Christmas is done. It was fun, lots of work, but worth it. The last few years Jim and I have spent Christmas Day just about catatonic, mostly from exhaustion, but with a little well earned laziness as well. It's nice to review the party and what we enjoyed most and what we'll never do again. The family did a decent job of cleaning up this time. Pretty nearly everyone picked up their own stuff and rinsed their own plate. There were only a few glasses and soda cans to pick up. Folks took out garbage without being asked. I really appreciate the help. Terri, Terry, Jen, and Anita are the gals I can count on. Thanks ladies...and thanks to those who helped with trash patrol.

Kathy is moved. Everyone got right in there and got her packed, the apartment cleaned fairly well and moved to Union City. In spite of the rain, everyone showed up and kept going until the job was done. From what we hear, she's settling in well.

A new year is starting in 4 days plus a few hours. We're ready for a fresh start - don't know if we'll make any resolutions, but as I usually do, I set some goals for myself to accomplish during the year. I don't always finish my list, but at least some things get done and that is better than not accomplishing anything.

We'll be off to our cruise in 6 days. Kathy is going to kitty-sit. The kitties know and love her so they will not be so traumatized that we're gone.

Puzzle of the day
Assume you have three boxes of tapes labeled jazz, rap and jazz and rap. All three boxes are mislabeled. You can remove one tape from only one box. If you removed the right tape from the right box, you will know what is contained in the other boxes. From which box do you remove the tape and why?

Flu Shot

Yesterday we got flu shots. I've never had a reaction to a flu shot, but today I did. I'm not real sick, just crummy feeling. Nauseous, achey, lethargic, upset tummy...I hope it goes away quickly. I have things to do so I can't really be taking time off. Christmas is less than two weeks away and I haven't wrapped a present yet...heck...I still have shopping to do.

We've declared the tree officially decorated. A few more things to do and at least the house will be decorated.

The weather is still too cold to enjoy going outside, although it is sunny. Our solar system is up and running. It was pretty cool yesterday to see our meter feeding the grid instead of drawing from it. Even though it's very cold outside, the sun is shining and we're capturing the energy it provides. It will be interesting to see how much money this saves us in utility bills.

Cats are going crazy wanting to go outside. It's just too cold to let them out. Cats catch colds just like people. They'll have to be content watching the birds from the family room window. The Christmas decorations are no longer that interesting. Bustopher and Max are sharing the tree guarding. Poor Annabelle can't get near the tree.

Time to get busy finishing the decorating...I really don't want this to turn into a career.

Snow in the Valley

Man is it ever cold....brrrrrrrr....It seems that everyone around us got snow except Rio Vista...maybe it came down and I missed it. It would have helped get me in the Christmas spirit. For whatever reason, I can't seem to get my joy on to get the tree up and the house decorated. Here it is the 7th of December and we're still decorating the tree. The village is built, and the wreaths hung, but I still have to unpack and display the nativity scene.

Today we took a drive into Lodi. When we left we had talked about getting a holiday lawn decoration, but by the time we drove there, neither of us had any interest in pursuing it. We decided to pick something up at the end of season close outs and save it for next year.

Our bird feeders are a big hit. With the colder weather we have had lots of visitors to the feeders. I think the black oil sunflower seeds and the suet are just the thing to keep the little bird bodies warm during this cold spell. It doesn't usually get the cold until January, so we may see snow at sea level yet this year.

Kathy moves in five days. That's coming on very soon. She's excited about the move and seems to be doing very well. She seems healthier than she's been since the cancer was discovered and hopefully, this momentum will hold and she'll be over this ordeal soon.

I made a kettle of turkey soup a couple of days ago and that may be what we have for dinner tonight...on a cold night, a warm bowl of soup and some french bread for dunking is just the ticket.