Help! It’s December!!

And I haven’t done any shopping! I’m not ever sure WHO I need to shop for… I need to call a sister. Or the brother. Or somebody–and figure out what we’re doing. And then figure out when I can shop.

In other news, I am Closer to the End than I thought I was! I started the black moment this morning. I still have to resolve it and fight the big battle and stuff, but We Have Reached The Black Moment. YAYYYYY!! I really might actually, maybe, sorta, (crossing fingers and knocking on wood) get this book finished on time.

Of course, as I type things into the computer in my second draft, I am discovering all sorts of driveling crap I need to cut out. Some of it I’m able to cut out as I type in. Some of it is going to take printing out and laying pages out next to each other to see what I need to keep and what has to go. And it may not be as much too long as I fear…

Thanksgiving was good. We had a house full of family and friends. The boy’s girlfriend’s sister and roommate got to come. (The girlfriend came too.) The other boy’s girlfriend got to come, but only after the grandboys had to leave. We did get them for a few days. They got to play in the COLD water at the beach. Unfortunately, their father took them to the beach in their good clothes, not remembering in time that boys + beach = Wet Boys, no matter what they’re wearing or how cold it is. (The air wasn’t too cold, just the water.) We ate lots of yummy food–all the dishes that have become traditional musts in our family (sweet potatoes with honey-lime glaze, turkey and cornbread dressing, green beans and carrots with bacon and garlic, buttermilk pie and cheesecake)–and lay around a lot. It was wonderful.

And now, Christmas is upon us. The boy’s last final is tomorrow, and he’ll be home soon, will start classes in town next spring. So he can take the granddog to the vet. Dolly the granddog has probably just strained her leg with all the running and jumping she did while the grandboys and boys and girlfriends were here, but she’s still limping more than a week later, so I’d like to get her checked out just to make sure there’s nothing else to worry about.

I had to go buy her a sweater/sweatshirt, because she won’t come in the laundry room to get warm. She’s too afraid of getting in trouble. And her fur is too short to keep her warm. The store had Harley Davidson sweaters and camo sweatshirts, but they were all too small to fit a pit-bull mix dog. The only sweatshirt they had that was big enough, the one that I got, is bright pink. She likes her sweater too. The first time I put it on her, she had that “What are you doing to me?” attitude. The third night I went out, she sat down and put her head in it herself. She’d figured out it helped keep her warm. It doesn’t freeze here–or hasn’t–but it gets darn cold. When I get my computer back from the shop (or get the new one), and I can download pictures again, I will post a picture. A brindle pit bull in a bright pink sweater is tres amusing.

Now, I just have to figure out what to get for the people in the family. Help! I have a book to finish and I have not shopped!