We've turned on the ac. It was 80 inside.

My nephew turned 13! He wanted Taco Bell for his birthday dinner. (I had something else.)

I made cheers all, cookies and broccoli salad for tomorrow. Rolls are rising.

All the presents wrapped save the book I'm trying to finish. Boys have an embarrassment of gifts. Dad's getting a goat and mom a children's safe space.

I had good luck with catch-and-release traps getting rid of all my little unwanted guests, up until Danger Mouse at the end. After he scampered across me in bed I escalated to the old spring trap variety and adopted Vlad the Impaler's tactics, leaving his broken-backed corpse out for a day as a warning to any friends of his who might still be around. It seemed to work—at least, I never found further evidence of mice between then and when the alley cats moved in.

Cheeseball, not cheer all.

Also, there's a huge honking owl that hangs out in my brother's tree out front. It'll stare at you for a loooong while before silently gliding to the trees across the street.

Good news: we have A/C, at least for the moment.

Bad news: we have a hole in the ceiling. It is, for the moment, patched on both sides, and will be dealt with later.

My parents are assuring us both not to worry, that it's not at all a big deal. My husband is about to have an aneurysm from guilt.

Cheers all?

I ask because I like the sound of that, actually. ETA I left this open for a while without actually posting. I also like the sound of cheeseball. Yum.

Unloaded, reloaded and ran the dishwasher one more time, otherwise bailed on more mouse-abatement activity. Am drinking wine and watching Project Runway Junior (a coworker has convinced me to watch it so I can discuss it with her). Pleasant. Also found an app I like the look of for tracking my home inventory. I figure if I'm washing and moving around everything in my kitchen it's a good opportunity to make a note of it all in some kind of inventory. If nothing else, maybe I can avoid having multiple (that is to say, more than I already have) asparagus steamers and egg poachers.

I may have a pots/pans/kitchen gadget problem. I need to gather some data to decide for sure.

Anyway, 'tis the night before Christmas and I do not hear any mice stirring. Good enough for me.

Joyeaux noel, etc. to all who celebrate.

Amyth, you are amazing, and I'm glad I know you.

Amyth, your story is inspiring, seriously. Good on you for coming clean with your friends and family, and then going back and doing the work. I hope you're proud of yourself, because you should be.

I managed to make it through the day, and hosted Christmas Eve dinner for the family: I made Mark Bittman's Portuguese mussels with chorizo over pasta, with homemade French bread and a huge winter salad (2 kinds of kale, chard, green onion, red pepper, fennel, and wild rice). The mussels came out great, and I sent the leftovers off with my niece to be eaten by her boyfriend.

What I don't understand is how, even if you do a ton of prep and do as much of the cleaning in advance as you can, you still end up with a ton of dirty dishes in the kitchen. So annoying.

The dog (who I shall call The Boss because she is bossy) is settling down: she's laying on the floor next to me and, astonishingly, not badgering me to pet her or chewing on her ball on my lap, or anything. If this is what I can look forward to, I think she'll be okay.

And OMG I just realized the Yuletide archive has opened.

[link]

I KNOW! After not going to bed until 6:30 this morning because of it, getting three hours of sleep + a 20 or so minute nap, and winding up helping out with a last minute pinch hit in effectively a script doctor position, I should be crashing hard.

But noooooooooo.

Because Yuletide.

Amyth, you are a truly, truly awesome and inspiring person.