End o' Week Musings

Yeah, yeah, I'm spoiled... I'll be out of the office until Tuesday again. I work hard, I deserve it and my editor is savvy enough to recognize it.

I kept busy last weekend, beginning with Festivus Friday. I met my mom and stepdad for lunch and a chat. It was good to catch up. Then I went to Pomona to visit Atticus' best friend Indiana Bones. If you recall, Atti is my Jack Russell terrier who passed away in July. Indy is 50 pounds or more larger that my perky too-smart pup and has a heart just as big.

Indy enjoyed the treats I brought him and whined when it was time for me to leave. I didn't just visit Indy, though, I also took some peanuts for Boccio the cockatoo and a lot of good stories, plus a gift for their dad, John.

Saturday I met http://www.dabelly.com/ movie critic Vernor for a showing of "The Muppets." It was funny because as we were walking out, Vernor teased that he was sorry I didn't like the film and the girl working at the theater heard us. She seemed genuinely concerned when she asked me what was wrong with the movie. We laughed, as I loved it. I'm a huge Muppets fan and I thought it was worth every penny of the ticket price.

In the evening, Byron joined me for my Ad Hoc Consort party. We were supposed to jam, but not enough musicians showed up, so we talked and ate and then watched a Laurel and Hardy film with Bob playing his pipe organ for the soundtrack. It was pretty amazing. But the best part for me was Bob's theater-style popcorn with melted butter and salt, just like the movies-- yum!

Christmas was quiet. I worked on my sewing and goofed around on my computer while cooking Holiday Turkey in my crockpot. I sided my melt-in-your-mouth turkey (the recipe includes cranberry sauce and onion soup mix) with garlic cheesy mashed potatoes and brown sugared carrots and brussel sprouts. It was probably too many calories, but a little feast once in a while is nice.

John invited me to watch movies, so I went to his place. We ended up watching episodes of "Ugly Americans" (a weird humans and monsters cartoon from Comedy Central) and a Christmas "South Park" about forest animals who worshipped Satan. That's the spirit... not! But it was a good giggle.

The rest of my week has slow, but it's been kind of nice actually. I feel refreshed and ready for the new year. And I have a nice full slate already, starting with tomorrow, you'll just have to wait until next week for my adventures!

In rotation this week: I finished out my holiday music listening with a little bit of everything. I just placed some new CDs in my car today-- plenty of metal and blues to start the year rockin'.

Photos we got 'em: The usual cute animal pictures and one wonderful photo that was sent to me by Mark Indictor. Indictor is a staff software systems engineer at JPL on the Mars Science Laboratory mission and shared this shot of him by the project's launch pad. He's also the fiddle for Susie Glaze & the Hilonesome Band. Learn more about this cool cat under features at http://www.therosemag.com/

Thought o' the week: Resolve to rock. As the years change hands many of us come to the party with a long list of resolutions that we'll never live up to. We tend to select to change habits that are hard to break, at least all at once. A few of us pick out little things or smaller steps to that bigger change, yet it may still be unattainable.

As you think over what fresh start you want to make, be realistic. My goal is to be happier and healthier. Yes, its sounds humungous, but it's not really. I'm going to tweak my attitude throughout out the year and push my positivity whenever I feel the tug of negativity. As far as health, I'm going to continue to chart my progress on my calendar: morning workout, check, evening walk, check, stair climbing, check, evening workout, check, measure and weigh-in Sunday, check... and so on... I'll also make an solid effort to keep on the better eating track, although I'm pretty good about things now. (Perhaps I should give the chocolate in my desk drawer to my co-workers??).

OK, you get the idea. Whatever you choose, the most important thing is to resolve to rock at it. Here's toasting to a happy New Year's!

Keep on rockin'

Mickie