1 week

It's official.  I've been in the same location for more than a week for the first time since June.  No stir craziness yet.  I've been keeping busy though.

In the last few days I - 

absolutely dominated at hearts:

Learned that people can be conned into believing anything, including that Diet Coke is actually hydrating.  Then again, if you're already a Diet Coke drinker you've probably had the wool pulled over your eyes for a while now.  Aspartame.  Nasty stuff.  Still, this is a lousy excuse for marketing.

Helped get the puzzle closer to completion.  We finished the fairly hard section, the frustratingly hard section, and now all that's left is the part that makes you want to pull your hair out.  We're working with a deadline now as well, since I think we're using the big table for Christmas dinner.

Learned that a new genre now exists for books:  the sniper novel.  Right up there with romance, mystery, and self-help, you have a major category that until now has been overlooked.  There have to be at least a dozen novels out there that would qualify.

Created a sweet new instrument out of a wrapping paper cardboard roll.  It sounded worse than a dijireedoo and made my lips hurt.  And all those finger holes that were supposed to create different notes?  Mostly for show, it turns out.

Promptly destroyed it.

Had our traditional oyster stew and croissant Christmas eve dinner

Learned that brothers make good footrests

Until they attack you with their super-bright camera phone flashes.

We opened gifts on Christmas Eve this year.  The haul includes fig newton bars, chewy granola bars, oyster crackers, and generic brand corn flakes.  Missing this year are the Christmas gift staple Nature Valley bars, Cheerios, and Cheez-its.

Quote of the evening:

Mom: "I'm probably the only person in the world who gets a lava flow for Christmas."