Time to vent.

I'm going to do some reflecting on the word "naive" or, more precisely, the act of being naive.

The word itself is derived from a form of the word "natural" which indicates that a person is in his or her natural state when he or she is naive. It indicates that naivete is the untainted, clean state of man.

But there is a negative connotation to the word that I just don't understand. The word does not mean close-minded. It means beautifully natural. But when someone calls you naive, don't you get defensive? Isn't your first reaction to deny that you are naive and shout, "I am not!"

The word "innocent" doesn't carry as much negativity as "naive" but has virtually the same meaning. Does the word "naive" somehow imply that a person is stupid or ignorant while "innocent" has no such implication? I'm just wondering here.

Why isn't our first reaction to feel flattered when someone calls us naive?

And by the way, "naive" is not the correct word to use when a person willfully chooses to not participate or buy into the same (usually liberal) beliefs as another.

Enough of that.

I'm thankful for: YOU. Seriously. Stay safe.

Here's proof...

that I'm a weirdo even in my subconscious mind. I had a dream last night that I was flying over the Khyber Pass. (Yeah, I had to look it up to see exactly where and what it was, too. But I specifically remember thinking, "And now we're flying over the Khyber Pass.") I was flying in a helicopter at night on some secret mission for the military, and I had to hang from my knees from the poles under the helicopter when we got all the way to the Arabian Sea. I had to swoop down and grab something off of a buoy. At night. In the dark. That was my dream. Sara Snow and Sufjan Stevens were part of this elite military group. Pretty funny, huh? Sara, who loves to read and bake, Sufjan Stevens, who plays the banjo and knits, and me, the laziest person in my family, made up an elite military group.

Extensive list of who and what I'm thankful for coming soon.

Look what my mom and I did yesterday!

Pretty, huh? (It's at our store.)

The 10 Most Dangerous Cities in the US

1. Camden, N.J.
2. Detroit
3. St. Louis
4. Flint, Mich.
5. Richmond, Va.
6. Baltimore
7. Atlanta
8. New Orleans
9. Gary, Ind.
10. Birmingham, Ala

What?!? Atlanta's not in the top 5 anymore? Must be Mayor Shirley Franklin's vast efforts to clean up the city, starting with giving the city a nice new rap anthem. Who needs the broken windows theory that Giuliani used in NYC? We have a rap anthem.

And big surprise that Detroit and St. Louis are up there. But New Orleans is less dangerous than Atlanta? Was that before or after Katrina?

Yeah, I was ready for a new format.

I saw this template on Clay and Summer Wood's blog and I liked it. A lot. So I decided to use it, too. Tell me what you think.

"Roads. Ro-ads."

You know, I pulled up beside a big transfer truck today at a red light and I was right beside his tires. 'Leopard' was the particular name of the tire and it was written on the side of it. I literally looked at the word 'leopard' for probably two whole minutes trying to figure it out. "Leo-pard? Lay-o-pard?"

Maybe it's because I took a couple of Benadryl last night. Or maybe I was having a momentary lapse of consciousness. Maybe it was the angle of the tire.

My point is, isn't it weird when a word you've known since first-grade suddenly looks completely foreign and alien to you? Like the word "does", for instance. Such a weird word. It's like looking at your own hand and suddenly seeing a stranger's.


I'm thankful for: 40-degree temperatures. And a fireplace.

Trick-or-Treat!

So we had a few Trick-or-Treaters last night. And by few, I mean four families. Six kids. Total. What's the deal? Was our jack-o-lantern particularly menacing? Are we known as the people with bad candy?

I enjoyed seeing all of them, though. I only took a couple of pictures, both of Kaley. She was a kitty-cat.

Here she is about 10 minutes later.

I also have some pictures of the kiddos I babysat in New York.

Here's Matthew/Ringo Starr/Rooney Doodle disguised as Diego (Dora the Explorer's cousin).

Here's Justino Bambino as a fireman. (Although, he's not really a bambino anymore.)

Here's Emma Lou dressed as a dalmation.


And here's all three of the boys. Conor's to the far right.


How cute are all of these kids?!?! I love 'em.

(Note: I wrote this the day after Halloween, but didn't have all of the pictures up until today. That's why it's a little late.)