$68 dollars in shipping costs, ouch - but at least all the holiday packages are sent now. Other than Christmas cards, this means I'm all done sending things out woot! Done shopping? Check. Done sending? Check. Tis the season to be prepared this year.

I am cutting down on a lot of my holiday animosity by trying to get things done well ahead of time. I figure a large part of why I don't like the holidays is the stress it causes. That I can do something about, and that's what I'm trying to do here. The other parts I dislike about it are all the commercial hype going on (which I try to just ignore), and that whole holidays associated with death thing. Don't know really what to do about that one, to be honest - I've kinda hated the holidays ever since that one year dad was dying from Thanksgiving almost all the way to easter. Man, did that suck. At least I can identify what causes my issues which I suppose is a good step.

Remember, if you want a card, sign up here with a screened comment or email your address to L@labarc.com.

It's that time of year again! If you want to receive a Christmas card from me and Aus, please leave a comment with your address on this live journal post (all comments are screened for your privacy) , the facebook post that this will generate, or email me at L@labarc.com with a subject of Christmas Card.

Yes, even if I should have your address and have asked you a million times before - I lose these things. Please leave it for me again.

Here is our po box if you would like to send us a card:


Laura and Aus Cushing
po box 141
Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141


Also? We are entirely done our Christmas shopping and did it all online. Fear us!

I'm so sending these bitches out this weekend, I swear. So this is your absolute last chance to get in on the holiday card goodness.

Leave your address on this screened post here. You know you want to.



Also, if you want to give me a virtual gift:

fill my stocking

and/or

leave a gift under my tree


Or send a postcard, coin, etc from my holiday wish list

Pictures of me getting ready for my historical society's Christmas party today

Oh please, let the zombie apocalypse come so it will be legal to shoot my effing neighbors.

They have this obnoxious device on their lawn that continuously plays Christmas carols. Over and over and over again. They have it turned up so loud that I can hear it through my closed windows and walls - and the houses are not that close!

It is making me crazy. I want to go over there and unplug that bitch and shove it up someone's ass.


Any questions about why I hate the holiday season?

Mom and Ron took me to the bookstore today to buy me books for Christmas. Also had lunch at Olive Garden - yum!

These are the books I got:

Scheisse! The Real German You Were Never Taught In School

German for Dummies

The Theory and Practice of Hell: The German Concentration Camps and the Systems Behind Them

What We Knew: Terror, Mass Murder, and Everyday Life In Nazi Germany

Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy

Happy Turkey day! Tis the season to start thinking about Christmas... so...



Please visit my Christmas stocking and leave me a gift!


http://seasonstocking.livejournal.com/33895.html


If you are doing the seasonstocking stocking this year, provide me with your links and I will leave you a gift too!


You can also check out my Holiday Wish List


Also, if you haven't yet, give me your address on this screened post and I will send you a Christmas card. I'm trying to get them out early this year.

If anyone wants a card from me this year, just leave your name and address as a comment here! Comments are screened for your privacy protection. I know some folks who don't have LJ read my journal, so for you guys just drop me an email at L@labarc.com and I will get you on the list thataway.

Yes, I'm trying to get an early start with the holidays - shocking, isn't it? Hence my OMG Dude icon for this post.

If you would like to send me a card, my mailing address is:

Laura Cushing
po box 141
Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141

1. For more writers and roleplayers to join my writing prompt community, charloft . And participate!

2. A cheap/free/affordable used laptop - only needs to get the internet and play games - for my 79 year old mom. I've been showing her computer stuff and I'd like her to have her own computer to use whenever she likes.

3. Postcards from around the country/world for my postcard collection.

4. Coins from around the world for my coin collection.

5. Christmas cards! I like getting cards.

6. Someone to draw a picture of one of my characters for me, or someone to write me a story involving one of my characters.

7. Crochet supplies (yarn, easy patterns, books on how-to ). I'm still a crochet newbie, but I really like it.

8. A funny or cute Christmas icon for my LJ.

9. WWII history books - European (Germany and/or Occupied France) preferred. Personal accounts more than this-or-that-battle (I have plenty of those already!), especially involving Germany, Holocaust studies, homosexuality in Nazi Germany.

I am particularly looking for The Pink Triangle, The Men in the Pink Triangle, and An Underground Life Got these! Thanks!

10. Paragraph 175 and Bent , any other movies along this line. Got these! Thanks!

11. Books / CDs / other materials on learning the German language.

12. Mix CDs / mp3s. Some bands I like: The Decemberists, Owen, Ozma, Rilo Kiley, The Elected, Bright Eyes, Neva Dinova, The Bravery, The Magnetic Fields - to give you an idea of my tastes.

My mailing address:

Laura Cushing
po box 141
Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141

So, my Christmas consisted of...

my sister-in-law falling asleep every two minutes and bitching for three hours when my brother accidentally stepped on her foot

my brother bitching about the kids being too stressful

the girls fighting with each other and screaming loudly

my mother threatening to evict everyone (for like the millionth time)

relatives misplacing a gift card then accusing each other of stealing it for the next two hours (it was never found. My guess is that it got mixed in with someone else's presents and will be discovered when they look at them at home, or that it was accidentally thrown out with the trash and will never be found, in which case it will be the cause of bitching for years to come)

raging sinus pain

All I want for Christmas is a family that can have a holiday together without being completely irritating.


What I got:

wizardofaus and I got each other a DS and some games as a combined Christmas/anniversary gift. The games - Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Nintendogs

Tim (Aus's dad) sent me Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time

My mom had already given me my Christmas gifts beforehand - it was some craft stuff, movies, a video game, etc. Good stuff!

My brother Joe got me Apples to Apples, which is a really fun game.

My niece Jolene got me Scene It, which I haven't played yet but it looks pretty cool.

Ron and his wife got me a Buddha holding an electric lightning touchy globe thing - it's neat

My kids didn't get me anything - sadness.

Niki and Jim sent us a card and some Christmas cash - thanks guys ! We'll likely buy a DS game with it.

I got a nice care package from RK for the family - Elected fishie shirt, Elected sled shirt, two skelly hands shirts, three Elected wristbands, four Rise Up With Fists Gloves, two Hot Damn Jenny shirts and a note saying that hoodies were on the way, too. Woo!

Thanks to everyone else who sent cards, too! I love getting mail that isn't bills or junk.


Tomorrow I gotta see if the doctor can squeeze me in for this sinus problem. Man, my face hurts.

I think we're finally done with all the holiday crap, with the exception of getting the food when it gets closer to Christmas. But the presents are all purchased and wrapped (or are on their way, in the case of things being shipped).

I got some English pennies from the antique store the other day as a present to myself. Six of them with various monarchs on them - the oldest being Queen Victoria in 1890. I also have a later one of her with a different portrait - a very familiar portrait for those who read the excellent comic The New Adventures of Queen Victoria ( tnaoqv. We were amused!

I've been thinking of a new writing project - and I think I may have latched on to some ideas. Now I just need to pick which one to write first. I also joined 365characters because writing a character sketch a day in 2007 sounds like a pretty neat resolution.

I've been receiving some sweet Christmas cards - thanks to everyone who sent them! I was feeling too overwhelmed to send out cards this year, sorry. But there's always next time around.

STEP ONE
- Make a post (public, friends locked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun ("I'd love an icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
- If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
- Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, or link to this post so that the holiday joy will spread.

STEP TWO
-Surf around your friends list (or friends friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream pure-bred Basset Hound for free--do it. Once a wish has been granted, it will be crossed off my list (Unless it's like, Christmas cards. The more the merrier).

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out (or in debt), it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

1. This bear

2. Donations via Paypal to help us pay for how damn expensive Christmas is.

3. Bid on one of our eBay auctions.

4. Send me a Christmas card!

5. If you're a friend who lives in the area (or if you're going to be in the area), let's do lunch or hang out and have some kind of fun!

6. Scroll saw - my girls are taking woodshop this year, and want one of those which I need to procure from somewhere so they can make stuff at home.

7. Punching bag for my son.

8. Video games (used is fine! We have a PS2, X-Box, and Gamecube- though sadly , our gamecube's door is broke at the moment - and gameboy advance. We're planning on getting a DS when we can afford to)

9. Good books /music / movies

10. A membership to Weight Watchers so I can have help losing some of the weight I really need to lose.

Our address for anyone that wants to send something:
Aus and L Cushing PO Box 141 Newtonville NJ 08346-0141

Hope everyone is having a fun holiday!

http://www.itsawonderfulinternet.com/

and


http://www.starz.com/features/christmasstory/

Well, I finished my limited Christmas shopping today - mostly by putting off a lot of things until after Christmas. For example, Aus and I are likely going to wait until our anniversary (Dec 31st) and buy presents/enjoy life then.

One thing I did have to buy today is a speakerphone, so that I can use my little recorder with it to conduct a phone interview. Yes, I know there's probably a better way to record a phone conversation, but when you're working on a tight budget, you do what you have to. As it is, picked up a speakerphone for ten bucks, so rock on, we're in business. The band I'll be interviewing is Neva Dinova - they're apparently not very internet-savy according to their record company. Got a couple more interviews I'm working on for the next issue, but that'll likely be my main contribution.

I have to do an article on the whole getting published by Santa Clara for Urbis. I'm dreadfully bad at talking about myself in the third person (see my bio writing difficulties not long ago) so I've been stewing on it, when what I really need to do is sit down and just write it. When the kids go back to school Monday, this is likely what I'll be working on. It's a bit difficult to work on the weekends when they're home because they get kinda noisy (and demanding of time and attention, which is fine- but doesn't make for good working conditions).

Tomorrow I really need to make out my Christmas cards so that they'll actually arrive on time. There's till time to put your name and address on the list! Just click here and fill out the poll (answers only viewable by me)

One of Aus's coworkers, a kind man named 'Mr. Bill' gave Christmas cookies to all the employees in his department. So we have a tin of yummy chocolate chip cookies to munch on! Yay!

While out finishing up that shopping, we stopped at the antique store in Hammonton. We go there like fifteen million times during the holiday season, because they have complimentary refreshments and this addictive holiday hunt game - you pick a ticket out of the jar and walk around searching for presents. If your number matches a present, you win that present. Last year we played this all month - and finally, Steve won! A dishtowel! It was a bit of a disappointment, haha. He insisted on keeping it, and hung it up in his room and everything. Who knows, maybe this year we will win.... a pot holder! The hunting around is a lot more fun than the actual win, yes. While there, I happened to spot a couple of geometric design coloring books. I love coloring things with patterns- I have a big tin of markers and colored pencils that I keep for just such things. The kids color along for a while, but they don't like the intricacy of patterns and get bored and wander off eventually. I could do it all day, though. It's one of those things that makes me feel connected to things - I don't know how to explain it, exactly. I'm a terribly disorganized and non-patterny person, but I love seeing how things interconnect. And picking out various parts of a pattern for certain visual effects is really neat. Crocheting is another repetitive activity I enjoy - it makes me feel a connection to ancestry, that I'm doing something people have done since the invention of yarn.

My mother bought Aus The Movies for Christmas- he's playing it right now. It's a really nifty game!

Back is still being painful, but down to more manageable levels.

Yesterday I saw Walk the Line with my mom- good movie. Made me want to listen to some Johnny Cash music.

Had to do that whole bio writing thing which I 'love so very much' for the Santa Clara Review. I think I wound up going with the lame bio that just says where I live and such. I'm spectacularly bad at talking about myself in the third person.

The family is doing that whole trying to guilt me into wanting to celebrate Christmas more enthusiastically thing that they do every year. Like I'm a bad person because I don't want to go into debt buying people useless gifts that don't really mean anything. Yeah, I'll get right on that.

I'm not a holiday person. It's just not my thing. I don't know why they can't just accept that. There's nothing wrong with me, I just don't want to be a part of all that.

It's that time of the year again! If anyone wants a Christmas card from me, paste your addy into the poll(if you're underage, obviously, make sure your parents are cool with that first) and I will include you in my card sending frenzy. The poll is only viewable by me, so don't worry about putting your address in. Even if I should know your address already, trust me, I need you to put it in the box so I have them all in one place.

If you want to send me and/or Aus a card, our PO box is as follows

L and Aus Cushing
po box 141
Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141

Poll #623123 Christmas list
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 15

Name

Street Address

City

State / Zip

Tell me something cool while we have this poll thing going on.

involved disfunctional family stuff as usual.

My dad called my mother and I bitches for not having the turkey done when he wanted to eat it, which made my brother Ron (who is like the most gentle person on the face of the earth usually) yell at him, and my brother Joe (who had been taking a nap) leave. Sort of the "sucky relative causes holiday problem" chain reaction. Those of you from dysfunctional families who recognize this holiday pattern, raise your hand.

And damnit, Joe even got me a decent present this year. I was pretty happy with his existance- we've worked out a lot of the problems we used to have with each other when he was rich married and unhappy and I was poor and happy and he resented it.

Heh.. so it goes.

We did, however, have a lot of good food. Which is the point of most holidays, I think. Good food and presents.

After Joe left, Ron went outside to smoke a cigarette and I went out to talk to him about why Dad was such an asshole and why Joe left. Ron meantioned that despite dad having mental issues and such, that we didn't know how many Christmases we'd have left with dad. I kind of felt the same way, but I still got upset that he called my mother a bitch. I can understand why he doesn't like me, but my mom is always there for him, despite how nasty he's been at times.

Today he seemed a lot better. He doesn't really like Christmas for some reason, I don't know why. He's always been more mentally unstable around the holidays.

Presents I got are a more cheerful subject:

Mystery machine candy holder/bank from Aus
Scooby Doo Dvd
Lime Green N64
A grand total of 140 bucks cash (some of which was shared Aus cash, hehe- thanks to Kara, Krista, Aus's Grandma)
A slinky
Puzzle book
Sewing kit
Angel statue
Pin
Snowman candle thingus
50 buck gift certificate to Wal-Mart (shared with Aus =) )
A peach warm blankey
A Weird NJ magazine
Cordial Cherries
Assortated chocolates
A humidifier
A book
A LoTR goblet
A sulsa dagger

I think that's everything.

Today, we got some after Christmas sale stuffs, a second controler for the N64, and Pokemon Stadium .

Because people have been wondering:

Gameboy games (like Shrek ,Harry Potter (don't laugh! ) or that Zelda one, or.. etc.)

A gameboy advance/games

N64 and assorted game thinguses

Games for the PS/PS2 (Who wants to be a millionaire, Harry Potter (shut up! I want to fly around on a broom =P, anything that doesn't involve pressing too many buttons at once ),

A subscription to National Geographic

A subscription to Yahoo Internet Life

Crafts (especially crossstitch or latch hook)

Books on Egypt, or Egyptian things

DVD's (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Planet of the Apes, How the Grinch Stole Christmas , whatever else)

Board games

Card games


Do Not buy:

Clothing

Fruitcake

Perfume

Make up

Jewelry

Jesus getting snowed on while hanging on the cross amuses me entirely too much.