Musings
-
Friday Thoughts
I’m a day late to wish you a very Happy Winter Solstice. Longtime readers will perhaps remember that I have shared this photo before. It is a time lapse photo from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, of the path of the sun on the Winter Solstice, taken December 21st, 2012. Fairbanks is outside of the Arctic circle, so the sun does technically come up every day of the year, but in the darkest days, it peeks above the horizon, then skits along for a bit, before setting a few hours later. Speaking of the Winter Solstice, I read at Light and Momentary that although after the Solstice, we get a…
-
Meme of the Day
Work is crazy right now, I work for a payroll software firm, and year-end means getting changes in to start in January. It’s exhausting. Things will slow down soon, and I have a few days off, so hopefully I can spend time with my family, and also post here, and come by and check out your blogs as well. I’m sorry I haven’t been there. I’ll be there soon. In the meantime, I love this meme.
-
Christmas is Coming
I’m not sure how this happened, but I just realized that Hanukkah starts on Sunday, and Christmas is the Sunday after that. I think I thought we had another week somehow. I’ve been feeling pretty prepared, but am just realizing that I have some things that I want to get done this week, rather than waiting until next week. I had assumed I would do holiday shopping on Friday, since I have the day off from work, but then I made an appointment at the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my license, and I’m getting together with my friend Neva for late lunch and shopping after that. I feel…
-
Friday Wrap-Up – and Vitamin Advice Needed
Yesterday was another Fabulous Friday, and I had the day (mostly) off from work. I started out being very responsible and went to get some blood work done. I have never gotten in and out that quickly, it was great. Then I did a little bit of work…we get Fridays off right now, but if something important comes in, we are supposed to take care of it if we can. A good part of our team is in India, so if I waited until Monday to do these things, they wouldn’t be able to move forward until Tuesday. After I finished with that, Mulder and I had a lovely walk…
-
Friday Wrap Up
It was another Fabulous Friday off from work. I started out by Getting Things Done. Mulder and I dropped the car off to get its smog test so we can register it, and while they were working on that, we walked over to the post office to mail my gift for San’s Secret Santa Mug Swap. I had been worried, because I found what I HOPED would be the perfect mug, but I ordered it online, and communication was poor. However, the mug came in plenty of time, and off it went. There was a big sign saying no dogs in the post office, and I didn’t want to be…
-
Ouch!
Random photo of a purple flower, from Monet’s Garden in Giverny, France. I chose this picture specifically because I am too vain to take a picture of my black eye, which is also purple, though not nearly so pretty. I take thyroid medication, which has to be taken with water, and works best if taken on an empty stomach, at least 1/2 hour before eating anything. I feel like that means before having a cup of tea or 3, since I take my tea with milk. So I take it when I wake up every morning, at around 4am. I then roll over and go back to sleep. This wouldn’t…
-
Caveat Emptor
You all know better than to buy items advertised on Facebook, right? I mean, unless they are advertised by a reputable, known company. Apparently, I have not yet learned that lesson. Or perhaps, I have finally learned that lesson. You can see how I was tempted though, right? Look at that cute holiday card. Seeing as how I went to France this year, I couldn’t resist. So I ordered a set. Scratch that, I ordered 4 sets, so I would have enough to send to everyone on my Christmas list. As soon as I completed my order, I started to regret it. I should have done a bit of research…
-
Happy Birthday to my Sisters
This picture is at my Dad’s 70th birthday, in 2013. My sisters are twins, and today is their birthday! Melissa is on the left, I am in the middle, and Maya is on the right. Due to NaBloPoMo, I have a lot of new readers, so I will give a bit of background on my relatively unique upbringing. For anyone with a lot of time on their hands (ha!), I wrote about meeting my dad at the age of 21, here, here, and here. The short version is that my parents met in High School, and were great friends, though never dated. My mom dropped out of college at U.C.…
-
Picture of the Day
Wow, my hands look old. I’m turning 57 next month, so I guess it’s not surprising. Anyway, my old lady hand is showing off the lovely bracelet that I bought in France this September. I had in mind that I wanted to buy myself a memento in France, something to remember the trip. I went with my cousin…she and I were in charge of our Grandma’s estate after she passed away. Her will said that her sister, my Great Aunt Flo, was entitled to stay in the house as long as she wanted to. So my cousin Carey and I managed that, with repairs and taxes and so on, for…
-
Housekeeping – NaBloPoMo
I’ve been enjoying participating in NaBloPoMo this year…it’s very different than in prior years. Years ago when I participated, that meant going and putting your url on a big website (like BlogHer), and that was it. I would check out a few blogs, and a few would come visit me, but there were hundreds of people participating, so it was a bit overwhelming. This year, San is hosting on her personal blog, and there are 16 people in total. 16 people is manageable. I haven’t been to every blog every day, and some have issues where I am supposed to log in to Google in order to comment and I…
-
Asmara Ethiopian Food
The picture above is not mine, I grabbed it from Trip Advisor. Today, Maya went out with a friend, and Ted and I went into Oakland. We had no big plans, but I wanted to go to a gourmet grocery store to get some fancy Italian chocolates for Christmas gifts, as well as a couple of birthday cards. After buying the chocolates, we wandered up the street to a local independent book store, where Ted bought a book for a gift, and I bought the birthday cards. Then we started walking around, looking to see if we might find something for a late lunch. We didn’t have any luck, nothing…
-
Mayonnaise Turkey
We’re having Thanksgiving at our house this year. There will be 8 of us (2 of whom are vegetarian), and I’m making 2 turkeys. We do this every year, to ensure enough leftovers. Ted was reading the New York Times the other day, and they had a recipe for Thanksgiving Turkey, where you dry-brine it, and give it a mayo treatment. Why not (aside from the fact that I am not fond of mayo as a condiment, but why not rub it all over your turkey?) However, while we do have a subscription to the NYT, access to their recipes is a different subscription, which we do not have. Facebook…
-
Dizzy Blonde
That sounds like I’m about to make a blonde joke, but no, I’m not a fan. Instead, it is an issue that I have been having recently. When my cousin and I flew to France in early/mid September, I had zero jet lag. Neither one of us were able to sleep on the plane, other than a quick doze for maybe 1/2 hour or so. So we left on the afternoon of the 9th, and arrived in the late afternoon of the 10th (we had a layover in Paris before flying on to Nice.) If you followed along in my October posts about my trip, you know that I had…
-
Meme Monday
This isn’t truly a meme, but instead some words of wisdom that I gathered from my bloggy friend Roma 8 years ago, that she posted on Facebook. Does Roma still have a blog? I can’t find her old one, but honestly, I’m not even sure how to look. Should have kept her on the sidebar maybe, but then again, if I removed it it was likely because she wasn’t maintaining it anymore. ANYWAY, the message is timely and one that I try to keep in mind, especially during the holidays. Resist everything except what your heart dictates. If it makes you happy to polish the silver, go for it. If…
-
Mulder’s Fabulous Friday!
Hi everyone, this is J’s puppy-boy (PB), Mulder, and I’m here to tell you about the Fabulous Friday that I just had! I have three bosses, my Big Boss, (Ted), my Medium Boss (Julie, aka, J), and my Little Boss, Maya. Medium Boss and I started out the day with a nice walk downtown, She thought we might try to find some new pianos to take my picture with, but they are gone. She was sad about this, but really, I can’t play piano very well, and during rainy season, it is probably a bad idea. Is she even thinking? In the place of the pianos, there is a lot…