(no subject)

[the_rck]

I'm feeling much better this morning. I got about nine hours of sleep, not as much as I wanted but still enough to feel human and not to have a headache (I think that having the Yuletide fic uploaded helps, too).

I'm about to do a little scrounging around the house for dirty or kind of dirty dishes so that I can run a full load in the dishwasher before doing baking this afternoon. The dishwasher is not quite 2/3 full, enough that I don't want to hand wash anything but not enough for me to be willing to run a partial load. If I can't hit the threshold for being willing to run the dratted machine, I'll have to hand wash the stuff I need for baking (the downside to the stand mixer is that there's only one big bowl out of the dozen we own that can be used with it).

I've committed to which dishes we're bringing to the family Christmas gathering and confirmed that my brother is not coming (he also won't make it to our New Year's Eve gathering which saddens me more). I'll miss having him there, but he'll be working and (one hopes) getting pretty good tips from people who feel sorry for him having to deliver pizza on Christmas. I expect that he could have gotten the time off but that time with my in-laws wasn't much of a draw. He'll be visiting us Saturday, Sunday or Monday (he wouldn't commit more firmly than that). Saturday and Sunday, we'll have other people here. Monday would mean not going to church with Scott's family. Nothing insurmountable, just not convenient.

We'll be bringing bread, a hot vegetable, cheese spread and bacon wrapped dates to the Christmas gathering. I expect we'll get a Zingerman's loaf of some sort, maybe two (there'll be sixteen people there), and bring some of those frozen veggies that can be microwaved in the bag, probably broccoli since everybody likes that. I should be able to do almost all of the preparation on Christmas Eve, while Scott's at work, everything except heating the frozen veggies (we'll do that right before serving) and putting the cheese in the food processor (ten minutes if I cube the cheese in advance). He'll have to pick up the ingredients over the weekend (We'll stick the bread in the freezer. It won't be as good, but there's no way we're going to depend on getting some on Christmas Eve).

Delia and cherydactyl's younger daughter are in Delia's room. There's a lot of (mostly) good natured shrieking going on. I think they're playing with Delia's easel. Delia and I washed it yesterday to get the excess paint off, so the magnetic letters and numbers stick again. Delia was astonished by the cleaning process. I don't know whether she didn't realize that it could be done or had forgotten that the glitter and paint weren't part of the original surface.

I find that I hate my Yuletide story less now that it's done and uploaded. I still don't think it's one of my best, but I no longer have urges to obliterate it. I also now want to talk about the story and the choices I made and why. I'll hold out until after the reveal (maybe by then the urge won't be as strong).

I've sent out most of the non-family holiday cards now. I have five left to mail (one of which I don't have an address for), and that's the end of the box. There are more people I'd like to send cards to, but I'm not sure I can get more cards before Christmas not unless I find a way to shop for them myself. Scott hates that I insist on cards that say either 'Season's Greetings' or 'Happy Holidays' and that don't mention God. He says they're impossible to find. Not having done the searching myself, I can't answer that, but it's important to me. (Also, both of those messages mean that I can call them New Year's cards if I want to or if I end up mailing them late.)

The family cards have been delayed by technical problems. Scott has designed a card with a picture of Delia in front of our tree, but we don't have the right paper for it to print. He thought he could do it on regular card stock, but it looks hideous. The ink absorbs differently. We also need to refill the color inks in the printer. I think I'll be sending Scott to get that stuff tonight. We absolutely must have the cards by Thursday morning because I need one then.

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way you do about Holiday cards. *nods*

[the_rck]

I know that I send cards to some people who don't celebrate Christmas, even some who may not celebrate any important holidays in December, and to some people who celebrate Christmas but who aren't Christian. (I'm fairly sure that my half-sister and her mother fall into that category. I *think* they're Wiccan but am not absolutely certain.)

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I agree too -- and it is *not* hard to find cards like that!

We got our card yesterday, and we too adored Delia's signature on it. :) Thanks for sending it!

[the_rck]

You're the only people who got a 'Delia' signature instead of her full name. I'm not sure why she was willing to do that on your card.

I'm glad the card arrived safely!

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

I got my card! I was showing Delia's signature off to people (who were mostly bemused by this).

It's probably a good thing I don't have a child of my own, I'd be unbearable.

Thank you. <3

[the_rck]

::laughs:: I'm pleased with the progress in her signature. Did you get one of the cards with the proper C? She showed each of those to me and to Scott after she wrote them. She was so proud.

Differentiating between the O and the D is probably one of the next steps. I'm not sure when we get to the point of having all the letters on the same line. ::grins::

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

I did! I was VERY impressed by the C. Tell her I said she did good!

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

On my computer the printer driver lets me select the paper type before I print things. If I select the right paper type, then it prints photos just fine on regular paper. I wonder if your computer has a setting like that too. On mine, when I go to print something, I can click on "Printer Setup" and then on "Properties" and then there are a lot of settings that I can tweak, including "paper type" and "print advisor," both of which help with problems like trying to print a photo on a non-photo type of paper. I have no idea if your printer would have settings like that, and if it does they are surely different. But I figured I'd mention that my printer has these options, in case yours does too but they're buried.

[the_rck]

Scott says that our printer allows one to select the paper type and that he did. So either our printer is crap or it's partly a problem of the various ink levels being very, very low.

Scott's considering the printer a big mistake right now because it turns out that nobody much carries the printer cartridges any more and that nobody local refills them. He had to rush order some. They *may* arrive tomorrow. If we're lucky. And nobody at all makes the paper that we need to make the cards. We can use photo paper, but that has lettering on the back, rendering it unappealing for cards.