That probably won't be a huge problem, to be honest with you. It's dreadfully cold and gray outside, still, and I've had to keep my thermostat set in the low 50s (usually 52 or 54) to be able to keep my furnace from running 24/7. Nobody wants to be out in this any longer than they have to be. There's a fresh blanket of snow on the ground this morning here, though it's more of a dusting than anything else. We're under a "Winter Weather Advisory" for another few hours because of "freezing drizzle." I don't get it, really -- it's 23 outside. There's no drizzle coming down. If anything falls it'll be light snow before it hits the ground...so, basically, we're under a Winter Weather Advisory for...flurries. I think the local meteorologists are bored. I'll have to clean/scrape off my car in the morning and warm it up before my drive to campus, but it's not like we've gotten a foot of snow or anything like that. As you probably know from my other weather-related musings here, people in Kansas totally overreact about shit like this. And it's not like the roads won't be treated if they are (or were) slick. People should be grateful that we're not getting an actual snowstorm, since it is December, after all. Need I mention the Christmas snowstorm(s) last year?
I've gotten a lot done this weekend; in addition to finishing up my grading, I paid my bills (the ones I have, anyway) with some of the money from my paycheck on Friday, and paid off $100 on my credit card so that I'd have a little extra space on there to get Daisy some Christmas presents -- which, last night, I did.
"I keep getting things for you for Christmas," Daisy told me.
"I thought we were doing a small Christmas this year?" I asked her.
"We are, but these are all little things, and I keep seeing things that make me think 'wow, Brandon will love this' and I pick them up."
Up until last night, I'd only gotten Daisy one small thing for Christmas, and I ordered it about a month ago. Last year I probably spent about $100 total on her and her family; I really didn't do a whole lot. I made a bunch of tie-dye for her and her family (as well as my own, as I went home last year for Christmas) and bought her some DVDs, gloves/scarves/hats from the Dollar Tree because I knew she needed them. This year, I've comparably done very little -- again, small Christmas -- and because I really don't have any real "spare money" to spend on gifts. This is why I paid $100 of my $178 balance on my Visa card, and then went to Amazon to begin my search.
I'd been looking at a few things to get her because when it comes to gifts, if she mentions she likes something when we go out shopping together, I have learned to make a mental note of it and to search for it online later. Since last Christmas, I have also learned Daisy's proclivities and interests a lot more when it comes to gift-giving and stuff she'll like and use (compared to what she won't, or stuff that will just sit around in a drawer or on a shelf for years and gather dust). I've also tried to get a bit of information out of her, slyly, on things she needs, without being too obvious about it.
On Amazon last night, I purchased six small gifts for her. Three of them are just fun little items, two are things she'll use almost immediately, and the last one is something of a gamble -- it's something I know she'll enjoy but I don't know how useful (or even reliable) it will turn out to be. Taking note of last year's Christmas gifts I gave her, this year I didn't get her anything that could be considered "nerdy." One of the gifts has a very slight nerdy connotation, but it's very slight, and I wouldn't even count it under that category despite the fact that my definition of "nerdy" is pretty broad.
"I'm done shopping for you now," I told her, "unless I find one or two other little things while I'm out."
That's a distinct possibility, of course, but somewhat unlikely given the fact that I don't really have any money to burn right now, and that when I do go out between now and Christmas it will be to purchase grocery-like essentials only for me and the cats in order to save as much money from my paychecks as possible. It's not like I'm going to somehow, miraculously, fall ass-backwards into money between now and Christmas.
However, since I'm now done, I can make a list here of things that I wanted to get for her, but didn't:
- A Wonder Woman or Supergirl shirt and/or pajama set (none of them were in her size; apparently the only girls who are nerdy are skinny and short, because all of them were "juniors" sizes or children's sizes)
- This Wonder Woman Robe -- only came in "one size" and was way too expensive
- Some various vegan-related things including food, clothing, and books -- none of them seemed to be interesting enough or worth the money
- A "star projector" for her room -- the inexpensive ones were filled with terrible, terrible reviews, and the good ones were $80 or more
- A salt lamp to replace the one she had and loved until the switch broke -- I'm now glad I didn't get one of these, as she said Mama is going to work on the switch to see if she can fix it
- A Jayne Hat -- while she'd wear it, I'm sure, it's totally not worth $30.
So yeah, even with some of those things above being "nerdy"-ish things, I didn't get any of them and didn't even get anything similar to them. I stuck to stuff I knew she'd actually like and use.
As for Daisy's parents, I don't know what I'll do this year -- she offered to find stuff for them and just put both of our names on it because I really don't have any money, but even though I'm poor that sounds really cheap and tacky to me. I don't know what, if anything, she's gotten for her parents this year thus far. I won't see my own parents this year for Christmas, and they understand that I have no money anyway, so I'm sort of off the hook there.
Regardless, most of Daisy's stuff will arrive here on Tuesday or Wednesday, and even the ones without Prime shipping have already been shipped (according to two different emails I received).
As for what Daisy's gotten for me? I told her, really, to not bother with obsessing over getting me anything -- while there are things I need, they can wait or they're incredibly expensive (which is why I don't have them yet), and while there are things I want (like a 2DS and the newest Pokemon games), they're also incredibly expensive -- probably around $200 for both -- and I don't need them. I told her outright not to get me the latter because I'd much rather she saved her money for her bills and for the wedding. Those things are important; my nerdy Pokemon obsession is not. Still, Daisy knows good gifts; she has a knack for getting me things that I've mentioned once in a throwaway sentence in a random conversation, and her ability to remember shit like that is uncanny.
Still, though, neither she nor her family need to do anything for me -- giving me someplace to go for Christmas is more than enough. I never want to ask anything of them. It's not my way. I never want anyone to feel any sort of obligation to me just because I exist.
Because I've had some more free time as of late, I have been sleeping well for the first time in months. I've slept straight through, ten hours at a time, for the past three nights now. It feels wonderful. I'll get up early tomorrow morning, yes, but hopefully that will be my last early morning for a while. I'd also be lying if I didn't say that the powerful electric blanket Daisy got me for my birthday last year keeps me super-warm and keeps me out like a light when I do sleep. The cats love it too -- frequently I have nowhere to put my feet because all of them huddle together on my side of the bed to stay on the warmth. Since it's a king-size blanket, it has two sides and two plugs with independent controls -- I only plug in one side (the side I sleep on).
As for other news and updates? Well, I haven't heard anything yet about my forbearance; it's been almost a week that they've had the forms and have been working on them, so I'm guessing I'll get a confirmation or rejection in the mail this week. They'll mail that to me, not email it. Regardless of the outcome, it's not like I can pay the loan bill anyway -- so in the grand scope of things it doesn't matter and I'm still broke.
The car has been outside in the cold all weekend; like an idiot, I didn't put it inside on Thursday afternoon when I came home, though I probably should have. I put new antifreeze and oil in it last weekend, and filled the gas tank on Thursday morning. As long as it starts up when I leave the house in the morning, I should be okay. I should probably stop at Walmart tomorrow afternoon/evening on my way home from campus to get some groceries and other commodities, as if I do I can probably put the car in the garage and leave it in there for the foreseeable future. I'm hoping that I will be completely done with the semester's work by tomorrow evening, obviously.
The sinus infection I had prior to Thanksgiving is still hanging on here and there -- I've still got some pressure and aching off and on in my teeth and sinus floor. Sometimes it'll be fine for a few days and then fire back up. I don't know what the issue is, really; part of it is probably the weather, part of it is probably because I'm inside in the dry, recirculated-by-the-furnace air of this house, and a larger part of it is probably because of allergies and because it didn't completely clear up before, so it's regrouping. I still have antibiotics on standby if it fires up full-strength again, but I am really hesitant to use them unless I somehow have to deal with the levels of pain and pressure I faced (pun intended) prior to Thanksgiving week. In the meantime I am taking allergy pills and decongestants at regular intervals, and I have my humidifier on downstairs to add some moisture to the dry air in this house (and for when I sleep). I'll take a hot shower this evening, but that's about all I can do aside from keep myself at least adequately medicated and drinking fluids. I'll probably NyQuil myself to sleep tonight in hopes that it'll help whatever's in my face to drain out of it.
I'm getting my Christmas cards ready to go this week after I'm done with student-related stuff; I have some leftover ones from last year and some new ones I've purchased cheaply, and I plan to mix 'em all up and start sending them out. I have to get some more stamps first, but I should be able to start sending them out in batches over the course of the next week or so. I'll probably have twenty or so in all to mail out to friends and family all over the nation. I've cut back on the cards quite a bit in recent years and have only been sending them to about five or six people, usually, but as Daisy and I are getting married and I need to send a "Save the date" sort of announcement to folks, I'm sending cards to more people than usual.
That's about it, really; it's too cold to do anything else. I can barely feel my fingers, and every time I shower I tend to generate half a load of laundry to wash because I've been dressing in layers even indoors. Tomorrow is garbage day, for example, and it's not worth it to me to gather up what little trash I have and truck it down to the road in the cold -- despite the fact that I have a lot of recycling to go out. Screw it; I'll wait until next week when hopefully it's a bit warmer and/or I will have no other real choice but to take it out because there's so much of it. I haven't heard from Daisy since late last night, but as she has to work seven nights straight in order for her to be able to attend a friend's wedding next weekend, I'm leaving her alone and letting her sleep when she needs it. She's been running herself ragged pretty much since she got back home after Thanksgiving, and doesn't sleep enough as it is.
As for me, it's time to shower and eat something so that I can be warm and go to bed a little earlier than normal -- especially if my sinuses are going to be painful and not very fun to deal with for the rest of the night. I shall write here again once all of the semester's dust has settled and I can finally relax somewhat when everything is done.
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