My brain is numb from all the planning I’ve done today. I am a planner extraordinaire. I plan things for personal reasons and I plan a lot of things for work. Sometimes I even plan things for other departments. With the “holiday” season rolling in my planning muscles start burning from all the lactic acid. (That means I plan more than usual, for all you non-exercise types.) The good news is, I certainly won’t starve throughout the month of December from all the free luncheons. The bad news is, I’m going to eat a lot of crap throughout the month of December from all the free luncheons. I wish that I could eat a lot of food and then give my extra poundage to skinny people. Alas.

I have been actively avoiding reading my book lately. Once I finish this book, I will be done with the Barsetshire series from Trollope. I do not want to be done, I am enjoying it too much. However I’m on the chapter titled, “Conclusion,” so that pretty much tells you have far I’ve gotten. I’ve managed to stave off the end for about a week now, but I think that I will have no choice but to just get to the end and move on. Sadness. A wee tear will trickle down my cheek at the moment when the last page is turned. At least I have 842 more Trollope novels to read before I’m done!

I coined a new term today for holidays that were meant to be religious but are now merely economic methods of avoiding recession: commercio-religious. Yes, folks, what we formerly called That Holiday Celebrated in December will now be called December Commercio-Religious Holiday. Not to be confused with the April Commercio-Religious Holiday (formerly known as That Other Holiday Celebrated in April). Both are days when I prefer to hide under a (grandma-knitted) blanket with a magnum of wine and a bag of cheetos. Unfortunately I’m never allowed to do that during the DCRH because family requires me to be cheerful, but at least no one cares about my activities (or lack thereof) during the ACRH. I’m thankful for small favors.

Drought, drought everywhere! It’s all about the drought! We are drought-tastic around here. No one uses a drop of water they don’t need. Restaurants don’t serve water with your meal unless you expressly ask for it. All of the vegetation is brown and dead due to the watering ban. It’s your patriotic duty to buy water in bottles from another state. Please recycle!

In a final note, I have the New Kids on the Block running through my head today. That is all.