my annual calendars are lost....

 

they are somewhere in the lower 48. tracking shows them not moving since Nov 4. i have contacted Shutterfly and they will expedite a new order.  so the second set of calendars will arrive within the week and be free.  not sure if the others will ever show up or just go to some lost deliveries place. hopefully they are enjoyed by someone out there i guess.  so my annual calendars will probably arrive late. i ordered less than normal of them so not sure how they will get divided out this year. 

i was on call Thanksgiving eve.  that just meant that i never slept more than 15-20 minutes at a time. being on call can bite that way.  i just got little sleep. did manage to get the dogs walked. yesterday was my only totally lazy day.  i was a sitter in the ER all night Saturday. that patient was a soft icu patient, needed to be comfort care really but worked out well for that patients nurse to be an icu nurse. i was happy with my sitter gig as i heard a really crazy, screaming and violent patient in another area...so happy that wasn't my sitter gig. 

Thanksgiving was a lovely friendsgiving. thank you MT. great food and company. last minute i made homemade gravy, which was loved by all. 

last night i took the turkey i'd cooked the other day and made homemade turkey noodle soup. 

these are at Byron a few years ago. 

only one trumpy family member called, i let it go to voicemail since i was out walking and the temperatures were super low this week.  i suspect part of me just figured better to let it go to voicemail and just respond with a text. he never responded to the text. my sister and i just texted.   give them their peace.  nothing is going to change with their views and i'm not sure i won't just express my views.  what is the point anymore?  i can save myself the frustration of walking on eggshells in conversations where honestly, nobody really cares about how my life is..if they did they would contact me more than at a holiday or birthday. the truth is these are not actual relationships. actual relationships involve more than the minimally required interactions and niceties around certain events. 

bad guy, black sheep, obligation. that is really all i am to most in this family. these things will not change as long as i'm not in their church and they remain there. they are even encouraged by their church to avoid people who have left.  it's preached. so better to just accept the place i am in. my choice to leave.  i have never regretted leaving that church nor have i regretted my views evolving as i learned more and more about the bigger world outside the bubble and met people from many different walks of life. that doesn't mean that i'm never saddened that the people i grew up with have so easily moved on. it's a cult, i see that more and more. as i see secret videos of stuff that happens in the temple, strange. 

sometimes in life you just can't be who people want you to be and they can't be who you want them to be. all you can do is walk away or just give them the space they want. give them peace. will they ever see this orange idiot for who he is? i have less and less hope that they ever will. they don't want to. 

i have no idea what will happen in the next years.  he's selecting the absolute worst qualified and least humane humans this nation has to offer.  selfish, greed filled, racist, homophobic, mysogynistic...that is what people want. 

you can't spell HATRED with out RED and HAT.  so there we are.  hate builds in societies and it has to be burned off like a fire in the woods.  those big fires can simmer below the surface during even the coldest winter.  it takes time for hatred to be expunged. it's still being fueled by right wing media and trump and his band of fools. as long as there are so many willing to allow their fires of hatred to be lit we will all have to suffer fools. 

off tonight then back for 2 more. 

i've done far too much on line shopping of late....emotional shopping. can i blame trump for that too.  haha. 

Sunday was a sleep day. i crashed. the dogs had a day off of walking. i don't do that very often.  woke late and then the light was nearly gone so i never got out of my pj's that day.  today was Monday walk.  thank you AR for joining me and then we did have a coffee day which was nice. 

should get decorations up and cards shipped.  feel like waiting for the calendars.  do it all at once. i do usually get it done earlier but i will have time after surgery...hoping all goes well with that and i heal quickly. 

still pondering a craft for local gifts. 

have to conquer my laziness and anxiety. mostly i just use this homeopathic spray for the anxiety now. does help. prefer to avoid heavier drugs when i can. i also want to have them handy in case i do need them.  picked up scripts for post op and got labs drawn today. need to look at the short term care and make sure the papers have been sent in. 

Sunny enjoying the sand

he really is a snuggler. perfect for my needs of late.  for sure Tusker sent him to me.  lol. 

lots of swift talk today at coffee.  her last weekend of her ERA's tour is this coming weekend. may live stream it.  quite the accomplishment for anyone. she has brought joy to many across the globe. of course, many on the right have demonized her...as they seem to do. any joy needs to be turned to hate and vilified. crap like she and her football boyfriend will bring a baby in that will be the antichrist...yes, another antichrist.  there have been hundreds of antichrists created by the evangelicals these past years...satan, devils,antichrists.  it's absurb. i will never understand these lunatics and what they have come to believe. 

a few bears in a parking lot that i opted to not go for walk in...or was this right after i'd returned from a walk? not sure, this is a few summers back

below are from a train ride to Spencer and beyond this summer. 

a quick walk since our train trip got cut short. 

pretty days and pretty views along the way though. 

it was one of the new things i did this year. i try to add new roads or new bits to old adventures each year. 

i ordered a few things from the body shop.  apparently, they no longer really exist in the US, unless you go through a place like amazon.  bummed as i always loved the body shop. 

i miss rummaging through Pier One shops as well. a few stores, like that are only online now. 

i have to admit to being a mini-swifty.  i did order her tour book online through target.  i didn't get up early and go buy one but it should show up. i enjoy her music and follow some of her stuff. i'm not as into the details as so many of her more true fans are. i think it's cool they do all that and play those fun games with her but i just am not that into the extra stuff...at least not at this time. haha. it's been fun to watch clips of her tour and to watch her happy fans prep to go.  great outfits, the bracelets. it's all very fun. so happy that there is someone willing to spread joy and put up with all the crap from those crazy evangelicals in doing it. 

strange year for me this year. the ectopy, the anxiety, the pink eye, the covid and now this uterus surgery. should i assume as we age there is just always some medical thing going to crop up from here on out? always new aches, new pains.  still i know that compared to others my age i'm faring well. i have to admit, being surrounded by much younger co-workers, that i am getting older.  not many in this younger generation will last long in nursing.  i'm guessing for the foreseeable future it will be a constant rotation of new staff. 

i need to do some cleaning and then i can put up the decorations.  some years i feel less festive about it all than others. i did get the Skelly's out. having extra lights is nice this time of year when the days are so short. 

biden pardoned his son.  many are up in arms about it.  he's been under attack from pretty minor charges for years now. i suspect his paid the price many times over for infractions. it's been a constant attack from the right.  i'm happy Biden did it, i wish democrats would be less concerned in this current era with doing things on the total up and up...God knows the other side is totally flouting every law and every norm. they vote in a felon and then complain about this. it's all so ridiculous. i just can't anymore.  

it's been beautiful but cold out.  there was some amazing hoar frost. love that stuff.  it can look so many different ways. should take a drive out and find more cool stuff. looks like snow/rain mix over the next several days. so far a lovely winter.  a nice amount of snow. not too crazy. i suspect the element's battery is dead. haven't tried to start it for a few days. it got down to 0F last week. 

the good folks of the nation, Georgia, are making it known that they do not want putin managing their sovereign nation.  the battle in Ukraine continues.  battles continue elsewhere as well. Israel cont to pummel Gaza. i just keep hoping that when i wake up people like trump and putin have died through the night. Syria getting hit again...how is there anything left to hit there? the world is a mess and getting worse.  i've been lucky to have been away from the worst the world has to offer.  i'm grateful for that. not sure i could take what many on this planet have just had to live their entire lives with.  perhaps our time is coming though. 

Ivy is resting near by, Sunny Boy and i had a good snuggle earlier. love my pets and all the amazing companionship they bring to my life 

my hip is already getting sore from sitting.  see aches.

was a pretty train ride. 

this was the dog park.  there was a recent shooting in the area. the police have been hanging out a bit more, they never found the shooter i guess despite drones and searches. i've gone a few times though but stayed out of the deeper woods. 

there is our train

grateful for A. the peace i've been lucky to exist with.  we had bomb drills as kids at school but never had bombs drop.  B. snuggle time with the pups. C. laughing with friends

4.9 wake up call at 0521....

 so hanging pictures yesterday, maybe still premature.  we average 10 quakes/hour...i guess baseline is 10 earthquakes/day.  most of the quakes we don't notice....at least i don't.  this mornings early wake up i did notice.  it was a pretty solid shake.  woke me up and i was awake for long enough to pay attention to it. nothing fell, nothing broke.  i guess aftershocks that are big enough can have their own aftershocks...crazy stuff. 

 i did finish my door project.  does look brighter!!  much prettier than the ugly old doors so worth the effort i think. still need to change out old light fixtures. no handyman today...half expecting him to show up any day.  he seems to show up when I'm working though.  not planned just how it works.  who needs sleep.  haha.

 i moved a few things back in the kitchen.  will wait until the under cabinet lights go in to add stuff to the lower upper shelves, just in case he needs to get in there....also holding off putting anything in the top areas as i figure they will need to use that area to get the counters in.

 my old stuff looks so sad as i put it away. will need to buy a new set of pots/pans i think. still trying to figure out what will work best where.  I'm sure I'll switch things up a bit as i get in the kitchen. 

 enjoying my new ice maker in the freezer.  though the dogs still seem to startle when it makes it's noises and drops ice....is this post quake? 

 i was late getting to bed last night anyway, so having a quake wake me up after just a few hours sleep was no fun.  did get back to sleep after a bit.  right after the quake i got up to check on dogs and all....i only had one slipper.  i joked with my sister later that the quake through that slipper right out the dog door...she believed me, silly girl, so i then told her i believed it more likely one of the dogs dragged it out the dog door. at least they didn't chew it up so i put it up to dry after being caked with snow.  we got a bit through the day.

 i worked a bit on the door and then headed out to the dog park with the dogs. 

 back to work again for two nights tomorrow night.  i guess ICU called today. lots of patients that are 1:1 so they were looking for help.  i didn't see my messages until just a bit ago though. 

 stopped by the post office to ask about my mail...still none.  seems odd around Christmas to get zero mail. i know it was busted for a few days but the neighborhood mail box seems to be operational...where is the mail?  strange.

 the iitoo treats every time he talks to any group as a campaign rally...even captive audiences like the military.  he finally popped out to see troops in an area of unrest, he screws everything he touches up...such a royal F-UP.  talking crap about the Dem's, lying about giving them a 10% raise, posting photo's of Seals faces and location.  the man can't do a thing right. 

 I'm getting antsy to start organizing the mess post kitchen remodel.  i am excited to get this all behind me...it's been a long haul.  the day i lost my sink until the day i get the sink functioning again.  that will be a great day. 

 dust is all over.  will need to do a few loads of dishes as soon as the dishwasher is hooked up.  will be nice to cook and not eat out. 

 pups were good at Home Depot today.  i just needed to get the last bit of trim for the door project.  still need to paint the trim in the front part of the entry.  debating color choice, may paint it the blue from the kitchen rather than the grey/white I've used for the other trim.  the pain in that area is yellow and the grey/white just hadn't popped...thinking the blue may be a good contrast to the yellow.

 next project is stairs/rails/halls and lights.  the downstairs bathroom could use an update and new flooring, but that will wait a bit i think. i would love to move the laundry out to the garage and put a shower stall in the downstairs bath making it 2 full baths in the place. would be great when folks visit to have a second shower. the bathroom will wait though. the stairs look pretty bad with the chewed up carpet.

 liked these sunset train shots....

 it was snowing today and cloudy.  not sure how much of a sunset came through.

 i should at least be getting to bed much earlier tonight than previous nights.  still a fairly lazy feeling day today..though i did accomplish quite a bit.

 Is-Is is not gone....they have stashed millions of dollars in stolen gold and cash...our rapid withdrawal and ceding of our responsibility for what we started will no doubt lead to trouble down the road.  the Kurds, who have assisted us, will be abandoned to unknown fate. our credibility in global politics is getting destroyed. i suspect the iitoo agreed to much in that 1:1 meet with Put..it seems more and more clear that our POTUS is owned by Put... the GOP were complete and utter fools to have allowed a meet without anyone else in the room between those two.  complete and utter fools to not have any interest in looking at the iitoo financial ties.  they are either totally incompetent or total fools or they are somehow benefiting from it all beyond just getting an agenda passed.

 perhaps it will just be a tough pill to swallow...discovering that all the conspiracy theories about HRC turned out to be peanuts compared to the reality of the corruption and greed in their own administration.  people are actually going to jail who have direct relation to the iitoo, on the other side after literally decades of "investigation" there is really zip to show for it all.  as i have said before, either there just is not as much there as they have tried to convince us all or they are the most incompetent group of investigators there are. 

 cohen today was denying he was in Prague though reports are that his phone was in the area.  was he there? how deep does this all go?  some folks need to wake up....the crooks are in the hen house and they are running our nation into the ground.

 sunset as i headed home.

 life can change, no freedom is safe....we have been lulled into a sense of permanent safety in this nation as we've had so many great decades of relative peace on our own land...

 we see now that there are many ways to work around our system.  many things that we took for granted were actual rules when they were just "the way it's always been done".  that only works when we have leadership that respects rules, laws and tradition.  this current administration respects none of those things. 

grateful for: A. peace of snow falling B.  night C. sweet puppies