Time to completely change the look of the house

The roommate and I had a nice Thanksgiving. I roasted a chicken instead of a turkey, made a pumpkin-ginger soup that turned out to be killer, had some more than al dente/less than mush green beans, some crescent rolls (in honor of my mother - she always made those), some beaujolais and some chardonnay, and wow, we were full to the brim.

During the day on Thanksgiving I went up into the attic and started tossing/handing Christmas boxes/bins down to the roomie, including the tree I've had for about 14 years, and between making dinner I started putting the tree together. Finished it today and it does look good, despite it's age.


I love Christmas. It's the one time of the year you can change the entire look of your house, both inside and out, and get away with it. The house is a wreck right now, but I'm still in the middle of 'decorating'. Jypsy has taken all the changes in stride, including jumping from bin to box, leaping around on the furniture in new positions and batting down the fifth ornament I put on the tree. She had a lot of fun, but felt the need for a break from supervising, as you can see...



I'm close to being done, then again, not really. I've got all the clean up afterwards. I do have one silly thing I do every year; don't ask me why - I'm not really sure myself. During his first stay at my house, the roomie bought this -



...so it gets pulled out every Christmas as well.

Like I said, it's the one time of year to change the look of the house. Welcome to the holiday season!

99%

My 99% is different from what most people are identifying with right now. My percentages deal with how close Jypsy is to being normal....and that means being herself.

I told my friend Jan in Oregon I would consider her healed when Jypsy started coming into my room and getting on my bed again. She has begun to do that. She came in on Friday, Saturday and today in the early morning to wake me up. This afternoon I was watching a great movie the room mate rented called 'Bottle Shock' in my room. I highly recommend it - it's a movie depicting the 70's and how California joined the wine makers revolution. Anyway, Jypsy came in, jumped up on my bed, nosed around and then crawled in my lap to snooze through the movie. This is, wow, I can't say how important this is to me. This is major. I still can't count her at 100% because she still has this thing about black shoes, but...OMG...we are soooooo close to being back to normal!!

Check this out...

Birthdays...gotta love 'em

I mean, really, what's the alternative? I face a big milestone tomorrow. I never thought I would be this old. I don't know what I figured would happen...you know...you either keep having birthdays and get older...or you don't.

Gotta say, I'm still glad to be here and to keep having birthdays. My friend Elsa sent me a birthday card that says "When you get to be (mumble age) your interests tend towards staying warm, taking lots of naps, and bird watching. So, basically, you turn into a cat." I thought I could see Jypsy snickering over to the side as I read it out loud to the roommate. Uh huh. Thanks, kitty. I've been coldnatured all my life, take very few naps, but will admit I have bird feeders in the back yard. I love to see cardinals come in to the feeder, despite the fact St. Louis beat the Rangers. C'est la vie. Never have been a sports fan, but not sure if that's part of the getting older thing.

Still feel young, body just doesn't want to cooperate sometimes. Fighting hard to stay in shape...got a trainer now who is trying his best. Hate the expense, but can't seem to do it on my own - just cut out some other things that were a little superfluous. Amazing how things change their importance as you get older. As a youngster, swore I'd never wear anything but Levi jeans. Still love 'em, but can't afford 'em. I can get pretty durable jeans at a discount store for $10. Don't go out much because there's not anything that really appeals to me. The things that do strike my fancy, I do. I visit with friends, go to the occasional movie that looks interesting, still buy way too many clothes off the discounted/clearance racks (Vera Wang shirt - $12!), and prefer good wine over cheap wine. Well, come on, you gotta have SOME priorities!

My sweet kitty is about 98% back. She still has this thing about black shoes, but I just keep those in the closet. She's playful, vocal (I wanna go out...NOW!), social and loveable. Can't complain.

Bring on the Birthday!