Christmas use to be pretty tense for me, due to Mom's predictable disappointment in whatever I'd do and Mom and Dad's holiday squabbles. While I won't say I'm glad they're not around for it, Christmas will probably be a lot less fraught.

Had a hell of a morning, even before I got dressed. Hubby takes our housemate to work about an hour before I get up. There was a shitload of snow last night. My alarm goes off, and Hubby wasn't in bed (he normally comes back when he gets home). OK, I think, maybe for some reason he just didn't want to come back yet. I get up, I go to the window to see if the car is there. It's not.

The bad adrenaline sets in. I'm picturing him just caught in traffic, slid off the road and waiting to be pulled out, crunched around a tree in a non-injury but car incapacitating smash, trapped among a dozen cars that have slid together because Utah drivers are idiots, laying under a sheet somewhere because the emergency responders are trying to save the ones they can . . .

Not a happy time.

Half an hour later, I hear the front door, and before he gets one word out completely, I snap, "Are you all right?"

He blinks in confusion. "I've been shoveling the walk."

"When did you get home!"

"About half an hour ago. What?"

In other words, he pulled up just after I turned away from the window and spent time contemplating horrors.

Fortunately he was very sympathetic to my subsequent fit of tears and shakes. I think a bad network install is not going to seem like too bad a thing.

We're getting cell phones, dammit.

Connie, I can totally see how scary that would be. If you are not going to use them much some of the pay-as-you-go phones are really cheap. I got a $20 trackphone that doubles any minutes you buy, so I now pay $20 every 140 days to keep it going. Only 140 minutes for that so an awful price per minute. But I don't use 140 minutes in 140 days, so works great for me. And if you currently don't have a cell phone and don't plan to use it much, then this sort of thing might work for you. These deals come and go, but I'm sure you can find something of this sort. And if you decide that as long as you are getting cells you might as well use them there are tons of contract phones that are a bit more a month but include all the minutes you could want, even unlimited if that is what you need.

[edit] And focusing on the phone, because when dealing with something like that my instinct is to find something I can 'fix'. But really do totally get how traumatizing that was. I'd have been terrified too.

Jars, I know you are upset, but you do not want to fly if they are cosing airports. My father was a pilot for much of my life. Pilots like to fly -- if they don't want to be up in the air, you don't want to fly.

DH is not into Christmas. So I do more or less what I want to do. the hard part for me is I end up sending gifts to his family and my family. but that is the only pressure, so I can deal

I would have been terrified to , Connie

I second the usefulness of Tracfone (or similar services). We tend to go for a year's worth of service at a chunk. One year we ended up with a total of 800 (double minutes, plus some bonus because there was a special) minutes plus the year's service for $100. This year, I had only used 300 of those minutes. Even using the camera and emailing myself photos, which costs 2 1/2 minutes each (regular texts only cost 1/3 of a minute), that's not a heck of a lot of usage. So I bought the minimum package of 30 (which got doubled to 60) plus the year's service... I don't remember precisely what I paid, but it was no more than $70. Considering what some people pay for monthly cell service with way more features and minutes than I would ever dream of using, I consider that an excellent deal.

It's very handy to have in emergencies - I used it three times last night, when my car was stuck in some nasty, undriveable snow. I have also used it to call 911 to report cars stuck at the side of the road, possibly in distress, as well as once when I saw a driver deliberately run someone else off the road, and managed to get the license plate number. Daniel frequently uses his to let me know he has arrived in town safely from work, on his way home. Or calls me when he stops at a store in case there is something I want.

happy birthday to Shane!

Ooh, Happy Shane Day to all, and to all a good day!

I'm really not feeling the holiday spirit this year, and I'm feeling guilty about it because I really don't want to ruin it for everyone around me. There is so much left to do, and I am feeling incapable of doing it.

ION, I am watching Rachel Maddow's special from last night and she was talking to those directly affected by DADT about the Congressional vote, and I am getting all teary eyed.

Happy Birthday, Shane!!!