Holiday Shopping and Jury Duty Too!

OK...so it's been more than a week since I last posted. What excuses do I have for this oversight? Absolutely none! And isn't that sad? I wish I could say that my life has been so filled with exciting activities that there was just no time to sit down at a computer but that would be an outright lie. I spent plenty of time in front of my computer these past several days…just ask me how many games of Free Cell I’ve won. If I have to be honest, my life has been so mundane lately that I really didn’t think I had anything to share.

Here are the “highlights” of the past few weeks:

• We spent Thanksgiving at a family friend 's home (we call her our "pseudo-sister”) where I spent time with her brother whom I have not seen in probably 30 years…ouch.
  
• Black Friday started the holiday season and I started shopping, first at a golf apparel warehouse sale with my husband followed by a rest-of-the-day shopping spree with my sister.
  
• Saturday night the family got together to celebrate my sister’s 50th birthday…another ouch!
  
• Sunday and the following week included a lunch date with two friends from my very, very part-time job and lots more gift shopping.
  
• The first December weekend was also filled with more successful holiday shopping and a Sunday golf lesson.

As you can see, holiday shopping seems to be the highlight of the past few weeks. Since I begin jury duty next Monday (or any day next week thanks to the much improved juror call-in system), I am trying my best to get all the gifts I need before then so I can avoid December weekend shopping…something I thought I was done with once I retired. I’m not sure why I postponed my November jury duty into December instead of waiting until January to start. How dumb was I especially when the jury clerk first offered me the opportunity to wait until after New Year’s and I was the one who insisted on a December start! And what’s my biggest fear about December jury duty...that I will get on a case which will last long enough to prevent me from keeping my December 21st hair appointment. The thought of going through Christmas and New Year’s with unruly, un-highlighted hair is making me nuts. And I thought retirement would make my life during the holiday season so much calmer…geez…jury duty is worse than work.