bassline

Christmas Baubles

I'm in a much better mood than I was a couple of days ago. There's little need to say it, but sometimes you just have one of those days.

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I came home from work today to an apartment that was so warm from cooking that E had the door open. I hit the top of the steps and the wonderful smells of a Christmas Eve meal. E literally spent the day sweating over a hot stove and oven to make an amazing meal that was entirely made from scratch; no pre-made sauces, flavorings nor canned goods:

tomato and basil soup
mini pumpkin frittatas
tomato onion and saffron risotto

dessert:
crunchy/chewy maple syrup mini cupcakes:

MmMm good!

I think next year it might be my turn, depending on what day Christmas Eve falls on. The way we're working it out, if it's on a day that I work, she cooks, if not, then I cook.

Tomorrow, we'll be exhanging gifts and not doing much of anything, just the way I like it.
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( Speaking of work )

Merry Christmas!! to everyone celebrating it and I hope everyone else has a great day off from work or school :)

AYE

Just did a bit of painting behind the stove since I have it moved away from the wall. It seems the steel wool and duct tape has done the trick-we've not seen nor heard any signs of the mice since Monday. I do have to get some stronger duct tape. The roll I bought on Sunday was a cheaper/lighter kind than I wanted, but I just needed something for the meantime. So, I'll get some heavier stuff tomorrow or Friday.

The little bit of painting I did had me wanting to do more, but I don't want to get into a big home-improvement project like that just yet. It'll be better to tackle the major painting in the spring, when we can leave the windows open. I have to deal with the kitchen shelves, too, but that means a ton to sanding which I think would be better to deal with in the spring as well. I'll be able to take them out to the roof to sand and paint. Now, to convince E to hang in there until April or so.

Time always seems to fly by so quickly this time of year-Christmas is next Tuesday! We're having a very low-budget Christmas this year, which is fine with me. Finances are uber tight so we're going the home-made route all the way this year by decorating the covers of small Moleskine notebooks. I'm really enjoying the project since I get to indulge the graphic design side of my creativity. This is our first Christmas as husband and wife. I don't know all of what we'll be having, but we will be preparing and cooking a Christmas dinner together.
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E's amusing herself right now by tossing wadded pieces of paper at my head while I type. She's covering the notebooks with clear contact paper. I have to catch up with her since she's completed 7 notebooks to my 4 1/2.

The holidays are over and we've survived, lol. Actually, this Christmas was one of the best in years for me. Even without the presents, just having E here was enough.

We worked as a team when buying presents for friends of mine, thank goodness. I'm one of those last-minute shoppers and I'm always drawing a blank when it comes to gifts. It happens every year-Christmas comes, my brain freezes, and there's a last-minute dash to figure out what to give to whom. None of that this year, my friends, E shook the clouds from my mind and actually made Christmas shopping...um...what's the word? FUN! That's it, she made it fun. Not only that, but we were done a whole week before Christmas; everything was bought and wrapped. I know that's late, but for me it's like being done in January for the next holiday lol!

Christmas eve, I worked, but was able to leave early to come home and enjoy a great meal with E. It's a tradition of her's to have a meal with her family on Christmas eve so we just continued the tradition here with bruschetta, asparagus risotto, and a fantastic bread pudding. It was as good as it sounds, trust me. The rest of the evening we just lounged around.

Christmas Day we lounged some more and finally got up to exchange presents sometime close to noon. It was cloudy and rainy and we weren't in a hurry to get out of the warm bed. We wound up having four presents each and had a good laugh when it came to the last one we had for each other. We exchanged the final gifts. I unwrapped mine and stopped short when I saw the by-now familiar blue of a Tiffany's box. I say 'now-familiar' because Tiffany's was one of the first places E wanted to go to when she arrived. She's a big fan of their pieces and has a few bracelets and such to prove it. She's in the habit of treating herself to something new as a reward for various accomplishments and Tiffany jewelry is her drug of choice on those special occasions.

Anyway, saw the box and started laughing to myself. She heard me, gave me this look and said, "What's so funny?", startled at my reaction. I told her that I was just waiting for her to open hers. She did and started laughing with me. I'd gotten her this:
and she gave me:

We even chose the same red ribbon for the box to be wrapped in...too funny...

Yesterday was one of those days where I had the best intentions of getting a bunch of things done, but only accomplished a couple. I woke up pretty sore from my workout the day before. A week had passed since I'd been to the gym. Not only that, but I made some changes to the number of sets I did on certain exercises as well as increasing the weight a little.

Anyway, it was a good soreness and I knew I'd made a good move with the changes, but I do have to be more consistent. I've made some incredible progress since returning to the gym late in the summer. Now, I have to make sure not to miss so many workouts in a row. I have a goal of where I want to be strength-wise and what I want to look like by the time my membership comes up for renewal next year, so maintaining a regular schedule is important.

( Claus and effect )