9 days 'til Christmas...

...And I haven't gotten anything for Dan yet. eep! Mom says we can shop for him Friday morning, because Dad doesn't have work that day.

I went shopping with Dad on Monday, because we needed to buy stuff for Mom. I won't say what we got for her (my blog is linked to my Ravelry page, and though she doesn't snoop, I don't want her accidentally stumbling upon this!), but I will say that we had a good laugh and went out for lunch afterwards at Kelsey's. I had a bacon cheeseburger, which was really good. I had gravy with my fries, and that was good, too. Not overly salty like at Jack Astor's.

I got Nathan a hamburger patty maker thing, and I got Steph a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate squares. I didn't know what else to get him because Nathan was being so difficult. He wanted Warhammer stuff and 'anything nerd or video game related, you know what I like'. Idiot.

Funny thing happened yesterday. I had put bold-point Sharpies on my Christmas list, so Grandpa called yesterday to ask what kind I would like. Who knew that he could be somewhat considerate?

Last night I was barely tired, so I got out the library's copy of the first Vampire Diaries omnibus and read about a page. Mouse was chasing a mouse, so I read while kitty was catching supper. What pissed me off was that Smiles heard her and kept barking. She was so loud that Mom had to yell at her. This was at around ten minutes to two in the morning.

I've done all my shopping except for Dan, and all my wrapping except for Mom and Dan. I might get Dan a scarf from Winners, because I don't have time to knit him one. Unless I make him a neckwarmer. But I'd rather not endure the stress of knitting for someone. The Clapotis has been stressful enough. Not that I wouldn't knit for Dan, it's just too late to do that.

It's cold, man

It's bloody freezing here, but I don't mind too much because it is the tenth of December, after all.

Katie's supposed to be coming up on Sunday. Or Monday. I can't remember, but she's only staying a day because she's buying a car with some money from Angela (my dad's mother - I refuse to call her my grandmother for several reasons...). I'm probably going to be helping take bake sale orders with the other youth group members. Or maybe I'll duck out after church. Or maybe I just won't go at all.

Now Mom's on the phone with Grandpa. Oh yay.

Anyways, I'm going Christmas shopping with Dad on Monday, so that should be fun. I imagine we're going as early as possible, 'cause if we get there at around nine-ish, nobody has been spraying perfume yet. After about eleven o'clock, people come to the perfume counter and start a-sprayin', and Dad starts sneezing really badly if he gets a whiff of too much or too many perfume(s). We also beat the midday rush of mad people if we hit the mall at around nine.

I e-mailed Nathan again, asking him what the hell he wants for Christmas. Hopefully he'll reply this time. According to Katie, he wants 'Warhammer stuff'. Seriously? 'Warhammer stuff'? And where the hell would I find this stuff? And how much does it cost? I'm probably getting him a holiday scratch ticket pack, a gift card, or a pair of gloves.

Boo, rain :(

Normally I don't boo rain, but this rain is melting the snow, so boo! ;P

Christmas dinner is now sorted out, but I'm not happy with what's happening: Mom's cooking two turkeys and she and Katie are bringing side dishes. Why? Because Grandpa guilted everybody into making a decision about Christmas Day so that it got planned. The jerk.

I probably won't get Grandma's Clapotis done in time. I made a mistake in the pattern, and haven't tried fixing it for a couple of days. I may just ignore it until after Christmas and give it to her for Easter.

Youth group wasn't too terrible. There were some new folks there: Maya, Lana and Sooneah - I think that's how her name is spelled; I'm not entirely sure. I've actually seen Maya and Lana at the church before - Lana I saw at the Passover Sedar a few years ago, and Maya I saw at the flower communion service a few years ago, because she and her brother were helping me and Nathan with the flowers.

I also had a weird dream that I was a volunteer dental hygienist.

December 8th, 1980

Twenty-nine years ago today, John Lennon died.



RIP John Lennon, 1940-1980.

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!

It's not sticking, but it's snowing!!!!!!!

The Clapotis is driving me insane

I have no clue where I am in the pattern, so I might have to frog it and start over. Ah, knitting.

I did work on the cat's blanket though. But then I dropped the bit of yarn that was left from the skein, so I cut it off and threw it in the garbage, because I have another skein (maybe two - I've lost track). I thinking about making either a poncho, a shrug or a bunch of throw pillows out of my dark green Red Heart - it's so scratchy I don't know if I even want to try making hats or mittens out of it. Then again, it hasn't had the excess dye washed out of it, and sometimes that can tone down the itch factor.

Hmm, SNL should be new tonight. *turns on TV to check*

Yep, it's new. Blake Lively is hosting, and Rihanna's the musical guest. Should be pretty cool.

So... Youth group is now gonna be on Tuesday, starting this coming week. Oh yay. I hate those kinds of changes. Reminds me of when my old dojo got rid of grappling class for a few months. People were pissed. Then they brought it back. Well, whatever, Tuesday still works for me. The only problem is that we may have to move down to the space below the loft, because by moving meetings to Tuesday we have more people showing up (which is the reason for the day switch - so that people that graduated from Coming of Age can make it to meetings), and the loft can only hold so many people. I'm just hoping it won't be a catastrophe like last week.

I still don't know what's going on for Christmas Day dinner. It's become a case of Patti is going to her boyfriend's sister's for Christmas dinner, and the sister of Boyfriend has also invited Grandma and Grandpa, but Grandpa says it wouldn't work for Grandma. There was also talk of Christmas dinner being at Uncle Brent's, but he assumed that he would be having family over for Boxing Day, not Christmas Day, so I don't know WHAT'S going on. If I were Mom and Dad, I'd be planning a dinner for at home - I would at least buy a back-up turkey, anyway.

So, Dad's Christmas present is pre-ordered from Amazon, Katie's is bought (I'm not saying what hers' is, because she knows I have a blog and knows what the URL is - sorry, Katie, you'll have to wait 'til Christmas to find out! ;P), but I still have to shop for Mom, Nathan and Steph. Nathan is probably getting one of those holiday scratch ticket packs, and Steph is probably getting chocolate. I don't know what else to get them because he still hasn't e-mailed me back about what he wants for Christmas. It's been 17-ish days, Nathan! You're lucky I haven't started knitting you some coal! ;)

I already have an idea for a sequel to my NaNoWriMo novel. I haven't even finished my novel yet! ;P It's more like a companion novel than a sequel, though. And I have an idea for a short story, but I don't know how to start it yet.

It's the fifth of December. There are 20 days until Christmas Day. IS THAT NOT SCARY?!

Err, sorry...

Still, I'm kinda freaked out. This means that in 19 days I'll be going with Dad to pick up breakfast for Christmas Day. And Mom will probably have CBC Radio One on loud. Oh dear.

There's snow on the highway...

...But no snow in my yard. Aw, crud.

It is a little chilly, though, and a little breezy. I went downstairs to chat with Ma, and wound up dumping the cat's litter, the bathroom garbage, the kitchen garbage and the laundry room garbage in one big black garbage bag. Pretty odd, how that can happen - you go downstairs to do one thing and wind up doing several.

So, NaNoWriMo is done, and I reached 50k no problem. I think this year's novel is considerably better than last year's. It's not finished yet, though - I want to add more to it. I also have an idea for a short story.