Of course, it didn't help to come into work today and find that someone's gotten engaged. I swear I am the only single person left in this office. That right there is depressing. Anyway . . .

The four-day holiday was actually pretty cool - 2 a.m. weepings aside. Thanksgiving day itself was fun and stress-free. The West Coast Clan got together for a traditional turkey dinner, and I had the opportunity to spend several hours playing fetch and tug-of-war with one of my Uncle's pugs. It was great fun, and I was pleased to learn that OTC Claratin-D, Visine Allergy Eye drops, and some Nasonex nose spray kept my allergies pretty much at bay. The only problem I had was with my breathing. I'll probably have to get an inhaler.

Friday morning I went to Curves to workout, then mom and I did our grocery shopping. We crossed the picket line at Von's for the first time since the strike started, and one woman actually had the nerve to yell at us "Have you considered shopping at Food-4-Less?" Although I swore I wasn't going to say anything if those dumbass people ever said anything to me, I couldn't help but respond, "We have been for the past seven weeks!" Gah! This whole thing makes me so angry, but I've been holding my tongue. I don't care if these people are on strike. I don't care if they want to stand outside in the cold carrying signs saying that Albertson's or Von's or Whomever is Unfair to Workers. They can do whatever floats their boat, but don't give me a hard time for choosing to go inside the store to shop. Von's is close to my house, and quite frankly, I'm tired of driving all the way across town to buy groceries just because a few striking workers are telling me to. I also hate that because I told her we had been shopping at Food-4-Less (and once or twice at Spencer's and Trader Joe's), she assumed we'd been doing it because of them and said, "Thank you for your support!" Grr!

Okay, I need to move away from that subject right now before I get too ticked off! But, for the record, I do not support the strike. I've really only been shopping at other stores because I think Albertson's and Von's are too expensive to begin with, and it had been proven a few months ago that Albertson's was actually ripping its customers off. So there. Okay, moving on now.

I had been wanting to go somewhere this weekend like Avila Beach or Cambria, but the idea of fighting traffic and crowds of insane people just didn't appeal to me, so I pretty much stayed home. Saturday, however, mom and I did venture out to the Factory Outlet Center and K-Mart to do some Christmas shopping. Both places were busy, but not claustrophobically so. We managed to get quite a bit of Christmas shopping done, and returned home with presents for two people, ideas for everyone else, and a great feeling of satisfaction.

Speaking of satisfaction, Sunday I did some more "Clean Sweep"ing, and got a lot of useless, out-of-date, or just plain old make-up junk out of my bathroom. I also went through a couple bins in the garage, and found several sweaters and pairs of pants I can wear this winter, as well as several more items to get rid of. I feel really good about all the purging I'm doing. It's nice to have less stuff, and have what stuff I do have organized and in its rightful place.

So, with everything going so well, the only thing that can explain my middle-of-the-night weepfests is the hormones. Of course, I do tend to be more melancholy this time of year, but who isn't? It's a depressing time of year disguised as a festive celebration. It's just hard to be alone and childless during the holidays, and it's hard to watch other people live the life I've been fantasizing about for so long. You'd think after all these years it would get easier, but it never does.

For what it's worth,
Hez

Home