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.

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

Exactly! Latin was invented for a reason, you know?

The chick behind the front desk at krav totally ran her mouth off (I say that with love--she rocks) to a student today. She noticed he was a doctor when she checked him in, struck up a conversation and found out he was a neurologist. So she gave him my case history (of which she has most of, since she's in sports medicine, plus I like her), and then called me out of the seminar I was watching so I could talk to him. The most telling (or depressing or optimistic) thing he said was "It's only been a month and a half? No worries! These things tend to plateau until the six month mark."

Doesn't quite cover the migraines, just the other stuff, but still. Six months? Oy.

I am heating up leftover empanadas and they smell soooo good.

Nope, not really. They don't burn that long. We'd have maybe a couple that made it until morning, but those were the weak ones. Proper luminarias, you fill the bottom of a bag that has a good cuff ( to keep it open )with a couplethree inches of only slightly damp sand and plop the candles within. When we had a grass yard, we always set them on concrete (now parents have rock, so no big.) Some flame up dramatically, but it is all about placement. If you are putting them on your roof (as some people do) you do have to be more careful, but...around where I lived, most of those were adobe walls so...

Speaking of grocery stores (or not, more like I just made sandwiches for the week and it reminded me) I had an odd experience in Safeway the other day. Shortly after I got there, I find this older guy in a yalmulka standing at the end of the aisle, just staring at me. Kinda ignored it. A few aisles later, he is glaring at me, again from the middle of the end of the aisle. It was ..strange. It kept happening.

So I get in the checkout line, and who gets in line behind me but this guy and someone I presume was his son or relative. They are arguing in russian and the son is standing way the hell too close, but I figure it is a russian thing (given all the russians I knew in russia did not get my personal bubble at all.) Then, I lift a package of sliced ham from my cart and the old guy (who is still watching me) just ERUPTS. Furious. Pointing at me, pointing at his younger companion. It was really really strange. Unfortunately, all the russian I know is food related, but not pig-sourced food.

No idea what the hell that was.

Damn. I was hoping the story would include finally finding out what he was tripping about.

My ex very nicely obtained some real holly with bright red berries from his neighbors as I'd asked. So now my little construction site is kinda holiday-ish. Small live redwood tree trimmed with an IKEA kit (I don't have any heirloom decorations) and a couple holly boughs. Plus as much holiday baking as I can manage in between the moving boxes and tools.