James headed off for work this morning, and I tried to sleep in, but ended up getting up at eight anyway. Took Willow outside, and then fed her a few more pieces of the chicken I cooked yesterday. It's almost gone.

This morning I was determined to do some organizing. I grabbed a gallon Ziploc bag and corralled all the manuals and the parts to the Brother scanner and put them with the scanner. Then I tackled the craft room, which has been neglected since third quarter at work. My worktable had junk all over it, and there were bags from Michaels and the A.C. Moore expedition in Knoxville on the floor in front of the phonograph. I put the small cross-stitch frames with the ones I bought last year in Virginia, put up the baker's twine I used on the gifts that I had to mail instead of bows that would get crushed, corralled all the winter branches into a winter basket, put away the cross-stitch fabric I'd bought, cleared off the chair of cross-stitch kits and my "paint pots," and framed the Prayer of St. Francis that I bought from "the Papyrus Lady" at last year's Apple Annie craft show and put it up next to the bathroom door, moving the Susan Branch print to another location.

In the process I found a few more small items that had been supposed to go in Juanita's gift, so I peeled one end of it open and tucked the items inside. I also turned up a gift that was meant for Jerry and Sue, so I wrapped that and put it under the tree.

By the time I got done I had some goat cheese and crackers for lunch, which Willow coveted. I wouldn't give her the crackers because they were highly spiced, and she turned her nose up at the goat cheese.

I toyed with the idea of going out, but instead took the Christmas mailbox cover out of the craft room where it's been sitting since we got back from Virginia last year, and put it on the mailbox. Yeah, I know it's after Christmas, but it's not January 6 yet! Before I put it on the mailbox I printed on the back in large black magic marker "If this mailbox cover is not on the mailbox at [our address], it has been stolen!" (my previous two mailbox covers were swiped, one on Christmas Eve, and the replacement three days before I would have taken it down), and then tied it down with plastic straps. Let some kid take this one and then try to present it to mom as a "gift"!

Also washed the kitchen floor, took Willow out several times, and cooked her another chicken thigh. It takes longer to cut the fat off them than it does to boil them!

We had a game night/gift exchange scheduled at the Lawsons tonight, so I put all the gifts into a couple of carry bags, got dressed, and then finally got to take some ibuprofin and sit down with my eyes closed for about 20 minutes. James wouldn't get out of work until six, so Alice and Ken were nice enough to pick me up and give me a ride. We picked up Ken's mom, too, and I showed them the back way to the Lawsons.

Great night! We were so busy talking we never did play any games, although the girls (Aubrey, Jessie, and Kayla) played cards for a while. Jerry showed off their beautiful new enclosed porch, which replaced a crumbling deck. Very, very nice. Pizza was ordered, and there was also fruit, cheeses, crackers, cookies, and nuts. Gifts were exchanged and neat gifts were received, but the best gift was seeing everyone (especially Sue's mother, who is leaving tomorrow, and who is getting more frail each year we see her).

James and I drove home in the same mucky driving rain he had arrived in (it was only sprinkling when the Spiveys and I got to the house). Some nice lights still on in the Lawsons' neighborhood.

When we got home, Willow had polished off the scrambled egg I made her earlier. Hurrah! Gave her more chicken pieces (had been feeding her a few every couple of hours). Got on chat for a little while, but was so tired that my eyelids started to droop after a half hour.

Labels: Christmas, crafts, dogs, food, friends, gifts, organizing, weather, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:56:00 PM

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