A whole new year.
I've had things to say in the last two months, but I haven't bothered to say them. Part of it has been being busy, part of it has been being sick, but I have to admit that, naturally, a great deal of it has been being lazy.
So let's just hit the highlights, shall we?
NOVEMBER:
- Went to Kiley and Chris's wedding in Norman - ran around like crazy trying to get things ready, oversaw the guestbook, danced until my feet were killing me at the reception. It was beautiful, she did a fall theme, with all fall colors and fall leaves. I also stayed at Angela's house and drank so much I threw up. Never done that before - and hopefully never will again! Bleh.
- Tried to do NaNoWriMo. Ran out of steam on the 21st at 29,579 words... I meant to make that last tiny push and make it up to 30k - 500 words is nothing, I'll do more than that in this post easily! but I was so unbearably sick of it, I just could not force myself.
- I got actually, physically sick around that same time - came down with a cold the week before Thanksgiving.
DECEMBER:
- Had to take off several days from work thanks to the aforementioned cold. Damn thing would not give up! It hung around for nearly a month, at least in little bits. Or at least it felt that way.
- Went to Danielle and Adam's wedding in OKC - took three wrong exits because I didn't think to do mapquest before I left and instead relied on what Van and my dad looked up and told me. It was fun - really pretty, all decked out for Christmas - and really cold! I got to see a lot of people from Phi Mu who I hadn't seen in a long time, as well as a lot of people I'd last seen at the other wedding, but who I love hanging out with. Afterwards Kim and I both stayed with Kiley and Chris, and we all stayed up super late watching Christmas movies.
- Got my Christmas shopping done super early! And we decorated our apartment, with garlands around the big window and bookshelf in the living room and our own little tabletop Christmas tree. Cassie came over a couple of days before Christmas, and we baked cookies and watched Christmas movies and I gave her the scarf and mitts I knitted for her. She gave me a handy little yarn carrier that keeps the yarn clean and untangled, and three balls of cotton yarn. Yarn and knitting stuff - it's like she knows me or something!
- Christmas in Arkansas was a big change, but it was really nice. It's beautiful country, and even though it was really warm on Christmas day and the days after, it made for a really nice setting. I got a (red!) Crock pot, Muppet Christmas Carol, some TV DVDs (30 Rock S1, House S1, Bones S3, and Lost S4 from Van), a pair of Knitpicks wooden needles, gift cards to iTunes, Loops (local yarn store) and Garden Ridge (for interior decor, yay!) and my mom made me a pretty roll-up organizer for my knitting needles. It was a very good Christmas, I got what I wanted and more.
I was able to get something really nice for everyone, things that they all really enjoyed! I was really worried I would not be able to afford to get what I wanted for everybody, but I managed. I got my Dad a WC Fields movie collection (Volume 2, I got him Volume 1 last year), I got Van Wall-E and The Dark Knight, and for my Mom, I got her some Malabrigo Sock yarn (I have never been so tempted to keep something I bought for somebody else, EVER), a 40" circular needle for magic loop sock knitting, and I made her a binder full of sock patterns I printed from Knitty.com. She likes knitting socks, but she always makes the same basic pair - I gave her some fun patterns to try out. She really liked it!
So Christmas was lovely, but what followed... not so much. On Sunday I started to feel really tired, and on the way home from Arkansas I was starting to feel sort of nauseous. It only got worse as the day went on, and by that night I was throwing up and... well. Stomach and intestinal issues, let's say. I hardly slept at all that night. So I called in sick on Monday and laid around sleeping and moaning and eating crackers and running to the bathroom a lot. Tuesday was the same, except I managed to eat a sandwich. And on Wednesday, I felt a little better, but still sort of nauseous and icky, so I stayed home then too, and I managed to take a shower and eat a bigger sandwich.
Today I feel just fine! 100%, or near enough to call it good. I went to the store and to Panera and I knitted, something I hadn't felt up to while I was sick. I called Van to see if he might like to get together for dinner - he went to Sean's for New Year's Eve - and guess what? Now he's got stomach flu. It's weird, too, because he was hardly around me, except to bring me things I'd asked him to go get me. And he didn't get sick until the day after I was starting to feel better. But maybe that's how it works, I don't know. So he'll probably be lying around the apartment for a couple of days, sleeping and moaning and eating crackers and running to the bathroom. And unlike him, I can't just leave. Though now he's saying that if he'd known then how bad it was, he would have stuck around to take care of me instead of running off to his friends' place.
I'm not sure I buy that entirely, but it does make me feel a little better - it's just that he can only think of these things after the fact. He'd never think, hey, she said she's puking her guts out and I know she's alone, maybe I ought to go back over there instead of hanging out with my friends. (Just like he won't think, hey, I spent thirty dollars less on her for Christmas than on Ma and Pa, maybe I should even that up, but I am TRYING to ignore that.) But he will call me from his bedroom and ask me to bring him a 7up. even though his room is closer to the kitchen.
But whatever. I am here to help.
Which might as well bring me to NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS (in no specific order):
1. Don't let Van take advantage. He needs to start taking responsibility for some of the shared bills and things. I need to stop doing everything for him, or he'll never survive on his own when we move apart.
2. Get ready for the GRE, set a test date, and take the test. I need to spend at least half an hour a day studying - at the very least. As in, if I'm busy I will make time to study at least an hour, no matter what. My aim is to work my way up to two hours a night, more on weekends, as the test gets closer. (I did one hour today so I am off to a good start!)
-2a. Do more research on LIS programs and career paths.
3. Read at least 15 books. Two re-reads, at most. At least two need to be nonfiction. Audiobooks only count for half. (I know that sounds like a pathetically small amount but you may underestimate how lazy I am, how much I knit and how much I watch TV.)
4. Be more conscious about what I eat.
-4a. Cook new things (healthy things, ideally)
5. Don't start more knitting projects than I finish. When I feel the urge to cast on something new, I will instead look at what I already have going that I haven't worked on in a while.
-5a. Knit from my stash. If I do want to start something new, I will look and see what I have before I buy some new yarn, no matter how pretty it is.
6. Spend lots of time with my parents while they are still in Tulsa.
There. Six resolutions, and ones that seem pretty easy to keep, or at least make a good hard try for.
Oh. And I should post on livejournal more often. But I don't think I should set that one down as a resolution.
So let's just hit the highlights, shall we?
NOVEMBER:
- Went to Kiley and Chris's wedding in Norman - ran around like crazy trying to get things ready, oversaw the guestbook, danced until my feet were killing me at the reception. It was beautiful, she did a fall theme, with all fall colors and fall leaves. I also stayed at Angela's house and drank so much I threw up. Never done that before - and hopefully never will again! Bleh.
- Tried to do NaNoWriMo. Ran out of steam on the 21st at 29,579 words... I meant to make that last tiny push and make it up to 30k - 500 words is nothing, I'll do more than that in this post easily! but I was so unbearably sick of it, I just could not force myself.
- I got actually, physically sick around that same time - came down with a cold the week before Thanksgiving.
DECEMBER:
- Had to take off several days from work thanks to the aforementioned cold. Damn thing would not give up! It hung around for nearly a month, at least in little bits. Or at least it felt that way.
- Went to Danielle and Adam's wedding in OKC - took three wrong exits because I didn't think to do mapquest before I left and instead relied on what Van and my dad looked up and told me. It was fun - really pretty, all decked out for Christmas - and really cold! I got to see a lot of people from Phi Mu who I hadn't seen in a long time, as well as a lot of people I'd last seen at the other wedding, but who I love hanging out with. Afterwards Kim and I both stayed with Kiley and Chris, and we all stayed up super late watching Christmas movies.
- Got my Christmas shopping done super early! And we decorated our apartment, with garlands around the big window and bookshelf in the living room and our own little tabletop Christmas tree. Cassie came over a couple of days before Christmas, and we baked cookies and watched Christmas movies and I gave her the scarf and mitts I knitted for her. She gave me a handy little yarn carrier that keeps the yarn clean and untangled, and three balls of cotton yarn. Yarn and knitting stuff - it's like she knows me or something!
- Christmas in Arkansas was a big change, but it was really nice. It's beautiful country, and even though it was really warm on Christmas day and the days after, it made for a really nice setting. I got a (red!) Crock pot, Muppet Christmas Carol, some TV DVDs (30 Rock S1, House S1, Bones S3, and Lost S4 from Van), a pair of Knitpicks wooden needles, gift cards to iTunes, Loops (local yarn store) and Garden Ridge (for interior decor, yay!) and my mom made me a pretty roll-up organizer for my knitting needles. It was a very good Christmas, I got what I wanted and more.
I was able to get something really nice for everyone, things that they all really enjoyed! I was really worried I would not be able to afford to get what I wanted for everybody, but I managed. I got my Dad a WC Fields movie collection (Volume 2, I got him Volume 1 last year), I got Van Wall-E and The Dark Knight, and for my Mom, I got her some Malabrigo Sock yarn (I have never been so tempted to keep something I bought for somebody else, EVER), a 40" circular needle for magic loop sock knitting, and I made her a binder full of sock patterns I printed from Knitty.com. She likes knitting socks, but she always makes the same basic pair - I gave her some fun patterns to try out. She really liked it!
So Christmas was lovely, but what followed... not so much. On Sunday I started to feel really tired, and on the way home from Arkansas I was starting to feel sort of nauseous. It only got worse as the day went on, and by that night I was throwing up and... well. Stomach and intestinal issues, let's say. I hardly slept at all that night. So I called in sick on Monday and laid around sleeping and moaning and eating crackers and running to the bathroom a lot. Tuesday was the same, except I managed to eat a sandwich. And on Wednesday, I felt a little better, but still sort of nauseous and icky, so I stayed home then too, and I managed to take a shower and eat a bigger sandwich.
Today I feel just fine! 100%, or near enough to call it good. I went to the store and to Panera and I knitted, something I hadn't felt up to while I was sick. I called Van to see if he might like to get together for dinner - he went to Sean's for New Year's Eve - and guess what? Now he's got stomach flu. It's weird, too, because he was hardly around me, except to bring me things I'd asked him to go get me. And he didn't get sick until the day after I was starting to feel better. But maybe that's how it works, I don't know. So he'll probably be lying around the apartment for a couple of days, sleeping and moaning and eating crackers and running to the bathroom. And unlike him, I can't just leave. Though now he's saying that if he'd known then how bad it was, he would have stuck around to take care of me instead of running off to his friends' place.
I'm not sure I buy that entirely, but it does make me feel a little better - it's just that he can only think of these things after the fact. He'd never think, hey, she said she's puking her guts out and I know she's alone, maybe I ought to go back over there instead of hanging out with my friends. (Just like he won't think, hey, I spent thirty dollars less on her for Christmas than on Ma and Pa, maybe I should even that up, but I am TRYING to ignore that.) But he will call me from his bedroom and ask me to bring him a 7up. even though his room is closer to the kitchen.
But whatever. I am here to help.
Which might as well bring me to NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS (in no specific order):
1. Don't let Van take advantage. He needs to start taking responsibility for some of the shared bills and things. I need to stop doing everything for him, or he'll never survive on his own when we move apart.
2. Get ready for the GRE, set a test date, and take the test. I need to spend at least half an hour a day studying - at the very least. As in, if I'm busy I will make time to study at least an hour, no matter what. My aim is to work my way up to two hours a night, more on weekends, as the test gets closer. (I did one hour today so I am off to a good start!)
-2a. Do more research on LIS programs and career paths.
3. Read at least 15 books. Two re-reads, at most. At least two need to be nonfiction. Audiobooks only count for half. (I know that sounds like a pathetically small amount but you may underestimate how lazy I am, how much I knit and how much I watch TV.)
4. Be more conscious about what I eat.
-4a. Cook new things (healthy things, ideally)
5. Don't start more knitting projects than I finish. When I feel the urge to cast on something new, I will instead look at what I already have going that I haven't worked on in a while.
-5a. Knit from my stash. If I do want to start something new, I will look and see what I have before I buy some new yarn, no matter how pretty it is.
6. Spend lots of time with my parents while they are still in Tulsa.
There. Six resolutions, and ones that seem pretty easy to keep, or at least make a good hard try for.
Oh. And I should post on livejournal more often. But I don't think I should set that one down as a resolution.