Christmas...The Day After

Yesterday was a very good day, with phone calls, gifts, and a great dinner. We also had a Christmas miracle: It snowed! :D I have a few photos, but I've got to edit them before I can post them.

Jeff and I will be doing our grocery shopping today. I'm not sure if we're doing anything else.

I've been spending most of the morning reading The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. I love it! :D

And on that note, I'd better get off here and get ready to go.

Have a great day!

Lois

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I've made a Christmas e-card for you.  I hope you like it.  :)  Just click the image to view it larger.

I'll write about our Christmas tomorrow, but for now I'll just say that we had a Christmas miracle.

I'm about to start work on peeling some potatoes for Sweet Potato Casserole, so I've gotta run. 

Have a great remainder of the day!

Lois

Merry Christmas Eve!

Yesterday was a great day...in spite of the rain. I chatted with P. and M. for a while, which is always great fun. :)

I also wrote another character journal entry. It wasn't as long as I thought it would be, but it paved the way for the next one, in which three extra characters will die (the brothers in my story take their names, in honor of their bravery). If this doesn't make sense, it's not supposed to...unless you know the main points of the story. ;)

Jeff will be getting off work around noon. He's got someone picking up some Kahlua for me so I can make the Chocolate Chip Kahlua Cake. I only need four ounces, but I don't know if he can get a bottle that small. If not, I'll save the rest and make more cakes in the future. :)

Here's the recipe:

CHOCOLATE CHIP KAHLUA CAKE

* 1 box moist chocolate cake mix
* 1 small package instant chocolate pudding mix
* 3 eggs
* 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
* 1/2 cup Kahlua
* 1 16-ounce container sour cream
* 1 16-ounce package chocolate chips or chunks

1. Grease a bundt pan.
2. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl for two minutes
3. Mix in chocolate chips or chunks.
4. Bake in preheated oven, at 350°F, for one hour.
5. Let cool 30-45 minutes and carefully remove cake to plate.

I may go with Jeff when he does his shopping today...except that he'll drop me off at Sweet Bay. We may stop at Walgreen's, too. I've got a couple things I'd like to pick up for my mom, if I can find them.

I'd like to make the Divinity tonight. Hopefully, I'll have the time and energy.

Have a very merry Christmas Eve! :D

Lois

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

We had thunder this morning. This is simply not the time of year for freaky weather. I heard they were expecting us to have a ton of rain and even possibly tornadoes! O_O Weatherwise, this just does not feel like Christmas. :( So far, we've just had some distant thunder and rain. Hopefully the weird weather is about over.

I'm cold. My fingers feel like they're frozen to the bone. It's hard to type.

I never went to Sweet Bay last night. I just didn't feel like it. Jeff will be going shopping tonight or tomorrow night. I'm not sure which. Whichever night he stays home, that's the night I'll try to make Divinity and Cardamom Fudge. :)

Today's Wednesday Writing Sprints! I'll be working on character journal entries...for my new characters and old ones, alike. Been chatting with P. and M. and have come up with some names for some supporting characters. YAY! :D

Josiah's got his first tooth coming in. I can't believe he's that old already. :)

I'm behind this morning because I was catching up on Twitter. I even added some new Tweets. Howie Mandel is hilarious! Also added some writers, directors and producers (like Steven J. Cannell). Not so many that I'd be more overwhelmed by the added traffic, though (I'm already overwhelmed, after all).

I need to go fix myself a hot tea or cocoa and something to eat.

Have a great day, everyone...and I do mean everyone! :)

Lois

Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve!

I got some writing done, but not much. I hit a snag and had to do some research. After doing the research, I realized I needed a plotting/ researching chat, and managed to get on with P. That helped a lot, and now I can continue the character journal entry today. :)

Jeff made dinner last night: Chicken Parmesan with pasta. It was yummy, as all of his cooking is. :)

And today, I'm fixing dinner. I spent a couple of hours getting everything ready for a beef stew and it's all in the slow cooker. All I have to do is check on it periodically and add the peas later this afternoon.

I'm hoping to go to Sweet Bay tonight. I don't know if anyone from the Yetis will be there, but I've got a good reason to go if no one else is there: Grapevine Video free movie downloads! :) One of them is a Felix the Cat cartoon. I love Felix! :D

I also may try to download some free digital scrapbooking stuff from RAK Scraps. I don't have anything "Christmassy."

Anyway, for today, I'll be working on one or two character journal entries, doing some editing in my Nano Novel, and chatting with P (and hopefully M.) about the Romanian part of my latest story.

And, if I'm lucky, Sweet Bay. :) That would give Jeff some time to finish his Christmas shopping.

Have a great day, everyone! :D

Lois

Much Better Day Yesterday!

When Jeff came home, he seemed like he was in a much better mood than when he left for work. I was in a much better mood too, thanks to P and M! It's always good to chat with friends, even if it's for a short amount of time. ;)

I wrote three new character journal entries, one apiece for Lucky Raven, Xander Greywolf (who's journal will be changing somewhat to reflect the new changes to the novel) and Jack Hunter. It was great to finally work on some character journals.

I may work on the new characters today. I still need to work on some of their backstory...and start working on the modern portion of their story, as well. I got some great new ideas last night!

We had southwestern meatloaf for dinner last night. Jeff made it, since I was busy chatting with friends about my writing. We ate late, but it was yummy. :) Tonight, I'll be making dinner. We'll be having chicken parmesan with pasta.

Well, I'm rambling, so I'd better get off here.

Have a great day!

Lois

Isn't Christmas Supposed To Be A Time of Good Cheer?

I don't want to be negative, so let's just say that yesterday was "okay"...about like how I'm feeling today...and leave it at that.

That said, I'll be glad when Christmas is over. I'm starting to like Christmas less and less with each passing year, and that's not right. I know Christmas isn't just about gifts, but it's depressing when you feel like soon, certain traditions you love and have always celebrated, you won't be able to celebrate anymore. :(

What's worse is that I said some things yesterday that I shouldn't have. I didn't mean them. I was joking, but because of the funk that had settled over me, I said things I normally wouldn't have said.

As I said, I'll be very glad when Christmas is over. *sigh*

And how did I get over it? Well, I'm still feeling the affects of it, but for a while last night, I actually felt a lot better. I got to do some writing and that helped tremendously...until the same discussion that happens every year crept in again. Then it was all she wrote, so to speak, and my happy, cheerful disposition vanished.

Today, I plan to do my best to rise above it. Writing will help. Talking with friends online, if I'm able to, will help. But please, please, please don't mention the f-word!

I picked up a few more things for stockings yesterday. Josiah's is the fullest one because several of his gifts were small. I wish I could afford to get more to fill up the rest. I've always loved the stockings, but oh well. I guess you can't have it all...

We didn't do any more Christmas shopping yesterday. We only did grocery shopping. We'll be having a small turkey, apple cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, sweet corn, biscuits, gravy, apple cider, chocolate chip kahlua cake (probably without any kahlua-like substances), cardamom fudge (if I feel like making it), divinity (if I feel like making it) and I'm not sure what else. Some of it, I'll be fixing ahead of time, like the sweet potato casserole and the cake.

Have a good day!

Lois