I Should Have Asked Santa

If I'd asked Santa for my new computers they would probably already be here, installed and running perfectly. Instead, I ordered from a major manufacturer's website. One computer was built and delivered within four days of my order. The other was delayed for two weeks and since then I've watched it via the FedEx tracking screen, making its way from China to Memphis, and now, hopefully, to Phoenix.

I could have ordered standard pre-built items. I could have bought something similar at the local office superstore. I could have done this any time other than the holiday season, when businesses get overwhelmed with orders and shippers get backlogged. So I guess I should stop complaining.

In other news, we are having some wild weather here. We had four days of overnight freeze, four days of high winds, and four days of pouring rain. Very biblical. I spent most of the time running in and out to put sheets over the plants or pull them off again. We'll probably be okay unless we get ice, wind, and rain all at once.

Unrelated note: A couple days ago I was out and about and saw a gas station selling regular for $3.02 per gallon. Could it go below $3? Amazing, considering it was up around $4 not that long ago. This was on the same day that there was a news story about Americans spending a record high percentage of their income on gas in 2011. The whole fuel industry is just such a mystery it's no wonder people think it's a vast conspiracy. I should ask Santa for some honesty and transparency in the petroleum business.

Even more unrelated note: Everyone's having babies! One of my cousins just had a big baby boy, another cousin is about to have her second child any day now, and the Piemaker's niece also just had a boy. Interesting trend - both of my cousins are starting their families in their late 30s to early 40s. Much love to the babies and mothers!

I hope you are all having some peace and joy during this holiday season.

Katrina

All images from the amazing Graphics Fairy.

Christmas Decorating

The month of December is flying by! I sent the holiday cards out on Monday, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I realized the month was half over and we still didn’t have a tree. I ran out to Home Depot and got one of their $25 specials – it looks like a gigantic shrub that someone pruned into a Christmas tree-shape. But it smells good and holds the ornaments and gives a festive air to the house.

When we first moved here, I got into home décor in a big way – selecting paint colors and making coordinated bedding, creating themes with lamps, pillows and rugs, arranging attractive vignettes on each shelf. For a couple of Christmases I went wild with color themes, teal and silver one year, magenta and gold another. They were lovely, but the Piemaker would look around and ask, “aren’t you going to put up any Christmas colors?” He did not have much appreciation for a sparkling color-coordinated tree that did not have any of the homey, mismatched ornaments we both remember from our childhood holidays.

These days we’re back to a generalist decorating approach where we put up everything we’ve ever collected. This is not as much stuff as you might think, because we have very little from “before.” I think I must have had some ornaments and holiday decorations in my previous life, but I either left them there or lost them on the way here. There was one period in the late 90s when I moved five times in five years. Not conducive to holding onto things of sentimental value.

So although we have many boxes of pretty colored balls and teardrops and stars, we only have three items that are real keepsakes.

The first one is a little angel, an ornament given to me by loving relatives when I was a child.
It has a rustic macramé look and boasts the famous avocado green that was so popular in the 60s and 70s. I don’t know how I managed to hang on to this one but I’m glad I did.

Skip forward 30-plus years, to when the Piemaker gave me this little polar bear for our first Christmas together. It is very heavy, and has musical chimes. Awwwwww.

The third is a funny little house I got to commemorate the purchase of the home we live in now.

We actually spent the entire Christmas holiday moving in! Exhausting and stressful at the time, but it makes for fun memories now.

Now our decorating is finished, the cards and gifts are mailed, and now all we have to do is watch some good old Christmas movies and eat holiday treats.

How about you – do you have a lifetime collection of miscellaneous ornaments that you enjoy every year, or do you prefer a more cohesive, formal look?

Katrina

The Blahs

Since I'm slothful by nature, it's hard to notice when I slow down. But it does seem like I haven't felt like sewing or crafting or gardening or doing much of anything for the last couple of weeks. I think it might be my new medication.

I talked to my doctor about my unhappy hot flash-migraine cycle and she suggested I could try this drug which is an antidepressant but used for other things in addition to depression. I like to do lists and charts and diagrams and decision trees and power points, and here’s what my analysis of the menopause treatment alternatives looked like:

(1) I almost died from blood clots in my lungs a few years ago and birth control pills were the only possible cause the medical experts could identify. So no more hormones for me.

I'm taking the Effexor but I'm still in the loading phase and haven't even gotten up to a full dose yet since I have to get used to all the new ways of feeling sick instead of just sweating all the time and having headaches. I expect at some point I'll hit the right dosage and start feeling great!

In the meantime, I will just continue to read a lot and sleep a lot and look at other people's blogs.

What do you do when you feel blah?

Katrina

No Pie For Me

In case you wondered why I haven’t posted any pie photos recently, it’s because the Piemaker has been sidetracked. He’s completely forsaken his piemaking duties in favor of a new motorcycle. He now has four motorcycles (actually I say it’s five, but he won’t admit to the one that is a pile of parts stacked in the corner of the garage), so you’d think the excitement would have worn off, but he just can’t stay away from it. He hasn’t even ridden it yet – he just spends all day every weekend and every night after work pulling it apart, cleaning and fixing things, and putting it back together. The last few days he’s been coming in and saying “it’s almost done!” and I hear “pie coming soon!” but it never happens.

So I’ve had to eat cookies from Trader Joes and some old lemon squares I found in the freezer, and pumpkin pie left over from Thanksgiving.

My dad sent me some stollen, which if you don’t know what that is, it is a German bread with fruit and nuts. It’s a little bit sweet, but not like cake. To me it tastes like childhood and Christmas and family, and I love it.

IMAGE REMOVED IN RESPONSE TO DMCA COMPLAINT

Here is a photo of a stollen that looks pretty similar to ours

For my dad to make this and send it to me demonstrates just how pitiful I am, because he is taking care of my mom, who after a lifetime of independence is all of a sudden the queen of neediness. Just because she had a little bout of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and then six months of life-threatening effects from the chemo, now she’s acting like a big baby. She’s not as whiny as I am, but what with the limping and groaning, she’s definitely giving me serious competition for the most piteous wretch of the year award. Plus when I call them and say “I don’t have pie,” Mom says things like “can’t you make your own pie?” Okay, she doesn't actually say that out loud, but I can hear her thinking it. Thank goodness for Dad!

And that is the situation. Hopefully the motorcycle will really be finished soon and I will get pie.

Katrina