the morning after christmas has dawned bright and clear. it's quiet, for the time being (they're all sleeping, shhhh). yesterday went well, much better than i really thought it would. my mother actually handed out appropriate gifts for once, the kids loved what we picked up for them (with money provided by his folks), and his parents brought over a few other things as well. phoenixcat's dinner came out wonderful and i'm looking forward to having my leftover hen for breakfast as soon as i can figure out what container it's in. taz wasn't feeling too well, but his fever stayed down and he did eat (i sent him to bed shortly after). the dishes were washed and all that's left now is to put them away.

it was a very nice christmas for a christmas we didn't think was going to be more than dinner.

and now we have 4 or 5 days till the end of the year and the start of the new. just astonishing how quickly this year went past.

i made my goal of finishing the first draft of assassin's. i haven't gotten published yet, but that's okay since i have gotten in the habit of just turning around and resubmitting a piece to a new market when it's been rejected without agonizing over it.

i tried me hand at being a diarist.net panelist. not something i'm particularly interested in trying again any time soon, but it was an interesting experience.

my site had to be rescued from a pretty unpleasant company and i learned a lesson in making backups that i probably should have known all along.

the danger level of our neighborhood was brought home when a girl on a bike was shot on the corner. it's been oddly quiet since, but i'm sure the slide isn't over. i would really like to be out of here when the neighborhood actually does hit rock bottom.

the governor cut the state education budget and made my english degree pretty useless.

my husband got a wonderful job, then lost it through no real fault of his own. we have heard since that the company he worked for has a bad rep with a number of places in the area, including the local universities. bad rep or not, we really needed that job and have been having a tough time trying to recover from the lost, especially without another helping to pick up the slack in even the smallest way.

we had a pregnancy scare.

my grandmother died.

i started, and never quite got into, another effort at exercising. i swear, i'm just not the exercise alone kind of girl, even if i enjoy the exercise i'm doing. i need a neighbor interested in exercising together. or a trainer, or something.

my oldest decided she wanted to go to julliard. unfortunately, it's not going to happen; she hasn't taken her grades seriously enough. it's been something of a rocky year with her, hopefully things will even out now.

i closed some of the more neglected areas of my site.

we got sued (i was served 5 months later) - not that i can give them any more money now than i was before being sued. we need a car so saxy can find a job, but now a car would probably be taken away to help pay for the debt. we have nothing else of value to take. wonder if putting it just in his name would help? hmmm . . . well, it would be better for me to just get a decent advance on my novel when it sells. ;)

we found a new dust bunny who isn't such a dust bunny any more. in fact, right now, he and ororo are tearing up the house in their standard early morning fashion. he's about 7 months old, almost 8. he's happy, healthy, affectionate, and my kitten.

several people told me how much i meant to them as a friend, as a mentor, and as someone who helped them out in other ways. warm fuzzies are really nice, especially in difficult times.

once again we considered moving, and once again decided it wasn't feasible for various reasons. hanging tough is hard, but in this case there's not much we can do about it. we need a place for someone to stay. i can pay for a ticket on the bus, but a hotel is out of the question. then there's the parents thing - although they seem to be doing okay. not fantastic, but okay.

i took up child care for a very short time. since then the mother has pretty much quit school.

i turned 40! and it looks like i'm menopausal. wee, joy, fun . . . NOT.

i gave up on the m.f.a. but found an m.a. program i'd like to seriously consider. the big issues are transportation and paying for residency on campus.

california went up in flames. and now is drowning in rain with mudslides and all the assorted issues that come when the trees are gone and it's pouring. it seems to be a rough year for california overall: budget crises, recall, the new governor unable to save as much as he'd hoped as soon as he hoped, fire, mudslides. it would be nice if that last 5 days of the year went by quietly, but with more rain in the offing, that's unlikely.

saxy picked up writing.

and my sleep schedule got completely twisted without any effort of my own. i'm still trying to turn myself around but sleeping 4 hours then being awake for 6 - 10 isn't helping me much.

only 5 days left. wonder if any more can happen. i hope not. it's been a busy year. i would really like to see it go out quietly.