Dear Penelope,

Enclosed please find the next 24 hours. The shirt I'm wearing i got for $5.84. That was exciting. Also I was fairly petulant most of the morning. As mom ran out of eggs and I was unable to test my riceflourpancakerecipe. And she wasn't paying complete attention to me. Which is obviously outrageous to an only child. I got fudge later which almost made up for it but still. And then I ate too much. I showed mom a photo project that wasn't quite done that i'd been working on for months- now finally going to print and them not coming out right. Luckily she only saw one photo, bcs dad failed in the one thing i asked him to do, which was to keep it a secret, but she couldn't make out what it was. She seemed to like them. I'll show you them later. And of course I now have an awesome purse that mom got me and my fav burtsbees. She loves me so. And naturally she is the best ever. I gave dad a: i'll clean out the downstairs garage and acting like the ungrateful bastard that he is he said nothing. He probably thinks I'm trying to usher him out of the house faster. But really have you seen our garage lately? It's a disaster. Why he doesn't highly prize mymadawesomeorganizational skills I don't know. He thinks that I owe it to him anyway? For what? I have no idea. He doesn't pay the bills around here. The only interchange of the day came when he came home from the grandparents, and suggested I go into my room and watch tv, where upon I suggested he go to bed and sleep. I didn't even use any words beginning with the letter F. Which he didn't respond to, but then was seen slumped in his chair out like a light not 20min later as we watched the ins and outs of tree harvesting as a mom compromise. I am fairly convinced the devil is just trying to get me to hate my dad a little bit more each day and especially on Christmas. I do try and resist as much as I can. But as much as mom wants us "together" on the holiday, I really do NOT see the point. She's baking and wrapping presents to take to the "other" place and I'm watching tv, and dad summarily goes upstairs. It's like any other day- really. Except that I have that not so vague feeling of wanting a family and siblings with whom I can converse and love.

As you can see from the pictures, its fairly indicative of what I did with my entire day. I was also reading the 'screwtape letters'- written by cs.lewis, and after reading through this book again, i just think he is awesome. Probably not Christmas fair and yet, probably extremely appropriate- as its about this uncle demon talking to his nephew demon and how they mess with their "patients" and how the "enemy"/"god" inexplicably loves us. It's so good. I did have NightattheMuseum on in the background, and Home Alone. Which in hindsight was extremely appropriate at the exact time I watched it.

Then of course came the jarring call at 7am, from my mom saying Cocoa had escaped. The latte I had has not kicked in by the way. but--Thank God we got her. Talk about Christmas tragedy 09 averted! What is wrong with a dog that doesn't like car rides and treats?! And won't come when you call!? I am new to these sorts of challenges and have grown soft with my though stubborn, mostly complacent Golden. Anyway, the only other excitement was finding awesome nativity toile! I am so making these into pillows!! And there's ome vintagy reindeer fabric too. Oh and lets not forget the strippy socks. Pinnacle of awesome.

m.