The final countdown

Four days until Christmas.

And its pouring rain. Yuck. Admittedly in these parts we are more likely to have green Christmas than those in other parts of the country, but this is nuts.

It is supposed to be 11 degrees and rain in the 23rd. What?!

Crazy stuff. We're headed north to see Big C's dad so we should have snow, but even that could be touch and go as they're forecasting warmth and rain just before the big day there too.

We've completed one Christmas already. It was good too. My mom and stepfather were down. We went bowling, opened gifts, had food, played cards. Mostly we just had some fun and lots of laughs. A good time had by all really.

Miss K was excited about bowling but then her ear began to hurt so the enthusiasm wore off a bit. She perked back up when we got there and then proceeded to have a good afternoon and evening with her grandparents and parents before passing out at 7:50pm last night. Some ibuprofen and ear drops and she was good to go for today so that is a blessing.

I'm a little disappointed that I still have one Christmas present to get…a gift card that I cannot get anywhere but at the store it is for. And I have not got there yet. I do feel that I could wait until after Christmas though as we will not be giving this gift until we return from the nord.

That and it was a weekend of hemorrhaging money. We knew there was going to be the last gift cards and cash for the sitter, dog walker, etc… as well as the inevitable liquour and beer run. But we did not plan on the 220.00 vet bill.

The dog has some sort of infection between his toes. The vet says its pretty common in dogs, especially the water loving kind of dog like ours, but its not so common to have the infection in 3 of 4 paws instead of just one.

Awesome. Now we have to manage 2 weeks of antibiotics and a few doses of corticosteroids for the inflammation. I say we, but I really mean me. I am the one that is up in the morning feeding him for the most part and supper time is a crap shoot, so I might as well do the whole thing.

He is typically fabulous at taking any sort of meds. Put it in his food and he eats it. Done.

Friday night that got blown to hell. He chomped one of the capsules instead of inhaling food like normal. It burst open and he just about gagged on what was inside. No way no how was he going back near that bowl of food. 

He could have been famished for all I knew, but he wasn't going back lest he get a taste of that medicine again.

So, we've now resorted to the capsule wrapped in a partial cheese slice method for administering these pills. It works nicely, but he's enjoying the cheese a bit too much I think. He follows me around wondering if there may be more. If he were a dog on the street would he be a drug addict? LOL

Big C is on antibiotics for a sinus type infection…I'm surrounded by sickies.

It should be a good Christmas, Miss K is excited but isn't losing the true meaning of things either. I chuckled last week when the 2 elf on the shelfs they have at school got together and had a birthday party for Jesus in the classrooms. I thought it a good mix of Christianity and the Santa Phenomenon.

I will still grumble some about the commercialism and mass marketing machine that is Christmas, but I'm staying out of the hustle and bustle as much as I can and hopefully staying sane in the process.

Yesterday was a simple day with family, I hope the rest of the season can be as much fun and possibly filled with naps.

Sleep is eluding me these days. The hours between 4 and 5:30 am seem to be the most troublesome. Miss K was up at 5:10 this morning, that did not help the situation.

I crave 8 solid hours of good quality sleep. Long for it. Yearn for it. But, the zzz's do not come. 

They will though. Every week or 2 of 6 hour slumber nights are followed by a couple weeks of solid sleep nights that really do recharge the system.

You take what you get, once done its done there is no going back…and all that cliche type crap.

Christmas vacation could not come at a better time. I need the recharge, the food, the drinks the time spent with loved ones.

Til next time…hope you can recharge your life over the festive season

Thanksgiving and the great marketing machine

Another long weekend has come and gone. A beautiful Thanksgiving weekend in these parts. Sunny, highs near 20 degrees, which at this time of year is a rarity. That's about 68-70 degrees for you folks that use Fahrenheit. 

And the weekend seemed long too. We didn't do too much special but it seemed like a good 3 day break from the everyday. Very nice to have the good weather to go along with it. 

We did a ton of yard work, not nearly enough I'm sure, as we'll still be out in the freezing cold trying so scoop up the last of the leaves and cut the grass one more time. But we're slowly getting stuff put away and cleaned up and ready for winter.

The weekend was not all work either. Big C and the dog got 2 hunting days in so that was exciting for them. Exciting for Miss K and I as well and we were able to sleep in. Not that we couldn't have slept in with them home, its just different somehow…quieter maybe is the word. I dunno, it was nice to sleep past 7 at least once and nearly 7 the other 2 days.

Miss K had her swimming lessons Saturday morning. There were no tears this week, she still cannot get over that she is too big for a parent to go in the pool with her. She feels a little out of her element all by herself I guess, but she's doing ok just the same.

We had a big family dinner on the weekend. My mom's family still gets together over Thanksgiving and Christmas. All the cousins now bring their kids and I'm suspecting in a few years we could even see another generation as the cousin's kids start having kids which is frightening unto its own.

There were about 28 or so of us for supper. A big group, but kind of nice that you could avoid the ones that you don't really want to talk to. One cousin was home that hadn't been in about 3 years so it was nice to see them. Others who shall go nameless, I just try to avoid.

Miss K had fun. She stuck pretty close to Big C and I for the most part but she was reasonably social and well behaved. She was also asleep about 15 minutes into the drive home, but when you play hard you sleep hard too.

Back to the grind for a shorter week which is always nice. Sucky that its the last long weekend before Christmas, but what can you do?

Speaking of Christmas my dislike for the season is increasing. There is Christmas crap in the stores already…already like 2 or 3 weeks ago already. Total bullshit. The marketing machine of corporate greed rolls on. Pretty soon we'll be able to buy Christmas lights with our kids back to school supplies.

It's awful. No wonder people get so stressed during the holidays, this crap has been shoved down your throat for over 2 months about buy this, do that, make this blah, blah blah.

I hate it. I don't hate much in this world but I hate the materialism, marketing and mayhem that goes along with it.

Deep down I quite like Christmas, there is much wonder and peace to be had with the season, but all this other crap I can do without.

I went this morning before work to pick up some solutions to our mouse in the house problem and a few other things and was assaulted by boxes and boxes of Christmas crap awaiting to be displayed in the aisles along with the stuff that was already there.

Not the way I wanted to start my day. Halloween is still 2.5 weeks away and I have to see all of that?

I don't get it, I never will and I will rebel against the Christmas machine. I long for a simpler time. Maybe not so simple that the gifts are handmade, but you get where I'm going…no one really needs a clove ball for their closet anymore do they?

We know Christmas is coming, we will probably decorate, and buy gifts but don't bombard us with gross displays of money grabbing commercialism until at least mid November…

I know its just my two cents…but that is about all I want to spend on Christmas at this time of year.

Til next time be thankful for what you have and enjoy the good weather while it lasts