I want to write it down before I forget it all but it’s probably already too late for that. The fun never ends with Christmas; there’s the relaxing few days immediately after the hubbub of the two day party, which usually entails lots of sleeping in and crashing early. It’s one of the best things about having all adult kids and being self-employed. I really am master of my own hours.
I think I slept through most of the 26th. I probably got up to watch some TV, sometime during the day. We had plenty of leftovers from the Holiday, since Ty and Megan took the kids to visit her folks. Naturally, they didn’t want the ribs, wings, gumbo etc. leftover from Christmas Eve to languish in their fridge while they were gone, so we did them a solid and ate all their food.
That’s what family is for.
On Sunday, Jay and I had brunch with one of our favorite couples. We met at the Lucky 13 on the other side of the river right after Mass. It was wonderful, all decorated up for Christmas and the food was great. In years past, we’ve managed to find a night to hang out with Ed and Jen over break but life being as hectic as it is, brunch is a million times better than not finding time at all. Who doesn’t love brunch?
I tried but wasn’t very successful at getting back to work on the Monday after Christmas. Tuesday, I went in to the shop and all we did was talk about Star Wars. It was a very productive morning! Okay, in addition to Star Wars, I did pick up a bunch of orders. Just because I took the week off, doesn’t mean my customers stopped dreaming up things they want to needlepoint. Thank goodness! If they ever did stop, I might have to go out and try to get a job. There’s no way that endeavor wouldn’t end in bloodshed.
And it wouldn’t be mine, let me tell ya!
Years ago, when enneagram tests were all the rage, a bunch of friends and I took them to find out our personality types. Included in all the types were predictions of your reactions to best and worst case scenarios. Everyone’s worst case scenario included depression spiraling into suicide.
Except mine. Enneagram predicts I will kill everyone else.
No one was surprised.
It’s a good thing I’m so laid back.
An. Y. way…
Oh, Josie flew to London on Tuesday! I keep repressing the knowledge because I can’t believe my baby is grown up enough to fly to Europe over Christmas break. She’s there with her best friend and cousin, Meg and they’re having a wonderful time.
It was yesterday that Katie (My sister) and I took photos of those two munchkins sitting on a tree stump by Lake Nokomis when they were three and now they’re hobnobbing around London together. WHAT?
Thursday was New Year’s Eve and I told Ty and Megan I’d love to hang with the babies for a few hours so they could enjoy some grown up time. I called MJ and told her the kids were coming over so why not join us with Nanners, Bean* and Tot?
Turned out to be a stroke of good luck for MJ. She had just opened a letter from the state, kicking her family off their medical insurance and warning her that she had ten days to address the problem. The letter was dated 9 days earlier. Nice.
After spending much time on the phone, trying to reach someone who could tell her who to see to fix the problem, she was told that the state has no proof of Tot’s citizenship.
Got that? MJ and her husband are both natural born citizens, the state has a record of them paying for the birth of their son a few months back, the state is in charge of issuing social security numbers, the hospital, which deals in state sponsored health insurance is in charge of issuing birth certificates…yet the same state says they aren’t sure the kid who sprung from MJ’s loins is in fact, a US citizen.
This is your government at work.
All that meant that in addition to the insurance exchange, MJ was going to have to visit the DMV for the proper paperwork to present to the insurance folks before she could get all of them reinstated. This is not the way the mom of three little kids wants to spend her Christmas vacation.
She spent the morning on the phone and while on hold, lectured her girls on the perils of state sponsored programs and that if anyone from the government ever promised to take care of them it was ALL A BIG FAT LIE.
The girls were delighted to be dropped off at my house.
Everyone played together in perfect little girl harmony while I actually got some work done, Ty and Megan got to go see a movie and MJ did in fact finally get her family’s health coverage reinstated. In fact, when she came to pick up Nanners and Bean, Babydoll went with them to her house, to see the biggest collection of Barbie Dolls in town.
Babalouie and I watched Cars and when his parents returned after the movie, Jay cooked us all dinner.
It was the best New Year’s Ever!
New Year’s Day was four days ago and I can’t remember a single minute of it.
I don’t do resolutions. This year, I actually have one: to write more.
I know; pretty ambiguous. Louis L’Amour made himself write five pages a day. They didn’t have to be great and he may edit them all out later but writers write so he wrote. I’m not putting that kind of pressure on myself; I’d just be setting myself up for failure! After all, L’Amour didn’t have Netflix. I just resolve to write more. Compared to 2015, if I write six words a week, it would be an improvement. That’s why I made the resolution. I used to write a little. Last year I wrote practically nothing. I know myself well enough to know that I can redevelop the habit fairly quickly if I want. My OCD is such that if I do something four days in a row, by the fifth day I’ll be able to do it automatically and by the seventh day I won’t be able to sleep without doing it. That’s pretty much my life motto: Make your OCD work for you. You’d think I would use this skill to get a degree in economics or learn a language but all I really do with it is program myself to watch more TV and not forget to brush my teeth.
Life is all about priorities.
Saturday, Ty and I took the kids over to UST to watch the Tommies suffer a moral defeat by only beating Hamlin by 16 points. Babalouie has added “backetball” to his vocabulary. I’m not sure if he loves it as much as football yet but the season is young. The kids both enjoyed the game. They crashed hard in their car seats as we took the scenic route home. Ty dropped me off and planned to take the long way home, since both kids needed naps. They were both sleeping harder than they had in their beds since Christmas.
Later, I went with Katie (my daughter, not sister) to pick out some new glasses. Kate is a petite girl and most grown up glasses don’t fit her gorgeous little face. There’s a glasses boutique in Uptown that has glasses for petite faces. We found three pairs that looked spectacular on her! In the end, she chose the pair that she thought looked the best and that she wouldn’t get tired of. I’m actually really excited to see her wear them! Just like choosing a frame for a painting, choosing glasses should be visceral. When you find the right one, you feel it in your gut, immediately. That’s how we both felt about these frames!
They’re expesive but you wear them every day, on your face. People don’t think twice about spending that kind of money on shoes. Okay, I’d think twice but only because no one wears shoes on their face.
Then we went to her house, made zoodles carbonara with the new appliance I gave her for Christmas and power watched the fourth season of the Mindy Project until we passed out.
So far, I’m loving 2016.
*formerly known as Bananas and Punkin