Here are some pretty Christmas pictures for you to enjoy, as well as some new ones of the animals.


( Photos! )

I just wanted to wish all of you a wonderful, peaceful and blessed Christmas and Yule.  May you receive the gifts you want, see the people you have missed, and eat all of your favorite foods.  Many hugs and much love to all of my friends.

Also, many thanks to queen_mamidala ,  burnslikeice ,  padawansguide , yocepha ,  catwithclaws ,  ninebrandy , princess_lesa , and sidhe_etain  (even though yours got lost by the post office - I really appreciate the thought!) for the wonderful cards - I love them all!
</lj></lj></lj></lj></lj></lj></lj></lj>

Started baking Christmas cookies this past weekend.  I made Fantasy Fudge (made with lots of butter, chocolate, walnuts, pecans and marshmallow creme), rice krispy treats, two kinds of iced sugar cookies (one a family recipe handed down through four generations), and sandtarts (very thin wafer cookies).  I also got the dough prepared for the date pinwheels, which I will finish tomorrow.  I also still have to do the snickerdoodles and the scotcharoos (heaven on earth - krispy treats made with peanut butter instead of marshmallows, with a choclate and butterscotch icing).  And I get to do it all again next week, for the batches I am making for friends that I am visiting over New Year's.  I love to cook and bake, though, so this is a real treat.  I can't wait when I move and am making meals; it will give me a chance to invite friends over for dinner a lot. My future roommate wants me to teach her to cook too, which will be fun, for I love to share and teach.

On a not-as-much-fun note, we had frozen pipes last night.  Fortunately, most of our water was okay, but the pipes for the shower run under a small crawlspace that is partially open to the outside.  We normally remember to leave the faucet dripping when it gets really cold, but we both forgot between Christmas preparations.  They did get thawed out later this afternoon, thanks to our good neighbor who brought down some heaters last night.  However, I had to wash my hair in the sink, which was interesting.  I also had to sleep on the couch last night, because it was way too cold upstairs.  Even though there is some insulation up there, not all the walls can be insulated (they are too thin) so it gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  Usually, it isn't that bad - just a little chilly - but because of the cold snap, it was not bearable; I could even see my breath up there.  The joys of living in a 100+ year old farmhouse.

It's hard to believe Christmas is almost here.  My shopping is done and wrapped, the tree is decorated, the baking is underway.  This is so much better than the last few years!

Stolen from sidhe_etain :

1. If you could only buy one present for one person but money were no object, what would you get for whom and why?  I would buy my mother a nice house, decorated in Victorian style, just like she wants.

2. Imagine you and your significant other/best friend were the pair in the Gift of the Magi. What would you sell/buy for them and what would they sell/buy for you?   Hmm.  I'm not really sure.  I would probably sell some of my Harry Potter busts to buy her a Parrish Relic.  I could see her selling off some costumes or some Dawn items to buy me the Snape Tonner doll.

3. Name three things you really want this year.  A DragonCon Eternal Membership (won't happen, but I can dream).  An external hard drive.  A telephoto lens for my Canon.

4. Name four things you’ll probably get.  My traditional Princeton Gallery porcelain unicorn, and Lenox carousel horse from Mom (I have been getting those from her since I was in seventh grade).  A gift card to a bookstore (hooray!).  A sword (Dad has been buying one for Christmas for the last five years).

5. Name something it’ll take you five months to pay off if you bought it.  At my current job, a Blu-Ray player.  If I get the job I hope to get soon, then a 50" LCD TV.

6. Name six generic present ideas for people on the “Oh, right. Guess we should get him/her something to unwrap” list.  Food gift baskets.  Bath sets.  Candles.  Picture frames.  Photo albums.  Coffee mugs.

7. Name something you would have really, really wanted seven years ago, but have no use for now.  Lord of the Rings action figures.  I used to collect them, and had almost all of them at one point.  However, I sold almost my entire LOTR collection to make room (and have money for) my Harry Potter collection.

8. Name eight ingredients for fruit cake.  RUM!  Pineapple, maraschino cherries, walnuts, pecans, flour, sugar, oranges

9. It’s a holiday cheer chain!:
Step 1.When you post your answers to this list in your journal, make sure to say who you lifted it from.
Step 2. Tag three people on your F-List to fill it out in their own journals.
Step 3. Check to see who the person in Step 1. lifted their list from, and leave THAT person a comment of holiday cheer.
Step 4. If everyone follows steps 1 – 3, you should get NINE cheerful comments to your original post. Neat, huh?

I'm not tagging anyone specific, play along if you want to!

10. Name something totally awesome someone could buy you for under $10.  Bookmarks (I can never have too many).  A volume of a manga.  A paperback novel.  Candles.  Gummi bears.  Frosted sugar cookies.

11. If you found yourself surrounded by eleven ladies dancing, what would your first thought be? "oh shoot.... I hope they don't want me to join in"  (I'm with you on this one, Grace, although probably for diffrent reasons)

12.What would you like to receive just once a month for twelve months?  A nice item to add to my HP collection - a bust from Gentle Giant, a prop replica from Noble Collection, a wand from Alivan's, etc.

Today was a good day; I got a lot accomplished.  In the morning, I made some homemade apple crisp, did the dishes from the night before, put in some laundry, and went to the basement and found my holiday and Christmas cards I had packed away.  After breakfast, I set up the two polar bear animatronics on the front porch, e-mailed those people whom I needed addresses for, set up a spreadsheet for my limited edition prints that I am going to be selling, and paid my bills for the first half of the month.  Mom and I then watched a taped episode of Ugly Betty, and then I did another load of laundry and prepared my holiday cards. 

In the afternoon, my aunt came over so she and Mom could try on some clothes.  One of Mom's friends had cleaned out her closet, and there was a TON of clothing she just gave to us - I'm talking 4 suitcases and 3 big boxes worth of clothes.  Nice stuff, too - some of it had never been worn (wonder what it's like to have that kind of money).  Both Mom and my aunt found stuff, and the rest is going to Goodwill sometime next week.  After dinner, I finished ordering my final online gifts, started a shopping list for next week, uploaded the pictures of my sword collection onto the laptop (still need to resize them) and am now checking e-mail, LJ, and my ebay postings.  We hope to get our tree tomorrow, and if my uncle comes over with his extension ladder, then we can get the lights on the eaves of the house (they blew down during Ike and we haven't been able to get them back up). 

I also dug out my Christmas CDs and have been listening to some of them.  For the first time since I started working retail, I am really feeling the holiday spirit.  It's nice to have my weekends off, and to be on a regular schedule, and not working 65-70 hours a week.

Found on sidhe_etain 's blog:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Either or.  If it's in a box, I like to wrap it and add fancy ribbons and bows.  But I make pretty gift bags too (thank Hallmark for that - haha).

2. Real tree or Artificial?
I prefer real trees, since we have always had one.  When I move out next year, I will be getting an artificial one (more practical for a single person, plus many apartments won't let you have a real one), but nothing can beat the smell of fresh pine and the feel of soft needles.

( More )


</lj>

 . . . to userpics/avatars/icons, whatever you want to call them.  I just upgraded my userpic space and spent a good hour uploading a ton of new ones.  Some are ones I've found online and just wanted to have on hand, others are new ones I created this afternoon to fill the void of missing fandoms (Deep Space Nine, Ever After, Twilight, Titanic, etc).  So you will be seeing a lot of variety from my userpics in the future, including the one with this post.  This was a picture of the full moon I took a couple of months ago, and I thought it would make a pretty icon.

Also, just 2 1/2 more weeks before I have met the four-month commitment to the temp program, and I will be eligible to post for regular full-time positions with the bank.  I've already started looking to see what is out there.  I plan to have a FT position at least lined up by the end of the year - I really need the benefits!

Brought up the outside decorations today.  Mom has a co-worker with an extension ladder who is coming later this week to help get the lights up on the gutters, and then I will put up the rest (2 inflatables, 2 polar bears, a horse and carriage, 2 trees, and a Santa).  I pomise to take pictures and post.  Next week will involve pulling all of the cookie recipes and making my shopping list - I am planning on creating some cookie plates for my friends this year.  I will also get my Christmas cards out in the next week or two, so if you would like one, please either post in my card poll/blog, or contact me directly with your address.

Poll #1306776 Holiday cards 2008
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 4

Do you want to receive a holiday card?

Your mailing address please.

Which holiday do you celebrate?

Elaborate on your holiday.

Thanks to those who replied to my previous message, and you don't have to respond to this one.  I saw this format on another friend's site, and thought it was a nice setup.