Early December odds & ends

• After several days of spotting & cramping... she's back to haunt me. :p  Yes, it's Day #206 (!) & Aunt Flo has returned.  It was fun while it lasted...!  Back to square one (sigh...). :p  (Did I mention my 58th (!!) birthday is 38 days away??) 
• Perhaps it's the hormones, perhaps Christmas is getting to me, perhaps it was watching former President Bush (#41)'s funeral (Sully the companion dog!!) earlier today on TV...but I've been teary on & off all day. 
• The coup de grace: a Facebook post from a high school friend: photos of a Christmas cookie baking session with both her mom AND her little granddaughter. A photo I will never get to take. :(  
• A little over two weeks until we head west to see my family... and I'm starting to feel a little stressed when I look at the calendar & see all the things I need to get done between now & then (although I'm actually quite pleased at how much Christmas shopping I've already done!). Items on the agenda:  more Christmas shopping, dental appointments (cleaning & checkups), a possible trip to the Toronto Christmas Market with BIL, SIL & one or both nephews & their wives (depending on who can get off work);  a pre-Christmas visit to stepMIL, pre-Christmas haircuts, a visit with Katie at the cemetery (& change to Christmas decorations for her niche), flu shots, Older Nephew's 30th (!!) birthday, annual Christmas lunch downtown with a couple of friends/former coworkers.  I may also try to cram in: a mani-pedi,  a visit to the art gallery where I have a membership (exhibit closing this weekend that I wanted to see -- may not get there in time...), and some cookie baking. We'll see...
• Savvy Auntie has released a fascinating new study on the growing social & economic influence of what founder Melanie Notkin calls "Generation PANK"-- "Professional Aunts, No Kids." (This includes women who are childless by circumstance, choice or challenge.)  PANKs are a sizeable group -- 28% (more than 1/4) of all women in the United States between the ages of 20 & 50.  "While PANKs represent huge opportunity, this hidden demographic often remains overlooked, misunderstood and unappreciated by marketers and society-at-large," the report observes.
• Looking for a Christmas present for yourself (or a childless-not-by-choice person in your life)?  ;)  Mali has put together a book of No Kidding wisdom -- selected quotes from her blog, along with some of her lovely photos. Find out more & how to order here.