Last weekend of November

I continued on Friday being a slug so I made a fresh start Saturday. Sort of. I put up Christmas lights and brought up some Santas and did a radio show and ate some Hutchings leftover Thanksgiving meals on wheels and then drove Chip and Tim out to Kim n Jim's for cards. Ha ha. Getting both those boys in my small car was a challenge. But they were glad for the DD.

Big news: Kim's daughter Brittany is pregnant, due in July. So just barely but she looks healthy. Kim's already talking booties and onesies and other gear. We had fun playing poker and got home after midnight. I think I may have won $10.

Today I washed the windows on the east side of the house and did laundry and tidying and changed the bed, etc. Got Tom a birthday card at Calico Sage and my gifts to the ladies for GNO. Bought some goods at Meijer including a frou frou necklace.

Infuriating note: I'm painting my toenails in the bathroom and the little kitty darts in, just long enough to knock over the polish bottle and make it spin like a Spirograph, spewing a circular trail of poppy on the floor and the rug. Floor, not so bad; rug, ruined.

Overall, a relaxing weekend but I could have made better use of my time. Spent too much time on Facebook on the iPad.

This week: Tuesday pick Amy up at the airport late when it's supposed to be crappy weather; GNO here Weds. but I'm taking the day off so no big deal. Poker here Dec. 10. I thought I had a radio meeting, but the Atomic Mama points out it's still November.

Time to get ready for another imported meal.
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It's all so exciting!

We went to a wine dinner at SamB's last Tuesday night. The 16th. It was very good and if I hadn't had seconds on the port that was the dessert wine, I woulda been OK. That stuff has some high alcohol content. But I recovered. As always.

Then Friday we went to a TS4A fundraiser where the theme was trailer park trash and apparently I overdressed as the bartender girl pointed out I had on similar stockings to her and she was dressed up.

Saturday was the holiday parade in BG, preceded by breakfast at the Corner Grill, then we went to Ann Arbor and ate at Logan and saw Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams. Then Sunday I had a small gathering for Karen and Wendell from Dallas.

Then I worked 2 and a half lackluster days and went to Delaware Wednesday night. My mom is not well. She's barely able to stay awake or walk. But I made the giant meal: fried chicken a la mom, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (fresh) with syrup and marshmallows, Stove Top Stuffing, crescent rolls, cole slaw (fresh made), deviled eggs, no actual vegetable, my mom's odd peach cake thing. There was a pumpkin pie which wasn't cut in my presence and sadly I took home the whipped cream, so if they had some later, it was plain.

Today, omg. I did put in my glass front door and do some laundry and buy some coffee at GFT and eat some but basically I watched video. Quite a few episodes of Modern Family which I have the entire first season DVD of and How to Tame Your Dragon, which taught me many things: children are our hope of salvation, dragons are our friends, make love not war, the big thing in control can be vanquished, women too can hunt dragons, and of course, love is a wonderful thing.

I vacillated between feeling guilty and feeling luxurious. I'm going with luxurious.

I apparently have successfully synched my iPod with my updated iTunes library. As you know, I have struggled with this recently. Getting the iTunes to ingest, etc.

I may or may not have a radio show tomorrow depending on whether the Falcon women lose or win tonight. Although at BGSUFalcons.com, it says they play at either 6 or 8 pm PST, so it seems like I'd be on. We'll see.

And Kim and Jim have cards Sat. night.

Next week is GNO at my house. I'm taking that day off because I can and I'm picking Amy up at the airport late Tuesday night. Although she had to go to work Weds.

Thanksgiving

My mom is making a peach cobbler but she doesn't like lumpy cobbler batter so shes making a Jiffy cake mix with peaches baked into the top. Hmmmm.

More holiday preps

I've been hitting LLBean.com to see what they've got on sale and today they had a queen size inflatable bed that has great reviews so it was on sale AND free shipping AND 10% more off if I'd open an LLBean Visa, which I did. No more visitor difficulty in the sleeping section.

Holiday madness approacheth

Next Sunday, I am hosting a party for Karen and Wendell from Dallas. A little evening massive drinking affair that you should feel free to attend. Particularly if you have a guitar Wendell can borrow and bring one for yourself.

Then Weds. I'm going to my mom's and making a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday: fried chicken, stove top, creamy mashed, vegetables (although not green line green beans, which I made last year and neither my mom nor sister would eat), cranberry in the can, rolls, etc.

The next week, it's GNO chez moi at which I am preparing all the snacks. Really. Don't bring any -- unless you want to bring homemade Christmas cookies that I can then freeze for when my kids arrive, 22 days later.

And there's second Friday poker chez moi on Dec.10 and Amy's having a holiday open house on Friday Dec. 17. And cards at Kim and Jim's the Friday after Thanksgiving.

At least I got all the leaves raked out of the far back of my yard. It could still stand a mowing. Hopefully I can rake out that slurry in the southeast corner of the fenced part of my yard the day after Thanksgiving, which I have off.

Today at Meijer I started the stockup: crackers on sale, creme fraiche, chocolate chips, raspberry jam for thumbprint cookies.

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Fabulous weekend

Blue skies, moderately cool, plenty of lounging around, some drinking.

My daughter bought a 2008 Honda Civic Saturday. With 38,000 miles so practically brand new for a Honda. They let her drive it home from the deal. She's now working at both Levis fulltime and for Bradley Bayou parttime. Link is a Facebook so hope you're on.

Tom is back in the US with an apartment "an indefinite sublease in the Haight/Castro" and a job at Foreign Cinema. How he acquired either of these from Asia where a good part of the time he was unable to be on the Internet is beyond me.

Friday night I went out to the farm and had lamb chops and wine and Myles Baker St. desserts. Saturday I had a radio show. I musta done something else. Amy and Sherry came over and we had some drinks and gossip. Oh right, I cleaned on Saturday, like massive floor maintenance and tidying up.

Yesterday, a giant gang of teens tore down Curtis Ave., raking everybody's lawns! OMG can one even fathom!! I was prepared to go out and hand them some cash, but they just moved on. Maybe some community service requirement? Whatever: a miracle.

Today, I fertilized and watered my new rose bush. Bought some groceries. Made some squash soup with black beans and corn and red bell pepper. Made banana bread pudding with caramel sauce. Have some baking potatoes in and waiting for the main course-- lamb shanks-- to show up.

Reading Bucolic Plague about these 2 gay guys who buy and refurbish a working farm from 1802 in upstate New York. Although I thought it was one of those Live Your Best Life stories, mainly these guys had a boatload of cash from working in NYC plus one guy was a regular guest on Martha Stewart's TV show which enabled them to get free product placement and turn their farming op into a world wide enterprise.

That's what I need-- a world wide enterprise-- as our TV station was sold last week to a private investor so we are no longer part of the Disney/ABC family. We'll still be an ABC affiliate but not the same in many people's minds. I waffle between thinking I'll just wait and see how the new regime will be AND trying to plot out a new career(s). One FABULOUS perk from the deal is since I am 55 and have worked there 10 years, I'll get a Disney silver pass, every year FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. Now there's a retirement plan, move to Florida, take people to the park for free. That's right-- I can take 3 people into any Disney park worldwide (except maybe that Tokyo one) every day forever. OR I could effect this scheme at Disney Land, which is in the state my children reside in. Hmm, $300 dollars a day.... ( a cut rate compared with the $200 a day for adults, $185 for kids) I could give people a real deal.

Also, I'm thinking about opening a food truck. And an asset management firm. Assets like your pictures are on your phone and you want them transferred to your computer and burned to a disk to print out. Or you have a local restaurant/venue website and it never gets updated. Or your old parent has a mountain of health care related paperwork that needs to be sorted and you don't live around here.

Whatever. The whole sale deal is a door opened to opportunity. I must enter.

Otherwise, just happy we've not had any bad weather yet in November and we're 1/3 the way through.

Going to the Ark to see Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams on Oct. 20, a day I have no radio show.
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Tommy's back

He just got off the plane that had a "threatening note and box cutter." Story here.