I'm in training for New Year's Eve... or at least, that's my story and I'm sticking with it. The last several nights have been *very* late ones. In reality, I've been spending time having found something interesting to read on the web, which leads to something else... which in turn leads to something else... etc. Last night it was Neil Gaiman's blog... er ... Journal (http://journal.neilgaiman.com/), which led me to Amanda Palmer's ukulele song about Lady GaGa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dxDREaCyjE&feature=player_embedded), which led me to revisit Molly Lewis' cover of Lady GaGa's Poker Face (http://www.youtube.com/user/sweetafton23#p/u/1/5mf7cQfhJSA).... which led me to send an e-mail off to a younger relative that will probable puzzle her greatly... but whatever.

I've also spent many, many hours lately on Robin McKinley's blog and related forum (http://robinmckinleysblog.com/), so adding Neil's Journal to the mix creates a nice sort of symmetry (American fantasy writer living in England wrt British fantasy writer living in the US).

But back on topic, we're got plans for Thursday night, a masquerade at a local Pizzaria. This will entail staying up late and walking home in the wee hours. I tend to wake up early (six-ish is late for me), regardless of when I get to bed. This means that the last several times I was up past midnight, I came down sick with a sore throat from not getting enough rest. This morning, after getting to bed past two, I slept in until nine... which while it is not the 8-9 hours of sleep that I need, should at least be enough to keep this cough that I've been wrestling with this past week from getting worse. Hence, the justification to staying up far too late reading... it's training for tomorrow.

As for getting back into the habit of getting up at 4:30 or 5:00, so that I can go in to teach mathematics this upcoming week.... well, I'll worrry about that on Saturday.

Best Solstice Wishes to the world. It is getting lighter, so I'm assuming that the sun is coming up, despite our failing at staying up all night to keep a fire going. ;-) There is not evidence of the sprinkling of snow that was predicted as a chance occurrence, so you can't prove it one way or the other by me. The Girl, however, appears to be running fine chances of a white Xmas over in Glasgow, however.

We did have a fire in the fireplace, until about 10:00 p.m., and we stayed up until around 11:00, when I was too wiped out to get anything further done in any productive fashion. The Boy and I have wrapped most of the gifts, and I've printed a few more cards & notes. I have three more packages that stand a good chance of getting into the mail today; good thing nothing is critical to arrive before Thursday. (I'm major behind now because the printer FAILED on me last week; amazingly enough up until that point, I was actually going to get everything out on time for once!). The Boy and I also made it out to get a tree, which is still sitting in the car at this moment. (Oh. Good thought. If I'm going to make a run out for a last minute acquisition for the Darling Husband, I probably want to do something about removing the tree first....) DH is still skeptical that we'll be able to pull a tree off, but it is in work. I'm still hoping to clear several 'piles' from various points in the living room, as well, as part of the process. (This *may* be just an example of Hope Springs Eternal, however. But it's on the list.)

Of course, staying up as late as I did has significantly impacted the recovery that I had been making from an early incident of too little sleep earlier in the week. I tend to lose my voice, and had successfully backed off from that precipice up until yesterday. We'll see what today and tomorrow bring; I'm back to breathing my essential oils and drinking my herb teas with my fingers crossed (which is a good way to spill your tea). Tonight is dinner & Zoolights with friends, which means another late-ish night, although not nearly as late as last night. Tomorrow, I'll sleep in, for sure... at least to the extend that the Yar cat lets me. Maybe if I put the catfood out the night before.... ;-)

Brrrr.... it's cold. Dinner's quick and getting hot in the oven. I must admit, feeding two less complicated than feeding four. We only have the two of our tastes to accommodate, which makes life simpler. Meals get to be lighter as well. There's been quite a few evenings when D. would finish off some leftovers, and I'd have steamed veggies with a bit of cream cheese. Yum. Can't do that when you're responsible for feeding kids. Then we need a proper main meal, with veggies and a starch.

So tonight, we're trying something new. We picked up some turkey Italian sausage, and browned that up with green peppers, onion, and celery in some olive oil. The green pepper was actually a mistake, as this is ultimately going to be stuffed into green peppers, but what the heck. Once that was cooked, we stirred in some crushed tomato and a small can of muchrooms (stems and pieces). Much to my surprise, the sausage seasoning was enough, so we didn't add any other spices. D. layered his stuffed pepper with rice and filling, and then topped it off with a slice of cheese. I layered mine with stuffing and cheese, and put it in a small casserole with more of the vegetable mixture around the base. Yummm...

Drat that cat! Yar very proudly came in and presented D. with his prize yesterday morning: an adolescent stellar jay. There was no evidence of blood or punctures, but when taken back outside, the bird couldn't or wouldn't fly. You can see how it's holding its left wing in the pic. Talk about a literal 'sitting' duck. Leaving it outside in the yard was obviously *not* an answer.

So we popped it into the cardboard animal carrier, D. came up with a clever perch and we provided water, apple, peanuts (shelled), sunflower seeds, quiet and dark in the east bed room with the rabbit.

I guess that's the good thing about feeding the birds: the peanuts and sunflower seeds were a hit, while the other things didn't appear to be touched. We tried again this a.m., to see if it could fly, but while it could certainly run (and did, leading D. on quite a chase to get it back into the carrier), unfortunately there was no flying. D. called PAWs up in Lynnwood, and confirmed that they would take jays, and off he went this a.m. So we are now birdless in Seattle, and the cats are still prowling outside of the rabbit cage, wondering what we did with their prize.