Susskins Central Dispatch

I must have been good

A nice Christmas morning. I got drum pads for my Rock Band drums, so I can finally drum in the morning without waking Fred.

I also got Thomas Dolby’s The Sole Inhabitant. I love Thomas Dolby. Most people only know She Blinded Me with Science, but he’s done some really unique music beyond that. A year or two ago, he did a solo tour. Genuinely solo, as opposed to a guy running around with a band. It was just him on stage, surrounded by an array of keyboards, computers, sequencers, and so on. He’d build up all the various loops and percussion on the spot, gradually setting the songs in motion, and sing while playing various parts on his keyboards. Amazing music. This particular CD comes with a DVD of one of the performances as well.

What else? Socks, a Family Guy – Live in Vegas cd, knitting books, an old Betty Crocker Dessert cookbook, Two Fat Ladies cookbooks, and a new water cooler for work.

Fred has new clothes, new frying pans, gift cards to Red Lobster and Cold Stone Creamery, and The Novachord Restoration Project cd.

One last thing: Mom gave us an amazingly beautiful Hardanger doily. She’s been making these for the past couple of years, and they’re stunning. Absolutely stunning. The woman turns out the most beautiful work, and keeps catching us off-guard.

Amazing, isn’t it?

She sews and snips, and ends up with this lovely detail. Breathtaking stuff.

Seriously

Merry Christmas, everyone! It’s a beautiful Christmas morning here at Chateau Du Mertz. The sun is shining brightly, and everything is all warm and lit in the house. (Except the residents. Lit, I mean.)

So far, Santa has been very good to me. I’ve got finger puppets, a magnetic building set, and little peanutbutter cups. The cats are frisky, and there’s loads of presents under the tree. Actually, on the sled rather than under the tree. A couple of years ago Fred found an old Flexible Flyer at a garage sale. It’s parked in front of the fireplace, and most of the presents are heaped on it.

I made a big platter of Christmas cookies last night. Spritz, which are one of my favorite cookies ever. I picked up a new cookie press last night and went to town. Yum. I also have a Christmas turkey ready for the oven, and I’ll be making mashed potatoes and corn casserole. So we’ll have a festive feast for the afternoon.

Fred is sleeping in, because I TOLD HIM TO. We’ll see how long it lasts.

And now, it’s time for Christmas Warcraft. Have a happy holiday, everyone!

The ultimate tunnelling machine

Somewhere in my morning rambling about the interweb, I clicked on this link. And then watched in absolute joy, because damn that’s a happy dog.

About as non-kosher as you can get

My friend Boyd pointed me towards this. I can’t stop looking at it. Simultaneously horrifying and attractive.

The Bacon Cheese Roll.

Goddamn miserable state

As if to make up for the amazingly mild Decembers we’ve had over the past few years, this year is turning on the chiller. Fucking -15 forcast for tonight. For fuck’s sake.

Fuck.

That’s usually a “depths of January” kinda temp around here. Sigh. Oh well. At least the furnace works.

Oh, wait. That stopped working this afternoon.

Fuck.

It’s fixed now. The controller board for the fan blew. The burners would light, but the fan wouldn’t kick on. Marc, a nice gentleman from Service Plus, came out and replaced it at about 7:00. Prior to that, I came home to find Fred standing in front of the oven. Thank goodness he’s not sick.

Oh, wait. He is.

Fuck.

He feels better now. I made him some chicken soup, and wrapped him in a blanket. And now that the heat is on and he’s had a nap, he’s in better shape. While he was napping, I went out and finished scooping the driveway. Good thing it’s so cold. Otherwise there’d be a lot of ice.

Oh, wait. There was.

Fuck.

Before the deep chill hit, we had two days of temps near 40. And yesterday morning it fucking rained. All morning. And then the temp dropped, and everything glazed over. So I made sure to put down lots of salt. The ice melted, and the snow that fell afterwards insulated it nicely, so all the ice came up when I scooped. What a relief. And thank goodness my car didn’t freeze shut.

Oh, wait…

Still alive, despite the world’s best efforts

Here’s how the past month has shaken out for us.

1. Thanksgiving at my Sister’s house. All four of the youngest sibs there, plus Mom, associated in-laws, and most (but not all) children. And a dog. And two cats. Lovely Thanksgiving dinner. Football on the television. Rock Band in the basement. Bingo in the dining room. Much happiness.

Incidentally, Barb’s son Corey and Lynn’s sons Travis and Nick were very kind to their young cousin Will. They let him sit in on Rock Band, and play drums. Usually while sitting in Nick’s lap, and Nick would just hit the ones that Will was missing. It was sweet, and Will had such a good time because of it. Good going, boys. Proud of you.

2. Our annual Christmas Party for my co-workers. Had a houseful. Quite a change from last year, when half the invited guests were unable to attend due to a snowstorm. This year had the biggest attendance yet. Only one regular didn’t make it, and that was because his girls were in a basketball tournament and didn’t finish until about 7:30. He was highly disappointed that he couldn’t make it.

In the meantime, there was absolute mayhem. Small impromptu groups spread all through the house, lots of laughing, game playing, and consumption of food and alcoholic beverages. Also an installation of Rock Band in the basement, that turned out to be very popular with some of the guests. Including a certain young lady who sang with a mike in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. Totally awesome.

We got to bed at about 1:30, and were completely useless the next day. So worth it.

3. Mom comes to visit. Last Monday (after Sunday’s hangover day) I drove down to Jordan to meet Kevin and pick up Mom. She has been making the tour of Minnesota that she does every so often. Usually spends a week with each of her three kids up here. So right now she’s with us. Fred dotes on her, so he’s been spoiling her while complaining about how spoiled she is. It’s a sight to see. Tonight was knitting, where we worked out the vagaries of the Old Norwegian Cast-On, which both of us had forgotten how to do. Took us about twenty minutes to work out all the niggling little details, but now we both remember it well.

4. Fred has promised to buy Rock Band for me. Yay!

On Saturday, I run Mom (and Travis’ Rock Band instruments) back down to Lynn’s house so that she can take Mom home. Mom has to get some things done at home before she heads to the Black Hills for Christmas. The woman is a traveler.

And that’s what’s been happening around here. We’re exhausted.

Shut up.