Christmas-y stuff: One thing that I forgot to mention about the drive home from Dad's. One of his near neighbor's has those cement deer in his yard, three of them. As I was making the turn, sweeping my headlights over those cement deer, the fourth one leapt away and into the darkness.

Mom got off work early on Wednesday so I drove down to her place Christmas Eve. I still haven't found her present, but she's okay if it's late. We spent Christmas Day watching my Mae West movies, John Wayne movies and Casablanca (which I had never watched all the way through before). We also spent time sorting mom's stuff into 'keep' and 'give away' piles. The give away stuff went out to her car, so it's really ready to give away.

We got up really early this morning and went out to breakfast before Mom went to work. I drove home, unsurprisingly traffic was pretty light. When I got home my smoky stuff went into the washing machine & I washed my hair. I love my mom; I do not love the smell of cigarette smoke.

Instead of baking the Amish friendship bread, I split it up & gave two of the starter bags to my neighbors, along with a woven potholder. I still have two neighbor presents left to give. I have enough loops to make at least two more potholders, thank goodness.

This afternoon, Chris is running a Living Forgotten Realm game; Barrow of the Ogre King at David M's house. Joe is riding with us, saves gas.

Yeah. Morning. It's a good thing; overall. It's just really hard to appreciate with a distinct lack of caffeine in the bloodstream sometimes.

No Valley neighbor today, but Jill was there. She's teaching a class today & was feeling nervy. She had a leak, too. Called the same guy to fix it, so she got good work. She still has to clean up the mess in her crawl space. She had boxes down there. They did not fare well. Neither did the insulation under her townhouse. That will be expensive.

books: Started re-reading Dawn in Eclipse Bay last night. Brought it for my commute read today. I've been reading the 4th edition Shadowrun book recently. At least, the character creation info.

tatting: Almost through one column of the Workbaskets, at least enough to list them. I have at least 2 that Anitra doesn't.

Writing: Since I can't actually remember any of the runs we did when we played Shadowrun, I'm going to create one & run Short Fix 4.0 through one w/ some of the archetype characters. John suggested that I start the story with a run, to introduce what kind of person SF is. Even if I don't use it for the prologue, I need at least one run, with some details, in the story.

tv: More Knight's Tale, a repeat episode of Bones, more Ninja Warrior (that ballet dancer is a kick, he always wears a thong) and then a small dose of professional football before bed.

Chris cooked some of the chicken he bought at BJ's last night. The other half of the package went into the freezer. Tonight it will be spaghetti as I finish cleaning up enough room for Mike to sleep.

clothes: ~slippers & slacks, white woven texture check, all black jewelry - stone ring, hematite band, glass bead bracelet, tatted necklace & earrings & hairstick (with a diamond of 4 rhinestones) & hair in a ponytail/bun.

Weather: big shock & surprise, it continues to be hot & humid. I'm fairly certain that we've had 19 days of 90F+ so far this month. We're about 2" low on rain for the month & 4.77" low on rain for the year; just in this area. Farther west in the state, it's worse. Even here, you can see the effect that the drought is having on the trees.

books: Finished The Four Forges. It's really good and there were a couple surprises. I'm looking forward to the next book, because this one is obviously book 1 (even besides it being mentioned on the cover). I re-read Pyramid Scheme. That's a really good adventuresome, and sometimes thought-provoking, romp through mythological Greece with a short visit to Egypt. I also found & re-read Accidental Goddess. I really need to find some more of Linnea Sinclair's works. Mom has discovered Catherine Asaro. I brought Nora Roberts Night Shift & Night Shadow (2 books, 1 volume) to read on the commute, etc.

Ran into my new neighbor again this morning. She's going to try to get her bus pass today. We had plenty of time to talk on the bus as we had a short breakdown this morning. The back doors wouldn't close so we had to have someone from TTA come out to fix them. I made it work before my office door unlocked but I didn't have time to stop & get a soda or my usual granola bars. At least I had a bite of danish & part of my soda from last night to sustain me.

Movie: Went to see Stardust last night after coming back from seeing Mom. Wow, what a great movie. It had adventure, romance, humor & a little magic. Chris & I have both decided that we want a copy of that movie. Robert deNiro was fabulous in this movie; he plays a pirate captain. It was also nice to see that none of the women were OMG beautiful. They were attractive, but also human looking. Maybe it's all my exposure to British tv but I get really tired of all the 'perfect' actresses & actors that you see in Hollywood productions.

tv: Watched Dr. Who and not much else. I was quite tired Friday night. Mom & I watched a couple episodes of her Christmas/Mother's Day present: Last of the Summer Wine, one movie from her birthday present (10 Hollywood classic movies set) My Favorite Brunette & a couple episodes of the Irish RM that she had checked out of the library.

clothes: This weekend it was all t-shirts & jeans. Saturday I wore a Red Cross blood drive t- & on Saturday it was my Trinic*con 8 t-. For jewelry: paui shell pendant & ring, ~filigree earrings, moss agate bead bracelet, red silicon Ronald McDonald House bracelet, flower band, hematite band, navy loafers & plaited hair.

Just as an aside: my mom & brother argued over 11 years ago. They still haven't made up. They don't speak to each other. My mother has never met her granddaughter. She didn't recognize my brother when she saw him on Saturday. I want to shake both of them until some sense falls into their heads. The really sad part? I'm the one in the family without common sense.

Weather: Oy, it's hot. We only tied the 54-year-old record; just like yesterday. It was 99F/37.2C and today it hit 100F/37.7C. This morning started out in the high 70's (~25C) though, and that makes such a difference. The AC on the bus was cranked up enough that my glasses fogged up when I disembarked.

Speaking of the bus, I met one of my neighbors this morning. I wondered, as she was exiting her home as I passed, if she were on her way to the bus, too. When I saw her walking a bit behind me, I thought that I was correct. Of course, when she actually came to the bus stop, asking if the bus would be going to campus, I knew that I was correct. She had orientation today & I was able to tell her where the building that she sought was located. She grew up in Virginia (& is named after the famous valley) but has been out of the South for a long time. She doesn't even have a Southern accent anymore. Most recently, she's from Wyoming and is having to adjust to the high humidity.

She seems nice but I probably talked her ear off. I did warn her about that, after a few minutes. And she could have chosen to sit, well not far away, but not next to me on the bus. So if I hurt her ears, it's her own fault.

tatting: I've begun to turn the corner on that bottom staff of the cross. I'm about 2 chains, 1 small ring & one large ring from being half-done.

Video of the day: What teachers make

Books: Finished Complete Champion, read a bit in Complete Scoundrel, got a bit farther in re-reading Simply Unforgettable & another page or so into Manga Madness (drawing as I go).

tv: More Women of Ninja Warrior. Everything else was ignorable, as a repeat.

Mom: Mom called me last night, a good thing as when I tried to call her, I found that my cell phone battery was dead (yes, it was at the hotel; Chris picked it up on the way home last night). I'll be going to see her this weekend. That means Friday night I'll be going to look for her birthday present (her birthday was yesterday). I know what I want to get her; I want to hit the thrift shops first, looking for old movie DVDs. If they don't have any, I'll check at Target & the like for any cheap ones that they have. I could buy expensive ones for mom but 1) she'd prefer that I didn't & 2) she likes old movies. She's really enjoying that DVD player that I bought for her. She's been checking things out from the library.

clothes: black ~slippers, brightly colored floral skirt, white polo, green bead bracelet, lapis lazuli flower ring, flower band, hematite ring, flower fairy pendant, ~filigree earrings & hair up in a ponytail/bun affixed with a ~bone curvy hairstick.