Cynical Holiday Meme

This is the Friday Five on a group blog I sometimes read but don't participate in. In my sickness today, and my hatred of early holiday celebration, I'm participating today.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....

1) dessert/cookie/family food
The really cakey sugar cookies with thick, sweet icing the grocery stores sell around every holiday. They always show up at group lunches and junk like that this time of year.

2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)
Don't really have one of these, because I don't drink any seasonal beverages. Never liked eggnog (don't understand the point), don't drink beer, I think hot, mulled wine is gross.

3) tradition (church, family, other)
My current congregation has the sunday school Christmas program take the place of regular worship on the 3rd Sunday of Advent. I really love Advent, and I especially like the third Sunday (Gaudete Sunday). The kids are adorable, but I don't want to celebrate Christmas that far before its time.

4) decoration
Anything really gaudy. And there are folks around here who excel at gaudy.

5) gift (received or given)
I wrote before about the year I was in college when the housemate who got me in our gift exchange gave me his overdue library books, a mug he took from the kitchen and keychain with the name "Jennifer" on it, so I won't repeat that. In retrospect, the gifts my aunt used to give me really sucked - not because of what they were, but because of the utter lack of sentiment behind them. Before I got too old to be given gifts, I'd get a few little things she picked up cheap at the flea markets and auctions she went to, her Leggs pantyhose eggs, and her old catalogs. This, while she'd give her other nieces and nephews really nice stuff. My uncle always slipped me some money, though as we were leaving, I guess because he realized how unfair my aunt was (she did all the shopping for their household).

BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it.
Answered this one earlier this week: "Frosty the Snowman"

I'm Sick

So I am hereby marking the end of November with this post. It has been a lovely month, and I've enjoyed writing every day.

I'm going back to sleep now.

Have a lovely December.

OK

I bought a bottle of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice today. and in the bottle, there is 62 grams of sugar. So if that is the canned cranberry sauce the "The Biggest Loser" people were looking at, it is entirely possible that there is that much sugar in a "large scoop."

On a slightly related note, if you have been generally avoiding high fructose corn syrup, you can really taste it when you have something with it in it. It has a distinctly artificial taste. Yes, I am referring to that cranberry juice.

Since I Have Run Out of Things to Say...

...go read what Amy has written about the house I lived in for my last four years of college. She was house director for three of them.

They also have...

..."The Saggy, Baggy Elephant," if anyone is interested. I loved that one, too.

Really, I loved Little Golden Books in general. I mean, "The Pokey, Little Puppy," "The Sesame Street Cooperation Book" (which was the first book I ever read completely on my own), "The Little Engine that Could".

Did it get any better?

In fact...

I just bought one of their journals. I tried to resist, because I really am saving money toward my car, but then I saw that they had "The Tawny, Scrawny Lion" and I had to buy it. I loved that book when I was a kid. It was one of my very favorite Little Golden Books.

I can't wait to get this journal.

Looking for a gift?

Found this site. They repurpose old books into new journals. Each of them are unique. Think I need to buy one just to have it (because Lord knows I never use paper journals).

I'm glad November is almost over...

...because I'm completely out of things to say.

But My Dear Mouses...

One of the things on my Google homepage is a radom writing prompt generator. I just clicked on to Google, and this was the prompt that came up:

"Describe Romeo and Juliet breaking up with a cage full of rodents."

Talk about a kinky relationship.

No Title

Using the fantastic chart generator at Dark Lilac, I turned this picture:

into a cross stitch chart. It is huge (43 pages - on 14 count cloth, its 32x21 inches), but I can't wait to do it someday (I'm working on about 4 different projects in 4 different mediums right now - I get bored easily).

If' you'd like the chart, leave me a comment and I'll be glad to e-mail it.

What a Miserable Day

It has been raining since about 4 a.m., and it isn't supposed to stop until sometime tomorrow. And it's just cold enough to make the rain really miserable.

Nevertheless, I did make it to church today, with a whole minute to spare. It was good, as usual, but sometimes I wish our congregation was slightly bigger. I like the small congregation, but sometimes it just makes me sad.

Oh, and today we sang Andre Crouch's song, "Soon and Very Soon (We are Goin' to See the King)," and appropriate song for the feast of Christ the King. We sing gospel songs and spirituals quite often, owing to the fact that we are a multicultural parish (three whole African-American families, which is about as diverse as traditional churches get in the deep south) and because some of them are really powerful and moving. Every time we sing one, I look around the church and listen, and I'm always struck by the fact that we sound like...

A roomful of middle-class white people with roots in the midwest.

What did you think I was going to say?

If I Hear...

...Frosty the Snowman one more time, I'm personally going to do my best to increase my carbon footprint in hopes of increasing global warning enough that Frosty will melt for good.

Seriously, they were playing that insipid little song in every store I was in today. I'm tired of "seasonal" music already anyway. But that song just gets under my skin everytime I hear it.

I don't really have much to say today. I feel kind of icky. My period is finally going to start (sorry for those who are not interested), and my ovary hurts. That's what happens when you have cystic ovaries. It kind of sucks.

So, I will say adeiu until tomorrow. I will report whether or not I made it to church. Have a lovely evening.

LSU Lost

The city is in mourning. Now the best we can hope for is the Sugar Bowl. Have to give those boys credit, though. They left everything they had on the field and then some.

Quantum Leap is truly a fine TV show. I'm currently working my way through the series on Netflix. It's better than most of what in on TV right now. I would love it if the network people would rerun it.

I'm leaving in a few to drop my DVDs in the mail and to get some food for the cats.

It's Tomorrow

Though really, it's today. I'll leave you to ponder that little mystery on your own time.

So, survived dinner at BB's house (BB because Boss's Boyfriend is too hard to type over and over). BB's parents were very nice, and surprisingly openminded for Baptists. I would think most of them would have issues with having an openly gay child.

The turkey was good, but the sides....eh. No regular potatoes - just sweet potatoes, which I don't eat. The only vegetables were peas and green beans - neither of which do I eat. Cornbread dresssing, which I ate a little bit of to be polite, but that I really don't like (it's all meally and dry and icky - but southerners seem to like it). I ate a little of a couple of things I don't like to be polite.

The rolls were quite good, though. They were from Whole Foods.

After dinner, and post dinner conversation, we adjourned to the livingroom where we watched a "How It's Made" marathon on the Science Channel. I know more now about how they hatch chicks in a hatchery than I want to know. It kind of makes me want to go only buy my chicken from local farmers with free range chickens now - to heck with the cost.

Then we watched Wheel of Fortune, whihc I haven't seen in years and years. Boy, they really changed it a lot. That was followed by Ugly Betty which is interesting to watch with gay guys. We watched half an hour of Grey's Anatomy before BB's parents went to bed and we could turn off the TV and have conversation. I stayed until about 10:30.

It was a good day really. Plus, I got to play with the doggies. That's why I had to wait until this morning to post this - allergies. I know I have them, but I love dogs. I'll put up with the inconvenience for the chance to pet dogs. I love dogs.

Sigh.

Made It...

...with five minutes to spare. Will write more tomorrow.

It's Later.

This isn't what I want to say, but I just need to say that fully half the hits I got today were about The Biggest Loser's cranberry sauce question. Apparently I'm not the only one who had issue with them claiming that a "big scoop" of cranberry sauce contains more sugar than 6 chocolate donuts. If you are going to disseminate information on a show like that, make it accurate at least.

So I went to the endocrinologist today. My thyroid function is still low. The goal is for it to be between 0.2 and 2; it is currently at 5. That's probably why I've been feeling like crap.

I gained weight, too. That sucks. I've been doing everything right and I gained weight anyway. She said that's probably a thyroid thing, too. I've lost inches around my waist, though. I know that for sure.

I'm going to wait to see what happens with my skin before I make an appointment with the dermatologist. I figure I'll give it another week or so with intensive moisturizing.

Tomorrow I'm going to my boss's boyfriend's house for Thanksgiving. Other than my boss, the only person who will be there that I know is his boyfriend. His boyfriend's mother, sister, and a friend of Boss will also be there. I asked if I could bring anything, and Boss said an appetizer. I am too tired to cook one. If I get up early enough tomorrow, I may try to throw together a small fruit tray.

OK. Etiquette question. Do I need to give a host gift to Boss's boyfriend? People down here tend to be very proper about niceties like that, but it's weird because it's his significant other. I don't think I would take anything if it was at Boss's house, because that would be weird. But at his boyfriend's house? I think I should. At any rate, I bought a very simple and tasteful picture frame, and put a picture I bought from Deviant Art in it, rather than the UPC code. If y'all think I shouldn't give it, I have no problem keeping it.

I await your response, internet.

Oh, and I still have the homeschooling post sitting in my drafts waiting for me to finish it. I was going to do it today, but I had a headache and took the opportunity to leave early instead.

I Have Something to Say

But I may not get around to saying it before midnight. So just in case, this is here.

And just in case, Happy Thanksgiving.

Subversive

There is something a little subversive about eating pizza while
watching "The Biggest Loser."

By the way, they lied in their trivia question tonight. They asked how
much sugar was in "a big scoop" of cranberry sauce. Now, to me, a big
scoop is an entire can because I love it so much, but most people, I
figure, would interpret that as half a cup. They said there was 87
grams. I happened to have a can of cranberry sauce sitting right next
to me (as you do when you watch TV), and in half a cup, there is 34
grams of sugar. To get to 87 grams, you would have to eat a cup
and...a tenth. That is almost a whole can.

So there.

Oh, and Isabeau has a big ol' goiter. Hers is bigger than mine was. How can she manage that?

Interesting, I guess

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I'm a Monster!

Or at least my face looks like I am.

Seriously, this dry skin is out of control. It's hideous, and I can't even put makeup on to cover it up because it burns. Lotion burns, even, and I bought the kind for sensitive skin. And sweat? Feels like someone dumped a bucket of acid on my face.

If my thyroid is normal tomorrow, I think I'm going to stop by the appointment desk and schedule an appointment with my dermatologist. This came on too fast, and too bad, for it to be normal. Also? It should NEVER be 80 degrees in November. Ever.