Over the weekend, we met some good friends, a married couple, for lunch.

They have two beautiful little boys. One is four; the other is 8 months old.

I've always envied them because of their beautiful family.

But this weekend I saw another side of the happiness!

The poor mom couldn't eat anything at all. She had to alternate between nursing the baby and yelling at the four year old to sit still.

I actually cut her meat and peeled her shrimp for her, since her hands were occupied all through lunch. It was really funny.

At one point, the four year old started fighting with his brother while his brother was nursing. So my poor friend was being pawed from all directions by these two little boys.

At one point she looked at me and sighed, "Are you sure you want this someday?"

And then she lamented, "This is my life. I'm surrounded by penises!"

Hahahahahaha.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The other day I read that people who regularly count their blessings are happier, and have lower blood pressure, less depression, and longer life expectancies.

This year I am so thankful for so many things.

A wonderful family, fabulous friends, a great job in a tough economy, the world's most amazing boss after having worked for a long line of psychos, a lovely apartment in a terrific neighborhood close to Central Park, the chance to play music regularly and to be able to balance it with work, freedom to do what I love for work and for fun, a black belt in tae kwon do, a laser printer that prints super friggin' fast, an adjustable rate mortgage whose interest rate has fallen to unbelievable lows, no credit card debt, low blood pressure, my Kitchenaid stand mixer, good eyesight, normal Pap smear results, regular bowel movements, parents who are still together and pretty good hair most days.

When put that way, I'm an enormously lucky person!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. May you have a wonderful day surrounded by love, and many, many blessings to appreciate today and every day of the year.

All day today I felt really crappy.

I'd gotten on early, thrown on a pair of old suit pants and a blouse, and trudged to work.

As soon as I got to work, my stomach started to hurt. A dull, unremitting ache.

All afternoon, my back was aching as well. And I felt like I couldn't take a deep breath.

I had no idea what was going on!

When I got home, I told the Husband that I wasn't feeling so well, and would probably just go to bed.

So just now, I decided to take a hot shower before bed, hoping that would make me feel better.

I went in the bathroom, unbuttoned and unzipped my pants, and Voila! Suddenly all of the pain went away.

It was a miracle!

I could breathe, my stomach suddenly felt fine and my back pain evaporated.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I realized that my pain and discomfort were caused by one thing:

My old suit pants were too tight!

The Husband just came back from a business trip. This time, he spent 10 days in Eastern Europe, among the old Soviet states.

A couple of my friends asked me if I was worried that he'd come home with a new Russian mail-order bride.

Another friend said, "Don't worry about that! Everyone knows that Eastern European women don't age well.

"They basically go from hot young things:

..to babushkas! Overnight!

"Whereas everyone knows that Asian women age very well.

"It's that pearl cream you guys use.

"So bide your time; even if he brings another woman home, you'll come out ahead in 10 years."

Dear Mr. grizzled hipster man in the waiting room of the ob/gyn's office,

I know you're probably waiting for your wife or girlfriend, and I'm sure you're bored.

But you do realize that the rest of us can all see you, right?

So if you pick your nose and then use that same finger to tap on the touch screen of your iPhone, it's really gross for the rest of to witness that.

Especially when you keep doing it over and over again. Like you're looking for buried treasure, and then consulting an online source that gives you tips on how to do it.

So please stop, ok? Or at least use a different finger.

Ok, thanks.

I've been going through a lot of stuff lately.

A lot of "why would God let these things happen" and "there must be a reasons, but it's hard to see" and "it's hard to keep the faith" stuff.

This song has brought me some comfort. One of my favorites.

I heard her perform it live last year, and it was even more amazing in concert.

Sorry I can't embed the video here. You'll just have to follow the link if you're curious.