She was a TOTAL STAR! She was Raggedy Anne. Her and Andy open the toy scene. The curtain goes up, Anne and Andy are sleeping back to back, downstage, in front of all the other toys. Andy wakes up, stretches and yawns and wakes up Anne (Em). She gets up, stretches and yawns. They both bend toward the audience and put their finger to their lips to shush the audience. Then they skip in a circle. They come back to the audience and Andy bows, Anne curtsies. (Audience applause) Then, they jump up and down and wake up the toys. The toys wake up, they all play on the stage for a bit, Clara tiptoes in and walks among them, amazed that the toys are alive, and then the mouse soldiers come on and they scatter away, scared.

Aww. That sounds adorable, Aims.

This is the second time since we moved here that someone has rung our doorbell late at night then run away. Is this what suburban teenagers do for fun these days?

I want to go see Em in the Nutcracker, that sounds lovely.

Next time I decide to get takeaway thai noodles for lunch while working a super hectic weekend shift in a city that seems to be exploding with poor life choices, I shouldn't. Been holding down vomit for 6 hours now and it still feels like my stomach is chock full of evil. And it was so tasty. But i feel awful and am considering skipping working out tonight...which makes me sad because i really do enjoy a nice cardio/sweat after a long shift....but i also don't wanna hurl all over the elliptical. that would be rather rude, i suppose.

Also, people (not people here, but people in my city) need to CALM DOWN and NOT SHOOT OFF FIREWORKS. Everyone is jittery and on edge and seeing people with assault rifles where there are only slightly sketchy tweakers.

I, too, would love to see Em in the Nutcracker.

Okay, headache has faded and I feel a lot less numb. I guess my body and brain conspired to be like YOU MUST CHILL; I've been pretty non-stop go go go for the whole last week.

D just brought me a chicken sandwich and fries. I kinda like this guy.

I like him to . He wants to understand you

Sister is in town visiting for the week. Had a family dinner tonight. Mom requested my lasagna. Which, considering her glutton intolerance, was surprising. She said she'd take the meds. OK. So, I made a big pan of lasagna, and my soon to be famous cheesy garlic bread. Like, super buttery garlic bread. Yum! All are happily stuffed.

and Aims I am sorry your families are being stupid. My gandparents came from SC to CT to see my high school graduation. I don't think they could make it to any others. It may have been thier last long road trip. I think some of you fmaily should have been there.

and now I want garlic bread and lasagna

Plenty of left overs. it always tastes better the second & third days. I tried something new with the lasagna this time. Whole Wheat noodles. The fiber will be great. But the taste was eh. I also used sweet italian sausage, since my sister doesn't like spicy. Still was good. Just not my best. The garlic bread? Oh my. Stick of butter and a full head of garlic melted, then poured over the open faced bread. Covered in Mozzarella cheese, and baked till melted yumminess! I'm craving it now, but it's nearly 11pm, and shouldn't eat something that heavy this late. But ohhhh so yummy.

Poor Em. She deserves a big audience.

Steph, talking to the guy ahead of time seems like a good plan.

I did, and it was totally fine. Except for some party guests who noticed that I didn't sit on Santa's lap and kept heckling me to go do it, and Tim piped up with "I already took care of that for both of us!" (Which he did. And damn, do I hate my anxiety. Santa is fucking HOTASS. A mix of Bowie and Dennis Quaid. Holy crap, HOTASS.)

I also had a full-blown panic attack before we left for the party, due to a horribly timed series of phone calls from people who all wanted us to do things RIGHT NOW (and/or tomorrow), but we were already late and had to pick up someone we'd never met before and take her to the party with us (she's friends with the hosts and lives near us and needed a ride) and I had abysmally low blood sugar, and I just lost it and hyperventilated for about 10 minutes. Not fun. But I eventually pulled it together.