hello, lovely

My shows are all reruns tonight, so I’m not in the normal tv-night frenzy that I usually am. Tonight, I have many things that I can/should do, but only one that I really WANT to do. Here’s my “to do” list… let’s see how much of it I can get done tonight.

+ Wrap White Elephant giftie for tomorrow’s Christmas Party
+ Wrap/package Katy’s Christmas present
+ Wrap all the other Christmas presents {Joe’s, mom’s, Charles’, Megan’s}
+ Finish stamping Christmas cards
+ Address & stick postage stamps on Christmas cards
+ Mail out Christmas Cards [These can be mailed out Monday, at the latest, but I'm shooting for sooner than that!]
+ Get the trash ready to take out tomorrow [ie: Clean up all the boxes and bags from my Christmas shopping}
+ Watch Running Scared, Boston Legal S2D1, Boston Legal S2D2, or whatever the other 2 movies I have from my last shipment of Blockbuster online.... oh, I remember... National Treasure and Saving Grace
+ Do some laundry [can also be done over the weekend, but the more I do now, the less I have to do ... ON THE WEEKEND!]
+ Go through my yarn and find stuff to destash.
+ Wrap & get Secret Pal presents ready to mail
+ Wrap & get Sockret Pal presents ready to mail
+ Make some stitch markers to sell [sold 2 sets last night at the coffee shop where I meet my knitterly friends!].
+ KNIIIIIIIIT!

I forgot to mention in my post about 35.6 seconds ago that I did not exercise today, BUT….. Twice, in the last hour or so, I’ve gone for ice cream or candy and then put it back before I could open/eat it.

I’m so proud of myself. *lol* Today’s been a good day.

I finished my Grandma’s Christmas present, which means I can send out the box this weekend!

I forgot to take a picture of it, and it’s already boxed up, so… sorry. but It’s pretty!

*happy dance* 1 down, 2 to go.

while sitting here doing absolutely nothing, i decided that i’d attempt The Biggest Loser Workout dvd. I did, somehow, manage to make it through, and I think I’ve decided to alternate between that and Walk Away the Pounds. A little something-something do to so I can feel like I’m actually accomplishing something.

Well, it kicked my ass just like everyone said it would. But it was worth it. I’m feeling pretty good right now, and I’m happy to think that I might not be up all night even though I just exercised. *lol* If I can wake up ontime/early enough, I think I’d like to do this in the morning, but we’ll see.

Off to finish some Christmas presents….

2006
Dec 15: Group Christmas Party
Dec 16: Miser’s bday party @ Rockhouse Live [Acoustic show - featuring Edgewater and some other bands] For Miser’s bday, I will buy one of their cds.
Dec 22: Erik Neff at Lakewood Bar & Grill [wanna go to that. he msg'd me on myspace... i like his music.]
Dec 25: Get Joe @ airport at 5-5:30 ….. IN THE MORNING. Merry Christmas! Joe’s Christmas present? A nap. lol
Dec 31: New Year’s Eve!!

2007
Jan 01: New Year’s Day!
Jan 02: Take Joe to Airport.

… do not click this link.

Well, sort of.

Mom: Done
Charles: Done, except knitted gift
Megan: Done, except knitted gift
Joe: Done, except knitted gift
G-ma: ALMOST done, but I bought the major thing I need for it to be completed today, so yeah.
G-pa: Done
White Elephant: [not done, but that will be done after work oneofthesedays, since the party is Friday]
All 4 kids: Not done, because I’m a terrible Auntie Manda. Also, I don’t know what to get any of them, because I’m a terrible Auntie Manda. If I can’t think of anything before Friday, I will be doing very last minute [read: they'll get 'em late! *sob*] shopping for them, but my main family ppl are done.

I wish I could tell you what I got everyone, but people read this, so I can’t. I hope everyone likes everything.

*Damnit* I didn’t get Joe’s parents anything. I suck.

*** EDITED: 8:23pm *** Nevermind. I am the bestest daughter/grand-daughter/sister/fiancee/auntie/friend EVER. I’m all done w/ the shopping. Well, all the shopping that’s happening now. I still have some “friend” gifts to buy, if I have the money and inspiration strikes, but really this year, all I can afford is that “white elephant” gift.

I had to take back Joe and Charles’ presents because I found them cheaper online. I bought them in-store at B&N, but they were 20% cheaper on bn.com. I went to see if they’d price match, and the guy said “Oh, yeah. Everything’s cheaper online than in the store.” So… I’ll have to keep that in mind, especially if I plan on spending over $25 [since I'd get free shipping]. I ended up getting another $5 off because bn.com accepts paypal and they have a coupon code for $5 off a $50 or more purchase… so, Score!

I also needed to get some tissue paper and stuff for packaging up the other stuff, and I went back to the container store to get a couple more boxes, and now I’M DONE*. So, Merry Freaking Christmas.

* With the shopping. Still need to get knitting!!

PS: Sonic’s cheesecake bites are really good.
I bought presents for the kids, and they’re all getting the same “main” thing with a different.. erm, accessory. Except Lizzy, since she’s not old enough yet for what I bought for the other three. I’d love to tell you, but I want you mommies to be surprised. I almost bought some board games for Gabby and Gavin thinking that’d be kind of fun for the families… have a “family” night thing, but then I pictured Gabby trying to sit still long enough to play a board game, even one as pretty and somewhat girlie as CandyLand, and I decided that if I end up doing something like that, I’ll wait til they’re all a bit older. LOL And let me just tell you - it was one of my favorite toys as a kid, and I was having a blast playing with it at the store, trying to decide if it would be okay enough.

i just got home about 15 minutes ago. with the exception of about 40 minutes at lunch to get a Stupid cd of the Stupid project i worked on that was Stupid McStupid [sensing a theme here?], i have not been in my apartment since 8am this morning.

WHY have i been gone so long?

because i went out with my seeester. i went to pick her up after work. we went to this place called BJ’s that she’s been trying to get me to go to [verdict: was pretty good, but kind of expensive. well, hers was expensive. mine was a normal price range as far as what i spend at a sit-down restaurant, but the fact that my chicken sandwich was almost $9 is like, Stupid, to me. at least they didn't charge me for my salad. i ordered that INSTEAD of fries [yay me, for making a healthy decision], and i was kind of scared he was going to charge me anyway [one of those "add a salad for $7,324,429.99 $2.50" type deals, which would've made my sandwich and salad almost $11], but he didn’t [yay spiffy waiterdude] [could i possibly use brackets in this paragraph anymore?] [yes, yes i could] [okay, i'm stopping now] [no, seriously] [i mean it] [.].

we had to wait a bit to get into the restaurant, but after dinner, we had about an hour and a half-two hours to kill, so i went and did some of my christmas shopping, and megan did some christmas shopping, and then we went to the movie. also… what is SO WRONG about showing a movie at 8? or 9? the times went from 6:50 or 7:30 to 10 or 10:30. the hell? anyway, our movie was at 10, so we didn’t get out until 12:30. we went to see The Holiday, and it is CUTE. cute cute cute. it was longer than i expected it to be, but it was such a sweet movie. i thought cameron’s acting in the beginning was awful, but i got over it as the movie went on and ended up loving it.

there were also some previews that played that i made note of - literally. i keep a notepad in my purse, just in case. i might need an impromptu grocery list.. or i keep a list of yarn i’m looking for.. or phone numbers to hair salons… or whatever… but i had to make note of a few previews for specific people. since i’m typing and thinking about it now, i’ll tell you about them.

DINA: Julian McMahon. That’s all you need to know. The movie is Premonition, and it actually looks like it could be very stupid, but also very twisty and turny and could turn out okay, but… I repeat… JULIAN MCMAHON. Maybe he’s wearing a red bow in the movie. Sadly, there were no red bows in the preview, but there was a shower scene. It comes out in March. Oh, Sandra Bullock’s also in it, but did I mention JULIAN McMAHON?!

TERESA: Miss Potter. As in, Beatrix Potter. As in, Peter Rabbit. Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger [not sure if that does anything for you, but she plays Beatrix]. It looks really cute, but I don’t think they gave a date of when it comes out. Nevermind.. I did a little research - limited release is December 29, wide release is January 12.

After the movie, I took Megan home… then I came back, and now it’s 2am. I can’t go to sleep yet because it’s FREEZING in here. I turned the heat off when i went to work, and when I came home tonight, it was 60 degrees inside. i don’t even let it get that cold during the summer. so, here i am.

tomorrow i have to go to the Container Store to get some boxes for shipping and packaging presents. I have to go see if I can get Charles’ present, and see if I can get something for Megan and Joe and my friend Christmas party on the 15th or whatever… and then I’m done, except for the knitted stuff. Now that I’m not working on the Stupid Work Project, I should have more time…. I’m going to love the paycheck I get from the Stupid Work Project, but it sure did cut in on my Christmas Knitting time.

I can’t remember if I posted a Christmas Card Wishlist or not… I’m doing my Christmas cards this weekend. I actually just did some of them tonight.

If you’d like one, leave a comment and let me know or email me your address at hello[PERIOD]lovely[AT-SIGN]gmail[DOT]com [change the words to their corresponding symbols].

I so need to keep track of how I’m doing on Christmas presents.

Joe: already received one present, just ordered the next, hoping to have knitted gift done, but HAHAHA yeah right. [Sorry, babe. lol]
Mom: received one present the other day, already bought other present, knitted gift: complete. DONE!
C: received one present the other day; currently working on knitted gift; have a few ideas for another gift.
Megan: received one present the other day, currently working on knitted gift; have a few ideas for another gift.
G-ma: ALMOST DONE! WHEE!
G-pa: I have ideas, but nothing in my hands yet. Need to get these two finished quickly so I can mail them out!
Friends gifts: I’ve decided, as much as it pains me, to stick to the White Elephant party present. Either that, or just give really late presents. I just don’t have the cash this year!!

I also need to get my Christmas Cards done this weekend, and hopefully out next week. I need to go get some stamps, too. Maybe I’ll order the stamps online. We’ll see.