I’ve done a recap of 2oo8 using photos I’ve never uploaded before. It was a bit painful to go through, and in doing so I realized that 2oo8 was one of the hardest years I’ve had in a long, long time. But every inch of pain, every tear shed, was entirely worth it. For those of you that have been with me through all of this- thank you. Your support meant the world to me, and still does.

I highly recommend this exercise for everyone. Even if you don’t post it, do it for yourself. I think it’s very good to reflect on the year that’s gone before so us so we can learn from it and let go of what needs to be left behind.

It’s strange to see your life spanned out in a single page.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

So we were having dinner and family heritages came up in conversation and I said casually, as I had many times before to other friends, that my grandmother used to tell us that we were directly related to some King William of Orange. My cousins and I used to tease her all the time with, “Oh yeah, where’s Orange?” or “Then why are we living in Michigan?”

She’d say, “You’re each princes and princesses.” And we’d chuckle. We never believed her. Who would? This is mostly because we’d never heard of a King William, or Orange, and we’d never learned anything about it in school, etc. Orange always sounded super cheesy.

So, as you can imagine, when I mentioned this at the dinner table I was purely amused and sharing a joke (perhaps in bad taste at my grandmother’s expense). Well, I was expecting the same shrug and indifference I’d both given and received for all these years. But not even close.

Jim’s father was an Orangeman and since Tom’s half Irish he knows all about him from his stay in Ireland.

So I e-mailed my grandmother- first apologizing for all those years of teasing her- and then asked her for more information. Apparently we’re related to Queen Wilhelmina and King William on my grandmother’s side.

She is mailing me a copy of the Greater and Lesser Crests.

Holy fuck.

I can’t believe I teased her all these years. Tom and his dad joke that Tom is in love with a princess. And if we marry he’ll be a prince.

I still feel the same.
And I’m still just as poor.
But Tom has always been my prince.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Fable II (Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…)
Matching sketchbooks and pencils
Matching astrological sign mugs (Can you guess what we are?)
Stuffed Owl plush
HDTV!!!
New X-Box wireless play and charge controller
TREATS (we made raspberry oatmeal squares as well- delicious!)
Pajama bottoms for Sir Tom
Turtleneck and sweater for me
Munny!!!
Reading light! (We’re excited for this one)
Movie theatre certificates!
Cirque du Soleil tickets!!

My mom’s box won’t arrive for a few days, but she suspects it will be here in time for my birthday. We don’t mind at all.

We definitely received a lot more than we thought we were going to, that’s for sure. But now we’re on our bed (that we’re calling a raft) and enjoying left over Christmas dinner.

OH. Funny video alert. When I get my hands on it I’ll post a clip from Christmas dinner. Jim’s bottle opener stuck to the bottle and they couldn’t get it off. They tried everything and nothing worked, so finally Jim went downstairs and came back with a hacksaw. THAT worked. Crisis averted.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Pictures here!

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I probably won’t be on to post again today. Christmas Eve is more important to me than Christmas. Tom and I plan on staying home all day (I’ve been up playing VIII since 8- I’m having so much fun with Triple Triad) and snuggling up under blankets with tea, cocoa and cookies.

Speaking of cookies- surprise package from my Grandmother!! Apparently she mailed the family members too far to gather (My dad, my cousin, and I) a box of her homemade delights!

More pictures here.

Tonight we will make our gingerbread house and another Latu video. And we also plan on opening one present each tonight (it’s a tradition in my family) and enjoy an evening by the fire.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas Eve and Christmas!!

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So Kat showed me the 8-Bit Jesus Christmas album and now I’m ridiculously giddy and enjoying some Christmas tunes in classic video game style. It’s not for everyone, so only check it out if you’re the gamer type.

http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/video-games/8-bit-jesus-full-album-release/

Epic.

Also.
I managed to stab myself in the finger with scissors. Because I’m not moronic enough. But the gifts looks wonderful. Pictures tomorrow. Now I’m going to go make nachos and suck on Tom’s lips. And play some Final Fantasy VIII.

Sorry in advance if this next bit is TMI.

Luckily, when it’s that time I don’t suffer from mood swings or become angry or nasty. But I do get a little hypersensitive. I still have my wits about me, so when I start crying for absolutely no reason I can stop and think, through sobs, snot and tear-hiccups, that it’s nothing except that time.

With that said, I get really homesick then. Or more sensitive to it, at least. I miss Kat terribly. And my little sisters. And my cats. I miss snuggling with Morn and Pumpkin. And I miss shopping at Meijer and seeing the stars at night.

Yeah. I’m just a bit more sensitive around that time.

Luckily for me, Tom bought me a huge ass chocolate Santa.

Screw YOU, homesickness. I’m going to eat a fat-jolly, commercialized chocolate man. ALL BY MYSELF.
(Okay, Tom helped.)

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

(Tom wrote this lovely declaration)

Holy snow!!
I’m so excited!!
We don’t have boots!!
I’m still excited!!

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Tom and I have been busy little bees. I have some news to share, but I’m forced to wait. We’ve been watching Dexter and Heroes (Season One) with his dad. We’ve been playing video games and eating good food.

I’m waiting for Tom to come home- he’s bringing me my favorite sub from Subway. Can you believe they don’t have provolone cheese in Canada?

Why is this? I must know.

(At least the places I have gone don’t have it.)

I hope everyone else is doing well!!

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Supposedly it would take roughly 10 billion dollars to cure the world’s water problem. Americans alone spend around 450 billion every year.

That’s crazy?

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Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

This is my mom and me.
Just thought I’d share.

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It’s just been one of those days.

Credit Elise.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Pretty sure I’d like these to keep my tootsie’s warm.

As for Latu!! Thanks for all the wonderful responses! I’ll explain a little bit about Latu. Life According to Us is a film project that we’ve started based on YouTube’s previous channel sensations, Five Awesome Geeks, Five Awesome Gays, and others like it. However, we didn’t really have one “topic” we wanted to address or identify ourselves with, and really felt it best to leave the project open for change and growth. We settled on Life According to Us because that’s what we want it to be about. Anything goes.

Originally we had seven people and we asked questions every week, but we weren’t learning enough about each other and it became stressful posting a video every week. We then changed to posting whatever you wanted, whether you had something specific to ask everyone, or if you just wanted to post a video showing us around your apartment. I personally liked the latter version better- it left more room for creativity and growth.

What I’m thinking now is, if we still have a lot of people interested, perhaps we can do fourteen of us- and rotate weeks. That way we have a lot of fresh faces and nobody is pressured EVERY week to do a video.

What do you guys think?

There’s no time limit, there’s no content structure. You can do two minutes of a snow video, like I posted, or you can get on and talk.

Also, this is a bit random but does anyone want to collaborate on some music with me? I have a guitar and piano at my disposal. And… time.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at simply stardust. Please leave any comments there.