Well, I got the essentials once the stores opened again after Christmas.

Chocolate licorice, bread and lightbulbs.

Everything is hunky dory now.

Liquid sugar would just top it all off! Shoulda got some of that.

I ran across a YouTube video of how to wrap a cat for Christmas yesterday. :D

It was awesome and I wish someone would get me one of those for Christmas.

My car engine light turned on two days before Christmas vacation.

Great, just great. And my mechanic happens to be in Japan right now.

So I had it diagnosed at a nearby shop to my work. Said it needed a new PVC valve. Said the pressure was prolly going to blow seals and stuff. If you opened anything, said liquid would come bursting out. Said they wouldn't get the part until the next day. Said it would cost $500 for parts and labor. My first repair I'd need since buying the car. Not so bad, I suppose. It was either hope I make it home for the holidays or just get it done and over with now.

So I surrendered the car a second day in a row and walked to work. This would prolly be a good time to have an actual coat to my name.

But Mark at Tunex fixed it. Called and said it was ready. With my luck, I was waiting for him to call and say he fixed that problem but another one came up. But he didn't.

So I got my car just in time to travel for the holidays.

But there went my holiday bonus check this year....

I had Dal for Christmas so I gave his son a remote control BB8 and a raincoat. He has the best reactions. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe this is happening to me!" I got his daughter a rain coat, a doll and doll accessories. All approved by my sister in law. I got my sis in law a necklace. She broke the chain, but it was only one dollar. I made my bro a US flag out of shotgun shells and Dad put a homemade wood frame around it. I'm really quite proud of that master piece. I hope he likes it. Goes with the shotgun wreath I made him earlier this year too. I didn't get them much cuz I'm paying for their plane tix to their cruise this next spring.

I got my little car stuck in the driveway/hill in attempting to leave my sisters house after Christmas Eve snow storm.

The neighbors juss happened to be leaving in their truck at that time and pulled me out onto the road.

My sister got me a cool air purifier lamp thing, some natural allergy helping drops stuff (she's into all things natural nowadays), some Hawaii vacation reminders (doll and seashell candle), a Fiiz drink gift card and a new phone. She told me some of my gifts would be weird. When she said that I totally forgot I asked for phone, let alone thought I'd get one. So that was the real surprise.

My mom put a picture book/scrapbook (Shutterfly book) together of all my 2016 vacations. I had to think about all of them and if they were all really in one year. Apparently I did all that in one year. She gave me the porcelain bowl I painted and she had fired up and all purty. And she gave me some more pepper spray (since she ratted me out to the Canadians at the border).

I think I like the phone and the vacation book the best this year.

More enabling so I can go on more vacations, take more/better pictures, and scrapbook em!

So I got a new phone for Christmas. Well, new for me.

Anything at this point would be new for me. I've had this Moto X for like 6-7 years now I think.

I've had four phones since 2006. The flip phone, my first at age 18. Then my first non-flip phone, which was tiny in comparsion to todays phones, ya know back when we thought we were all upgrading from those big bulky telephone shaped phones. Then my HTC Incredible I had for prolly for more than my two year contract, in which I still have to play solitare on all day on crawling days like this. Then my Moto X which I definitely had for more than my two year contract. And the phones are getting bigger again.

Had to get a new sim card that would fit. I could order it, but the store would be faster. The store said they'd charge to activate, but gave the sim card for free. I said I'd activate it myself online. They said I can't activate online. Got to work today and followed the instructions on transferring phones on an existing line, went thru the process. The phone was compatiable, the sim card was fine, transferred my stuff from one phone to the other via the transfer app, and wal-la. New phone activated. Did it all by myself online without paying for it. *mike drop*

I can follow instructions...mostly. I can do what my computer and phones tell me to. I can be somewhat tech savvy when needed. It only took two days to figure out what I needed, find the instructions and to follow the process.

This phone is huge, bright, and FAST. The 10mp camera is much better. And I finally got my 32gb storage. They said my Moto X had 32, it only had 16gb. Much more room, as I have turned my phone into a camera for all my vacations and need more room for such junk and now it's all better quality. And I bet this phone can hold a charge for a bit longer than my other phone. And I'm sure the battery won't wig out on this one when I use GPS or something like my old phone did. And I can take the battery out of this phone if needed.

My standards for a new phone weren't that high.

But I'll miss my phone telling me when I have a text waiting for me to answer by flashing the text message symbol at me and I'll miss the fact that I could move my phone a bit and it would show me the time without having to open a screen or unlocking it or whatever. So convenient. I'll miss so many texts now after ignoring or missing the one ding/noise it gives me when it comes in and I'll never know what time it is in the dark without disturbing everyone anymore.

Went to get a case for the phone and the guy only had pink cases left for my kind of phone. How convenient. I like love pink. But I'm okay not getting -everything- pink. I'm willing to branch out if there's options.

On another note, so many emotions the past week. It's making me all.... weird. I can't control it for the life of me. It irks me. I thought it was just my period. Then I thought it was the stress of my car needing a $500 repair just before Christmas holiday. Then I thought it was just the holiday spirit getting to me. Then I thought it was the anxiety of letting go of my old phone and figgering out my new one.

So many changes, so many decisions to make, so much stress. But none of it was really that bad, so why doesn't my mind and body figure that out already. Get a grip! Calm down. This year, this month, this last week, hasn't been that bad! It was a great year with one vacation and a few financial hiccups is all!