My Christmas cards are still sitting here......

Even though I find this hilarious, I would NEVER send a card like this one.

But it did make me laugh....

Here I am, sitting at my desk (which is super messy as always) and to my right are two boxes of cards.  When I hauled out the Christmas decor I discovered them in the box with all the wrapping paper and gift bags.  I set them on my desk as a reminder to send out cards this year, but they are still sitting there as a reminder of my procrastination.  I didn't send out a single card.  

But I know I am not alone ~ we received two cards this year.  One was mailed from my husband's brother and his wife, and the other was given to me by one of my racquetball friends (who hand makes cards every year, they are beautiful and amazing cards that take her months to plan and make).  So, the tradition of sending out cards has ~ from my experience ~ died a slow death.  

First of all, postage is very expensive.  55 cents for each and every card, not including extra if it is heavy or over-sized.  Cards are fairly cheap unless you want a specific message, or want to impress the recipients with a fancy card.  I also tried send E-cards (you can do it through Hallmark), but no one seemed very happy with them.  I thought they were great, because you could add your message and some were even animated, sang songs, etc. 

Secondly, it takes time.  Generally we like to write something in the card, like "I wish we were together for the holidays", or something personal that you want to say.  The really time crunched write a letter and print out however many they need and stuff it inside the card, which isn't very personal at all......

So, as I sit here, wondering how old these cards are, I wonder if I should just throw them out, and admit to myself that it's not something I will do.  Being honest with oneself is sometimes hard.  We don't want to admit we are unorganized, procrastinating shit-bags, do we?  And yet.  I suppose that is exactly what I am, lol.  

Love, 365

Calling it out......or "you go, Peg!"

Calling people out on their B.S.....

Brought to you by (go here)......

And then there's this........ a very interesting article where Michael decided to call out the BS when he encountered it for a week.  

Peg's story was a little bit more satisfying.  I mean, who hasn't wanted to, or did, tell someone in the nicest way they could think of that they're a jerk?  Worse yet, a racist jerk.   Oh, you didn't go to the link yet?  Go ahead, I'll wait........

 I recall calling out the BS was a few years ago when I went to buy tires.  Maybe more than a few years ago, because this was when Bush (the second one) was president.  Remember when we all had a nice little tax bonus?  We had to wait quite a long time for our refund due to the last four numbers of Romeo's ss#.  We decided I would buy new tires for the Rodeo, I did my due diligence on deciding what type of tires I wanted, and went down to the Discount Tire down the road.  I pointed out the tires I'd chosen, and the sales guy went to the back to make sure they had enough.  He returns a few minutes later, said they only have one and they will need to go to the bigger warehouse to pick up the other three.  The charge was "only" $40 for them to go right out to get them.  

I looked at him for a half a minute, my mind spinning out all sorts of scenarios.  Then I explained that I had waited months for this tax refund, and I can certainly wait another few days or a week or whatever, for the tires.  Just call me when you have them and I'll be back, I said.  I pick up my purse and turn to walk out, when he calls me back, and said "let me talk to the manager", returns a few minutes later to say they will wave the fee.  

And inside my head, is a little girl jumping up and down, raising her fist in the air, yelling "YES!", while I pulled out my book and started calmly reading while I got my new tires.  

Love, 365

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wow, it's been sooooo long since I've posted anything!  Here is the handy list of excuses....

~I've been busy with shopping for the holidays and baking too many cookies...
~When I sit down to write, something comes up and I end up not finishing....
~I've been working too much......co-workers are taking off time they can't carry-over......
~I fell and I can't get up.....

The past week has been crazy and hectic, but I suppose many of you have experienced the same.  We had such a nice Christmas ~ not in the way of gifts, but just the way the day went, you know?  We didn't irritate each other, the small gifts were thoughtful, the Louisiana gumbo was great.  I also had a banner day in bread baking.  Even though the ugly loaves taste just as good as the great looking loaves, it's really great when they turn out pretty.

Merry Christmas!
Love, 365

Ahhhh, a wee bit of alone time.....

Tiny humans......

I don't really know why, but Romeo has been substitute teaching more the past 4 weeks.  In the past he would let a week or two go by before accepting a job, then take one or two days and repeat.  Perhaps his recent trips to urgent care has spurred it on, or the holidays.  

Whatever, I have a rare day at home alone.  Something I really missed when he retired a year ago!  I love my time alone, where no one is hanging around, asking if I need help, or what I want for lunch.  Oh, I have the hour or two on the weekend when he is working on a project outside or is making his rounds of the hardware store (sort of like me going to the department store, haha).  Sometimes I just need a day where I can regroup and recharge.  Like today.

Last week he had a couple of jobs with kindergartners.  Not long after he arrived, he texted me with "they are so tiny!!".  It's one thing to see a little kid with their mom at the store, and quite another to have a class room full of them.  It really made me smile to imagine him in that class.   

My co-worker brought in some cookies she baked, and they were so delicious I got the recipe, and a batch is in my freezer right now.  After I get home from racquetball I'm going to bake them.  They're a shortbread cookie with fresh rosemary.  I really need to plant a few bushes in my yard, it's so expensive to buy at the store.  

I hope you all enjoy your Friday!  

Love, 365

Mailing packages.....

Although Romeo now has a gift under the tree (the robe I wrote about in my last post) I still had some small things to mail out.  I picked up some of the flat rate boxes from work and looked up how much it would cost me to mail them.  After being sufficiently shocked, I decided to mail them anyway.  There is a UPS store not far from my house, and they accept USPS stuff too.  So I took them in and after the woman who was helping me (wow, was she grumpy) told me how much it was, I told her I'm sorry I wasted her time and took them to the post office to mail.  It would have cost me $34 dollars.  They would charge me 14 dollars more than the post office would.  I was shocked.  I'll never go there again unless I have a UPS package from Amazon to return.  I think that's highway robbery ~ does anyone say that anymore? haha.

Most of my shopping is done.  The last thing I really needed, for the office "white elephant gift exchange" is coming tomorrow.  I am so glad that part is over, because it's just so stressful, and I am struggling to get through the first part of the month to my next paycheck.  Unfortunately you really can't order from Amazon in October and have them hold it for you until the second week in December!  So I had to wait ~ most everything was picked out in October and November.  I'm tempted to send gift cards to the grandkids (not for them to spend, but the parents to use for what they might like).  Buying a gift for my grandson with autism is especially hard.  Even his Dad (my son) would tell me when I ask for a hint or suggestion that he just doesn't know. 

My co-worker and I baked on Sunday ~ wow, the kitchen looked like a bakery.  The oven was on for 3 hours, and the downstairs was actually too warm.  We had fun though, and she is truly a nice girl.  She's probably in her mid to late 20s. It was nice to have someone to bake with that enjoys it.  We're planning on getting together again sometime to make pumpkin rolls, but I'm wondering if we'll get to it before the holidays. 

I hope your shopping is done, and you're simply enjoying the parties! 
Love, 365

The average Saturday........

Looking good!  

Oh, it's just a typical Saturday morning.  I usually watch Lucky Dog while having breakfast and coffee.  I wish I could get a dog from Brandon, he trains them so well!  After finishing this post, I'll shower and get going. 

Since most of the family lives in Texas, I have packages to mail out.  I received the name of the person from the family gift exchange, and Romeo picked up a very nice robe from Costco.  It was $19.  To ship said robe?  Probably $15.  Now I'm thinking I will send a gift card to the recipient and let Romeo keep the robe.  Next year I'm putting "GET GIFT CARDS" in my calendar starting in mid-November so that I don't make this mistake again.  I had forgotten how expensive it is to mail stuff since I rarely mail packages...most of the time I let Amazon mail them for me, probably just like most of you.....

And wow, have I been taking advantage of Amazon.  It's just so convenient!  I would love to shop more locally, but then I'm stuck with the same issue I mentioned already.  Shipping.  :-(

I had a lovely 8 days off ~ I had a few extra days to use up before the end of the year....we can only carry over 2 days to the next one.  I baked, I decorated, I volunteered.  Went back to work on Thursday and somehow :-) got through those two days to the weekend.  What I really need is a three day work "week".  Which may happen as my boss transitions to retirement.  We speculate that he will cut Friday's out of his schedule sometime this next year.  But I'm not ready for retirement yet.  I need to pay off my "new" car.....

Sioux getting into the spirit.....

I know it looks like it's leaning, but it's just my poor camera skills...haha

Ok!  I finally posted something, and it doesn't matter that it might or might not be lame.  But for now I have to shower and get going....so enjoy the weekend wonderful readers!

Love, 365

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week I read a post with ~ what I assume is a 20-30 year old woman ~ ranting over how we've all been fed (haha) a bunch of baloney about Thanksgiving.  That the history in the books is wrong.  And I had to agree that the history books of my childhood were not based on fact, but a not-so-subtle twisting of how it really was so that all of us immigrants can feel good about ourselves.  However, I did bristle when she highly criticized basically all Americans for celebrating this holiday which is, as she explained it, based on lies.  Then the shit storm hit facebook.  Some agreed with her but the overwhelming majority supported Thanksgiving as more than just a continuation of a historical fabrication.  In fact I would feel confident in saying that it's something different to all of us.

For my family, who had very few "traditions", it meant we had turkey, dressing, gravy, vegetables of some kind, bread and then a selection of pies.  Pumpkin.  Pecan.  Apple.  We sat down after Mom cooked all day and ate that beautiful meal in what ~ 15 to 20 minutes?  If we had company then there might have been conversation, jokes, laughter that might have been lacking when it was just Mom, Dad and us two girls.  It all depended on how well Mom & Dad were getting along on that day. 

Mom would then dutifully put up the Christmas decor the day after.  Of course my sister and I helped with all that stuff.  Cooking, putting up the tree, making cookies before Christmas.  But my Mom wasn't a happy woman.  And her unhappiness showered down on the rest of us.  So, although my sister and I weren't depressed or sad all the time, we certainly were not as happy as we might have been if our parents didn't despise each other. 

I'm sorry!  This is supposed to be about Thankfulness ~ and I am so very thankful of all we have.  We had a great dinner today. The turkey was good (ok, it was just a tad dry on the legs).  The dressing was excellent.  The focaccia bread ~ which I thought was good ~ Romeo didn't really care for.  But we have a nice home, that's warm and homey, our health ~ when others are struggling.  Life is good.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Love to you all!
365

Sort of just another Friday........

Today was a regular Friday ~ work until 2pm, come home all cranky because I haven't had any lunch yet, because we work straight through w/no lunch break.  Which is ok because I'd rather get off an hour early.  It's Romeo's Friday off from putting my lunch together, which he does the other work days. 

Remember Ms. Loud?  (how can one forget, ha ha) The week before this one she came into work sounding sick.  Coughing, and stuff.  Well, she came over to my desk, leaned in REAL close to do something on my computer, and bingo ~ I end up with strep too.  She did apologize, but that doesn't give me back the time off I had to take on Tuesday.  And I had all my vacation days planned to the minute, with a carry over of 2 days for next year, which will now be one.  Wah wah wah, I am just a whiner, but it still ticks me off.  If you don't feel good at work please don't make certain your coworkers will end up with whatever plague you might have, will ya?

This week it seems like I suddenly realized that Thanksgiving is next week, so I scrambled to find my teeny tiny turkey ~ and found a 7.3 pound one.  Perfect for two of us.  Since our family doesn't travel much, and Thanksgiving is basically a long weekend, it's always just us two.  I don't want a 12 - 16 pound turkey where we end up with way too much in left over turkey.  A few days of leftovers is great, but 8 more meals is too much.  So, I scratched that off my list, but it isn't making much of a dent ~ this is the start of the silly season after all.

Well, enough bellyaching for now.  Enjoy your weekend!
Love, 365

Happy Friday & more about the end.....

Believe it or not, this is a burial ground.....

Yeah, I apologize to all of you that really, really don't want to discuss our inevitable end.  All of us will die someday.  That doesn't mean we want to think about it much less talk to our families about it.  It's an uncomfortable subject.  Maybe we just don't want to be overwhelmed ~ & believe me, it is overwhelming.  I had to change my final wishes due to religious reasons.  But the idea of being "preserved" with embalming frankly grossed me out.  In my research for a natural burial, I discovered that New Mexico has a burial ground just south of Albuquerque.  No embalming.  No fancy caskets.  Much more affordable than the traditional funeral home service ~ after adding everything up, it is more than $5,000 less (because the plan I had discussed last week didn't include a place to actually bury in).  There may have been something I failed to add in, but it came to just a tad over $3,000. The only sticky wicket is that you are buried within 24 hours or so.  Obviously.  So if you have family out of town, they will likely miss it, but since they include GPS coordinates, they can always go out if they want to.  I know this sounds very depressing to some.  But I will feel so relieved that Romeo won't have to make these plans if I die before he does.  I'm doing it for him and the rest of the family. 

This type of burial is sometimes called "green", and for good reason.  No poisonous embalming fluid seeping into the ground.  No toxic fumes released into the air with cremation.  Even though that's not my main concern, it's good to know.  Ok, so there.  Now you know!
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Howdy!

I am so glad for this 4 day weekend coming up.  I don't have a lot on the calendar, which is why!  Although I do need to find a turkey.......and edible turkey, haha.  Last year I was so lucky to find a small one, I think it was around 8 lbs, which is perfect for the two of us.  Basically it's just a large chicken :-)

The weeks after this one become increasingly busy.  Cookie baking.  Decorating.  Parties (although there are only a few).  Church services of course.  Somehow I manage to dread and feel excited about it all.  Of course included in all this is buying a few gifts ~ mostly for the kids.  Our family draws names at Thanksgiving, so there's only one item to purchase.  Takes a little pressure off.  The pressure is to make sure I get it sent off on time ~ I have cut it very close a few times.  

Enjoy your weekend!

Love, 365

The silly season is nearly upon us......

I know you've seen this too....

 

Oh, boy, here we go.  The Christmas decor is up everywhere.  I noticed it at Costco before Halloween, but I suppose that has been true for a number of years.....the time they put it out is earlier and earlier.  In fact, some people on FB have announced that they've already put up their tree.  Not sure if they did outdoor decorations, but the tree is up!!  

 

Well, I may have started my Christmas shopping, but I am not putting up any trees until after Thanksgiving.  I love fall decor.  And the tree & other decorations gets old.  Why put it up so early?  ARGHHHHHHH.  My sister said it's because there's not as much time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that sounds a little lame to me.

 

My co-worker was out all week last week with the flu.  I am glad she didn't come in because I didn't get my flu shot until last Saturday.  I've had the flu before, and it wasn't any fun at all.  At the same time, it was rough doing both of our jobs.  The other two co-workers only helped me out after they got their coffee :-( The 7:45-8:30 period is one of the busiest!  I did say something to our OM, and she said I should ask.  Well, the problem with that is, I was so busy I had no time to ask.  Sheesh.  One thing I did do when my moral was at the bottom was look at the want ads.  But as I've said before, I really hate losing all my vacation time.  And I have the maximum amount now that I've been there for nearly 5 years.  Wah wah wah.  I'm really being a cry baby, huh?

 

Speaking of crying, I met with a funeral home rep this weekend to put together a pre-paid funeral.  Although I see the need for it, it is not a fun conversation.  What kind of flowers? (I don't know). What type of casket?  (Uh, that one). What about the limousine service?  (I guess so).  On and on.  Way more details than I ever thought possible.  And, wow, is it expensive.  My original plan was cremation, but for religious reasons, I now need a standard funeral.  What a racket, eh?  It is expensive to live AND die.  

And so, given the "downer" nature of my post, here's something to chuckle at:

 

Have a great week y'all!

Love, 365

This and that......

My daughter-in-law sent this pic of my Grandson in Halloween costume....

The funny part is his name is Frank :-)

Frank-furter?  Lol

The last time I enjoyed Halloween was 25 years ago.  Seriously! I enjoyed it when my kids were young but now it's just a giant pain and too much candy laying around.  I didn't want to wear a costume for work, but I remembered my graduation cap and gown, so I wore it.  Still, I would have preferred to wear my regular work clothes ~ that cap wrecked my hair, haha.  Even though I "participated" in the costume thing at work, my coworkers didn't include me in the photo's they took.  Why?  I have no idea.  I know I am too sensitive, but it kinda made me feel like an outsider.  

Which got me to thinking about how few friends I have.  Maybe Romeo's loner mentality is rubbing off.  Then I saw this:

Loners generally have a small circle of close friends and have higher standards for their friendship and trust. They enjoy spending time with their friends but do not depend on and attach to them like others, though they are highly loyal. ... Funny enough, both introverts and extroverts can be loners.

Yeah, so I'm good.  That's the thing about work.  It's like your in-laws ~ you didn't really choose them, they're just there and it's up to you (or me) to find a way to work with everyone.  Mostly when they are getting together to gossip (by which I mean any conversation that doesn't have anything to do with work and not necessarily talking about someone) and it's not a conversation I have any interest in, I just go to my desk and you know...........work.  Lol.

It's my Friday off.  Unfortunately I don't have Monday off next week like I normally would, because the Doc took (his words) too much time off and wants to make up one of those days.  :-(  Bummer.

Have a great weekend!

Love, 365