Christmas

I just ate the most delicious lunch. Amanda sent me home with some roast beef last night and I stopped in at Sarah's on the way home and she gave me some homemade mac and cheese and good grief those two items were delicious. I had to counter it with some salad, but daaaaaaang that was yummy.

I started reading this book again:

I haven't read it in many, many years, and it is in my all time top 5. As soon as I started reading, I wondered if it isn't my #1, but I guess I'd have to reread all my favorites to figure that out. I ordered this a while ago in hard copy, which is odd for me lately, because I've been doing most of my reading by listening. I feel too busy to sit and read, though I can do it if the book sucks me in. It's hard to figure out what books are going to do that, and I am trying to meet my Goodreads goal- only two left. Something interesting I realized as I started reading this was that this book is the writing style I love best and one I think I try to emulate. It's honest and clean, with neat details and observations. I know I found this when I was younger, but I can't remember if it was while in high school or the military.

I have all these things in mind that I want to do, and I keep thinking I've got the time to do it eventually, but when the hell did I get to be 38? So I sat down and wrote several pages of my book. I have this ridiculous expectation that I will write 3-4 pages a day in this new year, because I've done the math, and Stephen King says the first draft of any novel should take no more than three months. Of course, that's what works for him, and I think that excludes research or revision, but it is a handy guideline to try to get the thoughts down, at least. More will come up during that research and revision process, but to get it down is the main obstacle for me. I tried to take the spirit of his advice and not reread what I've written already or try to spend time editing as I wrote. Just capture all directions as much as possible so that later, I'll know what the hell I was talking about and can clean it up then.

Christmas was lovely, and I got all kinds of wonderful and thoughtful gifts. I ate a delicious breakfast cooked in my new cast iron frying pan, and talked with family while opening gifts. Around 1, I made a mad dash to clean up and get things ready. I dropped off a little gift for a friend at the far south end of town, then stopped in at a Sarah's house to exchange gifts, then up to another A & N's for dinner. It was a really nice day and now I'm struggling to find motivation to clean and maybe even leave the house.

For bacon's sake

I stopped at Winco last night for bacon and bread because even though I already bought my groceries for the week so I wouldn't have to go back, there was that one inevitable last trip. Also, yesterday I ate the bacon I was supposed to save for today. It's always interesting to see the stores packed when they're going to be closed for one day. It's one day! We have things pretty good.

So I go to the deli and ask for two pieces of bacon and the nice woman there says, "Oh, what are you making?"
"...bacon..."

Maybe it's because I'm ordering two slices and not a pound. The dietitian told me years ago to order lunchmeat from the deli because it has less preservatives, but I've found that also lets me order exactly what I need. I am working hard on buying what I'm able to eat. And it's cheaper. I buy 36 cents worth of salami. You should see my bulk seasoning purchases. Sometimes they're so light the cashier has trouble ringing them up. That'll be 12 cents.

I meant to do a lot more baking and arranging playlists, but it looks like those will be surprise gifts when I get to them. I got out a few Christmas cards this year though, hey! I'm still lying in bed, thinking about this year. It's hard not to take stock of the negative things, especially since everyone seems to agree that 2016 was a dumpster fire. Things that happened this year feel both recent and ancient. I miss my sweet girl. I finished the training and can start volunteering to walk dogs now. I am still holding at my weight, but the massage therapist says I'm developing biceps. My friend was working with a personal trainer who told her to expect to gain weight from muscle before losing weight from fat, which is both a depressing and encouraging thought. People have constantly been asking me if I'm losing weight, so I guess I have to trust that tennis is working. Yoga with my coworker stopped with Riley's infirmity, and I think I would like to pick that back up on my own. It helps so much. There are plenty of good things to be grateful for, and lots of work ahead of me. This year I'll be working on three different leadership programs, visiting Virginia, and hopefully trying out lots of new crazy things. I can't tell you about them until I do them.

I bought Solo a few Christmas presents, and we are about to eat some breakfast and open presents together. I'll talk with the family and I can't wait to hear some reactions to things I sent. I don't expect to see Ant today, but we'll get together this week to have our Christmas and birthday celebrations. He turned 18 on Wednesday. This afternoon I'll stop by Sarah's, then join Amanda and Nataliia for dinner. After that, I'll drive around to look at Christmas lights and listen to a homemade cd of Christmas music I can actually stand. I'm off tomorrow and I'm going to sleep in, vacuum, do a puzzle, and play tennis. I'll ask Sarah to put a new sensor on me today and I'll finish listening to Gilgamesh and finish watching The Fall and head into the new year with energy and love and do my part to ensure that Trump doesn't destroy the planet. I wish you all love, energy, strength, and an amazing new year.