We’ll soon be making Thermoses (Thermi?) of spiked cocoa to take with us on our annual Christmas Eve walk up Canyon Road, shivering and singing snippets of carols and gazing at the farolitas lining the road and the buildings. Dinner in town will follow.
Best wishes for a lovely night for all.
I haven’t wrapped,
I haven’t sewed,
I haven’t packed,
I hope the road’s not closed.
The snowy crystals
Are pretty in the air,
But they might wreak havoc
With getting There.
Many thanks to Scott
And his 4WD,
I have no doubt
We’ll get there alive.
Now it’s off to wrap,
And sew,
And pack,
I’ll see you all when I get back.
jiggity jig.
I slept for 10 hours last night. All in a row. I am still tired, but I feel exponentially better. I’ve heard people speak of hallucinations as a side effect of sleep deprivation, but I thought they’d be more interesting. Mine were more like seeing “things” out of the corner of my eye; things big enough to make me look up or over and then finding nothing out of the ordinary. Somewhat like being drunk, scenery would take a moment to catch up to wherever I had shifted my gaze. And on the way to the airport yesterday, there was a car coming down the road in the opposite direction. I sensed that it was going to make a left turn, and that we’d have to slow down just a touch to allow for it… and then the car was gone. No turnoff, no driveway, just a hyper-realistic figment of my imagination. I was very glad that I wasn’t the one driving.
Once home, I had a chance to hang out with my mom for a bit. She is, as one would expect, distraught over the imminent loss of her older brother. I wish there was something I could do to makes things easier for her as she goes through this. Phil is still on his feeding tube, which is really the only thing keeping him alive. It will probably be removed within the next few days. A memorial service will be held in April or May.
changing subjects:
I attended a party this evening that was held in honor of the volunteer staff of movers who transferred Jay and Alison’s belongings from their apartment to their new townhome. It also turned out to also be a sort of celebratory engagement party, as Jay and Alison have agreed to make things legal. Yay for them! Jay taught me how to properly roll maki, and I feel very accomplished. I am confident that I could do it over and over, provided that Jay always makes the rice. My own is never quite right, which has a lot to do with my previous rolling attempts failing miserably. We ended the party with a white elephant gift exchange. My luck with these things is such that I once ended up with a set of candles that I had actually put into the previous year’s exchange (which still pales in comparison to timber once getting a pig calender… for the year that was ending). It’s possible that my luck is changing, though… I wound up with a set of black handcuffs this time around, and they’ll make a kick-ass belt buckle if nothing else.
The evening ended with Timerin swinging by my place for our own personal gift exchange, and so Tim could relight my furnace which had gone out earlier in the day. Who needs a husband when I can borrow other people’s? They seemed genuinely pleased with their gifties, and in addition to the terrific necklace and beautiful bag that Erin found for me, she knit me a drop-dead gorgeous scarf that perfectly complements my color-shifting winter jacket.
Even if my furnace was DOA, I’d be warm from happiness. Many thanks go out to my wonderful friends.
Filed under food, holidays, romance, relationships
While the following still falls into the “craptastic” category of my two previous Lame Gift picks (see Deer Rider and Mangroomer posts), I have to admit… if I had a trailer hitch, I would so have one of these on it. I gleefully bring you Hitch Critters:
Also available in Bass, Duck, Bad Dog, Horse, Black Widow and Wild Hog (riding a Harley). There are a number of vendors selling these items, but CoolStuffExpress was the only one with an image caption that reads “Surrenders quicker than the French army.” Also, the appropriately placed “Ouch!” with arrow pointing to the, uh, ball hitch attachment area.
Damn, I wish I had a truck.
Yesterday, December 1st, was the official start of the annual Christmas-season self-buying moratorium. This means that neither I nor my friends are allowed to buy any non-essential items for personal use until after Christmas presents have been exchanged. For those of my more recent friend acquisitions, oh yeah, I’m serious. Sure, go ahead and buy yourself that pretty little whatever you’ve been eyeing… but know that someone may have picked that same item out for you for Christmas, and you have now SUCKED ALL JOY out of the “giving” part of a gift exchange.
This means that I am, sadly, forgoing a DSW boot-shopping excursion during a DOUBLE POINTS promotion. Hey, rules are rules.
But I had to make one small (1:24) exception. I was at the local hobby/craft store, spending too much money on party décor and crafty stuff, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature ‘rod that could smoke eight tiny reindeer. I honestly planned to leave it on the shelf until after Christmas, but then I noticed the price tag. All of the other models in this line were priced between $20 and $23, but this one, just this one box, was marked $13. That sure sounds like a “sign” to me. Now that I have gotten it home and seen the bag of parts in the box, it would appear that my idea and their idea of “minimal” gluing seem to differ. 46 assembly steps. Which doesn’t count me altering the girl on the door decals to be more “classic pinup” and less “cheap whore.” But I look forward to putting it together… eventually. Maybe after the holidays. Because I got very little accomplished this weekend (um, by the way, my local municipal recycling center CLOSED for long-term construction so I’m driving around with tubs of single-stream commingled in the trunk of the car until the rattling reminds me to go to one of the OTHER recycling centers). I’ll need to play Advanced Organizational Skills this week because I am theoretically leaving on Sunday or Monday to head to Milwaukee for work (missing Amy’s birthday AGAIN), and that is going to seriously eat away at my holiday-prep time. Erin’s cocktail party is the very night that I’m scheduled to return, so all shopping/wrapping for that social circle needs to be done before I leave. I will be in no condition to operate anything as sharp as a Scotch tape dispenser when I return.
shoes and pie 