We've got talent.

I hope it's not too late to decorate the blog just a little. I've been meaning to do it for sometime, but didn't have the inspiration until recently. (Yes, Mel C - those are the free cookies from the landlord. I am a freak.).

Continuing to spend most of my time on Christmas preparations. Every night last week I spent wrapping. Usually it wouldn't take so long, but I had a little helper this year. She was very scissor happy, and I found my self utteirng the words "Don't run with scissors!" at least three times. I felt so unoriginal doing it, too.

Lauren has a unique talent in that her mind is like a steel trap - once something gets in there, it can never escape. Case in point - at one point when I was wrapping, Lauren disappeared momentarily. Suddenly, I heard the sound of several beads plinking as they bounced off the floor on the other side of the room. I knew immediately that Lauren had used her mad scissor skills to cut the bracelet she was wearing, freeing the beads to escape their captivity. As as started to crawl under the bed to retrieve a few particularly rogue beads, Lauren starts imploring that I have to put them in a bag - just like the bag that holds her peanut butter sandwich.

You see, it was approximately a year ago that I first heard the sound of plinking beads scattering everywhere. I made the mistake of letting Lauren play in my jewelery box. Somehow, she managed to break my favorite beaded necklace (While it only cost me $2 at an antique fair, it was worth so much more to me!). After I sadly gathered up the remains of my necklace, I placed them into a Ziplock bag.

And then the steel trap closed.



Oh look - someone with the initial "N" must have been nice this year!

I have a talent too. I have the uncanny ability to pick out obscure actors from any television and movie show. For example, when we recently caught the tail end of Eleventh Hour, I spotted a familiar face. I started pointing to the television and exclaiming, "Ohmygosh - that's the guy from The Mummy! The guy that dresses in black and rides around the desert telling everyone that Imhotep is going to destroy us all! He looks so different, but YES THAT'S HIM! (I get very excited when this happens.). Then I immediately have to look up the actor in IMDb to prove that I'm right.

Last week, when Mark and I were watching Heroes (which, by the way, has become so bad that it's almost painful to watch), I had another yet another spotting. In one scene, a Japanese women was speaking to her son. As soon as I heard her voice, I knew who it was. I turned to Mark and said, "Do you know who that is? That's the girl from The Karate Kid Part 2! You know, with the tea ceremony and the Bone Dance and stuff? Yes - she's older now, but THAT IS HER!"

Mark just sat there and stared at me, completely unenthused by my revelation. "See," I said to him, "I could be a Hero too - this is my secret power."

And to that he replied, "Yes, you'd be called 'The Identifier.'"