November 2006

Today was great.? Except for the part where they turned off our power. Yeah.? That’s always fun.? Apparently when Kile was talking to the guy at the power company last week and paying the bill and the guy assured Kile that there wouldn’t be anyone turning off our power, he was totally lying.? Luckily, the whole thing got cleared up rather quickly.? But we were without power for about an hour earlier this evening.? And for computer addicts like us, that’s a rough gig.

But the great part is that I’m more than halfway done with my Christmas shopping.? I hate Christmas shopping and being closer to finished makes me VERY happy.

And what a fantastic way to end NaBloPoMo.? For the record, I did manage one post a day every day for the entire month.? And considering that my postings for the last several months have been few and far between, that’s a pretty fantastic accomplishment.? I’m pretty proud of myself.? I’m hoping that from here on out, I can keep it up.? I really do enjoy blogging and this exercise has reminded me of that.? So thanks to Fussy for putting this on, I’m so glad I took part!

I’m feeling vastly better today than I was yesterday. Yes, I want a super-duper, mega-cool cellphone. Of course I do. I’m a technophile geek. It’s only to be expected, right? Yes, I was probably being more than a little selfish in wanting to spend a good chunk of what little money we have this month to buy something for myself. And not only that, it’s not even something that fully addresses what I really want, which is an mp3 player. So, the tentative plan is to get a cheap phone of some sort (though I still get hung up on the details and hate all the free phones right now) and then eventually get an mp3 player, perhaps even an iPod. Good plan? I think so.

So I’m feeling a lot more chipper today. I have a brighter outlook on the holidays. My grinchiness has been affecting my mood, somewhat. I feel a lot more willing to embrace the season now, for at least today. I’m sure that’ll change tomorrow when Kile and I hit Walmart to do some Christmas shopping. Nothing spoils a holiday mood quicker than a trip to Walmart.

And the war rages on. 90% of this war is being waged against myself, which is just silly.? My cell phone service contract is up, and should I choose, I can upgrade my phone with Cingular at a handsome discount.? Nice, huh?? And just in time since the battery on my other phone has gone kaput.? I accidentally “over-charged” it and the battery hasn’t been able to hold any sort of charge ever since.? I can still plug it in and use it while it’s plugged in, so that’s something.? I haven’t historically used the cell a lot, but in the interest of saving some money, we recently cut our long-distance service way back on the landline.? This was done, assuming that we would just use our cell phones to make long distance calls.? You following me?

For the last year or more I’ve wanted to get a Motorola Razr phone.? I don’t know why, except that I’m a trend lemming.? They seemed cool to me.? And I figured if I was making some money with my design business, I could get one as a treat to myself.? This month was pretty bare on the business front but we’ve recently brought in some $ so I took another look at my cell phone options.? And I thought I was being very compromising when I expanded my search from the Razr’s to include other phones.? I finally narrowed it down to the LG CU500 and the Cingular Sync (otherwise known as the Samsung a707).? I decided the Samsung was my favorite.? You think that’d be end of the story, right?

Well, I knew Kile was thinking we shouldn’t spend the money on it.? Even though I’d already said it could be my birthday present (and probably Christmas present as well).? It’s true, we should probably save back the money.? The solution would then to be to get one of the free phones Cingular is offering right now.? Just my luck, those phones all but turn my stomach.? Maybe that’s because I spent the better part of the last week immersed in such features as 3g networks, 2 megapixel cameras, mp3 players… suddenly a little vga camera and some stupid java games seem hardly worth the effort.

I’m being a brat.? I know it.? It’s just, neither of us have had any chance to do anything for ourselves lately.? I haven’t had my hair cut in months.? We needed to save the extra money that month and every month since.? Have I mentioned my hair looks like donkey dung and is actually FALLING OUT IN CLUMPS?? Anyhow.? I bought a pair of jeans a couple months back for $15 from Walmart because my other pre-pregnancy jeans were falling off they were so large.? And I still feel guilty about doing that because of the look I got when I wore them and Kile realized they were new. I was just so looking forward to doing something unabashedly for myself.

It’s selfish.? I know it’s selfish.? But I’m in a funk right now anyhow and you know how women are with retail therapy.? It probably wouldn’t help anyhow, that’s the kicker.? Oh well.? Ho hum.? Moving on.? Cellphone-less, of course.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.? I love the whole month of December, in fact.? I have my birthday in the first part of the month, and Christmas and New Years at the end.? So fun and festive!? I love the decorations, the music, the family and the fun.? But lately, in recent years, Christmas has lost some of it’s glow.? I find myself getting anxious as the holidays near and I know that 99% of that is due to shopping for gifts.

Our entire country has gotten way out of control when it comes to Christmas gifts.? Suddenly, a $2,000 plasma screen tv is a perfectly normal Christmas present.? So when you fail to purchase that for your family or somesuch, you feel like a prize heel.? People spend way way way too much for Christmas anymore.? And plainly put?? We just can’t afford to “keep up”.? We don’t want to “keep up”.? What does it say about Christmas when you feel you have to spend thousands of dollars each year?

We have a lot of family to buy for.? We have “drawings” for the adults on both sides, so we only have to purchase two gifts for each side.? That helps.? But we have six nieces and nephews on my husband’s side and 3 nieces and 1 nephew on my side to buy for.? Now, on my side all the kids are 8 and under so buying them gifts is fun and easy to do.? On my husband’s side, they’re all about 11 and older.? The oldest being 19. ? That makes is a little more difficult, especially when we aren’t sure what to get for them in the first place.? Last year we bought “family” gifts and I think we’ll do the same this year.? Frankly, I think there should be an age when we stop buying presents for the kids altogether.? In fact, I’d be more than fine with doing away with the drawing, period.? On both sides.? Focus on buying for the kids while they’re still young and have stars in their eyes.? That’s when it’s fun.

Now, I have this ginormous shopping list that I haven’t even started to tackle yet.? I have a feeling that Kile and I won’t be getting presents for each other at all this year (which we’ve done before and that’d more than okay).? I just don’t see how we can manage it.? Let’s not even talk about shipping.? I’m thinking everything is going to be purchased online and shipped directly because we all know what a mess of a time I had with shipping things last year.? Yikes!

Just thinking about this is making me feel ill.? I would love to get back to what I love about Christmas.? To find the simple joy in driving around town looking at Christmas lights without having to worry about getting one more present for yet another person.? Is this what being an adult is like?? Because if so, I want to be a kid again.? I want to find the joy in Christmas.