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Got my holiday shopping and baking done. Gifts are wrapped apart from three that I'll do tomorrow. The kids and grandkids will be coming over on Christmas day for revelry, which will be fun. And best of all, Hubby and I are both off all of next week--Huzzah!

So, I ordered the Harry Potter Lootcrate. It came today. This is the outside of the box.



The rest of the unboxing pics are
( under the cut. )
All in all, well worth the money I spent.

In other news, I broke a toe yesterday. Wasn't sure, went to the doctor and had an X-ray today, and yup. Broken. Great. I'm going to be cooking on Christmas day. They gave me a crazy-looking shoe thing to wear, but it is way too big and also rubbed some crap off onto my sock, so I probably won't wear it. They said that one of the drug stores in the area might have them, I'll have to check.

That's it for now.

The Set Up Wizard. HA!

I could use one of those to figure out what's going on with my cursor which seems to be bewitched.

Been sick and depressed and tired. Really need the sun and warmth.

Haven't seen Deadpool yet due to previous sentence. Hopefully soon.

Haven't started the project bag yet because need a part for my sewing machine. Waiting for it to arrive.

Took a 401k loan and paid off one of my credit cards. I'll be paying myself back @ 4% interest (which also comes to me) instead of paying the card company 17%. Want to refinance the house to get a lower rate, too. This year, once the doldrums/sickness GOES AWAY...hopefully with the arrival of the sun.

Nothing else going on except my mom wants to visit over my birthday. In August. Not sure how I feel about that yet.

The "In Memory" at the Academy Awards last night made me cry with the pics of Bowie, Alan and Nimoy.

Got a good start on the outline for my sshg_giftfest prompt. I'm very very happy with it so far.

Got my hoggywartyxmas assignment today. It's all good.

Looking forward to loads of good reading this holiday season. Hopefully, I won't need any extensions. I'm getting started earlier with the goal of turning them both in on time. *nods* *crosses fingers behind back*

I have finished two books last week and have started another. That's what happens in my world when the battery on my tablet doesn't charge properly.

I'll have to do a proper "Books I've read" post...since I now owe for August and September.

Geeze, October already? Ugh, I hate the thought of winter. I would like autumn better if it didn't make me dread winter so much. *sigh* At least we are going to South Florida in November.

Getting the South Florida Christmas shopping out of the way so we can take it all down with us instead of mailing it.

Speaking of October, our 15th wedding anniversary is October 21st, and we're going to Gatlinburg again. :) I can't wait since my last trip was such a mixed bag of fantastic and crappy.

15th is Crystal, and we need a set of (at least) four wine glasses, so maybe I'll drop a hint or two to Hubby, since he already got his gift which is a clock (not crystal--Nightmare Before Christmas) which came way earlier than I expected.

Still feeling a bit dodgy, dunno why. Got this whole pain when I breathe thing going on which is troubling. Also, this morning was both sweaty and chilled in bed. Might need to stay home from work tomorrow. We'll see.

Guess that's all for now.

Drove to Nashville to get hubby's stitches out. They put some strips over the wound to help keep it together...they will fall off on their own in a week.

It hurt when they pulled them out...mostly cos they were in too long, IMO.

Traffic was horrific on the way back.

We returned the rental car then went out to eat.

Had a merry-go-round of phone calls with the a/c repair place today... they wanted to send over someone to "consult" (aka: try to sell us a new unit)...but with the surgery, etc, we decided that we will just fix this one and put off getting a new one for another year.

Hope to find out soon when they will get over and fix the damned thing. We've been really lucky to have decent weather, but it can't last.

Before I head upstairs, I took another look at the ol' LJ and noticed it's been more than a month since my last entry.

Geeze.

I've had sinus issues (the weather here can't decide if it wants to be normal, rainy or cold or a mixture of all three.

Right now it's 31 @ 11:15CST. Ugh and It'll be 41 @ 7 and 58 at Noon. (All temps in F.) Oh and along with that, rain. See what I mean? And they say there's no such thing as climate change. Harumph, I say.

Hubby's last three fingers on his left hand swelled up like a damned balloon today and is angry red. I suspect a spider bite but naturally he won't go to the doctor. I think I shall have to coax him tomorrow if it's not better.

I am nearly finished Christmas shopping. I've already sent off one package to Florida. I just have to buy a few gift cards in order to ship the rest. After I wrap them. Early this week.

But, before THAT, I have to finish my fic. I wish my ideas would come to me before the last couple of weeks until the deadline. That would be so very nice for once. But noooooo. So, I've spent the last several nights typing until 2-3 AM and I've written almost 7k words in about a week. Whew. I only have the last bit to do (which will be tomorrow) then it's off to the beta for a quick turnaround so I can turn it in Tuesday night.

Skin of my teeth, indeed.

But--I love the way it's come together. It's very different from anything thing else I've ever done, so I'm very excited for my recipient to get it. :)

I've got to work the day before and the day after Christmas this year, so I'm thinking of buying a pre-made dinner from Mimi's Cafe. We'll see. That would free me up to only be responsible for making pie. It might be worth it.

Guess that's it for now. So very boring.

So, the Florida trip was frantic, with a few relaxing moments in between. And Cute Twin babies who love to cuddle and be cuddled. So adorable.
( Lots of pics behind the cut-you've been warned. )

And, thanks to my awesome beta (who shall remain nameless for the moment) I actually turned in my sshg_promptfest fic before the deadline. Go me.

In other news, still hate work. Hubby's mom made noises to him about possibly sharing some of his grandfather's inheritance, but we're not holding our breath. BUT, if she did, we could pay off our credit card debt and that would move me one step closer to not working. So, we'll see.

That's it for now. :)

I have only been to work once this week. Just haven't had the gumption to go. Depression, it sucks balls.

Received a lovely postcard from Santorinie in Greece (forgive any misspelling, my Google-Fu failed) from islandsmoke yesterday. She's having a wonderful time in spite of the fact that her luggage arrived four days after she did. I can't wait to hear more about her adventures.

I'm quite out of favor with my pub right now. I can hardly stand to go in anymore. Found out the owners are just like every other management in every other place I've ever known and it's really disheartened me.

Had to cancel our getaway weekend to the mountains due to the weather forecast of rain, rain, rain. No point in going to the Smoky Mountain National Park and not being allowed inside due to the slippery, curvy roads and threat of rock slides. We will hide away in the house instead, playing games and drinking.

Watching the early rounds of Wimbledon with a bit of dismay. Nadal, Federer and Sharapova all out in the first few rounds. Le sigh.

My daughter is doing well in her pregnancy (I did mention she's pregnant with twins, yes?). The twins share a placenta, which puts her in a high risk group, but they seem to be growing at a more or less even rate, so far. The danger is that one twin will take more nourishment, choking off the other. But, so far, so good. She's at about 26 weeks right now, they hope she can make at least 10 more.

Speaking of, her baby shower is this weekend. My sister offered to pay for an airline ticket for me to be there, but I declined. I advised her to use the money to buy something expensive for my daughter instead. She does need two of everything, after all. And hubby and I will be there for nearly two weeks once the babies are born.

Work sucks, as always. I was thinking about the lottery, and how much I would need in order to stop working...it is more than I can hope to get in a windfall (outside of a lottery win, which is slim to none, even if I did play), but not as much as I thought. 150k really. That's more than enough. I wish! If I retire at age 62 (the minimum age today) I still have to wait another 7 years. Why does that seem like such a long-ass time?

Really wish I still lived in Florida. Hubby admitted earlier this week that moving was a mistake. Ah well. We're stuck here now. It all comes back to money, doesn't it?

Hubby gifted it to me and I have been unwell since after Christmas. The irony is that I got a flu shot but seem to have gotten some crud that is not-flu. Snotty, headachey, stomach-queasy, *coughcoughcough*, and just plain exhausted. I was out of work January 3-6, went back 9-13th (left @ 3 on the 13th) and was out again Monday and Tuesday of this week.

I am still not 100%, but on the mend. This has happened to me nearly every year since I moved here from sunny south Florida. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd give almost anything to be back in the heat of the swampy south.

Anything except my husband--so I remain here. Suffering not so silently through the craziness of the Middle TN winter. We were awakened at 2am this morning by a booming thunderstorm that literally shook the house. The temperature dropped like crazy to the mid-30s then tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 60s.

Is it any wonder that I'm sick?

I owe a couple of Exchange Bingo fic prizes...which I plead first holiday madness and I have been too sick to write recently. I'm so sorry, I feel like a complete and utter shit. Please don't despair, giftees, there will be fic! I intend to take a PT day off work as soon as I feel better in order to continue to work on those.

In other news, my husband is getting this:



...for his birthday. He takes any opportunity to play pretend didgeridoos using cardboard tubes, so I decided to get him a beginner instrument this year. Oh, and he's also getting a Mythbuster's tee shirt. :) He mentioned the other day that he was thinking of wearing his "Robot Skeleton Army" shirt to the Mythbuster's Tour in March, and I just smiled. Because he's totally wearing the new shirt instead.

We have made our hotel reservations, gonna stay in downtown Louisville about a half mile from the venue. We are thinking of walking...I hope I don't regret not getting the more expensive room! (It wasn't that much closer...)

Guess that's it for now. Still wishing I didn't have to work, but unless I win the lottery or find some treasure around here among the collectables, I must continue to be a cubicle slave. Which means I have to get myself better or work becomes even more unbearable.

My SIL is home from the hospital. She apparently survived her first round of chemo with few side effects which is good.

Working "late shift" (10:45-7) this week, so I got a chance to read the early posts on the sshg_exchange this morning before work. Wonderful stuff there--so far not too much in the way of hot sex, but I'm sure there will be more as it goes along. (Not that there's anything wrong with that...the stories themselves are fantastic.)

Turns out I don't have enough of any one type/weight of yarn to make a whole blanket--so I had to go buy more. *facepalm* "Hello, my name is Ray and I have a yarn problem."

Wrote the first bit of one of the mini_fest prompts I chose...I like it so far.

My sweet hubby bought me a Cinderella figure--one he found at his comic book store of all places--as a surprise yesterday. It was one that was given by McDonald's years ago in their Happy Meal. We figure it was when the video of the movie was released--which tells you how old it is. He is so sweet!

Pottermore is interesting. It takes way too long to brew potions. I mean, I know they take a long time IRL, but when you are playing a game--it's boring to have to sit and wait while it "brews". And if you add the wrong number of ingredients, then you still have to wait the entire brewing time to find out it failed. That sucks.

I do like how they have gone through the book (only book one is available at the moment)--but I feel there should be more content. I did enjoy the additional info on various characters from JKR, there is an especially long entry on Minerva which I found fascinating.

I was able to get into Slytherin without any trouble at all, so no worries there, folks. You can still pretty much figure out which house you'll be sorted into from the questions.

I really loved getting my wand. That was awesome. Larch with Phoenix feather core, 10 3/4 inches, supple.

Larch
Strong, durable and warm in colour, larch has long been valued as an attractive and powerful wand wood. Its reputation for instilling courage and confidence in the user has ensured that demand has always outstripped supply. This much sought-after wand is, however, hard to please in the matter of ideal owners, and trickier to handle than many imagine. I find that it always creates wands of hidden talents and unexpected effects, which likewise describes the master who deserves it. It is often the case that the witch or wizard who belongs to the larch wand may never realise the full extent of their considerable talents until paired with it, but that they will then make an exceptional match.

Phoenix
This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike.
Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won.

Glee! I love my wand. Now I want a REAL one.

I have finished the entire available activities on the site--except for dueling--I'm not that interested as I am not quick enough on the keys to cast the spells yet. I think I will enjoy the added materials more than the game-play aspects of the site, myself. YMMV.

Well, it's time to be going off to work. I have to leave early in order to find a parking place that is not too far away from the building...






And it's "talk like a pirate day" matey! Yarrrrr!!

I've finally made THE appointment at the dentist--finally getting the upper denture made and those teeth pulled.

And about time, too.

I did not take care of my teeth when I was younger so the result is what is happening next Wednesday. I just have to cope with the pain until then.

In other news, still trying to think up prompts for the sshg_exchange. I hate trying to come up with prompts so mine always blow. *sigh* My own fault for being so unimaginative.

Hubby and I are going to buy a different car this year--new to us, but still not NEW. *sigh* I hope to have a brand new, off the showroom floor car one day before I die.

Since my dental surgery is next Wednesday, I should be able to stretch the recovery out through Friday in order to watch The Wedding. *glee*

Since hubby and me are pants at gardening, my Mom and her hubby are coming up in a couple of weeks to help us sort out the front yard. That should be fun.

The kids and the grandkids are coming over for Easter dinner--hubby and I do not celebrate the holiday as such--we go more for the pagan/fertility festival celebration--but we wanted to try to make up for not spending much time with them after Yule. Plus, it gives me an excuse to make ham and scalloped potatoes which--YUM. Oh, and we are totally making action figure & princess Easter baskets for the kids. :)

(Watching "The Song Remains the Same" and OMFG, Robert Plant--sex on a stick he was. He hasn't aged very well, but damn! *drools*) (And, if there's a better guitarist than Jimmy Page, I haven't heard him yet.)

Work sucks big donkey balls. I dread going in every day. I have to stay there for at least another 12 years (unless the assholes in Washington raise the retirement age) so I just grit my teeth and try not to let it depress me. If I had the gumption, I'd finish my novel which is sitting on my hard drive and submit it.

I'm re-reading the Earth's Children series in anticipation of the sixth book in the series (which I already bought) and, although I love this series dearly--Ms. Auel could have used a better editor since many, many, MANY things are repeated again and AGAIN in the SAME book. I don't have to be reminded every other page that Ayla speaks differently than everyone else or that she was taught healing medicine by her adoptive mother or blah, blah, blah repetition-cakes. I find myself skipping or skimming over big chunks of the book to get to the actual story. But, it is what it is and "The Valley of the Horses" (which is still my favorite) helped me get through a particularly difficult period in my life, so there is that. (If Robert Plant's jeans were any lower in the front, his cock would be showing--damn.)

After I finish up the Earth's Children, I am moving on to the "Seer of Sevenwaters" which is the latest in the Bridei's Chronicles series by Juliet Marillier. Love this series so very much. The first was a re-telling of the story of "The Seven Swans" and every book since has been interesting and a joy to read.

I guess that's about it for now. How are you, f-list?