round-up

[fox]

• My nephew is three months old and awesome. He is also, at least at the moment, a Morning Person, which is mysterious, but what can you do. (Maybe he got it from his grandma, i.e. my mother. Who knows.) Even when he smells like puke - and he's in a phase where he's kind of randomly spitting up a lot of the time, but not in a way that seems to indicate any distress at all - I love him to tiny little bits. He smiles and laughs when we make faces at him, and sometimes when we don't; he even giggles in his sleep, which makes me wonder what on earth babies dream about. I'm nuts about this kid.
  
• Decent haul in the Christmas-present department this year, plus when I get home there should be some yarn I ordered and that will be even better. (And then I'll order some more yarn!, because it's possible I have a bit of a problem.)
  
• Apparently alone among Washingtonians, I am delighted that we didn't get walloped by the predicted snowstorm, because I'm meant to drive back tomorrow, and I'd like that not to take forever.
  
• I was all set to make my travel arrangements to Bismarck, ND for the Challenge Round in the third week of January, and e-mailed several people to ask some logistical questions - and a good thing I did, because one of them responded to answer the specific logistical question I'd asked him and also point out that the Challenge Round is in Grand Forks. Good thing all this happened before I'd bought my tickets! (I didn't just make up Bismarck; I'm headed out there the first weekend in February for the Senior Women's Nationals. Because who doesn't want to go to North Dakota in the middle of winter, twice? [g])
  
• Finally saw Harry Potter (and had to drive to a mall movie theater ~20 minutes away to do it, because I'd missed it at the nearby one, which was predictably embarrassing). I found it satisfying. My main thoughts are not that different from my thoughts on Voyage of the Dawn Treader, actually, viz: that Grint kid is a nice-looking young man, etc.
  
• My yuletide recipient left me a really lovely comment which convinces me that either she really, really liked the story, or she's very good at faking it. I am inclined to suspect the former. :-)

Hope you're all doing well, staying warm, enjoying the weekend, etc! I'll be back tomorrow and flying out again Wednesday, muahaha.