Wound humor! bahaha.

I had a very lovely Christmas Day if you don't count the asthma attack.

Well, it was on Dec. 1 that I finally got all the splinters out from under my pinky nail. The air pocket from that was about half way up the nail, and now it is mostly grown out. I sympathize with pinky nail injuries.

Glad you are ok now, sj. You ARE ok, now, right?

My xmas gift was to make it through a full night with zero nartoctics, just ani-inflamatories and ambien. i am, however, EXHAUSTED still, as i was all day yesterday. wondering if this is the "grogginess" of which the label spoke, and why it lasts more than 20 hours.

erin, is the Ambien 10 mg? If so, try cutting it in half and seeing if you still get a good night's sleep, without the groggy hangover. My doctor prescribes 10 mg for me, but I cut it in half and that gets me through 7-9 hours easily, with no grogginess the next day.

Woman knocks down pope at Mass; Christmas celebrations begin

That's a thing of beauty.

In addition to pontificating on the semi-colon to The Boy's family all evening (okay, more like 3-5 minutes, in increments of 30 seconds, spread over 6 hours), I also unleashed a torrent of hate for Comic Sans, at which point (of course!), The Boy's brother mildly (and good-naturedly) said, "I use Comic Sans for my work materials."

My only recovery was to say, "It's a free country, but I gotta mention that it's not very readable in a huge chunk of text, like paragraphs, so if you're using it for correspondence, you might want to switch to a serif font."

He wasn't using it for correspondence, just notepads and such. (Which I still don't approve of, but what are you gonna do?) His business card is set in Papyrus, which I almost groaned at, but then he told me that his daughter -- who was in the next room -- had designed them, so I just said, "Oh! Papyrus!"

Festivities are over, and I'm looking forward to chilling for the rest of the weekend, and maybe seeing some movies.

now it is mostly grown out.

excellent.

I did succeed in eviscerating the turkey one and a half handed.

Thankfully, the cut in on the inside of the nail, so easier to protect.

I'm just paranoid now about keeping it clean/infection free.

My hands are already like sandpaper with the frequent handwashing and winter cold/artificial heat. Doesn't seem to matter what kind of lotion I use.

Le sigh.

Doll! Doll!

Sooo, my big present, from Pete and a bunch of other folks (including some sneaky folks here), is an Evangeline Ghastly doll. I have wanted one of these dolls for a few years now, but could never, EVER justify getting her. [link]

Yes, I am going to go insane with dolly clothes and accessories. The Infamous BlueJay, Queen of Seamstresses, is apparently already plotting matching outfits for me and Evangeline.

Seriously, I started hyperventilating and making noises only dogs could hear when I got her unwrapped.

My hands are already like sandpaper with the frequent handwashing and winter cold/artificial heat. Doesn't seem to matter what kind of lotion I use.

If you can use hydrocortizone cream, I recommend applying some to the fingertips before bed followed by a light coat of olive oil. And then a thicker slathering of cocoa butter thick cream (the cheap Queen Helene jar is perfect for this). Then cover your hands with gloves - I got my "spa gloves" at Walmart. I'm sure a place like Bath & Bodyworks would also have them. If you have some essential oils on hand, or feel like investing in some, I'd go with a few drops each in the olive oil of lavender and rosemary, plus any you might like just for the scent (eucalyptus during a cold is a brilliant idea, or clove for the warming properties).

Jilli, very pretty!

WS, yes I'm ok. I had a kid on my lap who had been playing with her cat earlier and suddenly my chest was tight and I was coughing like crazy. But I had my inhaler and benadryl with me.

I gotta mention that it's not very readable in a huge chunk of text, like paragraphs, so if you're using it for correspondence, you might want to switch to a serif font

Heh - I admire your diplomacy.

Jilli the doll is amazing! And I love Steph's t shirt.

My Christmas was good. We made Paula Dean's Savannah Seafood Gumbo for Christmas Eve dinner and it was a hit so we'll be making it again.

We opened stockings, had breakfast and then introduced CutestNephew Ever to Christmas -- the first thing he went to was the Caterpillar Pedal Front Loader Dad got him, he's a bit too short for it but he's happy just to sit on it and be pushed around. He needs a hard hat. The things I got him went over well. All my presents went over well and I got Dad some photos of old houses, mostly the North Florida area, the kind that are slowly falling apart. I remembered a conversation we had when he said if he won the lottery or had a lot of money he'd buy land and move old houses on the land to save them. The way people collect cars.

I also got a new camera so I have taken tons of pictures of Cutest Nephew Ever. And I got a gift certificate to pay for a series of cooking lessons the kitchen shop my cousin owns is putting on. It's a 5 week series of the basics covering some knife skills, sauces, pastries. Some of it I know but my knife skills could use some work and my sauces don't really turn out right.