buttercup

resolutions for 2005:

1. read (at least) one book per week
I discussed this in my book blog. that one's my favorite.

2. make three dinners each week vegetarian
that's not that hard to do, I mainly include it as a resolution
because it makes it easier to talk Ben into it. next year maybe we'll
be able to cut out red meat.

3. exercise at least one half-hour each day
being out of shape is no fun. I don't like the way it makes me feel.
I know I'll never get back to the shape I was in after high school,
when I spent two hours exercising and ate the same three things
every day (oatmeal, yogurt + crackers, and an egg sandwich with
cheese), mainly because I don't have time for that, but I'd like to
feel better than I do now.

4. put aside $25 per week for emergency money, $10 per week for xmas
I hate the feeling that having no money gives you, and it's dangerous
not to have even a tiny nest egg for emergencies. I'd like to start
an IRA, too; after we get the house settled I may do that. the xmas
thing is mainly so I'll have a budget to stick with next year instead
of scraping together money and doing the bill-juggling thing.

5. make my birthday this year fun for me
(take the day off and do whatever I want to do)
my last birthday sucked majorly, I guess because I was waiting for
other people to make it enjoyable for me. we did go to Cost Plus,
though, which was fun. I may do that again next year.

I'm not going to be back online until January 2nd, so Happy New Year!

Is the lump on my jaw:
a. a lymph node inflammation
b. a lymph node infection
c. cancer
d. a cyst?

I'll know in ten days if it's a or b, since I'm on broad-spectrum antibiotics which should take care of any infection. If it doesn't clear up by then, I'm off to an ENT specialist and will probably have to have a needle biopsy done.

Awesome. Here's to hoping 2004 ends up better than it started and 2005 kicks off with the damn thing disappearing.

This is the last time I'll be on a computer until after Christmas, so I'll say it now: Happy Holidays! Enjoy them and be safe.

See you on the flip side.

Five Six people I'd like you to meet:

* Sarah Harmer
* Bif Naked
* Jonatha Brooke
* Bic Runga
* Rufus Wainwright
* Ben Folds

The (somewhat angsty) soundtrack of my life to date, ladies and gentlemen.

Went to ABC last night for the Christmas Cantata. Mom and Dad still go there, of course, and J and L do, too, since they live with them. It was sort of nice; I like to go every year, Dad's always in it, and sometimes Mom is too, so I like to support them, and the congregational hymns are the only times I get to sing Christmas songs with a group anymore. I really miss that -- singing every week. If there was a church that just sang hymns throughout the whole service, I'd be there. ABC would be okay if it weren't for the borderline misogyny and hatred/fear/disapproval of The Other that bleeds into everything there. (But I have issues. Once, in Bible class, I asked if people who had never heard of Jesus would go to hell, since they couldn't accept Jesus into their heart if they'd never heard of him. I received a rather unsatisfactory answer, something along the lines of "anyone can see there's a God if they just look at nature, look around them." Which didn't really answer my question.)

(Rabbit trail: In a different Bible class, one in which we were told about the Satanic nature of Judas Priest, we learned that the government was planning for the day when all the roads would be traveled in the opposite direction they're being traveled now, I guess the lanes would be switched because of the Antichrist or Communism or something. Or was it that tanks would travel the opposite way when the Rapture happened and we became a military state? I can't remember. Anyway, the government apparently has already place stickers on the backs of all the road signs so that they can figure out which way to go. They're supposedly stickers with directions on them, like maps or something. I checked out a few street signs after that class and couldn't figure out what the hell the teacher was talking about. That was the same class where we were shown all the installments of Left Behind (NOT the Kirk Cameron version, these were older, and there were, like, ten different movies; they may have been called something else, although I remember them with the LB title). I still remember the theme song.)

Anyway, the Cantata experience was okay, except that I didn't realize how low-cut my top was until I got into church. Oops. They're breasts, God created them, I'm sure He wasn't offended by them, and it was only low-cut by ABC standards. I did get talked to by a lot more people than I usually do when I visit ABC, though, although I'm not entirely sure whether that was a cause-and-effect thing. It was kind of depressing, but more people spoke to me in the five minutes trying to get into and out of the church than used to when I was attending faithfully. I kept forgetting to introduce Ben, though, and a few times I didn't know who was saying hi to me, or I was trying to catch up to Ben and Rabbit, so I was kind of abrupt. I hate feeling guilty over crap like that, but I still feel guilty about it this morning. I'm sure no one even remembers what feels to me like a huge insult, however, so I'm not about to fast or anything.

Speaking of the Kirk Cameron Left Behind, don't you want a Left Behind teddy bear? Hee.

So this week I was stuck at work until really late at night due to Rabbit's babysitter being on vacation. I stayed with Rabbit all day (getting some work done at home during her too-short naps) then came into work around 6 p.m. and stayed until everything was done (luckily I have flexible hours and understanding bosses). This meant I was at work until 1 a.m. on Monday night. Boo, right? But NO, my friend, because I got to see the Geminid meteor showers -- excitement! I haven't seen a meteor shower since I was a geeky astronomy-oriented kid. I woke Ben up when I got home, and we went outside and turned into meteor-watching icicles. It was pretty cool. There weren't a lot of meteors (I think the peak was closer to 8 p.m.), but if we kind of watched the whole sky, we could see one maybe every minute or so. Neat.

Find out when you can catch the next show here. (I assume they'll update for 2005 when January rolls around, but that site has a bunch of cool info in addition to the meteor calendar.)

My flurry of Christmas shopping is done. Now comes the making-stuff stage, and the wrapping stage, which are my favorites. I have to mail out cards this weekend, too, if I can find my address list (in storage).

All in all, I spent a lot less than last year (this year I cut up all but one of my credit cards before the holiday season hit), but I'm kind of more satisfied with my gift list. And I'm so happy that we're going to be home all of xmas weekend that I'm about to burst.

I'm actually kind of enjoying not having cable or internet access -- getting a lot more done, and I've been taking Rabbit's afternoon nap with her on the days that I'm home, which means I'm in a fantastic mood the rest of the day. Splendid.

This weekend was fabulous. That's the best word for it.

Last year, Ben's office party (held at an unnamed but -- take my word for it -- very fancy hotel) was enjoyable, mostly because it was free fanciness that normally we wouldn't see in our lifetimes. It wasn't fabulous, though, because none of his friends from work wanted to attend. This year was much better, since his brother, Ben's old boss, and his old boss's son were there with their dates, and they all sat at the same table as us. So the conversation was definitely better than last year.

The food was so perfect, I can't describe its perfection. I have pictures, though, so maybe I'll upload them later. Lobster bisque, crab cakes (a theme this winter for us, it seems), salad with bleu cheese flan, chocolate bread pudding, free drinks. The free drinks were the biggest hit for most people, but the food was my favorite part, since it's the closest I get to a four-star restaurant. It was all so pretty. The band, eh. At the smaller parties Ben's office throws, they have a DJ who plays what seems like a pre-listed set, always the same damn songs. This was basically the same thing, only in live-band form. The last slow song we danced to before heading back to our (FREE!) fancy room was that dance with my father song, which was kind of creepy to dance to romantically.

The room, of course, was awesome, although for some reason we had double twin beds instead of a king. There was a guy there who brought a male friend as his guest, though, and they had a king bed, so we figured something got switched around. No complaining about free fancy rooms, bitches.

Sunday we went shopping (I got my xmas bonus so I had a few bucks to spend), and I found some stocking stuffers I've been needing to get. After we drove back into town, we went to the mall and I tried out this new store that opened recently. It's awesome -- all the little imported things that I love. Disney products with weirdly worded quotes, Hamtaro stuff, little folding-star kits, Hello Kitty crap, fake Hello Kitty crap, etc. The only downside is that everything's a little pricey, but I found a few things that were well-priced enough that I didn't snort in disgust. Two of them were for other people, so I won't go into those, but there was a little journal with soft covers that had Classic Pooh on the front and back with one of A.A. Milnes's little poems, the one about the Expotition (that really didn't narrow it down, did it?). Some of it's translated okay, but the rest is perfect mistranslatedness. I should have brought it with me so I could type it in, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Then we came home and started MOVING IN to our new place. We slept there last night, it was great. I'm bone-tired of moving, but hopefully this will be the last time we have to do it for a while. I do love living in the woods, though, I've missed trees so much. Of course, I have no phone line right now, so entries may be a little sporadic until I get dial-up going again; I won't have much time to write, anyway, with xmas craftiness going on.