Have officially made New Year's Day plans . . . whew!

Me: So we should start making plans for New Year's Day.GH: [grunt]Me: Except . . . huh. I'm not sure what there is to do. Seems like most things are closed.GH: Hmmm.(See how good he is at pretending to be engaged? I can't even get mad when he suddenly shakes his head and says, "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening to any of that. You had better start over." Because then I get to tell my stories twice, which, for a chatter-box, is pretty much like getting free dessert.)Me: I mean . . . they made it a holiday, but what are people supposed to be DOING on that day?GH: People are hung over that day.Me: Oh . . . right. Well then I really don't know what our options are.Except today my long-awaited copy of The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance: A Memoir by Elna Baker has arrived. So I know...

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Countdown

Tree trimmed--Check, including the Gentleman Husband's beloved Sputnick.Car prepped for the Christmas journeyings--Check, including a fresh battery for the flashlight.Cameras and video cameras charged--Check, not that I will remember to use either of them.Cookies baked and plated for Visiting Teachees--Check.Cookies delivered to VTees--Nope, and now they are stale and gross.Crucial Christmas movies watched--Joyeux Noel, A Muppet's Christmas Carol, and Under the Greenwood Tree so far. Doing good!Knitted gifts completed--Um, still scrambling there. May be delivering some IOUs tomorrow morning.Gifts wrapped--Yeah, not so much.Christmas cards--Nope. Keep an eye out next year, though!Groceries purchased & laundry done--Check, thanks to furloughed GH who gets to be my handsome house elf for...

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I might be going to hell

Unless, of course, hell is for people who write crap Christmas songs.Last month I was out buying Christmas gift supplies when it started to snow. I decided to turn on the Christmas stations in the car in the hopes of enhancing the holiday buzz.My two choices were a) that song about the kid trying to buy his dying momma shoes for when she "goes to see Jesus" that night, or b) a song, sung by a child, in the form of a letter to "Mister Jesus" pleading for an end to child abuse.Um . . . yeah. Not so much buzz-enhancing . . .First off, if the Wikipedia article is to be believed, that Christmas Shoes song took 4 minutes to write. This . . . does not surprise me.Secondly, a child-abuse awareness song? Really? Was a well-meaning radio station person sitting around one day and thinking, "You know,...

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Looks like somebody out there was thinking positive thoughts!

The universe kicked in! GH has a new job!One minute I pretty much resigned myself to the part where he would always be working the night shift for $4.25 per hour and that one day he would die of insomnia-related causes and I would be left a zit-faced widow and that would be it. The next minute he was getting a call about a job that he barely remembered applying for over a month ago.The interview went well and all weekend we crossed fingers and prayed that this could work out. On Sunday a man in our ward gave a talk on adversity and said that in the last year 3 of his sons have lost their jobs and he himself has had to lay off two-thirds of his own workforce. Which was a nice little (or, you know, huge) reminder that even if GH doesn't find a new job any time soon, the part where he is employed...

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Christmas gift for the Beatlemaniac

Sorry to interrupt my regularly scheduled NOTblogging, but I figured I'd better send out the word. Just in case anyone out there is a Beatles fan or may be shopping for one, you may be interested to learn that Amazon is offering The Beatles Monopoly (normally priced at $39.99) for $9.99 right now.So, you know, kind of a good deal. Except maybe if you're normal like me you shouldn't buy this for someone unless you know for SURE that they will have other people to play it with. I tell you. When I opt out of a game of Monopoly, I promise it's an act of mercy. Because bored, cranky, sick-of-Monopoly me is only a notch or so down from hungry, premenstrual...

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Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

Multiple points for you if you catch the reference. Plus it will make me happy to think that there were people out there spending just as much time NOT kissing boys in high school as I was.Last week GH and I hit the new In-N-Out that opened up in Draper. There were several highlights, the most surprising of which was GH's strawberry milkshake--I don't even care about strawberry milkshakes but daaaaang that was good.Also there was the part where we really were, in fact, in and out. Even though there were loads of people, they had everything moving at a very fast and smooth pace. Within 10 minutes of walking through the door we were sitting down...

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