Damn, it's Monday night already
1. I should have updated last night and done the Obligatory Loot Post (OLP). So here it is now. I gave Mr. Annearchy 5 flannel shirts, which he liked. In addition to the Teen Trends doll and the Nutcracker wobble thing, Maya got (from us) a book from me about puberty, a Mall Madness game, a Critter Cruiser "car" and a plastic "race track" for Frisky, her hamster. Other relatives gave her a Borders gift card and $140 in cash. In addition to the Aquamassage gift certificate from Maya, I got checks totaling $150 from my parents and my in-laws. Mr. Annearchy gave me a Goblet of Fire photo-a-day calendar and a SanDisk Sansa m200 1 GB MP3 player, which I've been calling my pseudo-iPod. It's got a great little FM tuner in it too. Alas, we spent much of last night trying to figure out if we could download songs from my computer onto the Sansa. Unfortunately it apparently does not work with my ancient OS, Windows NT :( Mr. Annearchy forgot to ask the Best Buy sales guy about that; the sales guy said it "works with everything" (apparently no one at Best Buy can contemplate anyone in RL still having NT on their computer). We actually managed to plug the little USB cord into the USB slot in the front of my computer but couldn't download any songs from my hard drive. RAAAR. So we decided to reboot my computer and try things on the Linux side. photosinensis was a great help, even sending me a bit of Led Zeppelin, but I still haven't managed to get that onto the Sansa. RAAAR. So I might have to sneak the Sansa into work next week and see if I can download some MP3s from my work computer. If not, I'll end up having a very expensive little FM radio with headset. This is one of those gifts that makes me wonder if my husband actually listens to me. I told him months ago that I wanted to save up to buy an iPod. So he took it upon himself to buy me something that is functionally like an iPod, but not an actual iPod, and he didn't bother to find out if it would work with the operating system on my computer -- the OS that's there because he hates Bill Gates and doesn't want to upgrade to anything newer tha Windows 98 (which I still don't have on my computer). I mean, I really do appreciate the thought, and I'm sure that I'll love this little thing if I ever manage to get any music onto it. He wanted to surprise me, and he certainly did. But it seems like he didn't totally think this through when he bought it. *sigh* I know, I'm a bitch for even thinking this. When I get some MP3s on it I'll stop being a bitch about it.
2. Besides the gifts, Christmas Day was nice. I did manage to speak to several of my sisters and my dad on the phone. Didn't manage to get around to all 6 of then, which I feel bad about. I just ran out of steam and it was getting late and I was tired from standing in the kitchen for several hours, cooking a huge meal for 3 people. I'm trying to figure out why I'm supposed to clean up all the dinner dishes by myself. Some of them are still in the sink. Screw it.
3. We're doing major housecleaning over the holidays. The plan is to work on one room each day, because none of us has the stamina to try to spend a whole day cleaning the house (and I think it might take longer than 1 day anyway). We decided to start at one corner of the house, the dining room, and work our way to the other end. We did a great job and the room looks very nice now. The living room is the next project and, alas, it's a real mess; it's full of leftover Christmas wrappings etc. as well as several bags full of paper and cardboard recycling that need to go out on the curb in the recycling bin tonight. Well, that will clear up some of the mess anyway. One room at a time. *repeats mantra* We're hosting our "circle dinner" for church on 1/14 and if we do most of the cleaning over the holidays we won't have to panic then.
4. I can't wait for some of Maya's friends to get back from wherever they went over the weekend. Maya's best friend, KH, went away (to Chicago I think) and then when she got back today, Maya called her house and found out that KH is sick. ES is off at her dad's house. KR is at her grandmother's. AP is at tae kwon do "holiday camp". MM, who lives across the street part time, was off at the mall today. Maybe tomorrow Maya can play with someone a lot younger than me or Mr. Annearchy. Heave knows she needs some kid companionship. I've played MALL MADNESS about as many times as I want to right now. It's a fun game but it's got a big flaw -- there doesn't seem to be a way to END the game. Your "player" is supposed to run around this "mall", get money from an "ATM" and "buy" 6 items on a shopping list, then go to a place in the mall as directed by an electronic voice. But there's no way to tell the EV that you've reached that place and won the game. So the EV tries to give you directions to do more things. BASTA!! Otherwise it's kind of fun. I did send in a complaint to Hasbro.com (home of MiltonBradley) to say this was a flaw in an otherwise fun game.
5. Maya and Mr. Annearchy made a snow fort in our backyard yesterday while I was cooking. Today, when Maya couldn't find anyone to play with, she asked me to come out with her for awhile and play in the fort. She wanted me to get more snow to make the walls higher. I must have bent over wrong or slipped or something, more than once, because by the time I actually put some snow on the fort, my left buttock was killing me. I guess I re-injured a muscle that I'd hurt a couple of weeks ago. The upshot is that my back has been killing me since about 2:00 p.m. I've iced it several times but that's not really helping. I can't bend over or walk without a lot of pain :( akjdf;alkjd;ak I'm supposed to donate blood at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, so I can't take aspirin or ibuprofen before then, only tylenol. Arrrgh. I might have to try to get in to see my chiropractor this week. Grrrr.
6. Needless to say, we didn't manage to see GoF in IMAX today. Grrr. Okay, we'll try on Wednesday.
Hope y'all's day went better than mine.
2. Besides the gifts, Christmas Day was nice. I did manage to speak to several of my sisters and my dad on the phone. Didn't manage to get around to all 6 of then, which I feel bad about. I just ran out of steam and it was getting late and I was tired from standing in the kitchen for several hours, cooking a huge meal for 3 people. I'm trying to figure out why I'm supposed to clean up all the dinner dishes by myself. Some of them are still in the sink. Screw it.
3. We're doing major housecleaning over the holidays. The plan is to work on one room each day, because none of us has the stamina to try to spend a whole day cleaning the house (and I think it might take longer than 1 day anyway). We decided to start at one corner of the house, the dining room, and work our way to the other end. We did a great job and the room looks very nice now. The living room is the next project and, alas, it's a real mess; it's full of leftover Christmas wrappings etc. as well as several bags full of paper and cardboard recycling that need to go out on the curb in the recycling bin tonight. Well, that will clear up some of the mess anyway. One room at a time. *repeats mantra* We're hosting our "circle dinner" for church on 1/14 and if we do most of the cleaning over the holidays we won't have to panic then.
4. I can't wait for some of Maya's friends to get back from wherever they went over the weekend. Maya's best friend, KH, went away (to Chicago I think) and then when she got back today, Maya called her house and found out that KH is sick. ES is off at her dad's house. KR is at her grandmother's. AP is at tae kwon do "holiday camp". MM, who lives across the street part time, was off at the mall today. Maybe tomorrow Maya can play with someone a lot younger than me or Mr. Annearchy. Heave knows she needs some kid companionship. I've played MALL MADNESS about as many times as I want to right now. It's a fun game but it's got a big flaw -- there doesn't seem to be a way to END the game. Your "player" is supposed to run around this "mall", get money from an "ATM" and "buy" 6 items on a shopping list, then go to a place in the mall as directed by an electronic voice. But there's no way to tell the EV that you've reached that place and won the game. So the EV tries to give you directions to do more things. BASTA!! Otherwise it's kind of fun. I did send in a complaint to Hasbro.com (home of MiltonBradley) to say this was a flaw in an otherwise fun game.
5. Maya and Mr. Annearchy made a snow fort in our backyard yesterday while I was cooking. Today, when Maya couldn't find anyone to play with, she asked me to come out with her for awhile and play in the fort. She wanted me to get more snow to make the walls higher. I must have bent over wrong or slipped or something, more than once, because by the time I actually put some snow on the fort, my left buttock was killing me. I guess I re-injured a muscle that I'd hurt a couple of weeks ago. The upshot is that my back has been killing me since about 2:00 p.m. I've iced it several times but that's not really helping. I can't bend over or walk without a lot of pain :( akjdf;alkjd;ak I'm supposed to donate blood at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, so I can't take aspirin or ibuprofen before then, only tylenol. Arrrgh. I might have to try to get in to see my chiropractor this week. Grrrr.
6. Needless to say, we didn't manage to see GoF in IMAX today. Grrr. Okay, we'll try on Wednesday.
Hope y'all's day went better than mine.