DECEMBER 6: POMEGRANATE SEEDS

December 6:

1. St. Nicholas Day, St. Nick didn’t leave treats in my shoes; he probably couldn’t find them in our clutter. On the plus side he didn’t leave me coal or a whipping switch either. :-)
2. I got the socks mailed to Tina Marks for the Women’s Shelter. Actually Tom mailed them for me, bless him!
3. Made a yummy smoothie for breakfast with light vanilla soy milk, a packet of instant oatmeal and frozen raspberries from the freezer. Why haven’t I done that sooner? It was yummy, healthy, and QUICK!
4. Woke up too early, but got busy cleaning the house, with Tom's help it was done by noon.
5. Handy Man Dan never showed up, but at least the house is looking much better and that feels good. Supposedly he’s coming tomorrow.
6. The morning was crazy with lots of phone calls from social workers at the school, guardian ad litems and other collateral providers. Lots to document from all of them.
7. Got the table in the kitchen cleaned off so I can actually use it to do some art one of these days.
8. I need to get my sketch book for the Sketch Book Project finished (now that I’ve located it in the art mess on the kitchen table).
9. Drove 60 miles round trip to a client’s house, arrived there and the mom said, “Oh, I meant to call you… we’re all sick. Stay if you want.” I chose to leave, who needs ear infections, strep throat, pneumonia, bronchitis and sinus infections? No room in my schedule to reschedule this week or next so we’re meeting in 2 weeks. Hopefully everyone will be healthier by then. Got to be a contagious bug in the midst of all that, so I drove back home and got another hour of paperwork done before I had to leave for my next appointment.
10. My last appointment of the day, a kid who has me and everyone else banging their heads on a brick wall was surprisingly pleasant. The horrendous attitude was missing and he said he’d made some progress on missing/late assignments during lunch hour detention. He’s been more respectful toward his mother this last week. Everyone was in a much better mood! For once I didn't have a headache when I left.
11. Tom had made a wonderful salad for dinner;
12. I had a frozen pizza crust, and turkey pepperoni that needed to be used up so we made a quick yummy veggie and pepperoni pizza for dinner. I LOVE Wishbone Light Italian dressing. I don’t think I’ll ever buy a different Italian salad dressing again.
13. We had a relaxing couple of hours after I got home; we put on Christmas music, chatted a little bit, I cuddled with Bear on the love seat, had a cup of herbal tea, dozed off and on while Tom read. I went to bed really early. I took a Melatonin sleep aid before going to bed. MIDNITE, a pleasant tasting mix of Melatonin, lavender, lemon balm, that melts in your mouth about as soon as you take it, it worked fast. I was in bed asleep before 9:30.
14. The Minnie Mouse outfit I ordered for Ashlyn for Christmas arrived. It’s so cute! She’ll love it and her daddy will too! The purple and hot pink striped leggings are so fun!
15. We got a couple of Christmas cards from old friends, so nice to hear from them.
16. We decided what to get Julie for Christmas! Thanks to good suggestions from her boyfriend and best friend Catherine!
17. I cancelled the dental cleaning appointment I had for next week; rescheduled to Jan 3. It was amazing how clearing one thing off my calendar was such a relief!
18. I got the sweetest hug from the 3yr old at my last appointment. She’s been so wary of me, and walked up and stood in front of me, not sure what she wanted I smile and opened my arms and she crawled up and gave me the biggest tightest hug without saying anything, and then got back down it was a sweet moment for me, and Mom was really surprised. She’s about 7 months older than Ashlyn; it almost as good as getting a hug from Ashlyn. :-)
19. Tom survived my anxiety attack I had, just hugged me and stroked my hair. Damn I love him!
20. Tom worked really hard on the house too yesterday, even mopping the kitchen floor that was really grossly dirty from wet shoes and dog paws. Now if I can get him to attack the piles of piles of piles of stuff in his study I will be a really happy girl!
21. I have a big meeting with Probation, County Social Worker, parents, and individual therapist early tomorrow morning about a 16yr old headed for a train wreck.
22. I’ve decided to take a vacation over the holidays beginning on December 23, back to work on January 3, during which time I plan to just read, listen to good music, do art, hang out with Tom, watch movies, nap, and do generally nothing I don’t want to do. I got my productivity report for November today and where as we’re expected to have 60% of our hours claimed on payroll to be billable, my productivity was 78%, and that’s with having taken two holiday days for T-Day and the next day, working only a half day the Wed. before T-Day and taking off the Monday after. It’s clear I’ve been working a killer pace. I can take off the time over the holidays and still be well above 60% for the month.
23. My expense check for October came today, I deposited some of it, and got crisp $10 bills to send to my Nephews and my Niece in Christmas cards. I have the greatest nephews and nieces!
24. It made me happy to see even more Christmas lights in Baudette and in the country on the way home. If I had the time I would have loved driving around Baudette to look at the lights, but the day had just been too long and I really wanted to go home and put on pajamas. Maybe another night. Baudette has a contest for lighting so there are always lots of lights.