lillian13 | Entries tagged with holiday

Christmas was nice and drama-free, for once. I got up early to take care of a couple of friends' animals, and got the yams baked before I went over to my brother's house.

To my surprise, the turkey was almost done, other dishes were finished, and the tree was up. Nephew showed up and told us he had gotten a job at the local BMW dealership as one of their valets (it's a high-end place), and he'd signed up for spring classes at the local community college. I was boggled and very glad.

We got everything done for late lunch, including my turkey gravy. Opening presents was fun; my brother bought everyone halon fire extinguishers for their cars. The World's Best Niece gave me her old Olympus digital SLR, so now I need to get a macro lens to use shooting my jewelry.

I won the Weirdest Present Received award, since my sister-in-law's dad bought me a nice package of chocolates...and a UT Snuggie. I'm going to try to return it to Walgreens today. :-D

The WBN and I saw Sherlock Holmes, and we both give it an enthusiastic thumb's up!

I'm still having trouble with my sinuses and now I've developed a cough, but I can't get sick, since I have to work at IkkiCon next weekend. Think healthy thoughts at me, OK?

...aka, the day after Christmas. I'm at work. (Though I can leave when I get the current thing on my desk done--w00t!)

I wound up making everything but the turkey yesterday, and that wouldn't have gotten done on time if I hadn't gone back home and retrieved my roasting pan. And bullied my brother into getting it into the oven. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, green bean casserole, broccoli, rolls, and gravy. And 3 kinds of pie with real whipped cream for dessert. (When friends called that evening to ask me out to dinner, I said, "Are you kidding? I can't even look at food right now.")

My sister-in-law was absent yesterday; she spent the day with her dad. Her stepmother has been badly, badly hit with Alzheimers, and he's taking care of her (with some help, thank goodness). We wound up with just 2 Army seargents over for late lunch. Luckily, both were comics and movie nerds, so we had a lot of fun talking about that, as well as dissecting the old Bond movies they were showing on TV.

Loot: Eureka Season1, a Loungefly wallet, t-shirts and such from Korea, an electric griddle, a food steamer to replace my old one, a new watch, a metal dapping set, another years' membership at the YMCA, and some gold wire. Everyone seemed to like their presents.

We called the sister, and she and her husband got the Huge Box before Christmas. Clean and sober for over 2 months now, and she's starting a job in a couple of weeks. We are very hopeful.

Hope y'all's Christmas was fun. What are you doing for New Year's?

...I didn't have to work. Yay! (But I do have to work on Friday, booo.)

Today I need to:
make a big green bean casserole*
make pumpkin and cherry pies*
finish making earrings, etc. for my friend, the World's Best Niece, and my sister-in-law
check on Samuel, the Toothless Wonder Cat

I have:
slept late
fed the cats and me
read my flist
showered
opened all the windows because it's 67 outside and sunny (please don't kill me if you live where it's snowing)
set the beans out to thaw and taken out the pan to cook them in

Instead of going over to my friends' house tonight and have presents and dinner on Christmas Eve as we've done for, oh, 15 years, the husband calls me yesterday to tell me they are taking his mother out to look at Christmas lights tonight. But they aren't asking me to come because he doesn't think I'd be that interested, and by the way, we're planning on going out to dinner on Christmas and do presents that night. Gee, thanks. Ever think of asking me about this? *sigh*

* I'm having to cook on Christmas, because my brother got a bee in his bonnet and invited 4-5 people over for lunch. I don't object to that, per se, since they are either servicemen with no local family or folks from his office, who I like a lot. It's just a stressor on a day that I really don't want any. Which means I have to be over there early to get started (because I know who'll wind up doing most of the cooking), and we'll have to rush presents. Am I whining? I think I'm whining. I'll be sure to make eggnog, though. That will mellow my butt right out.

Current Mood: blah

When I got into work today, I discovered that someone (I suspect my Secret Santa) had performed drive-by decorating on my cube. Lights, ornaments, and a wee tree. And a wreath on the back of my chair. (Whoever did it didn't hang anything from the Christmas Cthulhu in my icon, though. Probably for the best, Old Ones get cranky when you string lights on them.)

Our Secret Santa reveal is this afternoon. I made brownies. In a pan shaped like a Christmas tree. *sigh*

My coworker L and I assembled our Angel Tree bags and took them downstairs this morning. The tree in the lobby is almost swamped with presents--I counted at least 7 bikes--and I heard a couple of folks talking about grabbing a tag and shopping at lunch.

I'm also involved with a small group that decided to adopt a family. It's a single (16-year-old!) mom with 2 kids who is working with Lifeworks to get her life back on track. I was pretty tapped financially out by the time we decided to adopt them for the holidays, but I made her 4 necklaces and a slew of earrings (since she asked for jewelry).

Tomorrow is the White Elephant party. I'm making cake tonight.

...why yes, I'm tired. And congested. Yay Holidays!

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: Working for the Man

First of all, thank you, my

hohohos Sekrit Santa! Thank you for the tools! They will be used and appreciated!

I've been getting ready for the show this weekend. I have mentioned that I have a big show this weekend, right?

I got quite a bit done this week, and I may get more done tomorrow after I load the car. World's Best Niece and I have to be there at 7 am Saturday. Eeew. It's gonna be chilly, too. Set-up in gloves! How fun!

I got into my Spring Jewelry class--Chasing and Repoussage. The Events planning class I wanted to take doesn't appear to be offered in the spring, darn it.

Made the mistake of going into Terra Toys tonight. Picked up some stocking stuffers. Stared longingly at some of the Sanrio stuff and once again managed to get away without buying any Playmobil knights. Went to Kohls and returned the purse/wallet. (They were close, but not quite right.) The lady at Kohls saved my ass, too--she went through all the pockets in the purse I was returning and turned up my 8 Gb flash drive! *facepalm*.

And I now have a ticket to a showing of Spamalot in March! Next up, Avenue Q, but tickets won't be available until January.

Current Mood: tired

Thanksgiving went well. The Huge Bird was cooked to perfection, and all of my sides came out well. I didn't get home until almost 11, though, as I had to stop off and take care of my brother's animals. (Counting him, I'm feeding and/or pilling for 4 sets of people this weekend. Getting paid for all of them, though!)

My last show of the year is next weekend. I have been able to do very little to get ready for it, since I only had 4 weeks' notice (note: talk to show organizer!). So, no Black Friday shopping for me. I shall keep a running tally this weekend so I won't start, I dunno, cleaning the house to avoid the work I have to do.

Jewelry Death March Totals

Coin bracelets: 6 need clasps and to be put in the tumbler, should make 3-4 more
Silver leaf set: 0/2
Copper/bronze leaf set: 0/2
Ammonites wrapped: 0/3
Orthoceras wrapped: 0/3
Random stones wrapped: 0/4
Coins wrapped: 0/5
Earrings made: 0/10-ish
Bookmarks made (if time permits): 0/8

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Criminal Minds

Today, I'm thankful for many things.

I have a good job with a great company, and even if I'm bored quite a bit, the regular paychecks and insurance mostly make up for that.

My car is thankful for my bonus check. :-) So are my cats, even though they didn't appreciate going to the vet.

I have the World's Best Niece, who sent me a Thanksgiving card because we wouldn't be together today.

I have 2 credit cards paid off (and now I can start on the big ones).

I'm thankful for my unexpected talent in jewelry-making. It gives me so much pleasure to create and have others like my creations enough to buy them. (Wheatsville Arts Festival next week! Aieee!)

I'm thankful for all of my friends and acquaintances, who make my life interesting and fun. This means you!

Current Mood: mellow
Current Location: cooking! cooking like a mad thing!
Current Music: Macys parade

If you want to get a holiday card from me, comment below with your name and address. If I sent you one last year, don't worry, you'll get one this year!

The comments are screened, so feel free to post here. Or you can email me.

Had a nice couple of days. Got some gift cards and one of those wind-up flashlights from the in-laws, toys from my BFF and her husband, and some truly excellent loot from the family, including this t-shirt. I have a couple of waves of friends visting from out of town that I don't get to see nearly often enough (and oddly enough, both came down from Pennsylvania). I finally saw "The Departed" and DAMN, go see that before it disappears, it is EXCELLENT even though it has Leonardo Decaprio in it. I have one more day off, I'm going to finally sign up for a jewelry fabrication class at the community college, and next year I will be agressively marketing my work to local stores.

And my brother asks me why I don't date. :-)

I hope y'all had a truly excellent Christmas, or Yule, or Solstice, or Hannukah.

Current Mood: chipper

I'm almost done with wrapping. I have the MOST HORRIBLE CHRISTMAS PAPER EVER OMG. It's from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", with soft-focus pictures of Santa, Rudolph, the Abominable Snowman, and really big pictures of the Burl Ives Snowman. I totally rock. I mean, this is even worse than the Spider-Man paper from last year, where the blue and green were complimentary enough that when you shook it you got afterimages. *beams* I can hardly wait for the 75% off sales to get next year's paper.

While I'm almost done with wrapping, I still have to make jewelry for my niece, my best friend, my sister-in-law, her sister-in-law, and her nieces. Oh yeah, and her step-mom. ( I do Christmas with them every year.) They get other things. Niece gets this calendar and this shirt, sister-in-law gets a really nice photo of the state capitol dome under a full moon, best friend gets a DVD. (Like the t-shirt? Order through this link and I'll get some credit!)

OK, Recipes

Try this and you will never buy that crappy carton eggnog again. Really.

( Real Eggnog )

( Brazil Nut Cookies )

( Cheese Straws )

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: In front of the TV
Current Music: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer

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lillian13

by Lillian

July 2016

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Page Summary

Obligatory post-Christmas post
Welcome to National Return Your Gifts Day
On the day before Christmas....
I've been...Kringled
Two days and counting....
The Jewelry-making Death March Begins!
Thanksgiving
Holiday card post
Christmas in Review: 2006
Taking a break from gift wrapping. Plus Recipes!

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Entries tagged with holiday

Obligatory post-Christmas post

Welcome to National Return Your Gifts Day

On the day before Christmas....

I've been...Kringled

Two days and counting....

The Jewelry-making Death March Begins!

Thanksgiving

Holiday card post

Christmas in Review: 2006

Taking a break from gift wrapping. Plus Recipes!