Well, here we are, at the end of another twelve months and on the cusp of another New Year.  It’s usually at this point that people get all maudlin and sentimental, thinking of all that has gone on the past year and, if you’re my age, starting to wonder just where the whole thing went…wasn’t it just a few days ago that I was celebrating the beginning of 2008?

So it’s de rigeur at this time to not only think of all the stuff that happened this year, but all the stuff that you’d like to do differently this year.  With that in mind, I’ve come up with a set of resolutions (or perhaps they would be better off termed “hopeful suggestions to myself”) that I really really really want to try and keep in 2009…or at least for the first week or so.

I hopefully suggest to myself that I should try to:

• Pet my kittycats at least once a day.  (Hey, it’s best to start out with small, easily attainable goals.)
• Wear clean underwears every day.  (Again…small, easily attainable, good for the self-esteem.)
• Buy a red lipstick.  (Something I’ve always wanted to do but never have done.)
• Put down the laptop and walk on the treadmill at least once a day.  (For longer than a minute.  Okay, for longer than two minutes.)
• Find at least one nice thing to say about Angelina and Brad.  (Oh…I’m really stretching myself now.  Does it count if I wait until next December 31 to do it?)
• Find at least one old friend and get back in touch.  (That doesn’t live a block from me.)
• Read my Bible at least as much as I read the Daily Mail.  (And that’s a lot!)
• Pass up the chocolate…or, if it is absolutely necessary, and sometimes it is, remember that one piece is as good as a whole bag.  (Oh wait, getting a bit harder now.)
• To tag my Christmas tree BEFORE December 20.  (Trust me, this is a biggie.)
• Tell my kids every day that I love them.  (Wait, I do this anyway…oh well, it’s another easily attainable one.)
• To give myself permission for some “me” pampering.  (And who says it has to be expensive?  A nap will do.)
• To spend more quality time with my family, together and separately.  (After all, everybody can’t be together ALL the time.)
• To both brush and floss.  (It’s good for the toofers!)
• To dust the tops of the windows.  (Imagine my surprise when I dusted them pre-Christmas guests!)
• To watch more movies from the Pierce Brosnan filmography.  (You knew it was coming, didntcha?)

Well, that’s all I got for now.  Sorry that we’ve been pretty slow about posting, but it’s Christmas break and Dawn and I are spending time with our families, as I hope all of you are.  Don’t worry, things will get back to normal soon enough.  Celebs will always be doing something to report on, but kids are only kids once.

My New Year’s celebration is going to be pretty tame, probably going out to a nice dinner and watching the ball drop on EarthCam.  So all of you GlossLip readers behave, remember that you don’t have to get smashed to have a good time, and have a safe and happy New Year!

I’ve been watching EarthCam’s New Year’s coverage since the first year I got a computer (1999…wow, it seems so long ago!) and I thought I’d share this with GlossLip readers.  In many parts of the world, it’s already 2009, or soon will be.  I just think it’s cool to see how other countries and cultures celebrate.

Yeah, I’m pretty boring, but I’m a cheap date!

Just a bit of holiday fun for everyone…hey, I consider the time frame from when the kids get out on Christmas Break to the time they go back to school as “Christmas”, so in my way of thinking I’m not late with posting this at all.  See, it’s all in the way you look at it.

Anyway…way back when I first got a computer, this was one of the first sites I found that had games on it (I was searching for Mother Goose rhymes, I don’t remember why…they’re on a separate part of the site, but they led me to the games).  He’s consistently added more games and while some are just five-minute fun breaks, others take a bit longer and require a little more effort.  The Goodhue Codex took me forever to complete (although that may just be a testament to my total non-skillz as a gamer).

They can be kind of corny, but they’re fun, and not all of them are Christmas-related.  You can waste some time after gorging yourself on those leftover holiday cookies or you can use them to spend some silly time with your kids while they’re home.  Have fun!

Rooney Design

(yes, I’m kind of goofing off while my kids are out of school, why do you ask?)

What’s this?  The All-Knowing Great And Powerful Oprah was once again fooled by a faux memoir? – NYT

Gisele and Tom Brady might not be hitching up their getalongs after all – Popeater

Maybe Jennifer Aniston should have traded Brad Pitt in for a lovable pooch long before she did, considering how well her movie did in comparison to his – I Really Should Study

Nick Cannon has been upgraded to Mariah Carey’s doggie carrier – ICYDK

Amy Winehouse to once again say “Yes, Yes, Yes” to Blake Again-Incarcerated? – Showbiz Spy

love, k

Last night, my daughter and I watched this perennial classic, she for the first time.  As I watched, it struck me that for a movie made in the late forties, this movie has an extremely timely message for today’s world.  Let’s look at this quote for an example of what I’m talking about:

Just a minute – just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You’re right when you say my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I’ll never know. But neither you nor anyone else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was – why, in the twenty-five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn’t that right, Uncle Billy? He didn’t save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter, and what’s wrong with that? Why – here, you’re all businessmen here. Doesn’t it make them better citizens? Doesn’t it make them better customers? You – you said – what’d you say a minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even ought to think of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they’re so old and broken down that they… Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about… they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you’ll ever be.

Wow.  Apply that to a lot of the big shots making big money running big things in this country and you’ll see what I mean.

But watching this movie, I was reminded of a day way back in the eighties, when I read a little article written by none other than Jimmy Stewart in one of my mom’s Guideposts magazines.  I’ve never really cared much for the magazine itself, but even as a teenager I couldn’t help but be touched by the words in this article.

But wait, there’s more…

And I quote:  Supposedly, [Denise] Richards is so concerned about her professional future, ‘’she’s willing to do just about anything and take any role that’s not pure porn,” says a longtime pal. – Deceiver

Britney Spears and Benji Madden?  What kind of date IS this guy? – The Superficial

David Copperfield’s act sends assistant to hospital and the audience to a refund – Bitten & Bound

Subtle is Kanye West’s middle name (funny, I always thought it was Ralph) – WWTDD?

Would somebody just round up every one of the Hogan family and take their keys away? – dlisted

Breaking news in the case of missing toddler Caylee Anthony…authorities have confirmed that the remains are hers:

“It is with regret that I’m here to inform you that the skeletal remains found December 11 are those of the missing toddler,” said Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the Orange County medical examiner.

The remains were confirmed to be Caylee’s through a DNA match, authorities said.

Garavaglia said the cause of death was homicide, but she could not determine how Caylee was killed.

Casey Anthony, 22, faces charges including first-degree murder in the June disappearance of her daughter.

Authorities said they called the jail where Anthony is being held to let her know about the discovery.

Caylee’s remains were found last week a half-mile from Casey Anthony’s parents’ home, in the area where a meter reader first directed police.

At the news conference, Garavaglia said that the remains were completely skeletonized and that no tissue was present. She said there was no trauma to the bones before Caylee’s death.

There is to be another news conference where the meter reader is expected to be identified:

At a separate news conference Friday, police are expected to identify the meter reader who, they said Thursday, called the department four months ago, directing them to the site of the remains three times.

At a Thursday news conference, Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff’s Department commander, said investigators were looking into whether the tips, called in August 11, 12 and 13, were properly followed up.

In one of those phone calls, the meter reader reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road, Nieves said. On August 13, a deputy responded to the site and did a “cursory search” but found nothing, Nieves said.

Nieves said police were getting more information from the tipster and the deputy who responded to the tips. He said the department was investigating the “thoroughness” of the deputy’s response but would not identify the deputy.

The meter reader “is not a suspect,” Nieves said. “He is a credible witness.”

Nieves’ latest announcement is raising questions about whether police missed several chances to find Caylee’s remains.

The meter reader is not the only one, or the first, to have pointed police toward the site containing the remains.

KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony’s childhood friend, also told police to investigate the same wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School a month before the meter reader, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.

In an interview with detectives, according to WFTV, Cruz said that she and Anthony “pretty much used to hang out there most of our time,” would “snack on food for hours” and went there to “get away from our parents.”

The Sheriff’s Department followed up on that tip, but the wooded area was covered in floodwaters, preventing a search. Nieves said the water may have been present at the time of the meter reader’s tips as well.

Nieves also said Thursday that searchers combing the site after the skull’s discovery had found “significant skeletal remains” consistent with those of a small child on the outer perimeter of the search area.

The area will be enlarged, and processing and searching of the site will continue, probably into the weekend, he said.

Hopefully now this poor child can have a decent burial and justice can move forward to put away the only person suspected in her death; and no matter what we might think about George and Cindy, they have now definitely lost their granddaughter.  They have my prayers as they grieve.

I don’t know about you, but this is one of my favorite times of the year.  Not just because my family and I can celebrate the birth of my Savior, but because as of today I get my kids home with me for two whole weeks!  I love to have my family around so we can just hang out and have fun together.  In fact, I’m rather sad when it ends.

So, with that in mind, here’s a little montage of one of my all-time favorite holiday movies.  Enjoy!

And that’s all I got…I am outta here, have a wonderful, safe, bargain-filled weekend!  Play Ball!

I heard this song in a store yesterday and I rushed home to see who recorded it…I was stunned to see it was the great and talented Brenda Lee.  I’d rather hear Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree any day of the week.

My apologies to Brenda Lee fans.  I have nothing against the woman.  I think her voice, even as a nine-year-old on this recording, is hugely awesome.  I’m Sorry is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.  I love Brenda Lee.  So why did they let her record this?  It’s so cheesy!

I will say, it sticks in your head and won’t go away!  In fact, this song is so cheesy that I now have to have it…!