Broken Lives Matter

Had a very nice Yule yesterday, where I did everything I could think of that would have made the celebration special for both me and Mikel. I'd been saving a thick beef sirloin steak in the freezer that I defrosted in the fridge for a few days and was perfectly ready for dinner. While I was lying in bed, having some down time and feeling rather depressed for about an hour--it came to me how I could make the steak even more special; wrap it in bacon! So for our dinner feast I had bacon-wrapped steak, mushrooms, and green beans all sauteed in the same oil as I used to cook the steak:) I outdid myself in the kitchen, and didn't even have a lot to clean up afterwards! To make it even special for my dogs, I poured a little pre-made store-bought gravy onto their dinners and wished them both "good yule." They were very happy:) Now I have another celebration to look forward to, at home. My mother's picking me up shortly and I'll be off to spend six days in the em...

http://youtu.be/1AkUWbQmB7I As a follow-up proof of my point, look at this musical tribute to the victims! Simple, yet heart-wrenching; "Hallelujah" makes me sob on the most benign days. Today as I watched this clip I was in pieces before the second verse. But afterwards, I felt better. A good cry and the right words--especially the right words--brings everything back into a less-painful place, it's music to my soul.

Most of the shock from yesterday's school massacre has worn off. Twenty small children killed along with six adults for no reason in Connecticut--I wouldn't say I'm over the pain, but I've put it into a file cabinet along with all the other causes of my pain. I'll dredge it back up some day when I need a good cry...with the way things have been going lately, I won't need to make myself cry for a while. I keep going back to the new version of "Les Miserables" that is due out on Christmas day. It looks pretty impressive, to be sure, but the main thing I think about is how timely the lyrics are, even as it's set during the French Revolution, and the story itself was written years and years ago. I never noticed this before; I always used to think it was just a story about life during a war. There's "I Dreamed a Dream," which slips neatly into our contemporary society as well as it does into the world of the musical. It's all ab...

Escrow is going to pay my Winter Tax Bill:) Of course my mother had told me that would happen, but it was nice to hear it confirmed by my mortgage lender. Now I can breathe! I was absolutely panicking months ago, worrying about how in the wild blue blazes I was going to come up with the same amount of money that was billed in July. Escrow is the gift that keeps on giving! In fact there are so many, many gifts that have come from out of nowhere this season. I received the "informative copy" of the actual tax bill and discovered that even if I had had to pay it this month, I would have been able to. I've rekindled a friendship with the neighbors across the street. I thought they'd isolated themselves and were avoiding me for some reason; I hadn't seen them around their house in weeks. But the other night I brought them a tin of Christmas cookies and visited with them in their warm, cozy living room that had brilliant fire. They've just been visiting family...