Wednesday, January 02, 2013

#137. or, Anniversary give-away and snot

 When I left you last, just days before Christmas, I had planned to dive back into blogging with the ferocity of a dozen puppies, all competing to be the first one to spill the pillowy contents of a stuffed animal across the living room, at the same time. Then, I did what I've seemed to do most of the time here lately, which is pretty much nothing at all.

  We had a wonderful holiday planned. My wife had a number of days off, we wanted to have friends over, go shopping, and spend a good deal of quality time together. Then, just before Christmas, my wife got sick with a demon bug my rotten Little Son brought home from school. But because she has resistance to these things with superhero-like ability, she still managed to cook us up a magnificent holiday meal. But that pretty much did her in, and she had to bail on our annual, December 26th journey to see my relatives on my Mothers side. Which would have technically been our third belt loosening feast, as we had visited with my wife's sister and her husband on the 23rd. So, Little Son and I set off on the 26th, without her, as I began to feel the first effects of the nasty bug myself.  

  And, I've been pretty much incapacitated ever since.

  So I spent the last week wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, making my way through the Star Wars marathon on TV, as I suffered through coughing fits and a continuous string of Kleenex tissues, until my nose was raw, while a nagging migraine headache threatened to blow the right side of my head clean off.

  On the plus side, I think I wrote a brilliant post in my mind. Concocted in a combination of a cold-drug induced coma and terminal lack of sleep, only to have it all slip through my fingers, like snowflakes melting in my hand, when I fully woke. I'm pretty sure it was brilliant.

  So, my wife and I cancelled our plans to have friends over on New Years, and just stayed on the couch, sharing a box of tissues between us.

  Anyways, I need to follow up on my 1 year anniversary post give-away. I feel like I may have cheated some of you out of the opportunity to add a comment or two by not posting between Christmas and New Years. Sorry for that. But it's time to move on now and get on to new and wonderful things. Whatever they will be?

  AND THE WINNER IS.......(scientifically chosen by putting all of your names on tiny pieces of paper and having my son pick one out of a hat.)

Exactly like this.
AND THE WINNER IS........KAIT!   YAY!!

 If you don't know Kait, you're missing out. While she doesn't blog herself, she is wonderfully supportive of bloggers and is in fact, a twitter sensation!  I'm certainly better for knowing her and for allowing me to be a part of her circle of friends. Congratulations Kait!

  Now, I realized after taking the picture of the hoodies that I was giving away, a good deal of those that comment here are in fact women, and perhaps the hoodies that I took pictures of might be hoodies that a guy might like to wear more than a woman? I'm not sure though. I went back and took pictures of a white one and a pink one to add to the choice, but for some reason, cannot find those. So this is what they look like:


Except, imagine there's a pink one and a white one as well.



 And finally, because I missed my year end and any sort of resolution post yesterday, and because I'm trying to be all efficient and shit, I'll try to tack that onto the end of this post.

  I'd like to be in better shape. But I always wish I was in better shape, so that's not really a resolution. I think I just want to improve my writing. Maybe come up with some type of better schedule to get to everyone and do a better job of commenting. But I think mostly, when I'm here, my hope is to improve my contributions. I've been reading back at what I've written over the last year, and I'd like to do some more posts like I started out with. Some more off the wall sort of stuff. I guess we'll see how that goes.

  Happy New Year everyone, I'm looking forward to 2013.








29 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear that you were all sick over Christmas.Hope the New Year brings good health to all of you. I have enjoyed reading your blogs over that past year. I wish i could put into words what my thoughts were as you do. Happy New Year to you and your family.

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    1. Hi Shirley,

      As one of the original ones who followed me here from facebook, I'm glad that you still come here and be entertained a bit.

      We're getting over the flu so it's not so bad anymore.

      You've had quite the eventful year yourself, I hope that 2013 has wonderful things in store for you as well. :)

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  2. Nothing like spending the holidays sick. Gotta love it, right?

    Have a happy new year and may you continue to make improvements on your writing!

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    1. It wasn't the most pleasant of Christmas's that we've ever had.

      I'm sure that I have plenty of room for improvement.

      Happy New Year to you and your family as well Dan.

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  3. OH my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh. Just cruising through my reader and what do I see? A post from my friend Ken! Woot! So click and click read read and what do I see? ME. ME. ME. I'm so excited. Woo hoo.
    I so sorry you've and yours have been sickly. I sent you a tweet last night asking how you were but I think you were probably asleep.
    Woo hooo! Sorry. I can't contain myself.

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    1. Congratulations Kait!

      We'll try to get things sorted out and sent off to you as quickly as possible. :)

      I looked back and am not sure how I missed your tweet. I suspect it came while I was using my phone to do twitter. It's not the best for following multiple strings.

      I'm pretty happy to have you as the winner. :)

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  4. About 5 years ago, I was the sickest I had been in years during Christmas. It sucks to miss out on everything. Get better fast.

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    1. Thanks Brett, I'm on the mend.

      Fortunately, this wasn't the worst Christmas go that we've ever had. That one included projectile vomiting. Not a lot of fun. It was about 5 years ago as well.

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  5. Lucky Kait is starting 2013 off on a winning note! Hope you feel better soon, Ken!

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    1. Hi Debra,

      It is a nice way to start a new year I would have to think?

      Thanks for your concern. I'm slowly getting better. :)

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  6. Sorry you both were so sick over the holidays. That always stinks! Happy New Year though.

    I vote for off the wall stuff if there's going to be a vote. Otherwise, your posts always make me chuckle anyway! Lucky Kait! I'd take a white one (as I don't do pink).

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    1. Hi Gina, thanks, and Happy New Year to you as well.

      I'll see what I can do to keep you chuckling. :)

      When I do this next time, I'll be sure to include a picture of the white one just for you.

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  7. That's one thing I am super thankful for, not having kids or a real job, so I don't tend to bring home any nasty bugs. At least you had a star wars marathon though.

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    1. Hey Holly!

      I know that before I had any kids in school, or even had any kids, I was rarely sick. But I'm not sure that I'd trade them for permanent health?

      I'm not certain, that other members of my family were quite as enthusiastic about the Star Wars marathon as I was. :)

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  8. I hope you're feeling better. Not feeling well over the holidays is a real bummer. Take care.

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    1. Thanks Stephen,

      At least there's plenty of turkey noodle soup to be taken orally. Better than anything off the shelf.

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  9. Sorry about the sickness that took over in your house. Hope you are both better!!! Christmas time can be so stressful and to add being sick on top of it,...I can imagine! Heavy snow on Christmas day and way cold temps kept us housebound for a few days. I've never been more glad to get back to work.

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    1. Hi Robin,

      It was pretty cold here as well. The coldest Christmas in 7 years or something like that. Is it a common thing to have snow where you live? How cold is way cold?

      I'm curious now. :)

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    2. I probably shouldn't complain, considering where you are from and all....snow? we may get snow once, maybe twice a winter. and way cold? (LOL) 20 degrees.... Hey, considering I am all about summertime and sun, and hot, blazing temps and wish to live on a beach somewhere....that is just way too cold for this chick. hehe

      Hope all is well with you and yours!

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    3. I share your wish to live on a beach in the sun someplace. Maybe in my retirement? :)

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  10. Hello my hopefully on the mend friend!

    I am so sorry you've been so sick, along with your family over Christmas. I wondered if you'd decided to take a bloggatical like me, or if you were just so busy fa la laing and eggnogging that you weren't near the virtual tractor. Nothing worse than being sick, unless you factor in more than one family member in the household sick at the same time, and then, yes, it can so get worse.

    Let's just hope that was the end of the worst for 2012 and you can kick dust up in that year's face because your new year will kick butt and take names.

    I don't have resolutions. I have banned them, effectively as of this year. No more. If I'm not trying to be better the other 11 months of the year, Jan. 1 and a list of 'best intentions' aren't going to matter. I had actually given them up a long time ago, and then got hit on the head, or lost consciousness, or was temporarily abducted by aliens LAST New Year go 'round because I did, and became another notch in the failed resolutions belt. Not going that route again.

    I feel I at a bit of a crossroads in a lot of areas in my life - and have some decisions to make so I'm going to focus on that this year and go with that.

    All that to say - Happy New Year and Happy Blogging!

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    1. Where are my manners?

      Congrats to Kait and the winner of the cool John Deere gear!! Sport it well and may this be the beginning of a very abundant year, Kait!

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    2. Hello, my friend!

      I sort of dropped off the map for a while there. Most of it was sickness. I suspect though, if I had been feeling all peachy, I may not have been here anyways. My wife and I had all of these plans to do things together on her days off, I'm sure I would have been busy with that. I think that may have been the harder thing to deal with than sort of missing the Christmas season? I always look forward to my time together with her.

      Ya, I just threw the resolution thing in there because it seemed the thing to do. As a rule, I'm pretty loose on those sort of things. I wish I could find a way to do less. Not so much because I'm lazy. (which may in fact be the case) But more, I think I am missing out on some stuff that we only get to see when we take a slow stroll through life. The harder I run, the more I miss.

      That's a tough thing to figure out, I think?

      I hope the New Year turns out to be less stressful for you. May your decisions be easy ones, and the outcome be joyous! Happy New Year! :)

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  11. On the plus side, I think I wrote a brilliant post in my mind. Concocted in a combination of a cold-drug induced coma and terminal lack of sleep, only to have it all slip through my fingers, like snowflakes melting in my hand, when I fully woke. I'm pretty sure it was brilliant.

    This whole paragraph made me smile.

    Really hope you're feeling better and YAY for Kait!!!

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    1. I can vividly remember coming up with a title that had such a clever twist on words that it made me smile as I drifted off to restless sleep. Bit in the morning, be damned if I could even remember what it was even about!

      I've started packing a notebook to jot down ideas that I may have. But if I'm on the verge of sleep, I'm not getting back up to write down blog ideas.

      I'm glad that paragraph worked. :)

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  12. I wrote a dozen posts in my head I too decided to skip writing before the Holidays, got out of the hospital the day after Christmas & then 2 days later I wrecked my car on ice :( so I curled up and again full of medication had great post ideas and well as you can see they wore off and I just ramble stupidly......on the give away side of this DANG I need to up my game and either tweeter or quitter LOL because i like the John deer gear! Happy 2013 Ken hope you & the family are feeling much better ","

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    1. Hey HeY J!

      It's my suspicion that the brilliance of my post may have only been because of the medication. If I had actually taken the time to write it out in that state, nobody probably would have been able to make any sense of it. Me included!

      YIKES! I hope that you are alright? Being in a car wreck is never a good thing!

      I suspect that I'll be giving away more JD stuff as I ramble along here. If you didn't win this go round, maybe next time.

      Thanks for the wishes and a Happy New Year to you as well!

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  13. I will typically write myself an email of a couple of words that I think will (although they don't necessarily) trigger my memory of what I wanted to write. Then there's all those elusive shower posts. (I bought raspberry shampoo last night... ;) )

    Congrats to Kait! Can't think of a finer person to win! I know she will enjoy and wear with pride. She was just saying the other day she doesn't have many sweatshirts! :)

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    1. Hey BB,

      An email is a really good idea. The last thing that I usually do is plug in my phone, so I could easily do that. But you're right, I generally need more that a few words (even when I write things down) or I'm left scratching my head wondering just what the hell I was thinking about.

      I wonder if you could write on the shower wall in dry erase marker?

      I've been in consultation with Kait over the last few days, and I think we have the one chosen. I'm going to buy it today!

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