one week later…

… and the day job is definitely slowing down. The company I work for had its annual dinner dance, a.k.a. big office holiday party, on Friday. I haven’t been to this in ten years, but a group of colleagues wanted to get a table together this year, so I went along with them. Nice to get dressed up for a change, although note to self: Don’t wear dress with train when you need to walk half a mile from car to venue, unless you want to arrive looking like you’re dragging a forest full of leaves and twigs behind you. And it was also fun to see esteemed colleagues singing along with the band, break-dancing, and busting various other moves on the dance floor. Ah, the office party. (But no, since you ask, the videos don’t appear to be up on YouTube yet…) Also, since my last post, I’ve paid for the land survey – or at least I’ve paid my half of it. We were going to take care of this at closing, but since we now won’t close till January, the surveyor was getting anxious. He has his cash… now when can I have my land??!! Actually it’s a relief that the seller is now happy to close in January (new tax year), because there is still no closing date in sight for my refinancing. I’d be frantic, except that I know I’m not the only one waiting ages for their refinancing to come through. So, to close on a happier, more festive note, here is a picture of my Christmas tree.

only little, but rocking those lights!

I got it yesterday – it’s only little but it has roots, so I’m hoping I can keep it alive until I’m able to plant it out somewhere on the land. The lights are battery powered… Next year I’ll be looking into solar powered tree lights, for sure.

Sunday in early December

The day job is easing off a little as we approach the holidays. It needs to, let me say. They don’t pay me enough for the hours I put in, etc., etc. Anyway, although I have some preparation still to do before Monday, I’m taking the opportunity to read things not related to work, and get some DIY chores done around the house. My copy of Possum Living arrived yesterday, and I fell on it like I hadn’t seen a book in several months. (Trust me, in my line of business that doesn’t happen!) I couldn’t put it down, although I confess I am skipping the bits about how to skin a rabbit, and (especially unpleasant, because I did glance at bits of this quickly) how to deal with a snapping turtle to get it ready for the pot. I’m about half-way through, and loving the author’s humour and attitude. Looking forward to finishing it this evening… The other diversion today involved regrouting tiles in the bathroom. I started on that last weekend, thinking I would just patch up a couple of bits before using this magic grout paint to spruce up the whole shower area. Well I let that dry, and of course over the last week I’ve noticed more areas that need a bit more grout. So that’s how I spent quite a bit of today. And – because the better the job starts to look, the fussier we all get – I think it still needs one more “touch-up” session. I’m calling it that because I never intended to regrout the whole damn shower area, but that’s what appears to be happening. And I want this DONE!! Anyway, I have decided that I am not taking another shower (don’t worry, I have a bath-tub) until I have replaced my existing shower head with this low-flow, shower filter. Gaiam sell it, so, depending on how much money I have left in January after the festive season has done its worst, I’ll be sending off for one of these… maybe it can be an early birthday present to myself.