The Holidays

I had a really nice Christmas weekend (although at times I felt like the little lesbian thrown into the pit of Christians). Vic & I spent both Saturday and Sunday with her mom and her mom's various friends and we went to a church Christmas song thing. Not an actual mass, but there was a little bit of preaching between some of the songs, so there was still a little bit of pain involved. Afterward, we opened presents! Vic & I both got a lot of nice stuff and we returned back to our house to open gifts there, Shannon & the kitties got a lot of paper to play with! Overall, I'd have to say this was one of the best Christmases I've had. It even snowed a little on Christmas Day. This Sunday, New Year's Day, we are going to visit Vic's aunt just over the border in Canada. She lives on a farm with chickens and cows! I don't think the cows stay there for the Winter, but I've been assured there will be plenty of chickens, so I'm really looking forward to that! Maybe one weekend this Summer Vic & I can go cow visiting.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I'm really looking forward to a nice pleasant Christmas, an early evening with the in-law and opening up presents with Vic during our first Christmas in the new house! We didn't decorate as much as I would've liked, but we both seemed really busy with work and worn out shopping and continuing to "move in", so we just have a few things hanging up and some nice lights on our small tree. It's festive enough for us and the kids. I thought we were going to get snow for Christmas, but it's looking more like rain, so I guess we'll be having a wet Christmas instead. I've really enjoyed seeing the snow again, but if it doesn't snow any more this season that would be fine by me. I don't think that's gonna happen, though. Our friend from FL, Karen, is coming for a visit the first week in January and I have a feeling it'll probably snow then. I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Happy Festivus

Happy first day of Winter! When I got off work this morning it was a balmy 21 degrees outside. I almost wished I had a pair of flip-flops to wear! You can really tell the difference between 21 degrees and minus 21 degrees. It's been so cold for the last couple of weeks that our concrete steps leading to the back door have cracked. After the holidays we'll have to look into rebuilding the back porch and steps. It shouldn't be too awfully expensive (I hope!), just time consuming.

A friend of ours was out shopping recently and at the end of the transaction she thanked the clerk and wished her a Merry Christmas. At this point the clerk proceded to jump our friend's ass and yell at her, "How dare you assume that I celebrate Christian holidays! Blah, blah, blah..." Now let me tell you, I'm all for people being entitled to their own personal beliefs, and I hate it when strangers try to shove religion down my throat, but geez it was just a friendly comment. It is, after all, the most commercial time of the year. Everyone celebrates Christmas or Hannukah or Kwanzaa or Boxing Day or Give Me A Free Gift Day or something! And besides that, it was a store employee for christ's sake! All she had to do was smile and walk away. I'll be the first one to run scared when a bunch of Christians are headed my way, but I don't think I've ever been outwardly rude to any of them. (And believe me, I can be rude.) So I can only assume that the less-than-merry store employee will be spending this weekend gathered 'round the Festivus pole with her family, airing their grievances and competing in feats of strength. I, on the other hand, will be spending this merriest of holidays with Vickie's mom and her old-people friends and being dragged to church to participate in Christian-themed events. I need to further investigate this whole Festivus thing.

Presents

I wrapped all of Vickie's Christmas presents last night and put them under our little Charlie Brown tree. I did this partly because it really brightens up the tree and partly because it really fucks with Vic ~ it makes her absolutely crazy to see presents that she can't unwrap for another week! Hee-hee-hee. I still have a couple of smaller items I need to get some time this week, but for the most part all my shopping is done. I really like Christmas and all the lights and songs and stuff, but I'm really looking forward to it being over already. The roads and stores are all so crowded! I'm ready for baseball season to begin!

In my earlier Friday post I forgot about the Feast, so I'm posting it in this blog...

Feast Seventy-Four
Friday, December 16, 2005

Appetizer
What is a word that your family uses that would not be considered common?
Sockie and feeties. "My sockies were wet so now my feeties are cold."

Soup
What theme of calendar do you have on your wall this year?
Kitchen~Cats Desk~Ireland

Salad
Name 3 people you speak with on a daily basis.
Vickie
Debbie, the dispatcher I relieve each night
Lt. Dave, my command officer I work with each night

Main Course
If you could put a new tattoo on someone you know - who would it be, what would the tattoo be of, and where would you put it on them?
George Bush
Two intertwined female symbols
Right smack in the middle of his forehead

Dessert
What is the last beverage you drank out of a glass bottle?
Kiwi-Strawberry Snapple (made from the best stuff on Earth)

Christmas Update

We finally received our Christmas stamps in the mail today, so now I can drop the cards at the post office. It's cutting it a little close, but I didn't want to mail Christmas cards with regular stamps on them! I think I'm about done Christmas shopping, too. Now I just need to wrap and hopefully Vic & I will be doing a little decorating this weekend. I'd be happy with just some nice white lights on our little Charlie Brown tree. Something understated, but elegant...just like me!

Millage

I just finished reading Shawn's list of 100 things about him and now I'm inspired to make the same list of myself. It may take me a while though since I'm not really sure I can come up with 100 interesting things about myself. Especially lately since I've been extremely lazy.

The big talk around work lately has been this millage tax that is up for a vote in February. If it doesn't pass (and how often do tax increases pass?) the city will have to make some cutbacks. There is all kinds of speculation on what could happen, but the worst case scenario for me is that I get laid off or the police department gets realligned under Oakland County and I'll have to make that hellacious drive out to Pontiac yet again. I'm not worrying about it - really. Not worrying about some impending future doom is so unlike me, but I just don't want to get all upset about something I can't control. I really like my job and the guys I work with, so losing this position would really suck, but if something bad happens I'll just have to start looking for another job. Again. Wouldn't it be great if I could become a professional cross-stitcher or baseball watcher?!

A Full Day

I had partial motivation today. I actually put all our games away, took the garbage out to the curb and organized the winter hats & mittens! Yea for me!!! Time for a nap.

Birthday Weekend

Saturday
Vic & I went to her mom's house for an early birthday dinner. She actually treated us to dinner at a nice restaurant and then we went back to her house for dessert and presents. Her mom wrapped 40 individual small gifts for my 40th birthday! It was lots of fun unwrapping dozens and dozens of little packages! Then we had chocolate silk pie and cherry pie. I prefer pie to cake and for years the people at work always gave me a birthday apple pie; apple is my favorite, but I like cherry and chocolate, too!

Sunday
Sunday afternoon Vic & I went to see "A Scottish Christmas" at one of the local venues in the area. It was all Scottish music (bagpipes, fiddles, tin whistles, etc.) and it was wonderful! The 2+ hours really flew by. When we left the theatre a fine sprinkling of snow flurries had just begun to flurriate, so it made a perfect ending to a great day! We spent the rest of the night in front of the fireplace just relaxing.

Monday
I have to go to work today, on the holiest of days, but I found out that I get my birthday off with pay! That was a pleasant surprise. I don't have to take the actual birthday day off, so I'll probably take a day off in the next couple of weeks so I can help Vic paint the guest room before Karen's visit. She'll be here for a week and arrives the first week of January. We still haven't hung any Christmas decorations, but we do have a nice Christmas-y table cloth on the kitchen table and I ordered Christmas stamps from the post office. Hopefully the stamps will arrive soon so I can mail all our Christmas cards. I don't know where this lack of motivation is coming from. I wonder if it has to do with the weather? Or maybe now that I'm old my body is just shutting down. I'll probably start making those weird body noises now whenever I move. And I'll wear a plastic fold-up rain hat whenever I leave the house. Forty is starting to sound kinda sucky.

Six Inches

Shannon
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

We got 6" of snow overnight! I'm not sure which was worse, driving to or from work. The roads weren't plowed yet and the Jeep was sliding around a bit. Very scary. But Shannon sure does love the snow! She's made dozens of doggie snow angels and has lost about 6 or 7 tennis balls so far. Here she is with one of her babies.


Feast Seventy-Three
Friday, December 09, 2005

Appetizer
Name something you'll miss about 2005.
My 30's. I turn 40 this Monday, so this birthday weekend will be my last in my 30's decade.

Salad
What is one thought that went through your mind today?
"I HATE DRIVING IN THE FUCKING SNOW!!" and "Please, just let me get home alive!"

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how compassionate would you say you are?
Probably about 6 or 7. Working in law enforcement has made me very jaded.

Main Course
If you could invent something, what would it be?
A TV channel dedicated to nothing but the theatre. Every night would be a live production of a different NYC play and during the day there would be taped performances from all over the country. Maybe the occasional documentary about different regional theatres, but absolutely NO reality shows with people competing for acting jobs or surviving in theatres or anything dumb like that. I would love a channel like that!

Dessert
Do you prefer salty snacks or sweet treats?
Salty, salty, salty.

Christmas Cards

I finally got my Christmas cards made out today. I'm kinda disappointed because I wanted to make my cards this year just like I did last year, but I just can't seem to find the time to do anything lately. We've been living here almost 6 months and we still don't have the house arranged like we want. I think part of the problem is that Vic & I are rarely home at the same time and we really need to do a lot of stuff together. That's my excuse anyway. We haven't even decorated for Christmas and I love to hang lights and stuff. We really need to work on organizing and arranging soon.

I've been at my new job officially for one week and I really like it so far. Everyone has been really nice and the the time goes by quickly (always a good thing). I'm still learning the little nuances of the PD, but I think I'll do okay. I like my Lt. and all the guys on patrol seem very friendly, so knock on wood, nothing will happen to screw this up.

We're supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow overnight. When I get off work at 7am my car windows already have frost on them ~ I can't imagine what driving in 4" of snow is going to be like! Guess I'll find out in a few hours.

Registered in MI

I finally got around to registering my Jeep in MI and I now have a blue MI plate. That FL tag was the last vestige of my Floridian-ness and it kinda made me sad. Then I went to WalMart and I got better. I bought some chocolate covered marsmallow Santas and snowmen. The really cheap ones are my favorite and these were 6 Santas for a dollar! I can't wait till they go on sale after Christmas!

Did you know that AOL has free XM radio on the web? I'm listening to it now ~ the Celtic station is excellent. And it's all free and no commercials. I can't create a link for the site, but you can Google it by typing "aol music" and then choosing "launch AOL radio." I love radio without commercials. Maybe even more than chocolate covered Santas!

Vic's Official New Job

Shoveling
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

This past weekend Vic & I went to the mall for a alittle Christmas shopping. Going to the mall is something we only do once a year and every year I'm reminded why that is. There are just way too many people there and Vic somehow always finds the pet store and is hopelessly sidetracked for long lengths of time. Well, I surived yet another Christmas malling and went on to have a somewhat normal weekend. It snowed off & on all weekend and I've actually got a picture of Vic shoveling the sidewalk. I've decided (not out loud) that shoveling snow is officially Vickie's job. (Much like she decided,not out loud, that cutting the grass is officially my job.) I'm not a fan of the wet socks.

My first night on midnights went rather well. I was kinda nervous about starting my new shift, but my Lt. is really nice and he has no qualms about showing me how to do stuff. I guess he figures that the sooner I learn , the less he'll have to do. That was always my motivation when I was a trainer! The shift is only 8 hours (I'm use to working 10's) so the night actually went by pretty quickly. The last two hours are always the worst, but I think it's that way wherever you work. I just wish it wasn't so cold when I get off in the morning. Geez!

A Fine Friday

I had a pretty good Friday. This was my last day of working the dayshift ~ I begin my midnight shift on Monday night. I really like working mids, but I haven't done so in over 6 months so I hope I can get back into the swing of things quickly. I'd hate to fall asleep my first week on the job. After work today I made a quick stop at WalMart and bought some wood for the stove. The wind chill tonight was 9, so I made a nice fire and ended up taking a little nap on the recliner! I think I've finally figured out how to make a fire with real wood, so I'm not limited to just the Duraflame logs any more. Yea for me!

Feast Seventy-Two
Friday, December 02, 2005

Appetizer
When was the last time you did something you would consider courteous, what was it, and who was it for?
What an odd question. I guess I do nice stuff for Vic every day, but I can't really pinpoint any one thing or time. I'm a sweetheart all the time.

Salad
If you were to have a painting done of you alone, what would you want the background to be?
A nice Irish countryside with a castle or some ruin. And sheep!

Soup
Describe your voice.
Squeaky.

Main Course
What is something you would like to do, but you're afraid of the risk(s)?
Move to NYC and pursue acting full time. I'm not afraid of the rejection at all. It's the bills and not making any money that scares me. If I was independantly wealthy I'd be there!

Dessert
What was the last television show you watched?
A"Law & Order" rerun. The last show I watched on regular primetime TV was also "Law & Order." It's just a thrill a minute around our house.

Tree

Tree
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Well, here is a somewhat blurry photo of my cross-stitch project thus far. Looking at the picture you can't really tell what a bitch that tree was to backstitch. You'll just have to take my word for it. I really enjoy cross-stitching and I'm glad I've kept at it for the last 20 or so years. It's relaxing and allows me to pass the time with one or more kitties on my lap. They've been especially "snuggly" lately. I think it has to do with the drop in temp over the last couple of weeks. It's supposed to snow this weekend and we're going to have highs in the 20's, so I'm predicting a rise in kitty-furred clothes.

The new job is going well. Everyone is really nice and today I got a locker and a key to the bathroom, so they must like me. I hope the midnight Sgt. and Lt. are both nice and patient because they are the ones who are going to be doing most of my training. I really can't learn anything until something happens. It's hard to show someone how to do stuff when stuff isn't happening. I hate going from a job where I considered myself to be pretty darn proficient to a job where I'm starting from the beginning. My background is certainly helpful, but every agency has a different way of doing the same thing. I just need to learn HPPD's way. Wish me luck!