So...

We drove up to pick up Russ's check yesterday... only to be told they'd put it in the mail, despite Russ talking to them twice (once that morning) saying be sure not to do that. That was a 140 mile round trip for nothing. And not only that, it meant no money whatsoever for Christmas. I was annoyed, but really, it's not all that bad.

The check did show up in the mail today... three hours after all the banks closed. So it did us no good anyway.

It's been that kind of year.

I'm mostly annoyed because I didn't get a chance to get Russ anything. He's bought me a couple things already -- Season 3 of Starsky and Hutch (which we've already been watching) and Painter! Yes, the big, expensive program that he got at a great deal because he's teaching at a community college!

I, wisely, decided I was not going to open and upload it right away. I'm waiting for Christmas so that I'll have a gift to play with on that day. Oh, and I found Paint Shop Pro 11 very cheap on Ebay and ordered it as well. It should be here by the end of the week. So there -- I have the two programs I really, really wanted and I can't complain about that!

In the mean time, I've been writing away. I got Oak and Ash done, plus a story I started a couple days ago -- based loosely on an earlier story, and much better in the new version. I am almost done with the Workshop for Vision and I still have another article to write there.

And -- this really shocks me -- I have only 15,522 words to go and I'll have written one million words again this year. It's been a rough year for it, and I didn't think I was going to make it until a few days ago when I finally felt like I could write without a fear of disaster striking again! Getting the 2YNY2 book done really helped. I didn't realize how much I hated having that thing hanging over me until it was done and gone. (grin)

I don't have enough writing stuff left on my list to write 15,000 words, though, so I'm going to start a new story, probably tomorrow.

And I might even write another teddy bear story this year. That's good for 1000 words. I just have to come up with... an idea.

I did not decorate this year. I haven't baked at all... though maybe I'll make a batch of cookies tomorrow. You know, I used to really like holidays, but lately I've been dreading them. It's like they're an invitation for something to go wrong and ruin any fun.

But I intend to have a good time anyway. And at least it will be a day off with Russ. Maybe we can pull out some of the old games and just do silly stuff like that for the day.

Before I load in Painter, because after that I'm not going to be good for anything but staring at the computer. (grin)

Oh, and we're having horrible connection problems here. So I might not be around for the next few days. (Can anything else go wrong to annoy us? Oh, I'm sure something could. After all, we still don't have heat in the car, either.)

Happy Holidays everyone! Have fun!

Oh, and don't forget to read my Christmas Story (grin): http://zettestorybook.blogspot.com/