Corner of Bourbon & Division

( Warning: contains harm to an animal done by another animal )

In other news, everyone is dying this year. Brian Bedford, Alan Rickman, David Bowie, Prince, Mohamed Ali, Gene Wilder, Florence Henderson, Anton Yelchin, John Glenn, Alan Thicke, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and now George Michael. I'm sure I've forgotten a bunch. Not to mention Carrie Fisher's massive heart attack, from which no one is sure she'll recover. Though if anyone can give 2016 the finger, it's our General.

Someone on Twitter summed up this year nicely:

So. 2016, a summary:
Death.
Death.
Death.
Brexit.
Death.
Death.
President Trump.
Death.
Death.
Christm...Nope. Death.

— B52 | @saltwateritch (@Bristol52) December 25, 2016

( Uncheerful thoughts about 2017 )On the plus side, so far Christmas has been kind to me. I've put up a tree, which the cats, weirdly, are ignoring entirely. Clearly, Christmas ornaments just aren't as interesting as live mice. It was a bit of an adventure, as first of all the place I went to no longer had any small trees, so I am now boasting an eight-foot tree, which I had to cut down a bit because my ceilings are not high enough to accommodate eight feet of tree plus a stand. I have a special stand that I bought years ago at Canadian Tire, which balances your tree by itself so that perpetually single people like me can put up a tree on their own. It still works well after all these years, and after being left outside for two years in the rain and the snow (because I'm a careless person, sometimes).

Second, I had trouble with the tree lights. I bought a second strand (because eight foot tree), and wound it first around the tree. I was talking to my mother on the phone, and accidentally unplugged the power supply while I was trying to light the strand. Oops. Then when I got her back on the line I dropped the phone again, so we decided to call it there rather than invite further problems.

That's when I discovered that my first strand had a neutral prong that was bigger than the hot prong (which is how most are made these days), while the new strand had equal sized prongs, which made them incompatible. No worries, I thought, I would simply switch them around and plus the new strand into the old strand instead of vice versa. No dice. The old strand only had half the lights working. Since these are LED strands, I don't think it's a question of one light being burnt out (the way they used to: I have memories of exasperatedly switching out one bulb after the other to determine which was the defective one, and sometimes it was two bulbs and then you were screwed), so I had to go out and get more strands. I got two to be on the safe side, so now I have a very lit tree. No complaints, tbh. I didn't even have to use the extension cord I got.

After that, thank goodness, the rest of the tree decorating went without a hitch. I had to split it over two days, as I was working early in the morning (for those of you who are relatively new to this LJ, I have to get up at 04:00 to get to work on time), so I ended up finishing it on Christmas Eve. I had on the traditional Christmas music CD that my father gave to him (classical choir music, I should specify), and all in all it was a lovely and peaceful experience. Las year and the year before I had no tree. Last year I went to my parents' for Christmas, and the year before I had just moved to Ottawa and the idea of a tree was exhausting. In 2013 I was still with my ex, and we used her fake tree, which I was mostly not allowed to decorate, and we used none of my decorations at all and didn't listen to the music that had been my family tradition when decorating the tree. So 2012 was the last year in which I had my own tree (it was a collaborative effort to decorate it, which was equally as nice as decorating on my own), and I missed being able to do it.

And the finished result:

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

In the meantime, I'm in the midst of prepping for the "Un-Christmas" lunch I mentioned in my last post. I have all the cooking set up, either frozen and waiting to be thawed, or else sitting in the fridge or pantry waiting to be prepped. I have some last-minute fresh ingredients to buy, but apart from that, we're looking good.

Today I'm going to give the house a thorough cleaning (I hope I'll have time for everything I'd like to do, but it should be okay), and will finish Wednesday if I must. I have told myself that if I finish it all today I am allowed to treat myself to Rogue One at the theatres on Wednesday evening. I have two free movies thanks to my Scene card, so it'll be a nice, inexpensive reward, especially if I don't splurge on popcorn or anything else. House cleaning is not my forte, though, so I'll have to see. Maybe if I finish early enough on Wednesday I'll still get my treat, but the plan is to do as much as possible today.

Anyway, this entry got much longer than I was planning, so I shall stop there and pick up in a later post, possibly my 2016 recap post.

I've been bad about posting here, for the same reasons as usual. So much stuff happens IRL that I don't have the energy left over to post when it happens, and then afterward there's so much of it to catch up on that I get overwhelmed. I'm going to try to do better. A few years ago I did well when I challenged myself to post once a day to LJ for a year, regardless of how much or how little had happened that day, so I may try that again in the New Year. You've been warned. ;)

I don't know what I've posted the last few times. I should go back and check, but I probably won't for now. The dog training classes are over, and I haven't been out running in a bit because I find running in over a foot of snow really hard on my ankles and back, among other things. I'm a little disappointed about that, but better to take it a bit easy than to injure myself and not be able to run at all for weeks or even months.

Christmas is in two days, and I'll be at work. I don't mind working Christmas for now, or any of the statutory holidays, to be honest. I don't have kids yet, so I'm fine with the idea of working Christmas so other young families can be together during the holidays. I've done that for ten years now, and I probably won't stop until I have children of my own. I can only hope that someone in my office will choose to repay the favour when that happens, but of course, they're not obligated to. I just remember my cousin having to spend Christmas without my aunt (she was a nurse) when we were growing up, and I remember how much it sucked.

Anyway, it's been a whirlwind of Christmas prep around here. I've sent out holiday cards to everyone I know who wanted and asked for one (if you missed my post on here and on LJ and on Twitter, ping me and I'll add you to the list for next year), totalling fifty-seven cards (egads). Two weeks ago I baked cookies with ai731, which as usual have been a big hit with everyone at the office and at Meeting. I've been lighting the candles on my Advent wreath for the first time in a long time, and I must say I've missed the comfort of that particular ritual. It's as much a part of my Christmas now as singing carols with the Quakers, so I'm glad I was able to start up that tradition again. It's the only tradition I came up with specifically for myself: my parents never lit candles, nor did my ex (who I'm pretty sure no longer identified as Christian, although the secular part of Christmas was a big deal for her and for Bean too), nor does anyone else I know. I just remember the wreath candles being lit at school when I was a child, and to me it doesn't feel like Christmas without it.

I'm hosting an "un-Christmas" lunch again this year, as I'm working through Christmas. My parents are coming up on the 29th, and on the 30th I'm having them and fearsclave and his wife for lunch. I have what I hope is a fun menu planned: a beet salad as an entrée, followed by lemon tarragon Cornish game hens, wild rice, and mashed sweet potatoes. Yesterday I baked and froze a tourtière as the final side dish. That's the last time I ever follow a baking "tip," incidentally. Several recipes suggested I wrap foil around the edges of my pie crust so they wouldn't burn, and they *stuck* to the foil and ripped apart my lovely pie. :( It should still taste fine, at least, but I'm disappointed in how it turned out. Today, if there's time, I'm going to bake and freeze an apple pie for dessert. There should be time, if I do it right.

I've been doing some tidying and cleaning of spaces in the house I hadn't touched in a while. The front closet got a makeover yesterday morning, and my CDs got sort of organised. Or at least they're not in a massive pile anymore where they didn't fit into my CD case. I need to get a second CD case to hold them all, frankly. I still need to actually tidy, vacuum, and mop the main areas of the house. I've been procrastinating on that, in part because I've been sleeping poorly of late and the idea of doing those "big" jobs feels exhausting. Eventually I'll get over my reticence and do it, probably on Monday, between my day and night shifts. I even put my curtains in the wash, though I haven't ironed them yet. I should put them back up before my night shifts start, at least, so I can be sure to get enough sleep next week. It's hard to tell what consists of me being truly productive, and what's actually a sort of constructive procrastination. Still, at least things are getting done, and with any luck and a bit of hard work everything that needs to be finished will be by the time Thursday rolls around. Then maybe I'll sleep for the next year. ;)

We've been getting a lot of snow this year, which is pleasing to me, in spite of the shovelling. Last year we had a green Christmas, and it almost broke my heart. So I'm happy enough to have to shovel, if it means having a white Christmas.

In a fit of optimism I have decided to send out Christmas/holiday cards this year. I have never before succeeded at this task, but there's a first time for everything, am I right? ;)

If you'd like a lovely non-denominational card (though I can't claim you will be receiving anything like the brilliant cards prolixfootle sends out), then I will require your full name and address. The full name is because Canada Post decided (shortly after 9/11, if memory serves) that they would no longer send out mail that wasn't addressed with a proper name or company name.

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Happy trails!

I hope you are all having a very happy day. To those of you who are celebrating, I hope you have found affection and joy in the presence of your loved ones. For those of you who don't celebrate this day, I wish you all the happiness in the world. For those of you who can't celebrate for reasons outside of your control, I hope that all the abundance of love and joy and hope in the world spills over and fills all those empty corners and crevices in your lives and makes today that much better for you.

Thinking of all of you, even when I'm not there to tell you in person.

The bread maker is on its last legs. The paddles consistently come loose, the crust doesn't bake according to instructions (it's far too dark, bordering sometimes on burnt), and the bread has not risen correctly the last two times in spite of the yeast being fine and everything else being up to standard.

Luckily, pdaughter has one of her own, so we won't be without bread. I am just sad, for this machine served me faithfully for nearly eight years before coming to the end of its life. I wish it had lasted a bit longer, to be perfectly frank, but eight years isn't too bad, all things considered.

Things are super busy at Casa Phnee & pdaughter as we prepare for Christmas, so I expect there will be shorter posts like this one until I get a bit more time to pull my thoughts together. Since I'm resolved not to have the computer on when I have other things to do and when the family is home, I've had fewer opportunities to simply sit and type away in the LJ post screen. Sunday I go back to Ottawa, which means there will be a bit more time to spend with the computer. So far, not being on the computer as much is really paying off, so I'm hoping to stick with the new program.

I am trying desperately to finish a Soopar Seekrit Prodgikt before Christmas, but I am rapidly running out of time. /o\ Wish me luck!

Tomorrow Bean and I will be wrapping presents together. I hope it goes well! Fingers crossed.

See you on the flip side!

Overslept, but managed to get to work just in the nick of time. After the gastro of death last week, today I have a sore throat. I think my body is trying to pay me back for not having anything more serious than a cold and couple of migraines for the past couple of years.

Had a lovely Christmas, anyway. The parental units loved their presents, and I was pretty spoiled myself this year. My father once again wrote me a card that made me cry. It's a tradition now.

Work has been crazy the past couple of days. It seems that bad guys don't take Christmas off. Still, it makes the shift go by pretty fast, so I can't complain.

I am in the midst of planning my life for the next year. It involves a large desk calendar, several new notebooks, and colour-coded pens. Muaha. Yes, I am indulging my office supply fetish, but it's all in a good cause.

With any luck, this time next year I will be a whole new and improved person. :)

I really like Christmas songs. Even the annoying ones. Even the ones that are played to death every year.

Sure, I get earwormed on some of the irritating ones ("Jingle Bell Rock" anyone?), but I don't care.

I think everyone at work is pretty stressed. My coworker is having... not an argument, but a tense conversation with her daughter (who also works here) on the phone about Christmas. They too are having a tough time handling both Christmas and all the extra work this week.

It's pretty sad. Everyone is on edge, and it's sort of making the holidays feel not so festive.

I hope things get better soon.

I don't recall authorizing Christmas to be next week.

I demand to speak to the person in charge!

I got to see about 60% of the family today before I had to leave for work. They all seem in reasonably good form (even my uncle who has arteriosclerosis in his back), and they were all quite disappointed that I wouldn't be spending the day with them. Oh well. Next year.

My parents went bonkers over the VCR. I had expected them to be pleased, but their reactions exceeded my expectations, which was very gratifying. My father in particular immediately got rid of the old VCR and installed mine, and tested a video in it. I think he'll be watching something tonight.

For Christmas I got a membership at the local YMCA, and I plan on taking full advantage of it. I asked Santa Claus for it, so I was very pleased when he came through for me. My father also got me a novel by Fred Vargas, a mystery novellist we both enjoy. It's next on my reading list after the latest Irene Adler mystery.

One morning this week I must go to the YMCA to get my identity card made and to explore all the machines and programs and stuff. I am quite excited.

On an only-slightly-related note, my mother gave me a whole bunch of various bits of Christmas luncheon to take with me to work, and I can now officially say that I have eaten too much. Some Christmas traditions are harder to break than others, it would seem. ;)

I am getting off work in three hours, after which I will see my cats, whom I abandoned yesterday morning (with plenty of food and water) in order to spend the day and night with the parental units. Doubtless I shall come home to vocifrous complaints. I'm looking forward to seeing the kitties again. :)

That's it for now. This week will mostly involve work and cleaning (again) and a trip to the YMCA. This weekend there will be more festivities. Festivities are good.