But enough about you

Here's what's happened lately --

• Elliott and I went to Minnesota for Christmas. Elliott had a bad cold the whole time we were there, which put a damper on things, but we had a good time anyway. My parents got me some Lego sets (at my request) and the excellent book Forbidden Lego, so I've been doing a lot of miniature construction work lately. Elliott is getting interested in "grown-up Legos" in addition to Duplos, which is great.

• For New Year's Eve, Jon and I hosted a small gathering at my house. Our friend David introduced us to a Spanish tradition of eating twelve grapes at midnight, one for each chime of the clock. A few of us pulled it off, which supposedly grants us twelve months of good luck and prosperity. I guess it's harder with the large, white variety of grape typically found in Spain at the end of the year -- but we were using little purple grapes that were easy to swallow quickly. David said it still counted.

• I've been re-watching Babylon 5, since Jon got me season one on DVD for Hanukkah. (My first Hanukkah!)

• I'm famous: I was on the Official Google Blog a few days ago.

• Over the past few months, I've been decluttering my house. A lot of stuff has gone to Chris' condo (or will soon) and I'm hiring a junk service to come and cart the rest away. I can hardly wait.

• I've decided that when I'm at home, I'm only going to cook vegetarian (mostly vegan) food. I get plenty of meat at work and at restaurants, and I've been wanting to expand my vegetarian cooking repertoire, so I'm going to try this for a while. Tonight I made spinach fettucine with basil-cilantro pesto and artichoke hearts -- a recipe from the Veganomicon -- and it was delicious. The pesto has almonds in it instead of cheese and I think it came out really yummy.

That's the roundup for the last few weeks. What's up with you, fair readers?

12% done.

And this year, I'm using Google Docs. :)

... but have found myself pondering anyway...

• The 2008 presidential election
  
• Christmas 2007
  
• Christmases after 2007
  
• Where Elliott will go to kindergarten
  
• What color I should paint my bedroom
  
• Sewing window treatments
  
• The optimal hairstyle for me
  
• Who will win American Idol, and whether Blake Lewis will have extra tour dates in Seattle, since he's from near here, and if so, whether that will be soon, or if he'll have to do the crap top-10 tour for like a year first
  
• Whether I should attend any events at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and if so, which ones
  
• Whether drinking soda (even diet soda) has increased my tolerance for sweetness, thus causing me to eat other sweet foods that have more than zero calories
  
• Hunger, human rights, and the environment
  

Focus, Gretta. Focus.

100%

w00t!

Elliott is the only one allowed to flip any light switch in the house any more. If we forget and flip it ourselves, we have to flip it back and then let Elliott do it, even if he has to drag a stool over to reach.

Maybe he has a future as a Shabbos goy. But what would he do the other six days of the week?

Oh, and as long as I'm posting anyway... Christmas is 88.9% done. Woohoo!

Fantastic news! There was a bug in my Christmas spreadsheet and I was underestimating my level of completion. This morning I thought I was at 72% but once I fixed the bug, it turned out I'm really at 82%.

Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

62.5% done. But I haven't even started on some people. And Cyndy will be here tomorrow. I would love to send all our Olympia and Eugene gifts south with her but I don't even know what some of them are going to be yet. I guess we'll be shipping some...

Anybody want to go to the Best of the Northwest art/craft show on Saturday afternoon at Magnuson?

http://www.bestnwcrafts.com/

Christmas: 35.2% done. Getting there...

Christmas: 21.8% done

Soooo behind...

1. The tree south of our house was casting a beautiful fractal-like shadow on our house in the October sun this morning as I pulled into the garage. The shadow got more and less intense as the breeze made the tree sway back and forth. I was transfixed. Luckily not too transfixed: I still managed to park the car OK.
   
   
2. When Elliott is looking at Le Grand Livre de Mots, he says l'orange, la lune, la pomme, les soldats, but when he is looking at any other book he says the word in English. I know every mom thinks her kid is the best kid ever, but...
   
   
3. Christmas is 9% done. That's not much for October 17th but it's a solid improvement from a few days ago. Yes, I realize I'm insane, but it's a fun kind of insane. Every time a piece clicks into place and I realize what I'm getting or making for someone, I feel an evil glee.
   
   
4. I'm having a good hair day.
   
   
5. The people in my life are amazing and I am so lucky to have each and every one of them.
   
   
6. Elliott hasn't been napping well the last few days but I've been able to handle it well. I remember when the idea of a no-nap day used to send me screaming and running for cover. Elliott and I are buddies these days. We know how to hang out and have low-key, undemanding fun in the same space without driving each other too nuts. At least, some of the time. For example, right now he is attacking a helium balloon and laughing maniacally. His laughter is infectious.
   
   
7. My job search, currently in the network-and-schmooze phase, is going surprisingly well considering that I'm putting very little conscious effort into it.
   
   
8. I think I might be having sushi for dinner. Yum! Spicy tuna roll!
   

Christmas!

iTunes played "The First Nowel" for me at random this morning, and I realized it's that time of the year again. With Labor Day weekend coming up, it's time to make a new copy of last year's Excel spreadsheet and start pondering who's been naughty and nice. Every year, I improve my spreadsheet, adding a bell here or a whistle there. It gives me so much nerdy Christmasy pleasure. Even Chris has learned that when I burst into the room and exclaim, "Christmas is 42.3% done!" he is supposed to cheer (if it's still October) or fret (if it's already November).

I bought my tickets back to Minnesota this morning, too. It's looking like I'll be making four trips to the midwest over a nine-month period (August '06 through April '07), which I find more than a little daunting. I'm optimistic that Elliott will become a seasoned traveler before long. If this year doesn't do it I don't know what would.

So, if you shop-on-December-24th types can stop rolling your eyes long enough... what do you want for Christmas? I really want to know! Especially if I'm going to knit/sew/otherwise fabricate for you.