I was so out of it this year, I didn't even upload Christmas icons to LJ. And look at my resolution fly out the window about updating. Phhbthhhhhh.

But it's the first, and the time for resolutions, and for today at least, I'm going to stick with it. I've been doing admin stuff all day, including - surprise surprise - coding at LLG. I got a new site layout almost 2 years ago and got tired of all the recoding to get it online, but after getting slammed with the fandom bug again over the past month, I really want to finish it. That other layout is soooooooooooooooooooooo old. My biggest headache is, however, writing such damn long stories. :P

The holidays were nice and quiet, lots of quiet time with my family. We've been playing Lego Rock Band every night, and I have to say I do love the tracks on it. Of course, they make me feel old, but oh well. It's not like I'm in my 20s anymore lol. I got a lot of great stuff, and this weekend, we're using Xmas money from the inlaws to go out and buy a Wii for the family. I'm hoping it'll help me in starting to exercise more. Ha. We'll see how long that resolution lasts.

But I'm alive, and well, and missing everybody, so I'm going to try and be a lot better about posting. AI starts up soon, which means those posts at the very least, and I'm sure I can find other stuff to talk about. That's the promise I'm making to myself. :)

I hope all my American friends had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty good, spent with good friends who made the meal effortless and the day relaxing. We had a lazy day in today, too. Alicia isn't well, having lost her voice from the cold she's fighting now, so we decided to make do with in-house entertainment. Movies, games, leftovers, fun. The tree is up, but we're waiting on decorating to let the cats get used to having it around. We didn't want to decorate it and then find it tipped over the first night they're left alone with it, lol.

I'm going to start my Christmas cards at the end of next week, so this will be my last call for one. If you haven't already commented, just head on over to my card post and do so. I want to spread Christmas cheer!

Craig's mother is in the hospital with something viral. She probably could have fought it under normal circumstances, but she's been on various drug protocols the past year to try and fix the joint thing that attacked her last Christmas, and her immune system is compromised as a result. She's going to be fine - they're letting her out on Monday, most likely - but she can't come here for Christmas. Which means the FIL isn't coming, either. It'll be the first Christmas the kids have had without their grandparents there. I feel a little guilty, because there's nobody else to come to try and fill our house, but the kids understand. It's still a loss, though. Hopefully, they'll be able to come in January or February to make up for it.

1. Christmas cards! I've already posted my call, but I'm going to repeat it because I know some people fall behind on checking LJ, overlook a post, etc. If you're interested in being on my Christmas card list, go to this post and sign up. I love this season. I'd like to be able to include you in my cheer!

2. Alicia is feeling better, but now Alex is sick. They're off school tomorrow because of Veteran's Day, and Craig is working from home, too, so I'm going to have a full house.

3. Pepper and I are trying something new in our collaborative process that is terrifying both of us, lol. I'm hoping the end result turns out great to make all this nail-biting worth it.

4. I'm in a bit of pain today. Last night, I realized after I'd gone to bed that I'd forgotten my phone downstairs. So I went down, without turning on any lights and very tired, and promptly missed the bottom two stairs. I fell down and landed on the hard tile at the bottom on my left shoulder, jamming my left wrist and twisting my right ankle. Oh, and skinning both of my knees and my left elbow. Fun, huh?

I know people will cringe when they see it, but I'm starting my organizing early this year because it's the only way I can guarantee getting it done, lol.

I am sending Christmas cards to anyone who might want one. All you have to do is leave your address in a comment (all comments screened) or drop me an email at sigrid72 (at) gmail (dot) com with the info. Let me share my Christmas cheer! :)

Wow, it's been over a week since I posted? That's not right. I'm still here reading every day, but my life just seems so boring and mundane that it seems silly to post about it.

- I ended up letting Alicia join Girl Scouts. And being there for meetings. And the woman who leads it is as bad as I feared. Her daughter is awful. She's a little prima donna who, if she doesn't get something she wants or something doesn't go her way, "hides." What that means is she runs from the room all melodramatically until her mother - who is supposed to be the leader - has no choice but to go off after her. I've agreed to help with leading a meeting or two, mostly because I hate seeing it be such a waste for the rest of the girls who are used to E's antics. One of the younger asked R, who was on the softball team with E last year and is in the same class this year, what she was doing. R responded with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Oh, that's just what E does." Which is sad.

- I have watched zero new television. We haven't even watched most of the premieres of the shows we already liked. I have however been reading a lot. Like...( Some of the books I've read in the past six weeks )

- My weigh-in stalled last week. I don't know if I'm retaining at the moment or not, but I'm following to the letter and not cheating so I'm hoping for a drop soon. It looks like there might be one this week if yesterday's reading here at home is any indication.

- I know we have Halloween and Thanksgiving to get through, but I started wrapping Christmas gifts this week and stowing them away. Yes, I'm one of those insane people who buys throughout the year and is done before Thanksgiving.

First and foremost, HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone on my flist! So many of you have touched my life in such special ways. You can't even imagine how grateful I am to have the privilege of knowing you. You inspire me to be a better person, touch me with your generosity of spirit, and teach me on a daily basis what it means to see the world with fresh and hopeful eyes. Because there are such incredible people in it. All of you. :)

We're past our Christmas breakfast and present wrapping, and I'm taking a brief break to write a few hundred words and check on e-mail before I go shower. The kids are at work on some of the puzzles and games they got, and later we're going to play the Atari retro game that they got for the xbox. Thank you to arymetore and witchcat07 for the book of music, to hico for my virtual prezzie, and to hollydb and josephine_64 for the lovely e-cards! I got a gorgeous red leather bag for my new laptop, Michaels gift cards so that I can go buy some paint to do some painting (the bug has struck me again), and no Christmas would be completely without a spot of Buffy, so my wonderful inlaws brought back a Spike binder from England for me. All in all, it's been a wonderful holiday so far. I've got the vegetables cut and ready for cooking, the beef tenderloin will go into the oven around noon, and dinner will be around 2.

Which means now I need to go and shower so that I can come back and get some more writing done. I'll get around to answering comments today, and if pepperlandgirl4, hopefully we'll get around to writing the next chapter of our Spuffy Christmas fic for everyone.

And again, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Another busy day. Let's see, what did I accomplish...

--- We finally got the tree up, decorated, and most of the rest of the decorations done.

--- I got the room ready for pepperlandgirl4 to arrive tomorrow so that she's not sleeping on all my folded laundry.

--- I've written 3000 more words on my vampire 3some novel to break 20k.

--- Grocery shopping, though I have to go again tomorrow to get diet coke for pepperlandgirl4

--- Got my practice time on Delilah. I'm missing having an hour a day to do it.

And various sundry little things.

On the plus side, I had my weigh-in this morning, and with a 2 pound loss for this past week, I've lost 20 pounds in 11 weeks. I'm quite pleased with that result. Oh! And I tried a new recipe at lunch today for a spicy black bean soup that is absolutely scrumptious and so so easy. Plus, it's free on the core plan with WW as well as satisfies my Mexican cravings at a fraction of the calorie cost. I've discovered my new lunch, I think. If anybody wants it, I'll be happy to post the recipe.

My Christmas gift from Craig arrived today. I got a new laptop. Considering I've had mine for most of the past 5 years, I've spilled coke on the keyboard, dropped it numerous times, and have scraped the paint off both the m and n keys, it was time for a new one. He's got it mostly all done installing and whatnot, but he screwed up in the ordering and forgot to get the integrated wireless card. So he ordered that today and I'll start using my new machine as soon as it arrives.

Life continues to be good and productive. Week one after joining WW, I'm down 3 1/2 pounds with an easy routine to follow firmly in place. Plus, I got on the elliptical every night last week except for the day I went to the dentist. Another nice side effect is that in my effort to make sure that I'm getting my 48 oz of water every day, I've cut down on how much soda I'm drinking. I'll never be able to cut it out completely (just ask sadbhyl or psubrat what a bitch I am in the morning without Diet Mountain Dew to wake me up), but the lowered intake can only be good.

A decision has been reached about the inlaws coming for Christmas. See, Alex's birthday is in early December and Alicia's is in early February, and we knew all along that they would arrive in time to celebrate Alex's. The question was how long they would stay. That has an answer now. They're not going until Valentine's Day, so that they're here for both birthdays. It's only fair to Alicia, and this way the grandparents don't get cheated, either.

Craig and I are nearly caught up on all our TV watching that I'd been saving in his absence. All we have left is all our CSI's. Well, not all. We watched the premiere of Vegas over the weekend. But we have two movies from Netflix that I insisted on watching, mostly because I'd had one for nearly two months. Can I say how much I adore Terrence Howard? I'd rented Hustle & Flow because of his Oscar nom and that damn song I can never get out of my head, and he blew me away. Now there's a young man with a brilliant future. And so pretty!

And tomorrow is guitar lesson day! Woo hoo!

Have a great day, everyone!

I'm so sad.

I actually put on Christmas music today. :)