Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

And a 3 day weekend to boot! Had a good sleep in, got my errands done, and I am not leaving the house again today. Was gonna run the car through the wash, but it escaped my mind while I was out, so that can happen tomorrow morning – I really just want to stay in for the remainder of the day – and I have cemented that decision by changing out of my jeans into my comfy pants.

Still waiting on a delivery date for the dryer – I knew it would take a bit with the holidays and the appliance store had to actually get it from the Whirlpool warehouse – even when I initially looked at the website it said the earliest date would be January 3rd, but wahhh, I want my dryer! I’m good on clean clothes, but there are going to be So. Many. Linens. to be washed and dried when it gets here.

The round the house to-do list is pretty short today, which is nice cause all I really want to do today is curl up on the couch and read. I’m blaming the weather – it’s yet another grey and mucky day out there. WHERE IS MY SUN?!? Seriously Mother Nature, I can only take so many Vitamin D supplements – help me out here.

Lily is not helping here – just look at this little snoozer! 

OK, time to pry myself off the couch so I can go DO ALL THE THINGS and then I can chill out and enjoy the rest of the day. 

You have an excellent Saturday!

First, a huge shoutout to everyone working today. Hospitals and firefighters – thank you for being there and I hope no one needs your services. Starbucks – thanks for providing caffeine so I don’t set my kitchen on fire and need the aforementioned firefighters or hospitals. Grocery stores for that forgotten ingredient – or batteries – thank you. To the folks that don’t celebrate Christmas and said, “Sure, I can cover that on call shift” – thank you. (Debbie H, I’m looking at you – I remember those days back in support – it was so appreciated.)

Happy to see that the Swedish Gävle Goat still stands this morning! Granted, the jackdaws are apparently making quite a snack out of it, but it’s not on fire! (No, I don’t know why I’m invested in a straw goat 6 time zones away, but I am.)

My brother got me a body pillow for my Christmas Eve gift – I sleep on my side with one leg kicked out and I have gotten to An Age where I want something under that knee that won’t slide down to the foot of the bed overnight. It. Is. Awesome. Got into bed, kicked my leg over it and did a little stretch and my back popped in a dozen places – yeah, that little bit of support under my knee does make a difference!

I mean, that alone makes it a great Christmas already. And I woke up early enough that there is still a ton of time before getting brunch going, so I have plenty of time to get the around the house to-do’s knocked out and get in my yoga. I’ve been on a solid roll of daily yoga this past week and I really want to keep that going. 

So, it’s time to go change into comfy pants, tick off that to-do list and get my stretch on – then make ALL THE CASSEROLES!

I hope you have a wonderful, peaceful day. 

And believe me when I say it is a very gleeful, jolly and downright festive Fuck It!

And I am certain there is *something* I have either forgotten to buy, or have bought and put somewhere so safe I cannot remember where it is. And that’s fine.

The important things are done – presents are all here and a bunch are even wrapped.

The laundry is back and my god, what a wonderful service wash & fold is.

The ham is in the house. Though I did order a 5 pound bone-in quarter ham and they were somehow out of them and we ended up with a 6 pound boneless half ham. I do not understand why Ham Central did not send the shop the right amounts and sizes of hams, when they were pre-ordered, but hey, free ham.

The local shopping center has a living nativity again this year and at least I saw them starting to set it up so when I saw the camel later, I didn’t think I was hallucinating. (Seriously, the first year I saw it, I saw just the camel standing there as I drove by and I was very WTF?)

Did way too much running around today trying to find one thing, which I couldn’t find – not sure which was more frustrating, not being able to find the thing, or not being able to take a nice lunch break somewhere cause it’s still Covid soup out there. Looks like I will again be missing my Christmas Eve tradition of the tempura bento lunch at the local Chinese/Japanese restaurant. 😟 Maybe next year? 🤞

I am tired, but very ready for the holidays!

And we can thank my clothes dryer for this. You see, I thought the “sacrifice” (OK, happy eating) of steak, shrimp and potatoes would be enough to convince the old gods to bring the sun back, but my dryer felt that wasn’t enough and sacrificed itself.

It is 18+ years old and had been acting a bit wonky the past week or so – I kept thinking I’d put things in and not started it, but it was actually starting and then just stopping… My brother said the timed dry was working fine for him – but that gave out yesterday, too. 

But, it’s all good, I have already gotten my coffee, dropped off my laundry at the wash & fold, and Bray & Scarff opens at 10AM and I already have the new dryer picked out and bookmarked in my phone and will be there the moment they unlock the doors. And I am so grateful we have a proper appliance store because I am not dealing with Best Buy, Lowes, or Home Depot three days before Christmas. (Hell, I would not deal with them mid-June.)

And I am so lucky that this is really just pretty inconvenient. The wash & fold service at the laundromat is very reasonably priced, has a 24 hour turnaround, and they do a great job. (I can hold out a long time on t-shirts, but all my comfy pants and hoodies were in the hamper.) I can afford a new dryer. I have today off so I can get to the laundromat and the appliance store. It will probably be a week and a half to two weeks before we can get it delivered – and I can certainly do another laundromat run if needed. The house is pretty much “delivery person ready” – maybe a half hour of tidying to do – no panic cleaning required.

So, not the end of the world, just a bit of a pain in the ass.

May all your appliances hold out until after the new year.

It’s a cold and dark world out there, but things are going to get lighter.

Out running errands earlier and came across some kids running a hot chocolate stand. Yes, I did pay an exorbitant amount of money for a cup of Swiss Miss. The kids were seriously underpricing their product and it was fun when they looked at me like I was a damn Rockefeller.

Only holiday errand remaining is picking up the ham. It’s always a bit of a madhouse, but it’s a fast-moving madhouse, and I have my trusty N-95 at the ready.

Tonight is our accidental Covid Solstice tradition of Outback takeaway, YAY! But, I am flummoxed, cause they have a new shrimp & steak pasta alfredo, and damn it looks good. But, then again, steak and potatoes… Though, my brother is going to be hanging out with his buddy on New Year’s Eve, so maybe I will treat myself to that pasta to send out the year. 🤔

But most importantly, I’m happy we’re closing out the shortest day – shiny new season on the way.

Yes, I have already reached the point in my winter PTO that I have to check my watch or computer for the day of the week. If you needed to know – it is Tuesday the 19th.

I got all the around the house to-do’s have been knocked out BEFORE NOON, and I’m pretty damn pleased about that. Thank you brain for deciding that the little index card box of to-do’s provides sufficient dopamine.

On the holiday front, I have a grocery shop today, Walgreen’s tomorrow, and picking up the ham on Saturday. My brother offered to come along on the grocery shop to help, but honestly, he’d slow me down, LOL. I did tell him I needed him to be ready when I got back to unload the car and get things put away. (I noticed he was not foolish enough to offer to do the shop on his own, LMAO.)

Swiss Bakery came in clutch again this year for baked goods, and the cookie tins have been filled and the most important one dropped off at the vet’s office. (With a card from the LilyMonster, of course.) Yesterday I I realized I was short a couple tins and found this one at the grocery store – HOW FREAKIN’ CUTE IS THIS??

And this morning when I went and picked up my Starbucks, I was greeted with this – what a sweet way to get my day started. 🥰🥰🥰

I hope you have an amazing day, too. 

Seriously, it really is. The world is a very stressful place right now, and the holidays bring their own unique sets of stressors on top of all that. So, please don’t get down on yourself if you’re not dancing around in a Santa hat.

In this season of giving, it’s as important as ever to look after yourself – that is your gift to you. It’s absolutely appropriate to be pulling out every life hack/shortcut/easy button you have in your arsenal to make anything easier.

And self care can take so many forms – making sure you have some alone time, getting out for a walk (though maybe not today around here with 30MPH winds), trying out a bit of meditation, take advantage of gift wrap services, ditch the holiday cards, avail yourself of a local bakery, cuddle your pets, skip the gathering you didn’t want to go to in the first place. 

Hydrate, eat, take your meds, shower, nap.

And even if you’re not feeling particularly stressed, it’s hard to be all jolly when you’re tired! And it’s a tiring time! Around here, it’s just me and my brother, I put together a few cookie tins for friends, and make Christmas brunch. Very low key. And even with things fairly well in hand, I am fucking exhausted.

And if you have kids, I know taking care of yourself can be even harder, because, kids. But hang in there and do the best you can for yourself – it will be good for your kids to see you take care of yourself.

To all of you out there – please give yourself this gift of loving yourself.

And no Sunday Scaries here case I am on vacation for the next week and a few days, YAY! And work wasn’t a total shitshow like it usually is before I take time off. Sure, everything took 3x as long as it should have, but not a shitshow!

Holiday prep is all under control, I think? Feels real nice!

The weather is complete shit today, grey and gross and threatening rain (it was supposed to start raining at 10AM but it’s held off, but still, ick.) BUT, I took my vitamins and did yoga and strength work for my stupid mental health. (It was actually very enjoyable, but I have really fallen off the yoga bandwagon again and making a concerted effort to get back on – I think having the next week and a bit off work will help make it a routine again.)

I even spent some time reading today – another habit I’m trying to re-establish.

And on the habit front, the to-do list app I’ve been using for a good long while now just isn’t producing any dopamine anymore… And my stupid brain needs some kind of ticky-box dopamine. So I’m going full old-school analog to a system I used 20 some odd years ago. An index card box. And at least for today – it kept me on track and engaged with getting things done. 

Hope the rest of your weekend is lovely and restful and if you’re working this week that it’s calm and just busy enough to keep from being bored, but no more than that.