What I Did on My Holiday Vacation ...

[texchan]

Eh, OK. Not really. I mean, I'm a stay-at-home mom, which means I don't get holidays ... or vacations, for that matter. But, for some reason this little title just popped into my head, and it's so geeky and cliched that ... well, I had to use it. *gigglesnicker*

I haven't been around LJ much lately. (Although it's likely no one noticed my absence. =P) And, actually, I've been pretty much a hermit in all my online activities. I'm not sure why. Thanksgiving was nice and quiet. We stayed here in Virginia, as opposed to traveling to San Antonio to be with our extended families. It was really wonderful and special to have the time with just my hubby and our daughter. We went to eat at a lovely (and very good) restaurant and, in general, had a quiet family weekend. An extended weekend, since hubby got to take off from the Wednesday before T-day to the Monday after. I was glad to have him around, since he's been working such crazy hours lately, and he needed the break.

Our holiday activities are in full swing ... but I'll probably post more about that later on.

But, even with the nice Thanksgiving holiday and the approach of Christmas, over which my kiddo is very, very excited, I find I've been in a rather ... well, "not nice" mood lately. I'm not sure I quite approach "BAH! HUMBUG!" standards, but I think I've been getting pretty close to sliding right down that slippery slope. Holiday "chores" are piling up. I can't seem to catch up on my housework. I am not sleeping. My dog is sick. My kiddo is sick. My hubby is sick. I have lists and lists of things to do for Christmas and neither the time nor the desire to do them. And, to top it all off, I have been engaged in one of the most ridiculously fool-hardy projects I've ever taken on.

All right -- that's probably going a bit too far. But, still, it was a monster of a project.

I'm talking about the "re-do" on my Rubberslug cel gallery. I closed down just before Thanksgiving and, really, did not expect to open up again until after Christmas. There were just a lot of piddly maintenance-type things I had intended to do for a long time -- things I kept putting off. Now, I realize I put them off with good reason. This is a lot of freaking work! >.O

Thanks to my ongoing insomnia and my frustration with my writing muses, I have been able to finish the redo ahead of schedule. At least something good came out of all that mental torture. *nervous laugh* I re-opened the gallery today -- well, around 6:30 this morning, my time ... which is when I finished the last of the changes. I think I managed to complete all of the cosmetic changes, although I remain nervous that something slipped past my notice. Pretty easy, actually, with a project this large. Still, I think I'm happy with the results, and I'm really happy I managed to finish so quickly. (Although I think that probably says a lot about my horribly obsessive-compulsive nature. *sweatdrop*)

I also added a few new things ... sort of a "re-do" celebration. *snicker*

New Arrivals (Everything in this section was added today, although I already blogged in here about the Orphen cel. *snuggles with growly Orphen plastik*)

Oh! And, a bit more postive-ness popped up late, late last night. Or, maybe it was early this morning. I forget. Anyhow ...

I've been thinking of writing a WK Christmas story. Sort of a little one-shot for the holidays-sort of thing. But, I couldn't come up with an idea for it. Well, thanks to Blade-chan's "accidentally goth" Aya drawing (which, I might add, I'm sure is just gorgeous -- no matter what bladedfan says ^.~), I now have an idea. Yes! A WK Christmas fic idea! Wheee!

Ooh! Oooh! And, I won a loverly Tactics rilezu of Haruka. Whoopee for "Buy It Now" on ebay! *ebilsnicker*

Maybe this is the end of the "November Doldrums" and the beginning of "Happy Happy Joy Joy Time" over in Tex's universe.

...

Uh, yeah, OK ... I know ... I shouldn't get carried away. *snicker*

Comments

[bladedfan.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the almost-but-not-quite-bah-humbug mood. ^.^' But maybe your new Christmas fic will help to lighten things up, ne? ^_~

Oh, and about Aya... I looked at him just now for the first time since the mishap that made him go gothy and... I actually kinda like it. June seems to love him. She sniffed at my sketch pad, purred, and then tried to lick him. And I went from going " O.O " to yelling, "No, cat, you cannot lick Aya!" ^.^'

I guess bitchy kitties can recognize their own. Or something. Eh-heheheh. ^_^'

*GLOMS*

[bladedfan.livejournal.com]

Oh... I am adding some accessories to the drawing now that it seems to be "goth themed." I'm going to add a cross to his string-collar-whateveritis necklace thingy. The cross I was wearing today gave me the idea. It's black, and kinda goth looking and... something I could see Aya actually wearing. How weird is that? Still debating on that nail polish, too. Although Aya's giving me this, "Do that and see what happens," look. ^.^()

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

Heh, heh. The fingernail polish makes me laugh. Which, in turn, makes Aya growl at me from the Bish Closet.

Still ... *gigglesnicker*

[bladedfan.livejournal.com]

LOL

[kmktr.livejournal.com]

*sniffle* Do I not get a chance to see gothy Ayan? 'Specially as that particular cross sounds a bit -- familiar, somehow?

Tex! *gloms* I wandered over to your gallery earlier today (I noticed you'd blogged on RS) and it looks fantastic! It was a lot of work, I can tell (the RS interface is nowhere near as smooth and useful as it could be) but, in my humble opinion, definitely worth it! Very cool!

I'm with you on the holiday blahs. Maybe we should get together and do the gift shopping thing? I really hate shopping on my own, so I'm dragging my feet.

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked the redo. A few other people commented favorably on it, too, which was a relief. Not that it should matter -- I mean, what should matter most is how I feel about it. I know this, and, yet, I want others to like it, too. Because, somehow, it feels as if that will make the hard work "worth it". Very silly of me. *nervous laugh*

And, don't worry. I haven't seen "gothy Ayan", either. I saw him in his pre-goth form, but only heard about the "conversion". Still, I'm confident the drawing is just as gorgeous as ever. *nods*

Maybe we should get together for the holiday shopping thing. You could come over this way. We are near Tyson's Corner ... so we could have a big mall at our disposal. LOL!

[bladedfan.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is that cross. I'll email you the pre-goth pencil sketch later.

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

See? I knew he didn't look as "awful" as you thought. But, yeah ... I know that sinking feeling of thinking you've messed up something you worked really hard on. I'm so glad you like him now, though. And, he even has the "June" seal of approval! Obviously, with that, it must be a fabulous drawing! *gloms*

[bladedfan.livejournal.com]

Nah, I don't think he looks so bad anymore. Actually, I really quite like it now. But the thing was that that night I was really, really off kilter. And, it was a mistake at the time, and not at all what I had in my head when I started this thing. It was a mistake while inking the lips, and... well, I just HATE mistakes I make while inking, more than any other kind. Because it's so very hard to fix a mistake when it's in black ink, and in such an obvious place, y'know?

But, after going a day and a half without looking at him, I flipped open my sketch book and though, "That's... not so bad." So I guess the fussing I did after the crying fit paid off. (At one point I just made myself stop, before I made it any "worse" and forced myself to go to bed.) So, I'm happy, and very relieved that all of that hard work didn't just go down the tubes.

As far as having the "June Seal" goes... I dunno... my kitty is very weird. ^.^()

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

Goodness! I can totally understand feeling that way -- especially if you're already in a bad place, you know? That's the nice thing about writing -- it's a much more forgiving "medium". Just hit the "delete" key and watch your mistakes disappear. If only life was like that, for real. =P

[baakay.livejournal.com]

So... you haven't been around LJ much? and HOW late am I in reading this?? :P

I am absolutely with you on the "almost-but-not-quite-bah-humbug" thing. Every year it gets worse. When hobby lobby started hauling out their x-mas decorations in AUGUST this year I about died. That is just too dang early!! And for the last six of these years I've been in full-bore school panic mode while all this prep work is supposedly taking place.

Who SAYS I have to send cards? Cards get opened, looked at, and added to the pile of stuff going to the curb. I think I'd rather have the tree continue to make oxygen. Just a funny little bias I have about breathing.

Who SAYS we have to put up lights on the day after Thanksgiving? (we didn't. It's been colder'n heck out here and there was no way in the world. We have decorations that we'll put up... oh... maybe this coming weekend.)

Who SAYS I have to go beat the bush for some weird thing for my sister that she had a hard time thinking of to put on the list in the first place, just for the sake of sending something?? It's ridiculous. We've gotten to where we swap gift cards. Hey, I have a thought, let's just keep our money and give each other the heartiest of good wishes? and go shopping for ourselves if the urge is undeniable? Seriously.

If not for the kids...

:) But they are still fun. Both of them are sneaking up on the "mom? dad? is the Easter Bunny (Tooth Fairy/what have you) really you guys?" stage. But I think there's a bit of denial going on about Santa. I do still cling to the quick-fading remnants of childlike glee that they exhibit. But I won't be horribly sad when we're done with this phase.

*cleansing breath*

Now then!!

As to your site: it's fabulous. Well worth it.

Sick? oh yeah. We've had the 2nd round of stomach ick going through the house. I'm praying I don't get it too. Hey, found out Monday that my boss was here all last week with:
wait for it...

MUMPS!! Can you imagine?

So I'll send the happy get better vibes :)

And YOU're the one who snagged that Haruka! Whoot!

:)

Merry Christmas?

P.S. ... I *still* need to see which doll would make a good Aya. I keep not-finding the link anywhere. This is a hint. Do not adjust your set. This is only a hint.

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

*GLOMS*

Nah ... you're just in time reading this. Hey, you're a busy lady, after all. I'm just happy you even want to take the time to read my nonsensical ramblings in here. ^.~

Can I just say this -- your boss should be FLOGGED! O.O Showing up for work with MUMPS?!?! What the heck is wrong with people? Do they not realize they are inflicting their ick on everyone around them? Come to think of it, flogging might be too good for them. *growls*

Heh. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who's sliding into bah-humbug mode. For me, though, I feel terribly guilty, as I don't have any good reason to feel so harrassed and frazzled. I mean, I stay at home with my daughter, so I'm not having to try and balance work and school and a family, like you have to. (I'm beginning to suspect I'm just a whiner. *shame vibes*) I'm not sure of the reason, but I've been rather anti-holidays for the past three years. Which is bad, since I used to love Christmas. I did the whole thing -- the gift wrapping with the fancy paper and handmade bows, drew my own gift tags, designed and printed my own Christmas cards, made many of my gifts, blah, blah, blah. (Yeah, I was kinda disgusting ... but I enjoyed it.) Now that I'm back to writing, though, that's all I want to do. If I'm not doing stuff for my kiddo, I want to be working on my writing. Back when I was doing this other "creative" stuff, I was not writing -- it was during the 7-year-long spell of writer's block. So, maybe that's the reason for the change. Or, I could just be lazy ... and a whiner. *more shame vibes*

And, thank you, thank you, thank you for the kind words on the gallery re-do! I appreciate it so much. Hearing that others like it makes me feel like all that work kind of paid off, in a way. I mean, I know it should only matter what I think ... but it makes me happy that others enjoy visiting. I'm still happy dancing over the Haruka. *happeh vibes* :D

As for the Aya doll ... here's the link. I hope it'll work.

Tex is NOT going to buy me! (http://dollmore.net/shop/step1.php?number=2579)

[baakay.livejournal.com]

Don't feel guilty. Every year the retail industry pushes us harder and longer, and turns this into some kind of competition. I totally hate it. There was a *stabbing* O_o at one of the local malls where people were waiting in line to get a game console.

This... is a holiday??!!?? Bah! Hamburg!

***************

Oh boy do I agree with you on the mumps thing. This woman is one of those who has that "I will go to the office even if my fever is 105 degrees" things going. Thank you SO much for SHARING! (Well, I suppose it IS the season of sharing, after all... ) With any luck, the immunizations I had in 1989 will hold. On the other hand I'm sitting here with a splitting headache (again), chills and what passes for fevers in my life. Sooooo...

**** she hijack's Tex's journal...

Immunizations. What a saga that was. I had the complete gamut of diseases as a kid -- chickenpox in 1958, measles mumps AND rubella between 1962 and 1965. Along with my two sibs. Soooo fun at our house. But I was born 10 months too late to escape the "you have to be immunized" rule for universities. I go in with my mom's hand-written health record for me showing those dates. "This isn't a doctor's record." "No, but it shows when I had the diseases." "We need the immunization records." *Kay peers at health clerk* "Um...they didn't make vaccines for these diseases then. But here's my smallpox vaccine mark..." "Can't you get your doctor's records?" O_o *Kay turns red...slowly...* "Think about this now. We're talking nearly forty years ago. In another state. And the doctor was an old man then. I think it's fairly safe to assume that HE IS DEAD BY NOW!!!" *pant...pant*

So... I had the dang shots. Gotta love the people who can't quite connect the dots.

*******************

By the way. What about Aya makes you not want to buy him? He's so purdy with all that beautiful red hair...

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

OH ... MY ... GOODNESS! O.O

...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! It's Aya! In real life!!! O.O

*dies a happy fangirl death* =O.O=

I can't believe how much that doll looks exactly like him with the red hair! Now, I'm having an even harder time resisting that sultry-smexay glare that says: "BUY ME, Fangirl!" *gigglesnicker*

And, on the immunizations -- I feel your pain. Same thing happened to me when I started college. Except in my case, it was some weird issue with my shot records, like I had had the shot, but it wasn't properly recorded or whatever. So, I had to have it again -- totally bizarre-o, if you ask me. But, I guess that's governmental minutae for you. Our "tax dollars" at work, so to speak. Eeep!

(By the way, I hope you're feeling better! *hugs*)