Bandages on my legs and my arms from you.

Oh, Fridays.  Why are you so cruel to me?  Fridays always seem oddly long, and leaving work in the middle of a rush is just weird no matter how many times I do it. 

Today, I found myself in a trailer park.  The kind that give trailer parks a bad name.  The kind with abandoned trailers with broken windows and fire damage and hobo kitties wondering around in the street.  The kind that make you wonder exactly how down on your luck you, yourself, would have to be to consider living somewhere like that.  And how many guns it would take to make you feel safe enough to sleep at night.  One of the trailers there caught my eye.  It wasn't the tattered sheets hung in the window as curtains, or the broken out window fixed with duct tape or the neat pile of beer cans that drew my attention to it.  It was the immaculately clean, chromed out Dodge Charger sitting in the driveway. 

Sometimes, I just don't get it.  Not even a little bit. 

On the plus side today, the last of my Christmas shopping came in the mail!  Now all that is left is to do a little baking...  okay, okay.  It's a lot of baking.  But I like baking. I just don't like doing the dishes afterwards.  But, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Unless the recipient of the action is particularly mean, grumpy, or immature; then the reaction is usually way out of proportion. 

I'm actually getting excited!  Christmas is only... seven, er, eight days away?  I've lost count. 

Texas is five days away.  I haven't lost count. 

It's the holiday season, with a whoop-de-do...

You know that it is cold outside when your washing machine freezes. 

Oh, and it has a partially washed load in it.  Which it can't drain the water out of.  Because the drainage pipes are frozen.  I'm guessing by morning, the water in the machine will be, too.  I'm getting a vision of me outside, very cold, with a hair dryer trying to thaw this thing.  Or I could just wait for spring.  Right now it's kind of a toss up. 

I hate winter. 

You're wearing me out.... But I'm wearing you down.

I should be doing something.  I have plenty to choose from.  There's laundry, both the washing of it and the folding of it.  There are at least 6 loads of clean laundry on my couch right now, and I know there are 2 more loads that need to be washed... maybe 3.

There's cleaning up the kitchen.  The past few days I haven't really cooked, so it hasn't needed anything.  But tonight I decided to make fried pork chops and fried apples and have a couple of small fires in the process.  Nothing was harmed, but it did get kinda smokey for a a bit.  Seeing my chef's pan full of fried apples nearly engulfed in flames was... actually, I just thought it was pretty.

There's sweeping the floors.  I cut Cole's hair tonight.  I really just trimmed it up around the edges.  It is long enough to part now even though it is still trying to stick straight up, especially that cowlick in the back that he inherited from me.  Sorry, kiddo, your hair will always be stubborn.  I think the new hairstyle makes him look older.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I also could just go to bed.  I've been tired for over a week now and I think my body is revolting against me.  Maybe I'm getting old.  Maybe I'm trying to go into hibernation for the winter.

But instead of any of that, here I am.  I'm not even listening to music right now.  I'm just... here.  I feel like I'm waiting, but I'm not sure for what.  I feel like I'm forgetting something, too, or maybe just that I've forgotten to remember or remembered to forget... 

Laundry and Bones.  Now!

You're tired my love, I feel the same.

It's been a rather long week thus far.  Partly because my work schedule has been abnormal for the last two weeks and I sort of have my days mixed up.  Partly because I'm uber tired from said work schedule and mixed up days.  Partly just because.  And partly because we've been keeping busy. 

Tuesday Cole's usual tae kwon do classes were canceled due to the local Christmas parade.  The street in front of the dojo was shut down.  Plus, the dojo had a float in the parade and all the students got to ride on it!  Cole had a blast waving very energetically. He also kept asking when he was going to get to be like the older kids and hop off the float to break boards in the street.  Oh, and it was cold.  Oh so very, very cold.

Today Cole didn't have his usual tae kwon do classes, either.  Today he tested for his first belt.  So now, Cole is a yellow belt!  He was very excited, and I'm rather proud.

Tomorrow is another day, and then there will be the day after that...  time drags by and passes in a blink.   

These are a few of my favorite things.

So, it's been a while.  How are you?  How are things?  Good, good.  I'm... good.  Thanks for asking.

Thanksgiving was a good week.  Yes, it has been nearly two weeks but I neglected to blog about any of if.  It was a good week.  Eleven days, actually.  B was here for eleven days.  It was fantastic.  Some of what happened falls into what would be thought of as the Big Deal category.  Stuff like B meeting my parents for the first time and spending Thanksgiving with them and me, or B taking care of Cole for an entire day by himself.  But for me, it was the smaller stuff that was more impactful.

This was our first road trip together, being stuck in a tiny car for 6 hours (twice).  With a four year old.  But the time seemed to fly by rather than drag the way it usually does.  Listening to B and Cole tell each other stories for about an hour was awesome.  I got to watch B playing with Cole.  B even put Cole to bed a couple of nights and I eavesdropped a little.  :)  B and I spent a day wandering around Midtown Atlanta and riding the MARTA for no real reason and with nowhere to really be.  We ate sushi and got yelled at by a hobo.  At my house B did dishes, laundry, and helped with Christmas decorations.  I came home from work one day to find the really messy kitchen I had been too tired to clean the night before completely clean.  Seriously.  Having someone around who wants to help out and does so without me asking is a new thing for me. 

It turns out that I like it. 

Five gold rings!

I'm in the throes of Christmas shopping.  I do like Christmas, I just disapprove of anything Christmas being displayed before Thanksgiving is over.  Christmas things being displayed before Halloween flat out makes me mad.  But I do realize that it is prudent to start Christmas shopping a bit earlier than December 24th.  I'm actually about halfway done and I'm pretty happy about that! 

Tonight I asked Cole who he wanted to buy Christmas presents for.  I'm trying hard to make sure that he remembers Christmas is more about what you give than what you get.  And he does get really excited about picking out and buying presents, though usually the excitement of opening his presents overcomes his excitement of actually giving presents.  He was pretty excited tonight just making his list of people to buy for and what to buy them.  It ended up being a long list - 22 people.  Just about everyone he is related to, B, several friends and a few people that I really didn't expect to be on the list. He wants to buy at least three of us bicycles (including me... and I have a bicycle), and someone is down to get some oatmeal and a can of pears. 

Notice that I said he listed "just about" everyone he is related to?  That's because there was just one rather notable name missing.

His father. 

I honestly don't know how I feel about that. 

Can you dig it?

Today hasn't been a good day. 

I don't feel good.  B called and woke me up at 7 this morning ('cause I asked him to, not because he is mean) and I felt absolutely terrible.  I'm not a morning person anyways, so I'm quite sure that I was no fun at all to talk to.  Instead of getting up as I had planned to, I took some paracetamol and went back to sleep.  I thought I set my alarm, and maybe I did.  But I also set my clock ahead by about 15 minutes in the process.  So, I woke up at 9:18 and went running around the house for 20 minutes and left in a hurry... only to get 5 minutes down the road and realize that it was now ten minutes before I left.  And then I got to work and realized that I had forgotten Cole's tae kwon do uniform and going home to get it meant that we wouldn't make it to class.  And then Cole smashed his thumb in the front door...

And besides that we were just busy enough to keep me from being able to get things prepped and it was rainy and Cole was... well, he was Cole and very active and trying to be sweet, but he just mostly seemed to be in my way all the time.  You know, like a cat trying to get your attention and always being underfoot?  And then my boss accidentally came in a whole hour early, so I was able to get Cole's tae kwon do uniform and be at class on time.  And I voted.

You know what?  I'm going to change my perspective.  I've got a guy who's willing to put up with me on the phone even when I'm extremely grumpy.  I've got a job.  And a car.  And an awesome kiddo.  I've got the means to give my awesome kiddo things like tae kwon do classes.  I have a computer and internet access right in my living room.  I have a living room and a whole house complete with running water and electricity.  And I live in a country where I get to vote and I don't even have anybody threatening me with physical harm if I don't vote for who they want me to.  I've got it pretty good.