Precious

It is cold in my office. Real cold. I refuse to turn on the space heater, though, because it decreases the odds of me not hearing someone walk past my office. I like to toggle screens to give the illusion that I am always working. We've had too many layoffs in the past year to risk anything else. Now that I have a mortgage, staying employed seems to be THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.

Last night I came home with a giant bag of curry ingredients. I found what looked to be a delicious curry recipe on the Pioneer Woman website, and was all excited to make my flu-ridden boyfriend a spicy, sinus clearing hot meal. However, when I walked into the house I realized that my kitchen was taken over by the transient sausage vendor we have living there- and I wish I was joking. He was cooking a turkey and was racing around the kitchen making gravy and shit. Now, that does sound delicious, I'll admit it, but when you have a dinner all planned out for yourself, it's extremely irritating to find your squatter preparing a sumptuous feast in your kitchen. Especially when your kitchen is a 24 square foot area. Inward babyfits ensued, but I made a quick recovery by devouring a bowl of maple walnut ice cream. It's been a month of him living there, and we have one week to go before he moves on to the next friend's house. I can't even tell you the amount of stress eating I've done in the past month.

However, there is one good thing that came out of this month- we decided that when we get our first time homebuyers tax credit back we are going to take a trip to Paris. Neither of us have ever been anywhere outside of the country (Canada doesn't count), so this is extremely exciting. We are trying to pick up a little french here and there so we don't sound like complete a-holes to the locals. I want to check out Montmarche and the church that's on top of it, as well as all of the other touristy places.

Also, another good thing did come out of this month- Nate created an alter-ego that we have yet to name but I think I want to call "Precious", it's a gentle-minded male prostitute who talks like Huckleberry Hound and calls everybody "Please, Handsome" in a servile tone. It's the best thing ever, and I wish I had a recording of it to share here.

Shit. I better get back to work.

Big bloggy style.

Happy impending New Year! This year I vow to:

• avoid joining any book groups.
• Run at least 3 times a week on the new used treadmill in the barn.
• Eat as much Indian food as I can cram in my salivating maw.
• Learn how to bake a decent loaf of bread.
• Make more time for activities I actually enjoy (such as sitting on my couch with my filthy yoga pants on, doing deep mouth breathing exercises) and not let obligatory social events crowd my schedule.

Those are a lot of empty promises to make to one's self, I know. The book group one I think I can easily keep, as I hate them. The running thing I most want to keep, as it makes me feel good, and being a runner has been one of those life's goals that I still haven't tackled. Everything else would just be a bonus.

2009 was a pretty amazing year. Nate and I started out the year living by the ocean in a rental- it was a beautiful place, but we really wanted to own a home. So we started saving in July- by October we had somehow scraped enough together to get a loan, and found the house of our dreams- a tiny, dustbowl-era farmhouse on 2.5 acres of wetlands. So we moved in and adopted a couple of elderly dogs from the shelter. We've got flower gardens that neither of us know how to manage and a riding lawn mower that we don't know how to fix, but I'm convinced all of that will come with time. Somehow. Magically.

Life is pretty good right now. I hope I can continue self-propelling in the years ahead.