Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas stinking ROCKS! Part 2

I downloaded this WYSIWYG blog editor, Qumana, last night this morning, so I'm praying this will finally be the answer to all my blogging woes. So, here goes nothing...
So where was I? Oh right, the gifts. Awesomeness. ^^
So Friday I got my present from April, though I wasn't allowed to open it until Christmas (which I did as soon as I'd finished wrapping presents around 0030 that morning ^^); Sunday, Robert and Melissa blessed me with some cash in a card (did I mention I love them? (^w^) ), and another friend of our family gave us some pecan pralines in a cute tin (oishii!). Grandma Dorothy send us kids some money as well, and on Christmas Eve, Hilary gave me a beautiful pink and black houndstooth scarf/wrap:


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and a tin full of the yummiest cookies. And let's not forget the cute little gold necklace I wound up with at the Well Christmas Dinner's white elephant gift exchange on Saturday.


Now, Christmas morning had come, and my wonderful mother gave me the entire Harajuku Lovers fragrance collection, complete with Love, Lil' Angel, Music, Baby, and G mini-spritzes, collector's drawstring bag, and collector's "stage" box;

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and the prettiest pearl-and-diamond watch with a mother-of-pearl face:


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(SmartBargains.com has got the most incredible prices on jewelry, I tell you!) She also ordered this coat for me from Victoria's Secret (they actually sell some great clothes!),


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and she also preordered the Halo: Uprising graphic novel (brought to us by Marvel Comics),



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and The Art of Halo: Creating a Visual World


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for me a couple of months back from Amazon, and they should ship on Monday, 29 December. I'm so excited! 8(>v<)8


But nothing prepared me for the surprise I knew Dad had awaiting us the third-car garage: a near-mint condition Bowflex Extreme 2 (upgraded from the standard 210-lb capacity to 310 lbs)!!!


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But, oh man, you should've seen the look on Mom's face when she opened the plain envelope Dad handed her to find a picture of the exact refrigerator she'd been looking at in to paper that morning cut out, with a promise to bring home the real thing! That's one thing she definitely didn't see coming! (^v^) Dad went to Howard's and bought it today, and it'll be delivered tomorrow. The coolest thing is that this is the first brand-new, mint condition fridge they've gotten (and boy, is it a cool fridge-no pun intended ^^;;).


Finally, I opened my inbox this morning to see a $15 gift certificate waiting for me from taking a customer survey for the Press-Enterprise a couple of weeks back. Now I can get those last two Halo novels from Borders! (^v^)v~Score!


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And, as if all of that weren't enough, the 20% pay cut and cut in hours that my dad was going to have to take because his print shop hadn't enough work has just been completely reversed in specific answer to our prayers that their biggest client would increase their orders. In fact, not only will he not have a cut in pay, he will actually be working more than usual now! God is so AMAZING!!!


"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21) Note the lack of a comma after "exceedingly": this verse is saying that not only can He do abundantly beyond our wildest hopes, but exceedingly so! "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased!" (Luke 2:14, American Standard Version)

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas stinking ROCKS!

Okay, so today was pretty stinking AMAZING. And not just because of the presents or the turkey, or even because of being able to spend the day with my family with nothing to do and nowhere to be, but because of the amazing gifts that God so freely bestows on me, a wretch among wretches! I mean, seriously: like it wasn't enough to give us His Son, and even after the way we savagely murdered Him, to give us Heaven for free, new mercies every morning, and abundant grace according to His riches and glory! It's too much! WHY?!?!?! (*w*) *Sigh* Isn't our Lord good?
I've been working the last few weeks on a lovers' mitten and glove set for Brian and April (cutest couple ever), and I got to hand-deliver it today while they were at April's house, since I only finished it at about 0130 this morning. ^^;; I was excited about how the yarn had worked up so exactly all on its own, and about the fact that I'd even had a little left over (about one
 color repeat), so this could potentially be something I could sell, either completed or as a kit someday (most likely as a kit ^^;;) if the concept was well-received by my unwitting test subjects although they ere actually the ones who thought of the moneymaking opportunity for me ^^. However, I was a bit nervous as to the reception of the gift: would they think it was lame? Would the gloves/mitten even fit? Well, I am pleased to say that all of my fears were unfounded: they loved them! <(^.^<)(>^.^)>\(^o^)/ They even modeled them for me for my
 blog (it wasn't until later that I realized I'd forgotten to take pictures before wrapping them
 and all... Oops. ^^;;) Here they are, the dynamic duo (aren't they adorable?):

That short visit was such a blessing for me in so many ways! Thank you, Father; You always know just how best the bless me! (^w^)
Even though our family had to cut back our spending, we all got some amazing gifts for each other, and mine started with April's present on Friday: the most kawaii Hello Kitty Origami Letter Set and Hello Kitty bubble gum! (She knows me so well! ^^)
Ugh. I'll post the rest tomorrow. Blogger is being evil again, and this little semi-post has taken over THREE HOURS. CURSE YOU, BLOGGER!!!!!!! "P"(>.<)