Merry Christmas!

When I was little - five or six - my brother's room was right next to mine, and he had a bunk bed. He always slept in the top bunk, and the lower bunk was usually empty. But on Christmas Eve he would let me into his room, and I would sleep on that bottom bunk. We did this for years, even after he moved downstairs, and the bunk bed was abandoned. Once those days come we would sleep in the living room - on the couch and floor. But, until we got into our mid-teens (his late-teens), we would spend Christmas Eve together.

...

My maternal grandmother always, always had her family Christmas party a week or two before Christmas. At first she and my grandpa would have the party in her home - until the family got too big! Now she has her party at various churches and assembly centers, but some things stay exactly as they were.

She still puts on the Nativity with the little kids - everyone dresses up and you've got Mary and Joseph, the shepherds (one year a big group of my cousins were shepherds, and one of my cousins was a sheep - he donned an old sheepskin my grandparents got from Australia years ago, and baaaaah-ed the entire time), the wise men ... and an entire slew of angels. Most years we even had a Baby Jesus! Grandpa will read the nativity story out of the New Testament, and my one cousin, Shanda, will read the part of the angel. She always got the part growing up (I believe she is the oldest grandkid, but I could be wrong), and now that she's an adult with kids of her own - no one else wants it! So every year she dutifully dons a halo and reads: "Glory to God in the highest!"

The other staple of the Steadman Christmas Party is our talent show. Every year at least one person (this last year we saw 3 talents) gets up in front of the family to share their talents with us. From piano playing to singing, from stories to jokes - we have a very talented family.

...

Every Christmas my maternal grandmother gives out two things to all the families that make up our family - a calendar, and a Christmas book. Everyone also gets a named-and-dated ornament for their tree (I now have 22 of the things ... ). But the books, I think she starts planning the book a year in advance. Some past books have been: The Legend of the Candy Cane, Because I Love You, and The Tale of the Three Trees. She always, being the dramatic one of the family, reads the story to all of us. It's a nice tradition.

...

A tradition that started (for me) after my dad and stepmom married is that of opening a present the night before Christmas. I could, of course, be wrong, and we've always done this, but I don't remember opening presents on Christmas Eve before I was nine or ten. The Christmas Eve present was always the same (although, this year it was changed up a bit) - pajamas. Every year I've been able to expect to have a comfortable pair of pajama bottoms. This year, however, we got slippers. Mine are nice and fuzzy and brown.


...


Something fun my mom did for my brother and I up until a year or two ago was hiding our "big" gift. Christmas Eve she and my stepdad would hide the gift somewhere in the house, and my mom would make up a whole list of clues - the first of which was always in our stocking. The treasure hunt that followed was always fun, and sometimes the clues were hard. I think I got stumped at least once a year over something simple - but when the house has 5 or 6 beds in it (or a large number of chairs ... ) - how am I supposed to know which one the clue is talking about?


...


Christmas has always been special with my family - in lean times and in more extravagant ones. I've always looked forward to Christmas morning, and the time I get to spend with my family - all of my family. Now I'm married, and things are different. Tene and I did exchange gifts this year - but I didn't even get his started (let alone finished). We had a tree, but it was a tiny, cute thing that I got from American Girl ages ago. He and I don't really have any Christmas traditions yet. I hope, though, as time goes on and we grow together that we'll build some strong traditions - not just for Christmas, but for every moment of our lives together.


Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Failsaur

 He's supposed to be a dinosaur. Obviously he didn't turn out quite as hoped.

That .... creature .... was going to be a Christmas gift for one of my nephews (who I will call "Mouse"). He's a T-Rex, although you can't really tell. He looks more like a rooster. I was also going to make a blue long-neck dinosaur for Mouse's little brother (who will be called "Little Brother" on this blog), and a green stegosaurus for my other nephew (who will be known as "Alaska," yes these names have meanings, but they're for me to know). Neither of those dinos even got cut out.

I haven't used a sewing machine since seventh grade, where I made a really really ugly pillowcase. I've never followed a pattern. I've never made a pattern. I've never made a plush.

I decided, two days before Christmas, to attempt to do all these things.

Obviously it ended badly.

I did learn some things: (1) I kinda suck at pattern making, because I don't know what I'm doing, (2) Plushies are hard, and (3) I really, really need to make Christmas presents a few months in advance - just in case.

The nephews will be getting dinosaurs, they'll just be getting them late ... Probably sometime in January or February 2010. I'm glad I bought waaaay more fleece than I needed for these guys ... I think I'll be using nearly all of it.

Christmas Packages: Take One!

OMG Christmas is on Friday! I'm running out of time! Wheeeeeee!

So, for our gifts to friends and Tene's coworkers, I'm making rainbow cupcakes. Same recipe as I used for the last ones, except I didn't measure quite so precisely on the vanilla.

Tene took in the first batch of Christmas cupcakes to work today - only six of them, though. Most of his coworkers are done for the week, those who are in the office will be getting the cupcakes.

Today, though, I'm not showing the cupcakes themselves - but their boxes. These boxes were once regular pint-sized wire handled takeout boxes. I removed the handles (I have a whole box of extra wires now), measured and cut out some cute scrapbooking paper, then simply glued the paper to the unfolded boxes. They're being held together by tiny white brads that I got at Joann. The tags are also made by me, using leftover scrap paper, some cardstock, and plain old glue. On the other side I handwrote the "To" and "From" information.

All in all I'm pleased with the result of my boxes. I hope that their recipients enjoy the cupcakes inside!

Decisions Decisions

Lately I've been trying to decide what I want for my near- and far-term future. Looking at near-term as within the next year (possibly 2 years), and far-term as 2 to 5 years in the future. I've been having a lot of trouble trying to decide.

Some basic problems I've come up against are that I no longer know what I want to do for my life. I don't think I want to teach anymore (unless I'm teaching college), and I'm pretty much completely certain that I don't want to teach English anymore (unless I can teach creative writing). I don't know what I do want to do, though, just what I don't.

So, here's what I'm debating:
Near-term (from 2010-2011)

• I don't know if I want to continue going to school here in SLC at the Community College. In investigating what I would need to do to get my AS I found out that it's very possible that the schools in San Francisco I would likely apply to wouldn't accept my AS as completion of general education requirements. I was originally planning on completing my AS here because I was afraid of my credits "expiring" (due to some misinformation), which won't happen. So now I don't know what to do.
• If I don't go to school I think I'm going to focus on my cooking and baking, and my writing.
  
• Tene and I were planning on moving to SF after I finished my degree. Now that I might not be finishing my degree here ... should we move sooner? I'm afraid of moving out of UT, and as a side effect away from 95% of my friends.
• I'm trying to decide if I should get a part-time job (regardless of school or not). It would be nice to have some extra income, but I had so much anxiety just with school this semester that I don't know if I would be able to handle a job, even a part-time "monkey-push-the-button" job.
  
• I'm now going to be seeing a psychiatrist for my mood problems. Before we move I would prefer to be on a stable set of medications, if only because I don't want to have to wait even longer to find a psychiatrist (I'm not going to be seeing my new doctor until January ... so ... ).
• I want pets. When and where ever we move next I am so going to make sure that our apartment is pet-friendly. I hope to have three (maybe four!) rats, and possibly a kitty.
• I want to get my digestion problems figured out. I'm debating beginning an Exclusion, or Rotation Diet within the next year.
  
• I want to have our Commitment Ceremony on June 12, our one year anniversary. I mentioned it to my mother, and she pointed out that it might be weird to have this ceremony so long after the "real" wedding. I don't think this is actually too much of a problem. I'm basically going to treat the ceremony as our wedding.

Long-Term (2012-2015)

• I don't know what I want to do with my life. I'm currently debating between some form of Biology (following the lead of friends Jekka and Kayleigh - I am considering Marine Biology), or possibly Physics (with the end goal of teaching college). Another consideration is to get a business degree, or just open a coffee shop, cafe, or clothing boutique (or some other small shop).I'm also considering aspiring to be a housewife - an idea that sounds very nice to me.

That's actually all for now. It's late and I'm having a hard time thinking. So, probably more later!

Books I'm Interested In

The other night I was taken over to Barnes and Nobel by my friends Ima and Steffy. Ima bought me a book that looks like it will be useful in my fantasy writing, and another that looks interesting from a personal perspective. He also bought a book for Tene which might end up useful in my writing as well.

Taking me to any bookstore ends up being a bad idea, because I looooove books. A lot. Look at my Goodreads list and you'll see that I'm not joking about this. I seriously love books. I hope to get a Kindle for Christmas so that I can save space on my shelves.

And, just in case I wasn't clear: I love books. I love bookstores. When I have no money I should not be allowed anywhere near a bookstore.

So, Ima and Steffy took me to Barnes and Nobel and bought me books. While I was there I looked at a whole bunch of books, and wrote down the ones that looked interesting to me. Many of these dealt with books about writing, which brings me to why this is relevant to Truth In Lies!

These are books I would like to eventually get my greedy little hands on:

Thinking Write by Kelly L. Stone
List Price: $16.95

Why I want it: Well, it sounds cool. This is one of those "psychology of writing" type books. I've parts of (and own) two others, Write and its sequel The Write Type, both by Karen Peterson. Also it has exercises, which I can always use to help jump-start my writing a little.

Overall it sounds a little new-age-ish, but I'm willing to at least give it a shot. If it ends up being too newage I can simply pass it on or throw it out.

The Daily Writer by Fred White
List Price: $17.99

Why I want it: Because it's one of those daily things, honestly. I guess part of me is hoping that if I start a routine of writing every day - even if it starts with a silly book full of motivations, exercises, and other such things.

I would hope that it would also have decent advice for dealing with the age old enemy of all writers everywhere - writer's block. But really, I suspect that something like this would be the best way for me to get into a daily writing habit, and not lose that habit because of one bad day when I can't think of anything to write (since the idea is that you do one exercise a day and all ... )

The Constant Art of Being A Writer by N. M. Kelby
List Price: $17.99

Why I want it: From the descriptions it seems like a nice well-rounded all-around book about the actual process of writing. Which, being an amateur writer and all, I could use all the help I can get in those fields.

Christmas is Coming

Now that it's December I'm kicking into Christmas overdrive. Most of the presents I'm giving I've already decided on, and the majority of them are going to be handmade.

I have no idea what I'm going to give my family members, however. This year I have another sibling to give to - Tene's little sister. Tene's family does what  my family does - every year we draw names for who to give to. It makes Christmas a little cheaper, especially since by the time my family started doing this I was giving 10 siblings presents - not an easy task. But since Tene's family draws names (and my own family draws names) I'm only having to worry about two extras to my list - Tene's little sister E, and his brother-in-law R2. And both of my families are still trying to decide if we're exchanging gifts or not (I have money set aside for both of them, just in case).

So, people recieving gifts from me this year:
First, Family:

• My mother and stepdad: No idea what I'm giving them yet.
• My dad and stepmom: No idea what I'm giving them either.
• Tene's parents: No idea over here either
• My brother, Buck: Not sure what I'm giving him, probably a gift certificate or something
• E: I was thinking of buying her a couple of Threadless Tees, because I think she would like them, but I'm not sure which ones to even consider. Also: I don't know her size. Maybe I'll stick with jewelry or something else? I don't know
• R2: I'm leaving this mostly up to Tene, but I have no idea what we'll send to him
• Nephew S: The oldest of my littlest nephews, S is going to get a handmade dinosaur
• Little Brother: The little brother of Nephew S, I'm going to be giving him a handmade dinosaur too
• Nephew J: Born around the same time as Little Brother (but from different parents .... ), Nephew J will also also be getting a handmade dinosaur
• Tene: He's getting 2 or 3 presents from me, and has only figured out one of them!

Friends:

• All local friends (Ima and Teffy, Sherry, Jaaku, Genjou, Sarah) will be getting cupcakes. Because cupcakes are delicious
• Kayleigh: A visit! And probably cupcakes
  
• Zoie: Will be getting something .... I just don't know what yet (I was going to make a handmade hedgie, but the pattern I had for it was insane ... I may send some delicious cookie mix or something)
  
• Robin: A handmade plush, I'm not saying what kind though
  

 So, an early Happy Holidays to my friends!

Here's to the End

So this is the end of NaNoWriMo for another year. Last night was the last time I had a chance to write and have it go toward my wordcount, and midnight was the time to get my novel verified.

So how did I do? What did I learn?

• I never got above 15,000 words. True, this is more than I have written in years, and I'm back to wanting to write and create, but obviously this isn't quite 50k. So I didn't win (again) this year.
• If I'm writing about something that has some basis in real life (like, say, Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes) I should actually know those stories. The story of Hansel and Gretel has a lot of elements that I didn't know about (for example, Hansel and Gretel weren't originally given names, those were added later to separate their story from another story. Originally they were "Little Brother" and "Little Sister." Also it wasn't their father's choice to abandon them in the woods - his wife (their stepmother) pressured him into it).
• Next year I should write something that doesn't require so much research, because researching things that I want to write about is way too fun, and it makes my writing time a lot shorter. So ... nothing based in reality (again: No nursery rhymes or fairy tales or myths. This path ends badly).
• I really need to learn time-management. Like, a lot.
• Staying up until 3am to write may seem like a good idea at the time, but in the end it just leads to messing up my sleep schedule (which in turn messes up my writing schedule and makes me not want to write the next day .... until it's in the wee hours of the morning).
• I should get a laptop. Like, really. Sitting straight up is so not comfortable for writing a long thing. Maybe I need a different chair instead ...
• I learned that when I get sick I need to keep writing, even if I feel like crap.
• I got my imagination back a little! I've been getting more random stories popping up in my head. I almost scratched Never Ever After and started writing a completely different story halfway through.

Overall, even though I didn't win this year, I'm still glad I tried. I'm glad I'm writing a bit more, and I've gotten back a little of that passion to write.

Just wait until 2010 NaNoWriMo. Just wait.