Happy Birthday and other stuff

My baby is Sweet 16 today. She'll appreciate my calling her that in front of the whole world, but she knows it could be much, much worse! It will be, too, because Grandpa is coming this weekend and his favorite hobby is picking on Vicky. He only picks on those he loves, but there's a reason his nickname is Spoon (always stirring the pot).

I think I'm all ready for Christmas except for figuring out where I put the stockings last year. They're in a safe place. Somewhere. I know they're not in the van with the 54 lbs. of stuff going to Goodwill on my way to work, so that's something at least.

The weather here has been particularly bizarre. It's starting to remind me of Michigan. On Monday schools were closed because the roads were iced over. Tuesday it thawed just enough that the icy patches had a little water on top, making them even more slippery. Wednesday the roads finally thawed and dried. Yesterday evening it rained and I almost took a header in the parking lot leaving work at 9:30 because the puddles were slushy. Today it's 50* and we have a wind advisory this morning. Of course it's trash day, so my neighbor's beer cans are blowing into my yard. Why they can't put them in bags is beyond me.

So that's pretty much it here. I need to vacuum and straighten the downstairs a little more before I go to work but I'm in better shape than I thought I was.

Obviously it's not November anymore

I'm starting to wonder if NaNo is such a great idea for me. I spent all of November writing, and have only written one day in December because I've been getting caught up on what I didn't get done in November while I was writing. Maybe I should catch this clue before it becomes a clue-by-four.

As usual, there is good, bad, and ugly here. The ugly (which is more like unattractive than genuinely ugly) is the ice outside. It's not all bad; we're getting a snow day out of the deal, and I don't have anywhere I need to be until late this afternoon, maybe. I guess I should call the eye doctor and see if they're open. I won't be wrapping Christmas presents with the kids here, but it can wait until tomorrow.

The bad isn't so bad, either. I had to take the van to the shop last week; the heater wasn't heating. Turns out a gasket was going bad, and it only took two phone calls to remind them that we have an extended warranty, so we're not paying for it, and we only had to pester them twice for a loaner car. This is not our regular mechanic, who is wonderful; it's the local dealer, to whom I only take my van if I think it's going to be a warranty issue. I dislike and mistrust car dealers in general.

The good is that my Christmas shopping is done. I didn't do quite as much locally as I would have liked, partly because some of the things on the list aren't available locally but also because I felt like I was crunched for time and it's so much faster to buy on-line. The only other thing I might have to do it take Vicky to finish her Christmas shopping, but I think she and Alex might go out this week. We have one low-key family visit this weekend, but the rest of the holiday is pretty much stress free. I have the rare opportunity to relax and reflect on my many blessings, which I would have done over Thanksgiving if I hadn't been up against my self-imposed NaNo deadline.

Yeah, maybe I'd better rethink NaNo in the future.