Perhaps you are wondering how the Christmas holidays are coming along at NiciM�s house.
Mr. Lucky decided to give all the employees at the company a nice bonus. Well, almost all. The engineers got between $4K and $1K depending on how long they�d been there. I got nothing (big surprise), not even a contribution to my 401K � and I have almost 15 years. And his personal secretary that makes under $30K and sometimes calls me crying when he is especially bad? Nothing. Been with him for four years�..takes the brunt of his assholiness and just because she�s missed a few days lately with a sick child�..nothing. I wrote her a check from my own pocket. And the new engineer who had a car accident lately and can�t afford a new car so spends 2.5 hours one way taking a metro, two busses and walking over a mile every day in the cold to make $10 per hour? Yeah � ignored him too. So I gave him cash.
Various Christmas cards arrived � except from a few who have, apparently, decided to ignore me, unless there were more thrown away (see two entries back). I posted a DLand Christmas greeting/card (see one back - my 500th) which was also ignored by pretty much everyone which goes to show I�m not only more boring than usual (and no, this is not a request for an �oh no darling, boring, you?�) but sentimentality in any form just doesn�t cut it any more. And ye olde email mailbox still reads �You have 0 new messages�, like that�s a surprise.
Morgan arrived on Thursday with a really bad cold. Nevertheless we went out yesterday to fight 10,000 of our closest friends and neighbors to do just a tiny bit of shopping. She and I decided we wouldn�t do large gifts this year so we could expend our dimes in coming months on lovely baby yummies. So it�s just lots of good stocking stuffers. And there�s always Monday!
The tree was already up, which disappointed her a little. I think she wanted to help. But, notice anything missing?
Mr. Lucky, who has a large family, went out Friday to see if he could find anything on sale for them. Nope � no luck. So, since dinner with them isn�t until next Thursday when the Pennsylvania set comes down, he still has the after Christmas sales to hit in hopes of getting something really useless at an even cheaper price. (yes, poppets, I decided not to take on this added responsibility as I have done for the last fifteen years � I figure the �after last Christmas on sale gift basket of scented lotions I can�t use because Mr. Lucky is allergic to scents� I get from them is no longer worth my combined efforts to find something special). And he hasn�t bought me anything in years (ok, there have been times he�s said � go buy yourself something for $100 or under and I�ll pay for it�.which I have, on occasion, taken advantage of � but there�s always an unpleasant payback��)
We did, however, get more food. Just what this house needs � more food. So now Christmas dinner for SIX will be ham AND turkey, green bean casserole AND cauliflower casserole, ambrosia, sherbert jello salad, candied yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and three pies. Anyone for leftovers? I�m doubling up on exercises now AND living on Slimfast until tomorrow. Of course Morgan is eating everything in sight�yesterday she had cottage cheese, sour cream and cheese chips dipped in sour cream, hot peppers, pickles, tea, and a Cocoa Krispies bar�..all for breakfast. So I have set guards on the rest.
And my neighbors? Oh � they are in fine fettle. They are gone for the holiday now and instead of this:
WE ARE GREETED WITH THIS. (at night it resembles a battlefield!)
Well, time to finish up something. I still wanted to make a wreath for my neighbor, wrap some things for the stockings, cook some dinner and stand out on the porch screaming
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