Time to Tabulate -
Oh, deer...

plus - took two vacation days - did me a world of good.  Should have taken more.

minus - Everywhere I look I see Christmas. At work I need to be thinking ahead - but that's the way it is in the Church.  But in the rest of my life I am not ready for it.  Will Thanksgiving be totally subsumed as a minor part of Christmas?  Time to put out my turkey decorations...one thing at a time at my house.

minus - returned to work to find some 'problems' with a project we were doing that would require some reprinting.  double-minus - the fuser unit on the copier may have had its final failure.  The last time this happened we had two technicians rebuilding the fuser unit out of scavenged parts.  This cannot continue. Canon ImageRunner = tool of Satan. Facepalm time.  Except there is toner all over my hands

plus - spent part of one vacation day finally visiting the Word on Fire offices and finally meeting some people I've only known through email.  Joined them for Mass and lunch and conversation.  Such a good time and refreshing change of pace.

plus - finally got the dreadful windows in my room washed.  Fran and Chuck did most of the work; didn't like watching Fran lean so far out the window.  Now I can wake up and see the world in High-Def.

plus - went out to lunch with my husband and the boys on my second vacation day
minus - putting two young men in the back seat of my new (ten year old - but absolutely like new in my book) revealed serious problems with the back suspension.  Could only make it as far as McDonalds.
plus - Hector, the mechanic with whom we are on a first name basis, says there is no problem for me driving alone to work; the struts can be replaced eventually.  Hector is the best - I like a mechanic with a statue of St. Jude in his office.
minus - limited number of people can go to church in my car; first come, first served.

minus - Bridget hit a deer.  I was just settling down to enjoy a calm evening when I received an incoherent phone call in which I could only make out "car is totaled" and "deer".  Good-bye sweet Buick.
plus - seatbelt and air bag saved her life; there was some sort of small chemical burn to her fleece jacket but she was unscather.  She was going 50mph when the deer "just seemed to drop out of the sky right in front of the car".  Our family has had bad luck with deer - my sister has even been hit by deer while stopped at an intersection.
minus - without a car her job options are changed.  She is borrowing family cars to get to her dog walking gigs and is fortunate to get a temporary gig as a coat check girl at the local country club.
She spent last night there, put in charge of 'babysitting' children whose parents were dining at the club.  Working jobs like this to gather the money to pay off the tow-truck people who have the Buick so it can be junked may take an emotional toll; trying to entertain ungrateful, bored children of the well-to-do for an hourly wage is not easy.  I really respect her for soldiering on.

Hunting season!  My brother-in-law and nephew came home with nothing.  Bridget bagged an unwanted buck.

minus - My husband and boys have taken to bringing their dinner into the family room to eat in front of the 'big' TV while watching endless episodes of Top Gear on Netflix.  Computer projects have overtaken the dining room table and my feelings about the importance of family dinners around the table are ignored.  Getting Dad with the program is not working - he just wants to watch Top Gear.  This is not what I envision as my fantasy family life.  Giving up my visions and going with the flow of an aging family is hard spiritual work.
plus - grace is still said before dinner.  Sometimes someone even turns down the volume on Top Gear.
plus/minus - too much British television has left its mark on the family.  People talk about going to the petrol station or stepping out to cadge a fag. Oh my, I think I need petrol on my way to work tomorrow.

minus - Christmas is pushed way too early.  This grates on my nerves.
plus - Martha and Bridget went to Target, which should have lifted Bridget's low mood.
minus - the premature release of Christmas at Target included deer everywhere.  Deer are the worst motif for Bridget at this moment.

minus - kummerspeck

plus - beautiful day.  Didn't need a coat for church.  Though I started the day dragging a bit,  I had one of those moments at Mass that gave me so much consolation.  There are so many times that prayer and Mass feel merely perfunctory.  I know this is commonplace, but in the midst of an arid time, the consolation I felt is so appreciated.  Life is good.   It's been an up and down week but it ends up in the plus column.  Definitely PLUS.