I hope you had a great Christmas yesterday. If not, let me say that I hope that the New Year is much better for you.

Since the Theologian household is composed of Mr Theologian, his wife and their doggie, our holiday is more quiet and less hectic. I would get some Chinese food, but several things prevented us from having Orange Chicken and fried rice. Preggie had a fall and his back ached. We were concerned that his implanted spinal cord stimulator has damage, so we went to his doctor and got a CT scan. Hopefully, NOTHING has happened. He could barely walk, so I did the errand work and cooked the meals and tidy up his working space. Taking care of him also meant that my proposed trip to see my older sister getting married was cancelled. Thankfully, they understood.

I made ourselves some spaghetti instead. I had the low digestable carb version by Dreamfield’s and he has the regular version. Yes, I’m back on the Atkins plan. I got along much better with that than any other eating plan. That’s also why we did not have the Chinese food like in A Christmas Story.

Today, I went to the after Christmas sales. Meh. They marked up the prices and then they discounted from there. There was no “Save an additional *foo* percent off the red tag price”, but off the original price. The only redeeming thing was that Lush was having a buy one get two offer. If you buy a piece of bulk soap, you get two bulk soaps or holiday items free. I purchased the creamy Sultana, the yummy Angel’s Delight, and the spicy citrus Gold Frankincense & Beer shower jelly for 7.50 total. There is no way that I want to buy them at retail price (about 24 bux), so I got them now. The Angel’s Delight smells like Hawaiian Punch. And the fine glitter in the jelly is fascinating to hold against a light, especially when view sideways so it looks like layers of sparkly strata.

Tomorrow I will put away the tree and the ornaments.

Get some hot chocolate, egg nog or mulled wine. Gather ’round the Yule Log. To add another log, just hit rewind.

The ice storm we had knocked out the power from our neighbors across the street and our power lines are pulled down by broken icy tree branches. We still have power, but it is uncertain whether we will continue to have it. I’m typing this from my lappy as I do not want any rebooting from my desktop.

I called the electric company and hopefully they will fix this by Christmas Eve. The Fort Wayne area is affected by the storms, so it will take a while before they address our problem.

The Consumerist has an article entitled “I Love The Recession Because The Things That Suck Are Dying”.  Among the suck list: those glass tower condos that are taking over the neighborhood (I’m looking at you, Miami Beach!) and stores like Sharper Image, Circuit City and Linens n Things.  (Disclaimer: I had a sweet Samsung MP3 and OGG player that I got from CC, and Mr Theologian has been using the Panasonic shaver that he got from Sharper Image since 2004.  Best shaver ever.  Did not shop at LnT due to their selection.  Meh.)

For me…here is my list:

• Nobody will look down at you if you prefer to eat at home.  All I need is Internet access for recipes.  Mr Theologian loves the Chicken Marsala I’ve made with veggies and pasta.
• The McMansion building has halted in my town.
• Gas prices went way down.
• Threadless is having a killer inventory sale…5 buck t-shirts!
• Ron Paul, the guys who hold to the tenets of Austrian School economics, and Libertarians are seeing their ideas in wider exposure.  I get way less “WTF” looks when I tell them that I’m libertarian politically and conservative theologically.
• I can work better within Open Source as they offer low-cost and free (as in beer and/or freedom) solutions.  Forget paying cash for proprietary office suites when I can use Open Office for free.
• I have time between gigs to improve my skills.  I’m planning to study for the Security+ exam when I finish my schooling this month.

How did the recession helped you?  Less credit card charging?  Better deals?  Less pressure (yes, it’s possible)?

Once in a while, the guys at Catholic Answers would do this “Who Wants to Be an Apologist?” contest and listeners would answer questions about Catholic theology and two harder questions about other theology. With each correct question, winners would receive a 25 buck certificate to their bookstore, up to 100 dollars.

The Prediger would listen to 1250 AM Redeemer Radio daily as he can tolerate Catholic stuff much better than the Protestant stuff. Just don’t make him listen to the Rosary, lest you make him grouchy! When I heard that the contest will be on tonight, I prepared myself and read up for several minutes on liturgical and sacramental matters before calling in.

First question was a gimmie– what was the name of the angel who appeared to Mary? It was Gabriel. That’s 25 bux.

Second question was a liturgical question– what’s an ambo? It’s a lectern. Good thing I brushed up on logistics.

Third question was a Scholastic question about faith– does man rely on knowledge, feelings, or the community? I replied that “faith must be informed”, a common Catholic saying. 50 bux!

The fourth question was what was the largest Protestant church body. It was the Baptists. 75 bux!

And the final question…Which Protestant reformer was never a Catholic priest? John Calvin FTW! (He was a lawyer.)

Yay! I has WIN!

And now, I’ll get the 100 buck gc to their bookstore and get my husband some theological books. Because you can never get enough theological books.