Weekend highlights

So Sat I went back to work, after being home sick for 2 days.  Things at work are pretty quiet now so it was an easy day.  That evening Spouse & I went to Joe P's big holiday party which was a lot of fun.

As I was chatting with folks I began to notice that my voice was starting to sound hoarse.  I left the party early in order to perform in the Christmas Legends show and by the time I changed into my costume I could hear my voice getting weaker.  I made a real effort to stop talking in order to conserve what was left of my voice, and sucked on a cough drop.  I struggled through "Candle in the Wind" and "Step Into Christmas" with a few cracks but it sounded okay.  After the show I met up with Spouse and Steven & Thad who had just left the party, and I had very little voice left.  Sun morning I had no voice at all - complete laryngitis.

We had breakfast with Steven & Thad and Joe P on Sun, and after returning home Spouse did some laundry while I spread all the Christmas gifts on the dining room table and started matching up the gifts with appropriately sized bags and boxes.  We did something this year we've never done before:  used only gift bags and decorated boxes.  I didn't wrap a single gift this year.  

The decorated boxes were re-used containers in which we'd gotten chocolates or candy or something.  As long as the boxes are in good shape I save them for future use.  Some of the gift bags were re-used from gifts we'd received in years passed, while others were purchased 2-for-$1 at the Dollar Tree.

I don't care for the tissue paper sprouting up out of the bags, so I fold it neatly over the top of the gift and tuck the sides down inside the bag.  I think it gives a neater look, and it give us the ability to stack the bags.  Since we will be transporting all the gifts to VA along with our duffle bag, the 2 dog carriers, and assorted stuff for the dogs, we need the ability stack things.  All the gifts were boxed, bagged and labeled in under an hour.

That evening we met up with Steven & Thad to eat "bar food" at the Frogg Pond.  Steven & Thad made fun of me for having no voice.  "What's that?  I can't hear you..."  They have a special menu on Sundays while football games are played on big screen TVs there.  I got a plate of tater tots with a ladle of sloppy Joe meat on top, drizzled with cheese sauce.  I know - probably 10,000 calories in it, but hey!  Its the holidays!  Time to eat, drink, and be merry!  

January is for dieting.

Now its Mon and I still have laryngitis.  I sure hope this doesn't last much longer.