It's so awkward, you guys

I'm watching "The White Lotus," season two, and I continue to be amazed by how awkward this show can make you feel. I am not a fan of peripheral, second-hand embarrassment, but inexplicably, I am drawn to this show. The first season was surprising and weird in the best ways, and I'm watching this second season because I'm hoping that it will be as surprisingly weird. I do so very much love Jennifer Coolidge and Aubrey Plaza. I'm four episodes in, and probably, definitely will finish it tomorrow.

    So that'll be my January binge, and I need to get into my book for the month, too. I'd be nervous about the reading before the end of the month, but I'm flying to California this weekend, so a plane ride is just the thing to get a book read. I will though, in a bid to hedge my bets, select the shorter book.

The Birthday Week has begun

Day One: Saturday ~ I hung out all morning, and messed around with my house, picking up stuff, moving stuff, just generally futzing around with things. Brian had a golf date, so Sydney and I drove over to Portillos for hamburgers. I spent my afternoon doing random chores and whatnot, and watching football. Honestly, it couldn't have been a better day. So quiet and calm.

Day Two: Sunday ~ This morning started off relatively quiet too, with rain falling outside and wrapped up in cozy bed covers. On today's agenda was the movies: "Plane," starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter. Brian decided to hit balls once the rain stopped, so Sydney, Bailey and I were on our own for the movie. Sydney and I shared our popcorn, as we do, but we still picked up a Party Bag of popcorn on our way out of the theater to snack on for the rest of the week. The movie itself was enjoyable; the exact kind of film that Gerard Butler does so well. After we dropped Bailey off at home, I picked up Brian and we hit Costco, though this stop was *not* on my Birthday Week to-do list. I don't like going to Costco when there's not much money to spend, but we had a small list, and the visit itself wasn't as bad as it could have been. Back at home, we ate our lunch and watched more football. I probably should have started reading my book, but the cloudy skies, cooler afternoon and entertaining game play on the TV kept me occupied. Brian baked a pizza for dinner that we bought at Costco that was surprisingly delicious. I finished up my Portillo's strawberry shortcake for dessert, and had a piece of See's candy for my bedtime snack. It was a great Sunday.

I turn 50 in three days. The countdown continues.

I'll trade you my time, for my time

So I may have made a deal with the devil, but I did something that, ostensibly, will make my 2023 a better year than it may have been. At my work, because I only have two weeks of vacation for the calendar year, I traded all my upcoming overtime comp days for additional vacation days to be used at my discretion.

    After next week, which I took off to celebrate turning 50 while NOT working, I will have used up half of my allotted vacation days. But still, having made that deal, I'm pretty sure that, even though someone who is a department head and has been at a company for more than seven years should have double that 10 days of PTO, I will come out ahead of the game. I actually think that I already was getting more than my 10 days the last couple years, but now it's somewhat official that I will be in better shape regarding vacation days. Also, I told them that if my days became too numerous, they could just not pay me for them.

    I explained that I wasn't going to miss any of my friends' birthdays, and that I still wanted to have my days for Sydney's breaks, too. I didn't care how it worked out, but I was not going to miss out on anything in 2023. So, pay me for them, don't pay me for them. Consider them comp days or just generously look the other way. But I will take my days as I want.

My 50 Best Things in My 50 Years

So I'm gonna be 50 years old next week. I'm processing this very slowly, and thoughtfully, and I can say that it's a very unexcited way, too. But even then, I still recognize the weight of the number, the victory in the number, and how big of a deal this is/should/can be. I don't have anything super big or major planned. I've taken the whole week off work, and Mom is flying out to spend some days with me. I want to hang out, chill and do whatever, and not work, and eat awesome things and watch movies.

    I've been thinking lately about random things in lists of 50. Do I have "50 Bits of Wisdom"? No. "50 Lessons Learned." Why start now? And will that be interesting?

    Oh, I just had a thought: "My 50 Best Things in My 50 Years." My goodness, can I come up with 50 Best Things? I expect I can. This sounds like a challenge I have given myself, and before I think better of it, I will accept this challenge. I won't give myself a time frame to complete this challenge, except to say that I'll hope to have it done before I turn 51. Honestly, it shouldn't be too hard, but we'll see as we get up in number. Best Things will be whatever I want them to be. It's my birthday. In no particular order, though I'm going to start with 1.

    1. Reading. In general, reading is one of my most favorite things to do in the world. I remember vividly the first book I read that made me cry the most ("Where the Red Fern Grows," Wilson Rawls); the first book I read that taught me about adulthood ("Lucky," Jackie Collins); and the first book that blew my mind ("And Then There Were None," Agatha Christie). The first Anne Rice book I read was "The Tale of the Body Thief." I had to find all her previous books after that and start from the beginning, but since then I have read everything that she's written. Same with "The Sands of Time" by Sidney Sheldon. And "The Mummy Case" by Elizabeth Peters. It hurts my heart to note that all those authors have died, but their impact on me as a reader is unquantifiable. Through their words, I fell in love with books of all genres written by many authors. Every room in my house has a pile of books in it, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Of all things I am at this point in my life, I am very proud to say that I am a bookworm, bibliophile, regular patron at the library, and happy reader. Reading books makes me happy.

Spend the money; the candy is better

Every day, I gift myself a single piece of See's candy as a reward for getting through my day. When I visit Mom, we always end up at See's, and I always am bringing a bunch of candy back with me. Obviously, many last infusion of candy happened at Christmas. I got a pound of candy, a specially mixed box just for me, as well as more here or there.

    Anyway, today I ate a piece of Dark California Brittle. I think that candy may have taken over the top spot as my favorite candy from See's, which may or may not be blasphemy. I still love my Scotchmallows and Molasses Chips so much, and those three candies as a collection are the best ever.

    It's that time of year though when people buy the heart-shaped candy boxes at random stores. Here's my advice to you all out there: Always buy See's. It's way better.

It's all about the Star Trek, or is it

I set us up with another streaming subscription yesterday. These streamers are driving me crazy because really, I want everyone's everything on one platform. You know, like how cable television used to be. But no, I need to have a subscription to Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Peacock and Hulu. What's missing? The service I subscribed to yesterday: Paramount+.

    Let's say that I fell victim to advertising and football. The CBS channels and their games advertise for Paramount+. I'd already been missing "Inside the NFL," which moved to Paramount+ last year or the year before. And while I don't care for many of the shows there (unpopular opinion: I have no interest in "Yellowstone"), but just the one or two that intrigued me, and that "Top Gun: Maverick" is streaming there, was enough to get me on board. I hate that I did it, though. I feel like I should be just a bit discerning? I can't subscribe to everything, but it looks like I may end up trying to.

    We always think, "What's another $9.99 per month? I won't even notice when it's taken..." But damn it, I think maybe I'm spending more than $50 a month on streamers. That's a lot, and a hit to the entertainment budget. I probably won't cancel it, but I might... after a fashion.

And not even a winning record to show for it

I hate it very much when my team loses and I have to admit that I'm going into the post-season with no one to cheer for, but so many teams to cheer against. Most times I watch a game and want teams to lose more than I ever want them to win.

    My list of ire is not long, but it is distinguished. Most teams I want to lose because they're in our division and have kicked our butts once or twice during the season. Others I like to see lose because they've beat us before in big games, like the Eagles and Giants. Some are led by players that bug me, and I just really like to see those particular players lose (*cough*Aaron Rodgers*cough*).

    Brian says I am a hateful football fan, but really I am a passionate football fan. If we don't win, no one wins. As it should be.

    But on the up side, with football season moving into the playoffs, my NFL Sunday Ticket is no longer a part of my DirecTV bill. Time to count the savings until August.

2023 already is shaping up to be a handful

Hello! And Happy New Year!

What am I doing? Oh, you know, just living life one day at a time and one inconvenience at a time. Time to bring it on, 2023! You've been a little bitchy so far, but let's see what happens next.

EXPECTATION 1: Save some money; bulk up the accounts. Last year's first goal was to pay off my American Express card. I did that. Of course, travel and some Christmas kept it from staying a zero balance, but I'm working on it again. What I want to do is save some money for the kid's college fund and get that to a decent number.

EXPECTATION 2: Read one book, watch one movie, binge one show per month. I excelled at this particular item last year, and found it to be remarkably motivating. Short of a book in October I think, I accomplished it. I enjoy this task, and will be continuing it in 2023.

EXPECTATION 3: I completely bailed on writing any Mystic & Boysen books last year. It was a matter of self-care, really, as I felt some intense pressure on myself to get them done. I'd like to write them this year, but if I don't, I'll be okay with that.

EXPECTATION 4: Clean out/purge the stuff, including but not limited to bathroom closet, office storage cart, hallway cabinet, Brian's closet, garage, office stuff. I did well on my cleanse last year, but some carried over, and I'm renewing my desire to clean it all out.

EXPECTATION 5: Hit the trail again. I probably won't do this, but I like the idea of walking the trail again. I certainly can use the exercise, and it would be lovely to make a morning out of it. Brian is spending his weekend mornings at the driving range, so unfortunately, he's a no-go for a walking partner. Power up the pods, I guess! Also, the at-home yoga situation definitely needs to be reinstated.

EXPECTATION 6: Maybe today, January 6, will be the catalyst for blogging more. I'm excited to report that I'm wearing a compression glove, and it seems to be working quite well. I have one for work that is good, and for whatever reason I never had one for home, so I ordered one yesterday. It arrived this afternoon, and we'll see how it goes. I just dropped the laptop down to the bed level too, so maybe that'll help, as well.

EXPECTATION 7: I'm pleased with my job right now, and even though I don't have any upward mobility at this particular position, I'm happy within it. I'm a department head and enjoying that, as well as the department head paycheck. I kind of tried the greeting card company side hustle, but I didn't really do any or much with it. Maybe I'll try that one again. But I'll continue doing well at my job.

EXPECTATION 8: Of course, get back on the Weight Watchers and lose some excess weight. I don't have a lot to lose to hit my goal, and if I stick to it I probably could hit the goal in three months, but that is unlikely because I enjoy eating yummy things. But let's try it anyway.

EXPECTATION 9: Brian wants to start exercising together. But come on,  that probably won't happen.

EXPECTATION 10: My friends and I all are turning 50 this year, and I have sworn that I won't miss anyone's party. I'm not having a party of my own, just an awesomely quiet and chill week, but I'm not missing anyone else's.