I just realized today is one of those holidays I hate. Fireworks upset the kitties and bother my war veteran hubby! And for some reason my ears have trouble dealing with very loud noises also. Wish there really quiet fireworks. I don't put up a tree for Chritmas either. Too old, can hardly deal with everything I have to do as it is. Some of the ritchy rich people have "people" to take care of that. We don't have "people". It is hard enough when we have to pay people to do unavoidable repairs and such. Seniors without real savings have to struggle paying off the credit card bills for those expenses. But we are grateful for the advantages we do have, so I do realize in some ways we are doing okay.

Linda, I agree, one can only imagine the stress it causes a lot of people like your hubby, and all the wild animals that are scared half to death by the god awful booms.

I'm very lucky. When we have fireworks or gunshots all the dogs come into the bedroom and gather around me. I don't even need to reassure them. We all semm to figure that as long as we're together this,too, shall pass. And it does.

I am cooking a large batch of chicken legs for dinner today and tomorrow.

Tony took today off to take his mother for a medical appointment in Santa Rosalia. When he dais "I'll see you Monday" I reminded him that Monday is a holiday. He said since he's taking today off he'd work on Monday. I lovwe it when we disagree that he is not taking enough time off.

I'm having a tired, semi-grumpy day. Yesterday wwas pretty and Tony's son Antonio came out after work and connected my new modem so I am putzing along. Antonio and I met when he was four - now about twenty years ago - and liked each other a lot. I always feel some of that first realtionship when I see him now. He is now married and has a one-year-old son!! Time flies.

There is somwething of a pattern to my grumpiness: Mornings tend to be hard - pain and difficulity moving. I usually just putz on the computer (using my new DeskWalker from Amazon, which is helping) and hope things get better by afternoon but it gets dark so early thatthe day goes by and I'm still grumpy. We have lots of work to be done but nothing that urgent. And we have enough of a bank roll that we aren't stressing about any possible emergency.

We will stay home tonight and hope for minimal noise. Wishing the same for all of you.

I've never associated New Year's with fireworks - maybe because the weather here is usually horrible? Or maybe it's just because I never hear them with the house all closed up this time of year? The town closest to us, Escanaba, previously did a "giant pasty drop" at midnight on New Year's Eve for a number of years, although we never felt the need to go see that (and I know for SURE there is no way I would even think about going to Times Square in NY - no bathrooms and people start going into the fenced-off area before noon??? )

I found this photo of the giant pasty itself on Pinterest -- never realized they had a fork sticking out of it!



I've spent a good part of today making some snacks and stuff for us to have later on tonight - we'll probably watch a movie or two on TV - and also getting some of the food ready in advance for having family over for dinner tomorrow.

At any rate, wishing everyone a mostly-good 2023 🥂

New thread. The thread "Grumpy 2023" in Sandbox forum

[moved to 2023 thread]