I'm picking out a Thermos for you...

I'm reading, or should I say wading through, Tolstoy's War and Peace. J suggested it because I keep blowing through every other book we buy and he wanted something that would take me longer than a day. This one's certainly taking longer than that-and isn't it one of those books that everyone's supposed to read?

Today was the first day back at work after vacation and the procedure. Everyone was really nice to me and there were brownies. I invited the girls from work to the soiree on Saturday and a few of them are coming-I got a special request for Diet Coke as a beverage. That Sandra's a party animal she is. It should be an interesting mix of people there. I'm glad I'm finally having people out. It will be nice to have people of my own choosing out instead of just J's dude friends (they're lovely people, just not my people-and they always end up talking cheerleading).

I'm considering taking on the task of making macarons sometime soon. I'm a bit intimidated by them, and I've never worked with almond paste, but they're just so beautiful. It might be worth it. (Anyone with experience with the buggers feel free to chime in)

Night!

I start the Clomid. Day after that is J's appointment to get a um...count.

Remember when we talked about Jeff crocheting himself some pants?



(fromhere)

I woke up this morning to an email from Ms. Pugly Feet herself (Pugly Feet dot com - check it out!) letting me know that I had won the Solestruck.com giveaway for a pair of Camper Twins (#20596). Yay! I can't wait till I get them in the mail.

with not quite enough milk in the bowl is just sad. Some of the pieces are completely dry, and some are just right.

are there guys dragging a hot tub down my street, on its side behind a pickup truck with two guys with flashlights walking behind it, in the middle of the night?

 

(meant to post this yesterday)

I'm mailing in my app to DCCCD-El Centro to finish my degree, and James purchased the domain name(s) for his new business venture (with two of his friends).

In my Freecycle email today, someone was asking for a "TV athena to pick up some signal for news".

Saturday we adopted a new black and white kitty named Percy. He's 8 months old and responds to his name very well, so we decided to keep it (even though it is a tad fancy) and make it short for Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (you know, Dumbledore from Harry Potter-that's right, we're nerds). He's such a good boy. He's 8 months old and near the size of Sammy (who's a runt-he's now 1 y 3 mo old). His foster mom had him declawed in the front because she was planning originally to keep him, but ended up not able to due to a new foster kitty with expensive medical bills. It's really funny watching him pretend to use the scratching post. Sammy's *very slowly* warming up to him, but I'm pretty sure within a week or two they'll be buddies-or at least stop chasing each other around.

...to quote Sir Loin .

I still seethe a bit over the "Timmy vs Sally Struthers" incident which led to my HOA not being able to hold our Great American Bake Sale (benefiting Share Our Strength). Hopefully getting this word out will help:

Share Our Strength  has launched a brand new campaign to raise funds to help end childhood hunger. "Operation No Kid Hungry" responds to President-elect Obama's call to action to end childhood hunger by 2015.

Share Our Strength has partnered with AT&T to offer two great ways that you can support and participate in "Operation No Kid Hungry":

1.Donate by text: Text "SHARE" to 20222 on your mobile device to donate $5.
AT&T will match all text donations up to $100,000. Help us meet this
challenge grant! Find out more at
http://strength.org/get_involved/text_donation/

2.Hold a food drive: Beginning January 19th, a national day of community
service, help feed those in need by holding your own community food drive.
Visit http://Strength.org to find a food bank and a list of the most needed
nutritious foods.

For more information about "Operation No Kid Hungry" and how you can help end childhood hunger, visit Share Our Strength's website: http://strength.org.

I got a Christmas/year end bonus from work (everyone was surprised that we even got one)-$300 bucks! 50 of it went to taxes, and I got to keep a little over 100 of it. With that money, walking around in flip flops (bad idea) all afternoon after work Saturday in Southlake Town Center/Centre/whatever, I purchased:
-a really cute, slightly dressier pair of jeans @ Gap for $25 marked down from $60
-a hot pink (so not my usual) undergarment set, bra on sale for $30 down from 40 at Victoria's Secret aka PantyLand
-an orange clutch wallet thingy (not on sale :( ) at one of my new favorite stores, Charming Charlie-my old brown leather w/checkered inside Dockers wallet that I got as a gift from the mother-in-law really wasn't my style
-hot pink Casabella rubber gloves with a cuff that keeps water from running down your arm when you're cleaning (I've wanted these for a very long time) and a new spray bottle for the homemade daily shower cleaner, both at Container Store
Yay! If only I had had another hundred...there was a really light scarf and sweater that I drooled over at Gap, and many purses and shoes at Charming Charlie (similar to Sam Moon, mostly accessories with a few clothing items, all organized by color and pretty decently priced)

Yesterday was the first day in a little while that I've felt almost normal/back to my regular self. My stomach still feels a little funky, but I was able to eat. That was nice.

...only problem with that is that it's because I had to go to the doctor. Hooray for kidney + UT infection. Totally weird-just snuck up on me.

Sammy Davis, Jr. Jr. was my Christmas present last year, so I'd think he'd be a little better behaved around this time of year, to show appreciation or something, but no. The shiny, jingly, dangly things of Christmas drive him batty and make tear ass around the house at breakneck speeds, climb into decorative trees that he's big enough to bend the metal branches on this year, and make himself appear pretty much like the jerk of Christmas present. Last night, after knocking one of the 4 glass ornaments my mom gave me that we used when I was little off the tree and in turn, breaking it, James decided (for my ornaments' safety) to move the Christmas tree to our bedroom. I don't want the tree in my bedroom. I want it in the living room where we can put presents under it (wondering if the cat will eat them) and sit in front of it lit up every evening.

Would it be silly to only have ornaments on the top half of the Christmas tree and just leave the bottom half with lights (he hasn't started chewing on those yet)? We might have to do that (omitting the glass angel we put on top) this year...and maybe the next 14 or so until Mr. Davis kicks the bucket.

Today is our 1st wedding anniversary. It's also my sister-in-law's 13th birthday (eek!). I wish I didn't have to work.

Recycling's cool, but reducing is AWESOME.

From treehugger.com

I was going to go to IKEA to get a sweet deal on some basic dishes today (we're having 9 people at the house for Thanksgiving and don't own more than 6 of any particular dish aside from glasses), but the chick that was considering riding with me (her daughter wants a futon for her birthday) called me this morning and said she wasn't going to go. That really made me reconsider driving all the way to Frisco for a deal that was not as sweet as it first appeared to be-I had missed where it said 1 set per person (I needed 2) and would have had to try to convince someone to buy the other set for me and that's just silly. I FINALLY convinced James to go with me to Bed Bath and Beyond-I needed a tablecloth as well-and we got some Mickey Ds breffast. I was looking at the plain white stuff for some basics and they had nothing that was at what I would call a "basic" price. James was wandering through the pattern sets and I was trying to find something that fit the bill when he called me over and asked me if I liked a particular pattern-it was actually pretty! We ended up getting 8 place settings of Mikasa Chocolate Swirl (square plates, regular bowls and mugs, white with a 2-tone dark brown paisley-esque pattern). We also picked up a brown woven tablecloth. Huzzah!

I'm not so excited about having to go to the grocery store in a minute though.

I've got my first board meeting as a member of the (top secret neighborhood) Homeowners Association board tomorrow evening. As of right now, I'm technically a board member (and Social Committee chair) but I don't have my board position yet. We're going to figure out what positions we'll be in at the meeting and learn all the info we'll need to go forward, basically getting the stuff handed off to us from the previous board. I don't know what position I'l be but I know there will be some pissed off people if they end up with a 24 year old with facial piercings as the president (as I say tough cookies).

OMG after so much planning and stressing, this year's event is ovah! I learned a few things certainly, and was surprised at some of the things that were the most popular. I also met this really cool kid that appeared to have cerebral palsy, but was completely polite and intelligent-moreso than most kids his age certainly. He needed a little bit of assistance with a couple of the games but didn't let anything stop him from playing them. I think next year we'll try to get a bounce house maybe, and we'll definately have volunteers assigned to each game. Also probably going to have it a little bit earlier, as it was getting pretty dark by the time it was over. I am so relieved to be done with it!

A few weeks ago (most likely around a month), I found a crash-landed remote-control airplane in my back yard. I posted a "Found" ad on Craigslist without a description (to attempt to make sure the person claiming it really did own it). I got on response back, with a description that wasn't anywhere near the one that we have. Nothing else. Finally this morning I put it out on the curb with the garbage. Maybe a garbage picker will take it (PLEASE). I'm tired of tripping over it.

Yeah, that's my excitement for today.
And I have a headache.