1-1-08

Oh, this is so, so sad. If you’ve got a little extra money laying around, please think about donating to this animal sanctuary.

 

All day long I’ve been re-realizing that it’s New Year’s Day and a whole new year, and every time it comes as a bit of a surprise to me that 2007 is over. That was the fastest year ever, wasn’t it? So happy new year, all y’all. I hope your 2008 is fabulous!

 

My original plan was to take this week off from journaling, but after thinking about it, I decided to take next week off, instead. If my fucking laptop does that fucking thing where it suddenly erases several paragraphs for no apparent reason, that could change though, since I will likely toss the goddamn thing in the nearest snowbank and bid it a good riddance. Debbie and Liz and I were going to have dinner and birthday cake at Debbie’s house last night, but there was a sudden environmental crisis (Debbie’s apartment complex is killin’ the environment!) and for a while we thought there would be no heat, so we decided to postpone. Then, Liz went off to spend time with her man, and the heat came back on at Debbie’s, so I borrowed my father’s truck and went over there for dinner after all. The roads were still slippery and I slid completely through the stop sign at the bottom of the (small) hill down the road from my parents’ house, which scared me enough that I drove super slow the rest of the way to Debbie’s house. We had pancit for dinner and then were going to go see a movie, but Debbie remembered the wrong time on the movie, so we didn’t have enough time to get there. We dropped food off at my uncle’s house (a week after Christmas, my mother still had plenty of turkey casserole and turkey soup left) and then went to Wal-Mart, which was fairly dead. My sister said “Does this remind you of Stinkerbelle and Tommy?” INDEED. I dropped Debbie off at home, stopped to fill up on gas (it’s rude to borrow someone’s vehicle and not fill up the gas tank before returning it, at least in my mind. Though it’s really a standard I only hold myself to – if someone borrowed my car and didn’t fill up the gas tank before returning it, I wouldn’t think ill of them at all, unless they left it completely on empty. Apparently I hold myself to a different standard than I hold anyone else, go figure.), and was back at my parents’ around 9. Some time on the computer, some time on the phone with Fred, then I read ’til 1 am (I wanted to finish reading The Pact; I might be getting a little tired of Jodi Picoult, because everything she writes has a twist and so I don’t trust anything that happens in the book because I’m waiting for the twist. Loved it in My Sister’s Keeper, but after several books it gets tired.). I didn’t even realize it was after midnight ’til around 12:30. I slept in ’til well after 8:00 this morning, and was surprised to find that it hadn’t snowed overnight, as I thought it was supposed to. Turns out it wasn’t supposed to start until mid-afternoon, so after some hanging around the house, my mother and I decided an early movie was a good idea. We called Debbie and made plans, and met in Brunswick for the 12:10 showing of P.S. I Love You. Early birthday present from my sister. Appropo, no? Definitely a different kind of role for Hilary Swank. I liked the movie, though whether it was because it was a good movie or because Gerard Butler spent a lot of time shirtless and there was a viewing of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s ass, I cannot decide. By the time we exited the movie theater, it was snowing like mad. Debbie went straight home, and after a trip to Bookland (I didn’t buy a single thing there – usually I buy a lot of note cards there, but nothing struck my fancy this time around) my mother and I headed home as well. The roads were slippery and we slid through a turning-red light or two, but we made it home safely. flickr An afternoon of hanging around the house, watching the snow pile up, a dinner of ham and broccoli casserole (broccoli, cream of mushroom soup, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, topped with crushed Ritz crackers, holy SHIT that stuff is good! I’ll get the recipe and post it at some point, promise!), phone calls with Liz and Debbie, more staring at the snow, reading, and that pretty much describes the rest of my day. Pretty much. Chickadee on the bird feeder. The snow is supposed to last through mid-morning, or so the rumor goes, and then should clear up for a few days. Maybe we’ll get another foot instead! Woo! Hoo? My mother made this in a quilting class. I thought it might be something I’d be interested in doing, but after hearing about how labor-intensive it is, I decided maybe not. I can’t really complain, I guess. This is the first year the crappy weather has really stopped us from doing what we wanted (and honestly, it hasn’t stopped us all that much), so I’ll just shut up and be glad the weather’s supposed to be clear when it’s time for me to fly away home. Tomorrow, I have no idea what the plans are. Probably hanging out in the house looking at the snow, watching TV, hanging out, and (if the roads get clear), deciding we’re tired of hanging around the house and going out to do something! I know one thing for sure – I’ll be sleeping in! It’s amazing how well I sleep without cats around to wake me up. It’ll probably be another day or two before I start to seriously miss the little shitheads. The view from where I’m sitting. In the background, the pellet stove. I WANT. I love that recliner, but after ten or fifteen minutes, my butt goes numb.

 

I tell you what, Debbie’s cat Tigger perpetuates my belief that orange kitties are the sweetest kitties on earth.

 

Previously 2007: Happy New Year! 2006: No entry. 2005: Happy New Year! 2004: Happy New Year! 2003: Happy New Year! 2002: Happy New Year! 2001: No entry. 2000: Happy New Year.]]>