the end of tinsel...

yes, it’s december 28th… the time for tinsel to die, for silly festive decorations to resturn to their dark abode in the garage, the time for recycling, and culling and finding homes for the sacks of kid pressies…. methinks it’s time for some little ones to graduate from a hope chest toy chest, to a full fledged shelving and storage unit…. if only to spare my sanity (and by extension, theirs). They won’t be able to find anything in their room soon… that could work in my favour, if i want to simply wrap something they haven’t seen for months, for their birthdays ;-)

it was quite a worthy christmas, full of skates and ear buds and mp3 players.  And this was the Year of the Slipper. :-) And the Year of the Bootlegged Movie.  We watched Saw II on christmas eve. Festive, I tell yah. It was OUTSTANDING.  And t carry on the disturbing entertainment holiday tradition, my seester loaned me Haunted, by Chuck Palahniuk  - not disappointed, it’s troublesome.

today the wiz returns to the office, and i am left to fend for myself with the holiday deco. Pffft. 

merry christmas...

opening pandora's box....

… oh god. it’s amazing.  go to pandora.com

you will love it. 

in a nutshell, it helps you adventure into music you may not have heard before.  all you do is plug in an artist or a song you like, and pandora will create a full radio station of songs/artists that are similar… it’s all streamed, and the quality is outstanding.  i am addicted. woke up early to listen :-)

 

creepy movie of the month....

so i have just about exhausted my fill of christmas movies, so when i had a chance to record and watch ZERO DAY today, whilst wrapping pressies, I took it….

 

…perhaps one of the most bizarre movies i have ever seen; based on the columbine killings, told from the killer’s point of view.  it was very well done. creepy and more emotionally charged than you might expect.

vaca can begin now...

ahhh, the sweet smell of nothingness. sleeping in, drinking tea, looking about the tower and realizing that the only things i have to do for the next 2 days involve sleeping, wrapping and cleaning. it’s good to be on vacation. you can barele see the living room floor, for all the pressies strewn about…. perhaps i should photograph for posterity. 

3rd christmas party last night, with pressies and lasagna and veal! i am convinced i spent yesterday in a state of "snake who ate a lamb"…. it took nothing to fall asleep last night ;-) 

christmas gift success...

… you know the feeling - when you’ve managed to hook the most perfect pressie. the pressie to rival all pressies?  that’s the feeling that i will be basking in for the next 6 days.

finally - i’ve got the wiz beaten.

i am thrilled and can’t wait!!!

;-) 

un-freaking-believeable...

loads of work.

compounded by loads of life stuff.

there isn’t enough time.

my head is going to pop off; or else i will rip it off and throw it at someone. 

i need a tea and some jule time. 

9 more sleeps...

… aren’t you excited? ;-)

1 christmas party down, a few more to go… then santa, and a new year. 

frigid...

… it’s absolutely freezing today - forget what i said earlier, i need to bundle up big time to walk the small dog. The lake is steaming, beautifully steaming, this morning. Yes, it’s too cold to take the camera outside and prove it.

… it’s my last day of pseudo vacation… and now that the tree is decorated, and the house is reasonably festive, all i have to do is take the wiz out for lunch, do some shopping and stop in at AT&T to say hi to a few folks, and have a meeting with one of them.  A work related meeting, to try an ensure we are doing the right things for 2006. And then more shopping.  ;-) 

move over earl grey...

… i’ve fallen in love.  With a new Tea…. Chai Spice Black Tea.  It’s incredible. You have no idea - until you’ve tried it… and i HIGHLY recommend it. It’s tea, with a twist.  Go - brew some!

It was only one of my finds yesterday, whilst shopping for holiday laughter… i managed to pull together a few other giggles as well, plus one holler for me - i picked up the new Amityville Horror on DVD. I hollered, and then the wiz hollered. And then we giggled like anything… well, ok I giggled. I don’t remember the original very well, but i remembered being scared senseless.  This one was very well done, and in the end…. well, I can’t very well tell you the ending now, can I?

There is ice in the lake now.  Not thick ice, but ice that moans and creaks because of it’s thin-ness…. and it’s only the beginning of december…. 2 years ago i was walking the smapper with a sweater on christmas eve, last year i was walking her with an old university of guelph jacket - this year i swear i will be fully decked out in blizzard gear. Mind you, this year i have appropriate footwear… not the DocMartens from years gone by ;-)

Today - our very first adventure into getting a christmas tree.  I know - we will be tight on space, but methinks it will be worth it mightily. And it will just be a wee tree…. and of course, we will still decorate the honorary white oleander ;-) Who says you can’t make almost anything festive? :-) 

vaca time

…. and i sit, cleaning up remnants of work related explosions…. thinking i should be tossing this laptop under the couch and heading off to pick up trinkets and bits of laughter for christmas…. and to do work on a day off is counter productive…. but i have yet more to do before the holiday purchase spree begins.

so what do YOU want for christmas? 

bizarro...

last day...

before 4 days of vacation.

i canna wait. despite a lingering malaise that is easy to attribute to being run down and cold-y, i am quite looking forward to not doing work related schtuff for a few days ina row…. now it’s all about christmas shopping and getting a tree and doing that sort of stuff…

yup.

excited. 

24 hours...

i’ve been immersed in training for the past day… very apropos training, of managing through change….  I  always have enjoyed and appreciated the facilitators at Horn…

And they never cease to amaze me with their insight and enthusiasm. I have no idea how they get to be the way they are…. but they are always outstanding.  I leave the sessions, and ALWAYS walk home, if only to mull over the day in peace, watching the water and ruminating… yes, bovine like, sheesh.