Holidailies!

"I miss the bite in the air, the numbness in my cheeks, the wind blowing the door shut behind me as I rush into light and warmth."

I don't miss that, I have that. Walking into the gym last night, and by god it was cold. I couldn't feel my nose when I got inside. Exposed bits of skin were in pain, it really was so cold, it hurt.

I did wonder, how do people who live out, live? I mean, being homeless has to suck at the best of times, but when it's 26F/-3C, and I'm sure the wind chill factor brought it down another couple of degrees, how the hell do you survive that?

I have a New Years Resolution already. Everyone gives food and money to shelters and food banks during the Giving season. It's in the later months when they don't think to give, and people still need to eat.

Next year, starting in January, I'm going to donate a meal a month to my local food bank. Not counting when the posties do their food drive, and the Scouts and the women's club I belong to.

A meal a month. Like, a packet of pasta, a tin of spaghetti sauce, a can of mixed veges, a can of fruit. What's that, $5 at most?

I'll still be doing my regular donate to the SPCA, but I also hear there's a non-kill shelter near here, and I'd like to help them too.

I think I need to be getting tax receipts for this. Not only for the deductions, but to have it on the public record what's been given.

Gratuitous Pics

Adelaide & I at 2:30 Wednesday morning. Note my lovely regrowth and fancy flip. Also note my stoner look. That's how I look when I'm Very. Tired. My thought processes work about as well as that expression suggests they might

This one amuses me as I took it specifically to show you my clipped and cherry chocolate coloured hair, and not one skerrick of hair to be seen

That's better. Cherry Chocolate better. Got to pay more attention to the hairdresser next time, she made it a wee bit shorter than I'd like. Hey, you can't see the raccoon markings neath my eye in this shot. Henceforth every picture of me shall be from above. Just the one chin, that's the ticket.

(next bit written at 12:30am)

Quick trip to the post office today, getting a CD in the mail to Kymm. Coming out the Post Office, I've got a bouncy American pit bull mix leaping and wanting a pet, so I give him a pet, assuming the woman at the bottom of the stairs is his owner. As I stride back to my car (fucking cold so I'm moving fast), the dog leaps on me from behind, close enough for me to feel that he is fact an entire male. Dog dick on a cold day, fabulous. I turn round and the dog grabs my arm in it's mouth and chomps down. The dickhead owner, not the woman but a guy with a chain leash that the dog is strangely not attached to , comes up to me and says "Don't be afraid, he doesn't bite, he just likes to play". The dog then bolts into traffic, barely being missed by several large trucks, and the guy's heading off after him cheerfully prattling on about his "goofy dog". You don't take a large breed dog off leash on a main road. Especially one that, despite your delusions to the contrary, bites. I checked my arm, and through the multiple layers of clothing I had a welt, which is still slightly visible now, 8 hours later. Lucky it was me and not some small child or person prone to shrieking and dragging their arm away and having real damage done. What a fuckwit.

Tonight was the only double header of the Christmas Party trifecta. I'm in the Women's Club for our town (if you can't pierce the old boys network, join the old girls ) and the President had a new members meeting, aka get the younger members involved again. I showed up for the hour or so before my card club. They used to have a Young Women's Club, but the average age of the Club these days is such that me coming to the meetings removes 30 odd years from the median age. A suggestion was made that I become a Board member. I'm going to go to a Board meeting as a guest, I already have a large commitment to the non profit theatre restoration group, and I'm leery of committing a stack of extra time. Their meetings are during the day, which means I shouldn't lost Jeff time, and it won't interfere with the other commitments I already have, so it's a tentative maybe.

Card club was fun, my present was enjoyed, and I came home $0.16c up. We play for pennies, starting with a dollar float each. Playing for pennies keeps it fun. I could lose every month we play and not be out so much dosh. Not that I would lose every month, my competitive instinct engages. A couple of times I come home with no money, but more often I have more than I left with. I think I'm up maybe $5.00 over the 5 years I've been playing.

My giftie is a basket with a latch, Mission style I think (I don't buy baskets a lot, not my storage style), complete with cucumber and melon soap, body gel, body lotion and a wooden foot massager. Not something I'd buy myself, but I'll use it, so a good gift. Jeff made approving noises at the foot massager, I see someone's size 13's being treated this weekend. One of the women has been knitting woollen bells for the last 20 odd years, all the other women have them for that time. She knits them with the year on them, so I have 98-02 so far. They'll be going on the tree this year, as it's a soft, or plastic but specifically non-breakable theme for our tree due to a manic climbing Adelaide. If it'll survive a 6 foot drop onto the floor, this is it's year on the tree. The other ornament from Card club is a glass angel, into the box it goes. I have no desire to be picking up glass angel shards with my feet.

The food is sour cream dips, crudites and snacks, and scented candle burning is de rigeur, so I end up coming home farty and phlegmmish, mmm, don't you wish you were married to me now?

Tomorrow night's do is Jeff's work Christmas do. Same place as last year, where I ate my body weight in frenched lamb cutlet appetisers then could barely fit the stuffed lobster. The stuffed lobster that'd been the main draw until I located the lamb by smell. This part of the US isn't big on lamb, and I'd swap a roast turkey for a good leg of mutton any day of the week, so I think I scared the wait staff with my ravenous falling on the lamb. No-one else liked it, so the wait staff started seeking me out. 15-20 lamb cutlets later (urrrp) I was a happily stuffed Amanda. The (now ex; moved to Las Vegas with her husband and adopted child) receptionist made sure to rebook at that restaurant this year before she left, and made careful mention to the chef to have the lamb cutlets. Think of me about 7PM E.S.T, I'll be the one eating Lamb Chop.

Think of me about 8:30AM EST (that's just over 6 hours from now. See how dedicated I am to having you read my sleep deprived prose?). As I'll be doing the big pig at the work do, I shan't be able to make my swim class tomorrow night, so I'll be making the big effort and going to the morning class. Unless it snows. I'm not schlepping my arse out of bed to play in the snow with the front wheel drive and the frozen windscreen unless I've had the full 8 hours of zzz's, thangyouverrymuch.

I'm going to borrow from Dorothy R, with my bulleted list of things I should put in an entry at some point;

• swimming, bathers, and going down a size
• Jeff's birthday and the three cakes
• JournalCon 02
• Syd
• Plin Con
• My birthday
• China Outlet & Garage
• Saving the house next door from burning down
• Debt collectors pissing me off
• Christmas Parades, gallons of hot chocolate and more house fires
• 3 years of photos from Walmart
• gratuitous pics & chat of the kitten (that'd be Adelaide aka Cutie).
• My amaazing deals at the Goodwill.