the holidays are ahead
I thought the wreath needed a little extra, so we got a prime delivery of little lights!
started off the month trying to make yummy things in the kitchen. I'd been craving a delicious calzone as prepared by one of my favorite restaurants in San Jose, which is no longer there. so I found three recipes that I could modify - eliminating oregano - and made fresh dough with our garden's basil, fresh pizza sauce, and used some of the leftover ham to make a ham and cheese calzone!
the next day I found another recipe from a lady pioneer - one of Craig's favorite cooks - and made meatball subs, making the meatballs from scratch and using the pizza sauce from the day before. all of these recipes have passed the "make these again" test.
during the chemo recovery - my bald phase - I said, "all I want for Christmas is hair." I've now got about one inch of wavy hair!
on the first Friday of the month I got a call from my old boss. he was replying because I sent him email with a scan of some mail that had arrived for him - hey it gave me an excuse to reach out! I usually would wish him "happy" on his birthday, but this year I had missed it, so this was a belated greeting call. I caught him up on all my troubles and happies and he congratulated me on my upcoming grandparenthood. we talked for about 30 minutes, and it was just wonderful to hear his voice and that they were all doing so well, some five years into his retirement.
found another audition opportunity, about an hour from home, but the role would have been cool! the show was Book of Will and the role was Anne Shakespeare. I didn't get warm fuzzies from the staff, and only one of the auditionees was friendly to me. boy is it hard finding a new theatre family!
mid-month I spent the better part of four days in the bay area for work. Tuesday we had a team meeting and team lunch; it was wonderful to see so many of my colleagues that I work with so well and miss so much! I checked in at the hotel and found it was one that didn't have a restaurant, only a bar whose only food was pizza. since it was happy hour, I ordered the pizza, and got two free glasses of wine to go with it - very happy! Wednesday I started work early, knowing I wanted to end by 4pm to go to the my evening events. I spent lunch hour writing holiday notes to be handed out at senior centers as part of our community outreach! I enjoyed talking with the new intern managing the group now that my regular contact coordinator has retired. I briefly attended the happy hour preceding our Summit event which was held at my hotel, and then I went to dinner with my fellow producers from our theater, Susan and Barbara. we had a lovely dinner that lasted for two and a half hours, catching up on so much. of course they gave me presents to pass along to Joyce. the people in the hotel room upstairs must have had a small child because I had to endure the sound of thudding zoomies for about an hour before I finally drifted off to sleep.
Thursday was the Summit day, and I started early to get work done before I went to the big auditorium with hundreds of my colleagues. sadly also in the auditorium were all their fragrances and I was a swollen mess within an hour. I had to move to the perimeter and put on my mask to keep most of the scent-cloud at bay. [besides fragrances I also had two coughers in front of and behind me, so my dear colleague next to me thought I was escaping for my immunity's sake too.] during the breakout session I was allowed to be the reader, so I got to use my best audiobook voice. for lunch I again stayed separate from the crowd but it also allowed me to catch up on the confidential work tasks that must be done throughout every day, despite a summit. my manager Eva came over to make sure I was fine, and we had a laughing chat about something, so our CLO came over to take a pic of the two of us together. back in the auditorium I got the word that I could possibly meet up with the tech who will be coordinating the Santa Clara side of the fax move back from Folsom. I headed back to my desk, and watched the rest of the program's activities in the virtual room. instead we set the meeting for Friday morning at 9:15, so I took a short snooze while the summit had a video break for another team building exercise. that snooze was much needed! the summit ended after 6pm and we all trooped downstairs to the Museum to have our wine and cheese gathering with some of our biggest law firm partners. I also chatted with some of the security team that I work with regularly; they keep me safe and I let them know how much I appreciate it! we also held an ugly sweater contest, and this year I was not the "bridesmaid" but finally "the bride!" I won with my "Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal" sweater, and twirling the pompom on my plaid and black faux fur holiday hat! of course I had to utter - several times - the famous phrase in the voice of the character from the movie too! it was a wonderful evening!! Friday I worked in the office from 7 to 11, and had the meeting with the techs about the fax machine and the port setup in the room and their hub closet. but before we could meet, we had to endure the site emergency evacuation drill, at 8:30 in the morning, in the cold! at 11 I gassed up and hit the road to minimize travelling with too much snowbird traffic. it still took over three hours to get home.
last month at my optometrist visit I was instructed to get my left eye checked for two retinal tears, and my ophthalmologist booked the surgery. this month I finally had that laser surgery, where my eye was bombarded ~550 times by the beam. can I just say it was excruciating! then, for several hours after, my eye was swollen shut. I also had a wicked headache and I was extremely sensitive to light. I thought my eye looked like I had been in a fight, but Joyce said it looked like I had botox! it reminded me of a FB "list" that was going around a few years ago among my friends, "how high-maintenance are you?" besides having manicures and spending way to much on hair cuts, one category was: have you ever had anything lasered. well now I can say I have, but I'm sure it's not quite in the same way as the List was contemplating! given everything else I've had to deal with this year, hopefully this is my last medical visit for 2024!
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