Catchy Name Needed

I tend to get stressed out at Christmas - I guess a lot of people do, right? Kids and gifts and family and big dinners, etc., there's a lot of stressors there. On top of the normal stress triggers - I need to wrap some stuff, I haven't packed - I've been sitting here trying to remember all the things my sister told me and then told me not to tell anybody. (Except Rob, thank goodness. I'm allowed to tell him the whole kit & kaboodle.) I guess that also means I shouldn't turn around and tell the internet all her secrets, should I? But really who she was worried about was the piece of the family that Rob & I normally spend Christmas with. Let's see, I guess the piece of super-sekrit info that I feel most comfortable sharing here is that her book that she wrote long ago is up on Amazon, and has been for a good while, under a pseudonym. I didn't know about the Amazon part, although I knew about the book. I haven't read it, but she gave me a paper copy to read. (I'm waiting til after the family thing is over so I'll be less likely to slip up on that.) She says something happened with autocorrect or something and it's riddled with typos. She wants to get it fixed and put it up under her own name, although that would require jumping through some hoops such as getting a new ISBN, I guess, as well as copy-editing it all over again. I'm not going to tell you where to find it right now (actually I haven't looked for it, although I've seen the fake name now) but if she gets it fixed and I don't completely hate it, I won't rule out sharing that at some time in the future.

In other Christmas-related news, my aunt was trying to guilt us into staying longer when I called her to tell her when we were coming. I went to see her last month specifically because she always complains about that, and (why am I surprised?) it didn't help at all, apparently. I like seeing her and my cousins of various removes at the holidays, and if it was just me on my own I probably might stay longer, but man, I do NOT want to have that fight with Rob. One day and he's ready to go, and I know better than to suggest otherwise. Plus I was off this past week, but he worked all week. I don't particularly blame him for wanting some time at home. 

I'd write more but I think I better go wrangle presents instead! Merry Christmas, or whatever the holiday of your choice is. (Christmas is just the holiday I inherited. I seem to be less interested in it every year.)

As expected (see entry above), I spent most of the day running around madly and then we drove to Bryan (and ate way too much Mexican food upon arrival, if it matters). The problem of the long to-do list was exacerbated by lack of sleep - I went to bed around two and woke up around six, I think. I don't function well on four hours of sleep, which I certainly hope was the reason I had to stop running around mid-morning in order to have a crying jag. In any case, I did start feeling better and I got most of the to-do list taken care of - Chase asked for paperwork I didn't have, which is par for the course for them, in my experience. I didn't go by the lawyer's, either, but I talked to her and all is under control as much as it can be, I guess. (We were trying to distribute some estate money before the end of the year but we do still have some time to work on that next week.)

We got here with tons of beads, it looks like - and as far as I can tell, with everything else we needed as well. (Knock on wood.) Everything on the list, anyway - although frankly, as long as I have ambien I don't so much care about the rest, right now. I'm going to be going to bed really shortly.

Oh, and Linda's dog pissed on the bed (Rob's bed, actually) while we were making it up. He's a rather princess-y Jack Russell and I think we upset his routine and failed to make up for it by giving him sufficient attention. I hope this isn't a bad sign for the next couple of days!


(One more thing - my sister e-mailed me and she and the bf are meeting us in Vegas. This should be interesting.) (But she is, of course, flaking out on Christmas again. That one I expected.)