Wendy's Week

Somehow the weekend has gotten away from me. It's been super busy. Go figure, it's the weekend before Christmas.

Good Stuff:
- Alex got home safely. It took him a little longer because they'd had a blizzard the day before (the same one that socked you in, Tammy) and there were power lines down and snow covered roads on his route.
- Vicky's birthday has been celebrated. Twice. She came Friday for dinner and presents, and this afternoon we all went to see The Hobbit. It was good, very much like I expected, but with a lot of fight scenes and chaos. If I'm going to watch a fight scene I'd rather be able to focus on a couple select people, not pan across the whole thing, especially now that I've started fencing.
- Speaking of which, I fenced yesterday. My instructor is giving me a little less grace each week, not pulling hits and so forth. He landed a few good shots yesterday, but I whacked him good a couple times too. I'm a little shocked at how much I enjoy it, considering it's physical and sometimes painful and a lot more complicated that it looks.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I was getting dressed Thursday morning to go to a funeral, and I went through 3 pairs of pants before I found one that fit. Nothing says "you've gained weight" like trying to dress up in stuff you don't normally wear. I have only myself to blame. I've really let my diet slip lately and I need to get a handle on it.
- I got some unexpected test results from my doctor. Nothing life-threatening, but something to follow up on. This, of course, means more tests, which will be put it off until after the first of the year. Surgery later in the year is a distinct possibility, but mostly because it's a new thing in a long succession of chronic issues and I'm sick and tired of dealing with them.
- The crits from a contest I entered came in this morning. They were not as encouraging as I thought they would be. In fact, overall scores were similar to scores I got in a different contest a year ago. After all the work I've done in the last year I thought they would be better and it's a little discouraging. I know they're subjective and are really only the opinions of people in the industry. They all agreed that the story line was interesting, just that I still have some work to do. Nothing I can do but take their crits into consideration, pick myself up, and keep slogging up the learning curve.

So that's about it from here. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas. See you next week!