Friday night, we took our children to see the Boston Pops' Holiday show. Barenaked Ladies were the special guest.

To read the chronicle of our adventures in Symphony, read more here.

We go over to Symphony Hall, and everyone there is dressed impeccably. There is fur, there are gowns, there are ties, there are bow ties. There are dress shoes, there are glittery blouses. Everyone is there, dressed to the nines, and my son finally kind of gets it. It's not a rock show -- it's a symphony. And now he's pissed because he doesn't want to see the stupid orchestra. He wants to see Barenaked Ladies. I tell him again and again, you WILL see Barenaked Ladies. I promise you, they are going to be here.

This evening I found myself sitting in a mexican restaurant in Selden NY enjoying a really great dinner with my sister and her husband. Much sangria was consumed over the course of a couple of hours.

When I looked up and the Yankees were losing 7 to nothing, I thought that was awesome. When they lost the game entirely, complete with shots of Jeter in dugout pouting and biting his lower lip, that was even sweeter.

And when it dawned on me that the Yankees were eliminated, that was the icing on the metaphorical cake.

What I really loved though, above everything else, was watching the entire Tigers lineup come out of their locker room, bottles of champagne in each hand, and running around the stadium high-fiving the fans. When they jumped up into the crowed and showered them with champagne hoses (even showering the cops assinged to protect them from the rabid fans) I had to sit and laugh out loud.

So this morning my husband tells me he saw a tv commercial last night for Christy Mihos for Governor. He was somewhat surprised that it was aired on TV. So we went to his website to see it, and it is right there on the front page.

http://www.christy2006.com/ is where you go to enjoy politicians getting a great view of their intestines in animated format.

While I won't be voting for Mihos (who I call Milhouse once in a while) I did enjoy the good laugh. Best one is the Kerry Healey cartoon figure. She's the one in the dress and falls down at the end.

Good times, kids. Goooooood times.

My son's Cub Scout den is working on their citizenship badge. The boys decided they wanted to do a winter wear coat/mitten/hata drive specifically to help homeless kids.

I've been assigned with finding agencies or shelters which specifically help families and kids.

Because we live in the northeast Merrimack Valley, almost in NH, I'm not thoroughly familiar with a lot of shelters around the city. I know of HAWC in Salem, and someone mentioned there is a family shelter in Lowell, but there is no trace of it on the internet.

So I am turning to you, my dear friends at Universal Hub.

If anyone has any suggestions or knows of shelters specific to children, please respond to this post or feel free to email me at

We'd like to keep our sites set on North of Boston/NH/Merrimack Valley simply because one of the goals is to have the boys focus locally, being well aware that their behavior and efforts will directly impact their immediate surroundings. However, realizing that there is probably more of a need towards Boston, I'm broadening our scope to include anyone anywhere who has a need.

our den thanks you for your guidance and support.

While Geocaching in Medford/Woburn/Winchester this weekend doing a really cool series of caches about the Middlesex Canal, we came across this little glade with a menagerie of concrete alphabet animals in it. I didn't grow up here, and have never seen these before... so I found them endearing and lovely. I also thought they were horribly sad, because there was no one playing on or with them. The beach (Sandy Beach) was far away from these creatures. They should be moved closer to the fun.

I felt somewhat sad hanging around them, and totally enjoyed my 8 year old climbing on all of them.

Are any of you life-long Bostonians familiar with these creatures? Someone told me there used to be a similar grouping of these things in Nahant. Any other MDC parks have these (or do you remember some and they are no longer there?)

I'm listening to the radio at work, and I'm shocked. The 1-800-EastWest mortgage radio commercial now starts with "Ya know, Owen" coming from the woman, Jen.

Where's Jim? What happened to Jim? Did they break up? Did he get fired? Who is this Owen and what are HIS qualifications when it comes to knowledge about mortgages!

I don't like this one bit. I'm very upset.

Where the hell is JIM! Someone please help me!!!!