Petunia rambles on and on….

All inbound geeks children and/or family,

I have two LONG ethernet cables for hard-wiring laptops into my connection.  One is plugged into my lappie, one in reserve (ya just never know when you’ll have to go over to the spare one!) Mine’s a 30-footer. The other one is coiled up and twist-tied, trying to reduce the wire-vomit behind everything here.  It’s a good size, but probably not as long as mine. There is Space-A for one more ethernet cable into my wireless router. (BYOCable) All others have to go wireless. (This is handy if you’re using the latrine and still wish to IM/FB.)

Briley -  can they connect into the back of the modem itself – I still have 2 separate Linksys units.  If so, I have no more ethernet cables. I am currently too lazy to get up and check if there are more connectors.

K/J are bringing their air mattress. Twinkies get the low bunk for Wed night. Bri, you get the low bunk after that OR you can use our queen-sized mattress wherever, remembering that your sister and husband will have no privacy either.  The back room is yarn and fabric and looms and spinning wheels and desks and quilting frames and sewing machines and work tables and more yarn and books and stuff.  I don’t think there’s a floor in that room. And yarn.

There will be a shortage of chocolate chip cookies this year. A HUGE package of chips was bought at Sam’s Club on Saturday. Today, when Pop came home for lunch, he found chippies all over the rug at the front door, a black dog looking green and the Brown Breeze was beginning. By evening, we were getting some of the chips back, but I decided not to make cookies with them. Dog is acting stupider than usual. And yes, I know that chocolate is bad for dogs; however, there is little I can do with this information now. I will post a sign in the kitchen informing the dog of the risk. Fortunately for us, I found more chips in the freezer, but made fudge out of them this evening.

The dog will not be smarter by next week when you all get here. Plan accordingly.

Sincerely,

The Management at Chez Petunia

If you’re involved here, make sure all the others know. I aint got time.

Simply Socks is having a “12 Days of Sock Yarn” on December 13-24.  Go there, follow the rules to win sock yarn. Good luck.

I would have been involved in this from the start – I mean, what’s not to love about winning sock yarn? Beautiful sock yarn, gorgeous colorways. But, as usual, I’m about 8 months behind on the list of holidays chores that I’d like to accomplish. It is unlikely that I’ll be able to do 8 months of planned activities in 8 freakin’ DAYS! I didn’t get far enough through my blog reader to read the post that said, “Go here. Read this!!”  Had I done so sooner, I’d have known at the beginning.  And something about the bear in the woods is coming to mind, too.

For the record, it is also unlikely that I’m even gonna bother TRYING to do 8 months of tasks in the next 8 days, especially considering that I’ll have one damn day off.  Maybe if I shove this poinsettia graphic in lots of places, it’ll give me a bit more spirit. I bought the fixings to make plenty of Christmas cookies. By the time I got all the stuff unloaded out of the car, carried into the house and put away, my back was hurting so bad, I said, “The hell with it,” and went and sat down. No cookies got made.  I’m hoping to do fudge tonight, which probably will be less “on my feet” time.  My back only hurts when I stand up for more than 10 minutes, or lay down in any position except one or breathe.

Right now, I’m still hoping to:

Get the table cleared off, at least enough to put great quantities of food on it.

Get one bathroom clean. Get rid of anything green or fuzzy in the refrigerator.

Find a place for that damned beloved ankle-biting bastard cradle. (Truly, I do love that cradle, hand-made for me by oldest brother, as a surprise, to put a new baby – Brian – into. A reproduction of a Colonial-era cradle, with rockers extended so that it could be rocked by the mama as she sat near a fire and tended 304 other tasks while soothing the baby. The extended rockers that tip down at the outer edges insure that the cradle doesn’t tip over. I haven’t put a baby into it since early 1981, and those rockers get you in the ankles every time you get within 3 feet of it)

Get the tree up, possibly get it decorated. Or not.

Remember to take the ham out of the freezer in time.

Buy rum, strawberries. Make suggestions to the bartender regarding how much rum should be put in my drinks, as I did at that Christmas party we had a few years ago, the one that I don’t remember too much about. The night the entire damn bed jumped about 2 feet to the left just as I was about to sit my arse on it. Really. The one where my brother said to the bartender, “Are you really gonna put that much in?” and the bartender DID.  And the brother laughed his ass off.  (So did the husband bartender)

Hmmm, just thought of one more place to shove that poinsettia.

Dis-own the child that suggested Enchiladas for Christmas dinner when I have not one but TWO hams in the freezer because I forgot I already had a ham and bought another; husband reminds me of this “mental variance” daily.

(Son didn’t “suggest.”  He tried to blackmail me – threatened to bring stinky fish and shrimp into the house, and try to cook them while I’m in the middle of last-minute dinner preparations. Stinking up the house with Old Bay. Like he’s done before. Many times!)

Get Pop to go with me to pick out gifts for the smallest grandchildren, the Twinks. One small item for several of the rest, those not already bought for.  I’ve got 3 gifts at home so far. That’s it. Pop likes going shopping about as much as he would like being boiled like a lobster.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

due to lack of ability to summon up enough interest to come up with something intelligent.  Just can’t do it today.

“Another night slowly closes in….”