Brrrrr...

I know, I know...it's been awhile since I've blogged. I think I agree with my friend Chrissie, when you get out of the habit it's hard to jump in again. She recently wrote: "Funny thing about blogging is that once you fall out of the habit, it's hard to pick it up again. So I guess I'm going to have to get back up on the horse and dust off the keyboard." Of course, she wrote this back on January 8th and has blogged a lot since then. So I'm shamed.

It's been a fast-paced but good new year. The day after Christmas, one of my staff members informed me he was taking a new job...4 days after the legislative session began. Yikes! That put me in a bit of a tizzy, but so far we've managed okay. I'm just now starting the interview process for his replacement. It's hard to fit the time in when you're drafting bills and scheduling meetings and answering phone calls from legislators all day long. But today is the 13th day of our 60 day session, and it would be nice to get a replacement before the 60th day, even if that person doesn't know how to draft a bill.

Otherwise I've been very selfish with my personal time. When the weekend gets here, I just don't want to commit to much because it takes so much to gear up for another week of craziness and long hours at work. I am getting into another knitting craze, though. I bought lots of yarn last week when Michaels was having a sale, and tonight I'm starting a very short class on how to knit cables. I'm excited, because other than plain garter stitching and knitting hats in the round, I don't know how to do anything else yet. And I still can't read most patterns because there's always something in there that I have no idea how to do. This class may be the only one I can fit in before the session ends in April, so I expect I'll be knitting lots and lots of cables between now and then!

We were all beginning to wonder whether or not winter was every really going to come. As recently as New Year's Eve we were having weather more appropriate for late October or early April. But finally Old Man Winter has arrived (as it has in much of the country). We're not used to temperatures in the single digits (and that's without wind chill factored in). All I can say is thank goodness for knitted hats and scarves. Now if I could just learn how to do gloves and mittens!

I know my good friend Kat is going to ask where are all my pictures of the few things I've managed to complete so far, so let me just say that I'm not that organized yet! I'll try to get a few pictures of what I still have in my possession, but a couple things had to be given as gifts before I snapped any photos. Oops! I promise to do better...which is an easier promise to make now that I've finally invested in my own digital camera. Now I just have to download everything to Flickr.

A Very Merry Day

I wasn't much in the Christmas spirit this year. A couple big changes in my life in 2007 meant things were going to be a little different, and I'm afraid part of me was dwelling too much on those changes. Also, one of my biggest joys of the season is singing along to Christmas songs while driving in the car (madrigal Christmas music, anyone?)...but due to a lingering bronchial infection, my voice wasn't up to it. I sounded pitiful, when I was able to make any sound at all.

In the end, the season was very merry and bright, however. Going to worship on Sunday morning and again on Monday night really catapulted my mood in the right direction, even though my voice started acting up again by the time I got to the third hymn on Christmas Eve. Mom and I left church and met our friends (family, really) for the annual Christmas Eve dinner. Mom and I have participated in this dinner out since I was in elementary school, and it's been going on a little longer than that. For probably 30 years it was always at a restaurant in a hotel in downtown Louisville, but that ended a few years ago. Since then we've been a wandering group in search of a restaurant. This year we ended up at a Chinese buffet! But we still had a great time. I look forward to that meal every year.

Christmas day was equally magical, though it was just Mom and I celebrating at her house. You might think two people wouldn't make it very merry, but it does make it very relaxing...none of the stress of lots of family with different ideas of what should be done when. We lounged or slept until late morning, opened gifts, had Christmas brunch at 1 p.m. (including green eggs and ham...literally), and then decided on a marathon DVD session with "Nero Wolfe."

Earlier in the day Mom and I had talked about Christmas memories that stand out in our minds, and reminisced together. As I stumbled home that evening, laden with so many wonderful gifts and good food, I realized that this Christmas was one that will stand out too...full of surprises and reassurance that all is merry and bright in my little corner of the world. May it be so with you as well!

Folderol

folderol \FAHL-duh-rahl\ noun
1 : a useless ornament or accessory : trifle *2 : nonsense
Example sentence: Cherie dismissed the tabloid article as useless folderol.

Did you know? Hogwash. Claptrap. Hooey. Drivel. Malarkey. English is rife with words that mean "nonsense," and "folderol" is one of the many. Though not the most common of the words for nonsense, it's been around since 1820 and is still heard today. "Folderol" comes from "fol-de-rol" (or "fal-de-ral"), which used to be a nonsense refrain in songs, much like "tra-la-la." The oldest recorded instance of someone "singing folderol" occurs in Irish dramatist George Farquhar’s 1701 play Sir Harry Wildair, in which a character sings, "Fal, al, deral!"

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Every day I get a "Word of the Day" email from Merriam-Webster. Today's is listed above. Most days I read it, even when I know the word's meaning, just to read about the etymology of words. I mean, I did take Latin for 3 years, and this is one of the few times that I'm likely to use that learning directly!

Today's word really hit home, however. It's getting close to Christmas (I'm no longer panicking, as I've made a significant dent in purchasing presents in the past few days), and there's certainly a lot of of ornamentation and accessorizing going on these days.

More importantly, there's a lot of nonsense around me recently. Mostly this is work-related. Our long legislative session starts on Jan. 8 and we're in full bill drafting mode right now. Sometimes being a bill drafter is a thankless job. There are a lot of bills that we draft that never see the light of day because the legislator decides he or she doesn't want to file it and make it public. That happens a lot. Then there are those bills that the sponsor is very enthusiastic about but you know for political or practical reasons that the bill won't ever be heard in committee. For those raised on Schoolhouse Rock ditties, and you know who you are, you know that getting out of committee is the first step on a Bill's journey to becoming a Law. So you get this assignment to draft some complicated piece of legislation and you know that this bill will never make that journey.

But just in case we get too cocky about knowing what's going to happen, each session it seems that some piece of legislation that you never in a million years thought was going to go anywhere, much less become a law, actually moves through the process and gets enacted. So despite the sometimes thanklessness of the job, you also always do your best job you know how, no matter what the odds seem on that document ever seeing the light of day, much less ending up codified in the statutes. (And trust me, even some of those are hogwash, malarkey, or folderol!

So tra-la-la and fol-de-rol and Merry Christmas to all!

What Do You Mean There's Only 15 Days Left?!?!

Surely it can't be December 10th. I'm still wondering what happened to October, much less November! I can't already have missed 1/3 of December. It's just not possible.

Life has been just way too busy recently. I vaguely remember it being mid-November I I was telling myself to just get through December 1st. By that time Mom and I would have travelled to Arizona over the Thanksgiving weekend, I would have attended my conference at the Arizona Biltmore (and finished my small speaking role), and hosted a slew of my friends at my house for an after-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving meal, turkey and all.

All of that happened. Mom and I had a great time traipsing around Arizona (Phoenix to Jerome to Sedona to Flagstaff, back to Sedona and Phoenix, to Tucson and Tombstone, and again back to Phoenix to drop Mom at the airport). Jerome is a great little town literally sticking off the side of a mountain. Sedona is beautiful and ritzy. The drive between Sedona and Flagstaff is breathtaking. Flagstaff brought back good memories of when we were there 22 years ago or so. Tombstone is stuck in its O.K. Corral past and proud of it. Tucson is the perfect size city, I think...while very Southwestern, it also reminded me of Louisville - very user-friendly. And that's despite all of the downtown interstate exits being closed for construction. Phoenix is just big, and bigger. But after dropping Mom off I did go and enjoy Taliesin West, which was the perfect preview for staying at the Biltmore, since Frank Lloyd Wright was a consultant on the project and his influence is evident throughout the facility. The conference went really well, too.

Less than 24 hours after my plane landed, the turkey was ready (there's a very funny story about the bird, but I'm not going to humiliate myself to all of the web, even if only about 4 people ever read this), and Lisa and I welcomed people in for a formal dinner. Thankfully it was a potluck, because we got to eat a lot of very good food and have a lot of laughs. The house hasn't quite recovered yet, but it was well worth it. What started out as me whining about wanting a real Thanksgiving meal (all the way back in July) turned out to be a great night of fun and food. Thanks to all who came and made the evening so much fun.

So things were supposed to slow down once the party was over. Except that I forgot that I had to organize an out-of-town meeting for my legislative committee members. So before I had a chance to do all of my laundry, I was repacking my bag on Tuesday to go to Fort Campbell U.S. Army Base on Wednesday and Thursday. My staff and I didn't roll into Frankfort until 9 p.m. Thursday night...UGH! It was a long trip for being less than 36 hours long. And I promptly came down with the crud in time to spend most of the weekend trying to recuperate from it all.

And now it's December 10th. I'm going to try to not stress (too much). I'm thinking Christmas cards are just not going to happen this year. Lisa's already decided not to put up a tree this year, so at least I'm not the only one going "Oh well, maybe next year." Tomorrow is the gubernatorial inauguration here, so I get the day off from work (having all those parking spaces is more valuable than having us try to work while festivities surround the capitol building). I'm going shopping and hope that I manage to take care of several people's gifts. I've got to, because with session starting on Jan. 8th, I'm finding it hard to find another good time to take off work and get more shopping done.

For all of you who are feeling a little stressed out there, my sympathies. Who knew there were only 15 days left until Christmas. I certainly didn't! Good luck!

Rainy Days and Mondays

Okay, so today's actually Tuesday, but it's a rainy day, so the title still applies. And even though I had yesterday off of work to celebrate Veterans' Day (Thanks, all of you who have served our country in the military, regardless of what I might think about the various wars that have been fought.), yesterday still managed to get me down because I've been struggling with a vicious cold all weekend (and on through today with no end in sight).

It's been awhile since I blogged but that's mostly due to the fact that when I was on the computer I was too busy to stop and write, and when I could tear myself away from working on the computer, the last thing I wanted to do was be back on the computer, even just to check in.

A few weekends ago I took a pastel drawing/painting workshop, which was a great deal of fun. When I was in 6th grade I won a county-wide art competition with a pastel drawing I did in art class, but that's really the last time I ever used any artistic ability I have. Mom's always said I had it in me (and she would know), but for various reasons I've never pursued it until now. I'm still not sure how much I'll do on my own...I really need to take more classes to learn techniques and the basics of drawing. That's on my to-do list for next spring once the legislature adjourns and I have some free time.

The next weekend was the annual Pigeon Forge Shopping Extravaganza event, and I trundled off with Mom and the other moms and daughters from church for yet another shop-til-you-drop weekend at the outlet malls near Gatlinburg, TN. We leave on a Thursday night and come back on Sunday, and in between we ignore the beautiful Smoky Mountains, the colorful leaves and/or Christmas decorations, the variety of shows, and all other possible distractions and just eat, sleep and shop. Actually, we're slowing down a bit and resting more, and this year we even played several games together. Mostly, though, the shopping is a great excuse for a lot of laughter, story telling, and good conversations. I love these women, most of whom I've known my whole life, so it's great to get away and just be together for awhile.

Last week we had an election for governor and other constitutional officers. There will be a new governor inaugurated on Dec. 11th, and lots of things will change around Frankfort. No election has a direct impact on my job (even legislative elections, which we didn't have this year), so that's not a worry. But I was just beginning to think that I'd met all of the "big wigs" associated with the committee for which I'm the lead staff person, and now many or all of those people will be moving on and new people will fill those roles. So here goes the "meet and greet" merry-go-round again. Fun, fun!

Now, if I could only shake this cold, the rainy days wouldn't seem quite so bad.

The Life and Times of a Slug

I admit it, I was a slug this weekend. I made it out of the house every day, but that's not saying too much, to tell the truth. The past month has been a busy one, and I still felt like I hadn't caught up from last weekend, so I intentionally kept my weekend clear of much activity.

While it doesn't speak highly of my social life, I spent Friday night finishing a book Maria had lent me on Tuesday and working on a knitting project that I have to have done by next week. "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Julia Spencer-Fleming is an interesting and entertaining murder mystery set in the New York Adirondacks, and of all things, the main character is a female Episcopalian priest. Finishing the book was part of what got me out and about a bit on Saturday...to return it to the library and pick up some lunch. But before and after that, I was simply knitting, sleeping, watching TV, and reading.

Saturday evening I did venture out to Judy and Scott's house in rural Kentucky (south of Frankfort). Judy had invited me to come and enjoy their dinner and bonfire. Two of her sons were there with their friends, as were two couples of friends closer to Judy and Scott's age. We all collectively painted a chair, watched UK beat LSU in football (Go Cats!), ate lots of good food, and laughed together. I did finally get to go for a walk back in their woods, which was so peaceful, and allowed another chance for Judy and I to have a few good conversations. It was a fun evening!

On Sunday I decided to skip church, mostly because Lisa's cat thought that it was time to wake up at 5 a.m., when I'd only been asleep for about 3 hours, and I just didn't want to try to stay awake through the service. Despite that lack of structure I did go out briefly again on Sunday...to the knitting store for needles and yarn and back to the library, this time to pick up the next 2 books by the same author.

So, you can see the theme of my sluggish weekend...sleep, knit, read, sleep, eat, knit, read...and the worst of it is, I'm still sleepy!

A Disturbing Development

I got a call from my mother a few minutes ago, asking me why I hadn't posted a new blog yet. Good grief, it's only been 5 days! I posted all of 2 blog entries in the entire month of September. My response was that I've been a little busy, which is true. The other part of it is that I hadn't even thought about a new entry.

But here I am, feeling pressure from Mom to put something down. With my work travels, I was in 5 different airports over the course of about 38 hours between Thursday and Friday. I spent most of Saturday trying to sleep off the dregs of the traveling. I don't know how people travel for work, week in and week out. They must find a well of stamina somewhere that I've never tapped.

Saturday night I met my friends Pam, (Kim, but we never call her that) Crady, Gina & her husband Nick and their two boys, Jackson and Charlie, for dinner at the corner Mexican restaurant, and then the girls and I headed to the movie theater. We saw "In the Valley of Elah," which is by far the best performance by Tommy Lee Jones I've ever seen. But it is also one very sad, depressing, and tense movie. We all walked out in total silence, and didn't speak for over a minute. I found myself thinking about the movie later that night and again on Sunday, which is always the mark of a good movie. Next time, though, I think we'll seek out a comedy.

Sunday I met Mom at church and was glad to see Nancy and Davis Gray visiting St. Paul, too. Then Mom and I headed down to the St. James Art Fair, which I look forward to every year. Of course, it's not over 90 degrees every year, either, and the heat and humidity took it's toll. We didn't stay nearly as long as we have in past years. But I did find some beautiful pieces of pewter, and even have a pewter nativity to look forward to as a Christmas gift (thanks, Mom!). The rest of Sunday was pretty quiet, at least for me. Lisa was running around like crazy getting ready to leave for her chorus competition in Calgary. I dropped her off at the airport on my way to work this morning. I hope the competition goes well and that they place at least as high as they did 2 years ago, if not even higher!

So, Mom, I hope you're happy. I've caught everyone up on the excitement of my weekend, and have spent some time today just trying to catch myself up.