Merry Christmas to all!

Two More Sleeps!

Only two more sleeps until Christmas, and we're totally prepared! Went out for one last shopping spree at the mall, this time for Nicholas. So nice to just stroll through the shop, absorb all the craziness, and just look at all the goodies, picking out special things for my man that hold some meaning to him. I stopped in for lunch, and had myself a "wee tea" with fancy sandwiches and even a scone with devonshire cream and preserves and a steaming pot of hot tea. Lovely treat.
Even better, when I returned home, my husband had cleaned the entire house from top to bottom! I hate cleaning...in fact, I'm quite bad at ever getting to it. That's not to say my house is a pig sty...we don't leave junk like old food or dirty laundry laying around...it might just get a little dusty. So nice to not have to do it all myself, especially after the two days baking in the kitchen this past weekend.
Today is my parents 39th wedding anniversary, and I think that's amazing. So many people get divorced! There aren't that many marriages out there that will make it that far - some will give up, some will become fed up, some will fail. But, it gives hope to all that relationships really can last that long, even despite the ups and downs, the arguments, the pain that comes with living together and dealing with all that life throws at you...it gives hope to me, when all around me people are throwing relationships in the dumpster like it was last night's leftovers.
Way to go Mom and Dad. Thanks for showing us a good example and giving me something to strive me in the early years of my marriage!

To Trifle with a Truffle

Minus 20 outside, fresh snow...beautiful. It was a clear, crisp day, and it made all the little things I had to do that much more cheerful with the bright sun streaming through the windows, even though it disappeared so early behind the trees on the hill above us.
Finished (!) my baking today with the most finicky little truffles (chocolate)...of course, I've never made truffles before so I had no idea what to expect. All I know is that they are rich and huge...I started the centres ever so small (chocolate and sour cream), but as I added on each required layer (done exactly as the recipe called for), they grew into these monstrous golf balls of chocolate and rum and kahlua. Yummy, but one is enough!
Off tomorrow for the last of my Christmas shopping - this time for my husband. Hmm...I know what I'd like to get him, but the questions is will I find it? It'll be a day of searching around town, I'm afraid, but every opportunity I have had to get those certain hard-to-find gifts, he was always there with me! I'll just try my luck.
Three more sleeps till Christmas!

Baking Frenzy

Well, the Christmas baking marathon began today...it was my plan to make one treat per day, maybe two, just to spread it out and not end up in the kitchen all day. Somehow, I did end up in the kitchen today. Once I started, I couldn't stop! I made the granola last night, which was great for breakfast. My mom's recipe, and one of my favourites. Then I thought I'd start dealing with the pastry and the meat pies, since they always seem the messiest and longest to make. In the end I also made buttertarts. It seemed silly to get started on the pastry and not do those as well! And while the meat cooked for the meat pies, which always takes a long time to simmer down, I thought I'd do one of the other interminable jobs, which is making peanut brittle. Of course, my husband didn't bother telling me until I was boiling the sugar water that the candy thermometer broke last year when he was making the brittle, so I had to eyeball it. I totally bypassed the soft-ball stage, but it worked in the end and is delicious!
Now I think I'll get, and stay, off my feet for a little and enjoy the white lights all throughout my house. It's snowing outside, just cold enough but not horribly so, and I don't have to work tomorrow. Soooo lovely!

Christmas Shopping!

Phew! We spent 8 hours today combing the downtown centre, the mall, and several grocery stores for everything we could possibly need for Christmas. I'm realizing how many baked goods I now have to make, because I've bought all the ingredients. Even the rum! I always feel awkward buying liquor...I don't drink it, so I still feel like a child trying to get away with something naughty when I go in a liquor store.
Tomorrow I will finally roll out the gingerbread dough I made last week, and I decided to treat myself with some homemade granola as well! Then perhaps the meat pies...
So much!
It was nice getting in the Christmas spirit today, wandering through the stores with their (rather tacky and materialistic) holiday decor, but there's nothing like coming home to my Charlie Brown Christmas tree and some quality Christmas music! A humble, homemade Christmas: that's what I like.
All the best to all of you as your prepare for the holiday season!

Christmas Vacation!

It has arrived - Christmas vacation! I can't wait to sleep, and then sleep some more. I'm beginning to realize all that I have to do...like finally bake the gingerbread dough that's been in my fridge for a week, and shop, and make all the other goodies I want to have in the house! Love it. Decorating is officially finished, although I still want to make a wreath for the front door, or something like it. 

Tonight was the official Christmas hullabaloo with everyone from work - it was a nice evening. Not as small and intimate as the first, but with a little wine I managed to get up and sing with my principal (on piano), with his favourite musical music - Les Mis. I am absolutely stuffed...lucky for us, one of our teachers is a chef at the Keg too!

Now, what to do first...so much time! 

Easy decision: bed.

So tired...

I have been out every night this week. I'm exhausted. But! Had a lovely night tonight at Lisa's house, just talking and showing her some Egypt pictures while Nicholas and James played squash up at the university.
Only one day left until the holidays...I'm hoping that lots of students don't bother coming to school tomorrow...it will make life (and getting through the day) so much easier.
I can barely keep my eyes open! On to Christmas baking this weekend, and some stress free writing (no competing with school work or against the clock!). Might even make a card or two...but how lovely to know that it won't be over after Sunday night, but instead will continue for a whole two weeks. Yes!

Joyeux Noel in Wartime

Tonight's message is a call to watch a movie...nothing to do with writing, I know, but everything to do with Christmas and all that we should strive for in our everyday lives.
I watched Joyeux Noel this evening. I'd never heard of it, never seen any reviews. Nothing, and it is the best Christmas movie I have ever seen. It is...real. It's not Hollywood sap, or commercial crap. It's true humanity. I just wished more people cared.
In 1914, during the first Christmas of WWI after everyone had sworn they'd be home for Christmas and the war over, German, French, and Scots (British) troops declared a ceasefire on the lines so that they could mark the special season, the birth of Christ, and return/bury each other's dead.
I'm imagining myself in their place, one day firing on Germans, on the "Kraut's," the next day sharing a bar of chocolate, or attending a service with a priest, or playing a game of cards over a bottle of booze. Imagine seeing the face of the person you're shooting at, learning about their wives, seeing pictures of their families, and knowing that the next day you would be firing at them and ruining their lives forever. Horrible. I just can't fathom it - it breaks my heart. I guess that's why I've always wanted to do my part, why I WOULD (yes, I would!) join the services for my country. Why I would join Doctor's Without Borders as I had always planned to, if only I had been able to attend medical school. It makes me angry that these young soldiers were then reprimanded for "fraternizing" with the enemy, when they were only being human, how a church could condemn a priest who offered a service for all soldiers and not just his own, how a church could kick him off the front and replace him with a man who preaches death and destruction and warps the scriptures to defend the killing of all Germans so that their inherent evil cannot resurface (because, according to the powers that be, Germans are not human). It baffles me that man can be so blind, so mindwashed and unfeeling. I want to show my kids this movie in my Grade 9 class tomorrow, but what breaks my heart the most? They won't care. At all. They'll say, "I hate subtitles," or "this is dumb," because the action scenes have no special effects or there are no familiar actors. They want Elf, or Santa Clause.
Where's the compassion? How do I teach an unfeeling, egotistical generation to care?
Please tell me if you have the solution.

Obligations Complete!

Finally, all the concerts are over. It definitely feels like an old time Christmas for me, meaning something more in tune with my childhood and youth, with all these concerts. It's nice to do something musical during the season, and to help young people have the experiences I had when I was younger, like sharing music with others and feeling a sense of accomplishment at having worked hard and produced something to show parents, friends, and loved ones!
I must say, though, that I was a little disappointed by the end of it, only because there is a sincere lack of performance etiquette on the part of the singers I accompanied! It is common to give your accompanist a gesture of thanks, something that directs the audience's attention toward the accompanist, because it is not just a soloist and a pianist, but a partnership who work together to make the soloist shine and do well. I do not do this for the money, for the prestige - I accompany to help others out and give them more opportunities. But I must say, it would have been nice if it weren't so completely thankless. Out of all the girls I accompanied tonight and over the last few days, not one, NOT ONE, has bothered to thank me physically (gesture), verbally (Thanks!), or monetarily (some even neglected to pay my coaching fees for extra sessions, for which I drove to the conservatory especially). This makes me sad...but I know that I did a good job, and I know that I had a great time playing piano and being able to have the opportunity to collaborate with some young musicians and listen to their beautiful music. That's all that matters.
My one wish - Parents: teach your children manners.

Four More Days, then Holidays!!

Another concert finished! Italian arias tonight...although I did not have to sing them but played the piano for the singers instead. I always prided myself during my music studies on not being a diva, but there is definitely a little diva in there, although she doesn't always show her cards! I enjoy playing the piano, but as I sit there I always feel very "second class" compared to the performer, and wish I were the soloist, even if it scares me to do so and I shake with nervousness!
Winter has really hit us now in the north with -30! The roads are sheer ice, snow that has melted to slush, and then frozen before it could be plowed. Ridiculous! We drive veeeery sloooooowly. It takes my breath away as I walk outside, and if I breathe through my nose, I can feel all the little hairs tweak and begin to freeze...a very odd feeling. If you've never felt the extreme cold, it's worth a shot at least once just for the oddity of it. Beyond that it's just plain cold, and there's nothing much good about that, unless you're a popsicle.
I watched the video of my performance from last night, and I must slap my wrist for being so self critical. The way I see it, most people (unless total narcissists!) don't like looking at themselves on video, or in photos. One of those problems is that we're used to looking at our own mirror images. That is to say, I look at myself backwards, compared to what everyone else sees of me. So, in our photos we think we look a little contorted, because our sideways grins go the wrong way, or we just look "off" because our faces are not perfectly symmetrical.
I confess that I listened intently to my voice, but was so distracted by my double chin that I became very self conscious. Do my lips really look that small when I sing? I looked puckered up, like I had eaten vinegar! And the chin? Well, I was terrified, after having not performed for four years, of making a mistake, and kept my nose in the book. I should have looked up more, but I just needed that crutch. Result? Double chin.
Oh well...it was all worthwhile at the end when I left the stage. Two of the choristers behind me gave each other these cute little "oh, my!" looks, and one lipsynched "she was amazing" and of course this made all the bad stuff fall away.
It took me all evening to figure out how to actually get the camera working...now that I know the basics, I'll hopefully be able to download the clips and put them up sometime this week.
Four more days till Christmas holidays...

Handel's Messiah

One concert down, two more to go!
I had a wonderfully night performing with the Prince George Cantata Singers. The entire concert was, in fact, a sing-along, with the choir performing and the audience joining in (complete with "song books") when they could. I had, luckily, done the entire Messiah production before, so I was able to sing along quite easily and really enjoyed it!
My solo went wonderfully...practises always seemed a bit goofy, but other than having a dry throat and major adrenaline rush (shaky!) it went wonderfully. It felt so good! I loved that, during a piano interlude, I heard this old lady whisper (although, of course, she wasn't really whispering but to her it seemed that way) "she's really good!" This, of course, helped me to calm down and bit and just sing, knowing that it was being well received. Afterwards, lots of great comments. I feel like I've come out of retirement (haven't performed in 4 years!) and have all the encouragement I need to STAY out of retirement. One American women, who completely understood the random oddity of her comment, wished that Obama could hear the message to my song. I sang "Rejoice Greatly O Daughter of Zion," and one particular line is "he is the righteous saviour/And he shall speak peace unto the heathens." This particular women said she was transported to this place where she couldn't help but connect it to the world at large and the issues we have everywhere around us, and she hoped that President Obama would be able to bring peace not only to the middle east, but between nations as well. There's another great piece in the messiah, a bass/baritone solo, which talks about the rage between the nations. Hmm...amazing how something written 400 years ago could be so relevant to the world today!
Another very kind woman said, she wished the Prince George Symphony had hired us (BIG Messiah production last night) instead of importing from the other side of the country. That was nice to hear! I'd love to have done it.
Finally, another woman said something about my chakra? About the sheer energy emanating from the shakra located near my head? I don't fully understand it, and I'm not a follower of such ways, but I read up on it and found out that to have a strong chakra in this area is believed to show oneness with God and higher consciousness and truth. I'll take that. She may have different beliefs, but it was very nice of her to say to me.
Well, now that the evening is done, I have two recitals this week to accompany (sadly, I get more stressed about these than about singing), and then I'll finally have my break. Looking forward to it.
For now, I've just remembered that I need to put my rose (from the choir) in a vase before I hop off to bed.
Photos to follow tomorrow, and in the meantime, I'll be editing the video so I can post that too.
And yes, I even got a little writing done today, replacing third person with first. Still not sure what I think...only time will tell.

No one believes me when I say my dog burrows...but here's the proof. While this is a particularly prime example, Bailey can be found most days in some such position, curling up in her blanket, churning up an inferno of heat. It's amazing how much dogs can entertain us with their bizarre and endearing ways...so much so, that we mourn their passing almost as if they were human. I love that my dog is so quirky, that at this moment she is sleeping with me on the couch, curled up against the length of my leg, her nose tucked in against my hip as she groans with happiness. What a goof.

Didn't get any writing done today...but I overcame my trepidations regarding other people's ickiness, and had a rental couch set delivered for the holidays. It's an odd concept, but a welcome one. If we're to fit more than two people in our living room, we need more furniture. But there's no way we're going out to spend $1000 on a new couch...so we're renting one. What a sight we must have been, walking around the show room sniffing the furniture...and in truth, some of it really stunk. But, we lucked out with what we now have, no smells or suspicious stains! Now we can all sit in comfort over the holidays, without getting sore bums on the wood floors.

Time to make some homemade hot cocoa to cap off the evening. Tomorrow is my big solo with the Cantata Singers...I must confess I haven't practised much this week, because it has been so busy and tiring! I just hope it goes well. Luckily, I'm allowed to use my music as a "crutch," which means even though I have it memorized, I can refer to it if my mind blanks in my nervousness.

Here's to a good performance tomorrow, and a quick arrival of the Christmas holidays so I can get some major writing done!

Perfect Friday

Snowy night with Christmas lights,
Sledding on powder with no one in sight...
Perfect Friday.

Full of Glee

I have mostly banned myself from television...except I have discovered the wonders of watching tv online! I have always enjoyed the luxury of just sitting down and zoning out for a while on other people's lives and problems...but hated having to be committed to doing so at a certain prescribed time. Now, it appears most networks are offering online versions of their shows within 24 hours of their being aired on tv, which works perfectly for me. And of all the shows out there, I am finding massive enjoyment in Glee! I don't think I have enjoyed a tv show in a long time, perhaps ever, as much as I enjoy this one. Which is bad...because it takes away from writing!
I experimented with the first person viewpoint today...I'm not sure what I think yet. If I can do it well, it might work. But if I can't, it sounds juvenile. I suppose I'll just have to keep practising...tonight wasn't the best night to try new things though, because I'm in frustration mode.
I do not like offering my services as an accompanist, only to have practise sessions booked short notice and then wait around for people who, in the end, neglect to attend!
But tomorrow is Friday, and then the weekend arrives. I just need to get through the next week, and then it's smooth sailing, and time to really buckle down on my book! And, of course, Christmas baking.

Point of View

I'm reading Diana Gabaldon's An Echo in the Bone right now, and I must say she offers me vast amounts of inspiration. I am completely aware that the print version of the book is only one of multiple versions she would have created during the process of getting it right, and that most authors must rewrite, rewrite, and then rewrite it again before the book is worthy of print. Still, her words seem so flawless, her sentences so perfectly executed, that mine in comparison sounds juvenile. It seems all "he said, she said," and the voice (one important thing that ALL "write your own novel" sources say you must have, and have well) seems all mixed up.
I'm thinking of experimenting with the point of view. Over the summer, I considered the prospect of first person for Nola...but abandoned it because I was unsure how to write from the first perspective viewpoint of a six- or eight-year-old...Do I "dumb it down," have her thoughts purposely more simplistic, or do I just make her think like an innocent, happy, uncynical version of everyone else? Hmmm...I like what Diano Gabaldon does. The main character, Claire, is first person. Everyone around her, from her husband to her kids, are third. The voice changes with a section break. I like it, because you can feel closer to Claire, understand her thoughts, and while you understand the others as well, there's also a bit of distance there. It seems more realistic than what I'm doing now. I feel as if I just delve into people's thoughts at will, a sort of "anything goes" philosophy. But who can you connect with if you get pieces of everyone, but everything of no one?
I think tomorrow night I might give it a shot, see if it adds to or detracts from the story. It's hard enough just coming up with story ideas...then there's all of this!

30-Day Blogfest

I've done it! I've officially blogged for 30 days straight. I missed last night...got wrapped up in a Christmas movie and just needed a break. I'm actually quite mad that I forgot to blog because I was hoping to keep the record going...but the important thing is that I've committed to 30 days of regular writing at a consistent (ish) time. That was the goal. I basically have two careers as it is, one teaching at a high school, the other teaching music at the conservatory. Writing is not a hobby for me...it's a career aspiration, so I need to treat it like a career. It's hard fitting in a regular writing time after all the time I devote for the first two careers...and even when I have time, the first two tucker me out. So, this blog was my attempt to at least write something consistently each day, and I accomplished the task!
Now, onto month number two.
I think two, maybe three people read this blog consistently...sometimes it feels like I'm writing a whole bunch of nothing and firing it off into the black void of cyberspace, but the goal is not to get readers, but to prove to myself I can actually bring some sort of...professionalism (?) to my writing.
The weather is still cool, nearing -20 by night. It's sparkly outside as the powdery snow is blown off the rooftops and drifts through the air. At night, as you walk under streetlamps, it looks like fairy dust is floating all around you! I love that. I don't particularly love having to turn the barbecue on in it...or to have go and get food from the deep freeze, by first walking outside where it's naturally freezing and into the uninsulated garage where the deep freeze is kept. This is why modern houses have things called doors from the inside of the house to the garage!
Three days left til the weekend, and I'm counting the minutes. I'm looking forward to the moment of glory when I (hopefully successfully) finish my Messiah solo on Sunday. Won't be able to breathe that nice sigh of relief till after the final two concerts on Monday and Tuesday night, however. Again, I repeat: how did I get so busy?
Speaking of busy, I need to work on that novel - I just can't wait till that moment when I know I've finished it!

Novel Word Count: 55,000

O Tannenbaum!

Christmas has officially started in my house with the decorating of our lovely Christmas tree!
It is such a treat to go for a little drive, and just pick a tree. Not a big bushy commercial tree, or one perfectly pruned, but a wonky tree with big gaps and crooked bits which, in its awkwardness, is more perfect than anything I could ever buy at a store. The air was crisp and cool at 20 below, the sun was shining, and while my toes went absolutely numb it is an experience I wouldn't miss. Now, I have the most lovely tree in my house I could ever ask for, and I feel I too could glow like it does with the happiness it brings me!
It took most of today to decorate it, because I'm rather persnickety about how the lights go on (they can't show), and in addition to a full roast beef dinner, I didn't get an ounce of writing done. BUT! I will read before, which is of equal value. How can I know what good writing is, if I never read it?
Finally, I can delve into my Christmas present from my parents: Diana Gabaldon's latest Outlander novel, An Echo in the Bone. I find these novels immensely entertaining...she is a fabulous writer, wordy but never without a reason, and I get so gripped into the stories. I just finished Sherri Smith's A Virgin's Tale, and I'm in need of something more...well, something more. It was not a horrible novel, and really, as far as books go, I rarely put one down. I just found that all the Roman animal sacrifices got to me...Smith describes many of them, and in great detail. She is, after all, writing of the vestal virgins, keepers of Rome's "hearth" and health, and it is their job to collect the blood from festival sacrifices and offer it to appease the gods.
There's nothing that hits me like animal deaths or cruelty, though. I rarely cry in movies, but I sobbed in Marley and Me! I can read about a person being killed, see it happen on film (although I do not watch or read senseless violence, gore, horror, etc - there is too much real violence in the world, it doesn't need to be glorified or venerated into something it isn't) and it will affect me. But if I see an animal die, I'm a mess. Perhaps it is because animals are, to some extent, helpless. We lord over them, control them...I say this, and think of my own dog, who sleeps in a crate a night so she won't eat anything while we sleep! Although if given the choice, she actually prefers the safety of the crate.
Still...hypocritical?
Another week starts tomorrow, and I fear the escalating behaviours as Christmas vacation nears...
And, of course, the staff meeting. Ugh.

Puzzled by my puzzle...

One concert down, two more to go...As much as I love this time of year, it never fails to surprise me in how incredibly busy, and tiring, it can be!
Managed to get a little writing done today...nothing substantial, nothing euphoric and meaningful, but I put a few more words to the story and that was satisfying. I am grateful to NaNoWriMo for encouraging me to write like crazy, but I'm also enjoying not having the pressure while all this other stuff is going on! I'm content to write a little, for now. Can't wait till the holidays, and having a huge chunk of time to get my story going.
I find the hardest thing now, is that I anticipate what is to come...I have all these events and ideas, but my fingers just can't seem to type fast enough to get me, and my characters there. But I don't want to just skip over to those scenes...I want to write something meaningful in between, and not just "filler."
Worked on a puzzle tonight to relax. Not that puzzles are so relaxing...I feel frustrated half the time because I can't seem to find the right piece, and right now I'm mad at myself for always choosing such difficult puzzles! Snow...not a good subject. But, there is something very soothing in the act of puzzling, of having to be so methodical. Definitely takes my mind of other things, like school, I like to forget about over the weekend.
Maybe tomorrow I'll actually get the border done. But, even better, we're off to find our Christmas tree! Here's hoping there are no bears out in the forest with the same idea...

Ahhh...weekend. Enough said.

Winter Wonderland

Winter has arrived in the north! The snow is falling. Beautiful, soft, sparkling powder has been falling now since this afternoon, and all the noise, zooming cars rushing by, the echo of trains and engine brakes from far off, are dampened in the blanket of snow. I love this almost more than anything...snow brings such peace, if you don't have to be anywhere or drive in it, that is. What a luxury to walk out of the school this afternoon, and know I don't need to be anywhere than in my cozy home, snuggled up on the couch, reading and writing and drinking a cup of hot tea.

I have officially "shut off," that is, Christmas vacation is still two weeks away and already I am changing into what I call my "vegetative" gear. Christmas music, Christmas movies, it's all coming out! Better yet, we're off this weekend to cut down our tree in the boonies. A truly non-commercial Christmas: find your BC Forestry "good for one tree" pass in the paper and off you go into the woods with a saw. Love it!

I'm still taking a breather from the book...waiting for a good chunk of time to tackle it and get back on track, although those chunks are few and far between right now. I'm doing lots of reading on the next step, as in, what to do once I actually do finish the book. I've included a few interesting links: one that details the warning signs of a scam publishing agency (http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2007/02/happy-valentines-day-from-writer-beware.html), as well as Writer Beware's "Two Thumbs Down" publishers list (http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubwarn.htm). 

As for writing, I must wait until the concert season slows down. How did I all of a sudden end up performing in four concerts? Only one involves me singing, but the piano accompaniment concerts scare me more. If I goof up, the singers following me do as well. Arg. Can't wait till December 16th when it's all over, and I can just focus on getting through to the holidays.

I think I'll go and stare at the snow a little before bed. My fascination with snow never ends...even up north, where it just keeps coming, where it gets ugly and cold and frustrating because spring always seems to be "just around the bend" but never comes till May...even here, I love the snow. It is all the magic of childhood rolled into one - imagination, a sense of wonder, innocence and purity. I hope I can always remember that. Especially when I slip and fall in it and want to walk around with a blow dryer to melt it all. Ah! Snow.

Diva Disaster

Tonight was my first rehearsal with the Cantata Singers for my itsy bitsy solo in their "Sing-Along Messiah." I was really looking forward to tonight, and then I got up there, and boom! Words gone. That's what practices are for, really: making the mistake now so you don't do it at the performance. Still, so embarrassing. What's with that?! Here I am, the only professional soloist there, other than the conductor (who is my colleague at the music conservatory), and I messed up! Ugh. Doesn't help that I've been sick so much this last month...lost 2 weeks of practice time with that. Oh boy. Well, I have a week to get it together. And, if all else fails, out comes the black choir folder and I'll hide my music behind that!
I feel much better now, although I was up often last night with sweats and still have the post-vaccine headache this morning...ick. Still, much milder symptoms from the vaccine than I would have had from the actual flu bug, were I to have contracted it. But powerful all the same! I've never had side effects from a vaccine knock me out like this.
My novel is frozen at 54,000 words...I'm looking forward to some book time this weekend, but I have a concert, as pianist, on Saturday. Oh, how the Christmas season is busy! Looking forward to 3:03 on Friday, December 18th...Christmas holidays!

Didn't I get the vaccine?

I feel like I've been hit by a truck...headache, chills, aches...and that's from the vaccine! What would the actual flu do?!
My husband keeps hitting my arms...I don't know how it's possible to hit my arm so many times, accidentally, in one evening...then he moves the dog onto the couch, and she kangaroo kicks me in the arm. When will it end? I feel like punching him where he got HIS shots, and then we'll see how he likes it!
Not going to get anything done tonight...8:30 and I'm heading for bed. Can't say tomorrow that I didn't get enough sleep!