Happy New Year! Get money out of the ATM now while you can!

Not to be all Gloomy Gus at the end of the year, but man was it hard to find an ATM that had money in it. It took me three tries to find a bank with one. I even called my own bank to harass them to see if there was a problem with my account (there was not). Finally, when I did get to a bank that actually had money in it, I was behind a car that had "CASH" stamped all over it. Turned out that they were huge Johnny Cash fans, but for a minute there, I thought it was an omen.

Anyways, tonight, be sure to use a cab that takes credit cards, just to be safe, and drink responsibly. That is to say, quaff only GOOD champagne, because god knows the bad kind can give you wicked hangovers.

Back to the grind

For a day at least. I took it pretty easy last week but plan on putting in a whole day (one! whole! day!) today. I'm trying to wean myself off xmas cookies too but it's hard, as we keep getting supplied with new ones.

This is the first holiday season in a decade that I didn't have to fly anywhere. My take on it? Awesome! On the big day, we opened gifts, ate a cheese souffle that is a Ladyship family tradition, and watched DVD after DVD. You know, after all these years, "War Games" really holds up. Even though the computers are laughably HUGE. Plus the Texan made a fantastic turkey dinner, which allowed us copious amounts of leftovers for the holiday weekend. Today's lunch was the first leftover-free meal I've had since Wednesday.

Now my main task for the week is ascertaining whether Maybelline "Superstay" lip gloss is all that it's cracked up to be. I love lipstick, but because I wear dark colors, it's painfully obvious when it's worn off. And yet the long-stay lipsticks are too drying. So far I'm not impressed with the superstay, as it tends to wear partially off and have the rest of it stick around for 16 hours (not a good look, btw), but I'll give it a fair shot. Wednesday night we're going to a small NYE party and I want my lipstick to be up to the challenge.

The weather outside is frightful...

....so it must be time to put up the xmas lights. Somehow, The Texan and I have developed our very own holiday tradition of holding off on doing so until the weather is crappy. Nothing like skittering about on a wet roof to really get the blood pumping.

We do have a change from previous years inside the house: an honest to god live xmas tree. I used to always get them when I lived in DC, but The Texan always insisted that we use the artificial one if we weren't going to be here for the holiday itself. Well, after flying to LA last xmas, I vowed that it would be a cold day in hell before I flew during the Christmas season again.* So this year, we're staying home and thus have an actual tree. It's purty. So far, the cat has avoided knocking it down (although he's far too interested in the tree water for my liking). I "decorated" it with random ornaments I've gotten through the years, plus some homemade ornaments - the kind where you stick cloves in oranges. I tried not to be insulted that every website I read about these ornaments on insisted that these were GREAT things for pre-schoolers to do. Um, sure. No problems here at all. Now all we need are some presents to go under it. And our stockings to arrive - I ordered some online, am not sure if they'll be here in time for St. Nick to put anything in them or not.

* Seriously, I've had to fly on or around xmas every year since 1996. FLYING SUCKS. And flying over the holidays is even worse.