A dreary dismal day missing one tooth

My only consolation is pain pills, some really good ones. Plus I got my nails done. New color is by OPI - called "Color to diner for". It is a sparkly red.

Full planets, empty plates : the new geopolitics of food scarcity (book), by Lester R. Brown. Given to me by his brother-in-law, it is a nice thin book, detailing many of his thoughts which I have heard before. How the balance of the planet is off, how eating up the food chain contributes to food scarcity, how the increasing population numbers put a strain on our food resources, how political unrest contributes to food insecurity, how water shortages make it difficult to grow crops in the places where the food is needed. Food is the new oil, land is the new gold. One of our best environmental theorists comes from our area.

OK, so it is ONLY December 1st. But I have missed Black Friday, Small business Saturday, Cyber Monday AND Giving Tuesday. The fact of the matter is, I am totally uninspired as far as Christmas gifts go. On my list of things to do today was to make my Christmas list, both what I want, and all the names of all the people I should/want to get gifts for. Shopping isn't much fun for me. Deciding isn't much fun for me.

Life is weird

Strange things which I have noted lately...
- A woman died while doing yoga.
- A young man was shot in Newark. He had recently become a father AT AGE 14.
- It hasn't even started to snow and they have been talking about the coming snow for hours now on the television

Feeling kind of self satisfied since I got online today and also worked out. What more can a person look to accomplish in retirement? I did call and volunteer to staff the homeless shelter which they established after a guy died a few weeks ago. I am sort of worrying about stuff like illnesses and bad behavior and how you get them to LEAVE in the morning. And now a snowstorm and freezing temps during the day adds a new layer of complication to the whole thing.

Really depressing weather day today. Freezing and grey and looking and feeling like snow all day. My heat does not even work when it gets THIS cold (a low of 6 degrees predicted for tomorrow!) At least I have some new, fuzzy bedroom slippers.

Erasers that don't work

This is one of my pet peeves. Can't think of any others at the moment. I am also very unhappy when the temperature goes below freezing as it did today. Plus there was wind. It is really HAT weather.

Was asked to work this weekend. I said yes since I only work one day a month and I didn't have one scheduled for the month of December. Yes, it will inconvenience me, as I was supposed to go to a funeral. (It is amazing how working only ONE day a month can still feel incommodious when it rolls around). But I am barely employed and so want to be agreeable and able to be counted upon.

Feeling kind of busy over the holidays but not with parties. Just with scheduled events that are distracting me from getting ready for gift shopping and wrapping. I am very bad at all that anyway. I don't shop for myself so it is not so fun to shop for others.

The only thing I ever bought on Black Friday

It was a car. I detest Black Friday. Am more fond of Small Business Saturday. Cyber-Monday is Ok too. Now there is Charitable giving Tuesday. Just realized I have given something each month all year. Perhaps I should not be content with that, however. That could be my minimum, not necessarily my maximum.

Shoprite was a madhouse today. Too many people! The poor cashier was complaining about all the people, some of them being rude. I think they were all trying to get points so they could get a free turkey. It seemed like Thanksgiving was going to be TOMORROW, not 9 days away. I prefer going to Acme and paying more just for some peace and quiet. It is so confusing to have the Salvation army people out there ringing bells already. I gave last night at Boscov's. Can't give EVERY day from now until Christmas! Homes are starting to be all lit up already, too. Maybe this is the year I will just ignore the holidays. Thanksgiving traditions already messed up.

I meant to return the book, Barefoot in Baghdad to the Vineland Public Library yesterday. I can't believe how far down in the pile it got! The subtitle is : a story of identity - my own - and what it means to be a woman in chaos, by Manal M. Omar. At first I enjoyed the book, but then I got sort of annoyed at her blindness to danger. Horrible things occured in Iraq. Her goal was to help women. Some of the women were aggravating. There were no good options for them. So many of her friends got killed or kidnapped. None of the kidnapped people ever came back. This was an eye-opening book.

Foiled again

Weather tomorrow getting in the way of my plans.  5 of us had planned to go up to Grounds for sculpture.  Do you know how hard it is to get 5 people to agree on a date and a plan? 

I am so close to finishing so many books.  Reading is my favorite activity (probably because it involves SITTING).  Still slogging through several books about Paris, and the book I found in the Newark airport and the book written by Jill McCorkle, who attended my college (Hollins), and the new David Sedaris book, and L'etranger in French, and a children's book about Monet in French.  And there are MORE...

Made a vow to get better about gifts.  Changed one of my money envelopes to be earmarked for such, since I never have extra spending money and thus am never prepared for birthdays, weddings, etc.
Everyone else is so generous and I am just BEHIND and lacking in inspiration.  I hate to shop and I hate to spend money, but I love cool gifts.  Had an urge to go back to Paris and SHOP which is dumb because it was so overpriced over there. 

Friday it rained all day and Monday it rained all day.  One weather guy said tomorrow was the most worrisome day of the weather year so far.  The nice thing about Paris is that even though it rained frequently, it didn't rain a lot and it didn't rain for long.