[Mari]

Keep doing well, Kay.


M

[OhKay]

I did vacuum yesterday, but never got to making cookies because I got caught up in doing sedentary computer and cleaning things and lost track of time, but that's okay. I was distracted.

I'm going to make chocolate chip cookies (my husband's pick) this morning. It's my go-to recipe, so it won't disappoint. I won't wait much passed 9am to start because everything takes me forever now. I don't want to rush, and I have other things to do today, so need to spread my activities out. My husband was up late last night, but he will either have to block out the sound of the stand mixer, or get his *** out of bed.

The Pats play at 1pm today. I'll be able to watch the game because we ordered Chinese food last night and have leftovers for lunch. I can start wrapping presents at half-time… I don't have a lot.

We're having ham tonight. It will be much, much easier to pull off than a turkey dinner. Because of the game, I won't be able to get a nap in, but on weekends and holidays we eat a little later, so I will have plenty of time to relax. Maybe I will just lay down for a little while vs. taking a nap and that will help carry me through the day.

[OhKay]

I took my time (almost 3 hours) and enjoyed making the cookies. They came out with a great taste and texture, so I was very pleased.

The Pats were slaughtering the Jets yesterday long before I decided to give in and take a nap. I felt bad because it was Christmas Eve, but I knew I would be making dinner later and need the rest.

Dinner came out well, but was late because of lack of coordination on my part again. We watched some Christmas movies I recorded including Rudolph, which is one of my personal favorites.

My husband is going over to his mother's house today, and will likely be over there for hours. I'm going to stay here with the kitties and watch more Christmas movies, maybe with a nap thrown in somewhere.

Right now I am SOOOOOO MAD at him…
It's not worth getting into, and I guess I don't have the patience to. All you really need to know is that it takes a hell of a lot to make me REALLY lose my temper, and I completely lost it. He was calm and mainly took it…. because he knows damn well he was wrong.

I guess I wasn't going to have much of a Christmas anyway.

[Mari]

Did your ham come out to your liking? Glad to hear that the cookies turned out well.

Really sorry to hear about your Christmas.
I hope that things got better.


M

[OhKay]

I bought a small, boneless, cut "brown sugar and spice" ham. It didn't come with a glaze packet, so I made my own glaze using brown sugar, honey, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice. It was very good.

Things were okay when my husband got home from his mother's. We ended up watching a couple of Christmas movies and turning in early.

The evening turned out much better than expected

[OhKay]

It would be nice to have someone to talk to about my recent MS relapse, but as usual, my husband doesn't want to hear it or see it because he's in denial. Part of him gets it, but I guess he just can't deal with it.

Trying to get up that walkway and navigate the stairs to get in and out of the apartment building is 100X worse now. I need him to acknowledge how hard it is for me because we need to save enough money to move, and that may mean he has to work more. I don't know if he's willing to do that though.

I think I'm going to open the subject up for discussion today. I don't even have an idea of how much money he wants to have before we do move, and I think that's a worthwhile question to ask.

[Mari]

I try that with my husband occassionally and rarely find success because he
would rather live with a certain degree of denial and I do not blame him.

Still, sometimes he needs to know the serious of the situation so he can
do /not do something.


=-=-
Lately I have been trying something different like this:
"Things with my situation are really serious, more serious than
we have discussed before, I need you to stay home today (or whatever it
is I need -- can't come up with better examples/situations right now).


He listens to my needs most of the time.

M

[OhKay]

My husband hates this apartment, and while I'm sure he would like to move, I think he is less motivated now because he isn't as angry now that the bathroom ceiling is done. I'm sure that moving during the winter isn't appealing, but we would need to give 60 days notice, which would mean if we gave notice now, we would be moving in March.

Yesterday I told him that it is even harder for me to get in and out of the apartment now, and asked how much money he wants to save before we move. His only response was, "more." I told him I wanted him to think of a specific number, but I didn't follow up on that later in the day.

I think you are right, Mari. I think I'm letting him bury his head in the sand to my own detriment by not being more open and direct, but that doesn't mean that strategy will do me any good with him.

I'll tell him today that I NEED to move out of here as soon as possible because it's such a struggle for me to get in and out of the apartment, point out that we'll be stuck here until at least March, and tell him I need him to come up with a target number. I wish I could tell/ask him to work more, at least temporarily, because we could save money much faster, but he hates his job, and does NOT like to be told what to do.

[OhKay]

Last night when I asked my husband how much money he wanted to have in savings before we move, he said he didn't know because he didn't have enough time to think about it. I was firm when I told him I NEED to move as soon as possible, and I NEED to know we're working towards that goal…

He did give me a number, and it's not unreasonable, but I don't know how long it will take us to get there. We were able to put some money away recently. I think we can maintain what we we have, but I don't know how much, or how quickly, we can build on that.

He mentioned buying vs. renting, but that's not realistic because we would be here FOREVER trying to save at least DOUBLE the amount of money that he wants to save now… I'll keep playing the lottery… and maybe we should go to the casino and hit the roulette tables… lol.


I have abandoned the e-cigarette and been smoking regular butts for over a week now. I don't plan on giving up though, so I guess I have a New Year's resolution on my hands…
I may have more reason to quit soon, as I'm having pulmonary function tests done January 4th because I probably have COPD.

[OhKay]

We were supposed to have a storm Wednesday night into Thursday, so I thought I was being smart getting my errands out of the way Wednesday, so I could stay in on Thursday, but the storm never happened. Instead we got a surprising amount of heavy wet snow Thursday night.

I was supposed to do the grocery shopping yesterday, but didn't feel up to dealing with the parking lot, and was really feeling like I needed a nap more than I needed groceries. But I had to go out to buy TP because we were out, so I went to Rite Aid to pick some up, and I went to the butcher shop because I knew it would be a circus today.

I have to do the food shopping this morning. I'm dreading it, but the sooner I go, the sooner it will be over with.