The grinch who survived Christmas

I'm not really grinchy about Christmas, honest - I just couldn't do the usual gift shopping thing this year because of the recent switch to a one-income household (which has a two-income mortgage). I like to pick up something for the mother and siblings, plus a couple of friends, but that's about it.

Christmas Day was non-eventful. I slept late, stayed home, sorted out the bedroom so I won't have to wade through clutter when entering and exiting. Brought a cat home from the shelter who didn't look well, turns out the poor bugger has dreadful diarrhea. He also talks non-stop, which is beginning to get annoying.

Now all I have to do is somehow get out of working tomorrow...

Whatever I did, I'm sorry.

The last couple of weeks have really bit hard, as my nephew Chris would have put it.

I recently heard from the mother of an ex-boyfriend, someone I dated fairly seriously in the late 1990s until I finally figured out he was a full-fledged alcoholic. He'd gone steadily downhill during the last years. The saga included a month in ICU drying out, only to begin drinking again four months later, and finally becoming completely unemployable. During this year, he was living with his parents and dealing with a ton of health problems.

About a month ago he was admitted to the hospital for surgery for a suspected bowel obstruction. He developed peritonitis, then his liver - already almost 100% cirrhotic - packed up along with his kidneys. MRSA, aka necrotic pneumonia, finally finished him off. His mom called me about an hour before she turned off the life support.

Last week there was bloodletting in my department, and the two people I was closest to, including the other writer, were laid off. Actually he was offered another job, but it was a) in another state; b) a lower grade and salary. So he said no and took the severance. So now I'm sitting in a very quiet cube farm with two freelance designers.

Today, I went to the dentist for what I thought was a filling, but ended up over $700 poorer after a root canal. I thought I'd gotten caught up on finances, having cashed in my only CD, but the root canal put me back in the red. After I left the dentist, I sat in the car and cried. I felt really stupid.

It's a red hair thing

Two of my friends - one local, one who lives in CA - sent me this AP story. Both added the comment "This is you in 40 years". Well, one said that, the other asked if this was some long-lost relative.

WAYNESBURG, Ky. –Miss America 1944 has a talent that likely has never appeared on a beauty pageant stage: She fired a handgun to shoot out a vehicle’s tires and stop an intruder. Venus Ramey, 82, confronted a man on her farm in south-central Kentucky last week after she saw her dog run into a storage building where thieves had previously made off with old farm equipment.

Ramey said the man told her he would leave. “I said, ‘Oh, no you won’t,’ and I shot their tires so they couldn’t leave,” Ramey said.

She had to balance on her walker as she pulled out a snub-nosed .38-caliber handgun.

“I didn’t even think twice. I just went and did it,” she said. “If they’d even dared come close to me, they’d be 6 feet under by now.”

Ramey then flagged down a passing motorist, who called 911.

Curtis Parrish of Ohio was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, Deputy Dan Gilliam said. The man’s hometown wasn’t immediately available. Three other people were questioned but were not arrested.

After winning the pageant with her singing, dancing and comedic talents, Ramey sold war bonds and her picture was adorned on a B-17 that made missions over Germany in World War II, according to the Miss America Web site.

Ramey lived in Cincinnati for several years and was instrumental in helping rejuvenate Over-the-Rhine historic buildings. She returned to Kentucky in 1990 to live on her farm.

“I’m trying to live a quiet, peaceful life and stay out of trouble, and all it is, is one thing after another,” she said.

Now Venus represented DC in 1944, but she is as Kentuckian as the grass is blue. She lived in Washington during World War II to work for the war effort.

Her official biography at the Miss America site noted she was the First Red Headed Miss America.