black friday

I love Black Friday.

After two days of kitchen mayhem, overeating, playing Twister by the fireplace, and staying up late talking and hanging out (and eating banana-bacon-nutella-peanut butter crepes for breakfast), I'm now alone with two sleeping dogs, listening to the clock ticking in a quiet house, trying not to doze off as I catch up on my reading (but even if I do, an afternoon nap would be lovely), and debating which leftovers to eat first.

Even better, there are still two more days in the weekend.

giving thanks

I am thankful for Fossey, the gentle giant from work who taught Henry that it's OK to trust a big dog, and who is staying with us this weekend.

I am thankful for my sister, who gets me, and my brother-in-law, who also gets me, despite not sharing any weird genes. I an thankful for all of the food they brought to cook at my house.

I am thankful for Boyfriend and Henry, who make up a large percentage of my little universe.

I am thankful for this bed that I have all to myself until Boyfriend gets back.

ten years

Dear friend is coming to visit tomorrow, and we've known each other for ten years now, so that's kind of crazy.

stock up and splurge

Bought 3.5 pounds of pork belly, which is enough for about 9 full meals of pork belly buns.

rain or shine

Six hours of rain overnight, which is great, it will help with drought and wildfires, and the sound of rain on the roof is the best nighttime sound. And then it cleared up and left behind a clear, sunny day an hour before I got up, which is great, I prefer clear skies for my weekend loafing routine.

sinbad

I fall in love with a new dog every week. This week, it was this guy, and while I was cuddling him, a woman who had been looking around and was about to leave saw him on my lap and thought he was adorable. Her whole family was there in short order, and they became his new family. It's sad to see them go just as I get to know them, but I hope they have such amazing lives and never end up in a shelter again.

don't wake me

After weeks of inexplicably (or sometimes unavoidably) short nights of sleep, sleeping almost ten hours is amazing.

maybe in time

Both of our ovens died in September, but after much delay (repairman on vacation, then we were on vacation, then the parts had to ship out for repair and come back), they just might be fixed tomorrow, just in time to host Thanksgiving.

weekday family time

I spent the night at my sister's for a rare weeknight get together, and was amused to realize that my nephew inherited our (lack of) athletic ability (but has lots of enthusiasm for sports that we never had), and my older niece shares our love for musical theater (but with more talent).

tailored to fit

And then there's the thing when you think, "what next?" and by coincidence, you get several scary but interesting ideas from random people, and one random but exciting idea from your favorite work buddy ever (and she's so into the idea that she wants you or nobody else).

perf-ection

Annual peer reviews are a pain, but reading the feedback is always a nice postscript.

come together

Right when you think, "I might be interested in being on a non-profit board, but only if it's something I'm totally into," you meet the director and the chairman of the board for your dog's shelter where you volunteer every week, and they mention the possibility of joining the board.

honolulu

I may get to go to Hawaii for work.

playdate

A coworker's dog came over for a few hours after work yesterday, and it was the first time Henry has had another playful dog in the house. There was a solid hour of sprinting, dodging, wrestling, and wagging.

running short

Two hour conference call only lasted one hour.

fixed it

Suddenly, seven years in, Boyfriend has figured out how to give a good backrub.

halloween

No trick or treaters, but I spent the weekend hanging out with dogs at the shelter, buying new boots, eating Halloween candy that I'd bought just in case any kids came, and watching a lot of vampire TV. Dinner with friends tonight (in the post-DST gloom, although it is satisfying to go through the house adjusting clocks), and it's back to another week. Thanksgiving countdown starts... now.

moving on

I was not feeling the last book I was reading, but couldn't bring myself to drop it, because I was already 33% of the way in, and it's end of year, and every book counts... And then I dropped it for a book on the history of Scientology, and found out that L. Ron Hubbard did affirmations to stop being scared of snakes and to protect himself from being hypnotized by his guardian angel. I should have moved on sooner.