This is my 200th entry. I feel like I need to do something really meaningful in this entry to make it stand out somehow but my brain is addled from too much shopping (my patriotic duty) and too much Dr Pepper so this will be another in a long line of disjointed, slice-of-life regurgitations in what has become Lobotomy Land. Aren't you just salivating to read on?

I forgot to mention yesterday that I decided to give myself permission to put my current novel on the shelf for awhile instead of beating myself up over not writing it. I feel like I've painted myself into a corner and I just really just don't know what to do or where to go from here so I've been doing nothing and really bothering myself about it. I also gave myself permission to start writing the other novel that has been percolating for a year or two. I outlined the events and plot line in a rough list of scenes and I'm pretty excited to get going. It is loosely based on my sister's life but with one element taken to a much bigger extreme. I've talked to her about it because I wanted to get her permission to use her experiences in my story and she was totally ok with it. I told her it would be a highly fictionalized account but that some things would look familiar to her. She's a down girl. I'm ready to start writing it now. I'm excited. Fired up. Ready to rawk!

Today I spent the day with Stacey and Baylee shopping for our Festival of the Trees tree. Our colors are fuschia, teal and purple with gold accents. We found some really stunning things for the tree, too. I'm very excited for it. We have some good stuff and if our Procurement Officer can procure us some goodies for under the tree, we'll be in good stead.

Ed leaves for Phoenix tomorrow. Let's pray there are no more plane crashes. I don't even want to go there in my mind.

I bought Ed's Christmas gift while I was out and about today. I'd love to tell you all what I got but on the off chance that he reads this, I think I'll refrain. Wouldn't want spoil the surprise. But trust me when I say he will *love* it. And now I feel like a little kid--I just can't wait to give it to him!

I wore the last of my 3 new Land's End turtlenecks. Now I have to wash them and wear them all over again. (I gotta get more of these shirts! If I order some now, I can have them by Friday. Hmmm....)

Off to do more shopping, I believe.

--L