1. What did you do in 2005 that you’d never done before?
Stay in a sumptuous hotel room in NYC overlooking Times Sq!
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last year I said, “I make no resolutions! Damn things! And I won’t make any this year! So piss off! [same as 2003]“; this year I AM making a couple of resolutions
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Julie, Cherie & Zoot!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My mother passed away on December 17th.
5. What countries did you visit?
France, Jamaica, Bahamas, Canada

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Sippin’ on a rum & coke (new dark rum from Captain Morgan called Tattoo), cooking up some meatballs for an hors d’oeuvre tomorrow at MB’s and debating with myself about going to return the presents I bought for Mom for Christmas. I dropped off 5 bags of clothing at Goodwill today, there were some unused purses and brand new shoes in there as well, hopefully they can use those things and not throw them out as the clerk at Zoot’s Dry Cleaners said they might. I also have a bag of teddy bears…anyone want some teddy bears?

I woke up with a wicked headache this morning, don’t you hate when that happens? I can’t get rid of it, and the child that whined non-stop at Crackerbarrel didn’t much help. Note to parents: when your child is whining that much it kinda ruins it for those sitting close by. Just thought you might like to know. Or not.

Wolf cut his leg when we went out for a walk today…we were running, me on the asphalt, him on the curb, and he slid off … must’ve skinned the inside of his leg. Didn’t seem to bother him, which is VERY good, cause shibas can obsess on things like that…i.e., lick it raw.

The Christmas cards are still coming in…got two cute picture cards from my friends Betsy of her 3 girls and from Diane, of her 2 girls:

Yesterday I got a very interesting card from my friend Masayo in Japan:

Tonight I think I’ll try to relax and watch my Christmas present from Gina. It’s a strange movie, but one of my favorites…cause I’m strange, you know

Finally, for MaryEllen…a picture of my Christmas tree this year:

The last Thursday Thirteen of 2005…

1. I fulfilled a long standing desire to see Robert Plant in person on stage!
2. And Tom Petty!
3. And Doug E Fresh!
4. And Dr. John!
5. And i also got to see John Fogerty again, this time with John Mellencamp!!
6. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, and Charlaine Harris’s “Dead” series
7. Paris, even in February!
8. Any year THREE Johnny Depp movies are playing in the theaters is a good year! (Finding Neverland, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Libertine)
9. My iPod, Tivo & camera phone!
10. Losing 30 pounds (course I haven’t lost any more, but the good news is I also haven’t gained any back (and I just weighed myself to check!)
11. Discovering the Thursday Thirteens!
12. ME coming to visit in January and again in Feb, cruising with her (and the free side trip to Epcot) in May for our annual vacation AND getting to see her in NYC in Oct!
13. Bhoooot!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Uisce
2. Lauren
3. Heather
4. Smoochy
5. Megan
6. Lilybleu
7. Cin
8. Leanne
9. OceanLady
10. Running2Ks
11. Caryn
12. Lillyput

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Nov 2005 = 337
Dec 2005 = 950
Total = 1287

Not bad, considering I started back up November 17th, 2005.

Overall Thursday is my peak day, followed closely by Wednesday and Sunday [ditto!]

Busiest time for viewing 9 – 10 am and then 12 – 1pm

Biggest referrers (links from other sites)
Lauren
my old temp blog
Laura
Megan
Carl
OceanLady
Zoot
Smoochie
Jenn
Running2Ks
Fireflies & Frogs
Looloo

I’m guessing many of the folks who visited from these referrers came after reading about the passing of my mother on the referrers blogs.

158 visitors stayed longer than an hour

The top 10 keyphrases that brought people to my blog were:

fondofsnape
snape
roasted asparagas recipes
sand tart cookies
snape christmas
dark mark tattoo
barbara walter heaven
tattoos of snape
death eater tattoos
snape quotes

(sense a pattern here?)

The top 10 keywords were:

snape
fondofsnape
christmas
walter
barbara
heaven
severus
asparagas
french
tattoo

So that’s fondofsnape…in a nutshell…2005. Blatantly stolen from Michelle

First day back to work…blah…that’s all I have to say about that.

Tomorrow I have to take my car in to have some work done that can’t be put off. This will make me late for work and further empty my wallet. So sad…

Today, a friend sent me an article about coping of the loss of a parent. In it, it says there are 5 steps to grieving:

Shock and denial
Anger
Bargaining and guilt
Depression
Acceptance

Do I have to follow these steps? Cause I think I skipped right over denial; I’m between shock & anger right now. I’ve yelled at my father twice. The first time was after the Christmas Eve church service, the second was last night after he plugged in something which caused some other electrical thing to not work properly [insert electrician talk here]. Yes, I’m a horrible person.

The article included 10 tips on how to cope:

~ Give yourself permission to grieve in your own way. [check]
~ Let others in your family grieve in their own way, too. [check]
~ Express your feelings about your loss. [uh...having a problem with this one.]
~ Be honest with children about your sadness. [not applicable]
~ Take care of your health. [um...having a problem with this one, too]
~ Keep in touch with people who know how much your parent meant to you. [I don't think this applies to me]
~ Honor your beliefs. [um...ok]
~ Let your manager know what happened. [like he cares]
~ Cherish your memories of your parent. [check]
~ Join an informal support group. [for a fee]
~ Look into grief counseling if the strain becomes unmanageable. [I don't think so]

Really, all I want to do is withdraw. I don’t have the energy to be the friend my friends want me to be, and the nature of my friendships is such that if I can’t be there for them, then they don’t know what to make of this development–it changes the dynamic of the relationship (me listening to their various problems) and they just kind of don’t know what to do. It’s hard to comfort someone who seems to not need it and, for me, it’s easy to fall into the role of seeming to be that kind of person.

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