Yay for ginormous Lori's head!

Yay!!

I am moderately prepared for Christmas, but still have shopping to do. And whatnot. God knows I'm not doing any cards or decorating. A friend was just over, and we were supposed to be studying, but instead we went out to eat and then she made a CD for a work grab. She's (nominally) Jewish, and yet? Loves the Christmas music. I was all, huh.

Huh. The condition I have used to be known as the 'big blind-spot syndrome.'

A friend of mine had physical trauma induced blindspots in both forward and periphery vision. She'd get really drunk and play "let's make your head disappear!" Was probably the only thing she didn't find annoying about it. (As time went on, her brain mostly made up for the blindspots, but apparently being drunk temporarily undid the new wiring.)

Mom and I talked about missing our old traditions, like setting up luminaria and going to Old Mesilla christmas eve after opening presents. I think, besides the low-key of our christmases, those are some of the key activities that made me like it. Old Mesilla's luminarias were awesome, with carollers singing in spanish at the pavilion and the last few years brought hot air balloons parking in a nearby field, and lighting up.

I am SO introducing luminarias in brown paper bags when I have a yard. None of this chi-chi white paper bags with cutouts and cute sayings.

The condition I have used to be known as the 'big blind-spot syndrome.'

Dude. Thank dog they snazzed up the name, you know?

I need to stop listening when Bush speaks. I'm nearly giving myself an aneurism with all the counter-arguments going on in my head. Because he's making no sense, and yet my brain keeps wanting to try to make logical arguments against what he's saying.

yeah, my dad asked if I was gonna watch. I was HELLS NO.

ok, down to the last cards.

Why did I agree to work a load out in December? It's 13° and I'll be loading a truck until 3am. Can I call in raynauds?

Got a little done today, but not enough. Have baked the first 2 batches of my Christmas cookies. Visited a musician friend who volunteered to help me figure out if I could tweak my electric guitar to sound better with my (lack of) playing style. More baking on the way if I can resist the urge to hibernate.

I ordered the "antique" box from treesource.com and was sampling each apple very carefully (the point was to select varieties to be planted in my back yard). House construction got in the way as usual and by the time I found the remainder of the box, one apple had rotted away entirely and the other 4 were kinda past their prime. So I cut them all up into an apple pie/gallette. We'll see how that turns out.

I need to make a bunch of Czech Christmas Bread for my ex's father. My ex is very difficult to buy for so making this special bread for his dad is one way to do something for him that he appreciates. However, their family recipe was lost and the one I found on the internet last year needed much tweaking to approximate what he's used to. Like a dummy, I forgot to write down all the tweaks. It took me at least 4 tries last year to get it right. I don't have the money nor time to do 4 batches this year. Hope I remember what I need to know.

I also can't find my holiday music in this construction mess so I read with envy of other folks' favorites. My favorites are AWOL.

Dude. Thank dog they snazzed up the name, you know?

Totally. I'd hate to walk up to a group of people and hear, "Look - here comes the guy with the big blind spot."

I love how luminarias look. I don't think I've ever seen them in person but I've seen pictures. Aren't they a bit of a fire hazard, though, sarameg? I've been trying to think of something I could make them of that I could leave them unattended for a while. Because I do have a yard.