Naturally Optimistic

Happy New Year! Well, almost at least. Still don't have "plans" but that' s okay...just can't get that into it this year. We are going to dinner - probably just pizza (the best pizza in town) and then maybe a house party, maybe out to a bar for a drink, we shall see. I'm not worried. The best part of this NYE is the fact that I have someone I love to kiss at midnight! I can't wait! I have had a very good day around home....cleaning, laundry, changing sheets, working on the puzzle, running errands...it's been great. The only thing I'm bummed about is I called my friend SS to hear about her recent trip to China - she answered on call-waiting and told me she'd call me back in 10 minutes. That was an hour ago. I hate call-waiting. Grrrr. We're supposed to have 6+ inches of snow tomorrow -yeehaw! I can't wait. I love a good snowy day. S & I are supposed to work on the whole in the dining room ceiling tomorrow - that will be good...

12-30-04 Artsy Pic Through Icicles Originally uploaded by carrster . Our office closed at 1pm today due to the crappy weather we're having. Since when does it rain in Duluth in December? The roads were yucky and probably will only get worse...right now it's about 30 degrees outside so as soon as the temperature drops we're in for some trouble.

I have been composing posts at work for a week now but they're still in my "draft" folder of my email....so that's why there's been no posts... But to update before the pictures are available....the week was a good one.... Wednesday - dinner at S's dad's house with his sister & fiance. Yum. Thursday - day off! Whohooo! cleaned the house, went to dinner with his Mom, sibs & his Mom's boyfriend. Exchanged gifts with J - received Brian Setzer Orchestra's Boogie Woogie Christmas CD & the new Tom Wolfe novel ("I am Charlotte Simmons"). Oh - and 3 U2 mixes that he newly created. Yes! Friday - baked bread, wrapped last gifts, went to church with S's Mom, her boyfriend, aunt & uncle and sister. Catholic Mass for a Methodist girl....it was nice to be in church on Christmas Eve. I just wish there had been more singing!! Christmas Eve dinner at S's Dad, charades at his Aunts. Did I mention I KICK ASS at charades? heh ...

Guess I've been a big slacker...doh! Well, I have been busy attending functions, making gifts, baking/decorating and the other usual Christmas stuff... Christmas party on Tuesday night for the company...which was really nice. We ate a lot of good food, had a few delish drinks, got a gift, sang some karaoke and didn't feel too crappy the next day. Tired but not crappy. My gift was animated lawn deer that are covered in white lights. Eh. They're fine, they're okay - I am a sucker for putting up Christmas lights but S & I are on a "get-rid-of-crap" kick and so weren't too into them. Plus they'd probably get stolen. I secretly switched with the gift committee and ended up with a bottle of Baileys and a gift certificate to a restuarant which we will enjoy much more. Wednesday was a b-day party for a friend of mine. M was in the film and has been a decent cool guy to hang with. He's an actor and has an amazingly wonderful gravelly voice. He...

Okay- I have some pics to post and some stories to tell (mostly of the dull and uninteresting kind but whatever) but right now I need to take a nap. The company Christmas party was last night and although I mostly behaved and didn't stay out too late...I have been fighting the sleepies ALL DAY and now I'm giving in.

Excellent - more Christmas progress today.... Slept in way too late but it was wonderful. I blame it on the warm, snuggly body next to me and the tractor beam on the bed. Too good to pass up. Waffles followed - yum....After that we put up the remaining white Christmas lights up front and another string of green in the back. They look great. I went to work on the film but was told J "wasn't in the mood to see people." He sounded really depressed and was still in bed (at 2pm) which I took to not be a good sign. I talked to him on the phone for a while but I just didn't fight it as much as I could've. I could've demanded that I come in and put some music in, etc...but I didn't have it in me...Did I mention that? So I came home... I baked all my sugar cookies & all the gingerbread men. Yummy! Now they need to be decorated, incorporated into packages and eaten! :-) Tonight S & I went to a Bulldogs' hockey game (UMD - Division I hockey)....

SnowBear Originally uploaded by carrster . A photo! Here is a picture of S (or "the boy") and my first Snow...creature! AS you can see we used up most of the snow in the yard...ah well, they'll get more!

Well...another day has come (and practically) gone. *sigh* Where does the time go? I slept in...til 9:30 not too bad but I could've gotten up earlier. My bed has a tractor beam on it - I swear to god. It's fantastic and I love it. Yay for the King Koil... but seriously... I made 2 batches of old-fashioned soft pumpkin cookies 1 batch of sugar cookie dough 1 batch of gingerbread cookie dough 1 party-pizza (which I ate for lunch) hee hee I cute little journal....got the idea here (LOVE this site btw) I have several more to make...I'm getting to it! I feel like I have been go-go-go all day (except for the 45 minutes I snoozed I mean read....(ahem) but I have so much left to do. OH - I did write about a bagillion Christmas cards and have them ready to go to the post office... Tonight S & I are going to dinner at T&P's. They recently got married & S took the photos...it'll be fun to look at them even though I looked like a total hag that d...

I'm dreading it already. I got out of "working" tonight (ie: editing, putting music clips in, polishing sound, what have you) but have sacrificed a couple of hours on Saturday to work instead. I just can't get into it. Tonight - I have excuses - I have to buy blank cd's, go Christmas shopping NOT on a weekend, pick up ingredients for next week's crock-pot meal, watch THE APPRENTICE, finish my Christmas cards, etc! But Saturday?!? Giving up precious 2-5 on a Saturday? It is almost too much for me to bear. I'm so incredibly burnt out and depressed and annoyed with the whole project at this point. I don't want to sit in a room staring at the same images I've been staring at for going on 23 months (okay - exaggeration - we started auditioning 23 months ago...maybe it was 22 at any rate - it's been a LONG time); I don't want to plug music in that we don't REALLY like but have to go with anyway because that's what we have and ...

Dear People-At-Work: It's a gift. For Christmas . Lighten up and contribute and give it a rest. Thanks Me. Dear Idiot Drivers: YIELD does not mean stop. Thanks Me. Dear People-Who-Suckily-Plow-the-Parking-Lot: What the FUCK? You plowed one lot...okay. You plowed the other end lot...okay but just decided to skip the middle one? Now all the slushy snow/ice has frozen again and is deathly to walk on and a real pain in the ass. Thanks...a lot. Me. Dear Drivers-of-Big-Ass-Pick-Ups-And-Other-Lame-os: The lines are painted there FOR A REASON...you're supposed to park between them not directly on top of them. Thanks. Me. Dear Pants: Why won't you fit? I mean, I know why but just please fit. Pleeeeeaaasssse. Thanks Me. Dear Party-Poopers-At-Work: It's called a potluck because everyone brings something. Even my boss agrees that the fun of this particular yearly tradition is to share something that you are really great at making. Chipping in mone...

Today I tried really hard to get into the Christmas spirit - it's working a little bit... First the Boy and I put up Christmas lights. Some "icicles" along the top of the porch and some red & green lights in a tree in the backyard. The icicle lights were fresh out of the box (I bought them last year just after Christmas for $1.99 and still almost went out and bought more because I forget ...) and look rather stupid because they're not hanging down...they're all clumped up even though we did try to pull them down. Oh well. We did get to hang out on the roof which was fun - but COLD. It's cold today - 17 maybe with a nasty nasty wind chill. Brrrrrr *shiver* The tree in the backyard needs more lights...but it's a start. We also have to pick up some white lights for the funky bushes/trees in front of the porch...as the ones I used last year are now permanently in the living room and bedroom. Oh well. I love lights! Then SBH and I went on the Historic...

It's cold today - winter is setting in...it is December 1st after all (egad)... I put a roast in the crockpot this morning and it smells delish...added potatoes, carrots and onions at lunchtime and things are just about ready to be eaten. Yum. Of course I just witnessed Iko pee ...well, he started in the litter box and then slowly raised the stream up to hit the towel covered cardboard box which the box is sitting in. I think he must be getting old and creaky because the idea is there...executiion is starting to fail. What is it with me & cat pee? Anyhoo - this wasn't suposed to be about cat pee...*sigh* I'm off to edit (again) tonight...this is it...tomorrow we will make a dump of the film and I will mail it on Friday...then I'm taking a holiday break and not submitting to any more festivals until we are REALLY done. Okay - time to eat some taters & beef! Yes! (I have to eat alone as the Boy had to go to Brainerd today for work. :-( He will p...