Yes, I said it, "Comforting eye food."

One of my new favorite movies is Guy Ritchie's "The Gentlemen." It's smart, clever, funny, and has just the right amount of violence and blood. I knew the first time I saw it that I would become a favorite, and it has not disappointed. What makes me say this now? Showtime has had the movie on regular rotation for the last month or two, and it's been an ideal repeat viewing. And I'm watching the ending of it right now. I can catch it at any point and sit for the rest of it.

I have a tendency to watch movies over and over, and this is just the latest in the list of movies that have joined that illustrious tier. No matter what, I'm in. Other movies on the list? Just a few to entertain you: "Predators," "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and "Apollo 13." There are others, of course, but "Predators" and "Legend of the Sword" happen to be on my DVR right now.

Movies are like comfort food to me. Comforting eye food.

"Is he, though?" Perfection.

An update on the leg waxing because I'm sure you all are super interested. It's working. I'm going every four weeks, and the today's visit revealed less hair to wax. This is a positive development, for sure, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I won't need it anymore after the year of waxes I've already paid for.

I've also done more wrapping tonight, and organized some more stuff. Three of my packages arrived today, so I'm feeling hopeful that everything else might arrive soon-ish. Also, I'll share with you that one of my favorite movies to watch while wrapping is "Thor: Ragnarok." I watched it today, and I love it as much as I ever have. Taika Waititi is brilliant, and Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Ruffalo are fantastic. Valkyrie is amazing. And I love that Karl Urban has a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's an excellent background music to my Christmas preparations.

Hot tea and late mail

I didn't even roll the dice with a coffee today, so stuck with my more reliable drink, a hot tea. One for breakfast and one for afternoon tea, and they were both made perfectly perfect because they were made by me for me. The ideal hot beverage.

I just read an article about the United States Postal Service being gridlocked and overwhelmed for the holiday, and that is giving me anxiety. I have a few packages on their way to me with "In Transit" statuses, and I'm super nervous about them getting here on time. My email inbox is a cauldron full of shipping confirmations that can't tell me anything right now. Ugh.

Once is unfortunate. Twice? Comical.

OMG, it was a day of unfortunate coffee incidents.

When Christmas shopping at the mall, I always reward myself with a mocha at Nordstrom. They have a different kind of chocolate that I like the taste of. First, the order, "Decaf, large, nonfat mocha with whip." My standard mocha recitation. The girl asked me if I wanted an americano or regular. I replied that I wanted decaf. She said that they don't make decaf, so it'll be an americano. I'm bugged at this point, because I had the exact coffee drink that I ordered just six days ago, at that exact location. The barista explained that she could make it but it would be a special brewing, so it'll take five minutes. Fine.

Five minutes later, I have my mocha. Sydney and I go straight to the car so she can enjoy her pretzel and me my mocha without masks. Her pretzel is fine; my mocha HAS NO CHOCOLATE in it. I'm incensed. Did they do it wrong on purpose because I ordered my coffee properly? We'll never know.

Disappointed by my mocha from Nordstrom, I decide to replace it with a peppermint mocha from Starbucks. When the small-market coffee shop gives you lemons, the mass-market coffee machine will give you lemonade, right? I knew that the peppermint mocha would be fine because they are corporately mandated to make it exactly the same way every time. We stopped at my friendly neighborhood Starbucks, waited in line, made my purchase, and because it was piping hot, I waited a couple minutes before sipping. Hey, guess what. Not only NO CHOCOLATE, but NO PEPPERMINT. I'm stunned into laughing. I stirred the "peppermint mocha" to be sure it wasn't just separated, and alas, what I have in my hand is a latte. An expensive latte that is devoid of flavor in every way.

Two mochas ordered and paid for, and I was deceived by lattes. Not. Cool.

I was busy, if homebound, on this Sunday

Things I did today:

I wrapped Christmas presents, and got them under the tree. I still have several incoming from various locales, but what I've got, I've got ready for the big day.

I ate some cookie dough that my husband put almond extract in. I did not enjoy this. I hate, hate the flavor of almond extract, but especially in baked goods, and most especially in anything I did not expect it to be in. Two things about this: I did not know we *did not* have any vanilla extract in the house and I expect that if I go looking for it, I will find it; and I did not know that we *did* have almond extract and I may toss that out immediately when I'm alone in my kitchen.

I did not leave my house at all. Brian went and got lunch, and made dinner at home. I didn't even go outside today. I was a comfy homebody.

I helped with a history final project. I hadn't planned on it, but I was needed, and we got it done. She's a good kid; she just needs some direction and focus. Brian and I were helpful.

I froze. I have been cold all day, and have had a hard time warming up. I hope I'm not catching something, because this is a bad time for that, but I did double dose my Vitamin C, and will be doing that for the next several days. I'm going to bed early tonight, too.

I watched "Expendables 3." Because only watching the first two this weekend was not an option.

"The Expendables" is super explode-y

Actually, really watched "The Expendables" and "The Expendables 2" tonight. Brian would not let me start "The Expendables 3," because it was too much man-murder-testosterone-blood-puns-guns for one night. I was disappointed, but I did record "3" so I can watch it tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, I shall begin wrapping presents. I did some more shopping today, and have more orders coming, but I have enough already to get started, for sure. And since my Patriots aren't playing tomorrow, I really don't have anything to make me be anywhere other than the room where the Christmas happens. (The room where it happens, the room where it happens...)

I did find one of the presents that I had bought at one place for cheaper at Target though, so that's an issue. I bought it, of course. The gift is still on order, and will probably be shipped in the next couple days, but once it gets here, it will be returned immediately. I mean, $15 is $15, right?

Sleeping in is a good thing!

I'm looking forward to not waking up to an alarm tomorrow morning. There's something so decadent about sleeping in a nice, warm bed when it's cool in the house, and not having to brave the coolness until you want to... or have to pee. And it's even better when I'm not staying up too late the night before. So tonight is the normal 11 p.m. bedtime, and no alarm tomorrow. All good things.

Also, my dogs got groomed today so my bedmates smell good.

So I'm having a wonderment about my handwriting dystonia issue. I'm thinking that, since the botox didn't work properly, and the whole problem is the arm muscle that's always tensed, that maybe some form of forced relaxation may help make it better. I have a couple thoughts on that. First, perhaps one of those handgun massagers. They seem super violent, but also like they are efficient and purposeful.

My second thought is acupuncture. I did actually google acupuncture and dystonia, and it was a positive search, in that the acupuncture worked for some dystonia, just not specifically the one that I have. So I'll be the guinea pig for that one. I've asked around and no one in my circle here knows an acupuncture technician, so again, I'll be the guinea pig, I guess. I'm at the mercy of Yelp and Google reviews, I suppose.

I'm thinking I'll start with the massage gun though, and then move on to the acupuncture as my second self-diagnosed solution. I have figured out how to fix it. Let's see if either one of them work.

Making my list, which seems to be ongoing

I spent a lot of time on Christmas today. My afternoon was pretty well consumed with organizing what I've already got, ordering what I need, and realizing where the big gaping holes in my list are. My first act was to dig through all the bags and shopping that I'd already done, and organize it into piles for my people. Happily, I discovered that I was better along than I thought.

Still, there is work to be done.

No, I didn't get my cards addressed.

Cooper got his first allergy shot yesterday, and the results in his behavior and comfort have been pretty remarkable. He'd been licking his feet, scratching his ears, and itching his butt on the floor. After he got his shot, he hasn't done a single one of those things. Last night, we had our first full-night sleep without being awakened by his licking and scratching. And I've got to tell you, I feel like Cooper is feeling so much better. He just seems so relaxed and chill, and comfortable. I'm horrified with how long he's been irritated by the allergies before I made the decision to get him his shot.

This will not happen again. Allergy shots for everyone!

ITEM!: Only 15 days until Christmas.

ITEM!: First and foremost, I need to tell you that I got more envelopes at Walgreens this morning. The associate at the front was very helpful, exasperated that I didn't get all my envelopes the first time, and was quick to hand over the extra ones I needed. So, that fixed that. I have no motivation to address them tonight though, so that task will wait another day or two.

ITEM!: I'm watching an HBO documentary, "The Mystery of D.B. Cooper." HBO does an amazing job with their documentary films, and this particular subject is intriguing to me. It's been sitting on my DVR for a few days, and for whatever reason, tonight is the night. I'm interested because they just said that there are several key suspects. I feel like this is going to get super cool and interesting.

ITEM!: When Brian and I were at the mall yesterday, we visited a pastry, cookie, sweets shop. We stocked up on cookies, for certain. I'm always a sucker for a snickerdoodle, and when I saw one there, it was my first request. Brian chose a molasses one, and then we bought a package of day-old cookies, which included chocolate chip, s'mores, almond glaze and frosted sugar. We haven't dug into those yet, but I have definitely tasted my snickerdoodle. And it is so, so delicious! I'm eating it in parts, so I still have about 30 percent of it left, and while I'd like to say that I'm savoring it, every time I eat a piece, I end up eating another piece.

This is not my card, but I do like it quite a lot

I'm in a bit of a snit right now.

I ordered my Christmas cards from Walgreens; two orders of 20. Which, if my math is correct, is 40 cards. With those 40 cards, one would expect there to be 40 envelopes.

Well, not today, Satan. Today, I have 22 envelopes for my 40 cards. I was all ready to address my envelopes and fill them with cards, but now I can't do it yet. I'm adding Walgreens to my list of stops tomorrow, and hoping that I don't get anyone trying to tell me that I actually did get 40 envelopes.

I have the time, of course, because I don't have my Christmas stamps yet. (Mom orders those for me.) But I do want them addressed as soon as I can get it done, because any task that's finished now is no longer on my still-to-do list, which in itself is quite overwhelming.

This kind of hiccup is annoying.

Damn, those iPhones can take a picture

This one of the famous Cabazon Dinosaurs, and as you can see, he's dressed for the holidays. Usually, on most days, he's painted a more "dinosaur-y" green, and without the Santa suit. We were surprised to see him in a Santa suit when we drove up, but were even more surprised to see that the suit is painted on him. That seems like a big use of random resources, but I guess if they were going to paint him a very un-dinosaur-like green anyway, they might as well throw on the Santa suit for a couple weeks first.

Anyway, when we drove past him on our way out to California, it was dark, and Sydney said, "Mom, I think the dinosaur is in a Santa suit!" We decided that no matter what, we'd be stopping on our way back. And quite obviously, we did just that. And it was totally worth it in every way.

This really is a great picture with the bright blue sky behind him.

Excited for a not-dismal season after all

When Tom Brady left the Patriots at the end of last season, I had little to no hope for a decent season this year. When the Patriots signed Cam Newton I had perhaps more faith than I should have that we'd have a better than decent season this year. Alas, my team is not performing well.

During that weird, quiet offseason, before Cam was signed, Brian and I had a conversation in which he said that the Pats would go 4-12 for the season, but I said that we'd at least go .500 for the year. I am excited to announce that we are quite far into the season, with only four more games to play, and the Patriots are 6-6. We may not end the season with an 8-8 record or better, but at least it won't be as dismal a record as 4-12. Already, the Pats and I have won something: Brian's having to admit that he didn't give them enough credit to do some damage this season, and that *I* was right.

Brian's other question for me based on my team's performance this year, when I'm going to be ready to cancel our NFL Sunday Ticket. I'm not sure, but I'll hang on and spend the expense for another couple years. If they're in the toilet for a couple in a row, it may be a line item that gets deleted from the budget. I'll only get to watch the nationally televised games then. Who knows how that will go...

Title for blog on December 5

I had pledged to blog every night this month, but last night I got sucked into more of "The Queen's Gambit,"and was up watching that. I'm five episodes in, currently watching episode 6, and texting my coworker/friend Bri about all the things that happen. She seems to be enjoying my watching it as much as I am.

And in news with a Griswold Christmas angle, we bought our Christmas tree today, and out up our lights outside. Our tree, of course, ended up being about six inches taller than our ceiling, so we had to trim it to get it to stand inside. We decided last year that we needed a few new strings for this year, so that's on our agenda for tomorrow. So our very tall tree is un-lighted in our living room, and awaiting its dress-up tomorrow.

Also, Brian has decided that our icicle lights are too bright and white, and they somehow outshine the multicolor lights and they need to be taken down. And maybe perhaps replaced with something else? I can't say that I disagree with him, which is why I'm okay with his blanket announcement, so we're heading to get new lights for two things tomorrow.

This post is very disjointed and not written well because I'm watching my show, so I'll be done now.

Official Ritz cracker declaration

It's official now. No longer do I buy gimmicky Ritz cracker shapes.

When I saw the "snowflake" shapes, I said to Brian, "Will they be the same size of the regular Ritzes?"

My concern about their size was quickly assuaged. What I discovered though, as I continued to pack the crackers into my snack bag every day for work, was that the structural integrity of the snowflake Ritz crackers was the real problem. I pack six crackers a day, and repeatedly and annoyingly, the crackers are cracking into pieces. Note the crackers in the pic there to the left. That is an actual image from my actual crackers on Monday. Half of them are in pieces.

And before you're all, "How are you transporting them and where do they sit?" I'll tell you that they are treated the same as the original Ritz crackers, and those crackers never crack up. So normal Ritzes survive the ride to work, but the snowflake Ritzes do not. And I'll not buy them again.

Learn from my experience, friends.

COUNTDOWN: 23 days, and 4,000 list items

It's the second day of December, and it's getting done. I made another Christmas present purchase. One less thing on my list. I have a couple other things to be ordered, and will get to those tomorrow, I think. Or at least one of them, for sure.

My brain is a constantly shifting and nebulous Christmas list. A list of to-do items, plans, ideas, and wants that already is somewhat overwhelming, and to make it worse, I can feel the days slipping away.

Having said and whined all that: Today, I got the Christmas card photos taken, and just might get to ordering the cards tonight. I made an order, as I said; started working on the Christmas dinner menu; took the pics; and started creating the actual, working paper list. Also we watched the last 30 minutes of "Elf."

Christmas spirit is full-up in my house right now!

The beginning of the end of the year

You guys, it's December. Already. It's December.

Isn't it weird how this year has flown by but also taken so long to be over?

I'm really pretty pleased with where I'm at for this point in December. I've got a good portion of the big shopping done, uncharacteristically. I need to do the smaller stuff, and intend on getting to that this weekend, but really, I'm in good shape. This month's avatar reflects that, I think. I've got my Christmas shit together, and I'm feeling it.

Also, I finished watching the last three episodes of "The Right Stuff" on Disney+ tonight, and I'm hoping there will be another season of that. (I just Googled, and it looks like there will be, even though it didn't bring in the ratings that were hoped for.) Anyway, it's a good show and I recommend it. You know me; if it's about space, I'm in.

I returned my library book unread a couple weeks ago. I realized that I probably won't get to it during the holidays, and why hold on to it in case there's someone who does want to read it? So I turned it in, and I'm feeling unburdened by that. Come January and the new year, there will be an EXPECTATION regarding reading. I failed miserably at it this year, so next year can't help but be better.