It's really days like these that I don't have any kind of appreciation for being a woman... I am in all sorts of pain, when I thought I had done a good job of keeping it under control. So much for that plan, and now it takes twice the normal dose just to get it back to a tolerable amount. Thankfully I now have insurance for the first time in four years, so I am able to see if there's something I can do to either manage it better or to eliminate it altogether.

I have been told that people missed the blog, so I decided that I am going to try and keep it updated like I was so that I can keep people up to speed about what is going on with me. I am thinking about opening up a separate blog just about my writing and what I am getting accomplished, but I think that will mainly be a quick update on what I have written so far, what has developed, how much I have gotten done, etc. I will most likely link to it from here for anyone interested in reading it, and keeping up with what I have so far. More than likely I will title it something to do with the novel I am working on. If there are other novels in progress, who knows, I may start one up for them as well. Just a thought, and something that has been on my mind to start for some time.

I suppose I should try and catch people up on the last eleven days since I wrote something here, because frankly a lot happened in that short amount of time and I don't really know how much longer the pain will be tolerable enough for me to get this done, so I will try and make it as brief as I possibly can.

My cousin Ariana showed up on the 8th and helped me to celebrate my birthday party. It was lovely to get to know her once again, and I was most shocked by how alike our personalities are. Though I usually find it hard to get along with most women (family or no) I took a liking to her immediately and knew from the moment we hugged hello that we would be having a good time together. We stayed up late into every night that she was here talking about everything from life in general to genre writing to our childhoods to what it was like growing up like we did. I am very proud of the woman she has become despite a lot of the crap she had to put up with as a child, and even into adulthood. Not to say that it is my job to be proud of her or anything, that sounds a bit condescending, but I guess I am trying to say that it's nice to see that kind of bravery and maturity and spirit coming out of someone I am related to. Sometimes I have so many family problems that I just want to give up on the whole lot of them, but she is one that I would have to say that I am glad that I am related to. We have a plan for the future, should everything in life go awry including a plot for murder and a name change. The murder would be more like a murder of essence, but the name change would probably be real. At any rate, I was glad to welcome her into my small and crappy home, and she made me feel like someone she was glad to be related to too.

The birthday party was full of awesome and friends from all over the country were able to make it. I was overwhelmed by the fact that so many people care so much about me, and that all the happiness they bring me they can feel as well. I had toasted to friends missing, because there was no hard feelings for friends who couldn't show... they were there with me in spirit. There was a bit of drama toward the end of the night, but I have put it behind me so I am not going to go into detail about it, but I didn't let it tarnish what was a very special night for me.

I have been able to see my BFF from California, as she came for my birthday party and is staying in Wisconsin until the end of the month. It has been almost like she never went away, and I missed her terribly. I am sure there will be even more crying before she has to go back home. Hopefully it's not a long time before she visits again. It's also nice to see her daughter getting so big, she is one of my favorite little girls. She and Cyrah are about the same size even though there's three years difference in their ages. It doesn't help that her mother and I are at two opposite ends of the height spectrum, so I am sure that the size difference for them will remain a theme as they age. I love my third little girl, and will love my wee little boy when he arrives next year. :)

Lately I have been trying to do as many creative things as I possibly can. Because winter forces me indoors (I hate being cold, though I do like to look at snow), I like to try and do little busy-work things to keep myself occupied. Dustin learned to crochet from the internet and then taught me. I had already known how to knit and had forever convinced myself that it was easier than crocheting... boy was I wrong... Once I got the hang of it, I worked nonstop on a scarf for my youngest daughter which I managed to finish with about ten hours of labor. All things considered, I finished it in less than half the time it would have taken me to knit a scarf of the same size.

I also worked on and finished some gifts for the white elephant gift exchange for the holiday party I planned. The kicker? It's a ZOMBIE themed party. Yes. Zombies. Anyone who knows me well enough knows my total and irrational fear of Zombiepocalypse. I fear this event more than anything in the world even though it is probably one of the most ridiculous fears a person can have. Back to the point though for people who have NO CLUE as to what a white elephant gift is, it's when you bring something for a gift that you either think is funny, something you want to regift, or just whatever kind of crap you feel like getting rid of. Usually some game is played where gifts are passed around until you end up with a gift you didn't bring and you get to unwrap it. The point here is to try and spend as little as you possibly can on it, because others could potentially bring something really crappy, also this year it has to be zombie themed. Why am I doing this to myself? I have no really logical explanation for it, except that one of my birthday gifts was from my friend Alice (Assistant Director of the Bristol Buskin Frolic) and it was her own puppet show called, "Night of the Living Dead Puppets"  that inspired the theme for the party this year, which will include a viewing of said movie. I am pretty darned excited for it, all things considered. Though I don't want to give away what my gift is just yet, I will take pictures of what I made and post them after the party because I am really proud of what I did. Because we are so broke, I spent as little as I could get away with spending and came up with something pretty damned special. I had a gift card for Walmart that I used for supplies, and I think I spent ten bucks altogether. For what I ended up with, ten bucks was a steal. Also, because I was able to produce so many of said gift, everyone will get at least one, with the person who gets my white elephant gift getting the bulk of them. I can't wait until I can show you all pictures. I might even sneak some on here on Christmas Day, just before the party. I don't think anyone who plans to attend reads this blog, except maybe Krix...

Aside from that I have spent the last few days in edit for the novel I am working on. I got a few hundred words written out last night, but pain pretty much laid me out for the night.

As of right now, I am planning to get into a hot (possibly scalding) bath and steep my pain away. I like to sit in the tub and set my laptop up so I can watch some sort of program while bathing. I know that sounds weird, but what the hey... that's me.  Good night all, and I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.