You can tell it's December by the amount of work I have to do.

The yearly calligraphy job is supposed to be dropped off this weekend, so that's good.  I haven't raised my price in three years because I don't want the last beleaguered executive in town to realize that hand addressed Christmas Cards is a really easy way to cut expenses.

I have a lot of needlepoint orders and we've already discussed a new line for after the Holidays.  Last year, business dried up between New year and spring.  It was bad.  Maybe this year will be better.  I say it was bad, but the truth is I always had enough to do one day at a time.  They couldn't always afford to pay me right away for everything but I did eventually get paid except for one or two things on consignment that didn't sell.  I don't' usually do consignment but I made an exception last year.

Zack moved out this week.

That's the weirdest thing.

He's the third one to move out but the first two left while they were in school so it didn't seem like they were moving out.  Katie was gone for years but came back during the summer.  Ty moved in with his grandparents for a while so it didn't seem real.  They were both younger than Zack so it didn't seem real AND I still had a house full of kids so it didn't seem like that big a deal.

But now that Zack's gone Josie's the only one left.

AND while Zack was in school, he spent an awful lot of his free time here, so he was around to talk to at lunch time and although he didn't eat dinner at home too often, we talked alot every day.  Now he's gone.  I helped him move and he's got a very nice place about a mile from Lake Calhoun.  It's right off a bus line, a block from a grocery store, a Target and a community rec center with a great pool in summer and a great indoor hockey rink in winter.  His room mate is a hockey player so they're both happy with the location.

Jay gave Zack one of my wide screen hi def tv's.  I'm not too happy about that.  First of all, he gave me that tv for Christmas a few years ago, Second, I don't think we need to give our kids things we (by 'we' I mean I) use every day and Third, he didn't even ask me, he just gave it to Zack.

Wait till he finds out I gave Zack the lawn mower.

And the Ipod deck.

And his bike.

Okay, I didn't' really give Zack any of Jay's stuff because I'm not a jerk.

Josie was really ticked off at her dad for giving away the porch tv.

"WHAT?" she yelled.  "That was the only good thing about Zack moving out; I was finally gonna get a tv to watch!!"

She told her dad that since he's the one who got rid of the third tv, he could be the one to watch the tv downstairs and she and I would get the one in the tv room with the fireplace.

The truth is, both the tvs we still have are much bigger than the one he gave away and the basement is actually a great place to watch movies but we didn't go down there too much while Zack was living there because it was such a mess.  Jay spent all of yesterday afternoon cleaning that part of the basement and he did a very thorough job.  He cleaned all the furniture, moved and dusted everything and vacuumed every square inch of the place.  Once Zack clears out the rest of his stuff from the bedroom side, we'll clean that out too and it'll be as nice as it used to be.

But Josie's point still stands; her dad likes to watch sports and her mom likes to watch dvd's so where is she supposed to get her nightly Southpark fix?

hey, life is hard, sweetheart.

The good part about Zack moving out is that I just cleared all his titles off my netflix list.

I feel just the way my Mom did, back in the early eighties, when Woody, Margy and I all moved out of state at the same time.  I remember Mom calling me one time, practically in tears, saying "You didn't just all move out, you moved clear across the country!  Why did all my kids abandon me at the same time?"

To which I replied "Mom, you've still got six kids in the house.  Cheer up."

Well, she did cheer up and now she's gotten rid of all of us except for summers and holidays, where the out of towners move back into her basement.

In fact, JP and Roy are coming for Christmas!  I'm so glad.  they haven't been back here since JP first brought Royana home to meet all of us in the summer of '08.  I couldn't make the wedding in '09 so I haven't laid eyes on either of them in over two years. 

Ty and Megan are coming home for Christmas too, and Ty threatened to stay at Gramma's if I don't have room.  I have room.  I'm planning on putting the newlyweds in Josie's room (she has a full sized bed) and Josie and Katie can go in the little guest room and the basement.  Oh, yes; Katie will be back from Montana by then and is planning on staying here till she lands a job.

That could take till 2012.

Zack will sleep on the airbed somewhere, unless he brings his futon back here.  He loves sleeping on a futon and in fact, wouldn't even take his bed from downstairs when he left.  He hasn't actually slept on the bed in years; he took the futon off the frame and slept on the floor.

My sister in law, Royana (Blackbear)  is part Native American.  She hasn't met my cowgirl daughter in law yet but the jokes are already flowing fast and furious.  Megan is actually really excited to meet the west coast actors because acting, particularly musical theater, is her second passion, right after horses and rodeo.  Oh, I guess it's third...Tyler is probably on top of that list now.  I hope he is, anyway.

We got another six inches of snow last night. It looks like the fluffy kind at least; not wet cement like last time.  It's as beautiful as it is annoying.

I have to get to work.

 

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