Time is Flying By

Or is it really creeping by? Depends on what you are referring to.
And NO - thank you for enquiring - but I still have not heard any results on my Comp Exam.
And yes, that time is creeping painfully by... while the time to Christmas is whizzing by as usual.

I got my cards out, but am not sure that they are actually going to get mailed out. No Christmas spirit this year due, I think, to the stress of hearing about the Exam results.

I have most of my shopping done - except for oldest daughter and husband - and husband's birthday present! SIL birthday was the 10th - daughters is today - and hubby's is Friday. It makes it hard when you get to a place in life, that if you want something, you buy it. Every couple of years I have flashes of gift giving inspiration, but none this year unfortunately.

I have participated in several gift swaps this season and they have been fun. All except this last one. And that is because I ordered a 'special' gift for this person months ago...and it is still not here...lots of excuses tho! And that means a frustrating wait in line soon....I tried to get all my packages mailed early enough that the lines werent bad and I could mail cheaper cause there was plenty of time to arrive. Not matter what, this last package will go out by Friday -with or without the 'special' gift!

Spent our annual weekend in SF. It was lovely - cold and clear! Altho later we realized that we never got a chance to look at the decorated windows around Union Square, which is one of the reasons we spend a Christmas time weekend there!

This time we stayed at a hotel down near the Wharf, chosen by the couple that we go with. It was nice (altho there were little complaints - like, dont be so chincey with the towels! And what is up with running out of mugs for tea and the stuff advertised for the afternoon wine and beer hour?) -- the bed was very comfortable as were the pillows (this is a rare combo any more!) and the room was soooooo quiet....and it was in great walking distance of North Beach where we love to eat (if you go - please try Volare's on Columbus - it was wonderful - [but dont waste your time on the cannoli's, they were terrible]). But very not so good for shopping downtown - which means by the time we got to spend some time there we were too tired to window shop and the bags were too heavy....didnt make it to 1/2 the shops I wanted to go to.

But the nice thing? Our friend apparently shared her cold with us! I came home on call yesterday cause I felt so "not good". Didnt feel bad - just didnt feel good. Kept looking around me for my mom and my hubby as people kept saying to me "Boy, you are pale today" (my mom use to, and now my hubby does,- state that they know when I am sick by how pale I get). So I called in sick for today - kills me to use up my dwindling PTO this way - but am very glad I did. I just feel totally wiped out. Hopefully I can do some wrapping today and maybe some baking...but I really dont have time to be sick!

Have a meeting to go to tomorrow morning and then lots of errands afterwards....and the same all over again Friday! So I dont have time to be sick or feel wiped out!!!!

Ok, I have a terrible confession to make. After all my life - 50+ years - of saying I would never do this - know what we did this year? We bought a fake tree. Yeah, I know that means we have stopped supporting the Christmas tree growers - but it also means that, altho we did this one time petroleum product support, we have stopped some support on the petroleum industry - with rising gas prices, that means the prices of everything will have to go up, especially buying dead trees! Now, we have in the past many years, bought from the Boy Scouts, which helped support them, and also had them pick it up afterwards and they would mulch it, which is a very good thing....but I amm too tired to deal with this scenario any more:

• One evening we face the dark (ends up being evening since I work every other weekend - and hubbyw orks M - F - and we use up one weekend for the SF trip) and cold to pick out a tree quickly before we start arguing and fighting. Altho they put the tree in the truck for us, we have to wrestle it into the back yard when we get home (cause of course we are too tired by then to do any more with it) and then I get to listen to hubby complain about sap on his hands and clothes
• Then another evening is spent trying to get it into the stand. Yes, we have one of those nice foot pedal stands, but you pay for a 7 foot tree, and by the time you get it trimmed well enough to put into the stand, you end up with a 5 foot tree and lots of complaining (i.e. cussing)
• Maybe the tree comes in the house that day - but if it does, you cant decorate it yet, cause it needs to warm up and the branches relax
• So then it comes to night numer 3 or 4 when you actually decorate it....I wish I had a house big enough for a couple of trees so that I can put up all my decorations, but it just aint so...so then we have to decide what goes on the tree...which means I give up a lot of my hand made decorations and end up with a tree full of Star Wars and Star Trek stuff - you know, all that stuff that jsut reeks Christmas????!!!!

So now - we will be able to skip steps 1 and 2 (sometimes 3) and go right to the decorating. So we get rid of several arguments and save time and the season! But funny, I still saw some pine needles on the floor the other day...