PSALM 13

How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and hear me, O Lord, my God; lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

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This was written just for me.

Goodbye to 2017

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?  Hm.... I tried spinning yarn for about 15 minutes and did not enjoy it. I will probably try it again, though, because it's hard to like something you stink at.
2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  My goal for 2017 was to move forward in my life. I didn't really do that to the extent that I wanted to, but I was able to tear my eyes off the past at least some of the time, and did more than simply tread water. Just a little more, but it was progress.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?  No, though there seems to be a population explosion with my cousins kids having babies!
4. Did anyone close to you die?  No
5. What countries did you visit?  I remained in hell, the depths of despair. Someday, I hope to have a one way ticket out of here.
6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?  How vulnerable I would be if I answered this question completely and truthfully! I'm not ready for that, so I will say the #2 thing that I would like in 2017 is enough money to retire comfortably.
7. What date from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory?  The best day of the year was November 18th when my daughter told me that she and her wonderful boyfriend, Joel, were engaged, and she sent me a picture of her ring - her face was the happiest I've ever seen it. I truly believe and have faith that Joel is the right man for her; he is a good, steady, loving, kind man who gets her and loves all her quirks, and she is completely besotted with him.  He is the love of her life. They are good together. So, ya, that was a really good day. 
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  Living through it without melting into the ground.
9. What was your biggest failure?  so many failures, every day. I'm trying to not dwell on them and instead to look forward.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Yes; chronic pain and depression, and 2018 will probably hold at least two surgeries for me.
11. What was the best thing you bought?  Yarn!  GOOD yarn!  Natural fiber yarn! MERINO and CASHMERE YARN! It is such a pleasure to work with good quality yarn!  Other than yarn, the best thing I bought was a Starz subscription so I could watch Outlander which is my new obsession.
12. Where did most of your money go?  Mostly to first and second mortgages, utilities, gas, etc. Very little left over for anything that is not a necessity.
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?  OMG OUTLANDER!!!  I am obsessed! It is the best time waster in the universe!
14. What song/album will always remind you of 2017?  The Isle of Skye, which is the theme for Outlander
15. What do you wish you’d done more of?  Oh my... so many ways to waste time and avoid doing what is most important in life.  I guess I would have to say, prayer, contemplation and iconography, in that order. 
16. What do you wish you’d done less of?  Working
17. How will you be spending/did you spend Christmas?  I wasn't sure until last night, but I will be spending it with my little brother Ken and his family. 
18. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?  Mostly with my daughter. We text and message a lot. When we talk on the phone, we talk for hours and hours and never get bored. She is hilarious. She cracks me up all the time. 
19. Did you fall in love in 2017?  Ok, this is a surprisingly difficult question. I am in love with someone, and I do love someone, though in years past, I put that in a little locked place. This year, for some inexplicable reason, I can no longer keep it in it's little box.  On the other hand, another way to answer would be that I have fallen in crazy love with a fictional character, James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Fraser. 
20. How many one night stands in this last year?  No one night stands. I am worth so much more than one night.
21. What was your favorite TV program?  Outlander, Doc Martin, Grey's Anatomy
22. What was the best book(s) you read?  Outlander
23. What were your favorite films of this year?  Our Souls at Night was a quiet, wonderfully introspective film that I loved.
24. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?  My birthday is on September 14th and I turned 62. I spent it driving from Cindy's apartment in Atlanta after the hurricane warnings lifted.
25. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  Enough money to retire comfortably, and not in poverty.
26. What kept you sane?  Knitting. Solitude. Chocolate. Limoncello.
27. What political issue stirred you the most?  Radical and soulless Republicans have hijacked the government.
28. Who did you miss?  Other than my parents, and missing them is a constant ache that never, ever goes away. The person I miss most is named Bill. 
29. Who was the best new person you met?  Jeanie K. I didn't meet her in 2017, but I got to know her much better in 2017, and she is a wonderful addition to my life.
30. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.  No matter how hard I try, I am not capable of creating the life that I want and that I need.

Christmas 2017 Meme

Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be aSCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into anew e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that theyapply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know,INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags??? Gift bags, always. Sometimes I use brown paper lunch bags and stamp them or write nice quotes on them, then staple the suckers shut. 

2. Real tree or Artificial??? Artificial, alas. Real ones make me congested.

3. When do you put up the tree? I always used to put it up on Thanksgiving weekend, but now that I live alone, I do less and less decorating of any kind. The tree usually goes up before Christmas, though there have been a couple of years without a tree at all. However, I did come out of that deep funk eventually. Last year I didn't even decorate it - the beautiful white lights were enough for me. We will see what 2017 brings. 

4. When do you take the tree down? after January 7th.  Sometimes MONTHS after January 7th!

5. Do you like egg nog?? Yes, I love it, even though I got a wicked hangover from Melvin's "special homemade" eggnog a couple of years ago. I think he "made" it in the bathtub.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My annual box of 64 Crayola crayons

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Multiple ones!

8. Hardest person to buy for? I have few people to buy for. Usually I give a small token gift to choir members and readers, and my daughter and now, her fiance Joel. Money is tight this year, so I think I'll  skip the choir and just give to my kids.  So, this year, Joel is the hardest person to buy for, since I don't know him like I know my daughter. I've got some good ideas, though. 

9. Easiest person to buy for? DD - I always come up with something that she loves. It helps that our interests and taste intersect a lot.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?? I don't do cards of any type - never have - though I like getting them. How is that for hypocrisy, eh? I will send email cards on occasion. friends and family who don't have an email address, or who are not on Facebook, are out of luck.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't remember any, truthfully

12. Favorite Christmas movie? Hm.... I think its probably A Christmas Story or Love, Actually. I almost wet my pants the first time I saw A Christmas Story.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?? When I can't avoid it anymore

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present??? Yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas??? Panettone, stuffed artichokes, and pizzelle

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree??? Clear lights that don't blink. The more the better. When I turn my tree on, there should be a brown out in my neighborhood, or I haven't don't it right.

17. Favorite Christmas song?? Most favorite is Lo, How A Rose Ere Blooming, and second favorite is O Holy Night in French - I can still hear Uncle Len and Auntie Nita singing it.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home, but sometimes I think it would be fun to go somewhere unexpected, like a cabin in the snowy mountains, or somewhere on a warm beach

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? No, but I can name all the Von Trapp children. There are seven of them. I can also name all the B Street children - there are 15 of them, not counting me, Ro, Terry or Ethel. Does that count?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I always have both. The star is on the tippy top with an angel immediately below it

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?? When I was a kid, we always opened them at night after midnight mass, but once I was a mother, I saw the wisdom of Christmas morning gift opening. Now, I open my gifts with my daughter via skype after I get home from morning liturgy. 

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year??? Office gift exchanges. Not having a gift ready to reciprocate when someone gives you a gift. Actually, I kinda think the whole gift giving thing is out of hand in our culture. I'm happy with just our Christmas stockings full of little things and candy.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color???  I used to have enough ornaments for half a dozen trees with different themes and color schemes; I think I had 14 or 15 huge tubs of decorations. I severely decluttered my decorations a few years ago. I kept only the special ornaments that I've collected over the years. Each ornament is a memory of places I've been, events, people, pets. Unfortunately, most of these special ornaments are breakable, so I haven't put them up for a while because my damn cats are so destructive.  I do have some non breakable ornaments that I love. I always layer my tree: first layer deep in the tree are the white lights. Next layer deep in the tree are the foundational red balls. Usually I hang two balls together - one shiny deep red ball with a satin bright red ball.  Then I put the garland on - a white pearl garland is my favorite. Then the white ornaments which includes frosted glass balls and teardrops. Next, nearer the edges, I arrange my favorite heirloom ornaments.  Last, are the many crystal icicles and elves.  There is a star on the top of the tree, and below it is an angel. I have a special bee ornament and a flying pig ornament and a grandmother ornament for my mother. I've got a special fisherman ornament and a frog ornament and a grandfather ornament with a tool box for my father. I have camel ornaments for Jerry. I have ornaments for my daughter that commemorate her age and various events in her life.  I have ornaments from places I've lived and places I've visited.The special ornaments tell the story of our life.  I like to have a lot of white and lot of red in my ornaments - I love how that looks with the multicolored heirloom ornaments - and white lights.   Geez, now that I've typed all this, I'm too exhausted to decorate my tree this year!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner??? My favorite Christmas dinner exists in my memory: chicken in wine, stuffed artichokes, ravioli, bracciola and pork roast cooked in gravy, salad, chocolate chestnut pizza. Nowadays, I prefer to keep things much more simple. Sometimes I spend Christmas with the Kochers. So far, I've never spent it alone, but this may be the year. One year, DD and I went to the Chinese buffet and we loved that! It was delicious, inexpensive, and no effort at all. I may do that again this year. 

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I want the deepest desire of my heart. God knows what that is.  Other than that, less work, more money, peace on earth, and Trump/Pence/Ryan/McConnell; Hatch;the entiire Cabinet, Republican leadership and every single Trump relative except for Barron, Tiffany and Melania behind bars. Permanently behind bars. 

26. Person most likely to respond to this email? everyone responds to MOI

27. Who is least likely to respond to this? see number 26

Ok, tag! You're it!