Friday, December 28, 2012

Night Christmas

This year Em and Jorg wanted to spend Christmas morning with Jason, so we decided to get the whole family together that night for Night Christmas. It's the same as Christmas Morning except we ate tacos and then opened presents at night.

It was SO MUCH FUN!

Scott and I got a present or two for each person from their Amazon wishlists, and then I made a handmade something for each person as well. For Mim I made a scarf and mittens (first time I've ever made mittens!) made from my handspun. For Scott I made a beanie, and for Isaac a greyish blue scarf. For Kwiddens I made this awesome navy blue chunky scarf, and for Nyah I made a little pink ruffle purse (filled with gummi bears, of course). For Em, since she is learning to crochet, I spun some red and black yarn (her favorite colors). I didn't try anything super fancy, since I had to make ALL THE THINGS, and I didn't start until the end of November (oops), but maybe next year I'll try something more commensurate with my skill level.

Scott, of course, got me about a zillion things off of my wishlist per tradition (tons of CDs, a few books, season one of Being Human (with the hottest actor I know of)(I mean, yum, right?), a coaster and keyring with the periodic table on them, another row counter for knitting, and some earrings). Mim got me a half-pound of the most delicious rosy pink merino silk to spin. Em is making me a hat and scarf. Kwiddens got me some CDs and a POUND York...it's huge. I have no idea how I'm going to eat it. I think that's about everything...I may have forgotten a thing or two (I did make out like a bandit this Christmas, I have to say).

I'm really lucky that I enjoy spending holiday time with my family. I know a lot of people don't get along well with their family members and it makes holidays stressful, but with our group we just relax and hang out, doing pretty much whatever we want to. Want to watch a movie? Cool! Want to play a game? Cool! Want to sit and do nothing? Also cool! Seriously, with our family, anything goes because we're so relaxed like that.

Back before the divorce, Christmas (and basically all other holidays) was so stressful. Everything had to be scheduled. Everything had to be perfect. Everything, everything, everything. Jason was always grumpy, even when we went to a lot of trouble to think of the perfect gifts for him. He would still just sit in the corner with a scowl on his face and throw a fit when we wanted him to open his gifts from all of us. I talked to Emilee about it, and apparently that's all he did this Christmas, too. I miss him sometimes, and sometimes I wish we had a better relationship, but I remember things like this and realize that our family gatherings are happier and more loving now, and that's about the best consequence of a divorce situation I can imagine.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Text Time 27

Starring Kwiddens, grammar, and spelling. Enjoy.

Kwiddens: Sigh. "Sea urchant".
Me: Ugh.

Kwiddens: Kill me. "Congratulations to those who one." That was a WORK e-mail.
Me: So unprofessional.
Kwiddens: Seriously. They need to hire me as an editor so they don't look like idiots.

Kwiddens: I'm so glad we know how to spell and use proper grammar. People constantly amaze me. In a bad way.
Me: Riiiiiight? What triggered this gladness?
Kwiddens: Your use of a comma in "Me, too."
Me: Yay!
Kwiddens: At work I listen to people misuse punctuation constantly.
Me: Yuck.
Kwiddens: For real right now.

Me: It bugs me to no end that people say "samwich" instead of "sandwich".
Kwiddens: Ugh, seriously. Or "all of the sudden".
Me: That, too.
Kwiddens: Or ending sentences with "at". That one makes my job hard. The program doesn't like it because it doesn't make sense.

Kwiddens: "All in favor say IIIIIIII!" Facepalm.
Me: Oh hell.
Kwiddens: The English language is writhing on the floor.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Things I Usually Write About

I've been going over excuses in my head for not writing lately...for quite a while, actually...but none of them seem good enough for you all, my wonderful readers (all umm...four?...of you).

What are the things I usually talk about?

Buster: He was naughty twice yesterday and got sent downstairs as punishment. Eating grass while standing in the flower bed where he KNOWS he's not allowed, and later not coming when called while there was someone at the door (we have a SIGN that says No Soliciting, and I KNOW you can read because you were trying to sell newspapers, for heaven's sake). We've gotten too lax with him. He used to be so well-behaved, and technically he still is compared to all the other dogs but if you knew him as well as we do you'd notice a difference, too. Naughty, naughty, naughty.

Scott's back: Well, we've both given up and not given up. We're resigned to our fate at this point, but we're still doing something about all of it. Scott is going to a pain clinic on a regular basis, and a chiropractor when we can afford it, and we're just trying to keep him as active as he can stand. He even wants to try skiing this winter, but we need some snow first...

Yarning: I've been knitting, spinning, and crocheting a TON so far this month, mainly to get all the Christmas presents I want to do done. I'm not doing anything super fancy, but I've got something in the works for Em, Jorg, Mim, and Kwiddens. I'm thinking that if I have time I can make something smallish for Scott and Isaac, too. The problem is, Scott doesn't want anything and Isaac is really too picky about hats, so I don't know what to make. I have no idea what to make Nyah. I don't even know if she would appreciate something at this age. Perhaps a little pink ruffly purse? But I haven't finished any of it. There are still ends to weave in and everything needs to be bathed and blocked before I can take pictures and wrap it all up.

Holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.): Thanksgiving went off pretty well. Other than a personal matter, everything was totally smooth and stress-free. People were fed and they were happy about it, and nobody got food poisoning. I cooked everything except the mashed potatoes all by myself. Li made the mashed potatoes (and they were heavenly, of course). After the meal we pretty much spent the rest of the weekend eating junk and playing Starcraft 2, and I surprised myself and didn't suck at games as much as I thought I would. As for Christmas, this year we're going to do Night Christmas. That way Em and Jorg can spend Christmas morning with Jason, Mim can hang with me all day and help me cook Christmas dinner, and Kwiddens, Isaac, and Nyah can spend the morning with Nyah's grandparents, and then we can all get together at our house in the evening for dinner and presents.

Work: Eh. It's going. I feel like I've mentally checked out a little, and I feel bad about that, and am trying to muster a bit more enthusiasm, but I'm just tired all the time, and there is an issue I won't go into here that is trying to get resolved, and if it doesn't get resolved to my satisfaction, I'm going to find myself looking for a new job. It would break my heart to leave this company, because it really is a sweet gig, but this issue is...big. Very big. If you're dying of curiosity PM me and I'll talk about it with you on an individual basis, but the blog is not the place for it.

The House: We got the Home Depot card paid off from the fiasco back in May, and that was a huge load off of our minds because let me tell you, spending that much and trying to pay it off in six months to avoid interest will KILL you. Trust me, I know. Anyway. Once we paid it off...we put more on it. We were trying to clean up after Halloween and get the garage cleaned out so one of us could park in there, and getting so frustrated because we have so much crap, and we decided we wanted a shed. So we drove over to Home Depot and bought one. We LOVE it. And of course I don't have a picture, because I'm lazy and tired all the time and who has motivation to take pictures of inanimate objects, anyway? But all of our extra seasonal stuff fits out there, plus the lawnmower, plus lots of room for more stuff as we decide what to put in there.

A few other random thoughts:

I just burned my tongue on hot cocoa. OUCH.

I should have brought a book or a project to work today.

And lastly, I need some lunch but nothing sounds good.