some favorite pictures from christmas eve

Alex

Amber helps Elliot open a present.

Three boys and Gus (see Elliot's head?)

Alex says cheese

Elliot looks askance

Peter and Elliot

Peter, Elliot, me, and Tiffany

Ella, Emily, and Bob

Regis and Amber in their ugly Christmas sweaters

Bob and Ella

Peter and Tiffany

Almost the whole gang...missing Elliot and Regis, the photographer.

Elliot

We had a wonderful Christmas. Lots of cooking decorating, present wrapping, eating, sipping wine, and laughing. 

As always, the holiday was not without problems. I ran out of butter and blamed it on the shortage in Norway. Thank God, my daughter-in-law who lives three blocks away had butter at her house. As always, someone got sick, someone cried, toy pieces got lost, and the house is a complete disaster. It will take three hours to do the dishes again.

Such fun. Merry Christmas, everyone!

my nice and nasty list

I like to make a list from time to time of things that have occurred so I can keep a perspective. Otherwise it is too easy to think that everything sucks or everything is wonderful. Basically, life is made up of both and if we just accept that, we are happier.

• Nice. I've been searching the archives of my blog for a few pictures that seem to have drifted into the ether so I've been reading some of my old posts. There is some seriously funny shit here and someone should hire me to write a book. Hahaha! I crack myself up. Check out some of the Blasts from the Past on the right...or the popular posts.
• Nice. Regis and I are making a Christmas card for the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. He's a real character we met through our KMSU listening experience. We went to see him in concert because truly I could not imagine his fan base after hearing this. We have since become fans.

• Nice. He has another song called My Underwear Froze to the Clothesline. It's one of my favorites but I'll let you search that out yourself on youtube. I love the internet.
• Nasty. I love the internet unless some weird idea gets into my consciousness and won't get out. I won't say what it was because the person who said it probably believes that this weird idea is true. When you buy a ticket to the circus, don't be surprised by the clowns. It's my life's philosophy.
• Nasty. Sometimes I feel like people would rather look at their iPads or their phones than talk to me and that hurts my feelings. Here is a bit of news. No, you can not talk to someone very well while you are sending a text message or reading some piece of crap on the internet. You will not be sucked into an alien universe if you stop looking at your phone for five minutes. The world will go on if you don't respond to a text message immediately. I hate text messages anyway. I can read, or write that small. On second thought, this is a TWICE Nasty.
• Nice. Today is the Winter Solstice. Actually it's at 11:30 p.m. and I think we should stay awake, have a fire in the chimnea, and toast the return of the sun. I love the solstice.  Regis is not sure about this as a plan as we rarely stay up that late. I would have to take three naps.

• Nice. City Mouse is playing at Patrick's on Friday night. It's the celebration of their 40th anniversary of the band of my youth. I'm not sure that we'll make this happen either.

• Nice. I went for a long walk in the sunshine yesterday afternoon. I listened to the Moth podcasts and some of them are so good they make me cry or laugh out loud which probably looks a little strange to people on the street.
• Nice. We got a lovely Christmas card from the guy who did our floors for us. He and his wife are coming over after Christmas to see the finished product. The fact that he was such a nice (and funny) guy was part of the reason we decided to go with him instead of the cheaper bids. Well, that and the fact that he seemed to know what he was talking about which was not always apparent with the other folks.
• Nice. Regis and I are enjoying our three times/week workouts at the Pulse. It feels good that we go regularly and it feels good to exercise. We don't talk much while we're there because we are doing our own things, but it's nice. Monday we went out for breakfast after our workout. It's 9 o'clock, we're sitting there watching the birds and drinking coffee, and I said, "What a nice life we have." This is TWICE Nice.

There you go. Out of all those things, only two nasty things and the one barely counts. I would recommend this as a writing or thinking exercise if you think your life sucks. It probably really doesn't....it just seems like it. The nasty things have more power if we dwell on them.

I hope my dreamy little philosophical meandering doesn't end up on your nasty list. That would be ironic. Hahahaha!

blues monday

Regis took some more bird photos today. Aren't they beautiful? Amazing and beautiful little creatures.

We got a package in the mail today. Birds on stamps. We didn't know who they were from and the invoice didn't say. Turns out they came from my Cousin Deb. They have the red-bellied woodpecker picture Regis took so we were curious about how someone got it. Ha! Now we know...

I love this cardinal. Look at the detail in his feathers and in his comb. There were five in the apple tree this afternoon and Regis managed to capture three of them in one photo.

We're headed to the grocery store this morning as soon as it's light. I don't like going places in the dark of morning.

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. We'll have just a tiny bit over 8 hours of daylight assuming we have any daylight. It's been gloomy lately. If the sun is out today, I'm going for a walk.

Later.

Grocery store not too busy at 7:30 a.m. Just the stock folks running here and there. We're ready for our Christmas cooking now but I might need a nap before I get started.

sunday mid-december

We had the nicest day yesterday. It started slowly and didn't pick up much speed as it went along.

We had a nice cheese and olive plate for lunch with a glass of wine. Regis put in It's a Wonderful Life and we watched it over the course of the afternoon. I took a short dozy nap. We made luscious steaks and grilled peppers for dinner. It was a great way to spend the day.

In order that I would be in the proper holiday spirit, I put on sparkly leggings and a sparkly dress that I bought at the consignment store. I didn't wear reindeer antlers but in retrospect, I should have.

I did a little internet shopping for the grandchildren. This is my dilemma of the season. Do I want to contribute to the crazy consumerism that Christmas has become or do I want to disappoint the little ones who come here on Christmas Eve? Bad Grandma. They should make a movie.

The good thing is that each of them has a birthday in the next two months so I can buy some things and divvy them up for Christmas and birthdays.

Sometime in the fall, a woman came into River Rock and started asking me questions about the River Rock garden. She wanted to see it. I said we could arrange that. Well, she didn't really want to see it, just wanted to know that we really had one. (We do.) Yesterday, she posted this very nice review. She's only reviewed three restaurants but one of them was Wise Acre in Minneapolis which has a wonderful reputation for serving local and seasonal food. Ta da! Our cooks (I like to call them culinarians.) should be very proud.

I'm going for a walk in the sunshine today, then to lunch and the Muppet Movie with a friend. Regis and I are making chicken with a big green salad for dinner. Maybe it will be a Sunday in pictures post tonight.

christmas light extravaganza

Regis and I stopped at Patricks to have some wings and a beer with my old school pals, then drove around to look at Christmas lights. We like to pretend we're Christmas Light Display Critics and we give scores based on things like aesthetics, balance, mixing of light colors, theme, and overall appeal.

We didn't see too much that thrilled us although there is a house down by South that did a nice job of blending colors and light types. It got our highest score.

We're not fans of the mixing of rope lighting with big bulbs or the mixing of colored bulbs with plain white. We take a lot of points off for mixing themes...Baby Jesus with Santa, for example. That's just gross.

A cardinal sin in holiday decorating is to throw a net of lights over a bush. You might as well just leave the lights in the bag and toss the bag in the yard. Another faux pas is to hang the lights vertically or to just wrap the trunk. Light critics avert their eyes when they see that coming down the street.

Our neighbors, Mike and Erin, have one of the best trees in town. It's a huge tree and it takes Mike all day to hang those lights but they go horizontally around the tree all the way to the top, the strands of lights are close together, and all the multi-colored light strands are the same. This picture was taken last winter when we had a ton of snow but you can see it's a beautiful tree. Lots of Christmas tree cred there, Michael.

I did a Youtube search for holiday lights and found a lot of stuff like this. Don't play it if you have had any abnormal neurological brain activity because this will certainly trigger an episode. It's a bit much and I hate to think of the time some dude put in planning and executing this thing that must brown-out his entire neighborhood. Be sure to hit the play button because the lights go on and off to the music.



We don't have anything outside and hell I haven't even moved the plants that croaked when they froze. There is still a dead geranium sitting at the edge of my patio so we really aren't qualified to be critics.

It's going to be a quiet weekend at our house.Nothing to do today and I'm going to the Muppet Movie with Joanne tomorrow. A good weekend for bird watching and navel gazing.

ho ho ho

I must say, everyone is willing to appease me at Christmas time by wearing silly hats. Thanks, Bob.

Gus didn't want to actually be in the picture, he just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Alex agreed to wear the hat after the group photo was done. Aren't they cute?

Working on the Christmas Eve menu. I don't feel quite the pressure to come up with a menu for this holiday like I do for Thanksgiving. We're making chicken wings and ribs and will supplement with offerings from the kids. Cowboy beans? Wild rice soup? Tiffany has requested Emerill's Twice Baked Potato Casserole so I can do that.

Ella is coming to do some cooking next week. Not sure yet what we'll make but it can't have dairy or eggs. Hmmm...vegan. Here's a recipe for gingerbread cookies. Do I have the gumption for this project?

party at our house!

Regis and I had a little holiday celebration for our River Rock friends last night. Regis made spicy chicken wings and I put out a spread of cheeses, olive spreads, bread and crackers, and nuts. We had a good time...lots of laughing and story telling. Gus was confined to the kitchen for a while then he settled down and was allowed to join the guests. He's a very sociable dog so he enjoyed all the attention.

Tonight we're having Bob and Emily, Ella and Alex for a spaghetti and meatball dinner. We've only had 50% response rate to our invitation which is disappointing but we're encouraged by our 75% rate on the "your own cell phone plan" which is our new standard of independence. You can't have everything.

There won't be much creativity in the cooking tonight except I might try to make a loaf of bread before I go to work. I don't bake much anymore. They make such great breads at work so if I want bread, I get it there.

I better stop sitting here and get moving.

if you get a christmas letter from me

You better frame it and hang it in a place of glory.

Remember the other day when I said my printer was acting up and I was just going to take my letter to the local print shop to have it printed?

I did that yesterday. Fifty copies. Two-sided. Color. Didn't bother to ask how much it cost.

So, when I go to pick them up, I get two reams of paper, a bunch of envelopes, and some stickers.

Drum roll.

$175.00

I almost had a heart attack. I shrieked. I asked why so much. Two-sided color copies he said. I said HOLY SHIT.

I wanted to ask if we could soak the ink off the paper and suck it back into the machine.

There is a lesson in this.

I could have bought three new printers for the price of that copy job.

last year: snow and sunshine

This is what it looked like last year on this date. I want this weather instead of the forty degree gray soup that we have. I walked past a woman yesterday who said brightly, "Isn't it a nice day?" Holy shit. What is she thinking? I said if I wanted weather like this I'd move to Seattle.

rambling and ranting about technology

I can be forgiven for rambling thoughts when it's 4:30 a.m., right?

Here I am. It's dark, it's cold, and the stores don't open for at least 4 more hours. I have things to do!

Yesterday, I did my walking errands. Today, I do the driving errands. My printer always craps out at Christmas time. It's amazing that an inanimate object has such a great sense of timing. This time, it won't recognize the black ink cartridge even though we've cleaned the jets, replaced the cartridge, rebooted the whole printer, and done all the other easy fixes.

And like most things, you can probably buy a 40 dollar part or replace the printer for about 75 dollars. Shit.

I'm going to take my Christmas letter to the print shop down the street. I'm not fighting with the printer anymore.

Tiffany was over the other day and she spent some time reading through the old Christmas letters which live in the back of the Christmas recipe binder. She thought they were hilarious. I said they got less funny as our kids grew up and we didn't have as much to be sarcastic about. Ha! That is absolutely true. Teenagers make great writing material.

I've been thinking about Google tv. If you don't know what it is, I'm not going to be a very good source of information. I put it in google (heh) and found this http://www.google.com/tv/. But of course, it's all in video and such. No printed information. I'd check it out. Apparently, it's the future of the world.

I'm not even crying about the demise of letter writing, although I am, but this seems to be a way to spend your life sitting in front of the television. It's all there...movies, sit coms, Youtube, the web, email, apps, and probably even Angry Birds.

I wish people would stop inventing stuff because I can feel myself getting behind and I can feel myself getting a bad attitude. I used to worry about it and the fear of suddenly refusing to do things like set a digital clock forced me to learn about computers and cell phones and such.

But I've realized, that for me, technology is just a means to an end. I like the way it makes a lot of things easier. I like being able to shop for things world-wide, I like being in touch with people I don't see very often (or never), I like being able to publish my blog and pictures and I like reading newspapers and daily poems and blogs of friends.

I am complaining vociferously about the time and brain energy it seems to suck and about the social dysfunction it seems to create. Seriously, I had a young woman at my Thanksgiving table sending text messages beneath the table cloth.

I can't complain out loud about this at home too much because Regis is a fan of technology for it's own sake. He loves gadgets. Loves, loves, loves gadgets.

In our house (where two people live) we have these things by which one could access the internet: two cell phones, two desk top computers, a laptop computer, an iPad and probably a thing or two I have forgotten. News flash: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH WORTHWHILE SHIT ON THE INTERNET TO MAKE THIS MUCH CRAP NECESSARY.

We were talking about it last night and he said Google tv is kind of like your first Commodore computer. What??? I had to google that to see what it was. Or, he said, it's like when you used to wonder when phones would become cordless. These are thoughts I never had.

My old friend, Steve Schipp, used to say that the world is made up of two kinds of people: Those who know how to drive fork lifts and those who do not. Maybe it's that kind of thing. Maybe the world is made up of two kinds of people: Those who get Google tv and those who do not. Put me in the latter.

birds for mom

the first dinner

Well, here it is. Evidence of the first family dinner. Tiff and Elliot came over tonight for a spaghetti and meatball feed. Elliot dragged out every toy for forty miles and ransacked the house. He sat on Pop-pop's lap and watched Thomas movies. He ate candy canes and ginger cookies and petted Gus. We had a wonderful time.

We didn't eat all of these tonight but in true Teresa fashion, I had too many meatballs. In the words of my ex mother-in-law Edna, you would hate to run out so you have extra, just in case.

Elliot enjoyed his spaghetti, his green beans, his clementine oranges, and just about everything but the ginger cookies which he proclaimed "too spicy".

Elliot likes to say "bummer" when he senses that things are not right. But he says "bummer-t". Tiffany corrected him and he said yup and the next time he said, "Bummer-t" and we would laugh. He did it to amuse us. Ha! Little kids. It's what they do.

birds and saturday

We've had quite a flock of birds at our feeder this year. A family of cardinals, mom and dad and two juvenile males, come regularly. Since Regis has a new camera, he likes taking pictures of them. He gets frustrated with the focus through the front window but I think they're gorgeous. So real you could almost reach out and pet their feathers.

We have a haltered gray cat who comes to the bird feeder. This is not good. I don't know if there is a cat leash law in St. Peter but there should be. Who wants a cat stalking their bird feeder?

Tiffany and Elliot are coming for dinner tonight. We invite the kids for a meal each in the month of December...probably said that before...and this is their day. We're making spaghetti and meatballs (Elliot's favorite meal) with a salad, green beans, and bread. I bought a box of cookies for dessert since I don't bake anymore.

One of the things we do is take a family picture of all of us wearing funny hats. I seem to have a thing for funny hats. I bought three snowman hats when we went to Canby a few weeks ago so there will be photos in funny hats.

Regis has me convinced that we should make one batch of cookies for Christmas Eve. Yeah, maybe. We'll have to ration them out like gold.

We're doing a meatball making marathon today. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Happy Saturday!

cold

I'm having trouble with the cold weather. I have plenty of warm clothes but when I go to work, it's hard to judge just how warm or cold it will be inside the building. Monday I froze all day so Tuesday I dressed in several layers and wore a pair of warm boots. By noon, I was in the bathroom stripping off the layers. Good grief.

I have some kind of respiratory thing. In the night, I was sure I had strep throat but turns out, I don't think I do. I have been up drinking tea since 4 and I feel better.

I am stumped by something. When I send an email, there is a picture of me attached to it that I can't find. It's a picture of me taken Saturday but how did it get to attach itself to my gmail messages? Very strange. I have checked all the settings and profiles and harrumph. No idea.

In the middle of last night, Regis forgot to close the bedroom door so Gus woke up and wandered out. I stumbled out of bed to retrieve him and close the door. He darted past me back into the bedroom, leaped onto the bed and took my spot on the heated mattress pad with his big head on my pillow. We laughed and laughed. He is a hoot. He comes out in the morning to see what I'm doing, then goes right back to bed. Gus that is.

 Here is the book I just finished reading on my Kindle: Great House by Nichole Kraus. I loved the book but I wish I had read the real book and not the electronic version. It's structure is that it's 4 stories told over 8 chapters over a long period of time. I have trouble following that many stories without the actual pages to serve as the framework. 

I've purchased every book that Howard Norman wrote...at least the ones I can find...and I'm reading them, too. What is Left the Daughter and The Bird Artist are my favorites so far but they're the only two I've read. I started reading Devotion the other night.

I got the annual Whitaker Christmas letter yesterday. I look forward to it and it never disappoints. Linda's husband Allen writes it and he's very funny. It's the perfect Christmas letter because it tells about their home and their lives and their adventures. Not just their kids or their ailments. Life does go on after your kids grow up and it's nice to be reminded of that.

Regis just went off to buy groceries at 6 a.m. We'll do anything to avoid crowds. I'm going back to bed for a while.

a little christmas fun on saturday

I love this picture. Regis looks like the thought bubble would say: We're gonna make the dog wear what? And you're gonna wear what???

Yes, the plan was to have Gus wear a string of battery-operated lights and a set of antlers. He would sit up nice and tall like this dog.

It didn't turn out that way at all. Gus required treats to keep the antlers on and he didn't mind the lights but it was all a lot to manage. Mostly we just laughed.

So, here is Gus wolfing dog treats, antlers slipping off his head, and lights disappearing into his considerable fur.

He's so darn cute. You just have to imagine what they might have looked like had it turned out.

So, I got dressed up in my holiday finery, including a Marilyn Monroe wig, a velvet scarf, red and white tights, and Bob Dylan glasses. Gus is the most dignified thing in this photo.

Regis and I in our Wayfarer sunglasses, me in my cashmere scarf, and Regis in a Christmas tie. What a hoot.

 I think Regis bears a striking resemblance to the Reverend Raven in this picture. Maybe I can get him to dress like this from time to time.

Here is the photo of Gus that got so much attention on Facebook this morning. Last time I checked, he had 17 comments and more than a dozen likes. He's some dog. People suggested he be on a Christmas card, a calendar, and a couple other things I can't recall. He does look regal.

Isn't Gus pretty on the red rug? He always wants to be where the action is and apparently he thinks I got some.

We took Gus with us to do some errands on Friday. He sure gets attention in the car. Sandy, was that you who said hello to him at the Post Office as you walked by?

I haven't spent the whole weekend in crazy fits of vanity. I have gotten a lot of things done...the autumn things stashed away, the winter things assembled in the living room, the dishes swapped out for Christmas dishes, the winter wine glasses gotten out of the top cupboard, and the sheets on the bed changed along with the electric mattress pad. Yeah, now I can have a warm bed at night!

I told Gus I would put on my faux beaver coat and take him into the back yard for a romp in the snow. It's beautiful out there. If it's going to be thirty degrees, we may as well have snow.

Next thing to do today (I don't have a list, believe me.) is to work on my menu and grocery list and to decide about a Christmas card or letter. Hmmm.

end o' the week

Waiting to go to yoga this morning. I took Gus out into the yard at 6 o'clock and it's cold, baby. Very cold. Time to get out the serious winter coat and mittens and stop messing around with fall attire.

*-*+   Gus just wrote this by tapping his monster paw on the keyboard. He wants to go on a stick run and Regis said no. Ha!

I feel restless.

thursday, december 1

Gus went into the vet's office yesterday to be neutered. I saw one of the vets at the bank and he said Gus was so happy to be there and just wagged his tail and smiled at everyone. Little did he know, but that's how this dog is...he never expresses any cranky thoughts. We're getting paid back for housing Bert all those years.

And if you don't recall the stories about Bert, check the side bar to the right for the Blasts from the Past. There are a few tales there. He was some dog.

Since we had the night off because our furry infant was in convalescent care, we went to Mankato for dinner. Had the usual great meal at Mazatlan, Regis got some sweat pants for our new Pulse adventure which starts Monday, and I got a very short haircut. I had to make two confessions to Patrick: Forgive me hairstylist, for I have sinned. I used cheap hairspray for the last week and I cut my hair myself on two occasions.

There's a little bit of snow on the ground this morning. I was thinking yesterday that if it's going to be thirty degrees, we might as well have some snow. It's so gray outside which does not contribute to a guy's good mental health. I took my laptop to work yesterday and spent the day working in the front of the coffee shop to take advantage of the sunlight and the socialization.

It was a fun day, actually. I got to work on some projects that have been languishing in a pile on my desk and I got a chance to visit with some of the baristas who I supervise but rarely see for more than a few minutes at a time.

This is a rant about Christmas music so don't read this paragraph if you're a fan. I don't really hate Christmas music but I object to it being blasted out of every electronic orifice from Menard's parking lot to the bathrooms at MSU starting about mid-September and going for the next four months. It's too much. We have some favorites that we play at home but I really don't want to hear some nasty ass version of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer as I'm pumping gas into my car. It's about enough to make you take a luger to the speakers.

Regis and I made a big purchase last night: Our first new furniture in years. He bought the Santa Fe chair that he has admired for years. It's a recliner but not as butt ugly as a recliner. It's a comfortable chair with lots of room on those wide arms for your stuff...beer cans and pizza and a magazine.

 This is my chair. First I picked out a little red barrel chair but then I sat in this chair. I wasn't really fond of the pattern or the color but spotted a leopard print in the custom fabric pack. So I paid more and will wait six weeks for my chair to come in a leopard print. It's exactly what I wanted.

So Regis and I will look like 4th Street royalty sitting on our new thrones. 

We're not so good at house redecorating. We finally (read the stories) replaced our floors and painted but the furniture we have has been here for ten years. We don't mind and in fact, like it. Our current furniture is leather for which we paid an unreasonably good price. The new faux leather chair was at the sacrifice of at least a few Nauga hides. 

Thursday and on to the weekend.

books and the end of november

I just finished two books by Howard Norman. I have been in a reading slump for some reason...could not find anything I wanted to read, much less finish. Here they are if you missed their mention earlier:

• What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman
• The Bird Artist by Howard Norman

I also started White Truffles in Winter by N.M. Kelby and really like that a lot, too. Here's a bit of the review from Amazon:

White Truffles in Winter imagines the world of the remarkable French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at the Savoy and the Ritz. A man of contradictions—kind yet imperious, food-obsessed yet rarely hungry—Escoffier was also torn between two women: the famous, beautiful, and reckless actress Sarah Bernhardt and his wife, the independent and sublime poet Delphine Daffis, who refused ever to leave Monte Carlo. In the last year of Escoffier's life, in the middle of writing his memoirs, he has returned to Delphine, who requests a dish in her name as he has honored Bernhardt, Queen Victoria, and many others. How does one define the complexity of love on a single plate? N. M. Kelby brings us the sensuality of food and love amid a world on the verge of war in this work that shimmers with beauty and longing.

I had to force myself to go to work yesterday...I wanted to stay home and find out how The Bird Artist ended. I thought about it all day and that means it was a good book.


My damn phone, for which I paid a fortune, isn't working. It won't mount the SD card, whatever in hell that means. I think it's outrageous that a phone that costs that much works so poorly. It's like going back to the age of the tin can and a piece of string.

My Android Phone Sucks

I suggested we go back to the place that sold us this POS but Regis said that would likely involve buying a new phone. Seriously? This is quite a racket these cell phone folks have. They are the new credit card companies, I swear. Sharks in blood-infested water.

To be fair, these are the things that are wrong with it:

• It often won't respond. You can push the phone icon until your face turns blue and it won't make a call. I have said if anybody depends on my to make a 911 call, they're dead.
• It won't scroll up or down most days unless I reboot and even then, it's a temporary fix.
• My pictures are gone. Some feature. Take a bunch of pictures (really bad ones...) with your phone and then they mysteriously disappear. This entailed the purchase of a new SD card which also does not work.
• Sometimes it won't ring when I have a call but the message appears later. Another nice feature.

I think I have to face the fact that cell phones are disposable and I mean after about a year. Those old phones lasted for decades so I'm going back to this:

Regis tells me I can continue to use my phone as a phone which is what I'll do since I don't care about apps and that crap anyway. God, I sound like an old crank, don't I?

We're up early to listen to Tim and Shelley talk about zombies on the radio. I don't care about (or even know about) zombies but Regis likes them. 

Here's my list of favorite Christmas movies:

1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
2. A Christmas Story (1983)
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
5. Frosty the Snowman (1969)
6. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
7. The Nutcracker (Baryshnikov)
8. A Christmas Carol (1999, Patrick Stewart)
9. A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott)
10. The Nutcracker (George Ballanchine)
11. A Christmas Carol (1951, Alastair Sim)
12. A Christmas Carol (1962, Mr. Magoo)
13. A Charlie Brown Christmas
14. A Christmas Carol (1972, Albert Finney)
15. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

We better get busy.

After listing those movies and making a visit to old friends on a message board I belong to, I am feeling in a much more positive mood. I'm not going to let a cell phone debacle pull me down. Ha!

sunday, sigh

When I was a young teacher, I had a friend who always talked about Sunday Psychosis. It's the feeling you get at the end of a nice weekend, a mild dread at going back to work, a tiny resentment about giving up your life of freedom. Mike said he saw amoebas in the midst of his Sunday Psychosis.

I could be feeling this today. I avoid talking about my despair at the lack of sunlight in Minnesota in the winter because maybe acknowledging it makes it worse. I'm taking extra Vitamin D, hoping that will help. I don't think it's anything serious enough to see a doctor about or engage in any serious light ray box therapy...just a general malaise regarding the weather. Even a raging blizzard would help.

I have enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend to the fullest extent possible and now I am ready to move on to December meaning that it may be time to get out the Christmas lights. I'm not sure about the rest of that junk yet as it starts to feel like it's choking me after a while, but the lights, I can live with them.

Gus is going to be neutered on Wednesday. We don't think he'll care.

I'm going to change my haircut appointment to Wednesday from Thursday so we can enjoy a dinner out which is hard to do with a forty pound furry infant at home whining in his crate. I have a hankering for Mazatlan food so maybe that can work unless they're playing Christmas music. No shopping. I have an aversion to stores this time of year.

Regis and I have committed to going to the Pulse between 7:00 and 8:00 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week. Curves is closing and some of the women there want to come to the Pulse at 7:30. Right now they aren't open between those hours. We think it might help us with our exercise plans. We'll see if it feels like a major pain in the ass after a few weeks.

I finished reading Everything Beautiful Began After yesterday. Not the best book I ever read, but not bad. Beautiful writing which makes it worth the read.

Here's the day's plan: Exercise (yoga?) at 10:00, Christmas lights at 1:00, bird-watching and cooking at 4:00. Maybe some reading, some writing, and some paperwork. There you go.

observations

We are going for a ride this afternoon. To Cleveland or LeSueur, some place not Mankato where the shoppers are converged. He says we shouldn't wait too long because the traffic gets bad. In Cleveland?

It took more than two hours to do the dishes this morning. I had offers of help last night but just didn't want to bother with it then. No regrets. It was sort of a zen moment (many of them...) as the sun came up red as fire in the eastern sky. Beautiful.

All the dishes are done and organized on the table waiting to be put away. I think I will take that job on tomorrow.

I'm not decorating for Christmas or even thinking about Christmas until December. I averted my eyes at the bank this morning when I saw they had Christmas stockings hung already. Can't we just enjoy Thanksgiving through the weekend?

Regis made this youtube video of an accidental series of pictures we took on the patio yesterday. It's a hoot.



We took some left-over pumpkin cheesecake to our friends, Jill and Larry. You can only deal with so many desserts and we had enough yesterday that each guest needed to eat an entire pie. Needless to day, the did not so hence, the massive amounts of left-over pie.

We took a drive out past the Greenlawn Cemetery, the Crystal Farms cheese factory, and Cleveland. We did not encounter any bad traffic. The skies sure look like November.

Regis is reading What is Left the Daughter and likes it, too. It makes him wonder about any anti-German sentiments his dad may have experienced during the war. Too bad we think of those things when it's too late to ask.

Gus slips around on our floors so today he has a set of slippers with gripping bottoms. I can't see this lasting too long because it takes a while to get them on...and they have to be removed when he goes outside...and then put back on. Ugh.

When we went to visit my mom a few weeks ago, Gus left a "calling card" behind one of the beds in the basement. My brother, Pat, discovered it and had to send a picture of it as proof. We are all dismayed and ashamed. This is why people don't like you to bring your pets to their homes.

Regis and I decided, on our drive, that we really don't like turkey. He did as good a job as could be done with a quality, farm raised turkey, but it's kind of dry and bland meat. There's a reason why we don't cook turkey all year round. Next year, I might be able to convince him to do a less traditional meat.

I think we're going to do our separate family meals this year where each of our off-spring will get a dinner invitation during the month of December. We did it last year and it was fun.

Regis just showed me a video of a melee in a WalMart where unruly mobs of people were trying to buy a two dollar waffle maker. Are they crazy? And there was more than one butt crack in the video, too, let me tell you.

I heard that there was a traffic jam in Mankato last night at 10:00 as people converged on the mall area. I don't think WalMart has anything I need that badly and I'd rather pay more if I did need a damn waffle maker.

That's all of my observations for the day. Going into the kitchen to make something easy for dinner. Maybe some of that left-over turkey. Oh, boy.

we made it through the day but left a mess

Here you go. All here. We had a great time, good food, and left a big mess to be cleaned up this morning. Better get at it.

the mystery movie

My friend, Karen, currently of Lake Tahoe and formerly of Atlanta, Georgia, wants to know about the mystery movie. She says she likes puzzles like this one. So, for Karen, I will describe everything I recall about this movie. But first, does anybody think it's ironic that a person like me, who has not been out of the state of Minnesota in the last five years except for twice and once was to Iowa and the other to South Dakota and barely over the border at that, has friends in far flung places? Ah, the internets are great.

So, here is the list of things I think I remember:

• I think I saw it in the 80s.
• It took place in the South.
• There were dark scenes (black and white?).
• There was a scene where women were putting pillows into pillow cases in the bedroom of an old house...lace curtains and flowery wallpaper kind of house.
• There was a scene where some people were sitting under a weeping willow kind of tree.
• A man gets shot for infidelity. I think by his wife. He had a name like Teddy Jay or something similar. He was a politician. 
• There were several strong women actors in the movie and one of them may have been that dark-haired, squinty-eyed woman. 

I wonder what it is about this movie that I liked since I remember so little of it. I may have several movies mushed together in my head. The 80s was not a good decade for me in terms of remembering movies and such. I was raising little kids and getting by on very little sleep and was consumed with things like picture books and potty training. Not much intellectual capital.