Dear media outlets (especially CNN),

For future reference, I’d like to reach a consensus about how you define the term “breaking news.”

I have signed up for your email service where you will send me alerts on the aforementioned “breaking news.” I have appreciated this service in the past when you have kept me informed of key news stories about important issues as they were developing.

I have noticed a disturbing trend, unfortunately. You have a tendency to send me alerts about what I would consider celebrity gossip.

For some people, I’m sure this is, in fact, breaking news. I’d bet that Cooperstown email accounts contained a flurry of information today about how to answer questions about who has hit the most home runs in a season. And it wouldn’t surprise me if the recording industry is in a tizzy with Simon Cowell’s announcement of his planned departure from American Idol. But for me and 99% of other people receiving your breaking news alerts? I’d bet our day remains unchanged having now heard the bulletins.

So, please, let’s agree on terms. If there’s some other list you’d like me to sign up for, some actually-important-no-really news list, please let me know and I’d be happy to unsubscribe from what I thought was supposed to be that service and hop on board with what I look for in news alerts.

And, otherwise, let’s work on figuring out what’s really important to America and send out information about that, shall we?

Thanks.

I’m a little frustrated that it’s Sunday night already. I suppose the problem with the first week back to work after a vacation is that at the end of it you’re expecting to squeeze in as much as you were able to do before you had to go back to the office. That was true for me, at least. I had high hopes for all I could accomplish this weekend and find myself tonight disappointed on most fronts.

True, we visited with friends after dinner on Friday and caught up with some others at a birthday happy hour on Saturday.

We also watched the season premiere of Chuck, which was good, and a French Christmas movie that we’d had out from NetFlix for six weeks. (It was okay, but I remarked to Rudi that if we’d tried to squeeze it in before the holidays, I would have wept with frustration at the conclusion. I’m also glad that we bypassed it when it was in the theaters when we were in Paris. I would have been so confused without the English subtitles…)

I made it to the farmers’ market and to the store for milk and cat food and litter. I also picked up flaxseed for future vegan baking needs…

I not only made it to the yarn store to pick up a tiny crochet hook (and no yarn!), but did the first row of beading with it on my new pair of socks.

I did write a book blog post (pathetically, it took me hours…) and then was able to return the books to the library, but I didn’t start the new book Grey Kitten gave me.

I did a load of laundry, but it’s still in the washer. And I didn’t do the second load I’d hoped to tackle.

I didn’t do any baking. Anyone ever heard of gingerbread MLK Day cookies?

I didn’t clean the house. This would be less of a problem, but I’m having a friend over for dinner on Tuesday. I wonder how much of what’s cluttering our living room will end up on our bed…

And I still haven’t finished the Christmas cards. Did any of you see Here Comes Peter Cottontail when you were a kid? Remember how he didn’t get all his Easter eggs delivered and just kept rolling them over to the next holiday? I fear this might be a similar scenario for those of you at the end of the alphabet… (Jenn and Elspeth, I’m looking your way… How do you feel about Arbor Day cards?) I just try to keep in mind that I’d be happy to receive a card from friends at any time of the year — and that you all know that I’m not a timely sort of person…

Ah, well, tomorrow is another day and brings a fresh week. I’m sure things will sort themselves out as I go along… especially if I head to bed soon!

It’s only 1 a.m., but I find myself too tired to write a coherent post.

But come back tomorrow when I’ll give you my first book report of the year. (Having failed at individual reviews and at monthly summaries, I’m going to try Saturday book posts. I think it has potential.)

Take bread (ciabatta, in this case):

Slice it and add toppings. (We chose turkey, parrano cheese, mustard, and arugula.):

Pre-heat the grill to high:

Grease the outside of the bread. (We opted for a light spray of olive oil.) Place the sandwich on the grill:

Now, this is apparently where regional differences come into play. If you are a restaurateur in D.C., you will close the lid only until faint lines appear on the bread. At this point you will serve the sandwich.

If, however, you are from someplace civilized, you will know that panini are cooked sandwiches and, therefore, the sandwich should not be removed from the grill until the contents are heated:

If you wait the extra few minutes that it takes to actually melt your cheese, you will end up with the perfect cooked sandwich:

Delicious!

Recycling is a good thing. That must also apply to New Year’s resolutions, right?

One year ago today, I resolved to entertain more.

I failed miserably. I think we managed four five gatherings last year. And for the exact same, pathetic reasons as last year.

That has got to change. It’s bad for my mental health. (And, yes, the clutter is also bad for my mental health. Think of what a boost my mind will get by tackling both those things in the upcoming months…)

I’ve read that the more specific your goal, the better a shot you have of attaining it.

I therefore resolve to entertain once a month.

That gives me 27 days to clear off a couple of chairs and the table so folks can come over.

Rudi and I bought ourselves a new board game while we were in Connecticut with the explicit plan to invite people over to play it with us.

Mum and Dad gave us a panini maker, after tiring of hearing me complain for the millionth time about how D.C. fails to understand that the machine is meant to cook the sandwich not just put lines on the bread.

So that’ll be the January portion of my recycled ultimate goal of 12 “events”: An evening of board games and panini.

I think that sounds like a pretty good thing to strive toward, personally. Wish me luck in getting there…

Tomorrow I head back to work after a luxurious 11 days off. I feel ashamed to admit that it doesn’t seem like it was enough time when I know that there are people who didn’t get to take any vacation time at all during the holidays.

I’ve never aspired to be a lady of leisure. And yet that seems to be what I crave right now: time to do the things I enjoy. I don’t feel like I’ve read enough or knit enough or talked with enough friends during my break from work. I didn’t bake cookies and I’m still not done writing out my Christmas cards (apologies still to you folks with names that start with late letters in the alphabet), let alone Christmas boxes to friends.

I did catch up on sleep. I watched movies. We spent nearly a week with my family. I hung up our Christmas cards today. We saw friends here the last few days, including at a lovely low-key party this evening.

But I’m greedy. It wasn’t enough. And clearly what that means is that I need to work on re-prioritizing my free time so that I spend more hours doing those things that I feel like I haven’t gotten a chance to do during my break. Less tv. Less time on the computer. Get to work earlier so I can leave earlier. Just spend more time with the things that actually matter.

And, in the mean time, I’ll head back to work and start accruing some more vacation days.