Off and Running

I thought I was doing really well. I came back from vacation with all sorts of energy and resolve and plans, and I was hanging in there. Then some stuff happened, and I am suddenly feeling overwhelmed and like I need another vacation. I don't think it's any one thing, just a combination of things, none of which I have time to write about right now. I am just going to make bullet points, and try to come back to them later.

• cat is gone, dog won't leave - she howls all night long, making sleep impossible
• crazy busy at work, which is a good thing
• crazy busy at church, which is supposed to be good but is stressing me out
• list of personal tasks/errands grows faster than I can find time to get them done
• I have a potential writing gig which is very cool, but frustrating that I can't dedicate more time to it right now
• enthusiasm for the gift basket project is dwindling, but I am sort of committed to it now
• a member of my TM group just passed away very suddenly

I keep thinking if I can just get through January and February, everything always looks better in the spring. If I can maneuver a day off for opening day at the races, that might work OK too :)

Survival

Christmas was mostly great. We made it in three long days and had a great time while we were there. We saw family, took B skiing, played a lot of pool while the kids played in the snow, saw wild life (including mountain lion tracks) and had no mishaps. We returned home and spent New Year's Eve day with L's family, which included more cool gifts, shopping and dumpster diving, and of course the annual bird drop. To summarize, I survived a cross-country road trip with my family, skiing, and the second annual aflockalypse, as well as the first day back at work.

I hope the cat was as lucky. We left her with grandma while we were gone, and no one has seen her since day three.

Good Times

Was playing around on Facebook and got started reminiscing with a roommate from college. We started out talking about the holidays, but something she said made me think about how different the holidays were when we were in college. I commented that I sort of missed the days when Christmas meant almost a month with no work or school and everyone understood if your gifts came from a head shop. (The more I thought about it, I realized there are some similarities this year too, namely that I will be scraping together the cash for a road trip in a car I am not sure will make it and that I will be showing up with more dirty laundry than clean, but I didn't post that.)

Also recently connected with another friend from high school and through him found his brother and another guy I used to fool around with. Reminded me of the time we were at Kennedy's and they were trying to demonstrate wrestling moves. Phil and I were all tangled up and trying not to laugh when Aaron and Nathan's dad walked in. He just sort of looked at all of us and went to bed to pass out, then we all fell out laughing really hard. (Eric J was probably there too.)

Anyways, it was a good day on FB, which I forgot how much I used to like.