My favorite Christmas song. I just can’t abide the syrupy bouncy ones any more. I do love some of the old crooners like Sinatra and Clooney, though.
One year, we had a receptionist that was quite mentally ill and very angry at me and the office manager. That December she had gotten another job on campus and was just working out her sentence in the history department. (She was miserable in the next two departments she worked in as well, until she had her final meltdown and left the university.) She played “Oh Holy Night” on repeat until I thought I’d lose my mind. The day she walked out for good (early, of course) I put on every hokey stupid funny Christmas song I could find on You Tube for the rest of the week.
Sandy and I saw Robert Earl Keen play this live at Ziggy’s about ten years ago. I won tickets on a Facebook promotion for the “VIP section” for any show I wanted to see on their schedule. It was a hard strange choice between George Clinton and Robert Earl Keen, but in the end, I thought that REK would be easier on my nerves at the time. The VIP section meant that you got to sit at a table at the side of the stage next to the bar. I’m sorry that I never got to see George Clinton, but I had several chances and didn’t take them. He has local roots so he has played around here a lot. I can’t stand for long periods of time – the pain is terrible – so I don’t go to many small concert venues. Plus, I really really really hate crowds!
This has turned out to be a coffee pot post. We are drinking a Christmas blend with vanilla and clove that was a gift. It smells heavenly.
I am super concerned about Sandy now that I’ve done what everybody says not to do: googled statins and muscle damage. He downplayed his weakness and pain for a long time because he attributed it to getting older and being out of shape. Thank God he finally called the doctor’s office and we are talking about it. He was worried about sounding like a hypochondriac. This is why when other women friends complain about their male partners being babies when they are sick, I have nothing to say. It is the opposite with Sandy. Besides, everybody knows that I’m the hypochondriac in the family. (Kidding, not kidding. There’s a little bitterness in this joke.)
Hopefully he will recover after the statins get out of his system, but he has been taking them for a very long time.
I couldn’t find the Pillsbury Orange Icing rolls that are a Christmas tradition in my family, and I wasn’t going to shop a bunch of different grocery stores for them this week, so I have Annie’s cinnamon rolls in the oven. They are good too. I talked to my sister on the phone for a long time yesterday. She made sure that she got the orange rolls, damn her. She and Tim are at the lake while her daughter and grandson do Christmas at their house in Chapel Hill. No extended family time for any of us during the pandemic. Man, those cinnamon rolls smell wonderful!
A major cold front came through last night and the high is supposed to be in the 30s today after a deluge of rain and wind yesterday. Tornado warnings in some parts of the state and snow in other parts. I don’t know if there were actually any tornadoes. The low is supposed to go into the teens tonight so I’m going to cut all my lettuce and we brought the lemon tree off the porch.
Yesterday I caught up on rest and did some clean-up, but mainly chilled out. We still have plumbing problems but at least both toilets are working now. It’s the outgoing pipe from the washing machine and kitchen sink that is slow, slow enough that when the washer drains, it is too much and it spills out all over the floor. I brought in the old washtub and wringer that I had bought for papermaking several years ago and I am going to drain the washing machine into it until we can get a plumber to clean out these pipes for us. We have tried everything at this point, but it keeps happening again. When I replace this washing machine, I am shopping for one that has mechanical, not computerized, controls on it, even if I have to buy a used one. All I need is wash, rinse, and spin.
I am going to watch the last episode of The Queen’s Gambit today. I’ve stretched it out as long as possible. Also, finishing the Patternist series by Octavia Butler, which despite my revulsion at all the incest and rape, I understand why it is essential to the basic theme, and I grew to appreciate the entire story arc more as I worked my way through the books.
Next up in reading: Your Spacious Self. I can’t decide on my next novel and I keep starting one and putting it down to start another. I have a lot to choose from here, though.
Will cook a few dishes today, nothing complicated, and sew masks, and cuddle with kitties. Feliz Natal!
slowly she turned 