanks to those idiotic Wet Bandits). They are heartfelt (thanks to Catherine O'Hara and Macaulay Culkin). All around. Good stuff.

Well, those are the five-ish movies I never miss. What about you? What movies do you make sure you see every year at this time?

Senior Citizens BEWARE of Robots!

Remember that sketch? I do.

I just finished reading "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" with my Honors English classes...



They really enjoyed it--for the most part. I loved the use of machines and magic in the story, however, it got me thinking about machines that are missing from our world. (If you haven't read this lovely little book, just imagine Willy Wonka-esk machines producing "sadness" and other such commonplace ideas.) So here is a list of machines I'd like to see in our world:

The Homework Grader 3000:

Honestly, I love my job... But after reading 140 papers (plus 22 more at Hancock) and writing "spell out numbers" and "introductory clause needs a comma" over 100 times can be exhausting. If only there was a magic machine that would grade the papers and respond as needed.

The Grinch Detector 580:

Imagine you are having a good day. You are feeling good. Enjoying the season. Then you turn a corner and BOOM! a Grinch comes out and destroys your moment and reminds you people in this world can be major butts. If only you had a Grinch Detector 580, you would have never turned the corner.

The Chocolate Converter 650:

If only I had this, I'd eat my brussel sprouts. Imagine you are sitting there, knowing you need to eat healthy foods, but you are like me and you realize most green foods don't taste enjoyable. What do you do? Reach for the Chocolate Converter 650 and make the food trick your mouth into thinking it is chocolate all the while gaining the nutritional value of the food. I'm no John Henry Midas, but I'd sure love it.

Teleporter:

Need I say more? We really need one of these.

So, to all of you Science Nerds (aka Jason) start inventing and make me happy.

That's all there is.

Vacation

I am dreaming of Vacation this week. Perhaps it is because I have been burning the candle at both ends for the past week and half--ugh I worked a lot this week.

Alas, I have two more weeks of arduous work before I can even consider having real downtime.

So, I look toward Christmas Break and all of its magical-ness. This Christmas Break I want to do the following things:

1. Go to the movies at least twice (thrice would be nice)
2. See a play--sure I just saw one, but still
3. Read a novel my students suggested to me
4. Do some doodles
5. Take a short vacation to another city, just the Fauf and I.
6. Paint Westly's room
7. Go on an extended bike ride
8. Have a day filled with nothingness (intentionally, that is)

These are my Christmas Wishes. How about you? Perhaps you are wanting to have me carol at your house--I just may do that, if the comment is right.

Discoveries

On Monday I had two students (shout out to Philip and Charlie--if you're still out there) who found my blog via ways of high school wizardry and it got me thinking about the significant discoveries of our--I mean my-- world.


1. Columbus



I'm not very skeptical about this one. I think he was the dude who came over and discovered this land we call the new world. I am personally disappointed that I discovered--about five years ago--the US doesn't have his holiday on the "No School" list. We need to re-discover this one people.

2. The Moon


Sure we didn't really discover the moon, but there are those in the government who would have you believe we actually landed on the moon many (chuckle chuckle, cough cough) moons ago. I have my doubts. If we really did it why haven't we gone back? Also, wouldn't other countries want to do the same thing and take down our little American flag? I'm just saying. So, if you want to prove it to me go ahead and stop giving government money to college football coaches and start giving the funds to the "Journey Back to the Moon 2012 Project". I think it would be a hit, Mr. Obama.

3. Bellybuttons



Remember discovering this? I have a vague recollection of sticking my finger in my bellybutton and looking at it in wonder. This is a big deal people! Our future little Shaw, Westly Cavanaugh, will have this discovery sometime in the next 365 days! Wow!

4. Favorite Foods



Remember when you first tasted that marvelous first bit your favorite food? I do. I remember eating my first filet mignon my Sophomore year of high school at the Hitching Post in Casmalia. I was there for Homecoming with my date Lauren Dooley (does anyone know what has happened to her) and I order it. I loved it, gobbled it up--and then was in the bathroom all night sick from the potent acid reflux issue I would later conquer(ish). Alas, it was not nice to me at first, but I came to love it and cherish my tri-anual consumption of the delicious cut.

5. My Blog

This is a future discovery. I hope to discover who is reading this thing. I get an average of 40-60 hits per day. Who are you? Help me discover this by signing a comment below.

That's it ya'll.

Who do you think I am?

Yup, that's me in my underwear when I was about 4. Oy.



Now, looking at this picture do you think you could have predicted my future? I doubt it, but maybe someone did. Look below at this list of characteristics that are said to describe me and let me know if they truly describe me. I know... This is all very cryptic.

2. … Great sense of fun and wit—humorous.

3. Will radiate enormous energy—have great influence over others when grown up.

4. Very creative—forceful and dominant.

5. May be interested in Politics later and government things.

6. Observant –critical. & determined

7. Yet courteous - & helpful to people of all walks of life

8. Sensitive & easily hurt – by neglect but never bear angry thoughts for long.

9. Do well in Big Schemes – architect-engineer- builiding organized in design

10. Also- ability in DRAMA. & Literature, & Lecturing on Special Subjects will make a lot of money but extravagant type.

11. Delicate in health. Sometimes up to age of 21 –or during childhood so—special diet-- & keep warm (these modern times – this Influenza may not apply of course!! So diet (unreadable)!!

12. A Strong –personality – always laughing -- full of fun & life & soul of the Party Type.

The numbering is from a list that was provided to me years ago--I took out numbers 1, 13 and 14 for sake of sanity. What do you think? Does this describe me? Thoughts?

Move over Oprah...

Michael's Christmas Favorites (just in time for Christmas):

If I could give you all of these things for Christmas, I would.

1. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups--
The delight of a lovely RPB is nothing more than magical. Especially when they are wrapped in red, green and gold!

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire--


I dare say, I love this book and am delighted by its whimsical twists and turns... I know you are thinking, "How does this relate to Christmas?" Remember they go to the Yule Ball in this one. Plus this is the book I finally learned how to say Hermione's name properly.

3. Enya's And Winter Came--

Though our CD seems to be missing I can still hear that Celtic lady singing about the joys of the holly.

4. "Iz Zat You Santa Claus!?"

Old Sachmo was a delight on this one and quite frankly I am delighted to say it has become a holiday favorite in the Shaw Manor. You should certainly download it on iTunes ("Is that you, Santa Claus?").

5. Candy Canes hanging on trees--

There is something wildly Grinchy about a candy cane on a tree--I must say I delight in them.

6. The Bell from The Polar Express--

I love that bell. It brings back fond memories of my dad reading me the story and trying to hear the bell. Love it.

So, while I can't get all of you these items, I am going to pull a Morgan Coulter and offer one lucky commenter a chance at a gift basket filled with ALL of these items (well, minus Enya unless I find her CD). Simply comment below and tell me one of your favorite Christmas Time treats! Comments must be posted by next Sunday.

Fa la la!

Rebirth...

You may have been wondering where I've been. Well, just like Madonna, this blog is always looking for ways to reinvent itself.



So here we go... Reinvention is in progress.

My goal is for this blog to take one part doodling:


Add in essence of Fig:


Twist in a musing of movies:



And blend together with a refreshing squeeze of real life:


So that's my plan. We'll see what becomes of it. I did OK with my whole Doodle-a-Day (well for at least 5 or 6 months).

What do you think?

boo

Happy Halloween, everyone! I am so excited the 31st of October has come. I am not sure what I'll doodle today, but I'm sure it will be in the spirit of the season. At any rate--I'll be posting later this afternoon.

Be sure to enjoy the season; eat some candy, carve a pumpkin, go trick-or-treating, and let the world know it's HALLOWEEN!

mike

"monsters inc"
marker on computer paper
at my desk

Dark Lady Broadway Something...

This is a girl le Fauf and I discovered on youtube... We love her and her silliness. She's not the world's greatest, but she has a sense of humor! Love it... Just watch it... All of it.

quack quack again

I know, this has little to do with Halloween, but I suppose someone could be Donald for the holiday.

"donald"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Halloween Doodle?

I am just pretending this is a Halloween Doodle... I am a little stuck, but at least I know the bare necessitates


"scratch my back"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Quack quack quack...

You may have caught on, but I am doing a Disney Theme here (well, I may wait a few days to post the rest of my Disney drawings) but here is another one.

"Vampire Donald"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Who is that at my door?

This time of year, more than any other, I want to be at Disneyland. I love the fall and all of the sights and smells Disney packs into the Kingdom. Alas, I will settle for doodles.

"Mick-or-Treat"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

thumbs

Beware of hitchhiking ghosts!

"help a brother out"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Caw Caw Pt. 2

This is the theme of the year. CROWS people!

"crow"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Not Rob...

I don't like these... They remind me of the creepy dead people in Harry Potter, but alas...

"zombie"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Spells and Such

Here's another one we think is a hit...

Enjoy buck-toothed Bette and her amazing cackle...

Along came a...

Still "spinning" my wheels trying to decide what I should do for the 900th and first blog....

"spinner"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Ain't got the guts...

Happy 900th post blog. You are great, but I still haven't come up with a way to celebrate you. I guess I ain't got the guts to do it...

You've hear of Sully... Here's Skully....


"skully"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

I am stuck on a...

Not your daddy...

"mummy"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa

Witch Minus the Powers...

Double trouble, I'm not through. Turn these witches into HAGS!

"hag life"
marker on computer paper
on the sofa