Christmas Already, Seriously?

Good grief! The Raleigh Christmas parade is this Saturday. 101.5 is playing Christmas music already. It's too early, isn't it? Actually, I just realized today that I only have 2 more paychecks before Christmas - YIKES!

I like shopping online. In previous and more plentiful years (not too recent, actually), I completed all of my Christmas shopping online. Not only was it great to avoid the crowded malls, it sort of felt like my own little mini-Christmas morning every time the UPS man came to the door.

How about you? Are you shopping online? Is so, why not help me out and access Amazon through my blog. You can start your "search" for the perfect gifts in the upper right hand corner, or just click HERE. My commission won't increase your prices, and Amazon is a super-easy and trusted place to shop on the web.

I'm hoping to write some more Christmas shopping hubs soon. My Inexpensive Christmas Gift Ideas for Teen Girls published October 15 has nearly 1000 views! Help me out - leave a comment and tell me what would you really, really, really like for Christmas?

TV Online

I'm hooked on cbs.com. I like it better than regular tv. The commercials are short - 30 secs. And I can organize my own "marathons" of various shows. Currently, I'm about half way through Season One of Perry Mason, and I'm loving it! It just kills me how everyone smokes, constantly!

I first stumbled across tv viewing at CBS when I wanted to see missed episodes of Big Brother. Now I usually catch Survivor the same way. But I'm having the most fun with the old stuff. I find it especially interesting to see the "length" of the shows. The old dramas are always 50-plus minutes - the new ones, barely over 40.

Maybe I'll check out other networks, eventually, but so far the ones I have tried want me to download their own video player. I don't recall doing that at CBS. I think I have a long way to go before running out of material, anyway. I do still have the regular tv, and DVR.

Maybe if I wasn't watching so much I'd be writing - there's a thought!

Haven't Been a Very Good Blogger

I thought this would be easier - especially this sort of "personal" blog, but it seems I'm not writing as much as I used to. I still journal but not daily, and I still hesitate to put many personal reflections "out here" in Internet Land. But how hard would it really be to just throw a little update out here now and then?

We had a pretty decent weekend. We started Saturday morning upgrading cell phones for Ken & Lindsey, and adding a line for Carson (his first). It cost me more than I wanted, but isn't that always how it works? Today I went ahead and ordered upgrades for Camille and myself, too. Camille was going to wait for Christmas but agreed to remember this was her big gift if I went ahead and ordered it now, and I guess I just got jealous that everyone else was getting new phones!

Saturday afternoon I hosted a meetup event at Bedford Community in North Raleigh. We had a good turnout and the weather was beautiful! My friend Steve Quinney provided the entertainment with his buddy Jay on guitar.

Last night Ken & I sat in the garage & drank beer & listened to the radio. Nothing new there, huh? One of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday night :-)

Sundays are usually quiet, and today was no exception. I lazed around watching Lifetime movies, spent a while on the phone with my sister Deborah, and checked out lots of photo albums on myspace.

So how hard was that? Did I bore you to tears? Oh well, maybe something worth writing about just won't come to me every day.

I Really Need to Quit Smoking...

I type, as I sit here puffing.

I don't smoke in the house. I have a cool garage, complete with couch, 'frig, stereo and tv. I spend many evenings in my garage, in part so I can smoke, in part to watch tv independent of my repeat-sit-com fan husband. Tonight, I'm trying to focus on the debate. Even take a few notes.

I went to the 'frig for a beer during Obama's first response and before I made it back to my seat, I noticed something on the concrete floor next to the couch. What was that? A necklace? I started to lean over...and...it was a snake! Look at the date of this blog, folks! October 15! Yes, it's hot. It got up to 88 today in NC. But come on. It's October!

It wasn't a big snake, maybe 6 or 7 inches long. I am not sure what kind it was.

I opened the garage door while grabbing the broom and yelled for my daughter to "Come Here! Quick!" She did - she's a good girl, she knows when I mean it. I swept him into the middle of the floor before he made it all the way under the couch - right where I had been sitting before I stood to get a beer - right where I was about to sit back down - right where I am sitting now - but cross-legged, with my feet on the couch instead of the floor!

I told Camille to grab the camera and tried to use the broom to keep the snake in the middle of the garage. Then I noticed an empty shoe box my husband had left in the garage. I decided to try to catch the snake so I could show it to Ken when he got home. Ha. When I tried to sweep the snake into the box, he dashed under the cabinet the stereo sits on. Thank goodness it has wheels. After unsuccessfully trying to use the broom to swish it back out, we rolled the cabinet out of the way, and the terrified (?) little snake was curled in a little ball. Camille grabbed the box and the broom and swept the snake into the box. "Gimme the lid, gimme the lid" and I obliged. As soon as she had the lid on the box - the snake came out of a hole in the bottom! We screached and sreamed and swept him out the door. He slithered away into the grass. "I hope we didn't hurt him," Camille said. "He seems to be moving kind of wierd."

Lord have mercy. Just keep moving wierdly AWAY from my garage!

I need another cigarette.