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 |  Welcome to Whatsit's Wild World. |
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Sometimes I think we're all tightrope walkers suspended on a wire two thousand feet in the air, and so long as we never look down we're okay, but some of us lose momentum and look down for a second and are never quite the same again: we know. ~Dorothy Gilman The Tightrope Walker |
| A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. Garrison Keillor Christmas this year is over with, thank God. I went Friday and did every molecule of my Christmas shopping. There's somethng to be said for doing all your Christmas shopping in one day. Every time somebody would ask me if I had finished shopping yet, I would just say no. I would not verbally add that I hadn't even started yet. There is such a judgementalism about people who don't finish, or even start, their Christmas shopping early. However, that's what I do every year. I only buy for my kids anyway, and they just get clothes, which they usually need, and one present from Santa. Plus their stockings get filled. My mother and grandmother and I don't exchange presents and all hubby and I do is fill each other's stocking. I didn't participate in Secret Santa at work this year and I don't have any friends I exchange with. This keeps it simple, which suits me fine. So there. I can't talk my husband into agreeing with his sister and her family not to exchange presents, but now that we are financially separate, it doesn't matter. He went the other night and got them bunch of stuff they don't need, but that's his little red wagon. He gets his brother-in-law a tool every year - has for years. However, I wll say that this guy is hard to buy for. We are supposed to gather with them some night this week I am super happy that I can resume my (relatively) normal life. I have one more week of Christmas vacation off work. I don't plan on doing very much that I "have" to do - I am going to eke some enjoyment out of this week some kind of way. It's rainy today. Possibly me and my recliner will get to know each other better than ever - tra-la! " . . .my doctor says I have a malformed public duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber . . ." Douglas Adams |
| When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. George Bernard Shaw My kids and I usually go to my mother's house the day before Thanksgiving or the day before Christmas and help her cook. We mostly help make the dressing, since there are a lot of steps. We crumble the cornbread and chop the celery, and I am called upon to help remember how Bigmama, my great-grandmother, used to do this or that. We are somewhat funny about our dressing. At Thanksgiving, we just bought a turkey and some dressing from a caterer that my husband knows. The turkey was fine, but the dressing was not our dressing. Therefore, we are cooking for Christmas. Usually I get my behind up and go on over there before Mama can do too much, because I don't want to listen to her moan and groan after standing at the stove too long. But I am tired this year. The tiredness of the whole year has fallen on me on this one day. I have been in the bed with Anna Claire, snuggling with our dogs. I will get ashes and switches and bowlegged britches in my stocking for not hurrying over to help my mother, but this year I do not care. Or at least, I'm pretending like I don't. My sweet Anna Claire just toasted a bagel for me. I suppose I will eat it and head on out. Merry Christmas Eve, y'all. |
| We teach about how to drive in school, but not how to manage finances. Andy Williams You know, you just can't say everything on Facebook that you want to, especially when the people you might be referring to are on your friends list. Years ago, when I worked at the juvie jail, I got my own bank account and left hubby to his own account. He talked me (read: manipulated me by making me feel guilty) into getting back into the same account with him. Now, everything that somebody has ever talked me into, from getting my hair cut to buying clothes, usually made me regret it. This was no different. I have been through the financial Sahara Desert. Therefore, the lapsed WdC membership. I could buy actual groceries with that money, plus I was having to cash my check because I have no idea where the money in that account goes. It is like a black hole for money. You can't pay WdC with cash. Around the middle of October, I took the first step to freeing myself financially. I had a good excuse for this, which is why it was a good place to start. This is the fourth school year I have worked where I am, and never once have I been able to get a cell phone signal inside the building. I got a fine signal at the juvie jail, but I come to a regular elementary school and get no signal whatsoever. I didn't really care on way or the other: I don't talk on my phone that much. But I could use this as the excuse to change cell phone companies and get out of hubby's account. Every month his cell phone bill is enormous and I had to get away from it. Then on November 1st, I went back to having my own checking account at a totally different bank. There was much eye-rolling and guilt-flinging when I told hubby of this. I had no "excuse" for this. But I lived through it! This was a big step for me. I did something I knew he wouldn't agree with and lived through the aftermath. I didn't argue one bit, I just sat there and listened to him. Ha! When he saw that he wasn't getting an argument from me, he had to stop. You can't argue with yourself. So I have come back to WdC, now that my money is my own. I thought that my old blog would be long gone, but it was simply locked up. I am going shopping for my kids today. I haven't bought a single gift. Not one. For one thing, I don't have any really good places in my house to hide them. Neither my husband or I have trunks on our cars.- we both have an SUV. Every year I wind up waiting until the last minute to shop. I usually don't get them much: mostly clothes and one fun thing. Emily was telling me last night about her friend, who happens to be an only child, who gets around 25 presents every year. Ha! Good for her. The question is, does she actually play with/wear/use all 25 presents through the year? Does she even remember what she got? Who knows. When Emily told her that she got around 3 presents for Christmas, she said that Emily is deprived. If that's deprived, I'll take it! I'm kind of a Scrooge about stuff like that. I'm glad to be back on WdC, and mostly glad to have my blog back. Wahoo! |
| I'm ba-ack! *wicked, hysterical laughter* |
| We had the Science Fair at school today. I helped a little with it, not much. I helped make numbers for the projects and loaned my assistant to substitute for Mrs. Science Fair Coordinator as she went about her Science Fair duties. Also, I brought crackers to go with the gumbo. What gumbo? you might reasonably ask. Mrs. Science Fair Coordinator made gumbo for the judges. Not being a judge, I did not expect to eat any. However, Mrs. Science Fair Coordinator put her head in my door around 10 minutes til 11:00 to tell me to come to the auditorium during my lunchtime (11:00 to 12:00) and eat gumbo. Around 11:10, she found me again - tracked me down, actually - to tell me to come eat gumbo. Then at 11:30, she had the office manager call me on the intercom to come eat gumbo. Guess what? I can't STAAAAAAND gumbo! *stomps foot* It has yucky old slimy okra in it - in fact, I've heard it said that without okra, it is not truly gumbo. Yuck! Now, I ask you . . . why would this woman keep insisting over and over that I come eat her dern gumbo? I was trying to get out of eating any as politely as I could. In fact, the second time she told me to come eat some, I was in the cafeteria line getting lunch. I finally had to come eat some out of self-defense. That is one bossy somebody. That's all I have to say. Dern. |
| The Jackson, Mississippi area is blessed with several good bookstores, and I received a gift card from my Secret Santa for one of them, Books-a-million. Oh joy! Oh rapture! I went to spend it today. All was planning to do was replace books that were missing from my collection. I already had The Hobbit and The Two Towers from a set I bought around eight years ago, but I have moved three times since then and I had to replace The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. Also, I replaced my missing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the number two in the series. I have all the rest of them, I'm not sure where this one wandered off to. I have a sense of security unknown to a non-book-addict to have my collections completed once again. Now you know where I'm going from here: re-reading all of them. My next few reading weeks are set: wahoo! However, not until I finish a totally new-to-me book. Usually I don't buy a book that I have never read before. A book has to become a friend before I invest money in it and allow it to repose on my bookshelf. This time, circumstances invited me to buy a nice fresh book: the two Tolkien books were Buy Two, Get the 3rd Free. As I said, I didn't need the other two in the set, and oddly enough, they weren't available for this deal anyway. Isn't that weird? But it worked out for me. I had to pick a third book - I found that I was constitutionally incapable of just buying the two books I needed without getting the free one. They had a bunch of one-step-up-from-Harlequin-Romance-books, which I think populate the bookshelves in Hell. There were about three or four in my mind to choose from, and I wound up with The Shining by Stephen King. I have only read On Writing and The Green Mile, so I was ready for another one of his. Now I can't keep my eyeballs off of it! There couldn't be a better time for this, since Stephen King and wintertime go together. I hear it calling me now. Bye! |
| . . . but we are going to try. My mother and grandmother want to go visit relatives in Clarke County, Mississippi, which is where my family is from, about two hours from where we live now. We are planning to see Charlotte, my grandmother's first cousin, almost 90 years old. Also, Pauline and Martin, my grandmother's sister and brother-in-law, who have never seen the kids. Yep, that's how long it's been - my oldest is 13. Also, to lay flowers on my Papaw's grave. My great-grandparents, whom I remember well since I was in my twenties when they died, are also buried there, along with various and sundry cousins. This is my kids' roots, which I am trying to pass along to them. Y'all have a good day. We will try to. |
| At this moment I can't do anything about whether anyone does or does not like their present. The die is cast. I should have gone to my mom's house, for general Christmas Eve purposes, but had too much to do. I'm including take a nap in that - heh heh - sigh, evil daughter, that's me. This same Mom is cooking Christmas Dinner tomorrow, for which we will have to feel much guilt that she over-did herself and now aches in every joint and muscle of her body. However, all attempts to convince her to allow me to cook or go out to eat are useless: therefore, deafness will strike about the same time as the complaints. My third load of dishes is washing. I'm good at washing dishes, not-so-good at laundry. What am I wearing tomorrow? No idea. I suppose I will throw something in the washer after I finish filling the stockings. Actually, it's not entirely my fault this time. My husband hid my presents in the dryer.  I wouldn't go to the stores tomorrow for anything. I don't see the appeal of going shopping with 8 million other people. Bleck! Merry Christmas, all. |
| What has happened since the last time I blogged: I turned 41. Guess what I got? A large slow-cooker. It's my own fault, I mentioned that I wanted one. But not for my dern birthday. My husband can never remember that you don't give anything with a plug to your wife for her birthday. However, I dare not complain. What I have been reading: White Oleander by Janet Fitch. I regret to say that it was an Oprah book, but this one did happen to be very good. What is going on at work: I am holding a book fair. What happens is that whatever company you pick (in my case, Scholastic) sends you all these books you can sell. Your school gets a percentage of the profit. This is my first one: I finally worked up the nerve to fool with it. Based on what we have done the first day, it is not worth the trouble. However, we have the rest of the week. My school kind-of goes into Super-stupidity mode whenever we have an event, but miraculously, we have not done so this time, except for that I had to set up in one room, then move across the hall due to computers being installed in room number one. For us, that is pretty good. What is going on at my house: my kids are putting ornaments on the tree. What is going on with me personally: I am trying to lie low and fly under the radar. What is going to be going on when I finish with this blog: I am getting in the recliner with the remote. Jingle jingle, y'all. " . . .my doctor says I have a malformed public duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber . . ." Douglas Adams |
| 1. It's raining, it's pouring. We are about to float off. 2. I am achy - almost flu-ish, if you just look at how my joints feel. No upper respiratory symptoms whatsoever, just achy. It's probably the rain. 3. I am working on my daughter's reading fair board. They take a tri-fold board and put the author, title, conflict, etc. on it - or rather the parents do. Then the school takes all the boards and has a "Reading Fair." All this does is show which parents are the most (and least) helpful on their kids' homework, 4. My little dogs, Wimzy and Bitsy, are always SO glad to see me when I get home. This is a splendid spirit-booster upon coming home from work. 5. I cooked squash for supper. I have no idea why, since I hate squash - I bought it in a fit of good intentions, I suppose. I even like broccoli and carrots better than squash. That is one thing in life that I can definitely commit to: no more squash will ever be served in the Whatsit household again. So there! |
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