Christmas is Coming!

Yes, folks, less than a month til that Wondrous Day. ;)  How many of you have your shopping finished?  I have actually begun a little bit of mine - stocking stuffers, which are always such fun to pick out.  If anyone would like to see certain things under the tree on that Wondrous Day, please forward your wishes to me, Blingmama, so that I can shop appropriately!

Tom has been on the hunt for a mandolin....is there an 'e' at the end of that word? I think for the piece of kitchen equipment it is there, but not for the musical instrument, and, of course, Tom would be wanting the musical instrument and not the piece of kitchen equipment.   The spring musical at GHS is going to be Fiddler on the Roof, and I guess there is a place in the pit for a guitarist/mandolinist (is that even a word?), and Tom's hoping to win that spot.  However, there are no mandolins to rent, and there IS a boy in the orchestra who plays the mandolin but not the guitar....Tom, of course, plays the guitar but not the mandolin.  His guitar teacher owns a mandolin, and has told Tom that he could learn the parts on the mandolin, no problem, by the time of the musical, but the tryouts for the musical are in less than two weeks......anyone who'd like to offer up a prayer or something like that in Tom's favor could do so, please. :)

Speaking of The Boy, he's also being inundated with letters and emails from various colleges and universities (alas, Harvard and Yale are not amongst them), reminding him that he's not yet applied to their stellar institutions, and entreating him to do so.  Why weren't they sending out this stuff in MAY, for heaven's sake? It's getting a little late in the game to send in college applications NOW!!!! GRRR!

I had lunch with Miss Aimee yesterday - she'd made some delicious stew that no one in her family seemed to like very much, and she was loath to toss it down the garbage disposal, so I scarfed some down yesterday after dropping off Kiersten at preschool.  I thought it was very tasty, with the teeniest addition of a little bit of you-know-what.  (If you don't know what I added, then you don't know me and shouldn't be reading this...)

Blingdaddy had to see the chemo nurse yesterday and was told to stop taking the new (supposedly) Miracle Drug, as he had developed several blisters on his feet, and was also experiencing blurred vision in his left eye.  It seems as though this drug affects his vision, as the first week he took it, he noticed the blurred vision in his right eye on the fifth day (which, as you may recall, an opthamologist said was a cataract, but that eye has since improved, so it's probably NOT a cataract, as they don't spontaneously get better, do they?), and now he noticed the blurred vision in his left eye on the fifth day of taking that drug.  We are wondering what the oncologist will have to say about all of this next Wednesday, when Blingdaddy is scheduled to see him again.

You will all be surprised to hear that I've already gotten up the outside Christmas decorations....and they've been up for more than a week now.  No tree yet, but that will appear shortly, as if by magic. :)

Julie & Co will be arriving in Chicago on December 20th, for those of you who are not already aware, and will leave on the 27th.  I believe that Aimee & Co are going to be departing for Parts South (AKA Gulf Shores, AL) on the same day?  I'm a tad foggy on that detail at the moment.....

The pond behind the house (I know it's probably not technically a pond, but I just can't think of what else to call it) has been frozen for two days now.  I miss seeing the waves, but the frozen surface is kind of interesting to look at, too. :)

Can't wait for the holidays when everyone is gathered in the BlingMansion. :)