December 27, 2009

I was supposed to write this on Christmas day but didn't get around to it. We had a white Christmas courtesy of last Sunday's snowfall. We started the day with a run which was very peaceful since it was cool and crisp but not bitter cold and there was very little traffic on the roads. Then after a shower it was time to see what Santa had brought. As you can see from the photo (isn't she cute!), we both did quite well and received some great new clothes along with a few other items we each needed. One highlight was the gift of a new two canvas paintings from my Mom - can't wait to get them here and hung (probably in a way that my Mom never anticipated, it's a habit I have). Jo spent the rest of Christmas cooking while I tackled starting to clean out accumulated junk in my study. It was amazing how much stuff I managed to clear out and I'm not even the pack rat of the family. I'm thinking now of starting to tackle the rest of the house but am meeting some resistance from the other house member. When you got momentum you should just keep it going.

The short update on the rest of the week - Jo and I had a pretty light week at work. Jo was in town and managed to take work from home a couple of the days. My big highlight was starting the process to replace my two front capped teeth. My current caps were in almost 35 years and were starting to show their age. I thought this would be a pretty simple thing - pop off the old covers, put on some temporaries while the new ones are being made, and then install the new ones. After 5 hours in a dentist chair and 6 Novocaine injections (I'll admit it, I'm a wimp when it comes to tooth pain) it hit me this was going to hurt more than just financially. But I managed to live through the drilling and now have my temps going. The rest of the week was pretty calm at work as everyone was either gone or going on vacation.

We started our vacation formally on Thursday at noon with an invite to our neighbor's - Bob and Judy - family celebration. It was nice to meet up with all their family again and get updated on the latest news. Then it was over to Sheri and Bruno's to help them install a granite counter top in their bathroom and an excellent dinner - roasted chicken with mashed potatoes (can never go wrong with mashed potatoes). Yesterday, after a morning run we headed to Best Buy to replace our DVD player that we managed to fry via a static shock to the unit. I would have thought they would ground and protect the machines from that - but apparently not ours. Apparently, Best Buy didn't get the message that the economy stinks and they should put everything on an incredible sale. Although at $70 it is hard to complain when a DVD player costs about the same as a pair of jeans. Then we hit the malls briefly to pick up some Christmas cards for next year at half-price and then home for the day. Spent the rest of the day doing a few home repair and cleaning chores (starting to see the theme for this week).

Today, after a run and yoga I'm hoping to put in some serious time on getting re-started on doing pottery on a regular basis. I need to have a hobby besides work and exercising. Later in the day we are going to see Emmet Otter's Christmas with Sheri and Bruno at a local theater.