General

I just have to buy one more gift – everything else is wrapped – and write out a million more Christmas cards, and I’ll be ready. Small miracle, considering that I’ve had something – rehearsals, parties, concerts, etc – every night so far this month. I actually ended up skipping rehearsal last night, because road conditions were terrible, and by the time I got home I would have had to immediately turn around and leave, and I still would have been late. I think I’m a little saner as a result.

We’re leaving for NYC Thursday after work, weather permitting, so my updating will be just as spotty as it has been lately. I’m hoping to get a chance to really get settled in with the new laptop, and make some improvements to this site over my vacation. Mmm. Vacation. 17 entire days to do anything but think about the icky stuff going on at work.

Well, as birthdays go, today will not go down in history as my favorite. But mostly that was due to office stuff, and there were some bright spots – Jo gave me fun gifties and rice krispie treats, my parents sent me gorgeous flowers, and…I’m currently typing this blog entry from my brand new G4 titanium powerbook. Ahhh. Believe it or not, this is my very first all-my-own mac. It’s not really a birthday present, but the fact that it arrived on my birthday has made everything all better.

Will I have this job next year or not? I can’t stand the not knowing. I’m not going to know for another six weeks or so… The problem is, I’m starting to look at this as maybe being a positive thing, and now I’m almost afraid I won’t get laid off. How’s that for idiotic? I go back and forth between feeling like leaving here would be the worst thing, and feeling like it might be the best thing. I wish they’d just tell us so that I could decide how I felt. And accept it either way. At this point, if they asked for volunteers, I might just do it so that I’d feel like I had at least a tiny bit of control over my future. And my family merely suggests that I not “dwell on it”. So, I’m venting. Sorry.

Saturday night’s holiday party for work went very well – better than I would have expected given the news earlier in the week. Of course, I didn’t manage to get to bed until about 1 AM…and then I had to get up five hours later for church. I’m pretty sure I was sleeping with my eyes open during the parts I wasn’t playing for, because I don’t remember any part of the mass except the music. :)

And my house is clean, and decorated! Which is good – I have a rehearsal or a concert every night this week and next, so I won’t have time to do anything else until after Christmas. Christmas knitting has fallen so far behind that it’s going to become gifts for another time, and I’m just going to break down and buy stuff for the recipients in question. I have to admit, I’m nowhere near as stressed about the holidays since making that decision, even if it is causing a little guilt… Now if I could just find more than six straight hours a night to sleep, I’d be much better off.

Slowly but surely my house is finally starting to look a little more like Christmas is only 20 days away. We got our tree last night. I think this is the first time in years that I haven’t been able to wear a t-shirt or a light sweater to go pick out the tree. The last couple of years, the winters were much milder than this year is turning out to be – or at least December was! We also got new tree lights – the super-cheap lights I bought a few years ago had all managed to untwist, and they were starting to look like a fire hazard. The new ones are rainbow-colored! Seriously, there are 10 different shades of bulbs on the strands. I can’t wait to put them up.

On top of the usual holiday stress, I did not need to find out today about the major downsizing that’s going to happen in my group in the next few weeks. This sucks. Feeling sleepless. Maybe I should go knit. :P

How on earth did it get to be December 1st already?!? I’m not ready for the holidays yet – I’m not done with any of the stuff I’m making, or my shopping, my house is a mess, my Christmas card list is even more of a mess, and I don’t have any decorations up yet. Help!

…deep breath…

OK, I’m almost done with a couple of the things I’m making, and I’ve shortened the list of handmade items to something that might be manageable. I did go shopping on Saturday, and accomplished a lot – the mall was practically empty, and all of the stores were still running sales! The part about my house, my card list, and the decorations is all true, though. I haven’t even managed to dig out the Advent wreath from one of the eight giant rubbermaid boxes of Christmas stuff…and my vacation will be officially over in about 9 hours. Nooooooo!

What am I thankful for? My family, my friends, my puppy. And, of course, dinner at Grandma’s. Turkey dinner number two – after all, I’ve already been to Matt & Jenny’s turkey party. Plus, when my brother gets home from NYC this weekend, we’re going to have another turkey dinner. Mmm. Turkey. And pie. Lots of pumpkin pie. I was in charge of the desserts for today. I made cookies and several pies. And then, with the extra pie filling (I think my pie plates aren’t deep enough) I made pumpkin pie bread. I don’t know what else to call it, since it’s not real pumpkin bread.

You know that “no alarm clock” thing I was looking forward to? Well, Molly has become a regular rooster in the mornings. I swear she’s learned how to read the clock on the front of the cable box. Saturday morning, she woke us up at 7:10. Sunday we had to get up earlier than that anyway, so we had the alarm set. Yesterday, it was 7:00. This morning, it was 6:50. At this rate, by the end of my vacation, I’m going to have to wake up earlier than I usually do to get to work!

I wasn’t going to get one this year, because, well, I didn’t last year – and I didn’t get the flu. And the year before, they hit a nerve and made my arm numb for 20 minutes, which in turn made me queasy and dizzzy. So, I wasn’t going to get one this year… But somehow I found myself walking up to the gym and letting them stick me. And now my arm feels icky. But not numb, so I don’t have any excuse to not go to rehearsal tonight. :P I guess a day or two of a sore arm is better than a week or two of the flu.