Watcha been doin' lately?

Dear Everyone,

Oliver the Christmas Cat/Courtesy: Me

Hey! I'm back again. Yeah, I guess its kinda lame that I started this out posting almost everyday and now if I'm lucky, I get to this once a month. Sadly, there really isn't much of an excuse. Sure I'm busy, but I'm not that busy. And there has been stuff going on. So it's not like I've got nothing to talk about.

I guess the last time we talked was before Christmas. Wooo...that was a long time ago, wasn't it? Christmas was different this year. Very different. We, of course made the best of it, but it was tough because I had to work. I worked not only Christmas Eve, but had to around and go right back in at 7 the next morning.

Really, it was all worth it when I came home. TLB (The Lovely Bride), made a smaller scale version of a family tradition, "Italian Feast Night". In no short order, we had marinated tomatoes, marinated artichokes, some roasted peppers, some italian cold cuts and cheeses and some wine for starters. Dinner was a really, really big and very tasty lasagna. To say it was tasty would be selling it short, but if you ever want to come visit and try it out, let us know, it'll be one of the best meals you'll ever eat.

It was strange not being with the rest of our family, but there isn't much we can do about that right now. It's been kind of a bummer because both the family and most of our friends haven't been able to make it up here to see us in a long, long time.

Snowy Apartments/Courtesy: Me

New Year's wasn't a whole lot better. I had to work until 5 on New Years Eve...and yes, had to be back at work by 7 the next morning. We did go out though. For a little while anyway. We had dinner over at a friend of Michelle's and hung out for a bit before we headed home around 10. We got comfy and watched Robo Dick Clark until midnight and went to sleep.

 Aside from it being perpetually cold here, there really hasn't been too much else going on. I'm still plugging away at work. It's been a bit of a challenge there, or at least it was during December because of vacations and the like. My schedule was really all over the place and had to jump between the desk and writing sometimes in the same day.

Really, I need...no, we need a vacation. Some time off. Even if it's a long weekend that isn't here in Cincinnati. But that isn't so simple. February is already coming up fast and I can't take time off. To go anywhere, we've gotta put the dog at Camp Bow Wow. While she seems to like it there and we like the way they take care of her, it really takes a toll on her. She turned 13 October and really just doesn't do much anymore. Pretty much eats, poops and follows me around the house.

We are, at least as of now, going to take a couple of days in March. My cousin Ilene's youngest kid is getting his Bar Mitzvah in New Jersey and we are going to go. TLB went to the kids older brother getting his a couple of years ago with my parents, I couldn't go. I'm going this time. We're going to take a couple extra days to do some New York stuff for ourselves.

Inside the Museum Center/Courtesy: Me

Really, there isn't much else going on in my oh, so exciting life these days. We haven't even had a lot of "Excellent Adventures" as of late. Oh, we did go visit the Cincinnati Museum Center and I've gotta say, it was surprisingly cool. The whole thing is an old, renovated train depot. There was a lot to see and we spent the better part of a day there checking it out. If you ever come visit us, we'll take you.

Thanks for reading my letter. I really should write them more often, but we all know how much of a slacker I can be. Hopefully I'll get more motivated....or pissed off about something and find an outlet for it by writing it down here.

Talk to you soon,

Phil

Enjoy your Bonnie Raitt, listen to this while reading please: