Castle in the Clouds

It's been so nice being on vacation this last week. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed being home with my family. We've played the Wii, the Playstation, Uno, and cards. We've also stayed up consistently past our bedtimes, so much so that I'm worried about how hard its going to be to get us all back into our normal routine. Last night we went over to my brother's house to play cards. My sister's girlfriend is visiting from North Carolina and wanted to meet everyone. It was the perfect opportunity. I know she was feeling a bit jet-lagged and probably would have enjoyed a dozen hours or more with a comfy pillow and a warm blanket, but I hope she had fun. Of course, after being around our horde, she may also need an eardrum transplant when she returns home. Poor thing. If the kids weren't being loud, the adults were. There was no escaping the noise. After we played cards for an hour (maybe more), we played DDR on the PS2. Here's a few pics.

Well, what can I say? That last one was driving me crazy. I hated that it didn't have the navbar at the top. Hopefully this one isn't too hard on the eyes. I really like the background, so be prepared to see this one for awhile!

Well, it feels like it, that's for sure. I tell myself to enjoy all the sinfully tasty morsels I've been shoving into my mouth because after the New Year..gone. All of it. No more candy, pop, cookies, or ice cream. It'll be carrots and celery, water, and the like. It'll be hell, but if I actually manage to lose weight, it'll be worth it. Oh, and exercise. I start the new regime on January 2. (We'll be busy indulging at the last Christmas party of the year on the 1st, so I'd be telling a big ole whopper if I said I plan on starting exercising that morning). Speaking of exercise, my girlfriend is going to start doing kickboxing once a week at the place just down the road from my house. I told her I'd go, too. I'm thinking once a week isn't enough, though, so maybe I'll just break down and buy a monthly membership. I hate spending $40 a month though. Seems like such a waste of money when they're all exercises I could be doing at h...

moar funny pictures

Let's see... We've had our annual family gathering on my dad's side. It went well. They even had a Santa show up to hand out the kids' toys. I'll try to post one of the cutest pictures I managed to snap. I tried last night from home but my wireless keyboard HATES me. (Yes, it's Christmas Eve and I'm at work..) Tonight we have Oyster Stew plans. I had made Potato soup for those of us who don't like the stew, but it's since been dumped into the garbage because it ended up all over my kitchen floor. The crockpot broke into a good half-dozen pieces. Figures. Oh, well. McDonald's it is for me and the munchkins. We'll survive, but I'd rather have the soup! Am more than slightly pissed at myself.

My youngest son learned a hard lesson this week. Over the weekend he used his birthday money to purchase a new Pokemon game for his Gameboy Advance. To say that he was enamored would be putting it midly. He played it for hours, putting it down only when mom and dad had had enough and forced him to find alternate means of entertainment. Well, Monday night he needed a bath. I interrupted his game - or so I thought - to have him get into the tub. Up the stairs he went with only mild grumblings. I saw the Gameboy in his hands. I expected him to put it in his bedroom, maybe on his bed or dresser. I didn't expect him to take it into the bathroom with him. Can you see where I'm going here? He comes down after his bath all worked up. "Mom, my Gameboy won't work." Then he hands me the device and I realize it's leaking. Water. On my couch. Not good. I pull out the game cartridge and more water drains out. Yes, he tried playing with while in the bathtub. As...

There's so much I want to accomplish. I want to finish my novel. I want to read a half-dozen books between now and the first of the year. I want to get my Christmas scrapbook up-to-date. I want to watch movies and Christmas specials. As you can see, there's a lot I want to do. The nice thing is the only thing I need to do and don't much feel like doing is wrapping the Christmas presents. Bah! Humbug! I hate wrapping gifts. They always look terrible, so much so that a two-year-old could probably do better. Seriously, people, I've used parts of anatomy that shouldn't be used to hold paper in place while I wrestle with the tape dispenser. (Minds out of the gutter, please! I'm talking elbows and toes here...) I should also make sugar cookies at some point in time. My sister is planning on doing it over the weekend. Maybe we should combine efforts and mess... I'll have to talk to her about that. Of course, Saturday will be difficult because our mom will be making...

When I first searched the internet for a community of writers I could join, I found a place called the Mighty Quill. It was small and homey and I seemed to fit in just fine. For a good year or more I called that community home. I can't say exactly why I drifted away, but I think it had a lot to do with the mutating member list. During that first year I found several people I could talk to about a life-long passion, but there were two who really stood out: Erik and Lola. I remember working on an Anthology Erik had been mulling over for some time. I wrote two short stories set in that world. It was challenging and oh-so-much-fun. I still have those two stories on my harddrive and back-up drives. Despite our growing friendship, real life happened and we drifted away from each other. For awhile Lola and I kept in touch and even managed to exchange e-mails and catch each other in instant messenger conversations. But then our schedules changed and availability diminished. Our budding fri...

Well, that's it. Finals are behind me. I took my last exam this morning. I'm not as confident as I should be, though. Those true and false questions really got to me this time. I studied, but apparently not the right stuff. Oh, well. You can't ace them all, right? Everyone needs a dose of humble-syrup every now and again. On a happier note, I think I did fairly well on the final I took last night. It was an essay on the Pamuk's Snow . Since I had just finished reading the book, it made sense to focus my energies on what was still fresh in my memory. (I should be able to find out on Monday how I did on both the exam and final paper for this class.) What does all this mean? I get my nights and weekends back until the New Year! Yay! I plan on making a lot of progress on my WIP during this time. I'm sitting at that 89K mark. It'd be nice to get to "the end". I'm soooo close. Of course, that's not including the time and effort I'll need to put i...

Today is the last day of class for the Fall semester. Tomorrow is a "study day" and then exams start on Wednesday. Luckily, I get to get mine over and done with this week and will be school-free by Thursday night. Yay!

My 13 favorite Christmas songs! Christmas just isn't Christmas without Christmas carols. The Little Drummer Boy (makes me teary-eyed every time) Silver Bells The Chritmas Song Silent Night Away in a Manager Jingle Bells Frosty the Snowman Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer Winter Wonderland Jolly Old St. Nicholas Up on the Housetop Let it Snow! The Twelve Pains of Christmas (makes me laugh every time)

No, we didn't win any money. (Thought I'd get that question out of the way real quick-like.) Vegas was lovely. It might have been the world's shortest vacation, but it was still nice to be able to walk down the street in sandals, a pair of capris, and a lightweight jacket. Not quite shorts weather (the hubby thought it was, but he's insane), but warmer than the Midwest weather we left behind for those few short hours. We stayed at the Gold Coast hotel and casino. It's located a ways off the strip next to the Rio. They do have a shuttle that runs to the strip, but we didn't wait around. Instead we spent $10 for a taxi ride to the Bellagio. From there we walked up and down the strip the rest of the day, remarking every few feet about all the construction. There's a ton of it going on right now. Right on the strip. The biggest news in terms of architecture was the fact that The Aladdin had been replaced by a new Planet Hollywood hotel and casino. It...

My weekends are always pretty busy, but I really think this one might have been the most hectic I've had to deal with in a long time. First and foremost, I needed to write my final paper for my Witch and Witch Hunt class. It's due the day we return from Vegas, which means I won't have time to do more than hand it in. I thought I might get the rest of the book read (two chapters!) and the paper started Saturday morning. Well, I was half right. I got the reading done before I went to bed on Saturday. The problem was that there was just so much going on this weekend. First, we had to keep a promise to the boys. They had each done pretty well on their report cards and the deal was that if they did well, they got to buy a used Pokemon game for their Gameboys. Holy crap!!! I had no idea those stupid games were going to cost us between $25 - $30 each! I wanted to tell them no way were we spending that much, but the hubby wouldn't let me. "A promise is a promise....

The hubby doesn't like it when I announce to the whole wide world that we're going on vacation, but this time I figure it's safe enough to do because my dad is house and kid-sitting. The hubby and I are on our way to Vegas! We received a paid vacation just for listening to some spiel for an hour and a half. In return the company paid for our airfare and hotel. Let's just hope when we get to the airport and the casino that everything is on the up and up... I'll let you know when we get back! Talk to you then!