Life in the retirement home.

This little gem here earned me a hefty dose of ridicule from the Tall One.  

I like jigsaw puzzles.  My parents learned early on that I liked these and would give them to me as gifts.  It was like gold for them, they could give me one at Christmas and they wouldn't hear from me until June.  A good friend of mine has a tradition where she and her family get Christmas puzzles and put them together.  I think that's awesome!  So, I went to Borders on Friday with my 20% off coupon and bought me a puzzle.

I came home, turned on some holiday tunes and went into the puzzle zone.  Until the Tall One came downstairs.  He stopped on the stairs and said, "What are you, a senior citizen?!?"  I told him, no, I like puzzles, they're fun.  He then told me, "Puzzles are what people do in retirement homes, when there is nothing else to do."

Sigh.

Whatever, I finished it the next morning.  While sorting through the sky and eating cereal, I heard the sound of Christmas music (not from our house!) outside and looked out our kitchen window.  There was a fire-engine red Suburban with a sleigh on top, blaring music, and a load of high schoolers proceeded to pile out.  They just kept coming.  And then they walked up to our front door.  I was dumbfounded.  They obviously knocked and when I answered the door, I was met with a carol, a plate full of these:

and a reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2.  We had been sneak-attacked by some of the Compass Bible Church high schoolers handing out treats to thank volunteers.  It was pretty funny.  I was proud of myself for just opening the door...

I'm coming down to 1 week to go until my final.  Has that done much to motivate me to study for my final?  No!!!!!!!  I'm finding lots of things to fill the time.

I'm a moonshiner!!!  Not really.  But I am making limoncello.  For the second straight holiday, I've been inundated with recipes on how to make your own lemon liqueur, so I went for it.  In that Trader Joe's juice jug is 4 CUPS of vodka and the rind of 7 lemons minus the white pithy part.  It's been marinating in a cool quiet place for 1 week now, and it's got 1 more to go.  After that, I'll add a heap of sugar, heat it up,  let it cool and then pat myself on the back even if it tastes awful.

And we got our tree.  I pretty much have to drag the Tall One out every year (for the whole two years we've celebrated Christmas together), all the while saying Christmas like the crazy chainsmoking neighbor in Better Off Dead:

 Better Off Dead is quite possibly one of the best 80's films and my favorite John Cusack movie, but moving on...

I like this picture because the way it's shot, our tree looks mini compared to the Tall One, and he looks incredibly too large for the inside of our place- kind of like anybody besides a hobbit in a hobbit house.  Did I just go Lord of the Rings geek?  Yeah!!!!!  Anyway, our tree kind of leans, kind of like our wedding cake last year.

And my new pride and joy:

I made wreaths!!!!  I stoked out the Christmas tree guys at Lowe's by asking if I could have the scraps, thereby relieving them of some work and giving me the bulk of my supplies to get crafty.  I got some floral wire, pinecones and other doohickies to make them pretty.  I then proceeded to turn on the holiday tunes, crack open a little bottle of my favorite Australian ginger beer and churn out 3 wreaths.  My fingertips are now ridiculously tender, but it was worth it.  CRAFTY!!!!!!!

And now, I'm sitting at home while Laker-time rolls on downstairs, trying to wind down and try and go to bed in about an hour and a half because I have my LAST OB clinical day tomorrow.  Amen.  I was shown divine mercy last week when clinical was canceled last week, but having two weeks without clinical is making it really hard to get my act together and get ready for tomorrow.  Thankfully, it'll be a short one and then we'll go out and have a nice late lunch together and be done with it.  Overall, this clinical was fairly painless.

But if I get showered with amniotic fluid and sludge tomorrow, I'm going on a rampage.