Tuesday, December 25th
Merry Christmas to all - and to all a good night or day or whatever time you may be reading this. I think I have all of five regular readers who check in to see what's up and I see most of them relatively routinely.
Low key holidays around our house. We couldn't get at the decorations so that was out this year. Not to mention the fact that great swaths of the house are still unfinished. We did get most other things accomplished - except the Christmas cards. I have made an executive decision that they are going to be Orthodox Christmas cards this year and will go out in early January in time for epiphany. I just can't deal with them until right after the New Year.
We had our first low key entertainment in our refurbished great room last night. Tommy's family for the tradition of Christmas Eve deserts and stockings. A new addition this year. Tommy is a great uncle with the addition of his niece's new daughter who arrived two weeks ago. She is very tiny and does little but sleep at this stage. Her stocking was filled with infant T-shirts and onesies and other practicalities that new mothers are not likely to have gotten from friends who race out for adorable little outfits that are impractical for much beyond a photo op.
I'm spending today catching up some on work and then we do more moving things around the house. An activity we will be repeating frequently for some months. We are using the whole project as an excuse to declutter so a lot of boxes of things are headed for prop land or to furnish various acquaintances apartments.
Off to London on Thursday. I'm looking forward to a week with no agenda other than fun.
Wednesday, December 19th
Less than a week to go until Christmas and only one more full work day for me. Hooray! There won't be much downtime though, Tommy and I have to reverse the process of the last five months and start moving everything back into the house. We are back in the house but the only room that's currently habitable is the bedroom - pieces of everything else is done but there's still a lot of finish work. Walls are painted, but trim is not. Countertops are still not installed. Cabinets need hardware. Light fixtures still aren't in.
The goal is to get the furniture and boxes out of the POD by the 7th so that can be hauled away. Then we can start emptying the new storage space of things that are down there. New furniture comes today and then we have to go out and buy a whole lot of bookcases for the den which is getting a makeover into a libaray. I forsee a lot of sorting and filing and wondering what the hell this or that item is and why we own it.
We're planning a low key Christmas this year. No decorations to speak of and a family dinner with Tommy's family on Christmas Eve. Our big present to ourselves is the trip to London from the 27th to the 3rd which we are both looking forward to. It does cut into our sort the house time but we'll manage.
The cats are back from the vet after their month away to get them out of toxic fumes and floor stain. They seem happy to be back and are settling into their old routines. The boarding bill was horrific so they better not have to leave the house for an extended time again during this process.
Wednesday, December 12th
We have been driven from the house by poisonous vapors. The floor crew have been a little happy with the stains and sealants and its not possible to spend more than about five minutes in it without breathing problems, watery eyes and a sense of giddiness. It should pass by Friday but in the meantime, we are refugees at the Homewood Suites on 280. The paint and staining should all be done by the middle of next week so we should be able to get the furniture back in place during the next few weeks. Personally, I just want to collapse, and then go to London.
Work is only slightly freaked out at the moment. I have made the 'Best Doctors' list both locally and nationally again this year. I think its because I am getting old and gray and arthritic and set in my ways. Actually, our clinical services continue to improve and expand due to some new initiatives on the inpatient front. I would love to hand over the reins of the clinic to new blood but there really isn't anyone yet who could do it.
Tommy is in the middle of finals. He's not doing as well as he would like as the chaos of home remodeling has led to problems with studying but I have full confidence that most of it will come out in the wash.
We're having a heat wave. 80 degrees in the middle of December. Merry Christmas. We're still more or less skipping that for a while. Cards will go out next week if I can find them and get around to them. I can barely find anything in the house anymore. Next time, we torch the place and start again.
Monday, December 3rd
I have decided that I'm skipping Christmas this year. Between the remodel and the mess of the house and Tommy's school schedule and all the various work crises, there's no time for it. I will try to get to my cards, but they will probably go out on Epiphany and gifts will probably arrive around Valentines and we will have our annual holiday party sometime around the Ides of March.
I am in major pain from arthritis in the knees, exacerbated by yet another weekend of hauling furniture up and down the stairs. Thank you, thank you to Aaron, Frank, Melissa, and Brad who showed up to help with this tedious task. We are now back into the bedroom. It's not quite finished but it's about 95% done and looks great. The bathroom and kitchen are moving forward. We may be able to fully occupy the top two floors by the 15th of December.
Work is relatively quiet at the moment. We're in a planning phase for major expansions of clinical service in the inpatient and outpatient arena. I just hope they're going to expand the support staff to help with all of the grandiose planning. I don't mind being the rock on which ambulatory services are built but even the strongest rocks are subject to erosion now and then.
Tommy and I were the will call office for the Opera Christmas Concert this past weekend, looking very official in the booth at the Alabama Theatre. We've decided we need to get our picture taken in it in deco usher uniforms for a Christmas Card some year.
