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so. busy.
December 12, 2017
It's the end of the year, so work is completely brutal. The weather is getting serious about the whole winter thing, with a 24-hour, 7-inch snowfall over the weekend, followed by what sounds like a trip straight into the deep-freeze by mid-week. I have been contending with all the extra workload of Christmas baking--and since this is to make a Christmas for other people, it all has to be done and shipped out well prior to the actual holiday. So what do I do for relaxation at this hectic time? I decide to create my own Christmas card design. Yeah, lol.
Friday: Home from working all morning, & started baking. Did three batches of cookies: a second batch of Spritz to replace the batch that got eaten, a batch of ginger crinkles, and Earl Grey Shortbread; a small batch of a special treat, just for Cuz. By the time I got all that fuss and bother finished, cleaned up all the mess, and put the kitchen back together, I was very glad that all I had to do for dinner was pick ualhe phone & order a pizza. Once Spouse was back in town, he called me when he stopped at the back, and I got the dinner order in so as to get a bit of a head start on the delivery. It took over an hour; I'm sure they are getting slammed at the pizzeria this time of year--especially on Fridays.
And when the delivery guy got to the house, he dropped a bombshell on us. I'd been wondering why it was so quiet next door--no stupid dogs barking, or loud talking outside their door after the bars closed. And I hadn't seen her car out lately. I wondered if maybe she'd gone south for winter or something.
Well, not exactly. Seems she dropped dead, the Monday before Thanksgiving. Wow. That was a shocker. I went online later to find her obit, and it turns out, she was only my age. Frankly, I'd thought she was at least 60. A lifetime of smoking, drinking, and tanning, plus the ages of her daughters, gave her a much older appearance.
On Saturday, I slept in, and got up about 7:30. We had our shopping to do, so after my coffee I jumped right into the shower. Spouse was up and dressed before I even opened my eyes, so he was ready to go. He stopped for breakfast, and even though I wasn't interested in eating, I
was even less interested in arguing, so I had scrambled eggs and bacon and whole wheat toast.
Then we did the Costco run, to fill up the Chevy, pick up household supplies, and get a new battery for the Buick. Followed by GFS, because Spouse is taking a crockpot full of meatballs to his office potluck on Tuesday. Then Meijer for groceries and sundries.
Once we got home, he helped me get all the shopping in the door, but then he disappeared before it got put away, because he wanted to get the new battery installed before it started snowing. (And take back the old one, and fill up the Buick.) So I wrangled every thing into its place, and then (while he took a nap) I did three loads of laundry and baked 6 dozen M&M cookies, cleaned up the kitchen, and when I finally stretched out on my bed for a minute--he got up and decided we needed to go to Menard's and look at an electric snow-thrower.
So, after I put away the cooled cookies and put the kitchen back together, we did. Didn't buy it, though--not big enough to handle a typical Kenosha snow. So we came home the long way round, looking at Christmas lights in the snow, and I threw some popcorn shrimp and fries into the oven, tossed a salad, and we had dinner. After dinner, he went to his room to read, and I found my Christmas music thumb drive from last year, and added some more stuff to it. My Christmas music purchase this year was my favorite songs from Squirrel Nut Zippers Christmas Caravan (no way to listen to the old cassette anymore), plus a 5$ album download of "A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector" I debated not getting it, because of the
Phil Spector taint, but why should we stop listening to the brilliant talent of the Ronettes, the Crystals, and Darlene Love, just because their producer was a scumbag?
I slept in again on Sunday, and Spouse got up early to take a pass at the snow that had fallen over night, cleaning cars, sidewalks, and driveway. Then he came in and started cooking breakfast. Again, not thrilled with the idea of breakfast, but I choked down some toast and sausage to keep him happy. I told him not to make me any eggs, though--ugh. Just sounded
awful.
After breakfast, I started on the boxing of the treats--doing up paper plates full of the various cookies, and slipping them into sealer bags for Spouse to vacuum the air out of. I had a different plan for packing, but he decided he had to be in control of the project, and ran out special to get the ziplock-style vacuum bags. Didn't get enough, of course--but he got to be in
the driver's seat, which is something his ego needed at the moment, I guess.
Anyway, we got the boxing up done, and he went back outside to clear more snow, while I stripped beds, did more laundry, got the beds re-made, scoured the funk out of the kitchen sink, and generally kept pushing on until I decided I really needed to brush my teeth and shower--by then it was like 2:30 pm and I was still running around in my nightie.
But before I showered and threw on some clean clothes, I did all the dinner prep, peeling veggies and so forth for the pot roast, throwing roast, veggies, and seasonings into the pressure cooker, and firing it up. Then I slipped my boots on, took out the garbage, and came back in to put ointment on the dog's paws, clean his ears, and relax for a few minutes. We ate early, the dishes were minimal, and I am completely unapologetic about spending the rest of the evening sitting on my butt and playing on the computer.
So...I have been hammering away at it all, and having a lot on my plate actually helps me with my goal of being more active on weeknights, but the fact is I am never going to have a substantial amount of energy. I may poop out instantly, or I may poop out eventually, but I am not one of those perpetual motion types. I do hit the wall at some point.
Let's see--what else has been going on lately?
Well, I talked to my dad on the phone the other day, and he mentioned that he and his lady-friend are heading out the day after Christmas, bound for the more temperate climes of the Gulf Coast. The don't know how long they will be gone--anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, probably. That'll be nice for them.
Oh, and I got my cards done--this year it is a very short card list, but I designed and printed my own cards--including the artwork, so there was still a lot of effort involved. Sent the cards off today, when I dropped off the packages at the post office. I hope they stay dry...I was going to wax over the addresses to waterproof them, but I forgot.
I didn't get out of the postal station cheap, i can tell you. Fruitcakes are heavy! The Arizona box weighed 13 pounds, four and a half ounces, and cost $43.34 to ship 2-day priority mail. Dad's goodies all fit into a flat-rate box, so it was $18.75 to send his, but apparently flat-rate is 3-day. The weird thing is, even if you start counting from today, because I dropped them off late in the day--expected delivery for 2-day should be Thursday, and 3-day Friday. But my receipt gives the dates as Friday and Saturday, respectively. Must hedge their bets "just in case".
I ordered the A2 envelopes from a little company called Creatively Invited, and I couldn't be more pleased. You can order any number (price drops as you go up), they are reasonablly priced, shipping is free, they came promptly, and the quality is amazingly fountain pen-friendly!
I ordered new hood struts for my car off of Amazon; one is failing badly, and the hood almost fell on Spouse's head when he went to check the oil a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to put together an order and get free shipping, so I went ahead and sent for them.
Along with some Neutrogena shampoo and body lotion, a fresh supply of notebooks, a pack of silicone nose pads for my glasses...and a new pen. To tell the truth, I'm not even sure what model it is; it is definitely a Pilot, and either a Plumix or a Penmanship, but the description didn't specify and the photo isn't very clear. Based on the EF nib and clear demo-type styling, I'm assuming it's a Penmanship. But it was under $10 and I don't have an EF nib, so I went for it. I still want a medium flat italic Plumix, tho.
If I ever get my stuff. It was all supposed to ship the 9th, but as of today--the 12th--it was still "preparing to ship". Getting real sick of your shit, Amazon!
Spouse took today off, to burn up some excess vacay. I have no days left, so none of that for me, I'm afraid. But he did get up early and go out to clear the rest of the snow and warm my car up this morning, bless his heart. And I made enough pot roast yesterday that he didn't have to
worry about me sticking him with making dinner; it was heat & eat & toss the foil pan, LOL.He had to do his meatballs for the potluck, so that gave him his kitchen fix for the day.
Reading: "Neighborhood Stories" (1912), by Zona Gale. This collection of Friendship Village stories, with the delightful Calliope Marsh as narrator, contains a couple of Christmas stories. And it's getting to be a thing with me that Christmas isn't Christmas without reading a Christmas story--or two--by Zona Gale.
Listening: My big fat thumb drive full of Christmas music. With everything from Handel to Crosby to Yorgi Yorgesson to The Pogues, it is quite the eclectic collection!
Inked Up: I inked up the Skilcraft Executive fine nib with a supply of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant green, for writing Christmas cards. Plus I have the Nemosine Singularity/R&K Blu Mare and Levenger Splendor Encore/Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst in play, in addition to the ever present Conklin Duragraph/Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown combo. (Fine nibs on all.)
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