Presents in the present

It is two days until Christmas, yet I received many gifts today, not the least of which was the gift of today.

I got to sleep in a little, which is always wonderful (as long as you aren't in the hospital.)

I had three meals today without any spray on myself or anyone/anything else.

Mia was able to coax a few more pieces back into their original places, or at least in the neighborhood of their original places.

Lesley brought me my purse and it is amazing!  She added hooks for my keys and shopping bags, a pocket for my cell phone, one that will hold my Dynavox, two for pens and two miscellaneous ones that turned out to be the perfect size to hold a feeding syringe and a packet of emergency baby food (I can syringe it straight out of the packet in case of caloric emergency.) Also, she added a snap to close it because it has been noted I am not the most observant person ever.  In addition to making over my purse, we had a little visit.  She always makes me feel as if nothing has changed.  I don't mean she pretends-- she says "huh?" when she needs to, but her whole demeanor makes me comfortable.  Normal.  That is a real gift.

The traffic was hideous and the parking lot at the market was worse.  However, lots of people let me in, let me out, let me back out, etc.  No road rage despite all the hubbub.

When I got home from the store, Karina had cleaned like a maniac!  The kitchen was gorgeous.  We have horrible white subway tile counter tops with white grout and they were as clean as I've ever seen them.  And the family room.  And the bathroom, even washing the towels.  And vacuumed the house.  It was wonderful and such a gift knowing we won't have to scurry to be ready for tomorrow night.

Karissa got to play with Poppy, which she has begging to do, so a break from the "When will she be home?" was appreciated.

When Karissa came home, she brought me a gift of a lovely heather from our thoughtful neighbors.  I have to find the perfect place for it!

Lest you fear I'm getting a swelled head about such a great day, fear not-- there were bumps in the road.

I had the worst box girl I've ever had at MoC. I am not being cruel as her only disability was being a sullen teenager.  Generally we do not put a bag with two donuts in it into the bag and then put cans of tuna on top of it.  Once she had piled everything in the cart and gave me the obligatory, "Have a nice day." I pointed out that I would like the toilet paper I had paid for that was still sitting on the counter.  Instead of putting it under the cart, which was empty, she tries to balance it on top of everything else and when it won't stay, crams it down saying, "I don't think it will stay there."  I just took it out of her hands and put it under the cart. She looked amazed.  When Karina and I unpacked the bags, the randomness was shocking.  A bottle of cider, a pint of ice cream, one cucumber... those all go together, right?  That isn't even how they came down the belt to her.  Sigh.

Karissa is (hopefully) wringing every temper tantrum she can get out of eight before her birthday in February. I really hope that is what it is, because if this is a warm up for nine, we may need an intervention, or an exorcist.  She is sweet a lot of the time, but when she isn't, it is ugly.  Really quite very ugly.  Mucho ugly. You get it.

I need to work on getting in more calories.  I lost about 10 pounds in October, pre- and post- surgery.  I had been steady there, but now more weight is slipping off, about nine more pounds so far.  I still have another 20 I could spare, but I can't continue to slide indefinitely.  I have noticed that a lot of people on the adult tube feeding site take in what seems like a crazy amount of calories, some as much as 3,000 a day.  I'm not sure why the requirement is so high.  I do know that I start out the morning peppy, by by evening I am beat.  Tonight I actually just laid on the couch and watched a movie with the girls.  Not and folded laundry, crocheted, read a book, or wrote a letter, just laid and watched a whole movie.  I can't remember the last time I did that.

Hopefully holiday cards  or thank you notes or sewing together Mary's Christmas present will happen tomorrow.  Maybe it will be another day that my clothes remain unscathed.  Perhaps there will be peace on Earth and good will towards men.  The sun could even come out in December in the Pacific Northwest.  It could happen.  But whatever happens, it is another day, and that is the best gift of all.