Hello, 2019

Today starts a brand new year and I'm making the best of not so great situations by doing as much as I can to feel in control and to be productive. After I complete this entry, I'm going for what may be the last run outside until Spring. The day started mild and most of what fell last night is no longer on the roads. Temp is falling tonight so it will all be ice in a matter of hours. Christmas is put away and I started an organizing/decluttering project that has been on my (long) to do list. I have spent this 4 day weekend alone, including New Year's Eve last night, mostly puttering around the house. I've only left to go to Barre, pick up chinese food, and do my grocery shopping. I have 3 days of work to get through then I'm back to my normal, holiday-free schedule. This week should end the investigation at work. By this time tomorrow, we should know if he's coming back or not. I would prefer him not to return as his return would prove his victory and expected retaliation on those who gave testimony. Either way, the result will be unpleasant for different reasons; the lab is divided and some are not speaking to the parties responsible for speaking up. This weekend, I will be taking time to decide what I need to do this year to be happy again. I'm not used to a lot of drama in my life so why not throw another wrench in the system and add personal on top of work drama. Big changes (not at liberty to discuss) in the family will be happening this year and it's very recent so I'm still processing and figuring out how to feel about all this. Sometimes I feel the solution is just going far away and starting a new chapter. Only time will tell how bad things will get. With that being said, things can always be a lot worse.

Last weekend was a little Christmas vacation...with the exception of being on call Xmas eve but that turned out to be fine as our only 6 PM page was cancelled. On Saturday, I went for a run and hung out with Emilee and the kids that evening. The kids had friends over, so Emilee and I mostly chatted. We had pizza from Tremont for dinner and she sent me home with chocolate peanut butter fudge. On Sunday, I went to the Goss house for our annual night before night before Christmas. Sadly, there was no snow to run barefoot in...just a few small piles of crunchy ice and we didn't feel like open cuts. I was supposed to bring Chinese food but they were closed up here so we settled for McDonalds lol. I did, however, make and bring brownies. I gave the kids their 5 Guys gift card and they went up to bed shortly after that. As usual, we spent the rest of the night down in the basement being loud. I gave Ashley a personalized grave stone marker for Data. I was home Xmas Eve except for a quick outing for a manicure and Gusanoz take out. I made a cheesecake and Jess came over for dinner as she was on call with me. I watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation twice before retiring for the night. After a quick work out, I got ready and picked up Cora before heading to my mom's. Pretty uneventful, just chatted, snacked, did the tree, and had our usual roast beast dinner. I took Simone to Jackson Rd. (probably where I got the screw lodged in my tire) to see the lights then hung out at their house before going home. I accomplished very little the day after Christmas as I had taken it off. Good decision.

Picking up where I left off last, I did not get called in. I did go to Claremont that first Sunday in December to occupy Simone for a couple hours while Dave worked on the house. I took her to see the Grinch in the theater...super cute movie. We also walked around TJ Maxx, went to McDonalds and saw the lights on Nelmar Heights and Francis St. The following weekend, I headed back to Claremont to have Coronis grinders with Paul and Vicki at my mom's. Can't recall at the moment the last time I saw them so it's been a long time. Sad. I told them I'd come visit this winter, though. They didn't stay super long but I hung around Ctown for a while. Simone and I went to Wal-Mart, Hannaford's and the humane society. I dropped her off at my mom's then checked out Hobby Lobby before heading home.

The following weekend, I was a homebody. I went for a run and deep cleaned my kitchen and living room, among other things. I wrapped up (no pun intended) my Xmas shopping with the exception of a snow tube for Simone, which I grabbed a few days before Xmas. I didn't really have a lot to do as most of it was in gift card form. I put most of my shopping effort into Simone's gift because it's obviously more fun to open stuff when you're 6, almost 7.

My music tastes haven't changed much in the past month. Still listening to the same Pandora stations. I did, however, cancel my XM subscription today so I'm a little sad about that. I really enjoyed Lithium but it's hard to justify paying for just 1 station. Oh well.

Still thinking about that home monitoring system...