January List #1

* At first it was cute, but I'm beginning to find the 16yo's habit of remarking, "this is my first breakfast of the year", or "this is my first quesadilla of the year", or "this is my first shower of the year", or "this is my first pair of clean socks of the year", much more than a little annoying.

* I don't know how much snow fell over the course of yesterday, but most of it fell in my driveway. The 16yo and I were out shoveling, he didn't complain all that much, it was pleasant. A neighbor came by with his snowblower and assisted, which was also very pleasant. He took care of that pesky pile near the street that is deposited by the snowplow and quite a bit more. Thanks, neighbor! This act of kindness on your part completely makes up for fifteen years ago when your son, who was three years older and nearly twice the size of my son, tackled him and smeared the remains of a very large, mostly dead caterpillar all over his back. Not that I ever hold a grudge or anything.

* I don't make New Year's resolutions, so I have no report as to how I'm managing them. If I have made progress toward becoming that much better human being that I just know I can be, at this point it would just be dumb luck, not effort.

* Today ends the holiday break for the local public schools. The 16yo isn't moping all that much, also to his credit. Could he have made some sort of resolution involving attitude improvement? Hmmm.

* The entire main floor of the house has been denuded of Christmas decorations. They're not all packed away yet, but they are confined to one room and are patiently awaiting the packing process. As much as I love putting up the decorations, I also love the bare-bones, uncluttered appearance of the house after the holidays. To my pleasant surprise, my brain feels the same way.

* This enormous new tree, now stripped of ornaments, lights, tinsel and beads, was proving a challenge for storage. I wandered the aisles of Wal-Mart in search of a solution. Plastic totes...too bulky and expensive. I was ready to resort to garbage bags and duct tape, which the cats would have found much too interesting. I finally was struck with inspiration in the 75% off clearance aisle where I found two enormous, obnoxiously holiday patterned vinyl tablecloths! I will stitch them together to create a humongous drawstring bag to store the tree in! for two and a half bucks, I'm feeling pretty brilliant.

* For those of you who might be mildly interested, neither not-my-daughter Nancy nor I have secured a date for the Christmas party. Which is this upcoming Friday night. We did not stand on a street corner downtown this weekend to see what might be available. We were not dedicated enough to our plan. A miracle could still occur, but at this point if I'm going to get a miracle, I'd hate to waste it on a date for a dull party, even though the food at the Shamrock is reputed to be quite good and there is a rumor that the prizes, that you must be present to win, are choice. On the plus side, I have a pretty cute outfit to wear.

* Something both of my sons find astonishing is that I write for, gasp, fun. I enjoy writing! No one forces me to sit down and write as some bizarre form of punishment. I do it voluntarily. And no one pays me. Not yet, anyway.