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another weekend zips by at light-speed
December 05, 2011
Friday we did some shopping after work. Sam's & Wally's. I found some
delicious Chocolate Peppermint Bark at Sam's, which I wouldn't
normally have bought, since the package was so large. But as I was
shipping a box to Arizona anyway, I put half of the bark in a ziplock bag
and sent it along with the rest of the goodies.
Also included in the box was THE fruitcake, of course. And their card,
and the Christmas CD I made for Auntie. Plus 4 kinds of cookies (the
pfeffernusse, M&M, spritz, and choc. chip I made earlier in the week),
peanut brittle, and a batch of pecan brittle that was so fresh it had
barely cooled! I'm serious. I had JUST made it after I got the shopping put away.
I know it's early, but nothing gets you in the spirit like
getting a big fat box of homemade goodies in the mail, right?
I got a call with my lab results about 4:30 on Friday. I found out that my
thyroid is continuing to tank. Dr. upped my synthroid by another 50%.
Hope it helps. Damn thing is messing with my memory, my weight, my energy, and
my lipid numbers, and my hair nails and skin are a mess again.
And the periods are drying up again. This current one is a mere
suggestion of menstruation. Oh, sure--the bloating, irritability,
indigestion, fatigue, and zits showed up, but the flow isn't even enough
to be called a trickle.
Saturday was grocery day, but I had to get up early and do a load of wash just so I could have something to wear out of the house. And Spouse decided to make breakfast--French Toast with fresh blackberries and link sausage. YUM! We dropped off the package and the Cards at the Post Office, then we went down to Waukegan to do our shopping. Which I usually look forward to, actually. But this time I ended up spending the whole shopping trip on the phone with my mom. I have no idea what she was gabbing about for 40 minutes, because the store was noisy, my cell is lousy, and her phone lines are entirely fucked up. That was exhausting. Then we hit GFS for some stuff we needed, made a stop at the KwikTrip for butter and eggs (99 cents and a buck-eighty-nine respectively!, and spent half-an-hour untangling the screw-ups on my new prescription at CVS before heading home. (Not CVS's screw-up this time--after I reminded the Dr.'s office about specifying Mylan, and how a 30-day Rx with two refills is NOT the same as a 90-day, they STILL called it in wrong!)
I basically didn't do a hell of a lot once I got all the shopping put away. Noodled around on the computer and made some sloppy joes and fries come dinner time. Cleaned up the mess and went to bed about 7:30. (I told you my mom is exhausting.)
I was a little ticked that Spouse crowded me out of baking Spritz cookies yesterday. I wanted to do a batch that A) were pressed and decorated to MY standard, not
Niece's, and B) didn't go home with somebody else after they were baked.
But since he had plans to do a roasted pork loin for dinner, I didn't have
the oven time available to me. So I found a recipe online and made my
date-nut bread instead. For the first loaf I'd ever baked, it came out
okay. Lovely appearance, came out of the pan well, and very good
flavor--just a little dry, though. If I make it again, I will add more butter,
or a couple tablespoons of canola oil.
If Spouse would TELL me he has plans, I would be able to get more done,
but he waits till late morning to tell me he wants to run some errands.
So here am I on a Sunday morning, just puttering around at a laid-back pace, doing laundry, cleaning out cupboards, making him oatmeal and toast for breakfast,
digging out Christmas decorations, and bagging up the laundry room
trash and recycling...having that kind of a morning. Then BOOM--he
wants to carve two hours out of my day that I was planning on using,
and go shopping. Ugh.
In another "strictly voluntary (yeah...right)" activity, I contributed to the
animal shelter supplies drive run by Veep of my division, who is about
1/3 executive and 2/3 crazy cat lady. I gave a case of small paper plates;
apparently they use them for feeding the animals off of. I was able to get
a better deal at GFS if I bought a thousand. Since that is a pretty small
box, and was less than 13 bucks, I went for it.
But I have to say--it felt like this week's chapter of what seems to be
becoming the "12 Drives of Christmas" for me. Every time I turn around,
I am dealing with another hand out in my direction. Which is fine; I love
to donate. But at some point, I need to think of my own Christmas
expenses. Money hasn't been this tight for Spouse and me since the
early nineties, when I was still working at Wally's. I can't afford to
replace or even repair several fairly important things in my house, but
everyone looks to me to kick in for their particular worthy cause--and I
am about tapped out in that department. I have donated to three toy
drives, 2 food drives, and a pet supplies drive now...I'm sorry, but that is
going to have to be it.
Decorated my cube at work this morning; not crazy about it but it keeps
the boss off my back. I have a small collection of decorations that I keep
just for the office, so the elf-meister generals of the spirit police don't
jump my shit. And let me tell you--those spirit police are EVERYWHERE.
I don't know what it is, but every year it is my dubious honor to receive
MORE decorating crap from people. Evidentally, to love me is to be
possessed by an overwhelming desire to decorate me. As I have
mentioned in the past, people whom I hold dear, who profess to love me,
seem to be consistent in their inability to understand me. SIL and her
yearly contributions to the dusty pile of stuff in my basement. My mom,
who you can't even compliment on her holiday centerpiece without
having the damned thing thrust upon you against your wishes.
Coworkers with their holiday-themed offerings. Even my dear, dear
friend D, who once presented me with an exquisite pair of hand-blown
glass...tree ornaments.
And now, the latest: Dear Arizona Auntie has sent me a 30-inch, pre-lit,
battery-operated, artificial Christmas wreath. Yes, it's exquisite.
Expensive. A wonderful gift. But...IT'S A CHRISTMAS WREATH. Truly,
the only gift that would be more disastrous and inappropriate for me
would be a live plant.
That's what she gave me last year.
Maybe I'll just have a Christmas-themed yard sale next spring...
Reading: "More Tish" (1921), by Mary Roberts Rinehart. "The
Girl Scouts Rally" (early 1920s), by Katherine Keene Galt. I have to be
honest--I am not spending much time reading at weekends these days. I
have been bustling around all day, and crashing pretty quickly at night.
Plus, all this entry-posting takes time, too!
Listening: Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Edward Sharpe & The
Magnetic Zeros
Surfing: date-nut bread recipes
At Random:
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