My Baby.

It's been a long day...

This morning coming into work I seriously felt like this:

Not only am I already losing my mind to 'vacation mode', I'm crankier than ever today.  You'd think I'd be ecstatic what with my week already half over, Christmas just days away, and a week long hiatus from work.  But of course not...and what else would make me lethargic and exceptionally irritable on what should be a great week except...well I won't go into details, but this comic pretty much sums it up...

Bahaha. Yeah. Nerd.

One nasty side effect I have is this rampant murderous rage.  Not really conducive for safe, defensive driving at 6am.  Especially considering the heavens opened up and dumped about 3-4" of beautiful, powdery, "how-come-every-year-people-forget-how-to-drive-in-the-snow" snow last night.  I'm driving my POS Civic and you're in a 4x4 Jeep Wrangler with big ol' knobby tires, and yet you're driving in between 2 lanes because why? You don't want to be too close to oncoming traffic in the left lane, or the snow drift pile on the right?  Make up yo' mind fool! I can't blame the dude in the '98 Accord for driving 15 mph under the speed limit, but you, you incompetent fool, are thoroughly in my freaking way.

Slowly though, with the addition of caffeine and Christmas treats, and the news of my Christmas bonus this year being $1500 (woo-freakin-hoo!) I've slowly started to come back to the world.  I'm still cranky, still would rather be hibernating, still mourning the lack of sun on the shortest day of the year, and still want to take out my uterus and leave it hanging somewhere until the wretched thing is done cramping.  Ok, so I went into details. Gruesome?  Not as gruesome as I could get, trust me.

The weather has progressively gotten gloomier over the course of the day.  I officially cannot see the houses across the field...nor the field for that matter. This should make for another interesting drive home.  Good thing this time I no longer have to brave the jungle that is the mall during this holiday season.  Last night after work, after it had started snowing and the roads were getting quite messy, I had to pick up one last gift at the mall.  Let's just say I'm glad I only had one thing to get. 

I'm glad the day is nearly over, I'm starting to get antsy and irritable again. And my calculations aren't coming out right! Argh.

When I get home I'm making this:

Now, if only I had some vanilla ice cream...

I heart space heaters

In a world, where half the planet tilts away from the sun for a quarter of the year and people inhabit areas outside of the Tropic lines, there exists the space heater.  It comes in widely varying sizes and designs, with anywhere from a simple on button to multiple settings and programs.  It can be electric powered or gas powered, but either way, its use is the same.  To bring the joy of the sun to those wrapped in the darkness of the bitter cold.  When the sun disappears at 4pm, so does the it's warm, loving rays.  Oh, curse the short, icy cold days...  My gladness during these hibernation inducing months comes from hot chocolate, cuddly sweaters, fluffy throw blankets, and space heaters. 

Huddled under the patio heater, and still cold.

As we rapidly approach the shortest day of the year, I can't help but notice it's somewhat abnormally colder than I seem to remember in my many 20some odd years of Decembers.  At least, sub-zero temperatures with the wind chill certainly feel colder than normal this winter.  Not that 30°F is warm when compared to other locales only several hundred miles south of home but for winter here, it could, in fact, be considered rather balmy. On the bright side, no need to dream of a white Christmas...there's snow on the ground, more snow to come, and freezing temperatures all through until Christmas. 

*For some reason I noticed I had started rhyming in my next paragraph, so I edited it and it became a poem...*  Cold Winter Untitled

I gaze out the window, and what do I see?
Sun and skies of blue, but it's not yet 3. 
The ground covered in a blanket of white. 
The sun reflecting off it, making things bright. 
But don't be fooled, it's ever so cold. 
To venture out there you'd have to be bold. 
Winter's grip around folks, all bundled and grim.
Chimneys smoking, as lights cling to roof trims. 
Just next to this window, it's abundantly clear,
The bitter cold is something to fear.
So the space heater is on, and warming my feet.
Christmas songs are playing, and I rock to the beat.
With my cubicle all toasty and warm
The Christmas cheer here is all in good form.
So Merry Christmas, I'll say to your ear,
And have a full and Happy New Year!

I love you space heater, you keep me warm in this cold cold office.  When I leave work I will dread that short bitter walk to my car in the frozen wasteland of a parking lot, but while I'm working, I am comfortable.  Thanks.

Christmas Shopping Woes...

Hm, it's been a while since I've been on here. Well first, holy moly it's December already! I've only got about 1/3 of my Christmas shopping left, and I'm at a complete loss as to what to get my dad and one of my sisters.  Usually, I have an idea of what to get my dad and get my sisters to pay for a share of it.  Last year I, we, got him a Roku.  Which I set up for him on October 30th of this year.  A couple years ago, I got him one of those digital picture frames, I didn't have time to add pictures since I had to get it replaced a week before Christmas (the original one I bought did not work), and I don't think he's ever gotten around to putting it up or adding pictures to it.  The year before that, I bought a backpack and stuffed it full of cool travel gear. (they were going on a safari after Christmas)  It's currently sitting in the basement.  Part of me wants to be like, well...he never uses what I get him so why should I bother?  I did find out at Thanksgiving that he does use the Roku we bought him now that it's set up though.  So, maybe if I go techie, I'll just have to set it up for him Christmas morning after we open gifts.  Otherwise he won't use it. 

That still begs the question...what do I get him?  I try to follow his hobbies and get him something accordingly, though he tends to buy what he wants, when he wants it.  Right now his hobbies are so varied, it seems impossible to get him anything useful.  Ooh...<lightbulb on>  He did just buy a new SLR. The problem with that is none of the good accessories that he doesn't have already are within my budget for him.  Even if I split it 3 ways with my sisters, it's hardly feasible for me. And if it's stretching it for me, how could I expect it to be feasible for a college student and a part-time lab assistant looking for another job?  <lightbulb off> Drat. Foiled again.

The same goes for my sister...no idea.  I got her a small art print but that's something little.  Maybe I'll get her some knitting yarn.  She's been knitting lately, though her hobbies and interests skip from one thing to another so much I hardly know what she's into by the time Christmas comes around.  At least with her, when all else fails...I have no problem following the route of fashion accessories.  A crystal studded headband? How dashing.

Some people are so easy to shop for I have a hard time holding back and sticking to my budget.  Other people I feel obligated to shop for, godchildren for example...and yes I have multiple godchildren.  Even a little something "stocking stuffer" quality would suffice.  But in my family, kids tend to pop up in groups.  And these groups of kids grow up together, hang out together.  Like me and my cousins. Between us there are only at most 6 years difference.  And that's between me and my baby sister.  Now, if you give one of these kids a gift, you have to give them all gifts.  Forget that you maybe only close to one of them, or one or two are your godchildren, because once the one gets a gift it's inevitable that the others will get jealous.  For a while you can get away with giving them all the exact same gift though, so it tends to work out.  Luckily, I'm still in that "give them all the same thing" boat.  Last year I tried to give one of my goddaughters something different, and that completely backfired on me.  I had given the other two cousins cheap mp3 players, and got her a video game she was asking for.  Holy smokes, wouldn't you know, she wanted an mp3 player just like her cousins.  Never-mind, her already being a proud owner of an iPod which her cousins didn't have. Needless to say, I feel obligated to get each of them something of equal quality and caliber.  This year they're getting wallets...in a variety of colors but each the same. Watch this year be the year they finally decide getting the same gift every year is LAME.

Of course, a lot of times the age difference and the gender make a big difference too.  And then there's the obligatory need to get a little su'm su'm for any siblings, regardless if you've met the child or not.  It's not necessary, but to avoid jealous, cranky children, why not just get a stuffed animal or two.  And then there's the cousin of the cousin....we usually didn't have this as a problem until recently.  I have no connection to this child whatsoever, though randomly she seems to show up.  I can see her little face when she doesn't get something along with her cousins.  It's quite disheartening...but at the same time, why should I?

Every year I make my Christmas budget, and most of the time, I hit it right on the dot, if not go over budget...particularly on my husband.  This year though, for once I am completely UNDER budget.  Yes!  This, is what I call a budget success (And being smart about it and getting about 1/3 of the gifts during Cyber Monday).