A few things to update on. I caved to the sophmore slump and did not finish my nano novel this year. After ditching my first 15,000 words and starting over I did come up with 15,000 words that I really liked.

My mood picked up after a short cry in the shower. I thought about why I was really feeling bad. It did not take me long to admit that I felt I had handled a situation in which Drama Queen ended up in jail badly. After thinking it over I do feel I made the second best choice and would do it differently if I had a chance, but the the results have been over all positive. She has been really trying to quit drinking, even attending those dreaded (by her) meetings. The bad side is she absolutely refuses to live here near her family. It is amazing how much better it felt to admit to myself that I made a mistake, but had learned a lesson about myself and my family.

That fall to do list is not going to get done. A few closets have been cleaned out as have my kitchen cabinets. I have hung the curtains in my bedroom. The material for the living room curtains has been bought. I could not find any I liked for the price I was willing to pay, but I am going to try and replicate a set of the more expensive ones. To Dh and the kids relief I did buy some of those temporary shades, the paper ones to replace the blankets. My brother in law called me the day I put them up and asked If I had to take down my other curtains because the we were getting cold. Smartass.

I have been following the group of people who pledged to buy nothing new for a whole year. While I know I could never do anything so drastic, I do like the thought behind it. Some days I feel we are being over run by junk we buy. I do compost and recycle and try building most of my outdoor projects with materials on hand, but still I buy way too much. As far as the five kids are concerned I will still support capitalism on a grand scale this year. Over the years I have made a list of things I will not buy, mostly for economic reasons though. Remote control vehicles never last long enough to justify the amount of money I spend on them. Any toys requiring batteries that aren't rechargable. I just never keep that many batteries in the house so they don't get used for their intented purposes for long. Then I find them a year later broke with that white gunk spreading out of the battery case.
For the adults this year I am going to try to make most of the gifts. I had no idea what to do for Dh until I walked into his office at work and noticed the trash bags he had taped over one of his windows to block the sun. Last night the kids and I made him some curtains out of left over material I had. They are nothing grand, but quite a bit better than a trash bag.