I'm slowly managing to plow through the various tasks that are stressing me out here in the final quarter of the year.  Seems like this is always a stressful time for me, mainly because I'm overcommitted at this time of the year...or maybe it's because I should be committed this time of the year, I can never keep that straight.

The PALS class is done and passed, Halloween is done and past, and Jon is back in town.  The wedding shower is over and done with--I love my brother's wife to be, but I'm just not a 'shower' person.  I'd have skipped my own if I could have.  I caught a good sale at Kohl's, one of the stores they were registered at, and had a 15% off coupon on top of that, so I managed to get them more than I planned on.  I did manage to mess up the shipping, though.  The luggage set I got them as a wedding gift ended up being sent without a gift tag (because I forgot to mark it as a gift) so I had to tell them that the next present that shows up without a tag is from me, LOL.  I hope they don't know about this journal, because last I talked to them, they were waiting until the wedding to open all the gifts.  I certainly never had that kind of self control.  For the shower, I got them all the bath towels and mats they wanted.  The mats arrived in time for the shower, but I had to put in a note saying the towels were still to come.  They arrived today, at my house instead of the gift address, which is probably a good thing, because there were some non-gift things in the order, too.

Finally got caught up on the scheduling at work and got the holiday schedules done and posted.  Now I have a few weeks before I have to start working in ernest on the next one.  These last two schedules were hell to get out--I hate the holiday schedules.  So, that's a load off my mind. 

JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) is at our hospital this week. They always used to do planned visits, and we would gripe that if they really wanted to see how the hospital functioned, they'd just pop in.  And lo and behold, they started doing unannounced visits this year.  We knew about a 6 month window when our accreditation was due, and they showed up early Monday morning.  I'm so glad I'm working night shift.

This coming weekend I'm going out of town for a scrapbooking weekend with some friends from work.  Once I'm there, I'm sure it will be relaxing, but getting ready is not so relaxing.  Getting my stuff together is easy, it's getting Jon up to speed on which of the kids has to be where and when over the weekend that is most stressful.  He's just not used to worrying about this sort of stuff, because I'm either around to do the running or to tell him where he has to go.  But I think I've got it all written out for him.

I've also been working on keeping the Breakfast with Santa preparations on track.  Got a couple of hours of running to do on that task tomorrow, and I think I'll be done until next week.

I hate people who ignore deadlines.  I'm still waiting to hear from 3 scout dens about the awards they need for the fall ceremony, and they were due last Friday.  I've decided they have until Sunday evening to e-mail me (I sent them a reminder) and then I'll make calls, so I can go to the scout store Monday or Tuesday.

I watched the Bruce Willis movie 16 Blocks this evening while Chris was at baseball practice (I love the portable DVD player) and I quite enjoyed it. But I love Bruce in just about anything.

TV wise, I must say that while I like the Chinese setting, I've not been able to pick any single Survivor that I'm really rooting for.   I think if I had to choose one, it would be James, with the lunch lady as #2.  Right now, more than rooting FOR someone, I'm rooting AGAINST the people I definitely don't want to see win. 

Cane is really shaping up into a good show.  I'm quite enjoying it, although they could show a bit more of Jimmy Smits (literally).  He looks yummy in suits, but I'd prefer...less.

I was sorry to see Mozart die on Meerkat Manor.  Things have really changed since Flower was killed by the snake.  Maybelline and Rocket Dog now each have a group, and it will be interesting to see what happens between them. 

Any fans of 'The Unit' reading this?  If you've not seen this week's episode, don't read any further.

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Can you believe that they killed off Hector?  I so thought it was going to be Grey that died if anyone did, given the seriousness of his wounds.  When they climbed in the back of that truck and they were all still with us, I was thinking that the previews had been a little misleading, to draw in more viewers.  Then BAM! the sniper hit. It is a show about special forces, it's not realistic to think they never get killed, but couldn't they have killed someone on another team?  Maybe have a guest team member every few weeks (dressed in a red shirt a la 'Star Trek') who comes in and gets killed so all the regulars can live.