lady_karelia

First of all, Very Happy Birthday to my Little Man, who turned ten today!

Also Happy Birthday to wonderfulwrites! May your day be wonderful and the year ahead your happiest yet!

We've had an absolutely wonderful time, even once Christmas was over. My brother stayed the day after as well, and we went to see The Golden Compass, which we all enjoyed very much. I have yet to comprehend why people make so much fuss about this movie; I've seen far worse and far more blasphemous ones than this one, for sure.

Then yesterday, my niece came up from LA to spend the afternoon with us, which was a treat, as we hadn't seen her since stopping for a short visit on the way home from New Orleans back in May. Little Hannah is a real princess, five years old, behaving like a lady when she isn't playing spoiled prat, lol. She still adores Little Man, and they spent the entire afternoon playing.

Today, for Little Man's birthday, we first went for the self-defense lesson because he wanted to. His instructor was really sweet, saying how wonderful he is that he wanted to share his b-day with his friends there and even brought cake, which the kids ate in no time. Then we went to the Zoo, which we all enjoyed very much, even though the reptile house was closed due to flooding, the butterfly enclosure was closed due to maintenance, and all the rides were closed because of the weather. But it was still great fun, and we're planning to go again in spring when it's warmer, and hopefully, we'll be able to admire the snakes and butterflies, too, then.

And now that I'm done tidying up the kitchen, following a long and active day, I think I'll just chill and do some knitting. My bolero only has one sleeve left, but I need to figure out how to sew it on and see how it looks before I tackle the last one. The alpaca/silk yarn does feel heavenly, though, and I can't wait to wear it.

Okay, meme first, shamelessly stolen from ammarine

Bands // Song Titles
Choose a band/or artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band::	Queen
Are you female or male::	Killer Queen
Describe yourself::	Spread Your Wings
How do some people feel about you::	Play The Game
How do you feel about yourself::	Now I'm Here
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend::	Radio Ga Ga
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend::	I Was Born To Love You
Describe where you want to be::	We Are The Champions
Describe what you want to be::	You're My Best Friend
Describe how you live::	Spread Your Wings
Describe how you love::	Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
Share a few words of wisdom::	Bohemian Rhapsody
Take this survey | Find more surveys | MySpace Surveys Bzoink - The Original Survey Site

American Idol; indeed all is alright with the world. The little Indian girl who had been mistakenly sorted into the boys section has finally exited. I have no doubt that some politically correct idiot will give him a contract to do whatever in show biz - a reason why I watch so little tv. But he's gone from Idol. It was a shock, though, to see both Blake and Lekisha in the bottom three. Americans, please, this is about an IDOL, NOT about how sympathetic you feel about losers!!!

And last but not least, our vacation, which wasn't all that vacational, is coming to an end. It's been a very refreshing week, with new impressions to digest, an appreciation for living in the middle of nowhere, with no traffic, and even though I'm gonna miss a barely two-miles-away-Starbucks, I'm having a Huehnchen mit denen zu rupfen, in any case, so I guess it's a good thing that the nearest one is 90 miles away. Besides, it gives me an excuse to drive once I'm back home. *nods* Driving 2400 miles in ten days evidently isn't enough. We did manage to get Shrimpcast out on time, which was my biggest stress, and what's even better, we were pretty relaxed about it. Yeah, I know you can tell - I didn't even edit all the "erm"s out *snerk*. But, you know, I was on holiday :-))

The weather has been spectacular. I think I've seen more rain in the last seven days than I did in the last seven months. *loves rain* Yes, it has stopped us from doing the cultural stuff, like visiting NYC for a day, courtesy of the nor'easter, or visiting some local caves; or even actually seeing the Blue Mountains through which we drove. The clouds were so low, it was incredible. But it was meant to be a 'getting away from it all' type holiday, and it has been that. We visited Borders a couple of times, buying new notebooks, books, consuming coffee and cheesecake and pretzels, and all's been fine. I feel considerably less edgy, I don't blow up at every occasion or non-occasion, and Little Man has progressed from reading Manga to reading Bionicle books without pictures. He's read five Manga books and two Bionicle books and played plenty of WoW, as has DD. I've been working on the new website and will post more about that project once I have all the links incorporated. Thank you f-list, for all the links you've provided! *loves you*

So, coming up here, we took the very shortest route, going through TN sideways, then up VA, then across the western corners of WV and MD. Which means we've added another two states to our list of "have beens". Going back, we shall take the OH KY route. It's a mere 17 miles longer, but there are more interstates, which will keep me more alert, and besides, we've only ever touched down in KY, so that's kind of a new state to add.

Shrimpcast will end, with the last episode airing after Phoenix Rising. Well, it will hibernate until it's time to resurrect it for the next con. :-) This latest episode is the first one that's actually generated some feedback, and I'm absolutely tickled pink shrimp-coloured. Talking of shrimp colour, we visited this outlet mall a couple of days ago, and I found a new hand-bag in shrimp colour! *squee*

But alas, podcasting can be somewhat addictive, so I will continue, with some friends who have become very dear to me, and I'm really looking forward to it.