The Presents List

Some of you may not know this but there are 26 days left until Christmas. Well, if that doesn't send you into a panic, I don't know what will. Now the question becomes what do you get for people. Sit back. Relax. Pour yourself another drink (sweet tea if you are moi).We here at the LL have got you covered.Click on the links to take you where you need to go. Here is our list of

5 Gift Ideas For People On Your Shopping List

1) Foodie Friend- chef calendar To me this says "I am a useful present with a wink". I mean come on, its chefs in a calendar. How silly. But still useful!

2) Bike Head- chain bottle opener I have a bike dork at my house. I saw this and thought it was a fun idea.

3) Serious Activist- animals This is a great gift for anyone actually. However, I think of my socially active friends when I get their holiday catalogue every year. This is a great organization. You purchase animals for families in need and then they either sell the chicken eggs for money or shave the sheep and make and sell wool. Super liberal!

4) Girly Girl- pedicure Send your girly friend to The Dashing Diva for a pedicure. They are the best there. The place is covered in pink! Just don't get a manicure there. Not as good.

5) Smarty Pants- Wired Magazine subscription It isn't just for the tech geek. Hell I read Wired on occasion. They are on top of everything that is the cutting edge of everything intelligent.

Reading List

I have developed a bit of a reading list as of late. Really it is just my ADD kicking in. I start one book and then put it down and pick something else up. So I know have a few things gathered on the night stand. I would like to share them with you. I know, I am too kind! Here is my list of

Listy Loo's Current Reading List

1) Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell I just finished this book last night. It has been a while since I have read a book that hit so close to home. It is about a 30-ish girl living in LIC NYC with her husband and is a bit lost. She decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's book Mastering The Art Of French Cooking in one year. If you feel a bit lost in your life, read this book. It will give you hope!

2) Toddler 411 by Dr. Ari Brown and Denise Fields A great parental go to. I bought this because Thud was a little out of control and I wanted to know how to "check" him. It is easy to read and co-written by a doctor and a mother. I like this much better than the "What To Expect" series.

3) Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown This is the one book I haven't started. I have to admit I have not started it because I am afraid. I know a very little bit of the history in this book. I have a very sneaking suspicion that the events in this book are going to be much more horrifying than what I already know about. I will let you know how it goes.

4) Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth Babies aren't born knowing how to sleep. You have to teach them and this book teaches you how to teach them. It also gives you solutions to sleep problems from ages 0-18. Not a bad gift for a new mom. Again, I was having sleep issues with Thud so this was purchased. Money well spent!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Hope you have a great holiday. See you next week!

November- Not Just For Leftovers

Except for Thanksgiving, November passes us by with not much notice. It is a time of year where everyone is focused on Christmas. Well, lots of things happen in November. In fact November is full of awareness and appreciation. Many organizations have randomly declared November the month of their particular cause. Here is our list of

8 Titles Bestowed Upon the Month of November

1) Military Family Appreciation Month- quick! Someone tell the White House about this. Now!

2) Adoption Month- I am adopted and I think everyone else should be too!

3) National American Indian Heritage Month- find a pow-wow a go to it. They are very cool and you'll expand your knowledge past what you've seen in Dancing With Wolves.

4) National Diabetes Month- if you aren't quite sure what diabetes is, now is a good time to learn!

5) Aviation History Month- brush up on your knowledge of things in the air.

6) Child Safety Month- it feels like this is every day at my house.

7) Alzheimer's Awareness Month- I don't mean to be cruel but doesn't this qualify as ironic?

8) National Impotency Month- oh dear.

To Do

I have a lot of things to do with the holidays looming around the corner. In an attempt to streamline all my activities, I am writing out my To Do list on the blog today. I hope this helps me to be a better multi tasker! Here is the LL's

To Do List

1) Email The Super- some stuff going on in the apartment, including really loud sounds coming from beneath our living room. I am on the first floor.

2) Clean, clean, clean!- guests coming at the end of the week usually means that I clean all week. This week is no exception.

3) Money Stuff- just some general check book organizing. Nothing serious, but it needs to get done none the less.

4) Travel Plans- We still haven't made travel plans for Christmas yet. This is a problem for 2 reasons- the flights just keep getting more expensive AND I hate not having plans like this done and decided on. We may drive down to FLA. I don't know. We can't decide. I will let you know how it all goes down.

5) Cooking- I am going to try hard not to leave all my cooking for Thanksgiving until Thursday morning. Today is the day when I need to sit down and think about what I can make ahead of time and how far ahead I can make it. I also have to figure out how long I need to cook my maple & bacon turkey. Mmmm. Bacon.

Lyricly Speaking

I don't like instrumental music. Never have. Never will. I think people who write great song lyrics are just geniuses. If done correctly, lyrics can take you over the range of human emotion. Here is my list of

8 Favorite Song Lyrics

1) "Wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door/who is it for/all the lonely people/ where do they all come from" Elanor Rigby The Beatles

2) "In the morning when you finally go/ and the nurse runs in with her head hung low/ and the cardinal hits the window" Casmir Pulaski Days Sufjan Stevens

3) "The girl come undone/ I tried to down play it with a bit about us/ you said you could take it as long as I could/ I could not erase it" A Sorta Fairytale Tori Amos
4) "The things you can't remember/ tell the things you can't forget/ that history puts a saint in every dream" Time Tom Waitts

5) "One of us will die inside these arms/ eyes wide open/ naked as we came/ one will spread our ashes round the yard" Naked As We Came Iron & Wine

6) "You gotta cry without weeping/ talk without speaking/scream without raising your voice" Running To Stand Sill U2

7) "Together we're going a long long way/ In time the Rockies may crumble/ Gibraltar may tumble/ they're only made of clay/but our love is here to stay" Our Love Is Here To Stay Ira Gershwin

8) "I'm thinking its a sign/ that the freckles in our eyes/ are mirror images and when we kiss/ they're perfectly aligned" Such Great Heights Postal Service

Signs

I am pretty sure this happens to everyone. You've been awake for less than 30 minutes and 2 or 3 or 4 things have already gone wrong. You know what is coming. You know you should turn around and head back under the covers. You know you are about to have a bad day. Here is our list of

4 Signs Your Day Is Going To Suck

1) Too Much Email/ Voice Mail At Work- you know the scenario, you sit down at your desk and turn on the computer or pick up the phone and you are bombarded with messages. I don't mean a few emails, I mean you have 80 or 100 new emails. That isn't a good sign. 25 voice mails are also not normal. If you can get out now, do so. If not, you are about to have a very bad day at work. Sorry.

2) Really Bad Weather- normally this doesn't qualify but when you live in NYC it does. Bad weather here can turn a 20 minute commute into 2 hours. It happened this summer and I think it will probably happen again once this winter.

3) A Change Up- you plan for something to go one way. Maybe you've even planned for something to go a few different ways. But that something has just gone the one way you didn't expect and has now thrown a monkey wrench in your day. This happened to me today. I planned an outing and nothing went how I planned and soured the rest of my morning.

4) Oversleeping- this always puts me in a weird place in my head that lasts all day. I guess that realization of oversleeping and then the panic that sets in just messes with me on a physical and an emotional level. Not even coffee can help me here.

Parental Dilemma

My household has been in chaos as of late. Thud has run screaming into the terrible twos. I have to say now I know why Irish Coffee exists. This sweet little boy of mine is hardly recognizable most of the time. When you have a parental problem, there are a few things you can do- there are friends and family, the Internet or my personal favorite Hollywood. There are some great parenting lessons to be learned from the likes of Steve Martin and Sam Shepard. Most of them are funny, which always helps take the edge off of life. Some of them aren't. There is nothing like a reminder that there always someone who has it worse off than you. Here is my list of

6 Great Parenting Movies

1) Parenthood- funny yet honest. There is something for everyone in this. Also, it was filmed in Orlando so it is fun for me to play "Scout The Location" for this film.

2) Steel Magnolias- yes it is about southern women but at the heart of this movie is a real mother and daughter relationship. It is actually based on the playwright's mother and sister.

3) Spanglish- this movie is about the family you wouldn't want to be in but are too familiar with anyway. This is a good example of modern parenting dilemmas. There is also something very charming about Adam Sandler when he isn't trying to be funny.

4) Mrs. Doubtfire- I wish every divorced father went to these lengths to see his kids. It was refreshing to see a movie about a dad trying hard to see his kids!

5) Baby Boom- this is one of those movies I have to watch all of if I come across it on TV. It is funny and smart and the message of "You can have it all just not all at once" is a great and realistic thing for every parent to learn!

6) The Sound Of Music- he needs to learn how to treat his children like kids and not sailors and she is a nun with no "child" experience at all. And there is singing. Love it!