I’m ready for a new year, saying goodbye to the old.  Everything this week is about time.  How much do we have?  How we spend it? 

Yesterday was Tucker’s birthday.  He’s 12.  Seems like only yesterday he was toddling outside to pour bubble bath in the fish pond. 

The image retrieval system has been down at work for the past three days so my manager has been finding things to keep me “off the streets” until I can access the documents to do my regular job.  I’ve been really busy doing really tedious work.  So I’m praying that part comes in today!

I have my little bottle of Frexinet (sp?) for my midnight celebration. 

There was an accident with the shelf in the refrigerator a couple weeks ago.  Tucker was pushing something in with his foot (don’t ask, I can’t picture why he thought that was a good idea to start with) he slipped, he stepped down hard, and the plastic shelf in the bottom of the refrigerator got broken.  Since we moved into this apartment that shelf has been a problem.  It sloped forward so I had to be really careful what was placed on if because things were likely to tumble out.  Yesterday (there’s that time thing again) the maintenance guy replaced it with a new one.  The new one is sturdier and doesn’t slope.  Hallelujah!  If I’d known how much nicer it would be, I’d have had Tucker using his feet a long time back. 

I’ll be counting down the hours of my last day of work in 2008.

Time to go.

Happy New Year Everyone. 

So, as I’m sitting in the dark (I was afraid to take my sleeping medication before bed because I feared I’d miss out on being alert enough to appreciate what happens here on Christmas Morning) I’m thinking about Christmas Food.  And it’s occurred to me that I don’t think I could make Christmas dinner without a can of Cream of Mushroom soup.  In fact, this year, I’m gonna need three. 

Hm.

When did Cream of Mushroom soup become so important a holiday ingredient that I’d have to cancel dinner without it?

Be honest, did YOU make at least one recipe with Cream of Mushroom soup for your holiday repast?

* * * * * * *

Tucker was afraid that he would miss out on the excitement too.  He didn’t have the option of staying up all night (not that I’ve done it on purpose) but he solved his problem in his own special way.  He’s sleeping with his presents.  In his bed, under his blankets. 

* * * * * * *

May your Holiday be Merry And Bright!  And may you rest well on Christmas Night. 

We’ve gotten into a routine of large Sunday dinners served mid afternoon and then a dessert in the evening.  For the past several weeks, I’ve been setting out frozen dough to rise and bake into the rolls to accompany our weekly indulgence.  (We also indulge in Breakfast on Saturday mornings and we have date night on Friday, so we are really about our indulgences).

Today I decided to make extra rolls so instead of 6, I put 18 little dough blobs in the oven.  I took them out, set them aside to cool for a moment while I finished the rest of the food.  (Today we had hamburger stroganhoff, mini penne pasta, salad of romaine, orange slices, walnuts and poppy seed dressing, and acorn squash baked with a little brown sugar and cinnamon.)  When I was ready to call the boys to the table, I noticed that the bread basket looked odd.  When I checked there were only 6 rolls instead of 18. 

“What happened?” (me)

“I don’t know mom. I was walking by, and I smelled them, and the next thing I knew there were a whole bunch of rolls gone.” (Tucker)

 (me)

“Um, they were really good, and soft, and hot … ” (Tucker)

 (me)

“Um, do I have to eat the squash?  I’m suddenly not very hungry.”  (Tucker)

 (me)

* * * * * *

I’m feeling better.  My Dr. told me to cease and desist from the Naproxen immediately, which settled my stomach right down.  I’ve been taking extra strength Tylenol which isn’t helping my leg as much as the Naproxen did, but I’m not throwing up and I am walking so I can live with medium help.  Thank you for your prayers and good wishes. 

* * * * * * *

I’ve started a new SIMS 2 game.  I keep thinking I’m going to outgrow SIMS, but really I love this game.  I created one family.  Just a little man and a little woman.  And boy howdy do they like each other.  A lot.  He’s got thinning hair, glasses, a full beard, a little belly … And she thinks he’s the hottest thing since fresh baked bread. 

I’m gonna have to create another little family because these guys are obviously having a honeymoon and they aren’t doing anything to get out and meet their neighbors. 

* * * * * * *

I’ve been reading the newspapers.  Lord, have mercy.  We have some really stupid people making comments out there.  My fav stupid comment from the past week, (no its not the Gov of Illinois, he’s already been dealt with in late night jokes) comes from Charles Krauthammer who called the link between the US Economy and Health Care a “Non Sequitur”. 

It doesn’t make sense to Mr. Krauthammer that there’s any link between the two.  Apparently the fact that health care costs have so far outpaced the rate of inflation that even the largest of companies are struggling to provide insurance for their employees hasn’t registered on his radar.  Apparently the fact that more than half the hospitals in this nation are on the brink of financial collapse due to the tidal wave of uninsured patients coming through their door doesn’t seem like an issue to him.  Apparently the inadequate supply of Doctors, nurses, radiology technicians, physical therapists … name a health care occupation and I’ll show you an occupation with a need for more trained workers than we can foresee having even if enrollment rates in these courses doubled for each of the next three years… doesn’t bother him, or at least doesn’t strike him as an economic problem.  

We have a Trillion Dollar industry struggling with demand that can’t be supplied and supply that isn’t getting paid.  Seems like that’s a huge economic problem to me. 

* * * * * * *  

There are about 8 “how to handle your money in seriously sucky times” blogs that I’m dying to write.  Or maybe it’s a book, with chapters and not many pictures.   But in truth, I think it’s too late for a lot of people.  The money management they haven’t been practicing for the past 10 years is about to have them for lunch with a side of “sucks to be you.”

I’m there too.  My monetary position took a serious blow last summer.  I’m lucky that I’m not totally broke.  But in spite of years of my Maggie MacFrugal lifestyle, I can see broke from here.  It’s scary. 

You don’t have a soul.  You are a soul.  You have a body.  C. S. Lewis

I hurt my leg just before Halloween.  I’m not sure what I did or how I did it.  At first I thought I’d pulled a muscle, but it wasn’t getting better and wasn’t getting better.  So yesterday, I visited the Dr. (and I can’t tell you what a luxurious feeling it is to be able to visit a Dr., let alone MY Dr. in a practice in which I’m enrolled as a patient)  but anyway, the point is that I visited the Dr. and described what was going on.

I left with a presciption for Naproxen and an appointment to have a sonogram on my leg tomorrow to rule out blood clots.  The downside to having a chat with a Dr. is their unfortunate tendency to tell you that the thing that’s hurting you MIGHT kill you. 

So last night, I took the Naproxen.  This morning I took the Naproxen.  This afternoon I started throwing up.  Apparently, anyone who has even had an ulcer, sat by someone on a bus who has an ulcer, or even looked up the word “ulcer” on Web M.D. should never never never take Naproxen.  Which kind of makes me wonder why it’s so great to have a Dr. with my chart open on his lap reading about my issues with the ulcer in September if he’s going to prescribe something that will in one day undo all the progress I’ve made in the past four months.  But, I digress again.

My leg hasn’t hurt today.  It’s had a couple moments of twinge, like a remembered pain.  But it wasn’t real pain.  My stomach on the other hand, has not been so lucky.  I’m not happy that I have to choose between my stomach and my leg.    

I’m a generally happy person.  Really.  I am.  But give me a physical complaint to complain about and I will become the worst downer in the room.  So much so that even I can’t stand my company. 

It’s a good thing that I haven’t been tested by great adversity.  I can’t even pass the pop quiz. 

For 13 years we had an experiment in legislation of morality which lead to rum-running, bathtub booze that caused people to go blind, and the rise of gangsterism.

Did we learn anything from Prohibition?

Actually, I just wanted a provocative headline so that I could say THANK YOU to the anonymous person who gave me Lifetime. 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Thanks to the support of many of you, I reached my goal of 100,000 credits.  I logged in on Saturday and attempted to use them to purchase Xanga Lifetime.  Instead of Lifetime, I got a message saying thank you for my purchase of ONE MONTH and a deduction of 4,000 credits from my total.  I emailed Xanga requesting that this be rectified.  Today, I received a polite reply informing me that Xanga no longer offers Lifetime for credits.  I could purchase 1 month, 6 months or 12 months, but not the Lifetime that I’ve been working toward for the past 9 months. 

I thought it would be more fun to “earn” Lifetime this way than to buy it.  I was wrong.  This isn’t fun at all.  This in fact is a really nasty feeling like I’m the gullible kid who finds herself naked at the prom while everyone laughs.  I’m not the kind of person to have a hissy fit and leave when things don’t go my way.  But I think it’s fair to express my disappoinment. 

It’s the month of hot chocolate and peppermint sticks.  The month of frosty mornings and early golden sundowns.  The month of late mornings when the sun rises as we are on the way to work and we have to push hard against this natural rhythm of sleepiness. 

I love December for the Holidays and warm gatherings amid snowflakes.  (Even in New Mexico there are occasional flakes, especially in the mountains where Miss Eva lives.  We enjoyed a snowfall on Thanksgiving Day with her, then drove down the mountain to temperatures in the mid 40s.)

What’s your favorite aspect of December?  What are you looking forward to most about this December?