I found out that the engine I ordered for the Volvo is the wrong one. Craaaaaap!
Oh, did I mention that the fuel pump on the Pontiac is also out and it happened on I-15 outside of Conrad? In other words, both of our two cars are non-functional?
If it wasn’t for the tow truck guy getting us home (25 miles into the country), I think I’d be ripping my hair out right now.
Oh yeah… AAA rocks.
OK… let’s get a couple things straight here.
[-] There is not a vast left-wing conspiracy to secularize Christmas.Â? At least, there isn’t a conspiracy to secularize it any more than it already is.
[-] Not every person on this planet celebrates Christmas.Â? Thus, “Happy Holidays” is sometimes the better choice, especially since you normally can’t tell who is Jewish or Wiccan at this time of year.
[-] There is no religious significance to a Christmas tree.Â? There is nothing Scriptural about it.Â? It’s a pagan custom that was integrated into Christianity and is now a secular part of the holidays.Â? Ditto with the yule log, miseltoe, and holly.
Having said that, I’d like to tell my fundie Christian and Orthodox Jewish blogging friends who are up in arms over the holiday trees being taken down at Sea-Tac to CALM DOWN.Â? Sea-Tac was *not* trying to discriminate against the Chabad rabbi who requested permission to put up an electric menorah.Â? Likewise, taking the trees down was not an assault on Christmas — rather, it was trying to neutralize the situation because there was a lawsuit being threatened.
To the rabbi who started this mess: your timing was not good.Â? With the increased holiday traffic going through Sea-Tac, getting the menorah up would have been a logistical nightmare.Â? If you had gone to them in October and asked, I think the board of directors would have been more than happy to accomodate you.
Sea-Tac has actually said that they will start figuring out a way to exhibit holiday symbols for all religions celebrating December holidays next year.Â? Maybe the rabbi could work with the board on that, maybe donate a small menorah so that there could be a display that includes a creche, an Advent wreath, a menorah, some kinte cloth, and a yule log or something?
Or… perhaps we could find some neutral decorations like a wreath in a peace sign with candles since this is a season where we’re all praying for peace.
Let’s just please not make this a season of lawsuits and backbiting over whether it’s more appropriate to say “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas”.
OK… so the CT scan was this morning and they did 4 series of pictures of my ankle and foot, bending me in ways that no 26 year old woman should be able to bend for long periods of time to get the right angle and keep my left foot out of the picture.? It wasn’t so much pain from my injured ankle/foot as much as it was having to lie on my side with my leg out straight flexing my foot, lying with my left leg tucked under my right knee which had to be bent upward,…? At least they gave me a couple interesting issues of National Geographic to read whilst they worked and then had to wait for the tubes to cool down.
The whole thing took almost two hours which meant that I got to the WELCA Christmas party an hour and a half late.? Thankfully, they still had food so I got a lovely lunch of chicken hotdish, cranberry jello, and some kind of Schwan’s ice cream for dessert.? (It was pink spumoni — I think they called it “Pink Divinity”.)? Oh yes… the red punch too.? Let’s just say I was jonesing for a ginger altoid fix when I got home — you’d think I would have learned that I can’t eat big meals anymore.? Thank goodness for the ginger creations!
I’m probably not going to know what’s up with the CT scan for a couple days.? The radiologist is in Kalispell and he has to read the CT scan and send the report to my lovely Italian doctor.? (For those who don’t know, I live in the middle of nowhere and because of this, there isn’t a radiologist nearby, so they send the images to Kalispell where there’s a radiologist.? You’d think they’d send it to Great Falls which is closer but I guess all the radiologists in Great Falls are too swamped with the stuff from the megalithic hospital.)? I’m hoping we know what’s up by… Wednesday?
Up:Â? Slept through 3 services this morning and didn’t feel guilty.
Down:Â? Horrendous migraine-ish headache that made me sleep that long.
Up: The youth being so cool at helping with nursing home worship today as well as shopping for the Head Start families.
Down: Being on my possibly stress-fractured right foot for awhile.
Up: 2 hours of choir!!!Â? *squees*
Up:Â? Apple pie made from REAL apples and ice cream after choir practice.
Down: The hours of kickboxing (or suitable alternative) to work off the pie, the ice cream, and the pizza from youth group.
Down: The dead mouse I found in the middle of the kitchen floor.
Up: My furballs killing it instead of me!
Up: Purry black cats after getting home from being gone for 8 hours.
My lovely Italian doctor gave me a script for Ambien CR yesterday so that maybe I could sleep and be less snarky.Â? Well… after getting it filled (and finding out that the idiots at Express Scripts don’t cover it so I had to pay TWICE my co-pay for it), I saw on the bottle that there was a label reading:
WARNING: May cause drowsiness.
My reaction: “Ya think?????”
Dude… it’s a freaking sleeping pill.Â? If it keeps me awake, there’s going to be serious gnashing of teeth on the part of its makers because I will send Freya to beat them up!
(The pill worked beautifully.Â? I only woke up once last night and that was due to the 14 lbs of orange purring tabby sitting on my bladder.Â? I woke up at 7:30 am feeling refreshed and rested… before going back to sleep until my alarm went off at 8:30 am.)
We found out Wednesday night that a parishioner was having surgery in Great Falls on Tuesday morning, so we went down to sit with their family. Surgery was at 7:30 so we left around 5:30. Once Jon had located the family, I got myself down to $tarbuck$ and got myself a blackberry green tea frappucino. (If I’m leaving the house at dark:thirty to do something like this, I WANT MY OVERPRICED CAFFEINE!!!!!) I then went to Target and Albertsons to take care of some errands as they were on the way back to the megalithic hospital complex. After the person was out of surgery, back in their room, and prayed over, we headed out to take care of other Great Falls errands and had lunch. On the way out of town, we went to Old Navy where I got some long-sleeved shirts to up my winter wardrobe a bit. (Can you believe that I’ve lived in the Midwest or at least cold climates for 5 years now and I STILL haven’t quite developed the seasonal wardrobe habit yet???)
Yesterday (Friday), I had an appointment with my lovely Italian doctor (and had to wait because it was one of his on-call days — I was tempted to start crocheting the cuff of a sock and tell him that I started it after getting into the exam room) and after playing “let’s twist Jen’s foot and contort it painfully”, he told me that he was ordering a CT scan to rule out fractures and such because the x-ray likely wouldn’t have picked them up. Oh freaking joy. CT scan will be Monday morning.Â? I now have an excuse to miss the business meeting for WELCA.
Today, I was judging speech and debate again.Â? (Apparently, word has gotten out that Jon and I *LIKE* to judge.)Â? It was fun but the events were spread out between the elementary school and high school which are *NOT* close to each other so Jon and I had to drive between events to avoid the ice and for me to actually have time to finish the comments from my 10:30 group and make it on time to judge my 12:30 people.Â? Oh yeah… they also didn’t feed the judges so Jon and I headed to the A&W/KFC in town.Â? Big mistake.Â? I keep forgetting that not having a gallbladder means that I can’t have greasy food.Â? (I had to excuse myself for a couple minutes during my finals round and get the clawing creatures out of my stomach.Â? The kids I was judging as well as those in the audience were crowding around me during awards to ask if I was OK.Â? It was actually pretty sweet of them.)Â? A couple of the kids from the local reservation also told their coaches about how much they like Jon and I so… we’re judging AGAIN for divisionals in January.Â? (The reservation kids are really fun to judge — they are there because they enjoy it and they kick the butts of the other schools in almost every category.)
So… I’m now home with an achey foot, irritated stomach, and I think I’ll curl up in a ball when 9:00 rolls around.Â? I’ve got church, nursing home, extended youth activities, and an extended choir practice in Shelby tomorrow.Â? I think Wednesday is my next sleep-in day?Â? Jon was going to offer to judge at Cut Bank but I told him NOOOOOOO — I need a somewhat quiet Saturday… and I also have choir practice in Shelby that day for the performance the next night.
I’m glad we’re not doing the open house this year — I’m not sure when I’d find time!