Day 364 - New Year's Eve Eve

 Today is the 6th day of the 52nd week, the 30th day of the 12th month, the 364th day of 2023, and:

• Bacon Day
• Falling Needles Family Fest Day - ah the joys of a real tree!
• Festival of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
• National Bicarbonate of Soda Day 
• Peeps Day
• the fifth day of Kwanzaa - creativity, showing up and out 
• the sixth day of the Twelve Days of Christmas - six geese a laying or facing my in-laws if you are into the 12 Pains of Christmas or six rubber duckies according to Sesame Street
• and Voyager 1 is 22h 34m 24s of light travel time from Earth

Quote of the day:

" An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. "

~  Bill Vaughan, American columnist and author

Today has been a quiet day for the most part.  I changed the sheets on my bed and did the laundry.  You know, laundry would be a whole heck of a lot easier, and faster,  if you didn't have to fold the stuff and put it away afterwards.  

Got my three negative things over very early:  

1.   We have an issue on my floor that has developed over the past month.  Someone has moved in who not only doesn't believe in throwing their trash and garbage down the chute, they are chucking it at the door of the trash room and leaving it pile up in the hallway. 
2.   I went down to get my mail, only to find that apparently they changed the mailbox key AGAIN and I do not have the new one - the office, of course, 
3.  closed until Tuesday.  
4.   And lastly, while I was downstairs, there was some man rummaging in a pile of clothing that had been left in the lobby [maybe as a giveaway?] and throwing things about helter skelter.  

On the other hand, I got my New Year's Greek cake and immediately treated myself to a piece [I had thought to take it over on Monday to supplement the New Year's Day meal, but quickly realized only my son-in-law would eat it].  I finally got the right rotating outlet extension after three tries.  And I spent a very pleasant afternoon in world, shopping and trying on outfits for New Year's Eve.  Had to laugh when the browser shut down and beladona's face was partially replaced by the picture of the snowman on the wall behind her - definitely a new look for my avatar!

Kit asked me last night if calling her every day was 'burdensome'.  I was startled to say the least, but apparently someone said something to her about it and we had an awkward conversation about how I didn't feel burdened but I didn't want her to feel obligated either.  When Grandmom Hughes was alive, I fell into the way of calling her every day after my son was born.  Started calling my aunt after she died as my aunt had talked to her mother every day of her life and thought she might be a bit lonesome, but my aunt quickly told me she didn't want to be my mother and that was that and I was okay with that outcome.  After Frank died, my daughter called me every day for about a month, then quietly said she didn't think it was necessary to continue to do so.  I was a bit sorry then, because I enjoyed our chats and knowing what was going on in her life, but I was okay with that too.  I started calling Kit more often when my daughter's cancer was discovered and I was no longer going to see her as often as I was needed by the family.  Then came COVID and no one was visiting, so I guess I have been calling Kit daily for more than seven years now.   Now I will admit that sometimes Kit and I end up talking longer than I really planned to, and that now and then one of us cuts the other short, but I never considered it a task or a burden, if that makes sense.

Of course, one of the questions about saying goodbye to 2023 is whether or not 2024 will be any better, especially with the US fractured political campaigns gearing up.  We've learned yesterday that my son has been turned down by the second clinical trial for cancer treatment.  I am not getting any younger, skinnier, or in better shape.  

But ready or not, this year is ending.  At least I met my goal of blogging every single day in 2023!