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.

We're basically mainlining movies now

We finished the last of the Harry Potter movies yesterday, and again, they are so good. I mean, the movies are good, but the story itself is so amazingly well written, and outlined and planned to perfection. How the characters are brought together, and then return again and again with significance and purpose, is fantastic. And I can tell Sydney, until I'm blue in the face, that the books are that much better, but she'll still probably never read them.

So for the next series of movies based on books that she'll probably never read: "The Hunger Games." With this group at least, the movies are just about as good as the books, so I'm less irritated to sit and watch these with her as her first exposure to Katniss. And also, Jennifer Lawrence is frickin' stellar in these films. 

I'm not sure what we'll watch after "The Hunger Games," but really, this next month is about the holiday movies that both I have not seen, and that Sydney needs to see. So I'm preparing that list for us, too.

Bring back Sirius and Dumbledore ... spoiler alert

We've been rewatching the Harry Potter movies over this week. Tonight, we watched my least favorite of them, "Order of the Phoenix," and "Half-Blood Prince."

As I told Sydney, "I read the end of 'Order of the Phoenix' like five times right after each other because I was in such denial about Sirius dying." I honestly couldn't believe that what I read was indeed what I had read. I still reject the idea of this particular character dying. Also, there's really not a single good thing that happens in that entire movie.

"Half-Blood Prince" is almost as bad when it comes to disturbing deaths, of course, as well as where the entire story begins down the darkest of dark turns, and begins our descent into "Deathly Hallows."

Anyway, I have a feeling that we'll log hours watching both "Deathly Hallows" films tomorrow, and finish our Harry Potter Appreciation Week with a flourish.

Rose petals optional, of course

I hate shaving my legs. It is a tedious and ridiculous task, and one that I tend to only a few times a year. (Relax any judginess; of course, I shower regularly, I just don't shave my legs that often.) I don't like doing it, is all. And my husband knows better than to comment or complain.

A few months ago, I came upon a fairly obvious solution to my particular problem: waxing. Waxing my legs is my new regular body maintenance. I was getting my legs waxed every eight weeks, as my eyebrows get done every four weeks. I've had the legs done maybe six times by now, and now I've decided that I'm going to wax them more often so as to accelerate the cool result of regular and constant waxing, the hair stops growing. So now every four weeks I get my eyebrows and my legs waxed, and I'm hoping that in a year I'll be able to not have leg hair growing anymore.

So, yes, new body maintenance item in the monthly budget, but it's all good stuff. Especially if after the year or so it makes the whole shaving thing utterly unnecessary. And then this entire thing won't even be a line item or peripheral concern anymore.

Sign me up for the movies on Dec. 25

So the word came out today that "Wonder Woman 1984" will be opening in theaters, and released on HBO Max, on December 25. I won't lie, we are totally going to see it in the theater. Because it totally needs to be seen on the big screen. We've been waiting a couple years, and certainly a number of months, to see this film, and it's finally going to happen! I'm so excited!

This year has been a trip in regards to movies. Every year, early in the year, I make a list of the movies I want to see, and this year's list is WOEFULLY un-crossed-off. Like maybe five were seen, and the rest are on my list for 2021, tentatively, and I guess that makes next year a remarkable one for films? I'll admit that not spending money on the movies two to three times a month was interesting in the pocketbook and savings account, but I've certainly missed the entertainment! I'm intrigued to see how the schedule works out in 2021, especially if the vaccine gets out and about relatively early in the year.

The winner and undisputed champion...

I tried the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha this afternoon, and I write to you having now PROVEN that the peppermint mocha is the best holiday drink at Starbucks. I will not be argued away from this conclusion; I will not have my mind changed. Now it's just a fact.

And the best thing about having realized and proven this to myself is that now I can order and enjoy my peppermint mocha with no guilt and secure in the knowledge that I'm drinking the best drink available to me.

Not sure when I'll pull the trigger and get my peppermint mocha to cleanse my palate of the other drinks, but I suspect it will be soon. Drink security until they come up with something else next year.

This uncharacteristic heat is intolerable

I am horrified ... HORRIFIED ... to tell you that my air conditioner has been flipping on this afternoon and tonight. My thermostat was set at 78 degrees, and I just lowered it to 76 just a few minutes ago. So it is actively blowing cold air on my shoulders right now, and that is very, very wrong for the middle of November. My windows are open for the cooler weather tonight, but the temperature may climb back up to 88 degrees in my backyard tomorrow. I am so over the summer, you guys, and November should really be a safe space.

This is exactly the body wash

So here's a story for you.

Sydney ran out of lotion so she took mine. We visited Target to get her a new bottle of her own. Instead, I ended up getting my own bottle of a new lotion by Dove, rather than my normal lotion by Vaseline, and let her keep mine. I brought home the Dove cucumber and green tea lotion. Today, I used it for the first time. While applying the lotion to my legs though, it didn't really soak in properly. It was weird. Anyway, I read the bottle again and realized that it was, instead, a body wash. A Body Wash.

Body washes do not soak in like lotion. So I ended up getting back into the shower to wash all the dried body wash off. Then I used the lotion that I let Sydney have, and I've put lotion on my list again.

All kinds of Christmas going on over here

Sydney and I did some preliminary Christmas reconnaissance this afternoon, and while we did do just a little bit of actual shopping, it was mostly an exercise in getting ideas Mainly though, our conclusion was that we prefer not shopping on the weekend, and will head back after school one day soon. With the social distancing, most of the stores had occupation limits and therefore lines to get in, and we just didn't want to take the time to do that. Still, I managed to get some good ideas.

So I tried the Carmel Brulle Latte at Starbucks. It was ... not great? A little too sweet? I should know better; I don't generally like the caramel drinks. I'm most definitely a chocolate drink person, so the next taste test will be the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha. I've had a white chocolate mocha before and it was tasty, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Tonight, I finished the main Christmas decor in the house. I've got a pile of extra stuff to find places for, or not, and I should be able to get all the bins into the garage Monday morning. Then I'll head to AJ's and see if the store has anything that I must have. :). I love AJ's for Christmas stuff.

Once I'm done here though, I'm going to make my Master List for Christmas. Currently, it's a growing note in the phone, which is very frustrating to me because the note won't allow me to cross stuff off while still being able to see it. Or make notes within the note. Or all that good stuff that one can do with a written list on paper.

Also, I have a most excellent idea for the Christmas cards.

So much to do, but the movie calls

ITEM!: UPDATE to the car commercials featuring bad dog parents post from earlier this month. Add BMW to the list of offenders. Currently, the car company's ad shows a young man finding a dog, reading its tag, and then driving his BMW seemingly miles away to bring this dog home. What the hell dog parents? And BMW? These commercials are beginning to give me nightmares.

ITEM!: Tomorrow is the last day I'll have Leslie back in my workplace. She's starting a new job next Monday, so is done hanging out with me for a few hours every day while we both work. I think this time may be worse that when she left the job last year. I've been spoiled by having her back in the office with me, and sitting close to me, too, so this new loneliness will be acute. Of course I'm happy for her getting out and finding something new, but to you all, I will whine and pout a bit.

ITEM!: The movie "Howard the Duck" is on one of my Showtime channels right now and I'm watching the end of it. That's all. That's just what I'm doing right now.

ITEM!: I did get all my downstairs Christmas decor out, and it was no small task for the day. Both the upstairs bins are upstairs, though I haven't cracked them yet. I have a decent-sized pile of randoms and stuff to put different places, and more futzing to do, for sure. It's nice having it out though; I'm feeling festive!

Don't tell me what to do, but okay

You guys, I ended up taking a short nap this afternoon instead of watching my ESPN shows. The shows were on, but I slept through them. I remind you that I do not enjoy taking unplanned naps in the afternoons. So because of that, it took more time than normal for me to close my Move Goal for the day. Because I got up later because of Sydney's day off, it also took longer to close my Stand Goal. But both rings did get closed today.

I feel like I have to tell you now how much of a taskmaster my watch has become. I've worn it all day, every day since June, with only one day since then that I missed my Move Goal. It's a record I'm super pleased with, and I strive to meet those two Goals every day. So when the watch says, "Stand," I stand up and walk around for a few minutes. When the watch says that my movement ring is usually farther along by that time of day, I get up and take a lap around the office or the house. (Duly noted that I ignore the "Exercise" Goal entirely, and I will not have a conversation about that.)

But the watch is king, and I've been feeling the benefits of that. I believe it's helped me emotionally and physically, and psychologically, too. The activity I'm sure to put in every day, and the breaks in my sitting time, have helped my peace of mind, and that makes the bossiness of the watch tolerable.

Obviously, they were tasty

Unpopular opinion: I don't mind that Baby Yoda ate the frog lady's eggs.

Honestly, Disney+ has been a lifesaver since this pandemic and the quarantine began. We've watched and rewatched so many of the Marvel movies. We've watched the old-timey Disney movies like "Robin Hood" and "Cinderella," as well as some of the newer old movies like "Hercules" and "Pocahontas." And then we've even watched something called, "The Secret Society of Second-Born Royals," which was not great.

Quite obviously, based on my first statement up there, we've also been watching "The Mandalorian." That show is fun, exciting, sometimes stressful as good shows should be, and well produced. Besides Baby Yoda, I'm pretty fascinated by a show that has shown the main character's face only once in the first season, and so far in the second season, not at all. It's just so weird how a mask and a head tilt can convey emotion or depth of character. And shit on the show is crazy, too. Like a big worm/dragon last week and giant penis spiders this week? Super weird. I'm here for it.

Also I'm watching "The Right Stuff." The show is way better than the movie, and I like how it's diving deeper into the men themselves, and all the peripheral stuff, too. I haven't yet watched the most recent episode, but I think I'll get to watch it tomorrow. It's really well done, with plenty of suspense, emotion, and sadly, disappointment, in a story that we all could Google to find out how it ends at any moment. No one else in my house is interested in watching it with me, so that makes it a Kimmie Show.

What I love so much about Disney+ is that there's still so much for us to watch!