Holidays and stuff... Here in the US (and perhaps at home in Canada too...I dunno its been a while) for some inexplicable reason, Christmas now starts in October. Before Halloween. I'm not kidding, stores around here had Christmas decorations out before Halloween, and the radio was already playing the "all Christmas all the time!" station.

Truth to tell...I'm sick of Christmas already. And we've only just barely got through Thanksgiving!

Christmas is not my favourite time of the year to begin with. One main reason of course is that I can't be with my own family for the holiday, and I haven't spent Christmas with them since 2000. Sure, I've got to have "Early Christmas" or "Late Christmas" but not actual Christmas. And I won't be getting there again this year at all, because I'm flat broke.

So, I'm a Grinch, and I'm tired of it already and I'd just like to crawl into a cave until its all over and done with, sometime around the end of January or so.

We've already had Santa parades here in North Carolina. A lot of towns had them the weekend before Thanksgiving. Kids sitting on Santa's knee in the middle of November! Just what the hell is this holiday all about anyway? I really wonder sometimes!

Don't even get me started on "Black Friday"! Stores opening at 4 freakin' am so people can get a jump on their holiday shopping! People get trampled trying to get into stores when the doors open. Such sad displays of consumerism make me ill. I'm sure they could sell just as much if they opened their stores at the regular hour. Why hype it and have people camping out in the parking lot just to make sure they're first in line?

I haven't even gone grocery shopping this weekend, I stay completely away from stores this weekend after Thanksgiving. And the very few holiday gifts I'll be buying this year will be purchased on-line. Other than James, no one over the age of 8 is getting anything this year. We can't afford it.

Some of our neighbours even put up their Christmas trees the day before Thanksgiving. Doesn't that just make it drag on far too long, and diminish the purpose of the holiday? It's like saying the same word over and over and over again until it no longer means anything in your mind.

Try it... say tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet ... it's just meaningless syllables now.

We get 4 days this year because the company I work for gives Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, and they happen to fall on Monday & Tuesday. Could be a good weekend to just sit and watch all the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings DVDs.

In the meantime, I have to somehow figure out how to drown out my co-workers radios. They switched them from the country music station to the Christmas station the other day. bah...humbug!  ¶ 9:41 AM 1 Comments

  Hug a Veteran Day

Today is Veteran's Day in the US, and Remembrance Day for the rest of the world. The US doesn't do poppies, which I still find strange after so many years spending Novembers here, maybe especially so considering I am married to a USMC Veteran.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the USMC, so I baked a birthday cake :)



Remember our veterans at 11am.  ¶ 10:09 AM 0 Comments

  Halloween used to be fun Halloween used to be my favourite day of the year. I'd love getting dressed up and having fun, whether at work, or at home handing out candy to kids.

Folks around here don't do Halloween. We've never had any trick-or-treaters at our house, not ever, not even one! At my current place of employment, costumes and fun having on Halloween is forbidden because of ONE particular person (C level exec) who thinks the day is evil and doesn't want to let the Devil in. pshaw! and phooey! Apparently before this guy came to work at the company, they used to have a Halloween party and costumes and everything. Now we get nuthin' :-p

On Halloween night we had our last Obedience class with George. She graduated, yet again! from Basic Obedience. And she got to play with the trainer's new pitty puppy. He's only 8 weeks old, but George was amazingly well behaved. Her foot is bigger than the little guy's head though, so when she started to get too excited I pulled her to the side to sit and be quiet a while. She's been doing fairly well with other dogs lately, except yesterday on the Greenway she was going nutz every time another dog passed by us. Foaming at the mouth and everything. *sigh* Dress her up, can't take her anywhere... ;-)

We've had some frost here already (early for here I think). I've even had to find my mittens its been so cold a couple of mornings this week!

Still no sign of an end to this drought though, and experts are saying if it doesn't rain significantly soon, by March we'll have no water left. All that rain last week only accumulated to about 2 to 5 inches across most of the state. Hurricane Noel may or may not get us some more rain this week. If there's any at all, it'll hit the coast and not reach us at all up here in the foothills.

Its been really difficult to think of new ways to conserve water. I take shorter showers, and only shower every other day (its not like I have a dirty smelly job anyway). Laundry and dishes only get done when the machines are full, etc etc etc...And yet there are some people around here who laugh and don't give a damn. I seriously want to smack them and ask them how they expect to survive when there's no water left at all! Or when the Governor finally enacts water rationing. Will they be scoffing then? sheesh...!

It boggles me how people just can't see it, or see it and not even care. Do they not understand what's going on? :-(

With that...I'm off to make myself some brunch. I'm in the mood for eggs n toast. I made a fresh loaf of bread yesterday and its calling to me.  ¶ 11:28 AM 1 Comments