Hanging with Hubby

.....and a couple of furry lumps

We did the following things today: had BC and Tawnee visit and meet L and the granddaughters; went shoe shopping in Portland, bought nothing; played catch at the park with my NEW MITT; had Sunday family dinner with H (deli chicken strips, macaroni and cheese, potato wedges); watched TV

Post Christmas Purchases

Not the hat (gift from H & C). Not the huge embroidery hoop (gift from Baby R & Baby C, one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year). Not the plaid flannel nightgown (gift from Mom).

Nope. Today Hubby and I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and I bought myself a bike helmet and a baseball mitt. 

Maybe it's all the times that Field of Dreams and A League of Their Own have been on TV lately, or maybe it's my way of getting through the winter, but I've got a serious baseball jones. Hubby says he'll play catch with me and maybe I can drag the kids outside sometimes too.

Mom's and Bob's Gifts

R's Dental Appointment

Just here for a checkup and cleaning. 

The Left-Right Game

Sadly, because of the pandemic, we can't have a regular Christmas party at work this year. Rachel and the team throw wonderful Christmas parties. 

But we wanted to do something, so we arranged a gift exchange. I told Nick about the "Left-Right" gift game we've been playing at home for the last two years, and he was all for it. Here's the tree with all of the gifts we brought:

We had such a great time. Most of the group had never heard of the game, so it was fun to show them something new and watch everyone enjoy it. 

At lunchtime, H and I ran to Wendy's and grabbed food for ourselves and C. Here we are lunching in H's car.

After work, I shopped for Christmas gifts. Tiring!

This Sweet Moment

Delicious Lazy Wednesday

O Christmas Tree

Staying with Mom and Mel in The Dalles

Pick-a-Pom

Here's something we've never done before: we offered customers the chance to create their own bonnets - they were able to choose the bonnet color and pom color. Ivory was my favorite bonnet:

...especially with the red and blue poms, although that orange pom on the right is doing it for me too. So festive and pretty.

Meanwhile, we're trying to put together some semblance of a shop Christmas party since we can't get together at our previous spot, The Grocery Cocktail and Social, this year. Stupid pandemic! 

(I say that while simultaneously feeling extremely blessed that my contact with the virus has thus far been minimal, and grateful and relieved that vaccines are being produced and shipped to the USA as I write this.)

Christmas Lights

Good morning, eyes

Lil Baby C

A very cozy Wednesday

I made a goal this morning not to get dressed all day long (beyond a shirt and long johns) and so far, so good. I've been enjoying Bing Crosby singing Christmas tunes and playing with the granddaughters and hanging with the kids and pets. 

Future activities today include folding laundry, unearthing the recipe box for the Thanksgiving menu, making a shopping list, and putting together a binder of goals and routines and projects and whatever. Maybe hanging more twinkly lights in our bedroom, possibly cleaning the bathroom, dishes, and of course there will be food. 

The New Coworker

That would be H.

With the pandemic rolling forward and killing even more people, the governor set forth some stricter guidelines that mostly affect restaurants and gyms. H's employer will be back to selling only take-out, which will severely curtail his work hours. He's been thinking about taking a different job anyway and I mentioned this to Nick. The bonnet shop will have several huge sets of products for the holidays and we will need extra help, so today H came into the shop and got himself a new job. He'll be helping with the poms. 

At the end of his interview with Nick and Rachel, he came over and hugged me, and C saw us and joined in - it was sweet. 

I'm excited to see how this goes. 

Sunday Night Depression Time

Bella and R have adopted this as a weekly ritual. With the cruddy weather and decreased daylight, autumn and winter are tough on them. Sunday evenings are particularly hard. So out we go.

Tonight's shenanigans included a stop at the dollar store to pick up random crap, including tiny coloring books with little markers to use at Shari's. While there, we ate appetizers, soup (Hubby and I), a side of broccoli (Belly), a side of mashed potatoes (R), and pie. 

A fun time was had by all. 

M & L's Best Girls

Out and About

This morning Sherlock is finally getting a new tire. Breakfast at IHOP is in the works for Hubby and me.

Earlier I found Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the top 25 Christmas albums of all time and plan to slowly make my way through the albums I haven't heard yet. So far I'm digging A Very She & Him Christmas and Cee Lo's Magic Moment.

Speaking of Christmas, we were able to get updated Christmas stockings at Target. Life is good. 

Being a Heartless Wench

(The Golden Girls - firing Sophia's nurse)

Rose: Maybe I better talk to Nurse DeFarge. I think I could handle it with a little more tact.
Nurse DeFarge: [entering] Ah, good morning, ladies.
Rose: Not for you, Nursey-nurse-nurse-nurse.

As of today, Boggs and the Sisters are no more. This morning Boggs was fired immediately after her interpreter arrived (the argument she had with Nick over needing an interpreter was pretty funny since she herself has served as an interpreter for our other Spanish-speaking co-workers prior to this).

Now that she's gone, we'll be doing her share of the sewing. Yvonne showed me how to put together silk liners. They tried to teach me back in April but they were doing it on the serger and it was a lot harder. Now with months of sewing ends and binding under my belt, I'm more confident in my sewing and it went much better today.

Quote of the day: "We all make mistakes.... not like yours, though."

As nice and peaceful as it's been to have her gone yesterday and today, I found out from our mole that before she left today, she told her cohorts that she was fired for bullying me. Who knows what Nick and Rachel actually said to her, but that was the reason she gave and of course these women believed her. 

Also: Heavy crap has been happening over the last two days with my siblings. It's scary and heartbreaking, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. That's all I can say.

After work, I came home and got into bed and let people feed me.

H the Unhealthy

But first: Tell me this Muppet colors bonnet doesn't look like someone plucked Big Bird completely naked except for a few feathers on top of his head.

And later: possible Costco purchase for work

Now our story of misery and woe.

Just today I was joking around with Vivian that I wasn't sure we should have let H move out. He's been sick with strep throat a few times in the past couple of months and seems to have a hard time remembering to take care of himself. Well.

This afternoon H was downtown goofing off with some buddies and decided to jump down some stairs. A few hours later he called us seeking medical relief. I picked them up at his apartment and drove him to urgent care.

Verdict: he either sprained or broke his foot. He was given a boot which he swore he would never wear and a pair of crutches. He will be seeing a specialist later in the week. I gave him quite the Doomsday lecture about how he could really mess up his foot for the rest of his life if he didn't listen to the doctor.

And then we went out for McDonalds, and I took him home. The end.

Lovely Lazy Sunday

First, I had a lovely breakfast with dear Sandy at Kitchen Table Cafe, our new "regular" spot. Here's a tree outside the restaurant:

Then, playtime with Baby R.

We also took a nice long walk:

H came over, sick, and ate ravioli with us and stayed for a while longer and went home to nap.

I had some really awesome news from Boss Nick, that has me excited to go back to work tomorrow after all this time off.

We helped a new neighbor lady find her house after she left before sundown and tried to find it after dark. 

I video chatted with Neenaw and Uncle John. Today is Neenaw's 98th birthday!