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. . . till the next one. I'm definitely going to start shopping super early - like right after the new year. Many businesses are going under and while I feel quite badly for them all I have to take advantage of their sales and clearances.

What I would like to do is start a hope chest for my daughter. I have my mother's Lane cedar chest that was given to her on her wedding day by my father, way back in 1957. It had a blond finish, but my hubby has sanded that away and we'll refinish it with a darker stain and protective coating of urethane, or something. I'm going to try (AGAIN!) to get my mother and father's china from the asshole that my mother married in 1986. . . my mother passed away in 2005 and I've had no luck in getting the beautiful china that was promised to me. I would love to add this to Andrea's hope chest.

Anyway - I figure I'll shop for towels and sheets, kitchen items, spices (maybe wait on those, not sure yet), candles, and basic stuff that she probably wouldn't think of herself. Since I have the chest here in the living room, now full of yarn, I'll empty it out and as I purchase stuff I'll stash it right in the chest. She'll never know it's there and it'll be a great surprise when she gets her own place. That may not be for several more years yet but I'll continue to add to it until the day arrives. :-)

As for Christmas 2008 - Drea got her new computer and totally didn't expect it. I had thought otherwise. She was so surprised and so very happy; especially considering that it's a monster! 2.2 gig processor, 4 gigs of RAM. We didn't get her a monitor, but will be doing so when tax money comes in. I found a 22" re-furb Dell flat screen that will be perfect with the rest of the system. We also got her the TV thing for her Zune and the Zune auto audio kit for the cars. She had been saying she wanted one of those silly Tamigachi (sp?) things that she had as a much younger child and I found one. The things that thrill an 18 year old! LOL Amazing. We got a few small items for her boyfriend and she said that he appreciated them very much. Just hats and a nice pair of gloves (store bought), and it seems he's a lot like DH - loses gloves often, so these came in handy. If she's still with him next Xmas he'll do much better from us. The last BF was a disaster and we're glad that we didn't go 'all out' for gifts for him last Xmas.

My new electrical cable/cord came in for my laptop on the 24th. Whew!! It's good to be able to use the computer when I want to and not have to do things super quick to be sure the battery wouldn't run out on me.

Went to MIL's today and right after dinner was over and we were all sitting there chatting a headache hit me like I had been stoned. It felt like a hot vibrating wire had pierced my brain. Andrea brought me down the mountain to our home and I changed and immediately went to bed, nice dark, cool room and took my two girls (Luna & Roo) with me. Slept from 3:30 or thereabouts until 9:45 tonight. I've been up since, headache is gone, thank goodness. DH has to get up at 3:30 AM to go to work and help to get the plant back up and running until they shut down again on Tuesday for New Years Eve & Day. I'll get coffee ready for him before he's up so he can get out of here relatively quickly. He has to be in by 5 AM.

Working on the mitts mentioned in an earlier post. I'm almost up to the bind off for the thumb on the first one. Nice to do some mindless knitting and watch some older TV with the dogs snoozing on the sofa with me. Poor Jackie -our one eyed, damaged Boston, is plastered right up against my leg, snoring very softly. This dog sometimes breaks my heart with all of his scars, missing eye and neurosis. We love him so very much and feel fortunate that we were selected and able to take him in when no one else wanted him.

Have a great day!