I Did It

It took a solo shopping trip, shedding my last clinical day, getting 2 good test grades, and a mini-mondo (doesn't even make sense) shopping trip with my mother-in-law in which I procured a few Christmas decorations, but I finally let go of the stress. 


Have some things suffered? Yes. I haven't written another word on my NaNo novel since my write-in with Nicole Ducleroir last Wednesday. As of today, I'm a little over 10,000 words behind. Doesn't matter. I'm not going to finish, and I'm okay with it. I have 23,002 words that I didn't have before November 1. I showed myself that I can write every day, even when I'm really, really busy. Even more important, I showed myself that I'm mature enough to make tough decisions about self-denial and discipline. And it payed off--the test that I gave up NaNo for ended up being my highest test grade of the semester.

I also slept a lot. Friday night I went to bed at 8:20pm and woke up at 8:30am. When's the last time you got 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep? It was glorious. Last night, after shopping with Evan's mom, I snuggled with Evan on the couch (again, around 8:30) while he was playing Final Fantasy XIII and fell asleep with the kitties wrapped around me.

Oh, and you know what else I did? This:

The final painting project is now crossed off my December To-Do list before December. Before this paint job, the whole wall was painted the same beige color as above the chair rail, but now the bottom half is "Carroway Seed." Although I don't like giving her money, I ended up buying Martha Stewart paint because I'm a cheapskate at heart, and the gallons were on sale for 19 bucks. I was pretty iffy about the paint at first--it's very, very watery/runny, but it ended up giving really nice coverage with only one coat. My mother-in-law swears by the Benjamin Moore paint that costs 50 bucks a gallon, but that's just not in my budget right now (or rather, I don't want it to be). I'm happy with the end result, though.

The paint makes a huge difference in the living room, and my hideous couch finally doesn't look so bad. Evan even rearranged the furniture while I was out shopping. It's not Christmas tree friendly, but we still have a couple weeks before the tree will go up, so that's okay.

Last year's NaNo novel is whispering in my ear, but I'm going to ignore it for now. I'm afraid Lola Sharp might fly down here and beat me with my manuscript if I don't finish Token.

So. Things are good. Things are groovy. I've smiled a lot in the past few days. School is so close to over I can taste it. The temperature has been in the 40's, which is very holiday-spirit-inducing.

I'm happy.

Are you happy? What have you been up to? Thanksgiving plans this week? Black Friday shoppers? Cyber Monday clickers? Do tell.