Lizet's Place

But this time with pictures!

I'm not going to post all 183 pictures that cover December 20, 25, and 26 because that would be ridiculous.

( Christmas 2020 pictures )

That's not all, like I said. For some reason I've having a hard time saving some other pictures from my phone to either my hard drive or Google Photos, but there are 31 pictures on IG if anyone wants to see them. Here, here, here here, here, and here

When you were a kid, did you hang up a stocking? What did you always expect/hope to find in it?
I want to say no, but I think I did...at least once it wasn't the mesh kind from the store that had nuts, fruit, candy and some toys. I never had an expectation of getting anything, but it was usually money

What is your favorite holiday song to sing (and it doesn't have to be well as long as you enjoy it)?
Oh Holy Night and sometimes Mary Did You Know

Do you feel that the pandemic has made more people aware of the issues (hunger, homelessness, etc.) that exist all year round and not just at Christmas
I think so, but I also feel like people are more selfish because they don't want to end up like them.

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I wrapped up the gifts. There are now 5 packages under the tree. It seems kind of useless to have this big tree with so few gifts. I know come Friday there will be more, but right now it looks rather meh.

I think I'm over Christmas now.

I'm worried about the turkey, I want to eat all the junk food but that's not helping my weight (so I eat all the fruit, but not all of it).

Phone consult with my dr in the morning. The results of my pap smear came back (negative for anything) but she still wants to talk about them. Okay. I'll also ask if I need a referral to man an appt with the ophthalmologist or if I can do that myself. I need my eyes checked better than what the optometrist does and get a better prescription for my glasses (should have gotten them 2 years ago but didn't have money).

Now I go to sleep.

So, how goes the wrapping?
I...haven't started yet. I haven't even finished my shopping because amazon has rejected my debit card like 6 times. I think since I've bought so much stuff this last week, it's waaay out of the norm from my usual purchases, because everything is still okay on my bank side. So...I have to go to Walmart this week for 1 or 2 more things

Do you actually wrap or use gift bags for everything?
Both. Small things get gift bags, larger things get wrapped. This year I'm wrapping everything because I want to get rid of the wrapping paper that I have.

How about box and ribbons? Lots and lots or the bare minimum?
Bare minimum. I'll wrap and put a bow or use ribbon on a gift bag.

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First: Yesterday a friend from church got engaged. I've been expecting it for like 3 months. Every time I saw pictures of them out someplace, just the two of them, I also expected to see a post about their engagement. Well, that happened last night.

I'm looking forward to their wedding festivities...and hoping that my friendship/relationship with her cousin progresses enough that come their wedding, we'll be each other's plus 1...but there hasn't even been a wedding date, so who knows. I'm just ready to party.

Second: I have a subscription to a record(s) of the month type club called VNYL and I was expecting the first record to be sent in January, because that's what it said on the website, however, when I got home from church and lunch today, there was a record sitting by the front door!



It's a Christmas record. Kim's sister is going to let me borrow her record player because I couldn't find the one I KNOW I have in storage. We spent like 10 or 15 minutes looking and I didn't want to get too into pulling boxes out because I was still in my Sunday clothes and my storage unit is super dusty. I'm looking forward to listening to this Christmas record on the record player.

Third: Colleen, Kim's sister, asked if I would decorate her 3ft Christmas tree if she brought it down. I said sure, so today she brought it and I decorated it.



There are no presents under it as neither Colleen or I have wrapped the things we've bought, but I know there will be gifts under the tree by Christmas Eve...at least the items that I have to wrap.

As a side, I'm surprised we didn't go to Lora's today. She asked us for some gift ideas, so I just assumed we go there for a few hrs for lunch and to open gifts. But that didn't happen. I don't know if it will happen next week, or if Lora will drive down here and leave them. I like getting gifts any time of the year.

Fourth: Good news on the church front! We are 90% certain that our first service back in the sanctuary will be on January 3. There will still be 2 services with each one limited to 30 people and about 1 hour long, but as the weather gets colder and the possibility of rain, we will have a warm and dry place and not have to cancel service like we would have if it was outside.

I didn't get a picture of myself in my church clothes like I usually do for Christmas Sunday. I also didn't have on any makeup because I ran out of time dealing with Kim. I felt bad for having John and Colleen wait for like 15 minutes as I got myself ready...but they were like an hour early! I'll be sure to get some on Christmas Day, for sure, though.

Here are today's questions from thefridayfive.

1) What is your favorite thing about the winter?
I get to wear a lot of the cute sweaters I bought in previous winters...plus leggings!

2) What is your favorite winter sport?
I...don't know that I have a favorite winter sport? Oh! Maybe hockey?

3) What is the best winter treat?
Fudge? Hot chocolate? Hot apple cider?

4) What is the earliest time in the year it ever snowed where you live?
It doesn't snow in my part of Southern California. But I want to say 2 or 3 hours drive north of me in the mountains, it will snow there if it's cold enough when it rains. But I don't ever pay attention to it because I never get to go to it.

5) What is the best way to stay warm in the winter?
Lots of blankets and fuzzy socks

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Put together the Christmas menu for dinner on Christmas day. I did the Easter meal for me and Kim, but the ham is so much easier to prepare than a freakin' turkey!

But freakin' Colleen is like "oh we should do it because you have the turkey in the freezer" So now I've spent all this extra money getting a roaster pan, additional vegetables to put in with the turkey while it cooks, and a freakin' instant-read thermometer...basically stuff that I couldn't purchase with my EBT funds because they weren't food items but somehow my turkey roaster bags were covered? I'm confused.

So I've dipped into my fund that I had to get my hair done to buy these things...so I need to quick like sell some Color Street to make that money back before December 18 because I am not canceling my appointment.

A portal to another world opens in front of you. You don’t know how long it will stay open or if you’ll be able to get back after you go through. What do you do?
I go through the freakin' portal! Earth has obviously run its course! Peace out, Earthlings!

You find a remote that can rewind, fast forward, stop, and start time. What do you do with it?
Oh, so we're doing that Adam Sandler Click thing. I'm pushing all the buttons. Even the SAP button.

Apparently I'm Chaotic Chaotic right now.

What do you think of buffets?
I like them. a set price for all I can eat? I liked going to Sizzler for that. Then for my niece's (and mine) birthday, we went to a Korean BBQ Buffet place. This happened during covid (in September), so we couldn't go inside to get our food, but I'd go back once this was over.

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The other day a friend gifted me with a subscription to VNYL. Once a month I'll be sent a record of new music. Not necessarily new NEW, but either someone I've never heard of or an artist that I put down on my list of artists that I like.

I think I'll get it on Jan 5, so that gives me time to get to my storage unit and grab my record player. If I remember correctly, it has a cord that can plug into my laptop and I can copy the record to my laptop.

I started working on a ficlet that I'll be sharing on Wednesday for my contribution to 1_million_words Advent event. I'll also share it to my writing journal writergurlscrn and post on AO3. I think this is probably the crackiest thing I've written, but I can't get the image of little kids dancing around to Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey...and sorry not sorry if the song gets stuck in your head. It's been stuck in mine all while I've been working on it (the last 30 mins or so).

It's been 14 days since we were in contact with the people from church who have (since) tested positive. More test results are coming out, but for myself, Kim, Colleen, and John, we seem to be in the clear. John has 2 dr appts on Monday and I have 1 on Tuesday.

We are still playing it safe because we plan on getting together for Christmas. And I have a feeling that Lora will contact Colleen or me about going to her place the Sunday before to exchange gifts, but with the positive tests from church 2 weeks ago, she will probably wait until January and ask us to have lunch with her for her and Colleen's birthdays.

Just finished my accounting homework. It took longer than I was expecting because I kept stopping when I got bored or stumped on a part of a problem. But I finished. Homework and multiple choice "quiz".

I don't know how this happened, but I scored 84% on my multiple choice quiz the first take. It usually takes me 2 times (we have 3 chances to take it and the highest score is kept) to get even in the high 70s.

Now I'm going to go see what damage Kim did in putting out her decorations. I told her to take everything that was out and put on the kitchen table before she put the Christmas stuff out but that didn't happen.

I walked out of the room to see the living room, small as it is, CLUTTERED with Christmas mixed with everyday knick-knacks, so I spent like 30 mins doing what I told her to do first, then I went back to the room to finish my homework.

Next year, if we are still living here, I'm probably going to have to do it all myself, with the exception of telling her where to put the decorations. It will probably be easier/faster and less headachey for me having to listen to her say "I don't know where to put this stuff" (well duh, because you still have all of your OTHER STUFF still out and there's no actual place to put it all!

Pictures later, if I haven't overslept from the nap I definitely want to take.

Have you ever made homemade soup and do you brown the bones first to make a stock?
No? I use boneless skinless chicken breasts and then add the rest to that water once the chicken is cooked.

What is your 'go-to' snack food when you need a little boost of energy?
It used to be chocolate/candy/something with sugar, but now that has the opposite effect, so I'll have a can of sparkling water and that helps for a little...until I can lay down to rest for a bit

Does your pet sleep with you? Who hogs more bed?
Sadly, I don't have a pet anymore. I basically gave her to Kim's sister/brother in law because I couldn't take her with me to my sister's (my nephew is allergic) and then when I moved in with Kim, she can't have pets, so my cat had to remain where she was until her death in 2018.

When I had her, she slept wherever she wanted. While we were caring for my dad before his death, she stayed in my room because suddenly all the family who came for visits were allergic or scared.


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Today was super super SUPER lowkey.

I didn't wake up until 10:15am...not that it mattered because Kim decided she didn't want to watch a rebroadcast of a previous church service, so there was no point in getting up early.

I did roll over and listen to Kim move around as she took her morning meds and made herself breakfast.

Tomorrow I pull out the Christmas decoration for Kim to work on. Actually, I'll pull them out, but won't give them to her until later in the week? I need to dust and clean up cobwebs and maybe try to get rid of the can cricket in the living room/kitchen. Plus, Monday nights are my class night and I don't want my space cluttered up with other stuff - it makes me distracted.

opened gifts. knew everything I had except what my boss got me (scarf/gloves and a candle). still pissed that I had to endure my mom gushing about the camera that I wanted that my dad got for her.

can't wait to wear my boots though. hopefully they'll look okay with the dress I'm wearing on Sunday

mom is making rolls for the dinner I wanted to have last night that we're now having tonight.

hope everyone else's Christmas is going great!

So I'm just getting out the shower and someone's banging on the door but by the time I get there no one is there...and there's an amazon package sitting on the planter.

At first I thought it was the first books that I ordered and I was going to send it back...but the box was too big and rattled too much. So I opened it and HOLY CRAP! YEAH! Christmas came 4 days early!

Thanks you so much HUNTRESS69! (if I could do the LJ coding on my phone I would)

5 mystery movies and a CD!

I'm gonna try hard not to open any of the movies until Christmas Eve.

Also got confirmation on when the parental units return home. January 9. Sadly don't have a car to pick them up so I guess my sister will do that or they'll have to take the bus - depending on when they get back. Also, I don't know HOW they're getting back. It will either be by plane or train. Tomorrow I guess, I will call and find this out. Will also ask about when we will begin moving furniture back in so I can take the week off from volunteering to help...and enlist the aid of my friend who helped move us at the last. minute. Thankfully there's no rushing this time.

Speaking of packing and moving...going to put in the change of address tomorrow so that by January 10 we will get our mail back to the apartment. I don't know what my sister is going to do since she gets some mail here and some mail to our place for the kids school. I guess for her she can just wait until January 15 when the change of address expires and hope that everything gets back the way it was before.