January 4, 1990
Dear Everyone:
Happy New Year!
Happy New Decade.
Just think:
In ten years you won’t be able to use the pre-printed “19__”
anymore. So don’t order your
checks too far in advance.
“Jeannie” came over to spend New Year’s
Eve with me. It was a pretty
wild night. We drank a
bottle of champagne, “Jeannie” folded at 9:30 and I stayed up to watch a
re-run of Friday 13th, The Series and went to bed at 11:00.
The cat probably had more excitement, but that’s the way we
prefer it. The only times I
stayed up past midnight on a New Year’s Eve was when I was baby sitting
for people who didn’t have sense enough to stay home at night.
Christmas was a tremendous success.
Translation: No
disasters. No blown head
gaskets. No broken teeth.
No bumped heads or presents destroyed before they could be
opened. Everything went
fine.
Everyone had a good time and ate too
much. Everyone seemed to
like their Snuggle-Upples and I got at least one thing on my wish list:
Fuzzy on the Inside Slippers.
[Snuggle-Upples
were soft, fake-fur-and-felt concoctions to wrap around the shoulder
belt in your car so they “snuggle up” to your neck instead of rubbing
against it. I even created
“pedigrees” and house-shaped boxes to deliver them in.]
Actually,
my biggest present was the one I gave myself.
A new room. I
finished it Wednesday morning (12/20/89) and the folks arrived Wednesday
evening. I spent Wednesday
afternoon worrying that the traditional Christmas Disaster would be the
walls giving way from too much weight on them.
So I went through my books (you don’t realize how many books you
have until you put them all up on the walls like that) and culled out
two grocery bags full of paperbacks that I decided I could live without.
These went to the County Library.
It takes something like the image of
someone lying under a collapsed wall to help you prioritize what you
really need to keep and what you can live without.
I even gave up books that I had started ten years ago and hadn’t
finished. I figured:
If you haven’t finished it by now, it’s not worth the effort.
Ditch it.
But now, the room is beautiful.
I used to only go in there if I needed something like a book or a
file. Then I’d take it out
to the living room or the dining room.
Now I spend most evenings in the “den”, reading or watching TV.
It’s a cozy, friendly room.
And anyone who wants to come by and try it out is welcome.
Come one, come all – but don’t all come on the same weekend.
In a few years, I’ll even have it paid
for. I really racked up the
charges on my MasterCard.
The bank, noticing that I was heading into serious debt, responded by
jumping the credit line up another $1500.
Just in case.
However, my car will be paid
off next month. It all comes
out in the wash.
As for the inevitable pile of leftover
food… I took most everything into the office.
The cookies, candy, nuts, even half the pepper ham that “Richard”
had brought. But not the
apple pie. I draw the line
at apple pie in my briefcase.
And my freezer is still filled with ice cream containers since
“Richard” and “Jeannie” found out that Baskin & Robbins is across the
street from me. I also draw
the line at ice cream in the briefcase.
I’ll have to get “Jeannie” to come over some weekend for movies
and ice cream.
But as for the aforementioned cookies,
etc. Most of the ham
disappeared yesterday and “Murray” would like to know where “Richard”
got it as he (“Murray”) has friends in Texas where the ham was made.
Everyone swore that
they wouldn’t touch the cookies or candy which I had placed in the
middle of the table in the Display Room which we also use as a
conference room. But then a
spirited discussion began yesterday afternoon as to what the goals and
objectives of the department should be in the coming year and before you
knew it, most of the cookies were gone.
There’s nothing like cookies to keep an argument from getting out
of hand. Maybe they should
try it at the next peace conference.
We all made a “resolution” to not let
“Alma” “get to us”; a resolution that lasted 2½ whole days and probably
would have lasted longer if she hadn’t come back from vacation this
morning.
In other news…
Ashland:
I got the confirmation.
We have tickets for the second week in August.
(Except that one play had only 4 tickets left.
I’m on the waiting list for the other two.
If we don’t get them, we’ll draw straws.)
I let “Richard” know about the timing and he’s going to make the
arrangements for the house in Sun River.
And we already have confirmed reservations for “Will’s Place”, so
we’re in good shape.
Speaking of shapes, the average
American gains 7 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
I have finally started riding my bike again (now that the
Christmas Tree isn’t taking up half the living room) – 7510 miles and
still deep in China.
Love, as always,
Pete