Another weekend has come and gone

...and here I am, pounding my fingers on a keyboard and my head on my desk.

In other words, it's Monday. Hey, how the hell are ya?

So, it's been almost 2 weeks since I last blathered at ya. Been busy in that time. Between the getting ready for the holidays and putting in about 12 extra hours at work, I've been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. So then, a quick bullet list.

• Me: Doing OK. Trying to not think about mousecat0's upcoming surgery. Yeah, I know, it's routine. They probably do tens of thousands of them a day. But still - it's surgery, and there's always a risk. So, I try not to think about it. Otherwise ok, if somewhat tired last week from putting in extra time to cover the time I'll be taking off for the surgery. Had a bit of a revelation last week...but more on that later.
  
• Family: Doing well. mousecat0 is off some of her meds in preparation for the surgery. Everyone's been busy with schoolwork and holiday prep; it's sometimes hard to stay focused.
  
• What we've been doing. Well, since the last real update...
  • Went to parent-teacher conferences
    
  • Went to stoooooooo's and ginabeth's place for family, food, and football.
    
  • Did the Thanksgiving baking (4 loaves of pumpkin bread, 3 cornbread rounds, pumpkin pie, pear cranberry pecan pie, chocolate pie, thanksgiving sugar cookies)
    
  • Did the Thanksgiving cleaning (well, a lot of it, anyway)
    
  • Finished the Thanksgiving shopping
    
  • Did some Christmas shopping.
  Blearg.
  
• Gaming: You may have noticed a lack of gaming listed. I think, though I'm not certain, that the lack of gaming, whether tabletop or electronic, is one of the reasons behind some of my depression of late. Gaming is far and away one of my favorite things to do, and I haven't really done any lately. No fault or blame here, just the way life has worked these last few months. Once I realized that, I tried to get myself to do something, even if it's just noodle around on WoW for a while. Haven't been able to. Too much to do. Must work on this.
  
• Work: Still no word on the contract award. Still feel about 99% certain I'll have the same job come Jan 1, but about 85% likely that it'll be with a different company (in other words, I'll still be here, but someone else will be signing the checks). We shall see.
  
• New Year's: Yes, we will be doing the Open House this year. Saturday and Sunday. official announcement and eVite to go out tonight, I hope.
  
• Food Network shows: I liked Food Network Live this year. It gave me one or two ideass to work with. Also, the Swedish Chef made an appearance. What's not to like? Also appreciated the new Good Eats Thanksgiving special. Yum.

OK, I need to clean up and head for home. Got a 12 hour day tomorrow, and need to make some spiced pears and cranberry apple ginger chutney tonight.

Once again, I'd like to take a moment to remind all of you of why we do this. Yeah, the food is good and the pies better, but this is a time for family and to give thanks for the blessings in our lives. In all the hustle and bustle, let us not lose sight of that.

I remind you all to have a good day. The very fact that you woke up on the proper side of the grass this morning makes it a great start to a good day.

Recipe: Spiced Pears

This came out very tasty. Made it a few days in advance; I suspect it benefited from the extra time for the flavors to meld.I suspect this would be best served warm as a side or perhaps over ice cream.

( recipe behind cut )