A time for less literary pursuits

As I'm sure you gathered from yesterday's post, as we move into December (and yes, I realize it's still technically November... after someone pointed it out to me), I'm moving from a 'literary' phase into a more physically productive phase. This means that, rather than the random crap that spews from my brain in the midst of NaNo, you'll be seeing lots and lots (and lots) of project updates.

Why? There are three main reasons for this.

1. That's what's on my mind. I'm making stuff. I make stuff on my lunch breaks. I make stuff when I get home. I make stuff when I'm a passenger in the car. I make stuff in bed. When I'm not making stuff, I'm thinking about the stuff I have to make.

2. Peer pressure. Even if it's only imaginary, I've got peer pressure now. You (whoever you may be) now know that I've got these things going. And if I don't tell you when I get done, you're going to think that I'm a lazy slacker who's not doing anything.

3. Fear of public failure. It's kind of like NaNo - everyone knew I was supposed to write 50k, and if I failed publicly... well... that would suck.

So without further ado, here's what I did today!

- 14 of approximately 74 rows are done on the second part of Karen's present

- one pair of maternity pants for AH are complete

- I blogged

I made stuff!

So in the last two days, I've finished 29 Christmas cards and two Christmas presents. Go me!

However, here's my list of things to finish:

- baby blanket for AH

- scrub pants for AH

- present part 2 for Karen

- necklace/earring set for gift exchange at work

- gift for Mom

- necklace for Grandma Baumler

- watch band for Colinda

And those are just the planned items... as Christmas approaches, and I realize just how broke I am, that list will probably grow! Handmade, last-minute gifts for everyone! Yay!

Christmas is coming!

Every year, the month of November just disappears for me. *poof* I know it's because of NaNo, and I go into November knowing that it will run away without a second glance. I'm okay with this. Still, somehow, every year, I'm surprised to notice that Christmas is just around the corner.

Luckily, I'm vaguely prepared this year! I made Christmas cards yesterday, and tomorrow I shall write them and address them, and then Monday I shall send them. Woot! And while I am at the post office sending my Christmas cards, I shall also send out some LATE birthday gifts. Of course, since the July and October gifts are just now going out, I give you fair warning that if I am mailing a Christmas present to you, it may not be sent until sometime between February and June. But it will be sent eventually!

I'm hoping to hear soon about whether or not I can borrow a tree, or if I need to go and actually purchase one. I haven't had a big tree since I moved out on my own, and in the last three years, I've actually only had a 2' little tree. This year, though, I have nice ornaments, and I want to hang them. I'm ordering some gift boxes for handmade gifts, and I'll also be using some of them to make a Martha-Stewart-inspired wreath for the door. Because, apparently, I'm all about wreaths. I'll have to get my Halloween wreath photographed before I take it down - it's all jingly and sparkly!

I'm debating what other decorations to put up. The bathroom will be decorated, of course. Even if the rest of the apartment is not decorated for any given holiday, the downstairs bathroom gets decorated. It's just a thing I do. Again, photos will be taken before Halloween stuff comes down, I promise!

Hmm... Looks like I've got a lot of pictures to take. Thank goodness for Picasa!

Everything but blogging!

I sat down at the computer about an hour ago to blog. And then I got distracted.

I checked my facebook page. I looked up the Nook. I became a fan of a friend. I checked out my Twitter feed. I checked my email and sent a message I've been meaning to send. I played that stupid Flood-It game that's got me addicted.

Then I stood up to go to bed and realized that I hadn't actually blogged.

Some days, I think my brain is much older than 30.

Mmm... Thanksgiving... must sleep now...

Mmm... Thanksgiving... must sleep now...

Pictures working!

Now if I could just figure out an easy way to upload them to my blog...

But here's a start! While in Las Vegas, Mom, Karen, Donna, May and I went to see "Love," the Cirque du Soleil show based on Beatles music.

Holy crap.

It was awesome.

We had considered getting drinks before the show, as the concession stand had a bunch of Beatles' lyric-themed beverages, but we ran out of time. It turns out, this was a GOOD THING. Think about it for a moment, if you will. Beatles music can get kinda trippy. Cirque du Soleil can get very trippy. Mix them together. Can you see why it was a very good thing to be completely sober during the show? As it was, there were definite moments of existential crisis as I watched the four little boys and the four men leading various parades of people around the stage.

And let's not forget the parachute! Do you remember playing with the parachute in gym class when you were a kid? You would all hold onto the edges, and reach up as high as you could, then pull it down and sit on the edges and everyone would be in this huge white tent until it finally deflated. "Love" had a parachute. A parachute on a MASSIVE scale. It came from the centre of the stage and covered the entire audience. Everyone had the same expression - that look of awe and excitement that you used to have when you played with the parachutes in gym class. The yellow submarine was projected onto the parachute, too. Yet another reason I was glad to be sober.

Our seats were incredible - Mom, Karen, and I were at one of the corners of the stage, literally five feet from the stage with no one in front of us. Donna and May were a bit to the side and back about four rows, but still had an awesome view.

I thought that I knew what to expect from Cirque du Soleil. I had seen them on TV and DVDs several times. I was wrong. There was so much going on, all of the time... I could have seen the show a dozen more times and caught something new each and every time.

Some day, when I'm rich, I'm going to go to Las Vegas for a Cirque tour. I'll go to every Cirque du Soleil show that's playing - there are enough to fill at least a week, I would think! "Love," "O," "Ka," "Zumanity," and "Mystere" are currently there, and once the newest casino complex opens, there is a new one, based on Elvis's music, scheduled to start. I'm already starting to save. :)

The best laid plans

Well, I had planned to upload some photos tonight, and put up a bunch of stuff from Vegas and other things that have been neglected. Unfortunately, Kodak Easy Share sucks, so I downloaded Picasa, which is rocking so far. Only problem is, it wants to go through all of my photos and compile them. And find and identify faces. So that means that I've spent the last... three hours? playing with the new program. And not actually getting anything uploaded yet, because I need to restart the computer to get my camera to talk to it nicely, but I can't restart because Picasa is still searching faces. *sigh* Perhaps tomorrow...