Friday Randomness

Jumping right on in here….

I enjoyed my time off from work.  Sunday we had some friends over that we haven’t seen in ages.  There’s something about having kids who are in school and sports and trying to support them, that doesn’t leave one with much time, so it can be hard to get together.  Then there’s work, which is also a huge time suck.  So between the work and the commuting and the kids and so on, we haven’t seen them in awhile.  Finally we did.    I made a huge meatloaf, we laughed and ate and relaxed.  It was excellent.

Also, went to Stockton to see my Grandma.  She’s still in the rehab facility after breaking her wrist and cracking her pelvis.  But wow, she looks amazing, SO strong, so much better.  This is a woman with osteoporosis so bad that she broke her hip at 40, who has broken other bones several times since then.  She lost her first husband at 24 or 25, her first child at 24.  Lost her second husband at 65.  Lost her second child at 72.  Lost her third child at 85.  Now she turns 90 later this month, and I have no doubt whatsoever that she’ll be up and about again pretty soon, even if that does mean using a walker instead of a cane.  She impresses the hell out of me.  There are few people so determined, and yet in such a soft shell, looking so delicate and helpless.  Ha.  Like a Steel Magnolia, I guess, except she was born in California.

Had my birthday on Monday.  I turned 47.  I’m thinking I should just start calling myself 50, right?  I can just use rounding.  I’m 50 from now until I’m actually 55, and then I’ll be 60.  Just round up or down, and people will either think I’m young looking or old looking, who knows.  I bought myself a birthday gift, a new swim suit, which I badly needed.  SO glad to have it.  Then I went for an hour swim, which felt great.   We went out for a delicious lunch downtown.  A luxury in our little (OK, medium) town.  Then we had more friends over for dinner, my friend Marilee and her husband Paul, who brighten up every room they enter.  it was lovely.  Ted made an amazing beef curry.  Yum.  So good for dinner, and then again for lunch the next day.

Tuesday was New Years Day…mostly relaxed, took down our Christmas decorations.  I’ll admit, I really like that day.  I love Christmas, I love decorating the house, I love the tree, I love it all.  But I also love the clean, open feeling of having all of that stuff GONE.

Then it was back to work…fine.  Whatever.  Thursday was my Meals on Wheels day, and YAY!!! The two women I was most worried about are back on my route!  Can you believe it???  I guess they bumped a lot of people, and then it turned out, they bumped too many, so there was room again.  I cannot tell you how happy I was to see their names on the list Thursday morning, or how happy I was to see their faces and give them hugs when I delivered their meals.  It felt like a great beginning to the new year.

Thursday and Friday were more busy busy days with work.  The IRS put out new withholding tables maybe 6 hours after Obama signed legislation, which was great.  We worked through the night and into Friday to get the changes out to our clients, which felt good, too.

Tomorrow is Saturday.  I have a girl scout cookie meeting (can you believe it’s almost cookie time again?), and maybe I’ll go for a swim, we’ll see.  Hoping to go to dinner with some friends.

Oh, Maya has been getting us into Dr. Who recently, and Downton Abbey starts on Sunday.  Ack!  Cannot wait.