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! 

PRESIDENT BIDEN

Finally the count is over: Biden won 273 electoral votes as opposed to Trump's 214.

We are quietly celebrating and flying our flag. Hubby and I are weeping for joy and relief. 

It's an historic day.

"My Nose Is Wet With Your Eye Juice"

- spoken by R, who forced herself into my lap and then "nosed" my eye numerous times. You can probably tell how much I hated it.

American Pie

Baby R (and Hubby)

Baby C (and me)

Today is Election Day, a hugely important one, and it's pretty stressful. I'm proud that all of our eligible kids voted. It was H's first time to vote in a presidential election, and C's first time ever. He, Hubby and I filled out our ballots together, and we put them in the ballot box downtown last week.

At any rate, Bella was having some major anxiety and decided to make chocolate pie. Normally this pie is only made for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was Bella's first time making it, and it was excellent. We all ate chocolate pie and watched stupid movies all day and mostly avoided the news.

H came by after work and ate pie too.

R is our only child who couldn't vote, but she kept on top of the progress like it was her job.

In other news, we looked at a house to buy today with our realtor, Kat. I loved it; Hubby not so much. That was disappointing. In true me coping fashion, I went to bed early and deleted all the real estate apps from my phone and decided to die in this house (not anytime soon, just....when the time comes). 

I also gave myself carte blanche to decorate this place however the hell I want to, instead of leaving things painted in neutral colors, since I guess I'm staying here UNTIL I DIE. If people hate what I do, too bad.

I don't really do anything halfway. 

The New Piano

Recovery From Halloween

We took Baby R for a walk along the river. Such a beautiful morning! Chilly though - we had to keep adding layers to her attire. She spent more time in her stroller than she did walking. It was so fun. She loved watching the train.

GRATUITOUS BABY PICS!!

1. Baby C making use of her thumb while she waits for Mama to finish eating lunch

2. Baby R, aka The Naughty Napper, finally fell asleep in our bed and slept a grand total of about twenty minutes:

For Sunday dinner, we had French toast, sausage links, and fruit salad. H came over to eat with us and shenanigans were had.

At one point, we played trampoline dodgeball, where whoever was on the trampoline had to dodge balls that people on the ground were throwing at them. It was good stuff.

Then we played Wise and Otherwise and laughed our butts off.