HOLIDAY FLU

Why do we always get sick around the holidays? Is it too much wine, food and song?

So my guy has to go to the doctor and get antibiotics before his sinus infection turns into bronchitis. And he's grouchy cause he feels bad and I'm grouchy cause he's grouchy. And every year it seems to happen.

I thought moving south would fix it. Now he's saying maybe we need to consider moving further south. Like Belize.

Where they have hurricanes?  I don't think so.

Movies at Home

We watched a movie from Blockbuster last night. LEAVES OF GRASS. A professor who's climbed up from poverty goes back to Oklahoma when his redneck twin is murdered. It was okay. Had some surprising twists I wasn't expecting. And some gore. We watched it all the way through which we don't do if we don't like the beginning. Anyway, there were several people in it we recognized but couldn't put names to. At the end, we looked for the cast names. And looked. And looked.

After everyone and his brother got listed -- Does anyone really care who designed the costumes, who cast the actors, who chose the location, who did the hair, who carried the cameras, who...? You get the picture -- we finally got to the cast. Then the names whizzed by. Luckily, we had the remote and could stop it long enough to figure out who the people were.


Take old movies. The stars and cast are put out front. And lots of times, they're at the end, too. Only when they're all listed do the other support people run.

Maybe they assume the audience will stay put to see all those people when the cast is listed last. We did last night, although we didn't even look at the names that came before. In a theater? No way. We get up and leave. My guy likes to beat the crowd.

So that's my rant for the day.

AND IT WAS A HAPPY, HEARTY THANKSGIVING!

Too much turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, biscuits, green beans, sweet potato casserole, congealed fruit salad, cranberry sauce. Couldn't eat either the homemade chocolate cake (with homemade fudge icing!) or the luscious looking pumpkin pie. Had to wait till long afterward.

Hope everybody ate as well as we did.

Hope everybody isn't still groaning today like we are.

LOCAL CRIME REPORT

Saw yesterday in the police reports that a woman was arrested for shoplifting food. Sixty-odd dollars worth.

I have no sympathy for people who steal beer, electronics, jewelry and other stuff like that. Give them some hard time to serve.

But food...

While I don't approve of what she did, I can't help but wonder what I'd do if my children were hungry and I had no money and no one -- relatives, friends, charities -- to help. I don't think I'd steal, but on the other hand, I've never had to choose.

Anyway, I'll make extra sure I donate to the food banks in the county this year. I think they need the help more than ever.

WINTER GARDEN

Just this minute finished Kristin Hannah's WINTER GARDEN and enjoyed it.

She writes women's fiction and is a very nice writer. This story gives a lot of history about Leningrad during the German advance in WWII. While the plot starts with two America daughters, unhappy in their lives and who can't understand their Russian mother, it's really about the mother. She was in Leningrad and ended up marrying an American after being freed from the Germans at the end of the war.

The daughters don't understand why she's so cold and distant until their father dies. He makes them promise to make their mother tell them the fairy tale she stopped telling them when they were young. Once the mother begins, her personality begins emerging and in the end is understandable.

It ends on a happy note, thank goodness.

If you enjoy women's fiction, or historical fiction that isn't romance, this is the book for you.

TENNIS PROS

I dabbled in tennis years ago but I took lessons from a woman so this question never came up.

Lately, I've noticed an unnamed tennis pro who, whenever I go by and he's teaching, often has his shirt off. Even on quite chilly days.

But, I've also noticed it's usually when he's working with a cute gal. If it's a man on the court with him, he isn't always barechested.

He does have a nice physique. I'm wondering if he's showing it off just a bit, maybe? Do all tennis pros do this? How about golf pros?

CATS

So my guy lost a thumb drive. This right after Roz threw his watch off the dresser.

"Those *&%$* cats! I'm ready to change their zip codes! All they do is lose my stuff!"

(The zip code threat isn't unusual but he was pretty miffed this time.)

I of course was the voice of reason. "Where did you have it last?"

He thought. Called a friend because he'd been helping her with some stuff and used it in her computer. No answer. He left a message.

He thought some more. "I hope I didn't leave it in my jeans and it got washed."

"Haven't washed dark stuff lately." (Haven't washed anything lately. I hate housework.)

He checked the dirty clothes hamper and guess what! There it was, tucked away in the watch pocket.

He did apologize to the cats. My guy's really pretty nice.