SciFi (or Syfy, if you must) made a movie that didn't suck!

And it wasn't another Giant Something Eats Screaming Idiots. Well, okay, there was a Jabberwocky. And a few screaming idiots. But no eating!

So yeah, watch Alice, whenever it replays.

Haha, you thought I was going to talk about my brother's wedding didn't you? That will get its own post. Later, when I have more time.

It's December. Officially Holiday Season. So I can listen to every version of Carol of the Bells ever made a bojillion times on repeat and you can't do anything about it.

I love flailing on handbells.

It irritates me to no end when I get sick on my vacation and spend my precious time off miserable instead of relaxing and resting. Why is it you can't sleep when you're sick, the time when you most need to be doing just that? I spent a lot of time attached to a heating pad, standing in a hot shower, or trying to boil myself in the tub. Not only is my head 10 pounds too heavy with gross sinus infection, but there is not enough heat on this planet to keep my cold cold bones warm and the body aches at bay. This morning seems moderately better, so I'm sitting here at work, too amused by the fact that my hands don't seem to be attached to my body. Sudafed does strange things to me but I didn't have any other drugs in the house. I need to go buy knock-out stuff tonight so I can sleep.

Got to the homestead before noon on Turkey Day. We did not have turkey this year, but had a pot roast instead, and did a much smaller spread. We need all the fridge space we can get for all the family and food that will be descending this weekend for my brother's wedding. I did not come down with the ick until later that night, so I at least had a fun and plague-free Thanksgiving.

Christmas sales seemed very disappointing this year, and we felt no strong need to get up before the crack of dawn. We wandered out to the mall at a respectable hour to look around. Mom took me to an upscale consignment shop where she bought me a few new things to replenish my gutted wardrobe. My boots were there, never been worn, for $215...in a size 8. I jumped around and babbled about them to Mom, bemoaned their size, touched them lovingly, and then cursed at them for taunting me. It was quite emotional. They were beautiful. Spent the evening with Lucas' future in-laws over at the house, ate dinner with them, and talked wedding while he went out with his groomsmen for his bachelor party.

Saturday was spent in IT mode, because it never fails- one of the children is home for a break, and something has gone wrong with a parent's computer. Mom's got a really nasty bug that disabled every avenue you could think of to try to eliminate it. So after a few hours of that we just backed up her stuff and nuked it. After spending 6 hours tearing the house apart looking for her OS install discs. It's really awful listening to your parents stress out about technology; "who touched my stuff", and :who won't listen", and "why does this always happen". By the time we were leaving at 5 on Sunday she was up and running again. I am back on board for looking at a Mac.

Sunday was a late breakfast, gathering things that had spread all over the house and re-packing, and then Mom, Amy, and I went to see New Moon. ( Cut for quick blathering. Head is too full of snot for a proper review. )

And then I came home to starving kitties, put clean germ-free sheets on my bed, cranked up the heating blanket, and zonked out after flipping wistfully through the new J Peterman catalog.

How did this guy not go insane?

Friday I went out with Naiad for her photoshoot with Chris Florio. As is photo shoot tradition, I got to carry stuff and throw out ideas for poses that other people actually listened to. It's like having puppets on strings. Dance! Muahahaha!

It was REALLY nice not to have to worry about being presentable, or getting anything done, or having to be anywhere at a particular time for two whole days.

I did nothin' for nobody all weekend and it was great. A surefire way to turn you and your cats into useless paperweights for 48 hours straight? An electric heated lap blanket.

I have three knitting projects going right now. Sure all my knitting is for other people, but the process of knitting was for me. So it was fun. The heat-seeking cats even snuggled butt to butt with each other, and joined powers with the artificial source of warmth to generated the heat of a small sun. On Sunday they both ran downstairs and jumped onto the couch where the blanket was and looked at me expectantly until I turned it on again.

Luckily there were lots of bad yet entertaining movies on TV this weekend, so I had something moderately engaging to listen to while knitting without being so good as to be a distraction. I will admit to watching Demolition Man, Troy (whyyyyyyy?), and bits of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which was too much fun, so I had to switch to Waterworld. That is one long ass movie. I took a break and finished looping all my rag yarn together while watching The Secret of NIMH yesterday morning. I love Don Bluth. I love Justin, but maybe because he reminds me of foxy Robin Hood.

I don't think I'll ever get the hang of knitting without having to look at it. Bad things happen when I try.

I started thinking about Christmas decorations a bit yesterday. I won't be able to decorate during Thanksgiving, since it won't be at my house this year, the weekend after is just a tiny bit busy also, and I feel bad waiting until the middle of December to put up a tree! So I'm thinking of just doing the mantle and little things in the downstairs. I got some cute casual red and white dishes from my aunt so I'm thinking peppermint this year!

I think I'm going through some sort of regression. I've never been a mall rat, but in the last two weeks I've been at least four times. My mother still has hope that someday I'll be a real girl! To be fair I was accompanying her going back and forth to the tailors. We just happened to go shopping afterward. Every time. She's going through the same "donate, throw away, or get it fixed/fitted" binge I'm on, so she took a lot of things to the tailors while she's here, not having found anyone at home she likes using.

Lee's Tailors is awesome. I had just about every seam in my bridesmaid dress and lining nipped, tucked, or trimmed in some manner for $75 and it was ready in a week and a half.

While out, I have purchased three new bras from Nordstroms (in a size that fits), a really cute pencil skirt and collar dress from Francesca's, new cushions for the Pottery Barn chairs I got from my Aunt, and was THIS close to getting this top from White House Black Market, but they didn't have my size in the store, which allowed time for common sense kicked in and stay my hand.

All in all I've spent a lot of money, but on good stuff. Still looking for outfits to wear to wedding-centric events!

I would love to find a lace-up boot that doesn't also zip up. It's redundant. Especially if they cost a fortune. I understand a zipper is convenient and an easy "out" for cheaper faux details like buckles or buttons or something, but if you're going to actually make a boot with a tongue, and punch all those eyelets, and thread laces- nix the zipper. It detracts from the design. And if you're going to charge $450 for boots, would it be so hard to make all those sexy sexy buttons real? Yes, it would be time consuming to put them on. But sexy!

I also don't like elastic in the boot shafts, but I have legs like twigs and your stretch boots fall off my legs.

There have been a number of occasions now where I am at work and someone is staying at my house. They then feel the need to call me, and gush about how cuddly and cute and adorable my fat cat is.

My mother is going to kidnap her because her boys are not major lap cats and don't devolve into purring grunting kneading happy-face puddles whenever you sit down on the couch for two seconds.

She pointed me to these: FRYE Matilda Button Boot

Even though I would love them FOREVER and wear them every day, and probably sleep with them, I choke at the pricetag. If anyone sees a similar style that won't send me to the poorhouse, please do let me know.

I am in a quandry. I will own a Mac. Just maybe not by christmas.

After going back and forth, I think I will buy a desktop again. For portability wants, I am thinking of a netbook. PC yes, but small, portable, and affordable. Does anyone use one? Pros and cons? I dearly miss my old laptop, but it was old and crusty and really only used for the internet. Any reason a netbook shouldn't fit the bill?

I was up at 4:40 this morning. *dies a little inside*

But today's event, while full of Big Important People, is a well-manned event for 50. We have THREE tech guys AND a sound guy, and a full wait staff.

Unlike, y'know, my one-man show of a professional training for 80 this past Wednesday.

It's not so bad.

Aside from the waking up at 4:40. In the morning.

I had yesterday off, because I'll be working all day Saturday. It was nicely timed, because I had BIG event on Wednesday. It went really well, but I didn't really breathe until it was over, so having a day to decompress from one event before revving up for the next was nice.

It took me until around noon to actually get to the "decompressing" part of the day. Most of the morning was spent glancing suspiciously at my phone, anticipating it to ring at any moment, for the caller to be someone from work, and to be calling because something Terribly Important couldn't happen without me for a day, or there was massive fallout from some heinous mistake the day before. Oh to be a problem solver with no problems to solve but my own for a day. It's a really jarring transition sometimes and it's kind of funny to nod knowingly to yourself as you watch yourself go through all the textbook stress and anxiety behaviors you knew were going to crash into you once you stopped moving long enough.

Nothing a little kitchen cleaning, cat cuddling, and looney toons playing in the background can't help with. Tiggy was so damn happy to get morning cuddles. She just squirreled around in my lap for an hour purring and kneading like if she stopped I'd get up and leave. Zuzu spent the morning wallowing in the warm blanket nest I made for her when I got out of bed.

I took a shower and decided I was going to catch up on a few errands. I printed off labels to return my order from Zappos. Since I had the day off I finally had the opportunity to schedule an appointment for my yearly bit of civic duty ^^. I've been part of NORC's National Longitudinal Survey of Youth every year since the project started in 1997. They must be getting desperate to retain their sample pool. They always give a bit of money as a thank you for participating, but this year it was $50, which is going straight into my "fix the bathroom" fund. I returned two tops I didn't want that have been sitting in my room for two weeks. I went out to the mall and found a really neat top that will need a bit of altering, and I finally found a pair of dress jeans to wear for stuff this winter. I always hate wearing my dress pants, because it feels like work clothes. I can't wear jeans at work so having nice jeans I can dress up for social stuff is exciting!

I also got caught up on my laundry (washed, dried, AND folded!), found most of my bills due for this month (still another pile to mine through), and finally sent out evites for the brother's wedding gathering next week!

I like having a random weekday off here and there.

I feel like I haven't really left my desk chair. The weekend was a blur of motion and things and happening. I'm already looking longingly for the weekend, except this weekend will not be still or quiet or restful either. If by Thanksgiving I have not succumbed to some sort of plague, donate me to science, for I will surely have the cure for what ails you hiding in my veins.

The outcome of all this kinetic energy? ( If you care! )

Sharing the same four digits in your street address does not mean you've got the right mailbox.

Sharing the same street name does not mean you've got the right mailbox.

Not matching the name on the mail to the name written on the inside of the door on the mailbox DEFINITELY MEANS YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT MAILBOX!

Sure, I didn't check my mail for three days, but I had to brace myself in order to remove the wedge of paperstuffs that was crammed in my box. I had the mail and junk and ads of three different people. It happens regularly, but this is ridiculous.

"Close" doesn't cut it, mailman!

I am grouchy about adult life.

The bills I don't have sorted, the mail piled up, the half-done laundry, the work that is all crisis all the time for the past two weeks, my soap that dries out my face, the nagging nagging horrible guilt that comes from putting off responsible appointments like the dentist, eye doctor, follow-up appointments with my doc I've put off for months because I don't monitor my bp at home (freak out!). But now I'm out of drugs and she won't refill until I come back in. Bah.

I honestly feel like throwing a tantrum. But.

I made a follow-up appointment for two weeks from now. I won't be on meds, but will monitor my bp anyway so I have SOMETHING to take to her.

I sold my bedroom furniture and got it moved out within a few days of my new stuff showing up! Michelle is at the top of my Awesome Friends list for doing me the HUGE favor of both purchasing it, and saving me from Craigslist strangers. I hope she loves it as much as I did for so many years! Instead of being smart and just going to bed last night, I dragged my new furniture into my bedroom and put the drawers back in. The cats had a lot of fun running underneath dressers as they slowly scooted across the floor. The mirrors are too big/heavy to get back on by myself, so that will have to wait.

I will have some time tonight after work to at least sort my mail into manageable neat little piles.

Then I go eat dinner that I don't have to cook, and play video games/save the world.

So I promised photos of corset, and here it is (and Michael, looking dashingly dead)! Note to self: Corsets hold stuff up. Don't stick a safety pin to your bra to hold your petticoat up, because you don't need it. But you WILL have a safety-pin-shaped indention in your ribs for hours. Also note to self: alter the petticoat so it's not too long and we don't have this issue again. I love all the floof. And I had time to get the tablecloth bustle all ruched properly this time, instead of just draped on my butt.



Franklin Street wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be, but we had an iPhone to help us navigate to parking once they started arbitrarily turning roads one-way. I will sound impressive and committed when I say we parked in Carrboro and walked to Chapel Hill, but it was only a half mile or so.

Also with more of the fabulous things that happened this weekend, Michelle offered to buy my bedroom furniture, which means I don't have to go the Craigslist route and have strangers in my house! YAY!

I was all gun-ho to start emptying drawers yesterday but it was rainy and cold, and I was sleepy, so I priced out a Dell laptop, which probably WON'T be any cheaper than a Mac, for what I want in it, and knitted while watching a Teen Titans marathon, the ninja turtles movie, and half of Bram Stoker's Dracula before going to bed.

Halloween isn't even here yet, but already I've been very festive. I love it. My Halloween season started on the 20th with pumpkin carving! On the 24th I was Amelia Earhart for a co-worker's party, and last night I had my own party, themed in Victorian macabre. I still don't know what I'm doing ON Halloween.

I dearly loved hearing all the compliments on the decor. I want to leave my house like that year-round!

I didn't take any photos of my own party, so I'm eager to see everyone else's!

So, Hocus Pocus just came on. I love this movie and I haven't seen it in forever. And then I sat staring dumbfounded at the screen. Lo and behold, I am staring a a baby-faced adorable Timothy McGee.

I think I screamed. I had a GIANT crush on the young Thackery Binx. I find this hysterical.

When I plan a halloween party, I'm pretty sure I requested clear, cool, and crisp autumn weather to go with it. Not 70, muggy, and raining before dawn. Snap to it!

While everyone else's ovens burned their pumpkin seeds, some of the batch I threw into the oven last night were a little undercooked and too chewy. Mostly good though. But I have a LOT of seeds. I will be cooking them in batches (provided they last that long...do raw seeds go bad?) through the weekend, and I will bring them to next week's Yarn Night to give away if you dumped your seeds in the bowl, and want noms!