The magnets are my one Martha Stewart-esque craft-creating skill.

You made the magnets??!?! They are so fabulous!

Awwww, thanks! Trust me -- it's the only arts-and-crafts skill I possess.

The Villainess soap choices were based on what you said in your Deena-facilitated questionnaire

Oh, they smell sooooo wonderful. Cannot wait to use... actually, right about now. Whee!

I ordered Pangaea soap for myself, too, and used it in the shower just about an hour ago. It's yummy without being overpowering. I keep smelling my arm.

And now I have to wrap all the family presents, and the ones for my girlfriends, since we're having a Very Girly Xmas Dinner in 3 hours and exchanging gifts. (The girlfriends are *also* getting Villainess soaps and devil duckies, along with candles and a CD I made called "Tub Tunes," with mellow music on it.) Must. Wrap. Now.

I also can attest to the coolness of the Steph magnets. I love mine and am constantly having to protect them from Kara, who also loves them and wants to take them away to play with.

Anne, the Hasui card is incredibly beautiful--I may frame it. Thank you!

Deena, the bookmark is gorgeous. It is not, however, marking place in a book. It's hanging up, suspended from the shade of the reading lamp, so that it dangles in the light, swaying gently in the breeze from the ceiling fan. Thank you.

Oh, you're welcome. I'm glad you like it.

The last year and a half has been one of the hardest periods in my life. I'm not sure when it'll be better. It will probably take at least 'til mid-way through 2006 to start turning around. Had to move twice in one year (moving is always a bitch when you're disabled). Have been living on a construction site for a year and have had my stuff stolen, fucked up, etc. all year long. Little privacy, and I'm quite the homebody. Work sucking like hell. Personal life pretty crappy. Health crappy. After three years of keeping off weight, the stress this year made it climb right back up and I haven't been able to shake it.

I guess this year has been about growth. Lessons. My never-ending battle to try to develop a more positive way of looking at the world instead of the negative one I was raised with. Even though it has been a far more traumatic process than I ever bargained on, I may possibly have a better housing situation come out of this. I may be a homeowner. I've got a roof over my head and a lot of people don't. My working class lifestyle, although I resent it, is far cushier than the lifestyle of the majority of humans on this planet. I'll keep trying to be a better person, I'll keep trying to see the good side of things, I'll keep trying to not just be an okay person, but to get in touch with my joy again and be less narcissistic.

I still have half of my holiday cards to send out.

They will be New Year's cards instead of Christmas cards, I think. Or possibly Epiphany cards.

I just got a box from Alaska - from Gayle!!! But my family is saying I have to wait to open.

Pout.

A Katie-shaped elf dropped off a package at my house today.

Twirls imaginary mustache, chuckling evilly. I picked the best two hours in the last 36 to drive on the freeway. It rained so much it was like driving through an aquarium.

Hey, I'm sorry about my confuzzled post. I was taking the thread title rather literally and hadn't read the description closely enough.

Your post was exactly what this thread is all about. Kicking 2005's ass out the door and looking forward to all good things in 2006.