Bally

starshine_wd @ 10:44pm: Conversation with my mother
While talking to my mom tonight, she mentioned that my sister Kim would be coming into the DMV tomorrow to switch the registration on her car from her boyfriend's name into hers. My mom informed me that Kim had a power of attorney and a photocopy of Mitch's license. I told my mom that Kim didn't need those things and that "No, the power of attorney does NOT cover her being able to sign his name to the title. It simply means that she can register a car FOR him, in HIS name." I told my mom that Kim needed the title signed over to her, a gift affidavit from Mitch so she wouldn't have to pay sales tax and an insurance card in KIM'S name for the vehicle. My mother then tells me that Kim told her that all she needed was the power of attorney and a copy of Mitch's license.

At that point I asked my mother which of her daughters works for the DMV.

And I thought I only had to deal with strangers questioning my knowledge about my own job.

cosmicavatar @ 9:22pm: I Like Where We Are
Today I have:

-Run 90% of my month-end reports and formatted them ready for their deadlines
-Archived a shitload of emails and completely reorganized my archive folders so they make much more sense
-Lost 0.5lb
-Done yet another Tae-Bo (groan)
-Kept to my WW points limit (wow, three whole days! Although disaster looms in the form of a whole Brie still sitting in the fridge as it was not eaten during the Christmas/New Year scoffage amnesty *GULP*)
-Made a note of everyone who sent us Christmas cards as they definitely need to be on the must-send list this year
-Been introduced to the weirdness that is Wii Play (posing Miis? Seriously? And I haven't even got to cow racing yet)
-Given thanks that it's one more day till the weekend...

drummergirl @ 1:33pm: Okay, I give up.
Where the damn hell is my PVA glue?!

Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

(By the way, the answer does not appear to be "on my desk" "in the fabric/craft box" or even "under the bed". HALP.)

cassylee @ 7:35am: Maybe I can charge the parents hotel room rates...
Mom called yesterday to say they've got termites & need to tent their house. So she & Dad & two of their three cats will be staying with me while their place is fumigated. The third cat, who is Gizmo's brother, will (hopefully) be boarded at the vet's, recovering from fixin' surgery. Skitter makes Gizmo look like an outgoing, social butterfly - the only time he lets Mom touch him is late at night when she's in bed. So the big trick of this venture will be somehow trapping Skitter so he won't be in the house when it's tented. And once they've somehow caged & removed him, Mom will take him to the vet so he can have some long overdue surgery & shots & he'll stay there until they can go back into their place.

Also, yesterday I took my car in for servicing & ended up charging a shade under a thousand bucks to my credit card. My credit card bill is going to look a little fat with this on top of the new PC (which is still in production, dammit!) - which is what made me contemplate my subject line ;-).

Oh, finally, in other parent-related news that I meant to mention earlier: I was talking on the phone with my mother on the 30th of December, commisserating over the cold we'd both caught from Mike. Mom mentioned she planned to finish off a couple more books she was in the midst of reading because she'd done a count & she'd read 118 books in 2008 by that point, and she thought 120 for the year was a nice round figure to attain since it would average out to 10 a month. I'm not sure I managed to read 10 books in all of 2008. Re-read sure, but read 10 books for the first time? So anyhow, I'm not making a real resolution out of it, but for 2009, I'm going to try to read more books & not fall into the habit of re-reading J.D. Robb & Janet Evanovich over & over again (not sure why those are the two I always fall back on when I want some light reading, but they are.) In 2009, I'd like to be able to hear about my mother's prodigious reading habits without turning green with envy ;-).

cassylee @ 5:48pm: It's not perfect, but it's exactly right
For a few years now, I've talked about taking two of my mother's records & giving them to a friend (Melanie) who has the capability of converting records into cds. The records are two Ed Ames' Christmas records, and it used to be (back in the days of records) that the Christmas season didn't truly begin in the Bevers' household until we'd all sung along with Ed's rich baritone singing "The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey." But these are two albums that have never been released on CD & so as record players bit the dust, the albums have been gathering same & we've been making do without Ed.

Well, a couple weeks before Christmas I finally got the albums to Melanie, and last night she gave me a 'beta-test' version cd. She mentioned that she'd played with the sound levels & other things to reduce the occasional pops & hiss, but she hadn't conquered them all & she was willing to work on it some more. I played it today & was immediately thrown back in time to decorating the tree in Groton, Connecticut when I was 9 or 10. The pops & hiss were audible, but comforting - we just about played those records into the ground & I'm not sure the songs would sound right to me if they played with pristine clarity. I think listening to that cd had me feeling the most Christmas spirit I felt all season long.

Melanie is definitely the star of my day. Well, her & Ed Ames ;-).

starshine_wd @ 7:48pm: Food
I usually cook a nice meal on Mondays since I have the day off and there's nobody to bother me while I cook. That isn't to say I don't cook on other nights as well but you can usually count on Mondays whereas you can't always count on any other particular night. Everyone has such different schedules and food preferences that we all usually fend for ourselves.

This past Monday I made spaghetti. Mmmm, I even brought it to work yesterday for lunch. Then we ended up getting SLAMMED at work so I got out later than usual, home later than usual and totally didn't feel like making the chicken I was marinating so last night we had leftover spaghetti. Good thing it was so good, right? Tonight, I got home and put the chicken and the teriyaki marinade in a baking dish, set my over to pre-heat and got the ingredients for teriyaki noodles ready. Then my husband came home and reminded me that it was Wednesday and his parents were expecting us next door for dinner. [sigh] Guess what they were having....yeah, spaghetti and mine was better.

I came home around 6:30 and continued to bake the chicken and make the noodles so I would have something to bring for lunch tomorrow. Also, as it is my long day and I get a lunch AND a dinner, I cooked up some macaroni to go with my spaghetti sauce since we finished up the spaghetti noodles last night. I'm going to turn into pasta by the end of the week, I swear.

cosmicavatar @ 7:59pm: It's Just Time
For those of you who don't read Min's blog (cailet25, and if you don't, why not?), she has finally got an offer of representation after years of having her considerable writing talents being unappreciated by agents. I am SO pleased for her!

In other news, Scheme 1 has kicked off. (It's not a plan for world domination - yet. Just something I really want and hope to get.) I'll let you know whether that was successful in the not-too-distant future. *rubs hands*

Still earmarking restaurants for Ver List, hahaha.

starshine_wd @ 7:14pm: Damn
For the past day or so they were predicting a big snow storm for tomorrow. It was supposed to start tonight and continue into tomorrow evening. Of course, my reaction is "Yay! Can't go to work if the weather is that bad." Sometimes they cancel work but even if they didn't, I would call in since they didn't let us leave on New Year's Eve even though it was snowing all day and I was a nutcase driving home that night. I'm not so worried about myself as I am my car. Not that I don't worry about myself but I have visions of getting into an accident with no physical problems for me but lots and lots of damage to Serenity. Can't have that.

Now, however, it looks like it will be light snow/wintery mix and most likely changing to rain during the afternoon tomorrow. Bummer.

On the upside, I haven't got the official notice from my supervisor but I did see on her calendar that she gave me the 20th of this month off as a vacation day. This rocks on two levels. One, it's the day after Martin Luther King Day. We're always closed on Sundays and Mondays, so we get out 3 hours early on the Friday before a Monday holiday and have Saturday off. I'll get out of work at 1:00pm next Friday and have the following FOUR days off. Yaaaaay! Best reason though? And the reason I actually requested: I get to watch the Inauguration...LIVE! I've wanted to do the Snoopy dance all day.

I'm still hoping I can also get the 13th of next month off too since we have Lincoln's B-day off which is on Thursday, the 12th. We also have President's Day off which means going in on Friday for 5 hours and having Saturday off. Which is STUPID. Have a day off, work 5 hours, have 3 days off. I'd rather they did away with Lincoln's B-day and give us the day after Christmas.

cosmicavatar @ 8:45pm: Pull Me In
Well, it was minus 4 degrees C this morning, but you know what? Still better than snow.

I was most horrified to discover on Monday that the 2lb I'd put on over Christmas had suddenly become an additional 3lb overnight. And what had I done differently? Exercise! Pffffft. Fortunately the 3lb appears to be going down, now that I am now 100% back on the Diet of Goodness and Purity and Boringness and exercising. My shoulder muscles really do ache from using the Wii, though. But just think how they must be toning up!

(She says hopefully.)

I have many Schemes going on at the moment. Unfortunately, the best ones are set to cost an obscene amount of money. But are they worth it? Actually, I think so. We'll see, my precioussses.

cassylee @ 5:07pm: Anxiously awaiting the 20th-23rd
I think I forgot to mention a few weeks ago that my desktop has increased its deterioration rate. I've been getting increasingly frustrated with how fucking slow the damn thing is - but I didn't know what frustration was until both IE & Firefox started crashing on me. Anytime I try to start either browser, after a long delay where nothing happens, I get a crash report & an offer to restart them (which just causes another crash.) Then my favorite games stopped working - well actually they just never start up.

I probably shouldn't admit it since I'm an IT professional, but I hate debugging my desktop. I know tricks to debugging mainframe problems & I just could never be bothered with learning the PC end of things. And I've been salivating over new PCs for a couple of years now. And the economy needs the jolt that a new PC purchase could provide, right ;-)?

So I've ordered a new PC (and completely disregarded my sworn intention of buying a basic servicable PC since I don't really need a mega-powered home PC), and it's supposed to ship on the 20th. In the meantime, a sensible person would pick through their current PC, backing up everything they want to port over, so it's all ready when the new PC arrives. Or researching Linux on PCs (I'm planning on wiping the old PC & making it my Linux learning station). But I haven't really done more than contemplate doing either of those things ;-).

While I wait for my new PC, I'm reduced to using the work laptop to surf the web - which means I'm mostly going to be keeping a low profile on blogs & such for a while - partly because I'm not sure how much tracking work does of such things, but mostly because this laptop doesn't have all my bookmarks so I'm relying on my piss-poor memory to get to some of the blogs.

drummergirl @ 5:20pm: Annual Leave, whoo!
So, because I've been rubbish and used very little of my A/L this year, today has been the start of a week off.

After a lie-in, and being woken up to "It's been snowing!!", I decided to go to the supermarket while Matt was working, and off I pootled to Sainsbury's. Let me tell you, at 1pm on a weekday, it is most decidedly not quiet. It was like being at work! There were harrassed-looking women with toddlers everywhere, trying to overtake aisles full of doddery old dears. It was crap! So much for my "everyone will have gone back to work" theory - clearly, I should stick to my usual tactic of only shopping after 8pm.

Anyway, that ordeal over, I managed to make it back in one piece. Then I began the decluttering, which has resulted in a charity shop bag, an eBay pile, and me chucking out some old clothes. I have also been transferring everything into my new address book! (The old one, though very pretty, had crap binding which meant that the pages have been steadily falling out. The start of the alphabet was the worst, followed by the birthdays section at the back.) I've also got a new diary! It is hilarious.

This evening I also took the Christmas tree down - well, sorta. We had a potted one this year, so it's still in the house, but sans decorations. I also collected up all the cards and will no doubt hang onto them for the next 15 years, because I am a Terrible Hoarder.

I finished my first book of the year, too- Nation by Terry Pratchett. As with most of his books, it took me a little while to get into, but from then on I was galloping to the end. I confess that I did have a wee bit of a sniffle at the parting of Mau and Daphne, too.

Just now, I put the bunnies to bed, and went down to find that they have ripped a massive hole in their new bag of timothy hay. They have never done that before! Clearly, the samplers they got for Christmas have given them a taste for the finer grasses in life. Little sods. (And, not that I'm singling anybun out in particular, it should be noted that Barley is too fat and lazy to destroy things, whereas Flora's list of Things She Has Destroyed is about to reach double figures. I'm just sayin'!)

Okay, and so to bed. I'm going back to Harry: A History by Leaky's very own Melissa. It's a fun read so far, and I like her voice. It's much more readable than the Dewey book I brought back from LA, but then, Melissa is a journalist, I suppose. Night, all!

starshine_wd @ 4:55pm: Christmas is really over
I undecorated my house today. [sigh] Have you seen the commercial for Verizon where the guy unplugs all his outdoor Christmas decorations and looks very, very sad? That's how I felt when I unplugged my tree. At least it didn't take me an excessive amount of time this year. The tree itself is only three parts plus the stand. No having to remove each individual branch like the last fake tree. Plus, it helped that I didn't put out most of my decorations this year either.

But on the plus side: My Amazon order came in today. I got a great new knitting book with some Fair Isle Patterns and more but the best item is the "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog" DVD. I've had it on ITunes but really, really wanted the DVD with the commentaries and stuff so it's still a good day. And now the undecorating is actually done, it's nice to have my house back to normal. Or whatever passes for normal in this house.

Mmmmm...and I'm making spaghetti.

cosmicavatar @ 9:55pm: Messing With My Brain
Snow! Augh!!

Thank goodness it's gone (at least for now). I was doing my little old lady impression inching my way over that treacherous white carpet to the car. Frankly, that's an insult to old ladies, actually. I can think of 100-year-olds who could move faster than I did. One of my workmates was most amused to see me doing the same thing going from the car to the building where I work... and that was relatively fast as the work surface had been gritted!

On the positive side, I love my Wii. Did I mention that? I'm addicted to golf. I did some boxing but was most annoyed when I was punching like crazy but my virtual gloves weren't moving (I still won) and got clobbered at baseball, but it's all good.

starshine_wd @ 7:48pm: Family
I took a long nap after work yesterday so I was still up very late last night (early this morning). At around 3 am I checked my e-mail account that I have with my ISP. I don't always check that one every day so it was by chance that I got my Aunt Bev's message when I did. She sent it yesterday, letting me know that she was having a get together at her home today. She apologized for the short notice but she had originally only e-mailed her siblings and told them to let their kids and grandkids know. It was my Aunt Judi who brought to her attention the fact I and my sisters wouldn't have gotten any notice since our dad is dead. So, instead of taking my tree down today, I went visiting. And I got to show off my granddaughter. It was nice seeing my dad's family. I only stayed a few hours but she only lives about a mile or two away so I'm thinking I might start popping in on her more often. My dad would be 66 if he were still alive so that makes this aunt about 74 or so. My Aunt Judi and Uncle Roy were both there and they're younger than my dad so early 60's for them, I suppose and my Uncle George was there too. He was the oldest of the nine kids so I think he's in his early 80's. I also got to visit with some of my cousins, of course. I'm looking forward to the barbeque she's planning in the Spring.

cosmicavatar @ 7:54pm: Connected
It's strange. Even though I don't have to blog every day this year, I am still having that ooo-have-I-blogged-yet? feeling every day. I'm sure it'll wear off at some point.

Anyway. Last night's meal out was splendid. I had rustic bread with garlic and olives to start, followed by vitello alla crema e funghi (veal with mushrooms in a white wine and cream sauce) and Amaretto crème brûlée. Absolutely gorgeous. Good service too - unhurried but polite. Will definitely go back.

Today I slept in till 1pm (ooops!). Then watched P.S. I Love You. Mainly because Jeffrey Dean Morgan was in it and, more importantly, a) not being killed and b) NAKED. Yay! I did cry a little bit at one point, but not buckets like most of my workmates who saw it. James Marsters was in it as well! I didn't expect that.

Have been getting to grips with my new Wii. I decided to make my own Mii-avatar a little less fat than on Simon's Wii, mainly because I think she should be a target, not the status quo. The boxing is definitely going to be my favourite exercise video alternative. I am a Total Animal on that. (Although I KO'd one opponent by punching him in the groin. Ooopsie.) And the lightsabre fighting on my Star Wars: Clone Wars game. Although I am woefully bad at Shii Cho, Soresu and all that good stuff. I am, however, a master of Baka Desu* and the Art Of Flailing Madly. But it's lots of fun. I can see why a lot of people get admitted to hospital with Wii-inflicted injuries. Even though I know all about not over-extending through my Tae-Bo vids and whatnot, it's very easy to go a bit nuts. My shoulders ache just from the turn I had last night, never mind today's exertions.

Monday tomorrow. Early, frosty morning. BLURG. If it was minus 1 degree C at 5pm on Saturday evening, I dread to think what it'll be like at 7.30am when I venture outside to deal with the frost on my windscreen... Still, plenty to do at work, so with luck the hours will fly by.



*Being An Idiot

cailet25 @ 8:46am: Clone Wars.
Dwayne and I rented that CLONES WARS cartoon movie on a whim a few weeks ago. It was all right. Then we decided to check out the television series as well. So, between Cartoon Network and iTunes, we were able to get all eleven of the episodes aired thus far. We finished watching them last night. Now we are ready for new eps on Fridays at 9pm.

I like the series so far. I like the themes pertaining to how each clone has his own identity and has to learn about self-worth and learn that they aren't "just expendable clones" like many of them see themselves. Also, Anakin's interactions with everyone, particularly Obi Wan, are enjoyable. And those "Roger, roger" droids from the movies make me laugh. (Not as much as they make Dwayne laugh, though.) I once ended up spitting cookie crumbs all over myself after an unexpected comment from a droid.

It isn't obvious how Anakin becomes Darth Vader from this series so far. I mean, I know that most of that takes place in REVENGE OF THE SITH. I just mean that in this cartoon, Anakin is wisecracking and impulsive, and there is little hint to the darkness in him that is sometimes evident in the movies. He comes across as a true hero, even while being impulsive and a bit of trouble maker for the other Jedi. His heart is always in the right place. Which, I suppose, is what really gets him into the Dark Side in the first place. He gets attached to people and risks much to protect them. I read that there is expected to be 100 episodes. We're only a tenth of the way through, so there is definitely time to sow more seeds if they choose.

It might be kind of sick, but I totally have a crush on Anakin. I mean, isn't he dreamy? Dwayne teased me that it's because he's sort of an animated Hayden Christensen. But I don't even see him like that. Really! This Anakin actually is more convincing to me. He has better delivery of his lines, you know?

starshine_wd @ 8:43pm: Karlie update
I should probably put an update on Karlie's Blog but since I really don't seem to get any response there when I post I'll just update here.

Since starting to pull herself up to a standing position right around turning 7 months (which she does all the time now), she's also finally crawling. Now, she was getting around before, sliding around on her stomach but now she's doing the full on baby crawl on her hands and knees. And can I just say, she's all over the place [smile]. For the most part, the living room is fairly baby friendly but there are times she tries to get to the dvd player or whatnot. She understands the word "no", especially when said very sternly. She'll stop going for what she wanted but she'll turn at you and "talk back". Pretty much it's "Ehhhhh" in a very whiny voice. She's also good at laying on her stomach and kicking her feet frog style while voicing her objection to not being able to get what she wants. It's quite humorous actually.

drummergirl @ 1:25pm: We can has new Doctor?!
So, it's Matt Smith! I cannot *wait* for the fandom wank to happen.

I think he seems like a bit of a muppet, but I do rather like his hair, and I am borrowing Ruby In The Smoke from work to check him out.

Thoughts? Comments? LULZ?

Edit: There's a half-decent photo at the top of this article

cailet25 @ 9:30am: Ridiculous dream.
In my dream this morning, John Doe was at some place where Dwayne and I also were. Dwayne was busy doing something, so I went up to John Doe and said, "Hi, I just wanted to say, my husband and I really liked you on ROSWELL. We didn't even realize you were a musician until a year ago. But we have an X CD now!"

(I didn't say we loved the CD because I'm not, like, especially into X.

John Doe was like, "Thanks," but he wasn't overly friendly.

Then Dwayne came over and started talking to him about music. John Doe excused himself. Dwayne gave me a dirty look and said, "So, you can to come over here and talk about ROSWELL, didn't you? And now you've made us look stupid."

I started yelling at him (and possibly hitting him), saying I didn't make us look stupid at all. Why wouldn't I tell John Doe we'd seen him on the show?

Our big fight was still going on as Dwayne was leaving for work in real-life. He half-way woke me up to tell me he loved me. I'm pretty sure I mumbled/groaned that I loved him, too. But I was actually very, very pissed about what he'd said to me in the dream.

cosmicavatar @ 2:11pm: What Would We Do
I completely forgot to mention that I went back to work yesterday, such was my fixation on Ver List. Anyway, it was as good a breaking-in one could have after two weeks off in winter: vile to wake up, but lots of peace and quiet and relaxed chat while catching up on my outstanding tasks. I am now reasonably placed to face the kick-off of the busiest part of my month next week.

Definitely in the grip of obsession again. Long-time readers: remember the Broadmoor sirens and how I just HAD to find them all? It's a bit like that, trying to tick things off the list. And although it may not be as healthy as siren-chasing (lots of walking/running/cycling trying to find those), it is a great way to expand one's experiences. I've now earmarked five restaurants (three in London alone) which should help me cross stuff off.

I find it very easy to go to the same places (Jazz and I frequently visited Brown's, for example, and H and I often go to the same places too), because they're good and there's less risk of having a bad meal. I've also become aware that my diet is not all that varied right now. This is forcing me out of the rut in which I seem to have landed and making me go try new tastes. I've even found a potentially good way to eat eel! Another nice thing is that it's making H and me go back to one of our old (pleasant) habits, which was go out to eat at least once a month. I am really looking forward to trying some of these things.

Tonight we're going to a new restaurant, but just Italian this time. This is a redux of our dinner date on 20 Dec with A&R, which was cancelled due to A's dad going into A&E. It was a stroke, unfortunately, and he's still in hospital, although it is hoped he'll be out in a week or so.

In other news, this just in: I have just bought a Nintendo Wii. Yes, I have succumbed. Besides, the bundle came with a free Star Wars game! How could I resist? IT WAS MY DESTINY.

(Sorry. That was terrible.)

starshine_wd @ 7:31pm: Stupid stories from the DMV
I had a customer come in to renew his registration on a truck. I don't remember the exact amount but it was in the vicinity of $150. He asked why so much and I told him the price is set by weight when it comes to trucks. He then told me he didn't even pay that much to register it in the first place. At that point, my trainer held up his previous registration that he handed me and pointed out that he had paid over $200 (again, I don't remember the exact amount) when he first registered it. He backed off but then complained that it was cheaper to register when he lived in Maine. To which I wanted very badly to say, "Then go back to Maine".

I had another customer today who had tried to register a car on Wednesday but couldn't because our system showed that he owed delinquent taxes in a city a few hours away. The system doesn't tell us how much, just that they're delinquent and they have to be cleared by whatever town/city they're owed to before we can register a vehicle or renew a registration. In this case, it wasn't the customer that was stupid but the city of Blah blah blah. My poor customer and his sister took the train to Blah blah blah that same day because they really needed to get the car registered as soon as possible and it was snowing very badly on Wednesday. The cost of the train was $100 roundtrip. The taxes he had to pay? TWO CENTS!. Can you believe that?

Last Wednesday, New Year's Eve, the day of a bad snow storm, we still had to stay open until closing (4:30 pm). We all had most of our end-of-day stuff counted and ready so that when we locked the doors at 4:30, we could leave asap. At 4:28, a guy came in to get his license renewed AND HE WASN'T EVEN DUE TO EXPIRE UNTIL JANUARY 24TH!

And finally, today I had a client come up to my station at 4:25 (again, we close at 4:30, remember?) and say "I hope you don't mind, I have three". I almost lost my mind. She meant three REGISTRATIONS. Not simply renewals, no, but three full-blown registrations which take an average of 10-15 minutes on a routine registration. Throw in any problems and it can take even longer. Luckily for me, my trainer started looking at the second reg while I was still working on the first and found that the emissions was expired so we couldn't do that one and the third one had an expired insurance card so we couldn't do that one either. I barely got finished in time to leave at 5:00. Why do people have to walk in the door only minutes before we close? I'm sure they wouldn't like it if they couldn't leave work on time either.

Also, stupid - comments like this one:

"Wow, they make you work on Christmas Eve (New Year's Eve)?" - Ummmm...asshole, do you think we're just here due to the goodness of our hearts? Because we have nothing better to do? What? Of course, they make us work or we wouldn't fucking be here.

cosmicavatar @ 7:13pm: What It Takes To Make It
I know I said I wasn't making any resolutions for 2009, but I am going to set myself challenges from time to time, and already I have two!

( Read more... )

cailet25 @ 10:58am: Junkies.
Everyone in our house is currenly medicated in one form or another -- except Dwayne.

I'm taking pills and using lotion for acne, special shampoo and special drops for my scalp, and special toothpaste for an annoying tooth sensitivity that has recently developed.

Angelus and Neko are on Prozac for anxiety (which manifests into spraying).

Oz has to have pills twice a day, oral drops 3-5 times a day, injections once a week, and liquid pain medication every three days for his urinary tract condition.

We also have a feline pheromone diffuser going 24/7 in our living room, which means all the cats--including Niña--are breathing in feel-good vibes all the time.

In a way, it's kind of satisying because things are somewhat better for all of us with all this medication going on. But it sucks because 1) it's expensive, 2) it's a commitment we have to keep on every day, and 3) we'd all rather NOT have to do it.

Oz is the only one whose condition is serious. He is also the one who has a lot of set backs. I had to give him a big dose or pain medication and keep him locked in my bathroom today because he's having such problems. Sometimes I don't think he'll ever get better.

drummergirl @ 1:39pm: UM YOU GUYS
LOOK AT THIS!!!

Why am I so excited even though I probably won't be watching series 5?!

starshine_wd @ 7:17pm: Happy New Year
stolen from Bradi

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
I became a grandmother. Not that that was any particular accomplishment of my own. I also hostessed a family reunion at my home back in August.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make resolutions. This way I feel no guilt for breaking any.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my daughter gave birth to my granddaughter, Karlie. Also, my friend Meghan gave birth to daughter, River and Jenn gave birth to Malcolm. (Damn, if Megan had only named Karlie "Kaylee" we would have a real Firefly theme going).

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thank goodness, "NO". I'll take a few more years with that answer, thank you very much.

5. What countries did you visit?
Unfortunately, I've never left the U.S. I've never even owned a passport.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A second shift job with the state (or anyone who will pay me at least what I'm making now).

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Karlie was born on May 14th. Malcolm was born on May 13th and River was born on June 24th.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Successfully hostessing that family reunion. My goal was to get all ten cousins on my mother's side together and I did. My brother Todd, two sisters Tracey and Kimberly, one cousin Gary and myself all live in the same area but I also had my cousins Debbie and Bob from San Diego, John from Illinois, Randy from Florida and Glenn from Oklahoma attend as well.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting the second shift Office Clerk position I bid on last April. Of course, it wasn't really a failure since no one else got it either. The state imposed a hiring freeze right around the time it was posted.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing more than usual. Colds, stomach bugs, aching joints, etc.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Lasik Surgery

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Zachary has matured immensely. He's been an actual pleasure to be around.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Patrick has upset me at times. We used to be so close but since he came back from boot camp/AIT he's not as mellow as he used to be. His attitude is that he always used to give in to people and now he's not going to do that anymore so he can be a shit sometimes. I've explained to him that he needs to find a balance between not being stepped on and being an asshole.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Hmmm...besides bills: My kids and Karlie, my trip to California, Lasik Surgery, the reunion, Christmas and YARN!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
This year's election. I've even requested the 20th of this month off so I can watch the inauguration. Not sure if I'll get it but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
I really can't think of one.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier. So far, depression hasn't taken over my life. I'm hoping it doesn't hit me like it did last year. Last year was very, very bad and it kept it's grip right into the middle of July.
b) thinner or fatter? Probably about the same or possibly a tad thinner. I can actually fit back into a favorite pair of jeans I hadn't been able to wear for a few years.
c) richer or poorer? Hmmmm...poorer. I make a little bit more money but I'm a little more in debt. I plan on paying everything off by mid-year though.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sleep.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Work.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Dinner at home with my husband, my kids, my granddaughter, my parents and my sister Tracey.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Nope. Married. Happened a long time ago.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Oh, that's a tough one but I'll say "So You Think You Can Dance" really hit an all-time high with me this year.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I fluctuate between being to tired to hate anyone to just hating everyone.

24. What was the best book you read?
I liked the Twilight Series (shut up) but I'm not sure I would label them "best". I really didn't have time to read much at all this year which is sad since I've always been such a bookworm. I've read more knitting magazines and books than anything else probably. I am enjoying my Firefly Companion books that I got for Christmas though.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog

26. What did you want and get?
Remote starter for my car, new speakers, IPod Nano, external hard drive for my laptop, yarn, Lasik, damn, quite a bit actually. I had a good year.

27. What did you want and not get?
That second shift job. New electrical for the house so we could hook up our hot tub. It really sucks to have a hot tub sitting RIGHT OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR and not be able to use it. [sigh]

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I didn't go to a single movie this year. I have a hard time sitting in theatres. My knees start to hurt and I usually freeze (seriously, I'm always cold at the movies).

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I worked and turned 45.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Second shift. See the trend here? Or winning a million dollars or more. That would have made my life quite satisfying.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
What personal fashion concept?

32. What kept you sane?
Who said I was sane? But to actually answer, probably knitting. It sooths and relaxes me.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Nathan Fillion.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Presidential election was the major issue. On a lesser note, I was very disappointed to find that John Edwards screwed around on his wife. I wasn't disappointed that he cheated (not condoning, just not my business) but that he was STUPID enough to do it and then run for president. Did he learn NOTHING from recent years? You can't keep that shit quiet anymore.

35. Who did you miss?
Dead people as usual but among the living: I miss a few friends I haven't seen in a long while, some local, some not so much. I miss David, I haven't seen him in a year. I really need to convince him to come up for a visit or I need to go to New Jersey for a weekend. On the one hand, I'd like to see his new house, on the other I'd like him to meet Karlie. I miss vampy too. I haven't talked to her in FOREVER.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
More WDers.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Being a grandparent is sooooo much more fun than being a parent. Yes, it is.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Well, not the whole song but these lyrics:

Where there's life

There's hope

Everyday's a gift

Wishes can come true