I feel like I never mentioned the awesome vintage Samsonite train case I got a few months ago.

I was , of course, tempted to go with the ubiquitous aqua, but this blue spoke to me.  It is lovely, and in very good condition, and it holds all of my make-up (not a small feat).  Before this, I had a "train case" from Caboodles - the outside was nice and sturdy, but the inside was all cardboard.  The inside of the lovely Samsonite train case is a lovely, pearly ivory plastic, which won't tear and dump my lip glosses into my eye shadows.  No more Caboodles for me!

I also may not have mentioned the little purple owl figurine I bought at the Music is Art Festival this summer.   He means business, and so of course I took him to work and put him on my computer.  He glares at me, sometimes smiles at me, while I do what I do.  I named him Julius.  This is Mealy Monster's Etsy site - Mealy Monster Land.  I kind of wish I could afford to buy all of her stuff.

At least a zombie or two.






*~*~*~*~*

I know that the holiday season isn't supposed to be just about the gifts, but I love giving.  I really enjoy thinking about what someone will like, and while I don't spend a lot of money, I do put in a lot of effort.  I did all of my online shopping in the first week of December, to make sure that everything got here on time, and I have been frustrated at every turn.

The US Postal Service held on to two packages, even after I asked them TWICE to redeliver, and mis-sent a third package to who knows where... which, of course, delayed my receiving it.

DHL had no tracking information at all for one package, just a note on their site saying that they were having problems tracking "several" domestic packages (I'm assuming that means ALL domestic packages).

One company didn't even bother sending out my package.  I sent a friendly e-mail asking if it had been shipped, and they immediately issued me a refund.  I ordered the same item from Amazon.com and paid extra for two-day shipping.  UPS said that the package was delivered to the "side door" on Thursday, so I came home all excited... and found nothing.  We have a lot of snow lying around, and I could easily see that no one had been near the side door - no footprints.

I looked at the UPS website, and the best I could do was claim the value of the item, and then MAYBE I might receive a payment for it in 10 days.  I contacted Amazon, and they said that sometimes the shipper will mark a package as delivered when it is nowhere near ready to be delivered.

I think I got the package today - apparently two-day shipping will actually take four days.

I know, these are total first-world country problems, and I am now that annoying chick who doesn't know how good she has it, being able to shop online for frivolous things in the first place.  But I have been so stressed out and frustrated over this!  At one point, I seriously thought that I'd have to tell almost everybody I was buying for that one of their presents hadn't arrived.

And still, I am ready to celebrate the holidays with my family.  I have more shopping to do on Tuesday, and then the wrapping, and then I'm heading down to Familyland on Wednesday night.  Izaak is turning 11 on Friday (ELEVEN, I can't believe it!), and then we're in the thick of it!

Can't wait.  

cold

It is so cold. And I am enjoying it. Yes, even as my feet turn to blocks of ice, even while I wait for my pajamas to warm up because they are freezing from my icebox of a room, even as I contemplate putting an extra comforter on my bed tonight, I am enjoying this cold.

I am enjoying the snow drifts that are piling up outside, and the wind that is driving the snow, even as it finds every hole in the house and creeps in and across my back. I am enjoying this winter in this cold, drafty house.

I like how the cold quiets down the world.

twinkle lights

It seems like a good time to put the flannel sheets back on the bed.

Buffalo is pretty much closed down because of snow. It's odd, because the city itself got very little snow last night (I have maybe three inches outside my house), but the southtowns and east of us got buried. If I were at my last job, I would have had a snow day today. Now I would much rather come to work at my current job than have a snow day at my last job - the awesomeness of snow days are not enough to cancel out the crazy-making properties of that place.

We were all anxious about the weather today, so I went out last night and stocked up on soups and canned goods. I also bought myself a 3-foot Christmas tree.

I decided recently that I wasn't going to bother decorating the house for Christmas. One roommate couldn't care less, and the other roommate is a dumb ass of epic proportions, and as such, does not deserve my decorating skillz. I put up purple twinkle lights in my room and decided that that was enough for me.

We decorated my mom's house last weekend, and Izaak and Owen and I had a very good time putting the ornaments on the tree. We had to keep telling Floyd to get out of the way so that we could actually get to the tree! I have never seen a cat who liked Christmas trees so much, and I don't mean in an "ATTACK THE TREE AND BRING IT DOWN!" way. No. Floyd would never disrupt the flow of the tree; he would think it uncouth to knock off and bat around the ornaments. Floyd would rather lay under the tree and bask in its glow.

And so it was mostly for Floyd (and just a bit for me) that I bought a pre-lit 3-foot Christmas tree for the family room, and some ornaments for it. I refuse to decorate the 2nd floor, but the 3rd floor, my little haven away from the Kid, now has a twinkly little tree for Floyd to hang around. I'm not sure if he'll fit underneath the tree yet, but he was rolling around next to it while I decorated it last night.

I don't know how much snow we'll get tonight, but this is what my weekend looks like - read, drink tea, eat soup, absorb the goodness of twinkle lights. Possibly see "Black Swan."