oh, Happy Day!

I took down the tree! There is no evidence of Christmas remaining, except for the fiberoptic tree, which goes into a box, balls and all, when I am ready. The real tree was coming apart into little sprigs of dead pine all over the living room, and I was so tired of having it block out every bit of light that came through that window. Must rethink that location for next year.

The thing is, it wouldn't be so bad. I mean, Christmas is a nice and happy time. Until you are the person responsible for unpacking 17 boxes of accumulated CRAP that just clutters up the house for a minimum of three weeks. And then the person responsible for repacking these 17 boxes. Why can't we just have one box of ornaments, and then maybe a few small items for around the house? How lovely would that be? Buy a tree, take out THE box, trim the tree. Done.

Although I love the Village. Don't want to shortchange that. However - snow everywhere - the roads curl up - the people fall over - the lampposts don't light - pieces break when I pack them up - trees stick me and don't fit in the box that I think they came in. And this year, thanks to Puff and Rusty, I went light on the Village: no people, no snow, no street lights, no trees. It was a beautiful scene.

As I expected, I am so grateful that I didn't put up many lights outside. Just the dancing snowmen and the lighted one. And some ribbon and garland, but that comes down easily at any time, like the fiberoptic tree.

I just love to have my house back. I feel like it's spring already. The dust shows up on everything, and I can really see how bad of a housekeeper I am with all that clutter gone. It inspires me to vacuum and clean. For about two hours.

But now it's the dreaded New Years Eve. We are actually invited to a party this year - that's two years in a row! However, as the day got closer I found myself thinking how much I liked the years when we just went to my favorite restaurant, Bahr's, in Highlands, and ate their crab cakes and drank Kendall Jackson chardonnay. That is my favorite New Years Eve.

Now Brian has just come home and he is complaining that it's winter, so we shouldn't go to a shore restaurant. Contradictory to that, he says - but it will be packed! So we'll see what happens. Megan has a sore back, and no wonder, that training this week = overtraining. I told her to tell the coach she's sore, take a couple of days off later in the week. She won't even hear of it. I used to feel like a pressure parent, telling her not to miss practice. Now I can't get her to take a day off here and there. The county championship meet is Saturday afternoon, I don't want her to hurt herself; they're also using medicine balls again.

Meanwhile, I emailed all of Brian's teachers regarding their Christmas comments on the progress report. I asked two of them to fill in questionnaires for his neurologist, and I have been researching "executive dysfunction". I found a published paper on one site that sounded like it was written about Brian. But Kevin says it is like a horoscope, that it would apply to anybody. Well, again ... we'll see. I don't expect to hear back from any of them before school starts back up on Wednesday.

Well, there are just seven hours remaining in 2007. I must go and put them to good use.

Sipping Wine Through a Straw

I hate those mornings when I get out of bed and my lip stings. Then I feel that little lump, almost barely there, but for sure it won't be going away anytime soon. My emergency treament protocol of peroxide and campho-phenique, when implemented immediately, seems to help and has even aborted attacks. But today? No. Today, I had to go have a filling replaced.

The good thing about that would be that dentists can prescribe drugs to treat cold sores, and mine was glad to do so. However, I picked it up and the pharmacist said that the side effects are dizziness and drowsiness! I can't drive around with those side effects! Then I see there are many more "highly unlikely" side effects. And I also read that you should only take this medication for one day when taking it for a cold sore. My bottle says take it for five! And I opened it and looked at the pill. It's the size of a ... of a ... I'll think of something. It's BIG.

So I have decided not to take it. The thing is that at least he also gave me a topical cream, and that seems to be maybe helping a little. Except that my lower lip is all ripped up from the dental abuse it took during the procedure. God, I hate the dentist.

After that ordeal, I ran around for hours trying to get shopping done just in case I work for the rest of the holiday season. Who in the world can stand Hollister? Why is that store so popular? You can't see a thing, the music is deafening, and I think there surely must be a MAXIMUM requirement on the IQ's of the workers. Add to that that all the clothing implies that you either live in, or frequently visit, Southern California. My children don't know what Malibu is. They have never seen the Pacific Ocean. I ended up saving $30 at American Eagle though! Of course, I had to spend $200 to do that. But at least the clothes look like they belong on the east coast.

And I have been spared my driving shift tonight for swim team. Megan is sniffling, she seems like she will never get better; probably needs to have it treated with something, but I don't want to put her on anything before this big meet. Surely she can't be at peak performance when she can't breathe, but she's done it before. Sigh. At least she has officially backed herself out of all high school swimming for this week. Her next high school meet will be December 21.

In other news, Molly is chewing on her foot and has to wear her lampshade. But the biggest of all: Puff is being spayed on Wednesday!! I'll drop her off on my way to work, and pick her up in the evening. The girl tried to tell me she has to be out of heat for six weeks or she can' be spayed. I felt like saying, "excuse me? Have you ever MET a cat who has not been spayed?" It's like Puff is in heat more than she's out, and she's only just six months old.

But...I don't have a headache today!!!

Whine Whine...Wine?

So I guess the thing is that my head is always going to hurt. I went out and bought some sudafed yesterday and had to show my drivers license. I couldn't even remember if it's that I can make bombs or street drugs, and I had to fill out all my information on a spiral notebook of forms. Now I see it's crystal meth. If nothing else, maybe when the sudafed doesn't cure my congestion, I can make that; and then I won't really care if my head hurts or not. And then I found I actually had some sudafed from years ago, actually bought without the federal government knowing about it.

So I spent the entire night sleeping with a wet washcloth on my head or neck, and then I awoke in a daze. It was already after 8, and I had to get up to be a greeter at church. So, they have five ushers and three greeters. It's a wonder people don't just turn and run in a panic to one of the other churches down the street. And you have five people all trying to give you bulletins, whose do you take? Although I may have been mistaken in trying to hand them out. Perhaps it is not the job of the greeter to give out the bulletins. I wouldn't know, because I never received the packet with the information.

Today I have been abandoned. Everyone has left me, either for the NY Jets or for the mall. On my home I picked up the makings of meatballs and sauce, and an $80 Christmas tree. I remember when we spent $40 and dragged the thing up the stairs in Queens. That was a lot to spend. Now, $80 without a second thought. At least I had the sense not to buy the Noble Fir at $110. Not that I didn't consider it. That tree had a beautiful shape.

Since I am abandoned, I had to get the tree in the house by myself. I had to get it off the roof of the Explorer, and then haul it up the five or so steps. This might sound not so bad, but each time I tried to put weight on the bad knee, it threatened to render me immobile again. I had to do this in plain view of anyone who might be passing by. There was a young guy in army fatigues across the street. Vanity stopped me from going across the street and saying, you look like a good citizen. Wanna carry a Christmas tree?

But I got the tree in the house, and in the stand! I even had to cut about 8 inches off the tip to keep it from bending over. In our old house we had a cathedral ceiling. I forget that in this new, giant house, I am limited in my choice of tree.

So, here I sit, with bags of meats and pasta waiting to be cooked. The sudafed is helping, but I am waiting for the advil to kick in. It's already 2:23 and I need several hours to simmer the sauce. Megan should be home soon, but then she will complain that there is no food. This being the week before Holiday Classic, she will have to be well fed and rested, and I will have to be nice to her. I am still awaiting a return email from her high school coach. I finally just emailed him and explained her quandary, that she thought a time warp would occur and the conflicts between high school and club swimming would resolve themselves. This week will show how that plays out.

Finally, there is Puff. She seems to be peeing around the house. I locked her in the bathroom with a litterbox until she finally dumped her little pearls in there. The vet called and it's all clear. As soon as she stops flirting with the uninterested hermaphrodite boys in our house, she's in for her surgery. I really wanted to wait until after Christmas, but this is just ridiculous. I don't know how cats stand it. Six months old and in her third heat cycle already? People who don't spay their cats must be out of their minds.

Well, that about winds it up for me. The whines and the other whines. The problem is, I am absolutely terrified to have my wine while I'm on the sudafed! I mean, I really don't know, but what if that is the other ingredient for the methampethamine? It could be. Or maybe that would not be so bad. I'm off to the kitchen.