eurydicebound

...which is roughly how many days I got off of work for the holiday and how long this warped sense of not having any idea what time it is or day it is is destined to last. I swear, without the routine of work or school for the kids, it's a miracle I can keep track of anything at all. My poor confused brain. After hermiting for a few days together, we're now trying to get out at least once a day for a little while, so we don't all go postal together in such a small house. Not really being able to get away from each other, especially when two of the people here are small energetic and loud boys, can be difficult -- especially when the weather is cold and rainy and going outside to play isn't much of an option.

The holidays have gone well. Santa has come and gone, leaving only crumbs of gingerbread cookies (made and decorated with loving care and abstraction by the kiddos), milk residue, and a whole bunch of games and toys. The hits of the season are the Treasure Planet ship and action figures to go with it, Animal Crossing and TMNT2 for the Gamecube, Mousetrap (the board game), and a whole host of other boardgames and such that we're still working our way through. A friend of mine who works at EA sent a 5 pack of kid software (for kids), a 5 pack of grownup games (for David), and a beautiful beaded necklace for me. She's designing her own jewelry in hopes of building a sort of cottage industry out of it, and her stuff is absolutely fantastic. I love it. Other than that, the loot I scored included a $15 gift certificate for Amazon.com, a rug for my kitchen, a novel from a friend, and my own copy of World of Warcraft (thanks to husband and children).

Finally cooked the holiday feast, the headline act of which was Cranberry Glazed Ham, recipe courtesy of Cooking Light. Turned out really well if I do say so myself. Other than that, I kept things pretty simple, as it's only us here and cooking tons of food doesn't make much sense. I also want my kids to want to eat it, so I have to keep that in mind too and not get too crazy on the flavor combinations. Ended up just having mashed potatoes, corn, bread, and carrots. I saved my extravagence for the desserts, which were Maple-Pumpkin Pie (wow, so good), and Warm Apple Pie with Buttermilk Custard... sort of like a 1 crust apple and custard pie with a streusel topping. Not as heavy as regular apple pie, but awfully, awfully good, and just as good cold as warm.

I had to replace my air mattress finally, as the old airbed finally gave up the ghost after the kids got into my room and played on it one day. It wasn't really designed for long-term use, but I can't afford to get a real bed and mattress yet. Instead, I went back today and got another airbed as a pseudo-temporary replacement. It ain't much, but I can't get any other sort of bed thing for under $40. With any luck, David will start next month with his unit (or maybe get a more permanent job) and we can fix this problem more permanently sooner rather than later.

Don't have much other news... I'm enjoying the time off, but I think I'll actually be ready to go back to work when it's done, which is an amazing thing in and of itself. David will be in Korea for 2 weeks in March, which means that GenCon in August becomes much more of a possibility for me. No real news on that front yet, but I'll keep everyone posted when I discover what I might be doing. I really want to make Origins, but I'll likely be bringing the whole family along again. I had more fun going solo, but everyone else enjoyed it so much that it's terribly hard to say no. It's also over July 4th weekend, so I wouldn't necessarily have to take lots of time off to make it happen -- an obvious plus.

Sounds like most other people had a good holiday, and I"m glad to know everyone's still well. For those who's end-of-year has been harder, I'm thinking about you and hoping things turn out all right.