Mother, May I?

Did anyone else play that lawn game?  It's the one where some big old bossy kid got to stand in an end zone and give the other neighborhood saps permission to inch across the grass one itty bitty baby step at a time.

photo source

I never liked it.

In fact, as childhood games went, that one hovered at the bottom of the list just above sandlot baseball.

Debbie, you may take three giant steps forward...

Mother, may I?

No you may not. I'm just messin' with your head to make you crazy.

In our neighborhood, our big sister was the Queen Mother of May I.  Not only did she consistently position herself in the bossy role, she took a fiendish delight in creating  mutant May I moves, the most creative of which were reserved for her baby sister.

That's the way it seemed to me, anyway. While others giant stepped to victory, I inched my way across the finish line one pigeon-toed duck waddle at a time.

Quacking.

I got back at her years later by becoming a blogger and posting this picture on the world wide web. Doesn't that sassy blond look like she's plotting something?
Yeah, I think so too.

If you're wondering what set me off on my ramble this morning, it's this: I have been trying for days now to baby step back into Blog Land with a summary of 2011. Try as I might, the only words that come to mind are Mother, May I. 

Oh, it started out well enough. A year ago today, I revealed my theme color  for the year ahead.  2011 was painted green, and  I dubbed it The Year of Go. Yes indeed. I was ready to move forward in 2011.

And I did.

I  whipped through manic purging adventures like a hot flash.  I'm proud to report that the to do list of 2012 doesn't include a single item for the to go box. I dragged my Big Fat '80s Kitchen into the new millennium and began the process of removing HGTV and Trading Spaces from other rooms in the house.
Go Debbie, Go Debbie... 

But then, somewhere along the line, those giant steps turned into baby steps...which morphed into No-you-may-nots and mutant May I moves.  Have I mentioned that I didn't like that game?   

And so...

Although I had dubbed 2011 as the Year of Go, I'm here to report that I am giving it a retrospective redubbing.  You can do that when you're the dubber.

I hereby dub 2011 the Year of the Pigeon-Toed Duck Waddle. 

Laugh if you will folks, but here's the good news. I may be a pigeon- toed duck, but I'm a tenacious one.  Somehow, I managed to waddle across that finish line and lived to quack about it.

I won't, though. 

I think I'll leave 2011 back in the duck pond where it belongs for now. It's already January 5th. No one wants to hear it anyway. It's time to look ahead to 2012.

And 2012  has a whole new color and theme. 


Would you like to hear about it?
No, you may not...

It will just have to be a post for another day. 

So how would you dub your 2011? 

Do you have a theme for 2012?