I have temporary work! It's for about 2-3 weeks. And, it's interesting to boot. Yippee!

It's too dang cold here. That's not suppose to be.

I'm too busy to do any of the year-end/begin of year stuff that makes taxes "easier". I like being busy.

1. Did not want to get out of bed today. How did I do it? I thought to myself - It is the Feast of the Epiphany. If the three wise men could haul it all the way to find the babby jesus, I can haul it to work.

2. My glasses broke as I got in the car, my prescription is expired, and I don't have my flexible spending card for the year yet. Old glasses aren't cutting it so well, and wearing the prescription shades in the office would be odd.

3. It's cold. In the South, you must remember that our houses may not be as well insulated as maybe they should, so it's cold In. The. House. I hate this. Loop back to #1 above.

Bonus. Wacky dreams, including a cameo by Betty White. Loop back to #1.

1. Gallbladder attack. Second in as many weeks. This is bad. And uncomfortable. Really, really uncomfortable.

2. Snow. I like it! I want to go for a good romp but am stuck in bed. Stupid 1.

3. I'm hungreeeee! Can't eat. Stupid 1.

1) Hubby is away for work so it's just me and the kid. Yesterday I took him to the River Trails Nature Center, a place he adores and is always strangely deserted. I don't know why the other moms haven't discovered it yet. Sadly, a small plane crashed on the property just after we arrived and the place was crawling with emergency personnel and officials. They kicked us out after awhile. Hey, I've been asked to leave better places than that.

2) A winter storm is coming with big snow expected. Sigh. I can't complain because this is what you get in the winter in Chicago. But I don't have to like it.

3) I'm making buffalo chicken soup for dinner tomorrow night so that hubby has something nice and warm when he gets home. Haven't tried it yet but it sounds yummy and looks to be pretty easy to make in the slow cooker.

Oh, and rainbaby, your #1 made me laugh. That's great!

Specklet, hope you get better fast. (((((hugs)))))

1. It's cold in Florida. Every day is a scramble to get the kids properly layered and bundled.

2. My legs are aching. Yesterday I did an exercise video and ran a mile. I guess I am out of shape since I haven't done a thing in a few weeks. I'm about to do the exercise video again and run another mile.

3. I went to bed at 8:30 last night. It feels so good.

1) Ha! i was thinking about the Feast of the Epiphany today, as the handyman was taking down the Christmas tree in our foyer. I had been wondering if it was staying up until today.

2) I, predictably, have started losing weight due to the Mefi body weight percentage loss challenge. I am competitive, thus easily manipulated. Happy about the weight loss initiation though.

3) I am sick of our post office. I go there way too much.

1. For the first time in a long while I feel rather on top of knowing what I need to do for work.
2. Am wondering why I get hungry for lunch so early on the days I actually eat breakfast.
3. Having a minor medical procedure on Friday that I nonetheless expect will put me mostly out of commission for the rest of the weekend. (Minor. No need to worry. Routine.)

Oh, and Specklet, I've had my gallbladder out and remember all too well how horrible the attacks are. It took the doctors a long time to determine what my pain was coming from, but as soon as they did they scheduled surgery for me. Have you seen the doctor? (My experience was that it's a week of muscle soreness, a few months of uncomfortable intestines, and then pure bliss.)

Feel better!

1. I have an undercoat and an overcoat. When I come inside and unwrap, I lose enough bulk to make another human being. I wish I could make another human being, who would do my work and free me up to spend the day getting my life in order.

2. None of the clocks in my house work. This is annoying because I love analog clocks and have several in every room and none of them is displaying the correct time reliably.

3. Next week, I join Guy at the ski house. Oh to never come back!

1. Lots and lots of work for the foreseeable future.
2. Poor dog woke up with a lot of energy this morning, and I am finding it hard to distract her with her normal toys. She wants to PLAY and GO FOR A WALK and OH MY GOD DO SOMETHING! And her humans are busy tapping away at those little shiny machines, and she cannot for the life of her figure out how to get us to stop. She takes turns going between my office and my husband's flopping down dramatically in front of us and looking at us in that ohsoplaintive manner. Sorry, pooch! Works gotta get done! You'll get your walk at noon like the rest of us prols!
3. Probably heading out for a walk now.

Thanks, Stew. I'm really going to try and avoid surgery if I can. I'm not too badly off, and so I'd have to get quite a bit worse before I'd have it out. I have a mild cleanse planned and will do that as soon as I'm feeling better, and I'm hoping between that and some diet changes I can make my gallbladder happy again...

msali: your update made me happy.

1. Taking first Mental health Day in three months
2. Got drunk last nite with fuq, Frankie Schnozz, Kev, and Rory who looks like the lead Nazi in Inglorious Bastards, minus the uniform and the nazism
3. Got two new pairs of jeans in the mail. They're too small. Over the past year, the formerly svelte jonmc has put on roughly 35 pounds, to the point where I now tip the scales at close to 200. Enjoy the schadenfruede.

1. I rode my bike to work today - my first real winter bike commute (I was riding in November and early December but it wasn't very cold yet.)
2. I way overdressed and was reeeeally hot and sweaty. Part of this may have been because I'm out of shape (having been off the bike for a month) and working extra hard, but I also think I wore one too many layers.
3. My rear brakes weren't working right. This is a problem, one I hope to fix before my ride home but I know next to nothing about brakes. I hope it's something obvious.

Bonus: There's a Chicago MeFi meetup tonight! Yay!

1. It has not gotten over 20 degrees Fahrenheit here since last Friday and there is no end in sight. At night it's below 0. With the windchill during the day it hovers in the single digits. This SUCKS and I'm over it and not only that, to add insult to injury, I'm getting fatter by the minute. It's too cold to run the dogs and I have to keep the oven on for at least two hours every night to warm the house: thus I bake and bake and bake. Then I eat and eat and eat.

2. Resolution! Have decided that my problems with my annoying slacker boss are my problems and I need to address them inside myself. It is not her fault that she is dumb as a post and it is not my job to worry about this place crashing and burning because of her dumbness. I need to back off and be less irritable. She's a nice person and I am going to stop being such a bitch.

3. Daughter has moved back home. Suddenly I am the parent of not one but two surly teenagers (one of them in her mid 20s) who leave things all over the house again. In some ways it's pretty awesome - I adore my kids even when they drive me crazy - in others, not so much.

I'm sorry I'm so complainy today :(

1. Oh my godddddddd I went to bed at like 1:30 last night, only to commence *mumble mumble* with my partner while waiting for his phone to sync... only to then attempt to sleep at 2:15... only to THEN roll over and start a conversation about this creative project that my boss thinks I should do. oh my godddddddddd this morning I am draggggggggggginggggggggg.

2. I am on my second day of completed ticky boxes: eating breakfast at home and wearing moisturizer. Yeah, I didn't make it in to work until 8:50. That was more from the previous item. Really. I think that's about it for how much I can do right now until I get a little better for schedule/money and actually go to the gym. Excuses, excuses. But eating at home should hopefully help with both of those things.

But I didn't break the chain! In fact, today I actually MADE it a chain. Yay me!

3. So I ordered some stuff last month from some damn third party Amazon seller or other, thinking that because it was across one measly lake it would get here sooner than from some seller in, say, California. Well, it's a month later, and I not only haven't gotten it, I haven't been able to complain about it since they gave some cockamamie delivery estimate of "December 14-January 6." Whose idea of "standard shipping" is that? My package from England, regular mail, got here in three business days despite telling me it would take over two weeks. Suck it.

Busy week so far.

1. Took the MrsMoonPie to the emergency room last night with crippling back pain. She couldn't get out of bed for two days. At all. You know, for anything. The staff was incredibly kind and helpful, not just to her, but to me, too. Yeah, you know, she got meds and shots and sympathy and all that, but I got something just as good--the opportunity to not have to be in charge for a couple of hours. Things are healing and the prognosis is good.

2. Launched a bunch of new features on my work website yesterday, and everything went smoothly. The reviews are starting to trickle in, and folks are happy. Heck, as I was leaving work, some stranger stopped me in the hall to tell me how fabulous I was.

3. Taking a day off to wind down and recover, from the week but also from the hectic holiday, what with visits from Mom and New Year's Eve dancing and 30 or so New Year's Day guests. Sipping coffee and relaxing for a while before bundling up the Mrs for a followup doctor's appointment.

P.S. Kangaroo, my partner would probably love a slow-cooked buffalo chicken soup; could I get the recipe somehow?

1. I sent out an evite for a baby shower that I am hosting for a friend. Although it was not explicit in the invitation, one would think that the fact that only women were invited would be a tip-off that men are not. And yet the mother-in-law replied that she and her husband would be coming. This bugs me. Now are other people going to think that opens the door to bringing their significant others? Or does the MIL think she's special because she's the grandmother, so she alone can do that? It's a woman bond-y thing. The dad isn't even going to be there.

2. It blows my mind that a lawyer would post shit about her clients and judges on Facebook. And yet, a coworker keeps doing that.

3. I bought a Wii last week and EA Sports Active for it, and it is (somewhat embarrassingly) kicking my ass. Love it.

1. I made the annoying discovery that, while caffeine does nothing for me in terms of energy (I can drink a diet coke before bed and it won't do anything), I get awful headaches and annoying jitters when I give the stuff up. Argh.

2. Any other grumping I do today will be severely affected by #1.

3. Our music group is going to do a concert at the end of April; my nerves hurt even more when I think about all the work that will have to go into it.

1. Pops was released from the hospital last night. (He had massive blood clots in his lungs and legs that he never knew about because he has freakishly long lungs that we only found out about on Saturday when he went to get the paper for a neighbor and couldn't breathe to walk back down the hill.) He told me that he's thinking this might be the end of his volleyball career. This is the man who has been playing volleyball several times a week since before I was born. I'm not sure how well he's going to adjust to that. It'll mean he'll be home more often, which I know is going to lead to seriously increased tension between him and my mother--and things are damn close to the breaking point as is.

2. I'm really pleased with my new bellydance purchases (more music, a zill drill CD, the Arabian Spices choreo DVD and another zill drill DVD that has yet to arrive). I've watched the AS DVD once to get a feel for how it's set up and danced it once and I've already memorized a good chunk of it, which is fucking amazing. Unfortunately, I think this also means that I might be getting more advanced than the one class offered through the county. I guess it's time to buck up the discipline and go it alone, at least until I can find more money somewhere and maybe start going to a real studio or something.

3. My brain has been very weird lately. The past two days have been miserable at work and I've been struggling to clear 3-4 boxes a day (there are 33 remaining and I've told myself I can take a super mini vacation when I finish them). I've been alternating between exhausted (even with 10 hours of sleep a night) and depressed and ragingly pissed off. I suspect it's just supressed stress trying to find a way out.

My bronchitis is easing up...

...which means I'm well enough to go with my dad down to Virginia to visit my nephews today...

...and well enough to return home to New York in the next few days.

Madamina: Here is a link to the Buffalo Chicken Soup recipe. I haven't made it yet so I can't vouch for it but I'm going to try it tomorrow night. I'm cooking the chicken today in the slow cooker so that it gets nice and shreddy. If you make it, let me know how yours turns out!

Ooh, looks great! Thanks!

Addendum to my earlier thing: I checked my mailbox one more time before firing off a missive, and there that package was. It'd supposedly been shipped on the 14th (I got an e-mail) but it came from two time zones away on the very last day of the estimate period.

Jerks.

1. Week two of no gallbladder. The incisions have pretty much healed, but as Stewie says, this must be the uncomfortable time. There's pain where it was, making me think it's a sphincter of oddi deal. Also, waking up with heartburn isn't fun. If I don't get that bliss, I'll want my money back.

2. Got me some uber glove mittens, and I love them!

3. I fell for the hype and got some Pepsi Throwback. So far I like it.

1. Cutting down on caffeine for no good reason; I was, after all, restricting myself to sub-lethal doses. My productivity is taking a hit, but I am sleeping like a rock. Also, I tend to lose track of my...

2. ... what was I saying?

3. Spending tonight at my sister's; it's her late husband's birthday, the first she's had without him.

1. Church work is weighing me down. I'll be so happy once the budget is approved for the year!
2. Didn't sleep well last night. Worried about #1.
3. More free lunch! A little more of this place and I'll need the Mefi weight loss challenge.

Life is too dull for three points, but I just want to get a bit maternal with Specklet - do see a doctor if you haven't already, and do be aware of what to look out for by way of emergency situations (fever, going yellow, flu-like symptoms) which could indicate that the gallbladder has become infected or that other bad things have happened and mean A&E NOW.

I had mine out 18 months ago - an open procedure (they couldn't do it via laparoscopy for reasons too complicated to explain) which meant months of recovery but I don't miss the little bastard one bit. No heartburn or diet restrictions since surgery. I completely cut out fat before surgery, which prevented attacks but which was No Fun.

It could be that my worry is for nothing, that your GP is fine with you wanting to avoid surgery and that your attacks aren't as incapacitating as mine were. Either way, I apologise for nagging someone I've never met!

Thought of three:
1. Snow! Only 3 inches or so here, but it's pretty.
2. Not getting on with half of what I need to do. Cat is clawing my leg, possibly as punishment for the snow, possibly as a way of nagging me to be productive.
3. Have, however, accomplished a couple of small things today, which I shall celebrate extravagantly.

1. I'm realizing that I mostly like my job, and I look forward to coming to work in the morning, even though the work itself isn't very interesting. I think I mostly like my physical space, which is MINE (and I'm getting rid of the rest of the boxes this morning, so it'll be even nicer), and I enjoy chatting with most of the people I see during the day, so it's not really the job. But there's also the fact that people find me helpful and easy to work with and at the end of the day, I usually feel good about one or two things I've done. Haven't had that in a long time, and it's nice.

2. The GF is on the east coast spending time with her family and I haven't seen her since I left for Texas on the 22nd and she's not back until the 14th and it's hard.

3. Cold and foggy. It's been cold and foggy since I got back from Texas. I haven't seen the sun for more than 10 minutes in 10 days, and I'm really tired of the gloom.

1. One full month of not smoking...

2. STILL HUNGRY ALL THE TIME. This is diabolical.

3. Also, kind of depressed.

Love to specklet and wishes for her gall bladder to back the fuck off; love and wishes for lysdexic recovery to move into bliss stage; best healing wishes for mrs. moonpie's ouchy back

1. One full month of not smoking...

This is so very WHOOO-worthy. Accordingly:

WHOOOOOOOOOO! Well done!

Nice work Taz!
Hope you feel better, Specklet!
MGL- make oven-dried tomatoes, and I hope things are ok with your daughter.

1. Bad news at work about size and scope of our projects and no budget to hire new staff. Basically our workload will triple from original numbers and they've cut 2/3 of the people here. WTF.

2. I interviewed a new freelancer yesterday anyway since I don't listen to impossible demands, and he was the top resume on my list with tons of almost identical experience, and seemed really eager. He was nice and smart and shockingly good looking, which will be a visual treat for our mostly female and single office.

3. I had a really fun night last night with bf and two friends and was glad everyone got along so well.

1. This is my 5000th comment. . .yay me!
2. Saw Avatar 3D last night. . .had previously seen the 2D. Still very very good and worth the extra bucks for 3D.
3. A blah day today. . .played shitty volleyball and just feel sluggish.
3a. Have a pile of copays from that melanoma stuff. They all want substantial sums of money NOW, which is impossible. Just got an 800 call from a firm that makes these calls for hospitals.

1. Making banners and flyers and stuff for Winter Reading Club. I spent a lot of money on this thing this year, so I'm promoting the hell out of it.

2. Sixty beer bottles soak in my bathtub. I'm kind of a DIY type, and kind of a beer nerd, and so, when I tell people that I'm going to take up homebrewing, they're usually surprised that I haven't done it sooner.

3. Supposedly, we're getting snow and ice tonight. If it actually happens, Arkansas will totally freak out.

1. Big company changeover stuff this week, get to hear from the new CEO in a few minutes. We have a new name and are part of a much bigger company. I have to change all of my 401K/Healthcare/etc. now after only having the job for months. The positive side is that we get to keep our jobs but there's a lot a transition stuff to get through.

2. Snow, snow, snow.

3. Tickets for a Wilco show at (our) Carnegie Hall go on sale on Saturday, hoping to score some of them.

1. Got my writing mojo back a little! It feels damn good. Now all I have to do is actually schedule the time to write like I do for MovieMakeout.com.

2. I am going to be here at the office late tonight thanks to a surprise gift of a signed contract. Like I said in yesterday's Twitter/FB update, "What vacation?"

3. Poker night this weekend, and I'm assisting with an Open House on the Upper West Side. All I have to do is sit in the lobby, look pretty, and alert the broker showing upstairs that people are coming up. No, I'm not getting paid overtime for this.

1. Battening down the hatches for gale-force drama due any minute now from the kids birth mother. Apparently she's thrown out the current/latest partner and things promptly went pear-shaped. They have a kid together, he wants the house, she's terrified of being homeless etc etc. She's a nice lady and we get on well but - GOD!!! - she's a magnet for disaster and upset. Anyhow, I'll get the full story in due course. I hope it won't be as disastertastic as initially portrayed.

2. Just back from taking step-twin #2 to buy textbooks so I've been all over the countryside today. Glad to get home, have lunch in front of the PC and relax.

3. Contemplating making a crepe cake and using some of the chestnut jam I was given for Christmas as a filling. Perhaps with coffee cream??

4. I'm sending out soothing thoughts to all the MeCha gall-bladders. Mine has been quiet all over Christmas, which is suspicious. I'm sure it's planning something dreadful. Little does it know that I've an appointment with a specialist at the end of the month and we'll see about getting it removed.

1.The neighbor who attacked his nanny was reelected to the condo board. Don't know what man in penthouse thinks about him ( he wasn't at the owners' meeting).
2.Temporary molar inlay came out, but permanent one hasn't yet arrived. Can't eat on that side even with dentemp.
3. Have seen both Nine and Up in the Air. Find George Clooney's character far more abhorrent since he knew perfectly well he was hurting other people ....DDL's just needed to grow up and stop thinking with his dick. Saw 8 1/2 ages ago and don't remember much.


Keep up the good work taz!
Whuffles for specklet.