Gearing up

I'm in pretty good shape as far as Christmas prep goes.  I usually worry that I don't have enough presents for Liza and Mark, but this year we're (hopefully) cutting back so it's easier.  Way easier.  Mark traditionally goes overboard at Christmas, getting Liza and me a lot of expensive things.  I'm hoping he does what he said he would do and cuts back.  Because I did.

We've had very cold weather lately, it was -19 the other day in the morning.  I stayed home an extra hour to try to get the house warm, with limited success.  My new $$$ stove isn't drawing well so I've made an appointment to have my stovepipe cleaned.  It's been a year.  I know I seldom burn the fire hot enough, which results in lots of creosote building up, but I just am so conservative about fires that it's hard for me to crank them up.  We'll see what the chimney cleaner says...

It's warmed up a lot, and the house was very toasty this morning (which probably is costing me a fortune in electric bills).  What a difference 30 degrees makes!  My back door leaks terribly and there's no storm door there so the back of the house is a wreck.  The bedroom is easy to keep warm--especially now that there's actual insulation under it.

I had a good birthday, nothing exciting or glamorous but peaceful.  I had a lot, a whole lot of birthday attention and presents.  I ended up going to the Keene Valley library's fundraiser that night.  The drive was great fun, with many Christmas lights along the way.  I liked it.  I liked it so much that I've volunteered to serve hot dogs on New Year's Eve at the village's fireworks show.  I love fireworks, and winter fireworks are way cool.  They don't go up as far, usually.  Pretty cool.

I'm heading to RI on Saturday if the weather doesn't make it impossible.  I'm skeptical about the driveway being passable because we're supposed to have a bit of snow by then. And it's supposed to shift to freezing rain, rain, sleet, all hell breaking loose.  My plow man plowed once so the driveway is in good shape for now but we keep getting a couple of inches every day.  It won't do me any good to worry about it--I'll try to pack the car at the house on Friday night so I can park at the end of the driveway if I need to.  The town is great about plowing the road--the plow man knows me and knows that I need to get out for work.  He was plowing this morning as I left.  Very nice.

Tomorrow I see my doctor (I like it when people talk about their "regular" doctor--what's that?).  I've gained weight since I last saw him but am hoping to distract him from that conversation.  He and I work well together so I don't worry much about seeing him.

I've got my Christmas cards under control.  I've saved the last few for people who like a more comprehensive report on my year, with pictures.  One is a woman I worked with in Providence--she and I keep in touch via Christmas cards.  Another is a woman I worked with here in Platts., who now lives in Arizona and has grown children.  Children sure do make time into a big issue.  I knew Sharon before she was married, as she was married, when she had her 2 daughters, and when the daughters were about 5.  Now one is married.  It's quite a game we play, keeping track of time.  I have another friend, from college, who has lived in Hawaii for more than 30 years.  She & I keep in touch at Christmas.  Wow we've known each other a long time.

Dogs are fine.  They didn't seem to mind the cold weather and do enjoy the snow.  They went for a 20-minute walk in the frigid cold and came home enthusiastic and perky.  Go figure.  Wish I could do that.

I have my Christmas tree up and decorated.  It's quite queer this year, I cut too much off of the big tree so now have a very petite table top tree.  And it leans.  But it's got bright colored lights and beautiful ornaments.  I think I'm missing a box of ornaments because there are some I didn't use, but there's no room for any more so that's a good thing.  I have some wonderful ornaments, having collected them for almost 40 years.

Last night I went out to dinner with Pat, Bill & Fred.  Our standard restaurant is closing on the 31st so we had to dine there.  It was a celebration of birthdays, mine and Pat's, and we had a good time.  No more fried perch this winter, not the way they cooked it anyway.  We'll miss that.

I've shipped all the presents that needed shipping, sending off the last of them to Vermont today.  YAY!  I got the Italy presents in the mail MAYBE in time for a pre-Christmas arrival.  I got Jenica's and Justin's presents off, but didn't get Anna's wrapped and packed.  She'll get hers in January.  Sorry, Anna.  I love you, you know that.