Me too, me too! I'm feeling much better not only having it in there but having cleaned up the mess. Though the old one is still in the way, gotta call up the trash people and let them know.

shrift, I think you should put your cell-phone in the freezer and go sit on a beach in Thailand for a month.

megan walker drive-by for msbelle: My blog page for navigating Paris beyond the obvious, instructions for the métro, etc. with the caveat that it has been five years since I've been there (though I updated the prices more recently than that). I need to work on that. Le sigh.

Yay new microwave!

Well, I woke up around 4:45 today for no good reason. Luckily my only to-dos are a bookmaking class (making physical books, not learning how to take bets professionally) at noon and filling up the bird feeder whenever. Pretty sure I can manage both of those before I crash.

I do like sipping coffee by the light of the Christmas tree, my cat snoring beside it. It's not a bad morning at all. It's just a super early one.

Two trips to the hardware store later I have a new microwave! It seems to work!!

Yay!

I want to go to Trader Joe's today, but it's so cold. And it takes a lot of walking to get there. I was thinking about going to a different one where I could take a bus right there, but I remembered that bus is fucking unreliable, so I won't bother. HMMMMMMM.

In other to-do items: put up lights outside, get a bagel, go to Messiah sing this afternoon. Also clean? Shop for presents?

This has to be the worst version of LDB I've ever heard. Losing in style, I guess.

This has to be the worst version of LDB I've ever heard. Losing in style, I guess.

One year, I lost to a steel-drum version of LDB in a Spencer's Gifts store in a mall. It was simultaneously the best and worst way to lose.

Woo! I did all of my first-part-of-the-day things! Bagel, check. TJ's, check. Lights, check. Although I need one new string of lights because one worked in the house but not outside, and one is half-dead.

Also, this may be the smallest possible victory, but I bought the perfect amount of stuff at TJ's. One bagful, easy to carry. Sometimes I get there and feel like I didn't actually get enough to make the trip worth it. I also had a moment where I was going to buy a bunch of drinks and take a Lyft home, but I resisted that as well.

Timelies all!

Since the LDB that happened before Thanksgiving didn't count, I guess I got LDBed the Monday after Thanksgiving. There has been Christmas music in the lab just about every day for the last few weeks. Oh well, one more week, then I'm on vacation.

Meanwhile, we are having a party for Gary's birthday today. Let's see how many people show up...

Well finessed TJ's run, Jesse. I go to the TJ's that's most train accessible and I know the satisfaction of two evenly packed (but not overpacked so I can't grab the handles!) bags for Muni.

We have procured the tree! Emmett is here with a full beard and JZ is at mass (it's a day of Holy Obligation I guess?). We'll be making cookies in a bit and watching some xmas specials.

He can't stay the night because he's got school work due on Monday and work-work to do tomorrow. (He's doing landscape work once a week to pick up some cash.)

I think I've mentioned that Emmett is being an au pair in exchange for free housing with cousins of his best friend Joey. The key news here for anybody who has been following Emmett's dog-wanting ways all along is that...the family got a rescue dog!

So now Emmett is now living with a dog named Murphy, who is a young beagle/mastiff mix. (Looks like a Beagle with weird coloring.)

And he's very happy about that although between the baby and the dog he's literally dealing with a lot of shit.