12/31/14
RIP to my friend Jo Lin, from the Rent days. She was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer and
went through the surgery and chemo. Sadly, she passed away this morning.
Wishing everyone a new year full of health and peace.
12/28/14
I had to make a hard choice. I adopted Max three months ago from the AZ
Animal Welfare League, and I love him. But he's so stressed out and scared, and not happy.
I'm sure Marvin overwhelms him, and they fight all the time, and Max hides. So after thinking about
it, I've decided to bring Max back to the AAWL and let them find him a home where he can be happy and
not stressed out. Sad day.
12/24/14
Into the Woods - on the big screen! After a fantastic day of sleeping and eating (Eve did
an even better turkey than on Thanksgiving, if that's possible), she and I left Mark with the
clones and went to the movies. It was a "free" movie night, since I still had half of the gift
card Dad sent last year to use up (I honestly thought I would go to more movies this year, but
the new job and the crazy hours got in the way). Totally loved it. Meryl Streep?
Still glamourous, even in full-on witch mode.
Working tomorrow - potluck day! Eve gave me the best present, that is, food. The Whittaker family tradition is to do lasagna, and she made enough to give me an extra (and a half - that is, a big one and a small one). I'm baking them both tonight, because I'm not sure who's working in the kitchen at work tomorrow, and I don't want to hijack the oven if we're super busy. So I've got them both in the oven now, will let them cool, and take the big one to work with me for the potluck. The smaller one will feed me all week!
I'm playing around with essential oils (other than tea tree, which I've always loved). Bought a bunch of great scents and some carrier oils, and I'm busy making bath scrubs and salts, and just diffusing them in a defuser in the bedroom for good, calming scents. My ex-DON, Angeline, got me hooked, and Eve showed me a bunch of recipes for bath products. If I can not-go-broke at Lush, more power to me. I discovered yesterday that if you flavor some almond oil with nutmeg and sweet orange oils, and then rub it on achy body parts, you smell like cookies. No complaints there!
12/23/14
Wait, it's Christmas Eve Eve already! For the holidays, my boss gave us tickets
to ZooLights down at the Phoenix Zoo.
We had extras, so I asked for some so I could take Eve and Mark and the boys. We went
tonight - and I would love to go back sans little ones to really enjoy it. I know - the
holidays are for the children, but even Eve will admit that the hyperactive/short
attention span children are a little much at times. It was a lot of fun tho, and we went to
Macayo's afterwards for dinner (and a margarita).
I'm so glad they're here. Tomorrow we feast and sneak the presents into their house. We told the boys that since they've been peeking and looking around for presents, they were all hidden at Aunt Cathi's. Muhahaha.
12/16/14
We're in a cold snap here. A "five cats on the bed" cold snap, and since Claire won't sleep
on the bed, that's as cold as it gets. It's probably 45? Brr.
I am thankful for the makers of generic NyQuil. I'm so congested and headache-y, it's either a cold or just being tired from working so hard. Or both.
later on 12/9/14
Booked my Costa Rica flight! First week of Feb. Now I have to figure out the rental car, and
if I need any kind of international driver's license. My passport doesn't expire until August,
so I'm all good there. Besides seeing Dad, of course, I'm excited to see a part of the world
I've never been to. I bought a travel guide to CR after Dad moved, but I mostly just looked
at the pictures. Now I can start coming up with ideas on places to go and things to see.
My Christmas tree now looks official - it has all of Eve's gifts for the boys under it. She came over tonight to do some secret wrapping, away from the prying eyes of the minions.
12/9/14
Holiday cards done! I had to go out and get stamps (because I forgot yesterday), but they are all done.
I told my new boss (we have a new Director of Nursing) that I'm planning to go visit Dad in February, and she said OK, as long as it isn't the same week that she'll be gone. Now I have to look at airfares. BofA not only replaced my credit card (after the erroneous shopping spree someone took the number on) but they also increased my credit limit.
12/8/14
Note to self: do not take packages to the Post Office on a Monday in December. The place was packed,
even the self-service kiosk line. But all of my holiday packages are in the mail. Now I must summon
the energy to do cards.
12/3/14
I took the little guy to the vet (I'm calling him DH, short for "Dickhead," because he looks like he has a penis
on his head and I'm 12 years old). He's probably 9-10 years old, weighs 10 pounds but will be heavier once
he fattens up some. He's not microchipped, but he is spayed. Unfortunately he's FIV-positive. I either need
to find a home with other FIV+ cats, or be exceedingly happy that he isn't fighting with my crew.
12/2/14
Happy birthday Eve!! We celebrated with dinner at the Indian restaurant in Litchfield Park. So good (and not
crazy hot). Now that Thanksgiving is over, I put up the tree in my guest room (to keep the cats off it).
Speaking of cats... So I put out food and water on the porch for the strays that come by. The other night, I was setting out food, and I heard a "meow" from behind the porch pillar. This gray and white tuxedo cat came out, let me pet him, and long story short, he's living in my house. I had him in my room with the door locked, and slowly introduced him to the others. Shockingly - no fighting and no scratching or hissing at all. Poor little guy, he's skin and bones and looks like he's lived eight of his nine lives.