Archive for the ‘holiday’ Tag
The electric blanket remains at level six this morning as I lounge here and try to decide what this day will bring. The better-half works only a half day today which I fear means more Christmas shopping in my immediate future. Fortunately I recharged my Kindle and my Surface last night and feel I’m ready for almost anything.
I suspect I’ll end up sitting in front of the computer for the afternoon as I’ve been doing for most of the last week. I’m preparing and editing some of the blog postings from the last year that will be included in a blog book I’m having made. I do this each year and have collected quite the library. It does take an investment of time but I love having the ability to go back to my library to insure I’m not repeating things over and over again and boring my readers.
Once that little project is completed I can return to the sorting and indexing of my archive of photographs. I currently have almost twenty thousand pics which need reviewing. I’m determined to eliminate everything that isn’t just perfect which will take a great deal of time. Since I have most of those pictures already backed up on my personal cloud, I’ll be able to recover a great deal of hard drive space on my desktop which is badly needed. I’ll also need to stock up on more extra strength Tylenol to help me with the headaches I anticipate are to come. It doesn’t take much screen time to put a severe strain on my eyes.
With Thanksgiving just two days away I’m in no rush to accomplish much. The better-half and I can relax for a few days after enjoying our laid back holiday celebration. She’s already mentally preparing herself for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all of the other shopping days that have been created to allow retailers to pelt us with junk mail, TV ads, and spam. I like spending time with her but any shopping done in and around Thanksgiving is not all that enjoyable for me. I get a little claustrophobic in large crowds and prefer to avoid them whenever possible.
I’m about to spring into action but every time I try to get up the bed and that damn electric blanket keep calling me back. The coffee is starting to kick-in which will eventually force me to my feet and to get ready for the day.
ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY
It seems to me that 2014 has come and gone in the blink of an eye. It was a busy year which probably accounts for that. It’s Thanksgiving morning and I’m relaxing with a coffee and donut supplied by my better-half who was the early riser this morning. It’s been quite some time since we’ve had a snow storm on Thanksgiving and I’m looking out the window at a winter wonderland. I can’t believe she was up and out so early in this weather. It’s one of those special holiday miracles I guess.
I spent time yesterday as the snow was accumulating trying to keep the driveway passable. The snowblower was unveiled and got it’s first use this season and so did my back and arms. I’m more than a little stiff today but that’s par for the course here in Maine.
The final snow numbers indicate between ten and twelve inches with most of the area suffering from downed tree limbs and power outages. I’m not sure how we missed out on the loss of power but for a change we made it through the storm with only a few momentary lapses. We have our issues with this snow and as you see so do the birds. They’re scratching their way to the food as best they can.
The sun is shining and is being reflected off the snow and it’s amazing. I can’t wait to get dressed and get out with my camera. Everywhere you look there are beautiful pictures to be taken and I’m going to get my fair share.
I’d also like to send out a special thank you to the Saco town snowplow operator responsible for destroying my new mailbox during the first effing snow storm of the season. I wish I knew who he was and where he lives. I might just do a drive-by on his mailbox with a baseball bat. Freaking A-hole!!
For the first time in a while our Thanksgiving dinner will be just for two. All of our family and friends are scattered about the country celebrating their holiday. We’ll have our meal this afternoon and be thankful for our good health and the blessing of a quiet day to properly enjoy it.
I do love the snow and I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more before this winter is over. I hope you and yours are enjoying this holiday and appreciate your lives together. Now we can rush headlong into the Christmas season and then the welcoming of 2015.
I hope your Easter celebration went well. I usually don’t celebrate Easter since I’m not much of a believer. If you don’t celebrate it religiously what remains is kind of ridiculous. Rabbits, colored eggs, egg hunts, and all the other nonsense tend to make me a little crazy. My better-half loves to celebrate Easter and regardless of my feelings she goes a little overboard (big surprise) every year.
I was ordered to sleep in today because, hoo-ray hoo-ray, she had a day off. I was told in no uncertain terms that we’d be sleeping in as long as possible to start our day. I was certainly okay with that. I offered to make her breakfast in bed but she declined and then directed me to get dressed so we could get out of the house and spend a part of the day in the sunshine. That sounded good too so I did. We finally rolled out of bed and what do I find waiting for me but an Easter basket with enough candy stuffed into it to feed a large family. As usual I had nothing for her because I’m what you might call an Anti-Easter person. She wanted to celebrate the holiday and I was making sure we celebrated her day off as well.
She began preparations for our Easter breakfast which I immediately put a stop to. I told her to get dressed because we were first going out for breakfast and then to the beach. We drove along the ocean to Old Orchard Beach and stopped for breakfast at one of our favorite spots and it was terrific. We had a window seat and were able to watch everyone as they arrived in town to walk the beach with their families and pets. It was obvious that everyone was more than ready for the long winter to finally be over.
The breakfast was excellent and the place was crowded with people enjoying their Easter Sunday. We stopped back at the car, grabbed our cameras, and hit the beach. When I say everyone was out I wasn’t kidding. People, kids, dogs, and even a couple of horses were sunbathing and some were even crazy enough to walk in the freezing surf. It was just wonderful. We stayed for a hour or two after taking some really cool photographs of our day.
After returning home we just spent some quiet time together and then made the obligatory telephone calls to family and friends. The sun was still shining so we brought the grill out of storage and reinstalled it back on the deck. I marinated and grilled two gorgeous steaks while she prepared a couple of salads and baked potatoes. The food was delicious and when we finished eating we cleaned up the mess and plopped on the couch to relax.
It wasn’t long before she began to yawn and I knew her day was almost over since she had to be up early for work. She was happy and contented and obviously enjoyed her Easter celebration a great deal. I as always was grateful for our time together which is precious to me.
It was a great day and the perfect way to start our changeover from Winter to Spring. I hope your day was even better than ours.
I’ve always enjoyed the New Years holiday and I’ve partied my fair share over the years. No pressure for gifts, no family visitors, and no caroling or boring Christmas cards. Just get together, have a few drinks, dance a little, and be hung-over the next day. Hopefully not waking up in a jail cell or in bed with someone your not all that familiar with.
I’ve never been a big proponent of making New Year’s resolutions because I honestly never tried keeping them anyway. It’s just an exercise in futility and just another thing to depress the hell out me when in July I reread the list, swear a few times, and toss it in the can. The following five resolutions were put together by the US government and a few heath fanatics. Do they actually think I would take these politically correct items seriously? They’ve got to be kidding us and themselves.
1. Exercise or start a new physical activity
2. Eat more fresh foods
3. Make your home safer
4. Schedule regular checkups
5. Participate in cognitive health activities
Last year I decided to get more serious and came up with ten realistic resolutions that I might actually have a chance of completing. As you can see by the following results I wasn’t a total failure but my successes weren’t all that great either. Here they are:
1. Read four books a month.
COMPLETED – This was any easy one for me but I knew that going in. I figured I should have at least one I could accomplish without working too hard.
2. Keep the number of F-bombs below 100 a week.
FAILED – I’m sorry to say this one was much more difficult than I first thought. I blame my complete failure on my better-half who has an uncanny ability to bring the F-Bombs out of me.
3. Visit only the classiest porn sites no more than four times a day.
COMPLETED – Just barely.
4. Throw the finger at bad drivers no more than three times a week.
COMPLETED – I was especially proud of this accomplishment. There were times when I almost gave in to the dark side, but I hung in there.
5. Spend less than $50.00 a month at Dunkin Donut.
FAILED – I never had a chance on this one. I really don’t consider this a real failure because I suffer from an addiction. That excuse work’s for almost everyone else so I thought I’d give it a try.
6. Try not to call my cat a rotten SOB more than three times a day.
FAILED – He continuously baited me for a year to force my failure. Those damn cats are so sneaky.
7. Try not to scratch my junk in public more than twice a week.
COMPLETED – I kept it at a once a week level but again it was so damn difficult. It’s only human nature that if you have toys you play with them. Duh!
8. Drink less than last year but more than next year.
COMPLETED – I’ll make sure I drink the proper amount next year to make this a success.
9. Do not smoke marijuana. Baked in brownies only.
FAILED – Didn’t have it either way and I’m very sad about it.
10. Don’t dance naked near the picture window in the living room. It scares the neighbors dog.
FAILED – I really don’t like that dog and it was worth a failure here to again frighten and make her crazy. Damn dog.
I failed five of ten but in all honesty I tried my hardest. I’ll have my 2013 list completed soon and I’ll again try to make all of you proud. I hope you do the same and if you’d like to share your upcoming failures, please do so. I promise not to snicker or laugh. . . . really!
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