Cascading downwards

Oh, life is wonderful at the moment:

I just paid off my credit card (again)

And then bought more stuff, since a top I wanted was finally back in stock

I met an online friend for coffee, and we ended up hanging out for 4 hours, having a great time (hi amalthiakt!)

I'm getting an ARC of Horizon from the Strand, 3 months before the release date (and less than $10)

My brother's visiting his girlfriend at the CIA (cooking school, not spies), and I'll see him tomorrow

And it's only the second day of my week off! (I restrained myself from !s after every line!)

The only downside is that I'm abut to have a grumpy husband, since Rich is out having a root canal right now (his vacation, not going so well)

Saturday I attended a birthday for my grandmother, who turned 90. We call her Magie. The whole family wants to be just like her when we're her age. Complete with the selective hearing. The only thing she doesn't do is drive (thank god! - that was scary). She gardens, she plays bridge, she volunteers at the museum ... she has a more active social life than I do.

I got dragooned into picking up my Aunt Jean in New Jersey so that she could attend, which more than doubled my driving time, but that's OK. Aunt Jean was complaining that she couldn't believe she had to be picked up, "as if I was an old lady. And I'm not!" (she's 88, Magie's sister. Good genes on that side!)

The party was great, lots of family stories about all the stuff my Dad and his siblings got up to when they were younger. Funny stuff. Especially when almost every story seemed to end with 'fessing up to a parent, and either Magie saying "don't tell your father" or Gramps saying "don't tell your mother." I guess when you have 6 kids, you don't really want to hear about every single incident.

And one more cousin announced she was pregnant, which makes me the oldest one who doesn't have kids. That will be oh so fun at the next family function. I'm going to deflect any pushiness to my brother, who is the oldest one who isn't married. And who is, incidentally, the only Fleming boy. Desperate times.

Most of my shopping is done, but I have 3 remaining. In an emergency, I can get my brothers gift cards, but I prefer actual presents. So, what can I get for:

1) a recent college grad working in the DC area (younger brother)

2) a guy in his late 20s with a new baby (middle brother)

3) a very active woman close to 90 years old with an entire house filled with stuff (grandmother)

help?

We just learned that Rich's grandmother passed away today.

He's tearing himself up because he just had two days off and didn't go visit. He was planning to go next week (in fact, we had *just* discussed that when the call came). We're all trying to get him to ease up, and it seems to be working somewhat. It's been years since I had to go through this myself, and I *did* get to see my grandmother before she passed away.

I don't know what to say.

So, I guess I should try to start writing in here again.

Christmas was pretty good. We spent the day with Rich's family, which was nice, and meant no driving at all (we actually live across the street from his mom's apt building. His grandparents live in the same building as her). It's kind of a novelty to be the youngest person at the Christmas celebration.

Presents were pretty good, nothing spectacular. Mom got me a nice mouse with lots of buttons on it, which I am now using with my left hand to give my poor right hand a break (since I'm getting closer to carpel tunnel syndrome all the time). And a coffee-table book of the most beautiful libraries in the world, which makes me drool.

Rich got me Buffy DVDs and chocolate, cause he's a good boyfriend. And my grandma got me the softest sweater, which fits divinely, though if she saw it, she'd probably think she should have gotten the next larger size.

I called my family on the day, but I couldn't really go see them, because I had to work both the day before and the day after. So did Rich. Sometimes I hate public service jobs.

My presents all seemed to go over well. Dad loves his nautical watch, my brothers love their shot-glass chess sets, and mom likes her blowtorch (mini one for creme brulee). And Francis is very enthusiatic about the Cowboy Junkies CD I got him, which just seems kind of funny for some reason.

I have Friday off, so I think that will be returns day. There's always something, isn't there? That's the nice thing about books - you can return them to any bookstore, not necessarily the one they came from. Standardization is wonderful.