Big Sandy Bottom Best of 2008

Well, 2008 was a year, alright. If change was the theme of this country, it was also the theme of Big Sandy Bottom.

At the end of 2007, Eric and I set out a series of goals to accomplish in 2008. And I'll be damned if we didn't hit every one of them. (Remind me to never again do this. My goal in 2009-accomplish nothing-except embrace calm. Okay, and maybe keep my job.)

Some of the goals were ones we would have to accomplish ourselves (buy a house, outlast my insane boss, get my mom moved here to HMB) and others (get Ivy graduated from college, get Olivia INTO a college) required the help of our wonderful, fabulous daughters.

By December 16, when the Sea Hag announced she would go torment another city for awhile, the list was complete. Ivy-done with college. Olivia-done with high school and off to college. My mom moved here in June (although we still haven't finished unpacking.) We bought our little condo in September. If it weren't for the fact that the economy has gone to hell, and my little town is quietly circling the drain, I'd be looking forward to 2009 a great deal. Eric and I have decided the theme for 2009 will be "Return to Normalcy."

So, allow me to congratulate my fellow denizens of Big Sandy Bottom, and I raise my glass in salute to my fellow "B-team" co-workers. We did it! I don't know how, but we did it! Outwit, outlast, outplay baby!

And now, without further ado, we proudly present:

The Big Sandy Bottom Best of 2008

Best Man Crush: Eric + Obama=2gether4ever
Eric gets positively giddy whenever he sees Barack Obama. It's pretty cute, actually..."That's my President" he sighs with a silly smile on his face.

Catch Phrases of the Year
"And then we killed a kitten with a hammer..." "Helloooo...I am your neighbor!"

Best Hot Tub Adventure
Who knew Kris and Emma were secretly wanting to be on "Girls Gone Wild"...

Best Books
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski . My favorite book of the year, and a strong contender for my all-time favorites list. Take Oprah's advice though (never thought I'd say THAT)-don't read the jacket description, it contains a major spoiler. It's still a great read, but I really wish someone had told me not to read the jacket...
Beautiful Boy, by David Sheff/Tweak by Nic Sheff. Disturbing and heartbreaking books, written by a father (David) and son (Nic) about Nic's crystal meth addiction. As a parent, I identified more with Beautiful Boy. Tweak is a like a train wreck-can't look away even though you're horrified by the carnage.
The Omnivores Dilemma, Michael Pollan. Inspired in me (albeit briefly) an obsessive fear of corn and corn-related products. I love the general theme of this book - Eat Food, not too much, mostly plants. If I could only follow this simple motto, I'd be a lot healthier.

Best Music
Shane Nicholson and Kasey Chambers, "Rattling Bones." I've been a fan of Shane Nicholson for several years, but didn't know about Kasey Chambers. Amazing music from this husband and wife team...Check it out.
Conor Oberst, "Conor Oberst." A late entry to my favorite list, Olivia introduced me to this great album in December. "I don't wanna die (in the hospital)" is my favorite, but I couldn't tell you why. "Sausalito" is a terrific song, too.
Glen Hansard and MarkitaIrglova, Music from the movie "Once." I know this wasn't released in 2008, but I listened to it the whole frickin' year, so it counts. Okay? Especially good when I had my month-long bout with insomnia...this is great music to listen to at 3:30 a.m. and you just want to cry because you're so tired and your brain just won't shut up. Very soothing.

Best Television

Most of the television I watched this year was total crap. One notable exception - "The Wire." My new, most favorite tv show ever... I could watch this show forever, especially when it featured Stringer Bell and Omar...I freakin' love Omar! I'm also pretty fond of "Dexter", one of the few adaptations of a book that is worthy. Michael C. Hall is absolutely terrific in the show as a strangely endearing serial killer.

Best Movies

Not a great year for film, really. Eric and I were just talking about this yesterday - I guess our favorite was"Wall-E", for the first 45 minutes of it anyway. "The Dark Knight" was cool, mostly for Heath Ledger. "Frost/Nixon" was pretty good-and I think that Michael Sheen is a criminally underrated actor. Guilty pleasure movie - "Tropic Thunder".

Best Major Award
Two electric scooters. They're still sitting in the garage, because we don't know what to do with them. But I guess they're pretty cool...

Best Cat
Tough category this year...Should we go with poor Jermaine, left to live with Ivy when we moved to Amesport? Stubby is always the sentimental favorite, but he's a past winner so that's hardly fair. Forrest, for just simply hanging in there? (Everytime he limps downstairs, Eric yells "Dead Cat Walking!") Dishes -she nearly won us a trip to New York in the Purina Happy Bellies Feline photo contest. (Thanks for your votes!) Koko doesn't really do much of anything but sleep and whine. Dempsey's only redeeming quality is that he worships me.

Sadly, this year we are giving our first posthumous award for Best Cat to Corky. That's his butt right up there at the top of the page. Corky was taken ill very suddenly at the end of the year, with an acute liver problem (ever seen a cat with jaundice? Yellow gums-eww) and we had him put to sleep. Poor Corky, the autistic cat. We got him when he weighed one ounce, his eyes were still closed and his ears hadn't sprung out from his head yet. After weeks of bottle-feeding him around the clock and cleaning his butt with a washcloth when he pooped (something his mother would normally with her tongue but obviously we weren't going to do that), he turned into a boisterous big jerk of a cat. He was an asshole, nobody misses him but by the simple act of dying, he wins.

Best Website:

stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. This site cracks me up, and also confirmed for me that Olivia is the whitest girl around. Northface jacket-check. Ugly sweater party - attended at least one. Sea salt-received several bottles as gifts this year. Pea coat? She had one in 5th grade. (And has one now.) Typos on menus? Try going out to dinner with her sometime...This is one seriously white girl.

So that's it for 2008. Sorry for the delay in compiling the list. I've had a bit of writers block. Please post your own "Best of" lists...you guys always come up with great stuff that I've forgotten.