Happy Holidays!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year brings you lots of happiness and inner peace.

My son and I spent Christmas Eve at my special-friend's house, where I visited with his parents while my son played with his son.  Then, some of his extended family arrived and I got to meet them and chat a bit before we headed out to my sister's house for dinner.  On Christmas Day, my special-friend came over for brunch after he dropped off his son at the mother's house.  We then spent the evening at his Grandmother's house where I met more of his extended family.  Very warm and welcoming family.

My family celebrates on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day pretty much everyone is on their own.  I try to visit other chunks of my family, but this year I didn't.  It is the first Christmas without my brother and I just couldn't drive out to his house, as much as I wanted to visit my sister-in-law and the kids.  In a selfish moment, I didn't want to spend time with family.

Tomorrow I will drive down to my Mom's house.  My son loves to visit Grandma.

I hope you got to spend time with loved ones.

my birthday...

So, my birthday came and went.  I spent the first part of the day at home with my son.  I took some allergy medicine which made me very drowsy and I took a nap.  I felt bad for my son, who pretty much had to entertain himself while I had trouble waking up from my nap.  Later that afternoon, we picked up Grandpa and went to a Major League Soccer game, L.A. Galaxy vs. Chivas USA.  Not quite the soccer my Dad is used to, but an outing nonetheless.  They ate over-priced hotdogs, we shared a large popcorn and the snacks I packed (water, trail mix, crackers & cheese), then my son got a treat:  blue cotton candy!

Every year I disappoint myself.  Well, others disappoint me, but I say that I do it to myself because I expect too much from others.  Rather, I expect others to make the same  big deal about my birthday that I make about theirs.  They don't.  Except for my Mom.  She had been in town the week prior and left me a card with $$ in it.  Before I spent it on whoknowswhat, I bought myself a new monitor/tv.  I had a very ancient monitor, that I hated using because I'm so accustomed to the large flat one I have at work, in front of which I sit for many hours a day.  It's sitting in its box.  Still.  I will get  to it, but first I have to find the energy and motivation to go into my little office and clean up a bit.

The following day (Monday) my co-workers had a "birthday breakfast" for me:  breakfast burritos, cake and mini cupcakes.  The "birthday lunch" has been postponed due to scheduling difficulties.  They pitched in and bought me a fancy toaster oven... well, a convection toaster oven.  They won't have to hear me complain about the crappy one I have, that doesn't toast correctly.  They gave me the receipt and said there's a fancier one I may like better.  I went to check it out and I do like it better, so I just might pay the difference (while there's a discount offered) and upgrade it.

The following weekend, my "guy friend" cooked dinner for me.  I was exhausted from running around taking my son to and from his activities, cooking quick meals in between and just never getting enough sleep.  I wanted to just stay home, crawl under a blankie, watch a movie, color with my son... but, I changed into a clean summer dress (I live in So. Cal, it still feels like Summer at times) and sandals, put some lipgloss on, dropped off my son at my sister's house and went to his house.  We ate chicken, brown rice & veggies.  We chatted and watched some tv.  I picked up my son, who was still awake and full of energy (at least I didn't have to carry him to the car!) and drove home.  I collapsed on my bed.  The next morning, my "guy friend" called, I do not remember most of the conversation.  I remember him asking why I was talking "like that" and I replied that I was sleeping, and him telling me to go back to sleep.  Suddenly (ok, about 30 mns. later) my son ran into my room saying that someone was at the door.  I pulled my robe on and tried to open both eyes simultaneously while making a futile attempt at smoothing down my wild bed hair (I guess I neglected to braid it before passing out).  I wasn't planning to open the door - I wasn't expecting anyone - so I looked through the peep hole to find my handsome "guy friend" smiling at me.  I opened the door and he was holding a grocery bag with breakfast items.  Apparently, I had told him to bring me breakfast, stating that I had sausages and o.j. -- I did have both items, and he wouldn't have known, so I guess I said it!  I ran to my room to make myself presentable, sort of, and then proceeded to make my son his Sunday-ChocolateChip-MultiGrain-Pancakes with a side of strawberries & bananas, and whipped up a concoction of eggs/onions/mushrooms/spinach with a side of sausages, english muffins, coffee and o.j. for my "guy friend" and I.  After a late breakfast, we watched football.  Well, he whined for two days that he tried to watch football while I interrupted him.  Hey!  I gave up watching food shows while doing laundry and cleaning house to sit with him, the least he could do was talk to me!

obvious secrets

If someone tells you something personal, do you go tell someone else?  even if the first person didn't say, "please don't tell anyone", isn't obvious, isn't it? that if it's personal it should remain personal.
I just found out that someone told other people something I said.  No, I didn't specify that it was a secret and it's not something that other people shouldn't know.  It's just something that was personal and unique between that person and I.  One of the two other people that heard it is not a close friend of either one of us... and that person told someone else.

Anyway, let's remember that if what we are told sounds personal, we shouldn't go tell other people, let's keep it personal.