Marilyn is Off to Work...
It's not quite 7:30 a.m., and Marilyn mistressmarilyn is off to work for the day. She told me last night she has 'another long day' today -- so we decided I wouldn't go in today to the office, as originally planned.
She was still at the office when I phoned her at 8:00 p.m. last night. I'd expected she might be late, but not quite that late. We didn't have our dinner until around 9:00...
Jessica pb_n_jam dropped by after work (her new job started on Monday) to visit! I'd made her a chicken and rice casserole as a congratulations surprise, and phoned her around 4:45 to let her know. (She works rather close to where we live.) We had a lovely visit and talked and talked. She's a cat person, and the boys were so glad to see her! They just flocked (can cats flock?) around her when she came in. Henry wouldn't leave her alone.
Marilyn was in meetings most of yesterday, and has more today. But she was late because she phoned one of the festival Board Members who is dealing with cancer right now. She's been so good to Mark. I'm really impressed by how much time she's given him.
We discussed it last night. Time is what you give people you care about. Gifts are easy by comparison. Your time is special -- especially if you don't have much of it. (And Marilyn has little free time.)
Anyway, I admire how thoughtful Marilyn is.
In other NEWS...
I talked to my sister Sue more than once yesterday. She was depressed and had been crying. I had her look at the the Home page of the website, as I'd changed the banner there last week. I wanted her to see that her photo was in the banner, because I thought it would cheer her up. I'm not sure I managed very well, though, frankly...
In dental news, I'm seeing Mary first thing tomorrow morning (her receptionist Shannon is 'fitting me in'). Yeah, because I really wanted to start my birthday by going to the dentist first thing in the morning. (sigh) Whatever. I need this thing taken care of, as I'm running a temperature and in pain. The fever makes me nuts right now! I can't recall ever noticing a fever as much as I am recently. In fact, I'm sitting here right now feeling the fever burn -- kind of flushing up and down my body. It makes me nauseous and dizzy and just yucky. What a bother. I have things I want and need to do, so I'll be damned if a stupid fever is going to stop me from doing them!!!
I can't believe it's already December! Where did the year go?
Where did November go? Oh, right! I was sick for weeks, then doing NaNoWriMo! So much for November. I didn't even end up decorating for Thanksgiving this year. Well, the good part about that is that I don't have to take it all down and put it all away, to get ready for decorating for Christmas! Autumn comes, and then it's time to decorate for Halloween, straight into any Fall/Thanksgiving decos and right into Christmas.
I don't think I fully appreciated the amount of work involved in all the decorating Mom did every single year! Thanks, Mom! Up until she was stuck in a wheelchair (minus one leg), she never missed it. And she decorated for more holidays than I ever have -- and decorated a TON. In almost every room of the house! She just loved the holidays, and loved making them special for her family.
The NaBloPoMo theme for December is THANKS, so each day this month I'll try to include something I'm thankful for -- or an example of the word 'thanks.'
I'm thankful:
That I had a mother who was so devoted to her family. No, we didn't always get along (what an understatement!), but she loved me and I loved her -- no matter what.
I'm glad she made a 'big deal' out of holidays -- and decorated like crazy. I love carrying on the tradition of decorating in my own home, and even using decorations that have been handed down from Mom, or were gifts from her.
I feel very lucky to have had her as a Mother. And she's been 'talking' to use like mad lately. She gave Marilyn her grandfather clock years before she died -- and when we moved here, it just finally stopped chiming the hours. But it will chime randomly and unexpectedly! We always say it's Mom talking to us. For example, she was suddenly chiming (even the hours) on the final day of NaNo, after we'd both won. You tell me if that isn't interesting/odd... (smile)