Small pleasures & annoying things

Small pleasures: 

• Spending time with Little Great-Nephew. Even his occasional tantrums are kind of adorable (maybe because it's not up to us to deal with them, lol). (He's generally a very happy little guy, though!)  I know he will only be little (and in his grandma's care, before he heads off to school) for so long -- so we are enjoying every moment with him that we get...
• Having some rare "me alone at home time" while dh is on jury duty. (But I hope it doesn't last too long...!)
• I weighed myself yesterday morning, and I've lost more than 5 pounds since the beginning of November -- almost 9 pounds since my all-time high weight in late August, three months ago. (I wouldn't recommend this weight-loss regime, though!)(i.e., not being able to eat certain foods because they trigger gout and/or gallstone/digestive issues). 
• Speaking of my gallstones, my bloodwork all came back normal. :) 
• Rare (lately...!) sunny days with clear blue skies!  
• The first snowfall, on Advent Sunday, just in time for us to decorate our Christmas tree. (It DOES look pretty, and Christmas-y, as we enter December!) 
• We did have some flurries/flakes in the air before this, but nothing that stayed/accumulated. 
• Having my advent calendar personally delivered on the weekend by my favourite sterling silver jewelry maker (which I mentioned in my "Right now" post earlier this month), and looking forward to finding out what's inside each one of those 24 beautifully wrapped packages, starting tomorrow! 
• Realizing that with 6 more posts after this one, I will have published 200 posts (so far!) in 2021 -- the most ever in 14+ years of blogging! Not bad, eh?? (I guess this pandemic has been good for something, lol...!)  
  • And! -- 11 more posts (after this one), and I will have reached 2000 posts since I first started this blog on October 31, 2007!  

Annoying things: 

• Knowing the snow we've had (however pretty it looks right now) is just the beginning...! (And that dh has to drive 40+ km in it to the courthouse every day for the next while.) 
• Despite the normal bloodwork results, I'm still not feeling 100% re: my gallstone issues. :(  I haven't had a REALLY bad day/night like I was having a few weeks back (thank goodness!) -- and I've had some days that have been pretty normal overall -- but I'm still feeling unsettled and twinge-y from time to time (including today). Lots of gas too (ugh). :(  Ultrasound this afternoon (it's nearby, so I'm walking there while dh is in court), and then I'll discuss what's next with my family doctor once we have the results. 
• Having to fast before the u/s. (Only four hours, but still... and I find that an empty stomach sometimes exacerbates how I'm feeling...) Soup at 11 a.m., anyone? 
• Discovering that sections of the lights on the bottom part of our pre-lit Christmas tree are dead. :p  (Not all of the bottom, but parts of it -- which is somehow almost more annoying than if the whole thing was malfunctioning!  lol)  We turned the tree so that those unlit sections aren't *quite* so visible. But I'm conscious of those dark spots, and it drives me nuts. :p 
• What would be more annoying, though, would be having to buy an entirely new tree! (and I hear there are shortages of those this year too, along with everything else...!) -- so we'll muddle along with this one for at least another year! We bought it six years ago for our first Christmas in this condo, and it was the first pre-lit tree we've had. 
• Another annoying thing:  Did you know the average lifespan of a pre-lit Christmas tree is just six years??  
• Our electric kettle also conked out last night when dh was making me a cup of tea. (He switched to a saucepan on the stovetop instead.) He plugged it in and switched it on, but nothing happened. (He only realized this a few minutes later.)  He tried plugging it into another outlet and that triggered the surge protector. Obviously something wrong with it (it was working only a couple of hours earlier?)  ...oh well, it's a pretty old kettle. I forget how old, but at least 10 years, and probably more like 15-20. Better to be safe...
• Small pleasure: I had a brilliant idea:  I realized the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales were still on, went online and ordered a new kettle (same brand, similar style) that was on sale at a local retailer (Canadian Tire, for those of you who know it ;)  ) -- originally $59.99 (Canadian)(which I think is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for an electric kettle), on sale for $24.99.  They will email me when it's ready for pickup at the local store. Score!  ;)  Till then, the saucepan will suffice. ;)  
• The uncertainty of dh's jury duty and how it might affect our travel plans for Christmas. 
• Not getting to see Little Great-Nephew as usual while dh is on jury duty. :(  (We may see him this weekend, though.) 
• So many great books... never enough time...!  I was hoping to finish one more before the end of November, but that's not going to happen. 
• Starting to run out of time generally to get everything done (& bought) that needs to be done before Christmas.  (Dh's jury duty is not helping in that respect...!)