8th Annual Bob's 99 Cent Store Holiday Shopping Trip (*spoiler alert for immediate family)

It's back! Bob's Annual 99 Cent Store Holiday Shopping Trip happened. And-a heeeeere we go!

MeeMee (my mom) - Small candy dish decorated with a snowman's head wearing a Santa hat. " This is the happiest plate ever. MeeMee will be really into it."

Mr. Rosenberg - Stuffed animal style hat in the shape of a Teddy bear. "He needs to keep his head warm because of the no hair plus the bonus is it looks sort of like a puppy."

Aunt Jill - Travel cup with color-it-yourself mandala paper inserts. (It's hard to explain.) "I know she likes coloring these papers with the designs and also drinking drinks."

Ba-Jan (Mr. Rosenberg's mom) - Small candy dish decorated with a silver snowflake. "Because it could double as a Hanukkah kind of thing maybe or something but it's not too Christmas-y but still enough Christmas-y."

Aunt Jen - Jewelry dish in the shape of a snowman. "Aunt Jen LOVES snowmen." 


Me - Holiday salt and pepper shakers. (Bob saw me looking at them and made me look away so he could pick the style. He put them in a gift box and only he and the checker at 99 Cent Store know what shape they're in.) "Don't look. Did you look? I mean, I know you know, but you don't REALLY, FULLY know. You know?"

Pops - Hostess Snoball™ flavored ice cream. (Yes. It exists.) "Pops favorite thing is ice cream and this one looks really good plus it's the only flavor they have."

A Snapshot

Last night Bob and I drove to Atwater Village to return an accordion to an accordion store. Our friend Dave played the accordion in a band here in LA on Saturday but he returned to New York on Sunday and the accordion place isn't open on Sunday and you get the picture. The place where we returned Dave's accordion is actually called Dave's Accordions.

Dave's is located in an old back alley storefront. The main room we entered through was long and narrow, the walls covered with accordions on both sides. When we got there, Dave was in the middle of a lesson. He and his young student sat side by side on folding chairs playing Lady of Spain.

Dave directed us to the back of the room where another guy prepared the rental return paperwork. While we waited, I noticed a small framed photo on the wall of a younger Dave taken in the early 1970s, sitting in that same room, giving a lesson to another young boy. Time stands still at Dave's Accordions.

I signed the paperwork and Dave nodded and smiled to us as we left. As we headed to the car, we could hear the opening strains of the Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean ride theme song following us down the alley.

Hanukkah Night One

Mr. Rosenberg is out of town so we celebrated Hannukah with him on Facetime. Mr. R sang the Hebrew blessing into his phone while standing outside of a bowling alley in Seattle. I couldn't find the menorah candles so we used birthday candles. It was a slapped together first night, but the lights shine brightly just the same.

Bound

At the end of every year since she started her blog, my terrific friend Nancy Davis Kho has her posts from the previous year bound into a keepsake book by the company Blog2Print. (This is not a paid post.) I've often thought about following her lead, but never got around to it. Finally, I started the process.

My first book showed up today. It is from 2009, my first year of writing Smacksy. It is hardbound and glossy and beautiful and it is 341 pages long. It is the first in the volume of the story of Bob's childhood and our family and when I first opened the pages, I cried.

I can hold all of this time in my hands.

Smacksy Sunday Links

How a single message changed 10,000 lives.

What "self care" really means.

You can help fire victims in Southern California.

This poem is absolutely worth watching until the end.

And Hamish the Scottish Highland Bull gets a brush.

Happy Sunday.

Smacksy Saturday Photo: 79 Cents Worth of Happiness

I didn't need this happy little package of birthday candles from the Thai market, but I kind of did. 

Leaning

I haven't quite captured it in this photo, but the tree is, as Mr. Rosenberg calls it, "copping a lean." It's currently hovering around a 60° angle and headed towards 30°. These two are responsible, of course. I'm not exactly sure what happens when we're out of the house, but that's probably best.