Merry Christmas, plus 3 days

You know, it just would not be Christmas without some kid crying and acting up after all the presents were opened. Too bad this year it was me. OK, not crying, but.... unhappy. Part of that no doubt due to relative uncertainty about the future. And general health ickiness due to unpleasant cold, and no sleep. I mean, I was up 23 hours between Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, what with waking up at 2 a.m. Christmas Eve morning when Christina came in, and then going to bed at 1 a.m. Christmas morning after the long Christ Mass at St. Boniface.... mostly amusing because when it was my turn to read (from Titus), the spotlight did not come up for about 90 seconds, so I just stood there and stood there and stood there.
Anyway, Christmas morning: 7 a.m., time to get up and open the loot. General happiness among the loot-openers. I received, from Steve: cool white and black Japanese print top and black pants. Interesting metal wall sculpture of pine trees and birds, meant, apparently, to remind me of the Pacific Northwest (where, I am sad to report, I am unlikely to ever live). From Mom and Dad: speakers for the iPod, box of Vespa notecards, Joan Didion's book, cloth napkins to replace ours that are all shredded and stained. From Sarah: rose quartz earrings per my request. From Christina: uh oh, can't recall! That is bad! I'm sure it's parked under the tree. From Kim: a sun-protection shirt with venting all along the sides and under the arms. Perfect for kayaking, biking.
The keyboard I got Steve is still in its box, where it probably will stay. He is hard to buy for. Boo.
So then on Monday I got an email from Jim Hayes about the SLO job, which he basically advised me to run away from as fast as possible. As I was afraid of, Knight Ridder is continuing to do its poor job there. So that's a bummer, as I had already told my parents that this was a possibility.

So, cribbing from Christina's LJ, this quiz:
1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Swam across the Peace River. Not fun.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Sometimes I don't make them. I can't remember if I did this year, altho I did start the 101 in 1001 list and have finished some of those and kept on with the ones that should be kept on with... like flossing every day.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My friend Lauren had twins. Several other women in my office also had babies.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
New York City, California!

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
More control over my finances. Better knees.

7. What date(s) from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Nothing comes to mind.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? This is so sad. Nothing comes to mind. I started writing an audio books column at work, which is at least fun.

9. What was your biggest failure? Letting my money get away from me, still.

10. Did you suffer any illness or injury? Ongoing knee issues.

11. What was the best thing you bought? A new mattress. Yay.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I wish someone at the national level came to mind. But locally, the people at St. Boniface who rounded up enough money and donations to move six families here from the Katrina area, get them housing and jobs and their lives moving forward again.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? George W. Bush. I mean, really.

14. Where did most of your money go? Crap I didn't need.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The possibility of quitting my job and moving to Yosemite. The possibility of moving back to SLO.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005? You'd think with the iPod that more would come to mind. Possibly "Red Haired Boy," this year's ongoign effort on the mandolin.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? Same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Played more on the mando to the point of getting better at it.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Stressing over money.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?Spent with family.

21?

22. Did you fall in love in 2005? No, but I'm still crazy about Steve and my kids.

23. How many one-night stands? HAHAHAHAHAHAH. I don't even flirt.

24. What was your favorite TV program? 24. West Wing. Everwood.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope.

26. What was the best book you read? As books editor, too many to recall. I'd have to say David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? That there's a method to establishing rhythm on the mando.

28. What did you want and get? Ipod.

29. What did you want and not get? A job out west that will pay me a living wage.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? March of the Penguins. Napoleon Dynamite. I know, I'm lame.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Can't remember. 49.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Getting that g.d. job out West!

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004? Trim slacks and decent knit tops.

34. What kept you sane? I'm sane?

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? That's hilarious. I don't care much about celebrities.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? The effing war. Bush lying about it.

37. Who did you miss? My kids, even though I talk to them every single day. My mother. My grandmother, who is getting up there. Kim.

38. Who was the best new person you met? I can't recall meeting anyone new who had a big impact on me.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005: You can't always get what you want, when you want it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: I'll have to work on this one. Songs don't define my existence like they did when I was younger.

Technology is not my friend

ok, so I cleverly sat down to pay my bills online... and paid them allout of the joint account rather than mine. Oops. On the other hand, there's more money there than in mine...
I am supposed to be baking cookies, not horsing around online. Dough is all made... rolling and nutting must ensue.
I'm mostly done with shopping. Thank god.

A very merry Dec. 7

OOps, a day that will live in infamy.

Not so much in my life. Why is it that any attempt at a good deed is a huge complicating thing? I made double-dinner last night to take a meal to the Bayleses this morning, which is all well and good ... except that I did not have two heads of broccoli, so this morning I am cleaning and snapping a pound of green beans to add to the menu of gingered chicken breasts over peaches and red onions (it was quite good). Plus rice. And homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. So you would not think it would really take all that long to assemble this, as the main dish was made last night. But it takes 15 minutes to snap a pound of green beans. And five minutes to load it all into a carton. And 15 minutes to stop at the house to drop it off. But I got to see the boys ... they are just so danged CUTE. Jack, aka Lars, was awake, parked in his Boppie, looking all around, while Nate, aka Peanut, was snoozing. They are so perfect. Little round heads like Charlie Brown. SO cute. I should knit up some little hats to go with their sweaters, quick before they outgrow them. When Tom and Lauren brought them in last week, they were wearing their little sweaters. I was so proud.

So last night while I was baking cookies, I was also watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which I love. What a fun thing to watch. Ordered some stocking-stuffers. The Internet is great. Went to bed around 9:30, since for some dumb reason I woke up at 3:30 a.m. the previous morning. Oh, that's right. Dumb dog barking at the lightning. Not even thunder.

It's December. Who knew?

It is almost impossible to feel like it's the holidays when you live in Southwest Florida. I mean, it's 80 degrees today! Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. But seriously. Not really Christmas-y.

All the same, I am mostly finished with my shopping. I need to get more DeFeet socks for Dad, and something.... for Steve. He is the biggest pain to shop for. I have been thinking about getting him a digital camera but I don't think his 6-year-old computer will support it. So perhaps a keyboard, some new Keens of the not-sandal variety.... hard to say. I personally want two new chairs for the living room, to get rid of one of the loveseats, and diamond studs. OK, those are for my big Five-Oh coming next month. In such a few weeks.

I have discovered the best place ever, the Metro Cafe in Sarasota. It's five minutes' walk from the office. I go over there with my Metro card and a book, get a pot of tea, and settle in for 90 minutes of quiet reading, no phones. The place has the best chairs and leather sofas for reading. Nice music, etc. Good lunch. Sometime late in the day I will go over there and have a glass of wine while reading my book. Ahhhhh.

We had a good weekend. FINALLY spent the gift card Caren gave me last year on a mini-massage, mini-facial, brow wax, eyelash tint (don't bother -- didn't make a difference) and clear gloss on my hair. A nice three hours of self-indulgence. Then wandered over to Whole Foods, then out to the Squadron to meet Steve for lunch at a picnic table, overlooking the boats. Then did some shopping for Andrea at White House/Black Market and Binjara Traders. I forget what we did Sat. night -- I'd been nursing a cold for a couple of days and way tired. Oh, watched football.

Y'day I was inducted into the vestry at St. Boniface. This is against my better judgment, but I am hoping that this will be a more positive experience than when I was last on vestry at St. John's. We shall see. Watched some football in the afternoon, then went to Amanda's extremely fun post-Reading Festival party. Sadly, drank too much red wine, leading to this morning's wine headache.

And then in the journalismjobs.com listing, a features reporter job at the SLO paper. Makes my mouth water to think about moving home. Can we cut it on half the salary with twice the housing expense? Not likely. Still, will amuse myself by sending my packet of clips off to them. Why not? Maybe I can get an adjunct position at Cal Poly, ha ha. Why didn't I finish my master's? I'd be able to get a teaching job.