Not The Best Day

It's a week before Christmas and I can't stop thinking of the one who isn't here.  Didn't go to the Y today to let my legs have a day off (they're rather achy).  I'll go tomorrow afternoon and work a little less intensely than I did yesterday.


Today's toss was actually a shred.  On the next shelf moving around the basement walls are the 10 accordion files where we keep the last 10 years' receipts; I needed to know how many years I have to keep.  So I called the tax accountant's office and, for good measure, called the financial advisor to ask the question.  The tax accountant's office said that I need to keep 7 years of tax returns and the receipts etc. used to prepare them, the remaining receipts can be tossed.  The financial advisor said that I only need to keep the last year's reports since they have all of them on file.  So instead of going downstairs to clear out the accordion files I hauled the boxes off the shelf upstairs and ended up with 60 lbs. of paper in a bin that I hauled to Office Depot to pay to have it shredded.  I will be more judicious when I empty the receipt files so that I can carry the bin instead of needing a dolly and another pair of hands.

In the afternoon I put together a batch of Carmel Mix which consists of a box of Crispix, a bag of pre-popped popcorn, and a bag of pretzel twists all dumped into a brown paper grocery bag.  Then a basic carmel--butter, brown sugar, corn syrup--is cooked in the microwave for a few minutes, baking soda and vanilla are added, then the whole mess is poured over the cereal etc. in the bag, shaken up, and popped, bag and all, into the microwave to cook for 90 seconds.  I then preheat the oven to 250, spread the mix out on foil covered baking sheets, and bake it for 15 minutes to dry it out and make it a bit less sticky.  So tasty and so not good for you.  It's what I'm taking to the knitting guild meeting on Thursday but there'll be plenty left to share with family and friends.


I mailed off the majority of the KY presents this afternoon and began wrapping the GB presents after supper.  In the past Durwood and I did that together.  We'd clear off the table and he'd wrap (he was much tidier about it than I am) and I'd tell him who it was for so he could pick just the right paper, then I'd put on a to-from and a bow.  I got lonely so I talked to DD for a while.  We were lonely for each other together.  We'll Facetime on Christmas, another reason I bought an iPad.



I noticed that the thin clouds off to the northeast were tinted pink so I went out front in time to see the sun blazing as it sunk below the horizon.  Next weekend is the solstice so the light will start to come back.  Hallelujah!

18 December--Felix Edouard Vallotton, La Paresse.  The day bed with its cover of black and tan graphic print and the pile of pillows should have been inviting.  It would have been if it wasn't for the body sprawled across it.  The eyes of the crime scene techs darted to look at her and then away.  Jacobs didn't know if it was her age, she looked to be about 30, or her beautiful brown hair spread across her shoulders, or the sheer number of stab wounds that crisscrossed her naked flesh.

Well, isn't that Christmas-y?  Bah humbug.  One more week and it'll be over, then I can claw my way back to a level of equanimity until the next whatever he's not here for.  Not wishing time away but I'll be glad when the "year of firsts without" wraps up.
--Barbara