I can hardly believe it, but I really haven't done much in the last few days that are worth writing about.

About the most exciting thing is that Brent and I have gone minivan shopping...but, we're waiting until March to do some serious purchasing.

We got the Nintendo Wii for Christmas so we've been playing that. I'm kinda hooked on Guitar Hero III, so I've also been melting people's faces (well, figuratively, it's just a video game).

We've seen a bit of family and friends. But mostly, we've remained in our little house, eating leftover chocolate and wearing sweats.

Oh wait...Brent and I have had more sex in the last few days than we have in the entire last six months. So, that's something.

In fact, I may have never had one like it.

Since we've been married (over ten years now), we've always done some kind of "going somewhere" on Christmas. When we lived in Minnesota, we'd drive the four hours either the night before Christmas or the day of. Since we moved to Iowa, we've done our Christmas (our family) in the morning, and then we would drive 45 minutes to Brent's parents house for the big family gathering.

Anyway you look at it, there's never been much time for pajamas and that general post-Christmas Day apathy.

Until this year.

Mainly, the big Christmas Day bash at the in-laws was moved to Christmas Eve Day due to funky scheduling. Today we had the whole day here, to ourselves. WOW.

My parents came over early, we had breakfast, then we opened presents. Awesome. This day has been great. I've played a lot with our newest toy (a Nintendo Wii), but I've also done the following important things:

- Mopped kitchen floor (v. scruddy - really needed it)
- Mopped all bathroom tile floors
- Scrubbed out all three hour toilets
- Cleaned all bathtubs and shower stalls in house
- Vacuumed
- Caught up on laundry
- Finished grading another class of essays
- Downloaded some photos to the Web for my yearbook students
- Engaged in a little you-know-what with my husband

It's been a fun, productive, and quiet day. Who would have thought you could use all those words in the same sentence?

All I can say is, I've now become my parents. My kids have become me.

My eaigh-year-old son excitedly woke up at 6:00 am this morning to see what Santa brought him. We were still asleep at 6:00 am. I've now groggily rolled out of bed, made a pot of coffee, and will now be blearily watch a bit of TV while we wait for the other kids and their dad to stumble into the room. Grandma and Poppy are coming over in an hour to have breakfast and open presents.

The student has become the master.

Merry Christmas.

A work colleague got me wise to this little gem of a website recently, and I've been having a little fun with it.

Nothing like superimposed heads on cartoon elf bodies, dancing to a jangly version of "Jingle Bells" to get you in the holiday spirit.

Nelson ElfMania

So, the hubbub these days in the professional sports world is the Mitchell report. About two years ago, the Major League Baseball Commish hired this guy, George Mitchell, to investigate steroid use in baseball. This, of course, was in the wake of the Barry Bonds allegations...so you know, the Commish figures he's got to restore some integrity to the juggernaut that is known as America's Pastime.

Fast-forward 20 months. Mitchell released his findings this week, and the athletic community has been catapulted into chaos. The guy NAMED ACTUAL NAMES. Big names. Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and more. The amazing thing is that Senator Mitchell was able to gather all these facts despite the reluctance of many, many athletes to talk to him.

So, now the question is what is the Commish going to do? Is he going to slap these guys on the wrist or is he seriously going to punish them?

Frankly, I think the guy is screwed either way. And he will probably do nothing.

One, even though the public has screamed for this kind of investigative report, there will be no follow-through at all. Why? The public cannot handle the solution, because they created the monster. They've paid all these guys this money, built all these stadiums to showcase their talent, kept track of their homerun hits, bought all their merchandise, and applied pressure to produce a World Series team. Is it any wonder the athletes are taking drugs to make themselves stronger, faster, and healthier? They're trying to keep up with their fans' insane, superheroic demands! If these athletes were making $40,000 (which is what I make for teaching America's youth), I guarantee this steroid problem wouldn't exist. Society put these athletes on a freakin' pedestal and then cry foul when the athletes can't meet the unrealistic expectations society has set for them. And, really, the public is not willing to give up America's Pastime to teach these performance-enhancing junkies a lesson.

Second, it's pointless to punish the athletes. It won't touch them...they have their ill-begotten millions to fall back on. The only message they'll get now is "Don't get caught next time." We have to solve the above problem before we talk punitive issues.

And I really don't see that happening. It'd be like asking Americans who gripe about high gas prices to stop driving their SUVs and walk to work instead. It's just not going to happen.

BTW, I have thoughts in a similar vein relating to Hollywood. I may have to share at a later date.