I am a: Quirky sysadmin. Geek. Gamer. Comic fangirl. My little space, my home on the interwebs. I blog about personal stuffs, work, various coding projects, and anything else I feel like.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. Mine was pretty good. :)

I worked Christmas Eve and left around lunchtime. I had just enough time to run home and change to go see my parents that afternoon. We had a lovely early supper and hung out a bit with my folks and my brother and his family. Things are slowly getting better with Dad. He and I talked for a little bit. I know he really enjoyed having Jessie over last weekend and for Christmas Eve. (I know he was driving Mother up the wall!) Mother kept pressing the “children” issue again. (not gonna happen) Between her and my aunt Sharon, I don’t know who’s worse. ;P

I know they mean well, but it’s my decision — I just wish they would accept it and stop badgering me already!

Jessie scored big with some cute outfits and a TON of new earrings (much to her delight!). Jim and I scored gift cards. (YAY, shopping!!!) We left around dark. Jessie had to leave shortly after to go to her mother’s house. She spent the night there and came back the next day around lunch. Unfortunately I was way too wiped out Christmas Eve night to finish wrapping the “Santa” gifts and put it off until the next morning. Jessie showed up just as I was finishing up wrapping. Luckily Jim came to my rescue and met Jess at the door and suggested they leave to “pick up breakfast” — which is parent-secret-code for “Nicki’s not done yet and needs someone to buy her some time.” LOL!

Waffle House provided a very lovely brunch of scattered/smothered hashbrowns, toast, and bacon. YUM! (they’re the only place around town open on Christmas Day, and it’s becoming a tradition with us to get breakfast Christmas morning there!)

We had Christmas at our house and Jessie racked up on goodies, a nice jewelry box (for all her newly acquired earrings, LOL!), and several toys and art sets. She gave Jim a DBZ video that he didn’t already have in his collection. She gave me a HUGE bath gift set — lavender, my favorite scent. She had also given one to her mother the night before, but it was only a quarter of the size of mine.

I told a friend about that yesterday morning and he said, “Congratulations! You’ve moved up from stepmom to super mom!” :lol: I dunno about all that just yet, but it was very nice to know that she’s thoughtful enough to know my favorite scent and picked out such a nice gift on her own. :)

We left to head to Jim’s mom’s house that afternoon and spent most of the day there with her and his brother’s family. Jess spent the night over there last night while I worked on Jim’s website. (His WordPress was WAY outdated and his plugins folder was an absolute MESS!)

I’ve also posted some old family recipes over at my recipe site: Pineapple Cookies, Peanut Butter Balls, Butter Cookies, Sand Tarts, No-Bake Cookies, and Cherry Glaze.

I spent most of last weekend helping my mom make some of those and took the opportunity to snag some snapshots of her recipes with my Helio Ocean. :mrgreen:

I’m finishing up on my newest WordPress themes and will most likely release them all four of them tomorrow. (Yes, I got FOUR done this last week and a half! GO ME! LOL) I haven’t decided yet which one(s) to enter in the LunarPages contest, if any, so I guess I’ll do that this weekend.

Next week marks one year since Hobie passed away. I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. While I was wrapping some gifts last week, I ran across one of her old toys (a felt mouse) in my supply box and started crying. It hardly seems like it’s been a year already. Late at night I still find myself listening, wanting to hear her feet on the kitchen floor or running up and down the stairs. Honestly that cat sounded like a pack of elephants sometimes, LOL!

It’s weird but sometimes I feel like she’s still here. Sometimes out of the corner of my eye, I’ll think I see her prancing down the hall, or sitting and watching me. She always loved Christmas (or rather, loved Christmas trees since they were fun for her to play with!), and it still feels weird not having her around.

Maybe by next Christmas (or the next at the very latest), we’ll be in a new house and may have another furry friend to share the warmth and joy of the holidays.