Diary of a MILF in Progress

Holi-daze

Highlights: Mad Men season 1 on DVD.  The Younger Son responding to "We're rolling" during the prep to record his rendition of "Jingle Bells" with him actually dropping to the floor and rolling over a few times.  The in-laws gave the kids a Nintendo DS on Christmas Eve, so The Husband and I got to sleep until we woke up on Christmas morning (when was the last time a pile of presents and stuffed stockings remained untouched by a ten year old, a seven year old and a five year old?!)  My mom found me some bee-you-tiful handspun/hand-dyed yarn that may be just enough to make a poncho.  My brother and his girlfriend gave me wine.  The grab bag gifts we ended up with from my Nanna's house party included both booze and an espresso maker.  MIL actually paid attention to my attempts to change my size and she bought me gift cards instead of clothing.  The Christmas dinner I cooked was good (no overdone meat! no mushy vegetables! cookies were an outstanding dessert!) and ended up ready at the time I had estimated it would.

Lowlights: Duplicate gifts (the kids got 3 copies of "Horton Hears a Who," since The Husband didn't listen when I told him weeks ago that my aunt had already gotten it, Husband checked out my Amazon wishlist and decided to buy the exact two books his brothers had already chosen for me), although The Elder Son was not at all upset by getting two of the exact same goalie shirts from both me and my sister.  I had to dump out almost a whole bottle of Propel water, since BIL didn't bother to ask me where in our kitchen to find the kind of flavored water I know his crazy-ass girlfriend likes (instead of him going rooting around in the basement pantry looking for something for her to drink), and she took a couple sips from the bottle before deciding she didn't want it.  The Golden Child (i.e., my brother) got caught in some traffic and expecting a delay on the way to my parents' house, so Mom called me to tell me to hold off on bringing the kids over (she said she didn't want to have to entertain them while trying to finish making dinner), only to have the traffic let up and Goldy and his girlfriend to arrive at their scheduled time, causing Mom to call me back to find out when I was going to arrive ("Haven't you left yet? They're here!") 

All in all, a good Christmas.  I'm hoping that 2009 dawns happy for all.  See ya on the flip side.

Hair today, gone tomorrow?

I'm thinking of donating my hair to Locks of Love.  Some other organizations require a smaller ponytail length for donation (8 inches vs. the ten LoL asks for) but won't take color treated hair. My hair is colored, not not bleached, so it's kosher.

Here's the selfish part- in order to grow my hair long enough to cut off ten inches and still have enough hair to not get a super short cut ('cause if I get a super short cut, Husband will be so goddamned whiny about how he hates when I "get my hair cut like a boy," even though I have not had anything resembling a masculine haircut since I was about six), I think I might be waiting until almost summertime to cut it off.  Do I really want to deal with the hassles htat accompany loooong hair for the next 5-6 months, and do I want to do a major change in my appearance right before (a) my yearly conference in Athens and (b) my high school reuinion?

Hi, my name is Dana, and I'm shallow enough that I might not help cancer stricken kids because I don't want to risk being uncute.

Christmas countdown

Christmas is three days away.  The cards are printed, signed and addressed, but sitting on the desk in my computer room where I accidentallly left them this morning.  If I remember to buy stamps today, I can mail them first thing tomorrow.  I have only a few things left for the household gifts- stocking stuffers for Husband and the offspring, a couple ornaments for Daughter and Younger Son (I've already gotten Elder Son's ornament for they year).  If the Amazon orders arrive as planned (and I get my ass in gear to finish my SIL's knit/crocheted tank top), everyone on my side of the family will have gifts on Thursday and Friday; if not,  IOU's will be issued as needed.  The outstanding gifts are for local folks, so I can deliver them within the Christmas season one way or the other.  Husband is home, cleaning the house (and, I'm sure, practicing his martyred speech about how no one other than he gives a shit about the state of the house).  The tree is up and decorated.

Most importantly, I have copious amounts of wine suitable for serving after we return from dinner with my in-laws (an outing with may or may not include my crazy-ass BIL's crazier-ass semi-girlfriend) and for serving with the Christmas dinner I fix for my parents and for consuming whilst wrapping presents in the wee hours of the morning (probably while watching my DVD of "It's a Wonderful Life"); and I have a choice of vanilla rum, light rum, dark rum or Kahlua to add to my cup of the homemade hot chocolate we enjoy on Christmas morning.  I'm done with antibiotics, it's time for Dana to get her holiday drink on!

Return to the land of the living it up

Yes, I know it's been weeks since I posted.  Remember that bronchitis?  Yea, not really just bronchitis.  How does walking pneumonia grab ya?  Like big, hairy hand in the dark, that how it grabbed me.  But, heavy duty antibiotics, and I'm back to being a semi-functional adult.

Functioning enough to tackle my quarterly meeting.  My new meetings planner guy (Rick) is totally fabulous, and I never ever want him to leave our company (he's my fifth coordinator since I started this job four and a half years ago.  The director of the meetings department swears that I really am low maintenance, but it's still enough to give a girl a complex.)  He was attentive and on the ball for the whole meeting, and everything went as it should, even though I felt like something the cat  had dragged in.

We had our company Christmas party on Friday, which was fun enough.  We had a happy hour afterwards, which was significantly more fun than the event at the office.  Casey was there, and appropriately complimentary to me.  One of our former employees (a VP who was victim to the layoffs last month) stopped by, and I'm  happy to say that our interactions are still very unprofessional.  Rick came to happy hour and was being a terrifically catty queen, so I want him to be my new gay boyfriend.  By the end of the evening, when I was settling up the check so I could leave to  pick The Daughter up from her dress rehearsal for "The Nutcracker," there may have been a payment slipped into the waistband of my thong.  I neither confirm nor deny.

And now I am back to the lap of domesticity; the weekend included manning the refreshment table at the ballet cast party, and I am durrently busy baking cookies for the holiday.  God bless us, everyone.