No More Pictures

I made this layout on Christmas night to give to my mother-in-law for Christmas. Fortunately I took a picture of it because the next day at her place (with most of the people in the photo there) my camera died. The lens would not retract and it just kept turning itself off, albeit with the lens open & extended... so there are no pictures of this Christmas, except for a couple I took at home of the cats and the ones I took of the little book I made of the pictures Camille took last Christmas....

Boo hoo. But since I haven't left the house since Boxing Day I have not taken the camera in to be looked at or done anything else. And now I uploaded the rest of the pics on my memory card to my laptop using Picasa and now my Picasa is all screwed up, with pictures showing up in various folders that aren't really there. Oh a random European picture showing in the library of the October 2008 folder for example. Click on it and it turns into a different picture. Grrrrr

Simply having a wonderful Christmas Day

OK it's not that wonderful, but it's been a pleasant day. Holly and I got up at a decent hour - 9:00 maybe, had some hot chocolate, and waited to see how long it'd be before Greg got up. Of course when we went to bed last night around 11:00, he was just getting up from a very late nap to wrap his presents (purchased between 3:30 and 5:00).

Anyway he got up around 10:30 and made a fire & I made him some tea. Then we opened our gifts. I was quite amazed that he even did go shopping and made some very good choices too - I got some RAM for my laptop, a mouse (to treat the solitaire-induced carpal tunnel I've given myself), and some lovely pearl earrings. Holly gave me a ring she made in metal art, an ornament & a wooden carving of a bird. The most fun gift of the day was the laser pointer I gave Greg (who's been talking about the cats being bored). Well they weren't bored with that! Oh Vespers was too cool to be fooled by it but Timmy was hilarious chasing it all around the house.

So some croissants, cheese & scrambled eggs for breakfast and then we lazed around all day. I just woke up from a nap, Greg's out blowing snow and Holly's having a shower.

We have our Christmas dinner tomorrow at Greg's mom's so nothing special for supper today. I finally finished the little chipboard coaster book I made for the nephew & niece and I still have to print a photo or two for my MIL.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

...because it's so damn cold! Otherwise it doesn't look anything like Christmas at my house. This picture is from last year - our tree is not up yet. I was hoping maybe tonight, we'll see.

I did receive 2 Christmas presents in the mail today which was nice. I only sent mine out today (would have been earlier but I had a large brain fart at the post office & mis-addressed the presents, using unreturnable Expresspost envelopes. Two of my friends will be receiving no-occasion parcels at some point this year...)

Greg and I braved the roads and went to Costco today. I had taken the day off not even realizing it was going to be a snow day. On the way home we were driving behind somebody going 30 kmh along Benvoulin so we stopped in at the SPCA. Big mistake. Saw a lovely little dog in there, she was just a sweetie. But I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER DOG! Just give my head a shake & forget about it... I'm such a softie.

Two parties this weekend which is quite remarkable, both with neighbours so no driving involved. I'm looking forward to them although one of them involves people I haven't seen for so long I've forgotten half their names. I'm sure I can fake my way through it...

So I have not finished Christmas shopping, only sent out a very few cards (and they weren't handmade) and don't plan on baking. Holly's birthday is on Tuesday and she hasn't decided what she wants to do. Sometimes I feel bad that we don't 'do' holidays very well.

Oh and I've booked a trip to NYC for mid-February - perhaps my last chance while Mark still has his job at Goldman Sachs... Looking forward to that very much. I'll just have to try not to shop much, with the dollar being as low as it is.

Working llike they did in the old days

Well our library HQ moved to their new building over the weekend and we are all suffering as a result. First of all, we haven't had a van in a week (this is the truck which moves books etc between branches). So no requested items arriving, no new magazines or newspapers that come through HQ.

Then the computer system went down (this was planned) on Sunday and was scheduled to be back up today. However apparently when they went to connect everything, yesterday I guess it was, they blew both the power and the air conditioning to the server room. It was 33 degrees in there this morning. So now the return of the computer system is looking doubtfully at Thursday.

So... we can check things out, but that's it. No checking in. The back check in area is starting to look like a walled city from which there's no escape. Nothing to put away since nothing coming in. No requesting of items, no checking the catalogue, no (gasp!) Internet access.

And yet people are still coming in - which frankly amazes me. It's good to see that people do still come in just to read! And if they bring a laptop they can still access the wireless across the road.

We should have some very tidy shelves by the time this is over, and my office should also be in really good shape. We can get into Word so I've tidied up my files, both physical and electronic. I've been typing memos instead of emailing, and phoning instead of emailing (but not to HQ 'cause their phone system isn't 100%).

And to those people who are looking for specific books, well they're getting answers like

• we have that but there's a waiting list; if you leave your name & barcode we'll request it for you later
• that title doesn't sound familiar but if you leave your name & barcode we'll look it up for you later
• if we had anything on that topic it might be shelved in the ....... area (after looking at the good old hardcopy of Dewey)

Where's a good old-fashioned card catalogue when you need it??

December 1st?!

Holy cow where is the time going? Not that I'm stressed out about Christmas - more looking forward to the time off. Our last open day is December 23rd and then I'm off till January 5th. Plus I have a lot of vacation time left so I might extend those holidays. Although let's face it, what will I do with myself if I'm not at work?

Perhaps I will scrapbook... Last weekend I went with Audrey up to Sunnybrae for a weekend with the Crazy Croppers which was lots of fun. The food (and there was tons of it) was excellent, the company was great, and I actually got some things done!! Not that I brought lots with me, it was really about the right amount. I tried to finish one project which had been hiding in the closet so long I forgot it existed. Plus I did one two-page layout and did most of a little chipboard album for a Christmas present.

Or maybe I'll read the holidays away. I put the rest of the Harry Dresden Files series on hold (kind of Harry Potter becomes a hard-boiled detective), and I have several other things on my list as well. I also took out a couple of DVD's and of course there's no limit now on how often I can get my 2 movies from Zip.ca. I had zipped Quantum Leap because I had such fond memories of it but now I know it was better in the 80's!

And there's always a possibility that I could go to the Coast for a few days but I was there so many times this year I don't have a burning desire to do that. Kelly and I discussed going to Vegas in January but we'll see.

Today I'm home. It's 11:30 and I'm still in bed, feeling quite wiped after a weekend of nowhere near enough sleep and a sore throat that comes & goes on a daily basis. I could easily go back to sleep but will try to save that for this afternoon...

p.s. don't panic - the new photo is from December 28/07. We've only had a tiny bit of snow so far this winter!