I should post something before I leave. I'm headed back to my parents' tomorrow morning, and I haven't even started packing yet. They have dial-up, so I hate using the internet there. It's like using a rotary phone.

Emily and Matt arrived in Iowa yesterday. It was a suprise from my dad to my mom as her Christmas present. I heard she cried when Emily walked through the door, but I'm looking forward to the video.

Saturday was the annual Tae Kwon Do instructors thank you dinner. Mr. Ashton took us to Hu Hot Mongolian Grill. I am so addicted to their Thai Peanut Sauce, it's the only thing I ever choose anymore. I did add Yellow Belly Curry to the Thai Peanut for my second round, so I am expanding a little.

I ventured to the mall Sunday afternoon to get my hair cut. Bad idea. The line to get into the mall parking lot was a quarter of a mile long. This is why I shop on the internet.

I was almost on my own teaching at the Gym Nest these last two sessions. Chelsea and Josh were off on vacation getting engaged (Yay!), and Troy's grandfather died and he obviously had better priorities. We did a lot of Tae Kwon Do dodgeball and sparring. Group activities, good.

I swear John Edwards is stalking me. I have received a piece of mail or another from his campaign every day for the last three weeks. Yesterday I received a holiday card. That was much more disturbing than the oversize flyers I have been receiving (every day). He keeps this up and I'm going negative at the caucus. I'm sure my mailman hates him.

I have not yet sent out Christmas cards. I am afraid I am going to be one of those this year. They'll be Epiphany cards, I guess.

I have been working almost non-stop (read: about 15 minutes a day) trying to finish something I'm making for my brother for his stocking. (If you're on Ravelry, you can look, but I'm refraining from mentioning too much, just in case.) I'm very pleased so far, but it has to be done before I get home tomorrow.

A client sent us a bottle of wine for Christmas. It's about that time where I'm going to go open it up.

Merry Christmas!

It's going to be a boy! I can finally start calling Cletus "him" and "nephew". What a relief. All that extra either/or's were way too much work.

[sigh]

What a week. I finally "finished" that tax return I've been working on non-stop since last week. We're filing, correct or not, while I finish the financial statements. If there's anything wrong with what I've done so far, we'll amend. So that stress is over with, finally. Hopefully now I can take a little time to be at home and do things like wrap presents, crochet those two gifts, and watch TV. I don't think I've watched television in over a week. That's gotta be some kind of record for me.

I also need to find time to get my hair done. My bangs are down to the tip of my nose, and my roots look like the sparkle brigade. (Because I'm bitching about it, I just called and made an appointment. See? Productive complaining.)

I was planning on doing 12 of 12 yesterday, and even started. Then I left my camera on my desk for all the interesting activities of the day, so I didn't. There were some very pretty pictures I could have gotten, too, with all the ice coating the trees. The landscape has been scenic lately, but dangerous. I haven't lost any trees yet, but the pine in my front yard is close to losing a rather large branch from all the heavy ice coating. Hopefully I can still get some pictures, but it's just above freezing today, so it's pretty melty out there.

Eek! I'm going insane with too much to do. Mom reminded me last night that there's only two weeks to Christmas, and my jaw about dropped. Half the fun of Christmas is the anticipation, and I haven't had the time to enjoy the anticipation yet! Saturday, I worked all day because I have this tax return due on the 15th, and I am so far behind it's not funny. Even if I hadn't missed a couple days last week because of the migraine and training I would have been behind. Saturday night we went to see Wylde Nept at The Mill, which is always fun. I was up until 2 a.m. drinking Guinness and Bell's Double Cream Stout (which is just as good as Guinness, if not better - blastphemy, I know!) and singing Celtic drinking songs. I really need some of these CD's. I always buy a few for tax season...maybe I'll do that this year. I was smart, I would have asked for them for Christmas.

Anyway, I was up late Saturday, and I literally slept Sunday away. I don't know if it was a product of staying up late, or the stress of last week catching up with me, but I needed the rest and there went my plan of going back into work. So I'm still stressed, but well-rested and therefore less stressed. Who knows how long that will last, but I'll sure be glad when this week is over. Maybe I'll have time to enjoy Christmas then.

I didn't test. I finally decided this morning, and when I made the decision, it felt right, so I know I'm doing the right thing. I just...I'm disappointed. It's the right decision, but I'm disappointed.

I'm done feeling like crap. I was in bed all day yesterday with that heat intolerance shit, and I have no idea what triggered it this time. The allergy medication obviously didn't work. I haven't tried the migraine meds yet, but I think I'm going to try going off bc first. My dentist of all people suggested it, and I'm thinking it makes complete sense. If it's really what's causing these symptoms, the benefits are so totally not worth it.

The sooner the better. I feel like I went through a week's worth of flu in one day, and today I'm a zombie. Losing a day's work was really bad, too. I have to get this review and tax return done by next Wednesday at the latest, and I'm going to have to work this weekend in order to finish it on time, now. And I can't skip TKD tonight since I'm testing on Friday. And I have to test because my year is up, and all these people are coming to watch because it's for my first-degree black belt, and I'm worried to death that I'm not going to even be able to make it all the way through and I haven't even made up my last one-step yet!

Waaaah! Just - Waaaah!

I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can physically do it. If I can't even get through warm up and forms without getting sick, how am I going to get through line drills, forms, sparring, one-steps and still be able to maintain enough control over my muscles to break a board? The one thing that I wanted when I started doing this was to do it right. I waited each time until I was sure I was ready. And now, the most important test...I can't do it. I don't want to do some half-assed job, and if I try it now, that's what it's going to feel like. If I fight through the dizziness and the nausea to try and do this, I don't think I can do it the way I've been imagining it for five years. I'm bawling over the frustration of it all.

And I still don't know what is the right thing to do.

I'm taking a Plumbing for Home Owners class through the local community college. It's a three week class, and it started this evening. We learned about all the different kinds of pipes, and learned how to solder. I even got to keep my pipe.

It feels a lot more like Christmas with the decorations up. I had to let the tree drip on the floor for a while yesterday, to let all the ice melt off, but that worked out all right. I decorated outside while the tree dripped inside. The whole time I was thinking I should have just said to hell with cleaning the house and decorated last weekend. Especially as I was trying to balance the step ladder on ice-encrusted snow.

My favorite tradition, I think, is putting decorations on the tree. Every ornament I pull out of the box and hang on the tree is a memory. "Grandma and I picked out the same ornament when we were at Farm 'n Fleet that year" or "Emily and I have matching ones of these" (there are a lot of those) or "This one I got from a band fundraiser". Then I get to sit back and smell the pine for the rest of the month.



Mmmm. Christmas.

I was going to go get my Christmas tree and hang lights today. Instead, we get an ice storm. [/pout]