'tis the season to muse randomly.

Losing 25 pounds through Weight Watchers: $144.00

Replacing your favorite skirt (which you've just ingrown): $60.00

Altering your favorite skirt seamlessly at your own sewing table: Priceless.

There are some things money can't buy... period.


Sorry if I left anyone feeling depressed over Christmas with my political moping! I am not a person inclined to 'the depths of despair', and I'm particularly leery of posting morbid thoughts on my blog. They usually embarrass me the next day when I'm feeling more balanced. Still, that post was a necessary catharsis for me, and probably more satisfying than my first temptation: namely to post Obama's picture on the wall and throw darts at it. Yeeeah, not exactly mature. Either way, he's president now, so I shall try to sober up and respect the office and all that. Yup.


The Christmas musical which consumed my life for all of November and early December finally ended with a bang and a blaze of glory! I've beaten the last of my post-production paperwork into submission and am feeling altogether satisfied with the endeavor. It was great fun, made good money, and got a really good response from the community! The play, I mean, not the paperwork. Considering it was a retelling of the Christmas story, and not everyone who came to see it were Christians, I take their enjoyment as a very encouraging sign.

As assistant director, unexplored heights of organization were demanded from my already type-A brain, proving that inclination does not equal proficiency. I practically suffocated under all my lists. I like lists. They make me happy. Don't try to follow this train of thought too closely.

As a capper, I was elected treasurer for the theatre. Very cool, very scary, very... you get the idea. I'm determined to do the job justice, a decision which is only moderately hampered by my total ignorance of how to be a treasurer. Happily the current treasurer is eager to help teach me. He has informed me that I am the youngest person to ever be elected to the board. Again: cool/scary. I'm trying to practice my fiscally responsible expressions in the mirror.

Happily I was given a lot of cute new clothes for Christmas, which should help me at least look the part!


Daddy took us on a surprise jaunt to Dollywood on the 23rd. He told us to pack some clothes, load up, and we'd find out where we were headed when we pulled in. Dollywood itself was cold, but still fun, and Hannah, Chloe, Emily, Katy and I finally sat down for one of their shows: Babes in Toyland. Final consensus was that we coveted their budget; couldn't stop giggling over their script; and thought the dude who played the villain was the best part, and needed to find a better job. Daddy took the little kids off early, to what we assumed was a hotel room, but turned out to be something like a private cabin/mountain lodge. It was perched up in the hills with tall windows, a big fireplace, and beds for all 14 of us! It also had two pool tables, which was odd, but allowed us all to learn to play pool, and now I'm hooked. I'm lousy at it, but that doesn't mess with my fun!

On Christmas Eve Daddy suggested Mommy and us girls pop over to Pigeon Forge and do some Outlet Mall shopping. Understand that I stink at shopping, too much walking through malls gives me a headache, and I wrote a two-page long derogatory diatribe on my old Xanga about Pigeon Forge at Christmas. Still, by now my normal routine was a thing of the distant past, so I thought, "Why not?" I keep getting proven wrong about what will and won't be fun...

The outlet mall was set up in the outdoor, British style, with the stores in a huge, amoeba-like circle with parking in the middle and covered sidewalks in between. The weather was so beautiful we didn't even wear jackets, so when I wasn't interested in entering a row of stores, I had a nice walk! And when I did want to browse, the sales were all good, so I found a shirt at Old Navy, a couple sweaters at Dress Barn, a very last-minute gift for Mommy, and two packages of 'get me through the day, not at all funky' socks at this place called Socks Galore. No, I'm not kidding.

Thanks to Stephanie M., and my sister Olivia, I am also now well supplied with funky socks. *grins*


I do love Christmas.