If the zombie apocalypse comes I know just where I'll go

To Canada.

To Saskatchewan to be more specific.

There is a blogger there that is prepared. Keely from The Unmom has taken all the precautions, gathered all the equipment and done an exhaustive study of zombies in order to fend off the brain gnawing beasts. I want to be there when it happens. Hopefully, it won't be winter. I's got problems with the cold but I don't think that zombies do. 

Keely is more than just a refuge from zombie hell. She is smart, funny (OMG! is she funny), talented, and like me, she is just a tad on the hippy earth mother side. Let's deconstruct these attributes a bit, shall we. (said the spider to the fly)

She's smart. If you have read anything that she has written in the last few years you'll come to understand how smart she is. Anyone that can put a name to that 15% that you spend on yourself while Christmas shopping thus legitimizing it, has got to be smart. Plus, she went to university (as they say up north). 

She's funny. She can turn a situation that I know is tearing her up inside and make it entertaining (just one example. There are others) for others. I consider the ability to make light of a bad situation a gift. Keely does it with grace and a quirky sense of style. I like to think she is quirky. I like quirky. I do quirky. Which lead right to.....

She's talented. I am totally in awe of her drawing. Seriously? Did you check out her header? She draws that stuff. See my logo? Keely's work. I would not be even remotely cool without it. (okay, I'm not remotely cool but an old lady can dream). If I didn't know how hard it is to make a living from one's talent I would be urging her to quit her job to stay home and draw. Unfortunately, artists are not usually appreciated until they are dead. (that little tidbit was reaffirmed by JR this weekend when I was moaning about not wanting to go to work. I just wanted to stay home to paint. I think I answered with a bad word and the lift of a significant finger. Seemed appropriate at the time.) 

She's a bit of an hippy earth mother. How do I know? Beyond our email conversations, beyond the references to alternative medicines in her posts, beyond meditating with her mother, beyond the fact that I remember what hippies were, beyond all that I know because her kid wears beads. Which is the coolest thing ever. She lets him be. I don't mean that in a she leaves alone in a neglectful way, I mean that in a she lets him live in the moment way. If he wants to make a broom a toy. She lets him. Here is another example (as if you needed one) When she emails me asking a question and I give her a vague you have to do what feels right to you, everything's groovy response she understands. (I promise I'm not copping out on you, Keely. It is just the way I take life.)

Wrapped up around all that funny, talent, and smart is a woman that loves her family and friends. Who is not willing to stay within the status quo. Who is willing to seek. That is a gift. That willingness to seek. 

So Keely - Merry Christmas from your fans at It's a Dog's Life. And Merry Christmas from Me. 

See you in January,

Love

M

Kate over at the Recommended Daily Dose took on the Holiday Shout Out this year. Thanks Kate. Go check out the other special holiday wishes.