Jen FitzGerald's Blog, page 44

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY HOUSE TO YOURS.

Toasted Turkey with mayo and Lettuce...

It's my new favorite thing to eat. Besides a bowl of cereal, of course.

A couple of months ago, I got a toasted turkey sandwich from a little place in the business park where our office is located and since then, it's a thing.

It's not that there's anything extra special about this place's sandwich making skills or ingredients; it's the combo of the toast, the turkey, the lettuce and the mayo.

Instead of hoping one of my employees was going to this particular place for lunch every day, I finally broke down and bought my own ingredients and have been enjoying toasted turkey with lettuce and mayo for a couple of days now.

So it's the day before Christmas Eve... My shopping is complete. My errands are complete. My wrapping is complete. All that's left is to be-ribbon up the Christmas morning presents and tidy up the house a bit. And if those presents go without ribbons...that's okay. The house is mostly tidy, so it won't take long to finish and then it'll be Christmas...

For being one of the most important / biggest holidays of the year, we only get a day and a half off of work... Seems to me we should have a four day weekend like at Thanksgiving. Ah well...

Anyway, Merry Christmas to one and all. And if you don't celebrate at all, enjoy the break.

The Bullet Journal

I'm thinking about trying the Bullet Journal system for being more organized and more productive. It looks to be the advanced version of my general list making and requires a little more pre-planning and forethought and organization.


That's not a bad thing, but is it going to be more trouble than it's worth? I have one friend who uses a physical journal but has tweaked it to suit her needs and I have another friend who is more electronically minded.

Now I'm all for electronic but there's something to be said for grasping a concept with a physical book, tweaking it to my needs, and then going virtual. Possibly. Depending on my needs and the tweaks--going virtual might be "out of sight, out of mind." And I'm thinking this might also help me get back on track with daily tasks.



I have yet another friend who uses the happy tracker. She has a physical notebook with printed pages, sorted into various categories, and she rewards herself with stickers on the days / for the tasks she completes. I did that for a while and it worked for me as well, so I'm thinking I could combine the concepts.

Which means going virtual might not be the best option because if that journal--whatever form it takes, and right now it's a composition book I had lying around--is not in front of me, reminding me to open it, to read it, to look ahead, to plan, and to reward with stickers, then it might not happen. And that would defeat the whole purpose.

This year has flown past and the beginning of next year is going to be busy, busy, busy, and I feel like I could use some help in staying on top of all the moving parts.

And so here is the beginning of my journal...



I doubt I'll get too artsy with it...some people like to do decorate their journals, and whatever works for them. But for me it's wasted time. I'd rather be reading. :0)

It's an interesting concept and we'll see how it works for me.

Have a great weekend...

Holiday Down Time...

Not that there's always much of it and the late Thanksgiving is really biting into time in general. We are down to a week and a day until Christmas Eve Day. And we do celebrate Christmas Eve at my mother-in-law's house, so theoretically, I'll only have until noon-ish that day to finish any sort of shopping.

Hopefully, it won't come to that...I despise having to go out the last few days before Christmas and deal with all the crazy people and crowded stores. To that end, I have completed my shopping except for Sonshine. I can buy him stuff later since he won't be here in town with us.

But the title says "down time" so let's talk down time. My down time consists mostly of reading, but I do occasionally watch something other than my handful of regular TV shows.

When I sit and wrap, I usually watch something I've watched before, many times. That way I can listen more than watch and I don't miss things because my eyes are on the wrapping, not the TV.


My go-to for many years has been Penelope, a live-action fairy tale type movie. Not sure what I'm going to watch on Saturday, but probably Penelope and maybe some Harry Potter thrown in too.

Do you have any must-watch films of the season?

I love the old "A Charlie Brown Christmas" as well as "The Little Drummer Boy."
 


Apologies for missing last Wednesday and Friday, but time just got away from me...

Have a great week.

Two weeks and a day...

Until Christmas...

That late Thanksgiving really threw everything off, didn't it?

Luckily I got Christmas money and am making good progress on shopping...

I've been whining about this to my writers group, but this last half of the year has flown by. Considering all the hats I'm wearing and hockey, the first part of next year looks to do the same.

Anyway, I hope you had a good weekend.

Catch you mid-week--

TGIF

There's not much going on really, either at work or at home, but after the holiday last week and my travels I missed three days of work at busy juncture of the month and I spent most of the week getting all caught up. So whew.

I'm just ready to be home for a couple of days,futzing around with this, that, and the other, cleaning house, putting out whatever other Christmas decorations I can find.

Have a great weekend!

There's a reckoning happening in hockey...

It's scary and it's sad. But maybe it'll be cathartic and healing. And maybe, just maybe, hockey will be held accountable and eventually become for everyone...

A few weeks ago, an NHL coach was fired. Upon his termination, the floodgates opened and story upon story of how much his players hated him came out.

And then a player tweeted that another NHL coach--a mentor of the first coach--used racial slurs against him and said that he felt he never made it to the pros because this coach had the GM bury him in the minors.

And that was all she wrote... the hockey version of the #metoo movement began in earnest.

Players of all stripes from all levels of hockey are airing their stories of hazing and all kinds of abuse.

As a result, yet another coach is now under investigation.

It's not pretty. It's--as I said up top--scary and sad. It's disgusting and shameful, and my heart hurts for all of these guys.


Hockey is probably getting a huge black eye right now, but I hope, in the end, the perpetrators are held accountable for their actions and that moving forward, players from mini-mites (age 5 &6) to all all professional leagues find safety and healing.

Yikes.

On the other hand, I've got a trio of podcasters who were players not so long ago and they want to point out that the whole hockey barrel shouldn't be spoiled because of a few bad apples. And they're right--just because a coach is strict and tough doesn't mean he's abusive. But there's a line, there's a limit.

Anyway...that's what's on my mind right now, among the dozen other things going on in my world.

Hello and Best Wishes...

I hope your Thanksgiving was as pleasant as mine. We gathered and ate and visited and video-chatted with Sonshine for a few minutes since he couldn't be with us. A good time seemed to be had by all.

The drive and the weather were unremarkable which is a blessing this time of year, especially for all points, say, north of Wichita. We had a half-hour's worth of flurries on Thursday which was both a blessing and a disappointment. I would have liked to have enjoyed a little more snow--a dusting maybe? Enough to cover the roofs, and the lawn, and the cars, but not enough to make driving detrimental.

We came home Saturday to allow for a day of rest and recovery and preparation for the new work week. The drive was uneventful from Omaha to Gainseville, aside from some patchy fog during that first hour on the road. But it wasn't so close as to restrict our view of the pavement of the lines, so while tiring to the eyes after a while, not too dangerous or scary.

Once we passed through Gainesville, however--which is the first five miles inside the Texas border--there was traffic. Unexplained traffic... Traffic would slow down and speed up--but not all the way, slow down and speed up--but not all the way, and just be unusually slow. There was no accident... There was just nothing. And it was so frustrating, because when you're at the end of a ten-hour drive, you want to be done and out the car and home, and yet, you're forced to spend an extra 30 minutes in the car FOR NO REASON.

Okay--

Obviously we made it safely and can now begin the express train ride to Christmas and New Years...

Happy Thanksgiving

Hockey Fights Cancer

Last night, DD and I went to the Stars game...but it wasn't just any old game.

Last night was Hockey Fights Cancer Night at the AAC when the Stars put out the word for fans to bring unopened LEGO sets for the LEGOS for Little Warriors project founded by a very young man who lost his own battle with cancer just this past August.

Many of the players have foundations that support various causes or charities or offer special events and outings. John Klingberg, one of our defenseman, sponsors Klinger's Kids and last year for Hockey Fights Cancer Night, Klingberg had Brody Nelson and his family in for the Victory Green Carpet treatment, culminating in dropping the ceremonial puck and enjoying the game in a suite.

Last night, Brody's sister dropped the ceremonial puck in her brother's stead and received a standing ovation in return.

Anyone who wanted to could pick up an "I fight for sign" and so I did...



LOVE YOU MIMI!