You do it.

The holidays. People - I LOVE THEM.

Halloween? Kids dress up crazy and we give them candy.
Thanksgiving? We eat ourselves silly, what's not to love?
Christmas? I get to give everyone I love something. Cookies, eating, presents! YAY!

So I know everyone keeps talking about the damn economy, which is kind of driving me crazy and I just don't want to hear about it anymore. Tiger Woods saga anyone? But, all of the creative ideas that I have seen out there for Christmas have been fantastic.

First - the Eddie Ross glass ball (ha) wreath. I made one and approximated that I would never have bought a wreath that cost that much (even though I bought the balls at the dollar tree, I ended up buying like $20 worth of balls. So cute though. Mine is hanging on one of our front windows right now. I'm in NYC, so I'll take a picture when I get home this weekend.

Second - Last year I made homemade cocoa and homemade marshmallows for some random people that we didn't want to buy gifts for but we wanted to give something small to. This year I found the possibley cutest thing ever. Hot Chocolate on a stick. Oh! Christmas molds here I come!

Third - I love to bake. We all know this. Last year I made cinnamon rolls and put six in a pan and gave them along with the hot chocolate to lots of people. My mom always made cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning and I loved the tradition, so I kept it going for Brooks and I. We get up Christmas morning, pop the rolls in the oven and then open presents as we eat the sweet goodness. My favorite cinnamon roll recipe is in this post. Mmmm. You can make them all the way up to the baking step and then freeze them. The night before you want to eat them, put them in your fridge. About 30 minutes before baking, let them get a little closer to room temp and then bake as normal. This is a great gift to give to people over the holiday since so many people have family visit and it's nice to have a treat to serve themselves or guests. Also, people like cinnamon rolls and fresh from your oven they are divine.

Four - Don't want to make cinnamon rolls for people? You know, the yeast and all that jazz? Cookies are fantastic too! Try the Homemade cookie dough idea on the C&H Sugar website. The recipe is even no egg so that people can eat the dough straight from the freezer if neccesary. Or just wrap up your favorite cookie dough like they suggest and give it to someone you love!

Okay, I am so giddy over this I am off to write holiday preparation lists. Holiday lists make me almost as happy as holiday cookies. Almost.

Another gripefest about book of face

I'm going to fuss about the book of face again. Here we go.

A semi acquaintance of mine - again, why am I friends with this type of person? - posted some pictures on there that I just cringed at. No these aren't the trashy ones that you'll regret when you friend your boss. This guy takes pictures as a side job and these were some of those pictures. Now, I will give that the pictures were of his wife but really I don't want to see them. No, not nudey pictures. But pregnant semi clothed semi unclothed pictures. This is the second set I have seen just in the small group that I am friends with. The other set was tastefully done, as was the first, but simply had the pregnant woman with a sheet wrapped around her private areas.

My issue is not with the type of photo or the person that was photographed. People it is the fact that you just put up semi naked pictures for all the world to see! Yes, I know there are privacy settings. But you know what - if you comment on someones' photos and your friend isn't friends with them, they can click on the link for your comment and look at the entire set of pictures. Do people not realize that this photo could be copied and pasted all over the place? HELLOS.

I will admit that I like the thought behind these photos. I think that most times they are beautifully done. I don't think it is a big deal at all to have them taken. But friends. They are also personal photos. To be shared at home with close acquaintances. Would you typically share semi dressed pictures of yourself with a hundred or so people?

I think not.

Reality Bites

You know how some times it just seems like the weekends are two brutally short days? Well folks, I am here to tell you it because... wait for it... the weekend is only two brutally short days. I don't feel like there is any way possible to cram in everything I want to do into two days. I mean I sleep for half of that! I propose a plan of four work days and three home days. Can we get a bill passed for that? Surely it would be less controversial than everything else our government does. A little bit of equality around here.

Three days. Let's daydream about how I would spend those glorious days. One would be the repair day. Clean the house, grocery store runs, laundry, general life maintenance. Day two would be a day of get togethers, kind of like a Saturday nite in my typical weekend but now I would have one day to prepare for the get together and one day to rest after the get together. Day three would be my day of rest. Pancakes and bacon shoveled into my mouth in the morning, a lazy newspaper reading, crafting, shopping kind of day. Sounds perfect.

But since that crap isn't happening, I'll just bitch about it being Monday and having to leave on a trip tomorrow for four days.

And just because pictures make everything better, here are some more.

Look - I cooked at the beach. The pan at the house we rented was nice and warped so I had to use the spray stuff as leverage to keep it semi even on the burner. Nice kitchen but not meant for more than one or two. And I hear white cabinets have a tendency to yellow after time but hell in a beach house, who cares!

The neices got there in the middle of the nite and the next morning they were surprised when they woke up and came down. They saw US! I would feel bad for my husband that his neices are cuddling me more than him except for the fact that he is the favorite of my neice and nephew. Don't mind the spectacles, bed head and morning breath. It's vacation! We don't notice these things!

We went for a little shopping trip and wandered down to the beach. The water was amazingly warm and calm. So warm and calm that I had to roll up the pants and take off the shoes. I almost dove in. The only thing holding me back would have been that whole nothing to wear issue. And tell me why I thought these bug glasses were cute when I got them?

The next day was our last there and the water was calm and warm again, so we went to the beach again. YAY! The husband and I got to go for a little walk by ourselves and didn't even know this picture was taken. I am white so I wear sundresses over my bathing suit to the beach.

Now I am going to go back to reality and the three inches of snow that are on the ground outside my office.

So hey - a few months go by and I kind of disapear. Oops.

Let's update. Had a little period of mental FML for a month or two. Since then I have decided that there is not much I can do besides keep applying for new jobs. New jobs that are not just settling, which is how I ended up where I am now. So that limits the job applying quite significantly. On a related note, I have decided to start looking into other career options through classes at the university I work at. I don't even know that I am going to take higher level classes towards a masters or just take a random class here and there to see if it is something that I like and should start pursuing. I don't want to take the next few years and put them towards something that I don't know if I will really like.

Now in thinking about other career fields to pursue, everything that crosses my path makes me feel like maybe I should try that. Nutrition, psychology, occupational therapy, counselor education, culinary school, you name it, I have considered it. Anyone know of a good resource for learning about what career fields would match your personality? Huh, me either.

What else? Oh, the mess that is my husband's health?! Let's see, we have been to a bagillion more drs. And guess what?! No ANSWERS. That's just a party in the pants my friends. His primary dr suggested a psychologist simply because stress is a big part of his life between school and being sick since February. I don't know that she even knew about my FIL being an alcoholic. So I latched on to this idea, as I have always felt that this would be a great thing for my husband, you know, growing up with an alcoholic father and having your mother leave and head 7 hours away with your other two siblings. But why don't you all try this, suggest that your husband go to a mental health professional or read even a book about adult children of alcoholics. That will over like a dog fart at Thanksgiving.

I have taken to stopping at bookstores while I am traveling for work and reading books for adult children of alcoholics and you know, there's nothing like sitting on a step stool and wiping your snot dribbles on your sleeve to brighten a trip.

On to brighter news. We went to the beach for my SIL to get married in October. Perhaps the nicest beach I have ever been to. We took pictures. It was COLD. like need nipple flowers cold.

Then there was Halloween. We carved pumpkins. Mine was awesome. Again, it was cold, so we carved pumpkins on the floor in the dining room.

Cats don't like pumpkins.

What's next? Pictures make up for no posts, right?

Let's just skip to Thanksgiving. I made the best damn turkey ever. Dry salt brine. Easy Peasy and I almost rolled in the damn roasting pan it was so good. My family all came up, we'll just skip over the husband's family.

Myself, little brother and sister. Love these mushy stinks.

I wanted a nice picture of my husband and I. My five year old neice volunteered to take the pictures. We decided to humor her.

Slumped on the couch? Gorgeous.

Husband dressing himself. Apparently I am high on something. Should I wear this sweater ever? I swear my boobs are not the size of Texas.

Five year old hand over the flash. Slightly off center and crooked.

Finally my sister took it. Meh. Okay but passable with some cropping and editing.

Then of course we have our obligatory self timer make the dog wear antlers pictures. This is my punishment for him chewing my underwear up all the time. Panties are expensive yo.

Last weekend we spent three hours wondering around a tree farm looking for the perfect tree. After much cussing and frozen digits later we got our tree. It's up, lights are on the outside of the house and here's a kicker. My MIL is coming the week after Christmas.

And I stopped taking my emotion stabilizing birth control months ago. OH HELLLLLLLLL!

YAY!

Feliz Navidad my friends.

so I cried...

Since I decided to stop taking birth control, I realized two things that birth control had done for me. You know, besides that obvious not having babies thing.

1) Gloriously clear skin. I have never been prone to acne but in the past couple of months there has been many more little fellas pop up here and there.

2) Emotions were kept in better check.

I am the first to admit that I have always been more emotional and expressive than the typical person. There is no hiding a bad day for me. I cry at romance novels. I cry when I see my husband doing something sweet with my neices.

But friends? I believe I had forgotten that WOWZA my emotions are potent. Everyone knows that I have been stressed lately. Work is stressful and while I would like to say that 40 hours a week is all the time I spend at work, I also spend lovely nites at hotel rooms and what seems like days in cars and airplanes. When others finish their day and head home to have a dinner with their spouse, I find the nearest Subway and have my standard - wheat bread, turkey, jalepenos, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, carrots, one squirt of light mayo and a shake or two of parmesean cheese. Apples, please. If I'm feeling crazy I get the Baked Lays instead.

On top of the ever present work saga is my husband still being undiagnosed. It has been a really tough time since February. A heart breaking time to see the very active husband I married laying on the couch with a headache that he has had for three weeks. One that Vicodin doesn't help. While I would do all the household chores in the world for him to feel better, I admit that 7 months of doing much of the housework myself blows.

I have applied for numerous jobs and he has been to numerous doctors. So we are trying. But on Saturday morning after going to the grocery store, mowing the yard and cleaning the house so that we could have friends over, I had a little emotional moment. And by little I mean, I placed myself on the floor of my closet, curled up with my sweet cat and cried. Actually, my cat is a bitch, but she loves me. And if I am being fully honest, I did a little more than cry. Perhaps sob is a better word. I just kept thinking, I need a break. A ray of sunshine in the form of a promising job opportunity amd an actual medical diagnosis and resolution to my husband's issues.

So I cried.

Then I rose up and hung up some of the clothes I had just cried on. Got in the shower, sobbed a little more, and went on with my day. Monday I applied for two more jobs and in a week and a half, we head to a major medical center in hopes of some answers.

Today, I'll job search some more and go home to check on my husband at lunch.

Tomorrow I'll do it again.

Until we meet again.

When I travel, I meet all kinds of people. I meet sweet people at the hotel in Columbia, Maryland who check me in at the hotel. I meet lovely alums in Harrisburg, PA who invite me to their tailgates, though I always think how awkward that would be. I meet people on airplanes who stick in my mind. There was a couple from NYC who owned a restaurant but moved last year to help out their daughter in South Carolina who was going through a divorce. They were on their way to Atlantic City to gamble and by the sounds of it, did that quite frequently. Their accents were all native New Yorker. I loved it.

In the late winter, I met a sweet man Wally who was returning to our town after a family trip to their beach house in Florida. He and I were on a late flight home on a Friday nite and we both felt like chatting I suppose. Wally and his wife have been married for over 50 years and in the recent past they had to put his wife in a nursing home. He told me that he missed her while he was in Florida even though she likely didn't realize he was gone. The tender things he said about his wife made my heart ache for him. Well dressed and very mild mannered, Wally was a grandfatherly figure that loved his ill wife.

After speaking for a while, we talked about where our homes are and it turns out that before his wife went into the nursing home, they lived in my part of our community. We chatted about how lovely that community it is and how, in general, our town really has a wonderful charm to it. Wally told me that he missed living there but still saw some of his former neighbors with regularity.

Today, I followed a SUV into our little post office to mail something for my husband. I griped under my breather about that SUV taking it's sweet time to pull into 1.5 parking spaces, while I zipped into the remainder of that parking spot. I grabbed my package and hurriedly made my way into the post office. I had to put a few labels and such on the package and I noticed that the old fart that had taken his and my share of the parking lot was in front of me. As I looked at his profile, I recognized him but could not place him. As the cashier rang him out, she said his name. Wally. Instantly, I knew who it was. I thought it likely that he did not remember me, so I went about my business. After I paid and walked out, I noticed Wally walking with a handful of mail, slowly shuffling along. He looked older than just a few months ago and I wondered about his wife. I wish I remembered her name.

Wally turned and smiled at me and instantly I thought I should say hello. How often do you meet a random stranger twice? I spoke to him for a few moments and asked about his wife. She is doing very well and he thanked me for remembering. After a bit of conversation, I told Wally that I had to get back to work but that it was lovely to see him and perhaps we would meet on a plane or at the post office again. Wally smiled and told me to enjoy the beautiful day.

As I drove back in my car, I kept thinking about why I met Wally. Why did I see him again? Was it to teach me patience when someone is taking their sweet time pulling into a parking spot because maybe it is someone else's Wally? I don't know, but seeing Wally made my day just a bit brighter.

And the couple from NYC? They taught me that I could plant garlic and while it is growing it looks like daffodils. But it takes a full year grow a bulb.

Ring Finger

Random question.

For those of you that are married, which ring is closer to the knuckle? Engagement ring or wedding band?

Curious minds need to know.