A Little More of this, A Little More of That

I'm still playing extreme catch-up with things right now.  I'm behind on two swaps - the David Tennant ATC and the Inspired Short Story Swap.  I have them both done, I just don't have the money for shipping them out.  Unfortunately, there was a problem in the building here in Nashville where the unemployment checks are processed.  So the unemployment checks didn't come out until Friday, which means I won't be getting it until Monday.  It's been a very lean weekend because of it.  We did sell quite a bit of our books and DVDs to McKay's so we'd have money for groceries.  I'm just grateful that we have the things that we CAN sell if necessary.

I spent quite a bit of time today working on some of the other swaps that I needed to send.  I had two online swaps that needed to be completed and those are done, plus the Blog About My Blog swap that I posted earlier.  (Two of the people I blogged about also blogged about me and they said really kind things, so that makes me happy.)  I had stopped signing up for Swaps until I started catching up. Now I've got quite a few on my watchlist that, if I've got the time when they come up, I'll do.  One of them is a Resolution swap over at 43things.com.  I actually started it up today (here, for anyone interested in checking it out and cheering me on).  It also got me thinking of my 101 in 1001.  And, while reading them over, I realized that there's one that I can cross off.  Number 3 on the list (which can be found in this blog post or here on Day Zero) - Lose 5 pounds.  Since I started, at 242 pounds, I've lost 7 pounds - down to 235.  Which means that I'm working toward number 4, lose 10 pounds.  I'm also up to 20 books now, I think.  I may have started my year of reading before I started the 101 in 1001.  I still think I'll be able to get 100 books read without a problem.  The rest, I need to look over again and see what I can start working on.  Some of them, I think, I'm going to start after the first of the year (like FlyLady).  I'm definitely trying to do more in 2011.

We're getting ready for Christmas here in DiTullioville.  My in-laws came down last weekend to spend an early Christmas with us.  We all had a blast while they were here.  The kids especially had a good time because they love spending time with Nonni and Pop.  We had a few bad moments with Teddy where he decided to act up with hitting and kicking and yelling.  I was honestly surprised, not because he hasn't been doing it but because I couldn't see him wanting to disappoint Nonni and Pop.  But for the most part, the kids had a great time playing games and playing with some of their new toys.  I've got some pictures of them, but I need to upload them still.  Hopefully, I'll get that done soon.

We've got our Christmas Tree up and lit, though it's in our dining room.  It's really the only place that it would fit.  We've also got a little decorating done outside.  But that's about it.  I do have almost all the shopping done.  I just have to get something for Ryan (my SIL's nephew) and get gift cards for my niece and nephew.  I also need to mail off all the Calendars that we had made as Christmas gifts.  As per usual, I seem to be pretty far behind on things.  I also had a bunch of Christmas cards that I wanted to make, but I haven't had the printer ink to print out the pictures.  I may do those at Walgreens and send them out late.  Better late than never, or so they say.

I've got all my book reviews completed for now.  I'm in the middle of two other books, with many more on the horizon.  Hopefully, I'll be able to write them up quickly after I read them.  One of the swaps that I'm doing is a reading list for the 4th quarter of the year, and all of these book reviews are being incredibly helpful.  I think I'm going to print them out, bind them somehow and send them that way.  I hope my partner(s) enjoy it.

I still have the pics of the various crafts that I've done that I need to put up.  I was going to do that tonight, but it might need to wait until tomorrow.  Now it's bedtime for my boys and I get the pleasure of reading them stories and tucking them in.  It's a great nightly tradition that we have - each of the boys takes turn picking a book (2 total at nap time and 4 at bedtime), and they take turns being the first one to pick.  Whoever doesn't pick first gets to choose who covers them or, if it's just me, gets covered first.  It's helped keep things from devolving into arguments and it keeps us close as a family.  Last night were Christmas stories.  I'm really curious to see what they choose tonight.

Good night, all my fair readers!  And thanks for reading my babbles.