Friday

I’m so happy that I didn’t have to go out today.  It was cold, icy, and the roads are slippery with ice.  My support worker slipped on the ice and landed on her tailbone, which is really painful!  I won’t complain, but just know that I remain unthrilled by the cold and I know I’m in the wrong country for the weather I prefer, so I’ll just adopt a martyr-like approach to it!  There’s more ice rain and other such unpleasantries coming, but ‘tis the season… sigh.  Jerry literally did not leave me alone for more than an hour in total today!  I sat to watch a show, which I didn’t get to see in all as Jerry sat to block my view of the screen.  I got up to put away the clean laundry, which gave me about 15 minutes of an empty lap.  Then I sat down again, and he jumped up, rolled on his back and jabbed me in the face with his paws!  Don was a little tired after yesterday’s outing, but it’s all good.  He spent a good couple of hours hunting for a new stove, and I think we’ve narrowed the search to about 4 models.  They’re all more expensive than I’d like, but not as bad as they could be.  He’s sent them over to me for my thoughts, so that’s my weekend.  Hopefully the new one will arrive next week, so I can do some Christmas baking.

I don’t think that I have any after-effects from yesterday, thankfully.  I was tired yesterday when I got home, and had no trouble falling asleep last night.  I was quite hungry again today, which is excellent, and I’ll figure out dinner that’s reasonably filling tonight.  It finally hit me yesterday that something I’d noticed years ago, is actually not my imagination.  We had mashed potatoes last night, and I’d always found that eating potato skins make my throat itch and my mouth tingle.  I’d thought it was simple dislike, but I ate a forkful that had a few scraps of skin and I noticed the itch.  I can eat the rest of the potato, but it seems the skin is not my friend!  Not a huge deal, but I’m glad I paid attention to myself more closely.  We don’t often cook potatoes in their skins, which is why I was somewhat uncertain of my feelings.

I’m trying to work out Christmas gift ideas for the small people.  My little niece has decided she wants a skipping rope, and my nephew has no ideas.  He’s very attached to 2 of his newest toys, which are not the kind that I would buy (I’ve already made my position clear on noisy toys for toddlers) so I’m stuck.  I’d like to have it all settled within a week, but we’ll see.  I was looking on Etsy, which has some very cute things, but he’s only 3, so no reason to go overboard with shopping.  Anyone has ideas?  

I’ve begun my annual Christmas movie rewatching sessions.  A couple of days ago, I began with Muppet Christmas Carol (I love it; Michael Caine is wonderful as Scrooge!) and today I watched Disney’s Christmas Carol, with Jim Carey.  It’s almost as good as Alastair Sim or Patrick Stewart, but with the animation, there’s more fantasy elements in it.  They both stay close to the text, and their Scrooges are delightful.  Next up is either Miracle on 34th Street (1947) or White Christmas (with Bing Crosby) or Babes in Toyland (1961)  I find that I can’t watch many of the Rankin and Bass animated shows any more.  Rudolph is a little too sexist for me, what with the comments about “that’s men’s work” and his dad’s embarrassment at the red nose.  The story of Kris Kringle, narrated by Frank Sinatra, is another one where differences are mocked.  I will watch Boris Karloff in How the Grinch Stole Christmas which I love, and on Christmas Eve, I watch It’s a Wonderful Life- all 3 hours of it.  I’ve got into a routine where I watch the first hour, distract myself through the second and break out the tissues for the finale.  (It really could have stood to lose parts of it on the cutting room floor.)  I also like to watch the Midnight Mass from the Vatican.  I know, it’s not the greatest, most original or latest lineup, and really somewhat old fashioned but I enjoy them.

OK, I’m off in search of dinner.  It’s not going to be elaborate, and I’ll work out a filling idea, don’t worry.  Jerry is lying on my feet and looking like he plans to begin begging as soon as any food appears in view!  Good night!