Happy Sunday! Today is all about relaxing because I made the mistake of going to the mall yesterday to do a little shopping. Good lord! I have no patience for that stuff anymore. People were friendly. Actually, I was surprised how friendly the store clerks were given the amount of people they were assisting, but I was in a foul mood and it just got worse from there.

I hate how regular products are repackaged for Christmas and then marked up a dollar or two just because it’s Christmas. I wore the wrong shoes which made the entire experience more painful and I only picked up one gift, and I was there for over three hours. That’s right. I got overwhelmed with the glitz and the volume of everything. Stores so full of merchandise and people, that I literally could not walk from point A to point B.

I love LUSH, but their stores are too small to have more than ten people working the floor. I need to go back at night, during the week to pick-up what I need because I could not even get to the shelf. But everyone was as happy and perky as can be when they asked me no less than five times if I needed help. Not their fault that I had a case of the grumps.

The holidays, gotta love them.

Oh, and it’s been so cold here!! The mornings have been about 30 degrees and last night, when I left the mall a gust of wind took my breath away. It was so cold. It sort of felt good after being in that stuffy mall but I could not get to the car fast enough.

By the way, I forgot to buy coffee creamer while out so this morning I am without creamer again.

What am I reading?

From the photo above, you can see that I am still reading The Abominable. I love it and now I am just prolonging the inevitable, the end of it. It’s a great adventure book but given that it takes place on Mount Everest and the characters brave below freezing temps, I find myself shivering and reaching for my blanket every time I read it. I wonder if it would have the same effect on me if I had read it over the summer months?

What am I cooking?

At the request of The Teen, I am making Potato Cheese soup tonight but guess what? He won’t be here to eat it because he just offered to work a holiday dinner event. That kid is a “yes” man. He needs to learn how to say No. I am hoping to make a big enough batch to eat it more than once this week. Tonight, we’ll pair it with a nice, leafy salad to round it out.

Click on the photo to see the recipe.

What am I watching?

Well, it’s that time of the year. We watched Deck the Halls with Matthew Broderick and I may watch The Family Stone later today. I really wanted to watch White Christmas with a group on Twitter yesterday but the timing didn’t work for me, given that I am on the West coast.

The other day, I heard about CBS airing the lost Christmas episode of I Love Lucy along with her Italian movie episode where she stomped on the grapes. Remember that one? Well on 12/20 both episodes will air in color? Will you watch? I prefer B&W but to see the lost episode for the first time? Yes, I plan to record it. We will be at Disneyland that day so I will have to wait until the next day to see it.

Click here to see a preview. Is it me, or do they look better in color?