Category: culture

Warm again, in Houston anyway. Some places are going to get some winter, and it looks like they are going to get it hard. Stay safe and use your preps… I’ll be wearing shorts. But then you all know that we sweat balls in the summer, and hurricanes regularly tear the place apart, so there is that.

Yesterday I did more present wrapping. Got W and D2 out the door and to the BOL. D1 made plans and W allowed them, that monkey wrenched our family plans. I am going to strenuously object next time. And I’ll have some leverage because D1 missed her curfew and caused further shifting in plans.

Today I’ll sleep in a bit to make up for the late night, then load the minivan and head up. We should be eating french meat pie and opening presents later tonight. Clearly, we won’t be having a white Christmas this year. One year we missed it by only a day or two though. We do get snow in Houston occasionally, but in my opinion and the opinion of my joints, warmer is better.

I hope no one here is doing any last minute rushing around unless it’s something you wanted to do. I know I wanted to be done with messing around before now. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.

Enjoy the time we have. Stack a few things…

nick

Warm again, and supposed to be clear. Might just end up that way too, if we’re lucky. Yesterday was mostly nice, if a bit overcast.

I spent most of the day alternating between errands, reading, and wrapping presents. Two pickups, a doctor visit, a quick stop at the newly remodeled Goodwill Outlet, and home. The Outlet is now a “Clearance Store” which only has clothes and shoes, and they are on sorted racks. Oddly, since it’s all stuff that didn’t sell, I found an UnderArmor T shirt that is like new, and a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes. $9 total. I miss the treasure hunt, and all the other stuff at the Outlet (bins) store, but I did ok in a 15 minute visit.

While the girls made cookies and watched Die Hard, I wrapped presents. I got everything for the kids and my wife wrapped, except a sign that needs some paint touchup, and lava lamp bulbs that will arrive today. I am still looking for the camera D1 wanted, but I’ll wrap that when I find it.

Plans to head to the BOL are in flux as D1 is working tonight. I thought we had it nailed down but I guess not. I am out of the loop and may just head up first some time today. We’ll see.

The stacked gifts worked out perfectly. I put some of D2’s gifts back in the stack for her birthday. D1 will need some more shopping before then. I had a lot more for W than I thought, which was nice.

In any case, time is running out if you aren’t ready for Christmas. Of course, I just realized that Hanukkah ended yesterday. A day late and a dollar short, but Happy Hanukkah!

Stack some things.

nick

Warm again, possibility of rain. Although yesterday was very nice indeed. Still around 70F at midnight, it was warm all day. Not very Christmas-y but really nice. I wouldn’t mind another couple of days like that.

I got very little done yesterday and have fallen even farther behind. Some kid drama (D1 involved in her SECOND road rage incident, this time over a stolen parking space) and general work avoidance, and reading too much.

Today I have a doctor’s appointment, one pickup, and a whole sh!teton of stuff to do. D1 took a shift on Tuesday night, so W and D2 will head to the BOL today, or possibly tonight, and we’ll follow later. It does give me a bit more time to find and wrap presents, but it wasn’t how I expected to spend Christmas break.

We all know the truth about plans though.

Add practice de-escalating and some defensive driving lessons for D1 to the list. I did a hotwash of the incident with her last night, and we’ll be doing some training soon. I’d already decided to do some more advanced driving stuff with her, now that she is past thinking about ‘right foot’ ‘left foot’ ‘turn’ as she drives, but it’s clear she’s a magnet for trouble and needs some training sooner rather than later. Silly me, I thought it would be easier with girls.

Do the best you can with what you’ve got, wherever you are. And stack.

nick

Cold to start, but clear and warming later. Then chilly. That was yesterday, and probably today too. Winter is firmly here. Heat at night, A/C in the afternoon. Houston.

Did my pickups. Chatted with my auctioneers. Dropped a vintage hat off to be resized. I had three with me, but one needed repair, and the other, a bowler made in England, she determined was too well made to stretch. It’s brim is a bit small for me anyway, but it’s the only bowler I’ve got and the only one I’ve come across in the estate sales. One of the perks of being an “old man” is wearing hats that aren’t ball caps. Might as well have some nice ones.

We did get the tree decorated last night so that is off the list. Now to make some progress on other list items…

And of course, there will be stacking too.

nick

Cold, but not freezing. Probably. Forecast says, low in the low 40s. It was freezing yesterday morning, and it warmed up during the sunny day. In fact it was pretty nice until sunset.Today should be similar but warmer.

I got skunked at my one pickup (of three invoices) yesterday which threw today’s plan into disarray. I did get some other things done -costco, auto repair, post office, etc.

Today I’ll start by doing the pickup I should have done yesterday. Then I’ll do some other pickups as well. I had planned to do mostly pickups today anyway. If I can get some decorations up, or some items moved or sorted, it will be a bonus.

Of course every day is a bonus day.

Do what you can. And stack.

nick

Cold this morning, and colder tonight. Supposedly we’ll be freezing, but I hope not. It was colder yesterday but not freezing during the day. It did get colder as the day went on. It was 40F at midnight with some breeze.

I did very little yesterday to advance my list. I did have a relaxing day although it wasn’t as relaxing as laying around reading while the heater runs.

Today I have to make some progress. My hobby potluck is out of the way, and I have a clear path to do my stuff leading to Christmas, New Year’s Day, and the end of the year. I have gifts to buy, gifts to wrap, and gifts to find in the back of the closet. I’ve got cleaning to do, maintenance, and shopping. Normal stuff in other words. It may be normal, but it still needs to be done.

I’ve been stacking tasks, but now I need to use my stack and get some done.

Stacking is always easier. 🙂

nick