rich girl

I did not do a good job blogging every day! Good thing it doesn't matter. I am trying this thing where I either a) forgive myself or b) try not to blame myself at all for dumb stuff that no one cares about.

MIXED RESULTS.

ANYWAY. I ended up working a bunch more than I planned because people were sick and I felt guilty (note: I did not make them sick! I just have a generally guilty conscience for no good reason) and I also like my job and money. All of this to say: Holiday season so far is pretty good. I've seen a lot of friends, have hopes to see more and fa la la la la. I have eaten too much junky delicious and just plain junky food.  What I most want to do is sit on this lovely long couch in front of the christmas tree (where I am this very minute, 11:59 12/22) in my pajamas and read books for a week, but seeing people is good too.

Speaking of couches and reading for a week - I had the most lovely patron interaction this last week. A petite and stylish lady of middle years came up to the desk where I was working and heaved a giant bag of books up and started unpacking.  Because we are not supposed to talk specifics about what people are checking out unless they initiate it (patron privacy) I said "it looks like you had some success browsing!" She said (in a delightful french accent) that she had just finished a stressful bout at work and she and her husband were going to a cabin with no tv and no phone where she planned to lie on the couch all week and read novels. "I don't even know if I'll open all of these, let alone read them." I said something about how it was just nice to have the luxury of choice and she said that she loved LOVED the library because it "makes me feel rich" to be able to take out 15 books that she may or may not read and that her husband was doing the same thing for music and she felt very indulged indeed. There's a holiday for you! We wished each other joy of the season and off she went. I'm so lucky that many of my interactions are of a similar nature, if not quite so lined up with my exact personal feelings.

SO, I may or may not post again before Christmas but whether I do or not know I am wishing you well, wherever you are. May you find your equivalent available luxury!

by the fire or in the snow

Today I decided it was time to start work on a new Christmas mix, since the last one I made was in 2004 or so. (it was a good one!) First thing I do is head to my iTunes and see what I've got in there. Weirdly, a bunch of things that I thought I had don't show up… Some google later, I figure it out: sometime in the non-christmas past,  I'd deselected some but not all of my Christmas songs so they wouldn't play in the summer or whatever. Since iTunes is now all fancy, there is no way to find and RE-select them without making a smart playlist, blah blah blah. I think I found them all, except I couldn't find 2000 miles by the Pretenders, which I know I have. Why are you holding out on me, computer???

I had to do some ornament wrangling so I listened to my laptop christmas selection (or what I could find of it) to evaluate for the aforementioned mix and discovered - well, not really discovered, more like articulated in my own mind - that I have a definite preference in Christmas music. If you roughly divide it all into snow or fire, cold or warm, etc. I prefer the cold! Which is not something I would have necessarily thought before. Although I guess it's also divided between secular and (what's the word for non-secular? sacred??) - there are some warm secular songs that I really dig, but if it's a carol or mentions baby Jesus at all, I'd rather it be one that sounds like an angel is singing it outside where it is cool and crisp and even. (there are exceptions! this is a working theory.)

Do you like Christmas music? What do you love? What do you hate?

haunted shoe buckle

MWAHHAHAHAHA! The haunted shoe buckles wanted me to type that out for them. I don't really know what their deal is, but they are amply represented on this jewelry christmas tree that a grandmotherly personage  made many years ago. My sister just re-strung the lights and put the panel back into the frame (it was hanging on only by the sticking power of some disreputable looking duct tape) and now the shoe buckles are asserting themselves. Will they make their wishes known as we get closer to christmas? I DON'T KNOW. 

2000 miles

I found a long-lost Christmas Mix that I made ("Christmas 2004!") and this was one of the songs on it - I like that it's not about jingle bells or angels singing but about the relatable Christmas melancholy of someone you love being far away.

It's late and I should be asleep, but I'm on a production roll for my Christmas cards. (Update from yesterday - they're still weird, but have grown on me.) There's glitter that has to dry and that's a job for THE NIGHTTIME. On the other hand, sleeping is also something easiest done in the nighttime (at least for me) so I'd better get to it.

wintertime

How is your mid-late December going? I've reached the point where I am longing for January, which means I need a MENTAL CORRECTION. (not like brain jail, more like a 'check yourself before you wreck yourself' intervention.) Let's say more of a recalibration than a correction - it sounds nicer, but more mechanical. hmmm...

Anyway! I like this Christmas lights picture. They look like little neon skiffs sailing to the north pole.


More lights - this time with needlework.

I usually think of January 1 new year's resolutions as a self-defeating high-pressure cop out. If you want to make the change (whatever it may be) why not start now? Except this year I find myself feeling a lot of pressure to get this or that holiday thing done, and that I can either be thinking about how I have to do these things, or I can be doing these things, but I sure as shit shouldn't be thinking about how I want to take more photographs in the new year, let alone be taking more photographs RIGHT NOW. But this is bullshit!  I could get all this holiday stuff (most of which is FUN) done in no time.  It's a complicated time of year. I'm scraping the barrel of things to feel guilty about.



Question: Guess What?
Answer: KITTEN!!!!!!!! (still nameless because why rush these things.)

most kitten photos are blurry because he does not like standing still. He idolizes Busby. It's so funny to watch as Busby strolls by and the kitten gets all excited but shy, like Busby is his hero but also a famous celebrity that he probably shouldn't bother but then he throws himself in Busby's path because he can't stop himself. Busby has been very good with the kitten and I think it will all work out once they've had more time to know each other and once the baby is a little bigger.



A KITTEN'S THOUGHTS: I will eat your camera strap! And climb to your shoulder so I can climb on the bookcase so I can stand at the top and mew plaintively.

I found out that I will not be going forward in the latest recruitment at work. This is what I expected when I applied, but there's always that little reservoir of hope. BUMMER, except I found out literally five minutes before going to the Humane Society, after which I was like "Who cares?! KITTEN!!"  This is why internet cats are so popular - kittens can fix a lot of things.  And weirdly I made it through further (this is for the job classification above the one I have now) and the kiss off letter was much nicer than the last.  So... progress?

CAVEAT: I am covered in tiny scratches; I look like I've been crawling through delicate barbed wire. However, it is totally worth it.

unknown location: the story of my keys

I know they've got to be around here somewhere, which is why I'm not freaking out. I'm almost afraid to look, because if I do and still can't find them I will definitely freak out. Anyway! I will worry with that tomorrow.

This weekend was busy but in good ways. The work Christmas party that I was getting so wound up about turned out to be FINE. Better than fine, even. Now I've done it once I won't have to worry about it again because I know how it goes sometimes, and that's all I ask to not be a neurotic mess. (That's all! It seems so reasonable to me...)

This weekend also featured the fantastic Crafty Wonderland . I had a wonderful time even though I forgot my wallet and had to go home and get it. If you missed out on the two day weekend event or have more shopping yet to do, they're also running a pop-up shop downtown across from Central Library through the end of December.

I'm going to find my keys tomorrow, right?

Here's a bizarro video for one of my favorite Christmas songs - it's in the fine tradition of the Christmas story-song. (although who can ever find cranberries on Christmas Eve? That's the stealth Christmas miracle of the piece.) I love the way she sings this - it sounds so teenager to me. The bizarro part is of course the synchronized holiday lights, although why not? I kind of love this too! It's just so ... I don't know. It's the best video for the song on Youtube. (I had high hopes for the Spice Girls cover, but no.) I'm always amazed at the variety humans take in their entertainment. Some people synchronize new wave classics with their holiday displays, some people knit.

may your days be merry and bright

I am tired from a marathon bout of holiday lazing and eating delicious food, but I wanted to share some of the things that made today a good day for me. So here are some pictures:


it's like a sickness -- I can't stop taking pictures of these lights with the plastic things on them.


Four epiphyllum blossoms today! Usually it blooms in the summer right around my birthday -- In my experience it's unusual for it to bloom twice in one year. Yet here it is!


technically, this is from Christmas Eve. I was walking up Fremont to pick up a couple of last minute things and saw these cabbages in front of a new store. I think they're wonderful.


I went for a walk in the park and it started to snow! The local news said it might, but I never actually believed them, since it's the kind of thing they're always saying when they actually mean "it will snow on the mountain," or "it will snow in the gorge." but this time they were right!


There are still some red leaves left -- so pretty.


The snow began as just hard mean rain, but then it got into the swing of things and started getting nice and flaky. By the time I got home it felt like I'd been to the dentist because my whole face was numb. (I wore a hat and a jacket, but no gloves or scarf because of course it wasn't going to snow! and I don't need gloves for rain.) The snow has since melted away in my part of town, but it was sure fun for a few hours.


I received such thoughtful and generous gifts, including this necklace from my mom. I love it because it looks a little bit mod and a little white stripes at the same time.

....and now I have to go to bed before I am felled in transit by a turkey/carb coma.

drunk train to cookieville

(doesn't this train look totally inebriated?)

I am neither drunk nor on a train, but I have eaten my weight in cookies today.

The TREE is DECORATED! With 6 days to spare! It turned out really fun -- maybe one day I'll get a good picture. I tried to take some today, but they were uniformly terrible. You don't have to take my word for the awesomeness of the tree, though. The UPS driver yelled up the driveway on her way back to the truck "your tree is SO COOL!" and that was through the window before ornaments (but after lights). (I realize you have to take my word for UPS driver compliments, but I would never lie about a thing like that.)

Further Holiday Related:

1. I still have a lot of things to do to finish my gift-assembly before the 25th, but I'm not TOO worried. According to the TV, I can just buy Cadillacs and hideous diamond jewelry if I run out of ideas and decide to rob a bank and/or sell my organs.

2. Most overused word in Christmas advertising: Magical. Is it any wonder that people get anxious and depressed over the holidays? It's not enough to have some days off, spend some time with friends and family, eat your weight in cookies, it has to be freaking MAGICAL on top of that. According to the television, the best way to achieve the "magic" is to spend a lot of money on stupid shit that nobody wants! I know it makes me practice cursing the tv, but I don't think that's the kind of magic they had in mind.

3. here is my illustrated recipe for Christmas tree lights -- you need at least three kinds. (these pictures are from years past, but you get the idea.):


C7 multi-colored twinkle lights. These are getting harder and harder to find -- it's the bulbs that twinkle rather than the strand. (I can't stand plain old blinking lights -- things like the chasing lights or other fancy patterns give me headaches. Twinkle is perfect. Perfect, I tell you!) I think I'm going to have to order fuses and replacement bulbs online, because all of my usual spots to get these things have let me down. This is the lighting anchor for the tree.


mini lights -- this year I used all red (not orange like the picture), but I put these cool vintage plastic thingies on them that reflect and magnify the lights. they look like tiny explosions and are perfect.


bubble lights: Target had these a few years ago. So fun! They are kind of a pain in the ass because they won't bubble unless they are straight up and down, and since they're top heavy it's hard to get them straight up and down. But worth the effort!

I have found that I love all kinds of variations in lights -- some people do only white, some hate the bigger lights, some have blinking, etc. -- these are all lovely on someone else's tree, but on any tree for which I'm responsible, I need to have the three types listed above. As for the multi-color/ white divide... I think a lot of it depends on what you grew up with. I know some people find the multi-color to be garish, but not me!

Note of Reflection and Gratitude That Has Nothing To Do With Cookies: A year ago I was in the hospital with the evil surprise attack face infection that put me there. I just want to take a minute to say that I'm really, really happy not to be there this year!