New Year's Resolutions...

I'm sure I'm going to make a ton of them... but the biggest one for now is to write more in my blog. And if I succeed at then, then you'll know how the rest of my year goes.

Everyone loves the pink Snuggie...

Monkey is happily sleeping on the pink Snuggie that Heidi and Jon got me for Christmas (Fezzy is sitting on the newspaper next to her waiting his turn) - there are chocolates and wines, fluffy gloves and hand puppets that are all a part of my Christmas loot (from a variety of people). I had lovely Christmas holiday where I ate too much. and drank just enough. Christmas Eve was watching movies, eating vegetarian chili and having a bottle of wine (to myself - the entire bottle. Ooops.) Christmas day was bunch at Heidi's place - Lara, Heidi, Jon, Lucie, and her father in-law and partner and her bother-in-law's family. It was insanity with three kids under 4 and a questionable adult but the food was delicious and the company was fun... and when it cleared out and was just us 4 adults and Lucie - it was quite a lovely time.

Lara and I headed back and cooked up some garlic smashed potatoes, cranberry salad, green been casserole and cupcakes before heading out to Kelly Rae and Steph's place for dinner. Julie joined us and we stuffed ourselves - which didn't take long considering I was still very full from the noontime brunch. We all played Uno for a while and then settled in to watch A Christmas Carol... which was hilarious - as always.

Saturday I was at my wits-end - too much rich food and alcohol over the past few days (without any exercise) had me going a bit stir crazy. I needed a walk in the sun, a break from the food and wine. I took off for Discovery Park where clearly a ton of other people had the same idea. The park was crowded with families (cheap way to get out and include the in-laws) who were soaking up the high 40 degree sunshine. It was glorious.

Lara and I headed up to Everett to hang out with Unshine. The cheap and tasty Mexican restaurant we were going to go to was closed for the holidays and we ended up to the Alligator Soul restaurant (which I always pass on my way to events in Everett and had been so curious about). There was delicious Cajun food and great conversation with very old men jamming out on the front stage. What a lovely surprise of an evening!

Happy Holidays!

Tee hee.

Yesterday, on the shortest day of the year...

I (with help) wrestled kitty friends into cages, loaded them up in the car, bombed the apartment, dropped Lara off at work, stopped by my own office to drop off donation of winter clothes (and derby stuff), went to the Fred to rent a carpet cleaner, auto parts store for new wipers and air filter, pet store for kitty friend treats (I mean they were being so good!), Goodwill, gas station (checked the tires), Safeway for lunch with old people, aired out the apartment, picked this past summer's dry cleaning, vacuumed, brought kitties in, cleaned counters, cleaned the carpet, did laundry, sent a few emails, took a nap, went grocery shopping and made dinner.

Phew. I'm it wasn't any longer.

A week of disappointments...

This last week was one of those weeks - where you had to teach your coworkers how to talk about budget cuts, when your birthday got passed over (as usual) and you try not to seem upset about it but you can't help yourself, when you keep writing out holiday greetings knowing you're not going to get any in return (but that's not why you write them - you write them because you care damnit)- it was one of those weeks - that ended most wonderfully.

I ended the week on Friday, (see above) exhausted and just hung out at the apartment, prepared the place a little for the flea bombing (today). I ended up drinking a little too much (not intentionally) and going to bed whooped. Saturday was another story. As someone who never falls in practice, I bit it twice hard at practice and had the shakes (coming down off the hangover) but I had a couple of oranges and made it through the rest of the morning. The evening was fantastic as I went, with 10 of my dearest friends, to "The Land of Sweets" Nutcracker Burlesque - my 3rd year in a row - a new "tradition". We had a wonderful time. I cheered for all the main players (and that made my friends laugh but don't they understand performers feed off of that.) And we all totally feel in love with one of the snow princesses... of course the next day I decided that I had a general lapse in judgement (that comes about twice a year and usually both times in December) and suffered a bit of a hangover on Sunday.

But the birthday wishes - coming on my facebook and by phone - made me so happy. I often think people have the wrong assumptions of me. Truthfully, I am not one to take center stage as the leading actress but would much prefer to be a stage manager behind the scenes getting shit done. But every-once-in-a-while, it's very nice to be acknowledged. And it was. I went to breakfast with Heidi, Jon, Lucy and Lara, came home and took a nap and then went and scrimmaged with the Harem and had tasty beverages with both teams afterwards. It was a great way to end the 2009 derby season and a great way to celebrate my birthday...

Thank you. What a wonderful week.

I believe in the tooth faerie...

Trixxxie came up to me in practice the other day, "you know Torture, I believe in tooth fairies." I started laughing and knew there had to be a story. Trix had lost her tooth recently due to a crown that fell off. She couldn't afford to replace it when it fell out. She had a gap in her mouth and her dental insurance did nothing for missing teeth (don't they know that people with missing teeth have a harder time getting a job, etc?!). She couldn't afford a new tooth ($2,000+). But she could afford a flip - kind of - for $650 she could get a retainer with a tooth attach (like a single tooth denture). But she didn't have $650 and asked the dentist if she could pay a little bit at each pay day until she had deposited the $650 needed. They said sure - she put down a $100 deposit to start. The next day she goes into work and there is a envelope of cash on her desk with a note on it - get your tooth fixed. Inside the envelope was $420. Trix was baffled and overwhelmed - she works in a factory - people don't make a ton of money. She didn't know what to do. So she put a note at her desk that read "I believe in the tooth faerie. Thank you."

Two days ago, Angelica was at The Dollar Store buying a ton of candy canes. A couple in line ahead of her asked her why she was buying so many candy canes. She said she was getting them for Jet City Rollergirls' Santa Skate where we raise gift cards to give to the Battered Women's Center in Everett. We sell the candy canes with little notes to put in skaters' stockings to help raise additional money. They thought that was great and said they would be sure to check out the website. When Angelica got up to the register to pay for the candy canes, the couple hand already paid for her 300 mini candy canes.

Two months ago, Star TaRiot was scheduled to get her ACL replaced. She exasperated a derby injury. She didn't have great insurance and it wasn't until she figured out that she could afford the deductible for our secondary (and mandatory) insurance that she could get the surgery done. Then about a week before the scheduled surgery, her husband lost his job. Suddenly she couldn't take the two weeks off to recover when her husband didn't have a job. It looked like her frustrating knee would be plaguing her forever (she knew they couldn't afford the Cobra insurance) and she was completely discouraged. When a patron of her parent's store - Nature's Pantry in Bellevue - told her parents that they would cover her two week's wages and pay their Cobra insurance until she they were able to get better insurance. Star parent's were promised to secrecy. She had her surgery - is in physical therapy - and has returned back to work. And will eventually return back to skating...

Hmmmm.

I believe in tooth fairies too.