Inane Chatter

I’m a list person.  I don’t keep them once I’m done and I certainly don’t organize them, but I do create them.  They’re usually on post-it notes or the backs of pages in my work notebook.  Sometimes I email myself lists and other times, if they’re short, I just repeat the items to myself over and over until I get to the store.  That’s not usually a successful method of remembering anything, though, so I do try to write stuff down as much as possible.  Today it’s a text file with a running list of everything I need to buy or do to be ready for tonight.  It’s open on my desktop so I can add to it as soon as I think of something, but the danger in the virtual list is the strong possibility that I will forget to print it before I leave for the store.  And yes, if I had a Blackberry or something similar, this wouldn’t be an issue.  I know.

My point, if I had one when I started today, might have been that even though I have a list of things that really should get done before anyone shows up at the house tonight, I am not worried about getting it all done.  I’ll be able to leave work early today (by virtue of having arrived much earlier than usual) and I will have plenty of time.  Besides, our friends are pretty forgiving.    Thanks, guys!

John and I just spent the evening cleaning the house.  It’s not sparkling, but it’s SO much better than normal.  We just need to make this the new normal.

I’m sitting at my (neater than usual) desk in the living room, with Amanda’s accounting book next to me and the Obama bobblehead that Erik and Margaret got me on top of it.  Our Christmas tree (the fake one our neighbor gave us) is over my left shoulder with lights on, and Roxy is on the little rug in front of the piano, gnawing on one of her chew toys.  I think I’ll buy her (and Riley) some new toys this weekend.

The dogs smell so good now!  They got baths at the kennel, so they smell clean and sweet, and they have the cutest bandannas around their necks.  Roxy’s is pink. 

I’m looking at our tree again, and I think we need to put more thought into decorating it next year.  Or whenever we put one up again (since we haven’t been doing it every year).  We have a gold ribbon twining around, but it stops about halfway down.  The lights aren’t very even, but that’s an easy fix, since we’re planning on buying a new one with lights already in it.  Whatever.  It’s too late to put anything thought into it now.

I’m gonna go read my sad book and see if I cry again before I go to sleep.

Jess warned me that this book would make me cry, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon!  I started it (A Three Dog Life, by Abigail Thomas) this morning over breakfast and was blinking back tears on page 11.  This might have to be a book I only read at home (as opposed to in the car, during lunch at work, at the dentist’s office, etc), if only to avoid embarrassing myself in public.

Let’s see how long this post gets.  And to make it clear who I’m talking about, I will try to refer to my John has John VIII, his dad as John VII, and his grandfather as John VI.

Christmas Eve

Tom and Tania arrived just around 9pm, right on time.  Toni (John VII’s sister) sent lobsters as her Christmas present to John (VII) and Pat.  I’ve had lobster before, but I think it was just the tail. And I’ve had lobster meat before, of course.  I like lobster.  I’m saying all this because I’ve never had someone drop a whole lobster on my plate before.  I didn’t think it would be a big deal, though, since I’ve eaten crabs like that and I love crab legs.  Wait – I really should have seen this coming.  I don’t eat whole crabs anymore because I freaked myself out about it a long time ago.  My freshman year in college, on a retreat in Delaware with the Troubadours, we were eating crabs.  Someone had shown me how to get into the shell and pointed out what to eat and what not to eat.  By my third crab, I realized that I had probably eaten some of what I wasn’t supposed to eat, and I was no longer sure what was safe and what wasn’t.  So I got kind of grossed out and decided not to eat whole crabs anymore.  Anyway, I figured that since that episode was more than 11 years ago, and since I had plenty of veteran lobster eaters around me, I could handle whole lobsters.  I got up close and looked in the box and saw that they were, in fact, still alive, and I watched John (VII) drop them in the pot.  And then we watched the pots and heard the lobsters rattling around in there.  That was all kind of fascinating, and I’m pretty sure it did not contribute to me wussing out later.

Dinner was served, and all of a sudden my plate had a big lobster on it, looking up at me.  I had no problem pulling the claws off and apart (just like crab legs, right?), and I pulled the tail off just fine.  But then I looked inside the body of the lobster and I realized I just couldn’t dig around in there and sort out what to eat and what not to eat and not think about what exactly what it was.  I started to turn a little green, and Emily and Molly helped me give the body off to someone else.  I did finish the tail, but John (my John, wonderful husband that he is) got the meat out for me.  I just totally wussed out.   As a general rule, I’ve realized that I just can’t eat something that comes out to me whole.  My shrimp can’t have heads or legs, my crabs need to be legs or meat only, I know I don’t want my fish to come out whole, and I don’t think I could ever eat one after gutting it.  I don’t think that’s weird or too much to ask, so I’m pretty sure I can get through most of my life like this.  Without making a big deal of it.  I may have some issues in Asian countries (that’s where I developed my rules about shrimp and whole fish), but I’ll deal with them as they come up. 

Christmas Day

Christmas this year lost a lot of its urgency, thanks to Molly being almost 16.    She wasn’t even the first person up!  We all rolled downstairs in our pajamas a little after nine.  Everyone got tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, and we opened our stockings around the kitchen table. Among the other little odds and ends that show up in those, John got some tools (midget screwdrivers and stuff), I got a Starbucks gift card (Woo!), and Pat got a new hair dryer.    Yes, Emily stuck a hair dryer in her mother’s stocking.

We moved into the family room to open presents.  Having only spent Christmas with this family, I don’t know how it’s done anywhere else, but here, one present gets opened at a time.  There’s no particular order (we don’t go from youngest to oldest or anything like that), but each person opens a present while everyone else watches, and then it’s someone else’s turn.  It takes a really long time, but what else are we going to do on Christmas Day?  Besides, this way everyone can see what everyone else got, too.  I like it.  Rose (otherwise known as Grandma) was staying with the family for the week, and every time we handed her a present she’d say, “Oh, is this for me, too?  Really, you shouldn’t have.”  It was funny, genuine, and very grandmotherly.

Remember how John and I decided we weren’t going to buy anything big for each other?  Well, he didn’t listen.  In his defense, although he gave the present to me, it’s really for us, so it’s kind of like we bought ourselves a big present.  Kind of.    I forgive him, though, ’cause he bought me a electronic drumset!  SO cool.  We should have time (and room) to set it up this weekend.  I’m so excited! 

We finished opening presents sometime after noon, and we finally had breakfast around 12:30 (I think).  I don’t really remember how we spent the rest of that day.  I went for a short run around 3pm and we watched Stepbrothers that night, but the rest of the day?  Well, there was Christmas dinner, of course, that evening.  Pat made roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and it was delicious, as usual. 

Stepbrothers, however, was not delicious.  It’s a Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly movie, so we went into it with certain expectations.  I really really really wish that Pat, Rose, and John VII hadn’t seen it.  I’m sure they feel the same way.    There are parts that became even more disturbing because they were watching, too.  I laughed a couple of times, but it was mostly stupid without being funny.  And I’m not sure we watched it on Christmas Day.  Could have been Friday night.  We watched Love Actually either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Not sure which.  That, of course, was wonderful.

Friday

On Friday, Toni and Susan (John VII’s sisters) came to visit.  They brought John VI (Granddaddy, or as he signed his card to me, “The Old Man B”).  We exchanged a few gifts (Susan has been learning how to knit, and she made everyone winter hats!  They’re really cute and totally wearable.) and had lunch together.  Jim (Toni’s husband) couldn’t come because he had to stay home to take care of the new lab puppy (adorable!).  After they left and we all cleaned up, we took the opportunity to get out of the house (and help Pat) and headed to Wegman’s.  She needed some things for Saturday’s lunch/dinner with the Baches.

John (VIII), Emily, Molly, and I piled into our car and headed for the store.  We found everything on Pat’s list and bought that on her card (Emily had it), but then we decided to buy dinner on us.  Pat had been cooking nonstop since before we got there and she still had more to do, so we figured the least we could do is buy dinner for her.  Then no one has to cook and the clean-up is easy.  So we went to the pizza shop at Wegman’s and ordered three pizzas.  Their pizza is really pretty good.

Saturday

On Saturday, Bob and Barbara, Kristin and Tony (her husband), and Holly and Tim (her boyfriend) all came over.  More food, more visiting.  Holly had everyone in her family decked out in LaCoste gear (she works for the company).  Everyone seemed pretty happy and is doing fairly well.  I’m supposed to send Barbara the recipe for peppermint bark.  They were in the car for a few extra hours on the way home because of fog, and that’s all they had to eat.  Apparently they liked it, since she asked how to make more.    After we cleaned up from that visit, someone found video from John’s graduation, our wedding, our rehearsal dinner, and Vincent’s 80th birthday party.  So we watched those for a while and then we finally gave in to Molly’s pleas that we play Cranium with her.    We had three teams.  Officially, Molly and John (VIII) were on a team, Emily and John VII were another team, and Tom and I were the third team.  Unofficially, John VI was on Emily and John VII’s team until he got tired of it, Pat joined my team with Tom for a while, and Tania floated in the background and joined in occasionally.  It was a lot of fun (as usual), but we were doing really badly for a while!  (We being everyone except Emily and John VII, who kicked our butts and won the game.)

Sunday

Sunday was a little rushed, mostly because no one wanted to get out of bed.  We were all going out to breakfast, so John and I packed the car so we’d be able to hit the road from the diner.  This diner was about 15 miles east of the house, and it was really cool.  The waitress was hilariously grumpy.  We had a good breakfast, said our goodbyes, and started our drive home.  We were trying to get home with enough time to unload the car and then pick up the dogs (it was packed solid with stuff, and there was no way the dogs would fit).  We were cutting it kind of close, so John dropped me off at the kennel to get the dogs checked out.  He went home, threw everything into the house, and came back to get us.  Oh, besides the drumset, the other thing that took up all the room in the car was the box full of 8 folding chairs (and fancy covers) John (VII) and Pat bought us for Christmas!  It’s a great present.  Pat knew that everytime we host a holiday, we rent chairs so we have enough seats for everyone.  I hadn’t thought ahead to New Year’s yet, so this was a perfectly timed, perfectly practical gift.  I don’t have to ask our friends to bring chairs like I had to do for Thanksgiving. 

Anyway, we got home safe and sound.  And, since it was our anniversary (8 lovely years, thank you very much), we got sushi and DQ blizzards to go and ate in our living room while watching Mad About You episodes.  Thanks for the sushi, Mom and Dad!

We’re totally exhausted and looking forward to our next weekend.  At least work this week isn’t too taxing.  And thankfully, Roxy timed her seizure last night for 9:45, not 2am.  She always has a seizure within three days of coming home from the kennel.  I don’t know if it’s the stress (or lack of stress since she’s home now) or if maybe they’re not giving her the medicine correctly, but she’s had seizures after coming home from the kennel (any kennel) since she started having them in the first place.

Well.  I’m at almost 2000 words here, which is a bit ridiculous for one post.  But it’s all out of my system now.  It was a very good, very pleasant, very busy visit.  And now I need to rest.

John and I arrived at his parents’ house last night around 10, pretty tired, but happy to be there.  We decided not to stop for dinner on the way up, but fortunately, Pat had leftovers.    So we had a couple of slices of pizza.  Everyone gave up and headed for bed around 1am, but we stayed up with Emily for about another hour.  Then we collapsed.  I got up at nine this morning with every intention of running (I even got Emily out of bed to go with me), but then we realized it was pouring outside.  I don’t run in the pouring rain.    I told Emily (and Molly) that we can just postpone our run until tomorrow morning.  We can go before we open presents.  Molly thinks I’m kidding.

Anyway, we had a late breakfast and then ran some errands.  Got back from errands and had a late lunch (like 4 o’clock late).  Dinner tonight is lobster, but we’re trying to wait for Tom and Tania to get here.  They’re on the road from Connecticut, but with the rain and the traffic, it’s hard to say when they’ll actually arrive.  As long as they get here safe, it doesn’t really matter when.

Speaking of safe, Mom and Dad decided to stop for the night on their way back to AL since Dad is worn out from dodging skidding cars all over the highway.  Good call, Dad.  They’re in no hurry.

Anyway, I need to get back downstairs and  be social. 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Oh, that reminds me.  I lit Hanukkah candles tonight.    Pat bought me a menorah and Hanukkah candles when she went to the store today.  I had to look up the blessings online ’cause I couldn’t remember the first one.  The other two were still in my head.  It’s been a REALLY long time, though.  And I had an audience, which made me a bit self-conscious.

Okay, I have go help out so I can keep my status as model daughter-in-law. 

I am SO not in the mood for work today.  We packed up the car, dropped off the dogs….and went to work.  That’s not what’s supposed to happen next!  Packing the car is supposed to be followed by hitting the road!  Driving to your destination!  And your destination should never be work.  Work is NOT a destination.  A destination is someplace you want to be, someplace you’re looking forward to going.  Vacation.  Work is an end, a place, an objective (an objective I am not meeting at the moment), but never a destination.

So yes, I’m at work.  I still have an hour to go.  And contrary to my own expectations, I actually have done some work today.  I have also fielded calls from Mom and Erik and been to the bank and the deli.  All not work-related.  It evens out.

We stayed up a little later than planned last night.  Got a lot of presents wrapped, more peppermint bark made.  And this morning we just couldn’t get out the door.  We got up early to pack and load the car, but it was still almost 10 o’clock before we left the house!  So for the second day in a row, we were late.  Our boss was good-natured about it.  I’m a little tired, but I see a stop at Starbucks in my future, so I’m not worried about making it to PA.

Here’s me and Jess in a coffee shop/bookstore in Annapolis.  We’re annoyed by Zagat’s restaurant blurbs.  A handful of quotes do not a review make.  Also, I think we’re aware we’re being photographed.

We know when we're being watched.

Look! The state house!

We have a very pronounced lack of holiday-themed pictures of Annapolis.  We enjoyed the decorations, but apparently not enough to take any pictures.    I can only blame myself, though, both for not bringing my own camera and for not asking John to take any pictures of Annapolis decked out for the holidays.  I’m sure we’ll muddle through without them.

WARNING: If you haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain, don’t read that part of this post.  I give stuff away.

John and I watched two movies this weekend, fully expecting to really like them both.  Neither of them really did it for us, though.  We didn’t dislike either of them, but I guess we were expecting more.

We were really disappointed in Dan in Real Life.  We just kept coming up with different (maybe better, but definitely preferable) ways to handle the situations he found himself in.  It was still enjoyable, but it was a little frustrating to watch.  We decided to watch Dan in Real Life Saturday night because John wasn’t in the mood for gay cowboys.

We watched Brokeback Mountain Sunday night.  You know, I really did like that movie.  My only complaint (John’s, too) is that I didn’t see the point where their friendship turned into love.  I liked the friendship, I liked how it was developing, but then one night because it was cold they decided to have sex?  It didn’t feel like they developed those feelings.  The plot needed it, so it had to happen right then.  We had the same complaint about the short story.  And some of the early tenderness felt underdeveloped.  These are tough, taciturn cowboys.  It doesn’t feel right to have one of them reach out to stroke the other’s cheek right away.  Later, sure.  Not at first.  So the beginning of the relationship felt rushed, I guess is what I’m saying.  By the time they reunited after four years, I was invested in it and I didn’t have any more problems with the movie.  And I loved what they did with the shirts.  When Ennis takes the shirts from Jack’s parents’ house, his shirt is inside Jack’s.  When we see the shirts at the end, Jack’s shirt is on the inside.  It’s like all those years that Jack had the shirts, he was hugging Ennis, and now that Jack is gone, Ennis is hugging him.  LOVE it.  And apparently (’cause I read the trivia section at imdb.com), switching the order of the shirts was Heath Ledger’s idea.  Man, he was really good.  I couldn’t always see Jack past Jake Gyllenhaal, but Heath Ledger completely disappeared.

We watched Dan in Real Life last night.  It was okay, but we didn’t like it as much as we expected.  You know, I’d like to get into why (and talk about Brokeback Mountain), but it’s late and I’m tired.  So you’ll just have to wait.

We went shopping, too, and got everything else we need for Christmas.  We should be all set.  Yeah, I can’t type anymore.  Going to bed.  Sorry.

Mindy came home from the hospital today.  I talked to her this afternoon, and she’s doing okay.  Mom is taking care of her. 

John and I went to Annapolis today to hang out with Jess and Chuck.  We had a little bit of a hard time getting started this morning, though.  Last night we went to Joe and Megan’s house for a few hours after work.  We weren’t able to leave work early at all, so we rushed home to let the dogs out and try to run them around for a few minutes before abandoning them again.  (We made sure we put everything edible or valuable as far out of their reach as possible, since it’s days like this when they get destructive.)  We made it to Joe’s house around 7:30 or so.  It was a little bit crazy there, but good crazy.  After the boys went to bed, we sat around in their living room with a fire and talked until about midnight.  I pulled John away with the reminder that we were getting up early the next day to go to Annapolis.  He and Joe have plans to have lunch soon (and hopefully Megan (and the boys) and I get to come along…).  Anyway, we got home and got to bed around 1am.  Got up at seven.  No, the alarm went off the first time at seven.  For a second I thought the clock was wrong – I was WAY too tired for seven am and it was so dark outside!  But we snoozed for about half an hour and then got up.  Snoozing helped.  And I was wide awake and ready to go by the time we hit the road.  Starbucks helped.  Their croissants are really good. 

Jess told me where we should meet them when we got the Academy this morning, and she warned me that even with directions, it might be hard, since there ARE NO STREET SIGNS.  I figured that the only street signs that would be missing would be right at the very end, and I didn’t think it would be a big deal.  I was half-right.  We had street signs until the last two turns, and yes, the two that were missing were right at the end, right at the Academy.  But the Academy is a BIG place.  So we turned too soon, found ourselves across some body of water (not the Severn itself, but something attached to it), turned around at St. John’s College.  Got back on the road we were on, went a little further, didn’t turn on what would have been the right road (because it had no sign) and ended up across the Severn.  I was pretty sure that wasn’t right, so we turned around again.  This time I took that turn onto the right road, but went right by the hall we were supposed to park behind.  I got pointed in the right direction by the gate guard.  And Jess and Chuck showed up just as we were parking our car.  So our getting lost helped with the timing, but still.  Street signs are important!

We got an information-filled (and trivia-filled) tour of the Academy from Chuck.  It’s a very impressive-looking place.  I kinda wish we’d been able to see it filled with middies, but that’s my own fault for waiting until the holiday break to get out there.  We weren’t able to see the chapel (there was a wedding going on), but we wandered through parts of Dahlgren Hall and Bancroft Hall (which is HUGE!), and much of the grounds.  Some of the grounds.  Saw the mast from the USS Maine.  There’s all kinds of cool stuff just laying around.  John took some pictures, but I haven’t looked at them yet, so I don’t know what he got.  After our tour, we headed into downtown Annapolis for a little bit of wandering and some lunch.  I love that kind of historic downtown shopping district.  Fun to just window shop and people-watch.

After lunch, Jess and Chuck took us to the bookstore with the dragon in the children’s section.  I really like that kind of bookstore.  It’s basically in an old house, sort of shotgun style, with a step up to each room as you go further towards the back.  Not very big, but cozy and crammed full of books.  That’s basically what I want, although I think I want it on a slightly larger scale.

Oh!  On our way to lunch, we were walking by this hotel and Chuck muttered something about wanting us to go in and see their heating system.  We all looked at him like he was crazy.  We should know by now that he is, but he certainly steers us in the direction of some really interesting stuff.  This hotel apparently used to be heated by hypocaust (an underground heating system used by the Romans), but no one at the hotel knew it until they were doing some renovations.  So there’s a room off the lobby with a glass floor so visitors can look under their feet and see part of the ducts used to move the heated air around.  It was really cool.  But walking on the glass floor unnerved me and Jess a bit.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time with Jess and Chuck (as usual – thanks, guys!) and can’t wait to see them again.

We were home before 3:30 this afternoon, and we’ve done very little since.  Actually, that’s not true.  We put up the tree and decorated it, and we’ve talked to almost every member of John’s family and helped them all with gift ideas.    So now I’m waiting for the pizza we ordered to arrive, and then we’ll watch a movie (maybe Dan in Real Life, maybe Brokeback Mountain – I know, I know.  Very different movies.).  Tomorrow, we have to finish our Christmas shopping.  At least we know what we’re looking for.  Mostly.

It’s a yucky misty day.  Not so bad at work, but outside is unpleasant.  Work is actually kinda…not fun, but not aggravating.  I’m busy (still testing), but the end is in sight.  A lot of people aren’t here today (not on our team, but in the rest of the office), so things are pretty quiet.  We just had a short staff meeting (the best kind) and everyone was fairly pleasant.  We all still have our senses of humor.

I went back to that cake and candy supplies store so I can make more peppermint bark.  I also got some milk chocolate, toffee pieces, and malted pieces.  That should be delicious.    I will play on Sunday.  The woman at the counter this time was very pleasant, not like her surly counterpart from my first visit.  (“Surly” is a good word.  I should use it more often.)

We’re heading to Joe’s place tonight to hang out with him and Megan, but it’s looking more and more likely that we won’t get out of here as early as we were hoping.  I was planning on staying until 5 or 5:30 anyway because of today’s deadline, but John had planned on getting out around 4 (we came in at 8 this morning) so he could go home and take care of the dogs before coming back to get me and head to Joe’s.  Unfortunately, he had a rather busy morning, so he may not be able to leave that early.  We’ll see.

The rumor yesterday evening was that Mindy might get to go home from the hospital today.  I have no idea if that came to pass or if it’s likely to, since I haven’t heard a peep from anyone in my family today.  I can only assume nothing bad has happened and that she’s not any worse.  Everyone is pretty quick to get in touch if there’s something I should be worried about.  (NOT a criticism.)  I think, in this case, no news is good news.

Tasted the cookies again today.  The weird taste of something that didn’t get mixed in all the way is flour.  I just have no idea how that happened.

The office holiday party was today.  I wore my new black boots.  That’s really the only noteworthy thing about it.  And of course, that’s only noteworthy to me.

I wrote most of my holiday cards tonight, so they can go in the mail tomorrow.  John wrote a few, too, and he wants to take responsibility for two of the ones on my list.

We have to be at work early tomorrow (and then I’ll have to stay a little late since we have a submission deadline), so I’m heading for bed.

This post does not flow at ALL.  Kinda sucks, actually.  Sorry about that.    If I have time at work tomorrow, I’ll do better.  Well, I won’t fix this post.  I’ll just aim higher for the next one.

Good night.

[Around noon.]

I feel like I got punched in the mouth.  Right side only.  The numbness has worn off and the ibuprofen has not yet kicked in.  Aside from that, it was another very pleasant trip to the dentist.  (Oxymoron, right?)  I think I will bake them cookies.  When I got there this morning, the front desk staff told me I was the Patient of the Month and gave me a bag full of goodies.  They gave me a travel mug, some Ghirardelli hot chocolate, some other chocolates, and some toothpaste.    If they hadn’t included the toothpaste, I would have thought they were just trying to give me cavities and make me come back.

I learned something today (while at the dentist).  They put adrenaline in the novocaine (or whatever they use now as the anesthetic).  Apparently, the numbing slows down your heartbeat, so they put a little adrenaline in there to keep that from happening.  Instead, your heart starts to race a little.  So I kept thinking I was reacting (belatedly) to my nervousness about getting that shot, but really it was just the adrenaline THEY added.  Totally weird.  Today I was so jittery I could feel my hands and arms shaking.  But only for a minute or two after the shot.  I do still dread the shot, but I don’t worry about the actual procedures anymore.  They’ve convinced me they’re not going to hurt me.

[At home this evening.]

My cookies failed.  I make darn good cookies, but something went awry tonight.  And I didn’t realize it until John came home and tried one.  I actually stayed out of the batter and away from the cooling cookies.  They’re not bad, but I can’t give them to people.  I have a cookie reputation to uphold.  They taste like something didn’t mix in very well.  Possibly the baking soda.  John says he’ll eat them.    So I’ll just have to try again sometime.  But this means I can’t bring cookies to the dentist office.  Is it bad form to bring them peppermint bark?  Hard, crunchy candy is supposed to be the worst thing for teeth, right?  I might do that anyway.  Because white chocolate and peppermint is hard to resist, even for dental hygienists. 

Mom is on her way to Louisville to help Mark take care of Mindy.  Actually, she may have landed by now.  Mindy is still in the hospital, but hopefully not for too much longer.  Dad said he talked to her this afternoon and she sounded much better.

I have resolved to do no more worrying.  (About Mindy in the hospital, anyway.  I make no such promises about anything else.)  She’s in good hands, she has pain medication, Mark is with her, she’ll be okay.  She’s staying there tonight and at least until she sees the doctor tomorrow.  Then they’ll decide when she can go home.  I hope she’s feeling better, I hope she’s not worried anymore.  I don’t want her to be scared.  The hard part is over.  Easy for me to say, I know.

Mindy’s surgery went fine.  She’s recovering.  But at third hand (Mark told Mom, Mom told me), she had a rough night.  What does that mean?  Probably pain.  I would expect some pain after surgery, but was this unexpected?  More pain than usual?  Different pain?  Is it related to the infection?  Mark hadn’t seen the doctor yet when Mom talked to him, so hopefully more information will be filtered down to me once that happens.  She’s still in the hospital, so whatever it is, she’s in the right place.  I just want to know if this is normal or not.  I want to know that the doctors know what it is and are working on it.

I don’t want her to be in pain, and I don’t want her to be scared.

Nothing happened today.  I have to post something without the crutch of actually having an event to write about.

How about this?  I am super excited about our day in Annapolis this weekend.  Hmm.  That doesn’t sound like me.  I mean, yes, I’m excited, but I don’t usually say I’m “super excited” about anything.    “I’m very much looking forward to it” sounds stilted.  But the sentiment is the same.  I get to hang out with Jess and Chuck for a few hours, go on a tour of the Naval Academy, see Annapolis all decked out for Christmas, and have yummy fish and chips.  Oh, and I get to see this mysterious bookstore with a dragon in it.  What could be better?

I’m hoping to have all holiday shopping (what little we’re doing) done by then.  John and I will probably try to go to the mall Thursday after work.  We only have a couple of things left to get.  I ordered as many things as possible online so I could avoid going to the mall.  I don’t mind the crowds, but parking is a pain.  And it drives John crazy.    He hates circling for a parking spot.

Well.  Mom just called.  Mindy is in the ER for an emergency appendectomy.  I started to get upset, but this is not a life-threatening surgical procedure.  She’s been there for a few hours already this evening (for tests), so at least she was in the right place when the doctors determined this was necessary.  Mom says the doctors promised Mark they’d be able to tell him something in less than an hour.  I’m not sure what that means, exactly.  Does it mean they’ll be done that quickly?  Or that they’ll know about how long it will take by then?  Or that they’ll know how long she’ll have to be in the hospital recovering?  I have no idea.  But when Mark calls Mom, Mom will call me.  So I will try not to worry.

In other news, if you haven’t seen Keeping the Faith (and you like romantic comedies), you should see it.  It’s actually funny, which is something you can’t say about many romantic comedies.  Ed Norton, Ben Stiller, Jenna Elfman.  Good movie.  That’s one I always watch if it’s on TV (I just caught the end), and I never feel sullied (to steal Chuck’s term) afterward.  It’s just a good movie.

Yeah, I can’t keep babbling about random things right now.  Mindy in the hospital, Mindy in surgery trumps everything else I can think of.  So I’m going to post this and fret offline.

[On a side note, the spell-checker suggest Elvina as a replacement for Elfman.  How is that more of a word than Elfman?]

I’m not crazy about Sundays.  I spend too much time worrying about wasting the rest of my free time.  Take today, for instance.  We slept in, which was very nice, got up a little after 10 (I think), had breakfast around 11, watched some episodes of Mad About You, and went out around noon to get haircuts and buy holiday cards.  We’re back, it’s not yet 2 o’clock, and I feel like so much of the day is gone already.  It doesn’t help that the sun goes down before 5pm now.  I don’t really have anything else to do today, so I should just relax and enjoy it.  And I will.  Eventually.  I’m going to run (which should be interesting; it’s pretty windy today), and then shower, and then curl up on the couch and start on these holiday cards.  We got our first one yesterday.  I was going to check out the new Bloom’s that just opened in the neighborhood (I need contact solution) and maybe get something for dinner.  Maybe I should do that before I run so I don’t have to go out again.  Maybe I should run to the store. 

(A couple of hours later…)

I did.  I ran to the store.  It’s not even a mile away (I think).  Getting there was easy.  And I wasn’t buying much.  So I just grabbed my wallet and put it in one of those cloth grocery bags, rolled it up, and carried it in one hand.  It was certainly chilly and windy, but I was warm enough while running.  And I was immediately overheated when I walked into the store.  I managed.  Anyway, I grabbed what I needed, checked out, and headed home.  It’s a LOT harder to run home with a bag full of stuff.  It wasn’t heavy (maybe 5 or 6 pounds), but hanging the bag from my shoulder meant it was bumping against my hip with every step.  I tried cradling it in my arms in front of me, but that was awkward, too.  So I ended up walking most of the way home.  I think next time I’ll try a backpack.

Now it’s about 5 o’clock.  We ensconced on the couch with our cheese and crackers.  John is trying to install a game on his laptop.  I will probably read.  Catch you later.

I finally saw the inside of our neighbor’s house.  Now that she’s moving, she’s suddenly friendly.  No, that’s not fair of me.  She was always friendly, but it was more of a talk-to-each-other-over-the-fence-in-the-backyard friendly, not so much invite-me-into-her-house-to-chat friendly.

This neighbor (let’s call her Stella) was the seller’s real estate agent when we bought our house.  She adopted two kids from Russia (a boy and a girl) who came home for the first time just a few days after we moved in.  They were 5 and 9 years old.  She already had a son (also adopted, I found out today, but from Ukraine, not Russia, and as a baby, not a walking, talking child) who was about 6 when the other two came home.  And I think she has an adult son (stepson maybe?).  I’ve met him several times, he works with her as a real estate agent, shares her last name, and sometimes lives with her.  Maybe he’s her much younger brother.  I never asked.  Anyway.

Stella put a for-sale sign up in her front yard less than a week ago.  I’ve wanted to ask her about it, but, like I said earlier, we’re not exactly the kind of neighbors who just knock on each others’ doors to chat, so I was waiting until I caught her outside.  Tonight I took the dogs for a run, and on our way back, we met her two dogs.  No leashes, no kids, no Stella in sight.  (She is also the neighbor whose dogs routinely get out of her house and yard and wander the neighborhood.  She doesn’t always notice.  Oh, and these are the dogs (Ginger and Bear) who bark.  And bark.  And bark.  And bark.)  They’re nice dogs, and I was pretty sure they’d follow me home, since I had Roxy and Riley with me to hold their interest.  I got them into Stella’s backyard (the gate was open), threw my dogs in the house, and went over to her door to let her know her dogs were back (in case she was worried (assuming she knew they were gone, of course)).

Stella greeted me at the door with an immediate, “Come in, come in!” – something she’s never done before.  So I went in.  She showed me the house from top to bottom (and it looks great), and we sat in the kitchen and chatted.  She said she decided to sell her house now because if she waits any longer, the price will go down below what she paid for it.  So she’s basically breaking even by selling now.  Depressing.

I’m not sure what my point is here.  Oh!  Well, this may not have been my point, but the house sold on the second day.  I didn’t think anyone was able to sell that quickly right now.  And her price was not THAT low.  She’s closing at the end of January and moving by the end of March.  I should have asked her what the buyers are like.  Didn’t think of that until I got back home.

I woke up today with a much sunnier outlook.  It’s Friday (woo!), the sun is trying to come out, I’ve been watching what I’ve been eating for the past two days and as a result, I have lost two of those pounds I gained back, Mom and Dad are on their way back to the States, and it’s the weekend!  It’s worth mentioning twice because I have a lot to do and will have time to do it this weekend.  I will finish shopping this weekend.  I will also get my earrings fixed.  John bought me these beautiful emerald and diamond earrings for my birthday this year, but the first time I tried to wear them, I found that one of the clasps won’t latch.  There’s nothing to keep that earring from falling out of my ear.  I want to wear them on Thursday (office holiday luncheon), so I need to get them fixed.

Hey, in case any of you were in doubt, Mom gives good advice.  Especially when one is overly emotional.  Mindy jumped right on the emotional crazy train with me and told me exactly what I wanted to hear (which is great for validation – thanks, Min!), but Mom told me what I should do.  And she was right.  So that’s what I did.  And now that the crazy train has pulled into the station (had enough of this metaphor?), I’m glad I listened to her.  Well, that was yesterday (and yesterday’s gone).  Today everything is sunshine and light.    That may be going a bit far.

John’s sleeping in this morning, so I need to take care of the dogs and get my butt to work.

I have completely forgotten what I was going to write about tonight.  Work was okay today.  It was nice having John there for the afternoon, even though he wasn’t very happy about it.  Yes, he’s still sick.  He seems to be doing slightly better (he’s not as dead on his feet), but he says he feels a little worse than yesterday.  His project is due tomorrow, so he and Greg are trying to put the final touches on it.  Then he can collapse.  He can sleep in tomorrow and then come to work in the afternoon again.  And then I will force him to rest all weekend.  Hopefully, he’ll be  better next week.

Ooh, the “Festivus” episode of Seinfeld is on.  I’ve been watching a lot of TV this week.  I only have a handful of shows that I DVR and watch regularly, but I really will watch almost anything that’s on.  A handful?  Let’s see.  In no particular order, I watch True Blood, Fringe, 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, Heroes, The Mentalist, and Lost.  I think that’s it.  And Eureka.  So it’s a handful and a half.  Seven hours of TV a week, except that their seasons don’t all run at the same time.  So it’s never more than six hours a week.  John watches all of those shows with me except Fringe.  And we tend to watch them on weekends, never live.  So why have I been watching random TV every night this week?  What’s wrong with my book?

It’s been raining all day, and every time we let the dogs out, we have to convince Roxy to leave the deck.  She’ll stand in the middle of it, in the rain, but we can’t get her to go down the steps without going out there with her.  And this last time we let her out, we couldn’t get her to come back in.  When she finally decided she was ready, she was completely soaked.  I just don’t understand this dog.

Maybe something will happen tomorrow and I’ll have something to write about.    Or maybe I’ll just be more focused and able to write something that isn’t boring.  I’ll try harder.  Tomorrow.