Musings on a Small Life

I was in HomeSense/Winners on the weekend (I always like to browse, seldom buy) and saw these two Christmas cat condos. Is this the pinnacle of Christmas consumerism? I mean, I suppose they're cute, but where do you store them for 10 or 11 months of the year?   BTW, I got chatting with a young mother on the bus over the weekend, and we were talking about "stuff." She told me about a 2009 video on the actual "story" of stuff, aptly named, " The Story of Stuff ." It's and educational video, animated, and worth checking out if you're of a mind (about 21 minutes at normal speed; I played it at 1.25x normal). It's even more relevant today, IMO. And look who has been showing up recently: Jake! I haven't seen him in a while. There's always Fancy Feast to be found here and the mooches know it! (Jake has a nearby home, though not the same home as George.) Take care, all.

The weekend passed in a blur of hair appointment, shopping, errands, gift wrapping and alcohol. Must. Have. Rye. Before. During. And. After. Wrapping. Derry helped me, pics on the Fuzzy Tales blog . Nicki slept through it all, only getting up to move from the stool at one point, to the couch. Probably to get away from the mess. But the only time-sensitive thing I have left to do is get some Christmas cards done. I have hopes for this week. I want to do some shopping for the boys--I'm on the hunt for a good, sturdy cat tree (to replace one of the two that they have). So far no luck, nothing different at either PetSmart or PetValu. And speaking of PetValu, when I was there on Friday I snapped pics of a couple of other cats: I didn't even notice those adorable owls in the background until I downloaded the pics. I want one! An owl, that is.  :-) I also didn't notice the brown tabby in the back, left, until after the fact. LOL.   I hope everyone...

No painting this weekend, but I was on the go from 7AM (out to catch a bus) till 4:30PM. Up at 3AM, which is usual for me these days. Ever since the time change, actually. But before I left the house, I put up the little 4.5 foot Christmas tree, the one I bought a few weeks ago.       It's not bad, really, not too scrawny for a $15 (on sale) tree. It'll be cute when I get some decorations on it (maybe tomorrow). Now, Home Depot has a gorgeous, full 5-ft tree (saw it there today), but it's about $70, more than I can justify on a small tree that I have up for only a month. So the day's been a blur of store after store, for various items, some holiday shopping, some house stuff. The afternoon was spent in a mess, putting together the 2-shelf Target bookcase I brought home, then cleaning up, vacuuming, doing laundry, sorting through things that hadn't been put away yet (from the pack-up for the reno), decluttering and doing some reorganizin...

I need another weekend to just collapse and do nothing. How can someone who has no family here be so busy? Friday's errands just rolled into Saturday, of course. I took the 6:20AM bus up to Wal-Mart (it's open 24/7 now, till Christmas) and spent two hours stocking up on litter, household items and getting half a month's supply of groceries. Cabbed home, with a full trunk and back seat. Whew. Then it was out again for more running around, picking up a few things here and there, plus a couple more grocery items I couldn't get at Wal-Mart. Home to laundry and more laundry, cooking and cleaning. It's a blur. Seriously. Today I went back to Wal-Mart and Zellers...for myself. The boys magically did a little bit of Christmas shopping for me for a change, and all on sale, too--aren't you impressed? They even helped wrapped everything up and put it under the tree. I suppose that's superbly silly, but I did it so they could have the fun of the paper and boxes on C...

Today. Now . Christmas carols playing (yes, on November 12th), a glass of wine, some sushi (just the grocery store kind), and--wonder of wonders--my holiday shopping done. Except for the boys--that will wait till December. And--another wonder of wonders--shopping done slightly under budget. (It's a small budget. LOL.) Granted, I have only Mom, Harry and Dad to buy a few things for, but Mom also has a birthday on December 19th, and I always send a few little things for both birthday and Christmas. I'm exhausted and achy, but I feel great and the choral music is putting me in my "happy" place. Maybe the light wine is too (a shiraz rose--I'm not a wine connoisseur at all, so am content with the inexpensive wine I bought). Also putting me in my happy place is the knowledge that I don't have to set foot in the mall again for anything, unless I choose to go for myself. It's just one, truly perfect moment.  :-) The boys will have their perfect moment once I...