So, a friend of mine on facebook is having a "non convention" - a virtual gathering of all the people that usually see each other at (non-fandom) cons but can't get together right now. Which is awesome. But it means I keep scrolling past posts about noncon dance parties, noncon yoga, etc and I felt the rest of you in my basket needed to share the giggles.

Also, I kinda wanna read a story featuring noncon yoga now. The downward dog position is begging for it, really.

...though I've seen it here on LJ many times.

2013 Creative Pay-It-Forward:­ The first five people to comment on this post will receive from me, sometime in the next calendar year, a gift - perhaps a book, or baked goods, or a candle, flowers, or a surprise! There will likely be no warning and it will happen whenever the mood strikes me. The catch? Those five people must make the same offer in their LJ. Who's in?

If you're not local, please message me your addy since I'm not screening replies... also, let me know what things you are fans of if you'd like to spark inspiration!

Haha. So!

Every year, one side of the family gets together for a big Christmas bash. We do a white elephant style ornament exchange, Santa comes to visit, there's all kinds of fun and games. We take turns hosting it and this year is my year.

For a long time it was just a random day in December, but we kept getting drama from Cousin A because her birthday falls around the second weekend - which was often picked because it's such a good time for it. So, fine. To make peace, we moved it to the first Saturday of December. It means the host/hostess pretty much has to get their tree super early and get all their decorations up quickly, etc, but we made it work.

The other day, Cousin M told me that Cousin A has sent out a Save The Date card for December 1st, day of the party. Cousin A and I don't talk outside of family events, and so I hadn't received one. Cousin A is having her twins' birthday party (approx a month early) on that date.

Thankfully I hadn't sent out the invitations yet. With a lot of searching for a way out of drama, I decided to change it to the Sunday after the party and hope for the best (since many members will feel as if they should attend both events and so making them choose sucks). This is not ideal... some people made plans around the normal party date, and while they've said they can cancel them and they'd rather attend, it seems a crappy thing to do when they're not at fault. Some people have said I should just say screw it and host on the original date and tant pis to Cousin A. So, I turn to you, livejournal!

Should I:

A) Have the party on the 1st. It's a tradition, the family is already going out of their way for this person, and they are a passive aggressive jerk who needs to be called on it or they will keep pulling stunts like this. I don't even like her anyway.

B) Have the party on the 2nd. It's not that much of a change, and only affects a few understanding people, and will avoid potential drama from Cousin A's corner of the family (and my family hangs onto drama for generations, okay?). This will prevent other family members from having to "choose" which event to attend (I'm fairly certain I'd 'win' except for their side of it).

Help me Liverjournal, you're my only hope! Well, except for Facebook where everyone is going to know exactly who Cousin A is.

So, I found out a week or so ago that my stepdad probably has throat cancer. He went in for the biopsy today, but they've straight out told him that if it doesn't come back positive for cancer, the first thing they're doing is having a second biopsy done. He's going to be out of state for a couple weeks, and when he comes back he'll meet with the oncologist to get an idea of where he's at and what his options are. I'm trying to come to terms with it, but to be honest, I haven't known many people who ended up triumphing over cancer. I know it happens sometimes; it just hasn't in my world.

It stirs up a lot of emotions, past and present... Nate's mom, my grandpa more recently, friends who are dealing with this with their own loved ones at this very moment. Not sure where I'm really going with this... just letting go of it to the universe and hoping for some starlight.

So, those of you who know me probably already know that when it comes to birthday parties and theme-y things, I can be a little bit, uh... insane. I vastly overdo things (which is usually between 40-60% of all the things I plan to do), yes, but I really love doing it.

Ryan will be turning three this year. He has become smitten with Om Nom (from the phone app Cut the Rope) and that's what we've elected for the party theme. If you don't play, you can watch this adorable little film of Om Nom breaking out of his game and romping around the real world:

http://youtu.be/bj3cbCE56wQ


Beneath the cut, you can check out the invitations and the little canvas shoes I painted up. Yay, being creative and productive/artistic!

( Om Nom = Love )

Our beautiful and tiny black purrbox of a kitten died last night.

I found him beneath the bed, cold and unmoving, and thought he had already passed. He was able to mew piteously and we rushed him to the emergency vet but he was so far gone that he had to be put down. I'm glad we got those last minutes with him, that he was out of pain and knew we were there, but it's incredibly painful to lose him so suddenly and so young. FIP is to blame; we need to get the other kitties checked to make sure they're okay.

They're all quite baffled and shaken by it, especially dear Frodo, who took to Strider almost immediately. They've been very close and he clearly is at a loss about what to do without his little shadow and cuddlemate.

I know I haven't updated much; there've been happier things, I promise.

We were hoping to be moving this weekend, but finally found out for sure today - the loan will not be funding in time for us to take possession tomorrow. It looks like sometime next week... we should find out a for-certain date tomorrow.

Trying to be positive and think of it as more time for packing, but I'm a little bummed out about it.

I have so much catching up to do. But mostly I just want to say that I hope none of the awesome people I saw this weekend have come down with the same Exorcist flu as we have.

Am enjoying the lovely sunny spring weather we're having. It is iced latte season! Also, my favorite flowers (yellow freesia) are all budded up and about to bloom. Anticipation!

Ryan saw the ortho who... I dunno, was not what I was expecting from a doctor. Good news is that the break isn't bad and he doesn't need a cast. Currently we have him in a removable splint (it's wrapped on with ace bandages), which he wears all the time but we can take it off him for bathing, which is awesome, and his little fingers can grab onto stuff so he's got some use of it. Finding out it can come off means that he asks for it to come off quite frequently, but ah well. Hopefully he'll be all healed up and able to do without it at our follow up apptment next week, and in the meantime I'm just very thankful that it's not more severe.

Alex's spring break is next week, catching me off guard. I know they don't call it Easter break these days, but it's usually still bracketed by Easter weekend... apparently not this year!

I continue to be way too into crocheting little characters. Will be mailing a couple out today for a friend's sick nephew (a Yoda and a Jedi Nephew).