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Wow.
I just realized that I haven't posted -- really haven't been online -- since just before Thanksgiving.
Worse, it just dawned on me that Thanksgiving was thirteen days ago. I could have sworn it was just last week.
Life is, needless to say, busy. I'm also more than a little stressed, but since I'm sure that everyone will agree I have no right to complain and because I hate reading my posts where I whine about things that I'll just forget about in a couple of days/weeks/years/whatever, I'll just share the highlights...
Thanksgiving was wonderful. I didn't have to cook or clean or anything, so I just went out to my aunts for our annual buffet meal while watching the Packer game. Wonderful food, as always. Then we came home for a bit. Wil had to head off to work (evil retail) but Myr and I got to head to my brother's place for a second Thanksgiving meal. This one was a much less traditional (for us) sit-down family style meal, something we have never really done. It was nice, though, if a bit more formal than I like.
The Friday after I still had off (wow, got to love paid holidays like that), but I refuse to shop on Black Friday because crowds make me insane. Instead my mom, Myr, my Aunt Barb and I drove over to Red Wing, MN for a baby shower. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive, if you take the main highways. Which we did on the way over. The shower was nice. Got to meet the father for the first time and he survived the massive influx of women and impressed us all.
We didn't leave Red Wing until after 6 because we stopped at the Red Wing pottery and craft shop they have and chatted with the potter for a bit. This potter to be specific. He has a wonderful Scottish brogue and took the time to talk seriously to Myria about pottery, since she has done some pottery work in the past. We watched him make a crock and was all around wonderful. Didn't buy anything but it was fun.
We took all the small roads on the way back. The moon was one day shy of being full and it was simply gorgeous, if there would have been snow on the ground we could have driven without lights. The best part was that a lot of towns had there “Light Festivals” going on and we drove through them all and looked at the lights. Some of the little towns go all out this time of year and it was spectacular to behold. We listened to Christmas music (mostly the John Denver/Muppets album) and sang along to every song. It took us almost five hours to get home and it was worth every minute.
Saturday I ended up driving around a lot. Due to scheduling and scheduling conflicts, I drove to Wausau twice. A friend of Myr’s was in the state from California and she wanted to spend time together. I also got to bum around in Barnes and Noble, which was nice, but I didn’t get home until late in the day.
Sunday, after teaching Sunday School, was spent baking. Myr would like to earn some money and she thought she’d try to earn some by baking and selling bread. So we made samples and tested recipes.
Monday was a special Writer’s Group Brainstorming session and since I missed a couple lately due to conflicts, I made a point to go. It was good, but I thing I was only home for an hour or so when I wasn’t sleeping.
Tuesday we went down to the Curling club to give away free samples and get bread orders. It wasn’t a huge success, but she did get two orders. Mark another day when I was only home for a hour or so.
Wednesday I was actually home! Did some cleaning up, moved a table out of the front room in order to make room for a tree, and hauled all my Christmas stuff up from the basement. I did manage to put up the outdoor decorations. I also got to watch the only tv of the week – Criminal Minds (a wonderful episode) and CSI:NY (another wonderful episode). Didn’t get any major house work done, though.
Thursday we had plans to go to the curling club again, but I wasn’t feeling well and Myr wanted to go to the Packer Party, so I stayed home and slept. The only thought from that day: I really, really hate the Cowboys. Especially when we play at Dallas.
Friday I was feeling only slightly better and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
finabair was coming up to visit, so my mom volunteered to come and help clean up a bit. I’ll not get into the details but five hours into the work, none of the things that I needed done were done although Myr’s room is much better and considerably different looking. As pleased as I am that that happened, I will reiterate that I still wasn’t closer to finishing any of the things that needed to be done for the Christmas season cleaning and decorating to happen. There was also much physical cleaning in areas that didn’t need to be cleaned at that moment and purchasing of things that I didn’t budget for. I sense it bears repeating: I am pleased with what did get done. I just have to remember that.
The unplanned cleaning did come to an end, though, and JennJenn arrived (late) bringing us many gifts that made us happy. Happier I should say because JennJenn is always a joy to have around. We stayed up to 1 am or so, and I drank wine, so life was good.
Saturday was the Merrill Christmas parade. There was also a big snowstorm that dropped 6 inches of snow on us. Myr was in the parade – part of the band entertaining people while they waited in the snow and wind for the parade to start. As the band director said: “Good job to those students who braved the weather for the Christmas parade. I think we were entertaining enough for the people who were watching from inside their cars! It’s not every day you see a band marching through 6 inches of snow. Everything froze up on us, including our fail-safe kazoos! Next year we should park the bus in the middle of the street and just play from the bus. What d’ya say? …We can do some fire drills around the bus. … At any rate, to quote a student, “it was fun in a cold and miserable sort of way”. :0)”
Actually it was a great deal of fun with very little miserable (although it was cold). I will point out that JennJenn and I weren't in a car, but rather were sitting in chairs (and blankets) in the six inches of still falling snow. There were lights and horses and fireworks in the falling snow, right downtown by the courthouse. It was perfect for a Christmas Parade in Wisconsin, really. *grin* We then went home and drank tea and hot cider and wine. Many episodes of Bones were watched and we still managed to get to bed before 2 am.
Sunday, in addition to teaching Sunday School, spending hours digging out from the snow and spending a little (way to little) time with JennJenn before she left, Myr had her Christmas Choir concert. It was very nice and it ended with selections from Handel’s Messiah performed with any interested community members and a string accompaniment. That was really wonderful.
Monday, Myr and I headed out to my folks to bake up the bread that we were to deliver the next day. It was a good plan and Myr got there early to start it out, but I ended up there alone finishing up the baking because Myr and my mom had to go to another Christmas Concert. I didn’t mind so much, except that I ended up getting home late. Needless to say my todo list from just after Thanksgiving isn't any closer on getting completed.
Yesterday (finally) was the usual writer’s group and bread delivery down in Wausau. It was also another inch or so of snow and another of my trademark days of being home only from 4:30 – 5:00 and then again after 10. Yikes.
Today – I will be home. I offered to feed my mom soup for dinner because my dad will be gone. She offered to help decorate for Christmas and I accepted, only she then muttered something about “organizing” some of Myr’s stuff. I fear this will not go well, but we’ll see. I don’t want to tell her to not help because it’s stuff that’s nice to have done, I just wish that we could do what needs to be done, rather than me spending hours and hours working without getting any further along with the necessities.
Well. That’s my life since Thanksgiving. I’m hoping that the next few weeks allow for a bit more “down” time. I'd also, selfishly, would like some "me" time. I do need to make some time to write, but I don't see that happening until I can get the house in order. I also have the "Tin Man" miniseries to watch. That may happen because both Myr and Wil are interested in watching it. There is also this little thing called Christmas shopping that really needs to happen. Did I mention that we are heading down to the Curling club again tomorrow and won't be home? Heh.
*sigh* Lunch is over. Back to work.
I just realized that I haven't posted -- really haven't been online -- since just before Thanksgiving.
Worse, it just dawned on me that Thanksgiving was thirteen days ago. I could have sworn it was just last week.
Life is, needless to say, busy. I'm also more than a little stressed, but since I'm sure that everyone will agree I have no right to complain and because I hate reading my posts where I whine about things that I'll just forget about in a couple of days/weeks/years/whatever, I'll just share the highlights...
Thanksgiving was wonderful. I didn't have to cook or clean or anything, so I just went out to my aunts for our annual buffet meal while watching the Packer game. Wonderful food, as always. Then we came home for a bit. Wil had to head off to work (evil retail) but Myr and I got to head to my brother's place for a second Thanksgiving meal. This one was a much less traditional (for us) sit-down family style meal, something we have never really done. It was nice, though, if a bit more formal than I like.
The Friday after I still had off (wow, got to love paid holidays like that), but I refuse to shop on Black Friday because crowds make me insane. Instead my mom, Myr, my Aunt Barb and I drove over to Red Wing, MN for a baby shower. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive, if you take the main highways. Which we did on the way over. The shower was nice. Got to meet the father for the first time and he survived the massive influx of women and impressed us all.
We didn't leave Red Wing until after 6 because we stopped at the Red Wing pottery and craft shop they have and chatted with the potter for a bit. This potter to be specific. He has a wonderful Scottish brogue and took the time to talk seriously to Myria about pottery, since she has done some pottery work in the past. We watched him make a crock and was all around wonderful. Didn't buy anything but it was fun.
We took all the small roads on the way back. The moon was one day shy of being full and it was simply gorgeous, if there would have been snow on the ground we could have driven without lights. The best part was that a lot of towns had there “Light Festivals” going on and we drove through them all and looked at the lights. Some of the little towns go all out this time of year and it was spectacular to behold. We listened to Christmas music (mostly the John Denver/Muppets album) and sang along to every song. It took us almost five hours to get home and it was worth every minute.
Saturday I ended up driving around a lot. Due to scheduling and scheduling conflicts, I drove to Wausau twice. A friend of Myr’s was in the state from California and she wanted to spend time together. I also got to bum around in Barnes and Noble, which was nice, but I didn’t get home until late in the day.
Sunday, after teaching Sunday School, was spent baking. Myr would like to earn some money and she thought she’d try to earn some by baking and selling bread. So we made samples and tested recipes.
Monday was a special Writer’s Group Brainstorming session and since I missed a couple lately due to conflicts, I made a point to go. It was good, but I thing I was only home for an hour or so when I wasn’t sleeping.
Tuesday we went down to the Curling club to give away free samples and get bread orders. It wasn’t a huge success, but she did get two orders. Mark another day when I was only home for a hour or so.
Wednesday I was actually home! Did some cleaning up, moved a table out of the front room in order to make room for a tree, and hauled all my Christmas stuff up from the basement. I did manage to put up the outdoor decorations. I also got to watch the only tv of the week – Criminal Minds (a wonderful episode) and CSI:NY (another wonderful episode). Didn’t get any major house work done, though.
Thursday we had plans to go to the curling club again, but I wasn’t feeling well and Myr wanted to go to the Packer Party, so I stayed home and slept. The only thought from that day: I really, really hate the Cowboys. Especially when we play at Dallas.
Friday I was feeling only slightly better and
finabair was coming up to visit, so my mom volunteered to come and help clean up a bit. I’ll not get into the details but five hours into the work, none of the things that I needed done were done although Myr’s room is much better and considerably different looking. As pleased as I am that that happened, I will reiterate that I still wasn’t closer to finishing any of the things that needed to be done for the Christmas season cleaning and decorating to happen. There was also much physical cleaning in areas that didn’t need to be cleaned at that moment and purchasing of things that I didn’t budget for. I sense it bears repeating: I am pleased with what did get done. I just have to remember that.The unplanned cleaning did come to an end, though, and JennJenn arrived (late) bringing us many gifts that made us happy. Happier I should say because JennJenn is always a joy to have around. We stayed up to 1 am or so, and I drank wine, so life was good.
Saturday was the Merrill Christmas parade. There was also a big snowstorm that dropped 6 inches of snow on us. Myr was in the parade – part of the band entertaining people while they waited in the snow and wind for the parade to start. As the band director said: “Good job to those students who braved the weather for the Christmas parade. I think we were entertaining enough for the people who were watching from inside their cars! It’s not every day you see a band marching through 6 inches of snow. Everything froze up on us, including our fail-safe kazoos! Next year we should park the bus in the middle of the street and just play from the bus. What d’ya say? …We can do some fire drills around the bus. … At any rate, to quote a student, “it was fun in a cold and miserable sort of way”. :0)”
Actually it was a great deal of fun with very little miserable (although it was cold). I will point out that JennJenn and I weren't in a car, but rather were sitting in chairs (and blankets) in the six inches of still falling snow. There were lights and horses and fireworks in the falling snow, right downtown by the courthouse. It was perfect for a Christmas Parade in Wisconsin, really. *grin* We then went home and drank tea and hot cider and wine. Many episodes of Bones were watched and we still managed to get to bed before 2 am.
Sunday, in addition to teaching Sunday School, spending hours digging out from the snow and spending a little (way to little) time with JennJenn before she left, Myr had her Christmas Choir concert. It was very nice and it ended with selections from Handel’s Messiah performed with any interested community members and a string accompaniment. That was really wonderful.
Monday, Myr and I headed out to my folks to bake up the bread that we were to deliver the next day. It was a good plan and Myr got there early to start it out, but I ended up there alone finishing up the baking because Myr and my mom had to go to another Christmas Concert. I didn’t mind so much, except that I ended up getting home late. Needless to say my todo list from just after Thanksgiving isn't any closer on getting completed.
Yesterday (finally) was the usual writer’s group and bread delivery down in Wausau. It was also another inch or so of snow and another of my trademark days of being home only from 4:30 – 5:00 and then again after 10. Yikes.
Today – I will be home. I offered to feed my mom soup for dinner because my dad will be gone. She offered to help decorate for Christmas and I accepted, only she then muttered something about “organizing” some of Myr’s stuff. I fear this will not go well, but we’ll see. I don’t want to tell her to not help because it’s stuff that’s nice to have done, I just wish that we could do what needs to be done, rather than me spending hours and hours working without getting any further along with the necessities.
Well. That’s my life since Thanksgiving. I’m hoping that the next few weeks allow for a bit more “down” time. I'd also, selfishly, would like some "me" time. I do need to make some time to write, but I don't see that happening until I can get the house in order. I also have the "Tin Man" miniseries to watch. That may happen because both Myr and Wil are interested in watching it. There is also this little thing called Christmas shopping that really needs to happen. Did I mention that we are heading down to the Curling club again tomorrow and won't be home? Heh.
*sigh* Lunch is over. Back to work.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 09:14 pm (UTC)From:*is contrarian and thinks you have every right to complain*
no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 03:45 am (UTC)From:*HUGS* I like sending mixed signals.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 04:39 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 11:20 am (UTC)From:I've been to the Reid park Zoo.
Done laundry.
That's about it.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 03:51 am (UTC)From:I've taken a day (today) to do much of nothing. It's nice. I have gifts for you. I will send them. I think I'll have to send a couple of packages.
Our post office is evil (as you may remember), so I can't make any promises about when I'll be able to get there (they are only open when I have to be at work) or when you will get the gifts (as they may just let them set in the back for a couple of years.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 04:00 am (UTC)From:Still, it's good to know that I can complain, even if I don't want to! *grin*
no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 04:02 am (UTC)From:And you are so good at it, too! *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 04:07 am (UTC)From:It is fun. And tiring. And frustrating. And often completely out of my control.
But... it is the life I've chosen and - most importantly - the life that I want. It just makes me crazy sometimes.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 04:24 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 04:30 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 03:44 pm (UTC)From: