The grind...

begins anew in a few hours...though they said we'd only be working 8 hours these next 3 days, I'll believe it when I'm walking out the door! Next week we return to the long hours and get to work Saturday as well; of course, Dottie works this Saturday, so once again we are on opposite weekends...grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Friday we slipped out after tallying lists one last time, and saw "The Golden Compass" and the 2nd "National Treasure" movie; 4 thumbs up for them. Then we came home and while Dottie gathered things for Saturday's trip to my sister's I fixed dinner and we watched "The Lady Eve" with Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck from a Preston Sturges box set Dottie bought me last year. Not quite "Sullivan's Travels" but still an outstanding movie. If you only remember Stanwyck from "The Big Valley" checking out that one or "Ball of Fire" should be a treat!.

The family Christmas at my sister's went well. We were all still in recuperation mode after the trip to Wyoming the weekend before. Dottie and I picked up Mom from the nursing home and took her, but she decided that she didn't want to go twice in 3 days and backed out of the birthday/New Year's party for Monday. Since she's over 250now and Dottie has to take her each time she needs to go, it makes life a lot more enjoyable for her!

My desktop "has issues" this afternoon, or I would have included one photo from that first party...my Mom in her wheelchair playing "Guitar Hero"!

We kept the 3 grandkids overnight on Sunday. My last birthday gift from Dottie was a copy of "Tomb Raider: Anniversary" for PS2 (we gave a copy to my younger nephew for Christmas and after seeing it, since I don't usually play "action" games, we thought it might be one I actually could). The grandkids had taken turns on it the night before at Cindy's, and spent their time taking turns on it, watching Tom & Jerry cartoons, and playing their new Nintendo DS games while rotating throught the kitchen to help Dottie make a birthday cake and two toll pan cookies for the party on Monday.

Among my birthday gifts were an Armstrong double CD and a book by the historian who was called to catalog Armstrong's house after his wife's death and it's being given to a university. I remember a "Fresh Air" interview about it, and teared up a bit when I opened it. Cindy was a bit disappointed as the gift she was really looking forward to giving Dottie was delayed by the lovely weather we've all been having somewhere in it's travels. She found an original postcard of the Fairbanks scale works in St. Johnsbury, Vermont and bought it to frame for her.

I would have already listened to those discs, but when we replaced our DVD player in the living room last month it had one less set of jacks than the old one. I went to Radio Shack and bought a pair of "Y" cords, knowing I had old ones around here somewhere I can't find. When Dottie took them out of her purse and went to work the next morning it seems Frankie thought the gold tips were cute and absconded with one of them. I'm almost to the point of buying another after having looked high and low for it...I knew having a cat would be interesting, but there are some things I hadn't counted on!

Since Dottie had to work yesterday, on our trip home I left the radio off and she dozed a bit, or I'd have had one on in the car that night...I don't know how she goes to work on 5 and 6 hours sleep day after day; I know I can't do it!

Last night I had dinner ready when she got home and we watched "Tin Man", the Sci-Fi miniseries that ran last month. Quite a different take on Oz...though it won't replace the Judy Garland version, it's a treat in it's own right.

So, now, it's time to make another latte and start gathering things to return to "the grind"...

I hope the holidays brought some joy to each of you somewhere along the way, and that the New Year does the same! May the rest of the week be kind...

alan