Notice the time?

Yeah...not quite 4 am here. But with a restless dog and a restless mind, I am awake. Reece has gotten both Lance and myself up a couple of times now, and decided to eat her dinner (first leaves, and then her food) at 12:30 in the morning. Lance easily falls back to sleep. Me? Not so much.

I guess it's a good thing I only work a half day. And 2 hours of that will be a meeting/training. So I really only have 2 hours of work today. And the calls I have today are easy clients.

My mind is a whirlwind right now - things I want to get done before Lance leaves on Monday (he's going to Vegas for a few days...work, not pleasure). I want to finish our Christmas cards, put together the holiday mix CD's I've been working on, get some house cleaning done, do the grocery shopping, take Reece to see Santa Claus at PetSmart.

I'm thinking about the Secret Santa exchange at work, of all things. We're supposed to pick who to buy gifts for and get a $5 gift for them everyday for a week. That's not a big deal, but I need to make out a wishlist. Three things I like. Three things I don't like.

Well, I have the 3 things I like (and I could have more): food/beverage mixes (I like those soup or cookie mixes in a jar, cocoas, teas, etc.), cute socks, an easy-care plant for my desk. Of course, candles, scented lotions, stationary...stuff like that is always good too. $5 Starbucks gifts cards are just enough to feed my newly-developed latte habit (I do live in Seattle, after all).

Three things I don't like is rather more difficult. I don't need any coffee mugs. Thus far, that is all I have to put on that list. And I could really do without cookies and candy, I suppose. Not that I don't love them, but I love them too much.

Total change of subject, but the current book I'm reading is so wonderful. Have any Pride & Prejudice fans read any of the "sequels" that are out there? I've avoided them up until now because I just feel like nobody can hold a candle to Jane Austen, so why try? But I'm reading Pemberley Shades at the moment, which is the second known sequel to P&P ever written (published sometime in the 1940's) and I really like it. The author really captures Jane Austen's writing style, except for a few instances when the colloquialisms seems more contemporary than what she would've written. Besides, the book was up for grabs for review at Curled Up With A Good Book, so I snagged it. I still have to write up a review for The Map Thief. Hope to get that done tomorrow.

And I have to get through the readings and quizzes for Wednesday's and today's lessons for my online class. It won't take long to catch up. I can usually get an entire lesson done in under an hour.

(no subject)

Beautiful sunny day, which means I need to get Reece out for some exercise here shortly. Lance is out at McChord decorating for tonight's party. He'll leave there around 3:45 to come up and get me and then we'll drive back down there. Because he's also responsible for tear-down, that means I can drink tonight. Yeehaw! Last year, I was the designated driver. But since we're taking the truck, that means he gets to drive.

Speaking of party, I'm about to unload a large tinfoil pan of macaroni and cheese from the oven. It has a checkerboard on top, made with alternating slices of cheddar and swiss. Yum! It looks awesome. What would be more awesome if it Lance doesn't totally bury his face in it before the party. I also made more cranberry sauce.

I had sticker shock making this macaroni and cheese though...I already had a bag of macaroni. But I had to buy ricotta, 2 bags of shredded cheese and sliced cheese. Lance and I bought the ricotta and one bag of the shredded cheese at the commissary a couple weeks ago. But I stopped at Top after work to get the other bag of cheese and the two packages of sliced cheese. I think it cost between $15-$20 just for 3 packages of cheese! Good Gawd. And I bought some Candy Cane Roca, the tinfoil pan and some tissue paper, so all told, my grocery bill was almost $30. And people wonder why we go all the way down to McChord to shop at the commissary.

I haven't had lunch today because I had a pretty big breakfast at work. There was quite a spread. I had scrambled eggs, bacon and a belgian waffle. My lunch was just some samples of cheese at the grocery store. They had some smoked gouda with bacon that was TO DIE FOR but the price was hardly nice. I'm not hungry in the slightest and I know I'll be eating quite a lot tonight anyway.

My cold is still lingering on. My world is full of snot and I have a bit of a cough, but that's about the worst of it right now. Still...hardly a pleasant situation to be in when you're spending the evening in an unheated building. (And yes, I washed my hands 10 million times during the food prep. It's not my goal to spread my germs to all and sundry.)

Anyway, I guess I better give Miss Reece a walk. She's going to be crated all night, and I feel bad about that, but dogs aren't allowed where we're going. Which makes no damn sense at all, because we're going to be at a recreational facility on a campground, but it's just easier to leave her here so we don't have to be preoccupied with watching her all evening. Especially since she still loves to jump on people.