Startled Daughter

The six of us (Mom, Dad, Nathan, Elizabeth - oops, I mean the seven of us - The Peanut, Ramon and I) had dinner at a great Italian place last night. In the midst of our extremely and customarily boisterous and hilarious conversation Mom revealed her true feelings for me: "With Cerise, what you see is what you get," she declared, spreading her hands as if to say, "Whattaya gonna do?" And it was a heart-felt compliment.

Hmmm...

The Beaver Game

My pregnant and obviously perverse sister-in-law Elizabeth taught me this kick-ASS new game called The Beaver Game. The only rule: replace one word of any movie title with the word "Beaver". Sounds kind of...dumb, right? Scoff if you will, but play it anyway. Elizabeth and I nearly asphyxiated from laughter playing this game. She nearly pee-pee'd in her panties. Give her a break - as I said, she's pregnant. Even Ramon was howling. I have been all alone, elbow-deep in dishwater, and have made myself laugh so hard that I've had to collapse on the floor, heaving feebly and kicking fitfully at the dish towel.

Here are some of the titles she and Ramon and I came up with:

"Citizen Beaver"
"The Thin Red Beaver"
"Saving Private Beaver"
"The Beaver Whisperer"
"Lord of the Beavers"
"On Golden Beaver"
"Places in the Beaver"
"A Clockwork Beaver"
"The Beaver Zone"
"The Beaver Redemption"

...and on and on. Know which one got us laughing hardest? The one-word movie titles, like "Chocolat". We'd be furiously thinking of movie titles and then someone would glance around and say "Beaver" very suggestively. And we'd all piddle ourselves a bit.

Cerise

Friday-itis TODAY

Well, it seems that my hypocrisy knows no bounds. Despite my frustration with Christianity dominating American culture so completely and my firm beliefs about separation of church and state, I get tomorrow off from work and I'm taking it off, darn it.

Our office is closing because the stock market is closing tomorrow, and we follow the stock market's schedule. I don't know - will it be a bank holiday as well? The government folks are still showing up, thank god. I don't have to get too twitchy about church/state separation. If the government offices took Good Friday off I'd move to Canada posthaste.

But anyway, we're off (and why is the stock market closed for a Christian day of moping? The Mob?). And I'm glad, though getting some work done is all the harder for it today. And for those of you engaging in or curious about Good Friday go to Addison Road and watch Michael's podcast. It's really moving. And damned cool.

Cerise

The Peanut Cometh

Congratulate me. My little brother and his wife are going to have a baby. The parents of my new favorite human on this earth (besides my dear Ramon, of course) are due in early December.

Apparently the Peanut is 4mm long, has a brand-new heartbeat and is at the present genderless. Despite my efforts to convince them to name the child, give it a gender and push it out NOW Nathan and Elizabeth have preached patience and I'm holding on for the moment. Barely. I want it in my arms, dammit.

[Apologies, by the way, to Mindy. I know we called your sweetie "the Peanut" when she was in utero, but I figured that now that Lily is a big girl - 7 months, no less - and has been named Sweetie-Pants, Loveykins, Lilliputian, Filly, La Petite Monstre, The Child and Pooter Jr. by Ramon and I that she'd be willing to give up her former moniker.]

My mom and Christy, Elizabeth's mom, are now grandmothers and dancing in their respective kitchens. This is especially noteworthy of my Mum, since she has previously not danced according to her scriptural reservations. Peanut, you're already corrupting our morals! Rest assured that Aunt Cerise will endeavor to do likewise to you. Dad just chuckles and observes that the kid's doomed from the start to partake fully of our two-family madness.

Much love to the three of you, Nathan, Elizabeth and especially my Natheth (or Elizaban) Jr.

Your favorite (back off, Claire!!!) Aunt.