...and other than that, Mrs. Lincoln

So as you can see from the previous post, we got the Santa shot, hooray! B had just woken from a nap so was kind of dazed, but no tears! I don't think my mother ever took me to see Santa; at least we have no surviving pictures of this ritual. Maybe that wasn't such a thing in the 70s...?

Today Bed Rest Friend has been allowed to return home, which makes me a little nervous for her. I know I would be nervous. She sent me a $50 Amazon gift card and a walker/play table-type thing for Bumpus. I was also given a couple of baby gifts and several Christmas cards at my book club last night; I was empty handed. In fact other than my sister and brother in law, I have not bought presents for anyone, or anyone's kids. I had high hopes of making lots of crafty presents; other than a batch of coconut balls, nothing else has materialized. I've started to forgive myself for making a very ambitious to do list at the beginning of every week that I only manage to knock a couple of items off of by the end of the week. Last Friday's events kind of took the wind out of my sails as far as Christmas crafting. Oh, and I'm kind of lazy.

Speaking of overly ambitious, I have a crazy list of items to cook for my white elephant party Sunday night. I don't know how I'm going to do it all; especially since I will probably have to make a dish and gifts for Christmas Eve, and the same for a whole different set of people Christmas Day. Agh! So tomorrow I grocery shop (I'm getting about five packages of cream cheese, a gallon whipping cream, three packages chocolate chips, etc etc) and prepare a few things; Saturday I clean, decorate, and cook some more, and then the same Sunday day. Bumpus woke up with a runny nose today, and we had a rotten sleepless night because of it. Lord let him be content for the hours and hours of party prep ahead of me-!

Also Saturday I am supposed to meet a future SMC for coffee. She is about to start IVF. It will be my first official duty as a contact person for Los Angeles! I hope I'll be able to encourage her and be a good listener.

My sitter last night intimated she'd be very interested in traveling to events with me. So at least she's open to it - whether I can afford it or not is another issue. But at least this may be a way to make our traveling gigs work-!

Got the final estimate for my attic conversion today. With all of the built-in cabinets, a roll-away bed, and flooring, of course it's a bit more now - $9500. But hey, half of what I expected to spend, and with a lot more detail. And will be paid in full by May. We start day after Christmas, and I expect it to take much of January. It is not going to be pleasant - I'm going to have to hunker down and prepare for the messiness of men tramping in and out of the house, noise, dust, and things being not secured around here. But oh, the results, the results! It will be bigger than my bedroom, full of Craftsman character, and will change the whole dynamic of the house and also my entire live/work flow. So excited!!!