Day 9 - Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate for California

Gift exchange tonight!!…

12/23/21. Thursday 

The news cycle always goes dark around this time…nothing much in the way of news is coming in and  the classic “Best of / Worst of” for 2021 is being highlighted with “re-run” podcasts.  Guess what? 2021 was all bad. “Best of” what, exactly? 

10:00-10:30 – There’s a torrential downpour today. I’m up so I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog.  She’s at the foot of the stairs, wagging her tail, and waiting for me, but she pooped in front of the door again (sigh). The dog hates going outside when it’s raining, but she’s a good sport about it today and goes potty immediately on the red rock bed.  We run inside: coffee for me, cheese for her. I go upstairs.

10:30-11:20 – Blog post

11:20-11:50 – I finish a bullet journal from yesterday

11:50-12:15 – I upload a blog post

12:15-1:00 – I check news headlines and watch The Organized Money videos.

1:00-1:30 – I eat a few of L.’s white truffle potato chips while standing at the counter.

1:30-3:00 – Shower. Lotion. I wear jeans and a blouse. Full make-up and hair.

3:00-4:30 – The torrential downpour continues.  I drive to Michaels in the pouring rain to buy yarn for my floating ornament project because I still believe that the second table will arrive. I’m in the parking lot, ready to go into Michaels and reach behind the seat to grab the umbrella that I keep in my car at all times. It’s not there! I text L. and ask if she took my umbrella! then I run across the parking lot and into the store. I. am. soaked.! L. responds that she did, in fact, take my umbrella without asking because she lost her umbrella. I’m very upset.

4:30-7:00 – Return home. The Xmas dinner I’m hosting is rapidly approaching. I boil the sweet potatoes in two separate batches. I also boil chicken for the chili dish I’m going to prepare and eggs for the salad I’m serving; then

-I vacuum the entire house.

-I stop to skin the sweet potato and start boiling the next batch of sweet potatoes.

-I vacuum the entire garage.

-I freshen my make-up

-L. returns from work

7:00 – 8:15 - B. arrives for the gift exchange!  I bought B. a shoulder heating pad from Sharper Image; a comforter for his bed; and the Van Gogh coffee table book that I purchased a few months earlier. L. gets B. a Starbucks card.

-B. brings back cashmere hoodies from Ireland for L. and I; an emerald clover necklace for me;  a pair of LuLu Lemon leggings; and the new release by Michael Connelly, entitled Dark Hours. I love everything!   All of this is so fun! L. gives me two LuLu Lemon sports bras/tops.

8:15 – L. takes pictures of B. and I by the Xmas tree, then L. leaves to go grocery shopping with her boyfriend, T.

8:15-11:30 – B. and I hang out on the couch and talk politics.  In between our discussion, I skin the next batch of sweet potatoes and put all the potatoes in one large bowl.

-L. and T. arrive with their groceries and then leave for T.’s house.

-B. leaves.

11:30-2:00 – There is wrapping paper, presents, and boxes everywhere and I’m so overwhelmed, I don’t know where to start. I pick up the living room then move to the kitchen and make my sweet potato marshmallow dish.  When I whip the potatoes, they fly all over the kitchen.  What a mess!

-At some point, L. returns.

-Clean up is a bitch, but I wash all the dishes, straighten the kitchen, and bring all of our Xmas gifts upstairs.

-Sadly, Table No. 2 never arrives.

2:00-5:00 – I’m so exhausted that I sit down for a MINUTE and immediately fall asleep – OMG.

5:00-5:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.