Hot for this past week:

Vacation day (Friday!)

Tori Amos’ Midwinter Graces CD

Finishing up Christmas Shopping

Snow, Glorious Snow

New Ideas

Not Hot for this week:

Sick Husband

Engine Breaks Prohibited Signs

Not being able to eat Dairy

Overall, it’s been a pretty good week.  Be sure to check out Loobylu for more Hots & Nots!

There are simply too many choices in life sometimes.  Take dining out, for example.  More choices than you can shake a stick at.  It makes deciding difficult.  Buying Christmas presents, the same way!  Everyone makes it apparent what they’d like, so you’re left choosing.  Get the blue one or the red one?

Today, I skipped choices.  I  already knew what I wanted.  I went and got it.  And do you know what?  It was FUN!  I passed places I could have eaten for lunch, but nope.  I had already planned on eating at Bruegger’s Bagels.  Having my choices already planned for me made for a very relaxing day.

What choices are overwhelming you today?

Hot for this week:

* Reggaeton Radio on iTunes: Giving the appropriate bursts of high-energy music to push out as much work as possible.

* Our first snow of the year!

* Salsa lessons: They are exercise and memory tests all at the same time. And Chris and I have got all the new steps down!

* Jen Gray knowing exactly what to post that’s so pertinent in my life right now.

Not for this week:

* Feeling jealous

* Ice on top of the snow

* Bald back tires

* Tedious tasks

So, that’s the list.  Check out Loobylu for inspiration and more lists!

One of my many inspirations, Loobylu, does a what’s hot and not list. I’m joining in the fun.

What’s Hot:

Halloween! My favorite Holiday
Last year, we had one visitor looking for candy. This year, I’m hoping we’ll get more! But even if we don’t that’s okay too, because that means the 3 musketeers are all mine. (along with the tasty white merlot, our Halloween tradition!)

Literally my turkey pie. Smokin’!
Steamy lunches on cold rainy days are always delicious and well deserved.

My early Christmas present – A K-7 Pentax DSLR.
I took 6 images in low light situations on Monday and only 2 came out blurry. I was pretty impressed. Now, it’s time to read the manual to get the most out of it! Seems like a task for a rainy weekend!

Posed photos
Is it just me or are posed photos awesome? It sometimes helps the photographer get just the right angle, or just the right look that you just can’t achieve if someone is acting naturally.

What’s Not

Literally, my cold salad
The second half of my lunch to combat the calories from the turkey pot pie.

Any photos of me, except for when I was younger.
In a little funk, I suppose. Hair’s a little too gray, face is a little too wide. I blame it all on the Halloween candy I’ve been eating with little to no thought about tomorrow. Perhaps this weekend will be the perfect time to get back to the gym.

Old sweaters with lots of holes
They do little to keep one warm on cold rainy days.

Rainy days taking the colorful leaves off the trees
It seems the fall season is getting shorter. Perhaps because of all the rain we’ve had, knocking all the colors off the trees revealing eerie bare sticks. Though, with the leaves off the trees, the next thing to look forward to are the softly falling snowflakes and the excitement of the holidays. Not the worst thing in the world, that’s for sure.

So, that’s it for now. Come back next week, and I’ll see if I can do it again!

They put her in a retirement home. They said it was because they couldn’t take care of her anymore. She was terrified.

The second day she was there, she met the other residents. Most of them did nothing but drool. Certainly not the type of company she wanted to have. “Part of the bonus,” they had said, “was that you’ll be around people your own age, your own peers.” Like she had wanted that, she scoffed.

Like all retirement homes, they had activities. She had been signed up for as many as they could squeeze her in. She originally had hope for one: the book club. At least she had an escape. Yet, meeting the other residents did nothing but put her in a sour mood.

The woman running the club started by asking questions about the book. When no one answered her, she started reading a passage. She asked another question. Not one word. Then, from the back of the room came a gruff voice. An answer. She turned in her seat to see who was the verbal one. Her breath caught in her throat.

It couldn’t be. Not the one that she had once let go. But it was, the twinkle in his eye, the same upturned corner on the smile. He caught her eye and made that face, the face that he made only for her.

She smiled back. Maybe this would be fun after all.

He dropped her off at the edge of the field, just as the sun began to hide behind the line of trees. “Just wait,” he told her breathlessly as he drove around to find a parking space.

She waited. She watched the sun dip below the trees, it’s rays catching all the small holes to peek out and catch her eye. She waited some more.

At first she didn’t catch them. One popped up here, another over there. Just quick blinks, too fast for the eye to catch up. Soon, though, they were popping up all around her, curious to what the newest addition to the field was. She waited and watched for them eagerly.

With the last of the sun’s rays disappearing through the trees, they came out in greater numbers. When the sky went all dark, she felt him beside her. “Wait for it.” was all he whispered.

When the stars shone high in the sky, and the moon hid behind a gray cloud, they came out by the millions. Little lights blinking on and off. He reached for her hand and she gave it to him freely.

to write some more. So, if you want to read… I’ll be writing. Things, all kinds of things. The goal is to word vomit for so much time a day, and see how the fined tuned machine comes back into a well oiled rhythm. I really think music is the key, and internet radio has unlocked something again. Finding new music every day is a thrill I can’t even explain. It gives me energy, and gets me excited about things again. Dreams, too. As of late, my dreams have been more vivid and I remember more details more clearly when I wake up. (Partially because the line between waking up and sleeping becomes more blurred in the cool mornings when I’m all cocooned up.)

So, basically, watch this space. For stories, witty (ha!) commentary, and other goodies.

Music for a long drive?

1. Folk Implosion – “Natural One”
2. Soul II Soul – “Keep On Movin’”
3. The Bangles – “Eternal Flame”
4. The Killers – “Read My Mind”
5. Metric – “Help I’m Alive”
6. Seether – “Careless Whisper”
7. Better Than Ezra – “Absolutely Still”
8. Foreigner – “Double Vision”
9. Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
10. Crowded House – “Don’t Dream It’s Over”

Yes, thank you Music Choice!

I’m a “published” author. On the Tortus blog of course, http://blog.tortus.com/. Not only am I published on the Tortus Blog, but there’s a post about my recent flickr endeavors!

The other day, we had warnings of a frost. We had just planted our garden the day before, so we had to cover (and uncover it). My job was the uncovering the next morning. So I go out and removed all the coverings, run around the front of the house just in time for my carpool ride to get there.

I get to work, settle in at my desk and get to work. At 9:30 every morning we have a meeting halfway down the hall, so I get up and make the trip down. After the meeting, I make it back to my desk and sit, starting work for the long day.

About an hour later, a coworker comes down the hall with a nasty face on. “Who sh*t in the hall?” she shouted, to anyone near. Of course, she follows the tracks right down the hall to my desk. “Oh, it’s only mud.” she says.

And I’ll have to get some garden shoes…