Sunday, December 14, 2014

My week: December 14 ed.

This week has been a roller coaster of stress, Incredible Hulk-angry moments, tiredness, cat surgery, cat acting alternately like a spoiled brat followed by being the sweetest fuzzy dude ever, German learning and lessons, party-throwing/friend hosting & hanging out, favorite Christmas market-visiting, and relaxing in PJs/movie night. I can happily say that the stressful beginning of the week gave way to a relaxed and full of warm fuzzies end of the week.

-Moo had surgery. He had a benign tumor on his calf that the vet thought should still come off. I had to zip him over to the vet before work and was able to pick him up after work.

Of course I had very little time and too many things to do so he had to sit in the cat carrier while I ran to the store to buy glasses for the party I was hosting on the weekend and some treats to mail to my previous coworkers. I felt a bit guilty about that but the stores close early so it had to be that night.

He has been very unhappy about wearing the cone of shame and has been acting out a bit. He found out that he can use the cone as a battering ram of sorts, slamming against the bedroom door and demanding to be let in when I'm sleeping. He even figured out how to get out of an earlier cone of shame! C. had to shove it back on him when I was away at German class. Moo has been demanding and needy since the surgery. Can one blame him? He finally settled down (mostly) by the end of the week. I think it's because he received a lot of attention during the party and from friends staying over.

I made him 3 cat beds and he laid on the house shoes for guests. Silly kitty!


-I had German classes three times. I didn't meet with my tandem speaking partner because of Moo's surgery.

-Work has been incredibly busy. I gave a presentation at another location and rushed to get ready for that. I probably would have worked on it a bit more at home the night before but I just had nothing else to give at that point; I was flustered and exhausted most of the week from everything going on.

-Finally the weekend came! I rushed home to co-host a party. There's no way that I could have done it without the help of my friend C. who's visiting right now. She planned, shopped, cooked, cleaned, and decorated! It was completely awesome and she did a great job. She even bought gold "medals" made of chocolate so I came up with some games so we could award them.

The party was a holiday party and White Elephant gift exchange (optional). Since only two people brought things to exchange, I decided to liven it up by going "shopping" in my house and added some things to the bag so everyone could take something home. Considering that I try not to have too many extra things in my house, it got interesting! One friend won a packet of cat food, which Moo said was okay to give away since it was the friend who normally cat sits him. Guests also won cool things like a package of tissues and a piece of chocolate.

We then played charades that I devised at the last minute and became the hit of the party. I came up with Christmas-related characters or things doing strange activities. For example, Little Baby Jesus received a parking ticket and a Christmas pyramid was angry and breaking ornaments. We were in hysterics as the players acted them out.

I also love that we were such an international group. Half of the guests were from non-Western countries and only three guests speak English as a first language. When I was coming up with characters and situations for charades, I tried to pick things that everyone would know. However, I did have to explain to one guest was a sled was. That was fair enough, as her country doesn't ever see snow!

-Two out-of-town friends spent the night after the party and we had a lazy morning of eating leftovers. One friend left and we then went to the Haus der Nachhaltigkeit's Christmas market in the woods, picking up another friend along the way. I explained that this was my favorite market and my friends loved it too. We drank bio Glühwein (the only kind I'll drink now), wandering among the booths in the forest.

Along the way, we ran into the Big Boss from work (our boss's boss's boss, if that makes sense) and his wife so we said hi. I was surprised to hear that Mrs. Boss did not like the market. She was unhappy because she had gotten bopped by umbrellas (it was raining) and she felt that there wasn't much to buy. I can see where it might not have made for an experience that she would enjoy.

It's still my favorite Christmas market though; I think it's partially because of the lack of a feeling of overt commercialism there. Sure, every booth is selling something, whether it's food, drink, or a product, but items are handmade and high quality. Not everyone needs a sheep's fleece or hand-made brooms. However, it feels like a magical place in the woods where the main point is to celebrate with friends.

-On Sunday, we ran some errands and dropped off our friend M, who had stayed one extra night since it was reasonably late by the time we came home the night before. Later, C. and I had a lazy evening of watching Detroit Unleaded and Adventures in Babysitting, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. It was the perfect ending to a busy and previously stressful week.

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