Quiet Morning

I'm enjoying a quiet morning at One-Oh-Six today.  WH is at church while I stay home recovering from a minor surgical procedure that I had on Friday.  I'm feeling better today than I did yesterday, but still a bit sore, especially when I twist or stretch more than I should. 

Thanks to my best friend, who stocked me up with an excellent selection of trashy magazines, I have caught up on all of my celebrity gossip and I have satisfying chocolates close at hand.  I'm not pushing myself too hard, but I think that some laundry is in order.  Today is a day for shuffling around the house at a leisurely pace, I think!

I had my second shower this morning since the surgery and I still can't get all of the iodine stains off my skin.  They sure don't skimp on that stuff, which is probably good. 

The cats aren't sure what they did to be so lucky to have humans home for long periods of time over the last couple of days. They are celebrating by sleeping deeply. That seems to be their default response to any situation, now that I think about it.  Happy? Have a deep sleep.  Sad? Have a deep sleep.  Hungry?  Meow a lot and then have a deep sleep.  Sleepy?  Well, that's definitely deep sleep time.  They are nothing if not predictable.

Anyway, let the shuffling begin!

Digital Nativity

No free write today - just this really sweet video. Enjoy!

Production

I like being productive. This morning, I got up not-too-early but not-too-late, made it to the local decor store before it was a frothing maelstrom of Christmas shoppers, got all the shopping done for our friends, got to the grocery store before IT was chaos, got home before lunch, wrapped presents, did laundry, etc.

And I have more to do this weekend that I will happily do! And I can go to bed tonight knowing that it was both a restful day and a useful one.

I'm just waiting for WH to get home from a caroling gig at a shopping mall in a town close to ours. We have been having the most incredibly busy December, so I think that we are looking forward to an evening ...

... pause for cat to get comfortable in my lap...

... at home together. I took some pork tenderloin out of the freezer earlier, so there will even be dinner. Hallelujah.

And now I hear the dryer buzzing its completion, so back to it!

Back at it!

So, in the spirit of trying to get back into a disciplined blogging, I'm taking a page from Crimson Rambler and working towards a regular (maybe daily, but that's optimistic), short free write exercise.

It is the Advent season, or Almostchristmas, as it might be more aptly-named from a secular point of view. I love this time of year for a number of reasons, including the amazing Advent music that we get to sing at church, the process of turning our home into something festive and wonderful, the planning process for FOOD, etc. I don't even mind the shopping, though I was thinking in the mall yesterday that shopping might be more enjoyable if people could arrange their facial expressions to something other than MEAN and ANGRY.

We will be having our second-annual Edible Christmas at One-Oh-Six this year with the family and dear friends. We came up with this last year; as a replacement for running around buying presents for each other, we would run around and buy food and then eat it all together at the same table. We cook together, we clean up together... it's a grand old time. And we play Apples to Apples, the greatest game ever.

Did get Christmas shopping finished (or close to it) for the husband-unit yesterday and am pleased and excited about that!

Looking very much forward to our annual trip to the mountains after Christmas to sit still, play cribbage, eat and drink nice things and rest. In the meantime, there are concerts and carolling gigs and preparations and all of that kind of thing left to do!

Movie Night: Part 2

The movie night commitment is holding strong, and since I posted about It's Complicated, WH and I have seen the following:

• Sherlock Holmes
• Harry Brown
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Robin Hood
• Leaves of Grass

We have seen a really interesting range of movies from the intense (Harry Brown) to the visually splendid (Sherlock Holmes) to the enjoyably silly (Prince of Persia) to the dark (Leaves of Grass).

It's my turn to pick again next week! I'm interested in seeing The Experiment, but I'll take other recommendations!

In which I fall in love...

... with these.

Mega-WANT.

Movie Night: Part 1

WH and I both have Tuesday evenings at home this fall. When we realized that that was going to be the case, we decided that we would commit to devoting Tuesday evenings to each other and to doing something that wasn't related to choral music or work or housecleaning etc. We settled on movie nights.

These are the parameters:
- movies can be watched at home or by going to the theatre.
- for ease of decision-making, we will alternate picking the movie.
- no blackberries, no iPhones, no computers!

So, last Tuesday, I chose It's Complicated, starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

We both enjoyed this movie! I don't think that the movie challenged any of the three main actors very much, but they were at home and comfortable in their roles. Particularly impressive was Steve Martin's performance, which was contained, gentle and fragile. Jon Krasinski (of The Office) was refreshing and funny as the soon-to-be son-in-law who knows more than he wishes he did.

Visually, the movie is delightful. Beautiful scenery, beautiful homes and a STUNNING bakery owned by Meryl Streep. (WANT!) I was pleased to find that, part-way through the movie, I actually wasn't sure how it was going to end. This is not a typical feature of romantic comedies, so it was a nice surprise! It was a great first movie night!

WH gets to choose next week's flick, and he's talking about Sherlock Holmes... Whee!