Christmas Presents Gone!

Most of the Christmas presents are finished and gone. Holly came over yesterday, and since she was sending presents to some of the same people, she took those so that she could mail just one BIG box to the recipients. She also took the presents for people she would be seeing real soon. I'm sorry that these didn't get out sooner. Mailing was delayed mostly by weather, snow, sleet, extreme cold, and/or wind, plus a couple of days that I was feeling really bad.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that I've finished all the presents.

I've been going crazy trying to think of a present for Robin. It's really difficult, because Robin has so much money that he can buy whatever he wants, so he has everything he wants, and I'm so short of money that I can barely afford anything. But, after 3 months of looking for the perfect present for him, inspiration finally struck. Actually, two inspirations, one to make, and one to buy. The one to buy has been ordered over the internet, and has been shipped and is on it's way. I bought most of the yarn for the other one yesterday.

The other person who hasn't got a Christmas present yet is Everett. I've been trying to find yarn to make his present, but haven't had any luck so far. We looked at Michaels, and AC Moore yesterday, and neither had what I needed. Well, actually, Michaels had three of the six balls I needed in the color I wanted, but in different dye lots. So, I'm still looking.

While out, Holly and I stopped a Borders. I finally got a calender for the new year, plus the Septimus Heap book that is the fourth in the series (Queste), and out in paperback at last. I have the fifth book (Syren) ordered at the library, but it will be a while before I get it. Holly had a 33% off coupon for me, and I used it to buy The Sorceress of Karres! Now I have lots of great stuff to read!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Holly gave me a gift certificate to Knit Picks for Christmas! Now I'm mulling over what to buy.

Knit Picks has piqued my imagination with their new designers program. I have got to make some designs for them and for myself! I'm considering making a hat for my first project.

While we were out, we stopped at the WalMart that's at the Manassas Mall, and were amazed! This WalMart is so big and has lots of stuff that the others don't have! Having all that stuff available would seem to be an advantage, but it is so big that I got tired of walking before I got everything.

We topped everything off with a trip to Ruby Tuesday and a lot of catching up and fun.

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There are lots of programs on TV tonight with new episodes! They include: Chuck, Heroes, Castle (this is the episode with Alyssa Milano), Fringe (on a different night), and The Big Bang Theory! Unfortunately, Heroes, Fringe and The Big Bang Theory are all on at the same time, thus exceeding my DVR's capacity to record two shows at once.

I promised John that I would finish the work he wanted me to do on the Steve Canyon poster today, and it's not done yet, so I have to go.

There will probably not be a post tomorrow due to my last dental appointment! There will be drilling and a dubious filling will be replaced, and I will get my final caps, and I'll be done. I don't feel that I can really say that I'll be happy to go, but I'll be happy to get it finished!

Have a great evening and a wonderful week!

Crash Blossom

This is going to be a fun post!

When I checked Facebook today, I found a link to a really great post on another website. This was posted by my friend, Rick Sternbach, and reposted by another friend, John Ellis.

Please do read the article at the link. I think you'll enjoy it. It's full of headlines that say things that were never intended, such as the infamous headline referred to above, "Confusion Caused by Crash Blossoms." The article calls them "the phenomenon of ambiguously or bizarrely worded headlines." This has added a whole new expression to the English language, i.e., "Crash Blossoms."

These are the kinds of headlines that Jay Leno and David Letterman read on their shows.

When you get to the end of the article, don't miss the links for eggcorns, snowclones and Cupertino. The comments at the ends of the articles aren't bad, either.

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Then I checked my email and found this, sent to me by Holly:

You have got to listen to this! If you have hearing problems, like I do, the entire verbal part is also captioned on the screen, so you really don't even have to turn the sound up on your computer. This is an actual recording from a school answering machine in Australia, and it's wonderful!

While I was there checking that out, I found this:

I've heard this one before, but it's always fun to listen to again.

And the ultimate answering machine message from God:

Well, I thought that was the ultimate answering machine message until I heard this. This explains the whole "telemarketers are going to hell" theme from the previous message:

And I think we've reached the end of this particular theme!

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Eastwick will be back with a new episode tonight!

I picked up some books I ordered from the library yesterday, including The Witches of Eastwick. I've heard that Eastwick was based on the book, so I wanted to read it. The other book I picked up was The Sorceress. I can't wait to read both of them!

I'm almost done reading The Wizard of Karres, so I'll be ready for them soon. I'm looking forward to reading The Sorceress of Karres when it comes out next month, too. If you're planning on reading them, be sure to start with The Witches of Karres, which is the first book.

I am so far behind on my Christmas present-making! Thanks for losing your mitts, Malaia! I'm taking extra measures to help you hang onto these!

Have a wonderful evening!

The Big Bang Theory

I happened to come across this today, and thought you'd enjoy it.

I only discovered The Big Bang Theory recently, and I don't know if this is a new episode that's coming up, or one that's been shown before, but I thought it was very funny, and I thought others would enjoy it.

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Yesterday, I went running over to the library lugging enough books to return to cause spinal damage, and there was a Christmas tree up in the airlock between the outside door, and the inside one. It was so pretty, it stopped me in my tracks. The lights on it were white (clear) and in the shape of roses! The tree was covered in lit-up white roses! So pretty!

I asked where they got them, and Susan said CVS, so after I returned my books and dragged home another stack of bone-endangering proportions, I went over to CVS.

Well, I think that each CVS store got a different batch of lights, and that they weren't all the same because they didn't have roses, but they did have stars! Stars! Which was even better! Susan warned me that there are a lot of lights on the string (30), but that they're so close together that a string of lights doesn't go very far, and that the tiny tree had two strings of lights on it. So, since my tree is a similar size, I got two strings, also.

Now, I just have to get the tree up!

I have so much to do at the moment, and not enough time to do it! I haven't gotten any of the Christmas decorations up yet. I did pull out one string of lights and plug them in so that I could see how pretty they are, though.

And I have the tiny lavender tree that I just got to put up, too. I know, a lavender tree sounds SO tacky, but it really is pretty. The pink one just like it is tacky, though. I'm really determined to get that up tonight!

So, I have all the Christmas decorating to do, I really should go back to CVS and get at least one more Zyrtec so that I can take one today. Actually, I should have done that much earlier than this (it's about 5:30, and I should have taken one by now), I have a blog post to put up, and I still have more work on the back cover of the Steve Canyon DVD than I expected to have at this point! And I'm not even going to think about how much knitting I still have to do for Christmas presents!

I have re-prioritized my Christmas knitting. The further away the recipient lives, the sooner I'm knitting their present. People who live nearby may not get presents until I finish them, which may not be until after Christmas.

There will be far fewer blog posts happening in December than there usually are, so don't panic!

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Dollhouse will be on TV for two hours tonight! Don't miss it!

Monk has been on USA all day today. They will be repeating the first part of the last (two part) episode, and then premiering the second part at the end of the marathon this evening. We're finally going to find out why Trudy died!

And there will be a new White Collar on right after that. Natalie Morales was requesting that everyone tune in to see it tonight. I hope it's not on the "We're sharpening the ax for this one" list! And speaking of Natalie Morales, she just tweeted this photo.

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One of the books that I lugged back to the Library yesterday was And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer. It did actually have at least a hint of plot, and the writing in any one sentence seemed to be as good as Douglas Adams' but it just didn't seem quite as good as the previous books in the Hitchhiker's Guide series. It truly did seem like an afterthought, though, so I guess that's good.

Years ago, in the early '70s, I read a very good book called The Witches of Karres. I loved that book then, and about a year ago, I got another copy of it, but hadn't gotten around to reading it. Well, I'm rereading it now, and it's every bit as good as I remember! I am having such a good time reading it!

I have sitting here, waiting for me, The Wizard of Karres, which I have read more recently, and expect to enjoy even more since I'll have just finished the first book.

But the big news is that there's a sequel to those two coming out early next year (January 5) called

The Sorceress of Karres, and I can't wait to read it!

It's almost 7pm here, and I'm still writing and checking stuff on the internet, and I really have to go!

Have a great Friday night (don't forget Dollhouse), and a wonderful weekend!

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Addition:

Before I managed to escape from the internet and actually do something useful, I happened to notice this and thought that you might enjoy it if you're going crazy finding Christmas presents this year. Yes, that's right, it's a USB powered pet rock!