I’ve been on a BBC America kick the last few days. I got caught up in some crazy reality show…wait. I think that was on the gay channel. It’s confusing.

This week has flown by, work has been dismal but I’m making up for it tomorrow and saturday. I’m home tonight, it’s quiet. There’s moisture in the air, smells of snow. I’m caught between wanting to move the few things in the garage and fit my car in, or just deal with it tomorrow and get the car in later this weekend. I think it’s supposed to only be some flurries.

Went out to eat, which I’ve been doing entirely too much of these last 10 weeks, with my friend from work, and now, now I’m home and should be doing laundry and cleaning and i’m sure doing chores, and I just want to curl up on the couch with my new book that I’m devouring and enjoy the Christmas lights and just bless the evening and let it go.

How was your day? Are you enjoying the holiday spirit or are you over it? I’ve finalized my travel plans for Christmas. I’ve decided to take Christmas Eve off of work. Christmas Adam (because Adam came before Eve honk honk) is spent traditionally with my PseudoSisters and Family. So we’re hammering out a plan for that. I’ll sleep in a little and then drive the next day to Arkansas and just be with my family. We’ll do presents and church that night, then Christmas Day the kids will get Santa and they’ll hustle off to Sisser’s in-laws. My dad will arrive and we’ll have the afternoon and evening with them when Sisser returns. Sunday will be just for us. We’ll go shopping and just putz around and rest. I’m sure I’ll just come home Monday morning. Note to self, must check with roommate on her travel plans and make other plans for kitty care if need be.

so anyways. that’s pretty much all I did today. I’ma peace out. There’s an ep of Star Trek: TNG that involved the holodeck and Jen Luc on a vacation and I’m all over it.

We all want it and need it don’t we? The weekends go by so fast, and even if you’ve nothing planned but relaxing and rebooting, there’s still that need for one more day. My Tuesdays are generally the slowest of the week, so I do have a little leeway with it. For example, I don’t start until 11 today and then the majority of the afternoon is empty. . . room for call-ins. Room to possibly get my hair done. I look like a cheap hooker with these roots.

I’ve been fighting a cold the last few days. Last night’s sleep was interrupted by coughing, snotty cant breathe attacks. I’ve been doing the homeopathing route, Vicks on the feet then socks, my ACF cough and cold ground up gopher tasting liquid, Neti pot, along with my claritin and some generic sinus/cold meds. It’s so dry in the house that I’ve kept a pot of water boiling on the stove…All that said to say…I could just use one more day!

How was your weekend? Did you get to reboot or were you running around like a chicken with your head cut off? It’s a busy time of year. This week is relatively slow as far as commitments after work go, hopefully the days will be super busy! It’s payday this week so that’s awesome.

and with that thought, I’m getting more coffee. Happy Tuesday, you Normals are only a day away from Humpday! Woot Woot!!!

It’s cold here. It’s so cold it’s hot kind of cold. Thankfully the wind isn’t beating us but still. Brrrrrr. We’ve cranked up the heat a little here which in turn makes it so freaking dry in the house that we’re all dying. I’ve kept a pot of boiling water going on the stove this weekend and that has helped. I’m fighting allergy cum cold cum coughing fit kind of gunk so I’ve had the ACF going and the Vitamin C and the Vicks on my feet with the wool socks made with love from my friend in New Hampshire. I’ve been on the couch sleeping most of the afternoon and made myself a good dinner of roasted veggies and Froast! Hot cider. It’s all good.

I’ve got one week to get my sis’s present in the mail or I have to wrap up an IOU. Dangit. I’m annoyed by that but who knows. We’re doing family/step family/bonusmom exchanges this weekend and I’m so excited to see everyone and to give the gifts!!! I love it!

Our salon Christmas party was last night. It was weird not going to the Duncan Brothers party. Mandrea invited everyone over to preparty before they went and it was awkward and somewhat painful but I said Hi and left to go pick up my new friends and we had a good time full of laughing and it was just fine.

This is about all I have to report. The weeks are blazing fast, only 12 days till Christmas. Can you believe it? I’m enjoying the season so much this year. It feels good to feel good.

Gathered last night with my Gal Pals, Martha, Nancy, Karen, Barb and Carolyn. We are a motley crew, with me being the newest member of this group who’ve been friends for a lifetime. I’m the youngest of the group by anywhere from 10-20 years, though it makes not a bit of difference to anyone. Age schmage.

Life gets busy. We all know it. But this week we, at the spur of the moment, decided to gather for a little drink, a little nosh, a little laugh. Who the hell knew we’d laugh SO MUCH!!!

We talked of handbags,and Ludivine and automatic cork screws, and being overserved, and Hot N Ready Pizza and multiple weddings and children and working and poor choices and Carls Nuts and blindness and Christmas Music and oh my God I haven’t laughed this hard since…

well. that’s too long.

Seriously. It was solid crazy laughter for three hours.

Today, as I awoke with the kitties snuggled in because it’s soooo cold outside it’s hot, and I was immediately warmed by the knowledge that I have these women in my life. I am so grateful for them. They have given me more than I can ever give back…in time and tears, in support and furniture, in counseling and in cocktails…They are equal parts Shaman/Prophet/Guardian Angel/Devil on my Shoulder Who Only Wants One Cosmo.

Once again, I’m reminded that I have more love in my life than most marriages see in multiple lifetimes.

Happy Sunday.

I’ve just looked over my 2010 List…

I didn’t accomplish much of any of it. Sadly enough. I mean, yeah, there are a few things I crossed right off and that’s an accomplishment, but for the most part this is a list of plans I really wanted to do and got waylaid or just flat out didn’t do it.

For the writing project I’m starting with Julie, I’ve been going through older posts and reading. Do you who write ever do that? Go back and read your older entries? I would suggest doing so. Sometimes I think, damn I’m funny! David Sedaris and I could storm the world. Sometimes I think, woof. That girl was in a funk. Sometimes I think, I’m so glad I wrote about that night…seems like yesterday! It’s nice to look back.

In that spirit, I’m not going to get all gloomy schmoomy about what DIDN’T get accomplished. I’ll mark the stuff that did…and we shall move on. A few things, to my credit, are being accomplished within the next few weeks or are in progress so that’s cool.

1) write. I want to finish a writing project and perhaps look into publishing. in progress
2) get back onstage more than once. didn’t happen. no time due to second job.
3) work on stand up comedy again. am blocked in this arena.
4) change my eating habits towards more organic and clean living. started the year off with a vengence and have slowly lost it. but am better this time this year, than I was this time last year.
5) find out about more farmers markets/locally grown foods to purchase. I have done this! not as much as I wanted, but again, more than I did last year.
6) move my body either at the gym or in some other physical fitness fashion. ebb and flow. I’m stalled with it right now.
7) work on finances…savings, nipping and cutting back. this year has been a beast on my finances. but like Shirley McClain sang in Postcards…I’m Still Here. I’ve also been looking into the Dave Ramsey thing for the new year.
pay off computer debt. paid off about 500, the rest to be paid with my tax refund in March.
9) work on replacing windows at the homestead. God. Wouldn’t that just be nice? I still have hope for the tax refund this year. Spencer just had Lowe’s install his, he has something like 19 windows in his house and did it for about 4 or 5000. I only have 8. It should be freaking do-able, right?
10) get my car in for some updates and tuning. Have kept up with the oil changes and tire rotation. Need to still get tune up.
11) check into getting new tires for the car. Got four new ones. Granted by BonusDad and Mom. Many thanks.
12) get to the eye doctor. Done. New glasses and new contact supply.
13) get to the dentist, REGULARLY! yeah. that didn’t happen either.
14) Organization in my house…drawers, closets, kitchen cabinets, all of it. not really. Mandrea kicked the kitchen into shape and I’m still trying.
15) get my birth certificate so that I can GOT IT!
16) get my passport. DONT GOT IT.
17) play the lottery, (cant win if ya dont play!) sporadic.
18) work on paying off credit card debt. perhaps a consolidation loan? Nope. Barely keeping up on the minimum payments. But the Dave Ramsey thing looks doable, and not at all overwhelming.
19) plan something smashing to celebrate turning 40! Thanks to my friends this was accomplished with aplomb. It was a brilliant turning to a new decade.
20) have a date with a man. I had two.
21) perhaps more than one. see above
22) see more live theatre. Yup. Done well with this.
23) re-build my clientele at work. I feel better about this now than I did last year. Most of my people have moved with me, and I’m working on a beginning of year referral program/incentive.
24) think about other avenues of income. I worked at Festivities practically every weekend from April thru September. This year may bring wedding co-ordinating duties should I say yes. It’s a good thing.
25) think about where I want to be in the next five years. I didn’t do this once. It was enough just keeping my head above water this year.
26) work on some form of healthcare for myself I didn’t do this either.
27) read through the books we’ve all got tagged over at goodreads I read a bunch of stuff this year, AND got my NookCOLOR which I love. but Goodreads has just become something I don’t even pay attention to anymore.
28) remember that THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS…THINK GOOD THOUGHTS. I do my best to do this daily.
29) wear my mouthguard nightly-not nightly but I was mindful to wear it during stressfull sleep deprived spells.
30) love louder, larger, longer. I try.
31) take some mini vaca’s with friends this summer-River Trip 2010 will go down in emphamy. NYC for my 40th was brilliant. but that’s all I did.
32) attend BlogHer in NYC with Cindy-this makes me almost cry to read. didn’t happen.
33) go to eat at the Guatamalen place with the oatmeal-nope
34) go to Whole Foods in Tx and bring back FROAST-nope. but we have Froast in OKC now so that’s cool and we have a WF enroute as well.
35) see my nephews more often-it’s never enough.
36) go snow tubeing at the ballpark next December-this still could happen
37) rearrange my office/library so that it is organized and does not give me hives-i have ideas but no, still with the hives.
38) all cats to the vet-i think this happened earlier in the year.
39) plant some things this spring…herbs, veggies, flowers-some things? I planted a whole garden. and flowers. next year there’s good plans for more.
40) look into a retirement account-nope
41) get the instructions off of Ebay for my bow maker-nope. and i wanted to do this so i could make bows for Christmas.
42) be a better friend at remembering birthdays-if it weren’t for Facebook, I would know nothing.
43) watch the ENTIRE series of Battlestar Galactica so that I may earn the right to say Frack-much to Chris’s chagrin. nope. I can’t believe he’s still talking to me.
44) decorate for the holidays-YES! YES! YES! last year I was so sad. This year, I refuse to be. We are thoroughly decorated at Brokedown Palace. And we’re loving it!
45) take down shelves in garage and re-organize-nope
46) Raise the roof on a new Gazebo-nope. this makes me sad too.
47) learn how to use this computer to it’s fullest-nope.
48) SKYPE with my friends who live away from me-nope
49) work on the all-class-reunion in Batshitcrazytown-nope
50) donate more-yes. i have done this. but not as much as I would have liked to!
51) watch Entourage series-nope
52) finish Outlander series-OH MY GOD MY FAVORITE THING EVER IN THE HISTORY OF EVER.
53) think about eHarmony-I did it. pffffffffft.
54) deep clean the house-in progress
55) watch vidal sassoon dvd’s and refresh my skills-some. not enough.
56) focus on the positive-much better at this the last half of the year.
57) get drapes for my bedroom-nope. but word on the street is that Mom’s doing this for my Christmas.
58) clean filter in my a/c-heater-yup.
59) take a risk a month? (every other month? every week?)-seriously just getting out of bed and getting the mail was risk enough most days.
60) read more blogs-not regularly
61) revamp this blog-yes!
62) participate in NaNoWriMo this year (SHIT!!!)-never gave it asecond thought after i wrote this
63) work on my personal style…polish that up a bit-ha.
64) begin my day with prayer/meditation-sometimes.
65) see some live music this summer-saw Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum as well as Sugarland!
66) play bracketology during March Madness-i did. it was fun. i love it.
67) celebrate owning my home for two years on March 17th-every month is a success.
68) forgive-…
69) forgive-…
70) forgive-yeah. i think i made some progress.
71) see Flaming Lips on NYE –cant wait!
72) eat at 105 degrees-nope
73) visit Dion in Chicago-nope and it kills me.
74) visit Carus in Vegas-nope and it kills me
75) host more parties-some. not many.
76) go see the new Sex and the City movie at midnight opening-we DID do this.
77) keep healthy foods in my house-i’m eating rasin bran right now.
78) frame the family photos we took two years ago-not even close.
79) clean out the little building -kind of organized it! better than before.
80) attend the Halloween Parade and host Smores & Whores 3-no parade. was too exhausted. but we did do Smores & Whores. we were all hungover I think.
81) go to a local fish market and eat fresh fish-nope.
82) be a better family member-doubtful
83) keep my feet in good shape-kind of
84) drink the water-yes
85) add to this list-never happened.

SO. There’s that. It was fine. Vague in parts. Ambitious in parts. I think I’ll work on a list of things I DID accomplish this year as a bookend post…anyways. How has your year been? Reaching the end of it, it’s the time when I start taking stock, thinking ahead, making plans, dreams, wishes…do you?

Happy Day. Enjoy.

I was at Julie’s fabulously perfect little duplex this week and in her bathroom I found the thing I want so much. It’s grand enough that we all can love it. I totally give her props for claiming it as her mantra…but like with so many things in my life I am unabashedly copying from my friends.

I want this.

seriously badly. I can totally see it hanging in my bedroom. It’s quite perfect, isn’t it? It was part of a poster campaign that the British did during WWII. This was the one they put out when things were the most dire…the other posters are just as cool.

I have finished all but TWO bits of Christmas shopping and wrapping. I am waiting on a gift to be delivered via mail and one that I’m still mentally figuring out. It feels good to be finished. I’m excited to give this year. I’m excited to be happy this year.

also? i’m on money spending lockdown. I’ve decided to enjoy my newly bought groceries for EVERY MEAL. No more going out, just hanging at houses this weekend and spending time with friends. Time to get serious about saving this Christmas dough.

that’s it for me. I’m boring. plus there’s a Julia Roberts bio on the Biography channel.

Had dinner with a friend last night, delicious chicken curry, some fabulous cheeses, a nice wine…it was soul filling. She’s had an amazing year of change, most of it coming in the last few months. I get it. We have had some good talks, and I know that sometimes, that’s just what one needs. Just to talk it out.

Anyways, I was going to go into some other stuff here and seem to be blocked. Or my ADD has kicked in. Or really I’d rather not think about it and just watch this Christmas ep of Glee. (i love this tv, by the way) Bottom line, she and I are going to start writing a play. We’ve got a pretty solid idea for a script and hashed out some stuff last night. Sounds fun…we’ll see.

I’m also contemplating auditioning for an upcoming show called Skin Deep…the semantics and scheduling could be an issue, but I’m going to try so hard to do so!

work is good this week. I’m still worried about money, and how Im managing it. I’m caught up on all bills though, so we’ll just move forward and hope that it all comes together when I find an accountant next month to deal with all this stuff. GAH.

I think though, that after I get that part settled…it’s onwards and upwards!!!

are you having a good season?

The last few days of my weeks have kicked my buttocks. A good kind of kicking. But a kicking nonetheless. There were some social activites, we celebrated MGirl’s advent into her 30’s on Saturday night. There were tons of people out, and it was kind of crazy so I didn’t get much time with her but she looked beautiful and had a fabulous time. So that was a success. The rest of the weekend was spent, literally, in the bed or on the couch.

I’ve napped. I’ve eaten delivered food. I’ve napped. I’ve done minimum amounts of laundry. Today, I did get my first supply of groceries since before my birthday. I have a roast and veggies in the crockpot. A loaf of sourdough bread that is freshly baked and another loaf in the machine. My Roku remote is back in the house and I’ve been gorging on free tv and movies. I wrapped a bunch of my presents and put them under the tree…today was a good day.

I need to pay some bills tonight. I have some business stuff to take care of. but mostly? I’m going to spend some quality alone time and think about the things I”m grateful for.

LIfe moves at such a breakneck speed…especially these next few weeks…I want to just take the moments that I can and just rest.

Have you watched?
This and the HBO movie are so worth it…

but Little Edie…she makes me feel better about today. Today was rough. My heart got hurt a little bit. But it is what it is and at the end of the day…God bless her…I’m still doing better than this!

Slap.

That’s how this morning started. A phone call that was the equivilent to a slap in the face.

And I haven’t written about it here. I haven’t written here much at all since I jumped age boxes. I’ve been so busy. So very very crazy ass busy…but I like it that way and I don’t want to miss anything and it is what it is but today, I woke up thinking, “it’s Friday, and I have no plans.” —anyways, I digress.

I reconnected with a friend from my past. And while we’ve been in contact the last few months, pretty regularly, we actually got some facetime in after the holiday and there was reason for me to believe that perhaps that would happen more often. This week there has been an ice storm between here and the edge of the state because shit started to freeze and communication ceased and after the phone call this morning, I’m pretty convinced that there will be no further facetime or any other kind of time put into this scenario…

so. there’s that.

funny how a week full of hope can turn on a dime.

no dwelling.

yesteday was a rough one for a few of my clients and I pulled a Truvey twice.
NO ONE CRIES ALONE IN MY PRESENCE.
One cat being put down (extra treats to yours today please)
One is going through a pretty bad divorce/breakup. Dealing with all sorts of horrible things from her husband. Horrible words. Somethings…once they’re broken…can never be fixed. My heart is so heavy for them. Gah.

I have about five people in my close circle who are going through or just finished with this process and I just hope for them that the new year will bring a fresh start and that they can see all the brilliant possibility that lies ahead for them.

work is going well. Busy. My Tuesdays are still crap. But it’s ok. I’m using it as an “on call” day and it’s kind of like I get a three day weekend…doesn’t suck. I’d rather be making money, but oh well. I’m really loving my new salon. Meshing with the people. I’m pretty sure that the majority of them work with a different code than I do…they live pretty fast…and that’s cool. But I just don’t. There’s one or two that I think I could see being real friends with but the others? Co-workers. That’s it. And I’m learning that it’s just fine that way. I’m not upset about it.

life at Brokedown Palace is fine. I’ve got Christmas decorations and lights up and it’s cosy and warm and nice. Mandrea and I are co-habitating well. The cats are being nice, no carcass’ as of late.

Christmas shopping is almost finished…now just hoping things arrive in the mail. I have a few more things to get but other than that? perfectly fine. I’m ready for the season.

Ok. I’m going to have some coffee and shake off the way the day started. I hope you have a fabulous Friday. I leave you with my favorite Christmas song ever. Enjoy.