Homeowners R Us

Here's the proof!  Two shiny keys to our new house.  Zac will be home in 10 hours and then we'll have a long, tiring weekend of moving in.  But we'll be together, making our house "home" so it's all good.  :)

Highs, lows, it's all part of the ride

I spent part of my afternoon today in an escrow office, signing a stack of papers that will finalize our purchase of a house.  YAY!  The only downside of the experience was the hand cramp than started about 20 minutes into the signing process.  Since Zac is still in Indiana, I got to experience the joy of not only signing my name 20,000 times but "Zachary L. Doe by Katherine L. Doe as his attorney-in-fact" 20,000 times as well.  Apparently I am the first person in the history of mankind to sign documents using a Power of Attorney, since almost every form given to me left little to no space to write the POA signature.  By the time I was done signing everything my handwriting had devolved from borderline acceptable to barely legible.  

In California once you're done signing the papers, it's takes a couple of days for them to be recorded.  Only then do you receive the keys to your house.  Right now it looks like we'll be getting the keys on Thursday.  I've already scheduled our household goods (HHG) to be delivered on Monday.  Plus I have to set up water, gas, electric, cable, etc.  It's an exciting thing, buying a house, and as of last week I wasn't sure it was going to happen (issues with a road maintenance agreement) but now it looks like we're 99.9% done with the process and I can't wait to move in.  A real bed . . . heavenly.

When I got home from signing documents, I got a call from Zac saying that someone from the fertility clinic called him to schedule an appointment.  Color me surprised.  *sigh*  I suppose I need to rewind a couple months . . .

When Zac and I got to San Diego we decided that we would try a few IUI treatments to see if we could get pregnant.  Unlike in Hawaii, in San Diego I can go to a military health care facility for fertility treatments.  I got the referral from my primary care doctor a few weeks after we arrived and we had our first IUI procedure in December.  Clearly it didn't work, or I'd probably be blogging about how we're turning one of the bedrooms in the new house into a nursery.  We didn't tell anyone we were going do the IUI.  In fact, we kind of mislead people close to us into thinking that we weren't going to try any fertility treatments until Zac got back from Indiana.  It was just easier that way.  The whole IUI thing was kind of sprung on us anyway.  I just happened to go to the fertility clinic at just the right time in my cycle and the doctor asked, "Do you want to give this a shot this month?" and we figured, why not?  We're here.  Might as well.  

We didn't tell anyone because it's tough having people constantly wondering, wanting to know, not asking and then finally breaking down and asking.  It kind of reminded me of when you're first married and people ask you, "When are you going to have kids?"  If you say, "Oh, we're not sure. At some point, though." people will continue to ask follow-up questions and continue to pry.  If you answer, "In two years," people stop asking because they're comfortable knowing that you have a plan.  You can continue to answer, "In two years" for as long as you want, because as long as people hear something concrete they're placated.  That's kind of how we feel about the fertility stuff.  If we told people, "When Zac gets back from Indiana," that would buy us a couple of months of peace and quiet.  We figured that people would forgive us for the deception if we successfully produced offspring.

So, like I said above, we had our first IUI in December.  Christmas Eve morning found me in an exam room, having an ultrasound to see if the fertility drugs had done their job of getting a handful of eggs ready.  The doctor said things looked good, so a few days later I had the IUI done.  Zac left for Indiana and a few days after he left I got my period.  I suppose I should say that I was disappointed, but at this point in the process I don't really feel pangs of disappointment anymore.  I suppose the disappointment is there, but it's become like white noise.  It's present, but I don't really notice it.  We've been trying to get pregnant for more than two years.  That's more than 24 months in a row that I've woken up one morning to find that my cycle has started and I'm not pregnant.  You get used to that after awhile.

Since I wasn't pregnant, I called the fertility clinic to ask what the next steps would be in the treatment, since Zac wouldn't be coming home until my February cycle.

Time out.  Okay, if you're uncomfortable with all this intimate knowledge of my "lady cycle" then I'm sorry, but it's hard to tell the story without fleshing out the details.  Fertility treatments are completely dependent on timing.  If you miss your timing it can mean you're out of luck until next month.  It means that your refrigerator calendar is marked up with numbered days of when to take which drugs, what days you need to go to the doctor, which days you need to have sex, and what days should be the end of your cycle so you can start wondering/stressing if this is the month that it will work.  Frankly, I'm excited when I look at the calendar and see something like "Hair appointment 10:00" instead of something related to fertility.  Anyhow, back to the IUI narrative.

When I called the fertility clinic I got their voice mail and left a message.   You always get the voice mail when you call the clinic.  No one ever actually answers the phone.  The message states that you are to leave a detailed message and that someone would return your call within one business day.  The message also expressly states that you are not to call back and leave multiple messages, that you should be patient and the clinic will return your call.  A couple of days after my phone call (not exactly one business day, but whatever) I got a call back.  I explained to the clinic staffer the situation, that my husband was going to be gone for the month, but that we'd like to try an IUI once again when he got back in February.  She said that someone would call me back in a couple of weeks to schedule the appointments I would need to get prepped for a February IUI cycle.  I took her at her word.  Turns out that wasn't a great idea.

Being busy with going to Hawaii, the house purchase and working I didn't even realize that the clinic hadn't called me back until I woke up yesterday and realized that another cycle had started.  I called the clinic back, left a message asking what steps we needed to take, and waited to hear back from them.  I got a call from my doctor(!) a few hours later.  I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was uncomfortable.  He apologized to me, but told me that I wouldn't be able to have a IUI procedure this month because they were already booked with patients.  He said that someone would call me back in a few days to schedule the appointments that I would need to set up an IUI for March.  I was so stunned and, yes, disappointed, that I didn't have much to say except a mumbled, "Ok, thanks."  Once I got off the phone, my initial shock wore off and I got mad.  Really, really mad.  I was mad at the clinic staff for not calling me back and I was mad at myself for not thinking to follow up with their non-call-back sooner.  I was also mad at myself for not being able to think on my feet fast enough to tell the Doctor about the lack of a phone call last time.

I sat down at the computer and found the website for Naval Medical Center San Diego.  I located the customer feedback link and typed out an e-mail, expressing my frustration and disappointment.  I saved it, walked away for an hour, came back, edited it and sent it off.  I knew there wasn't anything that they would be able to do for me this month, but I needed to let someone know that what happened wasn't acceptable.  The fertility clinic is, frankly, overbooked.  There are too many patients and not enough staff.  It's not their fault that there are so many of us that need their services but every time I have been to the clinic I am struck by how busy it is and how rushed it feels.  There have even been times where I've been there and there haven't been enough rooms for the patients and the staff has had to play musical chairs moving patients from one room to the next to make sure that the right patients are with the right equipment at any given time.  I appreciate that they work hard and are trying the best that they can, but they needed the feedback.  I didn't do a good job advocating for my healthcare by failing to follow-up on the non-phone-call so I decided that the e-mail would have to do.  I sent the e-mail yesterday afternoon.

That brings us back to today, and the clinic calling Zac.  Zac relayed the message to me, which included a direct number to one of the staffers, not the main line.  I called her and got her personal voice mail.  I left her a message explaining that I was returning her phone call about scheduling my next fertility appointments.  She called me back within the hour and began the conversation by apologizing.  She said that she had been informed that I was upset with the service that I had received from the clinic.  I didn't ask, but the only way she would have known that is if she had received the e-mail from yesterday.  I was pleased that the e-mail was actually read and responded to.

She explained a number of things about the clinic and the fertility treatment process to me that I didn't know.  She also stated that two of their three schedulers had left within the last three weeks and that the under staffing and training of new staff was probably why my message fell through the cracks.  She said that she wasn't excusing the lapse, but she wanted to let me know that that is not how their clinic usually conducts themselves.   She admitted that the clinic was awfully busy, and that she appreciated my patience.  She also explained how the fertility treatment cycles worked, which no one had done before.  That provided me with a better understanding of how and when procedures would happen.  She ordered me some drugs that I needed to pick up at the pharmacy this afternoon and she again thanked me for my feedback.  I headed over to the pharmacy to get my prescription.

When I got to the pharmacy, my prescription wasn't in the computer.  I sighed and headed upstairs to the fertility clinic to find out what happened.  There was a couple in front of me at the check-in and I recognized the papers in her hand as the ones that were given to Zac and I at our consultation for our first IUI.  The couple left and I asked about my missing prescription order.  It turns out that the order was in the system, but that the doctor hadn't signed off on it, and so on.  They had the doctor sign off on it and I returned to the pharmacy to fill the prescription.

When I sat down in the waiting room I notice two things.  1.)  Someone was wearing waaaaaaaaaaaaay to much Old Spice, and 2.) the couple I had just seen upstairs was sitting next to me.  I played cribbage on my phone while I waited, but I couldn't help but hear the conversation between the husband and wife.  I would guess that they were in their mid to late 20s.  Younger than me anyhow.  What caught my attention was the crack in her voice as she struggled not to cry.  I heard her tell him how frustrated she felt, how she used to be so optimistic that things would work out, but that now she felt like she'd never feel that optimistic again.  I heard her tell him how guilty she felt.  How she felt like the infertility was her "fault".  Her husband was amazing.  He held her hand and was incredulous.  "How can you feel guilty?  This isn't your 'fault'.  You've done nothing wrong."  She sniffled.  "But it's not you," she replied, "so it's me, right?  The doctor said you're fine.  How would you feel if we were sitting in this waiting room waiting for drugs that would increase your sperm count? Wouldn't that make you feel like that maybe it was your 'fault'?"  The husband said all the right things as big tears rolled down her face, but I knew that nothing he would say would make her hurt less.

I wanted to say something to her, but at the same time I didn't.  I recognized all that she was saying.  I have had almost the exact same conversation with Zac on more than a few occasions.  Hearing the words out spoken out loud by someone else was difficult though.  The rational part of my brain wanted to scold the young woman for thinking like that.  I wanted to let her know how ridiculous she sounded, and wanted to say that feeling sorry for yourself wasn't going to help with anything.  But as I sat there, listening to her fight back her tears, I softened and started to feel sympathy for her.  I've had those same thoughts.  Hell, I still sometimes have those thoughts.  I reached across the empty chair between her and I and touched her arm.

"I wasn't trying to listen in on your conversation, but I'm going through exactly the same thing that you are.  My husband and I have been trying for more than two years.  I've said exactly the same things to my husband that you're saying to yours.  There isn't anything I can say to you to make you feel better, because there isn't anything that will.  But what you're feeling?  It's normal.  And it sucks.  It sucks so much."  She blinked through some tears and gave me a half-smile.  I realized that I was about to cry too, so I bit my lip and forced a smile back.  Her number was called at the pharmacy window and she got her prescription.  As she passed me on the way out she stopped, smiled, and said softly, "Good luck to you."  I smiled back and her and said, "Good luck to you too."

That's the most I've ever talked to another woman going through infertility treatments, at least since I've been going through them myself.  I don't particularly want to talk to other women going through this.  But I felt like I had to say something to her, just because she seemed so defeated.  I've come to terms that I might not ever be a mother, and I've started to embrace the idea of the adventures that a life without children will afford me.  I'm still hoping that we have kids, but it's not going to break me if we don't.  But she seemed so crestfallen, so heartbroken.  I just wanted to let her know that it's okay to feel that way and that yes, it does suck.  It sucks so much.  

So for those who want to know when we're going to have kids?  Two years.

I'm not really the job fair type

On Thursday I attended a symposium/job fair for military spouses.  Anyone who knows me knows that I can have a really piss poor attitude when it comes to attending job fairs.  Actually, piss poor might be a bit of an understatement.  I'm more along the lines of down-right hostile with negativity oozing out of my pores.  I hate job fairs.  I know that I'm not great at selling myself to prospective employers, especially when I have no idea what jobs they may have that would be of interest to me.  I can hardly figure out if I'm qualified when they post a job opening - I can't begin to figure out what to say when I'm walking up to random booths not knowing what they have available.  Job fairs are demoralizing, soul-sucking, drink-inducing affairs that usually put me into a tailspin of self-doubt and self-pity for at least a couple of days before and after.  Yes, I'm aware I have issues.


I'm glad to report that this one wasn't as bad.  That's probably because I (mostly) skipped the job fair part.  [I can almost hear my mom yelling at me through the computer.]  The first half of the day was a symposium to help military spouses with issues that many of us face: frequent job changes, gaps in employment, employers being reluctant to hire people that may be moving soon, etc.  I was surprised to hear that the national unemployment rate is around 8.5% but that for military spouses it's closer to 26%.  I count myself lucky that I have a job, as many of the spouses that I talked to that morning were in the unemployed group.  I was also surprised at the number of spouses in attendance that had four-year degrees and beyond.  A fair number of them had masters degrees and I overheard a couple of attorneys talking a few tables over.  Regardless of the education level, the one thing that I saw that every spouse had in common was a look of overwhelmed frustration on their faces.  And I'd say a good half of them just look defeated.  The presenters tried to be bright and perky and bring up every one's spirits, but I think even they realized that it was going to be a tough crowd.


The first panel of the morning was comprised of four human resources specialists.  They gave a lot of advice on interviewing and how to answer those awkward questions about being a military spouse.  A lot of what they shared was common sense: be honest, be upfront.  But they did say a few things that stuck with me.  One of the panelists said that interviewing is sort of like a being a political candidate at a debate - you need to know your message (i.e. why you're the best candidate) and keep bringing the interview back to your message, even if the interviewer throws a couple of tough questions at you.  I hate when politicians do that at debates, but it's true that it's an effective way of controlling the interview and making sure that you get out the information that you want to get out.  I was also surprised that all of the panelists said that they didn't care if it was paid experience or volunteer experience - if it makes you look good as a candidate just put it down under the general label "experience".


The panelists also emphasized that if you're not using social media to try and find a job, then you're really not trying at all.  LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.  They said you need to be on these and know how to use them.  I was surprised at how much they kept coming back to that.  In closing they also reinforced the "one-page resume" and "hand written thank you note" doctrines, which I'm sure would please my mother.


The second half of the morning session was an abbreviated version of a longer training that addresses building your brand.  One of the key components of the training is getting you to think of good experiences you've had in life, professional or personal.  Not things like, "getting married" or "graduating from college", but things like "The presentation that I made in front of the Board last week" or "putting together the senior class party for my daughter."  We were all instructed to jot down some good experiences on a piece of paper and then get into groups of three to share them.  I sat there and stared at my paper.  I couldn't think of a damn thing, at least not anything related to my job.  I do a lot of little things really well at my job - I'm particularly good at finding errors that some people would over-look - but in terms of the good experiences that they were looking for I was drawing a blank.


Then I thought, "Well, I did have a good experience presenting at COMPASS," so I jotted that down.  And then I thought about putting together the family communications survey when I was the ombudsman at Zac's last command.  That was a pretty good experience too.  When we broke into groups each member shared their good experiences while the other members jotted down what skills they heard when you talked about your experience.  The other two women in my group were younger Navy wives, I'd guess in their mid 20s.  One of the women had a couple of experiences to share, but the other young woman just shook her head.  She hadn't been able to think of anything.  She look particularly sad about that.  I told her that I had a heckuva time thinking of things at first, too, to try to make her feel better.  I told her that I bet if she looked at other parts of her life, being a spouse, a parent, a daughter, a volunteer, etc., that she'd find some good experiences she could use.


Besides exposing what skills we have, sharing our good experiences also was supposed to help us figure out what we enjoy doing.  It wasn't until we did this exercise that I realized how unhappy I've become with my job and how it lacks attributes that make me feel fulfilled - interacting with people, working as part of a group, sharing information with others.  While I enjoy project-based work, performing research and looking for errors, I'm too isolated in my current role.  I need to find a job that it outside of my living room.  I need to have co-workers again.


One of the other cool things about writing down and talking about your good experiences is that it makes you happy.  You feel pride, and excitement, and satisfied.  After the good experiences exercise the vibe in the symposium was decidedly more upbeat and cheerful.  Attendees were actually smiling and laughing, and more than one spouse seemed ready to storm the job fair with a reinforced sense of self.  (No, not me, silly.)


After lunch I did walk through the job fair, just to see what companies turned out.  I saw a lot of IT companies, some banks, the Navy Exchange and the Army Exchange folks, Walgreens, Lowes, 24 Hour Fitness and others.  All of these companies already post as part of the Military Spouse Employment Program so if I'm interested in seeing what they have available I can always check that website out.  While I didn't use the job fair part of the day, I'm glad I attended the morning session.  It gave me some valuable ideas on what I need to put on my resume and how I can start figuring out how to articulate orally and in writing what my job skills actually are.  Now I just need to keep this good-feeling-train rolling and translate it into a new job.   

Back from vacation

I got home yesterday from spending a few days in Hawaii with Bernadette, Claudia and a couple of other friends.  I hadn't planned on returning to Hawaii so soon after we left, but Bernadette told me that she was going to run the Maui marathon on January 22nd and she suggested that we meet up a few days before that on Oahu.  I hadn't seen Bernadette since she and Ken left Oahu almost two years ago.  The thought of her, Claudia and me lounging on the beach, laughing and catching up was too good to pass up.  Zac is also gone for the month, going to a school in Indiana, so I was alone in the house anyhow.  I found someone to watch the dogs and I headed to paradise for some rest and relaxation.  It was kind of fun being a tourist in Hawaii, rather than a resident.  Hopefully I won't have to wait another two years to see the two of them - Claudia's family will be moving to San Diego in April and Bernadette & Ken might be heading this way too.  That would be fine by me.  It's great to be surrounded by good friends.

It's about to be Kate's (619)

I'm going to have to change the name of my blog in about a month.  Why?  We bought a house.  HOORAY!  We finally found the one!  It's located in the eastern part of the metro area and it's about a 25 minute drive from Zac's work.  It's got three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a two-car garage and an awesome back (and front) yard.  We're in the middle of the process right now and we should be closing in about four weeks.  I suppose something unforeseen could pop up and derail the purchase, but I'm cautiously optimistic that any hiccups would have been unearthed by now.  After looking at houses for a couple of months, Zac and I were starting to wonder when we'd find one that fit us.  Finally, the week before Christmas, we found this one.  We put in an offer right away and they accepted it on Christmas Eve.  (Which we didn't learn about until the 26th - so it was an early/belated Christmas present for us.)  I'm looking forward to moving in and getting our household goods delivered.  I'm ready to get settled in and start putting our home together.

It's much, much to early to be blogging this morning.  6am on a Sunday?  I should be sound asleep.  But instead I was up at 4:15 this morning, getting ready to take Zac to the airport.  Zac is going to an advanced armory school and he left today.  It's only for a month, so I'm not complaining, but I will miss him.  This will be our longest stretch apart since he was in El Salvador.  I'm really lucky because not only do I love Zac, but I like Zac too.  He's my partner in every sense of the word and life is a lot more fun when he's around.  Kissing him goodbye is always tough - I always want just one more.  Or one more hug.  Or another kiss.  But at some point the airport curb enforcement patrol gives us the evil eye for making out for too long and I have to let him go.  *sigh*  I know he's excited for this school so I'm glad he's getting the opportunity to go.     I guess this means that I'm in charge of putting out the recycling for the next four weeks.  Arg!  I miss him already. 

I was hoping that when I got home I'd be able to fall back asleep easily.  I was up early and didn't sleep very well last night, in fear that we'd miss our alarm.  Unfortunately as soon as I walked back in to the house I knew that while I'm pretty exhausted, I'm not sleepy right now.  I was secretly hoping that if I started typing that maybe the click-clack of the keys would lull me to sleep, but that hasn't happened yet.  I'd read a book or catch up on some magazines, but we don't have any lamps in the house and the ceiling-light doesn't give of nearly enough light to make reading easy or enjoyable.  I miss our lamps.  And our bed.  And my cookie sheets.  And our shelving.  And our legal-sized envelopes.  (While inexpensive, I refuse to buy another box of them because I have two boxes in storage.)  It's so nice to know that soon we'll have those things back and we'll able to sleep on a real mattress and bake cookies and mail things in appropriately-sized envelopes.  2012 is going to be a great year.  

Happy New Year! (2012 edition)

Glad new year tidings to everyone!  I'm feeling pretty good about 2012, even though it's only 16 hours old.  I'm feeling optimistic and hopeful that it's going to be a good 12 months.

Going back to last week, Zac and I ended up having a pretty fun Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  As of Christmas Eve morning we had no plans for the weekend.  I was feeling a little blue, more out of boredom than anything.  Groupon to the rescue!  Zac was checking online for Groupon deals and noticed that there was one for a comedy show in La Jolla that night.  He had also previously bought a Groupon for a seafood restaurant, also located in La Jolla.  We called up the restaurant and sure enough, they were open for dinner.  So we made dinner reservations and bought the vouchers for the comedy show.  

We got to the restaurant, had a drink to toast Christmas and then got an amazing lobster/crab/prawns dinner for two.  Pricey?  Yes.  Delicious?  YES.  Hey, if you can't splurge every now and again, what's the fun of eating out?  After we filled our bellies with yummy food, we headed over to the comedy show which started at 9pm.  I wasn't sure how many people would be there, honestly.  I mean, who else besides us would be at a comedy show on Christmas Eve?  A lot of people are either at church or spending time with family and friends.  Although, now that I think about it, I suppose they could have had a full audience comprised of non-Christians, atheists and anti-social types.

It turns out there are about 25-30 other people that go to comedy shows on Christmas Eve.  Sure, the place was only a quarter full, but we were all there ready to have a good laugh and enjoy our night.  The size of the audience made for great fodder for the comedians, and we all laughed loudly and often with a strange sort of camaraderie.  I think we were all grateful for each other's attendance.  Certainly the staff and performers were gracious and thankful.  I mean, it was a Saturday night - what I would assume to be a usually big revenue night.  But because of how the holiday fell this year, the place was a ghost town.  So I'm glad that we were there to contribute to their coffers.  The comedians were hilarious and my cheeks hurt by the time we left.  I'm really glad Zac saw that Groupon.

Christmas Day we went to see the new Mission Impossible movie and then went out to Buca di Beppo for supper.  Yes, we ate out two days in a row.  I'm okay with that, but my hips aren't.

We went out for New Year's Eve last night with Zac's friend from A School and his wife.  (The couple that had us over for Thanksgiving.)  We went out for sushi at their favorite sushi place, which was awesome!  We will be going back there for sure.  I'm salivating as I type about it.  So, so good.  After dinner we went to their friend's house for a party.  Earlier in the day when we were making plans for the evening with them, they told us that their friends were having a trailer-park, white-trash murder mystery party.  Eh?  Zac and I had no idea what the heck that would entail.  Our friends seemed a little worried about how this party would go, so they assured us that if things were too strange that we'd head over to a nearby bar.  

When we walked into the party, it was like walking into a Twilight Zone episode.  The other eight guests were dressed up in costumes.  Most of the women were dressed in things like white tank tops with black bra straps showing, tacky make-up, fake tattoos, beer-can curlers in their hair.  The guys were dressed up too, in assorted outfits for their specific characters.  They had strung up Christmas lights with blue painters tape, there was laundry hanging from clotheslines in the house, pictures of scantily-clad women leaning against cars and trucks hung on the walls, and a few lovely strings of Budweiser cans, hung by the chimney with care, completed the look.  (Yes, I understand how incredibly un-PC this was.)

So the party was a murder-mystery party.  If you aren't familiar with the premise, it's a game where everyone is assigned a character and is given a biography of who that person is and how they relate to the other characters.  A member of the party is "killed" and as the party/game progresses you are handed different pieces of information that you're supposed to share with the group (all in character).  At the end of the night everyone tries to figure out which of the party guests is the murderer.  The other party-goers had been given their characters in advance, hence their costumes and fully developed personas.  We, on the other hand, had just jumped into the deep end of the pool.  I played Zac's overbearing mom, which was mildly awkward but HILARIOUS.  I constantly ran interference between his character and the "hussy" that was trying to corrupt my sweet boy.  (Again, I don't usually call someone a hussy when I've only known them for three minutes, but that's where I found myself last night.)  Zac's character was the sweet, local mechanic that everyone loved.  He played it as a sort of Bobby Boucher-type.  (From the movie "Waterboy".)  He used, "My momma said . . ." regularly which always cracked everyone up.  He was awesome.

The four of us were handed biographies of our characters.  I thought to myself, "This is really weird, but I can play along."  I was worried about Zacfaux-southern accent and interacting with people he had never met.  Turns out he had a great time and played his character really well.  I was really happy that he had a sense of humor about the whole thing.  Once our friends saw that we were on board with the party, everyone relaxed and the murder-mystery party kicked into gear.  It was strange because my character was supposed to be very judgmental and downright nasty to some of the other guests.  It's uncomfortable being rude to someone you've never met, and I found myself breaking character to apologize quite a few times at first.  (I apologized again at the end of the night, just to make sure.)

The hosts cooked up tater tots as a late-evening snack, with the "fancy" Heinz ketchup which caused everyone to laugh.  We finally figured out who the murderer was just before midnight struck.  The night had flown by.  We had a blast.  It was strange, yes.  But it was unexpected fun, which is cool.  We stayed a little longer to watch some of the New Year's tv programming and then headed home.  As we left, the hosts and other guests told us how happy they were that we came and were willing to play.  It was an interesting, and enjoyable, way to ring in the New Year. 

Mele Kalikimaka!

The calendar says it's Christmas Eve today, but I'm not totally feeling it this year.  The move, the house hunting, the lack of holiday decor at our house, the weather, the absence of family and friends, it all adds up to it kind of a "meh" Christmas.  We do have a pile of brightly wrapped presents that came from various family members.  It will be fun to open those up tonight or tomorrow.  I'm sure there will be some phone calls and Skyping, but that's  not much different than any other weekend.  Really, it's just another weekend around here.  I did manage to whip up some Christmas cookies earlier this week, which was kind of fun.  I have no cookie sheets so I used the bottom part of our broiler pan, which worked pretty well.  (The lack of cookie sheets has also delayed my ability to make peanut brittle.  Luckily Mom sent some for us in the Christmas box.)


I hope everyone is having a merry holiday season, whatever holiday you may observe.  I also hope that everyone has someone to enjoy the season with.    Whether you're celebrating with friends or family, I hope you are surrounded by love, laughter and joy.  Mele Kalikimaka!