Kingfisher Cove

Savoring...

....the end that is coming of my best book ever.  (When Nate asked me what the book was about, I got all teary!  Instead of acting embarrassed, or teasing me about being a "softy", he said very quietly, "It must be a very good book.")  Da kid is growing up.

...the end of the year, which certainly had its ups and downs.  I guess they all do.  We always wish everybody a happy new year as the new one comes up, and wouldn't it be nice if that simply wishing it made it so?  A lot is under our control, if we seize it.  However, ask me about my dramatic weight loss (NOT), of which I THOUGHT I was seizing control.  Jesus.  What does it take?

...much of a day to myself.  Haven't had one of these in a while.  Nate slept in this morning (too late, as far as I'm concerned, but I really didn't want to mess with the "quiet-tude").  JDub worked, and it has gone way beyond a short day, which we both thought it might be.  He's still not home -- about 2 hours later than his usual workday. 

...the enjoyment of Nate and I going grocery shopping together.  I know that sounds kind of dorky, but it really was fun.  Bantering over items, me typically giving in.  (Yes, I spoil him, but within reason).  It was so nice to have his help unloading food onto the check stand belt, hauling stuff to the car, and loading stuff up into the house.  I put it all away, though.

...the fact that I bought three 8+ oz. lobster tails for $10.00 each.  I am soooooo stoked!  They were normally $19.99 each, and I didn't even know they had this sale going on.  This is what we're having for dinner tomorrow, to ring in the New Year.  I wanted to make sure Nate would be around, and tomorrow works for him!

I have yet to undo Christmas, but I might as well do what I normally do on New Years Day -- the undoing of Christmas.  I'm ready mentally, although I do need bins hauled up from that dreaded closet beneath the stairs.  (I figure since I do 99.9% of the decorating and undecorating myself, the least the guys can do is venture into that spider lair and haul up the bins).

...It's been a good day.    

A Breather

<----- (You know, I always thought their white spots were a lot whiter than that). 

Anyway, I'm taking a little break from my best book ever.  My eyes are tired!  On the computer all day week long, and reading every day at lunch and in the evenings. I really need to see the eye doctor -- sight has become a major pain in the ass issue.  I've always been near-sighted (since about 4th grade) so I've always worn either glasses or contacts for seeing in the distance.  In the last few years, contacts drive me nuts because my eyes have apparently dried out, so contacts (yes, the soft ones) feel like shards of glass rolling around in there.  Also, the near-sighted correction now makes it impossible for me to see anything up close.  I see much better up close without any eyewear correction at all.  However, my last eye doctor proclaimed that I needed bifocals, and I think that is just hog-wash.  No way can I see my computer, my book, a menu, or anything up close with these so-called bifocals.  I'm constantly taking off my glasses (for up-close stuff) and putting them back on (for far-away stuff) -- kind of the opposite of what most people my age are dealing with.  At any case, we can all relate to the librarian with the chain attached to her glasses.  I wish that wasn't so dorky.  I've always thought it was, and certainly attributed it to codgerism, which I don't want to be!  But I do understand it.  I'm thinking what I actually need are glasses that have plain uncorrected glass in the bottom part.  I wish that lasik surgery would solve the whole problem, but I don't think it would.  I'd be in a bad state with corrected vision for distance, but not being able to see diddly up close.  (Then would definitely be the time for the chained reading glasses).  I'd truly be a codger.

Gee, did I beat that subject to death or what?

Well, this is my "Friday night"!  Yay!  I feel like I've packed a very full 5-day week into these 4 days.  Ugh.  We got out a couple of hours early today and a whole bunch of us went to Billy McHale's for Happy Hour after work.  It was fun -- for the first time I tried a Long Island Iced Tea, and it was nummy!  I need to get a recipe for that.  I know they are pretty dangerous, though.  However, I didn't really feel it all that much, probably because I'd had a big salad at lunch.  (?)  One gal had three of them and went to order a 4th and she was cut off!  (She was pretty indignant).  We were all sitting in a corner of the bar, and I was sitting in a booth across from my work girlfriend, Di, and one of the geeks geeks slides into the booth beside me, which was fine because it was one of the only places left to sit, but then he started spewing all this Rush Limbaugh crap and pissing and moaning about the Washington governor election (after the 2nd recount, the democrat has now been certified by 130 votes) and he was ranting and carrying on about the exact same thing that all the republicans were accusing the democrats of doing when the republican won the 1st recount by 42 votes, and I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT WANT TO HEAR IT.  I was thoroughly disgusted. This was not the place and not the time for it, and I shot him the meanest look I could muster (not that he noticed) and TUNED HIM OUT.  What a dweeb.  Get a life.

For poor JDub, this isn't Friday night.  (Although he's had almost a full week of Saturdays, so he shouldn't complain too much).  He has to go to work tomorrow for a special project he's working on, which means OT, which is a good thing.  He's thinking that it might not be a full day, though.  We were hoping that there might be snow in the mountains this weekend, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.  The ski resorts are hurting bad!  I'm thinking that this is the latest it's been for the ski resorts to not have snow.  I'm sure they have always-always-always had skiing open over Christmas, if not Thanksgiving!  Who says there's no such thing as global warming?  (Well, I'm sure the dweeb mentioned above would argue it until the cows came home -- all parched and sweaty).

Hey, I donated for the tsunami disaster via one-click at Amazon (for the Red Cross).  Charity Navigator provides information on all the charities regarding what percentage of their funds actually go directly toward the the people in need, and rates them based on this, and other things.  Red Cross rates four stars which is the highest, as does Mercy Corps, which is a local-based (Pacific Northwest) foundation that my favorite journalist, Margaret Larson, quit broadcast journalism to join full time.  (I miss seeing her on the local Seattle news -- she also used to be on prime time NBC before moving here from New York), but she is a wonderful spokesperson for the charity and I greatly admire her.  I plan to donate to Mercy Corps, too.  The magnitude of this tragedy is beyond comprehension.  I am truly heartened by the stunning number of donations made by regular American people this past week.

OK, my eyes are really tired now.  Duh.

Reading!

Sorry, I know I've been slacking a bit with my blog, but I can't help it!!  I am in the midst of reading the best book ever!  (At least so far.  I suppose the jury is still out until I finish it, but whoa.  What a book).  I realize that it has been a Very. Long. Time. since I've read such an exquisitely written book. The magic of the right words at the right time; the brush strokes of metaphors that absolutely do not bog you down, but simply paint the picture; the depth of characterization that brings a grin and the threat of tears in one brief paragraph. I'm lovin' this book!  What's it called?  "The Summer Guest" by Justin Cronin. 

And so!  Last night I totally ignored Kingfisher Cove!  I don't believe I've ever done that before!  My face was buried in my book and I was blotto to any reality surrounding me.

I'm glad this week is trucking right along.  Work has been extremely busy.  Today I was multi-tasking like mad, which brought on a killer headache.  I met today's deadline, but not without angst and stress.  And I overlapped today's deadline with jumping into probably the biggest business development proposal I've ever done.  I've got LOTS of people to keep/make happy over this possible $10 million project.  We WANT this job, and so the proposal, which will be horrendous, complete with ugly-nasty-disgusting federal government forms that require mega-information that you never have easily within your reach so you have to spend tons of valuable time digging/searching/begging for said information and then make certain it's accurate, anyway, this proposal must be totally, 200% perfect.  I've got 2 weeks, but they are going to be two very jam-packed, busy, stressful, work-late, can't sleep weeks.  Happy New Year to me.

A vacation sounds nice.  I think once this monster is done with, I'm going to take some time off.  Whether it's for a snowmobile trip or not.  (As I write, however, JDub is working at installing my new electronic start and reverse on my snowmobile.  I'm getting excited to try it out!)  I wish it would snow here.  Well, maybe not.  Let me make this godawful deadline first!  Then it can snow forever!  Well, until spring so we can go to H*ars*tine and try out the speed boat.  Speaking of which, JDub went down to his folks' yesterday (he's off this week, I think I mentioned), and hooked up their DVD player we got them for Christmas, but also to bail out all the rainwater in the boat (we're storing it at their place for now).  He figures there was about a ton bogging down the tarp, so he fixed it so it shouldn't do that anymore.  THEN, he (and weenie dogs) headed to H*ars*tine!  I'm so jealous!  However, it was butt cold and so foggy he could hardly see where his feet were walking.  So, maybe it was just as well that I missed that trip.  He said it was so quiet, that it was eerie.  It's been a while since we've experienced that amazing quiet there.  Life has been very noisy lately.

Getting Back to Normal, Sorta

It was a bit of a bummer to have to get up to a cold dark house this morning while JDub was still nestled under the covers with toasty, soft weenie dogs.  The Airplane Company always has the week off between Christmas and New Year's, so he's "on vacation".  (He does have to go in this Friday for a special project, but still). I'm kind of mean, though.  A big part of my morning routine is to turn the TV on to the Today Show and listen to Katie, Matt, & Al while I put on make-up and do my hair and stuff.  (Otherwise, I feel sort of lost!)  So, naturally, this morning, I turned the TV on to Katie, Matt, & Al (although Katie's off this week). And I did have to sort of turn the volume up so I could hear it. Which, of course, woke up JDub.  I don't think he minded, though, because he's typically a pretty early riser anyway.  And no, it really wasn't "mean-ness" on my part (toward him for having the week off), I was just reverting back to my routine.  That's all.  Honest.

The office was soooooo quiet today!  Hardly anybody was there, and the parking lot was close to empty. I'm very busy, though, with big looming deadlines, so it definitely worked in my favor to get a LOT done (relatively) without interruptions.  And, best of all, (micrmgr) boss is off all this week!  Can you say hallelujah? 

I think it was Christmas night when we had this beautiful sunset. I ran out on the deck and snapped this, which truly doesn't do it justice.  It was so much more colorful than that, and so much bigger.  But you can still get an idea. That's a glimpse of Puget Sound (below the light part of the sky) looking south toward Tacoma.  We've had wind lately that feels like it's blowing off an iceberg, but it's been sunny, which is a nice change from all the dark dreariness.  Which will return soon, I'm sure.  But get this:  The days are now getting longer!  And can you say hallelujah, baby?

I have mixed feelings about taking down all the Christmas decorations.  This is the time of year when I really wish (I mean I really really really wish) that I was Samantha Stevens.  You know, wiggle the schnoz (accompanied by that dinkle-dinkle-dinkle sound) and have everything just tidily fall back into the gazillion boxes and stack themselves neatly in the (godawful messy) closet under the stairway that spawns spiders as big as Shelob. But nooooo.  It don't work that way.  So one of my days off this upcoming 3-day weekend, I'll spend most of the day taking it down and putting it all away, and putting back all the stuff I had to hide stack in the computer room.  Once it's done, I love it, though.  I love the freshness of "back to normal".  It's just the getting there!  Yuck.  And I didn't put everything out this year, by a long shot.  (I can be glad about that).

Speaking of back to normal, it sure did feel good to work out tonight!  I was a "wee bit" careful over the holiday, but certainly not totally.  No, I don't especially look forward to working out, and I can't say that it's a fun ol' time, but it feels really good afterward.  Even with the sweat pouring in my eyes.  And down my temples.  And into every single crack and crevice....

Christmas Scenes

What a whirlwind! It always is, isn't it?  And we really spread out the festivities over two full days, and it's still a whirlwind.  What a fun time!  Nate had to work on Christmas Eve day-into-evening, which was a bummer because Christmas Eve is a big part of our holiday -- I guess it's a German tradition and there is a lot of German blood in our families -- we open all our gifts then.  My brother and his family came over and we munched out on shrimp & cocktail sauce, various dips and chips, cheeses and crackers, raw vegies, and my brother's famous hot (crock-pot cooked) chilli-salsa that is so very very good!  Nate actually did get home earlier than we thought he would, just in time to open presents!  Oh-what-fun!  (I think I've mentioned that I really like presents! My own, of course, but it's a ball to watch others open theirs). JDub gave me a kingfisher watercolor painting (you can see it above) and he had it commissioned for me!  It's so beautiful!  What a guy!  I also received a beautiful painting from my brother and his wife, J, of a kingfisher, and it's by the same artist as another kingfisher painting we have -- totally a fluke.  It's not the same picture, though.  My nephew, R, who is 13, received the biggest lava lamp ever -- with all kinds of warnings and jokes to never put it on the stove.  I wish I'd taken a picture of it.  His mom plugged it in and set it on the floor and it was really impressive.  Probably stands 4 ft. tall?!  From my brother, Nate received a beat-up, ancient, rusty old tape deck for his truck, that I believe was even pre-CD player.  Just one step up from an 8-track. Hidden inside was money to buy a REAL one.  (Pretty funny!)  JDub received a really nice lounger for H*ars*tine (from me) -- he tried it out and the weenies immediately climbed on top of him.  I received a beautiful 14K gold necklace with the letter "T" from my folks -- I just love it!  My sister-in-law received one, too (but with the letter "J"!)  Little niece, M, certainly made out!  The little kids are so fun to buy for, so they always make out!  Lots of Barbie stuff, and she'd also received a hamster (earlier) so she received this adorable little bubble for it to maneuver around the house in and it was "planted" in a little VW Bug!  I would just LOVE to see this in action!  Needless to say they didn't bring the hamster over to our house, but that could have been a real hoot with the dogs and kitties.  Heh heh.  Speaking of dogs, my brother's Pug, Milo (shown above), is truly sucking BEER out of that bottle!  Man, he was going for it!

On Christmas Day, JDub's parents came over, along with my brother and his family and we had Honey Baked ham for dinner!  Wine flowed, food was yummy, and there were more presents!  We got JDub's folks a DVD player, and then a whole bunch of DVDs -- lots of westerns, war movies (including "Band of Brothers"), and some modern ones like "Seabiscuit" and "Chicago".  Da Airplane Company is off this coming week, so JDub will go down to their house and hook it up for them.  I received a beautiful HOODED sweater and a poncho from them!  (And also a nice "whine" & cheese basket!)  I'm so tickled!

Over the last few years, JDub has given me these unique sculptures by Govinder, a British artist, and we just love them.  They make us think of our weenie dogs. Lo & behold, I got another one!  This one is named "Scratch and Sniff"!   We have quite the collection now, and I'm thinking that we'll need some special display shelves at our H*ars*tine retirement home (eventually...) to showcase them. 

So today?  The day after the whirlwind?  It's lazy out around here.  It's going on 2:00 and I haven't even showered yet!  JDub's working on a jigsaw puzzle.  And I've been playing around in Photoshop practicing on eliminating red eye that my camera was supposed to prevent!  But the house is pretty much put back together.  I do need to (desperately) do some laundry, though.  Stuff like that just hasn't been happening lately!

Now that I've made myself feel guilty, I guess I'd better hop to it!   

JDub and Tonny

Two Front Teeth?

You Are "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"

Gee, if I could only Have my two front teeth, Then I could wish you "Merry Christmas." At Christmas, you are a happy soul who's easy to please. You're biggest concern is making those around you smile.

What Christmas Carol Are You?

I got a kick out of Dooce, who's baby is experiencing her first teeth coming in, and so the sus-kreeeeeeeeeeeeeming continues, but "at least she's getting two new teeth for Christmas" if you can believe the irony.

"Leta has been uncharacteristically pleasant this week, calm and even enjoyable to be around. She no longer has a cold, and she’s sleeping peacefully and smiling at every opportunity. Several times this week I have thought to myself, “This, THIS is why people have babies.”

This morning she woke up her usual cranky, why did you bring me into this awful existence self, screeching, bemoaning the fact that she has to breathe air. Just now we checked her mouth for signs of impending doom of the enamel variety, and wouldn’t you know, she has TWO teeth coming in.

I hate to say this, I really do, but Leta is getting her two front teeth for Christmas.

You may now commence throwing tomatoes."

[For me at this point, all is good on the tooth front.  Ask me again in another 30 years or so].

Weenies and Light Therapy

As much as the weenie dogs give me great angst with their NON-potty-training issues (grrrowl), they also provide the smiles, and today I'm smiling.  For a number of reasons.  First, my (micromgr) boss was GONE all day long (YAY -- hear the ROAR!!), and the rest of us felt the lack of tension, and so therefore spent much of the day in HOOORAY MODE.  (Actually got quite a bit accomplished, though, considering it was a short day).  In our department, we exchange little gifts and it's fun the week before Christmas, accumulating all these presents at our desks.  I left at noon today (more on that later, because THEN the REAL work started), and after I got home, I OPENED my gifts from my co-workers.  And I'm so tickled.  What special things!  I'm thinking that what I got folks is pretty lame in comparison.  Argh!  OK, maybe I was OK.  But considering that money felt very tight, I still feel pretty lame.  (Have I mentioned that a bonus would have come in REALLY HANDY?)

OK.  So.  I left at noon and followed my "list".  First stop:  Honey Baked Hams.  Where I picked up Christmas dinner's main entre!  (How do you make the French slash over that "e", Margaret?  It looks stupid without it!)  Mmmm, it's a spiral cut ham, honey baked (obviously) and to Die For.  (I've had 'em before and well worth the Big Bucks).  OK, second stop:  combination drug store/liquor store (strange combo, I know), where I dropped off my (increased) prescription of Wellbutrin and picked up some BV and some Baileys.  Weird combo, wouldn't ya say?

Next stop, grocery store.  Spent a l-o-n-g time in there, fighting idiots in the aisles.  All the fixin's for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner.  (Except I forgot milk, catfood, and eggnog so had to send my son down later to pick up that stuff.  Thank God he drives!)  The JOB of loading it all on the checkout stand, loading it all out to my car, loading it all into my house (via lotsa stairs) and putting it all away has made me tired!  But next on my list is the preparation of several dips that need to chill overnight.  Ugh.  OK, that's coming up.  After I'm done here.

But I'm smiling, because I have TIME.  I have all day tomorrow to take care of what needs to be taken care of.  The house is clean because the cleaning lady came yesterday, even though I'll need to do some wet-swiffering because the cat upchucked (as usual). The dogs had baths, the husband and I have made up, the Kid is in a nice mood, AND -- (ta da) my mother sent me a light therapy fixture.  It's  for those of us who suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  While sitting at the dining table with it turned on facing the corner of my eye, while I chatted with Nate, I could FEEL IT.  And it felt great!  I can totally understand it's therapeutic affects. (Probably another thing that Scientologists wouldn't approve of -- I guess I think of this because JDub Trovolta and Tom Cruise are Scientologists and I have to wonder how they handle "tough times").  But Oh My Gosh!  I think I'll be carting this thing around with me everywhere I go! 

And the weenie dogs.  They were SO HAPPY to see me when I got home, which was before JDub (which is unusual) and they've just been my pals.  I'm so glad the real holiday is finally here -- where I don't have to think about work!  For a few days!  Having to work up so close to the holidays like this makes me think of people walking into the potty-stall or something.  Like work totally infringes on my privacy.  I've felt that way since school -- when we'd have those 2 weeks off!  And I haven't since, but I still feel like it should be my RIGHT!  (Guess I should have been a teacher!)

So, it's time to go do dips!   

What's This World Coming To?!

Mexico town bans indoor nudity

The Associated Press

Updated: 7:04 p.m. ET Dec. 22, 2004

MEXICO CITY

- There's a city in Mexico that's making it illegal for citizens to be naked — inside their own homes.

Officials in the southeastern city of Villahermosa confirm that the city council has adopted a law banning indoor nudity.

A council member who opposes the idea says he's not sure how it'll be enforced.

But a councilwoman who supports it says she's confident that citizens who catch a glimpse of violators while walking past their windows will report them to police — even though the law also threatens jail for peeping Toms.

She describes the law as "zero tolerance" for "a lack of morality."

[I don't know if I should laugh, or be afraid!]

Mustering....something

I wasn't going to post anything tonight because, after all, who wants to listen to read about whining?  I've been doing enough of that lately.  But then I thought, hey.  This is my blog, which is basically my journal.  If I wanna whine, this is the place to do it.  (And if you don't wanna read about it, well, tough!)

Besides, whining writing here tends to make me feel better about things.  Puts things into perspective.  It's therapeutic, as we all know.  (I wonder if Scientologists consider journaling or blogging as therapeutic?  Don't they have an issue with that?  No such thing as needing therapy or anything that is therapeutic?  I don't know why I thought of that just now).

It just has not been a good week.  JDub and I had an ugly tiff last night, and that just never happens.  And I don't like how either of us handled it.

And then today I was reprimanded by (micromgr) boss lady bitch.  I actually handled that OK because what she was reprimanding me about was basically lame and proved to me how totally-out-of-touch she is, even though I've known that all along.  I don't handle conflict well, and so I was totally un-defensive and sort of proved my point by asking innocent questions that made her realize that what she'd "heard" from others was unfounded.  She's so wishy-washy.  However, she also knows she's the "boss" and wasn't about to back down (although I saw uncertainty and even bewilderment in her eyes and in her manner toward me). Whatever.

But when it was all said and done, I still felt rotten.  I don't like being reprimanded (for lame reasons), and I don't like being ditched at a restaurant (for no good reason).

I'm tired of tears welling, ya know?