MONDAY

 AAGH!  It's now 6:00 pm on Monday and I'm feeling overwhelmed. A quick rundown:

1. I cored, seasoned, and baked a dozen nice apples, then stowed them in the freezer except for two, which I'll give to Ellen;

2. I was about to reassemble most of the things I took to El's when I slept over on my birthday three days, which I had to bring back here and disassemble. At least I added fresh clothes;

3. I arranged for Amazon gift cards for Mike and the girls--just seemed to have no time for getting them anything else, let alone wrapping, sending to Singapore, etc.;

4. I was in the middle of some necessary preparations when Vickie called to say she was going to Silver Crest, where Diane lives and would drop off the card I tried to send, which didn't make it in the mail. She then asked if Diane and I might want to go to lunch. I had a million more things to do, so of course, I thanked her, but refused because I had a million things to do...JOKE! Anytime I get a lunch invitation, I lose all sense of--well, all sense--and immediately accept with pleasure, which I did.

5. Met Vickie at her place and she took me to Hosey restaurant. This is on the other side of Santa Paula where she and Mary used to live and they ate there often. I liked it, too, and we each had a pasta plate--I an IPA with it.  We had a great time chatting and being very open with each other, such as her sexuality and my background; her birth family and her family that had been Mary's. 

6. Home about 2:30--Vickie had to go back to work (she works from home)--and, for some reason, I felt exhausted. I had told Ellen I'd make what we call "Nana Mix,"* but--I should be ashamed--I called her and said I'd like to beg off, as I just didn't feel up to it. I would have had to go to Von's to get the ingredients, then make it, pack it, and so on.  My darling daughter was wonderfully okay with that--said she'd make it herself. I'll bring some of the Chex cereal I happen to have and the Whorstershire sauce--damn, I know it's misspelled, but I don't feel like going in the other room to read the label! 

7. My neighbor, Lorraine, came over to give me a pair of socks as a birthday present. That was nice of her and I happen to know her birthday is January 9 (same as Elvis), so I'll do something for her.

8. My upstairs neighbor, Leah, drove up as I went out to get the mail. She had just picked up her mother from LAX and I was glad to see her. We're trying to arrange a day I can have them for lunch.

9.  Okay, this took me twenty-two minutes to type and now I'm going to quit.  I'll top it off tomorrow morning, as usual, and you can be sure I'll make the top-off number 10 because I'm so compulsive I can't stand to end a list with 9.  

10.  Here we are on Tuesday, Christmas Eve, at 5:58 am and this is number ten.