December’s Do’ins

December kinda ran by me without stopping, not that I could have stopped it anyway.  Two co-workers retired earlier this fall and more resigned for other employment, so “short staffed” took on a whole new meaning.  I had 2 days off early on & still ended up with over 37 hours of time & a half OT pay.  This was all well & good for the diminishing of debt but very poor indeed for seeing friends & getting enough sleep.  Did someone say Free Holiday Concerts?  Not this year dearie.

I was able to get together with the Urchin for a nice Birthday/Christmas celebration.  She got me the checkbook cover for my birthday & had me pick out a purse for Christmas.  I had thought to get one like hers but this small shoulder bag caught my eye.  Its got a zippered pocket with 6 credit card slots on one side, a flap closed pocket with an ID window on the other side & a center zippered compartment with places for my cell phone & merchant discount cards plus space for a multi-tool.  I love this purse!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to my Wonderful Thoughtful Urchin!

My friend Gypsy Jane & I also managed a trip together to Lynchburg  which included a birthday dinner.  We found an excellent Oriental Buffett with truly superb fried oysters & got various things done that GJ needed to do.  I also finally found a Melita coffee pot & drip cone set, the exact thing I’d spent all day searching for in C’ville, only to find it at the one coffee vendor I hadn’t visited -  Foods of All Nations. 

P.S. It has been decided to call my Chevy 2500 Express Van Dan’ll, as in Dan’ll the Van’ll do it. 

November Plots & December Plans

 

Back in the days when I was raising a school age child the months of November & December were – in a word – frantic.  Halloween to New Year’s Day was one event after another with multiple practices for all of the above, shopping for presents for St. Nicholas Day & Christmas (both calendars) squeezed in here & there, cooking both vegetarian & not in abundance plus the usual hurley burley of running a one adult household & dealing with the Urchin on a 2 month long sugar high.  January 2nd was the best day ever in my book.

I though the Urchin going to college & on into her own adult life would bring quiet to my life.   The fall OVPR Rendezvous, then a restive Advent , a bit of Nativity decorations around the house, a present or two to acquire & a small gathering of friends for a festive dinner.  WRONG!  So much for my illusions.  There may be less to do, but there is still too much to do & not enough time to enjoy doing it.  Plus my current employer is generally short staffed in November & December, so OT cuts into my personal time.  Extra money is good, but the time taken to get it is not so good.

I was able to visit the Urchin several times during November & we had a lovely weekend before Thanksgiving to go shopping, visit a used bookstore & just hang out.  It was during the T-bird visit that The Grand Plot was Hatched.  It seems Don had a Nook but Dolores didn’t  & sharing an e-reader works about as well as sharing a book.  So the Urchin & I asked Carly & Dean if they wanted to go in on getting Dolores a Nook reader.  They were game, we called Don to make sure Dolores hadn’t gotten one already & he joined the plot.  With 5 of us, we had enough to get Dolores the reader she wanted plus a gift certificate for a cover. 

For the next 2 weeks Don kept his wife out of Barnes & Noble as well as anywhere else that sold Nook readers.  Meanwhile we planned a nice St. Nicholas/Hannukha/Christmas dinner & present exchange at a local oriental buffet.  The buffet proved to be closed for renovations but a nearby Chinese restaurant worked out just as well.  A wonderful dinner was had by all (with various eating restrictions met nicely), & the Nook for Dolores was the surprise we all wanted it to be.   Sometimes the hurley burley of the season is really really worth it.