It was a whirl until I put my head down on the soft pillow and started to fade last night. Kitty and I bought Thanksgiving, Day after Thanksgiving Thanksgiving and the baby shower food all in one swoop on Saturday afternoon (and, of course, forgot the kibble for the kittens).We shopped and shopped from the traditional stuff like potatoes to our favorite things in the Indian Food section like Swad Coriander Chutney (always buy 3 jars as it is the basis of all things good) and Indian garlic (finely chopped, no bitter aftertaste, smooth as butter), to the household stuff we always forget (like the kibble!).
Two grey cats were not happy. Not at all. Didn't even pretend to put a brave face on it. Lots of angry tail switching and sidelong glances. Lots of showing me the claws they were planning to sink into my leg when I least expected it. No kibble. No excuses.
We unloaded our goodies and then started in on organizing and wrapping Christmas. We have the cards ordered for the business and personal, and my hope is to have Christmas figured out and shopped for by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, so I can get the boxes in the mail by the first week of December. And, I think this is achieveable. I have a a lunch scheduled with some of K's senior friends so we can start a tradition of having lunch over the holidays when eveyone goes back to school and comes home. Its important to establish these things early, so everyone (except the planner) thinks this is the most natural thing in the world. I have discovered that if you do something more than twice, it becomes a tradition which is either pooh poohed or adored. I am hoping this will work. So we wrapped and wrapped and listened to a book on tape of the new Phenom, Twilight, a total piece of idotic trash. I mean, if you want good girl trash, this is not it...its mall literature...with not much story and characters I personally do not care a whisker about. I mean...I do not get it. Trash and not the good kind. I do not think I can spend a minute more listening to this stuff. However, this unleashed a real comedy commentary from K. who rolled her eyes, translated and then overlaid her own emo track on top of this stuff, so it made the time speed by.
We had the baby shower. Girls, Boys, children, littlelittles. Very nice--for everyone. It was worth the effort as it was fun and I think the new growing family liked it too.
This week is a short week with the kids out Wednesday, and my taking Wed. p.m. off. I would like some time to draw beyond the doodles on the top of the stove while K and A eat their breakfast. I got to the House of Health today and elliptical beckoned. Not too cruel, and I didnt fall off...So we are up on that.
There was a line that went down the block by the local Methodist Church this morning with people lined up with wagons, carts and cars filling them with food they got from the folding tables set up in the parking lot of potatoes, yams, turkeys, iced carrot cakes and the like. We are talking topped off cart...so many tables will be groaning from the food which made me pause and thank goodness for the local food bank that we have in Central New York. The folks in line needed the help. The Food Bank is a group I really believe in as they help those in need in a very respectful, generous way. They help out at the schools, providing filled backpacks with food and snacks for kids in need who might not eat over the weekends. They supplement those who are in a place that this makes the difference. They take produce grown at the Cornell farms and process it/sort it to go to those in the area. So the Ag school helps too. I did a little volunteer work for them and feel that if there is any charity needing an arm up today, tomorrow and particularly in the near term future, it is the foodbank. We should all give a bit and help out. It is direct aid..and as necessary as air for any human being. So often we give to those charities that effect education, quality of life, the environment--and I feel they all have value. But to see those who are extremely needy getting a bit of help...for me, it transcends all else.
Must go and do something with the rest of the day. Time's a ticking.