Well, a short recap of the past couple days…

It seems I should remember doing something on Saturday, but I don’t, other than going out to eat with Mom and Dad. I dogsat for friends of the family Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, and also watched the extended version of the first LotR movie. I liked the extended version better. Provided my perm does not take too long, I will go see TTT again tonight with Mom and Jessica.

Oh, yeah. I did rearrange the storage compartment with Mom and Dad Saturday afternoon. That’s one thing.

Sunday was the big move-out day, and it was a complete success. We had two mini-vans, one truck, and six people. Thanks to Em, Dad, Uncle Denny, Jess, and Em’s Matt for helping out! I was surprised we actually fit everything in the vehicles, but we did, and there is even room left in storage! Oh joyous day.

And then, I return home to discover that my second favorite cat is stuck up a tree and had been there all day long… I tried to talk him down last night, but the dog behind the fence near the tree wasn’t giving him any chance to scramble down. Luckily, this morning he’s in the garage, safe and sound. (And very hungry.) I didn’t really want to have to climb a tree in the rain to rescue him today. (Although I have done that before, when a cat got stuck. And remind me to tell you about the kittens in the garage loft one day…) I guess I owe him a can of food of his own, since I promised him one last night if he came down.

Today I’m rearranging things. Bringing the stuff I took out of storage upstairs, and making myself a little office in the back bedroom. My computer’s set up, but I can’t manuever very well back there yet. Since I’m not that sore from lugging boxes and furniture yesterday (perhaps I’m getting muscles?!) I figure I should be able to set up the office today without much of a problem. Perhaps I’ll post a picture when I’m done.

As for writing; there hasn’t been any in the past few days. I’ve been busy trying to get things settled, reading my new book, and rereading HD and F&W (again.) Once I get my “office” set up, though, I’m going to post my list of things to do next year, and go from there.

And I’m hoping to hear good news on the job front by the end of this week. *crossing fingers*

And then I don’t go and update for two whole days!

Well, Christmas was very nice. I will be smelling good for the next few months, because I got a lot of mint-related bath and body stuff (yay!) I also got the newest DeLint collection, the new trade paperback of Yarrow, and some clothes, as well as other stuff I’ll be putting in my annual Christmas List book once I find it. (This helps me remember how long I’ve had one thing or another…)

Today we went out shopping a bit, and I didn’t buy that much. I got a neat silverplated Christmas tree thingy I can use at the craft show next year (and also to show off cool ornaments) and a stuffed cat. I also bought some ornaments at KMart. To go shopping today, I had to reschedule my hair appointment for Monday, so it’s still not curly. Oh well.

Sunday we’re supposed to be getting the rest of my stuff out of the apartment, like the big furniture and suchlike. Hopefully things will go well. Saturday is move everything around in the storage compartment so we can fit the big furniture in it, so I hope that goes well too.

I’ll try to write more later.

I’m up early on Christmas morning, after having gone to bed at 2am. Eeeek. I’m going to be tired tonight, but that’s okay. I’m planning to make breakfast for the family, french toast and maybe scrambled eggs. At the moment, I’m looking for a vegan pancake recipe for Em so she can eat as well.

Last year, I only had two hits on my blog on December 25. I’ll be curious to see how many I get this year.

We’re not opening presents until Bekah, Ethan, and Matt get here, which will be around noon. So I could have slept in, but I can’t seem to sleep much past 8:30 anymore. Ah well.

Well, just in case I don’t get to post tomorrow, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate!

I’m getting really good at packing my car. I started this morning at 7am, since I had to drop the cable modem off at the cable company after 8am, and it took me a solid hour to pack everything in. I’ve been averaging 30 minutes to pack it up, but today I had some odd-sized things. And I only had to leave behind the extra post office boxes and two bags of cleaning supplies. I was impressed! (And of course I can’t see out of the back at all…)

Wish me luck on the drive down; we’re under a Winter Storm Warning today, and it’s supposed to be sleet and snow. In other words, not fun. But I’ll make it.

I’ll write more later, I’m sure… but have a great holiday!

Further thoughts on The Two Towers…

I want to see it again. I didn’t have much of a desire to see the first one again right away, but I really want to see it again, and soon. Scenes and certain bits of dialogue from the movie keep sticking out in my mind, and I’m not sure I can pinpoint why. The best I can come up with is that it watched like a good book, one you have to return to time after time again to explore all the nuances within. The narrative flow of the movie was so smooth, so… seamless. Impressive.

Mom hasn’t seen it yet. Perhaps I will be able to persuade her to go after Christmas.

And… I went to see The Two Towers tonight.

First thoughts: I liked this one better than the first one. This bodes well for The Return of the King next year.

The battle scenes were fabulous, the scenery to die for, and well… I really and honestly loved Gollum. Although his little spiel with arguing with himself kind of reminded me of the Green Goblin in Spiderman.

I don’t know what the critic who thought there wasn’t enough character development in this one was thinking; there was plenty, in my opinion. Gimli provided some much-needed humor, as did Gollum, and the little kids in the audience laughed at his every move. (Not that I would recommend this movie for little kids.) I rest my case on the cloak problem, though, from last year; you can’t use a cloak for its intended purpose and wear a backpack. But that’s really my only “complaint.” The Ents were great. I loved the fall of Sarumun’s (sp?) tower… Pippin and Merry had great development as somewhat shallow characters into wiser, more responsible characters. And I can’t wait to watch The Return of the King. That one I might be forced to stand in line at midnight on opening night to see.

I purposely have not reread the trilogy, so I can’t compare and contrast very well between them. But now, I’m really fighting the urge to read the last book, just so my vague recollections of what happens next are justified. I can’t quite remember; it’s been too long. In truth, the strongest recollection I have is a snatch of song from the cartoon… Frodo… of the nine fingers, and the ring of doom…

Oh, I can’t wait…

Okay, so I had to reschedule the hair appointment to next Friday at noon, so no curly hair today. But that was okay; I ended up getting my clothes put away, and I made Mom’s Kentucky Cream Candy, too.

And what follows is my reminders to myself for next year…

1. Use a bigger pot than you think you’ll need. It tends to boil over.

2. The recipe with three ingredients: 3 c. sugar, 1 c. water, and 1 stick butter, is the best one. Forget about the one with the cream. You don’t need it.

3. Yes, it’s very smart to butter the cookie sheets you’re going to pour the molten candy on, and it’s also smart to stick the buttered cookie sheets in the fridge while you’re waiting for the temperature to reach 265 degrees. It’s very smart to pour half the candy on one cookie sheet and half on the other, or even split it in fourths (depending on how many cookie sheets you want to butter…) That way you’re not trying to pull this huge wad of candy at once.

4. It’s also smart to have everything sitting out and ready to go: buttered scissors to snip the candy, butter for your hands when you’re pulling the candy until you can’t pull any harder, wax paper covered cookie sheets so the candy can sit and cream (it will be hard and taffy-like in the beginning, but after it sits for a couple of hours, it will cream. Don’t ask me why this happens.)

5. Yes, wait the five minutes before you touch the molten candy. It will prevent more blisters, but don’t be surprised if you get one or two (I have one on the inside of my thumb.)

6. If you’re smart, set the candy aside and forget about it for no less than two hours. Picking at the pieces every fifteen minutes to see if they’ve turned to cream candy yet is not advised.

7. And yes, the old tale about how the candy will not work if it’s raining or snowing outside is TRUE! Therefore, make sure you attempt to make Kentucky Cream Candy only on sunny days.

Amazon has my kudos for fast shipping. I ordered the book on the 18th–at night, and it arrived today. Wow! Impressive. The books from bn.com were ordered on the 15th, and evidently, all but one shipped today. Or something. I think they have a problem, because it said the one that didn’t ship would be shipped on the 18th. So I don’t know when I’ll get my order from them.

Another fast shipper is the Sierra Trading Post, and the boots fit, so I’m happy. Since everyone seems to be getting an early present (mine was a gift certificate to the Hairitage to get a perm tomorrow (curly hair! Yay!) I gave Mom her boots. Want to see them? Check out that price! Everyone should have a good pair of snow boots, in my opinion. I tried them on before I gave them to her, since we wear the same size, and it felt like I was wearing slippers! They are soooooo soft. Shame they didn’t have more than one pair left in our size…

Well, neither miracle came true today. I won’t hear about the job until after the first of the year, and the other one didn’t happen either. Darn it!

But, other than a complete and utter panic attack in the middle of the day when I realized how many days I’ll actually still be here, I actually got a lot done today. Of course, packing my car today was out when it started to pour, and since it’s still pouring, I can only hope I won’t have to pack the car in the rain tomorrow. Ugh. But everything to take is stacked in the living room, awaiting better weather.

I’ve decided that the more I worry about my impending joblessness, the worse I will feel. I have to be positive. I have to look ahead. I have to stay calm and focused.

Mom gave me great advice tonight when I told her I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. She said, “You said you had a list; stick to it!” So that’s what I’m going to do. There’s some stuff on the list that I can actually do after I’m in Bethel, like clean out my inbox and post some leftover auctions, so I’m just going to wait and do them when I get there. And I’m going to concentrate on getting the rest of the stuff over and done with. In truth, there isn’t all that much more to do, which is a good thing, since Monday will be my last full day here.

I just hope everything fits in my car tomorrow… and that it stops raining… I’m aiming to be able to take everything that’s left Tuesday and only leaving the big stuff for when we come next Sunday. Here’s to hoping everything goes well…

One of my two remaining miracles have a chance to come true tomorrow, so please send kind thoughts my way. Actually, both of them could come true tomorrow; I’m going to call about the job too.