BACON BOWL

Me:What are you picking off that? (David Eyre's pancake)
Sam: Not hair.
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Me: I agree with Sam that the dogs do need a bath.
Sam: Ooh, sorry Abby!
Me: However Sam does have two hands, and the dogs do love Sam.
Abby: Yeah!
Sam: No, I'm a baller, not a washer.
Me: Don't go there.
Abby: He's a dog-baller.
--Bacon Bowl - Abby and Sam's new obsession. With mashed potatoes! With salad! With mac and cheese!

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Dia de los Muertos Mermaid --
Sam's gift to me from Albuquerque. So many to choose from in the pic he sent, but who can say no to a skeleton mermaid with a ukulele and a fuchsia tail?

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Since Sam graduated on December 20, he has not slept in his own bed five times. He chooses instead a random couch or chair downstairs. Wouldn't a guy forced to use borrowed couches or a truck seat to sleep on over the course of a semester simply crave a real, spread-out and make yourself comfortable, bed?? Does the luxury of his very own couch suffice; overwhelmingly familiar, yet intoxicatingly indulgent?

JANUARY, COLD AND CLEAR

A very successful party, three birthdays, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, two deaths, two funerals, a school shooting, one extended flu, one week-long cold, Grandpa's broken shoulder, Sam's solo cross-country trip, Rachael's lost cat. All in the space of five weeks. I am exhausted mentally, and mired in the doldrums. I sleep too much or not at all. Even the long succession of sunny-cold days does nothing for my mood.

ETCETERA

Sam- "You know I have things about people breathing on my cheesecake!". 

(Picture: - from the Dollar Store- "Who wants a big bowl of Honey Nut Scooters?")

Dad, crying with cookie in his mouth- "I took Rachael's socks out of the car with this hand and then I got this cookie with this hand. It reeks!".

Abby- "Everyone's pretty in their own way."  Rachael- "Some of them are just pretty ugly."

Errands all day with Sam and Abby:
 -- Bed Bath and Beyond- the three of us sitting in three different massage chairs, comparing merits of each. Sam- "This is exploding my kidneys!"  Me- "And we will walk away and leave you in a puddle of kidney juice."  Abby- "Do you know what kidney juice is?"  Me- "His obituary: Kidneys exploded in Bed Bath and Beyond. Left behind in a puddle of kidney juice."

--Panera Bread with Grandpa Al. Sam spills an entire cup on water on the table, which spills onto Abby's lap. Abby becomes obsessed with the word pamphlets, repeating it so many times it becomes meaningless and strange. "Pam flits...pan flets...pam plets...pan flets". Times 15,000.

--Sam- "We're all cows when the lights go out. Think about it." (talking about Kim Jong Il's uncle's death).

--Sam to Abby- "Remember when I squashed you, me and Rachael in the revolving door at Whole Foods?"  Rachael- " It was my own personal hell."

NEW YEAR'S DAY

Last night we did the usual New Year's ritual: we stayed up late, watched some Twilight Zone, played Life (I won, mostly because I discovered $500,000! in buried treasure), ate cherry cheesecake and drank apple cider. Rachael even made it to midnight, Abby left a party early to come celebrate with us - lucky for her because Alex reported it turned into a "couple's cuddle-fest". We drank cider out of the Porto-sippers Sam had bought me for my birthday (I have yet to try them with port). They look like tiny elf-size unusually-elaborate glass watering pitchers.

Today it is mild and sunny, and I look forward to the monthly calendar's prediction that we gain 45 minutes of sunshine by the last day. At about 10:00 a.m. the sun is shining through a light snowstorm. I read in the paper about Claire Davis' memorial at the stock show coliseum at 1:00. Abby steadfastly refuses to go, despite the fact everyone she knows will be there. It seems to be a giant thing - 6000 seats will be full, there will be horses, undoubtedly all the Arapahoe kids will sit together. Supposedly the local channels will cover it, I would like to see if they honor the two officers who ran toward the shooter. One of them was Rod Mauler, Mike Hosanna's ex-cop friend who is a security officer at Arapahoe. I assume Abby has had enough of the whole shooting thing, but I want it thoroughly dealt with and not resurfacing in five years when something brings it up for her. The more it is discussed, the less powerful it becomes.

LISTS

Movies We Have Seen in the Last Week

-Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
-The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
-Saving Mr. Banks
-The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Drinks Rachael Had on Her 21st Birthday 

-Sour Watermelon Margarita
-White Chocolate Martini
-2 Bloody Marys
-B52 Shot (Kahlua, Grand Marnier, Bailey's)

Events Happening Between December 20 and January 3

-Sam's Graduation
-Grandpa Bill's Birthday
-Rachael's Birthday
-Christmas Eve Party
-Christmas
-New Year's Eve
-Grandma Joyce's Birthday

SATURDAY NIGHT

The snow comes quickly. It is sudden and cold, a shock to take the trash out at 10:00 tonight, when coming home from the movies at 7:30 was just cool and night-cloudy. The inch or two of powder covering the sidewalk and garden shines indigo in the glow from the roof lights. The neighbors' houses across the street are still festive with hundreds of lights - Ken and Amy's a multicolored circus, Brian's all red and white with candy canes. Rachael leaves at 11:50 with Dan, chauffeured by Sam to Bar Louie's for her first thrill of legal cocktails. An anonymous quote from Rachael's birthday card: May the light always find you on a dreary day, When you need to be home, may you find your way... May you always have courage to take a chance, And may you never find frogs in your underpants.

NEW PHONE

Rachael got a new phone today - a Samsung Galaxy S4 like mine.She teaches me to do the audio-text feature. We try to get the phone to recognize "Text Rachael". Me: "Text Rachael" Phone: Rachel is not in your contacts. Who would you like to send a message to? Me: "Ray-chell" Phone: Raychelle is not in your contacts. Who would you like to send a message to? Me: (from hereon, substitute requests for various permutations of Rachael) Phone: Rach JL? Me: ... Phone: Watch Al? Watch is not in your contacts... Me: ... Phone: Ray j you? Me: ... Phone: read she'll? watch a deal? Deal is not in your contacts... rich? rock jl? jail? rough chello? Rough is not in your contacts... rotch jl? rock chat l? Me: "Text Rachael Holloway" Phone: Bill Holloway or Tricia Holloway? Finally, I admit defeat and change my contact to read "Rach". I say "Text Rach". It works twice. Then it says "You have two new messages from Ratch". Various texts of conversations plus intentional texts to Rachael thereafter read: -Text Reach -Say what I'm pretty -Text rash text Rachel much wood -Rash is not in your address book -Text ranch produce livelinks the van because of angel ------------------------- (Overheard snippet of conversation from the kitchen: Abby - "You have crabs?", Sam - "Just a few.")