Not My Monkeys

 Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted. 

Thanksgiving happened. We met up with my mother and brother. My mom brought loaded mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. My brother brought pumpkin and lemon cream pies. David and I roasted chickens and made macaroni and cheese, dressing, braised Brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole, salad, and dinner rolls. There was plenty to eat and plenty of leftovers for my mom and brother to take home. After lunch we played Scrabble, something we often do during the holidays. It was a nice afternoon except that Dave ended up getting called away because his mother had a fall and the EMTs had to be called to check her out. Dave ended up being away for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. I used that time to put away leftovers and clean up the kitchen and dining room. 

The rest of the long holiday weekend was spent packing up the studio. Judi's house goes on sale on December first and we wanted to have the studio space clean and ready for her to show the house to potential buyers. We managed to get most things packed and moved, so that was good. While we were there on Sunday, I was chatting with Judi and spotted a mouse in the corner. Sigh. There's apparently been a mouse living in the studio for awhile because when we moved one of the shelving units there was a ton of mouse droppings under it. We're going back today to clean up the mouse droppings and then back tomorrow night with my brother's truck to take a load of junk (our stuff and Judi's stuff) to the dump on Friday morning.

We have some big things yet to move: the kiln, Dave's kick wheel, a large rolling tool chest that was Paul's but that Judi gave to Dave, and a work bench. We were going to hire movers but Grace generously offered to let us use her trailer and to help us move the heavy things. So she's going to come out while we're there and see if it's feasible to move the things ourselves.

It's been a heavy time around Judi's in general. Judi's brother died just before Thanksgiving. She hadn't seen him in years--they communicated by email--but I can tell you from experience that it's still a blow to lose a sibling and he was her only one. Judi still claims to be glad to be moving but when I brought up whether or not she had told one of her friends, a woman she's known for about forty years, she said she hadn't and that she was not planning on telling her. When I kind of pushed back on that, she got a little upset with me so I just dropped it. Not my circus, not my monkeys. But I still think it's pretty dickish to move across the country and not tell someone that you have been friends with for so long. And it's not like it was a light friendship. As they got older and sicker (cancers, etc) they made a pact to call each other every morning to make sure they were each still alive. That petered out after a bit, but that's not something that acquaintances decided to do with each other.

Anyway, on a lighter note, we made it though the Thanksgiving leftovers and are back to cooking every day. Yesterday I made eggless brownies. I used some of the black cocoa that Dave got recently and they are very dark, almost too dark and bitter. Didn't stop us from eating half the pan though. For dinner, I made a Thai style red curry with squash. I love squash in red curry. (Back when Thai Vegan was a decent restaurant, they used to serve a dish called PET (pumpkin, eggplant, tofu) that was so tasty and the perfect mix of textures. I didn't order it often because Dave and I mostly shared dishes there and he doesn't like eggplant, but I loved it and if we were binging and ordering a lot of food, I'd get it.)

What else has been going on? I've been engaging in a bit of retail therapy to deal with all the emotional stuff. I ordered new plates (dinner and salad) and a set of cat-shaped salt and pepper shakers for our Thanksgiving. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Clinique. I ordered a wool ironing mat for quilting. I bought a new fountain pen. (I need another pen like I need a hole in my head.) I ordered some new shirts and socks. I bought some CBD gummies from Martha Stewart and have been using them for sleep. (They don't help me fall asleep, but they do help improve the quality of the sleep I do get.) It's slowed down a bit, but that was a good run of acquisition there.

What else?

We had several days of rain and some snow even. In fact, from where I'm sitting at the dining room table, I can see bits of snow still on the ground in the shadows beneath the eaves of the house. I want it to snow and snow and snow, but it probably won't. It's been cold though.

And Christmas is hurtling toward us. As we drive through the neighborhood at dusk, I see lots of Christmas lights and Christmas trees in windows. I had wanted to set our big tree up right after Thanksgiving, but decided to wait because we're taking care of Buzz while Judi is going out of town to finalize paperwork on her new house. I don't know what Buzz will do to a Christmas tree and I don't want to find out. So we'll put up our tree after he goes back home. 

I want to make and send Christmas cards again this year and I am going to do a bit of Christmas shopping soon.

It's a busy time of year.