Mossy Cottage Knits

Baby MongoLEEa Happy Big Pompom Making Happy Fun!

No postings next week, Dear Readers, as TMK and I sleep off the copious homemade cinnamon doughnuts we plan on consuming Christmas morning. To compensate, today’s entry is extra long what with TMK's meme response and our annual Dulaan story from Mary Lee.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Day Before the Last Day of Hanukkah to my wonderful, wonderful readers.

[From TMK, with comments from me. No surprise there.]

Hi, all. Ryan meme-tagged me so here is my weird stuff. This meme would have been easier if I could just list the six “normal” things about me! But, I’ll follow the rules!

Six Weird Things about TMK:

1. Mayonnaise. I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, via Mossy Cottage or Rabbitch, that I have a “thing” about mayonnaise. It truly is evil incarnate and I will not eat anything that has been even remotely touched by it. Ryan won’t go to Subway with me anymore because I insist that the sandwich maker wash the knife before cutting my sandwich. If they don’t, I’ve been known to ask for a new sandwich.

(Ryan: Going to Subway with TMK is, indeed, traumatic because we can’t just plow merrily through the sandwich-assembly line. We have to watch the sandwich “artiste’s” every move with a hawk-like intensity to make sure not even the faintest whiff of evil incarnate comes near her sandwich. And the sandwich artiste is, of course, on autopilot and doesn’t really hear a word you’re saying and more often than not a drive-by mayonnaise-ing happens and much more drama ensues than any sandwich ever warranted. Quite embarrassing.

Of course, occasionally I feel for TMK. Many years ago we had lunch in a restaurant in Roslyn, Washington, (the quaint town where Northern Exposure was filmed). She asked for no mayo on her burger; they put mayo on her burger; she asked for a new burger; they took the old burger, scraped the mayo off the bun, slapped it back on and said it now had no mayo on it and qualified as a new burger. And then insisted she pay for it.)

2. All Music All the Time. I usually wake up with a song of some sort in my head. This immediately becomes the “song of the day” and gets hummed, drummed and sung constantly over and over again until someone says something that reminds of a different song—which I then start humming, drumming and singing constantly, until someone says something that reminds me of a different song—which I then start humming, drumming and singing constantly, until someone.... I don’t even realize I’m doing this most of the time. The songs range from 70’s rock to commercial jingles, to TV theme songs and everything in between.

(Ryan: AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!)

3. Little Office Worker. I used to love to fill out pads of obsolete forms my dad would bring home from the office—even though I didn’t know how to read or write. Now I design forms for other people to fill out!

4. World Traveler. I didn’t get a passport until I was 43. It took having the passport in my possession to realize I could actually go somewhere that required one. Before then it had never occurred to me. I haven’t used it yet—but I could.

(Ryan: This is the same part of her brain that didn’t realize she could actually go to the Grand Canyon.)

5. The Nunnery. I was brought up Catholic, but didn’t go to Catholic school. However, to this day I always let nuns go ahead of me in line. On the other hand, one day a nun showed up at my water aerobics class in a bathing suit. I was completely weirded out and had to leave.

6. Snore. I fall asleep instantly and sleep like the dead. I have been known to sleep through the loud ringing of an old-fashioned brass wind-up alarm clock, or throw it across the room to shut it up—in my sleep. (Yes, you’re right. This is the complete and utter opposite of Ryan.) On a related note, I get night terrors and will yell, hit, grab at things in the air, have conversations and jump out of bed to turn the light on—all in my sleep. (I know, I know, most people outgrow night terrors by the time they’re five.)

(Ryan: TMK and I have had complete arguments over her night terrors...while she’s asleep. They go something like this:

Scenario A:
TMK (asleep): Scream!! (With dramatic flailing of the arms.)
Ryan, sharply and angrily, because she is a light sleeper and has just woken up, terrified, heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, and yet, ironically, she does not suffer from night terrors: What now?
TMK (still asleep): Spiders!! (More flailing.)
Ryan (sharply and angrily): What?!
TMK (still asleep): There are spiders.
Ryan (sharply and angrily): No, there are no spiders.
TMK (still asleep): Yes, there are. They’re all over!
Ryan (sharply and angrily): No. There. Are. No. Spiders.
TMK (still asleep): There aren’t?
Ryan (sharply and angrily): No, there aren’t. Now shut up and go back to sleep.
TMK (still asleep): Oh. (Pause.) Snoooooooooooore.
Ryan (sharply and angrily): Well. So. Hm. What's on TV?

Scenario B:
TMK (asleep): Scream!! (With dramatic flailing of the arms.)
Ryan, sharply and angrily, because she is a light sleeper and has just woken up, terrified, heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, and yet, ironically, she does not suffer from night terrors: What now?
TMK (still asleep): Tigers!! (More flailing.)
Etc. Etc. Etc.

With a mixture of guilt and happiness, I saw on Wednesday that I had received my annual Dulaan email from Mary Lee, she of the disabled students who do for Dulaan. Guilt because I never scanned and posted her photos from last year, and happiness because, well, it was my annual Dulaan email from Mary Lee, she of the disabled students who do for Dulaan. For new readers who may not be familiar with the remarkable Mary Lee story, have a look here.

This is her story for this year:

“I decided to Dulaan with some of the children right before Christmas break this year. I was thrilled by their generosity. We cut short the cookie baking, decorating and gifting to do this instead and they couldn't have been happier. Will I ever learn to accurately estimate them? You remember Jacob, of course...giver of the third syllable accent to MongoLEEa? Well, he's growing up in the most delightful way. I've put him in charge of making the pom poms for the hats I knit and he takes this job VERY seriously. On our first day of this he was a little overenthusiastic with the winding and I suggested that maybe the one he was working on was big enough. He thrust out his arm in that talk-to-the-hand kind of way and said with authority....'NO!!! Baby mongoLEEa happy big pompom making happy fun.' I have been told."

And, here, fortunately not relying on me to scan them, photos of Jacob, the hat, the pom pom, and, I believe, Mary Lee:

So, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and “Baby mongoleea happy big pompom making happy fun” to all of you.

Posted by Ryan at December 22, 2006 10:01 AM