Yay I made it!

I survived NaBloPoMo. Admittedly, it is probably not as difficult as NaNoWriMo, but still, some days it was a challenge to come up with something to write at all. But I did. So hooray for me.

And I made some good headway on Christmas shopping today, and yesterday, too.

For my dad: a flat-screen monitor for his computer (he has a behemoth old box that sits beside his desk currently. Not good for the eyes or the neck or the shoulders or the back...), the book In the Hot Zone, and the book 10 Secrets that Revenue Canada Doesn't Want You to Know.

(If you haven't heard of Kevin Sites and his web site In the Hot Zone, I strongly recommend you check it out. He started out as an independent journalist and remains one--he traveled to 20 war zones in 1 year and the stories, videos and photos he shares are so much more than the canned crap that the news stations are constantly pumping out.)

My SIL is done, too--she learned British English in Russia, and has told me she feels like she's having to learn English all over again to understand people here. So I got her this book. It should help, although admittedly I haven't heard of a bunch of the things in there.

I had no idea what to get the grandparents from LB, so I browsed Michaels, the big art and crafts store here looking for something crafty we could do and say it was from her. I found some do-it-yourself-mosaic tiles and picked up this one because it comes with letter stamps and I'm all about the quotes. I figure we'll do one and then buy some more cement and glass pieces and marbles and then just reuse the mold and letter stamps in the set, rather than having 2 of each, and spending $30, twice. They have smaller ones too, and different items you can mosaicize, and I can totally see myself getting into this. :) From the gift angle, my mom and Tomek's parents are all really into gardening, and my parents are both landscape designers, so having a tile they can put in their garden works perfectly.

Let's see, LB is almost 16 months old, so of course I bought her something that isn't recommended for anyone under 3 years old. I got her a doodle pro (formerly known as magna doodle). I found one that came with a travel-sized doodle pro for when we are in the car, so she can draw while we drive. We also got her three books: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and 2 Dr. Suess books, all three with those cardboardy pages that are perfect for her at this age, although I sometimes see her getting frustrated that the books don't stay open as well as her Spot book does. We also got her a huge plush puppy because, well, it was $10, adorable and she seems to favour dogs over all other animals at this point. Well, she loves watching the crows at the park, too.

For my mom I got a new set of headphones for her iPod that has a pause button remote built onto the wire because she often listens to books on tape while working in the kitchen and anytime someone comes to talk to her (which is always when she's listening to a good story, or when she shuts the door on the bathroom to have a bath) she has to fish around in her pocket, find the pause button, then we can talk. I figure this will be much less of a hassle for her. I also want to get her a Willow Tree figurine, as she kind of collects them. She and I both really like the style, simplicity and expression of them. Aaannnd... I have to get her some stocking stuffer type stuff, too. I'd seen some bookmarks on Etsy that were made of leather thongs (strips) and beads. I was thinking I'd make her a couple 'cos I'm feeling creative like that.

One of my brothers wants a photojournalism book, so I'm hunting that down. And the other... is an emo/punk funny with sullen mood swings, a GREAT snowboarder... and a recent yoga enthusiast. He sent my mom a list, but I've yet to pick what to get him.

I want to get my brothers both something funky or fun as well as something I know they'd like and use.

As for my BIL, he's getting a Best Buy gift card.

Not writing about what I'm getting Tomek, for obvious reasons. :)

Now it's 7 minutes till midnight, so I better post this now. Don't want to be late on my very last NaBloPoMo post. Plus I have to get up at 6:45 to get myself to the blood lab to do my gestational diabetes test where I drink that super sugary drink on an empty stomach then sit and let it surge through my system for an hour before getting blood drawn. LOVELY.

G'night.