Tag: Holidays

Thirsty Tree

When we decorated the tree last week, Harry put a tree skirt around the base that covered the entire stand. We were no longer able to see into the stand to see the water level. Jen and I were just filling up a quart measuring cup with water and pouring it into the little funnel thing and forgetting about it.

Well, today I opened up the tree skirt to see the actual level and… I couldn’t see any water at all. Granted the angle is bad and so is the lighting so I couldn’t actually see all the way to the bottom, but there was nothing within my field of vision. It took a whole gallon before it looked full again. Fingers crossed we didn’t let the tree die over the last week with our measly quarts. Also, fingers crossed I didn’t just drown the poor bastard.

HoHoHo.

Welcome to December

So I guess I have to put christmas lights on the house now, eh?

December 2021. Heading into Covid month #19 and somehow things are getting worse again? Figures. Lock downs forever.

I guess I have to start christmas shopping now, eh?

It’s not that I don’t enjoy the holidays, it’s more like I just don’t want them to be here yet. It seems like they were just here yesterday and it was Covid and all that and now it’s back and it’s still Covid and I just don’t want to deal with it. I want my old christmas back, and with each new day I become more convinced that the old christmas is never coming back. Covid crap isn’t abnormal anymore. Everything else is now abnormal and it makes me sad. I guess.

The upside is that we’re just a few weeks away from the kids being home again. Bellana is going to school in Europe next semester so she won’t be here for long, but she’ll be here for a while and that’s good. Harry will be around for his whole break.

I am not sure what I want to do for music in December. I can promise you that I won’t be writing a christmas song. Guaranteed. I want to start sneaking over my parents house and doing some cleaning. I want to start on the second floor and work my way down. More sorting than cleaning, I think. A pile of stuff to save, a pile of stuff for other people to review, and a pile of stuff to donate/trash/junk/whatever. I just want to do something. I’ve been wanting to do something for months but haven’t yet.

What else. I’ve got 20 minutes until I have to punch in to work and last night’s episode of The Flash is still playing so what else should I write about?

I have no idea what to get anyone for christmas. In other words, this December is kicking off exactly the same as every other December. HoHoHo and all that.

Okay. I have a shit load of work to do today so I guess I should just get to it. Time to punch in. Welcome to December, everyone.

Not Much Going On

Watch, I publish a post saying that there isn’t much going on and five minutes later I am going to get run over by a mac truck sized issue at work. Just you watch.

Anyway, nothing much going on today.

Work has been quiet, which is nice on a Monday. I got a little exercise in this morning, but I am having a hard time getting as much done in one sitting as I could even a few days ago. My goal is 30 minutes and I usually try to do it in two 15 minute chunks. Over the last three days or so I haven’t really been able to do more than 10 minutes at a time. Either my back will start screaming, or my calves, or my knees, or something. Isn’t exercise supposed to get easier the more you do it? Apparently not.

Intermittent fasting has not been all that great lately. One or two days each week I have been failing. Not completely, but I’ll be shutting it down after 13 hours or 14 hours or whatever. The goal is 16. Having said that though, today’s fast just ended at 18 hours. So that’s a good day, right?

I have Veteran’s Day off on Thursday. It’s bitter sweet. Starting in January my company has changed the way we handle time off and it includes some of the non-national holidays we’ve enjoyed for decades being changed to floating holidays… which means next year I don’t get 11/11 off. This is my final Veteran’s Day. Unless of course I put in for a floating holiday on that day next year, but that’s neither here nor there. I plan to honor the holiday by playing the guitar, and ending World War I.

Okay. Lunch is over. Back to work, Robert.

Thanksgivmas

I think I might need to admit defeat on this one.

Thanksgiving is pretty much my favorite holiday. I probably post that every year but it’s true. I just love me some Thanksgiving.

This year, Covid-19 is screwing everything up. No large groups. No family gatherings. Effectively no Thanksgiving. The kids are at their dad’s on the day itself, and also for that whole weekend. That means Jen and I will be alone. We’ll do something low key, and then have a full blown Thanksgiving on the first weekend they are with us. It will be a great Thanksgiving, even if it’s not on Thanksgiving.

What else does this mean though? What other effects does the lack of a normal Thanksgiving have? In a word: Christmas.

It’s November 18th and it’s safe to say that Christmas is already here. The Christmas lights are on the house, there’s a new fake tree that’s ready to be put up, there is a huge box full of new decorations just waiting for the go ahead.

One more thing? Jen bought a Christmas theme quilt for our bedroom. It was delivered yesterday. It’s in the washing machine right now. Before we sleep tonight, it will be on the bed.

It’s November 18th and the Christmas decorations are already going up. We’re going to have Christmas for Thanksgiving this year and no amount of complaining by your humble narrator here is going to stop it. Ho Ho Gobble Gobble Ho.

Neglecting the Ol’ Bloggie

I haven’t been posting much lately. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, you know what I mean? Work is Insane with a capital I, the holidays have been super stressful. So much to do, so many demands, so many headaches. I haven’t been sick, but through the last 2–3 months or so I have generally felt like sickness is right on the doorstep. I just want summer back, you know what I mean?

I booked a vacation day for this coming Friday so that I could have the full day to get ready for the next gig. I scheduled the day off back in October, right around the time we played the last gig. Since then we have booked a major vacation for late summer. No spoilers, but I need to use up a sizable chunk of my vacation time. So much so, that I had to book more time than I currently have in the bank. That means for the next few months I can’t take any more vacation days. Yikes! That’s especially painful because I feel like I need a good couple of days off. Granted, the holidays are helping but I feel like I need a couple of days off when the rest of the world is working. Now don’t get me wrong, this coming weekend is going to be spent with the love of my life and that is far and away my favorite way to spend time. I just need to be able to hide under the covers for a day or two. That ain’t happening.

Sure I have been bitching about the holidays, but Christmas was fun. The kids were great, the family was great, everything was great. I was very happy. I just wish that with all the time and energy spent preparing for Christmas, that Christmas itself could last a little longer. A week, maybe? That seems fair. We don’t have plans for New Years Eve, but we do for New Years Day, there is a much needed game night, and we do have plans for New Years Eve Eve, there is a gig to play. We had our final pre-show rehearsal on Monday. I asked the band if we could agree to never, ever book another December show. They were all very quick to agree. It has kinda gotten in the way this month. It will be another really fun experience when it happens on Friday, but I will be pretty pleased that it’s over with.

My 21 year old cousin Abigail got married today. It was a surprise. No one outside of her immediate family knew it was happening until it was already done. Her husband is a soldier and is being sent overseas. They decided to tie the knot ahead of his deployment. Very romantic, yes? I wish the two of them the best. Speaking from experience, being married is the best thing ever. I wouldn’t want to change a thing. I hope someday in the long distant future they look back on their lives together and say the same thing. Congratulation Abbie and Tim.

I am sure I could come up with a few more post-worthy topics, but I must run off to pick up the kids. Talk to you later, okay?

The Christmas Season is Here

I don’t like Christmas. Well, that’s not entirely true. I love Christmas. I just hate all the crap that leads up to it. My step son asked me why I get so stressed out around Christmas time. I told him because, for adults, Christmas is just the most stressful time of the year. It’s just the way it is. I usually try putting off the prep work for as long as possible. This year my family was okay with that to a small degree. The house remained Christmas free until December 10th. The season, however, is now officially in full swing.

There is a tree in the living room. It’s not decorated yet, but it will be today. Probably by lunch time.

Trips to the mall have been made. Mostly to help the kids get the various gifts for the various people they need to buy gifts for. Thus far we’ve been pretty unsuccessful, but amazon.com should fix things for everyone.

Speaking of which, amazon.com has been accessed and put to good use. It’s not over yet though, far from it.

We still need to finish the shopping and decorating. Then there is wrapping and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. Then there is cooking and cleaning and probably more decorating. Then Christmas eve we have my wife’s family over to do gifts with them. Then Christmas day itself comes and all of the stressing out and preparations are over and we can just enjoy the holiday.

Then we have to clean up. Yikes!

HoHoHo!