Kate

( Meme below )

I finally started Breaking Dawn yesterday. I'm about halfway through. I like it so far, although it's not what I expected. Believability is stretched pretty thin, but the story's okay and Jacob's being made out as less of an ass, so I'm good.

I was supposed to visit my mom today to go over some financial stuff, but she and Kenny have been sick so I'm staying away. Violent upchucking is not on my 'to-do' list.

My other brother, Chris, should be in town towards the end of the week. He spends most of his time up here running around with friends, but I'm sure I'll see him before he leaves.

Mer went to New York with her aunt and soon-to-be uncle this weekend. This is at least her second trip up there. This kid gets to go all sorts of places I haven't been. I need to travel more.

Happy birthday, Urs! I will make you a pretty post when I get home, but I didn't want you to think I'd forgotten about you. I hope you're feeling better and mending well. *snuggles*





(On a non-birthday related note, I got some of my Christmas pressies mailed and got stamps for my international cards. The next shipment of pressies will probably not be until Monday, so everything will be late, but they'll get there eventually. Additionally, I've not been good about acknowledging the mail I've received. I will remedy that tonight or this weekend. Please don't think I'm unappreciative, I love my friends and every card makes me giddy. I'm just very disorganized this year.)

So tonight I've happened across a Christmas special that I've never seen before - 'The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'. It's the same type of animation as all the old classics - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Year Without Santa Claus, Rudolph's Shiny New Year - you know the ones I mean, but it was made about 15-20 years after the good ones. Anyway, this one is a full hour long and whoever wrote it was totally on crack. I'm serious. That is the only explanation. The story is about 'Claus', who lives in the Laughing Valley of HoHaHo, where it is always winter. There are samurais, dragons, weird monsters, fairies, a wizard-type guy with an huge antler hat, what appears to be a lioness, and a sidekick who looks like the product of an elf bred to one of the evil, bird-like characters from The Dark Crystal.

If I was stoned (or under the age of six), this show would scare the ever-loving shit out of me. As it is, I just find it freakin' hilarious. I actually woke Meredith up because I was laughing so hard. I can only imagine that it's on at 10:00 p.m. because the folks at ABCFamily figure any children still up at 10:00 on a school night are already fucked up and a little bit of Christmas crack won't harm them any more than they already have been.

ETA: OH MY GOSH! HBP Movie!Draco is so freaking hot! I don't care that he barely more than half my age. They finally did something right with his hair! No more floppy mop, no more ridiculous skater cut, no more slicked back ickiness. Just nice, tidy, short hair. If I can't get a Lucius' elegant ponytail, this is the next best thing. Thank you for sharing, Pud!
http://media.the-leaky-cauldron.org/videogalleries/HBP_SneakPeek.wmv

It's that time of the year when we get to wish for things. So, here's my list of wishes. I had a hard time coming up with this because Lord knows I don't need anything. I certainly don't expect anything. I already have some of the best friends in the world, which is worth more to me than anything I might get wrapped in pretty paper. In any case, I've made my list, checked it twice, and now it is documented - just in case Santa has LJ.

( Kate's Wishes )

Oh! And I got a card from caramelsilver! Thank you, Caroline! It's lovely!

Christmas was very nice. We opened presents here at home, and then Mer and I headed to my mom's place while James went to R&T's. At Mom's I re-discovered my love of ham. Truly a heavenly food. Must stop by her place and eat leftovers... We watched Jesus Christ Superstar, which I had never seen before and was a little perplexed by. Later on Mer and I joined James at R&T's. Richard made eggnog. Lots of people don't like eggnog, I know, and I think that's because they only ever taste the uber-thick store bought stuff. Richard's eggnog is the best I've ever had. It's thinner and frothy, and he never makes enough of it. Guh. I <3 it.

Anyhoo, between all the various families, Meredith got an obscene haul of gifts. I won't list them. It's that bad.

I did pretty well, too. I am no longer using a filing cabinet as a desk, and I have a chair that does not fold, so I'm pretty darned happy. I also received some gift cards for iTunes and clothes, a very nice juicer, slippers, and various other little things.

And now, because I'm on vacation and don't feel like doing anything remotely worthwhile, I give you all a new LYRIC MEME. It's been awhile since I've done one of these. I think most of the songs are pretty easy.

( Get to guessing! )

I took today off because my migraine and nausea had not gone away from yesterday. I'm more behind now than I was before, and that was pretty far behind, but I'm glad I took the day. The days to Christmas are getting fewer and fewer, and I expect by the time it arrives I'll be thoroughly exhausted. I love the holidays. *snicker* I do, honestly, but I wish I was better at planning my time.

I had three cards in the mail today! Many thanks to dragonsangel68, liliaevans, and chelley3. I squeed and squeed! The rest of the household is jealous of all my mail. *beams*

My thoughts and prayers are with those folks on my flist who are going through difficult times right now. *hugs* to all of you, you know who you are.

I am currently missing an office potluck because I forgot about it and didn't bring anything to contribute. My hope is that there is so much food that some will be leftover, and I can sneak up and snack on it a little later. >.> I like potlucks. However, I will not starve in any case because I brought lunch today. Yay me.

After a week or so of forgetting to do it, I've made reservations for my trek down to the Richmond area. I'm not staying where I had planned to stay because they charge by the week, and will not prorate, and I'm only staying a few days. However, according to Mapquest, I'm still within ten or fifteen minutes of the folks I'm planning to see, so it's all ok. I'm still very excited, and a little nervous, as is usual when I'm going to meet people for the first time. Oh my God, what if they hate me?! Yeah, I'm a little neurotic like that. Hardly a surprise.

I ought to get my car checked out before I go, huh? Maybe I'll drop it off Monday. It's not like Richmond is all that far from me, only about two hours, but I know I need an oil change and when I got my inspection done they mentioned that I have some belts that could stand to be replaced. Probably better to do that before going out of town.

Other things I need to do:

Turn in smuttakah fic that was due last weekend. *cough*
Clean the trash out of my car.
Finish Christmas shopping.
Wrap presents.
Mail Christmas cards/gifts to family and non-LJ friends.
Get a tree.
Get ornaments from storage.
Decorate tree.
Clean house.
Get mom a birthday gift because it is next Monday. Crap.
Order Mer's yearbook. Keep confirmation of order somewhere I can find it, as last year we got screwed.
Call bank to see if check to Verizon cleared. If it did, call Verizon and tell them that yes, they did receive payment. If not, mail another check to Verizon.
Pay car insurance. TODAY.
Figure out why I am so damned forgetful lately. Buy some Gingko Biloba or St. John's Wart or whatever you're supposed to take for forgetfulness (I don't remember - ha!).
Oh, and get some work done. @.@

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas




On an entirely different note - can anyone here make animated icons? I have a very specific one that I want, but I don't have the software to scroll through images. The icon I want is a little vulgar, just so my friends that are all sweetness and light know up front.

I am pretty darned happy today. Here are some of the reasons why:

1) I'm going to get to meet and spend significant time with mynuet, rainpuddle13, and (I've heard rumors) heyurs during the days between Christmas and my birthday. I'm SO excited! Seriously, SO excited. Did I mention that I'm excited?

2) I checked my friends page this morning to find a 'Diminished' drabble from lady_rhiyana just for ME! She writes the best Lucius I've ever read. It's so good, I don't even feel badly for cheating on D/G with this not-exactly-romantic L/G.

3) I'm able to do some nice and/or helpful things for folks I care about this season.

4) I have festive winter icons!

I'm feeling pretty fortunate.



And, just because I feel like sharing my morning with you all, here is a conversation that took place at my house today.

Mer: Mom! I can't take a shower - the water's cold!
Me: Meredith, I told you that if you want to make sure you have hot water, you should shower at night. James and I are both up before you in the mornings.
Mer (huffily): Well, what am I supposed to do?
Me: You can either suffer through a cold shower...
Mer (interrupts): No. It's freezing!
Me (getting exasperated): Then you go without a shower! What do you want me to do, Mer? Pull hot water from my butt?
James: It would be 98.6 degrees if it made the trip all the way through you.
Me & Mer: ...
James: Just stating a fact.

Who wants snail mail? If you haven't already given me your address and you want to get a card from me this holiday season, please go here and leave me the pertinent information. All comments are screened.



I'm at work and I'm bored. This is bad, as it means that one of two things is going to happen:

A) My program managers will all provide the information I need tomorrow, rather than today, and I will be here working furiously all day the day before Thanksgiving.

B) My program managers will not get me the information I'm waiting for at all, and I'll get crap next week for not having my financials completed.


I share a wall with another business within my building. The office specifically on the other side of the wall has four or five people sharing it. My wall is so thin that I can hear them talking all day. I can even clearly hear their metal window blinds clattering when someone knocks into them. It's really annoying. Also, the thermostat in my office controls the heating and cooling in their office - thanks to poor planning when this building was designed. So periodically I get emails from my wall neighbors asking me to adjust the temperature one way or the other. If I'm not here, they get the janitor to open my office and adjust the thermostat. I will be SO glad when we move to the new building, even if I won't have a window office anymore.