Monday Schmonday

It is a beautiful afternoon here, with the snow still soft and deep, not yet marred by wind and leaves and garbage and dog shit. I went home for lunch and the boys were gleefully gearing up for an afternoon out of doors, carrying empty laundry-soap buckets with which to make perfect squares for their forts. They have all been cleaning furiously today, without being asked, in preparation for Christmas Day, which makes me smile. Of course, their method of cleaning involves putting things wherever they can find room, which in our tiny house is no small feat. It will inevitable involve cries of "Where is my other red shoe?" and "Why are there packages of Ramen in the toy box?" but I am going to make a concerted effort to NOT get angry with them when I can't find something. They are working really hard, and are obviously proud of themselves, and I am just going to try my hardest to make sure they continue to feel that sense of accomplishment. I also do not want to upset the balance so that I might end up doing most of it myself-so I am not being completely altruistic here, in case any of you were under the mistaken impression that I might be. I am just lazy, really.

Funny, I just had to call one of our companies in the Pacific Northwest to make a change on a policy, and they are closed due to weather conditions. A week ago I would have laughed and thought, "Oh, what, they got an inch?" but my friend in Seattle emailed me photos this morning and they are getting totally hammered with snow as well. Going back to the being lazy thing, this actually makes me happy-this company in particular is not one of my favorite ones to deal with, so I can actually put it off for a few days without feeling guilty; cool beans.

Get this: a woman called the office to tell me blah blah blah I just can't afford to pay the insurance right now (this is the same woman who, about two weeks ago, called to say, "I JUST got in an accident, is there any way you can start up my insurance again effective today?" Um, no. Illegal, baby, plus perhaps you should have figured in the cost of insurance before you bought a 2008 Dodge Pickup? Just sayin'.), but I know for a fact that yesterday she went to town and bought a Playstation 3 for her son for Christmas. These people are friends, or rather friends-once-removed (their son and Eli are best friends, have been for several years), so that's how I know this-and it drives me crazy. Eli spends a lot of time at their house and gets jealous of M. because he has everything-the Guitar Hero thing, PS2 and now PS3, all of the newest and latest clothes/styles/whatever; what he doesn't see is the nasty underneath like no insurance and worrying all of the time about their home getting foreclosed on. I understand about wanting your kids to have nice things, but not at the expense of regular bills being paid. I don't understand that kind of mentality, I really don't.

My company party is tonight; we are going to a local place for dinner and, I think, have our little gift exchange, and then we are supposed to congregate at the boss' house for games and such. I don't mind so much the dinner part-we will all be sitting at one big table, so my alone-ness won't be so obvious. However, I am really, really dreading doing the game thing. We always play games that need teams, and it feels like grade school where I know I am going to be the last one picked for a team. I hate the whole "cozy up on the couch with your partner" thing, I hate the casual kisses and the goddamned hand-holding. Yes, yes, we are spending time with Steve over the holiday, and yes, I am grateful and all of that, but it still sucks to show up at a company party alone. And I swear, if the server this year says ,"Where is your date?" like the one last year did, I might run out of the room screaming.

Otherwise, I have nothing else to report-and with all that has been happening here the last few months, it is almost nice to have nothing new to say.