| You Are the Furthest Thing From Grinch |
 You're in the holiday spirit year round... because you're all about celebrating and giving. |
***You Are the Furthest Thing From Grinch***
You love and live for the holidays. You even love the Grinch!
You're in the holiday spirit year round... because you're all about celebrating and giving.
Are You a Grinch?
http://www.blogthings.com/areyouagrinchquiz/
| You Are a Gingerbread House |
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***You Are a Gingerbread House***
A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.
What Holiday Food Are You?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatholidayfoodareyouquiz/
When I was eating dinner at work last night, someone literally came running back to the break room to tell me that my husband was on the phone, and that he sounded really weird, and something might be wrong. Well, it was Dan, and he was all hyper because he had taken a bunch of sudafed for his cold. So he did sound very weird, but luckily nothing was wrong. He was calling to tell me about Steven's first official high school matches. He wrestled up a weight class, and lost to a senior from Melvindale, then beat the other kid from Allen Park. So he did very well for a freshman. And they changed the schedule so the first tournament will be at Hudson rather than Birch Run. We are trying to figure out a way to go, given the situation with the incontinent elderly dog.
I had to cancel our summer vacation. I had to cancel my trip down to Indiana for a long weekend to visit my older son on his birthday. I really do not want to miss my younger son's first high school tournament, too, especially since it is less than two hours away! We might just go, figuring on cleaning up a huge mess when we get home...
One more night of work this week, thank God.
Dan is starting to feel a little better, though he says that his chest feels tight and hurts. I am still sort of feeling worn out, and hope to get some good extra sleep tomorrow.
Tomorrow I hope to get some Christmas presents ready to mail out, and order the others on the internet. That wll be my project for the day.
Our big gift this year will be a new computer for the entire family.
Thanksgiving this year was a nice family day. Dinner was great, with plenty to eat for everyone - and the cats loved getting pieces of (cooked) turkey skin. Dan and I both came down with being sick that day, so we were pretty quiet, but still had a great day.
Dan still has a terrible cold. Mine is better, though I still do not have much energy to get stuff done. All I feel like doing is curling up in a ball and sleeping. I read a lot of short mystery books, which I will blog about later.
Last Saturday, Steven had the first wrestling tournament of the season. It was an organizational tournament rather than his first offical high school one (which will be this coming Saturday up in Birch Run). He did fine - only lost one match, and that to a state championship tournament qualifier from last year. He even beat a senior and a junior, which is pretty good for an incoming freshman!
Bill is back at school, and we, of course, miss our big guy!
Steven's first official wrestling meet as a high school student is tonight in Melvindale. of course, I must work instead of watching him, and that has me cranky as h*ll. I hope that Dan is up to driving out there and watching him!
I had to change my health care insurance - MCARE, the HMO I have had for more than twenty years is no more. That has been a pain in the butt to figure out. I am also trying to figure out if I should set up a flexible medical spending account to pay the copays and for over the counter medications.
I just found out that a friend is getting divorced after nine years of marriage, and that has made me really sad, too.
At least I know what I am going to get everyone for Christmas (other than Dan and the kids). I just need to get my act in gear and take care of it!
Tonight has been busier than last night here at work. As a result, people have not been bothering me as much. Go workload!
And Bill has made it safely home.
Life is better now!
I have been working ever since breakfast here at home. I sorted and folded and put away five loads of laundry. I do not mind washing and drying the clothes, or even sorting them out, but for whatever reason, putting them away has always irritated me. Yes, I know that is probably weird! But it is just the way I am, and I cannot seem to help it.
Then I get to go in and work at work tonight.
Sometimes you just cannot win. ;-)
Work was grim and sad last night. I work with this great guy, and have for over fifteen years now. He and his wife have a beloved daughter. They wanted to have a large family, but they were only able to have one child. Well, she has been married for awhile, and my friend and his wife were ecstatic when their daughter became pregnant. Since her husband is also an only child, his parents were also beside themselves with joy. Well, the baby was recently lost. Oh, that baby is so mourned by so many!
Last night I did what I had promised myself I would do whenever I get too stressed out. I seduced my husband. Take that creepy coworkers! Make me listen to constant whining and complaining and anger every single flipping day, and you still cannot ruin my life! Take that Mr. Grinch! Come popping into my life to be mean every few months like a demented jack-in-the-box and you still cannot take away laughter and joy! Take that death! I will answer you with life!
Yesterday was my last day off of my long weekend.
It was just this nice and quiet Sunday at home with Dan and Steven.
We did some dishes and laundry; Dan cooked pancakes for breakfast, and we had leftover pasta for dinner.
It was warm for so late in the month and we took a short walk with the elderly dog.
I read a couple of short mystery books, and the boys watched the Detroit Lions game.
At about two in the morning I woke up crying.
Yes, that is how stressed out I was about coming back to work today.
It is not the work itself, it is some of the ever-grouchy people I have to work with. Sometimes I can feel my physical and mental health slip away bit by bit, one whine, one complaint, and one temper tantrum at a time. Oh - that temper tantrum will take another year off of my life! That whining fit cost me a week of life! I honestly think some of the people I currently work with need to have psych evaluations based on their poor and childish behavior. The work is fine - the weird whiney people are pure and unadulterated stress.
I try not to complain about it, either to Dan, or even here. I do not like to even think about it most of the time. But when I have been away from it - that is when I realize how terrible it is, and how it is starting to break me. When I am not at work I can sleep. I can eat without feeling like throwing up. I do not get diarrhea on a daily basis.
To make life worse, Mr. Grinch has been at it again lately. How many times do you have to dump someone to get them to leave you alone? How many beloved mutual people and places do you have to leave to get someone to leave you alone? He came out of nowhere - after having blessedly left me alone for months - and started trying to pick fights with me again. Simply because I was happy that the Lions had won a couple of games, something which had literally nothing to do with him. He spoke to me and my face broke out in a nasty rash and I got the runs for days. I was angry and upset enough to make the mistake of speaking back to him, and I was nasty enough that he did shut up after two exchanges. I thought that got the message across, but this weekend he was nasty again, and I can proudly say that this time I completely blew him off. I do not think anyone I have ever known other than my mother has ever hated me as much as this man does. If he actually wanted to be friends, or even talk occasionally, wouldn't he be nice???? If you had repeatedly treated someone poorly and lied to them, wouldn't you quietly approach them in private and be very nice to them if you changed your mind and wanted to be friends after all???(Actually, wouldn't he have been willing to work it out during that year when I tried to work things out, and he just kept treating me like crap and lying? How many chances does someone need????) Wouldn't he apologize?????????? Only pure hatred would explain following someone around and being mean and picking fights the way he has for nearly two years now (it will be two years in February since I broke things off with him the second time, next month will be three years since he started treating me like crap and I broke things off with him the first time).
The sad thing is, I am pathetic enough that if he were to be nice, I would probably be willing to meet him halfway, for the sake of all of our mutual friends if nothing else. But there is not danger of that ever happening, now is there? I think if someone offered him a million dollars he could not find it within himself to be nice to me.
One good thing - Steven's report card came and he got a bit over a 3.94 GPA. I guess I did not warp him for life by home schooling him for a year after all.
And Bill will be home from school tomorrow for a few days, for Thanksgiving. That will be great, too!
Holy crap, cats, and cows - I am in a terrible mood. Going back to work and being bothered (AGAIN!!!!) by someone who hates me and tries to pick fights with me just does not agree with me at all. Three work nights this week, one night soon to be down, and I can home with my family again. If I ignore Mr. Grinch maybe he will leave me alone (at least for a few months) for awhile again.
) 
), but I hope it will be clementines I might make a key lime pie ahead of time as well. Man, it was cold and rainy today. I think snow might have been warmer than that rain, because you can at least brush snow off. Rain this cold just soaks you and chills you to the bone.
I think the icy cold rain contributed to the true stench of the big football game today. Both OSU and UM stank, with OSU stinking a bit less (unfortunately).
Ah well. The big game comes once a year, and when your team stinks, what can you do other than endure it and take a hot relaxing bubble bath during the endless second half?
Well, I've been fitting in some reading in between naps the last few days...
Thunderbird Falls by C. E. Murphy is the middle book in the Walker Papers, a three book urban fantasy series that began with Urban Shaman. Joanne Walker is a Seattle police officer, and a Native American shaman with great healing powers. (She is half Irish and half Cherokee). In this book, after her spirit guide (a coyote) vanishes, Joanne accidentally releases demons into Seattle. As the big show down looms, Joanne realizes that she really does not know enough about her powers...enjoyable, and Joanne is a very likable character, despite (or perhaps because of) her flaws.
Coyote Dreams by C. E. Murphy is the third book in The Walker Papers. Officers for the Seattle police force are going to sleep and not waking up, as they are in some sort of inexplicable coma. Since there is no physical cause, police officer and shaman Joanne Walker thinks that magic might be the cause. She must find a way to wake up those asleep, and protect those who are awake. But in order to defeat the cause, Joanne must face her deepest secrets and her most hidden feelings - and must find a way to also face those feelings in the waking world, even those of having a huge crush on an unobtainable man.
Dragon's Fire by Todd Mccaffrey and Anne McCaffrey and Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey are being lumped into one entry, as they are simply not very good books. Some of the earlier Dragonriders of Pern book written solely by Anne, are among the classics of science fiction. This is largely because of the deep characterizations and the joy in detailing life on the planet Pern, whether in those humans who live with dragons, or those who live in the Harper Hall, making music and teaching a world. Well, those deeply developed characters and that joy is all gone now, leaving a shallow cardboard shell of a once vibrant world. Flat cardboard characters, lame recycled plot elements, and clumsy retconning are the hallmarks of these books. I will give the new author one more chance with the upcoming Dragon Harper, but if it does not get any better, I will go back to such classics as Dragon Flight and pretend these books do not exist.
Ship of Ghosts by James D. Hornfischer is a history book of the Pacific Theater in World War II. It tells the rather grim and depressing story of the USS Houston, an American warship who was sunk off of Java in a great battle, and whose surviving crew was enslaved to make railroads in Burma. It is a story of both courage and cruelty.
Murder on Astor Place is the first book in the Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson. It is set in about the year 1900 in New York City. Sarah is a midwife serving woman of all social classes. Frank Malloy is a rare uncorrupted police detective. This odd couple investigates the murder of a well born young pregnant girl in Greenwich Village, despite the fact that her scandal fearing family does not want the case investigated. Both Sarah and Frank are very likable and the mystery itself is very interesting. Really promising start to a series!
Guess Who's Coming to Die by Patricia Sprinkle is one of the Thoroughly Southern Mystery series. This one is set in small southern town, so you have to try to figure out who is related to who, and how, and how all of the characters know each other and why they interact in the ways that they do. (Ah, small town life!) You have to understand all of that to get full worth out of the plot...in this, a woman who is a judge, small business owner, wife, mother, and grandmother is the sleuth. When she is invited to join the investment group of women of the local aristocracy, she finds a murdered woman (also a member of the club) in the ladies' room. The rest of the book deals with her attempts to discover who did the dirty deed and why. You have to know all of the genetic relationships for generations, who has been or is sleeping with who, and why some women do or do not get along in their various social clubs in order to follow the judge in her investigation...
I have been a bit under the weather the last few days. I have a cold, I am blue because I could not go visit Bill on his birthday due to the dog being so incontinent, and I've been having a bad period with a lot of cramping and back ache this month. The latter will be ending soon, thank goodness.
I've been trying to get a lot of rest so I can feel better.
I have been doing some cleaning in the house. I actually got the kitchen table cleared off, which is a minor miracle, as it is one of the greatest "junk catching" areas of the entire house. Mail and all sorts of stuff just collects there and breeds and makes even more stuff.
But now, other than a couple of cookbooks, it is all cleared off and ready to be used on Thanksgiving.
Got most of the rest of the kitchen clean, too.
Considering how I have been feeling the past few days, I am proud to get that much done!
I'm tired and, as always right after Bill goes back to school, a little down...
This weekend we had a joint celebration of both sons' birthdays. Steven turned 15 and Bill will be turning 19 later this week. So Bill came home for the weekend. The kids played video games a lot, and Dan and I worked on cleaning the house. Homemade food, plus cake and ice cream, lots of smiles - good weekend.
I was off from work today for Veterans' Day, so took the Jeep in to the dealer for its oil change, and met Dan for lunch in Ann Arbor. We had a tasty meal at a little Mexican restaurant we have not previously eaten at. The food and service were both very good, and the meal cost under ten dollars for both of us put together, which is a great price for Ann Arbor.
I am rarely home during midweek evenings, so Dan made one of my favorite dinners tonight - meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It was very nice of him to do that for me. I think he knows that I am feeling a bit blue.
This week will be strange. I worked on Sunday, was home for Monday, will work Tuesday, then be off until next Monday. I had taken a long weekend to go visit Bill down in Indiana, but I cannot do that because the dog cannot be left alone all day. Or boarded. Or left with a pet sitter. He is just too old and incontinent and feeble. So Dan will be able to use my Jeep while he gets his truck worked on, and I will do a lot of cleaning. Yuck.
I might have already typed up one or two of these, I am tired after work and my brain is a bit loopy...
Miss Parker's Ponies by Victoria Hinshaw
This is a Regency romance. Miss Caroline Parker wants nothing more than to stay in the country and breed and train her beautiful ponies. But for rather selfish reasons of her own, her mother decides to force her into a London dubutante season in hopes she will snag a rich husband. Captain Thomas Ogden was wounded in the Napolanic Wars. He is the heir to a bankrupt estate, and needs a wealthy wife. The two of them become friends and agree to check out each other's prospective suitors. But somehow each of them keep finding fault with any potential partners for the other. How can they find happiness when neither one has the financial means to marry the other? A lot of the secondary characters are simply unlikable, and the book could have used more of the charming ponies ot make up for the less than charming humans.
Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas is set in the early Victorian era in England. A detective is hired to track down a runaway fiance for a wealthy (and quite insane) lord. When Nick Gentry finds Miss Charlotte Howard, he decides to marry her himself rather than return her to the horrible man she fled. Many complications ensue, including interference from the spurned fiance, before the two can find happiness. Since the two main characters both have such unhappy pasts, their romance is both touching and believeable.
Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas is set in the early Victorian Age in England. Unfortunately, this book was simply not very good. It read like half of a story, or perhaps the first book of a duology, with no notes to indicate another book will be coming. Amelia Hathaway, sister to a young peer, and handsome Cam Rohan, half Gypsy, and therefore sneered at by many in their society, become involved. However, this couple did not do much for me. The couple that actually intrigued me was Amelia's sister Win, and their full blood Gypsy foster brother, Merripen. While the first couple seemed to have little other than lust, the second couple - whose story was left hanging - seemed to actually love each other by anyone's definition. Also left hanging is the mysterious connection between Cam and Merripen. And the whole story involving the rude drunken sot of Amelia's brother was just...dumb. I have read other books by this author, and this might be the rare poor one. (Unless there is another book coming to tie up all of the loose ends).
Farthing by Jo Clayton is an alternate history set in England in the late 1940's after England made a seperate peace with Nazi Germany. The isolationist USA never entered the war on that world, so history flowed differently. The book is told in two points of view. One of them, that of Lucy Kahn, is in first person. At first, you think that Lucy is a pampered and silly litte thing, a younger daughter of a noble household. By the end, you know that Lucy has perhaps the best common sense and clear headed thinking of anyone in the story. The other point of view is in third person, and tells the events as seen by Scotland Yard Inspector Peter Carmichael, who is secretly gay. The Khans, Lucy and her Jewish husband David, have been invited to a house party at Farthing, the country estate of her parents. her parents are among the movers and shakers of British politics, and among the guests are many notables, including the man who negotiated peace with Germany after years of ruinous war. During the coure of the weekend, right before an important national election, this man (married to one of Lucy's sisters) is murdered, with obviously false evidence left behind by the killer/s to implicate a Jewish person. Throw in an assassination attempt upon Lucy and her Viscount father, and things are in an uproar. But while the mystery is interesting, the heart of the story is how a nation call fall into the evils of fascism and anti-Semitism that is both gripping and blood chilling.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, translated by Edith Grossman, is a story of obsessed love in Latin America in the decades surrounding the year 1900. When very young, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall in love. But Fermina changes her mind and marries a paragon of a young and dedicated and handsome and wealthy and aristocratic doctor named Juvenal Urbino instead. While Fermina and the doctor spend more than fifty years together, many of them happy, and raise a family, Florentine obssesses over her and takes on well over 600 lovers to kill the time while he waits for her husband to die. Weird story with weird characters, but so well written that Marquez keeps you glued anyway. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I could see stalking as romantic rather than creepy...
Urban Shaman by C. E. Murphy is the first novel in a fantasy trilogy (which has been completed, YAY!). Joanne Walker is half Irish and hald Cherokee. She also works for the Seattle police department. An injury that should have been fatal releases her repressed shaman powers of healing. She begins going on vision quests where she is guided by a talking coyote. And the Celtic deities making up the mythical Wild Hunt are trying to trash her city and murder innocent people. Joanne has three days to figure out how to use her new shamanic powers to save her city and perhaps the entire world from the Wild Hunt.
We have had this possum living in and around our yard for awhile now.
I had always thought that possums were both very shy and nocturnal, but this one taught me differently.
I really liked to watch him walking around the yard in the middle of the day, sniffing things.
Well, as of yesterday there is a dead possum in the middle of the road right in front of our house. Road kill, of course.
I'm surprised at how sad I feel to think that it is probably "our" possum.
It's surprising how much you can come to like someone or something you do not really know. All I knew of this possum is how much I like watching it walk around. And yet, I am so sad that I cannot do so anymore.
Busy few days, as usual. I am very glad that I will be getting quite a bit of time off of work this month due to holidays and vacation days.
Yesterday we went to Battle Creek for Steven to weigh in for a big wrestling tournament. We stopped off and ate at an all you can eat buffet (Old Country Buffet) in Jackson on the way home. Now then, Steven is a skinny kid - but he still ate four plates filled up with food, and one partial plate, as well as a dessert.
Last night we fell asleep to the lovely silvery howls and cries of a pack of coyotes running through the neighborhood.
Today Dan and Steven went to Battle Creek for the tournament, and I stayed home and cleaned and took care of poor old Max dog...
I have already started to think about menus for the kids' birthdays (we will celebrate both birthdays next weekend; Bill is coming home from school for the weekend just for that) and for Thanksgiving. Some things are givens; other recipes will require shopping lists and ingredients we do not usually use.
And like all Detroit Tigers fans, my heart is broken by the freak injury that has quite likely ended relief pitcher Joel Zumaya's career. He is just a big kid, and still lives with his parents and younger brother in the off season, near San Diego. The wild fires came near their home (two miles) and Zumaya was moving around boxes when a heavy box fell on his shoulder and really did a lot of damage. He required major surgery. The local paper said yesterday that no player in the history of the MLB has ever made a good comeback from shoulder damage of that nature and degree and major surgery that severe.
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