Needles Falling from the Tree

Christmas has come and gone. Bummer. The days are speeding by, and I have hardly caught my breath. It is WEDNESDAY already, for goodness sake! My vacation is half over, and I don’t know where the time went . . .

How did my holiday go, you may ask? It went rather well . . . in fact, right this very second, I am typing away on one of the most awesome Christmas gifts I have ever received . . .

A brand new laptop! A shiny, tricked-out laptop, with all sorts of bells and whistles and awesome things that I would never have been able to get on my own. Mr. Random, with much help from his family, engineered this lovely holiday surprise, hiding the box in plain sight in his office at work. I was so stunned and happy and flustered when I opened the box that I just cried and cried . . . it was so awesome! Mr. Random wanted to make sure that I liked it – well, DUH! – because he said that he knew that I would have one of two reactions – either I would love it, or I would yell at him for spending so much money. I said I was incredibly happy and too stunned at the moment to yell . . . we’ll deal with that part later.

It took a while to get all set up . . . yes, all the software was on it out of the box, but I needed an internet connection to get everything activated . . . plus I also want to use the DSL line too when I am working on it at home. So on Monday, we trudged out to Staples and bought a router and extra cables and decided that we were going to set up a home network. Long story short, everything didn’t get connected until this afternoon, so here we are!

I’m hoping that this will push me to do a lot more writing and make life a bit easier if I finally do decide to go back to school in the Fall. I’ll also be able to take it to my conference two weeks and be able to keep in touch with Mr. Random (and you guys) while I am away.

Now I just have to get a new mouse and a good laptop bag. I want one of those bags that don’t look so obviously like laptop bags, but more of a nice leather tote.

What else did I get in my holiday haul?

. . . My parents gave Mr. Random and me a really nice down comforter, with a micro-suede duvet cover. It’s so soft! Yesterday, we went out and got new pillows and sheets . . . because we’ve needed new pillows and sheets for the longest time, but it’s never been a huge priority – you know how that goes . . . so long as what you have works, there’s not really any burning rush. Now our bed feels like a hotel bed, if you know what I mean. You lie on the bed and you just sink into the comforter . . . sweet!

. . . Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 1, DVD. Mr. Random and I don’t get HBO, but we saw the show once at a friend’s house, and I loved it, so Mr. Ransom got me the DVD. I watched the first 6 episodes and I was cracking up the whole time . . . Larry David is awesome, and you can totally see where George Castanza came from . . .

. . . Two Suduko books. I do the Suduko puzzle in the WashPost every morning, so Mr. Random thought I would like more . . .

. . . A beautiful cashmere wrap . . . it’s soft, and beige and a little sparkly . . .

. . . Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals. My sister, J, is as enamored with the Food Network as I am, so she thought I’d like it. She tried to find me the “365 Meals, No Repeats” book, but they were sold out . . .

. . . A Barnes and Noble gift card. Which I am going to promptly spend when I find the “365 Meals” book . . .

. . . A pair of pajamas. It’s actually a t-shirt and matching pajama pants, but looks quite comfy and will get a lot of use out of me around the house . . .

. . . A jigsaw puzzle. 500 pieces. I love jigsaw puzzles . . .

. . . A DVD set of Tracy/Hepburn movies . . . Pat and Mike, Woman of the Year, and Desk Set. Does anyone NOT love Kate? . . .

I got Mr. Random several games, one computer (Age of Empires 2) and one board (Ticket to Ride – a train-related game), 3 CDs (The White Stripes, The Gorillaz, and a guy whose name escapes me, but he’s a Hassidic Jew who does reggae rap. No, I’m not making that up . . .), Barnes and Noble gift card, some new running togs, and the usual, much needed socks and underwear.

All-in-all, a fabulous holiday has been had by us both, and while we have spent the last few days frustrated in setting up the computers and running around getting new accessories, it has been a pretty restful week so far. I am already dreading going back to work, but I am trying to push those thoughts to the back of my mind.

By the way, thanks so much for the sweet comments about my writing post . . . it came to me that day and just begged to be written - I don’t know why – and I almost just deleted it. I’m hoping the laptop encourages me to type more of these things out and not just delete them, since I will have my own space for them . . . not that I couldn’t have done it before on our home computer, since Mr. Random is always quite encouraging, but I want to take things wherever they may lead, and I am not sure where that may be . . .