Thought I'd start this week's topic with this pic I found


Sorry I just hád to show it

So.. What are you guys going to be doing this weekend?

Selinde

LOL!

Tomorrow is our traditional family pre-Christmas get together and I'm currently freaking out and still nowhere close to organised for it. But, at least I'm closer than I was this morning. <g> Just the remainder of the housework to be done really. So...phew.

LabRat

I have bought no Christmas presents. Not one. Since I joined this fandom, a lot of areas of my life are more scattered than formerly, because I spend too much time on the internet! So, this weekend: buy gifts. clean my house. catch up on correspondence. balance my checkbook.

Or maybe I'll spend the entire weekend reading stories in the archive.

Decisions, decisions.

I just so excited that we finally got our first real snow here in Pennsylvania! Too bad its going to melt soon.

My weekend is going to consist of lounging around my apartment and watching tv, I think. I should be studying for finals in 2 weeks but I just don't think I'm that good of a student to start now.

Happy Weekend everyone!

~Kristen

I'll be spending the weekend cleaning, organizing, etc. Gifts are bought, but I have a few I need to return. Also going to a Walk-around Christmas display and then <gulp> to my 1st singles party...have to convince myself that being social is a good thing.

Jo

Attempting to recover from the miserable cold that has had me in and out of work all week. (And which my kids seem to have caught too.)

Let's see . . . what's on my mental agenda for this weekend?

• Friday
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• Balance the checkbook
• See if friends want to go bowling
• If they do, then call the guy who gave me his number at the election to see if he wants to go, and write some more of PPKM while I wait for the alley to have open lanes. If not, then just write.
• Go bowling (again, if the friends want to)
• Read/write more fanfic

[*]Saturday

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Christmas shopping
• Gift bag giving
• Reading/Writing
• Gift wrapping
• Possible audiofic recording
• Possible catch-up playing on Smallville (if my LimeWire downloads have finished before then)

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[*]Sunday

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Meeting 7:30-9am
• Church 9-Noon
• Lunch
• Reading/Writing
• More possible audiofic recording
• More possible catching-up on Smallville

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Well, apart from posting this



I'm getting ready for a combined SF discussion group meeting and early Christmas party which I'm hosting tomorrow. Started cooking things this evening, tomorrow I do the big clean-up and put stuff out in dishes etc.

I woke up at 5 a.m. and wrote about 1,000 words of "Stardust" before my kids woke up. That's pretty much the only time I have to write these days. By the time evening rolls around, I'm too frazzled to be productive. I'm not always productive in the mornings either, but this morning was good.

Then we did our usual stuff - chores, schoolwork, etc. - and after lunch we went to one of those pottery painting places so that the kids could make some Christmas presents. We stayed there for about 2 hours, and it was really fun - more than I expected it to be - and worth every penny not to have all that mess in my house!

After we got back from that, the kids watched "Seasons Greedings" with me. My son (9) is a huge Superman fan, but he's avoided L&C - mostly, I think, on the theory that if his Mom likes it, it's bound to be stupid and girly. Anyway, I told him enough about the space rats to convince him to give it a try, and both kids wound up enjoying it. The scene where Perry is dancing in his office just killed. He made me run it back like three times. Now I'm trying to think of other eps that might appeal to him. "Tempus Fugitive" may be the next one we try.

So that's my Friday so far. Now I need to go cook dinner...

Best,

Caroline

Yea! More Stardust! And, wow, you must love to write, Caroline. 5 AM!

I know many of you are going to be laughing yourselves silly at this next line, considering the latitude I live on compared to those some of you live on, but I have to got to say: Damn, it's cold! The high today is 45 and we simply don't have the clothing for that here. Why buy heavy coats when you only need them to walk to and from your car five days of the year? I am just about now, 30 minutes and a car ride later, thawing out from trip from my office door to my car. How do you northern people deal with this all the time??? And why do you want to??? (Can you tell I am a born and bred Southern girl? And I have the accent to prove it! [sort of])

Oh snap.... someone done brought out the Caturday pictures. ^_~

I counter with:


I have nothing special planned for the weekend. Got into a huge fight earlier this week with the boyfriend of almost 5 years and we broke up for about 3 hours and then fought and mended the relationship. Went to bed at 4am in the morning (wasn't that fun). So we have been trying to do more things together to see if we want to salvage the relationship. I imagine we will probably try to go on a date sometime this weekend (which we haven't done in foreeeever). Maybe I'll make him take me to a sappy movie. ^_~

I'm also doing my best to weedle out of him what he has gotten me for my birthday. So far I have had no luck. He knows it drives me crazy. I love presents but I actually enjoy trying to figure out what people have gotten me more. ^_^ I'm such a strange one.

CHRIST, it's cold. I totally know what you mean, Lisa. Our high was 44 today. I finally left the dog outside to his own devices because I was just FREEZING while he was taking like, a year to sniff around outside. Unfortunately, I don't have the southern accent that goes with the temperature mentality; my dad is from Queens, so three guesses as to what I similarly sound like.

Weekend/into next week plans include more guitar playing and...art...in general. I promised mom I'd repaint her lawn ornaments while I'm in town, I promised myself I'd start a new painting, I'm painting my friends martini glasses for Xmas, and I have this pesky Graduate School Review to start working on.

JD

Yeah, it puts me in a happy place. And having that quiet, creative time to myself in the morning seems to make my whole day go better. It's totally worth it to get up at 5:00.

And count me among the thin-skinned, wimpy Southerners who are Not Amused by this visit from Jack Frost. I went out at like 2 this afternoon, expecting it to have warmed up as it usually does, and I had to go back in for a coat. I couldn't even remember for sure if I owned one, and if so, where it was. I have no idea how people who live in the North (which as far as I'm concerned is anywhere North of me, so North Carolina would qualify *g*) can stand it.

Brrrr...

Caroline

I live in Maryland. A few days ago, it was in the 40s or 50s. Now, it's BELOW FREEZING.

I am cold. You are not. :p

I'm with the above. When you're below zero, you're cold! It's so cold here I can't even get hot water. Somebody forgot to insulate the pipes.

As for my weekend. Let's just say it involves a lot of writing and none of it's for fun. I just got back from the Christmas party (which was somewhat Christmas but not really very festive). Now I'm staring at my screen, desperately needing to write things, and totally incapable of actually doing it.

I feel your pain. It promises to be a lo-o-ong weekend.

alcyone

You wimps, feeling cold at above-freezing temperatures! We're down at -5C and thereabouts (23F) and today we got dumped on with 30 inches and more of snow. Nothing moved in the entire city. Most workplaces closed, all schools and colleges closed, no buses running, police advising everyone to stay home.

Now that's winter weather


Wendy

well now, if we're going to have competitions on how cold it is... It's hot in Maryland compared to here, you know... 15F here, but with winds at 15mph and more, they say the windshield factor brings it down to something close to 6F. Winter is here... (and in the depths of winter, we actually get days at -40. really. Did you know, -40 is the same in F and C. *lol* useless info, isn't it?)

I was given a really amazing present today at work (from a bunch of the guys who feel sorry for me getting my pink slip right before Christmas) - they gave me a 30' tall Superman figure. He's SO cool!!! ( it\'s like this the image is not fab, but the figure most certainly is!)

The boss took us all to lunch at a steakhouse downtown. YUM. One of the guys was telling me of a conversation he'd been having with some of the other developpers (after they learned I'd been "terminated") and I was just blown away by the comments - I don't socialize much with these guys and I really only have contact with them through e-mails, talking about bugs and stuff they need to fix - I had *no* idea they appreciated me so. I mean, I know they only ever tell you these things when you leave, but I didn't think they even really noticed me at all. I was sorry to have to go before, now I'm really super bummed!!!

Watching all my fav Christmas shows right now. They had Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer before and it's Frosty the Snowman now. I think I'll pop my VHS copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas next. I've watched all these every year since I can remember - even when I was too young to even understand English. I expect to start crying in about 15 minutes, when Frosty melts... as usual.

Hope you all have a great week-end. I have no plans, I'm just going to *sleep*.

I didn't go bowling tonight--didn't even call anyone to see if they wanted to go.

It was cold, and I just wanted to curl up with my blankies and read. Actually, I didn't read that much after I had caught up on the boards and balanced my checkbook. Instead, I started catchin' up on my Smallville watching--I watched season 5, episodes 10-13. And now, I have to wait for episodes 14 and 16 to finish downloading (those two have been giving me trouble for DAYS).

It's 1:30 in the morning, and I probably should go to sleep, but I'm WIDE AWAKE. Not to mention, it's Saturday now, so I don't have to be up at any specific time anyway. I'm definitely not in a hurry to go out in the cold (which, admittedly, was only 25F (about -1.5C) the last time I was in my car to hear/check--at 5:30 "yesterday" evening.

I wrote the first scene of chapter five of my current WIP during work today (it was REALLY SLOW), but I think it kinda sucks--it jumps all over the place. I'll probably re-write it as I type it up--hopefully later today, after I do some shopping and such--then go on to write some more scenes. Never know . . . maybe I'll actually get the next chapter beta'd and posted within a month, instead of three months hence!

Anyway, I think I'll find something to read now . . .

Yeah, it's about 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit here most of the time.

Lara, I think that's wind chill factor, not windhsield factor, just to let you know.

Darcy, was just listening to some fo your audiofics. Good job.

PEOPLE WITH PETS

Ok, here's my weekend update. I'm dogsitting for Mom since she's out of town, and the wretched Lab will not go to bed. Is this common? I've pet-sat for Mom before, but this is a new thing to me. I mean, I lived with the beast for 8 years! I can no longer just drag him back into the guest room to go to sleep with me. He just blinks and looks at me like, "Are you kidding?" and crawls underneath the dining room table. So here I am at 2:20am ready for an exhilerating night's sleep on the couch since he's kind of a trouble-maker and can't be left to his own devices.

Taking advantage of Friday's chat to say this:

I'm officially writing it down here so that I can't ignore it: I'm officially delurking, officially getting back to reading and writing L&C fanfic on a regular basis, officially getting back to chatting on IRC at least now and again, if not every night, and I'm officially stopping to think of work as my life.

My life isn't work, and work isn't my life, and I haven't been writing much in the past 2 years, which I miss very much. I'm currently off work for a case of extreme stress (due to working way too hard, precisely) and before I go back to work, I need to make sure I won't go back to the same rhythm. So I'm getting back to my old hobbies.

So I thought that posting my official come-back here might help me keep up with my new resolution, which is to get back to posting here, reading, writing, making videos and fanfic trailers, and generally taking part in the fandom beyond coordinating the Kerth Awards once a year.

I'm counting on all of you to help me!

Kaethel (determined!)

YAY!!! Kae is back!!!

I've missed seeing you on here.

Rach

Gah! Yeah, it's wind chill factor, apparently. I just wrote it the way I thought they were saying it. on TV. That's what you get when you have French ears. *lol*

Jen - I hope you managed to get a little bit of sleep!!

And wow! Kaethel, glad to hear you're coming back. YAY!!

Thanks, Lara and Rach! And just wanted to add, ROTFL at the cat pictures!

Kaethel

Welcome back, K. You'll find we're just as barmy as ever.

Yvonne

Thanks, Woody! Keep your ears ready in the next couple weeks--I plan to record the last 4 (of mine, plus maybe start on other peoples') this weekend, so that means Paul will probably have them posted a week or two afterward.

Glad you're coming back, Kaethel!

I've told you before about some of the ways that I get 8th graders interested in US History. So since some of you thought my projects sounded cool, I'll tell you what I did this week. My students are learning about the formation of the two-party political system and the issues that split the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. I combined classes with another 8th grade Social Studies teacher and had the kids learn about one of the issues from one of the political perspectives. Each group had to create a speech, newspaper editorial, and political cartoon about it. They could insult their political opponents, but only with "classy insults" - I made them look up Shakespearian insults on the internet. They also had to create posters and stickers for a campaign. Yesterday, we recreated the Election of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. After the speeches, they got to try and bribe people to vote for their party using cupcakes and candy (my subtle dig at political corruption, plus it makes the activity extra fun!). The kids loved it! All over campus yesterday, all day long, the kids were chanting "Jefferson!" and "Adams!" and talking about the election. Even kids who usually just take a zero on every assignment did their work for this one. I videotaped the speeches. If you're interested, I pulled out a two-minute clip of one girl's speech, and the crowd reaction. If you want to see a really bad, far away image of me, at the end as they pan over the crowd, I'm the woman in the black shirt and red pants (our school colors!). Enjoy! Susan

Election of 1800

P.S. Yes, of course, I ran the whole thing in my 5 inch heels!

Very good work.

I took a speech clas my senior year(last year) in high school, and a lot of the speeches weren't as good as that. Keep it up.

Jen, just a suggestion about the dog situation - what about bribery? A dog biscuit or treat in hand might lead him to follow you into the bedroom.

Irene

Ok how silly is this. He doesn't respond to bribery! He's far too crafty for his dog self. He just *knows* that if I'm going to bribe him, he has to do something he doesn't want to do. I actually have to take him for a walk or a ride in the car just to get him on a leash when I put him in the kitchen to go out of the house. I have to plot. against. him. Fortunately, my big laugh in all of this is muahaha, I no longer live here, and I'm only visiting for two non consecutive weeks. The inner workings of Mom's dog are...unbelievable...

Ok, it's Sunday afternoon, and I've been doing lots of stuff. Let's see how it compares to the "agenda" I posted on Friday, shall we?

• Friday
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• Balance the checkbook - Check
• Read/write more fanfic - Check . . . wrote one scene
• See if friends want to go bowling - It was so cold, I didn't want to even THINK about going anywhere.
• If they do, then call the guy who gave me his number at the election to see if he wants to go, and write some more of PPKM while I wait for the alley to have open lanes. If not, then just write. - Since I didn't call the friends, I kind of chickened out on calling the guy, since I barely know him and wouldn't be really comfortable just hanging out with only him until I'd gotten to know him better.
• Go bowling (again, if the friends want to) - Again, no-go, 'cause of the cold.

[*]Saturday

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Christmas shopping - Check - all first gifts bought and wrapped, plus one second gift. Must shop again on the 23rd
• Reading/Writing - Check - I did some reading yesterday, including a re-read of CC Aiken's "Un" trilogy.
• Gift wrapping - Check
• Possible catch-up playing on Smallville (if my LimeWire downloads have finished before then) - Check - I'm now caught up through the end of season 5. Just waiting for what's there of season 6 to download.
• Gift bag giving - I went shopping, but once that was done and I'd wrapped the gifts, I got caught up in Smallville since I was watching an episode while I wrapped.
• Possible audiofic recording - See below.

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[*]Sunday

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Church 9-Noon - Check - Although I only went from 11-12.
• Meeting 7:30-9am - Missed this, because I was up until 4 this morning, watching Smallville because I couldn't sleep, so I didn't get up until 10.
• Lunch - Not hungry yet.
• Reading/Writing - Don't have anything to read, but I may write some more later.
• More possible audiofic recording - I'm a little leery about doing this right now, since the same drive I keep my audiofics on is the drive that I'm currently downloading Smallville onto. I don't want to interfere with that and possibly screw up the video files.
• More possible catching-up on Smallville - As soon as "Zod" downloads, and possibly "Sneeze" ("Wither" has already finished), then I'm going to watch them.

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So, counting up the checks versus the total . . .

There are six checks, and a total of 17 things to do, although some of them are duplicates, so I guess that's about halfway through my to-do list. That's usually how I end up on the weekends--half-way done.

The highlight of my weekend:

My almost-14-year-old brother broke his thumb yesterday...

(wait for it)

...in the process of throwing a marshmallow at our preacher.

Now tell me that's not funny!

No, that's not funny.

It's friggin' HILARIOUS!

Here, it finally climbed back into the 40's. Went outside with the temp at 44 and thought it was positively warm. Didn't even bother with a jacket. It's amazing how your body adjusts to the temperature.40 would be really cold in the summer while it feels nice and toasty now.