The SO's Christmas party last night was an absolute blast. The food was fabulous and the wine was flowing and I don't remember the last time I had such a good time. We ended up saying to hell with it and stayed at the inn last night and got company rate of $60, woohoo! I'm kind of glad we stayed because there was no way I would have been able to crawl into a cab... haha.

I met some of JG's good friends and that was nice too, they are a lovely couple and we've made plans to get together some time in the new year.

I got my nails done yesterday as a treat to myself and I BROKE ONE already, snapped it on a chair tripping over someone at the party. Also a weird event: I set my glass of wine down on the table, I wasn't rough or anything and it shattered! I was kind of embarassed about that but the one server said it happened all the time in that room, she even had a bottle of wine break in her hands the one day. She said as long as I didn't cut myself it's all good. Which I didn't. Phew.

In other news: we got a kitten today! We haven't decided what to name her yet but she is sooo tiny and adorable, she's a grey stripe with just a few spots of light grey-brown... our friend's calico cat got out one day and came back pregnant with the grey Tom cat down the street! Haha! So the SO and kids went to get supplies... our friend was kind enough to drop her off with a new litterbox and everything which was a plus, but we still had to buy litter, food, a dish for the food, etc.

I said we should name it Smokey but the kids are hell bent on Paws, because one of her little paws is more brown than grey.

Now I have that song "When Smokey Sings" stuck in my head.

Time to toss together a dinner of some sort. Ugh. Don't want to look at food.

Bob Noxious on the radio, singing this tune yesterday, and I can't get it out of my head

Police nabbed my Dad
The police nabbed my Dad
The police nabbed my Dad,
drunk in public,
wasted on eggnog...

Mmmm eggnog. I truly love that about Christmas (and Easter), is that twice a year I get to gorge on that crap until I'm sick of it, and then don't have to think on it again until the next year.

Just finished off the Lemony Snicket books. They are actually quite marvellous on the whole and I would be lying if I said I wasn't dying to read the (not yet published) thirteenth and final novel.

Tonight is my darling SO's company's Christmas party, and I'm quite excited about it actually, as he is wearing a new suit & tie and dayum son he looks gooooood.

Now I'm off to tidy the house etc.

I have a job interview tomorrow. Eek.

Paperformers! Little paper cutout-and-assemble transformers! So cute!

It's of course safe to post now about JPk's surprise birthday Mardi Gras. JPk, I'm so terribly sorry that I missed it... I spent most of my weekend either in the hospital being prodded or in agony hoping the meds would kick in. Stupid UTI & poss. kidney infection. Know I was there in spirit, ok?

I do feel terrible about missing it, because I was looking forward to celebrating with you and especially looking forward to seeing your surprised face... I hope it all went well and you had a grand time and aren't too hungover today...

love ya sweets.

Mr. Pryor, you used to make me laugh until I almost peed. Seriously. Be at peace.

This saddens me to a certain degree; I'm finding as I get older, all the icons I grew up with are one by one making their final march towards St. Peter's.

Jennifer Lee Pryor said her husband inspired many people by being candid about his own strife.

"He was able to turn pain into comedy," she said. "He let the world see it, and that was his inspiration, too."

The negotiations for the demolition of 123 gingerbread lane have come to a settlement, and the deconstruction is well underway. Mister and Mrs. Gingerbread disappeared some time last night, along with their tree and gingerbread dog. The chimney has been dismantled and the left roof is starting its slow decay into nothingness.

I have not participated in these monstrous events as I must confess, I do not wish to partake in its demise. The children and my darling SO have therefore taken the grisly task upon themselves with stalwart courage. I salute them in their endeavours!

Parent/Teacher meetings today went well. The kids love their teachers this year which makes a big difference.

To add insulting pain to the injurious news of my tooth's plans for defection, I may possibly have a UTI. Because what the hell, right? May as well be in pain while painfully contemplating my options with regards to the nefarious tooth.

Bla bla bla. I sure can spin a yarn when I've a mind to do it.

While darling C was at Brownies and K was at the gathering at the retirement home, I wrapped a ton of presents. There was paper and tape flying everywhere. The result of course is, that K is bugging me every 63 seconds to open them.

I have mixed feelings about the Xmen 3 trailer (found here). While it looks interesting enough, I wonder where a new director will take it and also, you can put sixteen tons of make-up on him but Kelsey Grammer will always be Frasier to me. I'm sure he'll make a terrific Beast, I'm just sayin'.

I am pretty excited about Narnia though. I loved those books as a child and I hope it will be as fabulous as it looks thus far.

I forget what else I was going to say, a clear sign that I need some tea and perhaps a nap if I can sneak it in. I don't feel so good all of the sudden.

Guess who might need a root canal? Oh yes sir. My other option is extraction. Ick.

Stupid genetics and bad teeth and grrrrrr.

On positive side, I'm pretty much done my Christmas shopping, hooray!

Tonight's another badge night for C, she's going for TWO badges tonight so hopefully it will work out for her.

Tonight is also a Christmas gathering at the retirement home my mother-in-law's mother is at, so I was voluntold to come by after Brownies.

SO's company Christmas party is the 17th, I'm sort of anxious about it for reasons I cannot comprehend. I think I'm just anxious, period. Holiday blues seem to be hitting me as well and I have no clue why.

Oh-ho! I found a pack of Ferrero Rocher under my monitor's stand! Dare I indulge?

I made my man a manly type supper yesterday, meat loaf, mashed potatoes, corn, yorkshire pudding, gravy, and stuffing. Yes. Stuffing. He loves stuffing with gravy on it, okay? What do I know from boys?

So last night, after their baths (because I wasn't thinking too clear, you'll see why I said that in a minute) the kids and I got to working on their gingerbread house. I had the foresight to set up the walls and roof already, so all we had to do was add icing sugar to the sides and top so the kids could put their candies on it. Which was fine, but both of them kept sneaking fingersful of the icing sugar and then wiping the evidence off on their pajamas. (See what I mean?) I also had bought a container of those Voortman gingerbread men, which Kevin proceeded to call his "Army of Gingies" and had them marching up to the door of the house. It was funny, and he insisted they all live beside the house until Christmas.

Ok time to go clean up the kitchen and do mom type things I guess.

The kids are pretty excited about it being December, what with the advent calendars and everything.

Today is skating for C, I had initially volunteered to go help them with their skates but it turns out, I have an appointment today at around the time they have skating, so there goes that. Hopefully her teacher isn't too disappointed... I'm sure there will be parents to help though.

The format went well in spite of a few glitches here and there. My back-up CDs I made though? Yeah. They're EMPTY. So all these photos I'd taken of the kids are gone and all kinds of projects I was working on and everything else is gone gone gone. That was the only true source of frustration here.

Snow's all gone again. I don't GET this weather.

I feel like crud in ways you wouldn't believe. Seriously. I'm not looking forward to travelling to Dundas this weekend with a plastic bag in front of my face... if I'm still sick by then I'm just not going, to hell with it. My mom will probably be upset with me about it but I'm not about to infect the rest of the family just to say I showed up for Christmas. Honestly.

Time to get the kids ready and go.

Wish me luck folks, I'm re-formatting my pc....

Ever been too tired to move? That's me lately.

I'm seriously feeling exhausted and lazy. We went to the grocery store, K and I, after dropping off C at school, and we came home and after putting groceries away I was wiped out. I did manage to put the lights on the tree though so that it is ready for the kids to decorate this afternoon. We also bought a gingerbread house so that little K can build a gingerbread army with little Gingies (which is what he calls them, thanks to Shrek 2) and everything. I'll be hard-pressed to keep SO from eating said house before Christmas though.

K wants to use real glue to glue it together. I told him we couldn't because then we couldn't eat the house. He said he'd eat it anyway. Well, that's a boy for you.

All the snow is gone, the rain washed it all away.

SO came home feeling under the weather, and for once was asleep before the kids. I was up all hours of course... which is probably why I'm so zonked.

Should I make any resolutions this year? A few years back I'd resolved to never make another one, and I've kept that up to this point, but I think my life needs a few resolutions to help me focus.

Have you ever kept any resolutions, or do they always go by the wayside, like most people I know?

So I forgot to mention earlier: I received my marks from the Organizational Behaviour Class, 90 per cent!!!! Woo woo! I've every right to crow about it... I worked my butt off for it.

Now on to see what courses I can take tomorrow. Hmm.

The gathering of my Dad's side was at my cousin JPk's house and it went off smashingly. I'm really proud of her - she is only really cutting her teeth on cooking and she made a divine turkey dinner for us. The festivities finished rather early for a change, at around 9 pm most everyone who was going home had cleared out. SO and the kids and I stayed at JPk's. V gave the kids their Christmas presents early, and they hooted with delight over them for some time. Then they hunkered down to watch Madagascar before bed time.

I didn't sleep a wink last night, finally giving up trying at 4 am and sneaking downstairs of JPk's house (which is gorgeous by the by) and watching Good Will Hunting and having a little cry while starting off my knitting of a Gryffindor scarf for my brother-in-law, who is absolutely captivated by the Harry Potter stories. I figured it's as good a Christmas present as any, and one he would not only appreciate but actually USE.

I got to meet and talk to JPk's significant other's parents, as they were at the festivities as well. They are both working in the public education system so they seemed pretty eager to talk to a parent who is pretty involved with their kids' lives. Memo to self; send her info on the Circle of Friends thing.

SO decided on our way home from the cold white North we would take back roads and loop around here and there. We stopped for a bite at a random road truck stop type diner and the food was good, plenty, and fast. It took us 4 hours to get home from a usually 2 hour drive, but it was much more relaxing than taking the 400 & 401 home.

Now I'm just about exhausted after helping C with her Book Talk homework.

Time for a nappety nap nap. Ta-ta!

ps: Hammers - StarFall and Handwriting pages! The handwriting one is neat as you can print off practice sheets as well as type out sentences for them to trace and practice on, that will show up on the printable sheets.