Mosh Glass

Well, I woke up very tired this morning. I think its a hangover from the last two days driving to San Jose at a very early hour. I had a hell of a time getting out of bed. But I did manage it.

I went through the usuals. Let dogs out. Feed cats. Let dogs in. Feed dogs. Make coffee. Make Em breakfast. Make Em lunch. You know, the usuals. I am a domestic god. Maybe I will get a medal some day. Right. Emily went to work and I sat down and had my breakfast. Then, I got on a conference call with a potential client. He is a real estate investor and has a huge potential tax liability buried in his properties. My kind of guy. We chatted for 30 minutes. Hal is going out to Florida soon and will meet with him there. Im to busy to tag along on that.

I am just sitting and blogging now. I am going to the gym very soon. Gotta worry about the personal upkeep. Body of hercules you know. I dont have that, but I can dream. I am going to go get ready.

On my way to rhe gym I noted my low tire air pressure light was on. Great. Probably a hole. I have been driving a ton of crap roads this week. I will go to tire shop after workout.

So, here it is. Live!!
Yes, tire has a hole. Fixing now. I have an appointment at the office but I think I will be late. I WILL be late.

I had to run home and wash off the gym and dress for the day. And get the dogs well situated. Taffy still inside alone in the kennel. She had major surgery and we have to take care of her. The other two go outside.

So, not only was I late because of the tire, there were two accidents on the way to work. And a broken down car. So the 30 min trip took 90 minutes. Like driving to San Jose. Also, I was stopped in traffic and one car coming up behind me musta been sleeping. I looked up in the rear view in time to see him barreling down on me at 60. I braced, he slammed on the brakes and took a 45 degree angle skid directly at me. He managed to come under control and shoot off into the shoulder and pass me. Whats funny is, this car, reminded me that this damn near exact same thing happened on the drive to San Jose yesteday. Someone locked up behind me while I was at dead stop. It also happened Monday but a little different because I had to lock up and the guy behind me as well. I need to stay off the roads.

Anyhow, met my clients in the parking lot at work. We walked over to the Elephant Bar and had lunch. Btw, the client was an hour late. Its just that day. We had several deals to discuss and managed to get through all of them in one sitting. Amazing

I am back in the office. Been through all my emails. Made my call backs. Set two appointments for tomorrow and saturday. I am productive. I spent more time cleaning up old files. Ran through my emails and did a little work. My day had been shortened by the morning problems and going to lunch. I left for home around 530.

Emily called right as I was about to leave. She wanted me to stop and pick up something for dinner. Which I did.

Got home quickly, which is nice but not common. Emily was sewing. She is making Christmas gifts for her mom and others. Sorry, cant give details or risk spoiling the surprise. I can keep a secret.

We ate dinner. It was fine, and it had turkey in it. We are now sitting in the living room, Emily continued on the sewing and I did whatever else needed doing. And sat and blogged, too. The dogs had it figured out
I think it’s bedtime.

It’s Tuesday morning at 430am. I have decided to go ahead and get up since I have not been able to get back to sleep. I texted my veterinariqn last night. When I got home last night Taffy was not in good shape. I realized I needed to get her in. Fortunately, my vet is my friend. He is taking her on short notice for an all day tests and scans visit, pee and blood tests, etc. his office is in San Jose so I was gonna be up at 5am anyway. Managed to be out of rhe house by 538. No coffee. No lunch made.

I truly hate the drive to San Jose. Only 100 miles but the traffic is world class awful. I arrived at his new clinic at 815. 2 and a half hours, and before the really bad traffic hits. He did an initial exam, i signed the docs and he is going to keep her over night. Which I expected. I left for home at 840. Got back at 1030.

At 11 the vet called. He had done some tests and there was a mass in her spleen. Most likely scenario is a spleenectomy. And the usual Rx’s. Thats if the mass is only one and not in heart or liver. If thats the case, she is done. Its more straightforward for animals than for us. Vet is going to do an ultrasound and call me. Then I can call Emily.

I am at home still. I will be headed out to Auburn Bldg Dept in a few. I did not get there yesterday. Too much going on.

Drove up to Auburn, took about an hour. I have never been to the building dept there. The building is new, about 8 years old, and truly beautiful. Sadly, the people working there are the same soulless bureaucrats you find in all government offices.

Right now I am trying to just find out if I can get a yurt put up on the property. The first drone I spoke to says I cant put up a yurt as a residence. I could use a tiny house or modular building. Neither of which I want. She said yurt was not Title 24 compliant but others were. Anyhow, I asked if I could put up an auxillary structure after I built the temporary residence. Answer was yes. Could the auxillary be a yurt? Answer maybe. Could I use it as a temporary residence. Answer probably. So, after questioning, county drone employee was non-commital and did basically say, without saying, put up a modular or temp residence and I can put up a yurt. Why, in the name of god, they cant just tell you how to do this is beyond me. I hate building departments. This project is gonna be a pain.

After Auburn I drove to the office. I had a few hours to work still. Usual crap, phone calls and paperwork. Nothing of great consequence. Since I am writing this a day late it is even harder to remember what I was doing. Suffice it to say I worked while I was there.

I headed home around six. Emily and I had turkey dinner again. Yay!! After dinner she went to work on the puzzle and I went to work out. This 24/7 gym thing is nice. I can go when ever I want. Like tonight. And never very many people there. It just gets better.

Btw, I forgot to mention that the vet did call back. He performed the ultrasound and recommended surgery. The tumor was entirely inside the spleen. So I called and said do it. Raj felt that Taffy was in really good physical shape and would handle the surgery well. Raj said he would do it for his own dog in the same circumstance. We made arrangements for me to come pick her up Wednesday.

Anyhow, got home from the gym. And managed to pry Emily off the puzzle. We went up to bed. Puzzle is almost done. Thank god.

Wednesday morning 5am. Up and at em. I am going to go to San Jose and pick up Taffy. These round trips to the south bay really get old fast. I hate the drive.

So I got everything done except Emily’s breakfast. It would be ice cold by the time she was up. But I did get coffee made. Left the house before 6. The drive was miserable. The last 30 miles took over an hour. The freeway was just slow as hell. I nodded off twice. There are no places to pull over and get coffee on the drive. At least there are no signs to help find a place and no bill boards on the freeway. What a pain.

It took three hours to get there. 102 miles. Slow as hell. But, Taffy was excited to see me. And ready to go home. The vet tech said she was running around even. Major surgery is no problem for her I guess. So we loaded up and headed out. Only took two hours in drive back. I managed to pull in by 1130 and put Taffy in the house kennel. I left the other two outside so she wouldnt be bothered.

Then its off to work. I went through the usual – answered mail, took calls, had a meeting with Hal to discuss ongoing work and a few other tasks. Did a google search on tiny houses, man are they pricey. To make the county happy I may try to rent a tiny home and put it in place on our property just so it can be done. Then put up the yurt. Might work.

I got out of the office by 6pm.

Emily was not home when I got there. She had gone to yoga. I fed the dogs and started making dinner. We are having turkey dinner again. I love turkey dinner!!! I added in soup and potato patties as well. Gustatory perfection.

Emily arrived home a few minutes later. And she started into the puzzle immediately. She really wants to get done.

I dragged her to the table and we had dinner. After dinner, she was right back to the puzzle. I got a call back from Raj, the vet. We discussed the surgery. Funny thing, it turns out, Raj had told me he also found a growth in the liver when he did the ultrasound. He also told me he is not so good an ultrasound tech as well. Turns out, when he did the surgery, there was no growth. He said it was probably the gall bladder and he just misidentified it. Crazy. Taffy does have another small growth on her chest wall. Fix later he says. Off the call, back to the puzzle. What happened? We finished it. I made a point of leaving the last piece for Emily.

With the accomplishment complete, we went to bed. A day well done. Too much hard work. I did spend 30 mins on the blog before I got in bed. Have to keep everyone happy.

Every other day of the week is fine, ya. With apologies to Cass Elliot.

Is today Monday? Does a bear shit in the woods? Yes. My buddy Jim actually saw a bear doing that, in the woods, not sure what day it was.

So, its the first day of the week (apologies to Sunday) and first work day for sure. Emily has left for work with her lunch (turkey sandwich. Duh) and coffee. Taffy is acting weird, which always worries us because our dogs are old (like the grim reaper) and could drop at any moment. Taffy likes the attention but she is a little off. The not eating a treat is very strange.

I am sitting here, blogging, at the kitchen table. I just finished my nasty cakes and coffee. The day in front of me does not look like anything too exciting. Not sure it ever does, but things change as you go. I do need to contact the county planning department regarding the yurt. I got some conflicting information when I called them last week. I think an in person trip into the belly of the beast might help. I do hate dealing with county building departments. They are staffed by mean, churlish, and non-sentient beings. I hate them. They hate themselves. Their children hate them. Yes, true, and sad, they reproduce.

In 2004 we did a large remodel with new construction on our house. I was the general. I had to deal with the idiot inspectors and other county employees hired to make my life miserable. You woukd think their only purpose in life is to block progress. Wait, it IS their only purpose. Anyhow, my experience showed me how horrible these people are and how poorly they do their jobs. To say they dont care is putting it mildly. Its not a general don’t care, though thats some of it, they specifically do not care about their customers. At all. They dont serve us, their constituency, they serve themselves and the county. And thats it. They will be the first ones up against the wall when the revolution comes.

I will attempt, with all fortitude, to not strangle anyone there. Or yell at them, which I have done more than once. Or threaten them (is a promise of pain a threat?) any bodily harm. Though I may think all these things. I will not be armed even though these losers need threats and intimidation to just perform the duties of their jobs. You can probably see that this whole event will be daunting. I think the best I can hope for is a non negative outcome. Please, god.

Spent the day doing fun things. I went to UPS on the way to work. Had to ship Michaels advent gifts to him. Always an adventure. I ran into someone at UPS. A gal, mom of one of Marikas day care mates. From wayyyy back. Her son, at age 9 was also on one of the baseball teams I managed. She and I had a nice chat though she was somewhat flustered. Im glad her ability to recognize was better than mine. I knew she was familiar but thats as good as my brain gets without some help.

I went back to the house cuz I forgot something. A waste of 10 minutes as I still cant remember what I went home for.

Then to work. I got there about noon. Yeah, that late. And I got to tell you I remember very little of what I did. I tried to solve a problem with the payroll system. That finally got solved. I reeponded to four different IRS notices from clients. I HATE doing this, hate it. Hate. It. Least favorite thing I do all day. Though they are all done. Got two new ones today as well and an audit notice as well. The IRS never sleeps, except when they are working. I did finish one tax return but the client did not call to finalize and ok the results. So done-ish and not shipped.

Headed home about 630. Got home just after 7. Emily was very upset. Taffy has been acting very strangely and we are worried. I tried to calm Emily down. And give Taffy attention. Taffy is miserable. I have an appointment with the vet for 8am tomorrow. I hope he can do for her what he did for Jaxon.

I heated up dinner for us. Leftover thanksgiving plus turkey soup. I love turkey day leftovers!

For those who care, Emily has made tremendous progress on the jigsaw puzzle. It really looks like a picture now. She says she is fristrated but I cant figure out why. She will be done tomorrow, I can feel it.

Now I sit here and blog. Which is how I spend most evenings. I do feel compelled to record everything. And writing can be addictive. I never would have said that when I was in school. Ever. I still hate English teachers.

Emily has stopped jigsawing and is off to do some sewing. Its for Christmas, gifts and decorations and a special apron for a student. Yes, she has some skills.

After she finished her sewing it was back to the jigsaw. She wont give. But it is far closer. We went to bed with it still not completely done.

Today is a little different from yesterday. Was cold and overcast when I woke up, late. Went through all the usuals with the addition of nasty pancakes for breakfast. I am trying to eat ny way through all the diet food. Want to get my moneys worth. Its really flying off the pantry shelf. Even awful pancakes.

The weather has turned to full on rain and cold. Is winter here?

We both went to workout after breakfast. I finished the newspaper first. Someone has to read it. I got back before Emily. Turns out she had a couple hours of shopping planned and did not include me. Oh well. I have some work to do here. I also got a call from an old client who owes me money from over three years ago. He wanted to come and pay me a nice sum of money. Out of the blue. Merry Christmas!! How often does that happen? Not often enough, I would say.

Well, thats a good Sunday. I am up on the third floor working and Emily is on the first wrapping gifts. I will be done soon and able to ho finish my wrapping and do some shopping. Have to see what else I may need for advent and Emilys regular stocking.

So I finished working. I went downstairs and wrapped stocking gifts for an hour. I did it standing up as well. I think the aerobic nature of gift wrapping is over looked. After my wrap fest I went into Vacaville to try and finish up Emilys advent. I did not get done. I did finish up Michaels which is very important since I have to mail it to him. I alao got one non stocking gift for Marika. You were doubting me when I said the gift thing is exercise. I visited about five stores, struck out in three. I went home after an hour and a half.

At home, I wrapped all the gifts I had just purchased. Then I went online and got a nice gift for my father in law, my son, my daughter, another for my son and something for me. Hey, I need a reward now and then. It’s the ine I mentioned a couple days ago that I was so excit d about.

I do wish I could give details of all the gifts I buy. But, some relatives have read the blog and I dont want to spoil their Christmas.

I managed to finish up all the gift related tasks I had. Emily was jigsawing while I was working. And, she had finished up the turkey soup we are having for dinner. So, about 7, just after feeding the dogs, we had dinner. Turkey soup is the bomb and its only once a year. Hardly seems fair. After dinner Emily went to jigsaw, and I ate pie. Then I did the dishes. Then I made the bed and did some laundry. I need to go fold some laundry in a minute. A womans work is never done. And, gotta order one more thing online. Its no wonder i’m tired. After that, jigsaw time.

The puzzle is 65% complete. All that is left is the pieces that look completely identical. Wouldn’t be a puzzle if it weren’t somewhat difficult. Emily is still pushing toward the tipping point, which is where all of a sudden you just start to put pieces in one after another till you are done. She did find several pieces under the couch though. None were the pieces you swear are missing but then turn up. Thats a puzzle thing. Again, its supposed to be difficult. Emily had over an hour into it while I was doing chores and when we joined up, another half hour. But, by bedtime, still not done. The tension is palpable.

Today we slept in again. I could probably get used to this. We are planning on going to Sonoma-Cutrer Winery today. That is where Marika works. So we do have a plan.

But, as we have gotten up this morning, no real plan has been put into action. I thought Emily was going to yoga and I could workout. But, it turns out she isnt so I wont be either. I made coffee and breakfnast for both of us. I managed to read what there was of the newspaper. Not much it turns out. And not much else doing.

We left for Windsor and the winery in late morning about 1030 or 11. I wasnt paying attention. The hour and a half drive took just that, as advertised. The drive was very uneventful. Kinda what I want in a drive. The weather today is just a little more than perfect. Temp, sunshine, breeze all just amazing. I could ask for better but that seems unlikely to arrive.

Sonoma-Cutrer winery is very beautiful, compared to other wineries or just about anyplace in the state. The building is nice and the grounds are truly spectacular.

That is a shot of the world class croquet court just outside the visitors area. The sitting area is nicely situated to take advantage of a very nice view of the areas around Windsor. With the beautiful weather this venue cant get better.

We, of course, ordered a course of wines to taste. They are known for Pinots and Chards and thats what we had. Crazy. They have some food as well. Keep us drunks from drinking on an empty stomach.

The charcuterie plate we ordered had three cheeses and 3 meats as well as olives and crackers. They do such a nice job here. Sorry, no picture. I was distracted by desire and hunger.

One of the best parts of the day was meeting all the people Marika works with. She has spoken of them constantly since she got this job. Every time I see her or talk to her on the phone I get a little about who they are. They are all friendly, nice, people. I can see why Marika likes them. Of course, I spoke to many of them and they also said great things about her. All were very complimentary. And they even gave us credit for turning out a good kid. Yay, we got one right!! See, difficult to dislike anyone here. Special shout out to Amor, I now understand why all the customers love her. Marika talks about her all the time. She made a special point of making us welcome. As did Jeremy. Makes me want to come back.

We sat around and drank wine and relaxed the afternoon away. We hung around three or four hours. We left around 330, with a few bottles in tow. We left Marika some homemade turkey soup too. We need to feed our kids. Otherwise they may not eat.

On our way home we went to Sebastopol to attempt some Christmas shopping. Was really a waste of time. The stores there were nothing special and not worth a special trip. Too bad.

Headed home around 6. One stop on the way home at the grocery store. We need veggies for our turkey soup. We got home too late to have the soup tonight. So we got to have another turkey dinner. Again. Deja vu. All over again. Good thing I love leftovers. We had pie too. Soup will be tomorrow. Pie too. Never enough pie.

Now, after dinner, what are we doing? Jigsaw puzzle. Emily can not quit on it. I am over it. But I like to help her wirh it. No, that is not enabling.

Again, a late start to the post. Well, we got up late too. Not out of bed till at least 830. Which is late for us but normal for a holiday. I am still tired. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and newspaper. Really more of a stroll through the morning. Quite relaxing, in spite of the newspaper being quite flavorless. Seems to be a theme lately.

We did not have much to do at home today. So, we went out. First stop West Sacramento UPS office. Our delivery driver was some holiday fill in idiot. He tooknout recent delivery back to the terminal for pick up. Which means a 40 mike round trip. What a cretin. An imbecile. No xmas fruit cake for him!! Back to the day. We picked up our package and headed to Rainbow Glass. Emily makes art and jewelry from fused glass. The glass shop has half off every black friday. So, we go buy glass on black friday. Not an if, its a when. I like going and chatting up Hazel the wife part of this husband and wide business. They have snacks and such. I just hang out while Emily shops.

I had to go to the office on our way back to home. One important errand and I had to pick up the cash I left in my desk. Oops. Next stop Target for xmas stocking stuffers. I got enough things to fill my sister in laws stocking. We do a family draw on stockings and I got her. I think of her as tough to shop for. But, I probably cant afford her taste. She likes very nice things. Oh well, I try hard and Inhope she is happy. On the way out of Target, we purchased a bag of popcorn. Emily loves to get popcorn at Target. It is a gimme, if you know what I mean.

We wrapped all of the gifts when we got home. I do not want to grab credit here. Emily wrapped at least 80%+ of the stocking stuffers. Nice to have them done at the least. No more staying up all night Christmas Eve to wrap gifts.

We are now officially sitting around. Emily is back at her jigsaw puzzle. I am blogging. Sound familiar? We are due at Roma’s for dinner soon. The annual Thanksgiving, after thanksgiving, she has every year. And, best thing, someone else cooked all the food and does all the clean up. I do occasionally help with dishes. We do eat off paper. Nice to have traditions to look forward to. As i have gotten older it seems these traditions drop off and are not replaced. Too bad. I do miss the things we did as children at holiday time. I hope one day some new ones show up with grandkids. That would be fun.

So, we went to Romas for the post turkey day turkey. Very small turnout this year. Usually a houseful. This year under ten people. The grandkids and associated great grandkids were not there. Very peaceful without all the younger generations there for the whole party. We had a nice meal, caught up on all the years news, which is why we go to these gatherings. We get to hear from Tim about all the doings at the concrete company over the last year and usual school issues from Mike. Always entertaining.

We went home late. Probably home near 1115. Emily decided it was jigsaw puzzle time. Ya, good time to do a puzzle. And here I was thinking of going to bed. So we did a little puzzling before bed.

Emily did finally relent and we went to bed. She is strangely addicted to puzzles.

Finally found the time to blog my way into the holiday. I was not up early. Hey, its a day off.

I did manage to make coffee for everyone. Marika and Taryn were up late. I understand Taryn came home drunk last night. At least she got home. She is currently fighting the hangover she had by taking a nice nap.

I made French 75s for each of us. A little hair of the dog for the girls. Taryn did not finish hers. But, champagne is in order for the holidays. We usually have a bottle or two every big holiday.

And we began. The meal construction. We did not get very far when the kitchen sink stopped up. I took apart the trap and cleaned it as best I could. Put it back together. Trap leaked and drain didnt. Took apart trap again. Then I received a text. Buy 3 burritos, get free nachos. Marika and Taryn ran to get that. They got back and we ate lunch. Then i gotnout the plumbers putty, applied liberally to the joints and reinstalled. No leaks. Drain still plugged. So, got the plunger. Worked like a charm.

About this time Emily (Marikas roommate) and her boyfriend Chris showed up. We had invited them to join us for the holiday. I did my job, French 75 for Emily. Chris is not drinking.

Back to my repair work. Put all the crap back under the sink. Back to meal prep. I refilled a few drinks, did some prep, and we had everything done by 330. The turkey went in way late due to the plugged sink but we are past that now. May be a late meal but I am way full from lunch anyway.

I checked in on football, I hear it’s a popular activity today, Cowboys are losing. Yay! Like most of America I sincerely hate the Cowboys. Not quite to the level of the LA Dodgers but real close.

So we are going to sit around a couple hours and dinner will be ready. We are putting together a jigsaw puzzle to pass the time.
Maybe I can make a few more drinks. Maybe Taryn will wake up. Maybe they will finish the puzzle. Who knows? I am going to sign off for a few. Gotta see what happens so I can report on it.

Used to be, when I was a kid, our family Thanksgivings had 20 to 25 people. Sadly, no one gets together anymore. Not sure what has happened. People went their own way, many relatives have passed so Thanksgiving has shrunk for us. Maybe I have a faulty family. Dont know if I am missing anything, but it seems slower. My son is not home for Thanksgiving this year for the first time. That is kind of sad. It is inevitable that this day comes. Does not mean we are really ready for it. One day, it will be the first Christmas without him or my daughter, in attendance. I think if both were not here it would be very gloomy. Fortunately, that is not today.

Meal is done. Wow. Ate only one plateful as usual. I dont like to have seconds I will end up too full for pie. Four different pies. I gotta save four slices space.

I think it took the three of us 45 minutes to wash and put away all dishes, and split up and out away all the food. We need to send food home with Marika. Cant have her starving on my watch.

We waited a few. Time for pie. Pumpkin, lemon, rhubarb, and pecan. I had a slice of each. Small slice. I really should not have eaten all of it. My stomach now hurts so bad I may puke. It hurts. Ahhhh, this is what Thanksgiving is all about!

Em and Chris just left, it is ten o’clock. I am going to cut up some pie for Marika to take with her. Most of it. My hod, my tummy really hurts. I may never eat pie again. Tomorrow we are going to 2nd Thanksgiving at our friend Romas house. Her family gets together the day after Thanksgiving. That is their tradition. Its easier to get everyone together on off days of the holiday weekend.

I just sent the prodigal daughter home with enough food for a second holiday meal. I gave her 3/4 of the remains of each pie. She has more people at her house to take down all the calories. Em and I will never finish even what I kept. One thing, I think the lemon meringue was my best lemon pie ever. At least that was the crowd vote.

We are sitting in front of the TV now. Em is working on the jigsaw puzzle. I am typing the blog. I am going to help in a second. A little. Then its bedtine.

So its 930 at night, Thanksgiving eve, and the blog starts now. Hey, I been busy.

This morning I got up super early. Emily had an appointment at the orthodontist at 750am. Son I was up early to feed her breakfast and make coffee. She left and I went to work out. I get to go to the gum now. Just like Emily. I finished up my workout and went home. Emily came home. We both went to yoga. Crazy. Two workouts in a row. I am tired now.

After 2nd workout we went home and had lunch. We spent some time wrapping advent gifts for Marika. She was headed home at that point for Thanksgiving. We want her to have advent gifts on time so she can have one to open for every day of advent. Now we only have to get her brothers wrapped.

Marika finally arrived. Her friend Taryn in tow. Taryn will be having Thanksgiving with us tomorrow. If we are lucky we will have two more of Marikas friends for Thanksgiving tomorrow as well.

We all headed out for some quick grocery shopping. Stopped also for dinner, take out. Headed home and ate there.

I did get some help out of Marika. She helped me make pie dough a pecan pie. Tomorrow we will make pumpkin and lemon. Which means one pie per person. Plenty I think. We alos had cocktails to make the pie building more relaxing.

Marika and Taryn are heading out on the town. Meeting friends and having a few drinks. Emily was working on a puzzle the whole time we were making pie. What the hell? Its ok. Keeps her idle hands active. No getting into trouble. I am going to join her once I finish blogging.

So now we sit and watch the news. Emily is still ever so slightly obsessed with the puzzle. Addictive personality. She cant quit on it. She crazy. So I joined her. Put in a few pieces for the cause. Its bedtime.

I have the thousand miles driven in the last 24 hours kind of hangover. But I still have to go workout this am. Cant give up on my health. Yet. Emily might go to yoga. She has to check the schedule. This is a holiday week so I am always busier. There are clients out there right now wanting to get something done before T Day. I have a few calls and messages. Even I have a few things to get done today too. What fun.

This a vacation week for Emily. Which means I have to listen to the TV all morning, at least while I am here. Emily loves the noise of the TV. I like complete silence. Hard to mix those two. But, on our drive, Emily did not turn on the radio the entire trip. Which was nice of her. I drive in total silence as well. I like it. Emily does not. I tried hard to hold up my side of the conversation, which she may say that I did not handle it that well. But I know, for me, I was an amazing conversationalist. An example, I drive from Glacier Natl Park in Montana to Idaho Falls, with my son, 950 miles, in one day. We passed maybe three worda between us. Just quiet. Served us well. So, yesterday, I would say I never shut up. Its a perspective thing.

This evening, I think, we are going Thanksgiving shopping. We are still not sure how many are coming. At least three of us and up to six. Does not matter how many. We will have a nice holiday meal and no one will complain the TV is off. I know I wont.

My traditional job at the holidays is making pies and mashed potatoes. Not together, mind you. Two different dishes. Will have some ingredients to pick up and I will need to start the crust tonight. Prep and chill the crust, for a Wednesday roll out. I can have the pies done the day before. A laudable goal.

I went to workout. Only takes about an hour. For now, just starting out, I am doing a twenty minute aerobic warm up followed by a couple sets of several weight lifting exercises. Enough to make me sore. I did sweat at least, that must be worth something. I have have not noted it has helped my weight loss program. I have gained 3 lbs in the last two weeks. Will have to discuss it with health coach Kelly and see what she thinks. She seems to know everything, ar least on the topic of weight loss.

After all the gym fun comes work fun. I went to the office for several hours of mental gymnastics. The usual par-tay!! If accounting and party can be used in the same sentence. They should not be. I can’t say the day was different from any other. Usual crap. Except, the mail. Its the holidays, I received about 20 catalogs in the mail. I love catalogs. Obviously old school, and im sure many of the next generation dont get it. But I do like looking through them. Like the Sears Big Book of childhood. Of course, when you get so many there are bound to be duplicates and ones you are not interested in or dont like. I culled the group down to ten. Those others go to recycle. Then I browse, page by page by catalog. On the second tonlast page of the last damn catalog I hit absolute pay dirt. I uave been looking for these for YEARS. I already have one I got at REI thirty years ago. Loved it so much I bought a second one. They disappeared from the market. I have been searching the internet, alot last xmas, some this year to no avail. Now some catalog finds me and there they are. Even have an improved model, which really IS an improvement. I am buying three. I kid you not. I have to make note of the manufacturer for future use. Though they never really wear out. Odd item found. I ahould go home now.

A while later I received a marketing call from my local Paychex (natl payroll service) rep. Wants to drop off a pie. Sounds like he does not care what I get. If he took the time to listen he would realize I go totally OCD on pie. He says he is gonna drop off god knows what. So, with this reminder, I called Blake, my local ADP (natl payroll service) rep. He says funny I called he was on his way over with my pie. Hmmm. He showed up, awhile later with a rhubarb pie, my favorite, and his assistant says it was really hard to find. Guess who gets all my payroll referrals? Not a difficult choice. The rhubarb pie man. As a CPA, I am accosted on a daily basis by salesmen who want to market my clients for whatever. Because my clients place a great deal of trust in me, I can really pre sell whatever they have. So I get gifts and food and etc. Sometimes booze. Its a nice position. At the holidays I get pie. Blake took the time to figure out what I like so he gets the sale. I would assume if he treats me well he will treat my clients well.

Still going through my desk crap and other paper work as I have been since last deadline. Someone even noticed how clean my desk was today. But, usual crap to work on for the balance of the day. I had to do fridays payroll today since I will not be in the rest of the week. Got the holiday things to do.

I left work and went home. Very GD slow drive home. My f god was the traffic screwed. No accidents either. I mean, wtf? Took an hour. Fed dogs when I got home. Then important stuff, made list of pie ingredients I was missing. Can’t be without. Ran out the door and met Emily at Thai Rose Garden, her fave reataurant. We had a nice dinner and then headed to Winco, my fave grocery store. We did the turkey day shopping. A bit crowded and some surly people. Some friendly. The cashier was in a foul mood – Its too crowded, everyones unhappy, my feet hurt, this checkstand is too low so my back hurts, its my break time but I gotta keep working, and on and on. I am not kidding. I probably missed a few. Her last comment, I dont want anyone to think I am a complainer. Right. Why would I think that? Do I look like your psychologist?

Off to home. Put away groceries. Watch a little TV. Have a cocktail. Need to be calm. It is quite late, 10 pm. We went to bed after all that was done.