General update

I had a whole post in mind earlier today, but thanks to sick elflings, I have temporarily lost my track of thought. O well, probably wasn't all that great anyway!

We are trying to get ready for the holidays here. My dad is insisting on coming here Christmas Eve instead of us coming to his house, so I am doing more cleaning than normal - our house is always cluttered with a million projects, not dirty, but definately not tidy. So I am trying to make things tidy. Plus, we've been going through books, clothes, toys, etc. trying to weed out what we can donate, so that we just have less stuff, so now that's all over the place too. I do have most of my Christmas shopping done, so that's a relief. Still waiting for a couple of things to arrive in the mail/UPS, and I need to order one more thing for my dad. The kids are each getting a scooter this year (that's what they asked Santa for), C.O. is getting a magic set, and C.J. is getting mini cookware along with a handmade apron. I know, that's very much a typical girly gift, but she loves helping out in the kitchen! I also ordered some gorgeous books from Daedalus Books, which has great prices and very low shiiping costs. I have to say I am thankful for the Internet this shopping season because I was able to find a lot of gifts at reduced prices, like a book for my dad. At the bookstore it was marked $29.99, but I found it online for $12.95, plus $1.50 shipping. Not too bad!

This week promises to be busy. We are going to a 4H party Tuesday. Wednesday I am off to my department's Christmas party. I think I came up with perfect gifts for both - at the 4H party it's a $5 limit, unisex gifts, for 2 different age groups, so I decided on something I think will go over well. For the office party, it's a "White Elephant" gift. I didn't have anything good at home, so I went to the closest mall, which has a sock store, and got some moderately hideous & very silly socks . Then, next weekend, we are off to see a local production of "The Nutcracker", partly as a treat for the kids, and partly as a treat for my birthday. I'll be an impressive 34 on the 18th. Can't really complain though - my 30's have been good so far!

School is almost over for the season. I am doing my presentation on Wednesday, so I plan to spend tomorrow working on that. Most of the presentations I've seen have been fairly simplistic, so this project won't be as hard as I originally feared. I need to sign up for spring classes soon too. I want to take art history, an art studio class & maybe a lecture series, maybe.

I guess that's enough of an update for now!