Very merry indeed

The Christmas was awesome.

Good family time, everyone got along, great gifts to give and receive, low stress, good food, good drinks, good music.

Saturday Ben and I had our now traditional pre-Christmas Christmas morning. Made a yummy breakfast and opened presents together. I love giving presents and I had some good ones this year. I gave him a kitchen scale, a heavy cast iron grill press, a couple of shirts that he looks all hot in, and a springy (springy? What a crazy word. Rhymes with dinghy, not stingy) masher. Also, when he woke up that morning and put on his bathrobe (last year's present) he got to discover that the sleeves had been hemmed the night before and no longer dangled down to his knuckles. He gave me sweet stuff; new shoes, a hot roller derby t-shirt, earrings made of bike chain links, silicone trivet things, and a beautiful baking-only version of the (bible) Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen cookbook. Rad!

The day before pre-Christmas Christmas I gave the best present I have ever given. My friend Emily's in the middle of some rough stuff and she had said to me that she felt like she needed a new hobby or something to do for herself. I thought about what I do when I need some positive me-time, and one of the best things I love to do is go for a bike ride. Emily is awesome and has had two much-loved bikes stolen. I have only one body and do not need two bikes. I took my old bike, cleaned it up, lubed the chain, got it as pretty as I could. It's still just dingy (rhymes with stingy) enough to be not as stealable, but it's got some newer parts and is still a solid ride. Complete with bike computer, water bottle and rack on the back. And two locks. I tied a bow on it and took it to her house. She didn't get it at first, because she thought I had just biked over. Then she said, "No! No! No!" which eventually melted into a teary, "It's perfect!" Along with getting a bike for Christmas, which is a big deal in Christmas present lore, Emily was overwhelmed by the amount of freedom and independence that comes with a bike.
It was even better than I had hoped. It was the greatest.

P.S. Emily is so great! You should probably buy her CD.

It was nice to be home on the 23rd. Mom and Dad made a delicious dinner of pork loin on the grill and salads and good stuff, and then my family and I hung around and played Guesstures and laughed and laughed. Sang in the church choir on Christmas Eve morning and night. Had (incredible!) Christmas Eve dinner with the Chandlers. Christmas morning had fun family time. Gave: Sweatshirt, mittens, necklace (Mom); book, awesome extra guitar case sent to me in midst of case-return fiasco (Dad); ukulele and "ukedelic" groovy 60's uke book (Jesse); belt, button and "teen survival cookbook" (Julia). Got: new Decemberists CD, awesome cookie sheet and spring-loaded cookie dough scoop, nifty t-shirt(s), rockin red watch, and a crisp $50 bill later used to purchase three (3!!) pairs of hot new pants on sale at the Gap. Ben and I gave each other's parents a bottle of booze and a set of photobooth pictures of the two of us. He received a bike fender and I a silpat baking mat. Yes.

That afternoon I went first to Chandler family Christmas and then drove over to Simon family Christmas. One of the best I think. Gave uncle Johnny sweet guitar accessories purchased with staff discount (excellent job perk, even in lieu of insurance and sick days). Got cake pan, muffin pan, sifter, homemade earrings and necklace and CHRISTMAS MIRACLE t-shirt from (cousin Carolyn and her husband) Dan. Let me explain this t-shirt. Found in a Madison thrift store. Dated 1973. Perfect condition-- barely (if ever) worn. It is an extremely detailed drawing of the Old Twn Schl of Flk Msic. Where I work and teach. From before some remodeling, back when it looked like this instead of this. But it's an amazing reproduction. I guess it was the cover of the songbook at one point. I was blown away.

Then I played Guitar Hero with my cousins in the basement for a few hours. Holy. Crap. My mom asked, "Does it feel like you're really playing the guitar?" The answer is: not quite. But it feels like you're doing something AWESOME.

Christmas night Ben, Jesse and I went to Walter's, the bar in Tosa where we run into folks from high school every break. This year was no exception, and I ran into a couple guys I loved in high school who now both live in Chicago. I've seen them around the city once each, and we pledged to hang out more. Also saw good old friends: Jamie, Emily, Sara, Joey, Justin, JT, Chris, Pete. Aaron was working bar and gave us cheap Leinenkugels. It was really nice.

The next day we had Weinberg family Christmas. More fun family stuff and food and drink and GUITAR HERO AGAIN RUSSELL GOT IT FROM SANTA TOO!! AWESOME!

Russell drove me back to Chicago, back to work. Have been performing at Zoo Lights the past four nights, and again tonight and tomorrow, singing swingy holiday songs with a guitar teacher from the school, a stellar gypsy jazz violinist and a couple of rotating bass players. We're dressed up in red and green, playing in front of this cozy fireplace scene in the primate house. It's very cool. We're making great tips, people love us, the kids are fun, we're having a ball playing together. I've had a bunch of people come to see me: Tony and his sister, Shawn, Russell and Anna, Emily and her cousin, Lauryn, Ben, Jason and Julie, and then last night my parents, aunt, uncle and cousin drove down from Milwaukee to see us. I was so glad they came. They got to see our house, and we had pizza at Santullos with a couple pitchers of beer, and headed over to the zoo. They were impressed and everyone had a ton of fun. There's a lot of potential for further gigs with this little band we've assembled. We fit together really well. I love it.

I went to see Shawn hosting live band karaoke at the Pontiac the other night, since he came to see my show. Pretty awesome to get to see each other perform in Chicago after we happened to run into each other at a bar in Tosa on Christmas. It was really fun, even though I went alone. I was still in a good mood after playing Zoo Lights, and I felt awesome in my new Christmas clothes. I had a great burger and sang Son of a Preacher Man to start off the night's karaoke, introduced myself as Susan to a drunk guy who called me sweetheart and told me I was really fucking hot, and then left to meet up with Ben, Mike and Neal at Skylark. Went to Rainbo too. We had a good night and I feel like I finally am connecting with those guys in a good way. It's great.

And now it's New Years Eve already. Seems like it's always built up and then a bit of a disappointment, but hopefully we'll find some fun.

How do I always end up writing these long posts? I think my resolution will be to blog more often and more succinctly.

See you next year!

update

Forgive the crabbiness of the last post. I ended up staying in all night with Ben, which, it turns out, was exactly what I needed. The rest did me good and by the end of the night Ben was eating and we were both in good spirits.

I got a new license. Easy as pie.

My Tuesday morning WW families were really nice and gave me some sweet fun stuff. I saw people at work wearing and using things I'd given them for Christmas, and that made me happy.

Last night after the Tuesday shift lots of staff and students went out drinking. It was super fun. I love all of them lots and lots.

Today I'm sleepy!

Karma, bite me.

The good news is that I won the cookie contest. Oh yes. I did. Hands down. Inside the bag (shown above) were some snazzy new spatulas, a set of small bowls and a bench scraper. My cookies were definitely the freshest at the party, as I started making them at 5:45 when I got home from work and had to get them to the judges table by 8. I barely made it, but they were chocolatey beyond belief and they blew away the judges. I called them Santa's Fantasy Cookies, and they were made with 4 kinds of chocolate and a final little dusting of crushed candy canes. And I had a fun time at the party and everyone liked my cookies and cards and presents and outfit and I joined a band on stage to sing Son of a Preacher, only they didn't remember all of the chords and I didn't remember all of the words. It was okay because everyone was drunk and happy.

Maybe you'd think that I won because I have been spending all of my time working away to spread Christmas cheer. Finally my good will and favors to others and responsibility and diligence was paying off, right?

Well.

My wallet is gone. Again. After much searching and deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that it fell out of my pocket when I used the bathroom at a coffee shop on Friday night and somebody took it. I didn't notice it was gone until Sunday morning; I thought I'd just forgotten it at home on Saturday, which was a pain in the ass anyway, since that was the extra shift I'd picked up and it was the busiest day at the desk I have ever experienced, and I had no means to buy anything to eat all day. But come Sunday morning, it was nowhere to be found. It's gone again. My new license, my new debit card, my new wallet that Ben made me, two Starbucks gift cards from WW parents. I never even used the debit card. Just activated it and put it in my wallet. When I wrote in this blog on Saturday that I'd gotten all my wallet stuff figured out? I'd already lost everything and I didn't even know. Plus a pretty good chunk of cash, which I'd been using exclusively due to having my cards all stolen a week and a half ago.

Seriously. I can't believe this.

Ben was in Buffalo this weekend seeing a Bills game with Mike, Neal and Pete. They were driving back Sunday night and were planning to drop Ben off at the party. I was also planning on this. So I drank my drinks since I had a driver for the way home. Told everyone who asked that Ben was coming later, he's coming late. All these people who know me so well who barely know him if they know him at all, who I'm eager for him to meet and get to know. Borrowed money from people since I had none; "I'll pay you back when Ben gets here!"

My secret santa gave me a hat.

At quarter to eleven I got a text from him saying that traffic was bad and they weren't going to make it in time. He didn't get to see me win my cookie prize or sing or dance or meet any of the people who I had told that he was coming later. It just never works out for them to meet him, and he remains this mysterious name that is connected to me. I was embarrassed and sad, and I had to wait until 1:30 before I was good to drive home. Ben came home sometime in the night.

My final Monday WW were today. Overall they were fun. I had been excited about them, and after checking out all the fun presents other teachers got from their students this weekend I was also a little excited to see what gifts might be in store for me. Nobody brought me anything and a ton of kids didn't show up for the final class.

Then Ben called me from work to say that he had food poisoning and didn't think he could take the train all the way home. I managed to go to the bank and order a new debit card before I drove all the way down to Hyde Park to get him. He's in bad shape. Then we drove all the way back to our apartment. I dropped him off and went to the post office to buy stamps (which I wanted to do on Saturday except I had no wallet to buy them) and get my cards in the mail, bought a burrito, came home and ate it in the corner of the living room that was not covered with scraps and garbage from my fiasco of wallet searching, craft making and cookie baking that occupied all of my weekend free time. Now he's upstairs. I just brought him a banana and water and saltines. I'll go check later to see if he could keep them down.

I was supposed to do a bunch of shopping today. Then my plans changed and I was supposed to go get a new license today. Now I guess my plans are cleaning my disgusting apartment while my sick boyfriend sleeps upstairs.

Bleaggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!

The merryest grinch in town

Lindsay's Christmas love:

*Bought tree
*Decorated tree
*Put up stockings
*Listened to Christmas CDs
*Played Christmas tunes on guitar
*Made festive swag out of leftover tree branches in Home Depot garbage
*Hung swag jauntily on door of house
*Undertook complicated and time-consuming, yet fun and rewarding cardmaking project
*Undertook creative giftmaking project for many friends
*Worked to perfect recipe to enter in work Holiday Party cookie contest (They shall be called Santa's Fantasy Cookies. I plan to WIN. I have been reminded of my extreme competitiveness.)
*Hung festive and humorous cartoons at work
*Began purchasing presents
*Picked up shifts as favors to coworkers in exchange for bottle of fancy wine
*Bought menorah with Ben
*Bought stickers for Worms for last day of class
*Awesome Secret Santa-ing (Oh you would be so lucky to have me as your dollar-stretching, pretty packaging, deftly delivering Secret Santa)
*Much excitement for work holiday party on the Sunday night after working the desk Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Lindsay's Christmas grinchy fury:

*Minor anger at self-imposed cutting of many tiny felt pieces
*Working at one job or another for 14 days in a row
*Extreme busyness at front desk, registering for classes, selling many gift certificates, field trips, concerts, graduation performances
*Much additional picking up of slack amidst holiday business due to higher ups enjoying their end-of-year vacation days
*Working manager shifts for non-manager pay and zero benefits
*Inability to go to Dad and uncle Dave's birthday party in Milwaukee due to extra (self-imposed) work shifts
*General frustration at being at the bottom of the OTS totem pole: for example, the people who decide when the desk will be open or closed are not the people who will have to work those days
*Knowing that next week we will have to redeem every gift certificate we are selling this week
*Grumpy that Ben took a road trip to Buffalo to see football with friends since I'm working all weekend anyway, and thus will be arriving late to much-anticipated holiday party
*Limit on potential Sunday night party celebration due to final WW classes of session Monday morning at 9am


So you see my dilemma? I am all ready to be merry and bright, but am so busy making money and helping other people with their holiday needs that I'm running out time and energy for the fun stuff I want to do!

In the meantime I got all my wallet stuff figured out. I'm an official Illinoisan. I have a check card again. The worst part was that during the big holiday field trips this week I was totally nervous and paranoid the entire time, with all the people and commotion. I was mad that some kid stole my ability to feel safe in my own workplace along with my wallet.

I am fried. These past days at work have been insane! Time to stop looking at computers and rest until I have to open up the building again at 8:30 tomorrow.

Send me good cookie vibes for tomorrow night; I must win!

My wallet got stolen.

Yesterday. At work. From the coat cabinet in the back corner of the front office. While we were all working there. Me and one of the teachers performing had our wallets swiped from our coat pockets.

There was a big field trip concert happening and it was very busy, with a lot of people coming in and out of the office. There were three volunteers helping out who put their coats into the cabinet in the office, even though usually volunteers keep their things somewhere else, for exactly this reason. One young guy in particular who was volunteering for his first time is kind of suspect, but his parents (who are very involved at the school) have searched his stuff and nothing turned up.

It's a total drag. Credit cards, debit cards, CTA card, driver's license, student ID (no more discounts!), nearly-full buy 9 get your 10th coffee free card. Called and cancelled everything, filed a police report, the whole deal. It was the wallet that I made, which is not replaceable. Ben and I were hoping to buy tickets to London soon-- trickier with no credit card. No online shopping at all for a while, which sucks for Christmas. This is the second item I have had stolen from my own office at work, right under our noses. The room is never unoccupied. It's a sickening feeling.

When I got home from work yesterday Ben presented me with a wallet he made me out of tape. It had money in it too. He is totally awesome.

Gotta go down to the DMV tomorrow for a new ID. Gonna be a real Illinoisan. Weird. I feel like I am betraying some deep-seated mistrust and hatred of the state which all Wisconsinites harbor. I'm sorry, Wisconsin. My heart will always belong to you, even as my feet traverse the slushy sidewalks of the Windy City.

everything

Here is a neat tip:

If you are eating an Everything bagel, try turning it upside down. Usually all of the everything is concentrated on the top half of the bagel. If you insert the bagel into your mouth with this everythingy side towards the floor, it will make delicious contact with your taste buds, enhancing the salty flavoriciousness.

Love

Thanksgiving weekend was great-- four days off work at home in Tosa! But it was also kind of intense. Dinner with Ben's nuclear and visiting family Wednesday night, then Thanksgiving at his house with 20 people on Thursday, then Franksgiving with 28 people at my family's house on Friday, then cousin Michael's birthday party with my dad's family on Saturday. A lot of busy time with a lot of people! Also a lot of busy baking time; I made an apple pie, a cranberry apple pie, and a pumpkin pie, plus the crusts for two more pumpkin cheesecake pies that my mom made. The secret ingredient in my pumpkin crusts was ground up pecans. They were awesome. I was very pleased and proud. Also had a great time at home going for a walk with my family, riding my mom's bike around town in the unseasonably warm weather, playing cards with Emma and Bari, hanging out with Mike R'ng at Nessun Dorma, lunching with Katie at Comet and Alterra, and watching Bend It Like Beckham with Ben on the couch late at night.

The time spent with our extended families was really great for Ben and me. On Saturday night though we were both really grateful and happy to be snuggled up alone together just watching a movie. Ever since we went home, things have been extra good and I have to say it is just awesome to feel so happily in love with Ben again.

Back to the Metropolis, worked days and nights on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday after work Ben and I went out for sushi at Itto and then picked up some cocktail supplies on our way home. We had drinks and I taught Ben how to play some songs on my guitar. I loved it. We had a great night.

Thursday everyone was nervous about the impending storm. Ben realized that he had a few sick days to use up before the end of December, so he decided to take off work on Friday, my day off. Thursday night we picked up some groceries so that we could make delicious meals on our snow day. We came home and watched some TV on the internet (Heroes is a good show) as the snow began to fall.

Then Friday was one of the best days ever.

We slept in late, listened gleefully to the radio reports of disastrous traffic and travel times all over the city. It was a winter wonderland outside and we had nowhere to go; we could stay in and be cozy all day. We stayed in bed as long as possible, until our stomachs finally got the best of us. We worked hard on a fantastic brunch: omelettes with smoked salmon and dill, hash browns, grapefruit, pomegranite seeds, blackberries, toast with honey, beermosas (Hoegaarden & OJ) and Alterra coffee. It was AWESOME! We cleaned up, hung around, rocked a crossword puzzle. Put on boots and went for a walk around the snowy neighborhood. Played some guitar. Played Spit and Egyptian Ratscrew. Re-taught ourselves to play cribbage. Dinnertime approached. Ben made a cream of roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese. Had a cribbage tournament. Cleaned up dinner dishes. Took a bath. Put on our PJs. Watched more episodes of Heroes. Fell asleep.

Thanksgiving had been a good vacation, but we needed a vacation from that busy vacation, and spending the whole day home on Friday with nothing to do was perfect. We had so much fun together. It was fantastic. And we're in love.

And then on Saturday we got to sleep in AGAIN! Ben made matzo brie for breakfast, and we ran some errands together before I had to go do a birthday party for the triplets I teach. They're in my Evanston class, and they live in the far north suburbs. I looked them up online, and found this image of their address. Right on the water. Set back from the road. Giant driveway with a roundabout in front. Twice as big as the houses next door. Ben dropped me off there, and as we got to the neighborhood we felt kind of like we were in Elm Grove near Milwaukee, covered in snow at Christmastime. Then as we got nearer to the water and were driving past all these huge houses on the water, it was more like Lake Drive in Whitefish Bay.... So we're going along, marveling at one house after the next, and then we see the Nicest Biggest Fanciest House of them all, and that's the one where I'm going to play guitar for a birthday party.

It was the nicest house I've ever been inside. It is the nicest house I will EVER get to see inside. Seriously. Holy. Crap. The garage is full of Lexuses, but I slam the door of the '93 Toyota Corolla and advance to the front door, guitar on my back and bag of shakers and doggy puppet in the other. The foyer smells richly of lilies, thanks to the tall bursting bouquet in the center of the room on the marble table, which I admire as my coat is taken and hung in a closet with coat-check tags on each hanger. I catch a glance of the living room with a huge picture window view of the private beach, graced overhead by an enormous crystal chandelier. Rennaisance paintings as tall as me in the stairway. Ornate detail everywhere. And this three year old in a red velvet dress is leading me up stairs and up stairs and up stairs and suddenly I think I have stepped onto the set of Peter Pan because I am in a huge, beautiful nursery. As big as my last studio apartment, side by side with itself. A giant beam across the room has swings hanging from it. A movie-sized television screen with kid-friendly images growing and dissapearing. Toys to climb on and play with. A high, sloping ceiling that made the room a dream acoustically. It was a dream in many ways. The room was a cream color, and in lovely warm pastels on every wall were paintings of children and storybook characters. They reminded me of Marcel Dzama's art in TMBG's book; check out the boy on the second page. Then imagine him lifesized, in more detail, hand painted with 90 of his friends all over the walls of a huge playroom. This family had five daughters, all under the age of 4: a three year old, the triplets, and a newborn. Four nannies.

Here's a little more I found about the house, from a tour to see if it could be considered for landmark status:

"Tour of Home Proposed for Landmark Preservation: The owner conducted a tour of his property that is being considered for Landmark status. He showed the Trustees the restored exterior, including the wrought iron railings and the metal and glass entry as well as the new family room addition. He pointed out that in order to achieve a seamless transition from the old house to the new addition, salvaged limestone had been used on the east facade. The owner explained that the gardens and walls have been restored as well, with new terraces incorporating limestone balustrades and blue stone pavements to match those already existing. He mentioned that while restoring the main, original terrace on the east of the house, a structurally unsound, secret room underneath the terrace had been discovered. The owner also showed the Trustees the interior restoration work in the first floor public spaces and the reconfigured living space over the garage."

You get the picture. It was FANCY. I felt self-conscious in my pink hoodie and worn sneakers but still fun; the party was just great. I love those girls, and the kids and grownups there were nice and fun and liked my performance. I stayed for a slice of (delicious) cake before heading out. The dad walked me to the door, had the woman at the door get my coat, and gave me a $50 tip. He asked where my car was parked. (Ben had dropped me off on his way to Milwaukee so I was getting home on public transportation.) Somehow I didn't have the gumption to tell this guy I was getting home on the bus, so I told him I was meeting up with someone in town, and headed on my way.

I'll end the tale with an interaction I heard between some grownups who were watching a 14-month-old scuttling along in one of those red and yellow Fisher Price cars.

"Aw, it's Junior's first Mercedes!" (hahahahah!)
Junior's mom answers proudly, "And it won't be his last!" (hahahhaha!)
The man quips, "It can't be his last! It's not a convertible!" (ah, hahahha!)